Chapter 9 - Bounty Hunt (3)

2 weeks later (1)

Two awakened men in protective coats decided they should go get something to eat at the convenience store nearby while waiting for their mission.

While the other one was busy looking for food, the man looking at his cellphone opened his mouth.

“What did you say again yesterday?”

“What?”

“Scavenger.”

I-iss!

A man with a hood on unexpectedly dropped the drink he was holding. The bottle rolled on the floor with a loud noise.

The two Awakeners looked at him for a moment but continued on as he was insignificant.

“You still have him?”

“Yes. It’s the first time a single criminal had lived so long.”

The man, who was surfing on the internet, laughed at the comments.

“Haha, well you look at that? Aren’t you good scavenger that led the rescue of the people?”

“What good scavenger are you talking about? They’re all motherfuckers,” the harsh words automatically popping out of the other awakener’s mouth.

It was still difficult to receive favorable responses from the awakened.

The man wearing a hood accidentally overheard their conversation.

He laughed boisterously about it.

It’s been two weeks since Il-hyun awakened.

* * *

It’s been over twenty years since a monster’s first appearance.

Today, it’s not an exaggeration to say that detecting a gate was the most important task for every country worldwide.

If he missed the gate’s creation once, he had no choice but to suffer enormous damage in his unprepared state.

The monster cannot be removed immediately, and the problem grew bigger if left unattended.

Secondary damage, such as breeding or contamination of the monsters coming out of the gate, was more difficult to convert into money.

Governments around the world have spent countless taxes to prevent that from happening. They launched sensitive satellites and installed detectors in cities and valleys.

However, no matter how much attention was put into detection, it was impossible to predict a gate that had not yet appeared.

Gates that appeared suddenly were quickly notified and responded to as soon as possible.

And the people in charge of that is the Korean government’s Disaster Monitoring Department.

“Move quickly!”

The manager, who was unable to leave the office after 9 o’clock at night, said nervously.

The department had turned upside down because of the gate that appeared in the Seoul residential area.

“Did you get the wavelength analysis results?”

“Gate rating is E1, 12 minutes until the advent of the monster.”

“Shit! I expected it, but it’s faster than I thought.”

If he looked closely at the gate’s appearance, he could see each gate’s approximate characteristics.

The manager had been doing this for over ten years, and he noticed that it would be active in less than 30 minutes from the first picture received.

He immediately called it an emergency and contacted the correspondent and the awakened person in charge to respond.

And here was the Disaster Observation Department.

The world’s best equipment and workforce succeeded in completing detection and analysis within three minutes of the gate’s appearance.

A 15-minute gate was almost a surprise gate.

And now, the remaining time until the activation was going into 12 minutes.

Time was running out.

“I don’t think there are any ace monsters, but it seems that their count is quite high.”

“Are Awakeners going to the field?”

“The scene on the other side is under the jurisdiction of C & A, but they’re still far from the field.”

“Then hand it over to another company that’s sending awakened people around!”

“I told them to wait, but C & A doesn’t want to transfer.”

“Do those people only care to make money? Ignore it and hand it over!”

The chief felt terrified.

He worked with hundreds of companies that we’re crazy about Ether and money-making; it was not strange that he became upset about it.

He looked at the watch nervously.

The extraordinary scene was going as planned, but 12 minutes isn’t enough to properly install the barrier.

“The traffic signal control is said to be over. What do you do now?” a newcomer unfamiliar with the situation had asked with an anxious look.

“How do you do it? It’s slipping out of our control. I hope the people who went out to the field do it properly.”

* * *

“Okay, let’s go! It’s worthwhile waiting in the streets to get a job,” said the man who ended the call while clapping his hands.

Two cars stood on the roadside, and seven Awakeners, who were smoking, moved quickly.

“But can you cope with less than 10 minutes left?” The man holding the steering wheel asked.

Rather than doing well, the concern was that it took time for them to arrive.

“It will be alright. We only need to catch the monster.”

“The police should do the care and rescue. When I think of the hawks behind the scenes caring only about the money they pay for taxes, my anger grows.”

The awakened people in the first car giggled.

The light beacon and siren rang, and two cars competed along the night.

“Whoa!”

A man riding in the passenger seat opened his mouth while they drove wildly.

“Hey, aren’t we meeting Scavenger this time?”

“What? who?”

