Awakening
“Should we turn?”
A narrow side path branched off just before the road littered with corpses. Kang Tae-sung glanced at the detour between the buildings and shook his head.
“The corpses themselves are the bait.”
“……?”
“The detour is an antlion pit.”
Unable to grasp the meaning, Kang Yeon-sung simply ignored the possible detour and drove straight ahead, carefully weaving between the bodies.
As he did, he snuck a look to the side.
In the narrow path he had thought was a detour, figures lurked in the shadows between buildings or poked their heads out of windows, clearly itching for trouble.
Only then did he understand what his oldest brother meant by an antlion pit. If they had avoided the corpses and taken the side road, they would have been ambushed by outlaws.
Still, if outlaws had set up camp there, it probably meant there weren’t many monsters in the area.
It was more accurate to say the outlaws gathered in places monsters tended to avoid rather than that the outlaws had cleared the monsters out.
Kang Yeon-sung followed his oldest brother’s directions and kept driving for a long time.
He had heard plenty of warnings that it was dangerous to leave the city center, yet strangely enough, even after wandering the outskirts for quite a while, nothing dangerous happened.
“…….”
He knew it was thanks to his oldest brother’s precise guidance. Then, at one point, that very brother reached through the broken rear window and tapped him on the shoulder.
“This is good. We can stop here.”
“Here?”
Kang Yeon-sung, who had been planning to turn at the next intersection, looked genuinely surprised.
This place was less “outskirts” and more “completely outside the city.” It looked like abandoned farmland from the old days, now covered in empty fields.
Weeds had grown as tall as reeds, and because the road cut through them, visibility was terrible.
There was a good chance monsters were hiding in that sea of weeds. Since the ground was dirt, they could move around without any trouble.
“What are you so nervous about?”
But his brother’s words told him those fears were unfounded.
“No matter how tall the weeds are, they can’t hide those things. Well… there are smaller types, but there aren’t any here.”
Only then did Kang Yeon-sung shake off some of his fear and look around more objectively.
After getting out of the truck, he hopped straight into the cargo bed. Following his oldest brother’s instructions, he crawled into the small empty space left beyond the furniture they had loaded. There, just as if it had been planned, was a perfect gap between the pieces of furniture.
It seemed his brother had arranged it from the start so he could use the furniture as a shield and shoot his bow from that crevice.
“Don’t aim too carefully. Just shoot roughly. I’ll drag them in close anyway. And don’t shoot me.”
“Ah, yes…”
Of course. Obviously. Those kinds of casual replies didn’t come out easily. It might have sounded like a simple answer, but it was a lie.
What he was doing was anything but obvious. For him, simply shooting the bow was still a challenge.
Kang Tae-sung glanced at his youngest brother, who couldn’t bring himself to speak empty words, then gave a small smile. He leaped down from the truck and vanished into the reed-like weeds with a whoosh.
“Ah…”
Kang Yeon-sung felt a wave of anxiety as Kang Tae-sung disappeared without a trace or sound, as if he had never been there at all. It felt like he had been left alone from the very beginning.
But before the anxiety could grow too strong, his oldest brother returned.
Something had been hiding in the furrow of a distant field, near a small stream in a ditch. A monster that looked somewhat like a toad let out a screech and lunged forward. Its two front legs, claws extended, were cleanly severed and flew through the air.
At first glance the monster resembled a toad, but it was really just one disgusting lump. About two meters across, it looked like a giant rotten steamed bun covered in mold and dripping with some unidentifiable liquid.
Yet Kang Tae-sung carved away at the thing as if it were nothing and dragged it over. The parts he cut off were the dangerous ones. The parts left behind were less dangerous.
“Can you hit it?”
Kang Tae-sung had dragged the creature to within just five meters of the stationary truck.
“O-of course.”
This time the answer wasn’t just a casual reply. No matter how bad his skills were, there was no way he could miss a lump that big from five meters away.
But the real problem wasn’t whether he could hit it.
Whoooosh— Thwack!
Thud! Thud!
Thump—!
The arrows definitely hit, but they couldn’t pierce the hide. That was the problem.
“…….”
Kang Yeon-sung kept firing one arrow after another, but the result was the same.
He emptied an entire quiver, yet only two arrows actually stuck in the creature’s flesh. Even those just dangled loosely like weed seeds stuck to clothing.
Only then did he notice that the fingers that had barely begun to heal had split open again and were bleeding.
“Hey. You’ll hurt yourself doing that bare-handed.”
Kang Tae-sung had noticed even from a distance.
“Sorry.”
“You aimed well. It’s just that this thing’s hide is too tough.”
Kang Tae-sung said it was no big deal and told him to use the collapsible spear they had strapped to the side of the cargo bed.
“Maybe I should have started with this from the beginning.”
“Still, you need to shoot every chance you get if you want to improve.”
Even though the spear gave him extra reach, Kang Tae-sung warned him not to get too close. He got out of the truck and stopped his approaching younger brother at an appropriate distance.
“Right there looks perfect.”
“Yes.”
Kang Yeon-sung scanned the area once, checking for anything that might approach, then began thrusting the spear.
