33. Director (1)
The uninvited guests from Failnet slipped away like the ebb tide.
ㅇㅇ : ㅇㅇ There are only f*ck-no-jam bastards
An anonymous user review said it all
ㅇㅇ : Especially that Skelton. How old are you? I’m still giving birth to drip….
I don’t know why I keep getting hit, but at this point, Defender’s statement that I’m really bad at the Internet might be true.
It was about a week after the gunfire from the north stopped when the defender made a surprise offer.
A message from Defender: I can’t do it. i have to move
SKELTON: It’s kind of a bad place there.
Message from Defender: I’m going to go to your neighborhood.
SKELTON: What?!
A message from Defender: Is there a problem?
there’s a problem
To put it bluntly, neither the older brother nor the younger brother are normal people, right?
Are they coming to my shelter?
It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.
Message from Defender: I’m not talking about going to your shelter. We have eyes unlike anyone else.
SKELTON: What do you mean?
Message from Defender: Didn’t you hear that your friends didn’t care about you before the war?
SKELTON: ?
A message from Defender: Oh, you don’t have many friends.
SKELTON : (Negative skeleton)
A message from Defender: Anyway, there’s a place I’ve looked at beforehand. It’s 3km away from your house.
SKELTON: 3km each?!
Message from Defender: Please help me as I will respect your privacy as much as possible. Are you registered as our friend?
Message from Defender: (Beauty screams) If you don’t help us, we’ll die!
I don’t think it’s a sound to joke around.
Defender’s territory has been eventful from the beginning, and now soldiers-turned-looters are appearing around.
But moving at this time of destruction, not at any other time.
Moving was a major issue in the family even before the war, and at the present time, when everything collapsed, it was a job to risk one’s life.
A message from Defender: I made a plan of my own.
Defender sent me a map showing his migration plan and route.
what is his plan
It was just Defender.
It is an appropriate compromise between reason and madness.
As the surroundings were dominated by well-armed looters from the Legion, the Defenders chose a route where they would be absent as much as possible.
The moving path designed by Defender passes through the zombie zone, the fanatic zone, and the monster zone.
SKELTON: What is the Cultists Control Zone?
Message from Defender: Yes. I can’t remember the name very well.
SKELTON: (Skeleton worries)
A message from Defender: (Defender’s eyes lantern) Will you come?
“…”
From nob le mt l dot com
Gotta go is there any star?
It’s a road I’ve been on once, and these friends are friends I didn’t allow to die.
Fortunately, even if the defender siblings succeed in moving without me, that’s a problem.
It is said that he might end up losing me and become a fierce anti-Skelton.
In a way, that would be a bigger heartache than the death of Defender.
Above all, aren’t we Internet friends?
SKELTON : (197cm100Kg30cm skeleton)
answered cheerfully.
Reflecting the latest style of my idol Jonnaenon.
Message from Defender : ?
Message from Defender: What bullsh*t are you talking about?
“…”
Was this too difficult for Defender?
*Defender is good at killing people and talking harshly.
We decided to meet in the middle.
As always, we set off late in the evening and crossed the darkness.
bang!
Distant gunshots are no longer uncommon.
I see an invisible light in the far northeast.
Well, it must be a pioneer.
bang! bang!
It is said that one of the reasons pioneers go to the dangerous wilderness is firearms.
It gave me hope that I could do anything with a gun outside the city rather than starve to death without a weapon in the city.
bang! Tata Tata Tang!
From nob le mt l dot com
Gunfire continues breathlessly.
It looks like a combat situation.
I turned on the walkie-talkie.
– Chijik! This is the 423rd Pioneer Squad! It’s a mutation! Mutations are roaming around our frontier! Anyone who can support the Pioneer Corps or the surrounding area, please apply immediately!
After a while, the radio rang again.
-This is the 423rd pioneer! It was the elk who thought it was a mutation. I apologize for the confusion.
It was a full moon.
Usually, this doesn’t happen on a full moon, but the clouds are so thick that it’s virtually no different from when the old moon rises.
So it must be a mistaken shot like that.
The full moon illuminated the land only when passing clouds permitted it.
Using gunshots and dim lights as a marker, we arrived at the promised location.
I checked the GPS and sent a signal to K-Walkie Talkie.
Beep- beep beep beep—
Repeat twice briefly.
I looked around.
A light flashed three times in the woods to the northeast and then went out.
It was agreed in advance not to respond.
One side is communication, the other side is light.
It’s uncomfortable, but there are a lot of people, and people are the biggest threat, so I had no choice but to take it, but Defender was waiting for me at a point where I could catch the light well.
“Skelton.”
Defender, whom I haven’t seen in a while, is still bold and handsome, except for losing a bit of weight.
I feel like my eyes are sharper than before.
Did he level up by killing so many people?
“let’s go.”
He handed me the headset.
When I put on the headset, I heard the voice of Defender’s brother with a crackling sound.
“Skelton! Really?”
“what?”
“therefore. That… 30 cm…?!”
