EP 36- Lost Capital(5)
Jo Jung-sik was the first-generation hunter who had been active since the days of the Apgu political faction, and was the second magistrate after Yeo Do-yeon, and was the best observer in Korea.
What makes scouts first-class? He didn’t have quick feet and a wide field of vision. The observer had to know about the monster.
All monsters mutate according to their environment. And it evolves in various ways through predation.
So, although similar monsters may appear in different regions, all monsters are different in some way.
In fact, the hunters are fighting a different kind of monster each time. And the Observer also encounters a different kind of monster each time.
So, the observer had to guess the abilities and weaknesses of the monster he saw for the first time, and read the monster’s mana to understand the attributes and characteristics.
“I can’t.”
Jo Jung-sik was clearly a lesser body magician than Yeo Do-yeon, and a lesser knight than Seol Jin-woon, but he had superior magic sensitivity and judgment than anyone else.
That made him the best observer.
“Oh, X-bar, that’s because you can’t!”
So, if there’s no adjustment, it really doesn’t work.
However, it was the credo of Yeo Do-yeon to make it impossible.
“Is there really no way?”
“We’re not even Gam Ji-yoon, so how do we catch all of that? It is necessary to grind anti-aircraft gunfire or sweep it up with psychic psychic powers, but there are only dwarfs here.”
All they watched was a swarm of bats swarming in the sky. Huge bats were prowling over Busan like a flock of crows hunting for corpses.
Occasionally, he would break the windows of a building and eat people like an anteater, but Yeo Do-yeon and Jo Jung-sik had no talent to deal with the swarms of bats floating in the sky.
“The bigger problem is that they seem to be communicating with each other. Did you see Dasol when he fired a sniper rifle earlier?”
“no. I didn’t see it.”
“I shot him on the ground, and hundreds of them in the sky ran away. Even now, if you look at it, the South Korean military is avoiding areas where the anti-aircraft guns are grinding like ghosts.”
“The monsters have a communication network that we don’t even have. X feet… … .”
Sadly, Busan wasn’t safe from the catastrophe either.
There was no gate incident, but a large group of flying monsters flew in.
Meanwhile, the communication network was paralyzed due to an unknown phenomenon. Civilian electronic devices such as cell phones were not spared from failure.
Yeo Do-yeon thought of her poor younger sister who couldn’t even eat properly. I can’t even get in touch with you, so maybe it’s okay.
I suddenly cried.
“Why the phone is working and damn it!”
When an angry Gyeongsang woman threw her cell phone, the wall shattered, not the cell phone. The Samsung Galaxy S25+ was nailed to the concrete wall.
“Wow, isn’t that broken?”
“Hey, formal. What’s wrong with those bats?”
“You can awaken your levitation ability.”
Dasol Yeo, who was watching from the side, raised her hand.
The K2 rifle she was wearing was the group’s only anti-aircraft firepower.
“Questions! How about borrowing anti-aircraft guns from the military guys!?”
“Is there any reason why hunters should shoot anti-aircraft guns instead of soldiers?”
“No.”
“Is not it. put your hand down.”
It was suggested by the adjustment. Gradually, I was about to get tired of being crushed here.
“Why don’t we just leave Busan to the soldiers and close the gate next door? There was talk of something happening in Daegu and Namhae. Ah, Changwon-do.”
“These monsters are killing people in downtown Busan, so you want to just throw them away?”
“If I had gone to Changwon at the time of the operation meeting, the gate would have been closed already.”
“I closed it there.”
“Then I’m glad… … .”
It was impossible to catch all those bats to the level of smashing those who came down to the ground once or twice.
The air power of Busan belonged to the monster, and the collapsed communication network paralyzed the movement of the South Korean army and the Hunters.
Jo Jung-sik started thinking again.
Then, a miracle happened.
“Well?”
“What is that?”
“Oh oh… … .”
It was a man-made miracle. The magic of the bright yellow light enveloped the whole of Busan.
Noah Lumière proclaimed sanctuary.
* * *
Jeonju, Jeollabuk-do, was the hometown of Yang Pan-seok.
He was a nobleman with a constituency in Gwangju, so he sold it as a ‘son of Gwangju’, but Yang Pan-seok’s family is the Toho family in Jeonju, which built up wealth during the Japanese colonial period.
