Chapter 17
Chapter 17
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 017
Chapter Title: Mad Hunter: ??? (1)
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0.
Someone was sprinting toward us from the main gate.
It was a full-on dash. A chill ran down my spine. The rain was pouring too hard to make out who it was, but their target was clearly us.
“Fucking hell. What a pain right to the end.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong drew her pistol.
Kim Gye-sang and Hong Byeong-gyu shouted one after another.
“Charging straight ahead!”
“Must be damn confident in his skills. Ha-kyeong! Shoot the bastard down the second he shows!”
“Have to see him first before I can shoot!”
I…… couldn’t summon the Dawn Sword for some reason.
Why?
Was I some fool idiot rejecting the reality of people slaughtering each other even in a situation like this?
The splashing footsteps grew close.
Then, as someone burst through the downpour, we all froze.
A boy around fifteen.
A Hunter…… [Lv: 4]. But he had no weapon or build like a Hunter. Why did his face look so familiar?
“If you don’t want a hole in your skull, fuck off! Soul stones are all used up anyway.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong barked it out just as the boy called my name.
“L-Lead Hunter……? You’re the Lead Hunter, right……?”
The desperation in his voice was genuine. Didn’t seem like he was here to steal soul stones…… I took a step forward.
“Yeah. What’s going on?”
“It’s you. Thank goodness…… really thank goodness…… I made it in time.”
In confusion, the boy started rambling, then dropped to his knees right in front of me. He began speaking in a choked sob.
“Please help…… just this once…… there’s no one else I can beg but the Lead Hunter……”
Pitiful kid……
What despair had he been through to kneel before a total stranger?
“Tell me what’s happening.”
I knelt down in front of him to meet his eyes.
“Really……?”
“Yeah. If it’s something I can help with, I will.”
The boy barely held back his tears and opened his mouth.
“Ji-yeon noona…… I think that guy got her…… she hasn’t come back in six hours…… she went out foraging food with the others…… to that guy……”
Ji-yeon?
No way, the Ji-yeon I remembered?
What do you know. His face was a dead ringer. That’s why he looked familiar.
“You’re Park Ji-yeon’s little brother, aren’t you?”
Park Ji-yeon.
The reporter who escaped Jongno-gu with me on the day of destruction.
A surge of joy hit me.
She’d said she had to find her family, and here we were reuniting as Hunters.
But the boy burst into tears the moment he heard her name.
“Yeah…… noona said I could never burden anyone…… but at this rate, she might die……”
Die?
I grabbed the boy’s shoulders.
“Calm down and explain. That guy? Who is he?”
“Don’t know who he is…… but he’s a Hunter. We call him the Mad Hunter……”
Mad Hunter?
“He lives in the Hunting Zone…… he butchers anyone who enters and scatters the pieces around the outskirts…… Hunters or regular people……”
In this kind of world.
“So…… he’s committing dismemberment murders?”
“Yeah…… over thirty people missing. Starting three days ago. And then the chopped-up bodies turn up…… Lead Hunter…… please……”
We all froze in place.
We wouldn’t have been this shocked even hearing that Subordinates had appeared in the Hunting Zone.
A Hunter serial killer……?
“You’re sure it was a Hunter? Plenty of Heteromorphs look human.”
An ominous chill swept over me.
The three days ago part stuck out. Didn’t it line up with when we’d cleared Muak-dong?
“But…… everything about him was exactly human……”
“Now we’ve got psychos like that showing up too?”
Hong Byeong-gyu’s tone wasn’t even contempt—it was denial of reality.
The emotion gripping us was an inexplicable terror.
After a long moment, Jeong Ha-kyeong let out her usual weary sigh.
“That’s for your group to handle. Why come begging all the way here?”
“Wait a sec…… Ha-kyeong.”
“Snap out of it. Aren’t you Hunters? You only care about yourselves?”
Hong Byeong-gyu tried to mediate, but Jeong Ha-kyeong slapped his hand away.
“Kim Baek-jun here. While you were lounging safe in the rear, this guy was putting his life on the line hunting Subordinates. Nearly died pulling that stunt and only miraculously woke up today. And you have the balls to come crawling to him……”
“Enough.”
I shot to my feet and extended a hand to the boy.
