Chapter 18: Chapter 18

“B-bullets! Bullets!”

Joonbum came to his senses at clattering sound of his empty gun and ran to his ammo storage.

“Damn it!”

The area was destroyed, covered in debris. He noticed bullets were scattered all over.

“Keep calm… Keep calm…”

Joonbum picked up any bullet he could find nearby and started to reload.

“Sh*t!”

He unknowingly started cursing. He thought he was well prepared after over a month of repetitive practice but now he felt that he was terribly slow. His frustration slowly changed his fear into rage.

“You piece of- keep moving!”

His trembling stopped, freeing him from the stiffness that had overwhelmed his body.

He managed to reload three bullets and turned to the outside where two orcs were on Galfus. One orc was swinging its club wildly at Joonbum.

The orc tried to throw its club but was shot in its face and fell to the ground, screaming in pain. Its screams resounded throughout the forest. Joonbum had gotten lucky with that shot. It seemed like the slug had pierced the orc’s eye, making him writhe in pain while covered in blood. It was no longer a threat.

‘Two left!’

One orc had its skull crushed by Galfus and was shaking as if it was having a seizure. The other two were shot by Joonbum, rolling around on the ground, writhing in pain.

“Come here! Ugh.”

His voice was coarse. He felt a bitter taste seeping from his mouth and stinging his throat.

Galfus reacted to his voice and came close to the wooden fence, dodging the orcs. The orcs followed it fiercely, holding their clubs above their heads.

‘Two more shots.’

An orc that was on the ground stood up as if also reacting to Joonbum’s voice, running toward the fortress.

“Sh*t!”

There was blood pouring out from both of the orc’s eyes. Not only that, it was bleeding from gunshot wounds all over its body, but it still charged in blindly. The iron barbed wire wrapped itself around the charging orc but even that could not stop its advance.

However, that was its end. The fortress was also protected by iron stakes, facing outward to defend against intruders. The orc ran straight into the stakes, impaling itself on them. It screamed in anger and agony but soon fell silent.

It was like a scene from a movie, but it did not make Joonbum scared as it did before. He was afraid, but a furious rage was brewing inside him.

“Wait!”

Joonbum was startled by Galfus’ cry and turned his head around. Galfus was on the ground, staggering from a blow to its body.

“You bastards!”

Joonbum unknowingly cursed loudly, while pulling the trigger as soon as he had the orc’s broad back within the sight of his scope.

The orc staggered. The bullets pierced into its back, but it was weak. It took two full shots of the rifle, but it was not fatal.

Fortunately, it did help Galfus. There was evident fear on the only uninjured orc. It was hesitating, looking for an opportunity. The injured orc threw a club and tried the hardest it could to attack, but the uninjured orc did not.

‘Is he…?’

Joonbum saw the wickedness in its eyes. But, the slight hesitation was enough. Galfus jumped and surprised it.

“Ahh!”

He let out a sigh, awestruck at the majestic wolf flying through the air at the enemy.

Galfus stomped onto the orc, crushing its head and dragged it toward the fence. The other orc, without taking a swing with its club, stepped back. It glanced at Joonbum, who was still holding his rifle, and turned and ran toward the forest. There was no fearsome roar like when it had arrived. There was only a terrified creature, running away like a cowardly dog.

Joonbum silently watched for a moment, then fell to his knees.

“Ha… ah… I… I…”

He breathed heavily, hacking like a cat throwing up a furball. His breathing became shallow, then he began throwing up. His shoulders shuddered while he vomited everything he had inside. When he finished until nothing was left, he turned his head.

Galfus, who had just bit off the barely alive orc’s head, howled victoriously. It howled as if the orc it was stepping on was a battle trophy. It was a breathtaking majestic sight.

‘Cool guys are cool no matter what they do,’ he thought as he looked at Galfus.

His breathing returned to normal as he watched Galfus. His arms and legs slowly stopped shaking. When his pale face regained some color and he regained control of his arms and legs that trembled like an old man, he frowned. There was a sudden sting on his cheek, and he put his hand to it.

“Argh! My cheek!”

He felt the slight wound on his cheek was still bleeding.

“Ugh.”

As he stood up, he felt his entire body screaming in agony. It was as if he had been clubbed all over his body. He had this similar feeling when he had worked as a manual laborer for one day and could not get out of his bed for a few days afterward.

“I should put on some disinfectant first.”

He thought of doing so as he climbed down the ladder. The club had all kinds of blood and dried meat over it. It was a weapon that was full of germs. A wound from it would mean death even if you avoided the first blow because of infection.