“You know, there are scavengers that come out only by choosing a timely gate.”

“Alas.”

The awakener nodded. He knew who they were talking about.

The guy who suddenly appeared two weeks ago has become quite popular these days.

Rumors spread more quickly because scavenger was a sensitive issue on this ground.

He had been scavenging in Korea for two weeks and was not caught, but he was active throughout Seoul.

The most unusual thing was that he only went to places where evacuation was not appropriately done.

Perhaps the barricade was not correctly made, and it was speculated that he wanted to steal the monsters, but many points didn’t make sense.

“Yes, it is. Didn’t you say it almost appeared on the Seoul side?”

“He has a disguise ability, but why is he doing scavenging? He must be a stupid person.”

“Probably his interest.”

The unidentified scavenger changed face every time he appeared on the scene.

Had the body and the manner of crime not been identical, they wouldn’t have known it was the same person.

There were rumors about IRC’s media activity, an international crime organization, and owners of abilities dealing with strange animals. All kinds of weird speculations and rumors were floating about.

“I don’t think it’s going to appear…If you come across it, don’t hesitate and miss the opportunity.”

“Okay, okay.”

They found and pulled a car in the middle of the centerline of the road when they arrived at the main apartment complex entrance.

Eight Awakeners got out of the car at once.

“Yeah, the guys are fast.”

Police were already on the scene and were pulling people out.

Although it was weak, they were still building a barricade with an iron fence.

The man approached one of the police officers on the move.

“You work hard!”

“Oh, you’re finally here! There’s 1 minute left remaining until the monsters appear. You have to go inside,” the police said urgently.

In contrast, the awakener walked effortlessly and nodded.

“Yes, yes. Monsters, we’ll deal with them, so please get them out.”

“Yes, then please.”

At that time, an urgent announcement was reported on the police man’s radio, where he’d buckled it on his waist.

—Damn it, activate the gate! Activate the gate! I’ll step back!

“This…”

The police were embarrassed and clutched at their foreheads.

“We will hold the guys coming from the outside, so please handle the inside.”

“Erai, jump fast! It bothers me.”

The awakeners began to run.

If the monster escapes or hides, it could’ve been taken on the other side and the Ether without any time to spare.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A roaring gunshot rang out from the inside, and the Awakeners reached the battlefield.

Police were shooting large-caliber guns at monsters.

The E-rank monster’s skin could not be penetrated at all, but it might have given it a small wound.

Off!

One awakener cut the head of a rushing monster.

Humanoid monsters and undead rotten bodies scattered everywhere.

“The Awakeners are here! Evacuate quickly!”

The police shouted and took the protected citizens out.

Terrified citizens crawled off the scene as they swept the floor.

“Not half of them are out of the gate yet!”

“Okay, go there!” cried by the Awakeners near the police.

The speed at which the monsters came out was different for each gate, and this gate was fortunately slow.

Rather than dealing with the monsters that spread worldwide, it was easier to catch and kill the monsters coming out of the gate.

They cut the bodies blocking the road and proceeded to the parking lot inside the complex where the gate is.

The red gate quaked with strong wavelengths as monsters pour out from it.

Whenever the gate struck, fifteen bodies roared fiercely as the Awakeners slaughter them immediately.

They changed direction as they stopped three or four waves.

“The speed of the gate is slow, and we can afford to go in small groups. First, try cleaning the outside,” said the leader. When he told them to split up, they divided without hesitation.

Four Awakeners guarded the front gate, and the other four wandered inside of it to catch monsters.

Dead bodies splayed between corridors.

“I heard there’d be tons of monsters, but I didn’t expect them to be this many.”

“It’s good thing that you have a lot of cores left. You can play and eat for three months.”

“Think about it, it’s stupid. Instead of having a lot of numbers, the output is low, so it won’t be the same as usual.”

“Is it?” He foolishly replied. He wielded a hammer and squeezed the head of an incoming corpse.

As the green juice splashed all over the place, the yellow-haired man next to him glanced at him with arrogance.

His new white sneakers got painted beautifully.

“Let’s get some more, huh?”

“Look over there.”

The man with a hammer jerked his head directly at an apartment.

Several bodies were crawled up its wall.

He wasn’t sure why he left the entrance and the stairs, but he’d go through it later anyway.

“Did it suddenly eat something wrong?”

“It must have smelled people,” the man with the hammer shouted.

