The First Hunter

Chapter 25. Toward Buyeo, Part III

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

7.

“Are you finished?”

When Kim Tae-hoon came back, it wasn’t a short amount of time, Kate greeted him with a great deal of eagerness. She asked right away, “How can you fly?”

She seemed to be surprised more than anything that he flew. Even if she wanted to know, she could not even think of running away from him.

He answered her question briefly, “Well.”

“Do you have laser beams in your eyes?”

He didn’t even answer her subsequent question. Instead, he injected his Energy into the Gandol Sword he had brought with him.

Woo-woong! Immediately after that, a yellowish blade of light appeared on the Gandol Sword.

“Wow! Lightsaber!”

Kim hit a medium-sized car in front of her.

Seu-euk! The sharp edge of the Sword started with the roof of the car and cut the car in half.

She no longer even spoke of admiration in front of the scene. Instead, she began to tremble weakly, as if she were surprised at the gruesome sight.

It was such an eerie power. He looked at the Gandol Sword in his hand. ‘It has a lot of power.’

Currently, his Energy level was B rank. It was not a low rank at all. With his Energy and Strength stats, he could crush a car like a sheet of paper with his bare hands. However, a cutting power that could slice through a car like this in one swoop was a different kind of story.

Most of all, the Gandol Sword was not the only one. To his knowledge, dozens of Gandol Swords were kept at the Buyeo National Museum.

‘If a hunter group is armed with these Gandol Swords…’

Furthermore, Jang Sung-hoon said that the Buyeo National Museum had the Half-moon Stone Sword, as well as the Bronze Sword. If all of them had become relics, their power must have been even stronger than expected. Once, he finished his thought here.

“Hey!” It was more important for him to shut up the woman who was shining curious blue eyeballs at him.

“Please tell me what happened! What the Hell is that? Is it like a lightsaber?”

He replied to her, who was waiting for an answer, “From now on, we will dismantle the monsters.”

“Yes?”

“If you don’t like doing it, I will do it. The monster stone will be mine.”

“Wait, wait a minute.”

Only then did she shut up and change her eyes. She gave him a resentful look. Of course, it was only for a while. After she finished thinking about it, she turned her back on him and walked over to her own Orc.

8.

Pook! While she was struggling against the Orc with a knife, he began to think over the information he had received.

‘The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner to create a monster.’ The first thing that filled his head was about the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner the man had mentioned before he died.

There were not many objects in the world that deserved the name “The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner.” More importantly, there was only one thing in Korea that the man with the Gandol Sword could use for the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner.

‘Is it the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje?’

National treasure No. 287, the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje.

It was a great work of art. It was like an incense burner from a distance, but it was not just an incense burner up close. A dragon held a lotus peak and a phoenix stood at the end of the lotus peak.

The lotus flower was also a representation of Three Divine Mountains where the gods of the perennial youth and long life lived, and it was decorated with a variety of animals and mythical animals, starting with five musicians playing five musical instruments.

‘Creating a monster?’ But the dead man described the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner as creating a monster.

There was no telling whether it created a monster or a human being. Anything was possible.

‘Dragon and Phoenix.’

And if the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner was the one that called the monster back, something very troublesome would happen.

His imagination about The Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje had stopped there.

What was more important now was that it was in the hands of a group named Messiah. He frowned when he moved on to that part.

‘Messiah again.’ It was Messiah again. It was the third time, and he felt annoyed.

But it was not a coincidence if anything was repeated over and over. By the fact that they used the name Messiah, he could measure the characteristics of the organization.

In fact, normal groups do not use the name Savior. Rather, abnormal groups often used the name Messiah to justify their existence and behavior.

Of course, there was no good man using the name Messiah as the name of the organization.

It was no different this time. Indeed, if the Messiah group in Buyeo had been a group trying to become a Savior for justice and peace, the man with a precious Gandol Sword would not have headed to Seoul at the risk of his life. There was no doubt that he had even said so in his will to save his family.

The last thing that was clear… ‘It’s clear that there’s a power to survive in this hellish world.’

The organization called the Messiah, which was located in Buyeo, was entitled to survive in a monster-filled world.

“It’s over.” She appeared in front of him, with a cleaver in her bloody left hand, and a red jewel in her right hand, and a spotted pattern of blood on her face.

He looked at her slowly. She frowned at the look.

“I did what you told me, okay?”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Oh, it’s…”

While she hesitated, he took off his bag and opened it, pulling out a thick translucent plastic bag from it. The plastic wrapper was filled with red jewels like candy. You couldn’t count the number of them quickly.

She looked at it and swallowed her drool. Of course, it wasn’t because the monster stones were delicious. She knew what it meant to gain power through the monster stones. It was the reason for her appetite again.

“The current number of monster stones left is 255.” He gave her the exact figure.

“Are you provoking me now?” It sounded like his remark was meant to make fun of her. Naturally, her face crumpled as well.

“I’ll give you all of them.”

“Yes?” That’s why she was even more surprised. “What the hell…”

“I can give you all 255 monster stones.”

“Oh, why?”

“Forty percent a month.”

“Forty percent?”

“There are 255, so monthly interest rates 102 red-grade monster stones. Pay back 357 after a month. If you don’t pay it back and move on to next month, you’ll have to pay back 499.8. In three months, 700.”

“Wait a minute. What is that calculation method? That interest rate is ridiculous!”

