Episode 11
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11. Do Monster-Humans Dream of Hunter Sheep?
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“Attention, everyone.”
An instructor in a military uniform and a black cap spoke up. There were about a hundred trainees sitting in the Internal Front Command’s lecture hall. Having changed into the issued training uniforms, each of them had a sharp, intense look in their eyes.
And in the middle of the second row, Jae-hak sat feeling slightly awkward.
“Welcome. I am Baek Jeong-ju, the lead instructor for your current Awakened Combatant Training Course.”
The instructor had a prosthetic leg. His military trousers hung flat and hollow below the knee.
“Everyone sitting here is an Awakened. There may be applicants for various special forces units, but I assume most of you are active Hunters or aspiring Hunters.”
“They’re practically my juniors,” the instructor chuckled.
It had been 11 years since the Gates opened... He had likely spent most of those years as a soldier.
“The number of Hunters I’ve trained over the years already exceeds a thousand. Most of them were pathetic... and more than half of them are dead. I suspect your futures won’t be much different.”
*What? Is it always like this?* Jae-hak glanced around cautiously. However, the other trainees didn’t look particularly surprised.
Jae-hak didn’t know—or rather, Ji-seul had half-intentionally not told him—that the training at the Internal Front Command was notorious for its brutal intensity.
“In that sense, I’ll ask a question. Number 11. Why do you think so many rookie Hunters die?”
“Yes, the leading cause of death for rookie Hunters is known to be shock caused by monsters, particularly parasitic types.”
Despite the sudden question, trainee Number 11 answered without hesitation.
But the instructor didn’t look impressed in the slightest.
“Number 11.”
“Yes!”
“From now on, when I ask a question, do not spout pathetic answers you memorized from some textbook.”
Number 11’s face crumpled. The instructor ignored him and immediately pointed to the next trainee.
“Number 99. You answer.”
“It’s... a lack of ability and mental fortitude.”
“A waste of time.”
The instructor shook his head dismissively.
“What kills rookie Hunters is their bloated ego. The arrogance of being a ‘chosen’ Awakened. The narcissism of being a hunter who kills monsters... that clouds their vision. It makes them refuse orders and commit reckless acts.”
“Does that sound like a lie? I guarantee you, everyone gathered here is the same. You there in the front, why do you want to be a Hunter?”
“Pardon? Ah, um... to use my Awakened abilities to save people.”
“If you wanted to use your abilities to save others and contribute to the nation, shouldn’t you have become a firefighter or an EMT? Why a Hunter, of all things?”
It hit the mark. The flustered trainee stammered out a response.
“Because... my power wasn’t something I earned because I was special, but something I gained by luck... so with the heart to contribute to society...”
“Are you saying firefighters and rescue workers don’t contribute to society?”
The trainee’s face turned red, unable to answer. The instructor looked down at him for a moment before speaking.
“Did it look cool to fight monsters and gain wealth and fame?”
“...Yes, it did.”
“And did it also look cool to be parasitized by a monster and die while losing control of your bowels? Did that look cool too?”
“...”
Leaving the speechless trainee behind, the instructor turned his gaze back to the entire lecture hall.
“Out of the hundred people sitting here, there might not even be five who truly feel a sense of duty to be a Hunter. The other ninety-five are all idiots intoxicated by the shallow ego of being a ‘Hunter.’ In reality, they are nothing more than enhanced soldiers used because it’s cheaper to deploy humans than tanks or helicopters.”
*...Is it necessary to go that far?* Jae-hak frowned. Even if that were true for him, the others were here because they wanted to get stronger... was there any reason to say such things?
It felt as if he were trying to force the applicants to quit with harsh words.
“Therefore, my goal as an instructor is singular. It is to make you realize how weak and insignificant you truly are. In other words, to make you know fear. So that when you eventually go out into the field, you won’t be recklessly arrogant and will exercise the utmost caution in every action.”
The instructor gave a cold, thin smile. The doors to the lecture hall opened, and instructors in military uniforms and black caps began to enter from all sides.
“You will learn that over these four weeks.”
*I think I’m screwed,* Jae-hak thought.
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* * *
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A stark white research facility where tension hung heavy. Machines and chemicals of unknown purpose, along with thick cables connecting them, were scattered in disarray. The sharp smell of alcohol and the faint scent of blood lingered, not even fully masked by the disinfectant.
“Initiating.”
A researcher wrapped head-to-toe in a HAZMAT suit gave a hand signal and pulled a red lever. *Hum, hum, hum, hum...* Somewhere nearby, an unidentified machine began to rotate.
“...”
The person restrained on the cross-shaped experimental table swallowed hard. A short, blond Caucasian man. His body was filled with red and blue tubes, and the monitors covering one wall drew dizzying graphs as they received his vital signs.
He was today’s test subject.
“Director, you need to put on your safety goggles.”
“Hmm.”
Nicholas Takahashi, who was observing the experiment through the window of the second-floor observation room, took the goggles. They had a unique design that completely covered and shielded the eyes.
Once everyone had their goggles on, the lead researcher nodded and sent a signal to the floor below.
“Awakening light projection, start.”
*Hum, hum, hum, hum...*
The machine began to accelerate. With a vibration that made the entire lab tremble, the slit in front of the subject opened. A green light, bright enough to sting the eyes, was released like an explosion.
“Awakening initiated. Mutation rate 0.6%. 1.3%.”
