Chapter 69

EP 12 - Those Who Bear the Burden (7)

Seojin Yun is an ordinary high school student.

Earning a 2nd dan in kendo was just to take over his parents' dojo and reduce job worries; it didn't make him a swordsmanship genius. He was merely a bit more familiar with wielding weapons against moving targets.

His tendency to silently observe situations wasn't because he was a genius at judgment, but because after burying his younger sister's body under a pile of rocks on the first day of the Gate, his view of the world became more cold and detached compared to others.

Perhaps he was slightly detached from reality.

Was it because reality didn't feel real, and he didn't want anything to change?

He had enough righteous indignation to not want to show mercy to delinquents who didn't realize the world had changed or to those who recklessly abused their powers.

He had the common sense to save lives within his means, and the desperate desire to develop his abilities to avoid dying.

He was the same as always.

Only, the human standards the world imposed had slightly lowered.

He was no longer an ordinary high school student.

* * *

Yeo Doyeon is a 29-year-old NEET.

Her background as a former combat sports athlete was a non-starter in today's job market unless you were in that industry, and the 7th-grade civil servant position at the National Assembly she got through her brother's connections was embarrassing to mention.

Being a female combat sports athlete meant being seen as a performer in a provocative musical, making it hard to get a security job, and dropping out of college to find her dream left her with only a high school diploma at 29.

The more her resume was scrutinized, the more she realized she was societal trash.

It was miserable to think that her mother's stuffy, neurotic, and vicarious satisfaction, which she had rebelled against all her life, might have been right.

She felt self-loathing when she realized she was just as bad as her mother, vicariously satisfied by her cousin's success.

The collapse of her lifelong dream, which she had destroyed herself, left her with a deep sense of powerlessness and defeat.

If she had succeeded, a movie might have been made about her someday, but she was just one of the ordinary extras who had chased a dream and messed up their life.

It was perhaps inevitable that she would become addicted to the hunter profession.

People want to be recognized.

It's not that strange.

After the Gate opened, Yeo Doyeon became someone who tried to reaffirm her existential value by killing monsters and saving people.

In the words of lawyer Hyeon Seojeong,

She got hooked on playing the hero.

That's why,

"Ah, you still don't understand? The space is finite, but the monsters are infinite. After the Uijeongbu incident, the production of monsters increased. According to the statistics I've gathered, the space is almost full."

"......"

"The monsters are drawn to mana. The monsters that appeared in Uijeongbu were just drawn by the mana there. This isn't a surge from the Seoul Gate. If it were, we would have been destroyed long ago. How big could the space be beyond a 1km Gate?"

Yeo Doyeon and Seojin Yun,

They weren't the type to just accept such a prophecy of doom.

The problem was that they still had a burden to bear.

They had to deliver the vaccine they received from the gambler to their respective infected individuals.

However,

"Fi, finally found you, damn it!"

Just as Lee Cheoljin, who had been playing around with the Baekdu lineage and had a bitter taste of life from Han Seungmoon, found Yeo Doyeon through teleportation and asked for help,

The conclusion of the incident was almost set.

"I, I don't know how hard I searched for my comrades...!"

"......Cheoljin? What the hell is going on-"

"Our comrade, my brother, is pushing us to die by sending us north!"

"......What about my parents? How did they get here?"

"Some old bastard named Han Seungmoon took them! He said he wasn't our comrade! I beg you! Please go and say something!"

"What about my parents! This bastard!"

"He said he took them to treat them!"

"...! The vaccine! He found the vaccine!?"

"Yes! He had it secured a long time ago and should be moving to the hospital by now! The South Korean politburo is trying to send our 100,000 comrades to the evil Lee Yongsoo! Comrade Yeo Doyeon! Please, just once...!"

The moment the Seoul Gate suppression team was formed.

However,

Lee Cheoljin was in a burning situation, whether it was Seoul or not.

Lee Cheoljin wanted to use the current situation to rescue the Baekdu lineage,

And that was exactly why.

"Shit! Shit! Shit!"

This was why Yeo Doyeon and the hunters were crossing the line of death on the rooftop of the 63 Building.

"Air support is coming!"

"Your brother is Han Seungmoon, right?"

"I don't know, damn it!"

"Teacher! Behind you!"

"Ah!"

Originally, their plan included air support from the Korean military. If they informed the government about the Seoul Gate surge, support would definitely come, especially because of Han Seungmoon.

The problem was that the communications role was filled by Lee Cheoljin.

Originally, both sides had agreed that defending the Seoul Gate would improve the treatment of 100,000 North Korean defectors, but Lee Cheoljin wasn't doing this for 100,000 people; he was doing it for one person, and he couldn't tell anyone that.

So, Lee Cheoljin betrayed them.

However, with a monster's vicious mouth right in front of them, no one could guess his betrayal.

There was no time for that. The hunters were just trying to survive the monsters.

Of course, they didn't blindly rush to close the Seoul Gate. They had a very specific plan.

1. Team 1, led by Seojin Yun and the gambler, would lure the queen monster out of the Gate. The team consisted of many close-range fighters and a few psychics.

2. Team 2, led by Yeo Doyeon, would bombard the queen monster with firepower exceeding its regenerative abilities, working with the air force. Most were weak, long-range attackers, with the rest providing protection.

3. Absorb the mana stone.

Pre-emptive reconnaissance using an invisible person,

The part of the queen Seojin Yun would cut off,

Calculating the mass considering the queen's regenerative abilities,

The mass the psychics on Seojin Yun's side could move,

Methods to avoid the internal monsters' line of sight,

The impact from the hunters outside,

Defensive formations to protect the attacking hunters,

The bombing time communicated to the air force,

The order of attacks from the awakened to effectively bombard.

