43 – Daedongyeojido, Part IIITranslator: | Editor:Chapter 15. Daedongyeojido, Part IIITranslator: KhanEditor: RED
7.
Everything was trying to live. The moment things combined together to live, it became an ecosystem.
The monsters, that we do not know from where they had appeared, also built an ecosystem to live.
The weak monsters that did not dare to have their territory, and could not even hunt, wandered around in search of bodies or the remains that some monster had eaten and left, and the strong monsters lived there, building their own territory.
A large stone fell on the ecosystem.
The Black Snake.
A terrible snake that had laired in Bucheon City and made its territory there, had died. It was like the death of a king.
It was not something that you could hide just because you wanted to hide it.
The news of the death of the king spread faster than the death of anything else and brought a great shake-up. Pointedly, it made the monsters with ambition move. Monsters that wanted to make the area of the Black Snake their own territory began to move more actively in groups.
It was Kim Tae-hoon, the new king who defeated the Black Snake and got everything it had, that trampled their ambition.
Kim Tae-hoon’s right arm, reminiscent of a huge hammer, was black from his fingertips to the shoulder joint. It broke the skull of the Monkey Dog, who had a head twice the size of his own
Even as the burst pieces of skull and brains of the Monkey Dog scattered to wet the ground, Kim Tae-hoon moved into the twelve Monkey Dogs that followed their boss.
He passed between the Monkey Dogs like a snake, striking a black fist toward the head of a Monkey Dog.
The scene looked as if Kim Tae-hoon was moving in a suspended world.
The reason it looked that way was not that Kim Tae-hoon’s movement was simply fast. It was his accuracy.
Kim Tae-hoon’s fist was exactly punched in the middle of the forehead, in between two red eyes over the protruding snout of the Monkey Dog, in a situation where everything was moving blindingly fast.
It was a superhuman skill.
There was no other word than that to describe the ability to achieve exactly what he desired in all the action that took place so quickly.
“This is insufficient.”
It was proof that Kim Tae-hoon quickly adapted himself to the new power of the Eyes of Black Snake and made it his own.
It was why Kim Tae-hoon ignored the blood and gore, throwing himself willingly into the fight against the coming monsters, like they were the most delicious cooking for him.
“I have nothing to say.”
“Who’s the monster…”
The survivors, who viewed him as a savior, at such an appearance of Kim Tae-hoon, could not help but admire him.
They dismantled the monster bodies without stopping, but the scene, where the number of dead monster bodies was growing rather than decreasing, was a shock, not just admiration.
However, Kim Tae-hoon, the source of that violence, was not satisfied with the scene he created.
Two monsters.
He was not satisfied.
‘There are two monsters of the same rank as the dragon on the Korean peninsula.’
The gruesome horror of the world was palpable to him now. He couldn’t help but know how damned the world was.
The despair felt at the moment when the horror was enumerated was much more fatal.
He thought there would be a monster that was equal to the dragon, but he realized that such monsters were in Mt. Baekdu and Mt. Halla.
At the beginning and the end of the Korean peninsula, an unutterable monster was serving as a gatekeeper.
In addition, the proportion of land of the Korean peninsula was very small compared to the huge area of the whole Earth.
So how many monsters were similar to the dragon in the whole world?
That was not the only thing.
“There are dozens of monsters around me that are stronger than the Black Snake I was lucky to kill at the risk of my life.”
Daedongyeojido was like a radar, as Jang Sung-hoon had explained.
Strong monsters such as the dragon were marked even if they were far away, but weaker monsters were not displayed when they were distant.
Nevertheless, in the Daedongyeojido that they had secured, there were nine blue lights which are under the rank of dark blue.
The green and yellow lights were too numerous to measure immediately.
‘The words of Lee Jin-sung were right.’
The land of Bucheon was the only area among such lights that did not have green and blue lights.
‘Bucheon was lucky.’
They survived because of being between the powerful monsters.
‘We were lucky right now.’
Of course, it was not positive news.
‘A country caught between powerful nations can benefit a few times, but eventually, it collapses at some point. History proves it.’
The ecosystem of the world was being maintained thanks to the overflowing number of humans. This meant that since there were many humans, monsters could survive with the humans as prey right now.
‘Humans are not like plankton. They do not lay eggs like fish.’
Right now, the number of humans was overflowing, but if they are eaten and eaten, the number of individuals will eventually decrease sharply.
Since monsters can not raise humans, they will eventually move to places where there are a lot of human beings to survive, and the land of Bucheon, where a population remained, would be the most coveted for such monsters.
In the end, there was only one way.
‘We’ve got to attack them before they come.’
Killing them before we die!
Before monsters come in force, in a situation where mankind has the advantage in numbers, and in a condition where we still have the power, skill, and will to fight, including food, we have to seek the end of the monsters.
