Chapter 54
Politics is the authoritative distribution of social values.
In other words, a fight over resources.
That’s why politics never stops.
Even in times like these, it continues.
— Awakening drugs! Just one, please! I beg you!
— Let us protect ourselves!
— Distribute the awakening drugs! Distribute them now!
Civilians who wanted to survive demanded the drugs.
— Awakeners should be fighting the monsters, but they’ll just grab their families and run.
— There’s no guarantee they won’t turn into raiders themselves.
— It’s better to awaken the special forces instead.
The military wanted to monopolize force.
— What do you mean a gate is opening in clear skies?!
— We can’t abandon the capital! Who will take responsibility?!
— It’s better to fortify Uijeongbu and defend it!
— The gate is about to open! Fall back, damn it!
I wanted a swift retreat.
Political maneuvering locked into place.
— Citizens, this is National Assemblyman Han Seung-Moon. I will be direct. Seoul is in danger. The military is aware, and for the safety of the people…
I stepped forward to calm the public.
— All stock has been handed over to the Military Logistics Support Corps.
— …You didn’t actually give them everything, right?
— Kept 25 extras in the bag.
— Good job, Director Jang.
The awakening drugs were distributed exclusively to soldiers.
And then—
— Confiscate buses and trucks! Pack them with people! The roads are blocked, so we’re pushing through with tanks!
— Shit, it’s snowing!
— Move! Move!
In the bitter cold of winter—
— You want us to leave Uijeongbu? That’s insane!
— Look, we’re just following orders from higher up!
— Hey! Hey! Move out of the way! Damn it! The tank is coming through!
The great retreat had begun.
—
“W-What do you mean?!”
Bang! I slammed the desk as I stood up.
Commander Yoo Hyun-Jong flinched and stepped back.
“Y-You heard me.”
He poked at the tactical map with a glum expression.
“The Seoul gates are running wild. The defensive lines at Namyangju and Hanam have collapsed.”
“…The eastern front… has fallen?”
“I heard they’ve set up a secondary defense line along the Cheonmasan and Namhansan mountain ranges, but…”
A perimeter defense is only effective as long as it remains intact.
And this wasn’t an enemy that strategized like humans.
Ordinarily, an attacking force trying to break through a siege would use a single-point breakthrough—targeting a weak spot to create an opening.
But monsters didn’t follow those tactics.
If one section of the perimeter was breached, it meant the entire line had been under equal pressure.
“…It’s only a matter of time before other sections collapse too.”
In short, too many monsters were pouring out.
Far too many to handle.
“They’ve established an emergency defensive line in Chungcheong…”
The commander reported dejectedly. He didn’t inspire much confidence.
I had assumed he was a division commander, but it turned out he was just a deputy operations officer acting as a stand-in.
His rank? Only a colonel.
He muttered gloomily,
“Incheon is in danger too… We just got word that they’re barely holding on…”
“What’s the gate distribution?”
“There are a few popping up in northern Chungcheong and western Gangwon, but the overwhelming majority are concentrated in the capital region…”
That meant we were completely surrounded by gates.
Everyone in the room sighed at the same time.
“Haa…”
“Huu…”
I stared out the window and muttered,
“…A rapid retreat is necessary. Just look at the sky—the vortex is even stronger than before.”
Wait.
“……”
“……”
A heavy silence filled the room.
A cold blue light streamed in through the window.
That vortex…
I had only ever seen it when I held Gam Ji-Yoon’s hand.
So why…
Why could I see it now?
“C-Commander, do you see that too?”
“…I do.”
Our eyes met.
His pupils trembled.
“…Monsters…!”
“The gate is opening…!”
“No…! Aaaaaaaah!”
The commander turned pale and shot to his feet, flailing his arms.
“I refuse to die here—!”
Then, his expression changed in an instant.
He snatched up multiple radios and began barking orders.
