Chapter 11

Chapter 11

I was on my way to the Defense Strategy Department on Kim Duhyeon's motorcycle.

The road was clogged solid, as if it had come down with arterial sclerosis.

Ever since the monsters invaded humanity, traffic in Seoul had never once been good.

Every time people started to forget, something happened again—subways were destroyed, tracks were severed, elevated roads collapsed. Incidents and accidents that worsened gridlock simply never stopped, so this was only natural.

Honk, honk!

“Hey, you son of a bitch! Watch where you're driving! If I'm late, are you going to take responsibility? Huh?”

“You fucking bastard! What did you just say to me?”

Maybe because the roads were so jammed, drivers were already picking fights with one another.

Great. Everyone was full of passion first thing in the morning.

I slipped through the gaps and rode my way out of that hellish road.

Yes, yes. Keep up the good work, everyone.

I'm heading out first.

This was exactly why I had borrowed Kim Duhyeon's motorcycle.

Paradoxically enough, though, this brutal rush hour was proof that South Korea was still standing.

Roads packed to the brim.

An abnormally large number of buses and motorcycles.

That meant there were still plenty of people heading to work or school early in the morning.

And that meant the economy was still running, and society was still functioning.

A war for the survival of humanity was underway, and people were asking why anyone was still going to work in times like these?

So what?

The monsters' invasion was one thing, and making a living was another.

The notion of total war, where the entire population was mobilized into the conflict, was the kind of nonsense only people who understood nothing would spout.

Even if fierce battles were raging on the front lines, ordinary life had to continue in the rear.

That was how the economy kept moving, and how weapons kept being made.

In the end, war was also something people fought so they could go on living.

‘Now I can finally pick up some speed.’

Once I got past the congested stretch, a wide-open road greeted me.

Vroooom!

I twisted the throttle and accelerated.

Still, mindless speeding was forbidden.

Now and then the asphalt was cracked, and potholes lurked like traps. One wrong move, and it would be a straight ride to the underworld.

And then the black box footage would probably end up featured on some Hwang Muncheol TV-type YouTube channel as one of their motorcycle accident case-study videos.

As I rode down the open road, the surrounding scenery came into view.

Ruins.

By the standards of this era, the enormous apartment complex—one that, even just ten years ago, had been treated as if it were on par with Gangnam and boasted sky-high property values—had been abandoned as an eyesore.

If I remember correctly, it had been the site of a Transference incident from the early days, back when there were barely any Hunters, and the loss of life had been catastrophic.

Wasn't it said that ninety-five percent of the residents died?

The number of Hunters had increased greatly since then, their average level had risen, and the military's response had become much faster as well, so a death toll of ninety-five percent would not happen easily in this age.

Though a few years later, a time would come when people said that even that ninety-five percent meant a lot had survived.

‘I'm almost there.’

In the distance, I spotted a massive building—square in shape, low in height, but covering an enormous area.

Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Black Hawks and [Little Bird] helicopters were already flying overhead.

When I got a little closer, I saw armored forces deployed nearby—tanks, armored vehicles, and the like.

Military tactical vehicles moved in and out, and every now and then imported luxury cars worth hundreds of millions of won passed by as well.

Most of them were probably Hunters, or high-ranking officials from the Defense Strategy Department.

With the roads in this state, who would even want to drive a car around?

In particular, I could never understand people like Choi Yura, who drove supercars like Lamborghinis.

“Stop. Stop.”

At the sentry's order, I brought the motorcycle to a halt in front of the guard post.

“Sir, delivery food isn't allowed inside. Is this your first time here?”

“......”

It seemed he had mistaken me for a delivery rider.

“I'm here to register as an Awakened.”

“Excuse me?”

The sentry glared at me with a suspicious look, as if wondering what kind of person I was.

Why, what?

Did it matter what I rode here on when I was registering as an Awakened?

The important part was that I showed up.

“Understood. Could you please wait a moment?”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”

Only after the sentries confirmed my personal information, frisked me, and even checked inside the delivery box did they let me pass through the guard post.

They must have thought I had hidden a homemade bomb in the delivery box.

***

The moment I parked the motorcycle in the lot, an officer in dress uniform came out to greet me.

“Are you Mr. Cha Eunseong?”

“Yes, that's me.”

The officer's gaze swept over the delivery motorcycle.

“What, are delivery bikes not allowed here?”

“No, not at all. Ha ha.”

The officer waved his hand with an easygoing smile.

“It just stood out a bit, that's all. I didn't mean anything by it. Most people usually come in taxis, buses, or their own cars.”

“Ah, I see.”

“This way. I'll guide you.”

I followed the officer toward the Awakened registration department.

“I'm Captain Im Museong of the Defense Strategy Department.”

“I'm Cha Eunseong.”

“I'll guide you through everything, so there's no need to be nervous.”

“I'm not nervous.”

“Ah, I see. That's good, then. Ha ha.”

Probably because he dealt with prospective Hunters all the time, Captain Im had a rather smooth, easygoing manner.

“This way.”

After passing through several layers of complicated security procedures, we arrived at a place known as [V Zone].

There was nothing special about it.

It was simply the place where people registered as Awakened and underwent various tests, a place that basically served as a recruitment office for Hunters.

“Please wait here.”

“Ah, all right.”

“But why didn't you come with a lawyer?”

Captain Im tilted his head, looking puzzled.

