Chapter 2 - Second Episode- Life in the wilderness (2)

Second Episode- Life in the wilderness (2)

The body, which lost its head, powerlessly collapsed to the ground a few seconds later. Sunwoo bit his lips as he saw the man killed in an instant without even responding. The quality of the team…was too low.

“Ah, ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Fear quickly consumed everyone. The neck rolling on the floor soaked the earth red, and the fear of death spread like an epidemic again. It was visible that the atmosphere was hardening. Sun-woo grabbed a large knife in his hand. He had a sense of incompatibility.

‘Wasn’t this team a skilled unit?’

When Sunwoo asked the exchange center, it said the unit was with enough experience in combat. A guide’s role is to guide the attacking team to the target, wait for the hunt to finish, and collect the fees. It is supposed to be like that and nothing more. Sun-woo breathed out a desolate breath, looking at the unit in complete confusion. Their behavior can never be considered as a skilled official team. He had met quite a few units to guide them. He could guess how strong the attacking team was and how experienced they are via instinct. These people are beginners. A pathetic group of amateur attackers. They don’t deserve the word ‘attacking squad’. It was true that they were experienced but certainly not enough to hunt a 19th-class beast. Half of the members were panicked by the death of their colleagues. Even the captain of the attacking unit was shivering. Sun-woo recalled their hunting records as if one finds information in a book.

Their huntings were of 20-class Goblin, 9th-class Beard Salamander, 20-class red-colored, poisonous Moth, and 20-class Black slime. If the unit succeeded in hunting the 19th-class Beard Salamander, it would be safe to say they possess some skills. This one is a difficult target even though it lacks fighting skills. But the evidence they submitted was a Salamander’s skin. With this skill, there is no way he would have hunted it normally…

‘Crazy idiots. They picked up the peeled skin and submitted it.’

The evidence was fake. If so, the team won’t be able to hunt 19th-class beasts with these low-level attacks. He didn’t know why they played with their lives, but they made him risk his life with them.

‘I can’t die like this.’

Sunwoo’s eyes glistened. He always risked death. He started this job with a firm determination. The unit wasn’t Sunwoo’s concern. The important thing is that they dared to deceive the ‘Node’ in the wilderness, and Sunwoo has to survive somehow. In front of his eyes, a giant body was spilling poisonous bubbles. Behind his back were con men who dragged themselves to their extremities behind their backs. The muscles of the stout body, trained by walking over the ridges, heated uptight.

‘It’s only 19th class.’

Class 19th. It’s a beast that ordinary people can hunt if they’re skilled. Sunwoo tried hard to focus even when he felt dizzy. But before he could get his act together, another attack by the spider began. A long forefoot swung, and one person died again. This time it was an instant death that he couldn’t even scream. It turned its head 360 degrees and cried as if it was satisfied.

Arrrr!

I heard a strange sound. Its eyes were on Se-hyuk, the captain of the attack squad. By the predator’s instinct, it realized that he was the most cumbersome one in the group. Se-hyuk was sweating all over his body, aiming straight at the spider with the sword.

‘No one runs away.’

If it’s a relief, it’s a relief. The team knew that this place could be a grave, and they were terrified and could not even hold their weapons properly, but at least they did not abandon their colleagues and run away. They are desperate because there is no going back. There must be a reason to risk their lives to get the spider.

‘It’s none of my business.’

Sunwoo muttered repeatedly. As soon as they entered the spider’s habitat, escape is impossible unless it is killed. It’s more difficult to catch him than to distract its pursuit if the hunting fails. At that moment, the bronze spider’s attack hit Se-hyuk, the only awakeners, and captain of the attacking team. Please, stop him. Sunwoo prayed to himself. If the awakener, who is the attacking team’s main one, dies in vain, there is no hope.

Boom!

A heavy blow was heard.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Sunwoo’s eyes glistened. Se-hyuk endured the shock, shaking his whole body after being attacked by the spider.

After a While. The sound of hushing the wind was heard, and Se-hyuk flew and rolled on the floor. It tottered his eight legs and swung its front foot to give Se-hyuk a final blow.

Pschhhhhh

The bronze spider screamed sharply. Sunwoo was shoving the knife into the spider’s weakest joint.

“Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!”

Sun-woo shouted and slammed it with the knife. One of its legs fell off with a thud. Its huge forefoot flew over, Sun-woo quickly rolled himself away.

“Guide…”

“…”

“Everyone, get up and attack! Do you want to die?”

“…”

“It lost one leg. A proper attack is impossible,”

After all, the only weapon is the number. Everyone jumps in and distracts its eyes, and in the meantime, I remove its legs step by step. But the first person who ran toward it was pierced through its front foot and rose into the air. People stopped walking. Their ankles were shackled one by one due to the horror. A sustained scream

“Argh!”

A desperate cry.

