Chapter 9: The Supercomputer in My Head (3)
Jeon Jung-gu and Jeon Mi-rin felt as if they were possessed by a ghost.
They were under attack by a swarm of Crazy Dogs, numbering well over fifty.
If they had heard about this situation over the radio, they would have scoffed and said, "Just kill yourself already."
But now that it was happening to them, they couldn't deal with it so nonchalantly.
When the Hunter Association, who received their activity fees every year, didn’t respond at all, they thought they were doomed.
Until they heard a young, clear voice over the radio.
Bang! Bang!
Monsters generally have strong vitality.
Unless they are hit in critical areas like the neck or heart, they tend to persist, run away, or heal and attack again.
Crazy Dogs are a prime example of this.
But somehow, Crazy Dogs were collapsing and not getting up again from just one shot, from an unknown source.
At first, Jeon Jung-gu kept firing the machine gun, but soon realized it was of little help and became an onlooker.
The machine gun barrel was already red-hot, nearly reaching its limit.
Even Mi-rin, who had been frantically flooring the accelerator, found some respite.
She confirmed through the rearview mirror that the number of Crazy Dogs had significantly decreased.
"He’s taking down all these Crazy Dogs alone?"
At first, she thought it was a group of support soldiers attacking all at once.
Monsters that had mocked numerous machine gun shots fell like rotten straw.
But given the regularity of the incoming bullets, it seemed to be the work of one person.
Jeon Jung-gu agreed with her.
"He's using a gun, not a bow. He's probably from a sharpshooter class."
In a world where bullets can't contain mana, it’s the only class that can become a professional hunter using firearms.
To those unaware of Hyeon Su-ho’s uniqueness, this was common hunter knowledge.
Of course, being a firearms user didn’t make someone exceptionally stronger than other hunters.
In fact, most of them were often considered inferior to archers.
But weren't they witnessing firepower and accuracy beyond common sense?
Mi-rin adjusted her glasses and spoke.
"Dad, could he be a ranker?"
"Hmm! I’m not sure. No famous names come to mind right now."
The father and daughter had completely regained their composure.
As the number of Crazy Dogs dropped below half, they finally seemed to get scared and stopped chasing.
Jeon Jung-gu wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.
"I've never seen them run away before."
"It’s a good sight, but I hope we never run into them again."
Mi-rin gradually slowed down the truck.
In such a hurry, they had sped like mad, but driving too fast in a Red Zone could also be dangerous.
After pulling over to the side of the road, she turned on the radio.
"Ah! Ah! Can you hear me? Thanks to you, we survived."
[It seems they have retreated for now. I'll join you just in case.]
As the transmission ended, Jeon Jung-gu spoke with a slightly tense tone.
"Mi-rin, be careful. Experts like him usually have a quirky side. They might demand excessive compensation."
"I know. I've been in this business for years now too… Hearing his voice, he seems like a young man, so we should prepare a bit."
Mi-rin unbuttoned three buttons on her top, making it look loose.
She was short, around 156 cm, but had a strikingly voluptuous figure that didn’t match her petite frame.
Her glamorous style contrasted with her cute, youthful face.
Mi-rin knew well that men liked such surprises.
When someone finally approached, she intentionally bent deeply and greeted them.
"Hohoho! Hello. Thank you for your help."
Usually, when she glanced up like this, men sneaking peeks at her chest would be startled and awkwardly clear their throats.
That’s when she would push the conversation to take the lead.
It was a method Mi-rin often used.
But the man who arrived, Hyeon Su-ho, didn’t even glance at them, instead keeping watch around him.
"I’m glad you’re safe. It seems they’ve completely retreated."
Jeon Jung-gu looked at his daughter with a pitiful expression.
Realizing Hyeon Su-ho’s reaction wasn’t what she expected, Mi-rin subtly buttoned up again.
‘I shouldn’t come off as cheap.’
