Chapter 129
Chapter 129
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 129
Chapter Title: 67. Hero (4)
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The other side wasn't military. They were looters.
They had a bunch of vehicles, but no heavy weapons, and their fighters looked dubious at best.
Their numbers weren't that impressive either.
Sure, they had well over fifty, but those were looters, while we had thirty fully armed soldiers equipped with armored cars.
They wouldn't stand a chance in a proper fight.
"They must have something up their sleeve."
I agreed with Captain Kim Min-ho's assessment.
No looter was a pushover these days.
They'd sized up the situation, gathered their people, and had the guts to threaten us into handing over Yang Sang-gil.
"Artillery support from the artillery unit is the most likely card they have."
Ha Min-gi and Kim Min-ho's opinions diverged, and it didn't seem like it was just due to differences in command hierarchy.
"All our recon assets are monitoring them. If the Legion faction pulls field guns out of that cave, we'll get a radio report immediately. Honestly, if we're cowering before a handful of civilians, what does that make us if not a ragtag mob?"
Ha Min-gi glanced my way.
He hesitated for a moment before turning to Kim Min-ho.
"By the way, who is this? They've been sitting in on the meeting like it's a given since earlier."
"A freelance hunter."
Song Yu-jin answered in place of Kim Min-ho.
Her expression looked a bit uncertain, but unlike when she dealt with me, she was serious and professional. It made me think my disciple had grown into a proper member of society.
"You're in charge of protecting and surveilling Yang Sang-gil, right?"
"Oh, is that so?"
Ha Min-gi eyed Song Yu-jin's uniform and insignia with displeasure, pretending to accept it.
"But with the situation escalating like this, shouldn't the military take over Yang Sang-gil's protection?"
"I think so too."
I replied as if I'd been waiting for it.
I had no desire to get dragged into this fight.
Not another brawl in my front yard.
Half of it was a self-inflicted disaster, but it was undeniable that my front yard was noisier than Keystone's.
"I'll take my leave then. This doesn't seem like my fight."
"I-Instructor!"
Song Yu-jin followed as I turned to go.
She called me "Instructor" in front of others, it seemed.
"You okay?"
She looked at me with worry.
"With what?"
"I mean, someone of your caliber getting brushed off like this."
"What? You worried about me?"
"Isn't it obvious?"
Song Yu-jin met my eyes squarely.
"I'm your disciple."
"I haven't taught you anything."
"True, but I don't have much else to boast about... I'm only level 2."
Song Yu-jin hung her head dejectedly.
"They treated me like a scrub at the academy, and out here, well, nothing impressive. Just a level 2 scrub, right? But once I said I was your disciple, people started giving me some respect. The deputy director too..."
"I see."
Her excessive kindness suddenly made sense.
Just being connected to me was helping her.
As familiar disappointment washed over me and I turned to leave,
Song Yu-jin's voice trailed after me like a shadow.
"Still, I studied your records hard! The more I learned, the more amazing you seemed. Hunting mid-sized ones without an Awakening ability, even large ones! Even people over level 10 risk their lives against mid-sized, but you took them down with conventional weapons, no reflex field neutralization."
"...It wasn't just me."
She'd actually studied. Not empty flattery.
She knew a bit of Park Gyu's past.
"I could do it because I had comrades who could step up if I died."
I pictured the faces of those who'd gone ahead first as I mounted my motorcycle.
"Instructor!"
Song Yu-jin called out again.
"You'll make dinner, right?"
"We'll see, depending on the situation."
The fight wouldn't drag on long.
No one else wanted to linger long in this desolate place called Park Gyu World except me.
Still, I'd made a promise, so I needed to prepare.
Back in the empty bunker, I made do with boiled potatoes for lunch while prepping tonight's meal.
Curry was on the menu.
"Skeleton. What's up?"
As I prepped the curry ingredients, I got a call from Defender and Rebecca.
"Yang Sang-gil? Did you hear his radio chatter too?"
I brushed it off as typical soldier squabbles and cut the comms.
After finishing prep, as I took a breather, gunfire rang out.
Had the fight started?
I left the bunker, climbed the hill, and observed the golf course.
Soldiers and looters were in a standoff.
