Family Ties and Hidden Dangers
“Big brother.”
“Hm?”
Kang Yeon-sung had been watching his oldest brother search for something on the tablet again. Gathering his courage, he finally spoke up.
“Could we… go hunting together?”
“Not a bad idea.”
“Oh.”
He had half-expected to be turned down, so the immediate acceptance caught him off guard. But the phrase “not bad” could also mean “not particularly good,” and that realization brought the youngest brother’s rising mood to a screeching halt. He glanced at his older brother again, trying to read his expression.
To anyone else, the idea of a Level 3 Awakened being so cautious around someone would have seemed ridiculous. Yet that was exactly the situation unfolding right now.
“As I thought… it’s combat.”
While Yeon-sung was still gauging his brother’s mood, Kang Tae-sung spoke again, eyes fixed on a specific video.
“……?”
At first glance, it looked like ordinary footage of a hunting team in action. There was nothing obviously wrong with it—the team composition, their handling of combat situations, and each member’s individual skill all seemed solid. That was probably why they had confidently uploaded it. But Tae-sung was quietly shaking his head.
“They’re fighting.”
“Fighting?”
“Yeah. You shouldn’t be fighting monsters at this level.”
Tae-sung answered without even looking at his youngest brother. He closed the video site, then turned to face him directly.
“Wasting time and stamina on a full-blown fight against something this weak just proves how weak you are. This isn’t fighting. This is supposed to be hunting.”
“Hunting…”
Of course, people generally called the act of killing monsters “hunting.” That was also why Awakened were referred to as hunters. But according to Kang Tae-sung, what they were doing right now wasn’t hunting—it was combat.
“Could I… join you for a hunt?”
“I haven’t seen exactly how skilled you are yet… but I think it might still be too much for you.”
Only then did the youngest realize that the earlier “not bad” hadn’t been an acceptance. His expression darkened slightly at the new answer.
“For now, start by helping me hunt. I need to see what you can do.”
“Ah.”
But in the end, his big brother had agreed to include him.
Yeon-sung nodded vigorously, clearly pleased. From what he had heard, it sounded like he would be little more than support, but a long-range dealer was rarely anything more than that anyway. His pride wasn’t wounded in the slightest.
They continued browsing the internet together, chatting about this and that, when Yeon-sung suddenly jumped to his feet with a startled expression.
“The safe! I said I’d buy one today and completely forgot.”
“Want me to come with you?”
“No, it’s fine. I’ll be back soon.”
“You don’t have a car.”
When he had first returned, Tae-sung had found it a little strange that there were no vehicles in the garage. Their father had never owned one, but he thought it odd that neither of his younger brothers had bought a car.
He soon learned the reason, and it was rather absurd. They had discovered the joy of running… or so they claimed. Public transportation wasn’t bad, so unless it was absolutely necessary, they would run on their own two legs or just call a taxi.
“They’ll deliver it, I’m sure. I’ll be back.”
“Alright. Watch your step.”
“The streets should watch their step around me. Haha.”
Tae-sung let out a small chuckle as he watched his youngest brother leave with a joke that sounded like something Han-sung would say. Alone in the living room, he thought about how spacious it felt and turned on the news.
“A hostage situation.”
A breaking news alert had popped up, so he checked it. Apparently a hostage crisis had broken out in Seoul. But it was resolved quickly, and the hostages were safely rescued.
“What a bleak world.”
Still, he thought it was far more livable than the future he had seen, where most of the nation’s infrastructure had collapsed. At least here there were still jobs to be had, unlike a world where factories and companies had vanished and employment was impossible to find.
Vrrrr.
At that moment, the phone he had left on the table in vibrate mode began to tremble and spin in place. Tae-sung glanced at the caller ID, raised an eyebrow slightly, and answered.
“What is it?”
“Bro. You home?”
It was exactly who the caller ID said—his second brother.
The voice that came through sounded slightly rough, as if he were breathing hard.
“What’s going on?”
