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Chapter 27 – Beefing Up (3)
6.
"You woke up pretty early."
Hearing Chang Sung Hoon talk to him, the arrow orbiting around Kim Tae Hoon came to a stop in front of him.
"I couldn’t sleep."
"······Was it because of the vision?"
The arrow that had stopped moving fell onto the floor. His concentration had been interrupted.
"Ah, I’m sorry. I said something unnecessary······."
Kim Tae Hoon was understanding of Chang Sung Hoon’s feelings when he apologized.
"Boss is a human after all."
He had foreseen his death in the days to come. It was basically a death sentence.
It was impossible for his heart to be calm.
As always, instead of replying immediately, Kim Tae Hoon took a sip of his coffee as he calmly eyed the arrow that had fallen onto the floor.
Seuuuu!
The arrow slowly began to rise into the air again.
The arrow began to orbit around Kim Tae Hoon like a satellite again.
Soo, soo······.
The arrow that cut through the air wasn’t quite smooth. It would especially wobble and become rough once it left kim Tae Hoon’s vision.
"Please don’t dwell too heavily on it. Now that you know what will happen in the future, all that’s left is to avoid it right?"
Chang Sung Hoon relayed his thoughts to Kim Tae Hoon.
Kim Tae Hoon s.n.a.t.c.hed the arrow out of the air as he ingested his coffee.
"The problem is that I don’t quite know what it is that I need to avoid."
"Hmm."
Kim Tae Hoon’s voice was solemn.
Chang Sung Hoon swallowed the joke he was going to make in an effort to change the mood.
Looking at Kim Tae Hoon’s serious expression, Chang Sung Hoon took a seat near Kim Tae Hoon.
Jeujuk, Jeujuk!
Noticing a bundle of twisted branches on the floor, Chang Sung Hoon carefully opened his mouth.
"Was I really the only one? Were Hyun Wook, Second Lieutenant Su Ji, and Sun Mi-noonim not by your side?”
"I wouldn’t hide anything like that. Do you think I would lie?"
"No, it’s not like that······ I didn’t think that I would be so loyal towards boss."
Kim Tae Hoon also nodded his head.
Chang Sung Hoon wasn’t the type of guy to give his loyalty to anyone. He was the kind of guy who was quick to abandon loyalty in favor of his own interests.
That was also why he had decided to follow Kim Tae Hoon.
Kim Tae Hoon’s demise was to be determined by the hands of others, so to follow someone who had no say in his own life, Chang Sung Hoon could find no opportunities to follow such a fated person.
"Well then there’s one thing for sure."
After all, it was something that would happen in the future, and many things must have happened.
"If the two of us had gotten so close, then that means we must have gone through many hards.h.i.+ps together. I feel like something big must have happened. I can’t even imagine what kind of huge incident had occurred for me to change like that."
Kim Tae Hoon took another sip of his coffee while laughing.
"Oh, this is after all just my own personal imagination."
Like that, Kim Tae Hoon enjoyed his coffee while the conversation turned to silence.
"For now, the way I see it, boss will basically become a hunting dog. Wait no, not like a real dog······ maybe your personality will become like one."
Chang Sung Hoon spoke what he had been meaning to say.
"For now, when you fostered me like that, why did I leave boss for dead? There are times when even a hunting dog will kill. When the hunt is over, they can eat. But boss, you said that at the end, you were fighting a dragon? Then doesn’t that mean that there are still monsters?"
Kim Tae Hoon directed his gaze towards Chang Sung Hoon.
"Let me tell you something, on this Earth, there are many geniuses. There are many people who would rather make a counterfeit item even though they are more brilliant than the original creator. But do you know why there are people like that who would rather act in the shadows? Maybe their personality sucks, or they have to face some sort of problem. I can’t say that I’m a genius, but whatever side I’m on, once the enemy is defeated, I’ll just be thrown away. That’s the kind of place I lived in.”
Gulp.
Kim Tae Hoon swallowed more coffee and spoke in a low voice.
"So taking your a.n.a.lysis into consideration, the foremost reason why I’ll die is because my personality is s.h.i.+t, is that what you’re saying?"
"Ah, what······ if boss’s personality was better, then the chances of you dying would decrease."