Jeon Jung-gu, unlike his daughter, took a straightforward approach.
"I’m Jeon Jung-gu from Mir Trading Company. Thank you for saving us. We almost had a funeral for both father and daughter today."
"It was fortunate I was passing by. But…"
Hyeon Su-ho looked around the truck curiously and asked.
"Aren’t there other hunters with you?"
It was clear that the modified truck was loaded with goods.
In this world, any trading journey through the dangerous Red Zone required hunter escorts.
Yet, for some reason, there was no one else around but these two.
"Did they all die, by any chance…?"
"No. Actually, we’re not sure either."
"What do you mean?"
Then, Mi-rin, who looked like she was already getting angry just thinking about it, put her hands on her hips and snapped.
"Ugh! Don’t even mention it. We decided to take a short break, and the hired hunters all ran away."
"Ran away? Did they steal any goods?"
"Strangely, no. We checked everything, and nothing was missing."
"That’s really strange."
All hunters were strictly managed by the guild.
Even a small breach of contract would result in severe penalties.
To abandon an escort mission without a word was an unpardonable offense, effectively ending their hunter careers.
If they had stolen a large amount and planned to quit being hunters, it would be somewhat understandable.
But they didn’t take anything and just disappeared.
The most frustrated by this mystery were Jeon Jung-gu and Mi-rin.
Just then.
[Master. There is an abnormally dense concentration of chemical energy detected.]
‘What? What do you mean by that? Explain it in simple terms.’
[In other words, it smells fishy.]
‘You should have just said that from the beginning. But can you even smell?’
[Humans also convert scent molecules into electrical signals to send to the olfactory nerve cells. With my technology, I can do everything humans can.]
‘You really are amazing.’
[The technology of the Eosians is the best in the universe!]
"Pfft!"
Hyeon Su-ho chuckled at Nova’s ridiculous joke, drawing puzzled looks from the two.
Realizing this, he quickly changed his expression and cleared his throat.
"Ahem! May I inspect the truck for a moment?"
"What? Oh... sure, go ahead."
Though suspicious, they didn't stop him since he had saved their lives.
"Is this it?"
He pulled out a suspicious pouch from the space between the truck and the wheels, as Nova had indicated.
He sniffed the pouch but couldn't detect any distinct smell.
‘Is this it? I don't smell anything.’
[There are over 400,000 distinct scents in the world. Of those, humans can detect about 10,000. By the way, I can... ]
‘Yeah, yeah~ I know you can smell them all.’
In any case, it meant it was a scent humans couldn't detect.
If they could have smelled it, the two in front of him would have noticed it easily.
Hyeon Su-ho handed the pouch to the father and daughter.
"Someone seems to have hidden this here."
The pair, who took it with puzzled expressions, checked the contents and then exclaimed in shock.
"This, this is a chemical used to attract monsters. Why is this here...?"
Jeon Jung-gu, furrowing his brows in thought, soon clapped his hands as if he had figured everything out.
"Those bastards! No wonder they sold the goods at such a ridiculous price... it was a trap!"
Mi-rin, her eyes widening as if she had also realized something, spoke.
"Could it be Mr. Choi... But Dad, we’ve been doing business with Anbyeon Trading Company for five years."
"It doesn't matter if it’s five or fifty years; a relationship between merchants can be severed in an instant. But this... this is particularly nasty."
They had driven through the Red Zone, foolishly carrying a pouch that attracted monsters without any hunters to protect them.
And that wasn't all.
He relayed the information Nova had given him.
"It seems the long-range communication device is broken. You couldn’t connect to the city, right?"
"Th-that's right. I thought the association was just being lazy..."
"They must have installed a hacking chip."
Hyeon Su-ho jumped onto the truck, retrieved something from the roof, and jumped back down.
It was a signal jammer installed by the fleeing hunters.
Nova had bypassed that jammer and communicated easily.
[Hmph! Earth’s signal barriers are nothing more than sandcastles in the wind for me.]
