The First Hunter

Chapter 34. Freezer, Part II

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

5.

Lying like a corpse in the middle of a dark room, Cho turned his head and saw a man coming into the room.

“Oh, are you here?” Cho welcomed the man’s visit. “How do you do? I hope you had a good result. Let’s talk a little bit more.”

However, Kim Tae-hoon’s atmosphere was not good compared with that of Cho, who expressed his welcome joyfully. It was the worst. His image was frightening.

‘Because of that?’ Cho recalled the moment when he had met Kim the first time. It was never the best kind of a first meeting. No, if Cho had been Kim, he would not have let go of the first meeting. At least he would have used the fact to negotiate.

“Haha… I was so rude in the first meeting, wasn’t I?” Cho was willing to apologize.

“Please understand, as you can see my current condition, I was so badly tortured that I didn’t see anything, and I apologize if you were offended anyway.” It was a heartfelt apology. It was not just a person’s apology, but an apology that should be done as a leader of the organization called Résistance.

‘I have to deal with this guy somehow.’ Although Kim had destroyed Daegu City Hall, the headquarter of the Second Operations Command, all of the power did not collapse yet. The headquarters had just collapsed, and the power of the Second Operations Command still remained sufficient.

Of course, the Second Operations Command would recognize all of this as a masterpiece of the Résistance.

So how would the Second Operations Command move?

Would they lift their arms up into the sky and declare surrender, or would they do their best to root out the Résistance forces?

‘If we miss this guy, the damage will be uncontrollable.’

The answer was obvious. In such a situation, there would be no victory if they missed Kim, the only lifeline of the Résistance. If necessary, they should kneel naked and bow down.

In addition, Cho was a man who could do that much, a man who was willing to do so if he could save the life of his colleagues in exchange for his disgrace.

However, Kim’s expression did not change at all at such a sincere apology.

It was eerie, severe, and bloody.

“Please blow your steam off, and if you want, I’ll kneel before you here…”

“How many troops are in Haein Temple?” For the first time, words flowed out of Kim’s firm face.

“What?”

“What is the number and quality of troops of the Second Operations Command stationed at Haein Temple?”

At that question of Kim, Cho wondered, ‘What is he talking about?’

However, Cho was quick-witted. Rather, he changed the question mark on his face to an exclamation point as if he had noticed something. Cho’s eyes had changed to look like Kim.

“Once in Haeinsa, almost all of the 201st Commando Brigade’s troops are stationed there at all times, and three more infantry battalions are deployed throughout the Gayasan National Park. In addition, the 52nd Military Support Team regularly transports supplies, and the 52nd Military Support Team has about two battalions of escort troops.”

It was a detailed explanation. Thanks to the explanation, Kim was able to move on to the next question.

“What is the number of Awakeners?”

“Awakeners? Ah…! Three of the men who have been appointed Colonel are always stationed there.”

“How strong is a Colonel?”

“Well…”

Cho recalled the Awakened who had received the Colonel rank. The Second Operations Command gave them a Major rank to the Awakeners first. Since then, those who made a contribution, or the Awakeners with excellent ability, had been given a higher rank. A colonel was a rank that was received those with outstanding ability and achievement.

“What if you compared them with me?”

“They can’t be compared with you.” Naturally, they were not that good. They could not be compared with Kim.

“They could stop that Kojima, the Samurai who you caught. They are not weak. Indeed, the three Colonels there are ones who survived in the war against the green-eyed monster that once appeared.”

Kim closed his eyes when he heard the words. He finished his calculations in his mind.

‘With that power, they cannot stop it.’ When he finished his calculation, Kim took something out of his arms. It was a bird sculpture, Okjo.

He injected Mana into the Okjo, and then the size of the Okjo, half the size of a cigarette pack, began to grow. Then the Okjo, which was now a dove, waited for its order with its head on the palm of his hand.

He said to the Okjo, “Jang Sung-hoon, the Tripitaka Koreana in Haeinsa is damaged now. The culprit is Japan. Watch the movements of monsters in the Sobaek Mountains and remove our troops waiting near the Sobaek Mountains. Deliver the monsters’ movements through the Okjo.”

Kim, who finished his speech, recalled Jang’s face in his mind while looking at the eyes of the Okjo. The Okjo, after listening to Kim’s words quietly, nodded.

“Go and tell him what I said.”

When the order was given, the Okjo began to flap its powerful wings. It quickly left the room.

After sending off the Okjo, Kim turned his attention to Cho again. At this moment, he could not find any more leisure or playfulness on the face of Cho.

“What do you mean that the Tripitaka Koreana is damaged?”

Kim Tae-hoon answered the question immediately, “It’s my mistake.”

“What?”

“Samurai Kojima came here to burn the Tripitaka Koreana of Haeinsa if the situation was not good.”

“No, what is it—”

Kojima was a man who Japan had prepared, just in case.

