episode_0168

When doing manual labor, you encounter various sites in terms of scale. Big or small, tiny as a mouse’s droppings or the size of a palm. Sometimes it could be an apartment complex, or just a single room. If it’s somewhat large scale, it boasts tens of thousands of pyeong. But what if it’s in units of 100,000 pyeong? Just walking from one end of the site to the other takes over 30 minutes. If you walk briskly, you can even cut it down to 20 minutes. I know this well from experience.

Judging from that experience, this place is insane. ‘Wow… this…’ The panoramic view of the base from even a slightly elevated position is vast. I hadn’t realized it when I just blindly broke through walls and walked in. I didn’t expect it to be this wide. ‘No, they said it was a military base?’ A military base, my foot. It felt like they’d misspoken and meant an entire small city had been relocated. Even looking slowly with my own eyes, the end of the base wasn’t visible. Far in the distance, a tall, showy-looking building was visible. I wondered why such a building was inside a military base, but even what was visible far away wasn’t the end. ‘They said it was big, but…’ I’d taken this job too lightly. The thought of searching through a landmass with no end in sight made me dizzy. After looking around the base a bit more, I headed for the room on the third floor. No thoughts came to mind, so I stopped racking my brain. ‘Since Captain Lee put the plan into motion, he must have a strategy.’ I’d trust Captain Lee. I left the complex thoughts to Captain Lee and prepared myself mentally.

As I ambled along, it seemed Jo Junwi’s treatment was just finished. Next to Sergeant Park, who was tidying up his tools, our pilot was visible, eyes closed. ‘This is a scam.’ I glared at Sergeant Park with a cold, disgusted look, then shifted my gaze to the bed. His head was bandaged, but a small amount of blood seeped from the wound. As I watched Jo Junwi sleeping soundly, Sergeant Park spoke softly. “He’ll be fine for now.” “Why can’t he open his eyes?” “He must have hit his head hard and suffered a concussion.” “…” “For details, we’ll need a more precise examination…” Instead of Sergeant Park, who uncharacteristically trailed off, Captain Lee interjected. “Seonghan. I’d like to explain what we need to do.” We left Jo Junwi to rest and gathered around the living room table.

Captain Lee pulled out a heavily crumpled map, unfolded it, and began to speak. “It’s not an exact map, but it’s good enough for reference.” “…” The map on the table was indeed a map. It looked hastily printed on paper much larger than A4. Anyway, I followed the earnest Captain Lee’s finger with my eyes. “The point where we crashed is here, we walked like this… and our current location is here. Our objective is here.” “…” I thought we had walked quite a distance, but the actual travel distance was shorter than expected. On the map, our position was at the northwestern edge. The destination Captain Lee pointed to was the southern end. We were currently at opposite ends. “Here is Gate 13, this building is the general hospital, and this is the helipad.” “What’s this here?” I pointed to a section on the map that narrowed like an ant’s waist. “It’s a kind of boundary line. North of it is Main Post, and south of it is South Post.” According to Captain Lee’s explanation, the Main Post area used to have the main military facilities. Now that a significant portion has withdrawn, he explained, it would either be empty or under construction. The desolate spaces I’d seen intermittently from the rooftop must have been for that reason. I nodded slightly and focused on Captain Lee’s explanation.

“What we need, what we’re aiming for, is expected to be in South Post.” “Not Main Post?” “That’s right. According to the information Kim Representative gave us… here. We estimate it will be here.” The spot Captain Lee tapped with his finger was, as expected, the helipad. ‘Two gates… and Yongsan Station next to them…’ It sounded like the Korean military had planned to use both land and air routes. The plan itself seemed decent enough. But for us now, it was just throwing more challenges our way. I carefully scrutinized the crude map. ‘…It’s still wide.’ A subway line was marked along the base’s boundary. Even at a glance, nearly four stations followed it. It was definitely far. In addition, the destination had Gates 13 and 14 attached to it. And right next to it were Yongsan Station and Sinyongsan Station. If civilians or people inside the base had evacuated, it would be fine. But… “There will be a lot of zombies.” “…I think so too.” Captain Lee agreed with me. “The last communication ended abruptly, cut off.” “…An attack?” “Most likely.” He seemed to acknowledge and expect it nonchalantly, but I didn’t. There was no way there wouldn’t be zombies anyway. In that case, I hoped there would be a small number. Please, just a few. While my small wish grew more desperate, Captain Lee outlined how they would proceed.

