Chapter 238
Chapter 238
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 238
Chapter Title: 99. Four Axes (4)
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Whirrr—
The drone's flight hum echoed through the air.
This one was different from the last.
It carried a faster, more lethal sense of speed.
"What the hell? What's that?"
"A bladed suicide drone."
No sooner had the words left his mouth than—
Clang!
One side of the net jerked violently.
At the protruding edge thrashed a forearm-sized drone with blades like knife edges, wriggling like a freshly caught fish.
Bang!
The gunshot rang out at the same moment the drone exploded.
The shockwave filled the building with dust and dirt.
"Damn it."
Ha Tae-hoon spat out dust-laced saliva.
"QBX-22. The suicide drone carrier finally got moving."
"How many does it carry?"
"It can hold 32 suicide drones."
"Not good news."
"This net won't hold out much longer, will it?"
Ha Tae-hoon stared at the tattered golf net, now riddled with massive holes.
"Grab Baitou. Let's use him as a shield and negotiate again."
They dragged the sprawled Baitou up from below.
The first order of business was binding him.
No telling what this human weapon might do once he came to.
They tied his hands and feet with rope and lashed him to a pillar.
"Tell them on the Chinese military frequency that we've captured Baitou."
Ha Tae-hoon nodded and barked into the radio in Chinese.
But there was no response.
Ha Tae-hoon kept insisting they had Baitou as a prisoner and demanded they halt the attack in exchange, but they ignored him to the end.
The meaning behind their silence was clear.
Ha Tae-hoon said with a hardened face,
"They don't plan to just let us go."
"...Well, we did kill a lot of them."
Cheon Young-jae had taken out five more.
That meant 25% of their deployed forces here had vanished.
They weren't some ancient Tang dynasty army; these were comrades they'd shared three years of trials with in Korea. Their thirst for revenge wouldn't be shallow.
Whirrrrr—
Another bladed drone hurtled toward the golf net with enough force to shred it.
Bang!
He aimed for the sensors.
But.
Boom!
Regardless of his intent, the bladed drone detonated in a small but razor-sharp blast, tearing into their makeshift deflection field—the golf net.
I tilted my head and muttered,
"...So we have to endure another 30 of these."
This wouldn't be easy.
Far from it.
This was true danger, incomparable to some punk like Baitou.
"Can't we intercept them like before?"
"Unlike that recon drone earlier, these are smaller, quieter, and way faster. Might work in open terrain, but with visibility blocked, it's tough."
One thing was crystal clear.
Staying put meant death.
"Let's move spots."
This option was just as risky.
If the revenge-driven drone pilot spotted us, he'd grind us into mince no matter what.
Even if we got lucky and shot one down, they had over 30 suicide drones left.
Intercepting them all was next to impossible.
"This spot feels safer."
Ha Tae-hoon was visibly exhausted from the fight, his fatigue at its peak.
He hunched over and said,
"...I'm staying here."
Just as I figured—people are fragile.
"Then I'll go alone."
Sad, but I couldn't help him.
Not when I could barely save myself.
I was about to turn away, heavy-hearted, when—
"No need."
Da-jeong.
Her voice was different from usual.
Low, subdued, carrying real weight.
She said,
"We're here."
"What?"
"Look at the sky."
Rumbbble—
A deep thrum came from the distant sky.
Ha Tae-hoon, who had been hunkered down, lifted his head.
"That sound? Propeller plane?"
Despite the danger, I joined him at the window to peer at the sky.
"Huh?"
High above the star-scattered night sky flew something large.
A massive aircraft, nearly fighter-jet class.
"That's—?!"
Ha Tae-hoon raised his voice.
"KUF-FX. Peregrine Falcon?!"
"A drone?"
"Yeah, domestic drone. Only brigade-level units operate those..."
Da-jeong's excited voice cut through Ha Tae-hoon's mutter.
"I told you! I launched the ace in the hole!"
A black dot moved like a grim reaper across the dark sky.
A bright flash sparked from it.
The light from 5km altitude stabbed toward the ground, blooming into a small fireball over the city.
"Bug zapped."
That was the moment the Chinese military's latest unmanned drone carrier was destroyed in one strike.
The drone banked sharply.
"So, what now? Wipe out the rest?"
"No, stay at high altitude. They might have MANPADS."
"Roger. Oh, and Blood Blue is heading your way."
"Super Skeleton, right."
"Blood Blue."
"...I'll set a rendezvous point. Ha-sunbae!"
*
Click—
In the shaking cargo hold of the vehicle.
Cheon Young-jae loaded a magazine, aimed his rifle rearward, and scanned the surroundings with faintly glowing eyes.
"Three zombies to the east. Ignore 'em."
A dark speck circled overhead, watching over us.
"Impressive. Hong Jeong-ho. Knew he picks up anything like a street punk, but even that?"
Cheon Young-jae muttered skyward, and Ha Tae-hoon from the driver's seat replied,
"He's with the Legion, right? Legion gear. Probably fixed up something they weren't using."
"Even so, can he just run it private? Peregrine Falcons take off from airfields at minimum."
"Legion's air force isn't what it used to be. Can't even hold Seoul right now."
Ha Tae-hoon slowed down.
"Rendezvous point."
I felt eyes on me from the rearview mirror.
I nodded, donned the radiation-shielded suit from the vehicle.
With Cheon Young-jae's help, it went on easily.
