Ep.4 Three Loaches (2)
"Don't go in there mouthing off at everyone."
"I'll take my cues from what they do."
Kang Heesu shot her brother a glare as she answered.
Having apparently given up on lecturing his own sister, the Knight clasped my hands in both of his with an earnest, pleading expression.
"I'm entrusting my little sister to you, truly. She only just became an adult, and she still doesn't know much about how the world works."
I suppressed the urge to point out that, by any measure, I looked younger than his sister did.
No sense dragging the conversation out.
"The one who doesn't know how the world works is you, oppa. God, I keep telling you—"
I hurriedly shook the Knight's hand free.
"Yes. At the very least, I can absolutely guarantee her safety. You saw what happened earlier, didn't you?"
"I did. I trust you."
The Knight released my hand.
Kang Heesu grumbled and muttered the whole way, but she followed me all the same.
We grabbed a few energy bars and some bottles of water and slipped out of the apartment complex.
The black zone in Gwangjang-dong held only one deer, and that was that. We made our way into the southern foot of Mount Acha without the slightest trouble.
In the distance, something like the muffled sound of roasting beans drifted through the air.
"Gunfire," Kwon Wooseok murmured.
"So the military is here."
"Yes. Not far, either. We'll run into them soon."
A few more minutes of walking along the mountainside brought an armored vehicle into view, blocking the road. Sandbags and coils of concertina wire lay scattered in front of it. A handful of mana signatures registered as well—and the moment we were spotted, the muzzles of the soldiers' rifles swung toward us in unison.
"HALT!"
Kwon Wooseok whispered to me.
I'll go ahead.
Yes.
He raised both hands and advanced slowly, calling out in a booming voice.
"Friendly! Warrant Officer Kwon Wooseok, 601st Aviation Battalion, Republic of Korea Army Aviation Command—!"
"Currently serving?"
"Yes!"
"State your service number!"
Kwon Wooseok recited a string of digits like a phone's serial number. A soldier picked up his radio; a few words crackled back and forth, and the rifle muzzles lowered. A captain strode up to us.
"Identity confirmed, Warrant Officer. Glad to see you made it out alive."
"Thank you, sir."
"And the others with you?"
"Civilians. All of them are Awakened as well."
The soldier's eyes swept over each of us in turn.
"Where are you coming from?"
Kang Heesu raised her hand first.
"Me? Gwangjang-dong. Your search team came by two days ago."
"Name of your group's leader?"
"Kang Hyeoksu."
Another exchange of radio chatter.
"Eighty-seven survivors from Gwangjang-dong. What's your relation to Mr. Kang Hyeoksu?"
"His little sister."
The soldier nodded, then turned his gaze toward me and Choi Mincheol. His eyes lingered for a moment on my sunglasses before he asked, a shade hesitantly, "And the two of you also came from Gwangjang-dong?"
"No. He came from Guui Station, and I came from Gangbyeon Station."
Though, strictly speaking, we'd both come from Gangbyeon.
The soldier paused to choose his words.
"Are you survivors from the Yongsan Techno Mart area?"
……Just as I thought. They already knew.
Judging from the fact that he had nothing to say to Choi Mincheol either, they apparently knew Gangbyeon was the hub of the surrounding survivor enclaves. They just didn't seem to know exact headcounts or how each stronghold was organized—otherwise he would have reacted somehow to the mention of Guui.
"Yes. That's right."
"Would you tell us how many survivors are currently with you?"
"It's been a few days since we did an exact count, but a little over a thousand."
"……A thousand, you say?"
"Yes."
The soldier stroked his chin strap, looking genuinely astonished.
"How many Awakened among them?"
Search teams were clearly already making the rounds this far out. Any information would either be revealed soon or was already known—hiding it bought us nothing. It wasn't as if we were planning to go to war with the military. If anything, saying it outright was the better way to gauge their reaction.
"Forty-four."
