Black Meteor
Shaking his head at the sight of them scattering in all directions, Jin-cheol turned back around. He grabbed the half-conscious officer by the collar and hauled him up.
“Kek, kuhk!”
“Why didn’t I smash your fucking head in? Because I couldn’t? Nah. I had questions.”
The officer, locking eyes with Jin-cheol, trembled violently, blood dribbling from his mouth. Against the backdrop of flames bursting from the hangar ceiling, Jin-cheol looked like some demon. A black devil sent by the evil god Marx. He spoke.
“It doesn’t make sense that a massive ship like this has no emergency escape routes. There’s gotta be a way to bail out if it’s going down, right?”
“We... have to fight... General’s... orders...!”
Jin-cheol tightened his grip just a bit more. The terrified officer gasped out the rest.
“B-bridge! The bridge! Officer escape pod...!”
“To the bridge? That’s the only one?”
The officer’s face twisted in misery.
“Originally, the... h-hangar... transport ships...”
Jin-cheol’s eyes swept back over the hangar. Not a single transport in sight—it was a total wreck that looked ready to collapse any second. He let go of the man’s collar. The officer thudded to the floor, then slunk away backward, eyes on Jin-cheol. Jin-cheol ignored him. No time to tussle with that bastard anymore. The ship’s hull was already tilting forward. Scanning around, Jin-cheol spotted stairs leading upward and bolted.
Dol Jumeok followed a step behind, gasping like he was about to die.
As they vanished, the officer fled too. Flames roared into the hangar belatedly.
The stairs Jin-cheol raced up connected the hangar to every upper deck. He sprinted like mad, and soon enough, a passage to the topmost deck—the bridge—appeared. Jin-cheol paused there and glanced back. Dol Jumeok was dragging himself up the stairs with a face like death warmed over. No need to rush him. If he was too slow, that was on him.
Charging down the passage, Jin-cheol reached a door at the end that hissed open on its own. Shouting voices spilled out from inside.
“Hangar Two destroyed! Engine room and hull connectivity down to under 20%! Main ship crashing!”
“All port and starboard cannons offline! Lower decks not responding to control systems! Main ship crashing!”
“Communications with Battle Wing squadron cut off from earlier hit!”
“The ship’s sinking, General! You must evacuate!”
“General! Evacuate now!”
What the fuck is this shit?
Jin-cheol stepped in and took it all in. At the center sat General Donchaba on a throne-like chair, surrounded by brass pipes, gears, mechanical dials, clock-face gauges—a full array of controls and officers. It was the pinnacle of the steampunk vibe he’d felt since boarding the ship. Donchaba sat there stone-faced, glaring ahead. Far off, an enemy battleship loomed.
“General! Urata is demanding surrender!”
“Nonsense! No surrender! Every last soldier fights to the end! Cowards will face treason charges!”
Donchaba snatched a trumpet-shaped microphone from the side and bellowed into it.
“Hear this, you honorless Urata mongrels! I am General Donchaba of the Free Salt Trade Federation...! With my guts twisting in agony, I admit you’ve snatched a vile victory this time! Praise for your treacherous schemes will be heaped on the soldiers remaining aboard. But mark this! I will survive and have my revenge! Vengeance for the fallen troops and officers—by my hand—”
He rose dramatically, face full of grim resolve, then spotted the open bridge door and Jin-cheol standing there. He trailed off, staring blankly before asking,
“...Who the hell are you?”
“Me? Hijacker.”
“...Hi, Hijacker?”
Ignoring the Lavitos’ stares, Jin-cheol strode straight for Donchaba.
“Escape pod. Where?”
“...?”
One officer snapped to his senses, leaping up and drawing his pistol. “You! Urata spy!”
Jin-cheol didn’t answer. He ripped a medal from Donchaba’s chest and flung it. The metal shard whistled through the air, slicing the officer’s hand.
“Agh!”
The pistol clattered to the floor and fired accidentally with a bang. That shot woke everyone up. Instantly, Jin-cheol’s right hand clamped around Donchaba’s throat.
“Kek!”
“Escape. Pod.”
Other officers twitched toward their weapons, but Donchaba, seeing the murder in Jin-cheol’s eyes, threw up a hand to stop them. He rasped at Jin-cheol,
“Planning to... escape alone? Leaving all these men... behind?”
“Eat shit. Weren’t you screaming about salt and freedom while betting their lives? Then find your own damn ways out.”
“How... dare you... insult the fearless soldiers... of the Federation...!”
“Fearless? Try telling that to the ones dying downstairs.”
A distant blaze flickered deep in Jin-cheol’s eyes. Faced with that inferno, Donchaba choked up and shut his mouth.
Then, from the front, a Lavito at the helm signaled others with his eyes and yanked the controls hard.
“You fucking—!”
“Waaah!”
The already tilting hull lurched sideways, spilling everything in the bridge. Officers drew pistols and fired wildly. Gunshots cracked deafeningly.
Crazy bastards—don’t you care if you hit the general you were sucking up to a second ago?
“Don’t shoot! Cease fire!”
Donchaba bellowed too, realizing he could get hit. Jin-cheol crouched low to steady himself against the tilt, then hurled the general at the helm Lavito.
“Ugh!”
They tumbled together. But the ship plunged downward. Officers aimed at Jin-cheol. He activated his right arm’s shield and charged. Bullets pinged off harmlessly. A white blade sprang from the gauntlet. It sliced through uniforms and fur, thirsty for blood.
“Shoot! Fire!”
“Uwaa!”
“Goddamn it!”
