Chapter 72

42. Paradise (5)

The soldiers gathered.

Their equipment was the same as what I had seen when we met the Chinese.

They were all armed with assault rifles equipped with laser sights and had ample body armor.

They also had various other equipment, including grenades.

There were sixteen of them.

They were all combatants.

The workers were not counted.

None of them were non-threatening, but Kim Pil-sung was especially dangerous.

When we briefly spoke, he mentioned that he had served in China until just before the war broke out.

Right before the war, we faced fanatics, not monsters.

It means they hunted people.

Now, trained killing machines, including my former comrade, are here to kill me.

It's a terrifying situation, but strangely, I feel a sense of calm.

It feels like a dream.

I've imagined similar scenarios thousands of times and died and killed and died again in those dreams.

I didn't tell my neighbor about this.

I don't want to involve them.

This is a fight I brought upon myself.

I don't want anyone else to die because of my lingering attachments.

Of course, I did request support from Woo Min-hee.

Since the Legion faction is trying to find and kill me, I needed immediate support.

However, I haven't been able to communicate with her since the helicopter crashed.

Interference? Jamming? I don't know.

Maybe she's just not answering.

If her long-standing mental illness flares up, it's a plausible scenario.

She enjoys tragedy.

She even creates it if it doesn't exist, inhaling sorrow like a drug.

The more sorrow, the better; that's the essence of her illness.

Despite all the insults, she might still send support.

But for now, I have to hold out on my own.

"Form groups of four. Maintain perimeter security and search suspicious areas one by one. The only counterattack they can make is a surprise attack. If we don't give them the chance, they'll be cornered in the pit. An S-class Hunter is still human. They can't deflect bullets like Awaken."

Kim Pil-sung looked like an experienced commander.

"Don't bunch up in one place. They might have high-powered weapons."

The soldiers spread out, protecting each other as they thoroughly searched every corner of my territory.

Thud—

Footsteps approached right above my main bunker.

Are they heading up the hill?

"Any idea of the exact location?"

One of the soldiers shouted above my head.

"I heard it's below the hill. Search the lower area."

I placed a large rock in front of the entrance to my main bunker.

So large that even I couldn't pass through.

I not only placed the rock but also filled the gaps with dirt.

It would be hard to spot without a keen eye.

My ideal scenario is for them to find one of the decoy bunkers and enter it.

But knowing that my base is below the hill, they persistently searched around the main bunker.

"There! There's something like a vent here!"

Finally, they found it.

I could hear the soldiers moving quickly.

"Right, it's a vent. I've never seen one like this before."

"Throw in a tear gas canister."

The soldiers threw in the tear gas.

No way.

Their tactics can be countered with a single button press.

Pressing the large red button labeled "Exhaust" on the ventilation control panel,

Whirrr—

The propellers attached to the ducts activated, expelling the harmful gas back at the enemy.

"Cough! Cough!"

"Shit! What the hell?!"

The soldiers' violent coughing was the reaction.

"Fall back. Fall back."

The motion sensors started blinking.

Many sensors blinked simultaneously, but one that hadn't been blinking before was now active.

It was the southwest side of my main bunker.

There was no enemy there.

Click—

I aimed my rifle and recoilless rifle at the emergency exit.

Behind the main entrance, I had set up a terminal connecting to many decoy bunkers.

There were thirteen doors.

Twelve led to decoy bunkers, and one led to the garage.

I quietly opened the door marked with the number 5 and ran along the tunnel I had dug with a bulldozer and excavator.

There was another steel door.

I didn't hesitate to open it and aim my weapon.

Nothing.

The sensor was correct.

I monitored the surroundings through the bunker's observation window.

The enemies were loosely positioned on the ridge above the main bunker, watching the vent where the gas was being expelled.

"Throw in a grenade."

"The opening is small. It's like a showerhead with many small holes."

Kim Pil-sung was unfortunately out of sight.

He was standing next to a pile of waste near the front of the bunker.

It wasn't a hunter's habit.

It was a soldier's habit.

To me, that scene was like a profile of the hunter Kim Pil-sung.

"......Huff."

I took a deep breath.

Should I target Kim Pil-sung standing alone behind the cover, or the clustered soldiers?

The former would guarantee one kill, but the latter could take out up to five at once.

One hunter or five soldiers.

I didn't hesitate for long.

After memorizing their positions, I emerged from the bunker and immediately fired the recoilless rifle.