Even if things didn’t go as planned, Japan desired to leave an indelible scar on the Korean Peninsula that could not be taken away, and to plant a terrible confusion on the wound.

Japan was aware of the amazing treasure, the Tripitaka Koreana, and if the situation was not good, it also planned to burn the Tripitaka Koreana.

At first, Japan intended to move the Tripitaka Koreana to Japan. There was no treasure in Japan that protected a vast area of forty kilometers from the threat of monsters.

The problem was that the Tripitaka Koreana was too big to just take it. It was the reason why Japan prepared to burn it.

“In that situation, I tortured Tanaka who came to catch Lee Yeon-ah, and then I killed him. The problem is that they have a way to check their colleagues’ deaths through Shikigami (Japanese ghosts). As soon as Tanaka died, the ninjas who were waiting around Haeinsa immediately burned the Tripitaka Koreana.”

And the switch of the fire was not only because of the death of Tanaka and Kojima.

Japan had no difficulty deciding what to do because there was a way to grasp the death of a colleague in real time using Shikigami.

When Kim tortured Tanaka and got information from him, and killed him, the fact was transmitted to the ninjas who were waiting around Haeinsa in real time, and they immediately acted.

Kim had actually pressed the switch of the bomb installed in Haeinsa Temple!

“What the hell?”

However, it was just absurd for Cho, who did not know the details. No, even if he knew the details, he could not accept this fact now.

“No, what kind of crazy bastard burned it!?”

It was a treasure. It was a pride that the Republic of Korea would give to the future generations on the Korean peninsula.

Therefore, even in the situation where the Second Operations Command and the Résistance killed each other, the Tripitaka Koreana was excluded from the battle.

The Résistance did not touch the Tripitaka Koreana, and the Second Operations Command did not withdraw the troops to defend the Tripitaka Koreana, no matter how severe the Résistance activities were.

But now the treasure was burning. The absurd thing happened. It was something that was not acceptable. It was something that shouldn’t be.

But at this moment, Kim was able to clearly explain why it burned. “Because it’s a war.”

It was not just a war, but a war between two countries, Korea and Japan, who hated each other.

They could do anything in such a war. Once Japan showed its will, they did something to Korea.

In other words, no matter what Korea would do against Japan from now on, it would not be a problem. So at this moment, Kim was not enraged.

‘War is not fought by emotion. No matter what we do, a war is not an easy one. When you get emotional, everything collapses.’

Kim judged it that way calmly and coolly.

‘The most problematic thing at this point is the blue-grade monster that is now moving.’

First, Kim faced the most important issue. The issue he faced right now was not the Tripitaka Koreana burning. It was already lost. What they lost was not coming back.

The problem was that Daegu City, which was protected by the Tripitaka Koreana, was exposed to monsters after the disappearance of the Tripitaka Koreana. Currently, most survivors of the Gyeongsang area were gathered in Daegu City.

For monsters, Daegu City was the most coveted fishing ground in the world.

Above all, Daegu had no owner, and that was important. The absence of a master meant that they did not have to occupy the area through a struggle with another strong monster; the first one to come would be the owner.

‘Absolutely, a blue-grade monster is coming to Daegu.’ That was the problem. And it was a problem that had to be solved.

Kim had no intention of going to Japan, leaving a threat to the land of the Korean Peninsula behind.

‘I’ll kill two blue-grade monsters.’ In other words, the moment when the threat to the Korean Peninsula disappeared, Kim’s next target would be Japan!

6.

“At first, all the Sobaek mountain monsters moved at the same time, but at some point, the movement stopped, and instead, only the two blue-grade monsters moved. One of them is moving to Daegu. The expected route is to enter Daegu City after going through Palgongsan.”

Jang Sung-hoon’s voice came out clearly from the Okjo’s mouth. The story was long. But none of the long stories were good. It was all terrible.

“Oh, my God.” When the Okjo finally said everything, Cho, who had finished grasping the situation before and after, spoke with a sigh.

“The blue-grade, the blue-eyed monster was right around…”

Cho also knew that the grade of the monster varied depending on the color of the eyes. The strongest monster that he had seen so far was a monster with green eyes. In addition, the green-grade monster was the trigger for him to organize the Résistance.

In March, a green-grade monster appeared while the Second Operations Command was digging up the royal tombs to find Manpasikjeok and Geumchuk in Gyeongju while snow was still on the ground. The result was terrible; there were 6,000 deaths and 400 dead Awakeners.

Cho saw the scene in person, and he could not accept that he had to keep working on digging up the royal tombs without knowing the reason in a world full of monsters.

But now Kim said that there was a stronger monster than the green-grade monster.

“No way…” Cho was stunned by this terrible fact. And at the same time, he remembered his duty. “… we have to evacuate.”

“We need to tell Daegu City about this fact. We need to inform the Second Operations Command. We need to evacuate them! Aaaaaargh!”

Cho tried to raise his body as it was, but he screamed at the pain coming from his legs and fingers. He could not stand up alone, but he tried to get up again somehow, even though he screamed.

