Chapter 8 Anger – The First Hunter
2.
Bang Hyun Wook felt no pain when the black orc’s fist made contact with his chest.
It was an aftereffect of his heart stopping.
Then from the center of his stomach, that strange energy began to make its move, bringing life back to his heart.
The strange energy had sensed that its owner was in trouble, and without any hesitation it had swiftly traveled towards Bang Hyun Wook’s heart.
There was a beat.
DuDeuk!
The strange energy made his heart beat again.
“Kuheuk!”
Though he breathed once more, Bang Hyun Wook could not explain why he was alive again, and in his mouth lingered the taste of death.
However the energy didn’t just stop there.
Dugeun dugeun!
The energy kept pounding at his heart. It was trying to make his heart beat more and more crazily!
Dugeun Dugeun Dugeun!
Under the fluctuations of that energy, Bang Hyun Wook’s heart began to pump and more blood.
‘Euh!’
It felt as though someone were forcibly squeezing his heart to wring out all the blood.
Or it felt as though someone had replaced his heart with hot stones.
The hot blood pumping through his heart quickly circulated through his body.
His felt like it was going to burst, his fingernails and toenails felt like they would fly off like bullets, and his pupils had become dark.
“Euh…… “
What entered his vision was the b.l.o.o.d.y battle between Kim Tae Hoon and the black orc.
It was a sight that could make you lose your spirit.
Because the battle was reaching its end, the scene was calmer than you would expect from a desperate struggle.
A battle is a battle, but there really wasn’t a better way for the two to express the stalemate they were at.
Kim Tae Hoon and the black orc were not moving.
The sounds they were making were strange and ominous.
From the mouth of the black orc was a sound of wind blowing instead of anger, and from Kim Tae Hoon’s tightly closed lips were some m.u.f.fled grunts. IT all sounded m.u.f.fled.
If he didn’t know what kind of person Kim Tae Hoon was, he would have thought that he was watching some sort of show.
If a gamer saw the scene, they would have thought that the screen was frozen or the game was lagging.
However, with everything he had experienced so far, Bang Hyun Wook knew that it was not some sort of show or lag in a video game.
‘It won’t last much longer.’ Bang Hyun Wook was aware of Kim Tae Hoon’s special ability.
Kim Tae Hoon’s telekinesis was very powerful.
But, there were some glaring weaknesses.
One of its biggest weaknesses was its inability to affect the insides of a living organism even though it could take some control over the outside of a living organism.
If he could, Kim Tae Hoon would have already crushed the black orc’s heart or brain.
But at the same time, telekinesis was something very hard to deal with.
As soon as the image inside the user’s head becomes blurry, the telekinesis is released and the user is put in danger.
It’s difficult to maintain the telekinesis without a certain level of concentration.
How is he going to kill the black orc if he can’t even subdue it?
It had been a little more than 3 minutes.
‘What should I do?’
It was in these last three minutes that Bang Hyun Wook would have the choice to worry about life or death.
Within that three minutes he had to choose.
‘Sh, should I run away?’
Should he fight for his life, or should he run away?
Every fiber of his body told him to run away. His instincts were telling him that a human should live.
‘Mom, dad …..’ Bang Hyun Wook’s instinct to survive even went so far as to paint the pictures of his parents in his mind so that he would run away.
He saw the visages of his parents who had endured all kinds of trouble with the dream of turning their child who had a good body into a talented baseball player.
‘d.a.m.n, but······.’ Of course, if it wasn’t for Kim Tae Hoon, he wouldn’t have this internal struggle.
As a result, he couldn’t come to a decision right away. No, it wasn’t possible.
“Hey keep your wits about you !”
The beautiful woman name Ahn Sun Mi with the freckles over the bridge of her nose appeared.
“You have to run away!”
Having regained her freedom from the black orc’s fear, she once more demonstrated her courage like she did before when Park Jae Un was being beaten by the four thieves.
Although everyone else had already tried to run away from the black orc, she had come back to save Bang Hyun Wook. With her right hand that had the mark of awakening engraved on it, she grabbed Bang Hyun Wook’s left wrist and tried to run away.
Unable to wake up from his reverie, Bang Hyun Wook was dragged along by the woman.
“H, hold on a minute!”
Bang Hyun Wook shook off Ahn Sun Mi’s hand, they had already arrived in front of the fire shutter that the black orc had smashed through.
It was a border.
Beyond the broken fire shutter was the escalator that led up to the first bas.e.m.e.nt level, and from there, you could run away.
Once he escaped, there would be no return. Once he stepped foot on the first floor, he will never step back onto the second floor ever again.
And of course, Bang Hyun Wook will never see Kim Tae Hoon’s face ever again.
