Chapter 2 - I had thought it would be just a B-class at best...
Chapter 2 I had thought it would be just a B-class at best…
‘Fire!’
Rat-a-tat-tat.
The sound of shell casings hitting the floor accompanied the flash of flames as they flew into the room I lived in.
In an instant, the room started to get shredded, and I was thrown through the perforated wall, piercing the outer wall of the house behind ours, and quickly rising into the air.
‘The monster has come outside! Commence concentrated fire!’
As if that wasn’t the end of it.
This time, a ‘missile’ that I had only seen in games or movies collided with me as I was falling.
Boom!
An explosion in the heart of downtown Seoul.
It was just a moment, but the dark night sky blazed red.
Thud.
Even after being hit by a missile and thrown far away, I tumbled and rolled over the asphalt road several times.
However, there was no time to rest.
Soon enough, numerous lights started to shine on me again, and in no time, a shower of bullets meant for monsters began to rain down on me from all directions.
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat.
Tatatatatatata.
‘Don’t let your guard down! The target is a humanoid monster! Consider it at least a B-grade monster!’
‘The military has agreed to support our hunters! So don’t worry and let’s all work together to take it down!’
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat-tat
I recalled a section from the original work, *Hunter’s Blood*, detailing the procedures for handling monsters when they appeared in human territories.
Three action guidelines for dealing with a monster in a human area.
The first was to separate the monster from the human residence.
They had succeeded in this by ejecting me from the building.
The second was to incapacitate the monster attempting to rampage during the first process.
They had also succeeded by hitting me with a missile as I fell from the tenth floor.
The third and final step was to lure the monster into an open area for a full-scale attack.
I was now lying in the middle of an asphalt road at an intersection, a place bustling with countless people and vehicles day and night.
In other words, they had succeeded in this as well.
Just as I had seen in the game, the Korean Hunter Association and the military often teamed up to swiftly subdue monsters appearing in the city.
They had already controlled the vehicles and evacuated the citizens. The only thing left was to eliminate the monster that suddenly emerged from the villa.
…So, for some reason, I felt a bit sorry.
“Sorry for the budget spent on this incident. I mean…”
“What, what…?”
“Commander! The monster is getting up!”
“What?! That’s impossible! It took a direct hit from a missile that can pierce through anti-tank armor! There’s no way it could be getting up after that…”
But it was.
“…What.”
“The humanoid monster! It’s standing up! It appears to be completely unharmed!”
“Currently assessing external injuries! …This can’t be.”
“The external damage is 0.0045%! The anti-monster bullets aren’t working!”
“That thing… is just a B-class monster?”
Unfortunately, even in my monster form, my abilities required at least ‘hypersonic missiles’ or ‘intercontinental ballistic missiles’ to inflict any real damage.
With a stat level of 15 or higher, I was a monster or hero of that caliber.
In reality, I could have dodged from the start with my sharpened senses, but I kept taking the hits.
If I had intercepted the missiles midway or strayed from the Korean military and Hunters’ plan, it would have escalated into a bigger problem.
One misunderstanding leads to another.
Recalling this phrase, I accepted that even though I was in a game, this was still Korea, where Hunters and monsters existed.
I didn’t want to end up on the most-wanted list in my own country. So, since I was already a monster, I at least wanted to be framed as a harmless one.
I didn’t know exactly where I was in the main story, but in the later parts, there were monsters who sided with humans, earning the image of ‘good monsters.’
Monsters friendly to humans.
I planned to prove myself as such.
“Grrrr…”
“The humanoid monster! It’s approaching us!”
“Get back, Commander!”
“……”
Was that person the commander who coordinated both the Hunters and the Korean military here?
If so, she was likely a ‘Commander Hunter,’ specialized more in buffing and healing allies rather than combat.
Commander Hunters were usually very intelligent.
Among the types of Hunters who acted before thinking, they were almost the only intellectuals, making conversation easier.
“Grrr… Grrrr!”
“Commander! Please get back!”
“Are there no Hunters capable of close combat here?”
It seemed I couldn’t speak human language with this monster’s vocal cords.
So I walked forward, growling as peacefully as possible to convey that it was a misunderstanding.
“No… Unfortunately, the forces gathered here were prepared for a B-class monster. There are no Hunters specialized in close combat.”
“That’s problematic. With a monster of that hardness, anti-monster bullets are useless, and using monster shells would destroy the entire Jamsil area.”
“Yes. According to our calculations, even if we win the battle, 100% of Jamsil would be destroyed, which is about 8% of Seoul. And if that happens…”
“There will be chaos.”