Boldly, the looters sent out a few men unfazed by bullets, placing them in front of the soldiers.
Four, no, five of them.
Too far to hear, but the soldiers warned them not to approach and fired a warning shot.
"Hm?"
The looters were advancing.
Slowly toward the soldiers' lines, ignoring aimed rifles.
The troops looked to Ha Min-gi.
He raised his hand.
The next instant.
Boom!
A sound erupted from the looters' side.
I knew that eerie noise and the rhythm it formed all too well.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A heartbeat-like pulse.
Responding, a wave swept everything around it—even light.
And at its center, something resembling a human.
"Awakener."
Fortunately, the wave's form wasn't over level 10.
It was below that.
Meaning, something I could handle.
I dashed to my motorcycle immediately.
Praying no gunfire would ring out.
Rat-tat-tat-tat!
Despite my desperate prayer, shots fired.
By the time I mounted up and looked toward the golf course, it was over.
Several soldiers lay scattered, the rest fleeing.
Among the retreating soldiers, I spotted a familiar uniform—hair tied back in a ponytail—and sighed in relief, then followed their direction on my bike.
*
Out of 34 in the platoon, 7 were dead.
No, 8.
A wounded soldier screaming in agony had gone still.
"Dae-jun! Dae-jun!"
One soldier buried his face in the man's chest and sobbed.
The mood in the ranks was grim.
They'd secured Yang Sang-gil and his family, but at the cost of casualties, and the rear road was cut off.
A clear defeat.
But what depressed the soldiers more was the lack of any way to turn it around.
The enemy had an Awakener.
One that reflected bullets precisely back at the shooters, like a monster.
"...Looks like the intel was true—the Legion faction recruited fanatic North Korean converts to bolster their Awakeners."
Even the arrogant, sharp Kim Min-ho looked deflated after witnessing the miracle firsthand.
Ha Min-gi said nothing, but his already poor complexion worsened.
He was the one who'd ordered fire.
I couldn't fathom why he'd done it knowing it was an Awakener, but surprisingly, it happened often.
Some soldiers still underestimated Awakeners, deluded into thinking they could easily kill one themselves.
"What now?"
Ha Min-gi finally spoke.
"Beats me."
Kim Min-ho sighed, deflated.
"What do we do?"
A subtle shift: the veneer of respect Kim Min-ho had shown his superior had peeled away completely.
And my hunch proved right.
"Should we ram them with the armored car?"
No hiding the contempt and irritation.
Ha Min-gi's face twitched, but aware of his own blunder, he held back and replied.
"Can you spare the armored car? We'll give you a truck."
"Bad trade."
"I'll radio HQ and request a new one."
"'I'll try' isn't enough. Commit to it."
"Hey!"
Ha Min-gi bellowed in his signature loud voice.
"Even in this world, there's such a thing as rank!"
The watching junior officers, NCOs, and soldiers exchanged heated glances.
"...Fuckin' playing rank."
Kim Min-ho sneered.
"If you want veteran respect, what'd you do when the National Crisis Committee was slowly seizing military command?"
"Captain Kim!"
"Nothing more to say."
Ha Min-gi's body trembled visibly even from afar.
Kim Min-ho backed away slowly, leaving him.
"We're withdrawing now, Colonel."
Ha Min-gi didn't respond, but Kim Min-ho twisted the knife once more.
"...By the way, you did contact your direct superior, right? Why no reply?"
Kim Min-ho and his men boarded the armored car.
"Sam—no, Instructor."
Song Yu-jin stood before me before climbing in.
"Gotta go."
Bittersweet expression, she flashed a smile at me.
"Dinner's ready."
"Really?"
"It's fine. I'll eat alone."
"I'll drop by next chance. Take me in if Incheon falls."
"No room."
"Why?"
"Hurry. Captain Kim's pissed."
Song Yu-jin headed to the armored car.
Before boarding, she turned, waved.
The armored car roared to life with exhaust and engine noise, departing.
It headed into rough terrain without roads.
"..."
Yang Sang-gil might be right.
Kim Min-ho, who loved his direct superior, abandoning him like he'd been waiting.
My gaze shifted to Ha Min-gi.
"No choice now—we'll take Yang Sang-gil and go ourselves."
