Chapter 25. Toward Buyeo, Part II
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
4.
While Kim Tae-hoon was active in Incheon City for a short period of time, there were also many changes in Bucheon City. The most noticeable change was the beginning of farmland cultivation.
The results of cultivating the surrounding land of the Gulpo Stream leading to the Han River during the winter were gradually revealed in the spring.
“Now it’s a real start.”
“A year of farming started.”
It would be impossible for all survivors to obtain enough harvests to be self-sufficient, but securing farmland and the start of farming were the hope of a minimal future.
“Let’s go to Incheon!”
“Depart!”
In addition, they used the remaining materials from the solar panel production plant in Gwangmyeong City to produce additional solar panels. Tank cars, drivers, and related technicians to transport the LNG stored at the Songdo LNG production base also began to move when the occupation of Incheon City was completed.
“Now we go to Siheung City! Let’s kill the monsters!”
The number of Clans under the Mac Guild was now seven, and they gradually started to expand their activities to Gwangmyeong and Incheon, as well as Gimpo and Siheung.
The medical system has also begun to improve rapidly. The simple hospital operated by Ahn Sin-mi began to use university hospital facilities, as it secured a small number of doctors and nurses, and became able to produce electricity steadily to some extent.
Ahn Sun-mi, who had been an errand-runner at the university hospital a few months ago, became the new owner of the university hospital.
The workshop also started more systematic and professional production by having a power supply and facility expansion. Items using monster bodies and items that improved relics have begun to be produced in a steady stream.
All of those results were confirmed by the number of monster stones secured by the Mac Guild, and by the number of monster stones for Kim Tae-hoon to eat.
“Do you really have to eat all of them?”
“Of course.”
Forty percent.
Kim’s contract with the hunters gathered under the name of the Mac Guild was still valid. Of course, forty percent of the monster stones earned from the hunting of parties under the Mac Guild and Clans’ hunters while he was not in Bucheon became Kim’s share. The amount couldn’t be small. It was just enough to fill a 30-liter hiking bag!
“This world is like Hell.” Kate was so embarrassed when she watched Kim eating them.
“It will be more like Hell in the future.”
Of course, the most embarrassing thing for Kate was that she had to go to Buyeo with Kim. The reason why Kim took her to Buyeo was simple. Kate had Energy of A rank. Although the stats of her Strength and Health were still low, not many people could stop her if she started to make a fuss.
So, in the end, they might need an Awakener with a high level like Bang Hyun-wook for surveillance, but Bang also had a lot of work, as he was the spiritual leader of the Mac Guild when Kim Tae-hoon was away. Most of all, Bang was good at protecting people, but he had never even tried to monitor them.
“It would have been convenient if you had just left me in Bucheon.”
Finally, it was better for Kim to take her with him for her protection and surveillance. Another reason was that Kate was not just a character. but a very important human resource for Kim.
“In the east, the distance is about 300 meters, Orc.” Accordingly, Kim needed to nurture Kate as a very capable hunter
“The weapon is a knife.” Kim threw a knife to Kate with the order. It was not a special knife.
“Isn’t it too much to ask me to use a cleaver?” It was an ordinary knife that was easily found in marts. “Give me a gun to deal with the monsters!”
In fact, he gave her a gun at first. It was clear that it would not be necessary to talk about it because in common sense to use guns was better than to use swords well. But as soon as he handed her the K5 automatic pistol, she immediately checked the magazine and the aim, and he listened to her whisper, “Is it an M5949?” Then he no longer gave her a gun.
He knew that she was not a woman who had shot a gun just one or two times, but a woman who had been willing to enjoy using them in the United States, where freedom of guns was guaranteed.
From then on, he taught her how to use a knife instead of a gun.
“If you don’t like it, you can either file a complaint through a law firm, or you can get a gun yourself.”
“You are a man of great wit.”
“My wit has grown a little because of the guy I have been with.”