"……"
The soldier's eyes went wide.
Even I had to admit that was a lot.
"And who is your group's representative?"
"Me."
"Your name?"
"Yu Siwol."
The soldier looked at me with obvious skepticism, then picked up his radio again.
"Contact with a representative of the survivor group in the Gangbyeon Station area. Claiming over one thousand survivors and forty-four Awakened. Group leader, Yu Siwol……"
*
We rode a military truck back through the blockade line. Kwon Wooseok kept running his hand over the tarp and muttering the word Kia 2.5-ton to himself, looking moved in a way that was almost nostalgic.
While we were being hauled around in the truck bed like so much cargo, I happened to pick up a mana signature from one of the soldiers riding with us. The Supernatural patch on his shoulder said Special Operations Unit, presumably.
I tapped him with a question.
"Excuse me……"
"Yes? Yes, ma'am."
"Do you happen to know a Kim Juwon? He was a corporal in the training battalion."
The soldier fumbled for a moment, then squeezed his eyes shut, his face flushing red.
"Ah—C-Corporal Kim Juwon. Yes, I saw him around sometimes."
"Is he here?"
"I-I really couldn't say, ma'am. I saw him a few times early on, but lately, no……"
No point pressing further. At least no word of him being dead had made the rounds—that much I'd count as a mercy.
Inside the blockade line, and within it as well, mana signatures were few and far between. Not many at all. Fewer than five, by my count.
A few minutes later, the truck stopped.
"We'll escort you to the command post now."
Following the captain who climbed out of the passenger seat, we came upon a shipping container that had evidently been set up as a temporary office. The captain, as if it went without saying, remained outside, and we went in.
Maps were pinned to the walls; somewhere off to one side, a radio spat static. On the table in the center lay more maps alongside a scattering of simple snacks. Seated in front of it all was a middle-aged man wearing a lieutenant colonel's insignia.
The blockade commander, then.
He rose from his seat with a genial smile.
"I've heard. You're the representative from the Gangbyeon Station area."
"I am."
"Please, everyone, have a seat. You've had a long journey to get here."
We settled around the table at our leisure. The lieutenant colonel pushed a few bottles of water toward us.
"I'm told your group numbers over a thousand."
"That's right."
"To be perfectly honest, we had no idea it was that many."
"You knew there was a survivor group, though."
"Yes."
As expected. The odds of the military having no idea we existed were essentially nil. They had military satellites, and search teams were already making trips to the outskirts of Seoul. With more than a thousand people gathered in one place for nearly a month, the truly strange thing would have been if they hadn't seen it.
That said, there was no need to let on that I'd predicted all of this.
I raised my tone a notch.
"……Then why didn't you come?"
Delivered, of course, the way a girl my age would whine it.
"Let me explain that part."
With a pained look, the lieutenant colonel laid out the situation. There were still many people in Seoul waiting for rescue. Some places had lost food and water entirely; others were besieged by monsters. Gangbyeon Station, by contrast, had held out on its own for nearly a month—waste disposal was handled, their area of activity was even expanding. They'd simply been triaged lower.
"So what you're saying is, we seemed like we'd be fine on our own, so you pushed us to the back of the line."
I bit my lip.
The tears did not come.
"Do you hear how that sounds right now? Even so, how could you—"
I let the sentence trail off, unfinished. I wasn't actually furious, or actually wronged. If I were in their shoes, I'd have done the same—hell, I was doing the same. But I pouted sulkily anyway.
"……Still. You could have at least contacted us."
"I beg your pardon?"
"We've been transmitting on the radio for a week."
"……You mean radio transmissions?"
"Yes. Every time the military broadcast came on. We kept requesting rescue, and not once did anyone answer."
The lieutenant colonel's expression flinched, just barely. He was bad at keeping his face in order. Not a man who'd done political work, evidently.
"……We receive a considerable number of civilian transmissions from inside Seoul."
"So ours got lost in the pile?"