There was only a gynecologist in Gwangju who accepted the baby yangbansuk.
So, Pan-seok Yang used to visit Jeonju whenever he was on vacation, and he played golf in Jeonju and drank alcohol in Jeonju.
It wasn’t because he had a love affair, but because an adult in the family ran a golf course and a bar.
Thanks to this, I, who used to be Yang Pan-seok’s bag mochi, also knew the geography of Jeonju to some extent.
I never expected for the rest of my life that it would be helpful when chasing monsters in downtown Jeonju.
“If you go over there, it’s university! to the other side! On the other side!”
“If you go the other way, it’s not a residential complex!?”
“There is a lake in between. Drive it there!”
The monster ran down the road, smashing street lights, traffic lights, electric poles, and cars. Only a corpse and flames were left in the place he passed.
However, there were too many people around to take a picture and press it. The citizens were screaming and running away, but the monster was faster.
As if insulting us, the white monster entered the traditional market and swung its tentacled right hand at random.
The tentacles became as hard as a knife and cut in all directions.
“Hey, X feet… … !”
Whether the mayor of Jeonju was wise or the commander of the division stationed in Jeonju was wise, but when the monster invaded the city, the evacuation work had been completed in the first place.
But the city couldn’t be completely devoid of people.
People with reduced mobility, people who did not trust the government, people who didn’t hear the announcements, or people who wandered around not knowing where to evacuate became victims of the monster.
“That’s Lake Park! Drive to the lake park!”
The only chance we had to attack the monster was when he got out of town for a while.
Gam Gam-yoon and I flew hand in hand to chase the monster, and Hong Seon-ah transformed into a flame and teleported, interfering with the monster’s path whenever there was a gap.
“now!”
As Hong Seon-ah reached out her hand, a blue flame rose from the air.
I could burn a city if I wanted to, but for now, I was only blocking a road.
But thanks to that, the monster changed direction and entered the deserted lake park for a while.
Now it was my turn.
“… … !”
A formidable force pierced the monster and pressed it down. The entire lake park shook, and the ground shook as if there had been an earthquake.
However, the monster twisted its body using the acceleration it had been running so far.
It was difficult to follow with my eyes, so it was even more difficult to follow with my telekinesis.
“shit!”
“Hold on!”
When I missed the monster, Ga Ji-yoon put his hand on it.
Heaps of dirt flew in from all directions. Earth, rocks, and water from the lake surrounded the monster.
The white monster resisted the force that was trying to crush him.
His yellow eyes turned towards the lake. Heo Yeon’s face didn’t have a mouth, but for some reason he seemed to be smiling.
“oh!”
The monster ran into the lake. Even Ga Ji-yoon had missed him.
I realized at that point. That monster can see magic with his eyes. So I was able to find the gaps in telemetry.
While Gam Ji-yoon was looking for the monster while observing the surface of the lake, I struggled to somehow improvise.
Then Hong Seon-ah ran in.
“Come out of the lake!”
We evacuated to the shore of the lake, and soon I could see why Hong Seon-ah had asked me to come out.
profit! The lake began to boil.
Hot steam rose in all directions, and we took a few more steps back.
Hong Seon-ah was trying to boil and kill the monster by creating a flame under the lake.
The monster came out after a while.
Towards Hong Seon-ah.
“Mr. Seon-ah!”
The white monster attacked the defenseless Hong Seon-ah. The guy swung his right arm at Hong Seon-ah.
The attack was missed thanks to the telekinesis I used, but without hesitation, he rushed out of the lake park.
Since then, he has never gone to a sparsely populated vacant lot. Damn it, he was a man who knew how to roll his head.
“Shit… … !”
If it was Yeo Do-yeon, he would chase after him like a madman and start fighting, and if it was Seol Jin-woon, he would inflict fatal wounds with a fierce sword, but all three of us were mentally psychic.
And that monster possessed the best physical strength of any monster I have ever seen. If you enter melee combat, one of you will die.
We pursued the monster that was running like a gust of wind.
Street lamps and electric poles collapsed, electric lights jumped, and asphalt and cars scattered to dust.
The smell of burning flames mixed with blood and enveloped the city. The city had become a battlefield.
“What do you do with that bastard!”
Ga Ji-yoon scratched her youthful voice and shouted evil.
