Immortals vs. Grim Reapers - chapter 18
Chapter 18. The Hunters (2)
When the U.S. military temporarily withdrew from Yongsan, they undoubtedly left behind a minimal security force to prevent unauthorized weapon removals.
Taking all the equipment was impractical due to time constraints and limited transportation, not to mention strategically unsound.
At this point, their primary strategic focus remained North Korea, not the Gate.
Lopez was likely among the personnel left behind.
While uncertain about the fate of his comrades, it seemed probable they had all become ghouls. He likely used them as labor to secretly move weapons.
It wasn’t surprising that the U.S. military had discovered this and launched an assault.
However, Ganrim Joo couldn’t shake the question, “Why the U.S. military?”
‘Did they just now realize weapons were being smuggled out?’
Gangrim and Wol-ryeong Yu had already escaped, hiding in a villa next to the hotel.
The U.S. forces, seemingly aware of their location, swiftly entered the hotel and reached their floor in no time.
Observing this, Gangrim muttered, “So Han Min-sung’s employer wasn’t our military, but the U.S. forces.”
“Why do you say that?”
“They must have attached a tracking device to Han Min-sung’s body. It’s a logical precaution, not knowing where he might divert the weapons… But why the U.S. military?”
Gangrim had assumed the Korean military was using Han Min-sung to smuggle something out of the U.S. base.
Backstabbing between allies wasn’t unusual. In fact, it was rather common.
But the U.S. military hiring mercenaries to secretly remove items from their own base? This was no ordinary situation.
It implied the presence of contentious items even among their own ranks.
‘Could it really be a nuclear briefcase?’
Gangrim’s thoughts grew complicated, but he didn’t want to drag diplomatic politics into his already convoluted Grim Reaper affairs.
However, his mind, honed as the adjutant to the Supreme Commander of the Human Resistance Army, wouldn’t easily let go.
‘It could be a nuclear briefcase. Secretly bringing a nuke into the heart of Seoul without Korea’s knowledge would cause an uproar. But…’
Gangrim’s instincts told him it wasn’t that simple. Suddenly, he recalled Lopez.
Lopez was following orders from the immortal ‘Elder’ to smuggle out items.
And Han Min-sung, too, was trying to seize these items from Lopez on behalf of a high-ranking figure.
‘This isn’t about nukes. The immortals are involved.’
Gangrim clicked his tongue.
This wasn’t a simple national intrigue.
Immortals were battling in the background, using pawns as chess pieces.
‘If that’s the case, the high-ranking figure behind Han Min-sung is…’
At that moment, something clicked in Gangrim’s mind. He felt certain about who was behind Han Min-sung.
No, he was confident it could only be that person.
“It’s Gerald.”
Han Min-sung would soon join Gerald’s ranks.
In other words, this mission was a stage set to test Han Min-sung.
“Gerald was behind Han Min-sung. He tried to resolve this quietly, but now he’s here, probably after learning about Han Min-sung’s fate. Damn it. This isn’t just about weapon smuggling. It’s a battle between immortals.”
“Gerald? You mean that immortal?”
Rat-tat-tat-tat-tat.
Just then, a helicopter made a deafening noise as it circled at low altitude, and a man leaped out.
Despite the height of over 10 meters, the man landed with a thud and began walking without any change in expression.
Tall with a sturdy physique, a middle-aged man with blonde hair and a rugged appearance.
Complete with a scar across his face that would be hard to forget even in passing.
Gangrim immediately recognized his face.
“Clint McCallen… One of Gerald’s officers. He’s a Lieutenant General now.”
“Is he special?”
“Special? He’s one of Gerald’s closest confidants. You could say he’s Gerald’s right-hand man.”
The problem was that, considering the time he had spent with Gerald, there was a high probability that he too was an immortal.
Wol-ryeong and Gangrim exchanged glances quietly, maintaining low postures.
“What should we do?”
“Excuse me? What do you mean?”
“It’s not often that an immortal reveals themselves. Especially when a Grim Reaper has a physical body. With the current security forces around…”
Wol-ryeong glanced at the armed helicopters blanketing the sky, the armored vehicles clogging the roads, and the fully armed U.S. soldiers before continuing.
“If we push ourselves, we might be able to kill him.”
“…Are you serious?”
“I don’t enjoy jokes.”
Gangrim stared at Wol-ryeong’s calm face with an incredulous expression.
Breaking through that countless armed forces to kill the right-hand man of humanity’s strongest?
