Deep Thought About Hunting (2)
***
Seon Yul had never fired a real gun in his life.
He had been exempted from military service because he was an orphan, and by nature, he wasn’t the type of person who would go to a shooting range somewhere and fire guns.
The only experience he had with guns was firing them a few times inside computer games. Even then, he wasn’t particularly fond of games, so he hadn’t used them much.
But that didn’t mean he didn’t know how to shoot.
Firearms were weapons built on a very simple operating mechanism to begin with, so shooting them wasn’t difficult.
Especially for Seon Yul, who had awakened as a user. He possessed physical abilities so powerful that ordinary people could never compare. Even a large-caliber sniper rifle with extreme recoil would pose no issue for him.
Having roughly studied shooting posture through videos beforehand, Seon Yul set the Barrett M82 on the ground and attached a magazine loaded with ten 12.7mm rounds.
Click.
He then lay down and aimed at one wall of the Absolute Space.
“Phew……”
After carefully regulating his breathing…
He slowly pulled the trigger.
BAAAANG!
Along with an enormous gunshot, a single bullet flew straight into the wall of Absolute Space.
Of course, Absolute Space was a place that maintained its condition absolutely, so the wall did not crack or collapse.
The bullet merely struck the wall, flattened, and fell to the ground.
“Wow……”
It was certainly strange that the first gun he ever fired in his life was a Barrett M82, but regardless, Seon Yul wore a stunned expression at the unprecedented experience.
“But this… It’s more fun than I expected?”
Was it because his physical abilities far exceeded human limits?
Or because of the relief of knowing that he could shoot freely here without any consequences?
Seon Yul felt that shooting was enjoyable.
He immediately prepared for the next shot.
He intended to practice thoroughly inside here before attempting his second hunting method.
***
While Seon Yul was secretly firing guns diligently inside Absolute Space, outside, a man was clutching his head in frustration over the large quantities of illegal weapons Seon Yul had purchased.
“It’s definitely… connected to Korea.”
He was a police officer belonging to the Special Police Unit of the Korea Gate Management Bureau.
More precisely, he was a member of the team within the Special Unit that investigated illegal transactions on the Market.
Recently, he had uncovered signs that large quantities of firearms and portable weapons of mass destruction had been sold to Korea through the Market.
Since the transaction itself had been conducted via a community platform, it was impossible to determine the exact identity of the buyer.
However, at the very least, the Market ID through which the transaction had been completed inside the app was clearly Korean, so it was assumed that these weapons had likely entered Korea.
“But the ID information is completely messed up, the login IP records are all routed through proxy IPs, and now the account is even deleted… That means this is a professional.”
After considering various factors together, the man concluded that the culprit in this case was a professional.
Of course, this was the result of Seon Yul being excessively cautious.
Seon Yul had obtained a set of false personal information online, arbitrarily signed up on the Market, and when submitting his purchase request, he ran all sorts of programs that generated proxy IP addresses to conceal his identity.
In a way, it resembled methods used by professionals… but more precisely, it was simply the standard approach of an extremely cautious, safety-first individual buying dangerous weapons.
“So, where should I resume the investigation from?”
The man looked back over the documents.
It was true that in the era of Gates, social wariness toward firearms had decreased somewhat.
Gunpowder-based weapons had proven useless against mana, and these days, melee weapons were used more widely than firearms.
The so-called ‘items,’ special objects, and particularly ‘weapon items’ that fell within that category were all exclusively melee weapons, making that trend inevitable.
However, that didn’t mean firearms weren’t dangerous.
There were still far more ordinary civilians than awakened users in the world, so firearms remained categorized as highly dangerous weapons.
Especially the large quantities of firearms traded on the Market this time. If someone truly intended to, they were weapons capable of devastating an entire region.
That was why the man had no choice but to continue investigating where these weapons had gone.
***
Seon Yul’s standards were different from those of ordinary people.
The baseline he set was often far too high from others’ perspectives.
But that was unavoidable, as he extremely disliked anything sloppy or unstable.
Perhaps because of that, Seon Yul spent a full fifteen days doing nothing but practicing shooting.
Originally, he had planned to practice intermittently while conducting fishing-style hunts, but shooting was so enjoyable that he forgot about hunting altogether and continued practicing only shooting.
He changed between various firearms and continued practicing.
Since he did not grow tired inside Absolute Space anyway, he spent nearly all his time on shooting practice.
Only after practicing for fifteen full days did Seon Yul finally show a somewhat satisfied expression.
“Now it’s at least usable.”
Having physical abilities beyond human limits also meant that his senses were no longer at human levels.
Thus, users performed everything physical far superior to non-awakened individuals.
