Chapter 56
“You look like hell.”
At David Kim’s comment, I wiped my cheek. A thick paste of blood, dirt, and crushed leaves came off. The smell was awful.
I looked around, hoping to at least wash my face.
…There was no snow.
I suddenly looked up at the sky. Over Bukhansan, it was strangely clear. Uijeongbu was still being pounded by a snowstorm, after all.
Maybe the vortex sucked up all the nearby clouds. I silently stared up at the sky and crumbled a dry leaf in my hand.
“Are you alright? Hey, focus!”
Staring off into space and crumbling leaves in silence must’ve made me look like I’d lost it.
The woman standing next to David Kim stepped forward with a handkerchief. Her voice was kind, but she was the same one who’d called David Kim an idiot earlier.
“He’s lost too much blood… Team 3! Any spare healers?”
“A-Ah, I’m fine—”
“Stay still, will you!”
“Yes.”
She gently wiped my face with the handkerchief and looked at me with concern.
“Team Leader Park! Please treat this man. I mean—this Assemblyman Han—”
Suddenly,
She froze.
She stared at me with a blank expression.
“Assemblyman Han?”
“…Yes?”
“Assemblyman Han Seung-Moon?”
“Yeah?”
“…It’s really him?”
“Uh?”
“!??!”
“Eek!”
She suddenly tossed me aside, stood up, and shouted at David Kim with a flustered face.
“Why is Assemblyman Han Seung-Moon here!?”
“You watch his highlight reels every day and still didn’t recognize him?”
“How could I recognize him when he’s covered in blood!”
With her voice raised a couple of octaves, she held her hand out to me again.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry, I… Uh, damn. What am I even supposed to say.”
David Kim added with a bored tone.
“Just say you’re a fan.”
“That makes me sound so lame.”
“You don’t already?”
“Ugh!”
She irritably swatted at David Kim.
“Ouch! Hey!”
A small spark popped. She turned back to me, dabbing at my face again while sneakily feeling around.
“I never imagined I’d meet you here. Nice to meet you. I’m a huge fan. Like, seriously. You saved my life twice on the Sinbundang Line—don’t you remember?”
“…Ah. Sorry—”
“Yeah, figured you wouldn’t. It was all chaos back then. So remember me starting now. I’m Kim Hanbit. I’m going to ask you again later, so memorize it! Who am I?”
“Kim… Hanbit…?”
“Perfect!”
She smiled brightly and tucked her handkerchief into my front pocket before heading back to David Kim.
David Kim asked her,
“Got that out of your system?”
“Once this is over, I’m going to propose.”
“Don’t jinx it.”
* * *
“Hey! No, no! He’s not a zombie! They said he’s not! Just subdue him! Break his leg or something, got it? It’s not that you can’t kill them, just—don’t if you can help it!”
Director Jang smiled as he listened to the commander’s orders.
“That’s a reasonable enough directive.”
“…”
“Let’s head back to the hospital.”
After realizing the monster was on the move, the commander had scattered the soldiers to save his own neck, which conveniently allowed them to return safely to the hospital.
On their way to the hospital rooftop, Yang Il-ho glanced at Director Jang with an uneasy expression.
Director Jang noticed right away.
“Something wrong?”
“Uh—What? N-No! I mean—not really… What do you mean?”
Despite the fumbled denial, Director Jang nailed the issue.
“You’re wondering why someone like me would care about minimizing civilian casualties.”
There was no need to explain what kind of person he meant. Yang Il-ho just lowered his head with a worried look.
They continued up the stairs in silence.
Step. Step. Step.
Thud.
Director Jang stopped. Yang Il-ho awkwardly froze mid-step and looked up at him.
Director Jang asked,
“Do I look like a villain to you?”
Without thinking, Yang Il-ho replied,
“Yes.”
Then quickly clapped his hands over his mouth. He glanced around to check Director Jang’s face, but his usual smile gave away nothing.
“If there were a button that killed ten people to save one, would you press it?”
“…”
“More specifically—if a madman was about to start a nuclear war, could you shoot a mushroom-picking North Korean kid to stop him? That kind of scenario.”
Yang Il-ho was afraid to answer.
Just as much as he was afraid of the man standing in front of him.
“Hmm.”
“…”
It felt like Director Jang might pull a gun from his inner pocket at any moment.
“…”
“…”
The silence hung heavy.
Then Director Jang smiled faintly.
“Let’s go. The others are waiting.”
“…Sir?”
Without another word, Director Jang continued up the stairs.
He had no intention of explaining himself now.
He didn’t feel the need, and it was already too late. People live by momentum anyway.
Yang Il-ho stayed frozen on the stairs, silently watching the path he’d taken.
Bloody footprints marked the steps.
