Chapter 128
Chapter 128
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 128
Chapter Title: 67. Hero (3)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
I tried to recall what I had looked like back in my instructor days.
"Today, we're going to talk about zombies and human corpse mutations. As you all know, zombies are a type of mutation that occurs when mutation factors trigger changes right before individual cells fully die off, turning a medically dead person into a living corpse. They have a habit of swarming in groups..."
The lectern, the textbook spread out in front of it, and beyond that, the hazy figures of the students.
A sense came back to me of my listless voice drifting powerlessly through the silent classroom, just reading from the prepared materials.
The clock on the wall that I'd glance at constantly—its minute hand seemed to barely move.
At the very least, my mind definitely wasn't in that classroom.
And yet, as always after class ended, a group would trail after me.
I didn't pay them much mind.
I hadn't even bothered to really look at their faces.
Kim Daram had this to say about me back then.
"Shrimp-backed, shoulders slumped, hair a total mess like a scrub brush, dark circles so deep you couldn't tell the difference from a panda, wearing an expression like the whole world had ended while letting out heavy sighs—the temp instructor."
Thinking about it now, Kim Daram probably frequented those sites where company names pop up next to nicknames, the ones I'd logged into once and freaked out over.
"And yet, you were pretty popular despite all that."
She had that personality that constantly ranked people and compared others to herself.
Song Yujin, my disciple from back then, had come to find me again.
Seeing that mischievous expression just like old times, it didn't seem like she was here with good intentions.
And sure enough.
"Can I stay here?"
She threw a straight fastball right from the start.
"The director said I could crash here for a bit. As you know, all the soldiers I came with are guys."
"I'm a guy too."
"Come on, you're fine, Teach... Uh, Teach...? Why are you suddenly unzipping?"
"?"
"Hey, cut it out! Don't do anything weird! Just like Director Woo said, you've turned into a total weirdo."
"Me?"
I rezipped and looked down at my now much taller disciple.
She was tall, sure, but still short.
Maybe scraping just over 160 cm?
Kim Daram in the late 170s was one thing, but she was noticeably shorter than even Woo Minhee in the late 160s.
My disciple looked up at me with serious eyes, protesting.
"Teach! You know I defended you before, right?"
"What?"
"You know, that thing!"
Song Yujin pointed to one corner of the ceiling.
"The internet gear!"
Spot on.
"And you pretended not to know..."
"You betrayed Woo Minhee, the junior who's like a senior I respect the most."
"...Teach?"
"Guess I have to report you, huh?"
I picked up the radio, and she rushed over, bowing frantically.
"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
"..."
I set the radio down and quietly watched my groveling disciple of half a month.
Her complexion was good.
Well-nourished, no signs of stress.
She looked like a completely different species from the women on the streets, who hadn't lived all that differently from her just three years ago.
Glancing at the Awakening Hunter uniform she wore, I tossed out a casual question.
"...How long are you planning to stick around?"
Song Yujin, who had been bowing obsequiously, lifted her head.
"Teach?"
"How long?"
"A week? I heard that's plenty. Maybe even leave in three days."
"Woo Minhee say that?"
"Yes. Director Woo."
"I see."
A week to three days.
Why was there even a deadline?
Keeping my expression neutral, I headed out of the bunker.
"Follow me."
"Huh? Where are you going?"
"There's an annex."
"Annex?"
"I don't tolerate other people living in my house."
"You're so neat. But why do you always wear the same..."
"What should I tell Woo Minhee, the junior like a senior I respect?"
"I'm sorry!"
I firmly imprinted the teacher-student hierarchy on my cheeky disciple as I showed her the cabin I'd made for Rebecca and her daughter.
Song Yujin, who had eyed my bunker with a disinterested look, brightened up instantly.
"Whoa! Awesome! It's like something from YouTube. Is this a boiler? Wood-fired?"
"Something like that. If you're staying, stay here. There's a bathroom over there. You'll have to shower at my place, but with this cold, you probably won't need to."
"I sweat a lot, so I need to wash twice a day."
"Did you wash that often on Jeju?"
"Yes."
"Incheon?"
"Every three days?"
"Here it's once every half month."
"Th-that's why the pan..."
My cheeky half-month disciple might talk back, but she'd been beaten down enough by society to have good instincts.
The way she ducked her head just from me rolling my eyes proved it.
"If you like washing that much, go dip in the stream down below or whatever."
I scanned Song Yujin up and down.
"Teach? Are you scanning me or something?"
"Is that your only weapon?"
"Yes."
