Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Coincidence for the NPC (4)
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In the past, Korea's radical nationalists advocated something called the North Expedition theory.
They claimed that Manchuria was originally the land of the Korean people, so those evil commies needed to be swept away and the ancestral territory reclaimed.
Of course, no one paid any attention to their claims.
Not only sensible citizens, but even right-wing politicians knew the North Expedition was impossible nonsense.
Korea occupying Manchuria? How?
The land amicably divided between communist superpowers, the Soviet Union and China? No need to even mention nuclear missiles—the gap in nationally certified superhumans alone was nearly fivefold.
Far from occupying Manchuria, Korea was terrified back then of Kaesong itself being invaded and the dimensional gate seized.
In the end, every Korean who prided themselves on wisdom mocked the nationalists.
Nationalism in the 20th century? What nationalism?
Delusional patients oblivious to reality.
Unless those two superpowers collapsed overnight, how could Korea ever take Manchuria?
Call it the irony of history, or say that words take root and grow?
Unimaginable to Koreans back then, but their mockery became reality.
The Soviet Union was swept away by disaster, and China turned into land no one could approach.
And Manchuria, treated as a backwater by both nations, barely survived.
The "barely" here meant tens of millions of refugees losing their country overnight and land half reduced to ruins.
Chaos was inevitable.
The economic crisis from the disappearance of the two superpowers, soldiers turned warlords, endless refugees…
The advanced nations that should have helped stayed silent, too busy scrambling for their own survival amid the economic crisis.
Not long after, the UN and the United States requested that Korea take responsibility for the chaotic Manchuria.
To Korea, already reeling just from managing the chaos, it was like a bolt from the blue.
But the government couldn't refuse.
They lacked the courage to defy the United States, and the carrot of fully handing over rights to the Kaesong dimensional gate was too sweet.
And so, the North Expedition theory shouted by the nationalists became reality.
However, the nationalists didn't cheer "long live."
Far from rejoicing at acquiring Manchuria without a single shot fired, they rejected it more fiercely than anyone.
Korea taking on Manchuria? How are we supposed to handle all those refugees?
It's not our fault those two countries ended up like that! It's the commies' fault, poisoned by elixir-addicted Stalin!
Even if it means withdrawing from the UN, we have to seal off the Yalu and Tumen Rivers!
Before those damn foreigners drag in monsters, let's sweep them all away!
But once again, no one listened to their claims.
Because the Korean government had directly silenced them.
***
“Vice Captain, wake up.”
A familiar voice roused Kim Mansu from sleep.
“Ah, seriously, when are you going to stop sleeping.”
He twisted around in the back seat of the sedan, scowling as he opened his eyes.
Rubbing the sleep crust from his eyes, he looked out the window, and a damn familiar sight filled his view.
Towering concrete walls, guard posts, armed soldiers, and wounded being carried on stretchers.
“Ah, Manchuria, my fucking hometown….”
Kim Mansu rolled down the car window and took a deep breath. The thick, cold Manchurian air filled his nostrils.
Now fully awake, Kim Mansu turned his head to check the passenger seat. It was empty.
“…Where’d the kid go?!”
When Kim Mansu looked at the driver’s seat in shock, the mercenary squad junior who’d driven all night replied with a sullen expression.
“If you mean the kid, he headed to the mercenary base camp a bit ago.”
“Without the guide instructor?”
“That instructor was snoring his head off. The kid waited about three minutes, then took out his phone and went alone.”
“Hey! How could you let him go by himself!”
“I tried waking you as hard as I could, Vice Captain.”
“….”
“He’s not some three-year-old kid—what’s the big deal about going alone? This isn’t a danger zone. What could happen at the Manchuria Base?”
Instead of replying, Kim Mansu smacked the back of the junior’s head.
Smack!
Hit by a superhuman’s palm laced with feeling, the junior went “thunk” as his head hit the steering wheel.
“Hey, you punk, don’t you know words become reality? You say nothing will happen, and something always does!”
“No, Vice Captain, why the overreaction….”
No matter what the junior sputtered, Kim Mansu pressed his forehead.
What if, just what if, something happened to the newbie? And his talent got revealed?
What would follow wasn’t hard to predict.
The more radical types would send assassins to slit his throat, while the rich ones would try poaching the so-called “newbie” with cold hard cash.
‘…That’s exactly what I came all this way to prevent.’
