The First Hunter Chapter 16-1: Finding the master (1)

< Chapter 16-1. Finding the master (1). >

1.

“Boss.”

In the mayor’s office located inside Bucheon City hall, two men were sitting with a desk between them. A hot cup of coffee that had steam coming out of it was on the desk.

“Let’s organize things.”

One of the guys started to scratch his hair with his right hand as if something was bothering him so much.

“So Sunmi num told you about a wish list before you died?”

The other guy who was holding the coffee mug nodded his head and enjoyed the aroma of the coffee as the guy with the messy hair spoke.

Jang Sunghoon, the guy with the messy hair smirked a bit.

“I don’t know who came up with this idea but it’s amazing. A wish list… It’s definitely a way to utilize Napoleon’s golden glass properly.”

As soon as he finished his sentence, Jang Sunghoon let out a long sigh after his smirk.

It wasn’t a pleasant one.

“The problem is the wish list.”

And the following sentence was more like a grumble.

Kim Taehoon also scrunched his face as Jang Sunghoom grumbled. It wasn’t the bitter taste of the coffee that made him do that.

Jang Sunghoon started to sort his memories in order to organize his thoughts.

It was when Kim Taehoon woke up and he called out to Jang Sunghoon, who was waiting outside of the mayor’s office, and told him the story.         

As soon as he heard the word ‘wishlist’, Jang Sunghoon made fists of excitement.

It seemed like they had an incredible chance, so he didn’t want to let it slip by.

But when he heard about the wishlist, Jang Sunghoon felt like everything was moving away from him.

“Let’s put the Bell of King Seongdeok[1] and Baekje Incense Burner[2] aside.”

There were six things Kim Taehoon remembered from the wish list.

To be precise, Ahn Sunmi had a long talk in front of Kim Taehoon in the dream but there were only 6 things he could remember.

The Bell of King Seongdeok and Baekje Incense Burner were the first two on the list.

“And also the Gwanggaeto Stele[3], Sword of Goujian[4].”

The next two were Gwanggaeto Stele and Sword of Goujian.

Jang Sunghoon started to sense that something was off at this point. Those two definitely exist but they were totally different from the previous two artifacts, King Seongdeok’s Divine Bell and Baekje Incense Burner.

“What do you mean by Guandao[5] and Kusanagi[6]?”

Jang Sunghoon had to think for a little bit when Guandao and Kusanagi came out of Kim Taehoon’s mouth. Maybe Kim Taehoon had turned into a very humorous man, and was pulling a prank against him. Or the shock of his own death might have altered Kim Taehoon’s memories with the things he had read before in novels.

That would be the only explanations.

“Those things only exist in stories?”

Guandao and Kusanagi were things that do not exist in reality but only in the novels.

However, Kim Taehoon was very serious.

Kim Taehoon never lost his seriousness as he spoke to Jang Sunghoon, or when he told about it before.

“I need explanations about the things on the wish list.”

He could not be more serious. This was the information about the future that Kim Taehoon gained by exchanging his life for it.

And to survive, he had to change his destiny one more time using the information he got.

“Well, 4 of them actually exists.”

Jang Sunghoon did not speak ill of it anymore because he also knew that.

“Where are they?”

“The Incense Burner is in Buyeo National Museum, The Bell of King Seongdeok…”

“What is the Bell of King Seongdeok?”

“Ah, the Emile Bell. It’s located in Gyeongju National Museum. And the Gwanggaeto stele is in Jilin, China. Sword of Goujian is supposed to be in Hubei, China as far as I know.”

“The other two do not exist?”

“It’s usually a mythical reference.”

Kim Taehoon drank his coffee once more. Jang Sunghoon also joined the silence this time.

Both of them started to think hard trying to get their minds straight.

It was only when Kim Taehoon spoke up that they started to converse again.

“It would have been me who made the wish list.”

“Possibly.”

“Then I wouldn’t have just listed the things that I don’t have.”

“Ah.”