“I’m really, really sorry. I know I have no face to show you, but…”
“Just say it.”
“Could you come over here?”
[Photo message received]
Another vibration sounded, and a small window appeared.
When he checked it, he saw a map marking an alley somewhere near the city streets.
“I tried to handle it myself if I could…”
“How long can you hold out?”
“If I just stayed hidden, I could last a few days. But I was worried they might jam the signal, so I called quickly. Now that I’m on the phone, I think they’re tracking me. I’ll have to move, but at best I’ve got two hours?”
“I’ll head there right away. Hold on.”
“I’ll hang up for now.”
Tae-sung stared at the disconnected call for a moment, then rose from the sofa with an expressionless face. Still wearing the shabby sweatpants and hoodie he had on around the house, he stepped outside. He pulled up the regional map on his phone and searched for the fastest route to the location.
“That way.”
After confirming the direction, he broke into a run without hesitation. He vaulted over residential walls without a second thought, sometimes sprinting across rooftops. Once he left the housing complex, he ignored the tangled alleys between commercial buildings and headed for the main road.
He wasn’t trying to catch a ride. As he ran along the sidewalk, people in cars driving by or stopped at traffic lights glanced at him curiously.
But in a world where Awakened were no longer such a rare sight, their reactions were simply Oh, an Awakened rather than What kind of monster is that? A few even looked envious.
Tae-sung raced toward the place where his brother was supposed to be. At some point he realized there were no longer any vehicles on the road. He took out his phone again to check his current location.
“A hundred-meter radius…”
He wondered if there was a force powerful enough to blockade an entire area even in a place like this. He opened the messenger app and turned on the feature that let him see a friend’s location via GPS.
“That guy.”
Whether it was to make it easier for his brother to find him, Han-sung had kept his phone powered on. The messenger was still running too, so Tae-sung easily pinpointed his location and headed straight for it.
It didn’t look like they had evacuated everyone in the area, but people inside the buildings only peeked out cautiously and showed no sign of coming outside.
Whether this area had always been like that or not, the alleys grew narrower and more maze-like as he went deeper. Even though it was daytime, the urban backstreets were cast in deep shadow. Tae-sung shook his head as he stepped inside.
“You’re here?”
He found his second brother behind a large earthenware jar on the rooftop of one of the buildings. Kang Han-sung had smashed an empty jar and was holding the longest, sharpest shard in his hand. When he heard footsteps approaching and realized it was his older brother, his face filled with embarrassment.
“Who did this?”
Tae-sung’s gaze was fixed on his brother’s abdomen. Han-sung had torn the outer shirt he had been wearing and wrapped it tightly around himself. The area near his side—right where the lung was—had a dark stain of dried blood.
“This? If I’m in this state, the other guy’s dead. Obviously.”
“You want to tell me what happened now? Or should we head home first?”
“Going home first seems better… this story’s going to be long.”
As he spoke, Han-sung suddenly spotted something and hurled the jar shard. Because of the pain in his side, his posture faltered and he missed his target.
“Your accuracy is garbage.”
Han-sung muttered under his breath while glaring at the spot where someone had briefly poked their head out before disappearing again. When his brother held out a small potion, he glanced at it, then quietly accepted and drank it.
“How many?”
“I saw about fifteen. I doubt that’s all of them. I killed four, and three more won’t be moving for a while.”
“So we can assume around twenty in total.”
Tae-sung nodded. Since their position was already exposed, he figured enemies targeting his brother would soon swarm this way.
“What do you think?”
“About what? Oh. If it were you, either option would work. Escaping or cleaning them all up… That’s why I called you instead of the youngest. I wanted more choices.”
If the youngest had been here, they would have focused on escaping together. But with only one option, it would be hard to prepare for when that option became impossible.
“By the way, where’s the youngest? I thought he’d come with you if you called.”
“He went to buy a safe.”
“Ah. Right, he said he was getting one today.”
“Turn your phone off first.”
