Evolution Theory of the Hunter Chapter 98

Evolution Theory of the Hunter (ETH)
Volume 1 Chapter 98
 

“I’ve never seen his face in my life. But there are some hunters among us who are a bit off. Actually, now that I think about it, there are quite a bit of them.”

w.a.n.g Ze Ming looked at the corpse as he spoke. The dead don’t speak. But I can try to get some clues from his body.

Unlike other hunters, his clothing was relatively clean, he had well groomed hair, and he was in great physical shape.

This was very telling. Because hunters who rely on their skills and equipment don’t take the time to train their bodies – there’s no need.

Why? Because no matter how much they trained, most hunters believed that it would fall short of what an item is able to do. Aside from my effort skill, I wouldn’t say this was untrue.

For this reason, there were very few hunters who had well developed bodies like this.

On closer inspection, I could tell that he had trained for quite a long time.

I wondered if the Chinese government had sent in soldiers like this to hide among hunters and do what they couldn’t.

“What if he was a hunter who is part of the National Security Agency?”

“National Security Agency?”

“They don’t have something like that in Korea? You know…like a covert group?”

“Ah, something like NIS (National Intelligence Service)?”

“I heard rumors that there were a lot of people recruited for something like that…but I can’t be sure.”

“So then that’s one possibility, I guess.”

I don’t know just how much of w.a.n.g Ze Ming’s words I should believe. But I also don’t see why he would lie about something like this. Since he could have just said he didn’t know a thing.

“What are you guys talking about?”

Sooah walked closer to us and asked.

“He said that it might be someone part of a covert group sent by the National Security Agency…something similar to NIS in our country. Since they can’t just send in their military troops. I think they might have sent in some nameless soldiers who will be able to move independently. If that’s the case, it explains his skills as a sniper. Above all, he had excellent marksmanship.”

It was a distance of about 50 meters from where he was hiding in the trees and where I had been shot. It wasn’t that far, but what made it impressive was the fact that he was able to shoot accurately even with branches and foliage in the way. The branches were not still either. They swayed with the wind, making the shot even more difficult.

“Isn’t that a big problem? It could incite national conflict.”

Lieutenant Aram’s face became pale.

“I mean, the national conflict had already begun way before this. Naive.”

Manager Kim smirked. I agreed with him.

If they sent in hunters in this way, that meant they were already braced for an all out war.

“But there’s still something I don’t get.”

Han Joonseok, who had been silent in thought this whole time, spoke up. Feeling my stare, he said towards me.

“What are they trying to gain by doing something like this? The three countries in East Asia had been maintaining a friendly relationship this whole time. So why now? It was the first time since the monsters first appeared that things have been so strained.”

“Well there was the whole North Korea situation too.”

As soon as Mr. Kim said this, Han Joonseok shook his head.

“That was something that we expected to happen. Of course some of us might still be upset of what happens, but since China absorbed North Korea when they kept threatening us with Nuclear bombs…you can’t be too mad.”

Honestly, China absorbed North Korea very easily. But you were to ask me if it benefited them in any way..I’d have to say no.

It was an incredibly small land and everyone on that last was pretty much in poverty.

“Could it be that they are just greedy for land? Isn’t there a saying about how it’s the people who have that always want more?”

Park Hanb.u.m asked.

“I guess you can think like that but….it still doesn’t quite do it for me. I keep thinking that there was a reason they had to pretend to be congenial with our country while they invaded our part of the new land.”

He had something there. Something about this whole thing made me uneasy. Why did they need to invade the new land from behind?

And why did they need to send over 3000 hunters to do the job?

At first I thought they came to check out our hunters on our side, but if the NIS was sending men in as well…the reason must be more serious.

Why……

I put all the clues to the forefront of my mind and thought.

“What is it that China wants at this very moment.”

Everyone considered this and started thinking. Sooah was the first to break the silence.

“Money.”

“Well, I’m in the same boat. Not that. Something more specific.”

“Chet….who on earth doesn’t want more money?”

“Supremacy…..no?”

Yeonkyoung said quietly. Speaking up after being silent the whole time….that wasn’t a bad guess.

I nodded my head and said.

“China has wanted to increase their influence. But since they didn’t want to be in a physical qar, they used another method to achieve this – by boosting their economic status. And the reason they were able to do that…”

I went speechless for just a moment. I felt as if I almost had it.

Han Joonseok responded with a sigh.

“Booming food production.”

“There was a recent story about how there was a sharp decline in China’s food production.”

As if she suddenly remembered something, Sohn Aram quickly intervened. It was something I had heard before too.

And I was directly involved.

“China had used the land around dungeon, which allows plants to grow quickly, to produce and harvest many crops. They began to establish cooperative farms around the dungeon and stationed several hunters there to promote safety. But when the level 1 and level 2 dungeons disappeared, things went south.”

“What does that have to do with any of this?”

Asked a frustrated Manager Kim.

That’s what I wanted to know. This was all speculation.

If we wanted to know more, we needed to do some more investigating.