The First Hunter

Chapter 47. New Year, Part III

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

6.

There were two effective ways to kill Zombie monsters: burn them to death, or crush their bodies with overwhelming physical force.

That was not the best way. The strength of the monster’s bodies was far beyond the beasts that mankind had encountered so far.

There was a monster with skin so hard it ate away the saw-blade of an electric saw after only one layer, and there was a monster that kept its flesh firmly in the fires, rather than melting.

Eueoeoeo…

An Ogre was a monster where both things applied. Their body was so strong that even a bullet could not easily pierce into them, and was so tough that it would not easily melt down in the flames.

Eueoeoeo…

It was also huge. Even if there was a way to hurt its body, even if there was a way to hurt it deeply, it was only a scratch, not a deep wound, in the huge body of the Ogre.

Bang! ‘Oh, my God.’ It was at the time that Master Sergeant Oleg realized that the RPG-7 he was holding was empty and the empty barrel was pouring out a fuzzy sigh.

“How, how does it withstand this?”

RPG-7 was a powerful weapon that did not need an explanation. It was a weapon made to destroy a tank, a lump of iron with an amazing defense, not just anything.

Of course, Master Sergeant Oleg himself did not expect that one RPG-7 shell would make a Ogre Zombie truly dead.

‘Fuck!’ But it was unexpected that the absurd cannonball would end up just like one shot of a gun on a human being, just a small hole.

Eueoeoeo…!

‘Fuck, damn it!’ Decisively, the thing which made Master Sergeant Oleg desperate was that the result of approaching it to take the shot had drawn more attention and anger from the Ogre Zombie.

‘It’s over now.’ At this moment, Master Sergeant Oleg did not even think of running away. He couldn’t even afford to run away. The effect of doping, which he used to get near the Ogre Zombie, was not so long.

His whole body trembled like an aspen leaf in the unprecedentedly warm January of Khabarovsk.

‘Damn, damn, damn it!’ It was amazing he did not fall on the ground with his trembling legs. Even that didn’t last long.

Thump! Something fell down suddenly in front of Oleg, and at that shock, Oleg fell to the ground helplessly.

“Eu-huck!” A man in unusual attire came into his eyes as he fell on the ground and let out a gasp. The man with the two swords on his back was exceptionally impressive.

‘Who, who?’ The man who appeared like that made his right hand a gun shape and pointed at the Ogre Zombie with the end of his index finger. He moved his hand lightly, like a gunshot, and a blue spark splashed on the tip of his index finger.

Pazik! The spark immediately became a blue lightning arrow and struck the two pupils of the Ogre Zombie.

Eueoeoeo… … the Ogre Zombie, who was rushing toward Oleg, stopped for a moment with a relaxed cry.

It was only a moment, of course. There was no pain in the Ogre who had become a Zombie. The Ogre Zombie’s pause was like a program that was working well stopping for a while because of a sudden change.

It was literally a moment, and when the Ogre Zombie began to move again, there was a blue bead about the size of a man’s head in front of it.

The absurd bead that emitted blue lightning began to stab and burn the whole body of the Ogre Zombie without rest.

Eueoeoeo!

It was an unspeakably terrible sight, and at the same time, it was overwhelming.

‘Am, am I in another world?’

The blue lightning was reducing the Ogre Zombie to ash. Under the repeated attacks, the body of the Ogre Zombie moved differently from its will.

The program that made it move seemed to be in error, and repeated blue lightning attacks cracked open the body of the Ogre Zombie, bursting its joints, and began to shatter its bones.

The Ogre Zombie’s body fell to the ground with a grotesque sound. After that, the body of the Ogre Zombie began to make popcorn popping sounds again and again.

Master Sergeant Oleg was lost at the sight.

The man who created this ridiculous sight to him approached and said in somewhat awkward Russian. “Now tell Major General Vladimir everything you saw and heard.”

7.

“… the story is so far.”

As soon as Master Sergeant Oleg finished his story, a heavy silence began to weigh on the crowd. Even though they were wearing Russian uniforms which were not lacking compared to other military uniforms, and which were symbols of strength in world history, no one could overcome the silence that pressed them now. Even the only star-ranked person among them, Major General Vladimir, was the same.

‘It’s a ridiculous story.’

Major General Vladimir knew about the strength of the Awakeners. To the extent he knew, he believed that only Awakeners could end the monster era. Nuclear weapons were not a solution to the monster era, but Awakeners and relics were.