It certainly felt like he was dealing more damage than with the arrows, though he wondered if that was just because he was stabbing directly.
Still, one thrust with the spear was faster than firing a single arrow, and unlike arrows, the spear could be used indefinitely until it broke.
By the time a light sheen of sweat had formed on his forehead, the spear began sinking deep into the lump. Before long, it killed the creature.
After properly taking down his first monster, Kang Tae-sung looked at him and gave a small nod, as if confirming something.
“Must be because you killed so many rats.”
“Huh?”
“You’ll awaken faster than Han-sung. It won’t be long.”
Kang Tae-sung was right.
After hunting roughly ten more creatures, Kang Yeon-sung definitely awakened.
“Ah.”
The eye he had been using alone, which always felt dry and tired, suddenly felt clearer. His vision sharpened, and energy surged through his body.
“Take this.”
“What?”
Just like he had done with Han-sung, Kang Tae-sung handed over 100 points and told him to level up. While Kang Yeon-sung picked up the arrows that had fallen to the ground, his oldest brother stood guard, watching the surroundings until his brother climbed back into the truck.
Only after getting back in the vehicle did Kang Yeon-sung properly spend the points. He said the random stat had gone to mental strength.
After thinking for a while and even searching the internet, he put one point into agility and one into endurance.
“Since I have to use a bow.”
From what he read, agility wasn’t just about quick reflexes or speed. It also helped with precision, which was useful when aiming guns or bows.
And higher endurance meant he wouldn’t get tired or shaky as quickly even when holding a steady aim or drawing a bowstring for a long time.
“They say raising strength lets you pull a heavier draw weight… but that feels like overdoing it for now.”
“A lighter draw weight would be easier to pull, at least.”
“…Ah.”
At Kang Tae-sung’s words, Kang Yeon-sung’s face went blank for a moment. Since he couldn’t recover the points he had already spent, he felt a bit dejected, but he soon recovered. He hadn’t allocated them wrongly, after all.
When their youngest brother started the truck again, Kang Tae-sung glanced around.
There were still monsters hiding or wandering nearby, but there was no need to hunt more right here. Since his youngest brother had awakened, today was enough.
On the way back to the city, they took a straight road that let them arrive much faster than on the way out.
There was no reason to retrace the paths where the outlaws were hiding, and this route was quicker anyway.
Once they returned home, the whole family worked together to move the furniture inside.
“Having three grown men sure makes things nice.”
Their mother smiled brightly, something they hadn’t seen in a long time. Their father glanced at her and grumbled, “Why three?” The sight reminded them of the old days.
“I have my own room now!”
Kang Yu-ri looked thrilled to finally have a room of her own.
The house they lived in before the world changed only had two bedrooms. Their parents took one, and everyone else had to share the other, which had been inconvenient.
That was why Kang Tae-sung and Kang Han-sung had slept in the living room, and why Kang Yeon-sung, who had shared a room with his older sister, ended up with a personality that wasn’t exactly masculine even considering how young he had been. He had simply spent too much time around her.
That personality still remained to some degree. The fact that he still spoke politely to his two older brothers was probably a result of that.
“It’s nice to have everyone together like this.”
They heated water with the electric boiler and took turns showering. Gathering in the spacious living room after so long felt wonderful.
As the family chatted, the main topic was what they would do going forward.
“Don’t worry about rent, electricity, or water bills. We’ll take care of all that.”
Kang Han-sung said there was nothing to worry about with three Level 2 hunters in the house, but Kang Tae-sung shook his head and continued.
“It’s best not to rush into anything just because you have levels.”
“No, I didn’t mean it like that… I’m not being arrogant.”
“I’ll be careful.”
Kang Tae-sung was grateful that his two younger brothers simply nodded without stubbornly pushing back out of pride.
“Don’t worry about rent or living expenses for now. Focus on training.”
You’ve obtained weapons, but they aren’t familiar in your hands yet, Kang Tae-sung told them. You need to be careful until they feel natural, and even more careful once they do.
After saying that, he took out a thick wad of cash, set it on the table, and slid it forward. It stopped in front of their mother.
“Use it wherever you need. You can save it for rent if you want.”
“Ooh. The eldest son has returned.”
Kang Han-sung, sitting beside him, gave a thumbs-up. Kang Tae-sung smiled at the playful gesture, then turned to Kang Yu-ri, who had been sitting quietly.
“Yu-ri. Is there something you’ve been thinking about?”
At her oldest brother’s question, Kang Yu-ri glanced at her two brothers and the rest of the family.
“Um… that hunter thing. Can’t I do it too?”
“No way, you idiot.”
Kang Han-sung’s reflexive reply made Kang Yu-ri flare up even though she had clearly expected it.
“Why not!”
“I wouldn’t recommend it.”
But at Kang Tae-sung’s words, she calmed down a little. She didn’t know why, but for some reason her oldest brother’s words carried a weight the others’ didn’t. She couldn’t easily argue or ignore them.
However, the second brother, Kang Han-sung, who was nodding beside him, was still just as annoying as ever.
Thank you.
See you next time…