Chapter 4. Relic, Part II

Translator: Khan

Editor: RED

2.

No one stopped Kim Tae-hoon’s party as they left the large mart. It was not that there were no people who wanted to stick to him.

“What do we do when you go? What do we do?”

“Please save us …”

“Take us with you! We won’t let you go if you don’t take us!”

“Don’t try to live alone, you fucking bastard! If you’re a human, be a human!”

Some were desperately trying to become a parasite clinging to Kim’s back, with some threatening them. It was a natural reaction because it was a matter of their life. However, he showed them no sympathy.

“I warn you, you’d better not follow me. I don’t think it’s going to make any difference if I add a few more bodies in a place full of monsters.”

Kim threatened them clearly, and there was no one who showed courage in the face of his threats. And he did not just end up threatening them

“If there’s anyone who is following us, get rid of them.”

“Get rid of them?”

“At least, attack them enough to feel the threat of death, even if they don’t die.” He made his will clearly known to Bang Hyun-wook and Ahn Sun-mi.

“Is there a reason to do that?”

“We shouldn’t get caught up in the mess caused by a crazy survivor.”

The reason was clear.

Earlier, Kim had caused a huge disturbance to kill the Black Orc, a huge disturbance that would have looked terrible if an insurance company employee saw it.

He had touched the grass. If there was a snake in the grass, it would not be sleeping in this disturbance. The snakes that were now hiding in the city were not just snakes, but terrible monsters.

‘If there’s another Black Orc, then there’s nothing to do but escape.’ Kim, who had already spent a lot of power killing the Black Orc, was in a situation where the fight would be even more burdensome.

That’s why he wanted to raid the police station. He needed a powerful weapon which was more useful than a hand ax or a knife.

Of course, it took a long time to get to the police station. They had to move more quietly on the street of the night and slowly without drawing attention.

It was a cold, frozen body that welcomed Kim and his party at the police station when they arrived.

“That’s pathetic.” Bang briefly murmured what everyone felt.

Kim briefly clicked his tongue as soon as he heard Bang’s words. ‘It’s as bad as I expected.’

The scene of the police station that he saw now was not much different from what he had predicted.

“…there’s no police officer.”

What Sun-mi said was also what he had expected.

“It would be rather strange if people were screaming outside and a policeman stayed still.”

“The fuss would be bigger without the police.”

“Yes.”

It was never good. Kim’s imagination meant the worst scenario he could imagine.

‘If there was one survivor here at least… I’m sure I could use the network in some way.’ Kim did not hope the police station performed its duty. Instead, he wanted to have one of the police officers left, to speak to the survivor.

‘There are contacts in the army, but there are no contacts on the police side …’

In a situation where the communication network collapsed, people have to talk to each other directly, and in order to contact the police network, the current police were needed more than ever.

But this was a clear reality. There was nothing great about the armed forces of the Korean police.

How good were the weapons of the police officers who had worked at the police station, not anywhere else?

The armory of the police in Bucheon City would not be greater than that owned by five or six ordinary people with a hobby of shooting in the United States. There was no possibility of using them properly.

How many police officers had practiced shooting in preparation for this kind of situation?

‘If they’d known this day would come, all countries would have legalized carrying guns, like the United States.’ An unfunny idea passed through Kim’s mind.

“… the army is different, isn’t it?” Ahn Sun-mi asked Kim carefully.

The next destination would be the military.

“I don’t know.” But the situation of a military base was not likely better than here.

Obviously, the level of the armed forces of the military was different from the police.

The number of automatic rifles and ammunition was different, and it was impossible to compare the power of a sidearm with a heavy weapon.

However, the Korean military had never trained to fight the sudden emergence of such monsters.

‘No, in fact, most of the Korean army has little experience in combat, because most of them consider military life as slave life.’

‘It might be faster to beat and kill monsters with shovels than to shoot guns, if they are not at the forefront, and if they are stationed in the city.’

“It depends on who the commander is.”

‘The key is the commander’s capacity. The greatest advantage of the army is a clear command system that excludes mercy and powerful weapons. Therefore, if the commander is excellent, it can produce results more efficiently than any other group.’

