WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Arsène
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ How an A-Rank Hunter Lives ◈
Chapter 66: Veteran Sergeant Kim Yo-han - [3]
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After hearing that, I quickly gave up on helping Kim Seokhee escape.
Judging by the solemn way he said it, he did not seem easy to persuade. More importantly, I did not have much time to persuade him in the first place. There was no telling when more Special Forces members might burst in.
“Fine. Do your best on your own. Do not get caught, okay?”
When I finally returned to the command post alone, a Special Forces member stopped me.
“I heard the report. You took the severely injured members to the hospital? You saved three lives. Thank you so much!”
“Yeah. Feel free to be grateful.”
I answered with satisfaction, but that was not why they had stopped me.
“But you said you could not use Spatial Teleportation just by looking at a map. How did you do it just now...?”
“Oh, my mental net picked up people collapsing. So I teleported to that location...”
I made an excuse, but it did not seem to work. The Special Forces member still watched me with narrowed eyes, clearly unconvinced.
Then a huge Special Forces member standing beside them got angry outright.
“Hey, you fucking bastard! Are you screwing with us right now? Talk straight!”
The one shouting at me had a massive build.
At a glance, they looked like an extremely powerful Body Enhancement user. They said there were a few retired Hunters in the Special Forces, so they might have been one of them.
I gave up making excuses. Instead, I declared proudly.
“I do not listen to people weaker than me.”
“You little shit!”
They tried to grab me by the collar, so I caught their wrist. That must have made them lose their temper completely.
They threw a punch. I leaned my head back slightly to avoid the fist aimed at my face, then pulled the wrist I was already holding, dragged them toward me, and drove my fist into their stomach.
One punch was enough. They trembled, then collapsed.
Silence fell over the room. Pretending to be flustered, I asked,
“Ah, that was a reflex. Does this guy have Super-Regeneration? He does not? Then I will take him to the hospital too.”
As I carried the fallen Special Forces member to the hospital, I smiled. I had taken out one more Special Forces member, so I could only hope it gave Kim Seokhee a little help.
When I returned to the command post, Kim Yohan was mocking the entire Special Forces again.
“Why did you idiots pick a fight in the first place? Did you think Kim Geuk, one of the top Hunters, was a joke? Bunch of fucking nobodies...”
The operation was not going well, and the outside personnel were acting like this, so the atmosphere was naturally ugly.
I expected the Special Forces to tell me to get out immediately or threaten to sue me, but thankfully, they did not actually do that.
Whenever someone was seriously injured after that, I immediately used Spatial Teleportation to take them to a hospital before they died. Apparently, that help was important enough for the time being.
Thanks to that, I was not thrown out. I could keep listening in on the Special Forces’ conversations and radio traffic while getting in the way of the operation.
How did I interfere with the operation?
Like this.
I sent Kim Seokhee messages through Huntweb.
They were messages to tell him the current situation and advise him on what to do.
Ⓐ BabyBerserker : This time, five big guys with force-field exoskeletons and force-field blades are heading where Kim Seokhee is! And this time, they have decided everyone else will charge in even if somebody gets hurt and goes down!
If you fight in a cramped space, even with a Hunter Rifle, you lose a lot of your advantage against blade wielders.
So get out of there right now! You need to fight somewhere wide open if you want a chance!
Huntweb’s servers were overseas, so I figured it would be safer than KakaoTalk or text messages. Still, I had no idea whether it would actually help. Kim Seokhee might not check Huntweb messages in the middle of an emergency.
I kept sending messages anxiously.
Then a voice behind me made me flinch.
“To think you would communicate with the enemy...”
I turned around, startled, and found Kim Yohan standing there. The next moment, I relaxed.
“...So there was someone else like me?”
Kim Yohan showed me his smartphone screen, and my eyes widened.
Amazingly, Kim Yohan was doing exactly the same thing I was.
In other words, he was sending Kim Seokhee details of the operation through Huntweb messages.
Ⓐ SeoulTobagi : Five additional force-field blade users are on the way
Ⓐ SeoulTobagi : All of them have force-field exoskeletons. Sounds like they will arrive in seven minutes, so get ready
No one signaled us or told us to, but when I raised my hand for a high five, Kim Yohan raised his too.
Our palms met with a crisp smack.
We looked at each other and smiled.
* * *
After that, the command post itself moved. Everyone, including me, headed to the scene, so I could see Kim Seokhee’s situation for myself.
