The First Hunter

Chapter 1. At a Large Supermarket, Part I

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

1.

Kim Tae-hoon had experienced the death of many people in his profession. He had killed a lot, and at the same time was threatened with death by many.

There were a couple of things he learned in such a terrible life: how to die easily, and how to not die easily. Of course, he never thought that he would use what he had learned in his daily life.

“Whew…”

He saw the green monster for the first time in his life in the car goods corner on the first floor of the local supermarket; it suddenly attacked him. He killed the monster that attacked him, using the methods he had learned in his profession.

‘That’s crazy!’

And that was how the story of the first hunter began.

2.

Kim Tae-hoon: this year, as of 2016, the 28-year-old man would be 29 years old in just one day, and he visited a large supermarket next to Bucheon City Hall on December 31, to buy washer fluid.

‘Washer fluid…’

The reason to drop by was really nothing, like most people at a large supermarket. No one came to the mart to buy great things. Naturally, he was looking around in the auto section.

But at some point, the horrible shrieks “Kieee! Kieee!”, the screaming “Argh argh argh!”, and the crash sounds “Bump! Bump!” started to burst out in succession.

And when he responded to the sound, he turned his head.

‘Dwarf?’, he thought.

It was a green-skinned monster with a height of 140 centimeters. The skinny limbs and the protruding belly reminded him of a third world child suffering from malnutrition in hunger. But it did not bring out any sympathy.

The monster had teeth that looked fiercer than a dog, and the red eyes seemed to have rotten blood. “Kieee!” It ran toward him, shrieking loudly.

He did not show any sympathy for such a monster. He kicked the body of the monster that had charged toward him as he turned around. The green monster fell on the floor screaming, and he opened the lid of the washer fluid he held and inserted the nozzle into the monster’s mouth. The washer fluid entered the monster’s stomach and lungs, and he stepped on its chest to prevent it from struggling.

“Whew!” ‘That’s crazy.’

And that was the beginning! By the time the light disappeared from the eyes of the monster under his feet, he looked around.

Bam! Bam! Bam! Like dominoes, there was a deafening roar as the racks fell.

“Argh!” He heard the scream of a woman.

“Kieee! Kieee!” He also heard the shriek, probably from another green monster.

The scene was clearly visible to his eyes. ‘Oh, my God.’ It was a scene where dozens of child-sized monsters suddenly appeared, hunting the visitors to the large supermarket.

“Argh, save me!”

“Monster! Monster!”

“Oh no, help me, please help me—”

In the face of this absurd sight, he was embarrassed. He had seen humans hunting humans, but he had never seen monsters hunting humans.

“Shit!” What awakened his spirit was the sound of a young man wielding a bat at the three green monsters which had surrounded him, wearing a Yankees baseball cap and a baseball jumper in the sporting goods section.

“Get out! Get out of here, you bastards!” His voice was rough, but on the contrary, it was a struggle that Kim was familiar with.

‘It’s not the time to be like this.’

“Whew!” Kim drew a short breath and immediately looked around.

‘First of all… let’s survive.’

Something came into his eyes, and he started to move immediately without hesitation.

At 4:11 pm on December 31, 2016, the last day of 2016 started like that.

3.

“God damn it!” Swish!

“God damn it!” Swish!

“Get out! Get out of here, you monsters!” Swish!

Bang Hyun-wook had a height of 183 centimeters and a weight of 90 kilograms. He was a strong man, and he gave the loudest scream he could whenever he swung a baseball bat.

“Ahhhh!” Swish!

His action was never wise. Making a sound while swinging a baseball bat with his mouth open was one of his bad habits, and he was well aware of the fact. Due to the habit, he was punished by his coach, a former professional baseball player, and then recorded 77 home runs in the Korean Baseball League. As a result, his bad habits were no longer punished by his coach.

“You fucking bastards, get out of here!” Swish!

Now it was here again.

“Ahhhh, shit!” He was so embarrassed.

“Where the fuck did these monsters come from? No, what the fuck is this? What is it?”

In his rambling, words that should be swallowed inside popped out of his mouth.