But even Vladimir, who highly appreciated the value of the Awakeners could not easily accept the strength of the man that Oleg had told him about.

‘And… no, I don’t think he is the one I know.’ Furthermore, his name was Kim Tae-hoon, and it shook Vladimir’s mind even more. There were not many Korean names that Vladimir knew, and most of them were Korean generals and very special people, like the president and the prime minister.

In a different sense, the only name that Vladimir remembered was Kim Tae-hoon. Even the Russian army, which was proud of being the world’s strongest in the special forces, could not help but recognize his abilities. He was a man the Russian army was willing to ask for military assistance.

‘It can’t be.’ So, it was more problematic. If Kim Tae-hoon was the same person as the amazing Awakener that Oleg had described now, he would be in fact a man who no one could manage in the world. Unfortunately, the hopeful prediction of Vladimir did not last long.

“Major General Vladimir, Major Maria is here.”

“Major Maria?”

“She’s waiting outside.”

“Fortunately, if we had lost her, there would have been no greater damage.”

“She says she has something to report.”

“We’re all here, and I’ll get a report here.”

“Yes.”

“I hope she can bring something we can hope for from the Korean Peninsula.”

Maria, who had come to visit Vladimir, appeared and began to report in front of all. “Currently, Korea is ready to fight the monsters now. It is said that South Korea has already occupied North Korea’s land, and that Japan has been defeated after a war with South Korea, although it has not been confirmed. It is now a colonial state in return for handing over all sovereignty to Korea.”

She started a more unbelievable story for those who could not come to their senses after the nonsense story of Oleg. Therefore, no one could ask a question about Maria.

‘Major Maria is either crazy or we’re crazy, or if both of us are not, this is all a dream.’

No one came up with a question when they didn’t even understand her words.

“I’ll ask you one thing.” Only one, Vladimir, opened his mouth and asked, “Is Kim Tae-hoon the one I know?”

Maria nodded cautiously at the question. At that moment, there was no choice left for Major General Vladimir.

“I’ll have to see him.”

8.

“The mineral rights of natural gas and other resources, lease of farmland, tanks, warships, missiles, and-” a young man, who spoke Russian quite fluently, smiled and finished his speech, “Nuclear weapons. You can pay for anything among these. Ah, Red Square is fine, too. I’ll figure out the Kremlin’s value.”

The man who finished his talk picked up a Choco pie on the table with a smile. The wrapping paper of the individually packed Choco pie was engraved with the divine bird mascot Mac, raising his thumb, unlike the usual wrapping paper.

“Of course this Choco pie is free.”

He ripped the wrapping paper off and took out the Choco pie in it. The man who started eating looked at the man beyond the table.

Major General Vladimir had served as the head of the Russian prime minister’s security department, and he had been in power in the Russian army. The eyes of the man who could kill a person just by blazing his eyes were quite ferocious.

The blue eyes made him feel bluer. However, Jang Sung-hoon, who was eating a Choco pie in front of the spirit, did not feel daunted at all. There was no reason to be afraid.

“That’s more dry and crumbling than I thought. Boss, can you get me some coffee?”

The presence of the man who was staying calm and cool behind Jang Sung-hoon was so great that he was not intimidated.

The same was true of Major General Vladimir. The days of a man who has been the head of the Russian prime minister security department were out of ordinary. During the Cold War era, he served as a first-year soldier, and he played an active role as an ace of the KGB at the time of the collapse of the Soviet Union. He became the top person of the influential people in the Russian army. And now, even in the absurd age of the monsters, he was active without losing his ambition.

However, even Vladimir could not maintain his composure in front of the presence of Kim Tae-hoon.

“Hoo-oo.” A long sigh came from the mouth of Vladimir. It was the sound which he should make at the table. With that sigh, he spoke slowly, “In short, if we pay for the monsters that are now occupying our country, you will get rid of them.”

His words were immediately translated into English through Maria, and Jang nodded and answered in Russian.

“I can talk, but I can’t listen; now I am in trouble. That’s why we shouldn’t study foreign languages with a book, right, boss?”

It was a not-so-funny happening created by Jang’s Russian ability. However, Kim did not raise any issues at it happening. Even before the monsters appeared, Jang had not been able to speak Russian as well as English. Kim knew that Jang would have gone through much effort and hardship to speak this level of Russian. Furthermore, the reason why he studied such a foreign language was not simply for his own benefit.