Jang Sunghoon started to get the idea.

How the man, the one in front of him, Kim Taehoon was like. He would never have just listed the things that he couldn’t possess.

“Also, you never know how far down a dying person could hear on the list.”

On top of that, the list was made to be used in an emergency where Kim Taehoon would be facing death. The things on the list and the order in which it was told would definitely have hidden meanings in it.

Most of all, Kim Taehoon himself would have made the list. Wouldn’t he have taken his own way of thinking into consideration?

“Buyeo and Gyeongju. Those at least would be the ones we could get now.”

“Yes. It wouldn’t take more than half a day by car if there are no monsters on the way. Buyeo National Museum would only take 3 hours along Youngdong and Gyeongbu highways, Gyeongju National Museum would take 4 to 5 hours by Gyeongbu highway. I’m not sure how we could get there within a year without risking our lives now.”

“Buyeo, Gyeongju is there on the list but not Seoul.”

One of the first questions he had was the absence of Seoul.

Of course, Gyeongju and Buyeo were filled with artifacts that could be relics. But Seoul was the part of the country which had remained as the capital city for most of Korean history.

And there was a National Museum of Korea in Seoul.

“It definitely questionable. The woodblock of Daedongyeojido would be in the National Museum of Korea….”

The woodblock print of the Daedongyeojido that Kim Taehoon and Jang Sunghoon found out of luck, the woodblock itself of the map was located in the National Museum of Korea.

“The Golden Crown of Shilla[7] is there too… Right. There are armors, kimonos, and masks of Japanese warriors. Also Buddhist Statues and sculptures from China.”

The National Museum of Korea even had artifacts from Japan and China as well.

Yet Kim Taehoon’s wish list did not have anything from the National Museum of Korea.

“But why?”

That was one of the first questions to answer.

“It’s either one of these.”

But Kim Taehoon was able to answer it quickly.

“By now, it would have already been raided by someone or it would be more dangerous than Buyeo or Gyeongju.”

“Right, if we were located in Yongsan-gu not Bucheon…. No, everyone would have run towards the National Museum of Korea if they survived and had figured out about the relics.”

“The Ministry of National Defense is located north of the museum.”

“The Ministry of National Defense? Oh right, there is the War Memorial of Korea there.”

The National Museum of Korea and Ministry of National Defense were not far from each other.

“The CDC(Capital Defense Command) would have already rushed there as things happened.”

The military force organized for emergencies in the capital, CDC would have focused on that area for defense.

Naturally, they would have also secured the relics there.

It was only an assumption until now, but the assumption became a confirmation with the dream.

“In other words, Buyeo and Gyeongju are not occupied.”

It meant that if you hurry, you would have a chance to get the relics in Buyeon and Gyeongju.

“Then why were the Gwanggaeto Stele and Sword of Goujian mentioned?”

“Would be a clue that North Korea collapsed and there would be a connection or a battle between the survivors of China… no of the awakened around that area.”

There was a high possibility that Gwanggaeto Stele and Sword of Guijan were mentioned to give them the information about the general politics around the time, not to acquire them.

“Gwanggaeto Stele is known to be located in Jilin. We can’t reach it unless North Korea was wiped from the map since there are no planes or ships that are working properly. And the Sword of Guijan was located in Hubei, you said?”

“Yes.”

“Hubei is in the middle of China. The fact that we know about the relic over there means we were moving in China or the awakened who acquired that relic came to the Korean peninsula.”

The collapse of North Korea and contact with China.

They were critical clues as well. It showed that the politics around the country had completely changed.

“I understand roughly. But then what would Guandao and Kusanagi mean? I don’t think they would actually exist in the real world.”

Those two were also clues.

“They don’t.”

Kim Taehoon said.

You wouldn’t think of such things existing in the world using normal common sense.

“It would mean not to think about those things.”

He continued.

But it would exist. The clue was to let him know about it.

Jang Sunghoon was able to clear his mind a little bit of the conversation so far.