“You are fluent in English. You must have been an abler man than I thought?”
“Two hundred meters.”He told her its location instead of answering, and she fumed at the remark.
“I want you to say it in yards instead of meter.”
“One-ninety meters.”
She sighed and looked at the Suwon Gwangmyeong Expressway, which had become a grave of cars.
‘Let’s adapt first.’
She was not a fool. She knew that at this moment, the stupid blonde beauty acting did not work against him, and even if she protested that she was the daughter of the US Ambassador to Korea, it did not work, nor did her charming complaints.
At the same time, she knew this was an opportunity. Anyway, he was teaching her how to hunt monsters and the knowledge she needed to survive in this world. He was giving something that she could not get even if she paid money. In many ways, in this situation, the answer was to play head-on instead of foot-to-mouth.
Above all, she had a possibility that was incomparable to others. ‘The power of the stomach.’
She believed in the possibility. ‘With this power, I can create chances anytime.’ Based on the possibility, she made a plan and played the trick.
5.
‘She didn’t learn it right.’
He closed his black Eyes and recalled her fight, as she was breathing over the body of the Orc under her feet, which had now become a meatball.
‘It’s at the level of a hobby.’ She knew how to fight.
Ju-jitsu, boxing… she had a habit of working out at a mixed martial arts gymnasium. However, that was all. She did not seem to have been trained properly in the military. She had learned a level of fighting to protect herself from her father, who was a soldier.
‘That’s better.’ For him, it was better. If she had had professional skills, she would have had to go through the process of getting rid of habits. The fighting that mankind had achieved over the years would only work on monsters on a limited basis.
‘It’s not possible to use ju-jitsu or boxing against monsters like a Twin-head Ogre right now. It is only enough to protect herself and be able to respond to incoming attacks.’
‘Her Energy is beyond imagination.’ On the other hand, Her Energy of A rank was astonishing.
‘Her Strength stat is 15 at best, but her fighting ability is close to Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji.’
Energy enhanced physical ability. If the stats of Strength and Health were high, the effect of Energy increases. On the contrary, if the stats of Strength and Health were low, physical ability strengthened by Energy was also low.
Now, the combined stats of Strength and Health were 25 points because she had never properly eaten monster stones.
Nevertheless, her ability to show her Energy was now similar to Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji, whose Strength level now surpassed 100, and whose Energy rank reached D+.
It was a great potential considering that Lieutenant Kim has steadily developed her ability through combat and training. From now on, if the stats of her Strength and Health increased, her fighting ability would be beyond imagination.
‘Her Energy handling sense is much better than Bang Hyun-wook.’
On top of that, her Energy was well matched with relics. Even with the Sword of the Imperator and Sun-sin’s Arrow which he had, the higher the user’s Energy, the stronger the relic’s power.
‘I love the way she puts her brain to work.’ At the same time, she was smart.
“Her blemish is that the way she puts her brain to work is visible.” It was evident from the way she cooperated with him and sometimes looked at the surrounding environment and what would be an indicator when she planned for the future.
Of course, he had already noticed that she was ready to run if she got a chance at any time, although she was now adhering to it.
‘Much better than a stupid doll.’ It was better for Kim Tae-hoon. There was no perfect manual for the war against monsters. There was no precedent. In moments, subjective judgments determined life and death.
When he thought about it, he opened his eyes. Then he saw a sign on the road showing that there was not much distance left to Suwon.
‘Suwon.’ Currently, Suwon City had three yellow-grade monsters and a green-grade monster. There was no worry about the monsters. Now, for him, yellow-grade monsters were no longer an opponent, and green-grade monsters could be dealt with according to the situation.
The problem was beyond that.
‘If we move quickly to Sejong City, we will arrive in three days.’
They would move along the Gyeongbu Expressway to reach Cheonan City and then would move along the Nonsan Cheonan Expressway. Then, they would naturally pass through Sejong City.
‘Blue-grade.’