Song Yujin's armament was just one pistol.
No common greatsword or anything.
"Nothing else? No cold weapons?"
"No. We don't carry that stuff. Plus, I'm not combat branch anyway. Honestly, I'm not great with guns."
"Combat branch, huh..."
"Why?"
"Just unfamiliar."
There was no such thing as combat branch when I went through academy.
Everyone was a warrior.
If one died, someone else could always step in.
That was the hunter world we old-timers knew.
"Anyway, use this place. Don't mess with the boiler. I'll get you an electric blanket."
As I turned to give her some basic warnings and leave—
"Teach."
Song Yujin called from behind.
"What?"
I answered without turning, standing awkwardly by the door.
"You know you were super popular, right, Teach?"
"Yeah?"
"Yes! Everyone was excited. That professor, the war hero, becoming our instructor!"
"..."
"But you quit after just half a month, so we were disappointed."
My disciple's reflection showed in the metal plate I'd installed in the corner of the cabin at Rebecca's request.
Without Woo Minhee to sass about, she stood with slumped shoulders, staring off into the distance.
I couldn't tell exactly where she was looking, but it wasn't hard to guess what her eyes were painting.
Probably a past she'd never return to.
"You eaten?"
"No."
"I'll share some dinner later, so keep your stomach empty."
Not long after I left the cabin, Song Yujin stepped out too.
A faint sound came from the earpiece she wore.
"Teach. You here?"
"What?"
"Looks like there's a bit of a problem."
It wasn't hard to figure out what the problem was.
Two trucks crested the ridge over the hill and appeared at the golf course.
Everyone riding in those trucks was military.
The lack of gunfire made it clear they weren't Legion faction.
"This is Lieutenant Colonel Ha Mingi of the 223rd Special Response Brigade."
Allies.
But apparently not 100% allies.
"We're here for Yang Sang-gil."
Lieutenant Colonel Ha Mingi presented documents demanding Yang Sang-gil's handover.
Standing before Ha Mingi was a young captain with the nameplate Kim Minho.
He examined the papers without the slightest flinch, even with dozens of soldiers surrounding him and his superior present.
He handed the documents back to Ha Mingi.
"I'm terribly sorry, but we're operating under orders from the National Crisis Committee. We have no obligation to comply just because you brought orders from the Joint Chiefs, which isn't even our higher command."
"Isn't Captain Kim Minho a soldier of the Republic of Korea?"
Ha Mingi's tone sharpened a bit, but Kim Minho's expression didn't change at all.
"Yes. I am."
"What soldier can refuse a direct order from the Joint Chiefs?"
"I'm under orders myself. This doesn't seem like something I can resolve on my own judgment. Have you spoken to my direct superior?"
"Isn't this enough?"
"Until I get orders from my direct superior, I can't move."
Ha Mingi's face flushed red, but he didn't vent his anger outwardly.
Instead, he murmured in a low voice, subtly leaking the bottled-up rage that seemed ready to explode.
"...Fine. I'll check."
As Ha Mingi stormed back to the trucks with his face beet red, yelling into his radio, Kim Minho casually smirked at the soldiers watching him from the armored vehicle, as if it were nothing.
This brief, stark contrast seemed to reveal the reality of the "National Military remnants in the National Assembly faction" that I hadn't thought much about.
As Song Yujin and I approached, Kim Minho spoke casually, as if it were no big deal.
"It'll be fine. They can't touch us anyway."
The already split military had divided further within itself.
Or maybe it had shattered into even more pieces than I knew.
The military's fracture was suddenly patched up.
A drone appeared in the sky.
A hefty drone, reminiscent of a small airplane, circled overhead like an eagle hunting corpses.
*
"LCN-2044. Chinese civilian drone. Slow and sluggish, but big and powerful—often used for long-range bombing or reconnaissance."
Kim Minho looked like a textbook elite soldier.
Sharp, cool-headed, knowledgeable—needless to say.
By contrast, Lieutenant Colonel Ha Mingi looked older than his rank suggested, with traces of poor habits showing in his sallow complexion and hunched posture.
He didn't seem particularly knowledgeable either, but—
"Legion faction?"
His voice was loud, at least.
"In this day and age, who knows what the Ministry of National Defense procures through bids anymore. All possibilities are open."
"You're saying it might not be Legion faction?"
"There are elite raiders outside the capital beltway. The Legion promised big rewards on broadcasts, so it could be raiders after those. Or the Legion disguising as raiders to hide their intent—we can't rule that out."
