Chapter 38

38. Unexpected

‘Why is a monster outside the crack? Was it able to come out?’

Ko Byeong-gap ran frantically. He jumped five steps at a time. A thousand thoughts came to his mind as he left the villa.

Did he see nonsense? Or was it a dream? Such an escape from reality was short-lived.

He faced the monster right in front of his nose and watched as the feeling of common sense he had accumulated over the past three years as a hunter crumbled away before him.

‘Is it a Yeti?’

The identity of the monster who just killed a civilian was a Yeti. A monster whose height easily exceeded 8 feet and was covered with gray hair.

It was a D-class monster, so it wasn’t that strong. Of course, that was by hunter standards; that was a disaster for the general public.

“…”

Ko Byeong-gap rolled his eyes and looked to the side and saw a man drooped in front of the parking lot pillar. The Yeti had just beaten him, and it was already too late to save him. His whole head had been pulled out. How could he save him?

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Woo! Woo!

The Yeti’s eyes glared and ate the man’s head. The man’s head felt as small as an apple as he held it.

What more needed to be said? Ko Byeong-gap drew his sword and charged at the Yeti.

“Ahhhhhh!”

The Yeti shrieked slowly and threw away the head that it held. Ko Byeong-gap reflexively tried to cut through it but quickly pulled the sword back.

Even though the person in the monster’s hand was dead, he didn’t want to cut through a human body.

“Phew!”

He ducked over to the fullest extent. The Yeti clasped its large hands and aimed at Ko Byeong-gap. Immediately, its raised fists dropped.

‘Such a slow attack!’

Ko Byeong-gap turned his body momentarily to avoid it briefly.

“Is that right?”

At the same time, he raised his sword sharply and drew vigorously. The Yeti’s pelvis was cut off entirely from the left.

Ko Byeong-gap never stopped swinging his sword to cut off its neck. The Yeti’s head rolled on the floor.

“Ah–”

Its screaming stopped.

Ko Byeong-gap stood in front of the Yeti’s body and looked around. At a glance, there was more than one civilian casualty.

‘One, two, three… Damn it.’

There were only three people in sight, and they all had their heads pulled out.

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‘To be so helpless…’

Yes. Even if only one D-class Yeti emerged, an unarmed civilian would die helplessly. If they were given rifles… No, a pistol might be enough to save them.

Ko Byeong-gap wondered if he should collect the people’s bodies.

‘No, now is not the time.’

He could feel the presence of monsters everywhere, and their eerie energy carried death. Ko Byeong-gap left immediately. However, he couldn’t take a step forward. A word crossed his mind.

‘Mom!’

He came to his senses. Did a monster come to the hospital where his mother was hospitalized? If that was the case, his mother…

Ko Byeong-gap felt like his legs loosen.

‘Calm down, calm down!’

He chewed his lips and slapped himself on the cheek. As the pain subsided, his mind calmed a little.

‘Let’s call.’

Ko Byeong-gap pulled out his cell phone from his pocket. He pressed the hold button to turn on the screen, and then, there were several missed messages.

[Emergency text message!]

-Many monsters appeared in Gwanak-gu and Jongno-gu, Seoul! Citizens, please evacuate to a safe place!

‘The area between Gwanak and Jongno?’

When he checked the text, his heart felt lighter. His mother was currently in Gangnam. Still, he couldn’t completely relax. Ko Byeong-gap immediately called the hospital.

-Currently, there are a lot of calls on hold, so it is difficult to connect. Please try again later.

The phone didn’t go through the hospital due to the heavy volume of calls. He tried several times again, but he got the same result every time. His expression distorted.

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Suddenly, a number came into Ko Byeong-gap’s gaze.

-Kim Yu-bi

-010-XXXX-XXXX

‘This is…’

Not too long ago, Ko Byeong-gap stopped by the hospital to visit his mother. A nurse named Kim Yu-bi suddenly talked to him.

Ko Byeong-gap had a short conversation with her. It wasn’t a very beneficial chat, but they even exchanged phone numbers unexpectedly.

‘I said I was busy because she wanted to eat with me out of the blue.’

She was a woman who felt like a bother that day, but currently, she was like a benefactor. Ko Byeong-gap quickly called Kim Yu-bi. After a few beeps, she picked up.

-Hello. Oh, wait! Hello?

He felt a sense of distraction in her voice. Ko Byeong-gap briefly introduced himself and asked about the hospital’s situation. Kim Yu-bi replied in a slightly annoyed tone.

