Chapter 7
Chapter 7: The Importance of Home
"Unexpected. I thought you'd come to me."
"I considered that too, but I think this side would be better for putting my abilities to use."
"With that many units, that's certainly true."
In the end, the unit I decided to join was Ju-hwan's.
The unit name hadn't been decided yet.
"Kuhahahahahahaha! Men recognize men, don't they!"
"Ha ha…"
As we were chatting among ourselves like that, Yi Jin-seok—who had introduced himself as the director—approached.
He was drenched in sweat as he approached and said:
"New information! Apparently someone used a Question Ticket. This information came from someone on the World server."
The information that spilled from Yi Jin-seok's mouth was astonishing.
It was about parties.
"Apparently, once you reach Stage 10 or higher, you can form a party. The downside is that the number of monsters increases further, but…"
"That's nothing. Being alone in the first place is the bigger problem."
Nod.
"What will you do?"
"I'll go solo."
Having others with me would be nice, but for now being alone was better.
By contrast, Kim Min-gyeol and Ju-hwan decided to form a team.
"Min-gyeol and I were a team to begin with anyway. Oh, and take some guns with you too. There might be situations where you need a gun over there. Take a good supply of grenades as well."
"Agreed. Guns and grenades never betray us."
I agreed with their opinion too, and quietly took all the supplies they packed for me.
"Transport."
Boom—
"Wow…"
"Impressive. This is no ordinary truck. What kind of metal is this? Never seen it before."
"Hey, can I try one explosion on it?"
Loading various supplies onto the back of the Transport, they showed great interest in my abilities.
After various conversations after that, I followed Yi Jin-seok and moved.
"I've taken too long to say this. First, have a look at this."
What he showed me was none other than a PowerPoint.
The materials he showed contained various things, but the most shocking among them was the actions of North Korea and China.
China and North Korea had suddenly formed an alliance as if they had been waiting for this very moment.
Afterward, China sent troops to North Korea under the pretense of relieving the North Korean citizens who were being massacred, and was currently stationed there.
On top of that, all the magic stones were flowing to the leaders of China and North Korea.
"So North Korea is essentially being absorbed by China then."
"That's correct. We have been continuously requesting dialogue, but they have completely cut off all responses."
"Damn bastards…"
The situation was shooting toward the worst.
In a situation like this, it would be absurd for Returnees to run wild within the country.
And if they were to be placed in the civilian sector rather than the military…
"Currently, even all reservists have been mobilized. So we would like you, Kim Hyeon-woo—with your hometown in Daegu—to show your strength as much as possible. So that citizens can feel safe."
"That's fine. Over there, it's not competing against other people anyway—just dealing with monsters."
"…Thank you. I've been getting people appearing one by one who say they absolutely must hide at least 30% of their power."
"Ha ha…"
Those people seemed to have gotten too absorbed in novels.
That was also a story for later, when time had passed and they had truly blended into real society—right now they were too busy just surviving. How would anyone hide their power?
“Though I'm an exception, of course.”
Regardless, I heard about the current state of the Republic of Korea and global trends beyond that.
He also told me about various policies on how the government planned to act.
"Then all explanations are complete. Now please head to Daegu as planned."
"Understood. Thank you."
"Then."
Yi Jin-seok started moving quickly—he was busy.
I hadn't understood why he, a director, was the one briefing me, but later hearing from Hwang Jin-hyeok, I learned that for important individuals like myself, he shared things that weren't disclosed to other Returnees.
I arrived in Daegu not long after.
The highway was wide open.
In the current situation, if you took the highway and ran into a pack of goblins, it was genuinely dangerous in its own right.
Apparently plowing through goblins meant the car windshield could shatter, leaving the driver showered in shards—which had caused an enormous number of casualties at first.
From people who had glass fragments in their eyes and careened off a cliff, to those killed by goblins.
Crunch—
Naturally, our Transport just rammed straight through them as it drove by.
"Raptors. Clean them up."
All the goblins spotted along the way were dealt with in passing.
Approximately 6,000 people had gone missing but only around 30 had returned.
Meaning thousands had died over there.
Perhaps because of that, martial arts academies—kendo, jiu-jitsu, special forces combat—were reportedly drawing enormous popularity these days, far more than taekwondo dojos.
Apparently a program was being pushed where people could actually enlist in the military and learn dagger techniques and other martial arts.
"Hyeon-woo!"
"I'm back."
Since the family lived in a house rather than an apartment, I'd been very worried.
Apartments had high floors, so goblins couldn't even properly climb them.
"How were you all okay?"
"Hyeon-jin had learned some boxing back in the day, you know. Apparently 3 goblins that suddenly broke in—she dealt with all of them."
