Chapter 46. Back to Gimpo with New Survivors.
Chapter 46. Back to Gimpo with New Survivors.
'Something had been tailing me on Qi Sense... So it was a drone.'
"Honestly, I was curious. How on earth could someone retake a military base and lead people in this situation? So we flew a military drone to confirm it."
He clearly had a lot he wanted to ask me. I won't hide anything, but do I really need to volunteer the information?
After hearing his answer, I fell silent. The mood soon grew a little icy, and Commander David spoke up.
"Can't you tell us? How is something like that possible... When we checked the footage frame by frame very slowly, the giant and all the trees in the area were sliced at the exact same time."
As I kept listening to him, another soldier next to Commander David added a few words.
"You also casually deflected the giant's punch with your sword — even with all that mass behind it. How is that even physically possible...?"
'Drones these days sure have good resolution...'
The American soldiers were all waiting, anticipating what I would say next. It seemed they couldn't simply accept it as the work of an Awakened either.
"It's easier if you just think of it as me having learned martial arts."
"...Are you referring to the Eastern martial arts I'm aware of?"
"Yes."
He paused to think, then smiled and said,
"I understand. The world has already drifted far from reality. In a world like this, I suppose there could be someone like you with unrealistic power."
Commander David had good instincts. He seemed to realize I didn't want to talk about it and was being evasive, so he didn't ask any further. He lit a cigarette, took a drag, and continued.
"We have lost comrades. And we don't know whether our families back home are alive or dead. And right now, the comrades we shared everything with are out there, eyes wide, rushing to tear us apart and eat us."
He rose from his seat, walked over to me, and offered me a cigarette from his pocket. I casually accepted the cigarette, and he lit it for me as he spoke.
"In the end, why you came to possess such powerful strength is not what matters. Ultimately, thanks to your immense power, we were able to return home safely without a single casualty. Thank you."
I took a deep drag of the cigarette and stared into his eyes without saying a word.
"Before we leave, one last thing: I want to pay my respects to my fallen comrades."
After saying that, he issued several orders to the soldiers and stepped outside.
We followed him out, where a steady drizzle was falling. We all stood there in silence, getting wet in the rain.
At the very front, Commander David had made preparations, and the other soldiers raised their rifles to aim at the sky. Then, at Commander David's signal, they each fired a single round — nineteen shots in total — and stopped.
In front of them, there was not a single intact body. There were corpses so mangled they were unrecognizable, bodies with their limbs torn off, and the ones that were still somewhat whole had gunshot wounds to the head.
They stacked them neatly in one place, covered them with a large American flag, and cremated them by pouring gasoline over them.
There was no time to properly mourn and bury them. Some people wept for the fallen — most likely comrades who had been close to them.
After the funeral ended, Commander David and his advisors approached us. I looked at him and asked,
"Have you managed to contact your government?"
"Yes, they said they are departing as well. Even if they leave immediately, they should arrive by tomorrow morning. I suppose I'll just have a beer and sleep for today."
Both they and we spent a gloomy day. When the next day dawned, the sky was so clear you'd never know it had rained, as if celebrating their return to their homeland.
A plane landed, and they boarded it, taking only their personal weapons and the bare minimum of supplies.
Once everyone was aboard, just before he boarded last, he pointed to a wooden crate and said,
"A few bottles of whiskey I've treasured are inside there. It's a gift from a grateful heart. There's also a satellite phone inside."
"Heh... My father-in-law will love the whiskey..."
"Father-in-law? Mister Cheon, are you married?"
I took the hands of Chaeyeon and Jia, who were at my sides, and answered him with a grin.
"My wives."
"Mister Cheon, you're a far more incredible man than I thought... Not just one, but two..."
"Anyway, as for staying in contact, you didn't need to give me a satellite phone."
"It's because I want to maintain contact with you, not just Korea. I don't know if you'll ever need our help, but exchanging greetings would be possible, wouldn't it?"
