The First Hunter Chapter 1: 2016 December 31st, At the Superstore (1)

< Chapter 1. 2016 December 31st, At the Superstore (1). >

1.

Kim Taehoon had experienced a lot of death because of his job. 

He had killed many and almost been killed by many.

And there were several things Kim Taehoon picked up in that appalling life. 

How to die easily and how to avoid death, those were two of the things he had learned. 

Of course, he never thought he’d use what he had learned in actual life. 

“Ha…!”

At least, not until he encountered the green dwarf monster in the automotive section on level B1 at the superstore. 

Not until the monster suddenly attacked him. 

Not until he used his knowledge to kill the monster who attacked him. 

‘This is crazy’

Hunter Kim Taehoon’s story started just like that. 

2. 

Kim Taehoon.

The reason why a guy who was 28 in 2016–and turning 29 tomorrow–was visiting the superstore was for nothing big. 

‘Washer fluid…’

He wanted to buy washer fluid. 

Really for nothing big, one of the myriad reasons people visited a superstore. Nobody went to a superstore to buy anything big. 

Kim Taehoon was browsing in the automotive section. 

When suddenly there were weird squeaky shrieks followed by people screaming… ahhh!… then an explosive sound… bang! 

When Kim Taehoon looked to see what’s going on, he saw… 

‘A dwarf?’

A monster with green skin, about 140cm in height. 

Arms and legs were stick-like skinny, with only its belly protruding. it reminded him of a starving child in a third-world country. 

But that did not give him any sympathy towards the thing. 

With teeth that looked fiercer than a dog’s and reddish eyes that were like rotten blood stains, it was without a doubt a monster. 

Keeeeaaaahhhhh!

The monster ran towards Kim Taehoon screaming.

Kim Taehoon showed no mercy. 

Whir!

With a spin, he kicked the chest of the monster who lunged at him. 

The green monster collapsed with a scream to the floor. Kim Taehoon opened the bottle of washer fluid that he was holding and shoved the opening of the bottle into the monster’s mouth. 

Glup Glup!

The washer fluid filled the monster’s lungs and stomach as Kim Taehoon stepped on to its chest to keep it from struggling. 

“Whoa!”

‘This is crazy’

And that was just the beginning. 

By the time the monster’s eyes dimmed, Kim Taehoon had started looking around. 

Boom! Boom! Boom!

It sounded like dominoes falling, as the sound of aisles collapsing drew near. 

“Ahhh!!”

The scream of a woman was heard. 

Keeeeeeeeeaaaaahhhh

He heard the sound of possibly another green monster. 

Kim Taehoon looked towards the sounds he heard. 

‘Oh Dear God’

Several green dwarves were hunting people in the superstore. 

“Argh, save me!”

“Monsters! Monsters!”

“Oh, please help, help please…”

Kim Taehoon could do nothing but stare at the absurd situation. 

He had seen men hunting men, but he had never seen a monster hunting a man. 

“Fuck!”

The sound that awoke Kim Taehoon from his daze was the voice of a young man. He stood in the sporting goods section—wearing a Yankees ball cap and a baseball jacket—and swung a bat at three green monsters. 

“Fuck off! Fuck off, you motherfuckers!”

The things he said were very crude, but the sound was something Kim Taehoon was used to, it was the sound of a fight. 

‘This is not the time to stay still’

“Whoa!”

Kim Taehoon took a short deep breath and scanned around. 

‘First… I have to survive’

Something caught Kim Taehoon’s eyes and he picked it up without hesitation before starting to move. 

December 31, 2016 4:11 pm, That was how the last day of 2016 started. 

3.

“Damn it!”

Whir! 

“Damn it!”

Swing!

“Fuck off! Fuck off you monster fuckers!” 

Swing!

Bang Hyunwook. 

183 cm in height and 90 kgs of weight. 

As seen by the number of yells, the muscular man yelled as much as he could every time he swung his bat.

“Ahhhhh!!”

Swing!

But it was not a clever thing to do. 

Shouting while swinging a bat was one of his bad habits, and Bhang Hyunwook knew it well. 

Because of that swearing habit, Bhang Hyunwook had to experience the coach’s swings—the swings of a former pro-league player who had hit 77 home runs in the Korean Pro-Baseball league—to his ass.

Thanks to that experience in his second year of high school he never had to be punished again by the coach for that habit. 

“Fuck off you fucking bastards!”

Swing!

But now the habit had returned. 

The reason was simple. 

“Ahhh Fuck!”

He was panicking that much. 

“Where the fuck did these monster bastards come from? I mean, really what the fuck is this? What?”

And that panic made him say stuff he needed to keep to himself. 

“Haaa, Haa!”