Bang Hyun Wook knew it as well. He looked back at the desperate battle between Kim Tae Hoon and the black orc.
“We can’t kill it! We have to run!”
Realizing Bang Hyun Wook’s inner struggle, Ahn Sun Mi screamed at Bang Hyun Wook.
“f.u.c.k!”
Bang Hyun Wook yelled.
It wasn’t directed at Ahn Sun Mi, but at himself.
“f.u.c.k ·····.” I want to live.
Did Bang Hyun Wook want to die?
No! He wanted to live, he wanted to survive and see his parents’ faces again. He wanted to survive and protect his parents in this world that had changed.
If not that, the things he wanted to do in this world were piled up like a mountain.
He was training to become a professional baseball player during his high school days. He wanted to live a wonderful campus life in college while playing baseball then get recruited onto a team and to buy expensive sports cars.
However, it’s not like they would have died if Kim Tae Hoon wasn’t there.
Bang Hyun Wook’s father had told him.
At the very least, don’t live like a coward.
‘Wh, what do I do?’
At that moment, the scene where Kim Tae Hoon had come to his a.s.sistance played in his head.
The way he blinded the monsters by spraying their face with black spray paint, the trick he used to silently take down a monster by choking it with a fis.h.i.+ng line, and poisoning a monster with engine oil. ‘Ah!’
At that moment, a light went off in Bang Hyun Wook’s head.
“Cooking oil, cooking oil!”
“What?”
“Cooking oil!”
Screaming the words ‘cooking oil’, there was no longer the thought of running away in Bang Hyun Wook’s gaze.
3.
“We have to run!”
When Ahn Sun Mi had grabbed Bang Hyun Wook’s wrist and ran towards the escalator leading up towards the first floor, Kim Tae Hoon clenched his teeth a bit harder.
He felt as though the miracle he was relying on had disappeared as though it were nothing but a mirage.
However he didn’t grumble.
‘If you’re going to run, do it all the way. Don’t come back.’ Humans naturally desired survival above all else.
Bang Hyun Wook’s decision was something anyone else would have made if it meant survival. It wasn’t something that Kim Tae Hoon didn’t understand. Afterall, Kim Tae Hoon had made some harrowing choices in order to survive as well.
‘A chance, just need to make a chance to escape·····.’ Above all, Kim Tae Hoon knew better than anyone else that n.o.body would help him.
Help won’t come just because you grumble against those who ran away.
The fight was starting to head in a bad direction.
‘I have to come up with a solution before my power fades.’ Kim Tae Hoon was feeling his strength starting to fade.
Especially now that his stamina, mental strength, and concentration were drained.
‘If anything, maybe my body might burst.’ Telekinesis required much more stamina and concentration than he had thought.
The usage of telekinesis was not free.
If the stream of telekinesis is too much, the source of power will be destroyed, and his usage of telekinesis beyond his control will destroy Kim Tae Hoon’s human level body.
That was the main source of Kim Tae Hoon’s fatigue.
But because he is Kim Tae Hoon, he will endure.
He was someone who knew how to desperately struggle in the crossroads between life and death.
‘I thought I would be able to drink some coffee before I died…… I don’t suppose the monster would consider my last wishes.’ But Kim Tae Hoon had already pictured his death in his mind.
And at that moment.
At that moment Kim Tae Hoon became spiritless. Keuuh···!
A small cry finally escaped from the lips of the black orc.
Koong!
The black orc’s legs began to move.
It was a slow movement, like a step taken on the moon, but the black orc finally succeeded in taking a step.
‘d.a.m.n it.’
The black orc was starting to win against his telekinesis.
The gleam from the black orc’s orange eyes made it seem as though it were laughing. It was speaking from its eyes.
[I will eat you you starting from your head]
That was what Kim Tae Hoon’s intuition told him as he looked at its eyes.
’This guy….. no, these monsters, they are clever.’
The first wave of goblins and orcs were just savage brutes.
They were slaves to their instincts, and could only move to satiate their hunger.
That’s why the goblins who were smaller in stature compared to humans bared their teeth instead of hesitating to fight a larger enemy.
However, this black orc in front of him was different.
It wasn’t ignorant and it didn’t just adhere to the whims of its instincts, but rather it knew how to hunt and it knew what it meant to struggle or what it meant to destroy.
This black orc was definitely not the only one of its kind.
’The world is now full of these kinds of monsters ……’ This one is just the beginning.
There will be more monsters like the black orcs, and many of them will be stronger and more clever than it, all while boasting incredible abilities.
Of that Kim Tae Hoon was sure.
’We’re going to need proper hunters to kill these monsters. And not just one either, but a group…..’ In this age of monsters, if humankind is to survive, then they would need more than just simply weapons.