Wol-ryeong checked the loading status of the revolver in his pocket while muttering.
“Life is all about taking chances.”
This guy’s gambling brain, I swear.
He’s looking at Clint like he’s some SSS-grade pull from a gacha game.
No matter how strong Wol-ryeong might be, Gangrim wasn’t fond of gambling. Besides, there were plenty more immortals in line after Clint.
He didn’t want to waste energy here and draw unwanted attention.
Just then, Gangrim thought of a plan. He firmly pushed down Wol-ryeong’s revolver and whispered.
“I think there’s a better way than making unnecessary gambles.”
***
Clint was examining the hotel room.
Inside were a pile of rotting corpses and one severely burned body.
The soldiers grimaced at the stench of the decaying bodies, but Clint didn’t even glance their way. He simply approached Han Min-sung’s corpse to inspect its condition.
Severe burns, several fractures, and contusions.
It was a significant injury, but now just a cold corpse. Clint noticed signs of treatment and spoke.
“Is the search ongoing?”
“Yes. We found traces of another person and are searching.”
“Another person?”
Clint turned to face the reporting soldier. He rolled his eyes, scanning the surroundings before speaking again.
“…Hmm. No, it’s nothing. Just search carefully, just in case.”
The soldiers were all specialists in tracking. But awakened individuals have different senses than ordinary people. Clint, in particular, had keen senses.
Even he could barely detect the faint traces, making it difficult to be certain.
“I’ll relay the order, Lieutenant General. And do you have any further commands…?”
Just then, a crackling sound came through the wireless earpiece, followed by a radio transmission.
The captain, who was about to relay orders, instead looked at Clint in surprise after hearing the incoming transmission.
“They say they’ve found and arrested a male surrendering in the hotel lobby.”
“A surrendering person? Well…”
Clint paused briefly. After a moment of thought, he spoke again.
“Tell them to bring him up.”
***
Shortly after, a man entered the room with his wrists handcuffed behind his back.
“Damn it! Let go! I said I’d walk in on my own!”
Gangrim shouted with an angry expression, trying his best to appear natural.
Dressed in his original, ordinary hunter’s attire with his usual neat appearance disheveled, there was no reason for suspicion.
Wol-ryeong had agreed to stay back instead of participating. They needed someone to support him if the plan went awry.
As soon as he entered the room, Gangrim spotted Clint examining Han Min-sung’s corpse. Seeing this, Gangrim felt the urge to mock him.
‘Feeling sorry? For the death of your master’s favorite dog? Well, what are you going to do? That dog is now my pawn.’
However, what came out of his mouth was entirely different.
“My goodness, Lieutenant General Clint, is that you?”
Naturally, Gangrim could speak English.
Clint turned his head. His face showed almost no change, and the surrounding soldiers only perceived Clint’s expressionless demeanor.
However, Gangrim, who had attended to Gerald for over a decade, thought Clint looked as if he had widened his eyes in surprise.
‘He was more expressive back then, I suppose.’
“You know me?”
“As an aspiring hunter myself, how could I not know one of the most famous awakened individuals? I even saw your interview in ‘Gate Hunter’ magazine. It’s truly an honor to meet you!”
Clint chuckled incredulously. His surprising change in expression even startled the surrounding soldiers.
Clint doesn’t dislike flattery. He’s not stupid enough to be swayed by it, but he does enjoy a moderate amount of adulation.
‘If he were the type to hate flattery, he wouldn’t have done interviews so brazenly.’
Clint stroked his chin while staring at Gangrim.
“So my name is known even in these backwaters. So… is this your handiwork?”
Clint pointed at the pile of rotting corpses as he spoke.
“Ah, yes! That’s right. Actually, that friend over there did most of the work, I just finished them off.”
Gangrim told a blatant lie without changing his expression. Clint looked back and forth between Han Min-sung and Gangrim before speaking.
“Did you know each other?”
“Yes. I briefly accompanied him when he said he was hunting enhanced zombies. The more hunters, the better when it comes to catching enhanced zombies, you know.”
“Enhanced zombies, huh.”
Clint mumbled those words.
To Gangrim ‘s eyes, it seemed like Clint was smirking.
He probably thought Gangrim didn’t know Lopez was an immortal.
“Did you see how Han Min-sung died?”
“He fought quite heroically. The opponent was tough, but I didn’t think he was the type to die like this.”