"That, we would have to verify……"
Slick recovery, that.
"We specifically said we were at the Techno Mart."
"We'll look into that as well."
It smelled fishy, but it was too early to pass judgment on a flicker of a reaction alone. I was nearly certain they'd heard our transmissions and ignored them, but it wasn't worth briefing Kwon Wooseok or Choi Mincheol on it. For now, I'd table it.
"……I understand."
I nodded, grudging acceptance written across my face. The lieutenant colonel's face eased, just a fraction. Whether my act had landed or he was simply relieved that I'd stopped being a nuisance, I couldn't tell.
"Then what about our people?"
Kang Heesu cut in.
"The Gwangjang-dong rescue is still happening, right? Even if my brother doesn't enlist?"
"Your brother—you mean Mr. Kang Hyeoksu? In that case, yes. The rescue operation and the enlistment offer are separate matters."
"Then have my oppa rescue everyone first, and once Mom and I confirm it's safe, he can bring us over. And please keep a record of that."
Apparently she'd given up on stopping his enlistment.
The lieutenant colonel smiled at her. "Understood. I'll see that it's processed."
"Make sure of it."
"Yes."
"Thank you."
Kang Heesu bowed her head.
I deliberately scrunched up my face and asked again.
"And what about us?"
"With over a thousand people involved, and the area being a dense monster zone, I'm afraid I can't give you a definite answer yet."
"Then I'll go back today and brief my people."
The lieutenant colonel didn't answer right away.
It was only a moment, but it was an unmistakable hesitation.
Something's rubbing him the wrong way.
"I'll have to ask you to wait on that."
"Why?"
"The Seoul direction is currently under an operational control order. Re-entry by civilians requires clearance from higher command."
Well, fair enough. If anything happened to us, they wouldn't be able to dodge responsibility. A perfectly reasonable call. Still—might as well poke it once.
"You know we came from there, don't you?"
"Yes."
"And yet we can't go back?"
"I wouldn't say you can't. I mean that the procedure requires confirmation."
"How long?"
"I'll inquire immediately."
Once more.
"Then could you at least contact our people?"
"You mean the Techno Mart group?"
"Yes. If we don't come back, they'll worry. Please send a radio message, even just once."
The lieutenant colonel scratched his jaw before answering.
"That, too, will need to be verified."
"……"
Flimsy. Paper-thin.
Fine, the re-entry clearance—whatever. But a single radio transmission required approval from higher command? From the same man who could handle the enlistment paperwork of the guy standing next to me on the spot? If that were true, what would be the point of a field commander at all?
This doesn't add up. And slowly, the shape of it was coming into focus.
Something has come down from above. An directive.
I shot a glance at Kwon Wooseok and Choi Mincheol.
"All right. We'll wait. But when you find out, you tell us right away. Agreed?"
Back off here, for now.
"Thank you for understanding. I'll inform you the moment it's confirmed."
The lieutenant colonel assigned us an escort, as if to say he'd at least let us have lunch.
An Awakened one.
*
The food was good.
Steamed rice, soup. Kimchi and rolled omelet. There was even fruit. The supply lines must be running well.
Choi Mincheol downed two bowls in silence.
"Good, is it?"
"It's miraculous."
It's not like you ever went hungry at the Techno Mart either.
Well, I understood. Live off retort pouches and long-shelf-life packaged food day after day, and a bowl of rice fresh out of a field kitchen is bound to taste like heaven.
The Awakened the lieutenant colonel had assigned to us sat in the corner of the mess hall. High probability—no, certainty—that he was a watcher. He wasn't even bothering to hide it. So neither did I.
Siwol.
Kang Heesu tapped my arm lightly from beside me.
What?
That man's Awakened. Like me.
A sensor type?
Yes. I can see something at his nose.
……Well then. Shall we test it?
CRASH!
I shot up from my seat.
The soldier in the corner whipped his head around—and at the same instant, blood came streaming from his nose.