-It’s safe here. There are no monsters. Hunters are guarding the perimeter. Yes! I’ll go now! I’m sorry. I can’t make long calls right now. Anyway, don’t worry too much.

Kim Yu-bi hung up after saying that. Ko Byeong-gap swept away his frightened heart.

‘Thank God.’

If the hospital was safe, he couldn’t ask for more. Ko Byeong-gap raised his anger as he looked at the Yeti’s corpse.

It was like waking up in the middle of the night. What the hell were those fucking monsters?

Ko Byeong-gap fixed his sword and ran briskly.

***

Ko Byeong-gap was in Ashvilam since early morning. As a result, he didn’t know the details of the incident that occurred in the real world. However, he grasped the current situation through the information he found as he went around in real-time.

‘Not one or two.’

It wasn’t just one or two monsters.

About half an hour after he discovered the first Yeti, he cut down seven monsters so far, but it didn’t occur to him that that was the end. Just from the sounds of gunshots that came from afar…

Tada-da-da-da-da-dang!

‘Is there a battle going on over there?’

He turned in the direction of the gunshots. At that moment, a scream came from somewhere near.

“Ahhhhh! Help me! Please!” It came from the direction of the crosswalk.

Ko Byeong-gap’s body moved reflexively. Before he turned to the crossing, he found another body. It was a corpse that was severely mutilated as if a sharp object had torn off it.

‘The only people I am seeing are corpses!’

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Everyone that he encountered was dead. Ko Byeong-gap gritted his teeth as he turned around the corner.

“Argh!”

A boy was running in his direction. A giant monster chased after him.

‘This is crazy! A Mantis?!’

It was classified as a C-class monster, and it looked like a praying mantis. However, it wasn’t a normal mantis since it had three pincers on each side. It was a praying mantis with a total of six pincers. The bigger problem was its size. Its height from head to toe easily exceeded 4 meters.

‘I’m going crazy.’

In the case of large monsters, their disgusting size made them quite a threat. If their karma concentration were higher, it would’ve been listed above B-class.

It was about to catch up with the boy. His face was covered with tears and a runny nose. Ko Byeong-gap gave up thinking more and gave himself to his instincts.

The scythe of the mantis fell on the boy’s head. Ko Byeong-gap leaped with all his might and raised his sword. The sword and sickle collided and resulted in a tight battle of strength, and the boy barely survived.

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“Ahhh… Sir, thank you-”

“Shut up and run! Get in any building and hide!”

“Yes, yes!”

“Creee!”

A superpower came out of the 4-meter tall monster. It was definitely not of that world. However…

‘This is nothing compared to the Queen Arachne.’

Ko Byeong-gap also had experience with a much more shitty opponent. Compared to then, the current situation was like fighting a fairy.

Ko Byeong-gap radiated power from his body and bounced his sword, and then, the mantis’ body staggered and fell backward. The C-class giant monster was pushed back by pure power.

“Ahhhh!”

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Ko Byeong-gap leaped forward with a shout. The sword he held in both hands penetrated the chest of the mantis.

“Kyaaah!”

“Look!”

He cut it sideways when he penetrated through. Blood and filth poured out as the flesh burst. The mantis struggled wildly. Ko Byeong-gap quickly shook off his body and began to cut the legs of the frantic bastard one by one.

The hind legs that supported its body were cut off without hesitation. The mantis fell when the third leg was amputated. It wasn’t over yet. Ko Byeong-gap, while he dodged all of its rushing pincers, split the monster’s head in three, and the mantis completely stopped breathing.

“Heh heh, heh heh.”

A mantis that six or seven hunters could only catch with concentrated fire. Ko Byeong-gap captured such a monster by himself, and in just a few minutes.

‘I’m glad there were no distractors.’

It wouldn’t have been that easy if they had encountered each other inside the crack. There could’ve been a lot of subordinate monsters helping him. Ko Byeong-gap looked at the dead body of the mantis for a while.

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“What class are you? Are there things that are higher than C-class?”

He wished the mantis was the strongest monster in that situation. He had a hunch that it wouldn’t be the case. Whatever it was, he had to move.

Ko Byeong-gap followed the gunshots heard in the distance.

***

“Shoot! Keep shooting!”

“Ah, what a mess!”

The hunters couldn’t stop swearing. Each bullet came with a curse word. They were struggling not because there were too many monsters or because they were too strong. It was because the place was bad.