‘Yeah, we acquired Daedongyeojido, It would be better to try getting the things that were not taken already. Not the ones in Seoul that are already taken.”

At the same time, Jang Sunghoon felt like they were missing something.

“It wouldn’t be just those six, I feel like we’re missing out. We could have planned something more clearly if we knew more.”

The information they got from 6 things out of that wish list was already this much if they heard more they could have gotten a bigger blueprint for their plans.

Even Kim Taehoon himself was feeling that.

‘Only if I heard something more.’

The idea of passing the wishlist down using the relic effect of the Golden glass of Napoleon was brilliant.

But it was also true that not much of it actually helped them.

They should find something better now rather than regretting and feeling sorry later.

“We should teach people how to rap.”

Kim Taehoon came up with an answer to that question on his own.

“Rap… huh?”

“If the time is limited to hand over certain information, it’s one way to contain more words in that short time.”

If Ahn Sunmi was twice as fast, they could have gotten twice as much information!

Jang Sunghoon made a dumbfounded face and asked back.

“So I should rap in front of you while you are spraying blood out of your mouth and your body is trembling, losing light in your eyes? With the topic of Dabotap[8], Seokguram[9], and the Tripitaka Koreana[10]?”

“Is that weird?”

“Do you think that’d be normal? Trying to rap national treasures from No.1 to No.10 in front of a dying person?”

Sip

Instead of responding, Kim Taehoon just drank coffee. He must have thought it was ridiculous as well.

Jang Sunghoon asked a question to Kim Taehoon who was taking longer than usual.

“So then what’s the plan from now on? Even if we decide to go to Buyeo or Gyeongju, we can’t start moving towards there immediately.”

“We gotta build our internal stability first.”

“Stability… So it would first be necessary to designate the civilian representative and allow people to establish clans.

The plan was made.

Buyeo or Gyeongju.

Now Kim Taehoon has to work on getting there. It would not be easy or fast. They needed to stabilize the system before they could carry out the plan.

Kim Taehoon agreed on that as well.

“There’s something we need to do before that.”

It was just that there was something he had to do right now.

“Is there anything urgent?”

“We have to find the masters for the 9 relics we found.”

The 9 relics they got from raiding the Whale Baek Sungtaek’s house. Kim Taehoon said they need to find their masters right away.

“If we find the master… are you planning those to give them?”

“It would only be useless if they are used by incapable awakened.”

Jang Sunghoon’s face turned sour at that.

Kim Taehoon wasn’t wrong.

The relics were the strongest and most powerful weapons that humankind could use in the war against the monsters. It would be meaningless for an incapable awakened to possess such weapon. It would be the right thing to find a proper awakened who could utilize the relic best since it would benefit the situation where they need to kill one more monster.

But the relics they got this time had really high value.

“Are you really planning to just give it to whoever can use it well?”

It would definitely not be an easy thing to just give them away.

On top of that, not all of the capable awakened were truly loyal to Kim Taehoon.

Kim Taehoon tilted his head a bit to what Jang Sunghoon said.

“Give out relics, why should I?”

“Huh?”

“Find its master and I would get a price for that. Wouldn’t that be common sense?”

Now Jang Sunghoon nodded his head.

“Right, that’s common sense.”

< Chapter 16. Finding the Masters (1). > The end

[1] Large Bronze bell in Korea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_of_King_Seongdeok

[2] National treasure of Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilt-bronze_Incense_Burner_of_Baekje

[3] Memorial Stele in China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwanggaeto_Stele

[4] Archaeological Artifact in China https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sword_of_Goujian

[5] Type of Chinese Pole Arm https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guandao

[6] Kusanagi Legendary Sword of Japan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kusanagi

[7] National treasure of South Korea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowns_of_Silla

[8] South Korean National Treasure #20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dabotap

[9] South Korean National Treasure #24 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seokguram

[10] Another South Korean National Treasure https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tripitaka_Koreana

Chapter end