“Hey! Hey! Plan B! Full retreat to Gangwon! Spread the word to the other divisions! Request an airstrike on Dobong-gu! Gather everything and move to Yeoninsan Provincial Park! We’re not rescuing and then retreating—we’re retreating while rescuing!”
“Stop commandeering buses and trucks! Let them follow on their own! We prioritized loading the elderly and weak, so it’ll be fine! We’ll clear the roads as we go! Got it?!”
“Stay clear of the gate! Keep the maneuvering units ahead to open paths! We lead with firepower! Tell General Kim to move the Gongju District troops south via the Sejong-Pocheon Expressway! And get Colonel Choi’s artillery battalion from Bukhansan to back us up! The military roads are already secured, you idiot!”
“Hey! It’s me! Yoo Hyun-Jong! Remember?! Yeah! Okay! Okay! Advon forward! ATC is perfect! We need ASM! ASM!
Air-to-surface missiles, you son of a bitch!
What? Load them to the max and deploy them on Apaches! What the hell have you guys been doing if you still don’t speak Korean?! Ah, you speak Korean? Then why the hell didn’t you say so earlier?!”
“Two divisions—straight push to Yangju City Hall! The frontline is already mobilizing south! I called in an airstrike from the Yankees! Assembly point is Unaksan! We take Highway 47 and punch through!”
The commander had awakened.
…Not in the supernatural sense, but in sheer adrenaline-fueled crisis management.
—
A massive vortex loomed in the sky.
Blue energy swirled in dazzling geometric patterns, being drawn into its core.
The blizzard raged, but piercing through the storm was an ominous blue glow.
Terror filled the eyes of the people below.
Our group had gathered on the rooftop.
At some point, we had even managed to secure a large van.
I began explaining the situation.
“…Yeah, that’s how it is.”
“Haa…”
“At least the military roads were well-maintained, so the evacuation won’t be completely stalled…”
I glanced down at the city.
— Huaaah!
— Kuaaaagh!
— Aaaaah!
The streets were packed with people running for their lives, screaming.
“…Probably.”
Below, tanks led the way, clearing a path. Behind them, a convoy of trucks and buses followed. Thanks to the swift response, most of the elderly and infants had already been evacuated.
“Let’s go. Get in.”
Our group climbed into the van. Just as I grabbed Gam Ji-Yoon’s hand and glanced up at the sky—
— Shle Coms-mels-lehSh…
A strange sound echoed inside my head.
A sharp ringing filled my ears, making me wince as I stumbled. My grip on Gam Ji-Yoon’s hand tightened.
“…Did anyone else hear that?”
“What?”
“Hurry up and get in, Assemblyman!”
Gam Gi-Ja honked the horn repeatedly, but I was too stunned, staring at Gam Ji-Yoon.
The tiny girl clutched my hand tightly.
“A-Ahjusshi! I heard it too—!”
The sound echoed again.
— Comse me eoSh…
And then.
Srrrk.
The light vanished.
The eerie blue glow that had bathed the world disappeared.
Slowly, I turned around, trembling, and looked up at the sky.
The blue gate was gone.
The swirling vortex of mana, which had seemed poised to consume everything, was no more.
Only—
The biting winter wind howled.
A gray sky, heavy with snow.
— leo Come eoSh Shle Com…
A bulging black tumor.
Red, glowing, spider-like eyes.
A writhing, tentacle-bound black goat.
It gazed down at us in silence from the sky.
—
The streets fell into absolute silence.
Mere seconds ago, they had been filled with the chaos of people screaming and fleeing.
For approximately four and a half seconds, there was a void of sound.
Then, noise erupted once more.
— Shraaaak!
The black goat’s writhing tentacles unfurled—
— Shuuuuuu!
—and the bulging tumors on its body rained down like bombs.
“They’re falling! They’re falling!”
“Kyaaaaaah!”
People dropped to the ground as if taking cover from an air raid. Some fled into buildings, others prayed.
