The First Hunter Chapter 10: Enhancing the Armed Force (3)

< Chapter 10. Enhancing the Armed Force (3). >

6.

“You woke up early.”

When Jang Sunghoon spoke to Kim Taehoon, the arrow circling around Kim Taehoon like a satellite stopped right in front of Kim Taehoon.

“I couldn’t sleep.”

“... Was it because of the dream?”

The stopped arrow shivered a little bit then fell to the ground. His focus was disturbed.

“Oh, sorry. I shouldn’t have said that…” Jang Sunghoon apologized and he could also understand how Kim Taehoon felt.

‘He is also a human being after all.’

He became aware of his own death in his dream and essentially had limited time remaining in his life.

Kim Taehoon could not remain calm. Instead of responding to Jang Sunghoon’s apology, he just stared at the fallen arrow while sipping his mug of coffee.

Shhshhhshhh!

The arrow started to float again and resumed circling around Kim Taehoon like a satellite.

Shh, Shh….

It wasn’t so much of a precise movement while it was piercing the air. It was losing its orbit little by little whenever it left Kim Taehoon’s sight.

“Don’t think too much about it. You know about the future, now you can figure out how to avoid it right?” Jang Sunghoon spoke to Kim Taehoon again.

Kim Taehoon snatched the arrow in the air after swallowing the coffee.

“The problem is I don’t know what to avoid.”

“Um.”

Kim Taehoon’s voice was very serious.

Jang Sunghoon had to keep the joke he was about to say to change the vibe to himself and decided to sit down next to Kim Taehoon with the same seriousness.

Crackle, Crackle!

Jang Sunghoon decided to speak while looking at the wood burning in the bonfire.

“Was it just me for real? You weren’t really with Hyunwook, Sunmi or Lieutenant Suji?”

“I don’t intend to hide things. Do you think I’m lying?”

“No, Not that… I just don’t think I would be that loyal to you.”

Kim Taehoon nodded.

Jang Sunghoon was not a person who would devote his loyalty to someone. He was more calculative and would only pursue his own benefit. That was one of the reasons why Jang Sunghoon stuck to Kim Taehoon.

It didn’t suit Jang Sunghoon to stay with Kim Taehoon when Kim Taehoon was going to kill himself, cornered by some people’s scheme.

“This is for sure then.”

There should be a process to reach that future event.

“We will be going through a lot of sh*t to get that close connection between us. Something enormous may happen. Ordinary incidents would not make me turn into a loyal person.”

Kim Taehoon smirked a bit and took another sip of the coffee.

“Oh and this is just my imagination.”

As Kim Taehoon was silent with his coffee,

“From what I see, you would be a hunting dog in the future. No, I don’t mean you’re like a dog… but you are kinda fierce like a dog.”

Jang Sunghoon started to talk as if he were waiting for the chance.

“Let’s just say that happened, then why did they leave you to die? Sometimes you do need to release your hunting dog. They could eat the dog after the hunt. But you said you clearly fought the dragon at the end right? Then there must be monsters remaining?”

Kim Taehoon looked at Jang Sunghoon.

“If you don’t mind me talking about myself, there are lots of geniuses in this field I’m in. The number of people who can forge art even better than the original creator is not small. But do you know why they are always underground? Either they have bad tempers, or they have other problems. No matter how much of a genius you are, you will be used and dumped out eventually unless you only have enemies and no people on your side.”

Gulp!

Kim Taehoon immediately started to speak after swallowing the sip of coffee.

“So according to what you’re saying, the reason for my death is because of my bad temper?”

“Ah, well….. If you were good at doing this, your death could have been in a different scene.”

With an awkward smile, Jang Sunghoon made a gesture of rubbing both palms together.

Kim Taehoon could make one thing clear out of Jang Sunghoon’s action.

‘I can kind of see why this guy was sticking with me until the end.’

Why Jang Sunghoon was staying beside him, why he allowed Jang Sunghoon to do that, and why Kim Taehoon sacrificed himself to save Jang Sunghoon’s life.

Jang Sunghoon had his value. He had a different range of sight, the ability to explain his opinions, and a different perspective.

He was smart and competent.

Anyway, thanks to him, Kim Taehoon could figure out one thing clearly.

‘So I’d die eventually if I keep behaving as my temper .’

Kim Taehoon was a character that would rather make an enemy than an ally.

Up until now, his personality didn’t matter so much because he belonged to an organization which did not require him to make friends, the military. As long as you wear the same uniform, you were on the same side in the military.

But not anymore. Kim Taehoon himself stormed out of the military.

‘I almost didn’t realize.’

He would have never known about it.

“Jang Sunghoon, What would you do if you were me?” That’s why Kim Taehoon asked the question.

“If I had the same combat abilities and charisma I’d make myself a king in the city of Bucheon.” Jang Sunghoon grinned with his comment.

“Of course it’s a joke. I didn’t mean it.”

A smile with jokes in it.

“But honestly, if I had the same power as you do I wouldn’t worry too much. I’d form a group with some bulky guys, get guns and no one would fight against you. They would catch monsters for you, people would treat you like a king anyway. I wouldn’t say no to that and most of the people will treat you like one probably.”

But it wasn’t all jokes in that smile.

“There will be people like you somewhere else, they might not be on the same level though. The awakened would have different ranks and abilities when they awaken, you said? If you add up the relics now….”

Humans are filled with greed. If they had the power, gained special abilities, and had the stage to perform on, no one would stay as they were previously.

“People who acquired the abilities would already have formed groups and be ruling a region. Some with wisdom, others with tyranny.”

The communication and transportation systems were all down, it was enough to say that the Republic of Korea has scattered.