“No, if we let it go, it’ll kill us all. I’ll have to evacuate them all…” At this moment, he only thought that he should evacuate everyone. All he could think was that he could save one more.

Cho thought that one of them could live, even if he was a soldier of the Second Operations Command who wanted to kill him. He was such a man.

In the first place, he did not organize the Résistance forces for his own benefit. To say the right thing was right and the wrong thing was wrong, he organized the Résistance.

“Goddamn it!”

Kim was impressed by such an image of Cho. Furthermore, it was the first time he saw such a sense of justice from Cho.

Cho was the only one who cried so sadly about the values that everyone should follow.

‘He is like a lighthouse.’ Only then did Kim know why he had asked himself on the bucket list to make him president.

Cho was the one who would walk toward the right values in the midst of chaos. He was the man of the greatest virtues necessary to be the leader of the great group.

However, Kim was not impressed so much at this moment. It was not the time to be so moved that his heart was overflowing, since he was a hunter. What mattered to hunter Kim Tae-hoon was his attitude toward the monster who was coming to Daegu.

‘Blue grade.’

‘The first thing a hunter has to do before he hunts is to measure the level of his game.’

Currently, he did not know the identity of the blue-grade monster to Daegu City. He did not know whether it was a wild animal or a flying animal, and he did not know what it was capable of. Even so, he had to assess its strength.

‘The point of reference is the Gamecock.’

For now, Kim had set the Gamecock as the starting point. He thought over the battle with the Gamecock and pointed out the present differences from the battle at that time.

‘There is no first aid. There is no Kate and Bang Hyun-wook around me now.’

He did not take down the Gamecock just with his power. In a way, Kate’s help was huge. He did not know what the outcome would have been if it had not been for the Bell-tail of the Bell-tailed Rat.

‘I’m much stronger than I was then. The level of the relics I have is different. There are the Couple-Burial-Mound Gold Earrings, Cheonmachong Hwandoodaedo, Horse Figure Type Earthenware – Servant Statue, and Higekiri from Kojima.’

‘I’m much stronger now. The abilities I have are different. The Telekinesis of A+ rank and Anger Soaring both made me a stronger hunter. However, I’m not sure.’

But this alone was not enough to ensure victory. He needed more help. ‘K-2.’ Here, Kim recalled the K-2 Air Force base in Daegu.

‘Radar or wireless communications are currently unavailable. Therefore, fighter jets are also extremely inefficient. Just taking off and landing right away will cause an accident. But the firepower prepared to arm the fighters are valid. The Balkan guns that are used for fighter jets are very powerful. If the Second Operations Command were not fools, it would have made several modifications so that it could use the firepower at the K-2 Air Force Base in situations where it could not operate a fighter plane.’

‘A few more.’

However, Kim was not easily convinced, even if he included that firepower. This would be a single combat against a unique monster. A false conviction would be death.

Therefore, he asked questions, “What kind of relics did the Second Operations Command bring from Gyeongju?”

“They brought everything from the National Museum.”

“What is the most important relic?” The question immediately reminded Cho of a relic.

“There is the Bell of King Seongdeok at the K-2 Air Force Base. In the hangar.”

Kim asked in return, “Do you have any pictures of the Bell of King Seongdeok?”

“I don’t have any pictures at hand.”

Kim tightened his mouth at the answer. It was a useless question. Right now, Cho was just wearing his pajamas.

“But I remember.” However, Cho’s memory was much better than he expected. “If someone rings the bell, it defeats all the evil power and weakens monsters. The relic is of the first grade, and its value is special.”

Furthermore, Cho quickly noticed what Kim wanted to hear. “When we hunted the green monster, the Bell of King Seongdeok became a game changer. As soon as the Bell rang, the green monster screamed.”

As soon as Kim heard it, he was confident. ‘I can kill it.’

Considering the given power, the current power in Daegu, the match was worth a try.

Only one thing was left now.

‘Is it worth killing?

‘Hunters do not hunt for prey that is useless and worthless.’

Kim looked at Cho and asked a question, “If I kill the blue-grade monster, can you take control of the Second Operations Command?”

At the remark, Jo thought long and answered briefly. “It’s certainly possible, as long as you show everyone that you’re on my side.”

7.

Jjeojeok! It was a beast made of ice with a lion’s head, eagle’s wings, and a snake’s tail. It was a giant beast measuring ten meters in length.

Jjeojeok! It was also a beast that froze whatever was around it whenever it moved.

Keureung! At the same time, it was the leader of Wolves with white fur numerous enough that they looked like they were covering the snowfield, and all had orange eyes.

Kkeoeoeoeong! The beast stood at the top of Palgongsan, Birobong, looked down at the city of Daegu and gave out a huge cry. At that moment, its eyes glowed bluer than its body.

The monster, Freezer, declared that the city of Daegu was its territory at this moment, and that everything there was its game!