Chapter 18

16. Motivation (2)

I visited the funeral parlor when Mr. Lee's father passed away.

It was a wake.

His father had lived long enough to see Lee, and after being diagnosed with cancer, he had endured three years of torturous treatment.

The funeral parlor was packed with mourners.

Next to the VIP room where his father was laid out, there was a small, ordinary room.

From that dark, nearly empty room, the loud chatter of people could be heard.

The wreaths were from companies I had never seen before.

In the center of the dimly lit room, there was a portrait of a man who still looked young, and below it, only his wife and children, who appeared to be his family, were bowing their heads, listening to the noise from the adjacent room.

The contrast was so stark that it left a lasting impression on me.

What brought back this memory was a comment made by Kim Dalram.

"They said the wake will be open until dawn tomorrow. It's quite a feat to hold a wake at a university hospital in these times, which could be seen as a kind of privilege."

"Are you going?"

"I have to."

Kim Dalram sighed.

"I don't want to, but I have to. He was my senior, my team leader, and my department head. Why? He even gave me 30,000 won as a wedding gift at my wedding, so I have to go, right?"

"Was 30,000 won the minimum back then?"

"No, it was 50,000 won even then."

"Ha, typical Lee."

"Typical Lee."

For a moment, we reminisced about the past, each with a bitter smile.

It was Kim Dalram who broke the silence.

"Will the senior come?"

"Me?"

I should refuse.

It makes sense and there's a reason.

But for some reason, I couldn't give an immediate answer.

"Well, you know."

"I get it. There's a capsule on the way, and it's night. You might end up in a double funeral. Just pray for him from a distance."

I wanted to say more, but the conversation naturally ended.

I turned off the radio and sat in the air-raid shelter, lost in thought.

Many thoughts came to mind, but they felt like trying to grasp a rope made of sand.

Nothing was clear.

I focused on the most recent past.

Lee had invited me for a drink.

Perhaps it was a gesture of reconciliation.

Or maybe it was a plea for help.

Most importantly, what did he mean by the back of the head he mentioned at the end?

The dead have no words.

Therefore, Lee cannot answer my questions.

Still, I decided to go see him.

I felt a strong urge that only by going to that place could my unresolvable doubts be resolved.

*

I advanced through the pitch-black darkness, relying on my bicycle.

I could have used a vehicle, but a barrier I created stood in the road.

The only way to bypass it silently was by bicycle.

However, my intention was thwarted by the roar and lights of a motorcycle approaching from a distance.

"What are you doing here?"

The man, revealing his face as he took off his night vision goggles, asked brusquely, showing his suspicion.

We recognized each other almost simultaneously.

"What? Isn't that Park Kyu?"

It was Baek Seung-hyun.

A senior by a year, he works as a freelance hunter, taking on all sorts of dirty and dangerous jobs in the rear, acting as a lackey for the department head.

"Where are you going?"

"Seoul."

"I have a place to go, too."

He stared at the distant lights.

"Can't you just let me go?"

"Well, I wish I could."

Baek Seung-hyun smiled bitterly and put a cigarette in his mouth.

"Because I'm not the one in charge."

Baek Seung-hyun's radio crackled with noise, emitting a light, young, but sufficiently violent sound.

"Uncle, what is it?"

I looked at Baek Seung-hyun.

"Hunter?"

Baek Seung-hyun put on his night vision goggles with three lenses and nodded toward the lights.

"One of our juniors detected you."

"Detected...?"

Baek Seung-hyun snorted.

"Real hunters. Not like us old-timers."

In the end, I found myself standing in front of the barrier I had tried to avoid.

There was no other choice.

I am going to pay my respects today, not to stack more bodies.

Under the bright lights visible from a distance, a group of people stood.

The military police were at the front.

They were not a problem.

They were just the background.

The real issue was the three figures standing arrogantly behind them.

They wore the same jackets, with a patch on the upper pocket depicting a roaring tiger.

