Chapter 23: The First Plague (2)

The First Plague (2)

An unpleasant metallic noise rattles every time he moves.

Cheol-cheol.

It was his reality for as long as he remembered.

“Hmm… Ha…”

He tried to break it but to no avail.

The chains were made of a much harder material than scrap metal. He doesn’t even have the energy to keep trying. They only had one meal a day.

His wrists and ankles hurt a lot. The tightness of the narrow space he was in was worse.

“Oh, oh-oh!”

A familiar scream came from far away.

It’s injection time.

How long has it been since he started living in this small space, where no sunlight reached?

His concept of time has long been lost. He was accustomed to the creepy voices that come and go.

He looked down on his thin forearms, which was full of injection marks.

Once a day, after having their meal, they get injected with strange drugs.

The effects of the injections varied from day today. Sometimes, they made him feel numb as if he floated on a cloud. Other days, it gave him unbearable happiness.

Some days, it was pure pain.

Cheol-cheol… Cheol-cheol…

Every time he moves his hand, the chains make a metallic noise.

He began counting how long it took to take his turn while clanging his chains.

It’s a meaningless way to pass the time. Without such ways, it’s easy to lose your sanity.

Tuk,

A strange lump has been dropped from a gap in the iron gate in front of him.

“Seong Hyun-woo, today’s ration.”

They called the food “ration”. The boy, Seong Hyun-woo, brought his head down and began eating it off the floor.

Like a chicken feeding…

The lump had tasted terrible, but he can’t live long without it.

Cheol-cheol, Cheol-cheol.

Seong Hyun-woo has lived this way for many years.

How long should I live like this?

He kept silent and endured it, but he’s getting tired…

Soon, it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to take it anymore.

His emotions would explode soon.

* * *

Seong Hyun-woo was different from the other disasters.

The sooner he is found, the weaker he is.

His driving force is stress. The more mental fatigue he accumulates, the more destructive power he has when he awakens.

Maybe at this point, he is weaker than I remember.

Well, even if he is ‘weaker’, I have to stop him as soon as possible.

He had suffered for years. If he awakens now, just a few months earlier than originally scheduled, he would be weaker by about 5 to 7%.

It’s not a lot.

Moreover, Seong Hyun-woo is one of the strongest awakeners, even if he wasn’t stressed.

There were only about five heroes who were measured as SSS.

Even if he is the weakest of the plagues, he is still one of them.

It was still vivid in my head.

A boy whose body size is much smaller than me lets out a horrendous scream.

With the scream, bodies of hunters and citizens around him exploded.

Blood filled the streets.

It was horrible. It was indeed, a disaster.

“So, what can I do for you?” Han Yeon-soo asked me.

I tapped the photo in front of me. “We’re going to find him. Please come with me.”

“You don’t have to come at all,” she said. “I’m good at protecting myself.”

Hmm…

Han Yeon-soo’s power was not yet enough. Even if Seong Hyun-woo has not reached his max power yet, he is already an awakener with a level of SSS.

I didn’t think that Han Yeon-soo would lose, but I don’t think that she could win overwhelmingly.

“Oh, right. Two more people will accompany me,” I told her.

“… Two?” Han Yeon-soo’s eyes narrowed momentarily. “I thought this was going to be a date. Our first date.”

She continued to grumble as I explained my plan. She wasn’t paying attention to it.

The two people who would come with us are Lee Jin-woo and Yoo Ji-yeon.

Their characteristics fit my plan.

Lee Jin-woo doesn’t realize it, but he could stand up against Seong Hyun-woo if he used his ability well.

[Well… I’m not sure what you’re planning this time.]

The Traveler stroked his beard.

“You’ll know it when you see it. Just watch us as you’ve done before.”

[Yes, I will do that…]

The Traveler looked angry.

[Those animals… treating little children like that… I hope you can punish them properly.]

His eyes were fixed on the photos of the children.

“Do not worry,” I told him. “I will kill all of them.”

I have no plans to keep them alive.

* * *

As with Yoo Ji-yeon, I also succeeded in seeking help from Lee Jin-woo.

He was curious about it and readily accepted without asking too much.

Thanks to that, I was able to devote my time to polishing my plan.

Soon, the first semester ended, and the vacation period began.

“This concludes Hwayeon Choin Academy’s first semester for second-graders. Summer vacation begins,” the professor said.

I observed the students moving out of their chairs, discussing their plans.

“Uh, yes. I got a pension…”

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“Where will you spend the vacation?”

“…preparing for the hunter exam; it’s too late if you start preparing after graduation. If you’re a second-grader, then…”

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“Can we still use the training center during vacation? Ah… Great, Professor, thank you…”

The professor approached me.

