Hunt (3)
"Grrgh...!"
As his mind grew increasingly hazy, Cheol-woo dragged his heavy body back into the water one more time. Agony ripped through him as his clenched teeth pierced his lips, and his body refused to obey, but he squeezed out every last ounce of strength to push forward across the surface. Spotting Yuri floating face-down, he wrapped an arm around her waist and, with desperate effort, hauled her onto the black island.
Peeling off her mask revealed no consciousness, but she was breathing, however faintly.
Ha—thank fuck—
Cheol-woo collapsed spread-eagled beside her. He felt like he was dying. Not hyperbole or metaphor—this was death knocking at the door.
"Kuh, huuh, hngh...!"
His head burned and spun wildly, eyes throbbing under immense pressure as his vision darkened. Whether he was on the verge of blindness or the final moments of life, he couldn't tell. His eardrums had shattered long ago, muffling all sound. His bones rattled throughout his body—dislocations everywhere, not just a couple. And breathing? It came in ragged gasps, like he was suffocating.
Pressing a hand to his chest for a self-diagnosis, he found his ribs utterly pulverized, squishing softly like boneless chicken. With bones like that, his lungs inside had to be wrecked too. Realizing it only made the pain worse.
Damn—shouldn't have checked—
He regretted it immediately.
"Kuhk, kuhuk! Guhrrk...!"
A single cough brought up a sticky, jelly-like glob of blood from deep inside. No wonder his guts felt queasy and hot—internal rupture. The torpedo blast's shockwave was the culprit. Still, surviving a direct hit from a hundred meters underwater, retaining human form? That was a miracle in itself.
I'm gonna die soon—
Summoning his final reserves, Cheol-woo stripped off the wetsuit, pulled paper and pen from an inner pocket, and scribbled:
NOTES:
• Blue drug in right drawer of my cabin
• Administer to both of us ASAP
• Prioritize blue drug over emergency treatment
Can't hold on much longer
He folded the note, clamped it between his teeth, and lay back. The distant thwop-thwop-thwop of helicopter rotors approached as his vision went black.
⋯
"What the hell is this...? Goddamn it! Adjutant! Get your ass to David Min's cabin now! Blue drug's in the right drawer—bring it to the deck!"
David Min and Yuri Min were rushed aboard the Canberra on stretchers. The medics and military doctors scanning their bodies turned pale. These were corpses in all but name. How they still clung to life was a mystery—the damage was catastrophic. Where to even start?
"X-ray up?"
"Yes. Lungs contracted to about a third size."
"Crank the ventilator RPM."
"How much?"
"Max it out to the machine's limit! Internals?"
"Severe internal bleeding. Major hematoma here."
"Drain the blood. Now."
"Skull's got a hematoma too."
"...Leave it."
"Hemostatics?"
"...Forget it. No way to staunch this."
"..."
An impromptu med bay was set up on deck, every doctor swarming them. The prognosis darkened with each scan. No path to survival.
The expeditionary force commander—Kangaroo 6—lost it.
"Goddamn it! When's that blue drug coming?!"
"Here! Got it!"
"You slow-ass bastard! Hand it over!"
"..."
"What're you doing?"
As the commander snatched for it, the adjutant yanked his hand back.
This fucking prick—what the hell?
The commander's fist trembled.
"Commander. Think it over, just once."
"Think what over?"
"You know their power. David and Yuri Min—they're strategic weapons beyond tactics. They're cooperating with the Australian military and Secret Intelligence Agency now, but they're civilians. They could flip anytime. Letting them stay down might be safer for Australia... Kuhk!"
"You braindead fuck. Who asked you to decide?"
Crack! The commander's fist smashed the adjutant's face. He snatched the blue drug from the clutching, broken-nosed adjutant and shoved it to a doctor.
Injected near the heart, the blue drug triggered a grotesque crunch-crackle as bones knit, flesh regenerated—both superhumans healing in seconds. The doctors pulled back, jaws slack, speechless.
It was the dream of every medical professional unfolding before them.
Grotesque—but beautiful—
That shared their thoughts.
The blue drug does this...?
They knew it boosted ability users' physiques, but this regeneration speed? New discovery. Could it be modified for normals? The doctors swallowed hard. The apocalyptic blue drug suddenly looked like an opportunity.
David Min and Yuri Min regained consciousness three days later. Over those days, ruptured organs mended, torn muscles rebuilt, shattered bones fused solid. Brain damage had everyone doubting recovery, but a pre-awakening CT showed it pristine.
Yuri woke first, fourteen hours ahead of David. But misaligned bones required immediate surgery post-recovery. Rebroken and dosed with blue drug, they healed scarless. The doctors gasped in unison.
They'd thought grotesque regrowth the only side effect—but reversible? Zero drawbacks now.
"D-didn't... die?"
"Nah. Still kicking."
The cabin door flew open—Yulia bolted for Cheol-woo, veered sharply, and burrowed into Yuri's arms.
Tch—knew she wouldn't—
Cheol-woo clicked his tongue and turned away. She only likes Sis.
A thundering thud-thud-thud echoed down the hall. Peeking out, he saw the commander huffing sweatily toward them.
"Feeling better?"
"Fit to fly. So, dead or escaped?"
"If you can stand, deck."
Propped by Yuri, Cheol-woo hit the deck—his jaw dropped. Destroyers, frigates, dozens of transports trailed the Canberra. Steel cables from each towed the black island. It looked like the island itself was sailing—a spectacle.
"As you see, confirmed kill. Every warship and merchant vessel from home's been commandeered for relay towing, but it's slow. Land haul? At least a month. We'll dock tomorrow ahead."
"Impressive. Hauling that ashore."
"Impressive is you lot hunting it. What even went through your heads...? Never mind."
The commander trailed off in a sigh. Lure a torpedo barehanded to blind it, sword the eye, railgun the brain? No sane person could conceive, let alone execute, that.
"Worked, didn't it?"
"Yeah... sure."
David Min's casual shrug left the commander awestruck. Right—always been this nuts. No surprise now. He'd seemed just superhumanly fit before, but his thinking was... alien.
"So that corpse is mine."
"Pardon? No, it's Australian military property—"
"Australian hunting law: wild animal carcass goes to the hunter."
"...?"
Hunting law? On that?
The commander gaped. Mulling it, not entirely wrong—headache.
"Uh, no. Navy lured it, torpedoes contributed. Not 100% yours. Split fifty-fifty?"
"Couldn't catch without me. Eighty-twenty."
"Sixty-forty?"
"Eighty-twenty."
"Seventy-thirty max."
"Eighty-twenty."
"We need thirty percent to break even—"
"Eighty-twenty. Or cut cables, sink it."
"Fuck it. Fine. You take eighty percent, we twenty."
Commander surrendered; Cheol-woo high-fived Yuri. Alien megabeast carcass secured. Value unknown, but priceless rift-ecosystem sample. Hundreds of billions minimum.
"Anyway, thanks to you, Pacific's terror is gone. Sea trade'll boom."
"Commander. This."
"Deputy? What... Hm."
The deputy rushed up with a wire—commander's face darkened.
"What?"
"Two hours ago, two big container ships dragged under in the Atlantic."
"..."
Cheol-woo's expression hardened. That beast? Not the only one.