novelraw Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9. The First Hunt (2)
Choi Young-go.
The period he was incarcerated in Mugan was 10 years.
His crime was serial robbery-murder.
He was a specialist in the world of robbery, having committed a wide range of acts that could be labeled as 'robbery', from street muggings to home invasions.
26 cases in Korea alone, and 30 cases after he smuggled himself into Southeast Asia and fled.
But in the process, he had touched the house of a high-ranking person in Vietnam, which led to his capture and incarceration in Mugan.
What made Choi Young-go particularly vicious was the fact that he killed everyone he encountered during his crimes.
Not just the targets of the robbery, but also the people who were nearby.
Despite this level of brutality, there were two reasons why his arrest was delayed.
First was the generally chaotic state of public security worldwide.
With the emergence of too many uncontrollable elements such as magic, superpowers, and demonic beasts, this world had become quite unstable.
As a result, it was a natural course of events for the level of public security to collapse.
Thanks to this gaping hole in security, Choi Young-go was able to run for a long time.
Second was because Choi Young-go himself was too strong.
He was a being who could never be caught by ordinary police forces.
Because he was a 'superhuman'.
KABOOOOM!
The motorcycle exploded, and at the same time, Choi Young-go's body soared high into the sky.
His body, which had risen at least 10 meters, plummeted straight to the ground.
Thud!
The sound of his head colliding with the ground.
If he were an ordinary person, it wouldn't have been strange if his brain had spilled out or his neck had broken.
But his head and neck, at least externally, were fine.
And so, with the explosion, the motorcycle had already become fragments, and Choi Young-go was sprawled among them.
Fortunately, no one else was caught in this explosion besides Choi Young-go.
Because the people around had already fled in fear.
Therefore, despite the rather large explosion, there was no collateral damage.
Meanwhile, I was watching all of this from inside the alley.
Because it was me who had designed this situation.
'The prey has fallen into the trap.'
Earlier, when he had parked his motorcycle to enter the barbecue restaurant.
I had stuck a dagger in the fuel tank of his motorcycle.
A dagger charged with electricity through the [Charge] spell.
I had set a trap.
I had waited for him to return to his motorcycle, and the moment he got on, I released the current in the dagger.
A trap that would go 'boom' and explode.
Of course, there was a simpler method than this.
A direct confrontation.
Just revealing myself in front of him and fighting a duel.
But a direct confrontation was not a method I particularly favored.
It wasn't because I wasn't confident.
It was because it was inefficient.
Bounty hunting, an act called Headhunting in this world.
This was not a duel, but a proper hunt.
And the beauty of a hunt was to kill the prey efficiently, quickly, and safely.
And if it succeeded, a trap was a much more efficient and safer method than a direct confrontation.
So there was no reason to necessarily choose a direct confrontation as the method of hunting.
On top of that, in the case of Choi Young-go, a direct confrontation was frankly a bit of a tricky opponent.
Because Choi Young-go was a 'superhuman'.
An innate mana user, a superhuman.
A being born with superpowers in their body.
Superhumans could use special abilities using mana without learning magic or modifying their bodies.
All sorts of bizarre abilities that neatly ignored the laws of science that humanity had accumulated so far.
The time when superhumans began to appear was about 250 years ago.
It almost coincided with the time of the discovery of magic stone veins.
The most plausible hypothesis at present was that as the magic stones were revealed, mana spread into the air, which led to the appearance of superhumans.
Anyway, why was I uncomfortable with superhumans?
Even though I myself was a powerful mana user, a mage.
Actually, the reason for my discomfort was not simply that the opponent was a superhuman.
It was a matter of compatibility.
Choi Young-go was a physical enhancement-type superhuman.
A person who specialized in a brutally tough body, explosive strength, and speedy combat utilizing these.
For a mage with a weak body like me, he was a rather troublesome opponent.
Because he would keep breaking through my magic with his defense and charging in.
Of course, even if I were to fight Choi Young-go in a direct confrontation, I didn't think I would ever lose.
But again, this was a 'hunt'.
It was only logical to choose to avoid risks if possible.
“Uuugh…”
At that moment, Choi Young-go got up.
Despite being hit by an explosion first and then headbutting the bare ground from a height of 10 meters, he stood up on his two feet just fine.
A situation where an ordinary person would have died a couple of times over.
The act of getting up itself was biologically absurd.
Although it seemed that quite a bit of damage had accumulated.
Choi Young-go got up and muttered.
“Which bastard was it…”
Choi Young-go's eyes were bloodshot with anger.
He had realized that the recent explosion was not an accident.
Choi Young-go, who was looking for the culprit, soon spotted a suspicious person.
A man standing inside the alley with half his face covered by his coat collar.
That man neither ran away nor was surprised even though such an explosion had occurred.
A suspicious figure to anyone's eyes.
Choi Young-go said to the man.
“It was you, you son of a bitch.”
“That's right.”
Whoosh.
Simultaneously with my answer, Choi Young-go disappeared from sight.
High-speed movement utilizing his physical abilities.
An ordinary person couldn't even see his movement.
Because he was so fast.
But not for me.
My uncannily sensitive senses were already reading Choi Young-go's movements in detail.
'Front.'
Whoosh!
Choi Young-go charged straight at me from the front.
In fact, there was no other path.
I was standing inside a narrow alley.
To approach me in this situation, he had no choice but to come in a straight line along the alley.