With an awkward smile on his face, Chang Sung Hoon took up a gesture of rubbing his hands.
There was one thing that Kim Tae Hoon could do for sure about that gesture.
"Now I know why this punk stood by my side until the very end."
The reason why Chang Sung Hoon had stayed by his side and Kim Tae Hoon had allowed him to, in the end, it was so that he could survive. [TN: I just want to apologize for the quality of the translation of that conversation. It was fairly difficult for me to understand the specifics of what was going, so I think that many things were lost in translation.]
Chang Sung Hoon held that kind of worth.
Others had good vision, the ability to express themselves clearly, and held different perspectives.
Clever, competent.
Anyways, because of that, Kim Tae Hoon was clear of one thing.
"If I don’t change my personality, I’ll just end up dying."
With his personality, it was easy for Kim Tae Hoon to make enemies, but difficult to bring anyone over to his side.
To be fair though, his personality hadn’t really made any problems for him until now.
Up until now, Kim Tae Hoon had been working for the military, where there was no real need for him to pick a side or form a faction. The military was a place where everyone wore the same uniform.
But it wasn’t the same now.
Kim Tae Hoon had already left the military on his own.
"I was almost completely oblivious."
What was terrifying was that he was not self-aware.
"Chang Sung Hoon, if you were me, what would you do?"
Like that Kim Tae Hoon asked that question right then and there.
"If I had boss’s strength and boss’s charisma, I would already be working towards becoming king of Bucheon City."
Chang Sung Hoon laughed while saying so.
"Of course I’m just joking. I don’t actually mean it."
A laughter with some mischief mixed in.
"But seriously though, I think that if I had boss’s strength, I wouldn’t face many big problems. If you were to just gather up some strong people and make a gang, then in time, people who would want to hunt for you and treat you like a king would naturally flock to you, especially since you also have guns. But of course there’s no reason to do so. But I think most people would?"
However, his laughter wasn’t purely playful.
"Even if they might not measure up to boss, there will definitely be people like boss out there. You said that the awakened have different ability ranks when they first awaken? Plus, if you take into consideration the relics······."
Humans are the incarnation of greed.
They have strength, they will awaken to supernatural powers, and since a stage where they can exhibit those powers had appeared, humans had no reason to act as they did before.
"Those with strength will rise to power, and they will rule over and preside over their own territories. Some will be wise, others will be tyrannical."
In fact, the Republic of Korea has already collapsed.
The world where people would risk their lives to leave Seoul and go to Sejong city has come.
Hearing that, Kim Tae Hoon recalled Colonel Lim Hyun Joon in his mind.
Kim Tae Hoon’s immediate goal was to go to Pocheon and make contact with Colonel Lim Hyun Joon.
But could you still consider Colonel Lim Hyun Joon to be a soldier?
"Colonel Lim Hyun Joon is ambitious."
He was ambitious.
In such a situation, n.o.body could afford to be a loyal soldier and think of someone else. He was able to become the commander-in-chief because he was ambitious.
"If I were to meet him now, he would use me as a hunting dog."
Kim Tae Hoon placed his mug on the floor.
"Do you like coffee?"
"Is there anyone in South Korea that doesn’t like coffee?"
Kim Tae Hoon began to make more coffee.
7.
Gguik! Ggueeeek!
The Mek Clan started their day with a nice battle with the local monsters.
"For even the pigs to turn into monsters, what in the world."
"I’m telling you, this world has gone off its rocker. d.a.m.n it."
The monster was reminiscent of a wild boar, but its size was too big to be considered one, Its head sported horns like those of a rhinoceros.
A horned pig.
Three of the fearsome pigs were heading towards the moving Mek Clan vehicles.
As soon as the horned pigs had appeared, the Mek Clan soldiers had entered a battle-ready state at an alarming pace.
The foremost two SUV’s stopped and formed a wall to stop the horned pigs.
"Hurry up and get out!"
"Hold up!"
The drivers of the slowly moving SUV’s that were facing the horned pigs got out of the cars.
"The drivers are out!"
"The left side as well!"
Standing on the loader of the dump truck, Kim Tae Hoon began to stare at the two SUV’s as soon as he received the report that the cars had been cleared.
At that moment.
Vroom!
