Chapter 70

EP 12 - Those Who Carry the Burden (8)

In the situation room of the Chungmu facility's underground bunker.

Numerous politicians, businessmen, and strategists were transfixed by the large screens.

It was an inhuman battle.

When an arm was severed, they would kick with their feet; when their feet were crushed, they would bite with their mouths, and just before dying, they would receive treatment and rise again to charge forward. How could this be called a human battle?

The psychics were gathered, pulling down the queen, and beside them, Yeo Do-yeon crushed the head of a giant monster in one go to protect the psychics.

A flying monster that was about to attack Yeo Do-yeon was torn in half and plummeted to the ground by Seol Jin-un's blue chain attack.

David Kim, stepping on the falling monster's corpse, leaped through the air, using one arm to extract the monster's mana stone with a miraculous skill.

A bolt of lightning struck the dark night, and broken concrete fragments rose into the air, rushing toward the monsters.

Healing light flashed from all directions, and those with severed limbs rose, while others helped them up and made them fight.

How could this be called a human battle?

From the screens in the Chungmu facility's underground bunker, the intense struggle seen through drones from a distance.

In the dark night, only the blue gate shone brightly.

They were no different from moths drawn to the light.

* * *

"We just need to capture the queen!"

There were no heroes here.

"Four o'clock! A swarm of bats!"

"They're coming from below too!"

"Focus on the upper area! The ground will be guarded by Team Leader Park's team!"

They were just people.

"Team Leader Park! A pack of wolves is coming! R-r-run-"

"They're herding us! Set up a barrier here...! Damn it!"

"Team Leader, he's bleeding! What is this! Healer! Team Leader's eyes, nose, and mouth are bleeding...!"

"Seizures happen when mana runs out! Bleeding means there's no hope-"

"AAAAHHH - !"

"Team Leader!"

They were merely people, but...

"...I'll hold them off!"

That's why they were flames.

"I'll lure them this way, so everyone run!"

"Yujeong!"

"I'll follow later-"

"Hey, you insolent girl!"

Of course, they were weaker than a candle in the wind, but...

"Team Leader...!?"

"Why the hell do you want to die before the adults!?"

"Calm down!"

"I'm your shield! You bastards!"

"Your mana is running out-"

"I'll be the bait!"

Burning themselves knowing they would perish,

"Hey, where's Team Leader Park?"

"...Now, I'm the team leader."

"...Fuck. Can you go support the Dongdaemun team? There's an apartment complex over there."

"I'll go."

"Do you have any barrier uses left? Wait. Can you use that ability-"

"I can now. Just now."

When candles gather, they become a torch,

"Who set up this barrier!?"

"...Nice to meet you."

"Who are you?"

"...Team Leader Park. Call me Team Leader Park."

The spark in the wind spread across the field,

"Seol Commander! The guild hunters have taken control of the airspace over the apartment complex! Someone has covered the entire complex with a barrier!"

"We focus on pulling down the queen. The psychics are pulling her down, so prevent flying monsters from approaching that area-"

"All the mages are dead!"

"...To the guild's long-range users-"

"Hey, I brought them all here."

"Sister...?"

"It's my brother's place, and I worked there for a long time. How could I not recognize the faces?"

Finally, becoming a beacon to dispel the dark night,

"Hey. There's a giant monster."

"Oh, Do-yeon caught it on the way. Oh, by the way, didn't Team Leader 3 used to be a mage? The Dongdaemun team said the mages are in trouble-"

"No, why is Do-yeon here?"

"I don't know. Haven't seen him in a while. Anyway, if it weren't for him, the sniper team would have been wiped out."

A brilliant light shone.

"The sniper team took down the dragon!"

"Great! Moving on to the next one!"

That's why there were no heroes here.

"What...? Why are we winning?"

"The dragon hunters have joined us!"

"...Send more psychics to headquarters!"

Because they were not a 'hero,' but 'heroes,'

"Seol Commander! Pulling down the queen has its limits!"

"Just before the range! A little more...! A little more!"

"There are not enough psychics-"

"Three psychics from Team 4 are joining!"

The flames connected to each other,

"The queen...! The queen is within range!"

"Tell all the artillery units to aim!"

"Tell them to aim, damn it!"

