The First Hunter

Chapter 41. Pyongyang, Part II

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

3.

The Kaesong Industrial Complex…

It was the only place where landmines had been removed between Korea and North Korea. Of course, the South Korean army was supporting all soldiers and hunters working in North Korea, using the Kaesong Industrial Complex as a base for the occupation of North Korea.

“A green-grade monster appeared in Seoheung County, and many victims were reported. I think we need some support.”

“Yonan County has requested assistance. It’s an urgent request.”

“Geumcheon County has also requested for assistance.”

It was also a place where all the sad news in North Korea was gathered.

‘Damn it.’ Colonel Lim Hyun-joon, who was in charge of this Kaesong Advance Base, clenched his teeth tightly in front of the repeated sad news.

‘It is not even Pyongyang… it is so hard to reach Sariwon, which is just on the way to Pyongyang.’

Colonel Lim Hyun-joon.

He was only a colonel, but in fact, he was the commander of the Korean army. He seemed to be the person who was in charge of the Advance Base of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

But the reason why he stayed himself at the Kaesong Advance Base and took the risk was simple. ‘We must build defense lines in North Korea as soon as possible, and at least secure supply routes over Pyongyang, if not the Yalu River.’

The fate of South Korea was at stake in occupying the land of North Korea.

‘The minefields in the DMZ stop the monsters from coming down to the south, but if we fail to move up, we’re virtually isolated… if we are isolated, we will die.’

That was a good reason. It would be strange for a soldier, whose duty was to protect the fate of the nation, and carry out missions with the fate of the nation at stake, to not do all he could.

Moreover, Colonel Lim knew the army better than anyone else. ‘The army is an organization, as the highest must put to practice and the subordinates do their best. In other words, if the superiors spare themselves, no army can exert its ability.’

‘Damn it.’ So it was more problematic. Although Col. Lim Hyun-joon, who was now the Chief Commander of the Korean military, became the general manager of the Kaesong Advance Base, the situation showed no sign of improvement, even though his men were exerting more than 120 percent of their power. The wall before them was still solid when they could no longer squeeze more power out.

‘The number of monsters coming to the South recently increased. In the worst case… there is a possibility that the forces of China and Russia are coming to the south for the occupation of the Korean Peninsula.’

The recent increase in the number of monsters southward had been shaking Colonel Lim’s spirits. Because of that, Colonel Lim’s expression was solid.

“It’s an urgent report!” A man rushed into the operating room.

“We succeeded in killing the green-grade monster near the Pyongyang Gaeseong Expressway, which is located on the way to Sariwon City!”

‘Oh, my God! Is it true?’

At the voice of the man who conveyed the good news, the faces of the crowd who had only heard sad news glowed. Colonel Lim was also the same.

“The green-grade monster?”

“Yes! The monster they killed…” Once again, the man who answered in a loud voice read the note in his hand, which had been written by a bad writer.

“Twin-headed Ogre.”

Twin-headed ogre!

‘What?’

‘Wait, wait!’

The expressions of the crowd were more doubtful than joyous when he said that they had hunted a monster like a nightmare, beyond their power.

Colonel Lim was also the same. ‘Twin-headed Ogre! How did they kill it?’

‘It is very difficult to kill a Twin-headed Ogre. In order to hunt it, a large number of the Armored Hunting Unit must be put in, and even that is not easy.’

In the past, the Armored Hunting Unit succeeded in hunting the Golden Horn Spider, but it was thanks to the tendency of the Golden Horn Spider to work in its own domain. Thanks to its tendency, they were able to build a siege network around Jirisan safely, and after that, they could kill it because it was hit hard by the salvo bombing.

‘The activity radius of the type of monster that actively wanders is unreachable, such as the Twin-headed Ogre, and it is the most difficult type for the Armored Hunting Unit to deal with.’

But they hunted it.

“Which unit?” Colonel Lim asked on behalf of all who had doubts, and the subordinate immediately read the note in his hand.

