The Era of Hunters, The First Hunter
I finished clearing the battlefield and headed toward the Namsan Government’s base. It turned out they were indeed the force that had been tracking Samira’s location.
‘A library?’
An Awakened from the Namsan Government, whom we had captured alive, served as our guide. We passed through a residential area and turned onto a mountain road lined with dense trees. After walking for a while, I spotted a pristine, intact signpost. The Namsan Government had established its base in a large library and the sprawling recreational forest surrounding it.
“We’ve arrived. It’s just up ahead.”
The guide spoke to Jang Hoseop with a cautious, nervous tone. Jang Hoseop looked back at me, and I gave him a nod.
“We’re moving in. If anyone resists or tries to run, neutralize them immediately. You have my permission to kill if necessary.”
“Yes, sir!”
The rain had eased significantly. Samira’s Awakened answered Jang Hoseop’s command with vigor. I could feel their grim, vengeful energy. It was because we had suffered casualties of our own.
‘Five dead, twelve wounded.’
Considering the scale of the battle, the casualties were low. Especially when compared to the losses suffered by the opposing side. We had launched a surprise attack, and the disparity in momentum was immense. My role in drawing their attention had helped, too. But the simple fact that we had lost people was what mattered.
‘I’ll have to make sure they get a proper funeral.’
With that thought, I led the way. Beside me, Chairman Park’s wheelchair followed. If I tilted my gaze just slightly upward, I could see the corpse of Yeom Ah-hyun, stripped of all clothing, hanging in the air. She had lost all vitality, hanging limp and soaking in the falling rain. She wasn’t the only one hanging there. To the left, to the right, and behind us—we had hung the corpses of every Namsan Government Awakened we had killed. While Yeom Ah-hyun’s body remained intact, the others were not so lucky. That was how we arrived at their base, with their own dead leading the way.
“Oh, Mommy!”
“Don’t look. You mustn’t look! Come here.”
A crowd of people had come out onto the two-lane road to greet us. Most were civilians, and they froze, their expressions hardening in terror. Several adults shielded the children they had been holding in front of them. I stopped my people and stepped forward alone, picking up a bouquet of flowers that a child had dropped.
“Thank you for the welcome. My name is Lee Hyun from Samira.”
Silence. Only the sound of the weakening rain remained.
“As of this moment, the Namsan Government is dissolved. I will offer you all the opportunity to apply for entry into Samira.”
It was a good thing I had put the corpses on display. No one tried to run, and no one dared to raise a voice of resistance. Samira’s Awakened began to control the crowd without a hitch.
As expected, the Namsan Government was a massive group. In terms of sheer numbers of civilians, they had a larger population than Samira. Samira’s Awakened began the interview process. They would explain the concept of being an "applicant" and separate those who would be accepted from those who would be cast out. Once the first round of sorting was finished, Jang Hoseop and I would conduct the final review.
“Boss. There are quite a few elderly people and children… what should we do with them?”
“As long as they can work, it’s fine. Everything has its use. The important thing is their mindset. You know what I mean, right?”
“Understood.”
To these people, Samira was an invading force. Naturally, they were bound to harbor resentment. That was why I had spoken to them once already—about how Yeom Ah-hyun had first tried to pull a fast one on Samira. I hadn’t gone into detail, and I didn’t care whether they believed me or not. The only thing that mattered was whether they could become applicants for Samira and be re-educated. There was no need to take in those who harbored too much resistance.
“Also, find someone who can tell us about the situation here.”
“What kind of situation, sir?”
“Ask them exactly how Yeom Ah-hyun found Samira. That’s the only way to make sure we don’t get caught off guard next time.”
“Yes, sir.”
Perhaps it was because we had killed all of the Namsan Government’s high-level Awakened, but there was no one from the leadership among the captives. Still, just in case, I gave Jang Hoseop those instructions and stepped inside the building.
“Ugh…”
“Please, just hold on a little longer.”
Seol-hee was rushing about, tending to the wounded. Among the injured, three Awakened from the Myungshin Women’s University group were in critical condition. First aid had been completed on the battlefield, and fortunately, the Namsan Government had medical staff, so we received additional help.
“How are they?”
“Ah, Lee Hyun. I’ve stitched the wounds, but… we’re out of painkillers.”
I examined the injured myself. The treatment was done well, but the problem was pain management.
“L-Lee Hyun.”
One of the wounded women looked at me and offered a labored smile. I took her hand. To my surprise, the woman’s irritation faded, and her feelings of happiness surged.
‘If I play this right…’
Seol-hee was also surprised to see the wounded woman’s complexion ease. “Seol-hee, try to find some alcohol.”
“Alcohol… Ah! Yes!”
Seol-hee ran off somewhere with one of the local medical staff. I smiled at the woman who was lying down, clutching my hand tightly.
“It hurts a lot, doesn’t it? You’re doing great.”
I whispered to her tenderly. I told her I was grateful for her hard work for Samira. I told her to hold on just a little longer. I promised that if she recovered well after we returned, I would grant her whatever she wanted. Every now and then, I stroked her hair.
“L-Lee Hyun.”
“Yeah. Go ahead.”
“I… if you could just hug me once…”
This woman had injured her leg. She had been thrashing in pain, so we had immobilized it firmly. I leaned my upper body down and carefully hugged her. The scent of sweat and the metallic tang of blood filled my nose.
“Sob… thank you. I… I’ll hold on. I’m confident. I’ll make sure to recover safely… I want to eat a meal with you later.”
“Yes. Let’s do that.”
The woman wept with emotion. All the negative feelings that had been spiking due to the pain vanished. I hadn’t expected the effect to be this dramatic.
