Chapter 139 – Survival (1)
“Didn’t you think there would be no prison to hold you in?”
The prison guard smiled and looked at Kim Hyun-ki. Kim Hyun-ki stared at the prison guard through her window. Hunters from the Black Dragon Room and Hunters from the Diamond Club gathered around the guards. Kim Hyun-ki felt like a seal in an aquarium.
The reason Kim Hyun-gi thought it was an aquarium, not a zoo, was because he was confined in a transparent fish tank, and this fish tank was submerged in a larger body of water that could be used as a swimming pool. Kim Hyun-ki lightly dipped his feet into the transparent wall. With his ability, he was able to easily cross this wall.
But he couldn’t go beyond that. Because the water that Kim Hyun-ki was trapped in was not ordinary water. A high voltage current was flowing through this water. He had only dipped his foot in it for a moment, and he felt his body throb. If you try to jump out of the room by using the Gaekgi, your body will be fried right away.
The female Hunter of the Black Dragon Room looked at Kim Hyun-ki. As a result of Kim Hyun-ki hearing them talking, she knew that Hunter’s name was Kim Yoo-jung. Kim Yoo-jung said she to Kim Hyun-ki.
“Hunter Jeong Soo-hyun. Do you know where it is?”
“Jung Soo-hyun?”
As if hearing it for the first time, Kim Hyun-ki raised the corner of his mouth and asked again. Kim Yoo-jung bit her lip and narrowed her eyes. Kim Hyun-ki looked at her face and opened her mouth.
“It’s over the gate. I pushed it through the simple gate.”
Kim Yoo-jung blinked her eyes as if she didn’t understand her words. The red-eyed woman next to her asked the other hunter a few questions, and she suddenly drew her sword and rushed to kill Kim Hyun-ki. She barely stopped after two hunters grabbed her.
Kim Hyun-ki really envied Jung Soo-hyun.
******
Black Dragon’s Office. Ichie was arguing with Hunter Lee Jun-hyeok in an unusually fierce tone. He also had a complicated expression due to the disappearance of Seong Ha-yeon Hunter, but Ichie’s anger at losing Jeong Su-hyeon seemed bigger than that.
Kim Yoo-jung was staring at her table with a resigned expression, and the empty seats of Hunter Seong Ha-yeon and Hunter Jeong Su-hyeon were neatly empty, as if mourning the dead. Kim Yoo-jung was trying hard not to see those two spots.
It’s not even confirmed that he’s dead yet. It would be rude if I looked at my seat and cried.
Over Kim Yoo-jung’s shoulder, Ichie’s voice was heard.
“I heard about safety training the other day. The instructor said that if the Hunter is alive, a rescue team can be sent to those coordinates. But why can’t you rescue me? Did the instructor lie then? Aren’t you supposed to save them if they’re alive?”
“It makes sense. Calm down and listen to the story. Okay? I’m heartbroken right now, and I want to run to the gate right now, but this isn’t as easy as it sounds. Listen carefully.”
Her Hunter Lee Jun-hyeok began to soothe her with her calm tone. Ichie, who was talking to anyone right away, listened to his tone, and she sat down with a slightly softened expression. Hunter Lee Jun-hyeok started to explain again.
“The situation that can be rescued from the gate the instructor is talking about is the situation where we got the coordinates of the gate. When the gate opens, basically the gate team goes and picks up the gate coordinates. Because we know where the gate is. Even if the gate is closed, there is a possibility of saving the hunter by entering the coordinates again through the simple gate. But what if you were thrown over the gate in a situation where you don’t even know the coordinates like this time? Guess I can’t find it Gate coordinates consist of a total of 24 digits. It’s impossible to shoot and match.”
“That…”
Ichie’s face twisted. Taking a picture of the coordinates she didn’t know where and matching them was the same as throwing a grain of sand at a sandy beach and then finding it again. It is impossible to find.
“Still…”
However, neither reason nor Kim Yu-jeong did not want to admit that. Giving up the search means accepting death.
Because it means to think that Jung Soo-hyeon and Seong Ha-yeon are dead.
********
You need to find a safe place. As soon as the gate closed, the thought ran through my head. First of all, a safe place. It was necessary to find a place where monsters could not enter easily and where Seong Ha-yeon Hunter’s wounds could be healed. As the smell of blood spread, monsters were poking their heads out everywhere.
