Chapter 208
Chapter 208
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 208
Chapter Title: The Man from Jeju (1)
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Internet is internet, and reality is reality.
I am someone who strictly distinguishes between the internet and reality.
But in this world, there are quite a few people who can't tell them apart and get way too immersed.
Personal ID: DARAM2
Kim Daram seems like one of those people.
"Yeah. Daram. What's up?"
I answered the call casually, and a trembling voice came through from the other end.
"Sunbae."
A trembling voice.
Not shaking from fear, but from anger.
"......Sunbae, you said you use the internet, right?"
"Yeah. Viva! Apocalypse!"
"Blinder. You know it?"
"Blinder? Like those things you put on windows instead of curtains?"
"No, an internet site."
"Blinder? Hmm. First I've heard of it. I only use Viva! Apocalypse!. Not to brag, but I'm a named user there."
"Sunbae, where are you right now?"
If my hunch was right, Kim Daram would be somewhere near my bunker.
"Right now? Outside."
I answered nonchalantly.
"Outside? Where?"
"Yeah. Paju."
"Wait a sec."
Kim Daram asked for a moment.
Her intentions were obvious.
She was probably trying to gauge my distance using the range estimation on the walkie-talkie.
"Really Paju?"
"Why would I lie about where I am?"
"Why Paju?"
"Ah, I've got something I'm researching on my own. About monsters."
"......That's weird."
"What's weird?"
"You know Dongtanmom? Word is she uses that satellite internet too."
"Dongtanmom......?"
I deliberately paused for a beat.
As if I were thinking.
Even though Kim Daram wasn't in front of me, I method-acted like she was—slamming my fist into my palm decisively.
"Ah. I think I know."
"Who is it?"
"Baek Seung-hyeon."
"Baek Seung-hyeon?"
"12th batch. The guy who was on the front lines, got discharged, came back as a freelance hunter. You know him well, right? You sent him to work with me."
"Ah, that Baek Seung-hyeon? He still hasn't died?"
"He's in China right now. Stirring up all kinds of chaos there. I should've dealt with that guy back then......"
"Where in Paju? Passed the checkpoint?"
Kim Daram has great physical stats, but her smarts are relatively lacking.
So everything she's thinking is plain as day to me—like looking at my palm.
The walkie-talkie showed I was far away, so she couldn't pin me to Paju and wanted to check my location through soldiers deployed nearby.
But I was already en route to Paju.
"Not yet."
"Then drop my name at the checkpoint?"
"Why?"
"They'll hook you up. It's tight security these days."
"Yeah. Thanks."
"No problem."
As the call cut off, Kim Daram's mutter came through the receiver.
"Beatick Auntie? What bastard......"
"......"
Communication ended.
It was my own doing, but even I was scared by my crisis management skills.
With instincts and judgment like this, no wonder I got the Golden Fleece.
By the time Kim Daram called, I had already arrived near Paju.
I'd been to Paju once before over the Kyle_Dos thing.
Since then, the government must have maintained it—the roads were cleared of piled-up wrecks, and damaged sections repaired here and there.
The faded tire tracks still on the road hinted at frequent heavy truck traffic.
The checkpoint sat at the end of the neatly maintained road.
It was a checkpoint in name only: a single container, a few solar panels, and at most four soldiers manning a small outpost.
The conspicuously well-funded watchtower gave away its real purpose.
Probably for monitoring monster approaches rather than people.
Soldiers from the front lines knew monster dangers better than anyone.
The shiny vehicle parked by the container backed up my guess.
I could've detoured if I really wanted, but with the Kim Daram situation, I headed straight for the outpost.
"Halt. Halt."
As I got close, two soldiers appeared.
Both sergeants.
Moments later, one more with sergeant first class insignia showed up.
Black comedy aside, the military faction's army had no "enlisted" ranks.
The lowest was sergeant.
I simply stated my ID and purpose.
The sergeant first class jotted it down on a notepad while eyeing me.
"Securing samples?"
"Yes. Heading into the erosion zone for mutated plant specimens."
