1.
The nightmare, which began on December 31, was now ready to pass through January and February, and reach into March.
The weather had not changed in a short time. It was still cold. However, there was a change among survivors of Bucheon. There was a lot of energy that had not been seen before.
“OK, setup is complete!”
It was due to hope. It was still a miserable world, but there was hope that it was getting better in that miserable world.
“It’s worth the effort on this cold day, looking at the sun.”
“I used to see this before, and kept calm, but now… The solar panels are beautiful.”
And now there was a lamp that reflected that hope more charmingly.
A solar power generator.
The device, which could produce electricity semi-permanently if it was maintained properly, had become a powerful source of energy that would fuel the hopes of the gloomy survivors. Of course, there was the greatest hope separately.
“The Mac Guild has come from hunting!”
“The Mac Guild?”
Now a truck had appeared on a fairly well-maintained road. A ten-ton white truck was carrying a Black Orc. And there was a man standing on that dark thing.
“We got it!”
“Bang Hyun-wook killed a Black Orc!”
“He killed the Black Orc on his own!”
“He killed it alone! He killed it with bare hands!”
“Did he really kill it by himself?”
“Nonsense, did he kill that monster alone?”
It was a great thing, and at the same time, everyone was happy to see it. Hunters were the only hope left in the world.
Naturally, the appearance of Bang became a parade soon. People cheered him and he couldn’t help but cheer himself up. The parade began in front of Bucheon City Hall. He entered the City Hall right away.
“Brother Sung-hoon!”
The first man that came into his eyes was Jang Sung-hoon, who came out of the City Hall after hearing the uproar. Bang approached him in high spirit and said with a cheerful air, “I killed a Black Orc alone! One to one! Without the help of a gun! Oh, of course there was one…”
The waistline of Bang Hyun-wook who was speaking had a weapon that appeared to be an iron mace. It was an item made from the Bell-tailed Rat.
In appearance, it was seemingly crude and comical, but it had the ability to turn Energy into a devastating force instantly when it was injected. Its destructive power was beyond imagination.
It was enough to make a car to scrap in a short time! The item was powerful to crush the hard body of a Black Orc into broken pieces.
Without the help of this item, it would have been impossible for Bang to kill the Black Orc by himself. On the other hand, even if the item was given to them, there was no one but Kim Tae-hoon who could kill a Black Orc by himself. That was why Bang was so excited.
“But where is the big brother?”
It was evidence, the proof that he was not a stumbling block, and he was strong enough to help.
Jang smiled at Bang, who was anxious to show the evidence to Kim somehow.
“I’m sick and tired of it. You killed it by yourself. I’ve warned you several times that it’s dangerous-”
“Gee, it has been a while for me, and I had to kill it!”
“You win. Take a break for now. I’ll tell the boss. It’ll take a while, so have something to eat.”
“Yes!”
Jang turned his back on the refreshing response from Bang. But, there was no fresh smile on his face. It was just a stiff expression. He could not help but do that.
‘The Golden Glass filled the third time.’
Kim Tae-hoon was now dreaming of his third death.
2.
The first thing Kim did when he woke up from the dream was to touch his neck. It was naturally attached. However, he felt as if his head was still falling to the floor from his body. Therefore, he could not take his hands off his neck easily. He gripped his neck and pressed his teeth together.
‘I can’t be adapted to my death.’
He dreamt of his third death. Moreover, that death had been the worst so far. His arms were amputated, his heart was pricked, and his head was cut off at last. One alone was appalling, but all of them happened at the same time. He was struck with horror. Of course, the aftermath of dreaming of death was also stronger than before.
‘Whew.’
Sounds came to him, as he breathed and endured the aftereffects of the pain: the sound of footsteps, breathing, and hearts beating.
Knock!
Finally, he heard the sound of knocking. The sound was so clear that it felt as if the person outside the door was right in front of him.
“Jang Sung Hoon.” Of course, he knew who the owner of the knock was.
“I always feel it, but that absolute hearing is creepy.” As Kim predicted, Jang opened the door and came in.
“Is there really a difference between breathing and a heartbeat? How can you classify a person apart by hearing such a noise-”
Kim closed his eyes and rubbed his temples instead of explaining.
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
Kim’s newly acquired power of the Bell-tailed Rat was precise enough to measure his own heart rate and hear breathing, footsteps, and even a heartbeat. In addition, it was now possible to control his ability. But it wasn’t perfect.
Therefore, if he was tired, distracted, or mentally disturbed, his ability would run at will. In other words, considering his mental state, who just woken up from his death, his ability had been activated to the limit.
“How was your dream?” Jang asked, lowering his voice.
“With my arms cut off, the traitor stabbed me in the back, and in front of me, there were twin Chinese sisters, and one of them cut off my head with the sword she was holding.”
“Wow.” Jang whistled briefly. “But you can’t ignore the time, and death gradually becomes a spectacle. So, who is the traitor?”
It was a gruesome death, but it was the most valuable dream ever experienced by Kim. First, he saw the faces of those who were hostile to him. This was a huge bonus.
“Six snakes and Oh Se-bum.”
“The six snakes may mean power or group, and Oh Se-bum… you know that name?”
“Not at all.”
“What else?”
When Jang’s question followed, Kim recited Chinese. It was a shaky Chinese language. But its meaning was clearly conveyed.
“Can you interpret what one of the twin sisters said to me?”
Jang’s face hardened as soon as he heard it. “Uh, um-”
“Is the interpretation hard?”
“No, it’s not. I know the full meaning.”
“What’s the content?”
“They said that you are a dragon slayer. They told you that it was great to have gone this far… And they wanted to bite the boss and kill you.”
When he heard the answer, he opened his eyes.