Grabbing the radiation meter, I hopped out of the cargo hold.
A humanoid drone stood motionless there.
Super Skeleton.
In its right manipulators, it held a disk.
The one that brought us here—and would take me to Jeju.
In its other hand: two axes.
"..."
Those axes were relics from my idol, John_nenon.
Beep-beep-beep-beep—
As I approached the drone, the radiation meter went wild.
It had lingered in a hot zone; no surprise.
"Yeah. I'll set them down. That better?"
Da-jeong said.
"Please."
The drone placed the axes and disk down.
The disk was in a lead-lined box.
A glimpse of John_nenon's meticulous care.
Beep-beep-beep—
As I neared the drone, radiation levels spiked into the danger zone.
I used the tongs to pull the disk toward me.
I set the disk aside and eyed the axes.
"..."
Not even polite to call them good axes.
Cheap camping hatchets from a mart, stickers peeled off, "John_nenon" engraved.
Junk, plain and simple.
Yet I craved them fiercely.
But I couldn't hold them yet.
They carried the full weight my idol had borne.
"Retrieval complete."
Heavy-hearted, I turned away, leaving the axes behind.
"Gotta scrap the drone too. Can't let the Chinese pick it up and use it."
I raised my gun.
The drone moved suddenly.
Da-jeong's doing.
She positioned one axe from one hand to the other, crossing her arms in an X with the axes.
"For John_nenon."
"...For John_nenon."
I aimed at the drone holding the hero's axes.
Bang!
This wasn't to destroy the drone.
It was a salute to a legend who once dominated an era.
*
The impossible op ended without a scratch.
Well, we took some bullets on the way back.
One change stood out.
My comrades' gazes on me.
"Man, fuck yeah. S-ranks aren't handed out to just anyone."
"Told you. Park-sunbae is our real pillar. Fuck that Baitou prick. What? China's strongest? Turns out he's full of shit."
I grinned at them.
"We won because he let his guard down."
The truth.
His arrogance and carelessness showed the moment he boasted about taking me prisoner.
He handled the axe throw fine—probably calculated it—but couldn't cope with three projectiles on unpredictable paths.
Baitou is strong.
Next time, I'd probably lose.
Same trick won't work twice.
Still, I didn't kill him.
That bought us time, and...
"Why let him live?"
Cheon Young-jae glared with dissatisfaction.
"...He's a hunter, isn't he?"
A whim.
Respect to a fellow hunter in a similar spot.
Or maybe camaraderie.
Right now, he's bound back-to-back with Ha Tae-hoon's RealDoll.
With a blade at his feet, he'll get out on his own.
But the Blue Dragon Sword is confiscated.
The Blue Dragon Sword rides in the truck with the drone and surveillance gear, treated like junk.
Not that I'll use it—it's decor for my bunker.
Heading to Jeju soon, but a bunker mom who birthed her own bunker wants to beautify it a bit.
"Time to head back."
Da-jeong's voice came through.
"Good work, Skeleton. And sunbae-hoobaes."
Defender's voice followed.
We owed them thanks.
"Thanks."
Defender and Da-jeong replied in unison,
"No, thank you."
Hearing that, my lips curved against my will.
A moist warmth settled in my parched, gunpowder-stained heart.
I call this feeling fulfillment.
"..."
Never imagined it'd hit me on the battlefield.
"Catch you later."
With Da-jeong's words, comms cut.
We headed silently back to our turf.
The sun was rising.
*
"This the backup from that Chinese scientist's data?"
The disk sat on the table.
It connected via high-speed USB.
I'd worried radiation fried it, but the data was intact.
5 gigabytes.
All in one compressed file, lightly encrypted.
The password was on the label.
[ John_nenon ]
The familiar name made me chuckle.
"Been wondering—who the hell is this John_nenon? Sounds familiar, but not some big deal."
Cheon Young-jae asked.
Ha Tae-hoon looked curious too.
Under their stares, I thought of the man who became light—now minus both arms.
"My role model."
I entered the role model's nickname.
The archive unpacked, unfolding research data before us.
I opened it.
"Hmm."
Complex logs at a glance.
I turned to my comrades.
"Anyone wanna look?"
They both shook their heads.
We could check later.
"I'm gonna wash up."
"Me too."
"Shower, eat, crash."
"Who's on watch?"
"If they come, we kill 'em. Even raiders deserve a lucky day. Too wiped today."
As they headed to the showers, I logged into Viva! Apocalypse!
The familiar board after so long.
Always comforting, but I knew now.
This board alone couldn't fully ease me anymore.
At some point, a pathological anxiety took root like plague: Kim Daram's underling could kill me.
Unicorn's talk of a spot on Jeju tempted, but honestly? I'm worn out.
I want release from this uncertainty of when death strikes.
From nights shattered by endless wakings, like tiptoeing on thin glass daily.
Even if Jeju's a demon realm, at least no passerby invades my home and shoots me.
3 years and 7 months in such instability.
"..."
Root cause?
Our people.
Aren't they too tough?
"Grassroots" or not, Korean survival defies reason.
If only it were mint choco level, my ideal world might've come...
Tap-tap
Messaged Unicorn.
I figured it'd take a bit.
Nope.
Online at this hour.
No missions?
Felt like quick replies before too.
Anyway, fast response is good.
Sent a snippet.
"..."
A bad feeling stirred.