When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 80



Only Krnovel

80. Past Relationships

Many people easily make the mistake, but Awakeners and Hunters are not synonymous.

Awakening was not accomplished in just one way, and among those who awakened, there were those who had other karmas besides that of a hunter.

The person who created Oh Hyeon-seong’s dagger was also like that.

The man who is said to be the greatest craftsman in human history.

Since he never revealed his name and little was known about him, people called him Noya.

He created countless weapons since before the concept of relics existed, and in some ways, he was one of the people who greatly changed the fate of humanity in the early days of the Gate incident.

For his time, his weapons were on a different track from other weapons.

Of course, his name is no longer mentioned anymore.

After relics began to appear at the gate, his existence also began to fade.

Since there are relic weapons that each have powerful effects, there is no reason to insist on using regular weapons made by artisans.

In terms of power, durability, and all other aspects, relic weapons that were outside the laws of Earth had the upper hand.

Moreover, he has now disappeared.

There were rumors that he had disappeared because his abilities had become useless, but Oh Hyun-seong, who had seen him in person, did not think that was the case.

He was such an unpredictable character that predictions were meaningless.

I just think that he’s living in seclusion somewhere like he used to.

“…Elder?”

Oh Hyeon-seong looked at the old man in front of him and said.

An unusual old man with both eyes covered with bandages sits on a stump.

Although he had an exotic appearance, he spoke Korean naturally.

“I never thought I’d see you again like this.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Can’t you tell by looking at it? I live here.”

The old man said nonchalantly.

A cabin behind him.

In one corner, there were broken firewood and a bonfire extinguished by the rain, and traces of life were scattered here and there.

“Old man, you’re still alive?”

“Oh, you were there too.”

The old man and Blea, who was riding on Oh Hyeon-seong’s shoulders, conversed as if they were familiar with each other.

“Come inside first. This place is a mess.”

The old man stood up and said, seeing Oh Hyeon-seong drenched in rainwater.

Then he followed the old man into the house.

Although it was a shabby shack, the interior was quite comfortable and cozy, in contrast to the pouring rain outside.

They stood in front of the lamp and talked.

“I haven’t heard any news from you for a while.”

“That goes for me too. I heard you died five years ago. I didn’t believe it at first, but since I hadn’t heard anything since then, I figured it was true.”

“Ah, if it was 5 years ago…”

I was talking about the war to subdue the queen.

This was his last battle during his active service, and the events of that time were widely reported and known throughout the world.

But most people didn’t know the exact truth.

It was reported overseas that the entire unit that directly attacked the Queen was annihilated and killed.

Of course, this included the death of the leader, Oh Hyeon-seong.

This caused even greater repercussions, as anyone who was deeply involved in the first generation of hunters could not help but know his name.

However, Oh Hyeon-seong, the only survivor in the strike force at the time, eventually survived.

Under the government’s strict information control, the fact did not leak out.

Thanks to this, it was known overseas that Oh Hyun-seong was dead.

Except for a very few people.

To begin with, there were only a few people who knew his name as he was a member of a secret unit, and most of them knew that Oh Hyeon-seong was dead.

Since I’d already left the site, it was good that I wouldn’t have to deal with annoying things while I was staying in Changyeong-ri.

“It’s fortunate that we’re both alive.”

“When did you come to Korea?”

“It’s been less than a few weeks since I came to Korea, and I’ve been living a reclusive life, wandering the world.”

“Even if you live in seclusion, don’t you like to wander?”

“There are so many people who really bother me.”

The old man clicked his tongue.

In the past, everyone talked about his downfall, but behind him, it was not individuals but government units that were behind him.

“Is there any reason why you wouldn’t want to let the old man go at this point?”

“You don’t know about my achievements. While you risked your life to gain achievements, so did I. For example, the ring of Rudra you brought with you was part of one of those achievements.”

“Is this the ring?”

Oh Hyun-seong looked at the ring on his hand.

The green trail was pointed straight at the old man.

“It was an artifact that was made for me when I was in India because I was so obsessed with it.”

“This relic… was made by you, sir?”

“That’s right.”

Oh Hyun-seong was astonished.

Relics are special things that are found only within the Gate, otherworldly substances that deviate from the physical laws of Earth.

That is why it can produce effects that make no sense with conventional wisdom.

But it’s a relic created by humans.

While humanity had been using otherworldly materials to create items such as magic bullets and hunter equipment, the ring on his hand was no different from a complete relic.

“Was that… possible?”

“I don’t know how it ended up in your hands after I handed it over to them, but it is something I created.”

The old man said with a faint smile.

“Originally excellent treasures tend to change hands often. You’re lucky that they fell into your hands.”

“Why are you so lucky?”

“You know that it’s a ring that traces the traces of other relics. At the time, the Indian government asked me to recover many relics that were lost during the civil war. Since it was an ability that no one had before, I had to use my brain a bit. It wasn’t easy to obtain the materials either. However, it ended up being completed very well. Even I thought it was a good thing.”

The old man nodded and laughed heartily.

“But there’s a problem. Another ability that I couldn’t control has manifested.”

“If there was another ability…”

“I didn’t know that you would find traces of me by resonating with the work I created. Just like you came to me now.”

