IH Ch 63

Chapter 63

Because up until now, everything he’d done had been purely for himself—there had never been a reason like “for someone else.”

It was unfamiliar territory, something he had never attempted before, which made it difficult to step forward. But the person standing in front of him gave him a push. Telling him to just go for it.

Fixing his gaze on empty space, Hwang Jae-i let out a short snort. The next instant, he vanished without a trace. At the same time, Kim Inseok let out a startled gasp and hurriedly looked toward where Jae-i had been. Glancing around, he finally saw Dohwa and parted his lips.

“Hunter Hwang Jae-i…?”

He was about to ask where Jae-i had gone, but then flinched. The gaze Dohwa gave him was oddly cold and sharp. Feeling intimidated, Kim Inseok straightened up instinctively. As if waiting for that, Dohwa asked,

“Why did you follow him all the way here?”

“…”

“Were you hoping to catch a scoop while tailing Jae-i?”

“N-no, not at all. I just…!”

But could he truly say there hadn’t been any part of him that thought that way? If he hadn’t, there would have been no reason to chase them this far. As he struggled to deny it, Kim Inseok fell silent and lowered his head. Seeing this, Dohwa lifted his gaze. The moon, large and bright, floated in the cloudless sky.

“Kwonsoo, I’ll go up first. You stay back.”

When one of the village elders said this, the youth leader, Lee Kwonsoo, was about to object, insisting he would go with him—but was immediately met with a steely gaze.

“If something happens to you, what will the villagers do? Just listen to me.”

“…”

Everyone was moving with brave faces, but inside, they were all fully aware of how dangerous the situation truly was. Dealing with the men sent by Chairman Jang was already overwhelming, and now monsters? They had hoped it wasn’t true, but the strange noises they’d been hearing dashed those hopes.

Earlier, the youth leader had said they’d manage somehow with guns, but everyone knew the truth. Even if the monster was only C-rank, it would be extremely difficult. Why did such things keep happening when life was already so hard? But complaining wouldn’t solve anything. No one would come to help them—they had no choice but to handle it themselves.

“Let’s go.”

As the elder moved ahead, the youth leader’s expression hardened. He couldn’t stop him, only watch with a troubled face. When the elder suddenly halted a few steps forward, the youth leader leaned forward, wondering what was wrong—and then froze.

“…”

He saw it too. Not far ahead. At the base of the mountain. A strange creature clinging behind a tree.

After the emergence of Gates, the monsters that appeared within had been cataloged and compiled into bestiaries. Thanks to that, even ordinary people were aware of many types of monsters, and some schools even used them as teaching materials. Even non-Awakened people had basic knowledge about monsters. Yet even so, no one had any idea what this thing was. Maybe it was just too dark to see properly—until it stepped out to the side. With a heavy thud, it moved its massive front limb and came out into the open, moonlight illuminating its head. Upon seeing the monster more clearly, the villagers were frozen in place.

Even under the mere light of the moon, it was clear that the thing was a hulking mass of muscle. Its front limb, as large as a human torso, was menacing, and its body, which completely blocked the path, was too enormous to even consider challenging. And then…

“It… doesn’t have a face?”

As someone said, there was nothing above its neck. The cleanly severed-looking stump was even more horrifying, and the villagers instinctively stepped back. Just then, the inside of that seemingly severed surface caved inward—then something protruded. As a writhing form emerged, the villagers could only gasp in horror.

Because what appeared was a human face.

Melted and crushed beyond recognition, the vaguely human-looking face dangled grotesquely from the neck. If that was all, perhaps it wouldn’t have been so bad. But then the face began to tremble, and a metallic rasping sound could be heard. Among the eerie groans and snarls came a murmuring voice that was unmistakably…

“I’m… hungry. So hun… gry.”

The groaning transformed into something akin to human speech, but that didn’t make it any less revolting.

As shattered bones and melted flesh writhed, the grotesquely dangling head swayed, prompting the villagers to raise the shotguns slung over their shoulders and take aim. But the barrels of their guns trembled. They were so overwhelmed by the monstrous sight, the likes of which they’d never imagined, that they could barely react. They finally managed to pull the triggers—but their shots missed. At the same time, the monster charged forward.

“Get down!!”

The youth leader grabbed the elder around the waist in haste. Pulling his startled body with all his strength, the two of them tumbled to the ground. Scrambling up to retrieve his gun, the youth leader was suddenly met with a wall of black.