He smirked and extended his hand to me for a handshake.
"A foreign friend in the middle of an apocalypse... I like it."
I clasped his hand and shook it. After a brief handshake, he boarded the plane. And our group slowly drove off, watching the plane take off.
Once it had vanished from sight, I looked at my group and said,
"Let's tell people the American forces have returned home safely and ask them to send people to move the supplies."
The Special Forces Commander cautiously spoke to me.
"What do we do about the survivors here...?"
"It seems we'll definitely need to talk with them too. First, let's briefly inform them of the situation by radio, and once our people arrive, we can discuss it then."
* * * * * * * *
Multiple transport helicopters landed at the American military base. Normally, they would have deployed a large force to escort the tanks, but they didn't this time. Unexpected figures stepped out of the helicopters.
"I figured if it was you, Mr. Sihu, you would succeed. You've worked hard."
"I didn't expect the President himself to come all the way here."
"Haha, I came in person to speak with the survivors as well."
The troops that came along were moving the supplies onto the helicopters. We went to meet the survivors. The moment they spotted us, they began murmuring at the sight of the President standing at the head of the group.
"Isn't that the President?"
"Yeah, I think I saw him on TV."
"The government was still alive?"
As we slowly approached, an elderly man who looked to be the oldest among them stepped forward and asked,
"Has the government come to rescue us?"
"Yes. Actually, we came to the US base because America requested help, and we happened to see all of you here."
"...But our numbers are quite large... will that be possible...?"
"It will probably be impossible to do it all in one go. Might I ask what you did for a living, sir?"
"Myself and the old folks here are farmers. Among the others, there are students and some technicians."
Come to think of it, Pyeongtaek had vast amounts of farmland. As it happened, we were also farming in Gimpo, so having experienced people would be great. The President looked at me and whispered quietly,
"If it's not too much trouble, could we send these people over to the Gimpo side for the time being?"
"Just a moment."
I took them and headed to where the helicopters had landed. Perhaps from the joy of being rescued, they helped carry the supplies with relatively bright expressions.
'Now that I think about it, what did the US give us?'
I checked the items they'd left behind. To my surprise, there was a water tank with live fish in it. They had also written a manual in English, and beside it were sacks that looked like feed. Seeing the live fish, I shouted loudly to the survivors.
"Does anyone here have experience in aquaculture?"
"Yes, I worked in aquaculture over at Pyeongtaek Port."
A few people raised their hands and walked over to me. I took them and showed them the tank.
"Good heavens, to think there are still fish alive..."
"Will breeding be possible?"
"With this many individuals, it's perfectly possible. There's feed here too, so it should be enough."
Having this conversation, I returned to the President and asked him to look into these people's personal details. Then, everyone moved by helicopter, except for the soldiers in charge of operating the tanks, the special mission agents, and our group.
"Wow, how long will it take to move this to Gimpo?"
"If you account for rest, meals, and sleep time, it'll take about two days."
"Then we'll have to bivouac on the way."
"Yes, but they said they didn't see anything unusual coming over by helicopter."
"That's a relief, at least. Let's move a bit faster and then sleep overnight around Incheon."
We moved safely using the regular roads. We sat on top of the tank and kept watch around us, and since we weren't walking ourselves, the group moved without needing breaks. Before we knew it, we arrived at Incheon.
We entered some motel on the main road, decided to rest up and depart early the next morning. Then we ate together in a large room.
During the meal, the Special Forces Commander spoke to me.
"Truthfully... I never imagined that in such a short time, you would be so busy securing a power plant and rescuing the American soldiers."
"You're right, but if you just look at the results, isn't it good?"
"Yes, if we only look at positive results like this, being busy is perfectly bearable. Haha."
We cleared the table and each went to our rooms to sleep. We woke early in the morning and headed back to Gimpo. Several hours passed like that, and eventually, we reached Gimpo.
"Looking at the signs, I think we've entered Gimpo."