I quietly watched Kim Minho rattle off facts like a machine, then raised my hand.
He looked at me and lifted his chin slightly.
"Trouble because of Yang Sang-gil?"
Kim Minho nodded.
"Pretty much."
"Then maybe move him to the rear for now?"
"Why do you think that?"
"With a heavy drone up, an attack seems obvious, doesn't it?"
"Why?"
"Why? Capturing a big fish like Yang Sang-gil for propaganda could shake Incheon's morale."
Kim Minho chuckled.
"Thanks for the input."
Then he looked away.
"But my orders from above are to detain and protect Yang Sang-gil here."
"Just handing him a single tent in this weather?"
Kim Minho glared at me sharply.
Probably the first emotional expression he'd shown.
Satisfied with that, I didn't say more.
Instead, I stepped away and thought back to square one on this whole situation.
Why was Yang Sang-gil here, of all places?
They could humiliate and torture him plenty inside the city, make him pay for his crimes.
And why give him a radio, anyway?
Sloppy search?
Doubtful.
That prickly Kim Minho hadn't raised any issue with it.
Woo Minhee was at the center, sure, but the situation didn't simplify to one thing.
Like the splintered military, the truth had shattered into pieces, scattered too far to grasp the full picture.
As I stood with hands behind my back, watching stars emerge one by one in the darkening sky, I heard footsteps behind me.
Yang Sang-gil.
Normally, I wouldn't allow him to stand by my side, but the chaotic situation granted me patience.
"...Getting colder by the day."
Yang Sang-gil adjusted his parka and breathed into his hands.
"Some trouble, huh?"
He glanced at the soldiers still arguing.
"...A drone showed up."
Yang Sang-gil sighed.
"You've had it rough. All because of a guy like me."
He cupped his hands, breathed warmth into them, and looked up at the sky with wrinkled eyes.
Strangely, Yang Sang-gil gazing at the heavens didn't look like a butcher who'd driven tens of millions to death—he looked like any ordinary middle-aged guy.
"...I didn't want to do those things either."
"..."
"Maybe I should've quit then. When all us admin bureaucrats were stepping down, I should've too."
"Why didn't you?"
"Couldn't."
"Why?"
"Pardon me, but no family, right?"
I nodded.
Yang Sang-gil breathed into his hands again and sighed.
"...If I quit, my wife loses valet parking at the department store, can't use the lounge anymore. You need to spend at least two mil a year to keep the status, and that wouldn't happen."
"That important?"
"Yes. Very. You wouldn't get it—the pain of seeing someone missing from the playground of the elite, the ones you saw every day. It's a huge wound for the fallen."
"Doesn't make sense to me."
"You might think it's luxury, but surprisingly, department stores have way better deals than outside. And that little perk is the only comfort for my wife, who's slaved away her whole life for me and the kids. Not asking for much—upper tiers are five mil, top ones over a hundred. Two mil's not that big."
"..."
"Not just her. My daughter nearly got it bad too, but she's studying in the US. Inherited some of my wealth, but it still broke my back. If I quit? Obvious—she'd have to come home. Leave without even graduating, ditch her friends she laughed and joked with at school, cram into economy next to strangers, back to Korea."
"..."
"My son... Haah... Won't talk about it."
"What'd he do?"
"What? Got hauled to the station for posting malicious comments online."
"Ah."
Yang Sang-gil pulled out his phone.
No comms function anymore, but it still served as an album.
His lock screen was a family photo of the Yangs at some park.
A tear welled in the corner of his wrinkled eye.
"If I'd quit then."
Yang Sang-gil slumped, phone in hand.
"...This family wouldn't have lasted."
His suddenly aged face turned to me.
"Director Woo Minhee, right?"
In a world that disrespects the old, experience isn't something to ignore.
Especially when it hits the mark out of nowhere.
But his ambush drew no reaction from me.
Not even surprise.
Seemed like his ace in the hole.
His face crumbled fast when I didn't react.
The man who'd once stood at Korea's pinnacle slumped like a whining kid.
"...You're friends with Kim Daram, so you're throwing me to that woman?"
"Is that it? But you don't know Kim Daram well, do you?"
"That how it seemed?"
"You said it yourself, acting like you had no clue."
Yang Sang-gil grinned.
"Why wouldn't I know?"
For a moment, his face transformed.
From the simple next-door uncle to the demon who'd casually tossed away hundreds of thousands of lives.
"The guy who insulted me daily to chase me out..."
The next day, multiple drones appeared in the sky.
A stranger's voice boomed from one.
[67. Hero (3)] End