Chapter 91

49. The Madman

Before the war, a journalist once requested an interview with Jang Gi-yeong, who was the principal at the time.

Jang Gi-yeong readily agreed to the interview—though the journalist was from a major media outlet—yet the content was not particularly insightful.

At the peak of his power, Jang Gi-yeong only answered the questions he wanted to and responded to sensitive or uncomfortable topics with evasive answers or incoherent ramblings.

However, there was one memorable exchange.

It was about the question regarding the significantly low rate of PTSD among hunters.

This question seemed to please Jang Gi-yeong, as he enthusiastically explained the secret.

"Our school does not accept weak students. No matter how talented or exceptional a person may be, if their mental strength is weak, they will eventually cause major accidents."

He then spent 90 minutes elaborating on the bizarre model he developed to measure and train mental strength.

Well.

I think differently.

The low rate of PTSD among our hunters who returned from China is not because their mental strength was measured and trained as Jang Gi-yeong claimed, but simply because most of them died.

Even those who were healthy and intelligent died, so those with mental instability would have died even more easily.

During the war, Jang Gi-yeong tried to enforce his theory by retiring and revoking the hunter status of friends showing signs of anxiety, but even that was meaningless.

The rise of Awakened individuals brought an end to Jang Gi-yeong's era overnight.

Thus, hunters with "mental disorders" who had experienced the war were released into society.

While the likelihood of them causing social problems was high, society itself collapsed before they could do so.

Defender was one of those unexploded bombs.

*

"He was a good friend. Cheerful and talkative. But after the fanatic's Spring Festival offensive, he became quiet, and by the end of the offensive, he had completely changed."

Defender's injuries don't look too severe on the surface.

He is mentally alert, and the bleeding has almost stopped.

However, a bullet is lodged in his thigh, near an artery.

This is a problem.

We've administered antibiotics to minimize the risk of infection, but we don't know when the bullet might hit the artery.

A skilled, war-experienced doctor is needed.

"......He's changed."

We are currently in a 12-passenger minibus.

I don't know where he found and repaired it, but it's Defender's hobby.

"Personally, I don't like him."

The driver is Defender's younger brother.

"Every time I see him, he seems to be going crazy. He used to be a really nice person."

There was no choice.

If Justice Min were to attack while Defender was away, it would be bad for Defender, his brother, and me.

We're not completely defenseless; the vehicle has armor plates in various places.

But even that wouldn't stand a chance against anti-tank weapons.

What worries me isn't just that.

It's the person named Motive.

"An Awakened, right? What level?"

"A minor Awakened."

A minor Awakened.

A derogatory term for those below level 5, deemed unfit for anti-monster combat.

But even a minor Awakened can be a formidable opponent, as seen in this morning's battle.

The one who shot at Defender seems to have two abilities: cognition and detection.

Cognition allows the user to recognize a target and track it over great distances.

Detection is an extension of this, with a range of tens of kilometers, making it theoretically impossible to escape.

Personally, I think he might also have precognition.

While he didn't use it in combat, his occasional unnatural movements suggest otherwise.

Fortunately, he's young and inexperienced; if he were a skilled killer, Defender and his brother would have been dead without my knowledge.

"What abilities does he have?"

"X-ray vision."

Defender, in pain, massaged his upper thigh and let out a shallow groan.

"He says he can see even the smallest veins when he focuses."

"That would be useful for surgery."

"He actually chose to become a doctor after retiring. He has something better than a CT scan in his eyes."

Defender suddenly took off his shirt, revealing his well-built muscles.

"Look at this."

He showed me his back.

Scars were visible.

"These?"

"Shrapnel from a suicide drone."

There are dozens of scars.

Some are close to his spine.

These scars show that Defender could have become disabled or died before the war.

"That guy removed all the shrapnel at the scene."

"Amazing."

"He didn't even know he was an Awakened at the time. He had awakened without realizing it."

"Unconscious awakening, huh."

"Probably."

While some, like our great prophet IAmJesus, my classmate Kang Han-min, and Na Hye-in, have had dramatic awakenings, most people awaken without any special phenomena, gradually realizing their abilities.

This is called unconscious awakening, which is actually the more common form.

That's why I keep testing this Park Gyu with sheets of paper; he might have become an Awakened without knowing it.

"From the looks of it, you're from the 17th or 18th class. Is that right?"

"Yeah, the 18th."

Defender sighed.

Five classes apart from me.

Just five classes, yet we received the same old-school curriculum, but our life trajectories are completely different.

We had a chance to touch a bit of honor and money.

But this cursed class had their lives ruined while still in school.

Still, they say that in times of crisis, there are opportunities. Cursed class members who became Awakened had a better chance to rise to the upper echelons.

Now, level 5 and below Awakened, once mocked as minor Awakened, hold key positions in the National Assembly.

According to Kim Da-ram, many are from the 18th class.

"Cursed class? That's only half true. Old-school students like us fell into the abyss, but Awakened had the chance to rise higher than their abilities. A girl five years younger than me is on the same committee? A kid who hasn't even turned 20 yet."

She's probably in her 20s now.

Anyway, it was hard to understand why someone with such a golden opportunity would stay in Incheon.

"Even back then, level 5 Awakened were treated well."

"It was impossible."

"Why?"

In response to my question, Defender lowered his gaze and muttered in a low voice.

"His mind changed."

Motive lived in an abandoned junkyard on the outskirts of Incheon.

Defender's brother stopped the car at the entrance.

"Listen carefully."

Defender, in pain but with an unusually serious face, looked at me.

"Whatever he says, just go along with it."

"......What could he possibly say?"

"You'll see."

Defender's brother honked twice and drove into the junkyard.

