Chapter 53. Advent, Part II
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
3.
Constant gunshots fell through the city.
Explosions appeared repeatedly between the gunshots, Lee Hyung-woo bit the candy in his mouth. The cheap coffee smell filled his mouth.
“Damn Zombies!” Lee Hyung-woo, sucking on his cheap coffee-flavored candy, looked up with a bitter sound and looked at the front. The Zombie monster horde came into his eyes.
Euuhuh! The Zombie Monster horde was advancing, ignoring everything around them, even the enormous amount of shells and bullet baptism pouring toward them. It was like magma flowing from a volcanic eruption.
“Now we’re looking at all sorts of unexpected things, and what happened in Sejong City was nothing.” At the scene, grumbles came out of the mouth of Sergeant Lee.
Of course, no one heard his low complaints between the endless gunfire. Even if they heard it, no one paid attention to the complaints. The same was true for Sergeant Lee. He did not care about the complaints, even though he spoke them.
‘Damn it.’ The situation was too urgent to care about such complaints. ‘We shouldn’t give up Tonghua City.’
Tonghua City itself was nothing special. It was not a place where great resources were buried, there was no important infrastructure, nor was it a historical point.
‘The next after Tonghua is the Yalu River.
‘The problem is that Tonghua City is the last city on the Yalu River, which is the baseline of the Korean Peninsula. In other words, if the front line retreats from Tonghua City, then the next place to fight is near the Yalu River.’
‘It’s a deadline.’
‘If the Zombie monster horde crosses the Yalu River, it means that the Korean peninsula has been invaded both realistically and symbolically.’
‘We have to buy as much time as we can, even if we give it to them… In many ways, it’s a damn war. The goal is to buy time before defeat.’
The worst part was that the purpose of this battle was not to annihilate the enemy, but to draw time. It was virtually impossible to win against Zombie monsters, who did not die. Such was the judgment of headquarters.
Even if Korea had the world’s highest power and was experienced in the battling monsters, it was against monsters. Now, the opponents were Zombies, not monsters. So headquarters declared the purpose of this battle was to earn time for citizens to evacuate.
‘This war, I am already tired.’ To be honest, Sergeant Lee Hyung-woo did not have the will to fight this battle. It was strange to have a will to fight a war that would be lost regardless. If the veteran Lee Hyung-woo, who had fought and fought with the monsters, was that demoralized, there was nothing to say about the soldiers who had little experience.
“Sergeant!” A soldier wearing a helmet appeared by Lee Hyung-woo as he was caught in his anguish.
“What’s the matter?”
“The order to retreat.”
“Retreat?”
At the end of the cross-question, five fire trucks appeared on the battlefield. At the same time, someone shouted.
“Stop firing!”
An intense cry that could not be said to be human swallowed the city at once. Meanwhile, the soldiers from the fire truck moved quickly.
“Pour the water!”
“Pour the water!”
A stream of water began to pour from the fire hose pointed at the Zombie monsters. At the same time, a thick smell was blowing all over the place. It was gasoline they could smell when they visited the gas station.
The gasoline soaked the Zombie monsters that had started to move more actively in the gap between the bombardment and the shelling.
In the meantime, the soldiers who built the front line began to withdraw from the battlefield. The same was true of Sergeant Lee Hyung-woo.
“Come on! Move faster!” He began to move away from the battlefield, urging his men. It wasn’t long before the smell of gasoline no longer pierced his nose.
The city of Tonghua was engulfed in flames with huge explosions. Lee Hyung-woo, who turned his head and looked at the scene, held his teeth tightly.
‘Oh, my God.’ In front of this insane war, Lee Hyung-woo felt like reality was a long ways off. However, in front of the fuss, Lee did not seek God. At this moment, all the people here wanted was not God, but a man’s advent.
———————-
4.
“The troops are withdrawing from Tonghua and Byron.” With the report of the subordinate, the small horses on the map came down near the Yalu River. However, Colonel Lim Hyun-joon did not look at the horses. Instead, his gaze was on a horse sitting near Vladivostok.
The horse was different. It was a piece that looked like a chess horse, but unlike the usual horse, was engraved with the word, ‘soldier.’” In addition, the piece was a piece of the divine animal Mac.
“What’s the situation of Mac Unit?” The sculpture represented the most elite military force of the Republic of Korea.
“The last news came that they were engaged in a battle with a Zombie-grade green monster, a Zombie ogre.”
Of course, the missions given to them were also the most difficult tasks. It was to remove the monsters above the green grade, which general soldiers and hunters could not kill. Without any support, they had to do everything on their own.
“What about the damage?”
“So far… five dead, twelve wounded.”
The damage was as bad as it was difficult. However, in front of the terrible result, Colonel Lim Hyun-joon did not express any emotion. Instead, he looked at the map and asked again, “What about civilian evacuation?”
“We’re on the right track, but there are too many people.”
“Search party, report.”
“The number of Zombie monsters on the Korean Peninsula is increasing, the activities of the search party are impossible.”
It was a nightmare report. In front of the report, Colonel Lim did not reveal his feelings at all, nor did he change his expression. The situation was straightened out in his mind without any signs.
‘Even if they’re Zombies, monsters below the orange grade can be brought down by ordinary soldiers, as well as by the armored hunting units.’
The situation was not good. The war itself was too sudden. It was not just a monster, but a Zombie monster was outside the scope of the plans of Colonel Lim.