To Kim Tae-hoon, killing monsters with red and orange eyes was not exciting. Rather than excited, he felt impatient.
‘No, not like this, not with this ability… nothing can be done.’
It was the low whisper of Jang Sung-hoon that took away his impatience.
“Boss, the Golden Glass is full…”
8.
Bucheon City Hall was located in the center of Bucheon City; it was currently being used as the headquarters of the Mac Clan.
There was a great deal of evidence to show that. One way was the Mac Clan’s soldiers, who stood guard with guns, their eyes alive, and the Awakeners returning from their hunting lowering their postures.
“He is back.”
“He?”
“The master.”
“Who’s the master…”
“He! The Savior!”
And it was also evidence that there was a look of hope and expectation on the survivors living around Bucheon City Hall.
“I heard there were over a hundred monsters he has killed this time, alone, even with his bare hands.”
“A hundred monsters with his bare hands alone? Does that make sense?”
“It makes sense since a hundred dead bodies were piled up in a long row. The number might be a lot more than that.”
“But with his bare hands…”
“He caught the yellow devil once, and that’s not hard for him.”
Still, the world was hopeless.
Communications were paralyzed, and in the absence of any news of the army that they had been waiting for, there was a flood of monsters everywhere and no survivor who would bring news of other places. Now, they could not even find food easily.
Winter was colder than ever, and in this situation people sometimes even froze to death in the cold, dying of hunger and starvation, praying for a peaceful death when they were seriously wounded.
There was no one who thought that much could be changed in this situation.
There was the only hope.
“Does he intend to clean up all the monsters?”
“I hope he will clean them all up.”
If there was any change in this reality, if a small hope rose, and if someone achieved it, it was expected that Kim Tae-hoon, the first hunter, not just anyone, would do it.
Kim Tae-hoon was sitting in a soft chair, the Golden Glass in his hand, inside the mayor’s office at the City Hall.
At first glance, the image was that he was an arrogant boss.
However, the face of Kim Tae-hoon, looking at this bizarre liquid that was only flickering and never overflowing in the Golden Glass, had a look that did not fit an arrogant boss.
His expression was really bad.
‘What the hell is the principle?’
The Golden Glass of Napoleon.
Once again, this mysterious Golden Glass was filled with a mystery that made unpleasant dreams, without sign or warning.
Of course, he was curious why this Golden Glass had filled itself. In this regard, Jang Sung-hoon made the following guesses.
“In my personal opinion, the Golden Glass of Napoleon has the ability to peek at fate. But it can’t be easy to catch a glimpse of fate. Of course, as soon as fate changes, it will take time to see the changed fate again. Maybe that’s why the Golden Glass filled so suddenly. It takes time to see the new future.”
It was a plausible guess.
If fate was a program, then to read that program, you could try hacking it. It was only natural to take some time.
‘The fate of the world has changed.’
If his guess is correct, the fact that the Golden Glass of Napoleon was once again filled with red liquid meant that the fate of Kim Tae-hoon had changed.
It was proof that his fate of death against the dragon no longer existed.
Of course, this was not a pleasant thing either. It wouldn’t be strange if Kim’s lifespan became even shorter in his new destiny.
If that really happened, it would be too cruel to say.
If the terrible effort to live shortened his lifespan, he wouldn’t be able to use this anymore.
‘I am afraid.’
Of course, he was scared.
Nevertheless, Kim Tae-hoon did not hesitate. He drank the Golden Glass in one gulp.
At the same time, Kim Tae-hoon slumped down.
9.
“Open your eyes! Open your eyes!”
The cry of a woman struck his eardrum.
“Open your eyes! Kim Tae-hoon, open your eyes!”
There was a repeated cry.
At this moment, Kim Tae-hoon was able to recognize the owner of the voice, even though he didn’t open his eyes.
‘Ahn Sun-mi.’
Soon after, a woman came into view.
He saw the face of Ahn Sun-mi, which had not changed much, and the freckles embroidered on her face had not significantly changed.
The difference was her long hair. Her long straight hair clearly showed that time had passed.
‘What year is it?’
But it was impossible to tell whether this was the future of one year or five. Furthermore, it was as far as Kim Tae-hoon could see. His eyelids had closed again.
‘Ah.’
At this moment, he knew that he is on the verge of death, and there was no power to talk to anyone, or even a chance to get some clues from them.
‘I’m dying this way.’
It was the worst way. He was dreaming of a situation where he is about to die. Was this how he is going to waste his chance?
‘What the fuck!’
What could he get from this?
Kim Tae-hoon let out a sigh. Of course, he was the only one who could hear his sigh.
He heard her voice again, “I’ll tell you, hoping you will dream of this moment. I don’t know when you’ll dream of this day… but I’ll tell you the wish list that I have prepared.”