“Did they really call me a dragon slayer?”
“I know the atmosphere is not a playful mood.”
“I must have killed a dragon. I’m not sure whether that’s the dragon we think.” Kim’s eyes were cold as he spoke.
The same was true of Jang. It couldn’t be good.
‘He killed the dragon, but he died. ‘What the fuck are we supposed to then?’
Killing the dragon was a top priority for survival. The Kim Tae-hoon of the future cleared the assignment. But he ended up dead?
It was terrible. It was like watching a movie called Destination: no matter what you did, you couldn’t avoid dying.
So, Kim did not dig deep into it. Even if he dug into the terrible thing, there would only be desperation left.
‘A traitor.’
He focused on the word traitor. ‘Traitor means that he believed them, or acted with them.’
‘The meanings of an enemy and a traitor are definitely different. An enemy is just an enemy, and a traitor is the one who becomes an enemy among his colleagues.’
Kim had lived in a world where a traitor would soon be killed, and he never confused the two words.
‘The traitor who was near me is Oh Se-bum, who stabbed me in the back.’
In addition, there were more clues that Kim had obtained.
“I saw a sword-”
Everything you see and hear could be a clue.
Of course, the weapon in the hands of the woman who called him a “dragon slayer” was also an important clue.
“What shape?”
Soon after, Kim used a pocket notebook and a pen on his desk to draw a picture. It was a terrible job. It seemed impossible to guess what he was drawing.
The same was true of Jang. At first, he thought it was just the form of a sword. However, when Kim put a diamond-shaped pattern into the sword and finally eight worm-like letters into the sword, Jang changed his face. Soon after, Jang extended his hand.
“Pen, please.”
Kim handed over the pen and soon Jang drew a new sword on the new page.
“This is it. What kind of sword is this?” The sword was the sword Kim had seen in his dream.
“This sword is called the Sword of Goujian.” It was the Sword that Kim put in his wish list in his second dream.
Ahead of his second death, Kim told himself a wish list. It was like an order: to obtain the goods of the wish list, take all the means and methods whatever they are, or even kill the original owner if necessary.
“Whew.” Kim gave a long sigh.
He heard loud footsteps. Bang Hyun-wook’s footsteps wanted to show off his presence.
‘There’s no time to rest.’
Kim recalled today’s date with a short sigh.
February 28. Today was the last day of February.
3.
Gimpo International Airport…
It was now the quietest place in the world, where it had once been the noisiest place in South Korea, with planes taking off and landing without stopping. The planes lay like corpses covered in snow, and there was a white field of snow where animal footprints could hardly be found, as if to show that no one was on the broad runway.
The broken windows, the crumbled walls of the airport terminal, and the trace of animals which came to eat the remaining flesh of the broken bodies and departed, were the latest traces.
It was on March 3 that the silence, which had begun on December 31, broke.
Crowds dressed in black began to gather in the desolate airport terminal.
The gathered people immediately shook their hands or hugged to express their joy.
“It’s been a long time.”
“I’m glad you’re alive.”
It was the appearance of a man who immediately froze the friendly hours that began.
“Attention.”
As the man wearing a beret appeared, the cheerful atmosphere disappeared, and a solemn atmosphere began to set up like the blade of a sword.
The man who appeared looked to be in his mid-forties and gave a strong impression, with a square face and a beard around his mouth. He looked at each of them with tiger-like eyes.
“There is no Major Oh Se-bum and his team.”
The brief remark that came out soon put the crowd on edge. Everyone here made a promise to meet at a fixed date if they were still alive.
‘Did Major Oh Se-bum’s team fail?’
In other words, not being here meant not being alive.
Of course, everyone here was determined: they would not be afraid to die, but they would fight against death. Nevertheless, the reason why everyone was nervous was simple.
‘Nonsense. What monster did they meet?’
‘Were they in contact with something above a blue-grade monster?’
Major Oh Se-bum could never be killed, by the judgment of those who had prepared to die. He was so strong and clever.
A middle-aged man, Lieutenant Colonel Yoo Dae-hyun, who was also wearing a beret, was well aware of that.
‘If Major Oh died… If so, whatever we get in this operation will be a loss.’
Major Oh was a man who had the ability and talent to become a historical hero to save Korea. He could not have died. No, it shouldn’t have happened.
‘When we lost Daedongyeojido, it was a big loss. Had there been Daedongyeojido, we wouldn’t have taken risks like this.’
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo shut his teeth hard, thinking of the past. Naturally, the congregation held a silence. Bowing in silence began for the dead.
Bang! It was a shot from the airport’s runway that broke their silence. Everyone’s eyes changed. They had the eyes of soldiers who could fight at any time.
Lieutenant Colonel Yoo did not do that. He was a man who had not relaxed since he had appeared, and who had planted everything that a soldier should have into his bones.
“Check and come back.”
When Lieutenant Colonel Yoo pointed out a team and gave an order, the team immediately moved to the spot where the gunfire was fired without even answering. It was not long before one came back and reported.
“A man with a white flag is on the runway. He describes himself as the head of the Mac Guild.”
It was a very difficult explanation: the gunfire came from the runway, a man was standing alone on the runway, he was holding a white flag, and finally, he was the head of the Mac Guild.
All that was not understood was not described. However, Lieutenant Colonel Yoo did not express any doubt about the facts, since he had seen a lot of irrational images of survivors in a world in which the system that was driving the world was completely destroyed. So, he wasn’t surprised and didn’t frown. There was no change in expression at all.
“What’s his name?”
“It was Kim Tae-hoon.”
“Kim Tae-hoon?”
However, as soon as he heard the name, the expression of Lieutenant Colonel Yoo changed.
“Is he really Kim Tae-hoon?”
He looked surprised.