“…That’s right.”
The commander among the soldiers and the woman next to her, who seemed to be her operations officer, turned back to look at me with serious expressions.
As I approached, the encirclement around me moved with me.
The helicopters in the sky still shone their lights on me.
Realizing that attacking me with the weapons at hand was a waste of budget, everyone soon fell silent.
This was also an opportunity for me.
“If I surrender to an opponent weaker than me, they might consider me harmless.”
Since I was a humanoid monster, I could express my intentions through actions even if I couldn’t speak.
“Commander! The monster is moving!”
“…! That…!”
“The humanoid monster is raising both arms high into the air!”
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have always used this gesture to signal surrender.
Raising both hands high into the air!
I stopped growling and made the surrender gesture in complete silence.
When the Hunters and Korean military, bewildered, showed a moment of hesitation, I planned to slip away without causing any casualties, like a harmless monster.
At least then, they wouldn’t persistently chase me.
After all, the setting of this world involved monsters appearing and attacking innocent citizens day and night.
Hunters and soldiers in this world didn’t have the luxury to chase down every passing monster like me.
So, please, just let me go.
“What do you think it’s doing right now?”
“Well… could it be preparing to attack…?”
“…No. To me, it looks like it’s surrendering.”
“What?! Commander, are you saying that the monster is making a gesture of surrender, something a human would do?”
“Yes, that’s right. Unbelievable as it seems, that’s how it looks to me.”
Great!
As expected of a smart Commander Hunter.
Although I couldn’t see her well, surrounded by soldiers as she was, my keen monster hearing allowed me to catch her words clearly.
There’s a saying that an incompetent ally is scarier than a strong enemy, but at least in this encirclement, that wouldn’t be a problem.
It looked like I might get out of here safely…
Or so I thought.
While walking towards the Commander Hunter with my hands still raised, I stumbled.
Excited by the thought that things were going smoothly from the start, I had just put more force into my steps.
But even with just that, my leg suddenly sank deeply into the asphalt road.
“…?”
“What is that monster doing…?!”
Because of this, I momentarily lost my balance and almost fell forward.
Instinctively, I slammed my hands down on the ground to catch myself.
BOOM!
It was just to prevent myself from falling, but… an ‘earthquake’ occurred.
“…Huh?”
“Th-this is?!”
“Commander! We’ve been deceived!”
“What?”
“The entire Jamsil area is shaking! The earthquake measures over magnitude 5!”
Given that Korea, being part of the Korean Peninsula, rarely experiences earthquakes, it is a country notorious for shoddy construction.
Because of this, even a brief tremor caused poorly built surrounding buildings to collapse.
The scene resembled a disaster.
The soldiers and Hunters were speechless, and I was equally stunned.
“You said there were no people, right…?”
Just in case, I listened carefully.
“Waaaaah! Grandma! Grandma!”
Unlike the relatively sturdy high-rise buildings, I heard faint but unmistakable cries of a child from the collapsing nearby shops.
“…! So, not everyone was evacuated?”
Could it be?
In the original story, sometimes the evacuation zones where monsters appeared were still occupied by people.
Due to tough living conditions or family circumstances, some shops or vendors stayed open even during battles, selling supplies to Hunters and soldiers.
At prices three times the normal rate.
When I first saw them, I thought it was a dystopia where a small cup of Shin Ramyun cost 5,000 won.
“Pl-please buy… buy something…”
I remembered emptying my wallet to buy everything when I saw not just adults, but children stepping over monster corpses to do business.
It seemed that kind of merchant was here too.
This time, however, it wasn’t just fragments of data, but actual living beings.
People like that, dying under the rubble of buildings due to one mistake of mine.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Woahhhhh!”
“?!”
“The humanoid monster is moving! The direction is… huh?”
As the operations officer next to the Commander Hunter was briefing the situation, I had already passed by them.
I had underestimated my abilities.
Even without close-combat Hunters, I hadn’t expected to break through the military and Hunter encirclement so quickly.
“Help us, please!”
Ignoring my surprise, I turned towards the direction of the child’s voice.
I weaved through the buildings collapsing to one side.
What kind of coincidence was this?
Whirring.
“That…!”
A blue light shone from the helicopter still chasing me with its spotlight.
Then, a gate appeared in the sky over Jamsil, the same kind I had only seen in game graphics.
And from it…
“Roarrrr!!”
“Commander! Another monster is emerging!”
“A monster? Another one?”
A real monster emerged, resembling a lizard, but its horrifying size far exceeded any reptile.