Chapter 63
Chapter 63
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 63
Chapter Title: 39. Campaign (4)
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Thud.
The gun fell to the floor.
He picked it up with his empty hand, unloaded the bullets, then pressed the barrel against the back of his ear while patting him down.
"......Ugh."
Park Sang-min chewed his lips, his face drained of color.
Was it really that shocking?
Strictly speaking, I'd considered it from the start.
This guy trying to invoke pity to lower my guard, then threatening me with a gun to push me into a corner.
Unlike his unique life story, it was a tale filled with clichés.
"......"
What to do.
Killing him would be the right call.
Probably the most rational choice.
The question was how.
I didn't want to use the gun if I could help it.
If a gunshot rang out and a body riddled with holes was found, rumors would spread somehow, irritating Woo Min-hee.
"Turn around."
"Look, Hunter Park. This is a misunderstanding. I was just trying to intimidate the capsule, you know, like a dummy shot......"
Crack!
I slammed the pistol grip down mercilessly on his shoulder.
"Argh!"
"Walk forward."
"What... what are you planning?"
"Forward."
I shifted my gaze to the floor.
There was a Spider Type inside this National Assembly building.
No doubt about it.
Even if it was suspicious that it was spawning minions without establishing a base, as Park Sang-min said, the traces of those minions were undeniable proof of a Spider Type.
It could be an individual with a new pattern we didn't know about.
Not widely known, but monsters changed patterns quite frequently.
Of course, I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the Spider Type existed only in my imagination.
I had insurance for that case too.
Wake the capsule, and that was that.
But that involved a hassle, so I was saving it as a last resort.
I herded Park Sang-min toward the spiderling tracks on the floor.
The method of instilling fear in silence while leading someone to death—I'd learned it from my senior, Baek Seung-hyeon.
"C-Can we talk?"
Park Sang-min finally spoke up.
I allowed it.
At least while he was walking, I'd let him ramble.
"I'm sorry too. I get why you're angry. I don't even know why I did it. Probably felt too much pressure."
"......"
"You saw my mom out there, right? I mentioned her earlier, and it's true. She's a tough one. Sounds repetitive, but I'm just the ball she threw. The moment it's tossed, the vector is set."
"......"
"Where the hell are you taking me?"
The corridor stretched into darkness just then.
"......There."
I turned on the lantern to light the way ahead.
The scenery had changed.
"Webs."
Not real spider silk, but the erosion phenomenon Spider Types created in their nests.
The straight corridor suddenly twisted at some point, with grayish protrusions rising from the floor itself, covering floor, ceiling, and walls without regard, creating optical illusions that made one question gravity.
This was the web that made Spider Types impregnable.
It hadn't settled in long, that much was clear.
A perfect web didn't just disorient the eyes—it made you forget the direction of gravity altogether.
"Are you going to kill me?"
"Got any other ideas?"
"If you kill me, you won't get away clean either."
Park Sang-min stopped in his tracks.
Click.
"Yeah, like that thug Baek Seung-hyeon said earlier, I got dumped. I'm older than you, but young for that group, and Dad's halo is gone now. But listen, Hunter Park."
Park Sang-min turned with a brazen grin.
"A dead Park Sang-min has meaning, right?"
"......"
"I'm a useful card. That's it."
Park Sang-min spread his arms wide.
"Beat me to death, shoot me, whatever. I can't go any further."
He approached me.
His face emerged from the shadows.
"Do whatever. Fuck this. I'm sick of it."
Park Sang-min was crying.
Tears and snot smeared across his face,
like a child searching for his mom.
"Gotta live and die by others' orders? As a representative of the people?"
Park Sang-min suddenly froze.
Not out of fear of me.
A thought had gripped him.
"Come to think of it, my job was just passing others' wills to the assembly. In name, representative democracy means that, right?"
Whatever he said didn't matter.
A grayish glow shimmered from the darkness ahead.
The underground master had spotted us.
Park Sang-min seemed to realize it too, slowly turning to stare wide-eyed at the massive monster approaching to fill the corridor.
"M-Monster......!!"
Correct.
"Spider Type!"
That too.
The grayish monster with three segments like a spider and six legs matched the textbook Spider Type exactly.
But one difference.
It had horns.
Horns larger than a man, towering imposingly.
No Spider Type I'd known had horns.
A variant?
Highly likely.
Given how small spiders like itself poured from its gaping maw.
Typically, Spider Types built bases, laid polyhedral eggs called spawn, and produced spiderlings to defend territory.