The plan was thorough, and there were various contingency plans.

However, Yeo Doyeon and Seojin Yun trusted Lee Cheoljin,

And Lee Cheoljin, from a high-ranking North Korean family, had acting skills honed to the level of a life-saving art. To Lee Cheoljin, the Baekdu lineage Kim Sung-a was more precious.

He had a plan to rescue 100,000 defectors and the Baekdu lineage while South Korea was in chaos,

So, Lee Cheoljin very specifically deceived them.

"The helicopter is supposed to support us! Wasn't that all agreed upon? He talked to the Air Force Chief of Staff!"

"Why isn't it coming!"

"Shut up and stop that bastard from crawling up! Where's Doyoung!?"

"Ah, he fell just now!"

They just didn't receive air force support.

So, when Team 1 finally managed to cut the queen monster into pieces and push it out of the Gate,

"......Damn."

Team 2 was already more than half sacrificed.

Seojin Yun, with his right arm's skin melted away and muscles exposed, returned with three healers limping beside him.

Seojin Yun stood still, silently observing the bloody chaos.

His gaze was even more cold and detached because he was used to it.

"......"

A dark night. No, a blue night.

The night sky of Seoul was illuminated by the Gate's light, and chunks of flesh, appearing blue at a glance, fell and quickly transformed into rampaging monsters.

The queen monster, which six people had died to cut and pull out, was rapidly regenerating to its original form.

In the sky, there were no air force planes, only winged monsters circling with bared teeth, ready to pounce.

The defectors were nowhere to be seen, and at his feet was the upper body of a girl who had shared life and death with him.

Her hair was soaked in blood.

She had been isolated in the school as the new year passed, but she had cheerfully dressed up for a self-organized 20th birthday graduation ceremony, so she wasn't wearing her school uniform.

She was a friend who had made him slightly flustered when they were partners a couple of years ago. She was easy-going and kind.

Damn. It's only when someone dies that you remember their good points. Death is something you can never get used to, and you don't want to.

"......"

Seojin Yun, holding a half-broken iron pipe, cursed silently and looked up at the sky.

It's blue. A 1km Gate was in the sky.

Monsters are coming out of it. Shit.

Humans are so powerless under the Gate.

"......Huh!"

The boy, no, the young man, laughed.

Seojin Yun was the leader of a half-year-old gang. He was 20 years old and, in a sense, still a high school student.

But, as the results of survival showed,

He had the patience not to ask,

Why only half are left. What will you do now? Why didn't the air force come? Didn't you say your sister was a politician named Han Seungmoon? How did it come to this?

He had the judgment to instantly realize this situation stemmed from Lee Cheoljin's betrayal without any questions,

And instead of expressing anger with,

"Damn! Lee Cheoljin, you bastard!",

He instinctively said,

"......We don't have much time left!"

This was a talent.

"Just a little more! If we push a little more, we'll win!"

He knew they couldn't win.

"Save the Republic of Korea and get a medal! Yeah? Protect your family! Come on, get up!"

He could predict they would all die here.

"I'm here!"

So, he laughed.

Fortunately, he had a little bit of power.

Although his skin had just recovered from being damaged, and it was difficult to even hold the iron pipe,

He wanted to bang the ground and cry over a corpse, but

He channeled mana into the iron pipe, imbuing it with sword energy.

Seojin Yun steadied the sword with his trembling hands.

Under the dark night sky,

A sword as large as a street lamp glowed.

Soon, a blue flash cut through two monsters.

In people's eyes,

The blue light lingered.

At that moment, 24 more monsters fell from the Gate, but the people were captivated by Seojin Yun's brilliant magic sword and didn't notice.

Seojin Yun deceived them. The injured, believing in Seojin Yun who was leading the charge, lost their judgment in the battle and followed their leader into the assault. This ability is generally called 'leadership'.

However, they also knew deep down that it was over.

Still, Seojin Yun was smiling so brilliantly.

So, the fire in the boy's eyes quickly spread to the people.

It was blue.

People usually call it 'hope'.

Also,

"Push forward! Don't give them a chance to regenerate!"

Even though the burden on his shoulders felt like it would crush him,

"Alright! It's fine! Just a little more!"

He couldn't fall because of that and crawled forward,

"Here...! We'll stop them here!"

Even though he knew it was impossible, he was the idiot who charged in headfirst.

"Let's survive and return!"

The world called him a 'hero'.

And,

"......Hey, damn it."

The world wasn't alone in having such people.

"The situation is getting interesting."

A one-armed Westerner walked over, a cigarette in his mouth.

"Back in the day, I heard there was a swordmaster high school student in Dongdaemun. Was it you?"

"......Who are you?"

"Kids, it was a good decision to come, wasn't it?"

25 hunters followed David Kim.

"Hey, what did they say earlier?"

"They said if we catch that thing in the sky, we're done."

"David Kim, that crazy bastard... He came to Seoul because a 100-won coin landed heads."

"The team leader came too."

"Shut up."

Fools who throw their lives away like a 100-won coin.

Fools who laugh and head to their deaths, saying they'll die together.

Fools who have lost their families and are left with only hatred.

Fools who say they prefer hunting monsters to money.

Fools who do things that make others gasp without a second thought.

They were the superhumans.

"Hey, do you have a plan to catch that thing?"

This was the age of heroes.

"Cut it."

"Smash it."