Chapter 95. The Operations Commander.
Chapter 95. The Operations Commander.
I woke up feeling refreshed, washed up quickly, and had breakfast with everyone. Since we'd all been drinking the night before, we kept it simple—just some dried pollack hangover soup—and finished up. The 1st Fleet people said they'd woken early that morning, but because of that emotional blow-up yesterday where voices had been raised, they ate in silence without a word.
Before we could start talking about exactly when we were headed to the East Sea, the 1st Fleet people came to me to apologize.
"On behalf of the 1st Fleet, I'd like to apologize. It seems we knew nothing and judged you, Mr. Cheon, based solely on your appearance. We're sorry."
I didn't hold any ill will to begin with, so I just cracked a joke and accepted.
"Heh, judging by my face alone, twenty years old is exactly right."
Seeing how casually I took it, a few faces twisted with what looked like regret.
"Honor, power... you must have no use for any of it, sir. You've already been through it all, after all..."
"I'd rather aim for an ordinary life and just get by."
"Yes. I don't know how much help I'll be, but I'll do my best to support you from the sidelines."
I smirked and shook hands with each of them. Then we shifted back to a serious atmosphere and got on with the briefing. The sooner the departure date, the better. Starting today, we set about moving people and supplies, emptying the headquarters and leaving only the combat ships and the personnel needed to operate them.
Just relocating the people and handling the transport and sorting of the supplies took a full week. Naturally, with the increase in numbers, we had to manufacture additional container houses.
"We will all depart tomorrow."
In a sense, the situation could escalate into a civil war—a full-on clash between armed forces of the same nation. There had been conflicts between groups before, but never on this scale, so everyone was on edge.
"This operation has not been deliberately announced to the general population."
"Right, no point stirring up needless confusion. In a sense, this will be a civil war."
"And our biggest advantage is that they don't know we're in Gimpo."
"So we won't have to worry about anyone robbing an empty house."
Once the final briefing was truly over, everyone started eating with hardened faces.
* * * * * * * *
A day passed, and in the morning, everyone headed to the East Sea gathered at the helicopters. Three choppers were setting out in total. We were only going to get dropped off, anyway; they'd return immediately, and we'd come back later by ship.
Even if everything went smoothly and we met no resistance, we'd still have to cross the East Sea and South Sea to get back to Gimpo. That was likely to take quite a long time.
— Thwop-thwop-thwop-thwop-thwop!
The helicopters' engines fired up, and everyone climbed aboard. Of everyone here, the ones I was most uneasy about were the siblings Yuna and Yuto—this was their first time fighting other people. Both of them looked pretty nervous.
"Scared?"
"A... a little..."
"Keep your heads in the game. You two always think about each other."
But honestly, the whole group was tense. None of them had ever actually killed another person before.
If the worst happened and a civil war really broke out, it'd be a shame—but it would also serve as a harsh lesson to harden them further.
"Arriving at the East Sea shortly."
The three helicopters landed in a neat row on the command headquarters' parade ground. We'd really come with lighter baggage than you'd think—just the rifles and pistols we'd issued them, and the like.
Everyone disembarked, and after we did a headcount to make sure no one had fallen behind, we watched the choppers take off and leave. Then I sent Kkamangi, who'd come along, soaring up into the sky.
"Kkamangi, if you spot any people from up there, let me know."
Through all the training and education, I'd learned that Kkamangi's eyesight was incredibly good—as you'd expect from a bird of prey. And he's very good at picking out the presence of living creatures.
— Screeee!
He let out a low cry as if to say "Got it," then tore through the air at terrifying speed, climbing high into the sky.
"Right then. Let's get moving, too."
Nothing much happened on the way. We'd already cleared out most of the zombies on the streets, so it was just a matter of picking off the occasional ones that crawled out.
"By the way, is there enough fuel?"
"Yes, from the start, a logistics support ship is scheduled to follow right behind us. If we pass Busan without incident, there will be enough fuel to reach Mokpo."
"Mokpo?"
"Ah. Just as we are the 1st Fleet, Mokpo is the headquarters of the 3rd Fleet."
"Then they..."
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to establish contact with the 3rd Fleet. Most likely..."
They'd taken damage close to annihilation, at minimum. To be honest, the only reason the 1st Fleet had survived was that it happened to be a rest day—there weren't many people on base, so casualties were light.
'Wait... so what's the story with Busan...?'
Maybe it was sheer coincidence that Busan had the same kind of luck as the 1st Fleet, or they'd somehow scraped by with a skeleton crew.
Just as we'd discussed beforehand, the combat ship carrying the combat personnel, the 1st Fleet Commander, and the President took the lead, with the rest following in a line behind.
"How long's it going to take to reach Busan?"
Right then, the officer handling the helm answered.
"Sir! Barring any unusual weather, we'll reach Busan Port in five to six hours."
"Busan Port..."
"The likeliest place for them to be would be the Operation Command located in Busan—it's right next to Busan Port."
A thought suddenly occurred to me, and I voiced it.
"Just out of curiosity—is there any way to avoid them and go around?"
