Volume 1 – The Hyena that dreams of retirement

Chapter 1

After escaping the dangers of the Nadon, we passed the shrine and climbed up towards Lee Soo. It was a road filled with dangers, but Hyenas knew how to go around while hiding. Sometimes we squat around near the shadows of buildings, sometimes we walk around in sewers.

The dirty, smelly, and wet sewers fit well with Hyenas. We feel secure underground and in the past 10 years, I have come to understand why rats commute through them.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that the sewers are completely safe.

Rummbbleee.

There was a bright light being emitted inside the dark sewers. An armor-piercing projectile was shot through from above us.

– Slowly, slowly.

I calmly instructed my team members.

Attached to the projectile were unpleasant monsters that lived in the sewers. Thankfully, they weren’t existences with shields that were rank 6 or above. Any monster with shields could only be dealt with by Hunters.

These monsters were of the lowest rank 9. Sadly, we Hyenas were no match for them because we didn’t have special abilities.

There could be a huge genocide upon us if the positions in a team falls apart from here. Even if I say they’re just rank 9 monsters of the lowest rank, the problem is that we Hyenas can’t fight against them.

“Hey Captain! This is getting dangerous!”, said the monster butcher who followed us on this trip. Crazy bastard.

Seoul is a hunting ground. If you come to Seoul, you need to be prepared to die at anytime. Did he think he was coming on a picnic?

Instead of answering, I turned and aimed the muzzle of my gun at the guy.

“HEeeeuuaaaakkkk!”

As the butcher shrieked in fright, I pulled the trigger without hesitation.

Ta da dang!

The monster that was about to bite the butcher into shreds, fell backwards. As it fell into the contaminated water, some of the water splashed out.

If you’re bitten even once by these things that looked similar to Lamprey, they will greedily suck your blood dry. Like the Brown Rat, they were one of the least welcomed for Hyenas hiding in the sewers.

“Stick closely if you don’t want to die.”

I stepped on the monster that was still squirming around and finished it off with my gun.

Ta da da dang!

The sound of gunshots were ringing because we were in the sewers.

“Huuukk!!”

The butcher next to me seemed to be frozen, so I smacked him in the face.

Smack!

“Hey, the one who wanted to come on this trip was you. At any rate, this is why I don’t bring punk ass quiet butchers’ out from the city. Even if the product gets a little damaged, we’re probably better off doing what we’ve been doing.”

As I was letting out my frustrations, the vice captain replied back to me.

“Please don’t say too much captain. He’s a butcher known for his workmanship in Ansan.”

“Why is a person like that following us Hyenas then.”

“He seems to have borrowed  money from Dae-Gun-Bang.”

Dae-Gun-Bang is a well known Chinese organization in Ansan.

After the fall of Seoul, Ansan grew to become a huge city. The influx of Chinese people as well as the migration of people from Seoul  down to Ansan, led to their population being 15 million strong.

And these people made a drug using the by-product of monsters. Even Heroin was laughable when compared to this drug. This drug truly showed heaven for a couple of years, and then killed off the person using it.

Part of the advantages of working in industrial companies such an Banwul and Shihwa was that you were allowed to take these drugs.

Ansan has currently become the international hub for monster by-products. More than half of the citizens there are made up of foreigners.

Ta da da da da da dang!

The sound of gunshots can be heard like the climax of an orchestra, and as if nothing happened, it was again silent.

“Hyuuuu…….”

Someone let loose a deep sigh. How many times will these sighs, filled with the sense of being alive,  repeat before we make it back home?

“Let’s continue moving forward.”

I didn’t want to stay in this smelly sewer anymore.

*     *     *     *

“This is impossible! Let’s go back! We have to go back.”

The butcher noisily said. He was pretty quiet ever since we got out of the sewers, but once we reached our destination, he was making a fuss. It didn’t help to see that the monster corpse we came to work on, was surrounded and getting eaten by other monsters.

“I didn’t think things were going to be like this!”

I lightly smacked this idiotic guy.

“Shhhh, how can you think that this world will work just the way you want it to. We’re not telling you to fight so stay calm.”

“No way? You can’t possibly be planning on fighting those monsters are you? You guys are Hyenas! Are you guys crazy? You guys aren’t Hunters!”

“Did you know?”

“Did I know what?”

“In order to steal, eat, and survive, Hyenas will even go up against a pack of lions.”

