6:30 am.
Bambaaaam baaam ♪
Together with the cheery trumpet alarm, I opened my eyes. I left the warm cover of my blanket and sat on the edge of the bed. Although I couldn’t sleep really well, I still felt refreshed.
Around me, several ‘seniors’ had also woken up and were already putting on their military boots. They were my seniors. To be exact, they’re seniors who had joined Jay Company and ‘Monster Special Combat Forces’ before me.
“New recruit, you up already?”
“Yes.”
“Hey, new recruit. Where and how did you meet her? Did you know her before the destruction?”
“Yes.”
“You know… She’s reaaaaalllllly pretty….”
“Kim Joong-wi-nim, if we think about your age, isn’t that a complete crime?”
“What did you say, you bastard? I just said that she is pretty!”
For reference, Kim Joong-wi is in his late twenty. He’s younger than me and of course Aracelli.
“So, tell me, how did you meet her?”
“I just met her somewhere. There’s nothing going on between me and her.”
It’s bothersome to answer their questions. In the end, they weren’t someone whom I would have a deep relationship with anyway. We are just fellow soldiers under Kim Ha-soo, so it was better to reduce interpersonal connections as much as possible.
“Nothing my ass!”
A senior next to Park Joong-wi suddenly shouted. He was wearing a beret with a single diamond on it. When I looked at him to question what he’s talking about, he said,
“Yesterday I asked her and she said that both of you are dating.”
“…Pardon?”
“So, she drew a line telling me not to flirt with her……Honestly, I was a little offended.”
“But we are not dating?”
“By the way, why is it a crime for me but not a crime for the new recruit?”
“No matter how you see it, new recruit is at most twenty one years old or twenty two years old. His age difference with Lieutenant Aracelli is not that much. So it’s okay.”
“Keuk… But well, is there really anything that could be considered as a crime in this destroyed world? I heard that across the sea, the leader of a large group of survivors has made a harem for himself. He didn’t care whether it’s a child, teenager or an old woman. He’s really crazy.”
“But I’m more envious of new recruit compared to that harem guy. If Lieutenant Aracelli had been born before the destruction, I bet she would become a superstar…..”
I really couldn’t keep up with the stupid story that these stupid seniors shared around me this early in the morning.
‘Aracelli. Just what kind of story did you tell them…….’
Well, in this military base, women were quite rare after all. So, it’s only natural that their attention was focused on Aracelli as soon as she joined. Moreover, the only concern for these soldiers were only two. First was whether there’s seafood bibim sauce on the menu this evening or not, and the second was a pretty woman. Therefore, it’s only natural for Aracelli to lie that she had a lover. She must have felt fed up when the soldiers kept flirting with her only after one night passed.
I put on my military uniform and got up. The color of Jay Company military uniform was black. Aside from that, I don’t think there was any difference between this uniform and the uniform of Korean military on Earth.
‘Are these guys really special forces?’
The special forces I knew consisted of terrifying guys who could execute thorough action and could freeze a living person with just their gaze.
‘…well, their ability seems to be real.’
Every member of the special force had a power equivalent to at least B rank superhuman on Earth. It could be considered as high because this world doesn’t have many high-ranking awakeners in the first place. It could be said that with 30 members of the special force, Kim Ha-soo’s plan of gathering outstanding individuals to make a group to fight against monsters was already successful.
In the first place, monsters in this world don’t have ether protecting their body, so they are vulnerable to firearms. Wouldn’t awakeners be much more powerful if they fight with guns?
After a while, the soldiers quickly left the barracks and gathered in the indoor training facility. Hundreds of soldiers had already gathered in the spacious space, and Kim Ha-soo was also standing there while receiving the morning roll call.
After the morning roll call, everybody started running with Kim Ha-soo at the forefront.
“While running! Don’t forget to sing the military song! Run! honey!”
““Run! honey!””
“The trick! Is to be Cool! And sexy! Military songs start in one two three four!”
Just like that, I ran together with them as I felt complicated in many ways.
Even though I just met him yesterday, I could see that Kim Ha-soo was sincere to the people of this fortress.
When he saw someone digging the ground, Kim Ha-soo wouldn’t think twice to help them dig the ground, and when someone butchered meat, Kim Ha-soo would step forward to lend his hand to them.
He’s doing the same to the soldiers.
He was sometimes charismatic, and sometimes friendly towards the soldiers.
No one ignored him. Everyone respected him and sincerely followed him. I could tell just by looking at the soldiers, workers and residents of the fortress who were laughing happily as they followed him.