In addition, Jang’s Russian skills were actually not important in the conversation.

“Let me ask you a question.”

“The questions are free, so you can ask me as much as you like.”

“How much would it cost to kill Chernobog?”

At the question, Jang cleared the Choco pie powder from his mouth instead of looking surprised, and he said with a light smile on his lips, “How much are you offering?”

The cross-question made Maria and Vladimir harden. This kind of question was unexpected. Jang waved his hand lightly as if he expected the reaction of the two.

“It’s a joke, a joke, but is it true that Chernobog is a purple-grade monster that now occupies all of the northern parts of Russia?”

“Yes.”

“What colors have you even killed?”

“If it’s a monster color… blue.”

“It’s lucky.”

“Lucky?”

“Yes, it’s lucky, you’ll fully understand the price needed when we kill the purple-grade monster.”

“What the hell is that-”

“All of them.”

The conversation that had been smoothly going stopped, as if they did not understand what Jang said.

“You’ve killed a blue monster, haven’t you? And then isn’t that a fully understandable price?”

On the other hand, Jang continued to speak with an expression that was hard to understand when he saw the reaction of the two. “We have killed three dark blue-grade monsters, for the sake of the country’s fate, so I can assure you. At this point, killing a dark blue monster would be a matter of controlling the fate of the country. Not to mention, do you think you could end up just using a few nuclear warheads and killing a purple-grade monster, more easily than the dark blue-grade?”

Jang’s words were outspoken. He spoke Russian more fluently than the Russians. Of course, it was not because his linguistic ability increased sharply because he talked with native speakers for several minutes. It was because he had expected this situation, and spoke out the words prepared for this situation.

It was not just words that Jang spit out on his own, but words that contained the will of the man watching this conversation behind him.

So, as soon as Jang Sung-hoon spoke, Vladimir’s eyes were heading toward Kim Tae-hoon. Vladimir’s eyes, looking at Kim, were the fiercest eyes, like a commander on the brink of war. They were appropriate.

“Our country has never been ruled by another country.” They had lost wars a few times in the long history of Russia, but they were only once under control.

“Come on, you were ruled by the Mongol Empire.” It was in the mid-thirteenth century, the Mongolian era that had brought nightmares to Europe at that time.

But now in the 21st century, would Russia become a vassal power of the Republic of Korea?

A great country with a long history, with the most land in the world, would be humiliated to serve under a small country on the Korean Peninsula, a country that was only a little larger than Lake Baikal?

It was the most insulting provocation ever received by Vladimir. So, his eyes were ferocious.

“Oh, well… I think, Goryeo, Korean Dynasty was in a similar situation. I’m just saying.” Now, even Jang could not afford to relax in front of those eyes.

“Boss, can you change seats? I’m dizzy.” Of course, Jang’s role only went so far. His role was to make Vladimir look like a tiger at the edge of a cliff. In other words, the time when Kim stepped forward had come.

“This is the first time seeing you in person, Major General Vladimir.” He had been silent until now, and after he had stood up, he walked toward the table. He made eye contact with Vladimir, “So, are you going to war with us?”

At the appearance of the word ‘war’, the eyes of Vladimir, which were fiercer than ever, were trembling. Kim Tae-hoon’s presence was that strong. In order to protect his country, he was ready to become a torch for war, even by burning his body. Most of all, he realized at this moment that he was truly afraid of Kim Tae-hoon. His situation at the edge of the cliff made him realize it.

“… show me your abilities in front of me.” In the end, Vladimir made a compromise. Instead of lowering his head right away, he made the most reasonable choice he could make in this situation.

Kim Tae-hoon stepped down from the table, and Jang Sung-hoon continued his speech with a short cough. “What do you want us to kill?”

The door opened with a knock and a man appeared. “I’m sorry.” The man, whose face was red as he held his breath, carefully approached Vladimir and spoke in a low voice. “We’ve received an emergency call from the Tiger Unit waiting at Lake Baikal.”

The remark changed the expression of Vladimir. It was evidence of suppressing forcibly a rising sense of surprise, embarrassment, and crisis.

And for both Kim and Jang, there was evidence that the game had finally shown a big gap. Of course, the two did not intend to miss this chance.

“We’ll start the promotion. I’ll take one destroyer in Vladivostok, and take care of it.”