Burning with the momentum to engulf the world,

"Is that the one in the sky? That's the one, right?"

"Yes. That's what the Dongdaemun team was preparing."

"Is that the one we need to take down?"

They stood against the darkness of this blue night.

"I'm going to fire this and pass out, so you clean up my body."

"...Isn't that a life-draining technique?"

"When else would I use it?"

And truly,

A massive wave of fire surged into the sky.

"Damn, what is this? This is... insane...!"

"...I haven't used it yet?"

A brilliant storm of fire fiercely engulfed all the monsters.

"The sky, it's... on fire!"

"Insane..."

"Wow. Wow... Damn. Wow..."

"......!"

A tidal wave of fire surged from the southern sky.

"...Commander Chun-sik. This mana, it's definitely his."

"...Yeah."

"Team Leader 2 is finally back. Damn it..."

It covered the cold blue night sky in red.

"Seon-a must be here."

*

Hong Seon-a once wept and wailed, holding her friend with a hole in his forehead, shedding tears of blood.

The background was certainly a touching story. The touching tale of the Apgujeong camp had been widely discussed.

Whenever they were bored, the survivors of Apgujeong would appear on the media, shedding tears and earning hundreds of thousands of won in appearance fees. The government also subtly encouraged this to manage public opinion.

Even though the psychics could have escaped from Seoul, they unanimously decided to stay and protect the civilians.

It's a heartwarming story.

However.

Before Han Seung-moon arrived in Apgujeong,

The short time Hong Seon-a had to endure changed everything about her.

"...Just the other day, Jung-oppa died, and today I had to clean up Eun-a's body."

Apgujeong was a terrible place.

About 1,200 people were suffering from food shortages,

Monsters they had never seen before lurked everywhere,

Madmen scavenging guns from dead soldiers roamed the city.

And dozens of hunters had to secure enough food for 1,200 people to survive each day.

The combat personnel, including civilians armed with rifles, never exceeded 70, and gunfire never stopped at department stores and supermarkets. People gradually had to adapt to death. Behind the touching survival stories was such a hellish scene.

"...Uncle Chun-sik. It's Eun-a. Our Eun-a. She came out of the warehouse, the, the gang's warehouse, with a hole in her head."

"...What did you do with the body?"

"I burned it. As usual."

Hong Seon-a always burned the bodies of the dead. She could never let the monsters eat their bodies.

Hong Seon-a was always with her comrades in their final moments.

The hair would burn first, the pain on the skin, the dry, flaky skin, the sad memories, and a life would burn away at her fingertips.

She purified the scars. Hong Seon-a carefully bid farewell to her comrades' souls with fire.

Still,

"That kid. How...! How scared she must have been in that dark warehouse. She...! That young kid, that, h, hahaha...! Haaaaa...!"

The hatred in her heart could never be washed away.

"Hahaha...! Haaa, haaaa...! W, we. Even if we spew fire. Bullets, bullets can't be avoided, you know."

"......"

"Uncle..., can't we, at least we, escape?"

After each funeral, Hong Seon-a would always kneel before Kim Chun-sik, sobbing and pleading to leave Seoul.

Kim Chun-sik's answer was always the same.

"Yeah."

"......"

"Still, I'm staying."

Through 12 funerals, Hong Seon-a realized many things.

The first thing she realized was that when a person cries in deep sorrow, they can't even breathe properly, and the sound they make in that torment is similar to laughter.

So, when she wanted to cry, she would laugh instead.

"Why do only the awakened get more food?"

"...Haha, because they're the ones who bring in the food-"

"Come on. If we get guns, we can go out too, can't we?"

"......Hehe."

So she always laughed.

Later, when she burned bodies, she was called a madwoman.

"It's you? Nice to see you!"

"S, s, save me...!"

"What? You were a student?"

"W, w, we, we, we did it, so...!"

"Eun-a was a student too. You two should have gotten along better!"

"Sorry, really, r, really! I'm sorry! I'm s-"

"Damn you!"

"AAAAHHH! Grrr! Hii...! Aaaa! AAAHHH!"

She learned that even an ordinary person could burn a living human without hesitation when their desire for revenge reached its peak.

Hong Seon-a decided to live by laughing. She suppressed her emotional exhaustion through laughter because her usual emotional state was at its peak.

