The First Hunter

Chapter 22. Incheon Landing Operation, Part I

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

1.

A woman was cutting open the chest of a monster’s corpse lying on the ground with a knife between its ribs.

The red jewel that the woman who had cut open the chest popped out after she drove her hand into it without hesitation. She approached a man who sipping coffee in a thermos bottle, wiping the blood off her hands and the red jewels with a towel hanging in her pocket.

“Are you doing that on purpose?” Kim Yu-ri then asked a question to Kim Tae-hoon, giving him the monster stone.

Gulp!

Kim Tae-hoon swallowed the monster stone and raised his left eyebrow instead of answering. It meant that she had to clarify her question.

“Are you trying to save a survivor by intentionally appearing like that in an emergency?”

Kim nodded at the remark.

“Why are you doing that?”

“It would look like a savior.”

“Yes?”

“They are more cooperative with the savior who saved them than with passers-by.”

Kim Tae-hoon closed the lid of the thermos and moved toward Bae Sung-joon, who was licking the chocolate bar which had been given. Maybe Bae would prove his answer now. As Kim approached, Bae got up in surprise.

“Oh, thank you. This grace-”

“Have you ever seen this woman?” Kim sharply cut off Bae’s words, asked questions and took out a paper sketch. A white woman in her mid-twenties with a cold appearance was painted by a well-drawn sketch.

“Her name is Kate Kennedy.”

Bae looked hard at the sketch and shook his head.

Kim did not express any sense of frustration at the sight. He wouldn’t have come to Incheon in person if he could find her so easily.

‘In the end, should I enter Yeongjong Island?’

According to the information provided by Lieutenant Colonel Yoo, the last place to confirm that Kate Kennedy was alive was Yeongjong Island, where Incheon International Airport was located. Of course, it was highly likely that she was still on Yeongjong Island.

He just asked questions in case she had come out of Yeongjong Island with the guards escorting her. Therefore, he immediately went on to the next question, “Are there any survivors or any forces that survivors have created in Incheon today?”

“Yes, there is.” This time there was an answer.

“What about the number of survivors?”

“I think there are more than a thousand people… I don’t know the details.”

There seemed to be more than a thousand. Kim Yu-ri, who was listening to the conversation behind him, had a terrible look.

‘Incheon City had a population of nearly three million…’

Incheon had 2.92 million people. Of course, Incheon City was wide. In terms of population density, it was inevitably lower than Bucheon.

But even considering that, the fact that the population of survivors was a thousand units was a point of despair.

The same was true of Kim.

‘The damage is enormous.’

As soon as he heard the figure of a thousand, he remembered a remark made by Lee Jin-sung, the head of the Messiah. Bucheon was lucky… Incheon became hell… There was nothing wrong with what he said. The damage in Incheon was no better than that of Bucheon.

But Kim was not choked by the tragedy. “Where are they?”

“There are survivors at Ganseok Ogeori and Ganseok Ogeori Station.”

“What is the name of the surviving group?”

“Yes?” Bae hesitated to answer for the first time.

Kim Tae-hoon squinted his eyes. He did not appear to be like Marvel Comics’ hero in the eyes of Bae, saving him voluntarily.

.

He came here at the risk of his life.

And it was not just Kim’s life that was at risk. The lives of those under an umbrella named Kim Tae-hoon were also at stake. Under such circumstances, there was no reason to give consideration to a person who was a stranger, or a person who would have died if it had not been for himself.

“What is the name of the surviving group?”

“So it’s…”

Kim’s eyes changed. If he didn’t answer right away, if he kept hesitating, he would strongly express his determination to use all means and methods to force the answer.

“I’ll give you three seconds.”

After the last notification came out, Bae just barely gave an answer in amazement. “Well, it’s not that. They don’t have a name. The survivors are just survivors! There is no name. No, really. But there are some who call them plunderers instead. They are criminals…”

At the answer, Kim withdrew his appalling presence. At the same time, thanks to the answer, he was able to draw the situation in Incheon more properly.

‘I think the survivors of Incheon City have no contact with the outside world.’

If they had had contact with an outside survivor in any way, they would have had a name to distinguish themselves from the outside world. However, the lack of a name meant that they did not feel the need to distinguish it from the outside world.

‘Is it because of Bucheon?’

And if he looked at the situation in Incheon, it was understandable. Currently, only the city of Bucheon was operating properly among the cities that had a point of contact with Incheon. However, none of the survivors of Bucheon wanted to go to Incheon. The same went for those who moved from Incheon to Bucheon. There was no reason to go back.

In other words, the city of Incheon was blocked off from the city of Bucheon and became isolated.

‘However, if they formed a group, they will have factions in some way… I think there is a good leader in Incheon.’

Another, there was a high possibility that there would be a proper leader among the survivors of Incheon City, because no one followed a poor leader in a life-threatening situation where his or her life was at stake.

‘Plunderer…’

Of course, that didn’t mean everyone was united. In Incheon, there were people who survived by plundering humans like monsters.

‘Survivors and plunderers, I like it simple.’

Anyway, the situation itself was clear.

“How much weapon power do the survivors and plunderers have?” Kim asked to get more detailed information. But the answer to that question came from elsewhere.

