Chapter 28: Episode 28 – Power Enhancement, Part III
Chapter 10. Power Enhancement, Part III
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
6.
“You got up early.” While Jang Sung-hoon talked to Kim Tae-hoon, the arrow that hovered around his Boss like a satellite stopped in front of his eyes.
“I couldn’t sleep.”
“…Because of your dream?”
The arrow fell to the ground. His concentration was shaken.
“Oh, I’m sorry. I said useless words…” Jang Sung-hoon apologized, understanding Kim Tae-hoon’s feelings. “Boss is also human, I suppose.”
He had learned of his death in his dream. He was actually sentenced to life on a deadline.
He couldn’t be calm.
Kim Tae-hoon sipped coffee from his mug instead of answering Jang Sung-hoon’s apology, and he looked at the fallen arrow.
The arrow slowly began to rise again. It circled around Kim Tae-hoon like a satellite.
The movement of the arrow was not smooth, and it orbit was slightly distorted every time it escaped his view.
“Don’t worry too much, you know the future, and all you have to do is to avoid it,” Jang Sung-hoon said to him.
Kim Tae-hoon swallowed his coffee, and he grabbed the arrow that was circling around him. “The problem is that I don’t know what to avoid.”
“Well…”
Kim Tae-hoon’s voice was serious. Facing it, Jang Sung-hoon swallowed the joke he was going to use to change the atmosphere. He sat down near Kim Tae-hoon with a serious expression.
Jang Sung-hoon watched the twisted branches burning, and he spoke carefully.
“Was there really only me? Was there no Hyun-wook or Lieutenant Soo-ji or sister Sun-mi by your side?”
“I don’t want to hide such things. Do you think I’m lying?”
“No, I just didn’t think I was going to be so loyal to the boss like that.”
Kim Tae-hoon also nodded.
Jang Sung-hoon was not a man who could give loyalty to someone. He was quick to figure things out and faithful to his own interests.
It was why he was attached to Kim Tae-hoon.
It was not appropriate for him to stick to Kim Tae-hoon, trapped in a corner, when he was forced to die at the will of other people.
“Well, this is for sure.”
Of course, it was a future story, and there must have been a process.
“The future we both suffered so much hardship that we had to be so sticky. I am sure something extraordinary happened. If I were to become such a person, it wouldn’t happen with a minor accident.”
Kim Tae-hoon laughed softly and took a sip of coffee.
“Oh, and this is really my personal imagination.”
When Kim Tae-hoon was enjoying coffee, he didn’t speak.
“In my own terms, the future Boss is a hunting dog. No, I don’t mean you are a real dog, but your character is wild, like a dog,” Jang Sung-hoon said as if he had been waiting.
“Why would they let you die, even if it was so? Sometimes they could kill a hunting dog. They can kill after the hunting is over. But you said that you fought the dragon at the end, right? It means there’s still a monster left.”
Kim Tae-hoon’s eyes turned to Jang Sung-hoon.
“If I tell you my story, there are a lot of real geniuses in this field. There are a lot of people who make counterfeit goods better then the original. But do you know why they’re active in the shadows? They’re either weird, or they’re in trouble. No matter how smart they are, if they have no side, and if you have enemies, they will eventually be abandoned.”
Kim Tae-hoon swallowed and said quietly, “To sum up your words, the most fundamental reason I died was that my personality was a frivolous one, wasn’t it?”
“Well… if the personality of the Boss had been good at this, at least the death scene would have changed.” With a bashful smile, Jang Sung-hoon rubbed both his hands in front of the fire.
Kim Tae-hoon was able to make one thing clear at this moment.
‘Now I know why he was around me until the last time.’
Why Jang Sung-hoon stayed with him, why he allowed him to be with him, and eventually he died to save him.
It was worth it for Jang Sung-hoon.
He had an extraordinary view, an ability to express his opinion properly, and a different perspective. He was smart and competent.
Kim Tae-hoon was able to see one fact clearly.
“If I move according to my character, I will die in the end.” With his personality, it was easy to make enemies, but it was not easy to make allies.
This personality, of course, had been good so far.
Kim Tae-hoon had been working in a place called the army, where he did not need to make allies or a faction.
But not now. He had already stepped out of the military.
‘I almost didn’t know that.’
What was even more frightening, was that he was not aware of it.
So Kim Tae-hoon asked a question here. “Jang Sung-hoon, what would you do if you were me?”
“If I had the combat power and charisma like Boss, I would be a king in Bucheon right now,” Jang Sung-hoon grinned and replied.
“Of course it’s a joke, I didn’t mean it.” He laughed playfully.
“But honestly, if I had had the power to be like Boss, I wouldn’t have thought much about it. I’d bring some people together, make a group, get a gun, capture the monsters, and people will take you as their king. There’s no reason to refuse it. Most of them will be happy to do so.”
But it wasn’t just a playful laugh.
“I’m sure there are people like Boss elsewhere, even if not like you. You said the level of the Awakeners is different when they are Awakened, right? Add if a relic is added…”
Human beings were the incarnation of greed.
If they have power and supernatural ability, and if there is a stage to exert their power, not everyone would do what they normally do.
“I’m sure those who have obtained the power must have created a group, and they are controlling and operating a territory. Some wisely, some as a tyrant.”
Moreover, the situation was that the communication and traffic were paralyzed, and the Republic of Korea had already been divided.
