Chapter 21. National Treasure, Part II
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
3.
Kim Yu-ri and Kim Joo-hyuk were staring at the fish-shaped bun in front of their eyes with blank eyes. It was better food than anything else in the cold winter, but for them, the bun was like the food of another world.
‘The fish-shaped bun, how did they make it?’
‘Do they have any materials? No, wait… nothing special is going into the fish-shaped bun?’
‘In fact, it is never a food that required special ingredients or great effort. All they needed is spare time, and they just needed to wait until the machine is hot and the dough in it bakes.’
‘It’s nothing…’
It was spare time not found in Seoul. Now, in Seoul, distribution was being made to survivors, but the distribution was very unilateral and mechanical, meaning nothing more than just supplying energy to avoid dying.
So, the moment they put the fish-shaped bun in their mouths, they could feel it with their heart, not their minds, when its damp and warm sweetness hit their tongues.
‘Damn it… Which one is right, Seoul and Bucheon?’
“The boss will be hunting soon,” Jang spoke to Kim Joo-hyuk and Kim Yu-ri, who were skeptical about the organization.
“Then you two will be watching the boss’s hunt.”
‘Observing?’ When the unexpected word appeared, the eyes of the two changed. ‘He’s just going to show us? What is his purpose?’
It was because they could not understand the reason why the word ‘watching” came out.
“You can report to your boss after you watch him hunt it, and of course you can’t interfere with his hunting, or make a fuss.”
However, Jang’s explanation led them to understand the situation.
‘An opportunity.’ And observation was what they wanted.
They saw Kim Tae-hoon win a light victory against Oh Se-bum, but it was only a test. They could see a few cards each had, but they could not know how he really fought with the cards.
The test itself was too easy. It was Kim’s one-sided victory. The information that could be obtained in such a battle was bound to be fragmentary.
It was quite different fighting monsters and fighting against people. What Lieutenant Colonel Yoo wanted to know now was Kim’s ability against monsters.
Now came a chance to see it.
‘What do we do?’ It was a golden chance. ‘I should see it, but…’
They were rather suspicious.
‘What secret designs does he have? Maybe he has other intentions?’
‘If someone has a bundle of fifty-dollar bills in front of him or her, it is common to look around rather than pick them up.’
The situation of Kim Yu-ri and Kim Joo-hyuk was similar to that situation.
“Oh, this isn’t a request for cooperation or anything.” Jang Sung-hoon did not give them anything to worry about.
“You must attend, and if you refuse, you will be forced to watch under control, and if you refuse to speak, we will bind your limbs and carry you with diapers. As for me, I don’t want to add a new experience of wearing adult diapers to my life page.”
4.
“Get on board! Get on board!”
“Depart!”
The black-clad and raincoated men left the place after loading the monsters’ bodies into trucks with unceasing vigor.
The bodies in the truck immediately went into butchering. They cut their chests open and collected the monster stones. The whole process was done quickly.
‘Everything is done in real time.
‘I think I’m looking at the parts of a clock.’
Kim Yu-ri and Kim Joo-hyuk’s eyes, looking at this rapid work, were moving without hesitation.
They had been through all sorts of hardships. Nevertheless, everything they saw was amazing.
‘They are not Awakeners, but they can work this fast?’
Everything was amazing from the start. Kim Tae-hoon said he would go hunting alone, and instead recruited a processing team to handle the monster carcasses. The recruitment was done in the form of receiving applicants, and everyone rushed to apply.
‘They applied with a smile when they were recruiting applicants.’
Even the applicants were ordinary people, who pissed their pants at a monster’s growl. It was a scene that Kim Yu-ri and Kim Joo-hyuk had never imagined.
Their eyes could not stop. It was Kim Tae-hoon coming down from the sky that stopped their eyes.
‘Ah…’ At the moment of seeing him, they came up to him, who had blocked a group of Mini Bears that appeared in the crowd a little while ago.
A Mini Bear was a red grade, with an appearance similar to that of a bear, but the size of its body was small enough to be a wolf. But the power and the ferocity was greater than a bear. They were in groups, and sometimes they rushed at the orange-grade monsters!
Therefore, it was crazy to see that he blocked the twenty Mini Bears.
Even the drivers inside tanks become pale when they saw the Mini Bears running, so what did they need to explain?
However, in front of the rush, Kim Tae-hoon did not panic but turned twenty Mini Bears into dead bodies with a single quick glance.