It could be said that his schedule was really hectic. He didn’t even spend a minute to treat himself.
Afternoon came.
After finishing the training, thirty members of Monster Special Combat Force were called to a quiet place by Kim Ha-soo.
“Sir, I feel sleepy after having lunch!”
“You are a noisy man!”
“Sir, is there any seafood bibim sauce for dinner?”
“This, this crazy guy…. Is it really that good?”
“Sir? Isn’t it delicious?”
“Your taste bud is really strange.”
With a light conversation and joke, Kim Ha-soo led the special forces to the ammunition storage. After storing all the inflammables we carried to one room, we entered the ammunition storage. We were greeted by the salute of numerous soldiers who were in charge of the ammunition storage. There was a lot of respect in their eyes.
“Hey Woodpecker! Sorry to disturb you when you are busy.”
“Welcome sir! Correction, now I am the ammunition storage chief.”
“I see. By the way, even today, the ammunition store smells unsexy.”
“Please say it smells like gunpowder!”
“Whatever! Woodpecker, bring me the H-R2 ammo storage box in a cool and sexy manner.”
“Wait sir, in order to take out one of those, we have to turn it all off.”
“If I said bring me, then bring it to me.”
“Ah, okay then….”
….This army is really an army without any military discipline.
After a while, the chief of the ammunition storage brought out a storage box containing the so-called H-R2. Kim Ha-soo opened it and showed us what’s inside.
I was left speechless as I saw it.
‘That’s… an ether-coated bullet? No, is it another technology?’
A technology similar to ether-coated bullets but slightly different, which should never exist in this era, was in Kim Ha-soo’s hands. It was very similar to what we had on Earth. It may be made possible because this world is a different world…
However… My hunch was not wrong.
“Do you know what this is?”
“Yes. Isn’t that a bullet that goes into the ‘WH-102’ that only you use?”
“That’s right. When we use that, a medium-sized-monster could be easily killed.”
“Can you give it to us?”
Judging by the reaction of other soldiers who recognized it, it seems that Kim Ha-soo used it often. However, for some reason, the bullet could not be used by everyone. And the reason was immediately revealed.
“That’s impossible. Because this bullet is created by ‘future technology’.”
“…….!!”
Hearing that, the members of Monster Special Combat Force were all taken aback and shut their mouths. They realized that it wasn’t time to joke around.
“With my awakening ability, ‘Shop Window’ being upgraded not long ago…. it’s now possible to purchase technologies from the future. No, maybe it was a technology that we could have developed if our world had not perished. I can only buy this technology from the future if I pay with expensive coins.”
He put the bullet down and walked deeper towards the ammunition storage.
“Chief! Bring me the keys to the cellar.”
“….Understood.”
We followed Kim Ha-soo climbing through stairs in a labyrinth-like space that twisted around, and finally arrived at a place with only a dim flickering light. After Kim Ha-soo unlocked the lock as well as the state-of-the-art locking device through fingerprint recognition, we could see a glass protective tube occupying the empty space.
Inside the tube, there was a ‘missile’ about the size of two adults.
“……Sir, what is that?”
Hearing the question from one of the soldiers, Kim Ha-soo replied with a stiff expression.
“It is commonly referred to as ‘Zone Destruction Missile’. If we detonate it, it will evaporate anything in the radius of one kilometer. No shield or thick armor could ever stop it. Better yet, unlike ordinary gunpowder or atomic bombs, there are fewer aftermaths after using this missile. We could continue to plant seeds in the area of destruction.”
“Pardon?”
My face became even stiffer. It was unbelievable.
However, Kim Ha-soo had no reason to lie here.
“Last night, the special forces had almost completely formed. Both Lieutenant Aracelli and Lieutenant Yoo Seodam, their abilities are very special, they are just as great as the rest of the members who have trained here. They will surely be a great help in the future….. In other words, it is time to put our ‘Dream’ into action.”
Kim Ha-soo turned his head and looked at me. In his eyes, I could see a certain passion burning bright. But it was a passion that I couldn’t handle.
He looked around at all of us and said,
“We are the post-apocalypse generation.”
Lost Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, so on. There have been many words that describe the characteristics of generations living in modern society.
“And, we are the last generation. Do you know what that means?”
“…I do not know.”
“The characteristics of the last generation is that there is nothing left to be passed on to the next generation.”
With a distant look, Kim Ha-soo stroked the transparent tube surrounding the missile.