I remembered my guess that he could see magic.
“Jiyoon-ah! Just stir the sky!”
“What!?”
“To the extent that people who see it go black! Threat shooting!”
He spoke like a dog, but Gam Ji-yoon understood it perfectly.
He did not stir the sky at random, but floated a tremendous amount of magical power in the air.
If you hit it as it is, you would be able to blow up a single dong or ward unit in one shot.
Maybe it was because he shared Gam Ki-yoon’s magic sensitivity, and just looking at it, his survival instinct was stimulated and he withdrew.
And it was the same with monsters.
“Stop… … !”
It was more like he couldn’t overcome the pressure and flinched rather than stopped, but Hong Seon-ah did not miss the opportunity.
Blue flames squirmed like a snake and wrapped around the monster. It happened in an instant.
-!!
The mouthless monster couldn’t scream, but its tentacles screamed instead. Upon closer inspection, there was a mouth in the middle of the tentacles.
Thump, thump, the monster crashed into buildings everywhere, trying to escape from the flames. An even more radical struggle smashed an entire villa.
However, Hong Seon-ah’s flame was fierce and tenacious, just like her personality. She smiled like a witch and tortured the monster.
I know because I’ve used that ability.
As if burning a tickle, he pushed the flames through the monster’s inner flesh, shoved the flames into the holes in his body, and burned his internal organs.
Hong Seon-ah’s technique was so sophisticated and subtle that no one could touch it. A thoroughly calculated flame burned the monster.
Standing there for more than 10 seconds was proof that the monster had an SS rating or higher. Even if you get hit by a train like that, you’ll be fine.
What was the level of his speed? Even considering the head roll, it was really scary. If that guy grew up hiding in the mountains… .
“what are you doing! Don’t just watch!”
“Oh right.”
Gam Ji-yoon’s bitter Kusari woke me up. I helped Hong Seon-ah take down the monster.
Gam Ji-yoon’s magic sensitivity made it possible to control the smooth mixing of different superpowers.
It was also thanks to my knowledge of both telekinesis and pyrotechnics.
“Hey, did you finish it?”
“Oh, don’t say anything ominous!”
He chanted a magic spell, but the monster never came out of the flames. The monster slowly burned and fell.
When we heard the monster’s flurry, we gathered again on the ashes in a cold sweat.
“… … thank you for your effort.”
“Huh… … finished… … .”
Ga Ji-yoon wiped her chest in relief, but I knew it wasn’t.
Nothing ended.
nothing is over
A third of Jeonju has been destroyed, many civilians have died, and more wounded than dead are still waiting for rescue and treatment.
The gate incident was not over, and other cities were still fighting a bad battle with the monster, and they did not even know what was going on.
But Hong Seon-ah was right.
“You did it.”
“… … .”
“Thank you for helping me earlier, Senator. If you solve them one by one, you will find the answer.”
“… … okay.”
did what had to be done But I didn’t feel at ease.
I looked around with a confused mind.
I could see the wreckage of the collapsed building, and I could see lives that had fallen in vain.
This was a disaster.
We were fighting a disaster. No matter how much power he had, no matter how powerful he was, he was fighting a kind of disaster that could not be avoided.
Yet what we can endure.
“Five! The Yeongnam area network has been restored!”
“What happened to the other areas?”
Because there is hope.
“The knights said that they had started an operation to restore the country in Busan. Daegu was blocked by APT agency and Hunter Seo Joong-seop, while in Changwon, Hunter Yeo Do-yeon was alone… .”
“Ahh! Fortunately, the. Do you know what happened to the South Sea?”
“Hunter Seol Jinwoon’s raid succeeded in SS-level hunting. Your hometown is also safe. The Seol Hunters are coming up to Gwangju scattered across the southern regions, what should I do?”
“Then let’s go down to Gwangju while scattering in Jeollabuk-do. If we meet there and join the siege of Jirisan… … .”
“Will we be pushing in from the west and the knights from the east?”
“Now I think I might as well give it a try.”
It’s worth a try. It was only that thought.
It is a belief that has no basis and no countermeasures, but that unfounded blind faith has brought us here. That belief we called hope.
It was a man-made hope.
* * *
“Beijing collapsed?”
“Yes.”
“Ah, X feet.”
On the first day of my tenure, the gate opened. Episode 238