Chapter 90

48. Enemy

Before the war, I heard a story about a serial killer who had murdered as many as 102 people in India and was finally caught.

He came from a poor background and had not received proper education. He did not understand why the hell on earth around him was happening, but he figured out how to survive on his own.

The way of survival he discovered was similar to the great nature he loved.

A chain of killing, robbing, and repeating the cycle.

It is said that during this process, rape, torture, and desecration of corpses occurred, but the man shouted that they were fabricated evidence.

At the final argument, it is said that the man said to the judges,

Is it wrong to become someone's enemy rather than making someone your enemy?

*

A considerable amount of time has passed since the war began.

Perhaps our hearts becoming lax is no different from food going bad or people getting old.

Defender was shot while on his way home.

A blind bullet.

What I had only imagined was now a reality close to me.

According to Defender's younger brother, his life is not in immediate danger, but he is in a fierce standoff with an unknown enemy separated by a wall.

"Prepare and get ready to leave. Tell him to hold on until then."

No matter how busy you are, going without any preparation is worse than not going at all.

I carefully packed the necessary items.

Medicines, medical tools, weapons, and bulletproof gear.

Bulletproof vests and helmets are not items that are often worn.

They are heavy and uncomfortable, and their effectiveness is not great in comparison.

But in a situation like this, even these can provide some comfort.

I chose a motorcycle as my means of transportation.

Vroom—

I descended the steep northern slope like a stunt, crossed the stream, and entered the road.

I stopped the motorcycle on the road for a moment and looked at the scenery around me.

The scenery looked different from before.

If I had to use a metaphor, it resembled the scenery I saw right after the war.

I can't pinpoint exactly when the fear of a blind bullet flying at any moment began to fade.

At some point, I became lax in my vigilance and fell into a complacent state, thinking I wouldn't be hit even if I heard gunshots.

In fact, I could have been shot while walking down the road and ended up as a skeleton in a ditch or a drainage ditch.

It's unlikely, but the story goes that if I had been shot, I might have become a zombie wandering the wilderness, starting a journey to find new friends.

*

In the distance, a crater that looked like a pockmark was visible.

It was the trace of artillery fire by the Chinese army.

This was Defender's territory.

From here on, it's the real deal.

Vroom—

The motorcycle roared as it sped across the abandoned field.

"Skeleton!"

After a while, I heard my brother's voice.

"Skeleton, right? Raise your right hand if you're hit."

"I heard."

"No, it's your left hand. Raise your right hand. Yes, that's right. Good boy."

He must have seen my position through the drone.

I couldn't see the drone in my field of view.

It must be somewhere in the sky.

It's probably a small reconnaissance drone, weighing less than 1 kg but capable of reaching an altitude of 6 km.

"Where is Defender?"

"Wait. I'll send a sparrow."

After a while, a black dot appeared from the west and flew towards me at high speed.

The moment I saw the drone, I instinctively stopped the motorcycle and aimed my gun.

"Cease fire! It's our drone."

"Is this your drone?"

That's when a bitter smile involuntarily appeared on my face.

"Yeah. It's a sparrow."

What a sparrow?

It's a Chinese suicide drone.

With it, fanatics killed and fanatics were killed by the Chinese army.

I've heard that a team other than ours was completely wiped out by a swarm of these drones, to the point where their bodies couldn't be found.

"Follow me."

The suicide drone guided me to Defender.

During the journey, she didn't say a word, so I had to ask her a few questions directly.

"Number and location of the enemy, weapons?"

"Defender's condition?"

"Why isn't Defender responding to communication?"

She barely managed to answer the barrage of questions.

At first glance, her mental state seemed unstable, but there was a bigger reason.

"Ah!"

In the middle of the journey, she shouted, and when I asked why,

"I forgot to charge one of the batteries. I dropped one!"

It seems she had taken out all the drones she had to protect her brother.

When a loved one is in danger, it's a common mistake to deploy excessive force.

I calmly said to her,

"How many did you take out?"

"All of them. About 12?"

"Put them all back except the necessary ones."

"Why?"

"They're a hindrance."

"Okay."

Defender's younger brother reluctantly accepted my words.

If she hadn't seen my combat skills before, she might not have listened to me.

She may be a bit eccentric and tends to be overshadowed by her brother, but her temperament is far from weak, as can be seen from her occasional actions.

In the distance, a red-roofed building can be seen beyond the field dotted with shell craters.

