The First Hunter Chapter 20

Chapter 20 – The Second Relic (1)

 

Deu deu deu!

 

A car that was making some noise and blocking the road was pushed off to the side.

 

Koong!

 

The front of the car smashed into ground with a loud crash.

 

If the owner saw the scene, they would have been frightened.

 

“How in the world such a tiny country could possess so many cars is beyond me. Aye, seriously!”

 

Instead of having a look of self-reflection on his face, the person who was loudly yelling had an obviously angry look on his face.

 

What was remarkable was the fact that it wasn’t only one or two cars that had been knocked off the road.

 

Hundreds of vehicles, whether it be front first or back first, were smashing into the furrows off the side of the road. As the cars smashed into each other, even their chassis were smashed and twisted.

 

Bang Hyun Wook turned his head to look at trail of destruction left in his wake, and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

 

Koong!

 

Seeing all the cars in the ditches off to the side of the road, Chang Sung Hoon said to Bang Hyun Wook.

 

“Hyun Wook’s strength is really good.”

 

“It’s all thanks to the Energy and Strength stats. You could probably hit a hundred home runs if you debuted in the pro league right now right?”

 

“Yeah, I really wish I could debut in the pro league. If the car owners come by in the future and see my face through the black box, they’ll file a damages claim and I’ll have to file for bankruptcy, so I’ll either have to join the major leagues or hit the jackpot.”

 

“I really wish I could win the lottery.”

 

“I agree.”

 

Chang Sung Hoon once again looked at the cars that were off to the side of the road.

 

‘This is mass destruction of private property, but it was for the sake of survival······ It’s basically no different from trash now.’

 

Chang Sung Hoon was looking at a car that he would have whistled at in the past.

 

That was then.

 

“Huh? Boss? Boss!”

 

Chang Sung Hoon shouted towards Kim Tae Hoon who was marking which cars to move out of the way.

 

“Boss, that’s a Cayenne, a Cayenne! Porsche Cayenne!”

 

Using a red marker, Kim Tae Hoon was about to mark a Porsche Cayenne SUV’s rear window with an X.

 

“That one costs more than 100 million Won!”

 

Note that a brand new stock Porsche Cayenne cost 100 million won.

 

With optional add ons, it could cost up to 200 million won!

 

It was a nice car that anyone would fall in love with, and the fact that it was a Porsche served as a man’s fantasy.

 

Of course, that’s what it was to Chang Sung Hoon.

 

Ignoring Chang Sung Hoon’s cries, Kim Tae Hoon marked the car and lightly pushed the back of it. Confirming that it would move, he looked at the back of the car.

 

Staring at it, he painted an image of it in his head.

 

It was an image of a huge wall pushing the car.

 

A wall that slowly moved towards the furrow.

 

Kim Tae Hoon’s imagination became tangible. As it moved, it began to gradually descend the small valley walls of the furrow.

 

The pricey car smashed into the back of another car that had already gone headfirst into the ditch.

 

Kwang!

 

If the car was a human, it would have been hard to look at what had happened to it, and Chang Sung Hoon who had been eyeing the car let out a regretful sigh.

 

“If only I could ride that car around······.”

 

“It’s ok, Tae Hoon hyungnim is the kind of person who would even drive a Mercedes Benz into the black orc. There’s no difference between that and this.”

 

“A Benz and a Porsche are different!”

 

“Different? Don’t they have similar price tags?”

 

“It’s not about the price, but the romance. The romance.”

 

Kim Tae Hoon shot a glance at the two of them.

 

‘Hup!’

 

‘This······.’

 

Chang Sung Hoon and Bang Hyun Wook turned into honey eating mutes. [TN: It’s an idiom along the lines of ‘cat got your tongue’] Kim Tae Hoon didn’t need to say anything, that gaze was enough.

 

 

Seeing that they quieted down, Kim Tae Hoon’s gaze passed over them.

 

On a road that had become a graveyard for cars, there was a dump truck slowly moving on the road followed by a line of vehicles, like ducklings chasing after the mother duck.

 

There were also soldiers that surrounded the cars.

 

“Hey hey, be careful, careful!”

 

“Sorry sir.”

 

“Be careful when moving the bodies around. We might not be able to give them a proper funeral, but you gotta at least show the minimum amount of courtesy.”

 

“Yes sir.”

 

“If you look at it in a certain way, handling dead people is happy work. It’s another indicator that I’ve survived.”

 

Some of the soldiers who were moving the cadavers off to the side were using jumpers to cover their faces.

 

“Monster Stone extraction complete.”

 

“Quota of ten, complete. Permission to smoke a cigarette, sir?”

 

“Sure, I completed ten as well. Let’s smoke together.”

 

There were other soldiers who were searching for monster corpses and then retrieving monster stones from their chest.

