Chapter 68 The Savior in the Flames
“Ugh, uaaaah!”
Screech.
“Sa-save me…!”
Rip.
“Everyone, run away quickly…”
Sizzle.
As it leaped into the heart of the city, the bustling sounds of downtown Seoul vanished in an instant.
All that could be heard were screams and wails.
In a bloodbath that resembled a living hell, the cyborg monster, driven purely by instinct, was massacring everything in sight.
But there was something strange about its actions.
“Help me…!”
“Wh-why is your body like that…?”
“Huh?!”
“Are you a prostitute? Why are you trying to look pretty?”
Beautiful women.
Well-built men.
Women and men who seemed to have some money.
And other Koreans who seemed to be in the upper echelons of various fields.
They were all killed mercilessly.
Yet, when it encountered foreigners or visibly average Koreans.
“…Pfft!”
The monster gave foreigners a kind smile.
Conversely, it merely scoffed derisively at the less remarkable Koreans and spared them.
“What the hell is that thing?”
The hunters dispatched were equally baffled by the unpredictable behavior of the cyborg monster.
A monster that selectively killed people.
There were no records or precedents of such a case.
Judging by its awkward speech, it didn’t seem intelligent enough to engage in coherent conversation with humans.
“Anyway, the fact is that Hongdae is being destroyed because of that thing right now!”
How should they deal with it?
The hunters were lost in thought when a man, who had been helping evacuate the survivors filtered out by the cyborg monster, glared fiercely at the increasingly distant monster.
Joo Sang-ho, an A-rank hunter known for his inability to control his anger when it came to threats against humanity, pulled out the spear strapped to his back with a fiery determination that matched the color of his hair.
He then charged straight at the cyborg monster, which was about to commit another massacre.
“Do you think people are like items on a menu?! Do you think it’s okay to kill selectively?!!”
***
“The monster we were trying to control turned out to be none other than the Nightmare of California. You’ve brought something tremendous to Korea.”
At the top floor of the Korean Hunter Association.
Lee Jin-ah, seated in the branch manager’s office, was merely gauging the situation in Hongdae, which had turned into a sea of blood, through real-time monitoring.
“Do I need to intervene?”
Lancelot, who had appeared from her shadow, asked while gripping the holy sword at his waist.
“It’s fine, Lancelot. Just stay put.”
Lee Jin-ah was silent and composed.
Stopping the holy knight who was about to step in to protect the people, she leaned back in her chair, snapping her fingers as if timing something.
Then she revealed her plan.
“I’m thinking of using this opportunity to make the United States owe us more.”
“Owe us?”
“Yes. That cyborg monster is undoubtedly an artificial disaster brought over from the United States. Korea is currently suffering massive casualties due to this American ‘mistake,’ right?”
“…! Lee Jin-ah, don’t tell me?!”
Yes.
As Lancelot feared, this was all part of a plan by Lee Jin-ah, who was always one step ahead of Dunzo McRivard.
“You knew this would happen?”
“Of course. After all, I personally led the monster weaponization project as the team leader during my time in the United States.”
“…! How did you make the monster go berserk?”
“It’s simple. The monster weaponization project. To be honest, it was a grandiose name for a project that was practically hopeless.”
A project to weaponize a dead monster using only human scientific capabilities.
Lee Jin-ah had secretly mocked their efforts to actualize what was almost science fiction.
Then, when it looked like it would fail midway through, but the American researchers clung to a shred of hope.
The Nightmare of California – Alien Beth.
‘Hmm… this might be useful?’
Of course, with current technology, this entity would soon end up in the trash, but…
At that moment, Lee Jin-ah had a brilliant idea.
‘You can never have too much insurance.’
By then, Lee Jin-ah was already on the verge of being expelled from the United States.
So, thinking it might come in handy, she revived the Nightmare of California with her powers and pretended the experiment had succeeded.
Simultaneously, she abandoned its control, making it move as if it were alive.
“It was made for self-destruction, but I never imagined I’d see it here.”
“Is there no way to control it?”
“No. As a result, it moves like it’s alive without my control. But it won’t last long. I set it to move for only 24 hours at most.”
“Hmm…”
Lancelot was relieved to hear that it had a lifespan of only a day.
However, the problem was that this ‘mayfly’ was a national disaster-level monster of the United States.
