Chapter 44. Camp Humphreys, Pyeongtaek.
Chapter 44. Camp Humphreys, Pyeongtaek.
"Shouldn't we settle the matter of our compensation first?"
"...You are correct. What kind of compensation do you desire?"
"We want territory where we can act with a greater degree of autonomy."
"...Are you asking for extraterritoriality?"
"Yes. The government can't reclaim the country without our strength anyway, can it? We intend to reclaim land that's become useless and take it for ourselves."
"Mr. Sihu, do you wish to become the king of a nation?"
"No, I simply wish to act more freely."
'If Leviathan has already crossed over here, and other races follow, we'll absolutely need land to coexist with them.'
"Are you... preparing for the possibility of people from Titan crossing over?"
'As expected... the position of President wasn't just handed to him.'
I stared into the President's eyes without saying a word, and he met my gaze without flinching.
"It is only natural for humans to be wary of those who are different from themselves. Since it has become impossible to prevent them from crossing over, we need someone to embrace them. I accept your demand."
"You accepted that surprisingly quickly. But won't the others object?"
"In truth, I told them about Titan as well. Though I can't be sure if they truly believe it or are just pretending to."
"I find it stranger that the President believed me so readily, without a hint of suspicion."
"Heh heh, maybe so. Still, unlike other nations, we can prepare in advance."
"Anyway, shall we discuss Pyeongtaek now?"
This time, they said they would come over to the Gimpo side—that they'd get ready and come right away—then they cut the radio transmission. I looked around and spoke.
"As you all heard, our demands have been accepted. They also said the governments of other nations are still alive. And now we intend to head to Pyeongtaek."
Upon hearing my words, the group fell into thought, and then Seo Ji-hoon addressed me.
"Mr. Sihu, if the United States is asking for help, is there compensation for that as well?"
"The President will likely come and discuss that, but we need to think about what kind of compensation we should request."
"Practical weapons would be best. We've already resolved the food issue to some extent."
A soldier came in from outside to relay the news that the people from the Yongsan side had arrived, so we went out to greet them. The President extended his hand to me in greeting.
"It's been a while. As I briefly explained over the radio, it seems there are still U.S. forces in Pyeongtaek. So the United States has requested our support."
"What kind of compensation have they offered?"
"Between the Republic of Korea and the United States..."
"Not some strange treaty like that. Is there no compensation in terms of tangible supplies?"
"It was agreed that we would be transferred a portion of the weapons, military equipment, vehicles, and the base operation infrastructure in Pyeongtaek."
"No. We should receive all of it, and I'd like to additionally receive livestock that can be raised."
"Aren't you making excessive demands?"
"The needy party here is you, not us. Anyway, it'll be difficult for them to move all the materials in Pyeongtaek. They'll probably judge this isn't a bad deal for them either, since they can take credit for leaving behind things they'd struggle to move anyway."
"Fine. Then I will negotiate with them along those lines."
They were contacting the United States using the complicated equipment that had been set up. A longer-than-expected conversation followed, and before long, it was over.
"The U.S. side has accepted our demands. They requested that we safely protect their personnel, and in return, they will send transport aircraft once the base is secured. Naturally, they said they would send ample food supplies—corn, wheat, potatoes, and such."
"This time, the scale of our forces will have to be quite large. We'll have to haul things like tanks all the way from Pyeongtaek to here."
"But actually, there is a bit of a problem. It seems there's some friction over there with the civilians."
"What kind of friction could there be?"
"Because it's a military base, civilians are naturally gathering around it for safety. The U.S. forces, of course, maintain they have no obligation to protect them. Though it seems they've been providing a little bit of food."
"Have there been any armed clashes?"
"Probably not, due to the difference in armament, but you never know how people will act when they're pushed to the extreme."
"Hmm... Is there a location in Pyeongtaek suitable for a safe landing?"
"Yes. According to what the U.S. forces have confirmed, the airfield side is secure. The problem is that they can't reach it right now..."
"But they have weapons too—wasn't their own firepower enough?"
"There's a Special Entity, and since they didn't know when the U.S. would come to evacuate them, they decided to hold out without wasting resources unnecessarily."
"And it seems that this opportunity brought up the topic of rescue."
"Correct."
We resolved the most critical matter of compensation, discussed the scale of the operation, the survivors, and other details, and then the meeting concluded. We told them we would organize the plan on our side and inform them before sending them off.