The subject’s pupils dilated as if possessed. Deep within his irises, green light danced. *Ah,* he opened his mouth. *Ah, ah.*
“Kuh...”
At the same time, the subject began to convulse violently. The capillaries in his eyes burst, and saliva spilled from his mouth. As his cells underwent necrosis, countless black spots rose to the surface of his skin.
“Ugh, ugh, ugh-aaaaah, ugh, aaaaah...”
A horrific scream he could no longer suppress.
And the graph on the monitor spiked upward.
“...2.2%. 3.4%. 4.2%...”
Blood sprayed as veins in his limbs ruptured. The subject rolled his eyes back, the whites turning red from the agony of his body collapsing from within.
And then.
“5.0%. Target reached. Beginning stabilization.”
*Hiss—* The slit closed, and the green light vanished. Through the numerous tubes inserted into his body, a transparent drug was injected all at once. The effect was immediate. The subject’s seizures slowly subsided... and soon, they stopped completely.
“Is it... a success?”
Beside Takahashi, someone muttered, sweating profusely.
-Robert, can you hear me?
The lead researcher, who had been biting his nails, grabbed the microphone and asked so it could be heard inside the lab.
-If you can hear me, answer.
“...Yes. I can hear you.”
*Ha, haha.* The lead researcher wiped his sweat-drenched face with a look of relief.
-I’ll perform a simple test. Where is your hometown?
“Evanston, Illinois.”
-What is your mother’s maiden name?
“Madison.”
-What was the first animal you raised?
“A golden retriever. His name was Buster...”
The researchers who had been standing behind Takahashi with tense faces finally looked at each other and smiled. It was an experiment on which so much was riding.
“Success, it’s a success...”
“Phew...”
“Good, finally.”
Even the balding lead researcher tried to hide his excitement as he smiled.
But at that moment, the subject, Robert, coughed up a mouthful of dark, clotted blood.
“What is that?”
“Heart rate and O2 saturation rising! Administer a stimulant!”
The subject began to convulse again. His pupils rolled back, and they wouldn’t come down. Blood poured from his mouth like a fountain. Blood, pouring out. Blood...
“...It’s turning darker.”
Takahashi muttered.
“Mutation rate 7%... 8%... 11%...”
*Damn it.* The lead researcher’s judgment was swift.
“Seal the site! Deploy armed forces!”
“22%... 26%... Exceeding 30%! He’s going berserk!”
*Pop!* The restraints on Robert’s right arm burst and flew off. His shoulder swelled up... and the whites of his eyes turned black. A sound like metal scraping against metal emanated from his mutated vocal cords.
“It hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it hurts, it huuuuuurts...”
“34%! 40%! 50%!”
“Kill him!”
*Hiss—* The lab doors opened, and the standby special forces rushed in. Their muzzles erupted in unison.
*Kieeeek!* The high-caliber anti-monster rounds, raining down like a storm, tore Robert’s body to shreds. The stark white lab walls were stained like an abstract painting drawn with his blood. Robert shrieked with his pitch-black eyes. A giant claw was attached to his swollen right hand...
“Save me, save me, save me, save me, save me...”
Robert’s body rippled, and the gunshot wounds all over his body healed in an instant. It was a maddening speed where the injury and the regeneration occurred almost simultaneously. But it wasn’t proper regeneration. As if the already broken genes had lost the ability to maintain their original form, Robert was becoming a mass of flesh that was neither human nor monster...
“Administer the mutation suppressant!”
“We already are!”
*Whoosh!* Robert, who had been taking the hail of bullets head-on in the exposed lab, suddenly looked up at the second-floor observation window.
“!!”
The next moment, Robert leaped. With unbelievable jumping power, he sprang up like a spring and slammed into the second-floor observation window. *Bang!* With a thunderous roar, cracks spiderwebbed across the glass. Researchers screamed and scrambled backward. But Takahashi stood still, not moving an inch.
*Grrrrr...*
Robert, hanging with his claws dug into the window, bared his teeth. Dark blood flowed like tears from his eyes, which were no longer human.
“...”
Takahashi looked at those eyes silently, without flinching. What flickered in those eyes was a hint of pity, and deep disappointment...
“What are you doing! It’s bulletproof glass! Shoot!”
*Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat!*
The window was splattered with black blood. Like Icarus, who had tried to fly, Robert plummeted back down to the lab floor.
“...Let’s go.”
Leaving the incessant, violent gunfire behind, Takahashi left with his secretary.
“Director, Director...”
The lead researcher desperately scrambled to keep pace beside him.
“There was a minor error in the stabilization phase. The mutation suppression algorithm….”
Takahashi stopped in his tracks. His emotionless gray eyes stared blankly at the lead researcher. The man, who had been about to stammer out an excuse, instinctively clamped his mouth shut and swallowed hard.
“...See that it is rectified immediately.”
“Y-yes, sir!”
“As for Robert’s family… ensure they receive the promised compensation. Tell them it was a sacrifice for the future of humanity.”
Having issued his orders, Takahashi left the laboratory and climbed into the waiting limousine.
An experiment to artificially induce the awakening of a “Crown.” He had thought they were so close… why did it keep failing like this?
After letting out a frustrated sigh, Takahashi closed his weary eyes.
At this very moment….
He remained completely oblivious to the fact that one successful Awakened was alive and well on the other side of the globe.
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