Chapter 116
Since this is a reading scene, it is styled separately._TITLE: A Breath of Madness
I'm not giving off a stench like that too, am I?
I pressed in close behind the monster, and the reek stabbed straight up my nose. Things that had probably lived their whole lives without once learning what it meant to wash. I wasn't much better, so I had no room to talk. Water was too precious. That was all it came down to.
Anyway.
The weak point ought to be about here.
If Dr. Myeong had it right, the weak point sat in the hollow behind the left knee. It was supposed to be about the size of my head, so landing the shot wouldn't be the hard part. The problem was that I couldn't see it yet.
Which means I'll have to use a light after all.
I knew the rough location, so the briefest flash ought to do. This was a species with absurdly sharp eyes, though, and even a light switched on at its back had to be handled with care. If the worst came, Dr. Myeong would need to move exactly as we'd planned.
Hoo. Hoo.
Deep breaths, from behind me. I looked back. Dr. Myeong had her head poked out the window, shaking like a leaf. I'd taken it for nerves, until—
"Would you hold still! Does this old man never get tired!"
Look closer, and she was trembling from the effort of pinning Elder Heo down. Dr. Myeong was fighting a battle of her own.
All right. Then I'll start on my end.
Flashlight in the left hand. Backscratcher in the right. From the moment the light came on, everything would be improvisation. The gunshot would roll loud across the whole area, but that didn't matter. Even if something had been hiding nearby, one look at this beanpole of a monster would have sent it running long ago.
I aimed the flashlight in my left hand at the hollow of the monster's knee and laid my right—Backscratcher in it—across my left forearm. A stance that would at least put the first round where I wanted it.
One shot. That's how this ends.
I didn't have the rounds to waste. A monster of that type died if you buried a hollow-point in the weak point, and I had exactly two hollow-points left. That, too, was because there'd been no time to prepare. The mission clock was too tight for a detour through the surface black market.
Doesn't matter. One round is enough.
One round apiece. Finish it in a single stroke.
Click.
The flashlight drove back the deep-night dark for a fraction of a second. There was the weak point.
Click.
I killed the light at once, but—
Krek…?
The flash had already drawn a reaction. That was fine. I was faster.
Tick.
Laser-sight mode on the Backscratcher, and—
Bang!
The round punched exactly into the spot I'd marked.
Krek…!
The leg folded, and the monster's stance came apart. The round had seated true in the weak point. It would thrash for a while, and then it would die. One left.
Krek, krek!
It spotted me and immediately hiked one leg high. That enormous foot blotted out the starlight, and a shadow dropped over my head—
"Move!"
Dr. Myeong's shout reached me.
Relax. I could dodge this much with my eyes closed.
I threw myself into a long roll, and—
Thud!
The heel slammed down on the ground where I'd been standing a moment before. Gravel spat into my face and cut it. Trivial. The real screaming fit was only getting started.
The monster began whipping those long legs like lashes.
Not fast, but…
Dodging still wasn't easy. In the deep of the night, that jet-black fur was perfect camouflage. There was a limit to what the eyes could track and slip. At times like this you read the pattern too. You timed the strikes.
Thud!
It kept stamping bare earth. Yes, that had been where I was a moment ago. Its attacks were simply a beat slow.
Thud!
Monsters, a few special cases aside, were generally stupid. They didn't predict where you were going and strike ahead of it, and they didn't throw their combinations off the beat. Their patterns were honest.
Thud!
Get dozens of them swarming and that would be a different story. One of them, I could dodge.
"What are you doing! You just going to keep dodging? When does the plan start? I'm ready!"
I was the one with my life on the line, and I had half a mind to ask where her patience had gone—but then:
"This old man has way too much energy! Would you stay still! Do something about him!"
She had a crisis of her own. In her hand was the flashlight I'd told her not to let go of, no matter what.
Thud!
The monster didn't let up, heel after heel into the dirt. I could dodge the attacks somehow, but like this I couldn't go for the weak point. As long as it kept its eyes on me, the back of that leg was impossible to line up. I'd considered slipping underneath the moment it lifted a leg and taking the shot from there, but one slip and I'd be paste first.
Thud!
I juked this way and that, and it never lost me. With only one opponent in front of it, it didn't have to. I'd expected this. That was why I'd given Dr. Myeong a special piece of the plan.
Turn on the flashlight. Pull the monster's eyes.
But the perfect moment wasn't coming. The abandoned building where she was hiding sat too close to the creature. The instant it turned and kicked, Dr. Myeong and Elder Heo would die in the same breath.
One more step. That's all I need to draw it.
If it would just come one step closer to me. It wasn't easy.
Thud!
If I broke and ran flat out, the monster would chase me, no question. That would pull it for certain—but then the gap between Dr. Myeong and me would open too wide. The lump of metal around my neck would measure the distance and call the mission a failure.
Thud!
None of this would have been a problem if I hadn't been stuck with the restriction to carry only whatever gear that runt of a hunter usually took out. One flare, and this would have been simple. I had a few other things that could make light, but they wouldn't do. A lighter's little flame was useless. It had to be bright enough to steal the thing's attention even when it came on outside its field of view.
This is such bullshit.
Every constraint on the board, and I was pinned down by a single monster.
"Woo Jungkook!"
Dr. Myeong kept yelling. Maybe telling her the monster was deaf had been a mistake.
"I turn on the flashlight, the monster turns toward me, and then you go for the back of the knee—that's it, isn't it?"
That was the plan. Now wasn't the time.
"Are you worried we'll be in danger if you can't finish it in one shot? Forget that and just start! There is no answer if we stay like this!"
She wasn't wrong. There was no answer like this. Commit blindly, though, and Dr. Myeong and Elder Heo were the ones who'd pay for it. All I needed was to draw it one single step—
"Since when does Woo Jungkook worry so much about other people! Weren't you living on your own? Have you actually turned into someone who lives with the rest of us?"