The only thing that made him stop swearing was when he ran out of breath. By swinging the bat continuously, while shouting the whole time, it was an expected result. 

Another reason was because he had started to only run seven out of the ten required laps during training and then proceed to lie that he did all ten as well as started smoking, something an athlete should never do.

“Fuck…”

‘I should have trained more and never started smoking… ’

Of course, Bhang Hyunwook started to feel remorse for his lazy idle days. 

At the same time, he realized this even though he was relatively young. 

The regrets he had right now were something people usually had just before they died. 

‘Fuck, am I dying here?’

He knew that he couldn’t survive facing the monsters solo. 

Or else he might end up like a person he had just seen, a person—in their early 30s—who screamed their guts out as they were bitten on the neck by a monster. 

“Wake yourself up!”

What brought him to his senses was not the monster cries but the sound of a clear voice. 

“Huh?”

Bhang Hyunwook turned his head towards that voice in surprise. 

The green dwarves also heard the sound. 

Keeeeh?

Keeeeaahh?

KeeeKeee!

The three monsters simultaneously turned their heads towards that voice. 

However, only two of them could see the person who spoke. 

The reason the other dwarf couldn’t see the guy was simple. The bottom of a frying pan, which was still in its original wrapping, was heading directly towards its face. 

BAM!

The pan smashed the monster right in the face. 

Keeeek!

The monster barely made a sound as it bled from both of its nostrils and lost a few of its teeth and was knocked out. 

Thud!

The guy didn’t stop there. 

He reached his left arm towards one of the monsters who was staring at him. 

Pchit!

The spray paint he held in his hand immediately blackened the face and eyes of the monster.

Keeeehhhhh!

The monster flailed its arms in the air as it reacted to the unexpected attack. 

Thud!

Then it collapsed. 

Two out of three monsters were on the ground, and the last one was getting nervous. 

Keeeee!

Obviously outnumbered, the last one cried out with utmost brutality and was very cautious towards the guy.

As a result.

“Hit it!”

The monster was standing in front of Bhang Hyunwook but was facing away from him. 

Swing!

Bhang Hyunwook made his move immediately after the guy shouted out. The bat Bhang Hyunwook was holding flew across the air again.

Bam!

This time, he hit the monster right in the temple. 

The monster didn’t even have a chance to scream. 

Its body flew up into the air then fell to the ground with a boom! Then it just lay there convulsing. 

Green blood flowed out from its eyes and nose. 

“Ahhhhh!”

At the same time,  a sound of exaltation came out of Bhang Hyunwook’s mouth. 

The ecstasy of killing the person trying to kill you, the relief of surviving, and all sorts of pent-up anger were mixed in his voice. 

“You fucker! I told you I’d kill you! Fuck I said I’d kill you!”

But the unexpected guy was calmly doing what had to be done, unlike Bhang Hyunwook. 

Keee…..

One of the two monsters who had collapsed on the ground first–the one hit with the frying pan–was getting its grip back but once again the guy sprayed the paint on its face.

Pchitttt!

The sprayed liquid dripped off the monster’s face like tears, he had been sprayed so much. 

Kee, Keeehhh!!

The monster screamed and started to struggle with the unexpected attack. 

But the skinny arms of the monster, who couldn’t see anything anymore, weren’t a threat anymore. 

The guy crushed the throat of the monster with his foot. 

Squelch!

It was to the point the sound of neck bones cracking could be heard.

Crack!

He stomped heavily multiple times.

The guy only stopped stomping after the monster stopped screaming.

“There.” Bhang Hyunwook pointed at the last monster on the ground with his finger. 

“Yes?”

Bhang Hyunwook was stunned for a moment. 

Literally for a moment. 

“Yes!”

In the next second, Bhang Hyunwook understood what the guy implied and started to swing his bat at the last monster on the ground. 

Smash!

It was like chopping with an ax as the monster curled up and twisted its body while screaming in front of the ruthless attacks, 

Finally, when the three monsters couldn’t move anymore, 

“Name?”

The conversation between them started. 

“Bhang Hyunwook, I’m Bhang Hyunwook. Age…”

“Kim Taehoon. If you want to follow me, follow my orders unconditionally.”

Bhang Hyunwook thought for a moment.

‘unconditionally? Follow?’

Literally for a moment, but the thinking didn’t last long. 

Thud

“Ahhh, Help!!”

Then all kinds of noises that he had never heard before started to reach his ears, Bhang Hyunwook’s concerns went away like melting snow. 

“I will follow you.”

“Get your bat, gloves, and bag then follow me.”

The conversation cut-off then. 

KAAAAAHHHHH!

The appearance of a yell, which was nothing compared to the dwarf monsters, gave them no time for any more conversation. 

< Episode 1. 2016 December 31st, At the Superstore(1). > END. 

Chapter end