“The capacity of the commander? Oh, my God.”

“Then it must have ended.”

At the explanation of Kim, Bang and Ahn sighed with a look that seemed to have no hope. Kim frowned slightly at the appearance of the two.

“You have no military experience?”

Bang had not even been given a warrant for enlistment, and Ahn was a person who could get drafted because she was a woman. It would not be normal for them to answer with confidence in the army.

“Big brother, will I know when I go there?”

“That’s where so much corruption goes on.”

He could not find a basis to refute these two explanations. One of the biggest symbols of the malformed corruption, unfairness, and irrationality of the Korean army was Kim Tae-hoon, in a sense.

They were right. If the Korean army had been rational and operated normally, Kim would not have been here.

“Where did you learn all this, big brother? Did you learn this in the army?”

“I am a soldier, but I didn’t learn from the army.”

Kim found the location of the arsenal, and with a tangible answer, he gave a signal to Ahn and Bang. It meant to shut up and execute the order given earlier.

Bang nodded and stood near the broken glass door of the police station, holding the baseball bat tightly in his hands with his batting gloves, and concentrated all his senses outside the police station.

Ahn began to search the dead bodies in the police station, checking the pockets of the dead, and took out a smartphone, checked the presence of the lock screen and the battery residue. She took what she could use, and if not usable, she took only the batteries.

When Kim started to move to rob the arsenal, Ahn’s actions suddenly stopped.

‘What is it? ‘Surely something …’

She was searching the dead body hard and felt something with her fingertips. It felt like a tiny spider web touched the back of her hand on the way. It also felt like nothing. Ordinary people would ignore the feeling, turning their heads sideways for a moment. But she was different.

‘There’s something, I’m sure.’

She was a doctor whose hands were her most important tools, and with such important tools, she worked the line between life and death for people.

‘Doctors never let things go when they feel bad or strange. Sometimes the feeling can decide the life and death of a person.’

Ahn was faithful to her feeling. She stopped what she was doing to find something that disturbed her and started to look around. One of the old-fashioned bags caught her eyes. Without hesitation, she opened the bag quickly.

‘This is …’

There was a black plastic bag in the bag, and when she pulled it open, a bundle of newspapers appeared. When she took out one of the wrapped bundles and took off the newspaper, she found what was hidden inside.

It was not a normal bowl, but an antique bowl! ‘An antique?’ Not just a bowl, but a bowl that looked like an antique. Some were full of cracks, and some were split in half. She looked at the antique bowl with an incredulous expression.

‘I’m crazy. I came because I felt strange, but it was not gold or money that showed up, but an antique bowl.’ She sighed briefly, and once more her fingertips felt strange.

‘Ah!’ This time it was a little more intense. It felt like something was connected to her fingertips by a transparent thread.

Her expression changed again.

“I’ll explain how to use a gun before we move.” Kim, who had been robbing the arsenal, appeared to teach Ahn and Bang, who had never used a revolver in their entire lives.

“Wait a minute.” Ahn stopped him. “This is weird.” She showed him a bundle of newspapers in her hands.

Kim looked at Ahn inquiringly.

Bang had a similar expression to Kim.

“Ah, I mean …” Ahn hurriedly apart the newspaper and pulled out a white bowl and a glass hidden within. It didn’t seem particularly special either. It was literally an antique, nothing more than a thing.

It didn’t seem like a great antique, and more plainly, it seemed so small that no one would buy it if a merchant asked them to buy it in Insadong. Ahn knew that well.

“This is weird, or I’m going to look very strange to say this, but …”

Kim took out a new smartphone from his pocket, instead of answering, and pointed the camera at her. Before Ahn could react properly, he took a picture immediately.

Snap!

“Wait, wait a minute.”

Kim, who checked the photo, gave her a hard look and handed the smartphone to her.

“I guess it’s not just humans that have changed in this world.”

The glass pictured on the smartphone had translucent letters!

——

[A Glass of Therapy]

– Relic Grade: Grade 7

– Relic Value: Normal

– Relic Effect: Water can be generated to heal wounds by consuming Mana.

——–

The world had changed. Everything, not just people, had changed!