But—
The moment one tumor touched a lightning rod atop a building—
Boom!
It exploded.
It was just one of the many grotesque tumors attached to the goat’s body.
Yet, its sheer size was enough to engulf an entire city block.
And then.
— Shraaaaaaak!
A black liquid flooded the world.
Thick.
Like a spilled bucket of tar,
it spread across everything.
And.
No one.
No one who was touched by that black flood ever got back up.
“……Grrrrrrrk.”
Only creatures with glowing red eyes remained,
writhing,
howling in an alien, grotesque voice.
—
We needed to run.
That was the only thought in my mind.
From the hospital rooftop, I looked down at a blackened world.
There was nothing left to say.
A bomb of black liquid had exploded.
The world had collapsed.
The black goat’s body, riddled with tumor-like sacs, looked as grotesque as a honeycomb.
And then.
— Shle leoSh…
More tumors began forming within those empty cavities.
The black goat stirred, its tentacles writhing.
The gaps in its body quickly swelled with new tumors.
My legs buckled, and I collapsed.
I could do nothing but stare blankly at the gray, snow-laden sky.
Then—
— Shwooooooosh!
A fighter jet streaked across the sky.
The sonic boom shook the air.
It moved too fast for the eye to track.
Missiles streaked toward the black goat.
The projectiles split apart midair, forming a barrage.
And then—
— KWA-BOOOOOOOM!
The missiles struck the black goat in a blinding explosion.
I shut my eyes against the searing light.
Fire and smoke consumed the monster.
— Shhrkk!
But.
A tentacle lashed out from the smoke.
It brushed against the jet.
The fighter spiraled out of control,
leaving a trail of black smoke before crashing into Bukhansan, exploding.
Slowly.
The smoke cleared.
The black goat reappeared.
Half of its body had been obliterated.
At its exposed core, a massive black mana stone pulsed.
And then.
— Coms mels…
The black stone glowed.
The tangled mass of tentacle-like veins pulsed.
The crushed body of the black goat regenerated.
And then, again,
it rained its tumors down upon the earth.
Boom.
The world turned black once more.
— Huaaaaah!
— Aaaaaaaah!
— Kyaaaaaaaah!
Hundreds of screams filled the air.
For a moment, the sound resembled a theme park ride dropping from the sky.
But those screams…
Those were all last words.
The fighter jets unleashed another wave of missiles.
But—
Flesh tore apart.
And yet—
The black mana stone remained unscathed.
Each time the stone pulsed,
the black goat restored its body.
“…Ah.”
The realization finally hit me.
The sight before me was so unreal that it didn’t even feel terrifying.
It felt like I was watching some cheap, exaggerated game ad on TV.
“Shit…”
I felt numb.
I felt defeated.
I felt tired.
Holding Gam Ji-Yoon’s hand,
I could feel the enormous mana surging from that black goat.
I wanted to let go of her hand.
I didn’t want to feel it anymore.
But.
Squeeze.
Gam Ji-Yoon refused to let go.
With a trembling voice, she spoke.
“…L-Let’s go.”
I replied to the little girl.
“…Yeah. We need to get to Gangwon and—”
“No, you idiot, we’re going to kill that thing!”
Gam Ji-Yoon kicked me in the shin.
It didn’t hurt.
She was crying.
“W-We just need to touch the mana stone!”
“…What?”
The 12-year-old girl wiped her tears and snot with her oversized jacket sleeve.
“The black stone! If we just touch it, we can absorb it!”
…Kids really have no fear.
“Th-The construction workers always said that! They had daughters my size!”
“……”
“You think I didn’t know what they meant?!”
…You really shouldn’t talk carelessly around kids.
“The world…! The world is broken! So I have to fix it!”
“……”
“Why are you just standing there?! If it’s broken, we fix it!”
…Like parent, like child.
“That thing…! We’re the only ones who can stop it!”
…Kids these days, huh.
“I know more than you think!”
They grow up fast.