Even if the gate was closed, I couldn’t despair. Surely the instructor hadn’t said that before? Don’t panic even if the gate closes, believe and wait for the rescue team to come. So I decided to believe and wait. Seong Ha-yeon decided to survive with Hunter.
I left the seat with Hunter Seong Ha-yeon on my back. A Jungle Cat swerved and killed her with an instant kick in the head. Fortunately, there was a cave a short distance away. Since the entrance was a bit narrow, I put Hunter Seong Ha-yeon in first, then I packed my gear and went in crouching down.
“Ehee eh!”
Upon entering the cave, a group of jungle cats greeted us. The inside of the cave was wider than expected. It was to the extent that I could freely swing the spear without worrying about Seong Ha-yeon Hunter. From wriggling pups to adults. Everyone looked at us and their eyes flashed, revealing their intentions to live. Seong Ha-yeon Hunter said.
“Hey, okay, it’s okay, so just leave me and run away. Huh?”
“We have to live together. What are you doing living alone?”
I said that and stood up. The one who seemed to be the boss screamed, baring his teeth. Blinking yellow eyeballs attacked me in the dark cave. I swung my shield wide and rushed into the Jungle Cat’s heart.
I kicked the head of the one who came to the front, and hit the head of the next one with a shield. He slashed the tip of his spear and stabbed a guy from afar, then corrected his posture and killed another with his spear.
The one who ricochets off the wall and dies. The one who dies by stepping on my feet. And the leader sitting in the middle of a big, stinking nest, shivering.
I couldn’t afford to show pity or mercy. The last remaining captain was a bit bigger than the others, but he wasn’t overwhelmingly strong either. I smashed the captain’s head flat with the spear, then turned around. It was right after Seong Ha-yeon Hunter turned one of the guys who ran into him into a pure white ice statue.
The corpses of Jungle Cats were everywhere. I gasped and brushed the blood off my shield and spear. Seong Ha-yeon Hunter corrected her posture and leaned against the wall. There was no blood coming out of the side that was tightly suppressed. If you look closely, the wound area is frozen. I said to Seong Ha-yeon Hunter.
“Uh, is it okay to freeze it?”
She nodded her head, looking a little better than she had just been. It seemed that ice powers did not cause any problems just because their bodies were frozen a little.
“I’m good at ice, so it’s okay. More than that, I need to disinfect the wound. Can you get me some herbs for this? I saw it while passing by, but I couldn’t pull it out.”
Seong Ha-yeon Hunter explained the appearance of the herb in detail. It is a rake-shaped, rough-growing grass that is yellow and has red flowers. After hearing the explanation, I realized that it was a herb I learned at the academy.
“Ah, I know that.”
I said that and then left her and cautiously stepped out of her cave again. He said he saw it on the way, so he must be nearby. I lowered my posture as much as possible so as not to attract the attention of the monsters, and started to move very slowly in the grass.
One Gorbas felt the presence and turned her head away, but she was able to avoid it by lowering her body. The big monster, barely seeing me, moved in a different direction. A jungle cat, apparently finished hunting, was seen walking into the cave. I was startled and was about to go back into the cave, but the frozen Jungle Cat rolled out like a drink popping out of a vending machine.
I smiled when I saw that, and I was able to walk again with confidence.
“This is it.”
Rake grass. The English name was complicated, but in Korea it was a medicinal herb called rake grass. It is a raw material for potions used to disinfect and treat wounds, and these medicinal herbs were produced by harvesting seeds and cultivating them outside. It was easy to see from the inside of the gate, so among the hunters, the rumor that they escaped by treating their wounds with this rake grass spread like urban ghost stories.
I pulled out a few rakes and stuffed them into my pocket, then moved on cautiously again.
“Ehee eh!”
And I stopped walking when I heard a scream from somewhere. I felt my body harden. Did the monster see me? It wasn’t. A monster was running away in a hurry. Then, Gorbas, who had been cowering in a corner, suddenly opened her eyes and crawled away.
I wasn’t caught These guys were running from something. I heard the muffled footsteps pressing down on the floor. I heard a sound like a swamp walking. I hid behind a rock in the grass and watched him.
It was not a peaceful place. A monster like a huge lump of clay was slowly moving through the forest. I knew that this monster was the master of the forest, and to survive here I had to either run away from it or fight it and defeat it.
Can you survive the monster before being rescued?