Roaring Tiger.

A symbol of the new breed of hunters trained and educated to match the latest doctrines that emerged about six years ago.

We, the old-school hunters, are called by a different name by them.

"Uncle."

A young man with dyed blond hair, who looked to be in his early twenties, called out to Baek Seung-hyun.

"So, who is this guy?"

Behind him stood a man yawning with a large shield on his back and a woman constantly looking at her phone.

"Former hunter."

Though he didn't bow, Baek Seung-hyun's expression and attitude already seemed like he had bowed many times.

"Former hunter? Like you, Uncle?"

"Ha ha, that's right."

The man and woman behind him gave me a cold look.

I knew the emotions in their eyes well.

Contempt and disregard.

The blond man tilted his head, puzzled.

"Why is a former hunter taking a roundabout way when there's a perfectly good road? He's not a criminal."

Baek Seung-hyun looked at me.

His face, struggling to suppress humiliation, seemed to be passing his frustration onto me.

"I'm going to Seoul."

I answered.

Baek Seung-hyun's eyes widened.

As if something big was about to happen.

I ignored him and continued.

"Quietly."

I turned my gaze to the blond man.

The blond man, finding my actions absurd, turned to his colleague with an awkward smile.

"This uncle is really something."

"Which batch are you from?"

He asked stiffly.

The smile on the blond man's face vanished.

The man with the shield frowned, and the woman, who had been staring at her phone, looked up.

A hostile atmosphere suddenly enveloped us like a sudden snowstorm.

The blond man glared at me with shining eyes and spoke coldly.

"Twenty-first batch."

"Thirteenth batch."

That's right.

I am their senior.

A senior like the sky.

But these young guys think differently.

"Seniors before the eighteenth batch don't count."

The man behind him interjected.

"Except for a few."

They approached me.

As promised, their eyes glowed softly like lamps.

"Can you call someone who stands there like a soldier and has no power a senior?"

A bitter sneer formed on the blond man's lips.

"Uncle, have you opened your eyes? Do you have any power?"

I shook my head.

"Then you're not a senior."

Humanity, fighting for its survival against monsters, was always on the defensive.

When about 30% of humanity had disappeared, an anomaly was observed.

A portion of humanity began to wield powers akin to magic, standing up against the monsters.

Scholars analyzed this as psychic energy resulting from high-level mental activity and named it "power."

Ironically, this new power, though similar to the monsters, which were humanity's enemies, quickly pushed out the old-style hunters, who were the existing blood.

These young guys are the foretold future.

"Since you went to the same school, you must know the danger of that capsule, right? Go back."

I could turn back.

Objectively, it might be the most reasonable solution.

But I felt I couldn't turn back.

Why, these guys.

They are negating the life I've lived.

This is hurtful.

It will eventually become a big wound.

In the lonely air-raid shelter, where I often think, this wound could merge with old wounds and fester even more.

Moreover, Lee's unseen face appeared before me.

He seemed to be telling me to try if I could.

"Is the capsule the problem?"

If so, I have to do something.

"How do you plan to do it?"

"If I take care of the capsule, will you let me pass?"

"You're funny. What can an old-school hunter do? Show us."

The blond man stepped aside.

"If you succeed, Wisdom will personally escort you to Seoul."

"Why should I?"

The blond man smiled, and the woman snorted.

Complete disregard.

Thanks to this, the stage was set.

The juniors who refused to recognize me as a senior moved the military police to the back.

"Everyone, get in the car. Just in case, a monster might appear."

Among the many people, only Baek Seung-hyun stood behind me, ready to move on his motorcycle.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but it's not necessary."

"Park Kyu."

I turned and smiled.

"Don't you know who I am? Senior."

According to the old combat doctrines, now obsolete, there are two ways for a hunter to deal with a monster in a small-scale engagement.

One is to target a pinpoint area where a defensive field is not deployed and snipe.

The other is to engage the monster in close combat.