You would have to risk your life to travel from Seoul to Sejong.

Kim Taehoon recalled Colonel Lim Hyunjoon in his mind. Kim Taehoon’s plan was to move to Pocheon, where Colonel Lim Hyunjoon would be located and make contact with him. But would it be safe to say Colonel Lim Hyunjoon would still be a Colonel?

‘Colonel Lim Hyunjoon is an ambitious man.’

He was an ambitious man. He wouldn’t be planning to stay just as a faithful Colonel. That would be why he could achieve the title of Commander-in-chief in such short time.

‘If I see him now, he would only use me as a hunting dog.’

Kim Taehoon left the mug on the floor.

“Do you like coffee?”

“Is there anyone in Korea that does not like coffee?”

Kim Taehoon was making a fresh batch of coffee.

7.

Kweeeek! Kweeeeeeeek!

Maek Clan’s morning started with a battle with monsters.

“Even the pigs have turned into monsters.”

“What a crazy world it has now become. F*king hell.”

The monsters looked similar to a boar but were much larger with a horn on their heads that was comparable to a rhino’s horn.

Horned boar.

The three wretched boars were approaching the maneuvering vehicles of Maek Clan.

As soon as the horned boars appeared, Maek Clan maneuvered into a combat position with alarming speed.

First, two SUVs formed a barrier between the clan and the horned boars.

“Come out quickly!”

“One sec!”

The drivers driving the SUVs exited the vehicles while they were still slowly moving towards the boars.

“The right driver has come out!”

“Left side too!”

As soon as the fact that the drivers were out of the vehicle was delivered to Kim Taehoon in the back of the truck, Kim Taehoon stared at the SUVs in ‘Drive’ mode.

VRRRRR!

The two SUVs started to rush towards the horned boars at full speed with loud sounds.

The consequences were obvious.

Bang!

Kaboom!

The three boars and two SUVs collided on the small road with a smashing sound and became entangled.

KWWWAAAAKKK!

The sound that the horned boar made clearly showed how horrible the situation was.

“Aim!”

Lieutenant Kim Suji commanded the soldiers who were in the cargo bed of the truck.

The soldiers who were distracted for a minute due to the car crash right in front of them got themselves together. They could see the boars trembling through their scopes.

“Fire!”

Tatata!

The sound of gunshots started to pour like rain with the command.

Kim Taehoon threw an arrow up in the air among the raining sounds.

The arrow without its feather went high up in the sky. Without stopping. Kim Taehoon lifted the arrow as high as his telekinesis would allow him.

The moment Kim Taehoon lost his sense towards the arrow, and telekinesis couldn’t help anymore, the arrow started to fall.

Shhhhhh!

The sound that the arrow was making was horrifying.

Like a hawk that was descending for its prey, it sounded like it wanted to immediately finish its target’s life.

Suddenly, the arrow changed its path and pierced the middle of a horned boar’s forehead.

Psssssh!

The arrow went inside of the horned boar’s body, leaving no trace like a magic trick.

Keek!

The horned boar spat out a short scream and collapsed trembling to the floor.

‘What?’

‘That one collapsed out of nowhere?’

The soldiers who were not aware of the arrow became confused since the boar was strong enough to endure the bullets but suddenly collapsed.

But Kim Taehoon scrunched his face.

‘This is not enough.’

Kim Taehoon focused on pulling the arrow out of the horned boar’s body. But the arrow did not come out because Kim Taehoon could not correctly picture the image of the arrow inside the boar’s body.

That was a thing about telekinesis, it did not work just with the imagination.

Like you would need the skills of a great artist to draw a picture exactly as it was seen with your own eyes.

Like a doctor would need a lot of experience to picture the image of a patient’s inner condition without opening the stomach.

Telekinesis did not make a vague imagination to come true. Only when you could imagine a clear picture, that’s when the telekinesis brought its true power.

‘This is far away from enough.’

Meaning, the telekinesis Kim Taehoon possessed was very limited and not enough.

Kim Taehoon clicked his teeth and signaled to Lieutenant Kim Suji.

Lieutenant Kim Suji nodded her head.

“Cease fire!”

The constant gunshots stopped at the command.

If the soldiers were not thinking and were just pulling the trigger, they wouldn't have been able to stop shooting. Now the soldiers seemed like they had a sense of moderation and restraint, and it also meant they were becoming a bit more used to the situation.

It was also the evidence that they were not scared anymore, needing to count their cartridges after shooting.

They had become true hunters after the multiple slaughters of the monsters, not just struggling survivors.

But Kim Taehoon did not stop them to find out about that.

‘That should be enough to show.’

Kim Taehoon jumped out of the back of the truck and landed lightly on the ground.

Bhang Hyunwook approached Kim Taehoon and spoke to Kim Taehoon with the metal pipe in his hand.

“Hyungnim, which side do you want to take?”

“You choose first.”

“Me?”

“I will give you a chance to show off in front of your crush.”

“I’ll take the right side then since they seem more energetic.”

As soon as he finished talking, Bhang Hyunwook brought up the energy inside his stomach and distributed it to his whole body.

Bhang Hyunwook’s whole body warmed up instantly.

“Haaaaa!”

The sound Bhang Hyunwook yelled definitely got on the last nerves of the horned boars that even though wounded by the bullets still had the energy to fight back.

Kwwweeeekk!

One horned boar was staring at Bhang Hyunwook as the other one threw itself towards Bhang Hyunwook.

Kim Taehoon also brought up his energy while looking at the scene. As he did that, Kim Taehoon also clenched his right hand into a fist that turned black.

The battle started.

The battle of the awakened!

The end.

Chapter end