"……Huh?"
He hastily clamped a hand over his face. Thin red lines had spread across his eyes.
"Ugh, damn flies."
I sat back down as if nothing had happened and returned to my rice.
He wasn't just tailing us. He was watching us with his ability. Still, it wasn't a constant-on type like Jeon Hyojun's—it was the kind you engaged only when needed, like Kang Heesu. And judging by the results, he hadn't heard me and Kang Heesu whispering, either. If he had, he'd have been too flustered to use his ability.
And most important of all—the nosebleed told me he'd overloaded, just like Kang Heesu does.
There's a crack in the wall.
*
Night fell, and the clearance never came.
Can't we go back now?
I'm sorry. Contact with higher command has been delayed……
Then the radio message?
My apologies for that as well……
Not that I was surprised.
Kwon Wooseok's camera got confiscated. They took it, citing internal military security—but they'd missed the film, which he'd stashed somewhere ahead of time. Didn't matter anyway; the body was the film, not the camera.
My phone was confiscated too. Fortunately, I'd hidden mine in advance and still had it.
Every time they tried to search my person, flames shot up reflexively, and they loved it—absolutely died of fright, actually. My excuse that it was an involuntary reflex held up.
Thankfully, the watcher never followed us into the container we'd been assigned.
I sat down on a cot with its green sheet and sorted through my thoughts.
First. The military knew about us, and had no plans to rescue us anytime soon. And something—some directive from above—had clearly been issued regarding us specifically.
Second. Moon Sangjun is not currently a key player.
……And that was the biggest headache of all.
Moon Sangjun's political leverage ultimately flows from Moon Jintae. If Moon Jintae's side were actually moving, there's no way there'd have been dead silence ever since my name came up. By now we'd have gotten a call, or Moon Sangjun himself would have shown up—one or the other.
But nothing has happened.
Ugh, goddammit.
There was no way Moon Sangjun hadn't passed word of me to Moon Jintae. And no way he'd failed to grasp what becoming a hero actually meant. Which meant, in the end, either Moon Jintae had refused Moon Sangjun's proposal to challenge the current administration's Awakened policy, or he'd accepted it and then found his hands tied politically, or—neither of them had yet managed to claw their way out of the gate crisis.
Roughly, one of those three.
Of course, the report might simply not have gone up the chain yet, or there might be a fourth possibility I don't know about. But either way, I can't count on Moon Sangjun's intervention right now.
……And finally, third. We are, for all practical purposes, in detention.
Nobody had said the word detained outright. But if the radio's off-limits and so is the door, what exactly is the difference?
Whether the reason extended beyond information control, I couldn't yet say. It didn't matter at the moment, anyway. My course of action was already fixed.
We walk out.
There were over a thousand people at the Techno Mart. I'd promised them an answer. I had no time to sit waiting on a military clearance that might never arrive.
The question was how.
Nobody touches the soldiers.
As it stood, I was the representative of the Techno Mart survivor group—and seen broadly, a powerful Awakened. If I punched my way out through the fence, all hell would break loose.
Roughly, that was the kind of hell that would break loose.
"……"
I chewed on my lip.
Not so much as a scratch on a soldier. No damage to facilities either—no flipping vehicles, no blasting the concertina wire sky-high. Even something like snatching a rifle off someone's shoulder would hand them all the justification they needed.
The watcher, well…… Honestly, I figured if I just cranked my power up, he'd pass out in a waterfall of his own nosebleed. He probably wouldn't dare use his ability on me again anyway. Word that peeking at me uninvited was a bad idea must have made it up the chain by now.
This is a genuine clusterfuck……
But still. It wasn't impossible.
The fact that Moon Sangjun can't leverage his strength at this moment—well, that's true right now. If I went out there and laid the whole table for him, that would be an entirely different story.
If he couldn't even eat a meal served to him like that, then truly—
the man was never meant for politics in the first place.