A chase through the forest of apartment buildings was in full swing above us.
It looked like Kim Seokhee had taken our advice seriously. Following my instructions, he had not stayed inside an apartment building and had gone up to the rooftops.
Kim Seokhee and the Special Forces members fought across the apartment rooftops. They leaped from one rooftop to another as they battled.
The first Deathclaw Force-Field Creature I encountered had reached a helicopter in midair with a single jump. Force-field exoskeleton users could leap to absurd heights, so it was possible.
Kim Seokhee, who was also a Body Enhancement user, had even greater jumping power. I could see him skillfully widening the distance from the Special Forces members rushing at him and toying with them.
“Aaaah!”
Ah, a Special Forces member trying to jump between apartment buildings had been hit by Kim Seokhee’s Hunter Rifle.
The autocannon rounds did not immediately break through the member’s force field, but they fell while trying to leap between rooftops. I caught them with Spatial Teleportation before they hit the ground, so they survived.
I had contributed this much, so it would be hard for them to question me even if the operation ended in failure. Thanks to that, I could comfortably watch the situation with Kim Yohan and even make small talk.
“You heard my name earlier, right? I’m Kim Yohan. Whew, Kim Geuk. I never thought I’d meet someone so famous.”
“Yeah, Yohan. Nice to meet you too. It seems like you started using Huntweb again recently after being away for quite a while. You seem to know who I am?”
“Even if I did not use Huntweb, how could I not know you? Kim Geuk, you’re practically a legend in the industry these days.”
“Legend or not, I’m still a slave the government dragged in.”
When I complained about my situation, Kim Yohan agreed.
“I’m pissed off too. They called me in for this operation.”
“Right? It’s a waste of time, so it must make you furious too.”
Kim Yohan shook his head.
“I’m not angry just because it’s a waste of time. They pay enough that it’s at least some spending money, but... isn’t the operation itself fucked up?”
“Ah, were you close with Kim Seokhee? Is that why you do not like them trying to catch him?”
“No, it’s not that... Look. They brought a whole bunch of blade wielders from the Special Forces. Just looking at that, they’re full of killing intent.”
I nodded as I looked at the Special Forces members, each carrying a sword.
Kim Yohan continued.
“They told me to bring a Hunter Rifle. Isn’t that insane? Why the hell would they tell me to bring one? Are they telling me to shoot Kim Seokhee dead? Anyway, I did not like how bloodthirsty they were before the operation even started. It looks like they never intended to subdue him in the first place. And besides...”
“And besides?”
“We might become traitors on Huntweb. Look.”
Kim Seokhee held out his smartphone. On it was a Huntweb post.
Ⓐ Dragon : This Kim Seokhee Subjugation Operation absolutely has to fail... It looks like it might succeed, and I’m so nervous
Anonymous : Why are you nervous it will succeed? Are you an awakened criminal too, scared they will catch you?
Ⓐ Dragon : That’s not it. If there ends up being a successful case of mobilizing Hunters for an operation, we’re all fucked, aren’t we? It obviously looks like the Special Forces put serious effort into this operation, so they will have mobilized a ton of awakened personnel. Kim Geuk, who took down Kim Seokhee’s whole group by himself before, is taking part too. This operation looks like it will succeed, and if it does...?
Ⓐ ElmayaKaeyo : True. If this operation succeeds, the media will start going on about the Special Forces’ success and the results of mobilizing outside personnel, then they will make awakened people work like dogs from now on. It will be a disaster if it really succeeds...
Seeing that made me tense up again. I could become a traitor to South Korea, but I could not become a traitor to Huntweb.
Kim Yohan said,
“I’ll make sure Huntweb knows Kim Geuk was deliberately slacking off, so please do the same for me. Let’s clearly write on Huntweb that both of us openly neglected our duties so neither of us gets criticized, okay?”
“Of course, gladly... Ah, someone got hurt again. I’ll take them to the hospital.”
“Good luck.”
I spent my time like that, chatting amicably or immediately taking seriously injured Special Forces members to the hospital.
Maybe they had noticed I was reluctant to participate in this operation. Or maybe it was because it would be a huge problem if outside personnel like me got hit by a Hunter Rifle. Whatever the reason, the Special Forces never directly ordered me to subdue Kim Seokhee, so I was relieved.
Then a man arrived at the scene in an official vehicle.
