Hoarding In Hell [EN]: Chapter 129

129. To My Old Self (3)

The number of scarecrows that should have been there was five.

There should have been four intact ones and one that Hyun-woo smashed lying in the corner.

But the broken scarecrow was nowhere to be seen in the gym.

Hyun-woo wondered if a monster had taken it without him knowing, but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine a monster that would covet a metal scarecrow covered in spores. Yerdan seemed to sense Hyun-woo’s tension and sharpened his senses.

Clang.

At that moment, the doorknob turned. The door where the skeleton was opened, and a scarecrow appeared from inside.

The traces of being smashed were gone, and it looked as good as new.

In an instant, Yerdan rushed towards it before he could be stopped.

“Oh, dear.”

Thwack! Yerdan smashed through the door of the room where the skeleton was and went inside. The wall was crushed as if a truck had hit it. But Hyun-woo clearly saw it.

Just before Yerdan rammed into the scarecrow, the scarecrow slipped away like water flowing.

“Woof!”

Yerdan got up from the debris and barked at the scarecrow once.

The scarecrow was quietly watching the situation. Hyun-woo felt an unusual atmosphere. This was not a normal scarecrow’s reaction.

It was as if someone was watching from the other side of the scarecrow.

Hyun-woo raised his hand to stop Yerdan from rushing in again.

“Who are you?”

The scarecrow tilted its head as if puzzled.

“Who are you guys?”

Hyun-woo felt goosebumps all over his back.

The voice was the same mechanical sound of the scarecrow, but it was clear that someone was behind it.

Just as Hyun-woo was about to introduce himself, the scarecrow’s gaze quickly shifted between Yerdan and Hyun-woo.

“Ah.”

The scarecrow muttered.

“After checking the combat records, you’re the one who broke the training scarecrow.”

In an instant, the scarecrow’s eyes glowed red. Hyun-woo immediately activated Battle Helper [an ability that enhances combat awareness and reflexes] and bounced back.

Bang! The scarecrow’s body instantly slammed down on the spot where Hyun-woo had been.

Hyun-woo couldn’t believe the scarecrow’s power and speed. When Hyun-woo fought the scarecrow before, its stats were only around level 10.

‘Come to think of it, the scarecrow’s level went up according to the opponent.’

That meant the upper limit of the scarecrow’s stats was unknown. After that, he didn’t feel the need to spar with the scarecrow.

But this attack was at least at the level of a level 40 stat.

The red-eyed scarecrow reached out its fist towards Hyun-woo again. Hyun-woo was barely able to evade even with Battle Helper activated.

“Grrr!”

But Yerdan wasn’t going to sit still either. Yerdan’s massive body rushed towards the scarecrow.

If it were hit by Yerdan’s body slam, it wouldn’t end with a simple traffic accident.

Unlike a truck, he had sharp teeth and claws.

Crunch.

However, Yerdan’s attack was soon blocked. The four scarecrows, who had been standing quietly until now, rushed towards Yerdan at the same time.

Yerdan was 그대로 [just like that] pushed helplessly against the wall by the force that pushed him strongly to the side.

The scarecrows all took out their weapons without hesitation and began to attack Yerdan. But Yerdan didn’t just stand by.

He opened his trunk-sized mouth and crushed one of the scarecrows with his teeth in an instant. One of the scarecrows instantly lost its upper body and fell.

‘Damn it. This is not the time to pay attention to that side.’

A hand blade narrowly brushed past the end of his chin. The red-eyed scarecrow was terrifyingly fast. Even Hyun-woo, whose stats far exceeded the average, had a hard time keeping up.

’45… no, it must be around 50.’

In terms of stats alone, that meant it was on par with a 4-star limit level achiever. Hyun-woo was dumbfounded.

‘No, if you can make a robot with such crazy performance, why did humanity go extinct?!’

Even if they couldn’t use skills, they would have conquered a 5-star dungeon in no time if these were mass-produced.

He was reminded that humanity hadn’t just been defeated, but the problem was different if the spearhead was aimed at him. Hyun-woo took out 탐 [Tam, Hyun-woo’s weapon] and swung it at the same time.

The scarecrow tried to dodge with ease, but in an instant, a strong impact was transmitted from his chest.

Hyun-woo had turned his body in an instant and kicked him, as if he knew where he would dodge.

The scarecrow took out a weapon in response to Hyun-woo. His arm split into two, revealing four blades.

But Hyun-woo’s face was full of ridicule.

“Go ahead.”

The scarecrow paused for a moment, but soon poured out a fierce attack towards Hyun-woo. But none of his blades could graze Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo, on the other hand, dodged and 흘려보내 [let it flow] as if teasing the scarecrow, and struck his head several times with the blunt part of 탐 [Tam].

The scarecrow couldn’t understand this situation.

