Chapter 57

Once again, an age of chaos had begun.

– “The death toll has reached 3 million. That’s the minimum estimate.”

– “……Don’t mention numbers in the news for now.”

As always.

– “The military has successfully stopped the monsters from advancing past the Chungcheong Province defense line! The mastermind behind the absolute defense line beyond the Gate dispersion zone—spanning Songnisan, Woraksan, and Sobaeksan—is Major General Kim Doo-sik, Chief of Staff of the 2nd Operations Command…”

– “Colonel Yoo Hyun-jong, the Martial Law Cooperation Officer for Gyeonggi Province, has evacuated approximately 4.26 million refugees from northern Gyeonggi toward the front lines. Fierce battles continue around Uijeongbu between the army and Awakeners. During this, Assemblyman Han Seung-Moon and Union Leader Kim Chun-sik were seriously injured…”

– “New PMCs are being established to protect Korea. GS Aegis, Geumho Security, Cheonghaejin, and many others—countless hunters are voluntarily rushing to the front lines…”

– “GS Aegis has launched a large-scale resistance in Gangwon Province. Led by Representative Hong Seon-ah, they are setting the Taebaek Mountains ablaze to hold back the monsters. Some reports suggest…”

The more perilous the nation became, the more victory announcements flooded the TV.

– “Hunter Seol Jin-woon has successfully slain the giant monster that devastated the Namyangju area! Using only a wooden sword, Hunter Seol drove the monster away. Incredibly, he’s still a high school student…”

– “162 survivors in Incheon injected the Awakening Accelerator and successfully escaped to Chungcheong Province! The Han Seung-Moon Foundation’s Awakening Accelerator has already been widely distributed nationwide…”

– “Major General Kim Doo-sik, who reorganized the retreating forces and established the Chungcheong defense line, has been promoted to General and appointed Commander of the 2nd Operations Command. He vows to protect the safety and lives of the people…”

At a glance,

– “Assemblyman Han Seung-Moon regained consciousness around 5 a.m. this morning!”

It almost looked like an age of heroes had arrived.

I woke up in a military hospital in Paju. I didn’t remember much, but I was told I had asked about my family’s wellbeing while half-conscious from medication.

So the moment I got some proper sleep and woke up, I was able to hear the answer.

“I asked the soldiers, but they haven’t found them yet.”

“Excuse me…?”

“There are just too many people in Gangwon Province.”

“W-What…!”

With a cracked voice, I pressed Yang Pan-seok for answers, and what he said was shocking.

“The military has formed a defensive line in southern Chungcheong and is holding off the monsters’ advance. Do you know what that means?”

“……”

“It means everything north of Chungcheong is isolated.”

The South had been split in two. The monsters had carved a line right through the country.

“Monsters pushed out of Seoul have spread across southern Gangwon. Now northern Gyeonggi and northern Gangwon are completely cut off.”

“……Oh my god.”

An island on land.

“……We’ll try everything we can. There were very few Gates in Gangwon Province, so they’re probably safe.”

There was no way to be sure, but I nodded reluctantly. Yang Pan-seok didn’t add anything unnecessary to make me more anxious. He quietly left the hospital room.

* * *

I spent my days in a daze, high on painkillers.

Considering how painkillers work by dulling the nerves, it wasn’t an exaggeration to say I was half-living like a drug addict. In fact, some of the painkillers I was prescribed were narcotics.

Even lying still, it felt like my whole body was being hammered. Any bit of muscle tension made it worse.

They said I needed absolute rest. Maybe that’s why, except for a few hunters who would occasionally come in and rub light into my body with glowing palms, no one was allowed to visit me.

Sometimes, Gam Ji-yoon and Gam Gi-ja would peek through the door crack, look in with teary faces for about 30 seconds, and then leave.

Anyway.

I was on oxygen support for quite a while.

They said my muscles had burst, bones were crushed, blood vessels ruptured, and joints twisted.

“Honestly, if it weren’t for the hunters’ emergency treatment, you would’ve already…”

The doctor came every morning to explain just how serious my condition was. He said I’d need to be hospitalized for a few months. That I’d need more surgeries too.

“…!?”

I drank a potion and got better in two days.

To be exact, I could move again. When I sat up in bed, I saw the doctor mouthing a curse. When I asked why, he said it looked like he wouldn’t be getting his retirement payout.

Honestly, I couldn’t blame him.

Anyway.

As soon as I was able to move, I went to see David Kim. He was in a similar condition, wearing a hospital gown and barely managing to shuffle around.

