Chapter 213
Chapter 213
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 213
Chapter Title: 93. The Man from Jeju (6)
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The patterns of people losing their minds in the Erosion Zone were all much the same.
They stopped talking, lost their energy, and stood frozen in place like plants, staring blankly at one spot with unfocused eyes—until one day, they simply vanished.
No one knew where those driven mad by the erosion's frenzy disappeared to.
Some said they wandered off like elephants seeking a place to die, heading somewhere deserted. Others claimed they ventured deeper into the erosion zones that had corrupted them.
But from what I'd witnessed firsthand, those who couldn't withstand the erosion simply ceased to exist.
They vanished as if they'd never been there at all, spirited away by some principle beyond human understanding, much like the "Rapture" preached by certain doomsday cults.
This was something my team and I had confirmed through countless cases in China.
The most memorable was the incident in an isolated high-rise where someone who'd succumbed to the erosion disappeared.
Kim Daram relayed the story to me from a sobbing Chinese man's account of his wife's bizarre vanishing.
"He said she was in the house until yesterday. The elevator was broken, and the only way up or down was through emergency stairs barricaded with rubble, using a ladder from the collapsed ceiling—and that ladder was only installed when needed. Yet the guy on the 23rd floor, where there was no ladder, was just gone. He checked around, but there was no sign of a fall or anything."
It wasn't as dramatic as someone chained up dissolving into smoke, but the story had enough plausibility to convince me that those maddened by the erosion's frenzy simply vanished.
Considering that the monsters serving as apostles of erosion never left corpses behind, it was a theory worth entertaining.
Hong Jong-beom was in a prison-like room with the same design I'd seen in U Min-hee's quarters.
The boy who'd once fervently idolized me sat at a desk in the stuffy, sealed room, wearing only a faded yellow tank top and square briefs, staring vacantly into space with empty eyes.
"Jong-beom."
I called his name.
No response.
I didn't call twice.
Truth be told, calling once wasn't really my style.
The moment I saw him, I knew Hong Jong-beom had fallen to the otherworldly madness.
"How long has he been like this?"
I asked the girl who'd been with him.
"Probably since this morning. Not last night—he was excitedly bragging and strutting around then."
Around Hong Jong-beom's neck hung a crudely made necklace he'd fashioned himself.
A single bullet casing, pierced through, dangled from a chain like a dog tag.
On that casing, in my own handwriting, were the words "PROFESSOR."
"······."
I turned away.
The kids watched me with startled faces.
"Y-You're just leaving?"
I nodded.
There was nothing more to be done.
Those defeated by the erosion couldn't be saved or cured.
If even the son of China's top leader couldn't be healed, who could cure someone gripped by the erosion's madness?
As I stepped into the hallway, I saw Jeong Ho-kyeong approaching.
He gave me a nod in greeting, then entered Hong Jong-beom's room.
From beyond the open door came Jeong Ho-kyeong's desperate pleas.
"Jong-beom! Jong-beom! Snap out of it! Is that all you've got?! You were gonna build your career here and go to Jeju to become a scholar! You're the tallest, biggest guy—what happens to the others if you crumble like this? Get up! Jong-beom!"
For some reason, Jeong Ho-kyeong's voice, fading down the corridor, carried a mix of agitation and melodramatic pathos.
"Does this happen often?"
I asked the neatly dressed boy walking beside me, our shoulders level.
Maybe it was his background, but he answered nonchalantly.
"Yes. It happens a lot during surge season."
*
Two events awaited me.
One was the lighthouse lighting ceremony coming up soon, and the other was my departure from this place.
Clink-clink—
The dining hall was quiet today, devoid of chatter.
Only the sounds of utensils moving, food being chewed and savored.
Special rations had been served.
They matched the items I'd unloaded from the helicopter via forklift.
"Eat up, fill your bellies! If you need more, speak up!"
Jeong Ho-kyeong personally wielded the ladle, generously heaping special feast portions onto the kids' plates.
"The key is morale! Don't lose to the rifts! Kang Strong-min and Na Hye-in's expedition team's almost closed the rift! Just hold out a little longer! Once it's sealed, they'll come to Seoul! Hold on till then! Keep your wits about you—think of your mom and dad! No parents? Think of your siblings! No siblings? Think of tomorrow's special rations!"
With his trademark emotional excess and over-the-top gestures, Jeong Ho-kyeong tried to rally the kids' spirits.
Their lackluster expressions suggested it wasn't working much, but at least he clearly identified with this lighthouse and its fate.
"······."
I didn't like the guy and had no intention of getting close, but I wouldn't deny his strengths.
After the meal, Jeong Ho-kyeong assembled the lighthouse personnel atop the walls.
Soldiers—one full platoon—who'd been nowhere to be seen before now manned the outer walls, watching below.
I joined them at the outer wall and looked down. There was a familiar sight.
A pack of Caterpillars mixed in with the zombie horde strained futilely to climb the unclimbable wall.
"What's that?"
I feigned ignorance.
"Who knows. They showed up suddenly this spring. Monster-like, but not really harmful, so we're just watching."
They called Gaeseong Lighthouse an exile outpost, but the equipment said otherwise.
As noon turned to afternoon, the soldiers launched a large reconnaissance drone from the hexagonal grounds.
Whirr-whirr-whirr—
Not as powerful as a helicopter, but the hefty drone kicked up serious wind as it soared southeast into the sky.
