Chapter 46
“It’s coming! It’s Darkwing!”
“Let’s go!”
Starting from predicting its general direction, Seo Yeonhee and Mason’s tracking began to gain more momentum.
This was because they could set a course instead of blindly chasing it.
The tracking time increased, and the flight path they tracked became longer.
“…!”
Then one day. Mason suddenly felt like he had made eye contact with Darkwing.
At the same time, Darkwing’s appearance began to disappear from that day onwards.
“…Did it change its flight path?”
“Probably.”
It was bad news.
It meant there was no way to track it anymore.
But it was also good news.
“It seems to think we’re a threat.”
“Yes.”
Because it was the same as telling them that the tracking so far was the right answer.
There was no more tracking.
From now on… it was time to search.
“Let’s draw lines with the flight paths we’ve tracked so far.”
A rough search range was set.
“…Namsan.”
Namsan. It was somewhere in Namsan.
“It hit a blind spot.”
It was a misjudgment that it was a monster inhabiting the Itaewon area because it was mainly found in Itaewon.
“No wonder the Forest Guard couldn’t find it…”
Basically, the attack teams used to set up camps around roads and subway stations.
This was because the attack team’s activities were carried out smoothly when the camp vehicles entered, and the monsters also preferred urban areas.
Subway stations were usually flat and downtown areas. Flat streets were easy to move on, and abandoned buildings were good for hiding and nesting.
But Darkwing was a bird. It was its nature to find a high and safe place when building a nest.
“The flight range has been gradually increasing…”
“It’s probably because the patrol range to find prey and risk factors has increased.”
Everything matched.
Darkwing had a nest, and that nest was in Namsan.
There was only one problem.
“…How big is Namsan?”
“It’s just a mountain.”
Seo Yeonhee said in a dejected voice.
“Because it’s a mountain…”
Namsan was a short mountain, about 260 meters above sea level.
The problem was that they had to search the entire mountain.
Without even knowing exactly what to look for.
It was too wide to search with only two people, no, even with the entire attack team, at most 40 people…
“We have no manpower, no time…”
And only two weeks left.
It was the moment when Mason and Seo Yeonhee, who put their heads together, were about to give up.
Andrei, who glanced at the map, opened his mouth.
“I think I know where it is.”
“Where?”
Andrei pointed to the top of Namsan, Namsan Tower.
“Are you sure?”
“Enough to bet on it.”
“What’s the basis?”
“Basic knowledge about birds and… experience.”
Andrei looked at Namsan Tower in the distance.
“Bird hunters and birds tend to like high places.”
“You hunted birds, too?”
“Longer and more often than you think.”
Andrei said, taking a sip of his canned beer.
“Anyway, we won’t lose anything by going there, will we?”
He was right.
Saying that they had no idea where it was also meant that it didn’t matter where they went.
“Okay. Let’s go.”
Seo Yeonhee stretched her long legs and got on the motorbike. Mason got on the back and wrapped his arms around Seo Yeonhee’s slender and elastic waist.
“…Oh, it’s standing.”
“…Do you have to say that?”
Seo Yeonhee sighed and started the engine.
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While the motorbike was running on the road, Mason looked at the street. Abandoned stores, ruined houses, and… monsters.
Especially, monsters.
‘Darkwing.’
Mason had never thought about any monster this long before. See, run, and smash its skull.
He could only treat monsters with hatred and anger.
But Darkwing was a monster that avoided fighting. To chase and search for it, Mason had no choice but to stay calm and collected.
As the old saying goes, one thinks more often about their enemies than their loved ones.
To k*ll Darkwing, he had to understand Darkwing, and he had no choice but to empathize with it.
‘If it’s a monster that doesn’t like to fight, maybe we don’t have to k*ll it?’
He had no choice but to face it as Mason, the boy who dreamed of being an explorer, not Mason, the monster hunter.
‘Maybe there’s a way for monsters and humans to coexist?’
The road to Namsan Tower was too long. Especially for a man with a complicated mind.
“Here we are.”
But no matter how long the journey, it always had an end.
Namsan Tower was quiet. There was not even a sound of insects, let alone birdsong, and thanks to that, Mason and Seo Yeonhee sensed it.
“We came to the right place.”
“Yes.”
This silence was proof of the existence of the monster lurking here.
“I’ve been here before.”
Looking at the old observatory, Seo Yeonhee said quietly.
“It was so boring, but it was still fun.”
“Why?”
“It was Sebas’s first time. All this. It was so much fun to see him enjoy it.”
“Is that so…”
Seo Yeonhee’s tone was light, but the emotions contained within were heavy. There was nothing he could say other than a simple reply.
Mason said with a bitter expression.
“…Let’s search.”
“Yes.”
Time-wise, Darkwing should still be roaming the sky.
They had to find something here.
Darkwing’s weakness, or a bait to lure it in.
Mason and Seo Yeonhee moved their steps.
Once upon a time, there were restaurants and various entertainment facilities here. The observatory where countless lovers have passed. The rust on its barbed wire had turned red due to the locks they left behind.