“She’s not dead yet, right? It’s all just circumstantial?”
“……Yeah, not yet, not yet.”
“Good. Get up. We’re heading out now. We’ll talk on the carriage ride.”
<Romance> wouldn’t be back for two days.
Plenty of time to handle this and return. Jeong Ha-kyeong grabbed my shoulder in protest.
“You nuts? There’s a limit to playing the sucker.”
“He said thirty Hunters already dead.”
“Yeah! Exactly why it’s too dangerous—for some woman you split from on day one!”
“This isn’t personal. And definitely not something to take lightly.”
Saving Park Ji-yeon mattered, but I had to go confirm what this ominous presence really was.
Whether the guy was a real Hunter or some new breed of Heteromorph cropping up after the Subordinates fell.
Either way, it’d be the worst……
Jeong Ha-kyeong shook her head in frustration.
“What I mean is, why does it have to be you?”
“……Why can’t it be me?”
“You hunt Nightmares. Handle all the rear’s dirty work. What are you, the errand boy? Why keep throwing your body around like that? You could rest.”
“……”
“Anyone else, fine. But you’ve earned the right to play king. So why volunteer to be the sucker?”
“Ha-kyeong.”
I pried her hand off my shoulder.
“Does someone need a reason to help another person?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong went speechless and just stared at me blankly. At the same time, an info window popped up in front of me.
[Holy Flame Succession: Humanity level (5) increase.]
- Humanity: 678 -> 683
Suddenly? What the hell did I even do? Hong Byeong-gyu came over and clapped my shoulder.
“We’ll help. Psycho fucker—gotta beat him senseless early so no copycats pop up.”
“No. Better if I go alone.”
“What? Opponent’s a Hunter, not a Heteromorph. Crazy one, and smart too. Dangerous.”
“That’s exactly why. How’s a guy like that gonna react to a bunch of Nightmare Hunters coming at him?”
“……Fuck, he’d go into hiding.”
In the end, Hong Byeong-gyu’s group sighed and nodded. They extended hands to me with reluctant voices.
“Then…… if you need backup later, just say the word. For you, we’ll drop everything and come running.”
“Same here, Baek-jun.”
It touched me.
Between a serial killer and the people guarding humanity. Caught right in the middle, I bowed my head.
“……Thank you.”
We shook hands.
A deep, heartfelt handshake.
In a world where you could die anywhere, anytime. This might be the last goodbye.
“Ha-kyeong.”
I looked at Jeong Ha-kyeong one final time.
She was still standing there in the rain.
“When you got mad earlier. Honestly, it made me happy.”
I knew it was for my sake.
Felt bad like I was ignoring her kindness. Wished I had better way with words than an awkward smile.
“But I’m really fine. So next time……”
“What, trying to sweet-talk me into tagging along?”
Jeong Ha-kyeong sighed and stepped up beside me. As I stared blankly, she gruffly scratched the back of her head.
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Not here to help this little shit. I’m worried about you, that’s all.”
Jeong Ha-kyeong.
This woman…… really hard to figure out. Incredibly grateful, but I had to shake my head.
“Like I said, better if I go alone.”
“Two’s better than one, right? You had Ha-kyeong’s help taking down the boss too.”
With Hong Byeong-gyu backing her up, the other Hunters chimed in one by one.
“Three or fewer won’t draw eyes.”
“Yeah. Gotta have sis go to put our minds at ease.”
Everyone piled on like that, so I ended up conceding.
Partly because time was short, but also because I judged Jeong Ha-kyeong’s Super Acceleration would be damn useful.
“See you alive again. Hit us up when you’re back.”
After bidding farewell to Hong Byeong-gyu’s group, we headed to the carriage stop.
Carriages were the main transport for Hunters post-destruction. Luckily, an empty one was waiting.
First stop: Bukgajwa-dong, western Seodaemun-gu.
If eastern Independence Gate area was the Nightmare Hunters’ base, western Bukgajwa-dong was the rear Hunters’ base.
1.
On the ride, I got various details from the boy.
His name was Park Ji-won.
He took after Park Ji-yeon in more than just name. Cute face, pretty bold and upright personality.
“Call me hyung, casual’s fine. Most rear Hunters around your level?”
At my question, Park Ji-won’s lips trembled. He’d barely reined in his fear and anxiety, but his face was still pale as a ghost.