Hunters, the hunters would need to be equipped with the ability, knowledge, and experience to fight against the monsters.
However worrying about something like that was pointless unless he survived.
Kim Tae Hoon began to turn his train of thought.
What he needed to do now was think of the present, not the future.
‘Rather than push him away from me, I might be able to create an opportunity if I pull him towards me······.’ He had come up with a method that could allow him to survive.
At that moment.
Ggang!
From what was a silent struggle rang a sudden outburst of sound.
‘That ……?’
The sound came from a large can colliding with the black orc’s head.
‘Cooking oil?’
It was a yellow colored canister that held 18 liters of cooking oil.
“Hyungnim!”
Kim Tae Hoon heard Bang Hyun Wook’s voice behind the sound of the can of cooking oil hitting the back of the black orc’s head.
“You saw me do all that by myself, right?”
No further explanation was needed. Kim Tae Hoon immediately changed the image that he had drawn.
He s.h.i.+fted the chain 180 degrees so that it would push the monster away from him.
Instead, he pushed the monster towards Bang Hyun Wook.
Kim Tae Hoon connected himself to the telekinetic chain and tugged to the right.
Koong, Koong, Koong, Koong!
With an explosive start, the black orc suddenly rushed towards Kim Tae Hoon.
Hweek!
Kim Tae Hoon flew to the right as though he were hit by a car and spectacularly avoided the orc’s charge.
Kaaaaah!
In the midst of its unstoppable charge the black orc with mouth wide open let loose a loud cry.
Its charge only stopped after it broke through five shelves.
Keureureu!
Immediately standing back up, the black orc followed Kim Tae Hoon with its eyes.
It saw Kim Tae Hoon run towards where Bang Hyun Wook and Ahn Sun Mi were standing.
There was no hesitation.
Kw.a.n.g!
Letting loose another cry, the black orc once again charged towards them.
In the meantime, Kim Tae Hoon shouted at Ahn Sun Mi and Bang Hyun Wook.
“Go up!”
“Cooking oil! Be Careful of the cooking oil!” As Bang Hyun Wook’s warning ended, in a terrifying turn of events, Kim Tae Hoon slid on the floor that had become covered in a layer of cooking oil.
As Kim Tae Hoon slipped, he reached out towards the ceiling.
Just like how the super hero Spiderman from Marvel Comics shoots out spider webs from his wrists, Kim Tae Hoon used his telekinesis to create an invisible line that connected his arm and the ceiling.
Having stopped himself from slipping by utilizing his telekinetic line, Kim Tae Hoon turned towards Bang Hyun Wook and Ahn Sun Mi, who were both staring at him in amazement, and said,
“Go!”
”Holy, telekinesis is awesome······.” “GO!”
Kim Tae Hoon once again shouted at Bang Hyun Wook who had spoken in a daze.
“What? What about hyungnim?”
Instead of answering, Kim Tae Hoon turned back to look at the black orc that was running towards them.
While looking at the black orc, Kim Tae Hoon stretched out a hand.
While doing so, he painted an image.
It was an image of the black orc’s legs tied up.
Then he waited.
He was waiting for the black orc to step down onto the oil with its large foot.
Gwah Dang!!
When the black orc stepped down onto the oil, it slipped, at which point Kim Tae Hoon grabbed its legs and pulled it the other way.
Kw.a.n.g, Gw.a.n.g, Kw.a.n.g!
The black orc went flying past Kim Tae Hoon and his party, cras.h.i.+ng into a bunch of shelves beyond Kim Tae Hoon’s line of sight.
Keuh? Keuh? Keuuh?
It was an unprecedented situation that the black orc had never experienced before in its entire life, and coming from its mouth were cries of embarra.s.sment. Kim Tae Hoon, meanwhile, took one step onto the escalator, and ran.
Both Bang Hyun Wook and Ahn Sun Mi ran with him.
They quickly arrived at the first bas.e.m.e.nt level of the mall, at which point Bang Hyun Wook asked,
“Hyungnim, we’re just going to run right?”
It was more like him begging than an actual question.
He just wanted to beg him to run away.
Kaaaaah!
At the same time, the black orc’s resound roar shook the escalator.
In the wake of that roar, Bang Hyun Wook was like a deer that was raring to bolt off as he stared at Kim Tae Hoon with an expectant look in his eyes.
However, Kim Tae Hoon’s gaze turned towards Ahn Sun Mi, not Bang Hyun Wook.
“Do you have driver’s license?”
“What?”
It was a sudden and unexpected inquiry.
”Y, yes I have one.”
Regardless, Ahn Sun Mi gave an answer, at which point Kim Tae Hoon gave a command.
“We’re going to steal a car.”