"Their defenses won't be that lax, and taking a wide detour would cause fuel issues for the journey on to Mokpo."
Based on our guess, if they were brazen enough to pull something like this, they already had total control of the inside.
'In that case, I should assume most of the facilities are still intact...'
Anyway, since I'd heard it was at least a five-hour trip, I slipped out of the wheelhouse and headed for the deck. Every time I passed by, the officers and enlisted men I ran into kept saluting me.
'I'm not even navy... Hell, I never even did my military service...'
I climbed up onto the deck to find people keeping watch on the surroundings. I also spotted Chaeyeon and Jia there—and they weren't looking good at all.
"What's wrong with you two?"
"Uegh... the seasickness is really bad..."
"Ah... it's you, Sihu..."
Seems like even having mana doesn't stop you from getting seasick. I placed my hands on their backs and sent a flow of mana into them to boost their vitality.
"Ah... that's a little better..."
"Thanks, oppa..."
"Seriously... you're both mana users and you still get seasick?"
"I don't get it. It was fine at first, but the constant rocking of the ship just makes it keep wanting to come up."
I did my best to hold back a laugh and kept pouring mana into them. I guess my private thoughts accidentally slipped out of my mouth.
"You two even look pretty when you're haggard..."
"Heehee, oppa, are you flirting with us?"
"..."
Living together with these two, I'd gotten good at cracking jokes I never would've made back in the day.
"It's the truth, so what's the problem?"
As we passed the time, we went inside the ship to eat—oddly enough, there was a little galley there. We ate, went back up to the deck, and killed more tedious time, until Kkamangi, who'd been up in the sky, suddenly descended with a loud cry.
— Screeeeee!!!
I'd told him to tell me if he saw any people, but there was no way there'd be a living creature out on the sea like this. He might mistake a big animal like a whale, but Kkamangi's intelligence was high. He could distinguish between a person and an animal well enough.
I gathered the people again to share that information, then relayed it to the ships following behind us, using the radios we'd brought from Gimpo rather than the military comms.
"Just in case, we'll try hailing them on their channel before we pass."
"Do that."
We closed in until they were visible to the naked eye and well within weapons range. Then we called the communications officer over and sent a radio message to that fleet.
"This is a combat ship of the 1st Fleet. We are passing through the Operation Command sector for repairs."
"..."
The other side gave no answer at all.
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yes. If they hadn't left their comms network open, we wouldn't have even been able to connect."
"In other words... they're hearing us and ignoring us."
I went back up to the deck. I'd even braced for the worst-case scenario—them ignoring us and opening fire. The Commander and the Chief Adviser were watching the situation through binoculars. We had now moved into a position within their confirmed engagement envelope.
The Commander, who'd been watching the whole thing, swallowed dryly, his throat parched from the tension. And in that moment, the bastards' naval guns belched fire.
— Bo-bo-boom!!!
'The fuck, and here I thought for once they'd just let us pass quietly.'
— Grrrgrgrk... boom!
I used the wall of the combat ship as a springboard and shot forward at terrifying speed. Then I placed my hand on the hilt of my sword.
- Chaos Sword Technique: Iai
— Shhkkk...!
A single slicing sound was all anyone heard. Every cannon barrel on the enemy vessel was sheared clean off. I wasn't worried about the shells already in the air.
'Our kids haven't just been eating and playing this whole time, y'know.'
Chaeyeon was casting a spell, and Jia was shooting mana-packed arrows, and between them they were intercepting every shell. Meanwhile, the old man had his shield up and a barrier deployed, just in case any slipped through.
Just like that, I landed on the deck of the ship that had been at the very front. Naturally, these guys flinched in shock, but unlike last time, I didn't just talk things out—I sliced every single barrel of every rifle they were holding.
"Who's the head honcho here?"
The captain of this ship stepped forward, and the situation was wrapped up in moments. Of course, no lunatic was going to keep resisting after seeing that, so every last one of them surrendered. When I asked why they hadn't answered the radio and pulled this shit, the answer I got was a real headache. I also made sure to leave them a warning before I returned to my group.
"I'm just stepping out for a bit. If you try this again, the ship gets split in half next time."
Most of the people curious about what had been said were waiting for me up on the deck.
"Mr. Cheon, did you speak with them privately?"
"Yes. They told me they thought we were North Korean troops."
"...?"
The President was so dumbfounded he was struck speechless. What they'd been told was that the north had already been overrun by North Korea, and enemies might come down pretending to be allies, so they were to ignore all radio contact completely and engage preemptively. "And they told me they figured the President was already dead, too."
"North Korea can't be in any great shape themselves. There's no way they could mount a southern invasion..."
"I expect they were told the North took advantage of the nation's chaos and invaded. It's the kind of crazy thing that country pulls all the time."
"Ha..."
"They've likely already completely cut off communications with the outside. Hell, the captain of that ship was under the illusion we were North Koreans."
Creating an external enemy to unify the internal ranks—in this kind of situation, it's the most certain, effective method. And naturally, if you help people through that kind of crisis, the voices supporting you grow louder and stronger.
'Still... isn't this originally the sort of shit North Korean bastards pull?'