Chapter 7: Hongcheon Contaminated Zone
Thud.
Na Ji-hwan, having been dropped straight onto his backside on the ground, looked up at Jin-young with a dazed expression.
“Did you really think I was going to kill you? What kind of person do you take me for?”
“What…”
“Killing someone in a nation ruled by law like the Republic of Korea? And an Intelligence Department agent, no less? That would be crossing the line.”
The words “Didn’t you just try to cross it?” rose all the way to Na Ji-hwan’s throat.
But he swallowed them down along with his saliva.
“What kind of embarrassing display is that for an Intelligence Department agent? Get up.”
Jin-young extended his hand toward Na Ji-hwan.
He didn’t particularly want to take it, but Na Ji-hwan figured he had no choice.
If he refused and Jin-young changed his mind and decided to kill him after all, that would be trouble.
So, just as he reached out to grab it—
Whoosh—
Na Ji-hwan was lifted up by Psychokinesis.
Jin-young shrugged and said,
“Don’t take it personally. I just dislike physical contact with anyone.”
Na Ji-hwan had no time to feel offended by that.
He was simply curious.
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why spare me?”
“Just… let’s get along, that’s all.”
Jin-young flashed a meaningful smile.
***
“Is that all the information you gathered?”
“I’m sorry, sir.”
Na Ji-hwan bowed his head as he replied.
The man in his late forties sitting across from him took out a cigarette and lit it.
A Hunter who, even after awakening, no longer needed glasses but still wore black-rimmed ones out of habit.
Jeong Bo-hoon, the head of the Awakener Intelligence Department and a 3rd- grade Hunter.
He lit the cigarette, exhaled smoke, and spoke.
“Agent Na.”
“Yes, Director.”
“I feel like you’re hiding something from me.”
“……”
In truth, Na Ji-hwan hadn’t reported everything that happened with Chae Jin-young.
This was a first for him.
Since becoming an investigator for the Intelligence Department, he’d never imagined omitting information during a report.
“Ji-hwan. Let’s be frank. That Chae Jin-young guy—there’s something about him, isn’t there?”
“If I had died at Chae Jin-young’s hands, what do you think would have happened?”
“What kind of question is that? I’d go take revenge myself, of course.”
“……”
When Na Ji-hwan fell silent with a serious expression, Jeong Bo-hoon narrowed his brows.
“Are you saying Chae Jin-young could have killed you? He does use Psychokinesis, but his mana and physical abilities are definitely 9th-grade, right?”
“My hands never even reached him. But Chae Jin-young didn’t so much as twitch a finger and completely bound me. And his eyes… there wasn’t the slightest hesitation about killing me.”
“But he didn’t kill you.”
“No, sir. He changed his mind as if it had all been a joke. I want to know what he’s thinking, but…”
“Your skill probably didn’t work on him either.”
“That’s correct.”
“Do you think we should eliminate him?”
“……”
Na Ji-hwan wasn’t hiding it out of shame for being overpowered by a mere 9th-grade.
He was torn about whether it was right to treat Chae Jin-young as an enemy.
The man had spared him instead of killing him.
Of course, there could be some hidden motive.
But looking purely at the outcome, everything had resolved without incident, so there was no need to turn Chae Jin-young into an enemy.
Yet the anxiety that he could turn hostile at any moment lingered in Na Ji-hwan’s mind.
“Honestly, I don’t know. He could become a villain, but right now he’s not. And maybe he never will be.”
“That’s exactly what our job is—to find out for sure.”
Jeong Bo-hoon stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray as he spoke.
“You’re already exposed, so step back. Instead, we’ll assign ‘Imposter’ to it.”
“’Imposter’…”
The unease in Na Ji-hwan’s eyes changed in an instant.
His expression deepened, as if lost in thought.
“She just returned to the country recently and doesn’t have any assignments for a while. It’ll be good warm-up work for her.”
“Are you considering elimination as well?”
“Who knows. For now, we’ll observe and judge whether Chae Jin-young is someone we need… or someone who’ll cause harm.”
***
As Saturday arrived, Jin-young boarded an express bus heading to Wonju in Gangwon Province.
He didn’t have business in Wonju itself—it was just a stop on the way to Hongcheon further north.
Currently, the entire town of Hongcheon was under lockdown.
The reason was a gate outbreak that had started near the Hongcheon County Office.