Of course, there are plenty of times where one alpha lion chases away a pack of hyenas, but the important thing is that a pack of hyenas can also chase away the lions.

“You’re insane!”

I shoved the muzzle of my gun into the mouth of the butcher who was about to say more.

“Eup! Eup! Eup!”

Guys like these are a real pain in the ass, acting up like this when he obviously knows that we’re nothing more than dung flies.

“I told you to behave. And you said we’re crazy? you’re right. Madness is what gives us strength. If we weren’t crazy, how can anyone without special abilities come to a place like Seoul?”

“Everyone is going to die. It’s shocking to see that you guys who are nothing but dung flies, are going to fight those monsters.”

The butcher went quiet after saying those final words. He knew that the 3 monsters feeding on our corpse was on a different level from the Lamprey like monster that we fought off in the sewers.

Any who, I didn’t object to anything the monster butcher said and lost interest in him. Instead, I grabbed a competent team member and walked forward.

The monsters we needed to get rid of was called the Pangolin, a rank 7 monster. It was similar to the real Pangolin because it’s whole body was covered in scale like armor.

However, the size of it was similar to a rhinoceros and wasn’t something to be trifled with. Hence the reason why the butcher wanted to give up on the goal and head back home.

One reason why we couldn’t give up was because the Pangolin was a monster that thankfully didn’t have a shield that was rank 6 or above. Not only that, but info charge for the goal of this expedition cost us a great fortune. If we don’t take even one thing back we can’t make our ends meet.

The corpse we came to get is the size of an elephant. A Hunter seems to have killed it and only took out its core. Although the value of it now dropped and has long been abandoned by the Hunter, the by-products from it are still much needed by us Hyenas. It would be amazing if we could tidy up well and take it back with us.

Besides, how hard was it coming up to Lee Soo without a fucking mate. That’s why, even if the opponent is a Pangolin, we will choose to fight it as long as there is a know how. And I have a secret way of handling Pangolin’s that no other Hunter or Hyena teams know of.

There were some old-times in my party that immediately started setting up new equipment the moment they saw the Pangolins. It was a no recoil, portable M4.

“We’re ready Captain.”

“Aim and fire away.”

Soon the sounds of gunpowder could be heard as shots flew towards the Pangolins, eating away at the corpse. We hit all 3 of them in succession.

There were no explosive sounds like Kwang!!, because what we fired just now weren’t bombs. The moment the shots hit their target, a mysterious liquid exploded forth and covered the Pangolins.

The slightly surprised monsters found our location, and violently ran toward us.

KKUUUUUEEEEKKKKK!

Their voices sounded furious. I was still calm though, even as these 3 rhinoceros sized monsters ran towards me. Sadly, this fight was already over.

“Get ready to fire!”

I raised my hand in the air. The butcher started going off on his rant again.

“Crazy! You’re absolutely crazy! To cover the Pangolins with a weird liquid and  now getting ready to shoot! It’s useless against these monsters!”

Did this guy’s wife cheat on him or something? Why is he always so negative.

“Whichever shooter is ready first, shoot!”

Ta da da da dang! Ta da dang!

Ta da da dang! Ta da da da dang! Ta da dang! Tang! Tang!

The sound of these shots were way too loud. At this point, I wasn’t worried about the Pangolins, but worried that the sound may attract other monsters to our vicinity.

Fortunately, the density of the monsters wasn’t too high. If it was, normal people like us couldn’t even dream of infiltrating all the way up to Lee Soo.

.Ta da da da dang!

As the bullets paraded down on the rushing Pangolins, their movements were becoming noticeably dull. 1 of them even began to stumble.

The butcher was shocked.

“No way! How could! Normal bullets! Did you use a special bullet or something?”

“Nope, where would you find something like that? Even if there were, it would be too expensive for Hyenas like us.”

“Then how!!”

“If you have a head, try using it. Before we started firing, we shot them with a liquid.”

I stopped talking from there and started shooting.

Ta da da da dang!

KUUUEEEEKKK!

All 3 of the loud Pangolins that were rushing toward us, were now rolling around on the ground. They were 5 meters away from my team. Thanks to them, it felt like a giant wall was formed in front of us.

“What the hell…….”

The butcher was so shocked, he couldn’t keep his mouth from opening.

“What do you mean what the hell, this means you have more work to do now.”

Chapter 1 – End.