‘You will grow weak, if not dead.’

Growing weak only meant death in the wilderness.

‘Even Galfus was abandoned immediately.’

He remembered Galfus being abandoned when it was injured. It seemed the wolves showed a bit of mercy but still left eventually. There was no way to look after the injured in this forsaken land.

“Aww crap!”

Joonbum yelped as he sprayed disinfectant over his cheek. He scowled in pain as he checked his wound in a mirror.

“Ughh!”

Blood and medicine mixed and dripped off together as pink foam. The ripped skin started to show as he cleaned off the dirt with a clean cotton gauze.

“Ahh!”

He breathed heavily, groaning in pain. Fear struck him. He carefully cleaned his wound of the blood and foam, revealing red flesh.

“Damn it, it’s okay!”

Joonbum sighed in relief. The cut was about three inches long. Fortunately, it hadn’t torn a hole on his cheek as he had feared, but he was annoyed at the fact that he had gotten injured.

‘At least my mouth wasn’t ripped apart.’

“I need a hemostat.”

Joonbum put some white powder over his bleeding wound and covered it with a clean bandage. He also took some antibiotics and painkillers. When he finished, he picked up his rifle and walked out of the fortress.

“G-Galfus.”

Galfus was breathing heavily, its tongue sticking out, still feeling victorious. As Joonbum watched her while in a daze, Galfus closed in on him. Fear suddenly struck him again.

‘Ugh’

The smell almost took his consciousness away. It was the smell of a beast heavily laden with blood. Joonbum closed his eyes and felt Galfus’ breath on his entire body. The sound of its breathing proved that it was still excited from the battle.

‘I hope she doesn’t crush my head like those orcs.’

His mind raced. The enormous muzzle came up to him, sniffing him, then suddenly retreated.

‘Right? Ok-‘

Galfus did not go away. Joonbum didn’t open his eyes, but he could picture it vividly. He couldn’t bear to open his eyes.

‘Is that… a moan?’

Joonbum opened his eyes in surprise. His mouth hung open as he stood dumbfounded.

“Hey, you… you!”

Joonbum was still holding on to his wound, shouting in confusion.

Chapter 10.

“Joonbum Jang!”

“Yes, here.”

“You wound seems to be okay. The total is 5700 won. Take this prescription to the pharmacy.”

“Okay. Thank you.”

Joonbum left the hospital and stopped by a nearby pharmacy to buy his prescription medicine and then hopped on his truck.

“Treatment done, time to meet up with him.”

He glanced at the time as he started the car and drove off. He soon arrived at a small café.

“Welcome.”

An employee greeted him at the counter as he entered the café. Joonbum looked around.

‘I guess it’s him.’

There was a man wearing a clean cut suit, looking at him. He raised a hand when his eyes met with Joonbum.

“Mr. Joonbum Jang? Sungjoong Kim from Boorim Agricultural Equipment.”

“Oh, yes. A pleasure to meet you. I’m Joonbum Jang.”

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“Why don’t we sit?”

“Yes, please.”

A server came to him as soon as Joonbum sat down.

“May I take your order?”

“Iced Americano, please.”

Joonbum turned his head to Sungjoong Kim. A man in his mid-thirties, a classic example of a businessman. Sungjoong cleared his throat and started speaking.

“Um, I want to thank you for replying to us regarding our proposal.”

“Oh sure, I thank you for that also.”

“Here’s our request for sponsoring our equipment to you.”

He took out a stack of papers. Joonbum briefly scanned through them as he had first examined it over email.

‘It’s great.’

As the company name implied, Boorim specialized in agricultural machines. If it was as the contract promised, this deal had really good conditions. Sungjoong spoke in a calm voice as Joonbum kept reading through the contract in detail.

“The summary of it is that we provide all equipment you might need on your pioneering journey and take full responsibility for any malfunctions or maintenance. We also have decided to hand over the ownership of such equipment under your name, which is also listed in the contract.”

“Thank you very much.”

Joonbum saw that his requests were mostly followed in this new contract and thanked him. Sungjoong shook his head.

“We just ask you that you use our equipment to its full potential.”

“Pardon?”

Sungjoong continued as Joonbum looked confused.

“We want you to use it as harshly as possible.”

“Harshly?”

“Yes. Our management wishes to engrave a strong image to the viewers, fitting the concept of the video. It is their decision to show that our equipment can withstand such conditions and usage, proving their excellent quality. As mentioned earlier, all maintenance or repair costs will be on us so you don’t need to worry.”