His stats were much higher. But he didn’t show any signs of using skills. But how could he be fighting so overwhelmingly?

At that moment, Hyun-woo’s 탐 [Tam] flew in from an angle that was impossible to block. The scarecrow tried to block it by sacrificing his arm, but in an instant, Hyun-woo’s left hand covered his face.

It was this again. A movement that seemed to predict all of your movements.

Oshet’s six-handed grip tightly gripped the scarecrow’s head.

With a snap, the scarecrow’s neck broke.

“Sorry, but I’ve fought you guys more than a thousand times.”

The headless scarecrow lost its movement, but Hyun-woo began to tear off the remaining limbs just in case.

Looking at Yerdan’s side, he was 물고 [biting] the head of the last remaining scarecrow and 휘둘러 내려치고 [swinging down and smashing] it around.

Compared to the scarecrow Hyun-woo fought, the scarecrows on that side looked like rags.

“Let’s ask again. What are you?”

Hyun-woo asked, seeing that the red light on the scarecrow’s head had not gone out. But the scarecrow blinked its eyes and then disappeared as if it had been 암전 [blackout].

Hyun-woo tore off the head and threw it towards the wall. But before the head could reach the wall, Yerdan jumped up and 확 물어 채 버렸다 [snapped it up]. Hyun-woo was dumbfounded and muttered.

“멍멍아 [Hey dog], I’m not playing catch.”

But the scarecrow’s head was 그대로 뭉개져 가루가 되었다 [crushed into powder] in Yerdan’s mouth. At least he had achieved his intended purpose.

Hyun-woo sighed as he looked at the completely 난장판 [messy] gym.

‘This red-eyed scarecrow came out of the room where the skeleton was.’

That means there’s a path leading somewhere there.

“Yerdan, see if there’s a path leading to another place besides the stairs we came from.”

Yerdan put his nose to the floor and walls and began to 탐색 [search]. But even with Yerdan’s sensitive sense of smell, he couldn’t seem to catch anything.

He thought that might be the case.

If there was a hidden passage here, and there were only scarecrows beyond it, there would be no smell.

“There’s only one way.”

Hyun-woo muttered, looking at the small room where the skeleton 아저씨 [old man] had quietly and peacefully met his end.

“Destroy it all.”

***

콰콰쾅! [Sound of destruction]

It wasn’t easy to break down the wall of the basement where there was no space behind the wall. But if there was a part that was breaking, it clearly meant there was something beyond it.

When Yerdan did his seventh body slam, he finally discovered that part of the wall was collapsing.

To be exact, it was a space blocked by a steel door. It was only after Hyun-woo completely removed the wall that he realized that this steel door was a kind of automatic door.

As Hyun-woo approached, a touchscreen keypad appeared.

[Enter password.]

Hyun-woo didn’t know the password, but he knew the command to open the door.

“Open it, Yerdan.”

Yerdan couldn’t open the door in his wolf form, so he changed his form to bipedal.

Then he began to 완력 [brute force] open the steel door to the side. At that moment, a fierce warning sound rang out. He heard the sound of a speaker turning on.

[Hey, I’ll open it for you. Don’t break the door. It’s hard to get parts now.]

It was still the mechanical sound of the scarecrow, but it was the 말투 [tone] of the guy who was 조종 [controlling] the scarecrow earlier.

“A guy who understands 말 [words]…… 아니, 완력 [no, brute force].”

The automatic door 슬그머니 [softly] opened to the left and right. When the door opened, a clean corridor with a cool 냉기 [chill] was revealed.

Hyun-woo was surprised by the traces of civilization that remained 깨끗하게 [cleanly], as if 상관없다는 [it didn’t matter] with the 난장판 [mess] outside. And he was surprised once again the moment he took a breath.

The air was clean. That meant there was no fine dust inside.

Certainly, 환풍팬 [ventilation fans] and 공기청정기 [air purifiers] were constantly running on both sides of the 복도 [corridor]. That meant the electricity was on.

The steel door closed with a 쿵 [thud] sound as soon as Hyun-woo and Yerdan stepped on it.

Yerdan 으르렁거리며 [growling] tried to open the door again, but Hyun-woo wasn’t interested in that.

찰칵, 찰칵 [Click, click].

The 복도 [corridor] led to a single staircase. A small camera at the entrance of the staircase 명멸하며 [flickering] took pictures of Hyun-woo.

Hyun-woo put his ear to the wall. He could constantly hear 미세한 기계음 [faint mechanical sounds] and the sound of air flowing. It seemed that the entire area was 얽혀있는 [intertwined] with a huge mechanical structure.

‘I have no choice but to go forward.’

The scarecrow alone surpassed the level of technology Hyun-woo knew, but basically this was a facility made for human convenience.

Maybe he could find out how humanity was 멸망 [destroyed].

Hyun-woo 끌고 [pulled] Yerdan and took a step towards the stairs.

