Magical Girl of Seoul Subway Line 2 (2)
“Mr, Soldier, are there any hunters coming in anytime soon?”
“Man, I’ve seen these Awake using flames last time on Bongcheon, I wish there would be people like that this time.”
“We have been notified that the designated hunter team from Raeshen is on the way right now. There are expected to get here before the situation actually begins.”
Even soldiers in this situations are no more than spectators. Kang-Joon is finding this rather funny. Normal monsters can be taken down quite easily with human weapons. They have already become a part of daily life for the humans and humans do not fear them anymore. Back in the days, people were busy creating an absolute chaos whenever those monsters appeared but now the appearing of dungeons and monsters have become almost like an entertainment for a lot of people.
Hunters, in fact, like to work in an environment with a lot of spectators. Once their recorded activity gets spread and more people in the industry come to realise their capacity, other managements become keen to recruit them. Popularity is number one priority for the hunters these days as that can bring the biggest name value for the hunter and the management both.
For a real example, one of the biggest management firms, Cloud, has decided to take a leap of faith by recruiting the most famous hunter at time, Yu-na with a ridiculous amount of money. They made a ma.s.sive promotion campaign using the name value of Yu-na and it resulted in a lot of other hunters joining the firm influenced by Yu-na’s decision.
Just as the celebrities are always longing for popularity, there is a few interesting trends in the hunting management industry these days. Just like the transfer market of sports stars, around the period when the famous hunters’ contracts all finish, there is always a war among the management firms to recruit them.
Ironically, popularity and name value of the hunters have been carrying more weight over their actual hunting capability. Just as how some people prefer actors with charming appearances over actors with exceptional acting skills, management firms have been showing about the same att.i.tudes to the hunters.
Anyhow, the barricades are located widely around the core generating location.
‘Core’ is a general name for the phenomenon where an unstable nucleus appears in the air which leads to monsters flooding out of it. Depending on the size and colour of the core, the types of monsters that appear out of it would vary.
Normal firearms are not authorised for usage unless the situation is considered to be extremely dangerous as inconsiderate use of them could end up with unnecessary injuries and casualties and could also damage the buildings and infrastructures. After all the hunting process has been capitalised and less life threatening than before, the trend has been to take care of them with as little damage as possible. The typical procedures involve soldiers stunning the monsters with mid-sized Taser Guns and hunters terminating the monsters once they arrive to the location.
Still, the general public is always advised to get very far from the core itself and the attempts to trespa.s.s over the barricade into the core zone is never allowed by the soldiers, no matter how light the situation is considered. All the crowd can do is to get far away from the barricade and spectate the termination process.
The person who seemingly looks like the person in charge carries a Captain mark.
“How long until the activation of the core?”
“Approximately 10, Sir.”
“Alright, make sure you do a proper safety check on your Tasers.”
Soldiers, not intimidated by the situation at all, roughly start to do a check on their Tasers, never stopping their chatter. Looking at the core at a distance, Kang-Joon is impressed by the security system established in Korea. He has been around here and there experiencing all sorts of unexpected phenomenon and always finding a quick way to handle them. As Gangnam is one of the most populated places in Seoul, the designated hunter team is managed by the Raeshen agency. Shortly, the hunter team arrives at the location.
“Hunter team, in position.”
“Thank you for coming.”
The hunter team is of three people, two with Armour Coats and one with an Aether device in their ear.
“Thank you so much always for your service, gentlemen.”
A Male Knight who looks like the leader of the team bows his head towards the soldiers, showing his grat.i.tude, and the commander replies with a salute. Still, there is no tension, fear or sense of crisis among any of them about the situation.
“How long till the activation?”
“Seven minutes left.”
Since the appearing of the monsters, the att.i.tudes towards the soldiers have indeed become a lot better. Quite literally, they fight on daily basis to protect the lives of countless number of innocent citizens and are respected highly for their services. The hunter team on the spot must be a C-Cla.s.s team for the current D-Cla.s.s situation. The members are two Knights and one Awake.
The tree approach the core as Kang-Joon looks into the core zone briefly.
“Hmm…”
Then, he recognises something odd.
“Excuse me Sir.”
“Yes, how can I help you?”
“Could I please look into that Core?”
The soldier frowns.
“It is restricted for civilian to access the operation area.”
Strictly speaking, if the soldiers were to do everything exactly by the policies, they hold the right to tell the crowd standing around the operation zone to leave the spot right away.
“That Core though, is certainly weird.”
“What is so weird about it?”
“The surroundings of that Core, you see it’s agitating and choppy?”