The moment I appeared, at least two soldiers spotted me and reflexively aimed their weapons.

"Over there!"

Too late.

A short cry was followed by a powerful backblast that swept away dust and grass, spewing a black projectile.

"Get down!"

A deafening explosion enveloped them.

Boom!

The explosion hit the ground near the vent.

Flames engulfed the soldiers, and dust and wind followed.

Thud— Thud—

Gravel rained down as I discarded the recoilless rifle and fired at the smoky dust.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Just hit one.

Two would be better.

If I hit three, I'd die happy.

As soon as the magazine was empty, I discarded the weapon and ran back into the decoy bunker.

Thud—

The door closed,

Thud—

Another door closed,

Thud—

The heavy steel door to the main bunker closed.

The situation was back to square one.

Above, the only sound was a strained groan.

They were probably lying prone, assessing the situation.

Kim Pil-sung's voice echoed after about a minute.

"Park Gyu."

The K-walkie-talkie crackled.

"Know that there's no turning back now?"

I didn't answer.

There was no need.

What caught my attention was the new discovery that the sensor on the southwest side, which hadn't been blinking before, was now continuously active.

They were heading to my decoy bunker.

Three of them had entered.

I could see this through the only video equipment installed in the decoy bunker.

One soldier pointed at a cheap camera.

Click—

With a single button press, their image disappeared from the screen.

Boom!

The ground shook, and a bunker collapsed.

Three more were taken out.

If I had killed five earlier, that would make eight.

Now half are gone.

Or maybe more than half, since I couldn't confirm the recoilless rifle's kills.

"Where's the entrance? Where? Tell me the entrance. My men are hurt."

Kim Pil-sung's urgent voice came through the listening device.

Who was he talking to?

"It's the gap where the roots of a dead tree are exposed. I'll check it out."

I sighed.

It was Kim Da-ram.

Kim Da-ram was giving my information to the one trying to kill me.

For some reason, I was now considered expendable to her.

"......"

It's not an uncommon experience.

People around me falling away one by one.

But there was someone I thought would always be on my side.

My junior and deputy, Kim Da-ram, was one of them.

We weren't married, but our teamwork was so exceptional that it easily outshone the world-renowned old-school hunters.

Moreover, I had given a million won as a wedding gift.

Her husband remembered and called me "a million won."

And yet, this is how it turned out......

I closed my eyes tightly, trying to ignore the darkening of my heart.

Rustle— Rustle—

The sound of rocks being moved in the main bunker.

They had found my location.

"Park Gyu."

Kim Pil-sung spoke from the other side of the door.

"We weren't close, but you really have no friends, huh?"

"......"

"Your junior told me the bunker entrance even though she knew you were going to die."

"What about my junior? Don't you think she's amazing?"

I chuckled and replied.

A hearty laugh came from the other side.

The laughter subsided, and Kim Pil-sung spoke again.

"Bring a welding machine."

Click—

"There's no need."

I unlocked the door and said to him.

"The door is open."

I stepped back and put on a gas mask.

Sure enough, two tear gas canisters fell into my area, releasing white smoke.

I coughed, slightly removing the gas mask.

"Cough! Cough!"

Urgent footsteps approached.

But.

Thud!

"Aaaaah!"

The stairs leading into my bunker were quite dangerous.

I intentionally created a height difference to make it easy to trip and applied oil meticulously.

It might seem like a primitive trick, but it was an effective trap.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

I shot the fish caught in the net.

In response, a burst of gunfire echoed sharply inside my bunker.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

The bullets hit the wrong places, even the back and ceiling.

It seemed a dead man's finger had pulled the trigger.

As the smoke cleared, two bodies were visible.

As expected, one of them had a nearly broken ankle.

"Captain."

The soldiers' voices, which had been hard to hear, were now audible.

"The guy inside is no joke, right?"

They were demoralized.

Not just them.

"Wasn't he the one who flinched at the sight of a mutated dog? Who is this guy? He can't be Awaken, right......?"

The soldiers were shaken.

Of course, even veterans would be intimidated after losing more than half their men.

There was no answer to the question.

They were probably communicating with hand signals.

Soon, Kim Pil-sung's voice came through.

"Professor."

He savored my callsign.

"You were the best among us, but you're not Awaken."

Swish—

The sound of a sword being drawn came from the other side of the open door.

"Just a well-trained, well-controlled