The Hunter and the Hunted (1)
Just buy it already—then, out of nowhere, an item dropped from the ceiling above the driver's seat.
Thwack!
Go Cheon-su, who'd just taken a hit to the face from the item plummeting down like it'd been thrown, raised a hand to his mouth.
"Ah, you little... "
But he didn't let the rest slip out.
Heukgu was sitting right there beside him.
Go Cheon-su rubbed the spot where he'd been hit and glared down at the item now resting on his thigh.
Fury Accelerator Pedal Cover.
It wasn't just some cloth thing—it had anti-slip metal attached, which made it hurt like hell.
"Whew."
Go Cheon-su barely soothed the lingering pain, grabbed the cover, and pushed his seat back. Then he slotted it onto the accelerator pedal.
"Wonder if this thing's actually useful..."
He'd bought it to test it out since it had dropped anyway, but he wasn't entirely convinced.
'At least I know how items drop now.'
He'd worried that since the tube had fallen from the sky, maybe everything only dropped from way up high. But it seemed items just fell from whatever the buyer perceived as "ceiling" above their head.
'What about heavy stuff, though?'
If he bought something like a hammer from outside and it came plummeting from the actual sky, that could be seriously dangerous.
"Who knows."
He'd test it later if something like that came up.
Go Cheon-su straightened up for now and adjusted his seat position again. He turned on the attached navigation and set the destination to Cheongju International Airport.
"Navigation starting now."
It worked.
Go Cheon-su released the side brake and shifted gears.
Vrooom!
The car he was driving shot forward vigorously as he pressed the accelerator.
Whoosh!
But despite the roaring engine, the car's speed was turtle-slow.
Go Cheon-su had only tapped it lightly.
Of course not.
But to get out the front gate with the car, he had to pass through the annex lounge. Short as it was, he needed to creep along slowly to avoid any accidents inside.
"Brothers, this here's an original box van."
In other words, one solid bump and it'd crumple like a tin can.
"We'll go careful-like."
Of course, no amount of care could dodge every obstacle.
"Whew."
There were stairs at the front gate. If he didn't handle this right, the car would flip for sure.
"Wish there was an item for safe stair descent."
Go Cheon-su lined the car up toward the gate and took one big breath.
Prep done.
He stomped the accelerator, and the car rocketed toward the gate.
"Brothers, hold on tight!"
Vroooom!
It flew.
For a split second, the car left the ground, cleared the stairs, and slammed onto the sidewalk.
Bam!
The car lurched forward, bumper scraping asphalt.
Screeech!
With the center of gravity still pitching forward, the brakes Go Cheon-su slammed pulled it up short, front end hovering slightly in the air before stopping.
"Don't flip! Don't flip!"
Thud!
The rear dropped, the car bounced once, then came to a full stop.
"...Haa."
Barely survived.
Go Cheon-su slumped into his seat.
Go Cheon-su stared hard at the chat window at that.
NotAfraidOfThat sponsored 1 Zen.
- Don't look at me like that. Sorry.
"Brothers, am I scary?"
"Stop laughing and answer."
Just 1 Zen. Still, even 1 Zen was precious.
"Brothers, I'm calm now. Take care of our Heukgu, yeah?"
Heukgu was staring at Go Cheon-su, still spooked from the ordeal.
"You've been through worse on the bus. What's the big deal?"
Go Cheon-su glanced in the rearview mirror. Traces of the fence that'd been at the front gate remained. If it'd still been there, this van would've been squished like tofu.
'Lucky break.'
But luck alone wouldn't cut it from here on out.
"Belt up now."
Go Cheon-su buckled his seatbelt.
"Can't belt a dog anyway."
"Got it, will do from now on."
Vroooom!
The car aligned and sped onto the road.
"Right turn ahead."
'Road shouldn't be an issue.'
If GPS still worked, he could reroute around blockages.
The catch was sticking to the paths the soldiers had cleared for safety.
Vroom.
The soldiers had already left the annex. Go Cheon-su had waited for that exact moment, so running into this was expected.
"Ready?"
Go Cheon-su glanced at Heukgu.
"Let's tail 'em nice and sneaky from here."
Gyeongbu Expressway.
Vehicles departing from Daejeon Complex Terminal raced down the wide road.
"It's quiet."
"Guess the soldiers picked a good route."