“I just made a suggestion. Whether you accept it or not, that’s your right. Complaints about interest rates should be made either through an international lawyer or through the U.S. Ambassador to Korea.”

She shut her mouth tight. Her thoughts became complicated.

Surely this was an opportunity. If she ate more than 250 monster stones right now, her abilities would greatly increase. Not only basic abilities, but special abilities would rise significantly.

She was the A-ranked player with Energy, and the merit that could be gained from the elevation of her basic abilities was higher than anyone else.

The problem was the interest rate of forty percent. In order to collect 357 monster stones per month, she had to hunt more than twelve monsters a day!

‘I can do it.’

She faced the monster under his orders and killed it. Killing about ten monsters a day was not difficult. No, if she ate these monster stones, a red monster could not be an enemy to her.

But monsters were not things she could see when she wanted to see them, were they?

Most of all, her activities were now tied to his activities. If he stayed still, she should also stay still.

‘But I have to do it now if I want to do it.’

The trouble was that she had to take the offer now. Kim Tae-hoon, was not a human being that the word “negotiation” would work on. If she wanted to cut forty percent to thirty percent, he would increase the interest rate to fifty percent. If she wanted to accept his offer, accepting it at this moment was the least expensive way to pay.

‘That’s all?’ So, at this moment she went all in. “Don’t you have orange or yellow ones, other than red ones?”

He smiled at the words.

She pressed again, “I hope you will give me more. I want to borrow about 300, not 255.”

He asked about her ever-growing scale. “What are you going to do if you can’t pay it back?”

“Take them from my father, and you’d get paid anyway?”

At those words, he no longer asked.

‘She is right.’ She would never be able to pay it back. He would somehow get it. If something happened that couldn’t be paid back, it would only be if she died.

Therefore, he was willing to accept it. He took out a leather case about the size of an eyeglass case from his Twin-head Ogre leather jacket. He put what was inside on his palm. Three orange monster stones appeared.

“The orange-grade interest rate is three times higher.”

He had already finished his intake of them. He brought them in case he needed to make transactions.

The only money in this world now were cigarettes, bullets, and monster stones.

“And three hundred Monster Stones… forty-five deficient.”

In addition, he was willing to meet her demands.

“… If you wait for one hour, I will prepare them.”

Gulp! She swallowed at the sight. Of course, the saliva this time was not mouth-watering.

9.

Buyeo District, South Chungcheong Province…

In front of them, the Geumgang River passed by, and the place with Mt. Buso and Mt. Geumseong behind them was beautiful and cozy.

That was at least four months ago. Buyeo District, when it met the winter, felt peaceful even when the snow fell, rather than cold. But since the appearance of monsters, Buyeo had become a place to describe as peace.ful. Even after the monsters were cleaned out to some extent, Buyeo was still not peaceful.

“Work quickly!”

“Don’t think you’re goofing off, if you don’t want to die, for example.”

People were constantly plowing up land where there were originally skating, baseball, and soccer fields, using shovels and pickaxes. Soldiers in uniform were pointing their guns at the people.

It was a scene of forced labor that could only be seen in North Korea or Africa in the past. It was also a terrible scene.

“Uh-uh-uh…” As soon as a man with all skin and bones collapsed without being able to keep up with his pickaxing, the gunman approached the man.

“Tut.” The gunman clicked his tongue briefly as soon as he saw the fallen man foaming at the mouth and showing only the whites of his eyes.

Then he shouted at the crowd, whose eyes were focused on him. “I don’t know how many times we’ve warned you, but if you’re going to fall, you’d better finish your work before you fall down!”

Taang! A single shot rang after the shout.

The man who fell down on the ground like a corpse became a real corpse. People shuddered at the sight. But their eyes did not change. Their eyes were already so dull that they couldn’t get any worse.

The same was true of the man who made a dead body with a single shot. The man took out a pack of cigarettes straight on the spot and lit it from a lighter while holding it in his mouth.

Then he said to himself in a low voice. “It’s hard to run a farm. In this way, we are going to have to grow more graves.”

A companion approached the man. “Hey, give me a cigarette.”

The man said to his companion, who asked for a cigarette as soon as he arrived, shooting him a look as terrifying as a gun. “You’re a fucking shit.”

“A cigarette, no, only one drag!”

“Fuck you!”

“You’re really too much.”

“Too much? Then, what are you going to give me?”

“Do you want my turn? Do you want to take my place today?”

With the words, the man pretended to move his waist back and forth. But the man who smoked did not even show interest.

“How about this one? A glass of Soju.”

At that word Soju changed his gaze. “Do you have Soju?”

“I robbed a supermarket in the mountain and found a Soju box. Of course, I kept one hidden.”

The man who was holding a cigarette gave it to his companion. His companion quivered after smoking.

“Well, I didn’t smoke before this had happened, but now I’m going to die without this.”

“More than that, where did you hide it? You’re not fucking me, are you?”

“That’s not a lie. I have to get rid of it tonight anyway. The report is over, and they’ll probably come from Nonsan the day after tomorrow. If I get caught, then it’s over.”

“The bastards, we’re working hard, but they take everything. Damn Stigmata! If I had had a Stigmata on the back of my hand…”

The man who was speaking stopped and looked up at the sky. “I can’t wait until night.” He wanted the night to come.

Their conversation went far away into the ears of a man who was breathing quietly under the Geumgang River. The man who was eavesdropping also waited for the night to come.

Very soon, the night that everyone waited for came.