“This missile…. Is a technology from the future. I bought it from the ‘Shop Window’. Thanks to that, I used up all the ‘coins’ that I had collected painstakingly.”
It seems that the warning message that came to me last night was due to Kim Ha-soo’s purchase of this missile.
“Are you all familiar with the existence of a super monster that we call ‘Colony’?”
“Yes. I know about it.”
The other soldiers also nodded.
“It’s also referred to as ‘The Mother Beast’. It is unknown how many of these monsters exist on Earth… but at least all the monsters in our Koran Peninsula were produced by the Colony in the northern plains. It’s not sexy.”
I don’t know about that. Well, in the first place, I didn’t know much about this world.
“This boring and dull rain outside are actually seeds scattered by the ‘Colony’. It has no effect on humans, but when a ‘non-human’ comes into contact with the rain, it usually starts to evolve at the rate of tens or thousands of times faster than normal. Whether it’s a bug, animal, beast, a dirt floor, a concrete wall, a metallic can, anything can turn into a monster. No matter how sexily we killed a monster, it would never end unless we stop the rain.”
He said.
“So, we will go to the northern plain. Killing the ‘Colony’ in order to stop this rain and to reclaim our land. To lay a groundwork, to pioneer our devastated land, create a farm to ensure prosperity, and finally, build a new country. That’s why I decided to borrow the technology from the future.”
He said as he stroked the glass tube containing the missile.
“It’s a missile that contains all my dreams. Don’t you all think it looks really sexy?”
I sighed. It was truly ironic.
Kim Ha-soo had used his abilities to help people in a destroyed world and to make the world even a little bit better. However, the more he uses his abilities, the faster the destruction of this world approaches.
“When I bought this missile from the store, I missed an important fact.”
Kim Ha-soo smiled bitterly.
“This Zone Destruction Missile is a technology from the future. Of course, we will also need a missile launcher from the future. So, we can’t use it now. Can you help me? If you collect a little bit of coins, really a little bit more… We can finally take one more step towards our dream. We will be able to coolly shoot this missile to get rid of the Colony, take the land, and sexily put our flag on it.”
At Kim Ha-soo’s sincere words, all the soldiers nodded as they clenched their teeth.
“Darn it, please don’t ask for something like that in the first place. There is no need to do that, because from the beginning we decided to follow the captain until we die!”
“Whether it is a million or ten million monsters and coins! I will earn it!”
“Nothing can’t be done for our land! our future! With this one life I will help you buy that Zone Destruction Missile Launcher or whatever!”
The soldiers’ eyes become bloodshot. Their spirit went out of the roof as the fact that they can dream of the future simmered in. They were proud and grateful that the leader they believed and followed was doing all he could for them and the world.
However, in my eyes, no matter what Kim Ha-soo does, as long as he keeps using the ‘Shop Window’, the probability of this world would continuously be consumed. If he uses his shop window more than this and buys even more expensive ‘future technology’….
<This world will be completely destroyed, Seodam.>
This world will become a place where no life could live and be born.
He should stop using the ‘Shop Window’. Even if it’s for the revival of mankind.
“That is all for tomorrow. Let’s take rest for today.”
Then Kim Ha-soo led his troops out, and I also followed.
<Yoo Seodam….>
‘I know. I will kill him.’
It’s not simply a matter of whether the protagonist is good or bad.
In the first place, I didn’t become a protagonist hunter simply because the protagonist was harming the world.
I did it because I wanted to live.
After that, I want to become stronger and make my dreams come true.
That was why I killed the protagonists.
I am nothing but a selfish trash. I’m not different from the protagonists.
Whether my target is good or bad, my only mission was to kill them.
But all of a sudden, I was hesitant to kill them just because I felt that my target was a good person?
It was clearly an insulting thought to all the lives I had reaped as well as to my own convictions.
I am a selfish trash. However, even so, it wasn’t the case that my humanity was completely lacking. I just tried to survive. To live my own life.
Yes, very little humanity remained inside me.
If someone was dying right in front of my eyes, I’d try to save them. If a mother held a hungry child in front of me, I might give her a piece of bread.
‘Kill him, I will kill him. I’m going to kill him…’
I have been here for too long. I had become familiar with the atmosphere of this world.
In this post-apocalypse world, I saw many of those who had given up on being human and gradually immersed in madness for survival, for a tiny hope they kept in their heart.
That’s why,
At least, I wouldn’t turn away from Kim Ha-soo’s dream to re-establish human civilization in this destroyed world.