Chapter 294
Chapter 294
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 294
Chapter Title: 119. Tool (1)
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The content of the dream was every bit as bizarre as Bang Jae-hyuk's tale.
I was walking down some unfamiliar street in a suit, and someone was following me by stepping on my shadow.
The person trailing behind me was none other than Jang Gi-yeong.
He was dressed in a shabby suit that looked a size too big, shuffling after me. For some reason, he was leaking what seemed to be urine, pants and all.
Suddenly, the scene shifted to what resembled a library or maybe a sauna—some kind of public space unfolding before me.
I was lying flat on the floor in my suit, and without any particular reason, I turned my head.
Jang Gi-yeong was lying right beside me.
The moment I looked at him, he turned his head to face me. I waited for him to say something.
It wasn't patience so much as a long-ingrained habit as his disciple.
But no matter how long I waited, Jang Gi-yeong said nothing.
Suddenly, I remembered that Jang Gi-yeong was either already dead or in a state as good as dead, and I asked him what he was doing here.
At that instant, the lights in the facility went out, plunging everything into darkness.
In that blackness, I realized I was dreaming, but the dream refused to let me go.
When I woke up in bed, my body was drenched in sweat.
"......"
I'm not the type to get tossed around by dreams like some weakling.
But that one had a lingering intensity that stuck with me.
I finally reached out to Woo Min-hee after a long time—not entirely because of the dream, but I'd be lying if I said it didn't play a big part.
*
"Long time no talk, sunbae. And a sudden message out of the blue. What wind blew you my way?"
Woo Min-hee didn't reply until an hour after I sent the comm request.
Her voice was still that sultry, dreamlike haze.
"Just checking if you were still kicking."
"Oh my. Sunbae, worrying about little old me? I must be blessed."
"How's it going on your end?"
"Here?"
"Yeah."
One thing nagging at me.
About Kim Daram.
Odds are, she's sided with Woo Min-hee.
But that's a touchy subject.
For Kim Daram. For me.
Only Woo Min-hee could handle it lightly, but everything she touches ends up broken or shattered.
Best to keep it off her radar entirely.
"Eh, things here are manageable. We get sporadic contact with Jeju, and air drops come like beans in a drought."
"Any word on the lighthouse?"
"Nope, nothing."
"Got it."
"I was actually planning to send a scout team there. And boom—great minds think alike, sunbae beats me to the punch."
Woo Min-hee chuckled softly.
I said nothing.
I didn't want to go. No reason to.
Besides, I didn't need to lean on her right now.
I've got a group of my own.
Sure, linking up with a bigger, stronger outfit raises the odds of things snapping under pressure, but we can handle most threats ourselves.
"Sunbae doesn't wanna go, huh?"
"......Honestly? Yeah. Scary. Awkward. And I doubt I'd even be useful there."
"You'd be a huge help!"
Her breathing quickened just a bit.
"You know it too, sunbae—the rifts are spawning Anti-Awakened entities. Mixing 'em in with regulars. We're starting to struggle on our own."
Looks like she needs me.
Not for old times' sake, but tactical necessity.
If that's true, it explains her taking in Kim Daram.
"Got it."
"So, what's your play?"
"Can't help out for a while."
"Why?"
She must've shoved the mic right up close—her breath came through crystal clear.
She's pissed.
I'm not thrilled either, but no way am I poking the bear with this mentally fragile powerhouse.
"Put together a group recently."
"No kidding?"
"Yeah. Some buddies and folks nearby. Small-scale outfit. You know how the Legion faction crumbled—some academy hunters are gunning for me."
Before I finished, her breathing cut off. Then her voice came distant, relayed indirectly through the speaker.
"For real?"
Someone else in the room.
Asking them.
If my gut's right...
"Oh, Kim Daram says yeah."
There it is. Kim Daram was right there.
I knew, but played surprised.
"Kim Daram? She's with you?"
"Yeah. Kinda happened that way. Wonder why she ditched sunbae for me, though. Oh~ I get it."
That teasing lilt, meant for my ears.
Woo Min-hee's true colors won't change till she drops.
"Whatever. If it's tough for you, we'll assemble a team and scout ourselves. Was hesitant to call anyway—advance recon brought bad news."
"Bad news?"
"Yeah."
She paused.
After a beat, she continued.
"The Professor's Nightmare showed up."
"......"
Professor's Nightmare.
The colloquial term, known to few, points to the monster type that twisted my fate for good.
General type.
The first one I discovered. The first I admitted I couldn't kill with my own power.
Surface reason for retiring was the Awakened's debut, but the General type severed my last lingering attachment.
Trapped in its intangible restraint, I learned bone-deep there was no way to fight back.