“Kk!”
Screams, curses, shouts, and gunfire swirled. But the storm died as suddenly as it came. Moments later, only Jin-cheol stood in the bridge.
“Fucking idiots. If you wanna die, shove the barrel in your own mouths...”
Standing amid corpses, Jin-cheol flicked blood from his blade with a bitter face. Combat-wise, the Lavitos were nothing special—pistols aside. It took mere seconds to silence the twenty-odd officers.
“...?”
But General Donchaba wasn’t among the dead. Jin-cheol scanned for him. In the corner, Donchaba frantically worked a brass contraption. Strip away the pipes and locks, and it looked like a brass coffin—an escape pod, to Jin-cheol’s eyes. The hatch clunked open. Donchaba dove in. Jin-cheol pounced like a tiger.
By a hair’s breadth, Donchaba slammed the door first. Through the small window, his smug face grinned.
“You fucker.”
Jin-cheol grabbed the hatch. Donchaba laughed from inside, as if mocking that no bare hands could break it. Jin-cheol ignored him, gritted his teeth, and summoned his strength.
“...!”
A grinding screech— the hatch buckled. Donchaba panicked, fumbling inside. Clunks as pipes and locks released. The pod dropped. But it halted abruptly. Donchaba gaped outside. The crumpling hatch and Jin-cheol’s snarling face gripping it.
Donchaba collapsed inside. His pants darkened with piss.
Then a piercing alarm blared across the bridge. Jin-cheol, holding firm, shivered and looked back. Far off, enemy cannons spat fire and smoke. A shell rocketed straight at the bridge windows. Jin-cheol yelled,
“Fuck—!”
Thunderous boom, explosion, blinding rainbow flash, unstoppable shockwave. The Zasoyeonbang battleship’s bridge was obliterated by pinpoint enemy fire. Normally, shield officers would protect it, but they’d all been wiped out by Jin-cheol—leaving it defenseless. The bridge sheared clean off. Control gone, the ship arced gently downward in freefall. From high above the clouds, it tore through them now. On the flattened bridge deck, soot-blackened Jin-cheol jerked upright.
“...Fucking survived this.”
He held up brass scraps—remnants of the hatch. Tearing it off at the last second had shielded him from the blast center.
“...Just the crash left now, huh.”
Tossing the scraps, Jin-cheol laughed hollowly amid flames and smoke. He’d clawed up from below, but crash was inevitable. Then, an Olrog shoved aside a metal sheet from over there—Dol Jumeok.
“Cough, cough!”
Climbing the stairs had spared him the bridge hit. He stared dumbly at the obliterated bridge and lone-standing Jin-cheol. Meeting his gaze, Jin-cheol inexplicably flipped debris. Wind scattered dust and shards. Rummaging, he found the half-wrecked pod and its launch tube.
He shouted at Dol Jumeok.
“Hey, asshole!”
“What? What is it?”
“Let’s go!”
Wind whipped words away, but Dol Jumeok saw Jin-cheol’s grin and crawled over. Meanwhile, Jin-cheol fitted the pod to the tube. Close now, Dol Jumeok yelled,
“What the hell is this?!”
“Our ticket out! Way to live!”
The ship broke through clouds. Below wasn’t endless blue sea. A winding coastline welcomed it, beyond to vast land. They’d crossed the ocean. Dol Jumeok eyed the unfamiliar terrain as Jin-cheol shouted,
“What’re you waiting for, dipshit? Get in!”
“...This thing’ll really work?!”
Dol Jumeok eyed the crumpled pod, thinking Jin-cheol was nuts. Better to jump bare than ride this. But,
“Do what you want!”
Jin-cheol climbed in. Dol Jumeok squeezed after. Logic screamed no, but instinct said follow Jin-cheol to survive.
“Hahaha!”
Jin-cheol laughed at Dol Jumeok cramming into a corner, then pulled the lever Donchaba had reached for.
“...”
A clank—but no movement. As Jin-cheol opened his mouth, a ting—and it slid down. Dol Jumeok screamed bloody murder.
“Kiyaaaaak—!”
No hatch meant sparks from misaligned parts flooded in spectacularly. But briefly. The pod shot free into gravity’s grip. Through the open end swirled sea, sky, clouds, coast, distant mountains. Eerie float, then violent shakes below. Dol Jumeok shrieked from his crumple,
“Hot! Ass burning! Bottom’s heating up! We’re gonna fryyy!”
“Quit whining, fucker!”
But next instant, Jin-cheol felt it too—floor scorching his soles. Then thrust erupted below. Roaring flames. Even Jin-cheol screamed.
“Uwaaaak!”
“Kwaaaaak!”
Intact, it would’ve braked downward flames. Wrecked, no balance—pod spun wildly, tumbling them like toys in a box. Clinging not to fly out took all focus. It whirled chaotically before splooosh into shallows. Water killed the thrust. Sinking with gurgles, it bobbed up. One wall bang—blasted skyward by Jin-cheol’s fist.
“Puha!”
Shattering metal, he emerged, climbed atop. Behind, ancient-faced Dol Jumeok bobbed, gasping, head barely out.
Jin-cheol looked up. Sky-high, the “falling” ship was a fireball plummeting. Black smoke trailed like a comet’s tail—a black meteor. As he watched, altitude zeroed; it slammed inland coast. Shockwave like vibration shook everything. Light and fire bloomed, as if torching half the world.
“...”
Jin-cheol stood tall on the water, facing the blaze. Shadowless in the glow, whatever crossed his mind was his alone.