The two cars began to accelerate, as they ferociously rushed towards the horned pigs.
The results were obvious.
Kwaang!
Kwagw.a.n.g!
The two unstoppable SUV’s and the two unstoppable horned pigs slammed into each other on the narrow road.
Gguuuuek!
The sounds that the horned pigs were making from within the collision were enough to know what had happened.
"Take aim!"
Watching the scene, Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji gave orders to the soldiers from the dump truck.
The soldiers who had their attention focused on the collision immediately focused their minds once more.
The soldiers looked down their sights as they pointed their guns at the stumbling pigs.
"Fire!"
Tututu!
As the command dropped, the sound of gunfire flared up.
Amidst the gunfire, Kim Tae Hoon threw an arrow into the sky.
The featherless arrow flew high up into the sky. Endless. Kim Tae Hoon sent the arrow into the sky as high as possible with his Telekinesis.
It wasn’t very long before Kim Tae Hoon could no longer sense the arrow with his Telekinesis.
The arrow began to fall.
Swiiiiiii!
The sound of the falling arrow was hard to stomach.
It sounded like a falcon diving towards its prey so as to s.n.a.t.c.h its life.
The swiftly falling arrow began to change directions, piercing the forehead of a horned pig that was struggling under the gunfire.
Puuk!
Like magic, the arrow disappeared into the horned pig’s body, not a trace to be found.
Gguik!
The horned pig let out a short cry before trembling and collapsing onto the floor.
"What was that?"
"It suddenly fell onto the ground?"
The soldiers were unaware of the existence of the arrow, and were therefore surprised to see the sudden collapse of a horned pig.
However, Kim Tae Hoon frowned.
"It’s a little lacking."
Kim Tae Hoon once again focused so as to pull out the arrow from the pig’s body.
However, it would not come out.
Kim Tae Hoon struggled to picture a scene where the arrow was pulled out of the horned pig’s head.
It was one of the characteristics of Telekinesis.
Telekinesis wasn’t just about imagination.
It seemed like first cla.s.s artistic ability was necessary to depict scenes that he had seen.
It was similar to how a doctor who had been practicing for many years would be able to picture the insides of a patient’s body based on symptoms without having to cut the patient open.
Telekinesis would not work with a weak imagination.
Only after being able to clearly depict a scene could you fully utilize the Telekinetic ability.
"This isn’t nearly enough."
Kim Tae Hoon’s ability to utilize Telekinesis was limited and lacking.
Clicking his tongue, Kim Tae Hoon turned towards Second Lieutenant Kim Su Ji.
Kim Su Ji nodded.
"Cease fire!"
The gunfire that had once resounded suddenly ceased.
If the soldiers were muddle-headed, they wouldn’t have been able to instantly cease-fire.
Seeing as how the soldiers were able to ceasefire, one could tell that they had become calm and restrained, but was also a proof that they had become used to it.
It was evident that they were no longer monster-fearing cowards that could not even keep track of the amount of bullets they shot out.
It was proof that they had become survivors tempered through the repeated slaughtering of monsters, becoming hunters that preyed on the monsters.
Of course, the command to cease-fire wasn’t given to prove something like that.
"If it’s this much, then there should be no problems."
From the loader, Kim Tae Hoon landed lightly onto the ground. Bang Hyun Wook approached Kim Tae Hoon.
With a metal pipe in hand, he spoke towards Kim Tae Hoon.
"Hyungnim, which side will you go towards?"
"You pick first."
"Me?"
"I’ll give you a chance to look good in front of your girl."
"It looks like the one on the right is more agile, so I’ll go for that one."
Once he finished speaking, Bang Hyun Wook pulled the Energy in his belly and spread it throughout his body.
Bang Hyun Wook’s whole body suddenly flushed red.
"Let’s go!"
With that sound, he rushed towards the horned pig that was riddled with bullet holes. However, he still focused and paid close attention since the horned pig still had the strength and will to fight..
Gguik!
One horned pig stared at Bang Hyun Wook, while the other rushed towards him.
Observing the scene, Kim Tae Hoon also began to utilize his Energy.
At the same time, Kim Tae Hoon clenched his fist. His fist turned black.
Like that, the battle started.
A battle of the awakened!