They ran faster and jumped higher.
They could even run longer and farther.
Not only physical strength but also senses such as vision and hearing were superior.
Seon Yul, awakened as a user, possessed such enhanced abilities, and therefore, in just fifteen days, his shooting skills had improved dramatically.
By non-awakened standards, his skill level was nearly Olympic caliber.
But for Seon Yul, this was merely the minimum requirement.
Since he had no intention of immediately beginning firearm-based hunting, he planned to end his focused practice here for now.
“First, let’s move the point again. I really chose a bad location here.”
During the fifteen days of shooting practice, he had intermittently monitored outside conditions. Still, very few monsters were visible.
That was partly why he had immersed himself even further into shooting practice.
Preparing to relocate his point, Seon Yul planned to hunt for about fifteen more days before returning to Seoul.
***
At his third chosen location, Seon Yul brought out a somewhat different method.
Long-range hunting using firearms?
Although he had practiced shooting diligently, that was not it.
He planned to think more carefully before attempting sniper-based hunting, so for now, he continued adhering to the seemingly much safer method of spear-based fishing hunts.
So what had changed?
Simply put, rather than just settling into a pathway and waiting blindly, he began actively trying to lure monsters in.
Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle.
Seon Yul busily grilled pork belly inside Absolute Space.
A portable gas stove with a grill plate placed on top.
And extending from the grill plate was a smoke duct.
The duct, which extended shortly to the side, protruded directly outside Absolute Space.
Amazingly, Seon Yul was luring monsters with the smell of grilling pork belly.
For humans, the smell of pork belly grilling was undeniably one of the scents that instinctively attracted them.
But his targets were not humans.
Nevertheless, Seon Yul continued grilling pork belly with an entirely unconcerned expression.
“According to continuously published research reports, there’s a high possibility that monsters’ sense of smell is even more developed than humans’. If that’s the case… they will definitely react to the smell of pork belly in some way.”
On one hand, it looked like an absurd attempt. But on the other hand, when considered calmly, it seemed quite logical.
Monsters’ sense of smell was indeed more developed than humans’, and they tracked humans via scent.
Considering that, monsters were undoubtedly sensitive to smells.
What remained unconfirmed was whether they would react to the smell of pork belly.
But from Seon Yul’s perspective, whether they reacted or not wasn’t particularly important.
If monsters reacted, great. If not, there was no reason for disappointment.
If they reacted and approached, he would quickly grab the spear set beside him and thrust it powerfully outward.
If they did not react, he would simply enjoy the well-grilled pork belly and then resume waiting for monsters with the patience of a fisherman.
It was an experiment with nothing to lose, so there was no burden whatsoever.
Thus, Seon Yul calmly focused only on grilling the pork belly deliciously.
If he was going to grill it anyway, he intended to cook it to his own preference, golden brown and crispy.
About ten minutes passed since he began grilling. What he had started with a half-expectant mindset as a kind of wide-area taunt(?) worked astonishingly well!
The first to take the bait was a single orc.
Snorting its green pig-like nose, the orc slowly approached the direction from which the pork belly scent flowed.
It was even drooling unconsciously due to the stimulating scent it had never smelled before.
Sniiiiff, sniff.
Naturally, the orc had never smelled pork belly before, so the image of grilled pork did not form in its mind.
Instead, what repeatedly surfaced in its thoughts was one of the orcs’ favorite things… human hearts.
Already highly sensitive to such stimulation due to the ‘Endless Hunger’ effect… this was impossible to endure.
The orc quickly advanced toward the source of the scent.
In its eyes was a clear determination to identify the source of this smell, no matter what.
Eventually, it found the origin.
A strange place resembling an unidentified hole… that was where the scent emanated from.
Sniff? Sniff sniff sniff.
The orc instinctively hesitated slightly, but the smell of pork belly continued to strongly stimulate its sense of smell.
In the end, reason was defeated by instinct, and it cautiously approached the hole.
One step.
Two steps.
Three…
Piiiing! CRRRAAASH!
At that moment, a long spear shot out from the hole and pierced through the orc’s chest.
“KUUUUGH!”
It was not an ordinary spear.
It was the ‘Spear of Death,’ infused with an overwhelming curse. No, forged from that curse itself.
Moreover, it wasn’t simply a strong thrust.
Inside Absolute Space, Seon Yul had used ‘Powerful Strike’ in that thrust.
In other words, it was a force an ordinary orc could never withstand.
Grrrrk.
Thud.
The orc immediately became a corpse and fell to the ground.
It turned into a handful of smoke and disappeared…
And thus, Seon Yul’s operation code-named ‘Pork Belly achieved great success.
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