At that moment, his vision 기묘하게 흐려졌다 [strangely blurred].

A 일그러짐 [distortion] like 아지랑이 흐리는 눈앞 [heat haze blurring his vision]. Hyun-woo 즉시 알아차렸다 [immediately noticed] this symptom.

It was the effect that occurred when entering a dungeon.

‘Difficulty: Is there a dungeon in hell too?’

He was already 곤혹스러웠 [perplexed] because of the 바글거리는 [swarming] monsters outside, so he couldn’t imagine what the dungeon would be like.

Hyun-woo 즉시 몸을 웅크리고 [immediately crouched down] took a 전투태세 [battle stance]. But even when his vision cleared, nothing happened.

Even the place didn’t change. Hyun-woo was just 잔뜩 웅크리고 [crouched down] in a 굳은 자세 [stiff posture], looking down the stairs.

Yerdan 툭툭 밀었다 [nudged] Hyun-woo with his nose. It meant what are you doing.

Hyun-woo was 당황스러웠 [embarrassed], but he accepted the situation for now. But he was 혼란스러웠 [confused]. He clearly felt like he was entering a dungeon, but nothing happened.

‘Or… is this already in?’

Hyun-woo was 당황스러워하면서 [flustered] and took a step. At that moment, he felt like he stepped on something. Hyun-woo 주저 없이 몸을 던졌다 [without hesitation threw himself] behind Yerdan.

쾅! [Bang!] With a 폭음 [loud explosion], a storm of hundreds of 쇠구슬 [steel balls] 쏟아졌다 [poured] towards the stairs.

Most of the 쇠구슬 [steel ball] storm was 가로막혀 떨어졌 [blocked and fell] by Yerdan’s 털가죽 [fur], but Hyun-woo couldn’t stop a few 파편 [fragments] from 관통하는 [penetrating] his body. Hyun-woo, whose 허벅지 [thigh] was 관통당한 [pierced], 휘청 주저앉았다 [staggered and collapsed].

“This is 빌어먹을 [fucking].”

It was clearly a 덫 [trap] aimed at humans. Fortunately, he could quickly recover from this 정도 상처쯤은 [level of injury] by drinking a 포션 [potion].

“Okay. Let’s do it.”

Hyun-woo didn’t know what the guy who 조종 [controlled] the scarecrow was, but it was clear that he was 적대적인 [hostile] to him.

Hyun-woo 앞세워 [put in front] Yerdan and went down the stairs. After that, the 폭탄 [bombs] 터졌 [exploded] a few more times, but most of them were 가로막혔 [blocked] by Yerdan. As it went smoothly, Hyun-woo’s 미소가 비릿하게 떠올랐 [bitter smile appeared].

The more 고난이 험할수록 [the more difficult the hardship], the more 궁금해졌다 [curious he became] what the 빌어먹을 자식 [fucking bastard] he would face at the end would look like.

And he was 무척이나 기대됐다 [very much looking forward to] the moment he 뭉개놓는 [crushed] that 꼴 [sight]. When he finally arrived at the bottom of the stairs, a 복도 [corridor] with a 꽤 넓은 폭 [quite wide width] 나타났다 [appeared].

철컹, 쿵 [Clang, thud].

And Hyun-woo 입을 다물었다 [shut his mouth] when he saw the scarecrows that 가득 채우다시피한 [almost filled] the 복도 [corridor].

He 점점 의심이 샘솟았다 [increasingly suspected] whether humans were really 멸망 [destroyed].

***

[Unidentified monster 유출 사건 이어져…… [Unidentified monster leak continues…] Is there a dungeon in Seoul that you don’t know?]

“So we have to 잡아 족쳐야한단 말입니다 [catch and eradicate] the person who 퍼뜨리는 [spreading] this 이따위 유언비어 [such rumors]!”

Ryu Soo-ah 소리쳤다 [shouted] into her phone, reading internet articles with 핏발 선 [bloodshot] eyes.

In less than a day after Hyun-woo’s 선전포고 [declaration of war] was heard, news began to appear that monsters had been 목격됐다는 [sighted] in various parts of Seoul.

It wasn’t something like the Red Serpent that appeared on the 강변북로 [Gangbyeonbuk-ro, a major road], but weak monsters like goblins, but they still hadn’t been 잡히지 않아 [caught] and were making citizens 불안하게 [uneasy].

Since the current Seoul mayor was a member of the opposition party, it was a good opportunity for Ryu Soo-ah, who was 달리는 1st place [running in 1st place] in the approval rating, to 굳히기 [solidify] her position. But the monster 유출 사건 [leak incident] flowed in an unexpected direction.

Goblins began to 출몰하기 시작한 것이다 [began to appear] only near Ryu Soo-ah’s 선거본부 [election headquarters] and 자택 [residence].