Ah, I’m going to die. That instinctive thought surged up. In a desperate effort to shield at least the elder, he threw himself over him. The motion, meant to block the blow and save just one life, was desperate—and then he felt hot breath on his back.

“…!!”

At the same time, a thud—a jarring impact not unlike hitting a deer at 100 kilometers per hour while driving—shook the air. A gasp escaped him, and then came the sound of something shattering and crushing. It wasn’t him. Realizing this, the youth leader raised his head. What he saw wasn’t the black mass from before—but a pair of long legs, and he kept looking up.

“…”

A broad, muscular back. Wide shoulders. And golden hair glinting under the moonlight. Upon recognizing him, tears welled up in the youth leader’s eyes. Guildmaster. He wanted to call out, but was so stunned that his voice had caught. All he could do was wheeze like the wind, but Hwang Jae-i turned his head anyway.

Having just come back from the brink of death, the youth leader broke into sobs, nose running and tears streaming. As he looked up with a childlike face, Jae-i took in his pathetic expression and muttered curtly,

“You’re in the way—go back down.”

With that, Hwang Jae-i launched himself toward the monster that had been hurled far away.

Perhaps the angle had been just off, because the monster, which had been embedded deeply in the ground, was starting to crawl out. Jae-i snapped his fingers. A small spark flickered at his fingertip as he arrived in front of the monster, then he extended his arm. Instantly, the tiny spark exploded into a colossal golden flame, engulfing the creature.

The immense blaze and explosive heat whipped Jae-i’s hair and clothes wildly. Trees shattered and splintered around them from the force, debris flying in all directions. Though the monster held out for a while, it couldn’t endure—the earth swallowed it. But even then, the flames didn’t recede.

They twisted and surged with even more ferocity, focusing all their pressure solely on the monster. As it was crushed and incinerated, it made bizarre, indescribable sounds. Even in its final moments, it tried to strike with a long tail, but that too was instantly consumed and turned to ash.

It had taken less than a minute to neutralize the monster. As the flames died down, Jae-i looked down at the massive pit—easily over 50 meters across—then shot off toward where the next monster was located.

He had forgotten at first that this wasn’t inside a Gate, and so he’d made a bit of a mess—but from the second one onward, he approached it differently. Subduing the monsters with psychokinesis before burning them up completely, he poured out maximum firepower in short bursts, reducing each one to ashes or melting them into oblivion. One by one, he methodically took them out—until only one remained.

Apparently there had been five bags, each carrying one monster. Collecting monsters was illegal and incredibly expensive. But this wasn’t just about money—it was more than that. After all, no one would go around collecting monsters just to show off their wealth. Jae-i, who had already assumed something shady would be uncovered if they dug deeper, soon found the last one.

Creak. Whine. Though the bag was open, the monster inside didn’t come out, instead continuing to groan. Jae-i walked up and lightly tapped the open bag with the toe of his boot. The bag tipped over, and something black tumbled out and rolled a few times before coming to a stop beneath a nearby rock.

“…”

Jae-i crouched down on the spot. As he slowly rotated his clenched left fist, he waited for the fist-sized lump to respond on its own.

But the black mass didn’t budge. As if it knew that moving even slightly in this situation would spell disaster. It just sat there motionless, resembling nothing more than a puff of black cotton. Staring at it intently, Jae-i murmured,

“So that’s what you are…”

There wasn’t much time, and Jae-i didn’t want to waste any more of it. As he stood, a faint noise reached his ears. A subtle mechanical sound tickled his hearing, prompting him to turn his head. His hair swayed as he stared into a spot deep in the woods where darkness reigned.

“Gasp!”

The man who found Hwang Jae-i suddenly standing in front of him let out a gasp and collapsed on the spot. Nearly dropping the camera in his hands, he caught it just in time and checked the upload progress of the live footage he’d recorded. The area’s poor infrastructure meant it was still only at 48%. If they had been in Seoul, the upload would’ve completed in an instant.

Frantically jabbing the send button with his thumb, he suddenly realized the camera was no longer in his hands. Speechless and frozen, he slowly looked up—only to see Jae-i crushing the camera in one hand as if he’d been waiting for him to notice. Crack. As though snapping it in two wasn’t enough, Jae-i brought both hands together and ground it down until it was reduced to powder.

“…”

The man trembled as he looked at the baseball-sized pile of dust that had once been his camera, now lying at his feet. Only then did it hit him just who he had been trying to mess with. At the same time, he realized that now that he’d been caught, the chances of making it out alive were next to none. In a panic, he hurriedly pulled a gun from inside his coat.