Chapter 1
Chapter 1
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Prologue
-----------------------------------------------------------------
00001 Prologue =========================================================================
I’m a team leader heading a small team.
I couldn’t even count the number of crises I overcame to reach this position as team leader.
Everything was dodged by the narrowest of margins.
All I can say is that I got lucky.
I’m only 25 years old now, but I’ve been through every filthy thing imaginable.
In this line of work where countless people die, only a handful—including me—have lasted a full ten years.
That’s why people judge me by my experience, not my age.
-Stealth protocol, strictly.
The team had entered the danger zone.
Even for hunters with special powers, this hunting ground was perilous.
And yet, every single one of us—me and my team—was nothing but ordinary civilians without abilities.
The world thought we were insane for it.
But if the team leader played their cards right, our survival odds beat those of most hunters.
Hunters confronted monsters head-on, while we slipped past them.
As long as we didn’t run into the enemy, we could make it back in one piece.
Our job—expertly evading foes like that—was straightforward.
Infiltrate the hunting grounds and harvest byproducts from monster corpses.
We targeted the ones hunters hadn’t managed to recover, or corpses from monsters that had killed each other, or ones that had died of natural causes.
Since we only went after the dead, people called us hyenas.
They even slapped us with the derogatory nickname “shit flies.”
Seoul was a vast hunting ground, and a hardworking hyena could reap plenty of rewards.
We pulled every dirty trick in the book to score those corpses.
Rummaging through rotting bodies and slathering ourselves in muck was child’s play.
Sometimes we shoveled through massive dung piles to dig out the goodies inside.
If it paid, we’d wade into the filthiest spots without hesitation.
The real hyenas on the savanna were a hundred times cleaner than us.
A few weeks back, we’d gone into a building after a corpse.
The moment we cracked open the door, a black mass slammed into my face.
Turned out to be swarms of tens of thousands of flies.
Maggots that hadn’t matured yet came pouring off the corpse like a tidal wave.
Even then, desperate for cash, we didn’t back down.
We swept the maggots aside by hand and clawed out what we wanted from that putrid monster carcass.
That was our line of work.
Honestly, we had no comeback when they called us shit flies.
No—we stank worse than shit flies.
Maybe that’s why nobody welcomed us back when we returned to the city.
But the hyena gig wasn’t some longstanding profession.
It was just a 3D job that cropped up after the world went to hell.
Twenty years ago now.
The day monsters rained down from the moon, Seoul—home to ten million souls—fell.
The city center drowned in monsters of unknown origin, unleashing a vision of hell.
Unseen beasts hunted kids in quiet alleys.
Roads crawled with colossal horrors that flipped cars and hurled them like toys.
Emperor-like abominations among them stacked human corpses into mountains and gorged.
Their minions shuttled in an endless stream of blood-soaked, gut-spilling bodies.
The shift happened in a heartbeat, and the Seoul in everyone’s memories was gone forever.
People got pushed all the way back to Suwon.
Monsters—low-grades aside—had those special barriers, so the military couldn’t hold them.
That’s when ability users known as hunters emerged, turning the tide.
The government put them out front and pushed north, establishing a blockade line at Indeokwon.
These days, Siheung City, Anyang City, Seongnam City, and Hanam City served as forward bases, keeping the monsters penned inside Seoul.
-Team leader. Nadon traces.
That’s when the lead scout radioed in.
Nadons were leopard-sized monsters with jaws like steel traps.
-Footprints?
-Yeah. Fresh prints in the mud—not set yet. It’s close.
-Big trouble. Everyone, slather on Longtail urine.
Groans laced with irritation rippled through the team.
Longtails were giant dragonfly-like beasts that snatched up Nadons mid-flight for snacks.
Nadons bolted at the mere whiff of their urine.
The catch? That piss reeked to high heaven.
-Expensive stuff, so quit bitching and rub it on.
I laid down the law—no one sat this out.
Couldn’t stop the grumbles, though.
-Team leader, this is exactly why they call us shit flies. Hell, even a chick’s sweat down there would beat this stench.
I knew it was just venting, so I shot back casually.
-It’s a hundred times pricier than the crotch-stink from the whores you pay for back home. Just smear it on.
-Kick kick kick. Hit the town with me when we get back?
-Pass. You always hit the bargain bins.
-Well, do the high-class ones smell like flowers or what?
While trading dumb banter with one of the guys, everyone doused themselves.
I gave the move-out order right away.
Nadon threats were off the table for days now.
Hunters didn’t know tricks like that.
Hell, with their powers, they didn’t need to.
But they got cocky with their abilities, picked fights with Nadons, and died.
They held their own at first.
Eventually, though, swarms closed in from every direction, wore them down, and they dropped.
Us? We steered clear of Nadons.
That’s what hyenas did.