The President is Going to America! - Chapter 140



Only Noblemtl

140. Slightly scary neighbors

According to Oh Hyun-seong’s common sense, mutants are not something that can easily occur.

They were found mainly in areas severely salted by turbidity, and even those areas were not enough.

This is because animals instinctively avoid areas devastated by severe pollution.

Only when most of the adjacent area is pickled in turbid air, with nowhere to run, can mass mutations of animals occur.

A typical example was China, and so the restricted areas within the country did not meet those conditions.

But not just one, but several mutated wild dogs appeared.

If only one had been found, it would be a number that could be passed off as a coincidence, but in that number, it was different.

That’s why Oh Hyeon-seong thought that this area would become a more severe polluted area than before.

The most likely scenario was that he was swept up in a powerful tidal wave without any time to escape and mutated.

But surprisingly, the exact opposite was happening to them once they entered the restricted area.

“… what?”

Oh Hyeon-seong’s expression changed as he walked through the dense forest.

They had already passed through the indirect sphere of influence where a significant amount of turbidity was felt, and had completely entered the restricted area.

But the further inside I went, the less I felt the turbid air.

It is not a standard for a restricted area, but it is felt that the turbidity is significantly lower than in general areas.

‘The surrounding areas are all detected as restricted areas, but the central area where the gate was created has no turbidity.’

“Senior, over there.”

A rabbit suddenly appeared in the direction Choi Jeong-il was pointing.

The eyes of the rabbit and those standing there met, but the guy quickly passed by as if he wasn’t interested.

In areas with high turbidity, animals tend to become more aggressive and attack people, but this guy doesn’t show much aggression compared to wild animals in normal areas.

‘A place with virtually no takgi… Is that why you brought the owner here?’

The guy who brought Kim Young-do, who was dying from a chronic illness, to this place.

Knowing that his master’s health was worsening due to the turbid air, he tried to bring him to this place where the turbid air was almost there.

Although it was already too late, it was the best he could do to save his master.

At that moment, Oh Hyeon-seong opened his mouth to Choi Jeong-il who was standing next to him.

“You don’t seem as surprised as I thought. Did you know this would happen?”

“Not at all. But I have an idea as to why this phenomenon occurred.”

“What do you think?”

“Maybe… it has something to do with the sudden appearance of so many mutants.”

Even during Oh Hyun-seong’s hiatus, research on mutants was actively conducted.

The effects of turbidity on the human body are a hotly debated topic in academic circles, and a field in which much investment is being made.

However, there were many limitations to experiments conducted on humans.

Because of this, there is little ethical criticism and many experiments are conducted on animals, where it is easy to control variables.

However, these studies naturally lead to research on mutants.

Thanks to this, many papers on this topic have been published.

A representative example of this is that the mutation phenomenon of mutants has a similar mechanism to the natural erosion phenomenon.

Just as turbid air gradually accumulates in the ground and eventually erupts with erosion when it exceeds its limit, the expression that the mutation of a living organism is like erosion that occurs within the body originated from there.

Excessive amounts of turbid energy build up in the body, and eventually the body becomes unable to handle it, causing the body’s nature and shape to become distorted and mutated.

However, humans were an exception to that phenomenon.

Because he died before the mutation could occur, unable to withstand the rejection reaction.

So, unlike other animals, there were no human mutants.

“So what does that have to do with this?”

This is the first time that it has been clearly established in theory, but in the field, these are facts that everyone had already guessed to some extent.

But that doesn’t explain why the turbidity has all but disappeared from this place.

Then Choi Jeong-il opened his mouth.

“A mutant appeared in the United States three years ago. It was an eagle mutant named WH-100.”

If it were a normal mutant, it probably wouldn’t even have been given a name.

But beyond just being named, the guy made history.

Of all the mutants in history, this one has caused the most damage to humanity.

A gigantic creature that easily exceeds several meters in height without even spreading its wings, it is as powerful as an S-rank boss.

Even the United States, known as the strongest hunter nation, underestimated the mutants and failed to suppress them early, resulting in massive casualties.

“A mutant of that magnitude was so unusual that a lot of research was done on it. And we found out that the mutation occurred within a restricted area in Alaska, and that the turbid air within a radius of several dozen meters from where the mutation occurred was completely erased.”

As a follow-up study revealed:

It is said that during the full-scale transformation of the body, a large amount of surrounding turbid energy is sucked in and used to form the body.

“So… when a mutation occurs, the turbid energy is used as a kind of energy source?”

“That’s right. It has been confirmed that especially powerful entities absorb greater amounts of turbid energy into their bodies.”

“then…”

The reason for the current phenomenon of empty space could also be explained.

Oh Hyun-seong glanced at Barley.

Now that he’s fully recovered from his injury, it’s clear that the guy’s level is extremely high.

It must have absorbed a lot of turbid energy during the mutation process.

This led to the assumption that the turbidity in this area had dropped to a very low level.

