Chapter 5

Chapter 5
“I’ll handle them, so take care of the injured first.”
Choi Yura spoke shortly, then swung her chain.
Clatterrrrrrr!
Shhhhk!
The chain’s power was savage.
“Kehk!”
“Kyaaaak!”
The monsters burst apart as if they were made of ketchup.
With a single sweep, it wrapped around three monsters at once and ground them to pieces. It was so clean and decisive that it was satisfying just to watch.
‘Now that is a damage dealer.’
My eyes turned distant as I watched Choi Yura.
That overwhelming offensive power, mowing down enemies without hesitation, was exactly what I had longed for in my previous life.
Because I had awakened as a non-combat class, I had never once been able to wipe out enemies like that.
The offensive skills of non-combat Hunters were practically useless against monsters of 3-Star and above, so I could not even dream of slaughter on that level.
All I had ever done was quietly carry out my own role while watching damage dealers like Choi Yura sweep the battlefield clean.
“Cough! Cough cough!”
The sound of the guard coughing pierced my ears.
I snapped back to my senses and hurried over to him.
“Don’t pass out. Keep your eyes open. Got it?”
He nodded with difficulty.
“I’m going to stop the bleeding and pour a potion on you now. You’re not going to die, so don’t worry. I’ll get you out of here somehow, so grit your teeth and endure it. Understood?”
I kept talking so he would not lose consciousness as I pulled medical supplies from the first-aid kit.
I put on a pair of medical latex gloves and poured hydrogen peroxide over the wound to disinfect it.
Then I poured on a vitality-recovery potion made by refining the blood of a certain monster and mixing it with extracts from plants that grew inside dungeon Gates, to speed up the healing of the external wound.
Lastly, I stitched the wound closed and pulled him upright.
Huh?
His eyes slowly slid shut.
Tap, tap.
I patted his cheek a few times to bring him back around.
“Don’t lose consciousness. Wake up. We’re almost there.”
“Ngh......”
“You little bastard! You want to die here? What’s your name?”
“Urgh......”
“I asked what your name is.”
“Kim...... Du...... hyeon......”
“Du what?”
“Duhyeon......”
“Good. Duhyeon. Open your mouth. Say ah.”
“But......”
“......?”
“How old are you...... to be speaking informally to me this whole time......”
This guy was unbelievable.
Was that really what mattered right now?
“I’m thirty-four.”
Wait, wasn’t I twenty-four at this point in time?
Well, whatever.
“Then...... speak casually.”
“......”
I stared at him for a moment, then grabbed his jaw and forced his mouth open.
“Say ah. Ah.”
“Ah.”
“Swallow. It’s an antibiotic.”
I shoved the pill deep into his throat and then poured in a vitality-recovery potion as well.
The reason I gave him antibiotics was because of the risk of infection.
Thankfully, monsters did not carry novel viruses or anything like that, but they were basically walking masses of bacteria.
Even if you managed to treat the wound itself, plenty of people still died from bacterial infections, all kinds of related illnesses, or sepsis, so antibiotics were not optional. They were essential.
“Ngh!”
Even while struggling, he clearly still wanted to live, because he forced the antibiotic and potion down his throat.
“Heh.”
A small laugh escaped me.
Kim Duhyeon, was it?
He seemed like the sort of guy whose survival instinct was every bit as strong as his fighting spirit.
“Feeling a little better?”
“Yes. I feel a bit better now.”
Maybe it was the vitality-recovery potion, but the color had visibly returned to his face.
Just a moment ago, he had been on the verge of slipping under.
“If you’re back with me, then get up. Here.”
“Thank you.”
He grabbed the hand I offered and pulled himself upright.
He looked dizzy from how much blood he had lost, but a transfusion was impossible in this situation, so he would just have to endure it.
“You fight well, and you’re good with emergency treatment too. Are you active-duty?”
Choi Yura, who had already finished wiping out every last monster, walked over and asked.
“No. Civilian.”
I answered with a grin.
It was genuinely nice to meet the woman who had once saved my life after so long.
And on top of that, this now made twice that she had saved me, so I could not help feeling grateful.
“Isn’t your tone a little too casual for someone talking to the person who just saved him? You look younger than I am, too.”
Choi Yura spoke in a cold voice.
You were the one using casual speech first.
“I’m thirty-four. What about you?”
“......”
Choi Yura fell silent.
***
It had been a little dicey, but up to this point, it was fair to say things were proceeding more or less according to plan.
I had saved the couple who lived in the same apartment complex even though I had never once exchanged a glance with them, and I had saved Duhyeon too, but honestly, that was not especially important.
What mattered was meeting Choi Yura.
Why else would I have come all the way home knowing full well that [Transference] was going to happen?
Choi Yura was the most important piece in recreating conditions as close as possible to the ones under which I had awakened as a Hunter.
Of course, I could have tried to induce my awakening in some other place and by some other method, but that was far too risky.
The difference between being able to predict the variables and not, between being able to control the situation to some degree and not, was the difference between heaven and earth.
I had gone through all the trouble of returning to the past. Dying pointlessly before even awakening was out of the question.