It was a danger rating 1 dungeon, graded as the worst dungeon in South Korea’s history.
This had happened four years ago, when there simply weren’t enough capable Hunters to clear it.
There wasn’t a single 1st-grade Hunter, and only about a dozen or so 2nd-grade ones.
To make matters worse, roughly half of those 2nd-grade Hunters died in the Hongcheon dungeon.
Not only did the raid fail, but leaving the dungeon neglected for so long caused the gate to go berserk, spewing out massive numbers of monsters along with Creep.
Even when a gate goes berserk, if the boss monster is taken down early, the erosion from Creep can be prevented.
But because there weren’t enough Hunters to stop the Hongcheon dungeon, it quickly turned into a contaminated zone.
The Creep didn’t erode the entire Hongcheon area, but about one-fifth of it became contaminated.
Given that Hongcheon itself is roughly the size of Jeju Island, it was an area that absolutely could not be ignored.
Fortunately, the Creep had stopped expanding its territory starting about a year ago, allowing everyone to breathe a temporary sigh of relief.
Of course, it had become a demonic realm that even high-grade Hunters feared to enter.
Korea had several smaller contaminated zones besides Hongcheon, and there were quite a few Hunters who came and went from those places.
That was because there were materials that could only be obtained in contaminated zones.
Of course, no matter how strong a Hunter was, they couldn’t stay in a contaminated zone for long.
Even with the best gas masks and mana filtering, the toxicity of the Creep would gradually erode the body.
The Hongcheon contaminated zone was the most severe in that regard.
But for Jin-young, it was a goldmine where he could hunt monsters without interference.
‘It’s about time for it to show up.’
It had been 30 minutes since he crossed into Hongcheon on a motorcycle rented in Wonju.
He’d visited before his regression, so he had a feel for it.
The air was murky enough to make his skin tingle.
It was the toxicity emanating from the Creep.
Jin-young had neither mana nor gas equipment, but it wasn’t a problem for him.
Tzzzt—
He enveloped his entire body in a thin barrier of psionic energy.
The rotten stench piercing his nose was blocked, and his eyes no longer stung.
As black, slimy ground started coming into view, Jin-young got off the motorcycle.
And just before stepping into the contaminated zone.
Crrraack—
The Creep-covered earth split open on both sides and rose up, forming walls, and Jin-young walked through the path between them.
‘Doesn’t feel particularly strange.’
The reason Jin-young visited the Hongcheon contaminated zone was indeed to hunt monsters, but that wasn’t the only reason.
When he met his younger sister at the hospital last time, the black tentacles that had assaulted her.
Chae So-young had said those tentacles gave off a feeling similar to the Hongcheon contaminated zone.
‘My chest isn’t itching either.’
Jin-young thought as he touched his chest.
Why those tentacles had suddenly burst out back then.
‘Subspace Storage.’
The moment he summoned food he’d stored in his subspace.
Whoosh—
A convenience store triangle kimbap appeared above his right hand.
The black tentacles were nowhere to be seen.
He put the kimbap back into subspace, but the result was the same.
‘Does it need different conditions? Or…’
Jin-young guessed that it might have been the last remnant, making one final desperate struggle.
‘Whatever. Digging deeper will just give me a headache.’
If it wasn’t going to show itself anymore, there was no point in speculating.
Continuing forward while parting the earth, Jin-young suddenly stopped in place.
Bubble— Bubble—
Ahead, on top of the Creep, bulbous egg-like things were throbbing as if they were about to burst at any moment.
‘Creepers.’
Humans corrupted by Creep.
Unlike “Mine”—mutated Hunters corrupted by Creep—these were ordinary people who hadn’t awakened in life, so they had no special abilities.
But to inexperienced Hunters, they were nightmarish existences.
Of course, destroying them before they hatched was all it took.
Jin-young crushed the eggs all at once with Psychokinesis.
Splattt—
With an unpleasant sound, the eggs flattened.
Spluuurt! Screeeeech—
They caused massive explosions, and grating shrieks echoed everywhere.
At the same time, dark red slime sprayed in all directions.
It was the explosion caused by the Creepers inside.
These creatures charge straight at anyone they spot and self-destruct.
For Hunters 7th-grade and below, it’s instant death. Even higher grades face serious danger if they don’t defend properly.
The most hazardous part is the grating shriek they emit during the explosion.
Monsters in the vicinity react to the sound and swarm in.