This guy was about to cause more trouble.
"Looks like the southwest slope is the gentlest. Plan seems to be sending a truck with Yang Sang-gil first, then the rest withdraw on foot in stages to link up."
Sounded plausible at first, but absurd.
Trucks navigating rough terrain—not even tracked vehicles.
And not in pre-war mint condition.
This wasn't my affair anyway.
Nothing I could do.
Tried contacting Woo Min-hee, but as always, she ignored me when I needed her.
The looters wouldn't wait, of course.
"Final warning. Send Yang Sang-gil's family with a white flag."
Poised to attack any second.
Soldiers looked to Ha Min-gi, but he ignored the threat.
"Trucks ready?"
Still chasing delusions.
Guess this was the end.
For sticking with these guys.
Time for me to prep survival.
Grab essentials, leave the area, return when quiet.
As I thought that and moved to leave,
"Hunter Park."
Someone blocked my stealthy exit.
Yang Sang-gil.
"Where to?"
"Where else? Gotta vanish."
"You live around here, right?"
He smirked knowingly, snake-like.
I answered without blinking.
"Yes."
"I'll tell them where."
"Go ahead."
"Saw which way you and Song Yu-jin went too."
"Tell them."
"For real? You okay with that?"
Yang Sang-gil grinned, probing my face piercingly.
What to do with this guy.
BOOM!
Sudden explosion from the west.
Where Kim Min-ho's armored car had gone.
Sure enough, it was crashed into a bunker, belching black smoke.
"..."
Familiar ennui and drowsiness clouded my mind like chronic illness.
"Suicide drones! Suicide drones!"
Ha Min-gi's soldier reported frantically.
Casualties were light, fortunately.
The armored car's hatch popped, soldiers coughing as they bailed out.
"Cough! Cough! Fuck!"
My two-week disciple was among them.
Seeing her snapped the volcanic ash haze and sleepiness away.
I scanned around.
Looters—no, armed group in looter guise—approaching in a loose encirclement.
Front: Awakener and main force. Road: lesser troops. But drones overhead controlled air and sightlines.
"Grab Yang Sang-gil! We're leaving now!"
Ha Min-gi kept blundering endlessly.
"Load him on the truck immediately!"
Sharp air-tearing shrieks echoed from above.
Suicide drones.
Three left.
"Jammer!"
The anti-air soldier aimed a bazooka-like anti-drone jammer at an incoming drone.
Pulled the heavy trigger; one drone plummeted harmlessly.
But another followed.
It slammed right into Ha Min-gi's command table as he yelled retreat.
BOOM!
Dirt, smoke, and bits of blood sprayed.
"Colonel!"
"Fuck! Colonel's hit!"
Command decapitated.
Enemy advanced simultaneously.
Gunfire erupted everywhere; the front Awakener sauntered leisurely, sightseeing the golf course.
Armored car survivors joined Ha Min-gi's unit.
"Damn it."
Kim Min-ho, head bandaged with fresh blood seeping, berated himself.
"Jammers ineffective. Active defense down. Why do electronics always fail when we need 'em?"
Setting humanity aside, he was top dog now.
I approached him.
"Sam..."
Felt Song Yu-jin's gaze as she tended wounded, but ignored it.
Kim Min-ho eyed me.
"You're that hunter from before?"
"Kill the Awakener, done?"
"What?"
"If I take out the Awakener, can you handle the rest?"
"W-what? You saw it—bullet-bouncing monster?"
Kim Min-ho glanced at Song Yu-jin with disappointment.
She avoided his eyes.
"...I've fought those monsters my whole life."
Her gaze turned to me now.
"Give me two people. I'll bring the Awakener's head."
Pointed at Song Yu-jin.
"This one. And anyone not a coward."
Kim Min-ho stared suspiciously.
"Why support some civilian hunter with troops?"
He sighed, scanning his men.
"Fine, let's see. Volunteers to entrust your life to him?"
Heavy silence fell.
Soldiers eyed each other warily.
Expected.
They'd seen the Awakener's power.
No one wants to die.
But...
"Me! I'll do it!"
There was one suicidal soul.
"I'll go."
Yang Sang-gil.
< 67. Hero (4) > End