It seemed Mir Trading Company was caught in a complex conspiracy, but that wasn't his concern.
There was a more immediate problem approaching.
Bang!
He fired a plasma beam to destroy the pouch.
While he could have used fire, that might have attracted other monsters due to the scent.
But it seemed he was already too late.
Hyeon Su-ho urgently spoke to the father and daughter.
"Please, take cover in the truck for a moment."
"What? Why...?"
"It seems more than just Crazy Dogs have been drawn by the scent."
The moment he discovered the pouch, he should have destroyed it.
During the delay, other monsters attracted by the scent were approaching.
[They will arrive in about 15 seconds.]
Upon hearing Nova’s words, Hyeon
Su-ho shouted.
"Hurry!"
Finally realizing the urgency, the two scrambled into the truck.
Although it was a stationary truck and wouldn’t last long, it was better than being outside.
[Three monsters of grade 5 danger are approaching.]
"Tch! No wonder the Crazy Dogs ran off so quickly. They must have sensed these guys!"
According to Nova’s classification, grade 5 meant monsters of about level 5.
Monsters more powerful than Red Crocodiles, and three of them at once.
It was a crisis that could wipe out an entire expedition in an instant.
And finally, three giant beasts appeared.
[Groooar!]
A massive leopard monster drooling at the sight of him.
They were well-known monsters, even to the father and daughter in the truck.
A sharp scream from Mi-rin came from inside the truck.
"Gung-gi! This is crazy... mmm!"
[T/N: Gunggi (궁기) refers to a type of monster named after one of the Four Fiends from Chinese mythology. The Four Fiends, also known as the Four Perils.]
Jeon Jung-gu hurriedly covered his daughter’s mouth in panic.
These monsters were named after one of the Four Perils, Gung-gi.
With bodies over 7 meters long and claws strong enough to crush rocks, they were fast and powerful.
Monsters that were nearly impossible to escape from once targeted.
Despite their might, they liked to ambush their prey, but this time they had come out in the open, drawn by the scent pouch.
Just as Nova predicted, they were classified as level 5 monsters.
"This is insane."
Encountering Gung-gi was completely unexpected.
He had avoided such powerful monsters thanks to Nova’s detection abilities, but who would have guessed there was a scent pouch.
With the crisis at hand, Nova also dropped the humor and spoke seriously.
[They will attack simultaneously in about 4 seconds, Master. I recommend not sparing any mana.]
The advantage of Genocide was not only its destructive power but also its ability to store mana.
He could charge it with mana whenever there was an opportunity.
That’s why he had been hesitant to go anywhere without a 100% charge.
Fortunately, he hadn’t used plasma rounds earlier, so his mana was fully intact.
Now was the time to use it without hesitation.
"Alright!"
He gripped Genocide tightly.
While converting it into a plasma gun would provide sufficient firepower, its rate of fire had limits.
It couldn’t handle enemies attacking from multiple directions simultaneously.
Fortunately, Genocide had a mode specifically for such situations.
Holding his breath, Hyeon Su-ho waited for the Gung-gi's attack.
[Growl!]
The Gung-gi examined him from head to toe.
Finally deciding to attack, the Gung-gi simultaneously sprang at him.
Whoosh!
Despite their massive size, they moved with astonishing speed.
Almost instinctively, Hyeon Su-ho swung his hand.
Whoosh!!!!
A blue streak remained in the air, horizontally.
A trace left by highly compressed plasma.
Instead of firing plasma, he had swung it.
Even before he could exhale, there was a sound of something falling behind him.
Thud!
The sound of the Gung-gi, sliced cleanly in half, collapsing and spilling its innards.
They were killed in one strike.
"Whoa!"
Barely catching his breath without even turning around, he heard Mi-rin’s astonished voice from inside the truck.
"A, a lightsaber?"
Hyeon Su-ho still held the glowing plasma sword in his hand.