Only after a featherless arrow returned to the leather pocket of Kim’s waist after all the killing finished, and did they see that it was a weapon used by Kim.
‘Monster.’
The bodies of the two began to tremble, reminding themselves of the power of a secretive arrow, with more powerful penetration than guns, and results any modern weapon could not ever produce.
‘If he had fought with the relic in his hand… Oh Se-bum would not have been able to make any attempt.’
At the same time, they also learned that Kim’s ability to hunt monsters was at a level incomparably beyond Major Oh.
Oh was definitely strong.
With his B+ Rank’s Energy, he had beaten the orange-grade monster with his bare fists at the beginning, and after being armed with the relics secured by the National Museum of Korea and the Capital Defense Command, he was able to deal with the yellow-grade monsters alone.
Furthermore, when the Capital Defense Command hunted a White High-footed Spider of green-grade, a giant spider with ten legs, he had jumped out of a combat helicopter and thrown the finishing blow to its huge body.
Therefore, Oh was hope. He showed that humans could fight hard and stand against a terrifying monster.
‘He is in another dimension’
But Kim was different from that. Fighting hard, resisting… it was not such a fierce battle that he showed.
It was a one-sided hunt.
Therefore, they tried to deny their feelings at this moment.
‘We can kill a red-grade monster with a gun.’
‘A Mini Bear is fierce and strong, but a platoon armed with firearms is enough to deal with them.’
If they admitted the existence of Kim here, the miserable days they had been through would be useless. So the two tried to undermine the presence imprinted on their brains.
“Be careful of the fear.” Kim gave the two short notice.
“Yes?”
“What do you mean?”
They made a retort at short notice, but Kim did not answer.
Kaaahh!
Instead, a Huge Bear, as opposed to a Mini Bear, roared fiercely.
It was the appearance of a chameleon bear, whose skin color changed according to the color around it.
‘Yellow-grade!’
‘Oh, my God!’
Their body froze under the fear that the monster was hurling.
On the contrary, Kim did not move himself.
Tsreung!
What moved was the Sword of the Imperator that Kim carried on his back.
5.
March 18.
The weather was beginning to warm up a little, but the desolation of Gimpo International Airport remained, and the damage that had been hidden was more apparent when the snow melted down.
A group of people were in this desolate place. They were like wolves, tense, wary, and alertness. Only one man in the center of the group was in a completely different mood from the wolves. His plump cheeks, framing a nose that looked to have been smashed flat, did not belong to a wolf.
“Is today the date of the appointment? Why isn’t he here?”
The man’s name was Lee Dong-seok. He was not a soldier or an Awakener, he was an expert at the National Museum of Korea who was brought to negotiate with Kim Tae-hoon today.
“He’s coming.”
And so Kim Tae-hoon was. There was Jang Sung-hoon, who was brought to negotiate along with Kim, who had appeared at the end of the runway.
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo, confirmed the existence of the two, and began to twist his mouth. It was not because he hated Kim.
‘He knows where the sniper is.’
The problem was that the direction Kim was coming from was the direction of a sniper in place. It was a signal, “I know the location of the sniper, so do not do anything wrong.”
“He’s more of a monster.”
It was, frankly, hard to understand.
Even if Kim was the world’s best specialist in that area, it was not common sense to immediately grasp the position of a sniper who was deployed a day ago.
Of course, it was clear proof. It was clear evidence that in this age a common sense did not work anymore.
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo gave a signal to his men.
The men who received the signal immediately began to wave the white flag. If it had been before, he would have simply sent a message through a walkie-talkie, but now it was impossible.
Soon Kim and Lieutenant Colonel Yoo faced each other again.
“What result?”
“We’ve decided to accept your offer.”
There was no greeting. Both of them were not the kind of people who wasted words like greetings.
“We’ll give you a mission, and if you do it, we’ll pay for it. The pay is a relic.”
“This is our wish list. I’ll only get what’s on the wish list.”
At the same time, they said only what they had to say. The two of them looked at each other. Of the two who had no facial expressions, it was Lieutenant Colonel Yoo’s brow that wrinkled first. He frowned and motioned to Lee Dong-seok.
Lee went over to Kim, fixing the round glasses that he was wearing.
“I want to know what you want first.”
“Oh, this one.”
