Chapter 8 – Bounty Hunting (Part Three)

They emerged from the darkness faster than I expected.

*Kagagak!*

The Vallak dragged its long tail across the floor and swung it violently.

*Clang!* The sword and tail collided.

Sent flying by the heavy impact, Il-hyeon rolled several times before springing back to his feet.

“Ugh!”

Il-hyeon winced, shaking his hand.

Even though he’d blocked it at an angle with his sword, the powerful shock had traveled straight up his arm.

The hideous monsters’ faces came into view.

The two Vallaks slowly advanced, radiating a thick killing intent.

Il-hyeon readjusted his grip on the sword.

A Defensive Coat would have been a small insurance policy, but he didn’t have one.

A single mistake would cost him his life.

At least he had a strategy, pieced together from the information he’d researched on Vallaks beforehand.

When he’d hunted the Forn, he’d been so focused on not being seen that he’d charged in recklessly. He now realized how foolish that had been.

After a brief standoff, Il-hyeon was the first to move.

Their primary weapon was their tails.

It was the most dangerous variable, and he had to close the distance to neutralize it.

They had poor control over their tails, so getting in close was the safest way to avoid them.

Il-hyeon ducked under the two forked tails that flew at him like sharp blades, then rushed forward and kicked one of the Vallaks in the head.

Red blood spurted out as the creature staggered, and Il-hyeon brought his sword down for the finishing blow.

*Clang!*

But the Vallak he’d struck reacted in that brief moment, raising its two front legs to deflect the sword.

Just then, the other creature’s tail whipped in from the side.

Il-hyeon barely dodged the tail aimed to crush his skull, feeling it graze his forehead.

Horrified, Il-hyeon quickly retreated, but the two monsters gave him no quarter.

They immediately closed the distance, pressuring him, ready to attack at any moment.

It was a difficult situation.

They were fast, strong, and tough.

On top of that, for monsters, their coordination was impeccable.

Even though they were both E-rank, he could feel they were much stronger than the Forn he’d faced before.

If he had faced them yesterday without having absorbed that second Ether Core, he would have died without putting up a fight.

But now, things were different.

Fired up, Il-hyeon stomped his foot.

*Rumble!* The surroundings shook, and the ceiling above the monsters fractured into neat, square pieces, as if sliced like a radish.

With a crack, chunks of concrete rained down on them.

The Vallaks noticed and tried to flee, but they couldn’t move.

Vines, formed by Il-hyeon manipulating the floor, had wrapped around their ankles.

His control over his ability was far more refined than before.

*Thud!*

The pile of concrete crushed the creatures, and dust plumed into the air.

But it wasn’t long before the debris shifted, and both Vallaks burst out.

They were bleeding all over, clearly having taken some damage, but they weren’t fatally wounded.

Il-hyeon had expected as much and immediately raised his sword, charging forward.

Just as the Vallaks tried to brace themselves to counter, the ground beneath them lifted.

“Krrk?”

Suddenly flipped and sent airborne, the bewildered Vallak thrashed about.

Il-hyeon had used his transformation ability to violently heave the floor under them, launching them in his direction.

Thanks to that, both Vallaks flew toward him, their posture completely broken.

Even then, Il-hyeon dodged an incoming tail and struck the neck of one of the defenseless Vallaks.

Even after its head was cleanly severed, the body thrashed for a while, searching for Il-hyeon.

Now only one remained.

The last Vallak, realizing the tide had turned, hesitated and backed away.

With a stronger survival instinct than most monsters, it chose to flee rather than attack the human before it.

Just as the Vallak turned to escape.

A wall appeared.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

Il-hyeon stared at the Vallak, his eyes gleaming.

Like a predator cornering its prey.

* * *

*Thrust!*

Il-hyeon’s sword pierced the Vallak’s chest.

The creature, which had collapsed and was staggering on the floor, went still.

“Phew.”

Il-hyeon rested his hands on his knees, catching his breath.

It was only his second fight, yet he felt unbelievably proficient.

With every battle, his body grew heated, and a potent sense of exhilaration washed over him.

The Ability of Predation was affecting not just his body, but his mind as well.

But he didn’t have the luxury to dwell on such thoughts.

There was still something important left to do.

Il-hyeon approached the dead Vallak and began to rummage through its corpse.

He pulled two cores from within and placed them on the ground, gazing at them with satisfaction.

Il-hyeon wanted to absorb the cores right then and there, but he held back.

If he absorbed them here, crystal fragments would scatter everywhere, and the government cleanup crew might find them and notice something was off.

Until now, it was believed to be impossible to break an Ether Core with physical force.

The only known method was to extract all the energy within, causing it to disappear on its own; no other means worked.

Naturally, he couldn’t leave such evidence behind.

Il-hyeon put the two cores in his bag and cleaned up the scene he had so conspicuously altered.

He lowered the raised floor and restored the wall and ceiling.

Once he was more or less finished, he looked at his sword, which was dented and bent from fighting the Vallaks.

It was also corroded by the monster’s toxins, a complete mess.

Even if he tried to maintain it, it seemed beyond use.

Il-hyeon tossed the sword to the ground.

Not forgetting to break it into small pieces so that nothing unusual would be discovered.

‘What now?’

Having finished cleaning up, Il-hyeon sat on the floor for a moment to think.

The issue was the bounty on the monsters he had killed here.

He hesitated to contact the Special Police to claim the reward money, feeling like a thief with a guilty conscience.

‘But just leaving would be an even bigger problem.’

He gave one of the monster corpses a light kick.

Plenty of people had seen him come here anyway.

If he killed the monsters, took only the Ether, and didn’t collect the reward, he would only draw more unwanted attention.

He hadn’t left any traces at the previous scene, and there was no way what he’d done so far could be discovered.

