Episode 9 [First Exploration (2)]
It was a city where no man-made explosions had been heard for a long time. When the bomb exploded there, the surrounding monsters looked at the monster rat’s nest.
And the monsters that have lived since the time humans remained recalled old memories.
The humans are back!
thud. Goong.
The monster’s head came closer and closer beyond the five-story building in the distance. I was watching it from the rooftop, but at that level it was a 7-story monster.
“A very large one at 12 o’clock.”
Kyung-hoon wrote down in his notebook as he watched the approaching monster.
After the bomb exploded, all the monsters around became bustling.
From the monster screaming to the monster coming out onto the street. And then, approaching here. Monsters. Kyung
-hoon wrote down those monsters carefully.
The navigation system on the railing clearly displayed the current location.
Fortunately, the GPS was alive.
Kyung-hoon closed the notebook and looked up at the sky. The satellite was still safe. Far away in space. However, there was still a scientific civilization left.
I didn’t know if the world had been completely destroyed yet.
Kyung-hoon put the navigation device that he had kept nearby in his pocket. He brought a compass separately, but thanks to the navigation system, there was no need for it.
Now it was time to move . C.
There are many differences from the map of the other world, but the terrain itself was not different.
[Taepyeong-ro 1-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul]
This was the location of the Seoul Awakening Center written on the cell phone. Near Seoul City Hall. It was 2.5km north of Yongsan.
Gyeong-hoon Looking at his notes, he made a safe route to avoid the monsters. It was difficult to go far, but the Awakening Center was close, so it helped to some extent. Kyung-hoon jumped over the railing while carrying a backpack that had become more than half lighter. The rooftop of the
4th
floor.
If it were an ordinary person, it would have been a suicide course, but Kyung-hoon He stepped on the cracked wall and the gap in the window and slid down.
He soon reached the bottom and started running towards the north.
He had to get out of here before the monsters moved too much.
‘Oh!… It’s faster.’
Kyung-hoon was surprised again by his own movements. He was running over a rough road full of debris as if it were flat ground. Faster than a runner. He
was definitely faster and stronger than before he killed the monster rat. At least 20% more.
‘If it’s like this. If you’re A-level or S-level, doesn’t that make you Superman?’
Kyung-hoon jumped over a wall that was more than 3 meters high in one go and continued to move forward.
***
The city where humans disappeared was an ecosystem of monsters. A
huge monster never seen before took up the entire area, and a medium-sized monster below it. Take over this street. Finally, a small monster was nesting in a building.
Boom. Boom. A
huge monster resembling a carnivorous dinosaur passed over the broken road. The monster walking on the street stuck its head in the alley between the buildings and fell apart. I put my eyes on the window of the building.
However, the monster could not find anything and let out a loud snort as it hurried forward again. As
the monster disappeared far away, the hidden monsters began to move.
A small monster resembling a flying squirrel was hiding inside the building. He spread this film wide and glided to the next building. At the same time, the lizard monster that had been waiting on the wall jumped from above. The
body of the monster that jumped changed from cement color to sunset color.
Ki!
The monster that was gliding in the sky arrived at the next building. He couldn’t do it. It was caught in the lizard monster’s mouth.
The
lizard monster safely landed on the ground and turned dark again. It changed the color of its body to match the surrounding objects. The monster, which had
turned almost black, bit down on its prey. I hid in a dark alley.
Phew!
But the monster that had entered the shadows fell to the floor with the sound of soggy cider.
“Why are you coming to my hiding place?”
Kyung-hoon appeared in the darkness of the alley. Wearing a khaki military uniform and carrying a lighter backpack, he held a pistol in his hand. Modified K-5. It was a pistol I was lucky enough to pick up the last time I came.
However, the pistol was much longer than before. There was a silencer on the front of the pistol.
It was purchased at Dongmyo along with materials for a homemade bomb.
‘The performance is surprisingly good.’
Perhaps because technology has advanced, it is much quieter than the silencers used previously. Thanks to this, I couldn’t see any monsters coming this way.
“What should I do with this?”
Kyung-hoon made an embarrassed expression as he looked at the lizard monster lying on the ground.
It was only 2.5km to the destination. It was a short distance. He had thought he would arrive safely before night.
But now that the sun was setting. Where Kyung-hoon was standing was The Namdaemun Market signboard was rolling around. Only now, two-thirds of the way. They had arrived at Namdaemun. Although he
possessed strength beyond that of a human and even held a weapon, here Gyeong-hoon was a weakling far down the food chain. As a result, he
had to hide as much as possible and spend half a day there. In the meantime, I had only come 1.5km.
‘It’s unfortunate, but this is it.’
Even though he could see at night, there was a high possibility that unknown nocturnal monsters were moving around. Moreover, there was not much time left to move between dimensions. It was better to find a safe place for later. After thinking for a moment, Gyeonghoon carried the dead lizard monster on his shoulder
. He lost. The monster was heavier than a person, but Kyung-hoon had no trouble at all.
He went into the building right next door.
The building he entered was a low three-story building. Perhaps because it was too low, there were not many broken places. But burn marks remained in various places. It
looked like it had caught fire instead of being destroyed.
“The things sold at Namdaemun Market in this world are similar.”