"Lucky us."
Passengers on Bus 1 breathed sighs of relief that nothing had gone wrong yet.
"Honestly, I was worried. Being in front and all."
"But the soldiers wouldn't ditch us..."
Bus 1 led the pack. Even the soldiers' vehicles were positioned to let it go first.
"Hey, driver. Aren't we too far ahead?"
A man in the front seat asked the bus driver.
"...Dunno."
"Should slow down a bit. We're ahead of the soldiers."
The only escort was a single small truck with soldiers running parallel.
For the lead bus, that was it.
"Don't worry. They're probably hanging back on purpose."
The driver answered, but he was trembling anxiously.
The man wanted to press, but the driver's cold sweat shut him up.
"Jeez..."
He looked exasperated but dropped it. No sense stressing the driver more.
As passengers relaxed into chatter, silence hung only between the driver and the man—like the tense calm before a storm.
"Monsters ahead!"
That's when it came: soldiers' shouts through the open driver's window.
"Monsters?"
The man behind the driver furrowed his brow.
Roooar!
A quadruped beast, human-like but with twisted muscles, bellowed from ahead.
"Aaaah!"
As the man yelled, soldiers on the truck raised rifles forward.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
The gunfire made the monster flinch and twist.
It was working.
But there wasn't just one.
"What the hell?"
The man gawked as more identical beasts appeared.
"St-stop! Tons of monsters ahead!"
He yelled at the driver. Stop now, let the soldiers handle it.
Vroooooom!
But why? The bus accelerated instead.
"Wh-what're you doing? Stop!"
Roooar!
The bus reached the monsters—then veered into a branch road without stopping.
"What...!"
As the man freaked, the monsters gave chase. Even new ones appearing ahead.
"What're you doing?!"
"Stop!"
"The monsters...!"
Too late. Monsters clung to the bus.
"Aaaaah!"
"Mommy!"
Crash!
Windows shattered everywhere.
The bus smashed the guardrail and flipped sideways.
Bam!
A massive crash echoed from afar.
Go Cheon-su, tailing the distant vehicles, frowned.
"Already blew up?"
Definite impact sound, but the other cars kept going fine.
Woof!
Heukgu's bark snapped Go Cheon-su's focus forward. Lights shone their way from afar.
"Spotted."
Reflected off lenses, probably. Soldiers had seen him.
"Whatever, enjoy the show."
He'd expected it. No big deal. Distance was too far for shots, and no reason anyway.
'Just some late civilian tailing. No threat.'
A harmless van? They'd ignore it.
Bam!
Pressing on past the branch, black smoke rose nearby.
Go Cheon-su heard it too. Explosions and screams flooded his ears at once.
But that was it. A bit farther, and the sounds faded behind.
Suddenly, a new type of chat appeared—one he'd never seen.
Go Cheon-su glanced at chat, his expression more glare than look. Another reaction popped up.
"Brothers."
Go Cheon-su said lowly.
"This is a cute car. So you're saying I'm cute too, right?"
"Got it."
He tried brushing it off, but the toxic viewer kept going.
Viewers started beefing among themselves.
Go Cheon-su furrowed his brows.
'This prick's being a total edgelord.'
Right when he needed focus, some aggro viewer pulled him in.
He suppressed his irritation, flashed a faint smile, and asked, "By the way, brothers, we got a manager, right? How do I appoint one?"
"What?"
Impossible.
"Need a diehard fan first? What kinda rule is that?"
Go Cheon-su inhaled, then spoke again.
"Any way I can kick as streamer? Streamers got perms too."
Shit situation.
He hadn't known the system worked like that.
'Hah, great.'
Ignore it, but it pissed him off.
Go Cheon-su called out. "Han Do-choe? You there?"
"Huh? Why sorry, brother? Anyway, what about diehard fan?"
As viewers chattered wildly, one message popped up.
"What?"
Go Cheon-su blinked in shock.
"30%?"
"What's the other way?"
All the same answer, like scripted.
As Go Cheon-su swallowed dryly, the toxic chat continued.
Other viewers yelling to stop did nothing.
As Go Cheon-su eyed the messy chat with rising nausea—
A chat screaming "Han Do-choe" vibes appeared, and right after—
Han Do-choe sponsored 40 Zen!
- T_T_T_T_T_T_T_T_T_T