He just had to act brazenly.

Having made up his mind, Il-hyeon shot to his feet.

“Where are you? Let’s go.”

At Il-hyeon’s call, the hidden mouse peeked its head out.

The creature, which had scurried away the moment the fight began, slipped into the inner pocket of Il-hyeon’s coat.

He began to walk, dragging the two monster corpses with him, to exit the sewer.

He was tired and the load was heavy, but his steps on the way back were light.

*Clank!*

Il-hyeon pushed open the manhole cover someone had closed and emerged onto the street.

A man suddenly popping out of the ground drew the stares of all the unsuspecting citizens.

He then hoisted a monster’s corpse up with one hand and slammed it onto the ground.

Seeing this, people screamed and fled in terror, and the surrounding street was instantly thrown into chaos.

Il-hyeon watched the scene unfold with a wry smile.

“Too bad. If those middle schoolers who were whining about sewage were still here, this would’ve been a real show.”

Ignoring the stares, he contacted the Special Police, then went back for the other corpse he’d left behind to climb the ladder.

“Ugh!”

He poked his head out of the manhole with a disgusted expression and hurled the corpse onto the pavement.

Even a small piece of flesh had reeked; the full corpse was beyond words.

It was a relief that decomposition hadn’t set in much yet. Another hour and the stench would have been nose-numbingly foul.

“Ugh, this smell is going to stick to me.”

Il-hyeon grumbled, brushing the monster’s blood and flesh from his clothes.

Just then, he heard the sound of clicking shutters.

He instinctively shielded his face with one hand and glanced behind him.

People watching him from a short distance were taking out their phones.

The citizens, even knowing the creature sprawled on the ground was a corpse, couldn’t bring themselves to get closer.

It was only natural, given the fear of monsters combined with its grotesque appearance.

Nevertheless, most couldn’t tear their eyes away, stopping to watch or take pictures.

“Whoa, this is my first time seeing a monster.”

“It’s so disgusting.”

“Did a Gate open nearby?”

He could hear people murmuring.

Having become an Awakened, he could clearly hear every word of their chatter.

“Why is a monster coming out of there?”

“Oh, I know. Those are the monsters that caused a ruckus in Iryeon-dong.”

“So the missing monsters were here all along? That was seriously dangerous. It gives me chills!”

Just as all the staring was starting to make him uncomfortable.

*Fweeeet!* Someone put their fingers to their lips, whistled, and started clapping.

That set it off, and a wave of cheers and applause erupted from the crowd.

“Woooah!”

“Amazing!”

The commotion drew the attention of drivers on the road, who stuck their heads out to see what was happening.

‘Wh-what is this?’

Unaccustomed to such a scene, Il-hyeon stood awkwardly, staring blankly around him.

He had never experienced anything like this in his life.

Never before had he been surrounded and cheered by so many people, strangers at that.

No, most ordinary people probably hadn’t either.

“Haha…”

The continuous cheers made Il-hyeon let out a hollow laugh.

Ether and reward money.

He had acted purely out of his own greed, yet the citizens on the street were all applauding him.

He felt a strange churning in his stomach and stood there silently.

Amid his confusion, a police car arrived to rescue him.

“Are you the one who called this in?”

“Yes. That’s right. They’re over here.”

Two officers from the Special Police got out of the car and asked. Il-hyeon gestured toward the corpses with his free hand.

Seeing the neatly stacked corpses, the officers’ faces brightened.

“Two Vallak corpses confirmed.”

One of the officers immediately spoke into his radio.

The other officer let out a sigh of relief, bowing his head in thanks.

“Phew, thank you. We’ve finally caught them all. Another one was hiding in an apartment water tank, but we never imagined the ones from Iryeon-dong would be here.”

It seemed that with these two, all four of the escaped monsters had been caught.

But Il-hyeon, still holding up one hand, just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

“Uh… let’s move somewhere else first.”

* * *

Il-hyeon checked his bankbook at an ATM.

The 8 million won reward money had been deposited directly.

‘If I add a bit more money to this, I should be able to get a coat.’

The price of a Defensive Coat was astronomical; even a decent one started at 10 million won.

But its performance was worth the price, which was why he needed one all the more.

‘My face… doesn’t seem to have gotten out.’

After leaving the building, Il-hyeon scrolled through social media on his phone.

Photos of the capture of the monster that escaped from Iryeon-dong weren’t a huge topic, but quite a few had been posted.

He had been checking them one by one for the past three hours, and thankfully, there were no pictures where his face was clearly visible.

If his face had been exposed, it would have severely hindered his future activities.

‘Anyway…’

Il-hyeon sighed and plopped down on a street bench.

He thought back on everything he had done so far.

Ever since he first accidentally absorbed Ether and awakened his ability, his mind had been completely focused on devouring cores.

When it came to cores, he acted so irrationally that he would rush in without a second thought.

He not only put himself in danger but also committed acts that were essentially theft, albeit indirectly, without hesitation.

As if possessed by something.

And this was despite priding himself on having lived an honest life until now.

‘I’ve heard some people go crazy after awakening. Could it be?’

Il-hyeon shook his head as if to dismiss the ridiculous thought.

He didn’t feel any strange signs.

At least, not to himself.

In any case, the attention from the citizens had made him reconsider the meaning of being an Awakened, something he had completely forgotten.

A monster hunter? A golden spoon with a bright future?

He looked down at his right hand, which had already devoured four Ether Cores.

‘Is it okay to use this power like this?’

To be honest, what he was feeling now wasn’t guilt or remorse toward the Awakened he had stolen from.

Nor was it some grand sense of responsibility for humanity and the ability he possessed.

It was simply a memory of what kind of Awakened he had dreamed of becoming, back when he was full of hope.

And, of the day his younger sibling died.