Chapter 127
Chapter 127
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 127
Chapter Title: 67. Hero (2)
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I've been tuning into one of the recent radio broadcasts.
It's not coming from Incheon.
It's broadcasting from the east, the Legion Faction's controlled territory.
"The sky is high and the horses are fattened up—it's the season of idle indulgence.
Are you all nourishing your spirits?
According to satellite observations, a high-pressure system over Siberia is developing stronger than usual,
expected to bring an earlier cold snap than last year.
Please prepare in advance and brace for the coming chill.
Today's request is Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, dedicated by Lee Ho-young from Sokcho.
Rachmaninoff. I like him too."
The voice on the broadcast belonged to a woman whose tone evoked the smooth announcers from pre-war bus or taxi radios.
Whatever the Legion Faction's intentions, this broadcast was undeniably a comfort to many.
It was playing straight from a radio scavenged off a bandit's corpse.
Whoever owned it must have kept it tuned to this station regularly.
I'm not listening out of mere nostalgia for the past.
At the end of the broadcast, the female host shares hazard reports, likely secured by the Legion Faction.
Current time: 7 AM.
Early by pre-war standards, but everyone is awake now.
In an era without electric lights to banish the dark, daily rhythms have synced to the sun's rise and set.
I splashed my face with water.
Is there anything that conveys the shift of seasons more than the chill of water hitting your fingertips from the cold tap?
It feels like lukewarm water was flowing just yesterday, but now it's cold enough to make your body flinch. I checked the thermometer.
6°C.
Chilly weather.
I scanned the golf course through the periscope.
No anomalies.
Today was the day to meet Yang Sang-gil.
I packed essentials: enough food to stave off starvation, purified water, and just enough fuel to warm the body.
Measured precisely to the quotas Woo Min-hee had set in advance.
The key was ensuring Yang Sang-gil's family had no surplus to hoard.
When Woo Min-hee assigned the daily rations, she had said:
"The previous government? Surprisingly competent, you know? Probably the best-prepared in the world. If the president hadn't chickened out and fled at the end, he could've been hailed as a hero for ages. Why am I telling you this? Food supplies. Honestly, there was plenty. So why ration so little back then?"
Yang Sang-gil probably knows the answer best.
"Is this all?"
Yang Sang-gil didn't hide his disappointment at the amount I'd brought.
"Can't be helped. I'm short too."
"Hey."
Yang Sang-gil glanced at me cautiously.
"Sorry to ask, but did you hear my radio transmission yesterday?"
"Yes."
I kept a straight face.
"Anything... bother you?"
"Your reckless radio use bothers me.
There are refugees all around. Didn't you see the flickering lights at night?
Those people could turn into bandits like yesterday's intruders any moment."
I turned my gaze to the pit below.
In what used to be called a golf course bunker, yesterday's corpses lay dumped haphazardly, covered only by a thin layer of soil.
Not properly buried, not hauled far away—just tossed aside from right in front of their home.
This half-assed sloppiness might just be this family's defining trait.
"...I'll be back next time."
As I mounted the motorcycle, I saw Yang Sang-gil following.
He seemed about to say something, but I gunned the throttle and left.
No need for conversation with him.
And I shouldn't anyway.
Partly because he's cunning,
but how much truth comes from someone who'll do anything to survive?
"The breezy winds are turning frigid.
As it gets colder, I crave a warm café latte.
One day, the world will return to normal, ships will cross oceans exchanging what we need.
Today's request: 'Return to Sorrento' from K in Incheon."
I started the day listening to the Legion Faction's morning broadcast.
I never had a hobby for radio, but with nothing else to do and an empty bunker, another person's voice filling the space felt nice.
You could play a movie for voices anytime, but radio has that living breath of a real person.
That's why live broadcasts have demand.
Incheon, huh.
People there can request songs too?
Might be Legion Faction psyops, but if it's this heartfelt and mood-lifting, maybe it's fine to indulge.
Of course, my main reason is the hazard and disaster updates at the end.
As the music fades, a low, gentle, elegantly dancing female voice wraps around my ears.
Up to here, routine broadcast.
The problem came next.
"Reports indicate Yang Sang-gil, who claimed to be acting president under the coup faction's National Crisis Committee control of Incheon, has gone missing and is reportedly confined in a remote area."
The moment I heard it, I straightened up from my relaxed lean against the backrest without thinking.
"As one of the masterminds behind the presidential assassination, Yang Sang-gil is a top wanted criminal by the ROK provisional government, suspected of involvement in the Committee's treason and national-scale crimes. Hopefully he's caught soon and the truth comes out."
No one foolish enough to miss this broadcast's propaganda purpose.
But Yang Sang-gil brought this on himself.
His desperate radio broadcasts everywhere backfired spectacularly.
I told Woo Min-hee during our morning check-in.
"Huh? Really? The Legion Faction mentioned Yang Sang-gil?"
I still can't tell whose side Woo Min-hee is on.
"What could happen? We beat them before. They have some ground forces, but air support's ours—what can they do?"