There was a blue-grade monster that had never been encountered before, and it had settled there.
It was something he was worried about.
Taang! At this moment, the gunshot that sounded was nothing for him to worry.
“Hey, did you hear the shot?”
“I don’t think you’ve never heard a shot before.”
“This is Korea!”
He replied briefly to her question, but she had only heard the situation of the world and had not seen it with her own eyes yet.
“The world we live in has changed, in Korea or anywhere, and the world is better off with shots than with the monsters.”
With those words, he got up from where he was sitting and began to rise in the air.
“Er? Huh? Uh!” Her eyes began to grow wide.
6.
Taang!
A man fell to the ground with the shot. Blood began to spread over the asphalt road. It was a sight to squeeze out a scream. But no one screamed.
“Rob, rob him!” The people who fired the shots rushed over to the dead body, and they began to scour the corpse greedily. They undressed the corpse and began to search the bag the corpse carried.
“God damn it, there’s nothing!”
“What about the bag? Anything to eat?”
“There’s nothing to eat, but it’s so heavy. Did he put stones in it?”
“Oh, son of a bitch. He gives us this much trouble even though he has nothing.”
Taang! At that moment the revolver shot at the dead body, and the other man was surprised by the sound. He shouted at the gunman. “What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m angry!”
“Save the bullet!”
It was a terrible sight. It was a scene where human life and dignity were not even worth a single bullet and human values became worthless.
It was the man who appeared in the sky that put an end to the scene.
As soon as he appeared, he looked down at his feet, at three men who were working over a dead body like hyenas.
‘He’s still alive.’ It wasn’t a dead body, exactly. With two shots, he was bleeding, but he was still breathing. The heartbeat and breathing sound were weak, but Kim Tae-hoon clearly heard them. However, he did not intend to go out to save the man.
“Uh! What is this?”
“What is it?”
“It’s a stone, it’s like a piece.”
Until he saw it, he did not intend to go out to save the man.
“A statue?”
“No, it’s not a statue, it’s a sword. That’s weird, I’m sure I’ve seen this somewhere…”
“Yes, I’m sure I’ve seen this before.”
A stone sword.
‘The Gandol Sword?’ Kim landed on the ground when he saw the Gandol Sword, one of the representative relics of the Bronze Age.
Thump!
His body landed on the roof of a car on the road. The roof of the car was crushed like a can of soda.
“Uhhh!” His sudden appearance shocked the three, and he extended his right hand, looking at them with black Eyes.
Took! A revolver flew back into his hand.
Three shots fired immediately penetrated three men, two in the middle of the forehead, one in the thigh.
“Aaaaaargh!” Of course, there was only one scream.
Kim walked through the scream filling the highway. He reached out his hand again and recovered the Gandol Sword on the ground with his Telekinesis before looking at it.
==[Gandol Sword]
– Relic Grade: Grade 3
– Relic Value: Rare
– Relic Effect: The injection of Energy produces a sharp blade. The cutting power of the blade depends on the Energy rank.]==
‘According to what Jang said, the Gandol Sword should be at the Buyeo National Museum.’
A question passed through his mind. However, he did not dwell on the question. The only way to solve the question was not his thinking, but the man who was nearly shot to death in front of him. Kim approached the man and sat him down.
The focus in his eyes was disappearing, and Kim spoke to the man who was leaking blood from the hole near his belly button where he had been shot.
“What happened to Buyeo?” He asked a question that could not be answered. But when Kim asked the question, the man gave an answer after throwing up a bloody cough.
“Save my daughter and my wife… Buyeo… Gilt-bronze Incense Burner in Buyeo…
the Incense Burner to make monsters… watch out for the Messiah…”
The man, who used all his energy to speak those words, died with his eyes wide open. Kim closed his eyes. Then Kim turned his back and approached the screaming man who was clutching at his bloody leg.
“Aaaaaargh! Aaaaaaargh!”
Kim said to the man in a low voice, “Let’s start talking.”