“Oh, that’s great.”

Joonbum nodded repeatedly. There was also an additional sponsorship of ten million won in cash. All of this was to be continued as long as Joonbum kept using their equipment in the video.

“We look forward to our business together.”

“Thank you.”

Sungjoong left after they finalized the business deal.

“This is not my thing.”

Joonbum shook his head, also shaking away the awkwardness at being so formal. He drank the coffee in front of him and checked the time. It was already past 11 am.

“So busy.”

He realized that he had three other appointments today and grew tired.

‘There’s no other choice.’

He had managed to live off of the money he saved up and his new income from the videos, but his expenses kept growing as he was buying more stuff. Financially, he was running out again. His face frowned as he remembered how much he had left in the bank, but it soon turned into a grin.

“Next is Mirim Heavy-duty Equipment. I have so many of these offers now.”

Next up was a heavy equipment company. As he waited while looking over his new contract, a man in his early thirties came into the café. The man looked around and found Joonbum.

“Are you Mr. Joonbum Jang?”

“Yes, I am.”

“I’m Sungchil Park from Mirim Heavy-duty Equipment.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Pleasure meeting you, sir.”

Sungchil sat down. It was a deal similar to Boorim Agricultural Equipment’s. The only difference was that Mirim’s machines were very expensive, so they could only rent it out instead of giving it away.

“We will be paying thirty million won for three months worth of commercial fees. We can talk about extending another three months during the re-negotiation…”

It was a similar deal. Joonbum signed the contract that was handed over to him and after three more contracts, he left the café.

Joonbum drove his truck to Jinchul’s gun shop, where Jinchul greeted him in surprise.

“Hey, you got hurt?”

Jinchul closed in.

“Yeah, got cut by a branch.”

“Ouch, you should be careful. I guess you’re okay since you’re walking around though,” Jinchul said, looking concerned.

“It’s okay, don’t worry.”

Jinchul eyed him for a while, then shook his head.

“Oh, I heard you signed a contract?”

“Yeah, I did.”

“That’s awesome!”

Jinchul complimented him proudly. He watched him while begging for more details.

“I think I’ll have about fifty million won monthly.”

“What? Fifty million a month? Wow! You hit the jackpot, man! How much is that annually?”

Jinchul was surprised. Joonbum blushed and shook his head.

“It’s not confirmed yet. It might change if my viewership goes down. It depends on the number of viewers.”

“Is it? Well, but it also means the amount will increase if you get more viewers, right?”

“Yeah. Well, I am spending too much now, so I can’t keep up with just my savings. At least they’re not asking for too much in return.”

“Really? So the new contracts…”

“Yeah, they don’t interfere with the video in any way. They just want their stuff to be shown in the video.”

“That’s crazy! You were always worried too much that they might get in the way. That’s good!”

Jinchul happily replied as if it was his own achievement. Joonbum smiled.

“You’re on a safe road now!”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Joonbum scratched his head bashfully.

“Can I get another Beretta and more ammo?”

“Another rifle and ammo? What about the ones you bought before?” Jinchul asked curiously. Joonbum smiled bitterly and replied.

“It’s for the video. Let me buy each one of the guns you explained before.”

“What? Are you serious?”

“Of course I am.”

“It’s expensive.”

Jinchul glanced, unconvinced. Joonbum chuckled and nodded.

“I received fifty million this month. You’ll see me getting more on my next video.”

“Yeah, you’re right! Haha, I should’ve stayed modest in front of a big name superstar. What else you might need, dear sir?”

Jinchul amusingly pointed over to his counter. Joonbum replied by rubbing his belly as if he was some arrogant wealthy customer.

“Hmmph, I’ll see if I can find anything I can use! Hmmph!”

“Come this way, boss.”

Jinchul exaggeratedly guided Joonbum across to the counter.

Joonbum picked out five rifles and a thousand rounds of ammo.

“What are you filming? A war simulation? Or are you trying to just shoot mindlessly at nothing?”

Jinchul was astounded by the sheer number of purchases Joonbum was making, but he shook his head.

“Is it because you’re concerned about those comments that your videos don’t have any battles or hunting content?”

Jinchul made up his own answer before Joonbum said anything and he just nodded in agreement.

“Wow, Jinchul, you shouldn’t tell that to anyone. I’m going to upload a really powerful one next time.”

“I’m looking forward to it, man. I wondered why that wordless video of yours was so popular, but I was hooked too. It’s nothing special but you know. I’m not sure why. It’s weird but addicting.”

“Thank you.”

Joonbum smile was full of joy.