 

And from time to time there would be a plume of cigarette smoke rising into the sky in between work shifts.

 

Kim Tae Hoon sighed while watching the scene.

 

‘It’s a relief that there isn’t as much of a commotion as I thought there would be.’

 

January 2.

 

After what seemed like an eternity, the new day started. Under the banner of the newly named Mek Clan, Kim Tae Hoon and his subordinates left the 1121st Unit’s barracks and headed towards Bucheon Stadium.

 

It wasn’t a very long distance.

 

Being about 5 kilometers away, it should have taken them an hour to reach it.

 

However, even though the Mek Clan had left at 7 in the morning, it wasn’t until 2 am near dawn when they arrived at Bucheon Stadium.

 

They had spent a lot of time clearing the roads so that the dump truck that was carrying the weapons could pass safely, along with the other vehicles behind it.

 

‘There weren’t many monster attacks.’

 

It was a time consuming task.

 

Moving the owner bereft cars was an extremely time consuming task, and since the roads were clogged with traffic accidents, it wasn’t something the clan could clear without Kim Tae Hoon and Bang Hyun Wook’s help.

 

It was also a task that had to be completed.

 

‘In the end, we secured a path from the stadium to the military base.’

 

After all, the dump truck wasn’t just a truck. It was a weapon that gave the soldiers an incredible advantage against the monsters and it was a storage unit that was full of weapons.

 

Securing a path for the dump truck was a priority for the clan.

 

Clearing the path was similar to creating an emergency exit, providing another lifeline for the clan.

 

‘It’s dangerous to hole up in an apartment or similar buildings. In regards to residence, it’s much better to settle in the military base or the stadium.’

 

It was also important to properly take care of the bodies there as well.

 

The place where you are buried becomes your grave, but the place where you die becomes your hell.

 

The difference between the two was huge.

 

Giving the bodies rest is one way to still keep some sort of order and civility in this new world.

 

“Huh? There, over there!”

 

“What is it? What’s happened? Ah!”

 

“That’s a lot of smoke. Doesn’t it look like a fire broke out?”

 

“A fire doesn’t give off that amount of smoke? It’s an apartment complex is it not?”

 

At that moment, all eyes turned towards the beacon of smoke that rose between the apartment complexes in the distance.

 

Kim Tae Hoon also turned his attention towards the smoke.

 

‘It’s starting now.’

 

The smoke that everyone could see was another reason why they needed to maintain a trace of order.

 

The origin of the smoke.

 

There are no chimneys where the smoke can come out of, so if there was no fire, would there be smoke?

 

It is a fire.

 

The cause of the fire was also obvious.

 

“But what caused the fire?”

 

It was minus 10 degrees celsius outside, and not only was the temperature not rising, but the wind was blowing as well.

 

Isn’t gas and electricity provided during a winter like this?

 

In the end, they’ll have to resort to old-fashioned methods that humans had to use before the advent of sufficient technology.

 

“They must have lit a fire to  warm their bodies. Without a fire, they’ll freeze to death.”

 

They definitely must have lit a fire.

 

Common sense would dictate that they should have come outside and looked for a metal barrel, and then filled it with a large quantity of firewood before lighting it on fire.

 

However, a lot of people would instead make fires in their homes using portable gas burners and cans of butane gas. But to be fair, this world was already one not within the bounds of common sense.

 

“Should we go help?”

 

There were no firefighters that could be dispatched at the moment.

 

“We’ll probably just have to wait until the fire puts itself out. Unless it starts to rain. But there’s no way it’ll rain in this weather. It would be pretty amazing if it does.”

 

“But if the fire spreads from the apartment complex sir?

 

“Well······.”

 

The society that humans had built is surprisingly fragile, and can easily be compared to a giant matchbox.

 

“I don’t know what’ll happen next, but regardless of what happens, I doubt we’ll be able to do much about it.”

 

“I’m getting goosebumps sir.”

 

Many things apply to disasters such as earthquakes, not things like monster attacks.

 

Many experts say. When a major disaster like an earthquake occurs, there are more deaths in the subsequent disasters, like a fire or a collapse of infrastructure.

 

‘The real chaos is just beginning.’

 

In such a situation, the monsters would be like merciless gods.

 

‘Hmmm.’

 

At that moment Kim Tae Hoon turned his head.

 

A desolate road full of trashed cars entered his sight.

 

However, Kim Tae Hoon’s intuition told him that the silence was just a facade.

 

Intuition, the Hobgoblin’s Intuition told him that there was a strong presence nearby.

 

“Prepare for battle!”

 

Kim Tae Hoon yelled out loud.

 

Awoooooooooh!

 

As soon as Kim Tae Hoon spit out his words, an eerie howl rang in his ears, causing his legs to tremble.

Chapter end