I asked him,

“David Kim, how’s your condition?”

“Better than yours, I’d say.”

“…I’m sorry to ask this, but do you know any hunters who are good at finding people?”

David Kim stared at me in silence. Uneasy, I added,

“……Please. My family is missing in Gangwon Province.”

“Follow me.”

David Kim carried me out of the hospital.

* * *

“Whew……”

Smoke rose over the collapsed city. In his hospital gown, David Kim puffed on a cigarette. If a nurse saw this, they’d have a fit.

“……Why did you bring me here?”

“Needed to clear my head.”

In other words, he wasn’t ready to talk yet.

I quietly sat on some rubble, watching David Kim. When I felt something soft underneath, I shifted to another pile.

“I, uh, back in Iraq… I killed a lot of people.”

David Kim muttered while exhaling smoke.

“I was promoted quickly, did well academically, so I had a high rank. But I wasn’t exactly a great squad leader.”

“……”

“Probably killed more allies than enemies. Honestly.”

He lectured me for a long time.

He wasn’t eloquent. I caught a slight smell of alcohol.

“Thought a guy had a bomb in his inner pocket, shot him dead, turned out he had nothing. There was this local friend I got close to, but there was a bomb under the dinner table. Um… you get the vibe, right? Crap choices.”

“Sounds a lot like now.”

“Yeah. I made a lot of bad calls. And the faces under me changed too often… ah, let’s stop there. I’m being too pathetic.”

David Kim fiddled with his reddened ears and cleared his throat. He threw in a few English curses here and there, but thanks to my time spent hearing English, I could catch most of it.

“Ahem… The reason I’m getting all serious like this… yeah, I know it’s kinda boring. Just bear with me.”

“I’m listening. Properly.”

“Right. Back then, the president was George Bush. Tens of thousands were dying. And he comes flying in on a fighter jet, landing on an aircraft carrier. In a pilot suit, no less. Then he declares the war’s over. That America won.”

“Hmm……”

“……How many people died just to boost that bastard’s approval rating? I mean, shit. Even if it was a just war, a president shouldn’t pull that kind of crap.”

David Kim flicked his cigarette to the ground. It burst, kicking up a puff of dust.

“Everyone knew it was bullshit. Knew it was just political showmanship. But why did he do it?”

“……Because it worked.”

“Exactly.”

David Kim pointed a finger at me.

“One soldier complains, and one politician puts on a show—and the world keeps turning like nothing’s wrong.”

“……”

“So try to live decently.”

David Kim spoke again.

“Before you go begging people to find your family, maybe ask first if the hunters who fought with you made it out okay.”

“……”

“I mean, Kim Hanbit’s dead. Park Ju-cheol’s dead. Ju Ho-jung’s dead. You think that’s easy for me to say first?”

“……”

“They died carrying out your plan.”

“……”

I silently nodded. David Kim looked at me with calm, blue eyes.

“……Of course, it was a damn good plan. Saved more lives. We knew some of us wouldn’t make it. But still… damn.”

David Kim let his head hang low. He stuck his hand in his pocket and started shaking his leg like a dog with a screw loose.

Then he just sank to the ground with no strength.

“……Just, take care of people. Will you?”

There was a pause.

Amid the ruins of the city, a bloody wind blew through the gaps between buildings.

I answered his request.

“……I understand what you mean.”

He gave a twisted smile.

“I don’t even know what I’m saying, and you’re telling me you get it?”

“Yes.”

“What a load of crap…”

David Kim chuckled quietly.

“Yeah. Once the operation’s over, check who didn’t make it. That’s all. Hmm… wasn’t planning to just come here and curse you out.”

“……”

“I know what it feels like, losing people because of a plan you made. But, whew…”

He wasn’t much of a talker. His words came out clumsy.

“I wanted to offer some comfort too, but knowing it won’t help makes it feel kinda pointless.”

“Still, I appreciate it.”

“What’s to appreciate? I dragged you out just to curse at you.”

He exhaled.

“There are some guys with good noses and sharp hearing. Recon types.”

“……”

“I heard from Assemblyman Yang and already sent out two of them. Yeah. I’ll let you know as soon as there’s any word.”

“……Thank you. Really.”

David Kim reflexively reached for a cigarette, but found the pack empty. He awkwardly shoved his hand back into his pocket.

“……You religious?”

“No.”

“I’m an inactive Christian. In Korean that’s… uh, oh! Right. ‘Nailon sinja.'”

“Your Korean’s really good.”

“That’s not a compliment.”

“I know.”

David Kim chuckled warmly and looked around somberly.

