The First Hunter Chapter 7: Creating an Item (1).

1.

“So, how is it? Doable?”

“Yes, I can drive this easily.”

“Okay.”

Because the driver behind the wheel said that, the soldier in the passenger seat put his head out of the window and yelled.

“No problem with driving!”

The words reached Kim Suji. She immediately commanded the waiting soldiers.

“Clean up the dump truck!”

The soldier stuck themselves to the bed of the truck, following the order.

“Normal pupil reaction. Do you feel nauseous or feel like vomiting?”

“I feel fine.”

“The wound?”

“A bit itchy.”

“Itch…  Is it hard to resist scratching?”

“No, not that much.”

Meanwhile, Ahn Sunmi was checking the injured people.

‘They were injured with possibly lifelong scars even after proper surgery, but it was healed within one hour and the only side effect was the itchiness… If this works the same on internal organs… Wait, if the mud troll’s flesh were used together with the shot glass of healing, wouldn’t it bring a greater healing effect? I need to do some research on this. When I can…’

The wounded were in great condition. The effect of the mud troll’s flesh was very effective, she even felt useless.

Dig, dig!

Bhang Hyunwook was digging in the ground at that moment. He was digging against the mud troll’s dead body which now looked more like a pile of mud. It wasn’t so easy.

The mud troll’s flesh was a lot heavier than regular soil and almost as dense as the mud found at a beach. With normal manpower, you wouldn’t be able to shove the shovel in or dig something out. The soldiers had already tried and sprained their wrists.

So it had become Bhang Hyunwook’s job.

Dig, dig!

It was Bhang Hyunwook who had the second highest muscle strength other than Kim Taehoon.

“Jesus, look at him digging.”

“It’s awesome.”

“If the leadership had seen this they would have fainted. He could dig a mountain.”

Bhang Hyunwook’s shovel movements were perfect not only in power but also in technique.

Even the soldiers, who could be called veterans in shoveling, were surprised.

‘I didn’t think I would show my mound digging skills here.’

But Bhang Hyunwook wasn’t really in a good mood. It wasn’t that he didn’t know the importance of what he was doing. The mud troll’s flesh was like a life-saving kit in situations like this where you couldn’t expect proper medical services.

But a feeling of accomplishment and knowing the importance of something were two different things.

As Bahng Hyunwook continued his digging, hope started to bloom in the base where previously they thought the only thing left was despair and nightmares.

Slurp.

Kim Taehoon was enjoying his cup of coffee he made with his coffee dripper.

Jang Sunghoon was in front of him sipping his cup of coffee in a paper cup.

“Wow, this is such a good aroma. Columbian?”

With coffee in his mouth, Kim Taehoon just gently stared at Jang Sunghoon as he spoke.

“Or Ethiopian? You have really good dripping skills. Almost like a barista.”

Kim Taehoon was still holding the coffee inside his mouth.

Jang Sunghoon stopped talking and just looked at Kim Taehoon.

Gulp!

Kim Taehoon swallowed the sip of coffee in his mouth and opened his mouth to release the coffee aroma.

“What do you want?”

Jang Sunghoon made an awkward smile.

“Haha… You’re not an ordinary person.”

Again, Kim Taehoon took another sip of coffee in his mouth instead of responding.

That was a signal. The signal was saying ‘While I am enjoying coffee in my mouth, while my mouth is shut, say the thing you want to say correctly.’

But it also said ‘If you say something stupid, imagine what the consequence will be’.

Jang Sunghoon didn’t continue playing dumb since Kim Taehoon was clearly showing his intentions.

“First of all, the reason why I spoke about my criminal record is that what I’m about to say now is related to that.”

Jang Sunghoon provided Kim Taehoon information, that there’s a museum in the nearby Bucheon Sports Complex.

There’s no problem until then.

Anybody could say that. The fact that there was a museum over there was not a secret.

But after that, Jang Sunghoon had revealed his previous criminal record. That could be a problem. It was not good to speak about one’s criminal record even though society had shut down.

On top of that, there’s a high possibility that Jang Sunghoon’s confession might not be for the ones that he had already been punished for.

He was 22.

If he already did all the things he mentioned, forging art, dealing stolen goods, smuggling, and had been punished for the corresponding crimes, he would have already been in and out of prison multiple times. If he spent long enough time behind bars, he wouldn’t have been conscripted into the military.

Most importantly, his colleagues didn’t know he was a criminal.

It was easy to tell from the reaction of the others when Jang Sunghoon had divulged his past. That meant, he was opening up about that fact for the first time.

Why would he do that? Why did he reveal the fact that he committed crimes which he hadn’t divulged until now?

“There will be lots of people who know where the museum is other than me. This doesn’t really help much. But you know, not many people know where stolen and smuggled art are hidden or who did it, and that art is mostly stolen and kept by rich people with the purpose of bribing or hiding their assets.”

The reason was simple, that he had the kind of the information that only a criminal could offer.

“There are two things that I want. My life. If you know that I’m useful, you will protect me more than anybody. Just so you know, I do have a lot of good information.”

Kim Taehoon breathed out the aroma through his nose rather than responding. He could smell the strong coffee aroma.

“The second thing I want is a share.”

Kim Taehoon looked at Jang Sunghoon’s eyes while enjoying the coffee aroma.