…No. There was no way.
"I've got no intention of living alongside anyone. That doesn't mean I'm going to get a perfectly fine person killed."
Thud!
"Think rationally! I'm telling you there is no answer! You used to cut a decision clean as a knife—why are you so damn slow? God, this old man!"
"Woo Jangchun! Help me, would you! My disciple means to kill me!"
"Who's killing anybody! I really might just kill you!"
Dr. Myeong was saying nothing but the truth. There was clearly no room to stall at our leisure. More monsters could show up anytime, from anywhere.
Has Woo Jungkook turned into someone who lives with other people, while I wasn't looking?
That day was never coming. What worried me was the nightmare I'd have if it did.
Fine. Cut it clean.
All I had to do was move faster than the monster. Aim true, and end it in one. If I couldn't trust my own skill, I had no future anyway.
"Turn on the flashlight!"
I'd finish it in one shot.
"Keep the light on its head until it goes down!"
"You could've said so from the start!"
Dr. Myeong snapped the flashlight up and aimed it at the monster's head. Good thing she carried an emergency light. I didn't have a spare.
Except—
Thud!
"What are you doing? Turn it on!"
"J-just a second."
She can't seriously not know how to use it.
Thud!
"You were the one screaming at me to hurry—turn it on!"
"Something's wrong with this…!"
"You don't know how to use it?"
"You think I'm an idiot?"
Thud!
"You're already doing a fine impression."
"Damn it…. I think it's dead."
You've got to be kidding me.
"You brought it out without even checking?"
"How was I supposed to know I'd be dragged straight outside! I got pulled out before I knew what was happening!"
"No battery to swap in?"
"I… don't have one."
No time to bicker. Find a way.
"Check what kind of battery it takes!"
"Checking, fast!"
I'd left my postman bag inside the abandoned building. There were spare batteries in it. Swap one in, and we'd be fine.
"The battery is…. really small?"
"What's written on it."
"CCC?"
Tsk. Of all things, an uncommon low-capacity cell. No wonder the flashlight had looked so dainty.
"You should've brought a big one!"
"I carry it because it's small. If it were big, I wouldn't carry it at all!"
Thud!
Luckily, I did have a matching battery. It just wasn't in the bag right now.
"I'll throw it! You swap it in!"
It was the cell that went into the Backscratcher, the one the special functions needed. Laser-sight mode, for one. A single battery lasted well over a year, so I hadn't bothered packing a spare.
Thud!
"Catch it properly!"
"Then throw it properly!"
The monster was planted solid in front of the abandoned building. Getting a throw past it to Dr. Myeong was no ordinary trick, but—
Whish.
To the god of billiards, it wasn't a problem.
"Don't worry! I can see it just fine!"
The battery cut across the empty air. Dr. Myeong's eyes tracked it exactly. Even in the dark, she could see it clear as anything. It sailed safely past the monster, and then—
"I've got it! I'll catch it!"
Hold on. Isn't Dr. Myeong a complete klutz?
Tok.
"Ack!"
The battery struck her palm and bounced away as if it had been reflected.
"What are you doing!"
A full two beats late, Dr. Myeong tried folding her five fingers shut.
"S-sorry!"
"Hell of a reflex. The battery reflected right off you."
It had been a long throw. Even with the battery standing out that clear, catching it clean at this distance would have been hard for someone who wasn't a klutz. And that had been the only battery I had. To pick it back up, either I went all the way over there, or Dr. Myeong came out of the building.
Thud!
"Can't you just throw me your flashlight? I'll catch it this time!"
It wasn't as if I hadn't considered that. The problem was that the weak point didn't show properly to my eyes.
"This one has the weak point in the left knee hollow too, right?"
"I'm sure of it!"
"The exact same spot?"
"Uh…. that part I'm not sure about."
Even if Dr. Myeong pulled its gaze and gave me a look at its back, without a flashlight on my side I couldn't confirm exactly where the weak point sat. And there was no guarantee she'd actually catch one if I threw it.
"Then I'll go out and pick up the battery! I can see it!"
"Stay put, if you don't want to die. I'll go get it."
"Can you even see where it rolled?"
The night was still pitch-dark. Not to my eyes.
Thud!
"You can definitely see it, right?"
"It rolled until it caught on a stone and stopped."
"Give me a rough location."
"Explaining every little bit is harder! The thing is tiny! I'll pick it up, so wait!"
"Stay put!"
"You stay put!"
Thud!
"No—stay there and keep dodging! I'll handle it somehow!"
"I don't trust that at all."
"It can't even hear, right? Don't worry! Master, we're stepping out for a moment."
"What? You torment me to your heart's content, and now you mean to go out? Out where!"
"Hurry! If we don't stay clumped together, the necklace explodes!"
"Eh? Is that true?"
"If it doesn't, I'll kill you myself, so it comes to the same thing!"
I already didn't trust Dr. Myeong moving on her own, and now she was dragging Elder Heo out with her….
Is this even the right call?
"Woo Jungkook! I'm coming straight out with Mr. Heo Seongchan!"
The battery would be much closer to her than to me. All I could do was hope she found it fast.
"Tell me which way you're going before you move! If you get too far off, I have to adjust the distance too."
"That way!"
And as Dr. Myeong pointed in the direction the battery had rolled—
"…Am I the only one who can see that?"
No. I could see it too. There was no way not to see it. Dozens of monsters were coming in.
"Wh-what do we do?"
"Get out. Now."
"Huh?"
Thud!
"Get out there and find the battery!"
"But the monsters over there—"
"Move, damn it!"
Survival was a matter of judgment.
"O-okay—!"
Move.