For an Awakened aspiring to become a prospective Hunter, a lawyer was all but inseparable from the process.

Yes, absolutely.

“Ah, everything happened too suddenly.”

“Would you like me to call one for you?”

“It's fine.”

“You would be at an advantage if you retained legal counsel.”

“It's fine, so you don't need to worry about it.”

“Understood. If you need one, please let me know.”

“All right.”

The reason a legal representative was necessary was because of the ‘negotiation.’

Awakened were not beings who belonged to the state.

The relationship between the Awakened and the nation was closer to a business arrangement formed through a contract.

Why?

Because it was impossible to control and manage the Awakened through state authority.

The nation provided the Awakened with various benefits, and the Awakened, in turn, became Hunters and provided force to the nation.

That was why, from Awakened registration to the contract itself, both sides had no choice but to deal with each other from a strictly businesslike perspective.

Captain Im led me into a waiting room decorated like an ultra-luxurious lounge.

It had been a while since I had been here.

“Please wait here for a moment. The person in charge will call your name, Mr. Eunseong.”

“All right.”

“If you need coffee, tea, or any other beverage, just let us know.”

“I'll take coffee.”

“Staff Sergeant Park, one cup of coffee here, please.”

At Captain Im's request, a young and handsome noncommissioned officer waiting nearby brewed a cup from a top-of-the-line espresso machine and brought it to me.

“It seems quite a lot of Awakened have come to register today. That is a good thing. To have so many prospective Hunters willing to serve the nation like this.”

“Ah?”

At Captain Im's words, I swept my gaze around the waiting room.

I had not paid much attention before because I was not particularly interested, but there seemed to be around five or six other Awakened there.

Just as the saying went that ten people had ten different colors, the Awakened gathered in the waiting room were all different as well.

“You have to do well, all right?”

“Don't worry, Mom.”

“Mr. Lawyer, please take good care of our son.”

“I'll do my best. Ha ha.”

There was a brat sitting there with his parents and a lawyer in tow.

Wow, the way he was already puffing up his eyes and shoulders, he looked so spoiled rotten he was practically on the verge of going bad.

“Are you a Hunter too, ma'am?”

“I'm a soldier. Ha ha.”

“Oh, I see. Well, there's no way an Awakened would do something as weak as being a soldier, right?”

There was also a school-uniformed brat who still had no idea how the world worked.

“......”

Good grief, that one had dead eyes.

That was common enough.

Hunters were flowers that bloomed on the battlefield.

It was extremely rare for someone to awaken out of nowhere one day.

In other words, almost nobody awakened while leisurely sipping coffee in a café.

Most awakenings took place during desperate, life-or-death moments like a Transference incident, so there were many who awakened only after losing their parents, siblings, or friends.

Those earlier brats must have gone through dangerous situations of their own.

Still, because they were mentally immature, what preoccupied them more was [the popularity and money that would come with becoming Hunters].

‘No familiar faces. Does that mean most of them are destined to die?’

Unless they were the sort who would later stand out like Choi Yura, there was no way I would fail to recognize their faces........

“Ra Sihyeon.”

Ra what?

I whipped my head around.

It was a high-school girl with long straight hair, a tall stature, and a slender build.

I studied her face closely.

That slightly raised chin, the sharp nose, the eyes filled with a strange yearning, and even the corners of her lips, which seemed to curl in faint mockery.

‘It's her.’

That high-school girl really was the Ra Sihyeon I knew.

After becoming a Hunter, she always kept her hair bleached blond, so her current black-haired appearance must have felt unfamiliar enough that I had not recognized her immediately.

A strange feeling suddenly came over me.

To think I would see the high-school days of the person I had killed with my own hands barely two weeks ago.

***

It was not something worth being surprised over.

Now that I had returned to the past, it was inevitable that I would meet the people I had killed again.

I just had not expected to run into the high-school-aged Ra Sihyeon here.

As far as I knew, we became Hunters at roughly the same time.

In my case, though, my father died, so I spent about two months suffering emotionally, which delayed my registration somewhat.

But now I had come to register only three days after awakening, so it was entirely possible that I would run into Ra Sihyeon.

‘Am I imagining it, or can I already see the signs?’

Maybe it was because of the bad blood between us in the past, but the sight of Ra Sihyeon was far from welcome.

And when it came to Ra Sihyeon, she was something close to pure evil.

When I thought about that filthy temper of hers, and the sort of things she went on to do later...... Whew.

No, better not even start.

“Cha Eunseong.”

“Ah, yes.”

“This way, please.”

I followed the guide into what looked like a conference room, and well, well.

A familiar face greeted me.

“Nice to meet you, prospective Hunter Cha Eunseong. I'm Major Oh Yuhwa of the Defense Strategy Department.”

“Yes, hello.”

“You didn't bring legal counsel with you?”

“No.”

“Will you really be all right? You might need the help......”

“If I need one, I'll call for one then.”

“Then do that. Ho ho.”

Oh Yuhwa smiled brightly.

‘Are you really that happy?’

What, did it feel like you had finally found an easy mark again after so long?

Maybe the thought of fleecing me already had her in a good mood.

That was not me jumping to conclusions.

This woman was a truly dangerous human being.

Oh Yuhwa.

An Army major and a Hunter, with the callsign [Shylock].

And among Hunters, she was known by every insult imaginable—the devil of V Zone, a pimp, a huckster, a rip-off artist, a slave trader, and more.