novelraw Chapter 8 : Chapter 8
Chapter 8 : Chapter 8
Chapter 8. The First Hunt (1)
The suddenly blaring mana detector.
The members were startled and muttered.
“What? Wasn't that thing broken?”
Because it had been silent when the mage, Riman, had passed through.
Anyway, the fact that it went off meant that a being with mana in their body had passed through the main gate.
A superhuman, or an augmented human, or a mage, or, with a very low probability, a demonic beast.
It meant that one or more of these had entered the junkyard.
Naturally, it wouldn't be a good sign.
The members quietly gathered their weapons and began to converge on the main gate.
A man they had never seen before was standing there.
He looked to be in his early twenties.
The man spoke.
“Excuse me, I'd like to ask something.”
“Who are you to ask?”
“I'm a Headhunter. By any chance, did a vehicle with a World Federation mark come in here?”
The original protagonist of the game
He had arrived at this place.
“A Headhunter? Then you should talk to me. I'm the owner here.”
Soon, Ruger himself came out to greet him.
“Hello, sir, by any chance…”
“A vehicle with a World Federation mark did come, but we've already crushed it. If you'd like to see it, I can show you.”
“How many…”
“Twelve.”
“Ah? Yes, then by any chance, that…”
“All twelve of them took motorcycles from us and scattered. Those damn bastards…”
“…Perhaps someone came here before me regarding that?”
“There was. And that person took all the information. There's nothing left here.”
“……!”
The Headhunter's face stiffened.
'There's someone who moved faster than me? Who could it be? No, more importantly, how? I should have been the first to obtain information about the Mugan breakout.'
The Headhunter barely managed to calm himself and asked.
“Then, who was the person who took it…”
“I can't tell you. Naturally.”
“I figured as much.”
The Headhunter stealthily took his hand out of his pants pocket.
He intended to fight to get the information.
But Ruger, even after seeing the gesture, continued to speak nonchalantly.
“If you defeat all of us, you might be able to find out that person's information. But I wouldn't recommend it.”
“Are you afraid?”
“I am. And you will be too.”
“What did you say?”
“He's a monster, that man.”
Even as he said this, Ruger felt a chill run down his spine.
Because the moment he fought with Riman flashed through his mind.
Ruger continued.
“If he finds out that I leaked his information to you, he'll probably kill all of us. Then he'll chase you down and kill you.”
“What in the…”
“So if you pick a fight with us, the result is one of two things. Either you die at our hands, or you die at his hands.”
“……”
The Headhunter had a gut feeling that Ruger's words were by no means empty threats.
“…Tch.”
The Headhunter put his hand back in his pocket and said.
“…Excuse me.”
“Go.”
After the Headhunter left the junkyard.
A subordinate employee said to Ruger.
“It's unlike you, sir, to be so calm.”
“…I don't want to clash with a mana user twice in one day.”
“Ah.”
The subordinates all understood and nodded their heads.
* * *
“You're Mr. Leman, right? I moved my lab recently, so please come and visit. I'll give you a new potion I made too!”
Before I left the junkyard and we parted ways, Ji Byeong-seo had said this to me.
I had also replied with a smile.
“Thank you. I'll definitely visit as soon as I finish one urgent matter.”
I will definitely, definitely visit.
The future King of Medicine, Ji Byeong-seo.
I have no intention of letting go of a connection like you.
Vrooooom-
I pulled the motorcycle's throttle hard.
It was the motorcycle I had received from Ruger.
Ruger had tried to give me a car, but I had deliberately taken a motorcycle instead.
I had to consider the possibility of entering narrow alleys, and more than anything, it was much faster than a car.
And in this world's Korea, motorcycles could also enter the highway.
There was no problem with the range of movement at all.
So I was riding this motorcycle somewhere fast.
Towards my first prey.
'There are a total of 12 Mugan escapees who entered Korea.'
I had classified the hunting order of those 12 based on my own criteria.
First, there were the strong ones whom I could absolutely not catch with my current specs.
These were naturally pushed to the very back of the list.
Because I had to catch them after I had sufficiently leveled up my specs.
Next were the ones who were still moving farther away on the location tracker.
These guys were also pushed back.
Because it was inefficient to chase them in a pursuit right now.
I could just catch the ones who had stopped in a specific area first.
That left the ones who 'had stopped at a specific place, and whom I could catch even with my current specs'.
'There are currently 3 who meet this condition.'
But I couldn't catch all 3 of them in one day.
These three were also quite scattered, and my stamina had its limits.
'Let's not be greedy and catch them one at a time.'
Then, who should I choose among these 3?
The one closest to my current location?
No.
'I have to catch the most ferocious one first.'
Simply put, the type with absolutely no self-control when it comes to slaughter.
The type that would indiscriminately kill people around them even if left alone.
I had to catch that kind of person as a top priority.
Because minimizing casualties was an important issue.
It wasn't just for ethical reasons.
Because if a key NPC were to get caught up and die in such an indiscriminate act of murder, the progression would get seriously complicated.
For example, if Ji Byeong-seo were to get caught up in such a massacre and die?
Then it would become almost impossible to obtain elixirs above a certain spec.
So, if I could catch them, it was standard practice to catch the most ferocious one first.
To prevent unpredictable murders.
And so, the one person who met all these criteria was…
'Choi Young-go.'
My first hunting target was thus decided.
* * *
At a barbecue restaurant in a bustling commercial district.
A man entered the restaurant, whose main clientele were middle-aged men unwinding after a day's work.
He looked to be in his mid-forties.