Kaaah!

It was a scream that came out at the moment the colleagues of the dead Big-nosed Orangutans noticed the smell of blood. Among them, there was a big guy with orange eyes, unlike the other Big-nosed Orangutans with mops for hair.

Kaaah!

“Aahhhh!” Bae fell to the ground at the scream of the orange-eyed Big-nosed Orangutan. Of course, he had no mental composure to answer Kim’s question.

Kim, who was interrupted by the conversation, frowned. His frowning eyes blackened.

Shh!

At the same time, the arrow at the waist of Kim moved. The arrow, which flew through the wind to punish the monsters who had offended its master’s mood, penetrated the noise of the detestable monsters one by one.

It took only a moment for the six Big-nosed Orangutans to become meat no longer breathing.

Kuh?

The leader of the Big-nosed Orangutans, which had been able to grasp the presence of the arrow, avoided the arrow going through its temples as it moved, but the arrow instead penetrated its throat.

Kuh, Kuhuh! Khuck!

The arrow showed itself in front of the monster that had started to choke instead of scream.

Paat! It penetrated the middle of the forehead of the Big-nosed Orangutan at once. Once again, silence had arrived.

In the silence, Kim lowered his posture to meet the eyes of Bae, who had fallen on the ground.

“How much weapon power do the survivors and plunderers have?”

2.

Ganseok Ogeori…

As per the term “Ogeori”, Ganseok Ogeori was a place where five roads converged. In the center of the five streets, there was an elevated bridge named Ganseok Overpass. It was literally an overpass.

An elevated bridge that could be called an overpass, the road above the road; it was just a bridge for drivers and traffic monitors. But now the overpass was replacing a tower.

Men in military uniforms were carrying guns, telescopes, and monitoring the area. It was a sight that had never been seen before. The landscape around the overpass was also quite different from that of Ganseok Ogeori.

Cars on the road were settled like barricades, and there were clear signs of a struggle between the monsters that wanted to cross the road, and those who tried to stop them.

The biggest change was that two of the five streets of Ganseok Ogeori were blocked by collapsed buildings.

Kim Yu-ri looked at the place that should now be called Ganseok Three-way Intersection through a telescope from the rooftop of an owner-less building, and she clicked her tongue slightly.

“Their defense is more thorough than I thought.”

The defense of the survivors at Ganseok Ogeori was very thorough. It wasn’t just through luck that the city of Incheon survived three months in hell.

“I think it’s dangerous to make a contact.”

Naturally, blind contact with survivors was not different from approaching an injured beast. Kim Yu-ri’s advice of danger was quite fair. However, Kim Tae-hoon’s actions were different.

“Stay here.”

“What?”

“I will meet the leader of the survivors alone.”

At his words, she looked at him in surprise. She repeated what she had said a little while ago, with her eyes: blind contact is dangerous!

However, he did not listen to her eyes or words.

“There are children.”

What he was interested in was the fact that the children were running around in the Ganseok Ogeori.

“What the hell is that…” She couldn’t understand his explanation easily.

‘What does it matter?’ To Kim Yu-ri, it was not worth considering that the children were running around.

He was willing to explain to her. “There are two major cases in which groups have children with guns without government permission.”

“One is a group of terrorists who want to use the children for suicide bombings by brainwashing them.”

“What’s the other?”

“The others are fools who risk their lives in a world where their lives are hard to save.”

Her face hardened at the explanation. ‘If his explanation is correct, it means that the armed group with children is simply one of the two, an angel or a devil.’

“Is there a way to classify the two cases?”

Of course, Kim had the knowledge to distinguish them. “Terrorists usually only have children around the age of ten. If they become thirteen years old or older, they will be in danger of thinking for themselves. If they are under seven years old, they will not be able to carry out orders, because they are too weak to carry bombs.”

At his advice, she did not dare to express her admiration. Instead of admiring him, she had to shut her mouth tightly to keep up with the goosebumps rising on her skin.

‘What kind of life…’ It was too far from her imagination: the days spent by Kim Tae-hoon, who was talking about scary things as if they were very useful knowledge.

However, he did not give her any more attention. He turned his head as he looked at Ganseok Ogeori. She also turned her head along with him. Of course, there was nothing visible.

“What’s going on?”

But he clearly heard the sound of a group armed with weapons approaching at a rapid pace toward Ganseok Ogeori and the distinctive sound of a tank when it moved.

“The plunderers.”

“There’s a tank.”

“What?”

“A K1A1. Two.”

Her expression hardened at the explanation.

‘Two tanks… Oh, my God.’

Having two tanks means that they actually armed with something they couldn’t hurt easily. Of course, it would be a nightmare for survivors of Ganseok Ogeori. However, it was his choice that she was more concerned about.

He has already said that he deliberately appeared when the other person fell into an urgent moment and he helped them. According to his logic, he would come out after the tanks had spewed their shells and turned Ganseok Ogeori into a mess. He was a cold-hearted man, beyond the callousness of making such a choice.

“Sergeant Kim Yu-ri.”

“Tell me.”

“Give the survivors the news of plunderers coming.”

But this time he was different.

“Then you—”

He did not answer her question. Instead, he threw himself from the roof of the building.