If I dropped dead the moment I awakened, I would be too bitter to close my eyes in peace.
“The bombardment is starting soon. Move.”
“Understood.”
Supporting Duhyeon, I followed behind Choi Yura.
“Dear, that young lady is that young lady, right?”
“I think so.”
“My goodness. How can such a young, pretty girl be that strong?”
“Well, she is a Hunter.”
I could hear the couple whispering about Choi Yura.
Choi Yura was a Hunter generally classified as part of the fourth generation. She was not a Ranker, but her name was fairly well known.
She was strong, of course, but if I remembered right, her dark, decadent allure, the distinctive tattoos covering her body, and the cool call sign [Bloody Mary] had all contributed heavily to her fame.
“We’re almost there, so hang in there a little longer, everyone.”
Clatterrrrrrr!
Swinging the chains wrapped around both hands, Choi Yura carved a path forward without hesitation.
When there were about fifty meters left before we could get out of the [Transference] zone.
This was too fast.
“Wait.”
I called out, stopping Choi Yura.
“Let’s rest for a minute before we keep going.”
“Why? Are you tired?”
“A little?”
I had been moving slowly on purpose, but Choi Yura’s pace was too fast.
“Endure it.”
Choi Yura’s voice turned stern.
“I told you. The bombardment is about to begin.”
“That may be true, but......”
Clatterrr!
Her chain flew out and tore into the ground right in front of me.
“If you don’t want to die, move.”
“......”
“Now.”
What a temper.
‘Moving faster will only make things more dangerous. Haah.’
The problem was that right now, I had no way of stopping Choi Yura.
That had probably been true even before I returned to the past.
Choi Yura was a damage dealer, and I was a Supporter with jack shit in the way of offensive skills.
‘Should I at least point the gun at her?’
As I slowly raised the muzzle to aim at Choi Yura, a chain suddenly came flying at me.
What the hell?
“......!”
Clatterrrrr!
Before I could even react, the chain brushed past the side of my head.
I was so startled that I could not even ask how she had known.
Was Choi Yura really this sharp?
I had only been trying to point the gun at her as a threat, and she could sense killing intent from that alone?
“Come out while I’m asking nicely. Before I tear you apart.”
“......?”
“Not you.”
Choi Yura jerked her chin, telling me to move aside.
I instinctively stepped back, and then the brush where her chain had struck began to rustle. One by one, figures wearing frog masks crawled out.
The frog masks they wore were based on a pretty famous character called [Pepe the Frog].
Joker Pepe, Crying Pepe, Angry Pepe, Laughing Pepe, and so on.
Frogs of every kind crawled out of the grass and surrounded us.
“What, looting empty houses isn’t enough for you anymore? You disgusting [Wrecker] bastards.”
A cold smile spread across Choi Yura’s lips.
[Wrecker].
That was the term for a new breed of criminal that had started appearing eight or nine years before this point.
Their main habitat was the city.
When they had nothing better to do, they parked their motorcycles and either listened in on military and police radio traffic, hacked CCTV systems, or flew drones to monitor [Transference] phenomena.
And once [Transference] occurred?
They immediately rode their motorcycles into the affected area and looted empty houses or committed every crime imaginable—murder, rape, arson, you name it.
For example, one of their main methods was to assault and threaten victims, rob them of their valuables, or transfer their money into mule accounts.
They were modern-day bandits created by the times.
If there was one perfect description for those Wrecker bastards, it was hyenas living in the concrete jungle.
“Heh heh!”
The one wearing the Joker Pepe mask twisted his mouth into a chilling grin.
“Look at this bitch. Just because she’s 4-Star, she thinks she can talk however she wants.”
“Bitch?”
“Yeah, bitch.”
Joker Pepe sneered.
“You must think we’re a bunch of nobodies. You really think we’d be scared of some bitch like you? Heh heh heh!”
“Kyakyakyakya!”
The frogs were brimming with confidence.
And this Wrecker crew had every right to be.
They were not a bunch made up of non-Awakened people.
Out of the nearly ten frog-masked bastards, seven or eight were Awakened. It was a group with considerable strength.
At that point, even a 4-Star Hunter like Choi Yura could not confidently say she would make it out alive.
And that was not speculation on my part. It was experience.
In my previous life, Choi Yura had actually suffered wounds so severe that she had hovered at death’s door.
If the me who had just awakened had not carried her and run, then she too would have been caught in the bombardment alongside the corpses of the Wrecker crew she killed and reduced to a handful of ash.
A ghastly smile rose to Choi Yura’s lips.
“This is interesting.”
She stepped toward the frogs.
“All right, then. If that’s what you want, I’ll give it to you.”
“Oh? You’ll give it to us? What?”
“I’ll cut your cocks off and shove them down your throa—”
Boom!
“Aaagh!”
One of the frog-masked men was blasted backward along with the gunshot.
“Which bastard was that?!”
Me. Problem?
“Aaagh!”
“You fucking lunatic!”
RATATATATATATAT!
I answered with a full-auto burst from the carbine.
“Stay low and run!”
I barked the order and dragged Duhyeon behind a nearby boulder.