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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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The helicopter was deafening. Even with earplugs, the sound was so intense that my body trembled. It was like a machine gun was firing right next to me.
“Status.”
In this noise, no one would hear me anyway. Nearly a month of hunting in Seorae Village had brought me to level 94. My main stats were all at 100. All that was left was Agility and Intelligence. I’d already decided what to focus on next. Intelligence was likely for an unknown, locked specialization, which left Agility. I put 5 points into Agility, bringing it from 4 to 9, and turned my head. The status window disappeared as it left my line of sight.
The helicopter was flying over mountains, fields, and cities at a surprising speed. From up here, the land, rivers, and mountains seemed to move slowly, but a brief glance away and the scenery had already changed. Even more surprising was that it took less than an hour to reach Pyeongtaek US Military Base. I wasn’t sure if it was because we flew in a straight line or if helicopters were just that fast.
From the cockpit, Captain Park turned and shouted something. What was he saying? I couldn’t hear a thing. All I could hear was the whir of the helicopter blades. A fierce wind beat against my eardrums. The roar was so loud that the earplugs were almost useless.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Captain Park shouted something, pointing at the windshield. Captain Kim looked outside and waved his hands. The helicopter tilted and moved sideways. Ugh, damn it. What was happening? In the tilting helicopter, I looked outside.
A long runway came into view. Next to it were large, white-roofed buildings. They looked like aviation-related buildings. And next to them, a noticeably American-style street stretched out for a long, wide distance. Small apartment-like buildings, American-style houses, and what looked like schools and a shopping district. It looked more like a small American town than a military base. I had seen pictures of military bases in Afghanistan on the news, with Hummers and armored vehicles. I’d come here expecting something like that, but damn, what was that? A resort with a swimming pool? Weren’t there any tanks?
As I was looking for them, something else caught my eye. Something I hadn’t noticed while I was busy looking at the military base. People. Soldiers in uniform. And civilians. They were facing each other across the runway. What they were pointing at each other… was… guns… What was this? Why were they pointing guns at each other?
No, more importantly. Why had they stopped pointing guns at each other and started looking up at us?
…My God! Crazy! Those crazy bastards down there were pointing their guns at us!
I shouted, “They’re going to shoot at us!”
The special forces member next to me opened his mouth and shouted something. What? I can’t hear you! he seemed to be saying. Damn, I couldn’t understand a thing. I looked at the cockpit. Captain Park was flying the helicopter, looking left and right. Did he know they were about to shoot at us? Right now, why they were trying to shoot at us didn’t matter. The fact that they were about to shoot was what was important.
“Get down! Get down!” I shouted at the top of my lungs, but it was useless.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
This was insane, damn it. The helicopter banked and slowly moved away from the military base, towards the rice paddies. I looked outside. The guys who were about to shoot at us were gone. For now. But now, I saw something else. Creatures, swarming like a thick black carpet of pepper, were converging from all directions. …A zombie wave. They were heading towards the military base. No, now they were turning towards us. It seemed like half of them were heading for the military base, and the other half were coming for us.
“Damn it, we’re screwed.” Truly. I muttered a complaint no one could hear and put my head in my hands. Damn it, who knew there would be people at the military base? And civilians, too. No, there were bound to be survivors. But why were they outside, damn it! They should have put up barricades like us! I didn’t know what they were doing, pointing guns at each other, but now that the helicopter had attracted a zombie wave, those people were as good as dead. We were screwed, damn it.
The helicopter banked again. I turned and looked at the cockpit behind me. What were they going to do? Captain Kim in the co-pilot’s seat shouted something. Captain Park also shouted something, making a circular motion with his hand. I couldn’t understand a word.
Rumble, rumble, rumble!
Watching the landscape spin, I realized what Captain Park was trying to do. He was going to herd the zombie wave attracted by the helicopter and dump them into the river. That was Captain Park’s specialty. I pulled out my phone and opened Google Maps. We were flying towards Paengseong Bridge. Slowly. Descending. The plan was to gather as many of them as possible and dump them into the river below the bridge. And so, I was able to watch a zombie wave crawl into the water in real-time from the sky. They said that when an earthquake hits, rats go crazy and jump into the water. It was almost exactly like that. After slowly crossing Paengseong Bridge and dumping most of the zombie wave into the water, Captain Park slowly gained altitude and banked. Then, he flew slowly towards the military base runway.