Normally, the Cores take the form of perfect spheres. The surface of the sphere agitating and waving is certainly something different. It is a rare case and some people, even if they consider themselves experts for these kind of situations, might not be aware of what it actually means. However, having been through countless number of situations like this, Kang-Joon well knows what this odd looking sphere means. Looking at the oblivious commander, Kang-Joon speaks.
“That one right there, that’s a Trap Core.”
“Trap…Core?”
“That is no D-Rank Core, That’s actually B-Rank.”
It is a type of core emitting a wave two ranks lower than its original rank on purpose as a trap. A Core which has been emitting a D-Rank wave suddenly flooding B-Rank monsters would obviously drive people into panic mode. The current situation with C-Rank hunter team in position therefore is rather dangerous. After Kang-Joon’s explanation, the commander frowns.
“I’ve never even heard of such a thing”
“Of course, Trap Cores normally appear in South East Asia.”
“I don’t know what kind of person you are, but you are not to interfere with the operation.”
“I’m sorry that I have to do this but otherwise all those people will die for sure. You have to authorise heavy weapons right now and call the emergency team.”
Kang-Joon says, pointing at the hunter team as they approach the Core. Such a core with waving surfaces is a Trap Core for sure and it rarely appears within Korea. Compared to how dangerous this situation could be, Kang-Joon’s att.i.tude is too dry and calm. So, the commander decides to consider Kang-Joon opinion as some sort of gibberish from an insane person.
Kang-Joon lets out a sigh. Then, he pulls out his ID, putting it right in front of the commander to see clearly.
“B-Cla.s.s hunter identification here.”
“Hunter…? Why are you even…”
“Get these civilians to evacuate. Right now.”
As the commander is just about the ask Kang-Joon why he has been standing behind the barricade the whole time, he snaps back. The hunter team on location right now is that of C-Cla.s.s but the hunter standing before him is B-Cla.s.s. Kang-Joon pulls out a silver metal rod from his thigh, which he always carries for emergency. Though it may look like a random rod, it is not too difficult for anyone to realise it in fact is a long blade styled Aether sword.
“Come on, listen to me. You want to kill all these people?”
From B-Rank situations, usage of heavy firearms is necessary. Tasers will only stop the monsters movement for a split second. However, damages done to the surroundings will be a responsibility solely for the commander.
Kang-Joon walks into the operation zone. The crowd that was standing around him looks at him odd as they see who they thought was a spectator like them walking into the Core zone murmuring something.
‘Trap core… in the middle of Seoul…’
Even though the monsters are not too much of a threat these days, hunters are dying around the world and damages are done to the innocent civilians. Appearing of the monsters becoming a part of human daily life does not mean that they are no longer a threat at all.
It is just that people have learned to find death by monsters as some sort of accidents or disasters. As Kang-Joon approaches the hunter team, the seeming leader of the team alertly speaks, noticing the Aether sword in Kang-Joon’s hand.
“This is a designated area of Raeshen agency.”
“Oh, well, I am from Hero Management Inc and I am here as…”
Finding what he is about to say ridiculous himself, Kang Joon puts on a small smile and speaks.
“a manager.”
Though he may have no hunters for him to actually manage, he still is a manager no matter what. It is not a lie, but everyone seems to find it rather suspicious.
Just as they are about to tell him there is nothing for a manager to find here, they swallow their words as Kang-Joon’s Aether sword seems to output power that would easily overtake that of their own Aether devices. Kang-Joon carries on to speak with a tense face.
“Alright, call for the emergency team right now. This is a B-Rank Core disguised as D-Rank. Just trust me on this.”
The emergency team gets sent to the locations only under extremely dangerous situations and fundamentally consist of A-Cla.s.s hunters or above. However, due to their lack of experience and sense of crisis, they do not tend to believe Kang-Joon’s words. At the end, Kang-Joon lets out a sigh, deciding to interfere the designated hunter team’s battle. The leader Knight tries to tell Kang-Joon to stand back as his interference would harm the team’s cooperation but Kang-Joon only points at the Core instead.
“It’s getting activated now. We have no time to fight among ourselves. Don’t even try to terminate them, just try to hold them back and pull the defence line back a bit when necessary.”
Kang-Joon normally only carries his Aether sword and armour-field generating bracelet. They are indeed high-cla.s.s equipment but Kang-Joon’s pure physical abilities are nothing to compare against even that of C-Cla.s.s Knight in front of him.
As the core vibrates vigorously, soon a single monster dashes out of it. It is only then everyone realises Kang-Joon’s words are true.
“Werewolf!”
Werewolf, even among the B-Rank monsters, is one of the types at the very top. Even in the emergency, Kang-Joon shouts of condescension.
“I told you! Look at that!”
“Hu…hurry up and call the emergency team!”
The Knight only then starts to make a contact to their HQ as the Tasers fly right to the werewolf.