Auto Hunting (Web Novel KR)

Episode 158

“Let go of him right now!”

Eugene O’Neill’s voice was serious. Yoo-seong felt goosebumps rising on his back. He knew instinctively that Eugene was aiming a gun at him.

“I won’t ask you again,” Eugene added.

Suddenly…

Huwook-!

Eugene’s eyes opened wide as a massive object came flying toward him. Yoo-seong had just thrown Alvin at him.

“Oh-oh!”

Alvin was flying toward him headfirst.

Eugene wasn’t a hunter, but he was highly skilled in self-defense. He knew that if he dodged, Alvin’s head would smash against the cabin’s wall.

Meeting his boss’s body head-on would injure them both, however. Unsure of what to do, Eugene closed his eyes and prepared for impact.

Paang-!

The expected impact didn’t arrive.

When Eugene opened his eyes, Alvin had somehow been able to stop his momentum midair. The Miracle Boy landed gently without crushing him.

“Sit down,” Alvin told him. “Put down that gun and don’t try to interrupt.”

“Ha, but…”

“Quiet,” Alvin ordered as he caught his breath.

Then he turned to Yoo-seong and asked, “Why… why did you quit halfway, my friend? It can’t be because the gun scared you. Why did you stop after taking just half?” Despite what had just happened, Alvin’s voice was surprisingly calm.

Yoo-seong did not respond immediately. Half of Alvin’s CE was now in his core. However, he felt cheated as he realized the ridiculous deception of Alvin’s ability.

‘How much is it?’ he asked himself. ‘About 160,000?’

That was the total amount of CE in Alvin’s core. It was an unexpectedly ordinary amount for someone who had held the top hunter position over several generations. It was greatly inferior to what Yoo-seong had taken from the two Ship Zones in terms of quantity.

Just a little earlier, as he and Alvin had exchanged blows, he’d experienced it firsthand. Unlike Yoo-seong, who spent thousands of CE on each blow, Alvin’s Aura use was minimal. Therefore, it would be right to assume that taking half of Alvin’s core wouldn’t do much against him. His power would be unchanged.

For someone like Alvin, the amount of CE in his core wasn’t important.

“Damn it,” Yoo-seong muttered to himself.

“What are you thinking?” Alvin prompted him.

“We can’t overdo it. If I get rid of you completely, the consequences will be more annoying than facing you.”

Alvin looked stunned for a moment. However, after a few moments, he understood Yoo-seong’s reasoning.

“Oh my…” He blushed and looked sincerely regretful. “You’re right.”

“We could easily blow up this whole plane,” Yoo-seong added. “But would you be ready for what would happen next?”

“…..!”

“If you’re confident you can knock me out without making a hole in this plane, or if you’re secure enough in your political standing regardless of what might happen, then let’s go.”

Yoo-seong was only able to ride in the US Vice President’s plane because no one knew about it. However, if the plane crashed with him inside it, it would be a very different story, something with a massive impact around the world.

No matter how great Alvin’s political power, this was the United States. This was a country that took pride in its counterterrorism effort. How would a country with a trauma such as theirs react to news of the Vice President’s plane crashing?

“Once it was made known that there were two hunters involved in the plane crash…” Yoo-seong paused for a moment and bit his lip. “I’m not that knowledgeable in terms of foreign politics, but this would obviously be a massive problem, don’t you think?”

A few minutes ago, Yoo-seong’s words wouldn’t have had any impact on Alvin. But now, he was on the verge of taking the mental advantage. Alvin had shared his plans, and through his own words, Yoo-seong had grasped his weakness.

Besides…

“You told me we’re similar, so you’ve probably thought about this as well,” Yoo-seong continued. “Completing your grand plan will be like walking on a tight rope if this plane crashes.”

Everything could go wrong based just on

“Ironically, no matter how much you plan, luck and probability always play a part in the end.”

And, in that case, Yoo-seong was superior.

Both of them had their own plans for moving forward. However, which of them had the highest stakes and would suffer the biggest fall if something went wrong?

“That makes sense,” Alvin said after a while.

The Aura rising around his body seemed calmer.

All the while, he had been thinking about how to deal with Yoo-seong without damaging the plane. After completing the preparation of his Aura and muscles, he was ready to attack.

“Now… it’s my turn!” Alvin launched forward.

However…

“No. There will be no such thing.” Yoo-seong raised his hand.

Kook-!

“Huh?!”

Alvin, who had tried to quickly narrow the distance between them, could not move. Tens of thousands of invisible threads engulfed his body.