‘The problem is that when Zombie monsters above the green grade or higher appear, no more engagement is possible, and the frontline is forced to retreat.’
The bigger problem was that even if they built a barrier line to block Zombie monsters, the line would actually collapse when a monster above the green grade appeared. This was a battle where they could not help but retreat. In short, there was no hope or possibility of victory in this battle.
The whole point was to earn some time for a few more people to escape. Since they were the military and hunters of the Republic of Korea, they were able to carry out this battle without any strain. If it were other countries, they would not be able to stand against the Zombie Army this far, the citizens would have already panicked, and there would have been a riot of disorder, not any evacuation.
‘We can’t endure bad news anymore.’
In other words, South Korea was now at its breaking point. If more bad news were added, it would not be strange if everything suddenly collapsed.
“It’s a report, report!” A subordinate appeared in a hurry. A jade bird was in his hands.
‘That jade bird?’
‘No way!’
At that moment a chilly thunderbolt passed through the spines of everyone there. In a few moments, the Okjo opened its mouth in the quiet space.
-This is Artyom, the small town above Vladivostok.-
According to everyone’s intuition, the Okjo let out a terrible nightmare.
-We found a dark blue-grade Zombie monster. The identity of the monster… is determined to be a Hatch with horns, on the body of a sheep.-
It was the voice of Bang Hyun Wook.
———————–
5.
‘Remember, Hyun-wook. After all, it’s a physical strength fight. In the world of professionals, neither a pitcher with a speed of 150 km/h nor the slugger can survive if he has no physical health. So don’t skip physical training. That’s the only way you can make it to the pros.’
It was a memory from his senior year in high school. It was from at most two years ago.
“Captain, are you sleeping?”
Bang slowly opened his eyes, brooding over the dimmest memory.
“No, I was thinking about the old days.”
“Once upon a time?”
“When I was in high school.”
“So, you said you were a baseball player?”
When asked again, Bang only smiled bitterly instead of answering. His smiling face showed signs of weariness. It wasn’t just him, but all of them. Everyone in front of Bang’s eyes looked tired. It was unbelievable.
Mac troops were a group of hunters with outstanding skills. With Bang Hyun-wook, the troops were the elites of the Mac Unit. Their average Health level was over 300 points. They had acquired many abilities from monsters. They would be beaten to death by monsters, but they would not be exhausted.
However, the fact that they felt physical limitations meant that the daily rigor of their battles was beyond imagination. Under such circumstances, they were facing a desperate battle that was incomparably harsh and hopeless.
“Now let’s get ready.”
A monster came up between the Zombie monster horde before the eyes of Bang Hyun-wook, who looked up at the words.
It was a monster of a peculiar appearance. It was about five meters long, its body looked like a sheep, but was covered with steel-like silver scales instead of a fluffy fleece, and a pointed horn rose up on its head. On either side of the horn were two dark blue eyes that had lost focus.
It was a Hatch.
The dark blue grade monster became a Zombie, and it stood out in the Zombie horde. With such a powerful presence, it gave the Mac troops a sense of despair.
‘Of all times, a dark blue-grade monster Zombie…’
‘A monster that has become a Zombie does not die even if they pull out its heart and smash its head. There was only one way, to cut apart the body and set it on fire.’
There was only one man in the world who could kill the dark blue monster in that way.
“We’ll have to hold on until he gets here.”
Because of that one man, they did not run away in front of a monster that could not be fought by Bang Hyun-wook and the Mac Unit. The role of the Mac Unit was to replace Kim Tae-hoon, who would finish the nightmare.
‘When he is not with us, I am, on behalf of him.’
At the same time, it was also a request by Kim Tae-hoon to Bang Hyun-wook.
Before leaving for Russia, Kim Tae-hoon told Bang Hyun-wook, who wanted to go with him, to stay in Korea. He asked him to protect Korea from threats on behalf of himself, not an order.
“Then I’ll give you an operational briefing again.”
Therefore, Bang Hyun-wook did not intend to turn his head in front of this despair.
“Our goal is not hunting, but buying time.”
However, he did not intend to burn his life to the ground. The ultimate thing that Bang Hyun-wook had learned from Kim Tae-hoon was survival, not struggle. The same was true of this time.
“First of all, I would like you to step up and clear your area while I catch its eye.”
As said before, the Mac Unit had no means and methods to kill the Hatch that had become a Zombie now. Then there was no reason to be mindful of killing. It was just to lure, and if they could buy time, it would be enough. That was all.
“Then I’ll lure it back north. Well, let’s cheer up for the last time.”
Bang Hyun-wook, who spat out his words, stood up, his whole body feeling heavier than ever. But Bang did not collapse.
“Hoo!” With a long sigh, he raised his head, and now saw the monster he had to face nearby. Seeing the monster, he took a deep breath. He exhaled with all his strength, his breath ready to burst out his chest.
“Come on!”
At that moment, a thunderbolt fell on Bang’s head. Kim Tae-hoon descended from the sky.
———————-
6.
There is a word used to describe where a nuclear explosion occurs: ground zero. Where everything is gone, and now nothing can live. In a sense, it is the cleanest place in the world.
A grotesque wolf appeared there. No, it was more than a wolf, as if flesh that had been ripped from a body had been gathered in wolf form. Only the purple eyes told them that it was not just a monster. An Immortal Wolf, the monster that turned the vast land of Siberia into a world of Zombies, stood motionless for a while on Ground Zero.
How long had it been like that?
It turned its head to the east, toward the Korean Peninsula.
