Chapter 85
Chapter 85
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: The Void Hunter, Cheonunhyojadong (7)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
11.
“Hahahahahahahahahaha!”
“Hehehehehehehehehehe!”
“W-what the fuck! What’s going on? Why’d these things suddenly break free!”
Did Kim Wan die from the lightning strike?
The Heteromorphs freed from their prison began swarming the northern Hunters in a frenzy.
And right at that moment.
“Edelweiss.”
Thud. Thud.
A heavy footfall echoing through the dust-choked world.
“Why run?”
A hollow voice resounding through the world where torrential rain poured in through the gaping hole in the ceiling.
“Do you intend to humiliate me?”
My throat burned.
The Otherworld Hunter…… he’s really here. He really tracked us down.
“No, is this your new form of amusement?”
At that instant.
Gunfire erupted from all directions.
Oh Jeong-su and Choi Jeong-gyun.
The two ex-soldiers fired their shotguns simultaneously, as if intent on turning even the ‘old ones’ into pulp.
Their target was Rohayritz.
But…… I couldn’t believe my eyes.
The moment Rohayritz thrust his hand forward, the bullets vanished into thin air, sucked away somewhere.
“Good. Let’s see how long you can maintain that attitude.”
It happened in a single instant.
The moment Rohayritz clenched his outstretched hand.
Keeeeeeeaaaaaaaagh.
The air tore open with a long rip.
More precisely, the space directly behind Oh Jeong-su and Choi Jeong-gyun.
“…………………”
“…………………”
“…………………”
From there…… oh God……
Countless faceless demons crawled out, slithering…… seized their limbs…… and tore them to shreds……
“T-that’s…… the Otherworld Hunter!”
“Won Hong-gwang!”
Before Jo Hee-sun’s shout could finish, Won Hong-gwang was already forming hand seals.
Kigigiging……!
Starlight chains burst from the floor, binding Rohayritz’s hands and feet.
“Nothing special, just like the rest. Kill him!”
Jo Hee-sun drew her longsword from her back and charged. A blade shimmering with radiant starlight. It looked like a weapon she’d obtained from hunting an Otherworld Hunter.
“Do Ye-jin!”
Someone called my name then.
I whipped around in shock…… and tears welled up.
“Shin Tae-yeop……!”
It was Shin Tae-yeop.
The blond boy stood amid the chaotic melee of Hunters and Heteromorphs clashing.
“Thank God, you’re safe.”
“Grab Park Ji-won! We need to run now!”
As Heo Cheon-gyeom slung Park Ji-won over his shoulder, Ryu Hyeon-ji pointed at Rohayritz.
“R-right now, hit that bastard with a finishing blow, oppa! He’s restrained!”
“It won’t work.”
Shin Tae-yeop picked up the Hae-pae Sword from the floor. He clutched his forehead as if struck by a sudden headache, then spoke.
“That guy…… that guy…… he’s on a whole different level from the Hunters here. Hurry up and get out.”
His tone suggested he knew something about him. But there was no time to ask why.
“But the exit’s blocked by him!”
“Are you crazy? Why go out the exit? This way!”
The First Hunting Squad followed Shin Tae-yeop, leaping over the window railing to the outside.
The street where the downpour raged.
This was true hell on earth.
The stench of water. The reek of blood. Corpses strewn across the road. Demons endlessly descending from the sky.
“Aaahhhhhhh!”
“F-fuck! What the hell are these things!”
“They’re not even dropping soulstones!”
“Are these Subordinates or what?”
The boy and girl sprinted madly across the street’s center, where northern Hunters battled demons fiercely.
“This way!”
“Where, where are we going?”
“Just follow! I interrogated one on the way here.”
The place Shin Tae-yeop led the First Hunting Squad to was an Otherworld barn.
Had it been used as a warehouse?
All the confiscated tools and weapons were stored here.
Even the Cannon X……!
That’s when it happened.
Hiiihiiing…… Horses were going berserk over there.
Those…… are black horses.
The ones that pulled carriages in Paradise…… why here? Did they plan to use them in the Nightmare Zone?
“Ryu Hyeon-ji!”
Shin Tae-yeop issued urgent orders.
“Get Black & White out. Calm these horses down. Do Ye-jin, load all the gear here. Hurry.”
Heo Cheon-gyeom loaded Park Ji-won into the carriage first. Park Ji-won, soaked to the bone by the rain, mumbled through chattering lips.
“C-cold…… so cold…….”
Do Ye-jin soothed her.
“We’ll be home soon. I’ll give you some Star Nebula Liquid.”
“Star Nebula Liquid after we leave! Gear first!”
Do Ye-jin did as told.
So fast she’d never moved like that in her life.
“Done!”
The very moment everything was loaded.
Over there, beyond the thick curtain of rain-mist.
The 1-dong entrance exploded with a crash, and someone went flying, tumbling across the ground.
Jo Hee-sun……?
Then a crow-like figure emerged. It drove Jo Hee-sun’s longsword into her fallen face.