“The 22nd Division’s Master Sergeant Kim Se-hyung and his platoon… no, Kim Tae-hoon killed it.” At that moment his subordinate’s expression was stiff.

“Wait, wait a minute… well…”

Then the subordinate, who felt something strange, began to go white with embarrassment, and the color of his face began to spread out.

‘Really?’

‘The Master?’

There was no person who did not know the name Kim Tae-hoon here.

On the other hand, Colonel Lim shook his head with a bitter smile. ‘Kim has not been changed at all.’ He knew so well that Kim was such a man.

“I’ll check it out again.”

“You don’t have to do that, because he is the Master.”

Furthermore, Colonel Lim was able to gauge what Kim wanted at this moment.

“The master will secure the way to Sariwon City, and the rest of the men will follow him. Give my order to them; the monsters on the Pyongyang-Kaesong Highway will be cleaned up, so move with peace of mind.”

What Kim wanted was to occupy North Korea as soon as possible. That was all.

‘We are bound to believe him. Such a figure of Kim Tae-hoon takes away the freedom to doubt from those who follow him.’

‘I will just believe and follow him.’

“And inform Seoul.”

“What shall I say?”

“The Master is back.”

4.

Sariwon City…

It was a place they could reach if they followed along the Pyongyang-Kaesong Highway connecting Kaesong and Pyongyang, and a place where the railways connecting Kaesong and Pyongyang passed.

‘If Korea takes over North Korea and the trains can run again on the Gyeongui Line, it will be a key point of transportation. That’s why so far, many people have tried and been sacrificed to secure this place first.’

“When I last heard it was definitely a monster’s heaven, but I think it’s like a hell of monsters.”

And now no one was needed to sacrifice themselves to recapture Sariwon City.

“Boss, it’s been a long time.”

“It’s been a long time.”

Kim Tae-hoon and Jang Sung-hoon.

When they faced each other for the first in a long time, they looked at each other and sighed as if they had promised. For a moment after that they were silent.

“Oh, it’s cold. It’s definitely winter, and it’s finally coming.” It was Jang Sung-hoon who spoke in the silence first. “How was your trip to Japan?”

“It wasn’t bad.”

“Then, of course, you brought me a souvenir?”

A souvenir.

At the word, Kim Tae-hoon said with a bitter smile, “There’s a ship at Busan Port. I’ll give it to you as a souvenir. You can sell or use it.”

“Hey, you learned how to joke since I last saw you, boss, and I’m thrilled.”

The atmosphere of the conversation that started was not bad. It could not be bad.

“Rather, what was I like? What did you think of me when I was forty years old and never forgot my loyalty to you?”

Now, beyond the relationship between the boss and the subordinate, it was the relationship that they could understand best as survivors of the world.

“I don’t have time to waste on such a story. We will take over Pyongyang in the shortest time, and then build a line of defense around Pyongyang.”

Of course, Kim did not waste his words for a good conversation. Jang nodded at Kim’s appearance. There was no sadness or anything for him. This was what Kim looked like.

“What’s the next thing we need to do, if we need to do it in the shortest time?”

“I will kill the dragon that has settled on Mt. Halla, Jeju Island.”

“… wow.” Of course, Jang was forced to pause in front of Kim’s announcement, which was so sudden and shocking.

“I expected something, which was not a joke, to come out, but I never thought it would come out.” Jang heaved a long sigh at the words of Kim.

“Well, I’m not going to stop you, because you don’t want me to stop you. Tell me why.”

“We’d better get rid of the Six Snakes before they touch us first, and if I want to fight against them, it’s best to fight on Jeju Island.”

“Is there a reason for the Six Snakes to touch the dragon?”

“Why not touch it?”

“Well…” Jang, who was about to ask a question in return, gave himself an answer. “Now that neither Korea nor Japan is the Six Snakes, they don’t care about them. No matter where the dragon is on the Korean Peninsula, or on the archipelago, they will merely look at it from the position of the Six Snakes.”