This one stored minions inside and released them as needed.
A new type.
School taught: Avoid combat if you spot a new monster or variant.
Sound advice.
That's what I should do.
That's why I came.
But.
"......"
I tend to challenge the new.
Not just curiosity, but confidence in myself.
I'd confronted novelties, uncovered their nature, shared lessons, proving worthy of the "Professor" moniker my mentor gave me, time and again.
Discovering subspecies and variants, proposing counters to new patterns, finding new large monsters, uncovering mutation mechanisms, reporting rift ecosystems.
All achievements from my Professor days.
It's not just about fighting well—the exploration and knowledge made "Professor" a legend of the old world.
But now, time to head back.
My purpose here wasn't satisfying curiosity or battling humanity's enemy.
Just to kill one man.
I, who hated monsters more than anyone and sought to erase them, was now about to feed a man to one just because he threatened me.
Yet.
"......I wanted to show Mom."
Why.
"This Park Sang-min standing and walking on his own."
Why couldn't I move.
"You saw my mom, right?"
"......"
"How much longer can she live? Help me, just this once. You have a mom too, don't you?"
It wasn't just this blatantly obvious emotional appeal.
"Haven't you ever wanted to be a son your mom could be proud of?"
Park Sang-min pleaded through sobs.
"I don't have parents."
When I came to, I'd already passed him, advancing toward the oncoming gray monster.
Against my reason screaming not to, my instincts grasped the objective facts: minimum reflex field range, and its lumbering pattern—a loose weakness obvious to any Spider Type.
One difference.
"Kkiriririk!"
It spewed multiple spiderlings from its maw.
Bang! Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat!
I toppled the charging ones with my pistol.
Click.
As I emptied one magazine in seconds and reached for the next,
Woooong——
A bizarre resonance vibrated the air, shaking my heart.
I immediately slid the pistol away across the floor.
Woooong——!!
The resonance peaked, and the pistol leaped up on its own.
Boom! Boom-boom-boom!
It exploded, scattering fragments and bullets everywhere.
Detonation.
A monster's authority.
One reason I chose axes—cold weapons.
Thud!
A fragment lodged in my thigh.
Not severing bone or tendon, but intense pain and bleeding followed.
Still shallow.
It hadn't pierced directly; it ricocheted off the floor first, blunting penetration.
"H-Hunter Park?!"
Now it was in my domain.
In the narrow corridor, its 5-meter body crammed in, writhing tentacles disgustingly, vomiting spiderlings like itself.
Shing—
I drew my two axes.
The spiderlings charged me in unison.
The dance of death began.
Each merciless swing cleaved heads, crushed torsos, flinging spiderling corpses to the floor.
"Hah, huff!!"
Park Sang-min's ragged breaths echoed.
Still not fled?
Didn't matter.
Now it was me, Park Sang-min, and one monster.
It planted its six legs deep, lifting its head to the ceiling.
Thinking it could survive that way.
Crack!
I severed a leg.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Until its massive body collapsed, bringing that hideous head within my reach.
"Kkiriririri......"
As it tried to spawn more through its head, I slammed both axes down simultaneously.
Crack!
The moment I confirmed the monster's death, my first emotion was regret.
Unnecessary.
But watching it convulse, dissolve into sparkling ash, vanishing—that sensation gave more satisfaction than anything.
Especially a new one no one had faced.
"......"
Still yearning for the battlefield, huh.
Even after all that despair.
"You okay?!"
Park Sang-min stood awkwardly at the edge of the light.
"So this is a real hunter......"
The wound was shallow.
But bothersome enough.
I hadn't felt the pain earlier due to adrenaline surging at impact.
"Shocking. A human taking down a monster solo...... Incredible. This Park Sang-min is moved!"
"Let's go."
"Huh?"
"I said let's go."
"Y-You're sparing me?"
"Never said I'd kill you once. Though you did point a gun at me."
My heart had softened, for sure.
Beyond Woo Min-hee, even.
No, if I'd had this mindset sooner, things wouldn't have come to this.
That one forgiveness I couldn't give—how many did I lose?
Gang Han-min. And Na Hye-in.
They still hadn't received my forgiveness.
Nor had they forgiven me.
Park Sang-min tore his suit to bandage my wound.
"Doesn't seem arterial. I know a doctor."
"I'm fine. I can handle this myself."
We re-entered the National Assembly building.
Despite everything, the two men didn't speak of their pasts.