Wiped out [JO.W]……?
He’d single-handedly swept away all the northern Hunters?
At that moment, killing intent gripped my heart like a chill. Rohayritz had looked up, our eyes meeting.
Rohayritz started running.
At full speed.
“Ryu Hyeon-ji! Ready? Not yet?”
Three demons dove in suddenly.
But as Shin Tae-yeop formed seals, they writhed in flames. He shouted desperately.
“No time now!”
“Almost…… almost…… got it!”
Black & White had mesmerized the horses into calming, then returned to Ryu Hyeon-ji’s side.
“Everyone, get on! Now!”
Shin Tae-yeop climbed into the driver’s seat. Do Ye-jin and Ryu Hyeon-ji boarded the cabin. Somehow, Shin Tae-yeop expertly whipped the horses.
“Go!”
──Kwaaaaaang!
The carriage shook violently, nearly overturning.
The backlash from smashing through the barn door.
Clackclackclackclackclackclackclackclackclackclack.
The footsteps closed in instantly. I looked back…… no way.
He was right behind us.
In these few seconds?
Impossible speed. That’s when I sensed something off.
“What’s wrong? Where’s Cheon-gyeom?”
Do Ye-jin asked, but Ryu Hyeon-ji just looked around the cabin in bewilderment.
──Kwa-gwagwagwa!
Then, the sound of wood splintering.
Wood shards and raindrops poured into the cabin simultaneously.
A hole punched through.
Fingers in gauntlets gripped the edge.
Rohayritz……?!
My heart pounded. He’d caught up to the carriage and grabbed the cabin.
“We have to shake him off!”
“H-how……?”
Do Ye-jin moved to counter, but Ryu Hyeon-ji grabbed her sleeve.
“T-those people earlier couldn’t even touch him! They looked so strong!”
“We can’t just──”
“──Uwaaaaaaaaah!”
It was almost simultaneous.
Heo Cheon-gyeom’s battle cry rang out.
And Rohayritz’s hand detached from the carriage.
“Stop! Shin Tae-yeop, stop!”
Realizing what happened, Do Ye-jin shouted.
It was Heo Cheon-gyeom.
Heo Cheon-gyeom had tackled Rohayritz, and they were rolling across the street together.
“Stop, I said!”
If we left him like this…… Heo Cheon-gyeom would definitely die…… just like the rest of the old First Hunting Squad……
But.
The carriage didn’t stop.
Shin Tae-yeop didn’t answer.
Rohayritz rose and kicked Heo Cheon-gyeom in the gut.
“Stop it!”
As Do Ye-jin tried to leap from the carriage, Heo Cheon-gyeom grabbed Rohayritz’s ankle and screamed desperately.
“Goooooooo!”
Go……?
He’s telling us to go now?
Suddenly, Heo Cheon-gyeom’s voice echoed in my mind.
- I just know what needs to be done when.
You don’t mean.
You didn’t board on purpose?
The carriage raced on without stopping.
Rohayritz and Heo Cheon-gyeom grew distant, farther and farther…… until the purple rain hid them completely.
At that moment.
Lightning tore the sky with a eerie howl.
……Kurrrrrrrrrrr……
Why did that howl.
Sound so ominously like the sigh of a hunting dog that lost its prey.
12.
“Get out.”
Shin Tae-yeop flung open the half-destroyed cabin door, and pre-dawn starlight poured in dazzlingly.
“Grab your gear. We’re ditching this carriage.”
“……?”
“They’ll probably track the carriage first. Better to send it off as bait somewhere else.”
The carriage had raced south through the stormy night. Do Ye-jin and Ryu Hyeon-ji huddled in the cabin, trembling.
“Oppa, where’s Heo Cheon-gyeom……? They won’t tell me.”
“…….”
Shin Tae-yeop averted his gaze for a moment, then shook his head.
“Grab your gear. We move now. You have 10 seconds.”
“We left Heo Cheon-gyeom behind.”
Do Ye-jin finally answered the baffled Park Ji-won like that.
“What?”
“To let us escape…… he held him off…….”
My chest felt like it was ripping apart.
Not as close as with Ryu Hyeon-ji, but he was one of my few friends……
Do Ye-jin thought.
I’m cursed.
Cursed to lose everyone close to me.
“This doesn’t make sense. Something’s wrong. This is weird. It’s a lie, right?”
Park Ji-won burst into incredulous laughter, words spilling out.
“How could Heo Cheon-gyeom…… of all people, do that?”
Seeing Ryu Hyeon-ji and Do Ye-jin bow their heads and pack gear, she gaped.
“R…… real?”
No one answered.
Because reality doesn’t become true just because humans affirm it, nor false because they deny it—reality simply is.
After that, no one mentioned Heo Cheon-gyeom’s fate.
“Listen up. Our position now is here.”
After sending the carriage south, Shin Tae-yeop unfolded a map.
“Central-north. Goal is to keep heading north and slip out the northern gate.”
“……Okay.”