Now it begins.
Jeong Ho-kyeong called me over.
"This is the VIP spot."
At the center of the honeycomb structure stood a small watchtower.
Judging by the materials and design, it seemed built by the South Korean side, not North. As Jeong Ho-kyeong said, from the top, the surrounding honeycomb walls came into full view, as if overlooking a model.
A strong sense of pride lit up Jeong Ho-kyeong's face.
"Soon, we'll light the lighthouse beacon."
"Looking forward to it."
Jeong Ho-kyeong turned to me.
"I don't see this lighthouse as a one-off or mere delay tactic."
I stayed silent.
"I plan to make Gaeseong Lighthouse a permanent model—a monster-luring beacon. After closing the Jeju rift and all rifts across the peninsula, including Paju, it'll serve as a breakwater protecting Korea from monsters."
"······."
"Imagine it! Every other country fallen, and the Republic of Korea stands as humanity's last refuge!"
"Impressive."
My praise rang hollow.
Well.
According to reports, the lighthouse was effective, but sustainable? I'd say no.
It was inevitably rooted in erosion zones.
Losses like Hong Jong-beom would pile up steadily.
And Awakeners who could generate waves weren't exactly common.
Scraping together South Korean kids yielded none, so they grabbed North Korean ones—and even kids from fanatic families I hadn't paid much attention to—to reach this number.
In this apocalypse of plummeting population and endless deaths, stably maintaining this many people seemed impossible.
"What?!"
Something had gone wrong, apparently.
"Damn it. Why's that showing up?! There's nothing blocking the front! No kill zone means no supersized ones, right?!"
Jeong Ho-kyeong yelled frantically into the radio, his face drained of color.
He soon set it down.
"······Looks like we'll have to delay lighting the beacon."
"Problem?"
"Three Kraken types have appeared."
"The supersized ones?"
"Yeah. Must be cursed. Normally, no supersized without a kill zone or barrier, but the rift's acting up—spitting out three at once."
"Can't block supersized with this lighthouse, huh?"
Kraken types were beyond the line, comparable to typhoons as natural disasters.
Their crossed death rays from both eyes swept the ground like lighthouse beams, pulverizing everything alive.
This honeycomb structure excelled against miscellaneous monsters, but blocking a Kraken type's destruction beams? Unlikely.
They penetrated objects, annihilating only lifeforms.
"Right. Dangerous. We have a way to block them, but untested."
"A way?"
"Yes."
I nearly tilted my head.
New intel from an unexpected source.
Blocking Kraken-type death rays?
How?
"There's a lead-lined room here. Probably a shelter against Kraken types for North Korea's top brass."
"Lead room?"
"Yes. Their destruction beams are insanely powerful, but they can't penetrate over 1,200mm of lead."
"Lead doesn't budge, eh."
I tried a pun.
Lamenting my own plight of not being able to obtain lead, too.
It fell flat.
"We're skeptical ourselves. But according to defectors, experiments on political prisoners succeeded. North Korean sources are hard to trust, though."
Jeong Ho-kyeong added with a wry smile.
"The lead room's a last resort, anyway. We'll light the beacon based on the Krakens' movements. They're strong but slow, so we have time."
Word that Hong Jong-beom had vanished came that evening.
Contrary to my expectations, the CCTV footage Jeong Ho-kyeong showed captured Hong Jong-beom, who'd been sitting plant-like, suddenly bolting up and dashing down the hall.
No record after that.
Even search parties found no trace.
*
Wheeeeooo—
The siren blared at dawn.
Simultaneously, Jeong Ho-kyeong's voice boomed over the intercom.
"Park Gyu to the command center. Park Gyu to the command center."
Something serious had happened, I was sure.
Seeing the gathered faces in the command center confirmed my hunch spot-on.
Jeong Ho-kyeong spoke, his face ashen.
"Kraken types are heading this way!"
A typhoon approaches.
Toward this lighthouse.
"Drone confirms arrival in 1 hour 30 minutes! Estimated annihilation after that, but as you know, Kraken types..."
Kraken types were like massive siege engines.
They lumbered slowly on disproportionately short legs for their bulk, indiscriminately slaughtering anything living along their path with destruction beams before vanishing—that was their only known mechanism.
They didn't seem intelligent enough to recognize and target specific threats, per my active-duty intel consensus.
Yet they were terrifying because their beams covered vast areas, and once in range, escape was impossible.
Range: about 1.2km. A pair of 10m-wide death rays crossing to cull the living below.
The moment you entered range, all you could do was beg God for mercy.
The only way to evade a Kraken type was to keep distance—like when I'd loaded Rebecca and her daughter into the buggy.
But the lighthouse couldn't.
Invincible against regular monsters, but within Kraken range? Doom was inevitable.
One beam sweep could wipe everyone inside.
"······We have to go to the lead room."
Jeong Ho-kyeong's expression was odd.
Trembling with terror, yet wearing a conflicted look of doing something unforgivable, he forced himself to speak to me.
"But in front of the lead room..."
His eyelids twitched.
"There are capsules."
"Oh?"
"Yes. A lot of them... And no one to clear them..."
Jeong Ho-kyeong eyed me.
"······."
Me, clear them?
The mood said 100% yes.
Feeling countless gazes in the suffocating tension, I spoke calmly.
"Just clear them, right?"
Edge sharpened my voice.
It wasn't about liking his attitude.
I just couldn't comprehend it.