Is she with the National Crisis Committee, or the Legion Faction?
Maybe neither.
It suddenly struck me: aligning with any faction might contradict her chaotic nature. Still, one thing to clarify.
"What if the Legion Faction sends a spec-ops team to capture him? How should I handle it? Might be tough alone."
"Let them take him if you want, but no—I'll send some people. They'll be elites, but help out if it's risky, sunbae."
"Me?"
"It's your job. Don't you remember what you said?"
"Got it."
I took it on willingly.
Once committed, worsening situations aren't an excuse to quit.
Words I drilled into my team as manager.
My own words chaining me now.
Self-inflicted, but bittersweet.
The future unfolds predictably.
Kim Daram ignored a has-been like me, but will she spare Yang Sang-gil?
No way.
He's the one who blocked her path to Jeju.
She'll get revenge by any means.
Yang Sang-gil's thrashing caused all this.
Crackle—
The radio crackled, breaking the silence.
I had a bad feeling it'd annoy me.
"Cacg! This is..."
Sure enough, Yang Sang-gil.
"Ha, that fucking bastard..."
A curse slipped out as I headed straight for the golf course.
"What the hell are you doing!"
From the tent, Yang Sang-gil slinked out, eyeing me warily—clear in my sight.
"What are you doing, I said!"
It's been ages since I yelled like this.
How scared must his family be?
I ignored his terrified wife and daughter staring, and Yang Hyun-su peeking with one eye from the tent flap, marching straight up to Yang Sang-gil and standing firm.
"I told you no radio."
I saw his eyes dart in confusion.
No respect needed for rule-breakers.
"Did you! Or didn't you!"
My sharp shout echoed across the golf course.
"Th-that..."
"You're all dead meat."
"Why?"
Yang Sang-gil brazenly asked, still gauging me.
"No radio?"
"Radio? No. Didn't catch it."
"The Legion Faction heard your transmission."
"Legion Faction...?"
"Know Kim Daram?"
"Kim Daram?"
His expression showed he barely remembered her.
Not contempt, anger, or fear—just blank.
"The woman who kept you from Jeju. Ring a bell?"
"Ah."
His mouth gaped.
"Committee member Kim Daram."
Yang Sang-gil had given 100,000 won at her wedding and dropped by briefly—no meal.
Yet he forgot her.
Not about money.
To him, attending endless weddings, she was just one trivial event among hundreds.
"She's gonna kill me...?"
He looked incredulous.
"Not even Awakened?"
I glanced at Yang Hyun-su peeking from the tent.
He'd messaged me online once.
Something like, "Think playing with you puts me on your level?"
It irked me plenty.
But the one who deserved it was his father, it seems.
Still equating himself with Awakened.
"You nearly died to three punks?"
"...Still a woman, right?"
"A woman who touches 11-second 100m. Scales walls to rooftops without stairs. Hits 25/25 direct at 125m."
"Called a monster before Awakened even showed."
"Sh-she was that? Committee member Kim Daram?"
"Don't know if she'll come."
I glared at the radio.
"But if she does, get ready to die."
In that moment, I reconfirmed Yang Sang-gil's no pushover.
After shrinking briefly, he faced me calmly now.
"Whether Kim Daram comes or not, outcome's the same, right?"
He smirked, tilting his head, whispering low.
"My family dying..."
He knew his fate exactly.
He stepped toward me, glancing at his family.
"I'm a dead man walking. I know I can't survive—shouldn't. But in the 21st century, even post-apocalypse, no guilt by association, right? I know my family's subpar. Wife's extravagant, son's a wastrel, daughter's... ugh, whatever. Sometimes even I get disgusted. But the one who decided those deaths is me, Yang Sang-gil—not my family."
"Can't you at least spare my family?"
Now I understood his persistent pointless radio attempts.
He was just trying to save his family.
Around noon, an armored vehicle rolled into the golf course.
Woo Min-hee's reinforcements.
Five soldiers and one familiar face inside.
"Sam!"
A grown student I barely knew came looking for me.
"Sam! Open the door!"
But her vibe was way different from when she's with Woo Min-hee?
"Telling Woo Min-hee?"
As I opened the hatch, the young woman with a tight ponytail bowed frantically, face pale.
"Sorry! Sorry!"
Song Yu-jin, was it?
An Awakened is welcome, but can this force fend off Kim Daram's revenge? We'll see.
Woo Min-hee set the stage, Yang Sang-gil piled the firewood—how this grill turns out remains to be seen.
[End of 67. Hero (2)]
Recommendations: 71
Song Yu-jin was scared in front of Woo Min-hee, so she didn't act chummy...
Recommendations: 60
Skeleton, faster and stronger than Kim Daram the squirrel herself, is just a monster?
Recommendations: 58
Insane prep but dogshit management led to ruin, huh? Korea(..)
Recommendations: 54
Why does Song Yu-jin like Park Gyu?
Song Yu-jin: clairvoyant
Skeleton: 22
Is that why?
Recommendations: 18
Can a power-holder's family survive their fall? If they shared the power, they share the downfall.