The geography of this place itself was forcing a specific path on Choi Young-go.
And so, I had thrown the bait, and the hooked prey had steadily followed the expected path and charged in.
And I had already set a trap on that path.
A manhole in the middle of the alley.
The moment the rushing Choi Young-go passed over the manhole cover.
I snapped my fingers once more.
Black lightning spewed out from the manhole cover.
Crackle!
A reverse flow of lightning that shot up from the ground into the air.
That black electric shock engulfed Choi Young-go's body.
“Kuaaaargh!”
I had already charged a considerable amount of electric shock into the metal manhole cover through [Charge].
The dagger wasn't the only thing I had cast the [Charge] spell on.
On top of that, the weight of the manhole cover was about 140kg.
On the other hand, the weight of the dagger was within 1kg.
Even by simple calculation, more than 140 times the energy that could be stored in the dagger could be stored in the manhole cover.
And I had done so.
I had packed that lump of iron called a manhole cover with electric power to its limit.
And that had all exploded at once and engulfed Choi Young-go.
At this level, even a physical enhancement-type superhuman couldn't just endure it.
“Uuugh…”
After the discharge of the electric shock ended.
Choi Young-go fell to his knees on the manhole.
Smoke was rising from his body, and his skin was covered in soot and burn marks.
A complete mess, a wreck.
Even a superhuman would end up in this state if they were hit by a double whammy of a motorcycle explosion and a high-output electric steam.
“…Good.”
I felt a strange thrill seeing all my plans hit the mark.
The selection of the location, the placement of the traps, the timing of my appearance, the guiding of his path.
The pleasure of seeing the prey neatly fall into all these calculations.
On top of that, the fact that the opponent was a heinous criminal, so I didn't feel a shred of guilt, was another point to enjoy.
I looked at the kneeling Choi Young-go.
But I didn't bother to approach him.
Because the hunt was not over yet.
Of course, Choi Young-go was on his knees.
But that didn't mean he was subdued.
It was the opposite.
To kneel meant to have gained propulsion.
There was no need to get a close look at a bullet that was about to be fired.
“You son of a bitch…!”
Thwack!
Choi Young-go straightened his bent knees and charged at me in an instant.
It was a terrifying speed.
To the point where I could feel my skin being pressed by the wind pressure.
Whoosh.
But I lightly turned my body and dodged.
Choi Young-go, who had flown past me, stopped by kicking the opposite floor.
Scrape!
A long skid mark left on the concrete floor just by kicking it.
An immediate change of direction, and finally, a barrage of attacks.
His weapon was his fists.
The fists of a superhuman that could shatter a stone wall with a single blow.
A chain of countless punches flew at me.
Swish!
Throughout my past and present lives, it was the first time I had actually seen such fast punches.
But I dodged even those punches with minimal movement.
It was easy.
Because I had dodged a sword that was even faster than this.
And with handcuffs and shackles on, at that.
And above all-
'Fast, but crude.'
Choi Young-go's punches were much more clumsy and sloppy than what I had experienced in the game.
It was a given.
Choi Young-go's body was not in a normal state right now.
A body that had been directly hit by a double whammy of a fuel explosion and an electric shock.
No matter how superhuman a body was, it couldn't be unscathed by an attack of this level.
Was it because of the aftereffects?
His muscles were losing their flexibility, and his reflexes were slowly dying down.
Fists that contained only brute force, with skill and sense evaporated.
In the end, the punches failed to achieve their intended goal and struck the wrong target.
KABOOM!!
Choi Young-go's fist, having passed me, slammed into the outer wall of the building behind me.
A large crater erupted on the solid concrete wall.
The wall was deeply dented, and cracks spread across the wall in an instant.
Some of the rushing cracks reached a height of four stories.
Hanging there was an air conditioner outdoor unit that had long since been out of use.
The crack in the wall touched the rusted support of the outdoor unit.
Thud!
The bolts breaking off, the support losing its balance and crumbling.
The outdoor unit, having lost its foundation, fell straight down.
I saw it.
At the same time, the analysis was complete.
If it fell like this, the outdoor unit's landing point would be the top of Choi Young-go's head.
But I didn't think Choi Young-go would be knocked out by being hit by a mere 30kg outdoor unit.
'But if magic intervenes.'
The story changes.
Magic is the power to twist phenomena by projecting one's will.
Even a trivial phenomenon transforms into a great meaning the moment it passes through the filter of magic.
A series of images came to my mind.
'A fallen fruit, a satellite, a sealed bookshelf.'
This body, optimized for magic, almost instinctively performed association and calculation.
The image was soon projected onto the world as magic.
The target was Choi Young-go.
A single spell revealed itself.
[Weight]
Whoosh!
The gravity beneath Choi Young-go's feet momentarily intensified.
He felt his body become significantly heavier.
“Such a pathetic trick…!”
But it wasn't just Choi Young-go's body that had become heavier.
Because the outdoor unit falling above his head was also caught by this enhanced gravity.
Weight is directly proportional to gravity.
The outdoor unit, which had only weighed 30kg, slammed down on the top of Choi Young-go's head with the force of 3 tons at that moment.
KABOOOOM!!
With a terrifying roar, Choi Young-go was crushed under the outdoor unit.
The solid ground had completely caved in, and Choi Young-go was deeply embedded in it.
And the light in his eyes faded.
“Hunt over.”
With my mutter, my first human hunt came to an end.