* * *
“The siege on Seoul is collapsing. They were trying to relieve pressure on the frontlines by clearing everything in sight, and then something sparkled over Uijeongbu—what was that?”
“…Thank you for coming.”
“Anyway, Second Operations Command is setting up a defensive line in Chungcheong Province. What’s the situation here?”
“A black goat came out of the sky, bombed the city with tumor masses, and swatted down fighter jets with its tentacles. There were rumors that people hit by the tumors turn into zombies, but, uh…”
“In short—everything’s totally fucked!”
David Kim grinned.
“Got a plan?”
He asked me as if it were a given. I frowned.
“Plans don’t just pop out on command.”
“So do you have one or not?”
“…I do. Just came up with it.”
Crunch. A leaf crumbled under my foot.
That should be enough.
“You’re not afraid of heights, right?”
“I was in the Iraqi Airborne Division.”
“Let’s go play with fire then.”
* * *
The light snowfall had turned into a raging storm, sweeping over the city. Refugees trudged forward, their breaths forming clouds in the air.
The vortex had drawn all nearby clouds over Uijeongbu.
A blizzard like this—one that could hardly be believed even for February, let alone in South Korea—had struck.
Elderly people crammed into narrow trucks, parents fighting the flow of the crowd to find their children, soldiers pushing them northward.
All of them had fear in their eyes they couldn’t hide. A high-rise apartment building burned under the cloudy sky.
Then, a soldier pointed at something.
Monsters came charging in from the street corner.
“T-There! To the side! The side!”
His pointing turned into gunfire. A few wild beasts dropped, but it wasn’t enough to stop a monster the size of a city bus.
With screams and chaos erupting, the procession scattered in an instant.
Gunfire and shouts tangled into a storm of confusion.
As people who couldn’t escape collapsed to the ground, bracing for death—
– Wham!
A utility pole came flying and pierced through the monster’s body. Hunters leapt across rooftops and dealt with the nearby creatures.
Fire, ice, and lightning exploded in every direction. In the midst of it all, superhumans buried their arms into monsters’ torsos and absorbed magic stones.
The situation was resolved in seconds. Kim Hanbit shouted into her radio.
“Defending the western line now!”
[Uh, uh, Team 3 on standby on the rooftop. If you need backup—]
“Just send a healer ahead! Team Leader!”
[…Hey! Anyone free? Uh, Soochan’s going.]
“Feeling relaxed, huh?”
[Kind of.]
And truthfully, they were handling it pretty comfortably. Whether it was Seoul or here, it wasn’t much different from their usual battlegrounds. If anything, the military support gave them an edge.
The problem was—
“…You’re telling me three people are taking down that black goat?”
* * *
There’s no other word for it—this was a brutal, hellish fight.
– KRAAAAAGH!
– KYAAAAAAH!
Monsters everywhere. Right in the middle of Bukhansan National Park, we were drowning in wave after wave of monsters swarming from all directions.
I’d coughed up so much blood it didn’t even taste metallic anymore. My chewed-up lower lip had turned into a shredded strip of flesh.
Blood from my nose filled my mouth, but now wasn’t the time to care. I slammed the monster back down into the valley of Bukhansan.
– leo Coms eoShm…!
Again, it called all the monsters in the vicinity.
Another monster wave. Then another. And another.
We fended off flying beasts attacking from every direction, shoved missiles toward the black goat, and kept slamming it back into the valley.
– Whiiiiiish!
And when the tentacles came flying, we dodged. But the wind pressure behind them made it hard to stay balanced.
“Below us!”
“Shit…!”
I ripped apart a monster charging from underneath mid-air.
Its bisected corpse passed on either side of me, and a literal storm of blood followed. Cold. Blood got into my eyes.
We piled up monster corpses on Bukhansan’s slopes for nearly four hours. The number of monsters coming in showed no sign of stopping.
There were a few reasons this absolutely insane defense was even possible.
“Ghhhhh…!”
David Kim was literally holding off tentacles with his teeth.
“Damn it! I’m falling!”
“Ajusshi!”
Telekinesis is affected by mass, but even while exhausted, we could still pick up and fling at least a grown man.
“Just let me fall! I need a break!”
“No!”
“Fuck! Fuck! Fucking goat!”
“What does that mean?”
“He’s still full of energy!”
And so, the three of us fought strictly in the air. Which meant we didn’t have to engage with the hordes flooding the ground.
“Ji-yoon! Eat this!”
“Ugh…!”
I shoved a flying monster’s magic stone into Gam Ji-yoon’s mouth as we fought.
[Next airstrike in 20 seconds!]
“Okay!”
The final key—air support.
Of course—
[This is the last one!]
“Command made that call!?”
[It’s more than enough! All of Bukhansan National Park is filled with monsters from across the Seoul metropolitan area!]