“I can’t shoot you in the ass!”

Their current location was a villa in Sillim-dong. There were multi-family houses all over the place. If they shot at their own will, they were going to break a lot of things.

“Kieeek!”

“Oh my God!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The hunters shot with caution.

The monsters were brutal. Knowing the hunters hesitated, they deliberately hid behind buildings or parked cars. So, there was nothing the hunters could do. It was a big deal if they hit a building or car.

One might ask why they argued about such a thing in such an urgent situation. One, they were things they didn’t know.

‘What if it backfires after shooting a car or building? I’m the only one who loses!’

It was the first time a monster had appeared on the street. So, of course, there was no law related to that. Hunters didn’t want to take any chances.

After all, wasn’t it a world driven by the logic of money, no matter what justice was? If it weren’t for money, I wouldn’t have fought against monsters in this scorching sun.

“Why can’t I see the top hunters? What a load of bullshit!”

“Didn’t you hear me, Kim? They say Bongcheon is a mess. Sillim is peaceful compared to that. All the top hunters will be there.”

“Well, we still have to have a few people here! How can we fight in a place like this–”

“Oh! Kim, be careful!”

“What? Argh!”

A Ghoul raided the hunters’ backs. Kim Seok-min suffered a shoulder injury after being hit by a tentacle.

“Argh!”

“That bastard!”

Jung Yong-tae quickly aimed his gun. However, the gun didn’t fire.

“I’m going crazy!”

The Goblin Ghoul was glued to the outer wall of the villa. It was right in front of the house’s window, and it knew that it would be safe there. It wiggled its tentacles like it was teasing him.

“That damn thing! I don’t know what else to do!”

Tada-da-da-da-dang!

Jung Yong-tae, who was in turmoil, fired indiscriminately. Kim Seok-min immediately stopped him.

“Hey, you idiot, what are you doing? What if there is someone inside!”

“We can’t stay like this!”

The vigilant Goblin Ghoul fell with piercing wounds all over its body. It was definitely a boon. However…

Kachang!

“Ahhhh!”

The house that was swept away by bullets became a mess. A shattering scream came from the broken window.

“Hunters, look ahead, in front!” At that time, Yoo Byung-seok, a hunter wearing glasses, shouted.

The other two reflexively turned their heads. There, a monster stood with an unusual aura. The three of them turned pale at the same time.

“I… That one?”

“It’s a Crow!”

Crow. A B-class humanoid monster that was about 2 meters tall. Its muscular body was black as charcoal. It had no features on its face, only a snout that resembled a crocodile.

It lowered its body and took a stance. It was about to rush.

“Shit, shoot! Shoot!”

“Ahhhhh!”

Tada-tada-tada-tada!

The hunters fired like crazy, and they had no more hesitation as before. It wasn’t about money anymore.

Pot!

The Crow kicked the ground. It rushed to the hunters like a cannonball.

The bullets the hunters poured out didn’t work at all against the Crow. That was because they were all blocked by the karma barrier that it had deployed.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

Yoo Byung-seok suffered a huge wind hole in his chest. The Crow pulled out its bloody hand and found its next scapegoat.

“Ahhh…”

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The two hunters who stood just a short distance lost their fighting spirit. Also, guns didn’t work against higher-level monsters. To cut that barrier even a little, they had to have an RPG missile.

“Run!”

“Ahhhhh!”

“Grarara!”

“Kyaaah!”

Kim Seok-min and Jung Yong-tae threw their guns off and ran. The Crow chased them away with a distinctive cry. Of course, it was impossible to escape it.

Kim Seok-min died less than ten steps away. Jung Yong-tae was the only one left. To make matters worse, he tripped and fell. His lower body became wet.

“Grarala…”

“Oh, no. Please don’t kill me!”

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“Grararara!”

Monsters had no mercy. The Crow came for him without hesitation.

‘This is how I die!’

Jung Yong-tae felt death in his bones. If he had known that would happen, he would’ve refused the guild’s call! It was too late to regret it.

“Hmm?!”

That was when the mysterious man blocked his way. He was calm even after being attacked by the Crow.

‘Is a top hunter here?’

So immersed in such a question, the mysterious man spoke with an irritated voice.

“If you want to live, don’t be stupid and run away!”

“Ah!”

Jung Yong-tae forgot to answer and threw himself away. The next moment, there was a fierce battle between the mysterious man and the Crow.