Tae-sung powered down his own phone and removed the battery as he spoke. Han-sung said there was no need for that and simply stored his entire phone in his inventory.
“Simple.”
“Mm.”
Tae-sung hadn’t thought of that, but it was a good method. He reassembled his own battery-less phone and stored it in his inventory without turning it on.
“Can you run?”
“Where to?”
When Tae-sung jerked his chin toward one direction, a narrow alley leading downward came into view. Han-sung wondered why they would abandon the high ground and head down, then scanned further and realized it was the shortest path to a main road.
“Alright. Let’s go.”
“You’re the only one running. I’ll move from above.”
“…Ah.”
Understanding what his brother meant, Han-sung jumped down from the rooftop at Tae-sung’s signal. He landed with a soft thud and grimaced at the pain in his still-unhealed side. When his brother warned him not to overdo it and to move at a pace he could handle, Han-sung raised one hand in acknowledgment and began making his way down the narrow path.
“……”
But it seemed the enemy had already guessed this alley would be the main escape route. Before he had gone far, several figures in black appeared at the far end—men covered head to toe in tight black leather clothing and helmets. They blocked the path and began closing the distance.
“Three of them.”
No sound came from above. Wondering if his brother hadn’t noticed yet, Han-sung cautiously took a defensive stance. Then, at almost the same moment, he heard a series of sickening crunches. The enemies in front of him collapsed one after another. He glanced upward.
“……”
His brother was ripping decorative tiles off the exterior of one of the buildings. Noticing that Han-sung was looking up at him, Tae-sung jerked his chin forward again, signaling him to keep going.
Han-sung started to walk past the enemies who had fallen like corpses, then stopped and nudged them with his foot. He had been ready in case they suddenly sprang up, but they showed no movement at all. They really might be dead.
Only then did he understand the source of those crunching sounds. One side of the helmets they wore had been crushed and partially shattered, blood leaking out.
Tile fragments…
Just like how he had smashed the earthenware jar and thrown the pieces, his brother must have torn tiles from the building’s exterior, broken them into shards, and used them. Judging by the size, he had probably flicked them with his fingers.
“That’s terrifying.”
He wasn’t saying it was impossible. If Han-sung put his mind to it, he could do the same. It might not do much against monsters, but the opponents were human. Humans had weaker defenses than monsters. Even if they wore helmets.
The reason he had stopped here wasn’t to admire the shattered helmets. He crouched down and searched their bodies, but when he found no noteworthy possessions, he shook his head and gave up, continuing on his way.
They had clearly made a point of carrying nothing. The ones he had dealt with earlier had been the same—nothing but weapons.
Tap.
At that moment, Kang Tae-sung jumped down in front of him. Seeing the puzzled look on his brother’s face, he spoke.
“They must have decided two Level 3s were too much. They pulled back.”
“……”
“Let’s go home and talk. Tell me what happened.”
“Won’t they track us?”
“Wear this for now.”
What his brother took out of his inventory was a fairly thick leather jacket. Han-sung put it on and zipped it up, covering the torn, bloodstained clothes underneath.
The two of them left the area and caught a taxi. They got off in the city center and entered a traditional market. At the end of the market was a crossroads. They went into the agricultural cooperative building on one side and sat on the waiting chairs tucked in a corner.
They hadn’t gone straight home because they were wary of being followed. Their faces had been seen, but they judged that their identities hadn’t been identified yet.
“You want to talk here?”
Tae-sung asked naturally while glancing around. Han-sung checked their surroundings with a similar look, spotted the cameras placed here and there on the ceiling, turned his head slightly, and covered his mouth with his hand as he spoke.
“What would you do, hyung?”
“About what?”
“If you had an item so incredible it could change the world. If using it would let you make a ton of money, what would you do?”
“Would you make a lot?”
“An insane amount.”
“So that’s why you got tangled up in this.”
Seeming to confirm Tae-sung’s guess, Han-sung nodded with slightly darkened eyes.
============== Author’s Note ==============
Thank you.
See you next time…