All of this had one goal:
To lure as many monsters as possible into Bukhansan National Park.
We’d succeeded.
Then—shwooooo—
“They’re coming…!”
The largest formation of aircraft yet approached Bukhansan. We pulled back to a safe distance to watch the overwhelming sight.
Maybe realizing that this engine noise meant serious shit, the black goat began chanting weirdly and drew flying monsters close around it—turning them into a living meat shield.
But this time, it didn’t matter.
Not a single plane headed for the black goat. They all scattered and flew toward designated zones.
Because these weren’t fighter jets—
They were bombers.
And then—
– Fwooooooooom…!
Far off in the distance, the sound of falling bombs rang out.
– Fwooooooo…!
– Fwooom…!
We couldn’t hear the bombs clearly. But the flames—they were visible.
That was American napalm. A type of incendiary bomb.
What was it called again?
“…Burns real nice.”
Massive flames rose at the edges of Bukhansan National Park.
In other words, a giant ring of fire now surrounded the mountain.
And then—
“Wildfires always climb to the top… You bastards…!”
“Whoa! You sons of bitches!”
“Whew… shhhhit!”
The three of us, covered in blood, watched as the wildfire spread at the speed of light. Thanks to the vortex sucking in all the clouds nearby, there hadn’t been much snow on Bukhansan.
It made for perfect kindling.
Now and then we snapped off burning trees and tossed them down the slope—it worked like a charm. The dry branches and fallen leaves clung to the monsters and wouldn’t let go.
KRAAAAAAAAGH—!
The final screams of the monsters had never sounded sweeter.
And there was still one shot left.
“…Take aim.”
“Goddamn it… Here it comes…”
“This is our one and only shot.”
“It always is!”
David Kim, soaked in blood, clenched his teeth and took his stance. Magic swirled with precision, forming a straight path.
I synchronized telekinesis with Gam Ji-yoon. Together, we became the gun—and David Kim, the strongest bullet, loaded himself into it. The thought that this was the end made my eyes tense up on their own. My cheeks felt damp—maybe I was bleeding from the eyes.
The escort fighters protecting the bombers unleashed their final missiles at the black goat. Tumors and tentacles exploded, tumbling down the mountain slope in tatters.
And then,
The magic stone. That damn black magic stone began to shine.
Then—
“…Fire!”
That cold winter sky—
– BOOOOM!
Split in half.
Blue mana scattered in all directions. Seen through Gam Ji-yoon’s eyes, the world had never looked so beautiful.
Riding that magical wave with superhuman instinct, we shot toward the monster. The blue fragments drifting in the air surged back toward us.
It didn’t even take two seconds—but in that instant, I cleared five flying monsters from David Kim’s path. Gam Ji-yoon must’ve cleared twice that.
And then—
Just as David Kim reached for the magic stone,
The goat’s eyes glowed red.
– eo Col…!
David Kim froze in midair.
And then—
He went limp and plummeted.
“…!”
I didn’t hesitate.
I did to myself what I’d done earlier to him.
I fired myself.
– Crack! Smash!
Of course, I wasn’t David Kim. My body couldn’t handle that kind of power.
But you don’t win fights by only doing what you can handle.
Bones shattered. Black blood burst from my mouth. But I flew through the sky.
And finally reached him.
“…!”
David Kim. I could feel strength returning to his body. I grabbed his ankle.
“Die, you son of a bitch!”
Every muscle in my body tore apart.
Midair, I flung David Kim with his own strength.
He soared toward the magic stone.
And I, in the exact opposite direction, crashed down.
In other words, I was falling to the ground.
With a body in no enhanced state—just bare flesh.
Maybe it was adrenaline, maybe my life flashing before my eyes, but the world slowed down.
David Kim flying toward the magic stone.
Gam Ji-yoon, her panicked eyes darting between him and the stone.
And then—
Just before David Kim could reach it,
A flying monster came from the side and knocked him away.
The trajectory veered off.
My arm broke.
My cornea filled with blood.
My vision turned red.
My body fell.
And then—
“Stop—!”
A voice rang out, clear and sharp.
Everything stopped at that command.
It wasn’t an illusion.
David Kim, mid-flight toward the stone—and the monster that had knocked him away.
The slowly falling snowflakes. The whirlwind of leaves.
The monsters thrashing in flames—and even the fire itself.
All of it stopped.
The world had literally frozen.
“……”
In that frozen world, the black goat’s body slowly crumbled away. And Gam Ji-yoon, having absorbed the magic stone,
Descended gently, her blue eyes glowing faintly.
I was about to crash and shatter on impact.
But I froze just above the dirt.
My eyes, barely open as my lids drooped, shifted to look.
Amid the scorched wreckage and shredded monster flesh,
As blood dripped steadily from my nose,
A single, tiny, blue sprout was growing.