It was Professor Lim Seong-hyun.

“So, what would a cadet like Jeong Si-woo do? Where does he go on vacation? There are many students who go to the valley, or the sea…”

“Oh, Professor. I am not going on vacation,” I said.

“Ah… so the steep growth was not luck, but the result of hard effort…”

“No, Professor. It was luck. There are many other cadets who tried harder than me but didn’t get their rewards…”

“I don’t know anyone trying harder than you are. If you look closely, it’s the same for a lot of hunters.”

That was correct. More than half the people who pass the hunter examination were evaluated for their talent, not their effort.

Professor Lim continued.

“A lot of people see hunting as a way to make money. Take ‘honey cracks’, for example. Those qualified enough to be called heroes only enter cracks that are far below their level.”

“…”

“Well, I’m not blaming them. To each their own. If someone does not want to sacrifice himself for humanity, it’s his choice.”

“Well, that’s right…”

“Even if they have enough power, they ignore some cracks. But if you think about it, isn’t saving civilians a hunter’s duty, too? Why would anyone leave civilians with such dangerous cracks?”

I nodded.

I didn’t react, but I also agreed with his opinion.

If all the hunters agreed with Lim Seong-hyun, my family would never have been killed.

Monsters would not have gotten out of the cracks that hunters ignored. Dozens of young children would never have been sent to orphanages.

As I listen to Professor Lim, I watched his face. He had a lonely expression as if it was his story that he is telling.

He noticed that I’m staring at him.

“Ah, I’m taking up your time…”

“No. It was a good conversation.”

“Okay… Then, have a good vacation and see you again after school starts.”

I got up and bowed goodbye, then sat back down.

As I listened to him, I remembered a lot of memories.

Now, I didn’t notice that everyone was already out of the room. I was alone.

Suddenly –

“Now, no one is here, wouldn’t it be okay if I came out? That old man had a lot of things to say without even being in the front lines…”

Tuk!

With a clap, Han Yeon-soo appeared!

She was wearing hunting equipment, as I have discussed in my plan. Her gear was worth billions, maybe even more.

“Where are the two people you’ve mentioned? Oh, have you changed your mind and will go with me alone?”

She smiled seductively.

“No… They will be here soon.”

“Chi…” She looked disappointed, then burst into laughter.

This is totally different from the Han Yeon-soo I remembered; how did this happen?

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“Oh, right,” she said after composing herself. “I brought the stuff you asked me to prepare.”

“Already?” I asked for a lot of different items, and it was impossible to get everything in such a short time.

“Yeah. But will we really need these? There is a lot of extras…”

“We need them.”

She took off a pocket out of her sleeves and handed it over to me.

I opened the pocket. Space inside was very wide. It contained a lot of items.

“… Subspace pocket?” I asked her.

She nodded.

It’s an ultra-high-priced artifact. A lot of equipment could be fitted inside. Inside the pocket she gave me was all the things I asked for, as well as some equipment that I didn’t ask for.

Han Yeon-soo looked at me with a bizarre expression.

“It’s a surprise gift!”

“Oh… thank you.”

“Well, your reaction is so disappointing. That’s very expensive. I was looking forward to seeing your reaction…”

Her elated expression quickly faded.

“Uh, thank you… very much.”

“… … .”

She laughed hard after I added the qualifier ‘very much’.

“You’ve waited a long time, sorry!”

“I’m sorry, too. I didn’t know we’ll meet in advance…”

Lee Jin-woo and Yoo Ji-yeon entered the room.

There was nothing for them to be sorry about. I was one hour ahead of our appointment.

While I told them it was okay, their expressions were slightly lifted, then their gazes shifted to the woman in the room.

“Who is she?” Yoo Ji-yeon asked, looking at Han Yeon-soo standing next to me.

Before I could open my mouth, Han Yeon-soo has already spoken.

“I’m his lover.”

She said it in a brief and intense tone.

“… Yes? Huh? Really? Uh?”

Yoo Ji-yeon swiftly began asking about what she was talking about.

It was a long time before I was able to explain the situation and introduce Han Yeon-soo to the two.

Then, it took another hour for me to explain the full plan.

By the end of my explanation, Yoo Ji-yeon was pale.

“You said it’s like a part-time job?!”

Only

* * *

The plan began in earnest.

We have to save Seong Hyun-woo.

Han Yeon-soo was very well-informed of the address, and we were able to get to the building’s front without wasting a lot of time.

However, there’s a problem.

We know the address and the building… but we didn’t know specifically where he is.

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How will we find him?

We were in front of a huge, 44-storey building.

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