“Holding your opponent in place by talking to distract them. Isn’t that a familiar technique?” Yoo-seong asked him.

Of course, in Yoo-seong’s case, the trap he’d made was much more elaborate than Alvin’s. As he spoke, elaborate spider webs had stretched out all over the cabin.

“You will never be able to get out of it,” Yoo-seong warned. “I have tied an infinite number of layers together.”

“You’re wrong.” Alvin raised his Aura and scoffed.

Jjjiiik-!

The spider web threads, which could not be destroyed even by a nine-star monster, were breaking apart as Alvin forced his way out!

However…

Blagag-!

“What…” Alvin’s eyes shifted to the source of the noise.

It wasn’t just the webs that were being torn apart by his movement.

“Sorry,” Yoo-seong said. “I knew you were going to do that, so…”

The webs weren’t intended to bind Alvin’s body.

It was a different sort of trap. Their actual purpose was to connect Alvin’s body to every nook and cranny of the plane.

When Alvin began forcing his way out of the webs…

Blagagag-!

A side of the aircraft began to tear apart as well.

“Goddam-!”

A strong gust of wind drowned out Alvin’s curses.

Wheeeik-!

Yoo-seong was already moving. As the plane tilted, he caught Eugene’s hand.

“Ugh!”

Through Auto-Hunt, Yoo-seong already knew every crew member’s location in the cabin and where the parachutes were. Yoo-seong handed Eugene a parachute and let him fly out of the plane. Then Yoo-seong began moving back and forth throughout the plane.

Two flight stewardesses.

Two pilots.

One by one, all the civilians on the plane were parachuted out.

Before he let them go, he did not forget to show them Alvin’s writhing body and the wall he had torn off. When the last of the crew had safely left the rapidly-falling plane…

“You!” Alvin screamed at Yoo-seong.

He was in a dilemma.

The plane crash wouldn’t be enough to kill him, but he was still entangled in the web. Every time he tried to pull away, part of the plane started tearing apart.

“Calm down,” Yoo-seong said. “You’ll live.”

Auto-Hunt was already trying to move Yoo-seong out of the plane. However, before he left, he looked around the cabin and then at the desperate Alvin.

Then his hands reached for something – the whiskey bottle.

Poong-!

He smashed it on Alvin’s head and watched his body get soaked. Alvin opened his eyes and seethed as he understood what Yoo-seong had just done.

“Very well…” he said with a bitter tone. “I have learned my lesson and will remember it clearly until the next time we meet.”

“Perhaps that will be when I come to visit you in jail,” Yoo-seong smirked. Then, just before jumping out of the plane, he raised a closed fist toward Alvin.

“Good luck, President!”

***

The National Guard headquarters, Nevada.

On the parade field in front of the Third Air Defense Shelter, Chae Shin-young was biting her nails anxiously.

‘Where the hell are you…?’

The last three days had been a mad time for her. After Yoo-seong literally flew off to the United States, it was on her to secure all the necessary paperwork and go through the procedures.

She hadn’t slept properly, and her phone had rung endlessly. US Military officers had kept asking her the same questions.

-When is he coming?

-Where is he?

Yoo-seong’s location could not be determined.

She hadn’t any idea if he was still alive until his photos in Hawaii had gone viral on social media a couple of days ago.

That had made her life more difficult.

The military and defense officials had begun pecking harder at her.

How could this woman, who was supposed to be Yoo-seong’s manager, not have any idea where he was?

The operation had to begin as soon as possible.

She had been warned that her security clearance might be revoked if she continued to fail in calling Yoo-seong.

Chae Shin-young had seldom cried since she was young, but these past few days, she had been on the verge of a breakdown.

Just then…

“……..?”

She heard something.

It was the sound of something heavy falling from above. Before she even raised her head…

Kwa-ang!!

Something fell from the sky right in front of her, sending dirt everywhere. And it wasn’t just Chae Shin-young who witnessed it.

In an instant, a loud alarm rang throughout the base.

“Wow.” A familiar voice came through the cloud of dirt. “I didn’t think you’d come this far. You worked hard.”

Chae Shin-young didn’t know what to say. As she had worked herself to death the past few days, she’d sworn she would scold him when they saw each other again.

But now, all she could say was…

“How did you… find me here?”

“Oh, I used what I have.” Yoo-seong held out his phone to Chae Shin-young. Through the speaker, she could hear an automated voice.

“Special Defense Agency employee tracking service, successful.”

“Come on,” Yoo-seong smiled at her. “Let’s get to work.”