A dagger, one of the 13 weapons created by the old man in the past.

Rudra’s ring resonated with him and created a trace that reached the Creator’s location.

A fact that is only revealed and amplified when it rains like now.

“I thought it came too quickly even though I set up shop in a quiet place. I really created a headache.”

The old man stared at the ring and said.

“You keep that.”

“If it’s something that could be such a problem, it might be better to just destroy it now.”

“What? Why did you break a perfectly good ring?”

Blea chimed in from the side.

She didn’t like the idea of ​​destroying a useful relic that already belonged to Oh Hyeonseong.

“It’s something that’s been out of my hands for a long time anyway. If you keep it, at least you won’t have to chase after old people and harass them.”

“Is that really okay?”

“Aren’t you the kind of person who would be easily taken away by someone?”

“Hmm, I guess I know something.”

Blea wagged her tail as if satisfied.

Oh Hyun-seong shook his head and lifted the boy into his arms, while covering his mouth with one hand.

“Ugh, ugh!”

“Thank you, sir.”

Blea is struggling and Oh Hyeon-seong is motionless.

The old man who had been looking at the two opened his mouth.

“By the way, you’ve changed a lot since I last saw you.”

“Is it for the better?”

“That’s right, I feel like there’s more humanity in your eyes. You seem to have become more relaxed.”

“As you get older, you tend to become more relaxed. And the reason I look relaxed is probably because I’m retired. I actually have a lot of time on my hands.”

“Retirement… He was a young man who seemed like he would never stop until he died, but it seems like a lot of time has passed.”

Noya nodded with a big smile.

He got up from his seat and spoke to Oh Hyeon-seong.

“Come, I have something to show you.”

*

At this point, if you were to pick the worst magician on Earth, the answer would definitely be China.

The massive monster wave that began in northern China was so large that it threatened not just a single country, but all of humanity.

As a result, all but a few coastal cities in the southeast were annihilated.

It would be safe to say that the image of China as a country that people knew in the past has virtually disappeared.

In most other areas, severe erosion has polluted the soil and water, making the area uninhabitable.

And that’s not all.

Even at this moment, monsters are pouring out of the abandoned gate, and the number of monsters is increasing in nests located everywhere.

As the hunters who were supposed to deal with it early failed to do their job and completely lost their land, it effectively became a giant monster factory.

No agency has been able to estimate how many monsters exist inside China.

All we can do is vaguely assume that it’s just some ridiculous number.

But this is only the most serious in China.

It wasn’t just that place’s story.

The lands that humanity has not been able to fully restore can be found all over the world, and one of them is the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Connected to mainland China, it is virtually a no-man’s land filled with nests and monsters.

However, even there, there are those who take risks and breathe in the stale air.

Creak.

“We have arrived.”

The head of the special operations command, Kang Seok, got out of the stopped vehicle.

He looked around with a stern expression.

“It was a big deal.”

The interior of the base is filled with traces of fierce battle.

Although it was covered with the corpses of all kinds of monsters, human corpses could also be seen from time to time.

They were hunters belonging to the Special Operations Command or non-Awakened people working within the base.

“While attention was focused on a small wave of monsters from the east, the hordes suddenly made a detour and moved in.”

“This is a movement that would normally be absolutely impossible.”

“… Yes. Because we lost control of this area, there has been a major disruption in the supply of our forward bases to the northwest. I think we should pull back our front-line forces and reorganize for now.”

Most of the military forces are located at or below the Military Demarcation Line.

However, in the case of the Special Operations Command, which is comprised of high-level Awakened individuals, they have advanced into many dangerous areas beyond the border as well as the demarcation line.

It is impossible to completely neglect the northern part of the Korean peninsula, which is located right in front of our noses, like mainland China.

We conduct periodic reconnaissance to check for any unusual signs.

If a gate or nest of a certain size or larger was discovered, the special forces’ hunters would quickly step in and destroy it.

That is why there were special forces-controlled garrison facilities all over the northern part of the Korean Peninsula.

Being located in a dangerous area, there was always a risk of attack, but this was the first time in years that damage had been this extensive.

ha.

Kang-seok let out a short sigh along with the cigarette smoke and approached the entangled corpses of monsters.

“Do you know anything about special species?”

“Yes, I’ve heard about it a few times from my seniors. I’ve never seen it myself…”

“It’s a concept that only first-generation hunters like me would know. Even at that time, it was an existence that was unknown to the world due to confidentiality reasons.”

If they were monsters, they were basically simple, destructive creatures designed to kill humans.

Since they were beings who could not communicate and only had blatant murderous intent, it was difficult to imagine anything else.

But in the past, monsters that went beyond that category appeared.

Monsters with intelligence equal to or greater than that of humans.

That was the special species.

It was a being that was different from ordinary monsters in many ways, such as intelligence, strength, and special abilities, but the biggest difference was that it had the ‘ability to command other monsters.’

Although all monsters try to harm humans, there has never been any unity between different monster species.

“… is it starting to appear?”

Kang Seok muttered while chewing on his cigarette.

The mountain of corpses strewn here was filled with hundreds and thousands of monster species.

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