Gangrim answered brazenly. And now he decided to subtly bring up the topic.
“But when we actually caught it, it didn’t seem like an enhanced zombie.”
“Not an enhanced zombie?”
Gangrim glanced around at the other soldiers in the room before speaking.
“May I speak to you privately?”
Clint realized Gangrim knew something. Without a word, he gestured for the soldiers to leave.
The soldiers obeyed without question, leaving Gangrim and Clint alone in the room.
Everything was going according to Gangrim ‘s expectations.
‘So Clint is indeed an immortal.’
Gerald maintains strict secrecy about anything related to immortals.
Even Gangrim, who had been Gerald’s adjutant for over a decade, didn’t know.
Clint also dismissed the soldiers because he knew about immortals.
But his confidence in remaining alone with an unknown person also stemmed from being an immortal himself.
However, he had no idea that the person before him was created specifically to kill immortals.
“That guy… he could speak.”
“What did he say?”
Clint asked calmly.
Now he would decide Gangrim ‘s fate based on his answer.
Before the regression, Clint actually had the power to do so. Even Gangrim, who had tenaciously survived, was confident he couldn’t last five minutes in a fair fight against Clint.
But now, Gangrim felt strangely calm. He even considered Wol-ryeong’s suggestion.
‘Should I just kill him here?’
Gangrim thought of several ways to deal with Clint. Most ended in Gangrim ‘s miserable demise, but Gangrim knew quite a lot about Clint.
With a bit of luck, it might be possible to kill him right here.
Eliminating both Gerald’s sword and right hand in one place today.
‘That wouldn’t be bad either.’
Imagining Gerald’s distorted face made Gangrim’s fingertips twitch slightly.
But Gangrim soon clenched his fist. It might be satisfying for now, but if Gerald started being cautious, the distance between them would only grow.
Now was the time to close that distance.
Gangrim smiled brazenly and said,
“You don’t seem surprised.”
If a zombie had spoken, ordinary people would have jumped in shock. But Clint gestured as if to skip the tedious process.
“Just tell me what he said.”
“I couldn’t hear well. I only saw him talking with Mr. Han Min-sung.”
“…Is that so?”
Clint asked expressionlessly. He couldn’t believe Gangrim ‘s words, but there was no way to verify them anyway. Having lost interest, Clint found no value in Gangrim.
Gangrim knew that if he turned around now, Clint would twist his neck. After all, he couldn’t let Gangrim live, knowing about immortals without actually knowing about them.
But here, Gangrim made his gambit.
“Actually, there wasn’t much time to talk. The battle progressed rapidly, so I had to kill him immediately.”
Clint paused for a moment at those words.
“You killed him?”
“Pardon? Yes. I finished him off.”
Clint’s eyes wavered. Even someone like Clint, who rarely shows emotion, couldn’t help but be surprised at the claim of killing an immortal.
Of course, there was no outward change. But to Gangrim, it looked as if Clint’s eyes had widened and he had jumped in shock.
Clint hesitated, unable to say more. He couldn’t outright ask how an immortal was killed, so he had to speak indirectly.
“The condition of the corpse doesn’t look like it was killed by weapons.”
Watching Clint hesitate was quite amusing, but Gangrim couldn’t drag this out any longer.
“Ah, I’m not sure about that either, but for some reason, it turned out like that right after I killed him. Of course, without Mr. Han Min-sung’s ‘help’, it would have been impossible to kill him.”
Gangrim emphasized ‘help’. It was a hint that he knew about Han Min-sung’s ‘Blood Drinker’ ability.
Clint now seemed confused, unable to determine exactly what Gangrim knew.
‘Lopez’s condition alone wouldn’t be enough to be certain.’
Lopez wasn’t killed by Gangrim, but ‘disposed of’ by a higher being. However, from the state of the disintegrated corpse alone, it was impossible to tell if it was due to Gangrim‘s ability or the result of ‘disposal’.
The only clue was Gangrim’s testimony.
Clint had some ability to judge people, but Gangrim was even better at concealing himself.
Observing one’s surroundings and acting out emotions is the privilege of the weak.
Someone innately strong like Clint couldn’t read the mind of Gangrim, who had spent his life playing the sycophant at the risk of his life.
“What kind of ability do you have?”
Now Clint’s interest had shifted from Han Min-sung and Lopez to Gangrim himself.
And Gangrim’s answer was already prepared.
“My ability is Blood Taker. It’s the power to steal life force and enhance weapons.”