“If I’m right…… rushing will just make us easy prey for demons. We’ll move slow. Like Heteromorphs.”
And so, the First Hunting Squad resumed crossing [Fantasy Village], burying their profound grief.
A world turned to ashen wasteland.
Mud squelching underfoot.
Stone structures buried in sand. Murals carved upon them.
“These look just like…… a lunatic’s scribbles.”
A giant with an octopus head.
The tsunami it brought upon the world…… and the end of all things.
I feared to know.
What on earth had happened?
“We should record it. Keep watch around us.”
Whenever that happened, Shin Tae-yeop would pull out his notebook and sketch the murals. In truth, it was probably to give the exhausted squad members a break.
Let me confess something strange.
In such scenes, unfamiliar worldviews would often overlay my vision.
「Children running through the streets.」
「Knights marching with white wooden crests on their chests.」
「A young noble smiling bittersweetly.」
What…… is this?
Definitely not my memories.
Scenes from before this world’s destruction?
Why. How. Can I know this?
That this scene.
This peaceful world.
Was a cherished, unforgettable memory to someone, heartbreakingly so.
Who…… who could it be?
……Surely not. Do Ye-jin flinched, clutching her chest.
“……Ye-jin.”
Shin Tae-yeop’s voice called.
“Lagging behind for what? Didn’t you hear us moving out?”
“N-no…… it’s just…….”
“Just?”
Do Ye-jin gave up explaining the situation. With her mind in a fog, she had no idea how to put it into words.
“Kidding. Scared me when you didn’t follow.”
“You little punk…… this the time for jokes? Read the room.”
Shin Tae-yeop flicked Do Ye-jin’s forehead, then barked at her to hurry.
The squad kept moving like that.
On and on and on.
Do Ye-jin was on rear guard.
Something moved, or so I thought, whipping my head around…… only wind-blown ash danced alive.
That was the world here.
A world where everything lay dead and buried.
Yet, the anxiety that Rohayritz might catch up forced constant glances back.
“Weird…… why hasn’t he shown?”
Shin Tae-yeop voiced his doubt while recording the seventh mural.
“What?”
“Something religious. About salvation or whatever. Figured there’d be that.”
“Religion?”
Park Ji-won asked weakly.
She was suffering anemia from overusing 《Bloodline Tracking》.
“Why look for that?”
“Might be a clue about that guy.”
“……?!”
“Never mind…… let’s go. I’ll explain later.”
Late evening. A sandstorm blew in.
In that fierce gale, Park Ji-won collapsed first.
“Can’t…… can’t go any further…….”
Hunters’ metabolisms were dozens of times more active than normals’. Meaning they needed that much more nutrition.
“Want to put more distance, but…… Ji-won, can you walk a bit more? Can’t rest here anyway.”
“……Yes. A little more…….”
“Ye-jin, support her. We move now.”
How much farther did we go?
Shin Tae-yeop soon found a three-story abandoned shop.
“We camp here tonight.”
The roof half-caved, but the interior surprisingly intact. Shin Tae-yeop said.
“Set up and rest. I’ll scrounge some food.”
Later, Shin Tae-yeop returned with his arms full of something.
Canned cola.
“Cola’s still around?”
Park Ji-won asked in surprise, and Shin Tae-yeop grinned.
“Not in Hunting Zones, right?”
“Yeah. Survivors already took it all.”
“No survivors in Nightmare Zones to take stuff like this. Here, one each. Sugar boost.”
The squad’s faces brightened instantly. Do Ye-jin accepted her can demurely.
Bluish can.
The familiar sensation of popping the tab felt utterly alien.
Psssh, fizzing foam.
Sweet aroma piercing the nose.
A delightful sweet-bitter taste filling the mouth.
“……Tasty!”
Park Ji-won and Do Ye-jin exclaimed together, glancing at each other, and Ryu Hyeon-ji chuckled softly.
That’s when illusions flickered before my eyes.
- This is Pepsi, man. Fake cola. Real cola’s Coca-Cola, root of all.
Cha Seung-hyeon instead of Park Ji-won.
- You ignoring King C, you punk?
Yoon Geon-woo instead of Ryu Hyeon-ji.
- Our dongsaengs, true to form as draft dodgers…… Real Korean guys know 815 Cola.
Hong Byeong-gyu instead of Shin Tae-yeop.
- Ugh, reeks of old man. Old man, your dentures are confiscated for a week.
And somehow, Heo Cheon-gyeom.
How could one cola bring such joy? In that instant, Do Ye-jin spat it out…… and choked painfully.
Thump, thump, thump.
In that moment, despair pulsed from the depths of my soul.
“Y-Ye-jin, you okay?”
Ryu Hyeon-ji patted Do Ye-jin’s back worriedly. When the choking stopped, the illusions were gone.
“I’m fine.”
Do Ye-jin answered simply.
“Nothing happened. Just…… got something stuck.”
Nothing happened.
Really, nothing at all.
Because this was the heart of the nightmare, where it all was normal.