Jang, who was behind Kim, came out immediately. He immediately pulled out a box. It wasn’t a box that looked like a paper box, but it looked like a souvenir box that small walnut-flavored cakes were put in. In addition, on the cover of the box, a mysterious animal with an elephant-like nose was painted with a brush.
Lee put his head a little to one side.
“It’s a gift. The Mac Guild decided to produce a small walnut-flavored cake. The animal here is Mac. It is our Guild Mascot. Of course, it is not just a small walnut-flavored cake. We put in some of the monster ingredients. It’s a delicious restorative. I bet you, if we start mass production, it would be a worldwide hit.”
At the following explanation of Jang, Lee still had his incomprehensible expression, and the frown in the middle of Lieutenant Colonel Yoo’s forehead now matched his mouth.
‘A small walnut-flavored cake…’
He had received a small walnut-flavored cake as a gift several times.
But at this age, he got a small walnut-flavored cake as a gift?
Even a small walnut-flavored cake made with some of the monster ingredients which made healing possible?
It was unimaginable. He couldn’t afford to imagine it.
‘I’ll have to hear from them, what the hell is going on in Bucheon City.’
Therefore, the small walnut-flavored cake that Jang put out was like a punch more intense than anything else. It was a punch that drove them out of their mind. But a really strong punch flew right behind it.
“This is our wish list.”
Jang handed Lee a folded, crumpled bunch of paper. Inside were three sheets of A4 paper, the letters filled out with ballpoint pens.
Lee began to read the letters and immediately shouted in awe, “These are all national treasures, aren’t they?”
“No!”
“What are you talking about? Golden Crown! Golden Belt! Horse Figure Type Earthenware! The Stone Statute of Mireuk Buddha! Bell of King Seongdeok! They are all national treasures!”
“Danwon Pungsokdo Cheop is a treasure.”
“Well, it’s-”
“For reference, The King Muryeong set is all the items from the Tomb of King Muryeong. I’m referring to all the things that came out of the King Muryeong, and the Foot Stand of King Muryeong, as well as the Pillow of the Queen of King Muryeong.”
“Crazy!” Lee made a rough sound at this ridiculous wish list. His tone was rough. “Just ask for the entire National Museum!”
“Hmm? Is that possible?”
“What are you talking about? All of the items are on display at the National Museum of Korea!”
“Hunminjeongeum, Gilt-bronze Triad Buddha Statue of Gyemimyeong, and Celadon Inlaid Cloud Crane Vase are in the Gansong Museum of Art. When did they go to the National Museum of Korea? Oh, my God, I could not put it in. I forgot Geumgang Naisan in Gyumjae. Can I have the wish list for a minute? I’ll write a few more.”
Lee turned his head to look at Lieutenant Colonel Yoo as if he did not want to deal with Jang anymore. Then he mouthed silently, “These bastards are nuts!”
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo no longer frowned at the words. He glared at Kim with a dull expression.
“You’re the one who offered to negotiate, but from our perspective of the situation, you’re not going to agree to the deal.”
A national treasure was not just a national treasure. It was a treasure that the nation of Korea had set to protect its identity and history. Among the things on the list, those that were not national treasures were also comparable to national treasures.
The relics with options had amazing powers, and even if they were relics without options, they were things that could not be given to anyone as long as the Republic of Korea existed. They were things that could not be traded.
In other words, Kim had no will to negotiate since he asked for something that they could not give.
“I think it’s meaningful to get at least a national treasure as a reward, because it is a job that not a man, but thousands, or tens of thousands of people should do, risking their lives, in a world that is full of monsters.”
However, Kim was serious.
“That’s ridiculous.”
“If that sounds ridiculous, I’ll negotiate with someone else.” With his serious expression, he attacked Lieutenant Colonel Yoo with a fatal blow.
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo’s expression was cold. He stared at Kim as if he were a beast who had stabbed his heart.
Kim did not avoid his eyes. Rather, he said with a more intense gaze, “All we’re getting is on the list, and all you do is get the job that’s right for us.”
“… Major Kim Tae-hoon has changed a lot.”
Kim did not answer, because what he wanted to hear was not that kind of talk.
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo did not keep talking at once. He thought for a moment, then slowly spoke. “There is an important figure in Incheon City, and if you rescue the figure, we can pay a national treasure.”
“I will definitely receive one of the national treasures as a reward, and I will take it somehow after I have completed my duties.”
The negotiations began.