Kim Mansu let out a deep sigh. As deep as the one when his three-year girlfriend dumped him.
“Vice Captain, why are you so fidgety? Don’t tell me that kid’s the Captain’s secret son or something?”
“…It’d be better if he were.”
“Looking at his face, he doesn’t seem like your son at all….”
“Hey! Enough bullshit. You head back to HQ first. Tell Seok-cheol we arrived safe.”
Before his subordinate could reply, Kim Mansu flung open the door and got out.
A few soldiers and mercenaries who recognized him changed their expressions, but he ignored them and kept walking.
‘Please, just be safe at the base camp without any trouble.’
***
The place with the too-long name Army Manchuria Support Command—everyone just called it the Manchuria Base.
Cheon Yeomyeong entered the area commonly known as the mercenary zone inside the Manchuria Base at high noon, when the sun blazed overhead.
He walked leisurely through the residential areas and shops prepared for the mercenaries.
He had no companion or anyone walking with him, but his steps felt utterly light.
Thanks to the instructor who’d grumbled from the driver’s seat and the Vice Captain who’d snored in the back seat both being absent.
‘This is the place I’ll be staying for the next six months.’
With every step, he took in the sights of the mercenary zone.
It wasn’t a good place, not even as empty words.
Weary soldiers and mercenaries with murderous glares roamed about, and merchants raised their voices over money.
But Yeomyeong didn’t particularly mind. The Manchuria Base was a place where people fought monsters and died every day, wasn’t it?
It was inherently distant from anything peaceful.
…He’d been walking with such thoughts for a while when a familiar face entered Yeomyeong’s view.
An M-shaped bald forehead fully exposed, a nose sharp as a blade, and eyes slanted narrow.
‘The rat bastard who attacked Elder Jang Man…?’
He wasn’t wearing a blue coat like back then, but it was definitely him.
Perhaps sensing Yeomyeong’s gaze, the man stopped in his tracks and turned his head toward him.
Shocked eyes, gaping mouth, brief silence.
An exchange of gazes deeper than a hundred words passed between them. Without any signal, the two moved almost simultaneously.
Thud!
Yeomyeong kicked off the ground, and the man broke into a full sprint in the opposite direction.
He didn’t just run in a straight line. True to the name of his organization, the Blue Rats, he widened the distance using every trick.
Every time an alley appeared, he veered off to escape sight; he leaped over passing vehicles, used outdoor AC units as footholds to vault windows, jumped from rooftop to rooftop…
But every time he glanced back, the gap with Yeomyeong was closing further.
Simply because one was a superhuman and the other ordinary? No, that wasn’t it.
Yeomyeong was absorbing the man’s methods on the fly, executing them more efficiently, in a superhuman manner.
“…What kind of crazy bastard is this?”
The moment he saw Yeomyeong crossing rooftops in exactly the same way, a curse burst from the man’s mouth.
He turned his head, hoping for someone to help, but the mercenaries and soldiers passing by were all just spectating like they’d stumbled on a good show.
Even the MPs who should maintain order were whistling. No one was going to help him.
The man squeezed his eyes shut and drew the pistol from his waist.
Using a gun without permission in the Manchuria Base was a grave offense, but standing trial was better than being caught by a superhuman with a grudge.
At least he wouldn’t die.
Finishing his thoughts, the man turned while aiming the gun. And in the next instant, a foot too fast to see struck his wrist.
“Argh!”
The gun flew into the air without firing. Clutching his broken wrist, the man rolled on the ground.
“Wait! Hold on! I surrender! I surrender!”
He raised his unbroken hand as a sign of surrender.
“There seems to be some, uh, misunderstanding between us.”
“…What misunderstanding?”
“You’re doing this because of the Incheon fight, right? It was all a misunderstanding. I had absolutely no intent to harm Elder Jang Man. Really, I used to work under him once—why would I hurt him?”
“Ah, I see.”
Yeomyeong reached out and grabbed the man’s neck. Squeeze—his superhuman grip compressed the throat.
“The Elder told me something once. I wonder if you know it.”
“Guh, kuh, wha, what…”
“Misunderstandings clear faster after killing.”
Yeomyeong tightened his grip. Or tried to.
The moment Yeomyeong tried to snap the man’s neck, something pressed gently against the back of his head.
Click.
“Stop right there?”
He turned his head to see the barrel of a massive revolver—the kind used for hunting bears—aimed at him.
“If you don’t want a hole in your head.”
* * *