He could see the glowing eyes of a beast which didn’t go well with his mouse-like appearance.

“I will not hide things now. It’s now a messy society, but it will eventually rebuild. Even after the Korean war, they built a better society. But a new order will be here. Hunter, you said? That hunters would be the new power in the new order.”

Pat, pat.

Jang Sunghoon patted the back of his right hand with his left index finger. The hand which had nothing on it.

“But unfortunately, I can’t be a hunter. Even if I were, I couldn’t be a great hunter like you, boss. So I have to stick to you. You can try to be a fox if you stick to a tiger, right?”

Gulp!

Jang Sunghoon could hear Kim Taehoon swallowing the coffee.

“My primary objective is survival That makes me prioritize consuming the monster stones and taking the military which is not functioning properly under my influence. I am not seeking to gain benefits out of it.”

Gulp!

Jang Sunghoon swallowed his saliva out of nervousness.

‘Sh*t, is he really doing this to save the world? Trying to be a righteous hero?’

He was thinking, is this guy Kim Taehoon really trying to be a hero to save the world and for world peace.

“So if you want to take your share, you have to do it on your own. Don’t expect me to give it to you.”

Kim Taehoon gave him a short answer.

“Haaaaa…”

Jang Sunghoon made a long sigh to that.

Kim Suji approached at the moment.

“The dump truck is fully renovated.”

“We will be starting the mission in 30 minutes.”

Kim Taehoon pulled something out of his bag as he said that.

“Until then, rest. Share this with everyone.”

It was a pack of cigarettes.

2.

Unit 1121’s base had so many monsters it was almost like a monster’s nest.

Most of them were brown goblins.

Their strong physical abilities, aggression, and hostility were nothing compared to the green goblin or other normal goblins, and that made it harder for people to deal with them.

Unless the heart and the head were destroyed the goblins kept trying to attack so the soldiers expended lots of bullets to kill one of them.

Kim Taehoon knew it well, so he brought it along.

Vroom, vroom!

The dump truck, the big monster.

It wasn’t just because of the mud troll that he brought the truck.

The reason he brought the truck was to make the bed of the truck into a gun platform

The truck was displaying its full capability.

“Kee!”

“Keehhh!!”

The brown goblins were still trying to attack the truck with lots of aggression, but it was completely different compared to previously.

Tata!

The brown goblins collapsed very easily now.

Tatata!

The soldiers were also shooting more accurately due to the increased stability from the steel made gun platform they could lean their bodies against for support and pull the trigger.

“Take your time and aim! Save the bullets!”

“Yes!”

The absolute height advantage made that possible. The mental stability the soldiers gained with that advantage substantially increased the soldiers' accuracy rate.

Tata!

Especially the soldiers—no Kim Taehoon’s private men—who had enough fuel injected into them, a fuel called rage.

“Bastards, I will erase you from this land!”

“Let’s wipe them out!”

The dump truck left a trail full of dead brown goblin bodies as it moved along.

But Bhang Hyunwook and Kim Taehoon weren’t there.

3.

Tatata!

Kim Taehoon and Bhang Hyunwook were a good distance away and they could only hear the dim sound of the shooting.

They were being extra cautious with their movements. They could see the brown goblins pop-up from somewhere and run towards the dump truck.

‘Like the boss said, they are not moving without purpose.’

It was clear that they had objectives as if they were told to do so while running towards the truck. It was a different move from how the other monsters had behaved, such as focusing on what moved.

That was why Bhang Hyunwook and Kim Taehoon were not with the group.

‘Like he was saying, the goblins have someone behind them. Brilliant. How does he know this?’

Kim Taehoon had an intuition when he realized that the brown goblins had a battle strategy. That they had a leader. The battle strategy meant there’s someone in control and making orders.

Kim Taehoon was looking for that leader right now.

He was tracking back from the brown goblins that were rushing to the truck.

“Stop.”

And he could see. The packs of goblins outside of the base.

“About 400m ahead.”

“....Yes, I can see it.”

The scene was dim. But it was enough to feel the grotesqueness of it.

“Kar Sha Sahssnia!”

The brown goblin—with horns and orange eyes was about 180cm in height, it was hard to believe it was a goblin—was crying out something weird as if it were chanting a spell.

At that cry, a long red breath emerged from its mouth and snaked straight into the other goblins mouths. The brown goblins who inhaled the red breath turned aggressive and started to run towards the dump truck.

‘Now I see these kinds of things. F*cking hell…’

Bhang Hyunwook subconsciously swallowed his saliva.

‘Even he can’t get that thing down.’

Yes, It was grotesque, and it didn’t seem possible for even Kim Taehoon to go against that pack with only the two of them.

Even though you had guns, it wasn’t even a sniper rifle but an automatic rifle. It’s also impossible to accurately hit a target that is 400m away with that gun. Even if you do, it would only expose Kim Taehoon and Bhang Hyunwook’s location. It would be a wiser decision to pull back, re-arm yourself and come back with the others.

But Kim Taehoon’s choice was different.

Bang!

A sudden shot.

“Argg!”

Kim Taehoon said to Bhang Hyunwook who jumped from the sound,“Let’s go back.”

Bhang Hyunwook couldn’t see the big goblin with the horns anymore. Just the panicking goblin pack.

The end.

Chapter end