“…”
The locks they hung, saying that they would never change their love for each other, were rusting and crumbling, but would their hearts remain unchanged?
Mason hoped they would remain unchanged. He wished that at least the hearts of the living would be intertwined with each other.
If the world collapses, wouldn’t humans be the only ones left to lean on?
While Mason and Seo Yeonhee were searching, Namsan Tower maintained an unpleasant silence.
The search, which began from the ground floor, gradually went up to the upper floors.
While climbing the stairs leading to the observatory on the top floor, Mason stopped for a moment.
He stretched out his arm and stopped Seo Yeonhee.
Seo Yeonhee asked with her eyes.
‘What’s wrong?’
Mason tapped his ear and pointed in one direction.
From the direction Mason was pointing at, a faint sound was heard.
The sound of wind?
No. It was the sound of something moving.
It was a high, sharp, and… seemingly urgent sound.
Mason and Seo Yeonhee moved their steps while silencing their footsteps.
And finally. The two of them climbed to the top floor observatory.
Sunlight was coming in thanks to the broken tower.
Seo Yeonhee covered her eyes.
It was to give time to her eyes, which were accustomed to the darkness.
However, Mason didn’t need time.
“…D*mn it.”
This was Darkwing’s nest, and a bird’s nest usually…
“Chirp! Chirp!”
…had baby birds.
Baby birds the size of humans were settled in the nest.
Their beaks were yellow. They were covered in fluffy gray down that had not yet become feathers.
Some had their eyes open, and some hadn’t even opened their eyes yet.
They looked cute.
Except for the fact that they were monster chicks and the size of humans.
Although her vision was still blurry, the appearance of the baby birds came into view. Seo Yeonhee swallowed a groan.
“So it was flying that long distance because of the chicks. Because it might be tracked if it stayed nearby…”
“…”
However, Mason remained silent instead of answering. Not a quiet silence, but a boiling one.
Mason was now enraged.
Seo Yeonhee was puzzled.
But a little later. As her eyes gradually began to capture the surroundings clearly, Seo Yeonhee, too, was speechless.
Nest. She could see the nest. She could see the materials that made up the nest, and the surroundings of the nest.
All of that was…
“…Oh my G*d.”
Human bones.
Just as birds gather twigs and pieces of cloth to make a nest, Darkwing made a nest with bones and clothes.
Their number, at least hundreds.
Countless people were caught, eaten, and turned into a nest.
It was unknown whether they were food for the chicks, or whether Darkwing had carefully used the remains after eating.
But one thing was certain.
“…”
Mason didn’t have to think about it.
Anger boiled up from his stomach. His heart was pounding like it was going to burst, and his eyes were bloodshot.
He thought about it. He really thought about it.
Was there no room for conversation?
Was there no possibility of peace?
Was it a monster that didn’t like to fight?
On the contrary… Was I the monster?
All those thoughts flashed through his mind, and all those thoughts became regrets, stabbing and digging into his heart.
Mason growled.
“Seo Yeonhee.”
“Yes?”
“Set it on fire and get out of here.”
“What about you, Mason?”
“Don’t worry about me.”
Mason reached out his hand towards a baby bird.
The baby bird pecked as if it was trying to eat Mason’s hand.
Puck!
Its beak dug in and tore Mason’s hand.
However, Mason pushed his hand deeper in that state.
Grab, grab.
He grabbed the baby bird’s upper and lower beaks and put his strength into both arms.
“Cheep! Cheeeeep!”
Crackle!
The baby bird’s body was torn apart, and blood and guts splattered everywhere.
Mason raised his hand and soaked his body with blood and guts.
“Go. Seo Yeonhee.”
The superhuman, consumed by madness, stretched out his hand.
Swish…
Thud!
His two hammers flew in response to his call and were caught.
Mason smiled, a b*oody smile tinged with murderous intent.
“Now, Darkwing will want to fight me too.”
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Whoosh!
Flames rose, and smoke billowed.
It was a fire that was lit in the open space outside Namsan Tower.
It was a beacon.
A beacon lit for a single monster.
While the flames were rising, Mason swung his hammers and fists, beating all the baby birds to death.
Only one survived. Only one baby bird.
“Chirp! Cheeeeep!”
The chirping sound was filled with urgency, desperation, and fear.
It must be because of the animalistic, no, animal-specific sense.
It must be afraid of the monster in front of it.
“Screech-”
As if to answer its scream, a loud cry followed from the sky.
‘It’s coming.’
Mason gripped his hammer.
Rushing gale. A shadow cast over the sky.
The enraged Darkwing was rushing towards Mason.
‘It’s aiming for the head!’
The momentum of Darkwing’s claws, which were diving down, would pierce Mason’s body.
Even with armor, it would be penetrated, and without armor, there was no way to block it now.
He had no intention of blocking it from the beginning.
Get stabbed, and hit.
It was an exchange of blows.
It didn’t have to be trading flesh for bone.
It was fine to trade bone for bone, no, even bone for flesh.
Mason was a superhuman, and he had smart cells, the essence of future science.
All he had to bear was pain.
As long as his anger and inexhaustible hatred were boiling in his chest, pain was nothing.