Seeing him enter alone, the owner said.
“It's a bit difficult for a solo diner at this time…”
“Four servings of pork belly, one bowl of rice, and a bottle of soju.”
“…Ah, yes, yes.”
Overwhelmed by the man's strange aura, the owner unknowingly guided the man to a corner seat.
Receiving a solo diner at this hour was against the restaurant's policy.
But for today, it was worth violating this policy.
Because this man's appetite was enormous.
Before the meat was even fully cooked, the man had finished a bowl of rice and a bowl of cold noodles, devoured four servings of pork belly, and ordered three more servings of pork neck.
On top of that, his insane drinking capacity, downing soju like water.
This one person was generating the sales that would normally come from a table of four.
The owner, inwardly praising his own excellent judgment, enjoyed the steadily rising sales.
But this good atmosphere did not last long.
Because of an old man's outburst.
“Whyyyyy can't I pay later?!”
This man in his seventies was making a fuss, saying he would pay later.
He said he had left his wallet at home.
“If you're going to do business, you have to be flexible, you know? Huh?”
“Sir…”
“Did I say I would eat and run? How dare you rashly accuse someone of being a thief, huh?”
“We don't allow paying later at our restaurant.”
“Ha, really, you're going to make a lot of money doing business so pettily, huh?”
Saying so, the old man took off the watch on his wrist and held it out.
“Here, this watch, it's a luxury item that could buy this restaurant! I'll bring the money tomorrow, so hold onto it until then, huh?”
A watch that looked like a cheap prize at best.
Naturally, the owner refused, and the old man began to act up even more.
“You young punk, how dare you…!”
Now the old man was even about to swing his cane.
The owner, deciding that this was enough, picked up his phone to report him, and at that moment.
“It's so damn loud.”
Yank!
Someone grabbed the hair on the back of the old man's head.
It was the man who had devoured seven servings of meat by himself.
At that moment, a sense of anticipation filled the restaurant.
Everyone was expecting the proper lesson that would be taught to that troublemaker, that refreshing cider.
But that expectation was mistaken.
Because what came out was not cider, but hydrochloric acid.
Sizzzle-
“Kuaaaah…!”
“Just quietly smell the meat, why are you making such a fuss?”
The man shoved the old man's face right onto the grill.
Onto the grate where the charcoal was still burning red.
An excessively out-of-line response.
The people who saw it turned pale for a moment.
“Th-that…!”
“What are you doing?!”
“Are you crazy?!!”
But the man, with a nonchalant expression, steadfastly grilled the person.
The owner began to try to stop the man.
“Wh-what are you doing right now?!”
“Ah, right, you're the owner, aren't you?”
Grab!
The target changed.
The man grabbed the owner's neck in an instant and said.
“If a disturbance occurs in the restaurant, shouldn't the owner take responsibility and handle it?”
“Gack…!”
“It's been 10 years. The first pork belly in 10 years. Why do I have to receive this kind of treatment!”
Crack.
The sound of a neck bone breaking.
The owner's body went limp.
The man threw the owner's corpse to the floor.
At that moment.
Smash!
One of the customers smashed a beer bottle over the man's head.
A blow strong enough to shatter the bottle.
But something was strange.
It felt like hitting a stone pillar with a glass bottle.
The man didn't even flinch.
Not even a single drop of blood was drawn.
He had taken no damage from a full-force beer bottle swing.
“…You crazy son of a bitch.”
The very next moment.
A pair of meat scissors was lodged in the chest of the man who had swung the beer bottle.
People finally understood the situation.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
The restaurant instantly turned into a scene of chaos, and everyone rushed towards the exit.
But no one managed to cross the threshold of the exit.
Because somehow, the man was standing at the exit.
The man who had clearly been standing at the very back of the restaurant.
“What…?”
“No way…!”
No one in the restaurant had seen the man's movement.
The man said.
“Just think of it as bad luck today, everyone.”
The man closed the exit.
This man's name was Choi Young-go.
He was my first target.
* * *
A moment later.
The barbecue restaurant's door opened, and Choi Young-go walked out.
His entire body was covered in blood.
But not a single drop of that blood was his.
This was a bustling street.
Choi Young-go's appearance was enough to attract the attention of passersby.
Feeling several gazes on him, Choi Young-go shouted.
“What, you bastards! Is this a show?!”
Paradoxically, this shout attracted even more gazes.
People saw.
The blood-soaked figure of Choi Young-go.
Their gazes naturally moved past Choi Young-go to the barbecue restaurant he had come out of.
The people who saw it froze on the spot.
“…Crazy.”
“What…?”
The inside of the barbecue restaurant was a hellscape.
There were only dead people, and even their bodies were not intact.
A horrific sight with all the body parts separated and scattered.
“Kyaaaaaaak!”
People started screaming and scattering.
The people in this wide street began to recede like a tide.
“…Insect bastards.”
Choi Young-go let out a smirk and went on his way.
He went towards his motorcycle.
A motorcycle parked near the entrance of an alley.
Choi Young-go sat on the motorcycle.
But he didn't know.
That a dagger was stuck in the motorcycle's fuel tank.
A black electric current was wrapped around that dagger.
Vroom-
And the moment Choi Young-go started the engine.
I, who was watching from inside the alley, snapped my fingers.
The electric shock that sparked from my fingertips resonated with the electric shock on the dagger.
The current that had been [Charged] in the dagger exploded, igniting the fuel.
An explosion occurred.
KABOOOOM!
Choi Young-go's body was sent flying high into the sky.