Burned clothes and toys on the floor. Various accessories were rolling around.
Snap. Snap.
The building was empty. That wasn’t true. Small monsters with skin between their legs were flying between the hallways.
However, perhaps because of the lizard monster Kyung-hoon was carrying, none of them approached. They only snooped from afar. As
he looked around the building, he saw a monster at the far corner of the building. I put the body down.
‘I guess it was a bookstore or something.’
Half-burned textbooks and reference magazines were scattered around the ruined store.
Kyung-hoon’s eyes lit up as he looked through the scattered books. He lifted up the half-burned magazine.
[Monthly Awakened Magazine]
It was an Awakened magazine!
Kyung-hoon quickly I looked through the magazine.
Gloves that give you strength.
Necklaces that keep you warm.
Weapons and protective clothing with various special abilities.
Flipping through the pages with interesting advertisements, I found an interview with a person.
Unfortunately, the pages behind the interview were burned. There was no one left.
Kyung-hoon looked at the rough-looking face and read the interview. The
conversation-style interview was conducted normally.
Self-introduction, career, stories around people, etc.
It was an ordinary interview with nothing special, but the interviewee was It was not ordinary.
Kyung-hoon checked the sword on his waist. A beautiful pattern caught his eye.
[Mana Item Creator Hyeong-min Ahn]
It was he who made this weapon.
– Hyeong-min Ahn: When monsters first appeared, we used existing weapons. -Reporter: That ‘s
right. It was only then that we were able to sufficiently deal with them with existing weapons. Rather, weren’t the awakened people the problem back then? -Ahn
Hyeong-min: Haha, that’s right. The awakened people were treated as mutants instead. Those were the days. It was difficult for everyone.
-Reporter: But those times didn’t last long. Soon, it became difficult to deal with them with regular weapons. -Ahn
Hyeong-min: Well, we could deal with them with heavy weapons, but the damage was not easy. Especially. The aftermath of the battle in the city was huge.
-Reporter: Some awakened people stepped forward, but the effect was not great.
-Ahn Hyeong-min: At that time, they were just people who had become stronger and had unique abilities. There was no way to break through the shield.
-Reporter: That’s when! Item makers like Hyeongmin Ahn appeared.
-Hyungmin Ahn: Haha, I was lucky. It was thanks to the help of the dimension shifter and the mana stone in the monster’s body.
‘Dimension Mover and Mana Stone?’
Kyung-hoon looked at the story behind the scenes, but unfortunately the rest of the interview was scorched and mangled, so it wasn’t easy to read.
Kyung-hoon bit his appetite in disappointment. It would have been nice if there had been a little more content left.
But this much was just what he was thankful for.
Now . I was able to know what to look for in monsters.
And I became clear that the changes in Gyeonghoon’s world were progressing similarly to this world.
In addition, I also knew that now I had to hide my awakening…
Gyeonghoon, who had a serious expression on his face, soon said His expression relaxed. He looked at the page with the advertisement with a curious expression.
“Seeing as there is an advertisement, wouldn’t there be a store that sells mana items?”
It seemed like he would have to take a quick look around when he arrived at the Awakened Center. . It was clear that there must be at least one such store around the center.
Kyung-hoon took out a plastic bag from his backpack, put the magazine in it, and sealed it. He planned to go back and take a closer look. He flopped down.
Kyung-hoon sat down on the floor. In front of him was something that looked like a lizard .
There was a monster corpse lying there.
Gyeonghoon took out a dagger from his belt and took a deep breath.
He had been planning to dissect it from the moment he brought the body in anyway. Although he was not an expert, he had to find out what kind of monster it was. Moreover, thanks to the magazine, he knew what to look for. I realized what happened. I had to find the mana stone.
“I’m glad I can see even though it’s dark.”
The sun was already almost setting.
Kyung-hoon stabbed the dagger deeply into the monster’s body. Perhaps because it was already dead, no shield appeared.
Suddenly， Suddenly.
Kyung-hoon moved the dagger and dissected the corpse. He
pulled back the skin and took out the internal organs.
Time passed. About an hour after the dissection, it was completely dark outside.
Buzz.
At that time, the cell phone vibrated, but Kyung-hoon ignored it. .
“I found it.”
In the end, he was able to find something called a mana stone. A small jewel was embedded near the heart.
Kyung-hoon knew the mana stone as soon as he saw it. This was because it looked exactly like the jewel that was in the pistol.
After taking the mana stone, Kyung-hoon took a picture of the dissected monster corpse.
Only after everything was finished did I finally check my phone.
[The expected time has come to activate the trait.]
I already knew when the alarm went off.
Time has become shorter than before. Obviously, as the level increases, the activation time decreases.
Kyung-hoon packed his luggage again. Even though I didn’t arrive at my destination, I had no intention of spending the night in the city from the first trip.
Kyung-hoon immediately created a black hole and jumped into it.
*
After Gyeong-hoon disappeared, small monsters with skins flew into the Namdaemun Market building endlessly.
Monsters resembling flying lizards went out of the city on the rising air of the morning and returned to their nests on the night wind.
Tens of thousands of small monsters filled the building, and other monsters slowly moved away from the building.
And soon, only the bare bones remained of the lizard monster corpse that was left where Gyeong-hoon was.