People like her are often called madwomen.

"Why is the food allocation for our complex-"

"If you're upset, go get it yourselves!"

"......"

"Oh, oh!"

"...Are you a madwoman or what?"

Hong Seon-a decided to live by distinguishing who she wanted to protect.

"Uncle Chun-sik! Let's escape from Seoul!"

"But I'm staying."

"I knew you'd say that, so I prepared this."

"......What is it?"

"Stand up! If you don't expel the crazy woman who always complains about food, the 16 members of the attack team, including Hong Seon-a, will firmly decide to leave our homes and go on strike!"

"......"

"So, chase her away quickly! You crazy utilitarian!"

Hong Seon-a learned a bit about politics.

"...Uncle Chun-sik. Two more people died today. Right?"

"......"

"Uncle Jung-gu and Uncle Jung-sik. They always fought and drank, but they held hands and went together, didn't they......"

"......I'm sorry."

"If you're sorry, let's leave Seoul. Just the awakened."

"......"

"......Bad guy."

She also learned how to swear.

"Why won't you go! Why! Why!"

"......"

"Answer me if you have a mouth!"

"......Go by yourselves."

"You're not leaving us behind, are you! You bad guy! Let's go out of Seoul a bit!"

"......"

"Can't you understand Korean, you damn snob!"

She learned how difficult it was to communicate with foreigners.

"......Really, why won't you go? Is there a reason you can't say?"

"......"

"Is it because of some trauma from not saving someone in the past?"

"......Asking a war veteran about the past is like saying you won't sleep for four days, right?"

Especially if he's a conservative.

So she got him drunk.

"Come on, drink up! Why won't you leave Seoul?"

"......Life is... just. Um. The more you save, the better. Um. Yep."

"So, you're driving us to death?"

"1,200 is, really. Um. Too much more than you thought. Dear."

"Completely absorbed in playing the hero. You don't care if the people around you die?"

"I... I killed... I, I killed innocent people. Sorry baby. I'm, so sorry, baby......"

After learning that the phrase 'I'm so sorry, baby' from a drunk Kim Chun-sik meant he had shelled a tent full of babies,

She learned that when you hate someone you can understand more than someone you can't understand, you feel even more miserable.

"......Are we, like, penance offerings? Do you think killing us will get you to heaven?"

"......"

"Right. Uncle Chun-sik, you've never asked us to fight with you. You probably don't even want to go to heaven. But."

"......"

"......I want to, want to, say something really, really, mean to you."

"......"

"Nothing, nothing more, comes out. What can I do...?"

She knew she wasn't a smart person.

"......I have 12 people who are more precious to me than 1,200."

"......"

"I'm sorry."

She finally gave up on counting. In other words.

"......Sigh."

She was also a person with a mental illness who wanted to save someone.

After thinking for a long time, Hong Seon-a got up and approached Han Seung-moon, who was having a long conversation with Won Ok-bun.

"Ms. Gam Ji-yoon is coming up. Yes. I'm planning to take her and go to Seoul together. The military hunters are...? Ah, yes. I understand. 1st Corps-"

"Mr. Han!"

"? What is it, Ms. Hong?"

"Take me with you."

Hong Seon-a glanced at the familiar faces in the corner of the screen. Those who had chosen David Kim over her were now dying one by one in Seoul.

She saw Team Leader Park Chun-bong on the screen. In Apgujeong, he was Kim Chun-sik's tactical backup, and on the Shinbundang Line, he was the deputy in charge of the rear defense.

His awakened ability was to set up barriers, his favorite food was dried pollack, his hometown was Damyang, Jeolla Province, he lived in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, his job was managing an internet shopping mall's servers, his two sons were killed by monsters, his parents were missing, his wife had passed away, he swore a lot, drank a lot, but surprisingly didn't smoke. The reason was that his wife, who died of breast cancer, left a will saying, 'If the widower smokes, the children will smoke too.'

He was surrounded by wolves in the screen, facing his final moments.

Hong Seon-a suddenly laughed.

She laughed heartily.

"I've told you so many times to leave, and seeing you still there, I'm so angry! You damn bastards! This time, I'll drag you out by the collar!"

"......?"

"Let's go back after a long time! To Seoul!"