"As you all heard, Pyeongtaek's U.S. military base, Camp Humphreys, is massive compared to other military bases. We won't be inspecting every single part of it. We'll quickly locate where the U.S. forces are currently isolated, rescue them, and protect them until the transport aircraft arrive."
Right then, the old man raised a question.
"So you're planning to secure the weapons and vehicles after sending them off?"
"Yes. Initially, I intend to go only with our own people and the special mission agents."
Perhaps because things had stabilized somewhat, the gaunt faces of the people had brightened considerably.
"Son-in-law, make sure to bring back plenty more of things like machine guns and landmines."
As others' faces lit up, I addressed them.
"To maintain our current daily lives, we must arm and defend ourselves. We need even more firepower capable of handling a zombie horde on our own. We already have a fair collection of weapons, but more would be better."
Still, we had come quite far. New sprouts of vegetables were already growing lushly in the gardens. I'd heard that the people on the Yongsan side were still eating unappetizing emergency rations.
"The world ended a lot earlier than you might think. We need many things to keep living. We've solved the electricity problem, but now we need water. We manage it to some degree with magic, but proper water infrastructure is necessary."
We relayed the organized plan to the Yongsan side and told them to prepare, as we would depart in a few days.
* * * * * * * *
For the departure, the special mission agents came over to our location in Gimpo. The Special Forces Commander looked around and spoke to me.
"Still, placing personnel at key points and setting up defenses like this seems quite excellent."
"That's because those with military experience volunteered for guard duty, and even the women are standing night watch. It seems we've prepared as much as we reasonably can."
"Good. Then let's begin to move out."
The helicopter's engines roared to life, the rotors spinning with a deafening noise. We each put on our helmets and readied for takeoff.
Maybe because it was in the same Gyeonggi Province, the helicopter covered the distance faster than expected. We reached Pyeongtaek in under an hour.
At that moment, Warrant Officer Lee Geun-cheol looked at us, pointed outside, and said we had arrived.
Only then did I look outside, too. A long runway was visible, along with apartment-like buildings and houses, schools, and streets with shopping districts. It looked more like an American town than a military base.
As I observed the military base, I could see a large crowd of civilians gathered on one side of the barbed wire fence, and soldiers in uniform on the other.
'Those civilians must be the ones they said they had friction with.'
And beyond them were far more zombies than I had expected. We passed over them, flew deeper in, and landed. As if they had been waiting for our arrival, Westerners in military uniforms approached and greeted us.
"Are you the people sent by the Republic of Korea government?"
Since Terion had cast a translation magic spell on us beforehand, we could converse with them without issue.
"Yes, that's correct. Are you the commander of this base?"
"Pleased to meet you. I am David Edwin, commander of Camp Humphreys."
And then, looking us over, he spoke again.
"Then the person walking around carrying a sword must be Mister Cheon."
"You know of me?"
"I've heard a lot. That you are the only one who can get us out of this place. So I assume you must be a more powerful Awakened than expected."
"But with your level of firepower, wouldn't it be possible to escape from here? You could have evacuated to the fleet with transport helicopters."
"A Humvee? What if I told you there were zombies larger than a bus, would you believe it? To those things, steel fences snap like dry twigs. And they pick up and throw cars. How could we possibly escape?"
"Then, as we were coming in, we saw civilians outside. Who are they?"
"We are living on minimal rations ourselves. At first, we gave them some food and issued them weapons. But it gradually became difficult. And after giving them weapons, some turned into a mob and coveted our supplies."
Was I supposed to feel grateful that they showed some consideration even in this situation by looking after them?
"And let me make one thing clear. U.S. Forces Korea exists to jointly defend Korea, but there is no Korea left to defend."
After he said that, he gave a self-deprecating laugh, adding that the United States probably wasn't much different now.
"And if a conflict arises with the civilians during the process of leaving here, we will point our guns at them."
"Don't worry about that. They're only acting that way for safety. We'll send you all out first, and then we intend to make contact with them."
In fact, they were scheduled to be dumped off at the Yongsan side, but well, that's none of my business. The biggest reason I'm helping them is to secure weapons, anyway.
"Is the U.S. force gathered here all of you?"
"No. There are likely others scattered around, including in the base housing. We are armed, but we expect those without weapons right now probably can't get out."
"We will handle the rescue of those personnel ourselves. Please prepare gear for the rescue team. We'll head out as soon as we're ready."