“We won’t search every house or building.” “Straight to the helipad?” “I’d like to if possible, but we need to find a place to hide ourselves at an intermediate point.” That made sense. “Before that, we’ll search for the armory in the nearby barracks. My judgment is that it’s impossible to do anything in our current state.” I nodded at Captain Lee’s words. Executing an operation with just a few rifles and magazines was impossible. He was indeed a man with a plan. “We also need a vehicle. If possible, an armed Humvee would be best, but if not, we’ll simply give up and move on foot.” “So, where is the armory located?” “…I don’t know that.” Captain Lee explained that the locations of armories and ammunition depots are usually top secret. However, he added that weapons shouldn’t be too far away. Therefore, Captain Lee’s thought was that it might be somewhere not too far from the barracks. However, it was a little different for ammunition. “Even if secrecy isn’t considered, for storage and safety, it will likely be in an isolated place.” “And you don’t know the location?” “For now…” Captain Lee trailed off, but it seemed more likely that it wouldn’t be there. He also knew that fact. It was merely an opinion mixed with a vague hope, just in case. ‘Good if it’s there, no big deal if it isn’t.’ It was like trying a low-probability gacha, but it was worth a shot. I immediately asked Captain Lee. “You don’t even know the approximate location?” “Hmm… probably…” Captain Lee pointed out a few places on the map. “Since many facilities have been withdrawn, it won’t be difficult to find and identify them.” Even if you’re hitting your head against a brick wall, knowing something makes the efficiency different. I etched the locations Captain Lee pointed out into my mind, repeating them. It would be different to see with my own eyes, but I had a general idea. Finally, I took one last look at the map and spoke to Captain Lee.

“I’ll be back.” “…Huh?” “I’ll go look for the armory you mentioned and return.” “Seonghan. You must move with us.” Captain Lee spoke quite firmly. “I understand your combat ability is on another level. But that’s no reason to let you go alone.” “…” “We’ll go together.” As soon as he finished speaking, all the soldiers’ eyes gleamed. They put on their helmets, which they had taken off, and reached for their guns. Their series of movements was so natural. Their disciplined appearance made me feel reassured, but… “No.” At my single word, the corners of the soldiers’ eyes twitched. “Firstly, it’s much faster if I move alone. This place is too vast. If we move like before, it’ll take ages.” “But…!” “And all of you, you’re not normal right now.” “What do you mean by that?” Captain Lee’s voice was low, but I didn’t mind. Instead of answering, I approached “Balloon Man” Sergeant Kim. “??” I poked Sergeant Kim’s side with my index finger! “Aaaah!” Sergeant Kim, unable to bear it for a moment, bent his body and couldn’t suppress a groan. At the sudden reaction, Captain Lee’s eyes widened. “Just a while ago, we were inside a helicopter that crashed. The impact must have been considerable, so there’s no way you’re all fine.” “Ah!” “Even if you don’t feel it now, your bodies will soon be strained.” When she was pulled out of the helicopter, Jo Junwi’s eyes were half-unfocused. Honestly, it was impressive that they moved this far immediately after the crash. Captain Lee and the soldiers didn’t feel anything unusual right now. They probably didn’t notice due to tension and focus, but they would soon sense something wrong. Suddenly becoming unable to move from an external injury would be fatal. They were effectively in the same situation as having been in a car accident. Getting hospitalized immediately after a car accident isn’t for no reason. The danger that could burst forth anytime, anywhere. Invisible wounds are scary for this reason. Of course, this didn’t apply to me. Nevertheless, Captain Lee didn’t back down easily. “If that’s the case, Seonghan also…” “I have no problems. Haven’t you been watching?” “Ah…” “Jo Junwi is lying down like that, so it’s not good for us to scatter.” When Jo Junwi was mentioned, the soldiers fell silent. “Don’t worry about me; just leave it to me. I’ll just quickly look around and come back.” “Uh, that…” I calmly spoke to Captain Lee, who wanted to say something but was stammering. “I understand that time is short and urgent.” “Ah, no…” “But we don’t have no time at all.” “…” “Rest your bodies now. Oh, you can eat and drink what’s in my backpack.” After saying that, I turned around. Then Captain Lee urgently grabbed me. “Seonghan, wait! At least take this!” “Huh?” Captain Lee hurriedly took something out of his bag. “Please take at least this.” “Oh…” What Captain Lee handed me was a walkie-talkie and an earbud. I immediately slung the walkie-talkie over my shoulder and put on the earbud. “It won’t work over very long distances, but… if anything happens, contact me immediately.” “I will.” “And a gun here…” “It’s fine. I have this.” I tapped the knife at my waist and showed it to him. “Then, I’ll be back.” This time, I genuinely started heading outside. Out the window, a leap. “?!?!” The moment I jumped, I felt a soundless outcry behind me. It was a shame I couldn’t see their expressions, but they must have been quite surprised. I chuckled, imagining the foolish expressions the soldiers must have made. I landed softly on the grass and started walking. Slowly, gradually, I picked up speed. Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump. Soon, I started running at my usual speed. As I gained speed, my bangs couldn’t withstand the wind and swept back. I ran, feeling the sensation of cutting through the wind with my whole body. My immediate goal was any potential weapons. ‘Something reliable and powerful. I hope there’s something like that.’ You never know. This was where Americans, the homeland of the Holy Sale, resided. Like Captain Lee, I ran towards the remembered locations, holding onto a vague hope.