The capsule still loomed in the speaker's seat, gleaming with repulsive gray luster as if it belonged there, gazing down at us.
"......"
No helping it.
Probably some symbol.
Hinting at this nation's fate.
South Korea was done.
Had been for a while, but the monster seemed intent on destroying even its soul and roots, mocking us under guise of coincidence.
Nothing I could do.
As I turned to leave, ignoring it,
"Wait. Hunter Park Gyu."
Park Sang-min, who'd been supporting me, suddenly pulled away and headed to the podium.
What now.
Betraying me at this point?
No gun?
Or attacking the capsule for mutual destruction?
As ominous thoughts swirled, Park Sang-min chose something I hadn't imagined.
"Hup!"
Park Sang-min—the former assemblyman—hoisted the capsule at the center of the National Assembly.
"What are you doing?"
Clutching the dozens-of-kilos gray object, he staggered step by step toward the exit.
"This is Park Sang-min."
"Put it down and come back. I just spared you."
"No. I have to do this. Fire's lit."
"Huh?"
"Seeing you fight, Hunter Park Gyu... it makes me feel like I have to fight too. Stand against it."
"Wanna die?"
"If I move this! I can come back here!"
Sometimes I wonder.
The scariest part of ruin isn't mere destruction, but the human heart rotting amid it.
I've seen ruin repeat countless times, but its form varies per person.
Some ruins are ugly; others noble, beautiful.
Unlike the powerless assemblymen lost in amendment excerpts or five-to-four votes in the corridors to the National Assembly, Park Sang-min showed stronger resolve to protect the constitution than any senior.
One assemblyman driving out forces destroying the assembly itself to preserve his seat.
He was as earnest in campaigns as in legislative work.
"Film this. You have your phone?"
"No. Battery's dead."
Park Sang-min set the capsule down, pulled out his phone, and tossed it to me.
"What?"
"Here to support my campaign, right? Stick to your role. My election activities start now!"
So brazenly said, I forgot the wound pain, pulled out my phone, and framed Park Sang-min straining to carry the capsule.
Thud!
Park Sang-min dragged heavy steps, mumbling through gritted teeth.
"Now I'll walk on my own feet! Fuck. So damn hard. Feels like my back'll snap! But this is Park Sang-min's true first step!"
Thud!
"Not as the ball Mom threw, but as a son walking himself."
I watched silently.
Watching was all I could do.
It was his choice, for him.
I supported him a bit too.
"Han River's in sight. As a representative of the people, I'll dump this bastard in!"
One foot stepped outside the National Assembly.
"Now, expelling the villain disrupting constitutional order from our sacred hall. Close-up!"
As I zoomed, Park Sang-min's smiling face filled the frame first.
What to say.
A smile evoking freedom.
Worlds apart from his awkward orphanage kid grin.
But sudden white noise from behind drowned that hard-earned smile.
The capsule burst.
"......This is your son's final moments."
Park Sang-min's mother said nothing.
Just stared endlessly at her son's back, heaving the capsule with those fierce, unyielding eyes she couldn't pass on, desperately trying to expel it from the National Assembly.
An armored vehicle arrived just then, so I left.
From the darkness, that mad woman from earlier approached the old lady.
*It must be regrettable for Park Sang-min, but the election never happened.
The rage boiling online erupted into reality.
Hundreds of thousands gathered at government offices, condemning the situation.
All schedules halted; troops blocked crowds, guns trained.
"So, what happened to Park Sang-min? Dead? Monster?"
Defender, listening via comms, asked casually.
"Tell me quick, SKELTON."
His brother showed keen interest too.
"Hmm, how to put it."
I gathered my thoughts and calmly relayed the last sight to my neighbor.
"So, like this."
The ruined National Assembly was overtaken by a small-class monster called Spider Type.
Spider Type is the archetype of sedentary monsters, standard fare, but the one ruling the assembly had stark differences from others.
It had horns, and skewered or attached to those horns was a man—like a figurehead on an ocean-crossing galleon.
A mix of coincidences and misfortunes had preserved one man on the monster's horn like a ship's prow ornament.
I remember. In the National Assembly with its roof torn open, blue sky peeking futilely, the final sight of the man called Park Sang-min.
Impaled atop the horn, eyes wide open and frozen, as the monster's mouth gaped below, spewing small spiders to fill the empty hall.
So Park Sang-min—now the National Assembly itself—expelling assemblymen, repeating votes and vetoes, reenacting pre-war chaos.
"......Now that man has eight legs."