…Was he planning to land on the runway? I quickly looked around. I felt a little bad for the special forces member next to me, but I leaned over him and looked out the other window. …There was nothing but the runway. It was wide open on all sides. A small zombie wave could easily surround us. But there were no buildings nearby to land the helicopter on. Except for the lake connected to the river, it was all rice paddies. Crazy. Such an open, flat place.
The helicopter slowly descended onto the middle of the runway. Captain Park turned his head and shouted something. Then, he pointed emphatically at the door. Sung Kyu-hyuk, who was sitting in front of me, immediately opened the door and got out. The other team members quickly followed. I got out of the helicopter too. My hair whipped around wildly.
“Ugh!” The propeller wind felt like it was pummeling my head. The special forces members were hunched over, moving away from the helicopter. As I followed them, I looked back and saw Sung Kyu-hyuk standing by the co-pilot’s seat, talking to Captain Kim. Damn, could they even talk? Could they even hear each other in this noise? Sung Kyu-hyuk raised his finger and made a circular motion. Then, the helicopter slowly began to lift off.
…Huh? Taking off?!
I stood in the open field with eight other special forces members, including Sung Ga-yeon, and watched the helicopter slowly rise into the sky. Sung Kyu-hyuk ran over, hunched over.
Thump, thump, thump, thump, thump
The helicopter moved away. I grabbed Sung Kyu-hyuk’s shoulder and shouted, “Where’s the helicopter going?!”
Sung Kyu-hyuk shouted back, “It’s going to lead the nearby zombie wave far away! And then it will return to base!”
Return to base? Did I hear that right?
Sung Kyu-hyuk shouted again, “The helicopter is too obvious a target for the zombie wave! We can’t lose it! We’ll call for it when we’ve completed the mission and are ready to retreat! Do you understand?!”
Call for it when we retreat… I stood on the runway, the wind still kicking up dust, and looked up at the helicopter. Then, I looked to the side. People were walking out. Civilians. Mostly men. And they were carrying guns.
Sung Kyu-hyuk saw them and shouted, “Take cover! The hangar!”
The hangar? The special forces members started running. I ran with them. The large, white building I had seen from above. That was the hangar. The hangar shutter was firmly closed. There was probably a fighter jet or a combat helicopter inside. As we ran, the sound of the helicopter quickly faded. Now it sounded no louder than popcorn popping in a microwave.
Taking cover in the shade of the hangar, we caught our breath and looked at each other. Sung Kyu-hyuk spoke to me. “Sung-hoon, did you see from above? Two factions were facing off.”
“Yeah, I saw. What do you think is going on?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk shook his head. “I don’t know. It looked like the US military and local residents, but we’ll have to find out what happened.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk walked to the wall and peeked out. Then he shouted, “We are the government forces under the direct command of the president! We have been dispatched on a special mission! Do not approach us with weapons!”
“Ha!” A rough voice from the other side sneered. “Government forces?! What government and what army are there now?! If you want to talk, come out!”
Sung Kyu-hyuk shouted, “We urge you to cease all hostile actions immediately! Lower your weapons! This is a warning!”
“We’ll gladly lower our weapons if you hand over yours! Come out!”
Sung Kyu-hyuk’s face contorted slightly. He bared his teeth, clearly annoyed. Hmm. It looked like we needed to use some force. I put my hand on Sung Kyu-hyuk’s shoulder. He turned to me. “I’ll handle it. Stand back.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk looked at me with a questioning expression. I looked down at my hands. Dalgarim Gloves. And the burning tattoos that ran from the back of my hand to my shoulder. I gripped my sword and drew it. Then, I walked past Sung Kyu-hyuk and out of the hangar.
Shing
The people on the other side stopped walking. There were at least thirty of them. About ten of them were armed with firearms. The rest were holding flails, pickaxes, and shovels. …Ten guys with guns. I didn’t know if this would work.
A middle-aged man with graying hair, a sturdy build, stepped forward. “Hey. Drop what you’re holding. Do you want to die?”
I pointed my sword at him. “You drop the gun in your hand.” I flicked the tip of my sword at him.
The man looked back, his face twisting. Then, he started to laugh. The thirty or so civilians laughed with him.
The man said, “I’ll give you one last chance. Drop the sword, kid.”
I shrugged and smiled. “You don’t have to give me a chance. Why don’t you just shoot?”
The man lowered his head, still holding the rifle. Then, he laughed. “There are so many people who don’t know their place. Alright, then.” He raised his head. “I warned you.”
The barrel of the gun was pointed at me. Sung Kyu-hyuk and Sung Ga-yeon shouted at the same time, “Sung-hoon!”
At that moment, the man’s gun fired.
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