It was as he said. From the standpoint of the Six Snakes, they must now clean up Korea and Kim Tae-hoon by all means possible. In such a situation, the dark blue-grade monster, the dragon, which was on Mt. Halla in Jeju Island, was the surest bomb they could blow. When Lee Ki-soo was alive, or when Musashi led the Japanese Empire, they could not blow it. On the other hand, there was no reason not to burst it now.

‘Even if the bomb is disposed of, it is a very terrible bomb that leaves a fatal aftereffect to someone in some way.’

“We haven’t found the Manpasikjeok yet. The dragon’s curse…”

“You’re the one who advised me to take the power of immortality because I’ll die of another Curse if I undo the Dragon’s Curse.”

Jang shook his head at the answer.

In front of Jang’s eyes, Kim’s hair color began to turn white.

Jang looked surprised. “That’s…”

“Even if it’s not a Dragon’s Curse, I already have one Curse.”

“… is it the Curse of the Eight-tailed Fox?”

“It’s the price for using the transcendent power rather than a curse, and if you put an airplane engine into a small car, it’s like the car breaking down.”

“Ah…” With a long sigh, Jang had many worries. But he did not express his concern. He was worried, and he just buried what he was worried about for later. He didn’t need to speak. It was Kim Tae-hoon who was determined to do so, anyway. What Jang should do was not break Kim’s determination, but give his strength, instead.

“Do you need anything for the dragon hunt?”

“As I said, first of all, clean up Pyongyang.”

“Do we really have to go to Pyongyang? If we were to build a front line in the north, it would be enough to settle down near the Daedong River. There is nothing left to take in Pyongyang.”

“We’ll have to kill the rest of the party.”

“The rest of the party?”

“The North Korean leaders.”

Jang asked, “Will they be alive?”

North Korea had virtually collapsed, according to current figures. For a country that had been at the brink of collapse in the first place, the monsters’ appearance was like strangling a patient who could not live without the help of a ventilator. Now it was not easy to find survivors.

As proof, the number of survivors found in recent months by South Korean troops working in the North was only a hundred. It was a disastrous result.

“We are almost a year away from the appearance of the monsters… I wonder if they’re all dead or ran away.” Under such circumstances, it was unlikely that North Korean officials would be alive.

However, Kim’s ideas were different. “The enemy of North Korea was the United States.”

“Yes. It was the main enemy.”

“In other words, the underground bunkers made by North Korea were made with the United States in mind.” Kim knew North Korea better than anyone else.

“That would certainly mean that they have the most amazing underground bunkers in the world. But who knows the bunker’s locations… Ah!”

And Kim had no choice but to know.

“Boss was a top expert in this field.”

The original purpose of the unit Kim belonged to, was to assassinate the North Korean VIPs. Though the greed of those in power had led him to a mission that had nothing to do with him, it didn’t mean that its essence disappeared.

Kim had all the rights to access all the information needed to assassinate the North Korean VIPs, and he always took full advantage of it. There was a more complete map of Pyongyang in his mind than the citizens of Pyongyang.

“Then, all we have to do is follow the boss. Then it is dragon hunting after cleaning up Pyongyang?”

“Yes.”

“So, after you finish hunting the dragon, are you thinking of going to Russia to get the power of the immortality? To withstand the Curse of the Dragon?”

Kim answered Jang’s question without any consideration, “No.”

“Then where are you going? China? Europe? or America? Shall we go to the Louvre and clean it up?”

“I’m going to Taiwan.”

“Yes?”

Kim answered the surprised Jang quietly, “It’s much wiser to deal with them before we are hit by them, rather than to pay it back after we are hit.”

With that answer, Kim rose from his seat. “The operation is simple. If I make a way, you follow. Tomorrow evening, we eat in Pyongyang.”