But after a while,

“Um… but isn’t the scope too broad for something like that?”

As they looked around, they saw that a much larger area than they had expected had been freed from the takgi.

I thought it would only be a narrow area with a radius of a few dozen meters at best, but the amount of turbidity was significantly reduced throughout the entire forest, which was designated as a restricted area.

“Certainly… With a radius of this size, the few mutants you mentioned are not enough.”

Choi Jeong-il also nodded in agreement.

Although barley is strong for a mutant, it is impossible for it to absorb such a large amount of turbid energy over such a wide area.

If it is true that the turbid energy in this area was eliminated due to mutation, there should be much more powerful mutants.

Or even more entities.

“Grrrrr!”

At that moment, Bori, who was walking ahead, suddenly turned his head.

The guy suddenly started running.

“what…”

“Let’s just follow along.”

“yes.”

They quickly chased after Barley.

Although it was only for a moment, there was a strong sense of hostility on the guy’s face.

Oh Hyun-seong, who read him, noticed that the guy wasn’t simply running away or being capricious.

The place that was reached like that.

Kookookookook!

“What… what is that?”

Shadows fall over their raised heads.

A giant snake mutant with its body wrapped around something.

The guy with his mouth wide open tried to swallow a struggling cow whole.

“Woof, woof, woof!”

Barley barked harshly, baring his teeth.

The owner is already dead.

Now all that’s left with him are the dairy cows that used to live in the barn as his family.

Barley rushed forward roughly, but the snake mutant simply swung its tail and struck him away.

The barley bounced off and rolled on the floor.

Although Barley had grown much larger than his original size, the snake mutant was even larger.

A more powerful entity, not just in size, but in every way.

The barley that had fallen on the ground had difficulty getting up, and the snake mutant swung its tail again to crush the guy.

At that time, Oh Hyeon-seong stood in front of the fallen Bori.

“As expected… you weren’t the only one.”

“Key, keying?”

Then Barley reacted as if he was startled.

Since gaining power as a mutant, humans have been seen as weak and needing to be protected.

As a guy who lived his whole life in a rural village, I had never seen an Awakened person.

If things continued like this, I would just get caught up in the attack and die, so I barked urgently and told them to back off.

Crunch!

But the guy saw an unbelievable sight.

A snake mutant whose entire body is covered in hard scales.

The tail of that monster was cut off so easily, blood gushing out.

And that’s not all.

Choi Jeong-il, who had drawn his sword, cut open the mutant’s body and freed the captured cow.

“Senior! This side is finished!”

“… good.”

Kiiik!

A mutant snake with its tail cut off and a large wound on its body ran wild.

The trees around them snapped and the ground caved in as the wind blew.

Choi Jeong-il took the cow and retreated, and the gaze of the snake mutant, snarling with anger, naturally turned to Oh Hyeon-seong.

A guy with his mouth wide open rushed in, filling my field of vision.

“Grilled snake isn’t bad either… but you don’t look like you’d like it very much.”

A blazing heat spread to Oh Hyeon-seong’s side, and his fingers snapped with a snapping sound.

Kwaaaaang!

A powerful explosion of flames erupted simultaneously.

The force was so strong that it completely blocked the view, and the swallowed snake mutant disappeared without a trace.

In the midst of the flames and heat of Sagrada, only unidentifiable, black debris falls.

Thud.

“…”

Bori’s mouth opened wide when he witnessed the sight.

*

“Ah, senior.”

Yun Seol-ha waved her hand at their approaching appearance.

“I’ve been waiting for you, and you’re already here. Did the investigation end this quickly?”

“That’s not it. I found traces of another mutant, and they were leading towards our village, so I came back in a hurry.”

“Ah. In that case…”

Yun Seol-ha averted her gaze.

In the direction her gaze turned, she could see a huge corpse lying around.

A gruesome sight with blood splattered everywhere.

“It doesn’t look like a cat… Is it a mutant wildcat?”

“It was pretty strong. I thought it would be dangerous to head towards the village, so I dealt with it right away.”

A monster that resembles a snake mutant.

It was an entity that even the highest-ranking hunters would have a hard time dealing with, but unfortunately, it died with its enlarged body torn to pieces.

Traces of people struggling to die without even being able to properly counterattack were clearly visible.

In fact, it had a clean appearance without even a single drop of blood, let alone a scratch.

According to Oh Hyeon-seong’s guess, the wildcat mutant must have followed Bori’s trail to the village several times and came here.

It has been confirmed that there is competition between the major mutants that have established themselves within the restricted area.

They chased us out of the restricted area and all the way here to eliminate their competitors.

Only, the guy was unlucky.

Coincidentally, we arrived at a rural village called Changyeong-ri, which had the strongest Awakening force.

“But… why is he like this?”

Yun Seol-ha said, looking towards Barley.

Unlike when we first met today, he looked very intimidated.

“Does it hurt anywhere?”

“Kki… kkiiing…”

Humans are scary.

With that thought, Barley shivered.