“Come here and help me.”

“What? Why me?” The yellow-haired one asked as if he seriously didn’t know English.

It doesn’t seem to matter at all whether a person dies or not.

The man said that he was accustomed to his casual attitude, and once again, he had a taste of it.

“It’s better not to die than to die.”

“It’s too late to say that. You can just come and go over there, anyway.”

Even if he leaves right now, he could still be eaten by monsters.

“It’s annoying to go over them one by one upstairs. Just kill them all at once when they’re gathered.”

The yellow-haired pondered at his words.

If you’d think about it, he’s actually right, he thought inwardly.

Even if it wasn’t a good motive, it could be a reason for him to move from that perspective.

“Then, where are you going?”

“I’m going to go through the road,” the man placed the hammer on his shoulder.

Monsters blocked the rescue work at the special scene, and a child was in trouble.

He headed for their direction to help overcome their helpless situation.

“Huh, that asshole.”

The yellow-haired one looked at him sadly as they began to run to the other side.

As he sliced ​​a few monsters, he arrived at the apartment entrance and began to climb the stairs quickly.

With the Awakened listener’s enhanced hearing, the screams of the people upstairs became clear.

“If you don’t evacuate, and you’re still hiding inside the house, what can I do about that?” He grumbled.

The monster had climbed to the top, giving him more work to do.

He just wanted to eat the monsters slowly. He climbed at the end of the stairs.

When he saw a house’s door at the end of the hallway being ripped off, a curse slipped on the yellow hair’s tongue.

However, the scene was completely different from his expectations.

“What are you?”

Two citizens were safely intact but terrified.

It was a messy house with an undead monster inside.

And a man in a black coat was standing in the middle.

The man was pressing the hood of the tee that he wore inside. His face was not visible.

“Oh, I see. Are you that scavenger?”

The yellow hair, who had roughly guessed the other person’s identity, had a smile on his face.

Black shoe marks were left on the floor. He glanced at the Ether of the blood in the hands of the unidentified, hooded man.

“If you don’t want to get hurt, can you put it down?”

The man who heard the yellow-haired guy’s threat slowly took off his hood and turned around.

He was a middle-aged man that had fine wrinkles on his face and neck. However, his voice sounded young and didn’t match his appearance.

“You’re late. They almost died.”

He spread out his hand and pointed to the cowering people on the other side.

A woman had blood on her one of her fingers. She must’ve hurt it.  Beside her was was a young man in a wheelchair who had paralyzed legs.

It’s possible that the monsters suddenly came into the house because of the smell of blood from the woman’s wound.

“So, what?” the yellow-haired guy’s answer was concise.

“I saved something you almost couldn’t. Is that okay with you?”

“Don’t bullshit me! Who wants to come here and catch you? You can’t just touch someone else’s catch on the table!” Yellow hair said in an aggressive tone.

The man looked at his wristwatch.

The monsters are still running around, but the yellow-haired man didn’t show any interest in it.

“You guys aren’t interested in Sang-Dok. Why don’t you go down there and save the isolated people in the house? Or are you guarding something here?”

“It’s not whether people die or not. That Ether is ours.”

“Are you serious?” The man asked, but the only response he got was a raised middle finger.

“Originally, I wanted only one or two. Now, I’ll take your share.”

“Haha, it’s fucking boring. Shut your mouth and go to the detention center I’ll send you to.”

He frowned slightly. The yellow hair pulled a sword as he said volatile languages at him.

No—he tried pulling it. However, before the blade was pulled out, his vision became distorted.

Kwa-jik!

The protective function of the protective coat was completely destroyed.

“What is this? Ugh!”

The yellow hair was blown away as he crushed to the wall, halfway groaning in pain.

The man approached him, and in a blink of an eye, he completely smashed his coat with a single punch.

The man dragged the yellow head that was unable to move due to his legs getting paralyzed. He threw him in front of the broken door.

“I’ll keep you here until the situation is over.”

He walked back into the living room and went straight to the house’s bathroom, he looked in the mirror and put his hand on his face as he used his ability to transform.

The middle-aged man he had transformed back into his original face.

“Oh, I can’t get used to this feeling,” Il-hyun muttered. He opened his mouth as he massaged his facial muscles. Then, he touched his face again.

This time, his face turned into one with yellowish hair.

“Now, shall we get back to work?”