In Korea, acting like those pseudoscience nuts was the easiest way to get taken seriously—from experience.
When the soldiers looked puzzled, I dropped Kim Daram's name.
She seemed pretty well-known even in military faction circles.
But they let me pass less for her clout and more for their orders.
"Well, if you're going, we won't stop you."
As expected, their only job was monster watch.
People passing through wasn't their business or duty.
"......Still, best to stay cautious. Beyond here's a full erosion zone, as you know. Not just monsters and mutations—even crazy psychos pop up now and then."
"Got it. Monsters cross over too?"
"Sometimes, but not in droves."
"Really?"
Surprising.
At this range, mid-sized ones should be everywhere—like tripping over them.
Not back in kill zone days, and especially not now.
I parted from the soldiers and headed deeper down the road.
At some point, the pavement crumbled sharply, and the landscape bled into gray-white.
Kyle_Dos's bunker was probably around here.
It had eroded before, but not this badly.
Burn scars on the ground and shell craters suggested battles I'd missed.
As Woo Min-hee had said, I made for the abandoned military base.
Once an elite unit's garrison forming a kill zone before the rift, now it was a concrete graveyard overgrown with weeds and shattered ruins.
Over that graveyard, a single flag fluttered.
A white flag. Surrender.
Surrendering to monsters, maybe?
I passed the half-torn, ragged banner flapping futilely.
A hideout of clustered containers came into view.
Atop a high rock stood a man with faint glowing eyes, staring this way.
He muttered into his communicator, and people poured out from the containers.
Only one with a gun, but nearly all had that subtle glow in their pupils.
I immediately radioed Woo Min-hee.
The door to the mansion-like structure—highest perch—swung open.
"Sunbae~!"
My junior, prosthetic arm and leg gleaming under a white coat, waved both arms wide while peering down.
National Crisis Committee outpost #551.
Commonly called Gray Valley.
That was Woo Min-hee and her crew's last holdout.
The camp numbered 20 to 30 people, all in good health and hygiene, with a vibe better than I'd expected.
Woo Min-hee bunked in the old military quarters.
She led me to the reception room.
An unfamiliar Awakened woman brought tea.
Woo Min-hee pointedly lifted the cup with her prosthetic and sipped in front of me.
"What wind blew you here in such a hurry?"
"Just. Kinda happened. I've gotten plenty from you already—figured it was time to pay back."
I unpacked my haul for her.
Food, meds, luxury stuff like sugar.
Even dried greens I'd grown and prepped myself among the rations.
Decent amount by my standards, but peanuts for 30 folks.
Still, I got my real purpose across clear.
"Mind if I crash a few days? Got some personal investigating to do."
One of Kim Daram's nicknames is crucian carp.
Memory like a sieve.
More precisely, she only retains what's useful and dumps the rest fast.
Damn good trait.
Especially for frontline types like us, seeing horrors nonstop.
Her anger'd probably cool in three days, tops.
No matter how hairy the battlefield, safer than getting called "Beatick Auntie" by Kim Daram.
"A few days?"
"Three? Nah, two."
Woo Min-hee eyed me slyly.
"You didn't stir up trouble, did you?"
"You know me? Model student."
"Hmm~."
I ignored Woo Min-hee as she seemed poised to pry, scanning the room instead.
Way off from what I'd pictured.
I'd imagined a brutal frontline hellhole teetering on monster assault.
But no battle scars anywhere, and zero frontline stress on Woo Min-hee or her Awakeneds.
Awakened might bag monsters easier and safer than us, but this was rift territory.
Not lone small fries—hordes of hundreds of mid-sized.
Hell, now sniping monsters targeted Awakened too.
Even with Woo Min-hee, the serenity didn't sit right with a vet like me.
Speak of the devil: gunshots cracked soon after.
Glancing out the window, Woo Min-hee grinned.
"Ignore 'em. No biggie."
"No biggie?"
"North Korean scavengers. Snooping our base for loot or chow."
Woo Min-hee sidled up to the window.
"There."