They risked their lives going to Sejong City from Seoul.
At his words, Kim Tae-hoon recalled Colonel Lim Hyun-joon.
Kim Tae-hoon’s purpose now was to move to Pocheon, where Colonel Lim Hyun-joon was, to make contact with him.
But could Colonel Lim Hyun-joon be just a soldier now?
‘Colonel Lim Hyun-joon is an ambitious man.’
He was ambitious.
He would not be a faithful soldier in this situation, and he would have been very ambitious if he had gained the position of Commander-in-Chief in a short time.
‘If I met him now, he would use me as a hunting dog.’
Kim Tae-hoon put the mug on the ground. “Do you like coffee?”
“Is there anyone in Korea who hates coffee?”
Kim Tae-hoon started to make more coffee.
7.
The start of the new morning of the Mac Clan began with a battle with the monsters.
“A world where even pigs became monsters.”
“It’s a real crazy world, damn it.”
The monster appeared to be like a wild boar, but it was so large that it could not be compared with a wild boar. It had a horn that reminded them of a rhinoceros.
A Horned Pig!
Three dreadful Pigs were charging the Mac Clan vehicles on the move.
The moment the Horned Pigs appeared, the Mac Clan moved with great speed.
First, two SUVs became ramparts that blocked the advance of the Horned Pig.
“Get out of!”
“Wait!”
The drivers who were driving the SUV’s facing the Horned Pig got out of the slow-moving vehicle.
“The driver is here!”
“Even the left driver came out!”
As soon as the fact was delivered to Kim Tae-hoon, who was riding in the back of a dump truck, he stared at two cars driving along.
Two cars revved up and began to accelerate toward the Horned Pigs.
The result was obvious.
Three Horned Pigs, unwilling to stop, collided with two SUV’s on a narrow road, and after screaming a bit, were entangled and crushed.
The sound of the Horned Pigs clearly told the gruesomeness of the situation.
Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji saw this and quickly ordered the soldiers in the back of the dump truck, “Aim!”
The soldiers distracted by the intense shock created by the traffic accident in front of them came to their senses.
In their gun sights, they saw one or two Horned Pigs stumbling around in shock.
“Start firing!” There was a flurry of gunfire.
During the rain of gunfire, Kim Tae-hoon threw an arrow high into the sky.
The arrow without feathers rose up continuously. Kim Tae-hoon raised his arrow high enough that he couldn’t see it anymore
When the arrow disappeared from Kim Tae-hoon’s senses, it no longer received the help of his telekinesis. It began to fall
Shiii!
The sound of the falling arrow was eerie. It sounded like a hawk diving on prey, trying to cut off the target’s life at once.
The arrow, which fell like that, began to change its path at some point, and it hit precisely in the middle of the forehead of a Horned Pig struggling in front of the gunfire.
Pok!
The arrow disappeared into the body of the horned Pig like magic, without a trace.
Quik!
The Horned Pig gave a short cry, fell to the ground and began to twitch.
“What the heck?”
“It suddenly fell down, didn’t it?”
The soldiers, who did not see the arrow, cocked their heads at the sudden fall of the Horned Pig that had stood up against their bullets.
On the other hand, Kim Tae-hoon frowned.
‘This is not enough.’
Kim Tae-hoon focused on pulling out the arrow embedded in the Horned Pig.
But it did not come out. He could not draw the arrow in the body of the Horned Pig properly and clearly.
This was a characteristic of telekinesis. It was not all done just by mere imagination.
Just like a top artist who had the skill to visualize a perfect object with his eyes.
Just like a doctor with experience, training, and ability, who could image the state of a body without opening up a patient’s body.
Telekinesis did not respond to vagueness. Only when he imagined a clear fact could it show true power.
‘That’s not enough.’
It meant that Kim Tae-hoon was still limited and lacking in ability with his telekinesis.
Kim Tae-hoon clicked his tongue and looked over at Lieutenant Kim Soo-ji.
Kim Soo-ji nodded. “Stop shooting!”
At her shout, the rainy gunfire stopped at once.
If they had been just dazed and pulling the trigger, they would not have stopped shooting.
Soldiers not shooting was evidence that self-control and discipline now existed, and it was evident that they were now blooded.
It was evident that they were no longer cowards who were too scared to judge how many empty cartridges they had thrown up, that they had become hunters who had repeatedly fought with monsters, not survivors struggling to live through being slaughtered by repeated monsters.
Of course, they did not stop shooting just to confirm that…
Kim Tae-hoon hopped down lightly from the back of the dump truck. Bang Hyun-wook came to his side, holding his steel pipe.
“Big brother, which one do you want?”
“You pick first.”
“Me first?”
“I’ll give you a chance to look good in front of your favorite girl.”
“I think the right one is livelier, so I’ll kill it.”
After finishing the words, Bang Hyun-wook pulled out the Energy in his gut and sent it through his whole body. His whole being heated up in one breath.
“Uh-cha!”
The sound of him circulating his Energy caught the attention of the Horned Pig, which was still full of Energy and the Strength to fight, and a mite ornery after being shot all over.
A Horned Pig stared at Bang Hyun-wook, while the other one was already rushing toward him.
Looking at this, Kim Tae-hoon also boosted his telekinesis in his gut. At the same time, he held up his fist. His right hand went black.
That was how the battle began, a battle of the Awakeners!