“Huck, Huck!” It was only his breathing that stopped more of the words from coming out. It was a natural result because he continuously shouted while swinging the bat with full power.

If he found another reason, it would be to lie about running ten laps of running training on the playground after seven laps, and then smoking a cigarette that an athlete did not have any business with it.

“Shit…” ‘I should have not smoked and trained myself harder…’

Of course, at this moment, he started to feel regret for his lazy and insincere ways. And he felt faint, even though he was still a young man. The regret he had now is the one people often have before they die.

‘Damn it, am I going to die here? I cannot survive against the monsters that are in sight alone! As I saw a while ago, I will be like that man in his early thirties who was screaming with his neck being bitten by a monster!’

“Get ahold of yourself!” It was not the weird cry of the monster that awakened him, but the clear voice.

“Yes?” He was surprised by the voice and turned his head in its direction.

The green dwarfs did the same. “Kieee?” “Kieee?” “Kieee?”

Three monsters turned their heads in the direction of the voice. Only two of them could see the owner of the voice.

The reason for the third one was simple: the bottom of the frying pan, which had not even been torn out of its wrapping paper, was flying toward its face.

Clank! The frying pan hit its face.

Squeak! The monster lost his two front teeth without even saying anything and then fell back with a few more teeth flying. Thump!

The sudden action of a man who appeared did not stop there. The man stretched his left arm out toward one of the two monsters.

Chi-i-ik! The paint spray in the man’s left hand turned the monster’s red eyes and face black at once.

“Kieee!” The monster waved its arms through the air, screaming at the mysterious attack, before falling on the floor.

Two of the three monsters were on the floor, and naturally, the one left was nervous.

“Kieee!” The remaining one, which now had no numerical advantage, vented out at the man who had suddenly appeared on, as loudly as it could, crying out with a ferocious voice. This meant it was turning its back on Bang Hyun-wook, who it had been fighting.

“Attack!” Bang immediately moved when the man shouted. Once again, the bat held in his hand divided the air.

Crack! And this time, he hit the monster’s temple precisely. The batted monster did not even scream, it just shook and hit the floor! After falling down, it only trembled a little. Deep green blood flowed from its nostrils.

“Urgh!” An odd sound burst out of Bang’s mouth. It was a mixture of joy when he killed the monster which had tried to kill him, relief for the fact that he was alive, and all kinds of resentment.

“I said I would kill you, you bastard! I said I would kill you!”

On the other hand, the man who had suddenly appeared, unlike Bang, calmly proceeded to his next action.

“Kieee…” Out of the two monsters that fell, he sprayed the black paint spray in his left hand into the face of the one which was waking up after the impact of the frying pan. Spray paint was so thick that it drizzled as tears ran down the face of the monster.

“Kii, kieee!” The monster began to struggle, screaming at this unknown attack. But the bony arms of the monster which could not see anything only flailed in the air and did not pose any threat.

The man stomped on the monster’s neck. The sound of a vertebra cracking followed. He stomped on it hard several times. His feet stopped after the monster stopped screaming.

“There.” After that, the man called Bang and pointed to one of the remaining monsters with his fingers.

“Yes?” Bang was embarrassed for a moment. Literally, for a moment.

“Oh, yes!” Bang realized the intention of the man and began to hit the last remaining monster with a bat.

Crack! Being hammered so hard, the green monster screamed, twisted, and crouched in front of a ruthless attack. The three monsters could not even struggle.

The conversation between the two began.

“What’s your name?”

“Bang Hyun-wook, Bang Hyun-wook, my age is…”

“I’m Kim Tae-hoon. If you want to follow me, obey me unconditionally.”

At this moment, Bang was worried for a while. ‘Unconditionally? Obey?’ Literally, for a moment, his worries were never long.

“Thud! Aaaargh! help me!” All kinds of noise, the sound of confusion that he had never experienced before, knocked on Bang’s eardrums, and his worry disappeared like melting snow.

“I’ll follow you.”

“Get the baseball bats, gloves, and bags, and follow me.”

That was the end of their conversation.

“Kaaah!” The appearance of the monster with the horrible shriek, far more ferocious than the cry of the dwarf monster that he had heard so far, did not allow them any more time.