Ruuuuumble—
Jin-young spread psionic energy around him to compensate for his diminished senses.
His body, weakened after regression, naturally had inferior sensory organs compared to before.
He couldn’t perfectly replace them with psionic energy, but it was far better than nothing.
Focusing his mind, Jin-young turned to the right and extended his arm.
Rip— Riiip!
The four legs of a monster slightly larger than a hippo, its entire body pitch black, were torn off in an instant.
The limbless creature flailed on the Creep before its neck was yanked out, killing it instantly.
Without pausing, Jin-young shredded the monsters charging from the left, rear, front, and elsewhere.
Clean kills that left the vital brain and heart undamaged.
After dispatching all the swarming monsters, there were a total of twelve.
All were danger rating 3rd to 4th-grade monsters.
But 3rd to 4th-grade monsters in a contaminated zone were on a completely different level from those in regular dungeons.
Unlike areas where erosion is just beginning, monsters in a fully eroded contaminated zone grow twice as strong.
Strong enough to effectively rise by a full grade.
Then what about monsters that were originally 1st-grade level?
They were literally called “calamities.”
It was known that deep in the Hongcheon contaminated zone lurked a calamity known as the “Black Knight.”
‘Is it really a knight? I’m curious what it looks like.’
No Hunter who had encountered the Black Knight had ever returned alive.
That’s why no one truly knew much about it.
Jin-young considered venturing deeper but soon gave up the idea.
He had no idea how far he’d have to go, and he couldn’t push his 9th-grade body too hard.
Even though he was filtering the toxicity with psionic energy instead of mana, it wasn’t flawless.
He could always come back later after growing his physical abilities and mana.
Before heading back, Jin-young extracted the monsters’ brains and hearts and stored them in his subspace.
The trip had taken considerable time, but the rewards were substantial.
‘I’ll have to come again next time I have a free day.’
***
Sunday evening, Jin-young revisited the black market in Yongsan.
It was still too early to pick up the magic stone he’d entrusted to Jeon Yu-hwan, but that wasn’t why he came.
He was curious how the work was progressing, sure.
But more than that, it was to hand over the additional monster hearts and brains he’d obtained yesterday.
“We’re closed.”
As he opened the door and entered, the same line as last time greeted him.
“It’s me.”
“Oh, you’re here already?”
Unlike last time, Jeon Yu-hwan jumped up at those two words and came out to greet him.
“How’s the work going?”
“I was just about to contact you—perfect timing. The heart processing is finished. Would you like to check it right now?”
“Good.”
When Jin-young nodded, Jeon Yu-hwan disappeared somewhere.
He’d said it would take about two weeks, so Jin-young hadn’t expected it to finish this quickly.
Since that included the brain, it wasn’t strange for the heart alone to be done faster.
In Jeon Yu-hwan’s hand when he returned was a pebble emitting a brilliant glow.
Its size had shrunk by more than half compared to when it was a heart.
In exchange, the power that could have spiraled out of control and exploded was now calmly refined.
“This was the most nerve-wracking job of my life. But once I did it, I gained confidence. I think processing the brain won’t be difficult either.”
“That’s good to hear. I was just about to place an additional order.”
Jin-young randomly summoned monster brains and hearts from his subspace.
Seeing a full 24 brains and hearts, Jeon Yu-hwan’s eyes widened in shock.
“Each one is from a 3rd-grade monster…! Where on earth did you get all these— Wait. These are from a contaminated zone?”
“You know your stuff.”
Jin-young was curious how he figured it out but didn’t bother asking.
“Of course. I’ve processed hearts from contaminated zones before. I can clearly see the Creep toxicity embedded inside with my eyes.”
“Can you work on them?”
“Naturally. Removing the Creep toxicity will weaken the magic stone’s power a bit, but it’ll only be about one grade’s difference.”
“And this.”
Jin-young pulled out a wad of cash from subspace and placed it on the table.
Jeon Yu-hwan glanced at it, nodded, and extended his hand.
“Would you like to absorb it right now?”
Jin-young gazed briefly at the red-glowing magic stone before grasping it in his hand.
Absorbing a processed heart magic stone increases a Hunter’s physical abilities.
The method was simple.
Just hold it near the solar plexus and channel a bit of mana.
Jin-young released about half of his stored mana.
Tzzzt—
The moment the magic stone reacted to the mana and shone brightly.
Whoosh—
Black tentacles burst forth from his chest.