“……They say Secretary Kim died here.”

“You mean Kim Hanbit?”

“Mmhmm. Your fan.”

David Kim laughed.

“I’m gonna say a prayer. Mind waiting?”

That day, for the first time in my life, I prayed for someone.

Prayed that those who died for others would rest in peace.

And that whoever the bastard was who opened the Gate—

If I ever met them, I’d kill them.

* * *

February ended. It was March.

And in April, there would be both general and presidential elections. Assemblymen and the president would be elected. The politicians were starting to move.

[Governor Cheong Joong-yeop of Jeju has delivered a fund raised from the Federation of Korean Industries to a refugee organization.]

I munched on shrimp crackers as I watched TV. For the record, that message meant: ‘I’m a cold, strong man who makes the rich in Jeju do my bidding, but I’m warm to my people.’

“Everyone’s playing it smart.”

“Vice Mayor Woo Jeong-hwan of Seoul got booted for campaigning outright.”

“Didn’t expect him to go out like that…”

Lee Ho-jung added flatly. I said to her,

“But come on, who wouldn’t recognize that as campaign activity?”

“People know, they just let it slide.”

“They do it because it works, huh?”

“It’s the playbook.”

Lee Ho-jung nodded. Yang Il-ho, next to her, stuffed more snacks into his mouth and chimed in.

“……Isn’t he basically the de facto leader of the National Party now?”

“Probably. You gotta have a solid base if you’re gonna be a Jeju politician.”

“And you’re the floor leader?”

“He said he’s gonna name me official floor leader soon and take the interim chair himself.”

“Trying to run for president?”

“That’s why he calls me three times a day.”

We sat in the hospital room, watching the world go by. The way we chatted started to feel like those old days, sitting in the corner of the National Assembly building, eating cup noodles and shooting the breeze.

Every time the news segment changed, so did our conversation topic.

[The April joint election is just around the corner. With the fate of the nation on the line, presidential hopefuls are being considered. However, Assemblyman Han Seung-Moon, who doesn’t even meet eligibility requirements, is polling at 18%……]

“Who do you think’s gonna win this election?”

“Best-case scenario would be you running for president. But you’re not gonna do it, right?”

“Yeah… Honestly, I’m tired. Don’t think I’d do well either. I’ll just stick to the Assembly.”

Political oracle Lee Ho-jung added her analysis. Given her perfect streak of predicting the last four elections, we couldn’t help but listen.

“Well, the age requirement for the presidency is 40. To even run, you’d have to amend the Constitution, and that’d tank your approval rating. I think Commander Kim Doo-sik of the Chungcheong defense line might win. There’s really no one safer than him. People trust the one who protects their home, you know?”

“Isn’t Commander Kim Doo-sik David Kim’s uncle?”

“…!? Seriously!?”

[Hunter Gam Ji-yoon has moved a mountain to block the upper stream of the Han River. As a result, the threat of amphibious monsters emerging from the lower stream is expected to decrease…]

“Whoa, look at that. Looks like CG.”

“Ji-yoon’s crazy strong, right?”

“That’s insane, seriously……”

“I talked to her last night. She said she fought in Gangwon in the morning, Jeju in the evening, and had late-night snacks in Gyeonggi.”

“Man… poor girl.”

[France has successfully defended Paris. Considering the European terrain has led to scattered engagements in every direction…]

“This Lumière person is really something.”

“You mean the French one?”

“They said she healed tens of thousands in one go. On top of the Eiffel Tower.”

“I bet the media added a bit of MSG to that story. Hero types like that are trendy these days.”

Yang Il-ho muttered absentmindedly.

“She was pretty……”

Lee Ho-jung said,

“Hey.”

“Sorry.”

[…Unusual weather in the central region has subsided. With warm spring winds now blowing—

Breaking news!]

“……”

“……”

“……”

[China has requested the dispatch of Hunter Gam Ji-yoon!]

“……”

[At around 2:30 PM today, General Li Chong-bin, Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, stated that close cooperation with Korean superhumans is necessary to protect approximately 56 nuclear power plants located along the East Coast.]

Translation: Send Gam Ji-yoon.

[During the briefing, the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear disaster were mentioned—]

Translation: You remember what happened when just one reactor blew up, right?

[While expressing a stance of pursuing peace and coexistence in Northeast Asia in the face of a disaster threatening all humanity—]

Translation: Do you want to see what it looks like when 56 reactors go off?

[-they proposed the formation of a joint operations force.]

(T/N: Damn it! She is just a child! WTH)