“At least tens of thousands will die…”
The monster had turned a tenth of California into a sea of fire, an area larger than Korea.
There would undoubtedly be numerous casualties this time as well.
But Lee Jin-ah, seemingly having anticipated this, smiled.
“The estimated number of deaths is about fifty thousand or less.”
“……”
“In return, we will gain America’s apology and aid.”
“Hmm…”
“The lives of fifty thousand people and our relationship with the United States—of course, the latter is far more valuable, isn’t it?”
As if placing two objects on a scale.
Having completed her calculations, Lee Jin-ah just smiled as she continued to monitor the Nightmare of California in real time.
…However, there was one thing that slightly bothered her.
‘Why does it seem like it’s selectively killing people?’
Its behavior.
It was as if…
“…Lee Hee-jeong?”
The prey she had meticulously provided to wake it up after fifty years.
It looked just like Lee Hee-jeong was acting out one of his controversial posts from the community in real life.
***
“Please follow the instructions of the hunters and soldiers and move!”
“Do not, under any circumstances, enter the city!”
Returning to the scene.
It had been over thirty minutes since the Nightmare of California had appeared.
Outside Hongdae Street, soldiers and hunters were working together to evacuate civilians from the area as quickly as possible.
“Is it impossible to counterattack with tanks or missiles?”
“Unfortunately, the higher-ups have ordered us to preserve the famous tourist area of Hongdae as much as possible during the recapture, so heavy equipment support is practically impossible.”
“Are you saying we have to fight it head-on?!”
“Yes…”
The soldiers were loading their anti-monster magazines.
The hunters were also drawing their own distinctive weapons, but…
‘Are we supposed to take that thing down…?’
‘I saw that monster up close by chance…’
‘Nothing we did even scratched it!’
As hunters, their role was to confront the monster before the soldiers.
The hunters in Hongdae Street, having already witnessed the monster’s strength up close, recalled how it had effortlessly sliced everything in half with a crisp, sharp sound, no matter what was shot or swung at it, and they felt nothing but fear.
Adding insult to injury.
“Is there a medic or a healer hunter?!”
A figure being carefully carried by hunters who had just emerged from among the civilians.
Seeing him, everyone on the scene, hunters and soldiers alike, froze in shock.
“Joo, Joo Sang-ho!”
“Senior!”
The person being carried out, covered in blood, was none other than Korea’s A-rank hunter Joo Sang-ho.
It was unclear how he had been defeated.
There were countless clean cuts all over his body, and his face was particularly badly injured.
It looked as if he had been the victim of a brutal revenge crime by a ‘human.’
“Oh no, what should we do…!”
“Medic! Bring the medical kit quickly!!”
Around the dying Joo Sang-ho, hunters with healing abilities and medics rushed over in a panic.
He needed to be put under anesthesia and treated immediately.
But just before the syringe was injected.
“Hey, hold on…!”
Joo Sang-ho suddenly opened his eyes and grabbed the arm of one of his juniors.
“Senior?!”
“Ugh, ugh…”
Despite his torn lips and inability to speak properly, he seemed to have something to say that was more urgent than treatment and refused to let go of the arm.
The junior had no choice but to lean in.
Then came the strained voice.
“That thing… is human…”
“…What?!”
“It’s not a monster…!”
“What do you mean, senior? Senior?!”
No matter how you looked at it, it was clearly a monster.
But before he could explain any further, Joo Sang-ho lost consciousness.
As the chaos in Hongdae Street grew even worse, in the middle of the distant city center.
“Everyone, come this way.”
“Oh, okay!”
“Thank you, Hunter.”
Inside the now burning Hongdae Street, where many civilians who had failed to evacuate in time were waiting for their deaths.
One hunter was leading and swiftly rescuing these people.
Despite orders to retreat, she stubbornly remained, extending a saving hand to those who were helpless.
“Sis, are we all going to die?”
“No, of course not.”
A hunter with gray hair flowing in the dangerous flames, carving a path for people to escape.
C-rank hunter Yoo Che-ran was rescuing people in the same way she had been saved that day.
She was still in the battlefield, where C-rank hunters were supposed to have long retreated, determined to save the weak and powerless.
“Sis will save everyone. So don’t worry, we’ll all make it out alive together.”
“…! Okay!”