Towers of scrapped cars, bizarrely crushed metal blocks, and dark, unidentifiable objects, like the bones of a giant beast.

While my territory is eerie, this place is like a well-maintained park in comparison.

It's not just the appearance.

"Ruff! Ruff! Ruff!"

The sound of a fierce dog barking echoed.

It's too loud, even for a fierce dog.

Could it be a mutation?

I prepared my gun, watching the vehicle enter the junkyard with a cold eye.

In the distance, a residential area made of stacked containers was visible.

Not just one or two, but dozens, forming a fortress.

It didn't take long to find the lord of this fortress.

A man in a crisp suit, starkly out of place in this dirty and bizarre junkyard, stood on top of a container, holding a gun and looking down at us coldly.

At the base of the container, a mutated dog, restrained with chains and restraints, barked with bloodshot eyes.

"Jong-chul!"

Defender's brother leaned out and shouted.

The man named Jong-chul smiled.

*

His name was Heo Jong-chul.

From the same 18th class as Defender, he had deep-set eyes and a prominent nose, like a Westerner, and was quite hairy.

Especially his beard, which he grew to cover his cheeks like a 19th-century Western intellectual, was not just a genetic trait from his parents.

The minoxidil medication piled up outside the container suggests otherwise.

"Let's see. Jung-ho."

Defender's name was revealed.

Jung-ho.

Jung-ho and Da-jeong.

Siblings with the same name.

"The artery wasn't hit. Sit over there. I'll treat you right away."

While he took Defender inside, I looked around.

The fortress looked impressive from a distance, but the interior was poor.

From a distance, it seemed like dozens of containers were used to build a fortress, but only three were actually in use: the living quarters, food and storage, and the medical room.

Still, there were plans to expand, as holes were drilled to connect to other containers.

"Grunt!"

From inside the medical room, hidden by a curtain, came Defender's groans.

Defender's brother, with a worried look, clutched her shirt and couldn't take her eyes off the medical room.

"Will he be okay?"

Trying to comfort her, I said, and she looked up at me and smiled.

But the smile was brief, and she soon returned to her worried expression, looking at the medical room.

She was silent, so I looked around.

There were many books.

The bookshelf was filled with classics of humanities, such as Goethe, Aristotle, Rousseau, and Schopenhauer, but the book Heo Jong-chul was currently reading—left open and upside down on the desk—was a manga.

The surgery didn't take long.

Heo Jong-chul came out after 10 minutes.

"Da-jeong, look at this."

He picked up a blood-soaked bullet with medical forceps and showed it to Defender's brother.

"The seed of death embedded in your flesh and blood."

"Brother?"

Defender's brother didn't say a word of thanks.

It was surprising to see her cold and hard expression in front of others, given how affectionate she was with us.

"He's inside."

Defender's brother went into the medical room.

I glanced at Heo Jong-chul's expression.

He should be upset, but he sat at a makeshift desk made of boards, pretending to read a philosophy book titled "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" with a serious face, while hiding a manga book under the desk.

"......"

He doesn't seem like a madman.

Hiding a manga and pretending to read a difficult book even added a human touch.

But why do Defender and his sister dislike him so much?

He's a bit unlikable, but it doesn't seem like a flaw that would make them avoid this skilled doctor.

Honestly, with that level of surgical skill, he should be a top recruit.

"......"

If I were to form a group.

"Graduated from the school, right?"

Heo Jong-chul was looking at me.

I nodded.

"Old-school hunters should have some grievances in this country."

"Probably."

Heo Jong-chul smiled meaningfully and closed the book.

"Hunters should know why the National Assembly members went to Jeju Island, right?"

"More or less."

"You know it's because of the low population. Yes, the low population means weaker anomalies, making it easier to defend with a small force, so they moved to Jeju Island."

It's a well-known story.

Told and thought about hundreds of times.

To the point of yawning.

"What about those who couldn't go to Jeju Island?"

Another old question.

"They'll all die."

It's a stark reality.

They will all die.

Without exception.

Just a matter of time.

But something has caught my eye.

In Heo Jong-chul's eyes, countless whirlpools have been swirling since some point.

His eyes have turned into those of a madman.

"But, what if this happens?"

I didn't respond.

Asking a madman's thoughts isn't a wise choice.

But once a madman decides, they will pour out their madness.

"What if all the people in Incheon disappeared?"

"......"

"Wouldn't it become a better place to live than Jeju Island?"

At that moment, Defender, supported by his sister, came out of the medical room.

He shook his head at me, signaling to ignore Heo Jong-chul.

His sister gave a similar look.

But the conversation had started.

"How do you plan to kill all those people in Incheon?"

I asked the madman.

"With a nuclear bomb."

"Where would you get a nuclear bomb?"

"There are Chinese troops below, right?"

The madman smiled.

*

SKELTON: (Shocking Skeleton) Possibility of a nuclear explosion in Incheon?!

While internet attention-seekers might sell their family's misfortunes for popular content, I'm a bit different.

SKELTON: (Skeleton Analyzing) The connection between the nuclear weapons of the Chinese military near Dangjin and the nuclear explosion in Incheon

This is a warning.

To raise the vigilance of our internet friends left in Incheon and to save them.

But pioneers are often lonely.

Anonymous458: Isn't this kid dead?

Fox_games: He's alive.

ㅇㅇ: Is this shepherd boy enjoying his lies?

Anonymous848: Stop, Skeleton... It's ugly...

roka_gg: Hmm

ㅇㅇ: Analyzing is a fucking joke, clean your own anus, liar

unicorn18: Netcam

mmmmmmmmm: ?

gijayangban: ?

dongtanmom: Mmm...?

"......"

Well, they say the difference between a pioneer and a madman is just a piece of paper, don't they?