"......I'm still old-school, Min-hee."
I'd commed her plenty, but this was the first time I poured real heart into it.
They say heart calls to heart.
An unexpectedly warm voice flowed from the comm.
"But no one's as strong as you, right? Twelve Square?"
"......"
She knew.
I stifled a chuckle.
"Anyway, hit me up if anything else comes."
"Wait."
"?"
"One thing I wanna ask."
Almost forgot the main point.
"Ah? Jang Gi-yeong?"
Of course she knew about him.
"Didn't you hate that guy, sunbae?"
My master-disciple tie with Jang Gi-yeong was infamous in hunter circles.
My real ID was classified, so few knew Park Gyu the man, but Professor the callsign had global fame. Jang Gi-yeong rode that wave as the mentor who raised him.
"Professor's entirely my creation. He perfectly embodies my ideals. You know... persona. Yeah, persona."
Those in the know summed our bond in one word: "tool."
Jang needed a tool for his ambitions. And this Park Gyu was the perfect pick.
Not my take, but fair enough.
Jang forced his anachronistic, unrealistic, sometimes bizarre ideals on us.
His notebook's "rocket axe"—shaded with dense lines—was a prime example of the man.
The more real fights, the more I proved his teachings were delusions.
I'd known since student days it was media hype and self-PR mirage. But seeing his true face in action blew away my last scraps of respect.
Even juniors like Woo Min-hee, not close to me, knew.
Professor the tool didn't like Jang Gi-yeong one bit.
"If sunbae wants to know, I'll tell you."
Woo Min-hee recounted his end casually.
"Left him at the lab. Didn't dispose of him, far as I recall. Blew the place sky-high when we left. If he's lucky, he survived. But so what? Zombie at best?"
She'd heard recent rumors too.
"Heard weird talk about him, but it's bullshit. Biologically dead. Rift's just puppeteering his corpse. His zombie activity was on its last legs—no reaction to stimuli. Wasn't rotting, but he's been a corpse for ages."
Jang Gi-yeong is alive.
At least, the zombie using his name is up and moving.
*
Since learning Jang Gi-yeong—or a zombie presumed to be him—was alive, my attention inexplicably fixated on him.
Strange.
I'd rarely thought well of him. Secretly despised him.
No sorrow when I heard he zombified.
That was our bond.
Yet some incomprehensible feeling kept pulling my gaze to Incheon's docks.
Maybe with my group stabilized, idle mental space bred this pointless curiosity.
First heard about the scavenging zombie presumed to be Jang at our board.
The one muttering "Professor"—called just "scavenging zombie," no fancy name.
Source: Anonymous 458.
Anonymous 458 is one of the pure oldbies I respect.
Was in Kyle_Dos Family back when it was a small, envied board crew.
Kyle_Dos and net buddy Anonymous 848 are long gone now, lost to ruin. But 458 soldiers on as the same chill, quippy-straight-faced regular user.
In this era where normalcy's rare, his consistency deserves reevaluation.
He's not as ordinary as he seems—steel mind, or cushy setup letting him keep it.
Anyway, he dropped the scavenging zombie story.
Shot him a message after ages.
Messages are closed channels between distant users. But they reveal patterns—send times, reply lags hint at routines.
Sent at 9 AM.
Most folks up early, grinding morning tasks.
He replied 4:50 PM.
Post-work, settled in, checking laptop/PC.
Guess: sun-up work, sun-down rest, like us.
His reply:
Pointed out he might be mistaken.
Quick retort—probably dead serious.
Chatting with a solid net pal always warms the heart, past or present.
Our crew's reliable, but it's a different flavor from board buds.
"......"
Sat in my chair, flipping through the battered notebook Jang passed me, long time.
As before, nothing useful inside.
But usefulness aside, every stroke screamed his iron will.
My eyes lingered longest on that infamous rocket axe.
Rocket-propelled striking force enhancer attachment—that verbose beast's sketch taped to my desk.
Axe with thrusters to make this skeleton superhero-soar and hack monsters from above? Tough even for me.
"......Instructor."
Bittersweet smile as I stared at the over-detailed shading.
One shaded spot had a carved-out blank.
Where Jang once hid his Awakened exam sheet.
Nothing left to find now, but I gazed blankly at the shading he'd penned a thousand strokes over.
No special reason.
Just noting his lines—unnecessarily straight, few curves.
Then.
"?"
Something like letters under the shading.
More like: wrote letters first, shaded over.
Held the drawing close to decode.
His scrawl.
Messy to start, dense overlaps hard to parse—but soon, the phrase emerged.
"......"
I stood.
My heart stirred.
So I have to go now.
Or risk never seeing my mentor again.