It used to be a cafe.

The cafe's name was Lucky Day.

The fact that it remained standing despite so many shells falling suggests that it has a strong aura of misfortune, and inside that remaining building, Defender and perhaps one or two intruders are in a standoff.

Defender can't communicate through the radio because the enemy is so close.

It seems that even the slightest sound must be heard and guarded for life.

I saw hope in this situation.

The fact that the standoff has lasted even in such a small building means that the enemy doesn't have a surefire way to subdue Defender.

Perhaps an ambush attack was the best the attacker could do.

"This is Skeleton. I'm about to enter the building."

A combat drone circled above my head.

"Nothing visible around."

It was my brother's voice.

Perhaps Defender survived because of his brother.

While thinking this, I slowly and cautiously approached the cafe with my gun, sometimes running at a jog.

There are two main points to watch out for.

The windows and the corners of the building.

I frequently asked my brother to scout.

"West wall."

"Nothing. No one."

"Any sign of reinforcements?"

"You're the only one moving around here."

"Look far. Is there a sniper?"

"Yeah. Wait. No. It's clear."

The short exchange gives me a sense of comfort.

From the experience of building a dummy bunker, I can see that Defender's brother is extremely valuable.

If I were to form a group and that group grew to the size of a group led by DS, his value might even surpass his brother's.

He's a drone expert.

Drones were a dominant weapon in China.

Distrusting Awaken, they saw drones as humanity's hope against monsters.

Many drones were created.

Among them were some bizarre ones that barely qualified as drones.

Naturally, the level of drones was very high, and the skills of the operators were equally excellent.

I once saw a skilled Chinese drone soldier herd dozens of fanatics like a game, using only two drones, and drive them into a building.

The fact that Defender's brother can operate so many drones skillfully is not only due to his interest but also because Defender himself saw the potential of drones in China with his own eyes.

From what I heard, it was Defender who first started collecting drones, not his brother.

In any case, we have the upper hand.

We have air superiority, information, and firepower.

All I have to do is go inside and rescue the injured Defender.

However, death often comes from complacency.

That's the case now.

The moment I smiled at my brother's usefulness, something moved at the window.

A person and a gun.

I quickly hid and fell to the ground as a gunshot rang out.

Bang!

The bullet narrowly missed the spot where I was standing.

If I had been complacent, I might have been shot.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I fired as I fell to the ground.

I didn't aim to hit.

It was to threaten the enemy who might have a chance to fire again.

Fortunately, the bullet hit the glass.

In the process, I fired almost point-blank at the enemy's position.

"Aah!"

The bullet didn't hit, but a short scream was heard.

Either the enemy was surprised or injured by the shrapnel.

The voice sounded young.

As I quickly took cover in the grass and tried to get a better view, the drone flew over my head and headed for the window.

"Nobody there."

"Can you keep the drone in front of the window?"

"Got it."

Currently, Defender's brother is operating three drones.

One is probably a reconnaissance drone observing the overall situation from a high altitude, another is a small suicide drone hovering behind, and the third is a 15 kg Chinese combat drone patrolling the battlefield.

The heavy 15 kg combat drone, with its menacing gun, hovered in front of the second-floor window, keeping watch.

The variable of the window was eliminated.

I charged forward at full speed.

The cafe was 30 meters away.

A distance I could cover in one sprint.

However,

"!?"

As soon as I started, a dark figure appeared next to the corner.

I rolled to the side.

Bang!

A gunshot rang out.

This time it was really dangerous.

They had aimed precisely at the moment I was sprinting.

I had one question.

Are there two of them?

Or do they have a way to observe us?

At the very least, they know our movements.

When something happens twice by chance, it becomes a certainty.

Especially in a battlefield where every moment is connected to death, this is an unspoken rule.

Click

I switched from my rifle to a pistol and slowly approached the building.

I think I understand why Defender turned off his radio.

It's not because he was afraid of being discovered.

It's to determine the enemy's position by sound.

"One!"

Defender's shout echoed from inside the building.

From the opposite window, probably the side with the entrance.

"One! Be careful! He's like an Awaken."

"An Awaken?"

"Not high-level, low-level. At least he has some detection."

Indeed, that's the case.

Then everything makes sense.

The two movements just now were unreasonably accurate.

"..."

I sighed.

It feels like what was bound to happen has happened.

I took cover behind a concrete wall with my pistol and listened for the enemy's position with both ears.