‘Next is… ah, her name was Ji-yeon, right?’
I finished the conversation and moved to the next bed. I called the name I had recalled in a gentle voice.
“Lee Hyun. Haa… I’m fine even if I die.”
The woman who had suffered a side injury let out a strange moan.
“Why would you die?”
She was a talent who needed to fight hard for Samira in the future. I couldn’t let her die. “You can hold on a little longer, right?”
I said this while equipping my smile and gentle voice once again. Her reaction was similar to the previous woman’s. I ended up checking on all the wounded in this manner. They were all women, and the results were overwhelmingly positive. What on earth am I to them?
“Boss!”
Just as I finished checking on the wounded, Jang Hoseop and Seol-hee returned.
“Give alcohol to anyone who wants it. Feed them food if you can, too.”
“Yes. I brought some cigarettes, just in case.”
I told him to handle it and turned back to Jang Hoseop. He was standing with a woman. “There’s a conference room over there. Ah, this friend says she can explain things.”
“Right. Let’s go.”
We took our places in the room that the Namsan Government’s leadership had used as a conference room. I called in the rest of the group, excluding Seol-hee.
“Ah, hello. My name is Yeo Ji-soo. I’m twenty years old.”
Yeo Ji-soo stood in front and introduced herself. I stared at her for a moment before asking, “Were you part of the Namsan Government’s executive staff?”
She was an Awakened, but her level was low. Her emotions were a mix of fear and joy. “Ah, no. That wasn’t it. The… the executives are all dead.”
“Then?”
It was better to have someone who knew the inside story talk, though.
“I heard a lot of things, that’s all.”
Yeo Ji-soo understood what I meant and answered quickly. Her voice was trembling. “I was the Assemblywoman’s… no, that woman’s, that, that thing.”
“Ms. Yeo Ji-soo? Would you like some water?”
She must have been too nervous. Aunt Sujeong handed her a water bottle and comforted her.
“Hoo… I’m sorry.”
Yeo Ji-soo took a deep breath. Then, she spoke in a voice that was much better than before. “I was that woman’s lover.”
I thought about it for a moment before I understood. It meant she was a "sex partner." Since both were women, I hadn’t understood immediately. Thinking she might know quite a lot, I asked again.
“Yeom Ah-hyun was looking for Samira’s location. Are you aware of this?”
“Yes. Because that woman told me…”
Yeo Ji-soo began by explaining Yeom Ah-hyun’s intentions. “The Assemblywoman… no, that woman gathered people as fast as she could.”
The Namsan Government had even distributed paper flyers to gather people, claiming they would rebuild the Republic of Korea. As a result, they were able to grow their power and drive out the monsters in the area. When I had glanced around earlier, there were many elderly and infirm people. She had truly focused only on bulking up her numbers.
“The problem was the food situation… even though we worked hard to gather supplies, the conclusion was that we wouldn’t be able to make it through this winter.”
While she was agonizing over this, news of Samira’s Day-Night Wheat cultivation reached her. So, Yeom Ah-hyun had been hoping for our help even before the Day-Night Wheat harvest date.
“She said she had thought of a good method, and mobilized people to send a rescue request to Samira.”
It was the same as our guess. Both the reason and the method. Then, a story came out that we hadn’t known.
“Among the executives, there was someone with a skill specialized in reconnaissance. He could create transparent eyeballs and control them remotely, like a drone.”
She said that man had floated several transparent eyeballs to monitor the agreed-upon location for the rescue request. She added that he was the man who had died at my hands earlier. Yeo Ji-soo must have been at the battlefield.
“Then one day, he said he found one man and one woman… and that he had found Samira.”
As expected, the power of a skill had been involved. I had asked this question to learn a lesson. But now that I had the answer, I realized that hiding Samira’s location forever would be difficult.
“I see. Understood. Ah, by the way, what was Yeom Ah-hyun’s skill?”
“I’m sorry. I don’t really know that. Only that the strong Awakened listened to that woman well…”
After asking a few more questions, Aunt Sujeong stood up and led her out.
“U-um, can I go to Samira too? I only have bad memories here.”
As she was leaving, Yeo Ji-soo asked Aunt Sujeong in a desperate voice.
“Of course. Ah, Ms. Yeo Ji-soo, what is your skill?”
“I… I can manipulate people’s senses. Right now, it’s only to the extent of alleviating pain…”
Aunt Sujeong stood at the door and looked back at me. I nodded. “Ms. Yeo Ji-soo is being cooperative with us, so I’ll take care of her personally. So don’t worry and wait.”
“Thank you!”
“For now, could you take a look at our wounded?”
I thought Kang Yi-sun would like her ability.
I stepped outside the building. They said the first round of sorting was finished.
“My son is suited for that! Don’t go making him do some other random job…”
“This isn’t the time to be arguing about what job you’re doing, is it?”
I had arrived at the place where they were sorting the people, and I heard a noisy commotion. A middle-aged woman and one of Samira’s Awakened were arguing.
“We’ll investigate everything once we get to Samira later. At that time…”
“I’m trying to tell you now. What if I get assigned to some weird job while mixed in with other people for no reason?”
“Haa, ma’am. It’s useless to tell me. And…”
“So let me meet the person in charge. Okay? I’ll talk to them myself.”
Hearing the content of their conversation, I turned to Jang Hoseop.
“That group over there are the people we’re taking to Samira.”
“And?”
“Sir?”
That woman must have no fear. Was she the same kind of person as me? And I was dumbfounded.
“To my eyes, it looks like Samira’s Awakened is being pushed around by that woman. Am I right?”
Jang Hoseop, who had been answering nonchalantly, stiffened. I walked toward them.