She pointed into the gray-white woods with her hook finger.
Sure enough, a hollow-eyed, skeletal hag glared from afar.
Bang!
A slug punched the tree beside her, but the middle-aged crone didn't flinch—kept staring before turning away.
Human in form, but the inhumanity chilled me like old times.
"You guys holding up okay?"
Erosion zones warp minds.
Official line denies it, but field grunts like us know it's gospel.
"Ah, we're good. Place is sketchy, but we quarantine hard. Regular checkups. Water's secured safe."
Woo Min-hee led me outside the mansion.
A sheer peak hosted a sparse, wall-like sprawl climbing through hazy fog layers.
She guided me there.
Up close: not walls.
Endless strung nets.
I knew the gear.
"This? Fog collector?"
"Huh? You know your stuff."
Woo Min-hee looked impressed, but Viva! Apocalypse! vets like me all did.
In African highlands sans groundwater, mesh fibers snag fog moisture, pipe it down for bulk potable water.
Needs vast slopes, so group survivalist kit—not solo like me—but nukes-taint-all-groundwater panic had me eyeing one once.
"Erosion groundwater's extra nasty. Our lab dropped a hypothesis: mutated tree sap messes with heads."
"Makes sense."
I scoped surroundings while she explained.
No fight marks, sure enough.
"Sunbae. Penny for your thoughts?"
Sharp as ever.
I voiced it straight.
"Where do you stop the monsters?"
She smirked oddly at my question.
Heading back to the mansion first, she tossed over her shoulder.
"Don't."
"What?"
Didn't compute.
Song Yu-jin said Woo Min-hee shipped to the front to hold monsters.
I figured she was actually doing it.
With monster swarms everywhere, Seoul'd see mid-sized too—making Kim Byung-chul's Assembly recapture a pipe dream.
"Ah."
Woo Min-hee pierced me with a knowing smile.
"Guess I can spill now. No point hiding it anymore."
Some angle?
I trailed her leisurely stride, awaiting the reveal.
"No need. Think about it. Why block monsters before? They hammered Seoul and the capital—so we bled cash and lives."
"Fair."
"India-Pakistan? Left rifts open. Border roulette—hunted inbound only, ignored the rest."
Yeah, that mess.
"Most types self-destruct anyway, bar a few. No threats incoming? Zero reason to hunt. Doubly in this shortage world."
"So what then?"
My brain had clocked it already.
Lure 'em.
Drag monsters elsewhere for natural fade-out.
Bloodless genius, per Woo Min-hee.
"Lure 'em."
One snag left.
How? Monsters were instinctless, mindless gears—pure programming.
No methods known, none researched.
But Woo Min-hee looked like she'd cracked it.
"Cracked their bias."
"Bias?"
"Yeah. Where rift-spawns head."
Deep in her mansion: a screen wall rivaling corp war rooms.
Dozens showed angles of some facility.
Prison vibes.
Till the "inmates."
"?"
Kids.
Early-to-mid teens.
Hundreds filled every one of 100+ feeds.
"What the hell?"
She eyed screens nonchalant, lips parting slow.
"Bias."
"......Lost me."
"Rift hordes bee-line for infiltration small-type strongholds. We dubbed it bias."
"Those kids?"
She turned, smiled.
"They're why we're alive."
"......"
Dunno the how, but knew it was wrong.
Stayed mum though.
No hypocrite here, no pie-in-sky justice.
That hollowness rang weaker than "kids keep us breathing."
"Director Woo Min-hee!"
Young man's voice blasted speakers sudden.
She tapped a key; one screen zoomed.
Fair-skinned pretty boy glared flushed our way.
Familiar-ish face.
Not close acquaintance.
He spat blame and panic.
"Food and meds—when? We're dying here waiting!"
Woo Min-hee cooed back soft.
"Sorry, Committee member. Jeju's promised drop hasn't hit. We'll send what we've got meantime~."
"Talk's cheap—deliver today!"
Line died.
I eyed her.
"Who?"
She scoffed, snide.
"Guy from Jeju."