He's not on the first floor. Probably not.

I'm not an Awaken, so I can't be sure.

But the Awaken we're facing probably doesn't have great abilities.

If it were a level 5 or higher, capable of causing a disturbance, Defender would already be dead.

The expected ability is detection.

Judging from the way he detected my position and fired.

But I can't rule out the possibility of other abilities.

The most common ability of a low-level Awaken is detection, notification, cognition, and precognition.

These are known as the "Four Knows."

A low-level Awaken may have one of these abilities, an incomplete version of one, or even two or more perfect versions.

The least useful is telepathic notification, which can be replaced by a phone or radio, but the other abilities are not highly regarded either.

Even precognition.

It sounds impressive, but the precognition only extends a few seconds into the future.

You might be able to dodge a punch, but not a bullet.

But you might be able to dodge a bullet once or twice.

It's not easy.

Even for a low-level Awaken, it's not easy for someone like us, who haven't been chosen by the gods.

But, they are human.

At least, an Awaken who can't cause a disturbance is closer to human than a monster.

So, we have to hunt them like humans.

"Defender! Did you see what he looks like?"

I shouted from behind the concrete wall.

An uncharacteristically loud voice.

No response.

I shouted again.

"What kind of guy? No, what are you going to do with him?"

I hoped he would catch my intention.

After a while,

"Kill him! I'll tear him apart alive!"

Defender responded as I expected.

It's psychological warfare.

"I'm at the entrance!"

"Securing the second-floor corridor."

"Entering the first-floor lobby. Clear."

"Securing the second-floor stairs. Ah, I heard someone running up the stairs."

"Me too."

We put pressure on the enemy with words.

Like Jo Sung-yong did.

It might not work on a veteran with combat experience, but it would give a greenhorn with only abilities a significant amount of pressure.

The demonstrators are not ordinary soldiers, but me and Defender.

We are skilled old-school hunters.

The effect was quick.

"Defender."

"Skeleton."

We joined up without any interference.

I looked at his thigh.

"Are you okay?"

This time, I asked in a very low voice.

Defender nodded and replied in a similarly low voice.

"I stopped the bleeding."

Defender pointed to the stairs leading to the roof.

"There."

Clearly, Defender and his sister are real siblings.

"He's not on the roof~ He's probably crouching at the bottom of the stairs~."

I don't know why he put a speaker on the drone, but seeing him use it for psychological warfare,

"You, you bastard!"

Finally, a sharp voice echoed from the stairs.

Cornered,

"You're going to hell. Murderer!"

A clearly young voice.

The owner of the voice did not engage in conversation with us.

Bang!

As soon as he finished speaking, a gunshot was heard.

With a sliding sound, the gun rolled down the stairs and fell to the ground.

We confirmed the owner of the body by the blood that followed a moment later.

The attacker was a boy.

About sixteen years old.

"Ah."

Defender recognized the attacker at a glance.

"Is it the guy from a year ago?"

He limped.

"There were also rich groups among the raiders who attacked us. They only killed the father."

"You?"

With a doubtful expression, I asked, and Defender, frowning and touching his wound, replied.

"No, that guy was running towards the tree where the father was hanged."

"Ah."

"It was a mistake."

The word "mistake" lacked many of the values we think about.

Still, I agreed with his words.

"A fatal mistake."

The easiest way to avoid having an enemy is to kill everyone who could become one.

In this terrible world, that might be the most straightforward method.

"Is this guy Justice Min?"

"No, it's not him. Justice Min leads a group. He looks older from the back of his hand."

"That's it, then."

Of course, I have no intention of protecting this boy.

His phone contained several photos of him and dark-skinned men smiling and making V signs in front of a naked woman who had been beaten beyond recognition.

The death row inmate in India was right, I suppose.

It's more rational to become someone's enemy than to make someone your enemy.

It's just that in this cycle, Defender became the enemy.

Still,

"Here."

I looked at Defender's wound.

His thigh.

I brought surgical tools, but it's a part I can't handle.

"Do you know a doctor?"

I asked while taking out antibiotics.

"There is one in Incheon."

Defender trailed off.

"But he's a lunatic."

"Is he alive?"

Defender looked at the boy.

"..."

"He's an Awaken."

"An Awaken?"

Defender sighed and nodded.

"He's my classmate."

Defender's eyes shook violently.

This classmate of his doesn't seem to be an easy opponent.