He was like a leopard in human form. He had a muscular body, but he looked agile.
As he got out of the car, every Special Forces member gathered there turned to look at him.
Kim Yohan frowned when he saw him too.
“Ah, Park Juheon? It’s bad if that bastard steps in.”
“Why? Is he famous?”
“More or less. He’s a former Hunter. He already made enough money to retire from hunting, but he said he could not just sit around doing nothing, so he joined the Special Forces... Tch, he was already strong as hell with just a force-field exoskeleton. Since he’s carrying a sword too, it looks like he awakened force-field blades as well.”
Soon after, Park Juheon boarded a helicopter. The helicopter carrying him rose over the apartment buildings where the fight was taking place, then stopped.
Park Juheon dropped from the helicopter. He must have trusted the toughness of his force-field exoskeleton, because he did not even open a parachute. He fell with nothing but his body...
When Park Juheon landed on the rooftop, there was a boom like an artillery shell had struck. Still, he probably was not injured at all.
Even from far away, I could see him spring to his feet, draw his sword, and charge at Kim Seokhee.
About five minutes later, it was over.
Kim Seokhee screamed, then raised both hands and knelt, one ankle cut off.
It was a gesture anyone could recognize.
Surrender.
「Kim Seokhee has been subdued!」
At that news, Kim Yohan and I both groaned.
“That idiot. He should have gratefully accepted when I said I’d teleport him away. Instead, he had to be stubborn for no reason...”
“Ah, Kim Seokhee refused that?”
“Yeah. He told me to get lost because he wanted to protect his pride.”
Kim Yohan sighed at my words.
“Then there’s nothing we can do. He brought it on himself, so we can’t help him any further.”
Kim Yohan seemed to have given up, and so had I. It did not look like there was any more I could do to help.
Still, I kept my mental net spread out and continued watching the situation.
Kim Seokhee was on his knees as the Special Forces members gathered around him.
I expected them to bind Kim Seokhee. Then they would put him on a helicopter, let him receive treatment at a hospital, and send him to trial.
That was the procedure.
But I was wrong. The Special Forces members around Kim Seokhee completely surrounded him.
And instead of taking out handcuffs...
The Special Forces members all pointed their sword tips at Kim Seokhee. Just as they were about to stab him, I used Spatial Teleportation.
One of them was about to drive a sword into Kim Seokhee’s neck.
I grabbed the bastard by the neck and flung them far ahead, then grabbed Kim Seokhee and threw him hard behind me.
“Kim Geuk?”
The Special Forces members looked at me. I looked at Kim Seokhee. His force-field exoskeleton had not disappeared yet, so I could not teleport with him.
So I stood in front of Kim Seokhee to protect him and demanded an answer from the Special Forces members.
“He already surrendered. Why are you trying to kill him after he surrendered?”
One Special Forces member answered.
“Kim Seokhee has both Body Enhancement and a force-field exoskeleton. Do you think handcuffs could restrain him properly? And do you think he’d stay put if we locked him in prison? He’d obviously smash through a wall with his bare fists and escape.”
“So because it would be impossible to imprison him even after subduing him, you’re just going to kill him?”
“Well, we don’t really have a choice...”
The Special Forces members slowly nodded, and I asked,
“Is there a law that says awakened people who are difficult to control can be killed even if they surrender?”
“Well, we’re just doing what we’re told, so... There’s probably some relevant law if you look it up, right?”
“I spent years working with an awakened-person human-rights organization, so I know there definitely isn’t. If there were a law like that, that old woman Park Mihyeong would not have let it slide without making a big issue of it. It would be perfect material for getting strong, successful awakened people interested in the oppression of awakened people.”
Then Special Forces member Park Juheon stepped forward.
“What are you trying to say?” he asked.
“Why are you trying to kill this bastard above the law? When I dealt with this bastard and his group, I threw plenty of punches too, but I did not kill anyone. You’re crossing a line.”
“You talk as if you’re someone who follows the law well.”
“Is that something the people who came here to enforce the law should be saying?”
Park Juheon scratched his head.
“Kim Geuk, do you have Super-Regeneration?” he asked.
“I do. Why? Are you going to come at me with that sword?”
Park Juheon slowly nodded. He cracked his neck from side to side.
“Then there should not be any problem if we cut off your limbs. Everyone’s thought you were fucking annoying for a while now, so this works out. Let’s have a fight.”
Footnotes:
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