"Ahem…by the way, magic stones are insanely expensive. 100,000 won each."
Chuckle.
Seeing the kid showing off without even fully composing herself was just funny.
Regardless, welcomed warmly by the family, I lounged around at home eating, resting, and doing nothing.
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
Then, a siren suddenly blaring out of nowhere.
"This must be it."
It seemed a gate had opened nearby.
"Let's go."
"…Be careful."
I had already told them everything—that I was now assigned to a special forces unit.
And using my abilities, I had also released several raptors around the yard.
My parents were reassured, and Hyeon-jin had been uselessly playing around with the raptors—but she'd actually managed to pull something off.
"Let's go!"
She had put saddles on the raptors.
As a result, I was able to ride on a raptor's back.
The lead raptor's size was roughly bigger than a horse.
The other raptors were slightly smaller than a horse.
"Kieeeeeeeeeeek!"
Upon arriving, goblins were running amok like mad.
"You bastard! Kill that one first!"
A goblin was pressing a dagger against a child who had fallen down, so I hurriedly sent a raptor with Overload applied.
The raptor arrived in an instant and bit through the goblin's nape.
"Hiiiiiik!"
The child was even more frightened seeing the raptor, but…
"Transport. Get them out of here quickly."
The Transport quickly loaded citizens aboard and began moving.
Around it, raptors and Low-Grade Golems moved as if escorting it.
The situation was over in an instant.
"Dozens of magic stones. That's…roughly several million won?"
Unbelievable.
Suddenly the goblins were starting to look cute—no, not that.
But can magic stones be bought with coins?
Thinking that, I sold the magic stones to the soldiers on the spot.
For reference, in our country, magic stones cannot yet be privately owned.
Private ownership was heavily regulated—subject to up to 5 years in prison, no less—so I sold them off quickly.
"After taxes, 670…? This is insane."
With the money earned this time, I put a smile on the face of a Korean beef restaurant owner who had been in tears over a lack of business.
And not long after, the 10 days were up.
Squeeze.
"…Don't get hurt. Mom will always be cheering for you."
"Take care."
"Bye."
Fwooooooooosh—
Light began emanating from my body.
I had thought it would be fine to go back just like this, but over these 10 days I was able to feel how happy and wonderful home was.
"…Your son is strong so don't worry. I love you."
…
..
.
"I'm back."
Upon returning, countless Mechanical Legion units welcomed me.
Chuckle.
"Yeah. I'm your Legion Commander. How many points accumulated while I was gone…what the—400,000?"
400,000 meant a whopping 4,000 units if pulling only Lowest-Grade.
Grin.
"Pull right away, then complete the Unique Trait quest."
But there was one thing to do first.
Wave Stage 11.
Rumbleeeeeeeeeeee—
The gate began opening again.
"5 of them?"
From the first gate that opened: a group of 100 ordinary goblins.
From the second gate: 30 each of warriors and archers.
From the third gate: 10 goblins that looked notably stronger.
From the fourth gate: 1 new goblin wielding a staff.
And from the fifth and final gate: a massive goblin wearing a strange bone helmet.
[Goblin Grand Warrior]
[Goblin Shaman]
[Goblin Chieftain]
"Right. I was wondering when you'd show up. Move out."
This time the Transports were not spared either.
Transports charged straight ahead and crushed the goblins underfoot.
Leaving the goblin corpses behind, the raptors and Low-Grade Golems riding in the Transports dropped into the middle of the enemy formation.
"Everyone—Overload."
<Whirrrrrrrrrrr!>
<Whirrrrrrrr!>
The Combatant corps dashed forward, venting steam like mad.
"Ugh…that was a bit much…"
Perhaps from applying Overload to too many at once—the strain hit my body.
Still, having enhanced it twice, it seemed that at this scale, pushing hard made the Overload possible.
With the Overloaded Combatants causing chaos in the middle, the ones surrounding them were easy to deal with.
"Throw the Lowest-Grade ones! When it gets too tough! Gatherers only!"
Boom!
Boooooom!
Stepping on the red earth rather than the ground we stood on caused our Mechanical Legion units to blow apart.
So the method was to deal with them the moment they entered.
The enemies were charging headlong in every direction trying to destroy the Crystal Orb, so there was no real need to step forward—but to deal meaningful damage, I began throwing the Gatherers.
Boom!
"What's that?"
A goblin shaman standing motionless on the red earth, quietly murmuring to itself.
And when it finally opened its eyes.
"Kieeeeeeeeeeek! Kyahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Kiiyaaaaaahahahahahahahaha!"
The skin of the goblins erupting into mad laughter turned red, and then the ones with elongated teeth, fingernails, and toenails began going berserk.
"What the…not Overload, but Berserk?"
A proper fight had begun.