I once told this to the chairman of Jeungmoho.

Approaching a monster is extremely difficult, but if you can get close, there's a chance to do something.

It's true.

If you can enter the arena within the minimum distance where a field can be deployed, and if you have the courage and skill to face the monster inside,

you can kill it.

"..."

I took out two axes.

These two axes, both the blades and handles painted black, are among the few items I kept when I retired.

"Go for it! Senior!"

I heard a mocking voice from behind.

I stared at the capsule and swung one of the axes.

The moment the axe hit the target, two black spots appeared in my vision, like dead pixels, with a slight delay.

This provides two pieces of information.

One is that the target has deployed a reflective field, and the other is the position where the field will counter-attack.

I swung the axe, and my other axe blocked the blade of my first axe, which was aimed at my neck.

Clang!

I retrieved the axe and launched a second attack.

The same two spots dirtied my vision with a delay, and my body moved like a machine, performing both attack and defense simultaneously.

After a few rounds of this, the whistling from behind stopped.

That's not important now.

A vortex that seemed to suck everything in, like a galaxy itself, twisted the space in front of me, rotating its spiral arms.

The time has come.

The monster is appearing.

"Mad! You really woke it up!"

"It's a monster!"

"Run!"

Amid everyone's shock, I calmly observed the silhouette of the monster taking shape in the light.

A long, human-like head, resembling an ancient sculpture.

A Dancer type?

No, a Necromancer type.

The worst is avoided, but it's not an easy opponent.

At mid-range, it would be impossible to approach without trained colleagues.

But I am at zero distance and can engage in close combat.

This already foretells a certain outcome.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

I endured the shock waves that felt like they were crushing my heart and intestines, waiting for the monster to materialize.

The monster turned its head and glared at me, swinging its grayish arm.

The two axes chopped off the monster's arm.

Snap!

How long has it been since I felt this sensation?

The sensation of breaking them.

The feel of it awakened dormant memories.

The dance began.

The dance of death I learned, excelled at, and which is now becoming a lost tradition.

In this dance, the monster is nothing.

At zero distance, where no field can be deployed, the monster is just an old tree waiting to be cut down, moving sluggishly.

The monster, in a final frenzy, shot thorns from its entire body, glaring at me, but my dance had already passed the thorns and was aiming for its head.

Snap!

The two axes embedded themselves in the monster's head.

I could feel the monster's convulsions through the handles of the axes.

The only lullaby that once soothed my endless hatred.

"Is this... Professor...?!"

In the silence, I heard Baek Seung-hyun's voice.

Boom.

The monster, crushed, dismembered, and tattered, fell to the ground.

A white light rose from its body as if it were on fire, and the monster began to disintegrate into white particles.

I took a deep breath, retrieved the two axes, and turned around.

The juniors who refused to recognize me as a senior were looking at me with shocked eyes.

A look of disbelief.

It couldn't be helped.

They are from a different generation.

They were trained and educated under different doctrines.

But they must know, at least a little.

There were warriors who dominated and protected an era.

"Should I burn it?"

The guy who opened the way for me is waiting for me in the cold darkness.

*

"Ah, have a safe trip!"

The woman who gave me a ride didn't even look back, hurriedly said goodbye, and left.

The corridor leading to the funeral parlor was the same as the one for Mr. Lee's father.

The father and son were laid out in the same place.

But the atmosphere was quite different.

There were no wreaths filling the corridor, and no mourners.

In the semi-abandoned darkness, a young and beautiful woman, whose identity I couldn't determine, was bowing her head, guarding the funeral parlor.

I looked at Lee's portrait, feeling a strong sense of déjà vu.

"Lee."

Now I clearly remembered.

That's what he looked like.

*

"Moving to Jeju Island is Lee's plan."

Kim Dalram came to the funeral parlor and called me outside.

"Since you're a senior, you must know why Lee is doing this, right?"

I nodded and recited the theory I learned in school.