“Please save me!”

It was an impossible battle. Initially, it was not a battle but a hunt. Sunwoo stood and watched the people waiting for their turns to come and looked at the spider slaughtering people. Then the spider that was turning its head, giggling, ran toward Sunwoo. The reflection of the spider was getting bigger and bigger on Sunwoo’s pupils. At that moment, the roaring sound that almost seemed to tear eardrums exploded, and the bronze spider’s movement stopped. The unfamiliar sound made people’s eyes wide open. Before one could see, Sun-woo had a pistol in his hand. The bullet, which was fired from Sunwoo’s hand, precisely penetrated through the spider’s mouth and exploded his head. Steam rose from the muzzle of the gun.

“That’s… a pistol?”

Sunwoo limped along to finish it while biting his lips. Just like this, he lost one life again. In modern civilization, bullets can no longer be easily obtained or replenished. He had been saving it as if one bullet is identical to one life. After confirming that the spider’s breath was completely cut off, Sunwoo got up. Anyway, he survived today, and he had to gather his trophy. Sunwoo searched for the dead bronze spider’s body and found the core. The core. A material that empowers the beasts to move and is a replacement for fossil energy and money in the apocalyptic world. Some called it ‘The Stone of Energy,’ but most of these energy lumps were officially named ‘Cores.’ In parts of the spider’s head, chest, and stomach that were cut off, a shiny core looked like a jewel or ore was caught like a crumb.

‘Only three.’

Sunwoo wiped off the rickety essence and put it in his pocket. Survivors who belatedly realized the situation ran to Sunwoo.

“Hey, man. What are you doing now?”

“Hey, you guys, you’ve posted false information on the exchange,”

The men’s face distorted by Sunwoo’s insensitive remark. The survivors did get a lot of help from this young man, but he was just a child to them.

“Thanks to you, I nearly crossed the bridge with you guys. I’ll take all the cores for risking my life. I won’t touch the body, so do whatever you want; I don’t care whether you boil it or roast it,”

The survivors, who had been spaced out, frowned their faces as if they understood what he said. The atmosphere quickly turned intense. Even though the cores are for the cost of risking life, more than half of the team died. The body of a bronze spider is merely food that can sustain for one or two days. After all, this whole situation happened for the cores of 19th-class beasts. 20th class beasts do not have the cores, so it was necessary to attack the spider. Sunwoo couldn’t leave like this. Even if one has to kill a human, the survivors were determined to get the cores. The atmosphere subsided threateningly, and survivors surrounded Sunwoo.

“Hey…”

Se-hyuk spoke to Sun-woo. This is the wilderness, and these people live in the wilderness. Killing a human being is an easy task. However, it was embarrassing to kill the person who saved his life.

“Guide, you…”

“Speak,”

“Why didn’t you use a pistol from the start? You could’ve saved one more life,”

His voice became smaller and smaller as he spoke, for he felt embarrassed. He lied to Sunwoo, put his life in danger, and Se-hyuk even owed his life. He was ashamed. But Se-hyuk said to himself that he had to do it for a reason, and he had a reason to do it this way.

“The reason I didn’t use a pistol from the beginning….”

Se-hyuk felt as if he was naked. This young man knows it, too, that he’s bragging despite his embarrassment. And how desperate Se-hyuk is.

“For a time like now,”

Sun-woo took out a pistol and pointed it at Se-hyuk. The sound of the ball being pulled was clear.

“The moment you put the finger on my plunder, at least half of you will go down the underworld,”

“Hey, please…”

“And even if I don’t have a gun, there are more than a hundred battles I’ve fought as a guide. You think I will lose to the attack squad that can’t even catch a 19th-class beast?”

His words sounded like a roar. And it worked well.

“Ha. Come on,”

The team hung their heads as if they had given up, and Sun-woo turned back. Sun-woo, who was about to leave the place quickly, turned around as if he had forgotten one thing.

“You’ll have to be responsible for lying to the Node.”

* * *

In the wilderness, the exchange.

Boom boom!

The sound of hitting the table was loud. Sunwoo was causing a disturbance in the lobby of a Node exchange in the wilderness.

“No, that’s what I mean, Sunwoo…”

“You put me to the death with those craps?”

“What do you mean I put you to death? How could I know, Sunwoo? It all works by the rules. You know that!”

Bang!

Once again, his kick knocked on the desk. Jin-kyu, the 17th District Exchange Manager who was looking at the desk, swept his desk.

“What kind of exchange manager would you be if you couldn’t tell the difference between combat trophies and the peeled skin that the attacking team picked up?”

“Sunwoo, can you say…”

Sunwoo’s eyes changed completely to Jin-kyu’s crawling voice. Jin-kyu shivered unknowingly. What kind of guide’s eyes are so fierce? If anyone sees it, they will believe Sunwoo is an awakener.