“Nah. Most are higher…… and me and noona aren’t really rear Hunters.”
“Hm? Aren’t they all called rear Hunters?”
“We’re different. They call us Outskirts Knights. No idea who started it.”
Knights? What knights?
I glanced at Jeong Ha-kyeong.
She was staring out the carriage window, contempt flickering in her eyes.
“Talking about the morons hunkered down in the outskirts. That ‘Knights’ bullshit nickname didn’t exist back when I was around.”
“Why would Hunters stick to the outskirts?”
“You know how survivors split into two groups after destruction, right?”
First group: Paradise Citizens.
Those granted Paradise residency. Forced into a class system, but guaranteed food, shelter, and safety.
Second group: Outskirters.
No Paradise residency, scraping by in the outskirts—Paradise Zone’s outer fringes.
Survivors desperately flocked to the outskirts.
Couldn’t enter Paradise, but got protection from Hunters passing through the Hunting Zone.
But Hunters got the basics guaranteed—why would they?
“Why else? Trash skills, but wanna wear the armband and play lord.”
“No! We stay in the outskirts to protect people! You don’t know shit…… don’t talk like you do.”
Park Ji-won shot back hard at Jeong Ha-kyeong’s sneer. Nice he had his sister’s spunk, but he’d picked the wrong opponent.
“Hang on. Let’s sort this out.”
I jumped in quick before Jeong Ha-kyeong blew up.
“So…… you’re like a medieval feudal knight, right?”
“Yeah. Guard the base from Heteromorphs. Lead civilian foraging parties for food. Repair facilities too.”
“Facilities?”
“Our base is a subway station. Tons to fix. You know DMC Station on Line 6?”
It was absurd.
DMC Station was an outskirts subway stop like Independence Gate Station. Using it as a base meant the station was intact?
“Food was easy to get. There’s a big mart right below at World Cup Stadium Station.”
“Hope the Mad Hunter didn’t show up there.”
“That’s where…… noona went looking for the missing…… she really didn’t get caught by that bastard, right……? If she did……”
The despair leaking from his unfinished words ran deep.
All I could do was pat his back. Around then, the carriage rolled into Bukgajwa-dong.
I peered out the window.
Honestly curious. What the western hub looked like. Jeong Ha-kyeong spoke up.
“You, first time in the west?”
“Yeah.”
“Keep expectations zero. That way you won’t be disappointed no matter what.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Just speed past and forget…… What I was worried about wasn’t the Hunting Zone. It’s here.”
It didn’t take long to grasp what Jeong Ha-kyeong meant.
Western Seodaemun-gu was nothing like the east.
If the east felt like a decaying ghost town, the west was like a bustling red-light district.
Even this early, Hunters clustered in bars, cackling away.
“……Saw a tentacle Heteromorph yesterday, yeah? By Bulkwang Stream. Sneak up good and it’d be fun to fuck. You in?”
“Hmm. Sounds usable. What do you think, cutie?”
The female Hunter suddenly yanked the pretty boy serving drinks into a hug and nibbled his ear.
I worried the boy might resist politely…… but he just let out a cute moan and nodded.
What came next was even more shocking.
“Ahaha! Catch me if you can, stylish Hunter!”
A naked man and woman giggling as they slid down the street.
A [Kitchen] brand on the woman’s forehead. [Lv: 7] info window over the man’s head.
“They filming a movie or something……?”
“Not that rare. Drunken idiots pull that shit all the time.”
And that wasn’t all.
Every alley, people inhaling what looked like drugs.
Dazed faces endlessly sucking smoke, or sprawled anywhere giggling to themselves.
“My god.”
It felt like everything was wrong.
Even Nightmare Hunters drank and spouted vulgar shit. But that was just entertainment to blow off stress.
Like before the world fell.
But not here.
These guys…… they were reveling in the ruined world. Just like the Star Messenger.
Jeong Ha-kyeong sighed.
“Told you before. Rear’s idiot central. Just think of ’em as crazies putting on a show and let it slide. ……Please.”
Her voice held an earnest plea unlike her usual tone.
I decided to do just that.
Until the carriage stopped in front of the gate to the Hunting Zone.
“Alright, friends. Pull over right there.”