“…a kind of metaphor.”
“It’s not like an oxymoron, is it?”
I tried to ask what the oxymoron was, but I gave up.
It’s never too late to joke around when you get to Defender’s house.
The air isn’t any better than that.
How to say, rather than a stench, it’s a feeling that the heart itself is vibrating ominously.
Defender pointed south.
The realm of monsters, something I’ve seen before.
It’s natural, but it’s a little bigger.
The area of the monsters that could be seen from afar on the riverside mound has now expanded to the point where it reaches the riverbank.
If I hadn’t killed the monsters of our realm in time, my realm would have been covered in such a gloomy grey-white that it would have twisted and withered all living things around it.
“From here on, we’re going to go a little rougher.”
Defender agilely climbed the roadless slope.
I grabbed a branch and followed.
He followed the steep slope just below the ridge.
Perhaps it seems that he is reluctant to be observed from the other side.
Soon he beckoned me from behind a rock.
“Look over there.”
Beyond the ridge, numerous lights were flashing.
it’s an army
Armored vehicles, jeeps, and even tanks were crammed into the abandoned factory site.
“?”
But even if there are many numbers, there are too many.
Only dozens of tanks and even attack helicopters are sitting on trailers with their wings folded.
Why was this amount of power concentrated in a place like this at this time?
At least it doesn’t look like he’s fighting monsters.
Defender looked down at the camp and said with a bitter smile.
“Do you know why we have to move?”
“I have to go. But why are they gathered like that?”
“I got the position two months ago, and the number is gradually increasing. It only sends and receives encrypted communications.”
“······What about that story?”
In an instant, goose bumps ran down my spine.
I felt like I knew what that army’s purpose was.
“Palenet and our bulletin board say that the Corps faction split a few months ago, but I don’t know. Maybe it’s a play that we put together?”
Maybe.
Defender moved on.
“But whether the Legionists seize power or the National Assembly faction, it has nothing to do with us.”
I think so too.
It is a story from another world that has nothing to do with us no matter who seizes power.
If there is one wish, it is that no matter who seizes power, please endure for a long time.
Whether it’s a traitor or a legitimized government, as long as they hold out in the north, the time allowed to me will increase.
Beyond the gathering place of the clandestine army, another gray-white realm stretched out.
What a f*cking place! I thought to myself, and opened my mouth insinuatingly.
“Has it been eroded here too?”
It was a fine place the last time I went.
There were no signs of erosion and I had never heard of a monster appearing.
Defender let out a shallow sigh and told me the truth I didn’t know.
“I heard that some lunatics came with several capsules.”
“A capsule?”
“I haven’t seen it myself, but they say it’s on military frequencies.”
it’s a capsule
I also moved the capsule by hand, but it was an inevitable choice.
At the time, I couldn’t afford more than I do now, and above all, Da-ram Kim and the government of the Republic of Korea were in good health.
It was about one monster, and with a little help from Daram Kim, it was easy to deal with.
However, unlike me, there are people who really want to sell monsters to this world.
“I don’t think that fanatic…”
Foolish people who mistake the result of peace and coexistence for the cause.
They are, in a true sense, the culprits that drove China to destruction.
“The Manryu Demon Religion?”
It’s been a long time since I’ve spoken that blasphemous name.
Defender nodded.
“okay. They were called by that name.”
Defender gnashed his teeth.
“······I should have killed them all when we happened to run into them on the street then.”
A faint smoke rises beyond the grey-white forest.
Smoke from burning wood.
people live
Could it be that it is the real Manryu Demon Religion?
Except for that crazy religion, no religion teaches living next to monsters.
“······Have they entered Korea as well?”
“There can be no borders or reasons for soulless bastards who believe in pseudo-religions, right?”
Maybe Defender is right.
Surprisingly, there are quite a few people in this world who choose to destroy themselves, such as pseudo-religions.
What I’m looking at must be one of those categories.
Even if there was no destruction, the kind of people who would burn themselves.
“Didn’t you tell me beforehand?”
“I don’t think he will come if I tell him.”
Defender said frankly.
Certainly this friend was in China.
Seeing as he knows exactly that fanatics are just as dangerous as armies.
Of course, there are people who take fanaticism lightly.
Compared to the military, it was poorly equipped and poorly trained.
But it’s never a good opponent.
I’m not just talking about the size or number of beliefs or the disregard for death.
Among the zealots, from time to time, the chosen ones of the gods appear in their language.
Quietly holding his breath, he asked Defender.
“Is there an Awaken among them?”
Defender was silent for a moment, then nodded.
“······well. I’m not sure. But I think there was something similar.”
People say that the first Awakens came from Hunters, but the truth is different.
The first Awakens appeared among the fanatics living in the eroded zone.
This is a fact that I and the Chinese soldiers who fought alongside me witnessed at the same time.
I can still vividly remember what Li Ja-ho Sogyo, who bridged the gap between us and the Chinese army, said with his eyes wide open.
“That’s… human mutation? No, did humans become monsters?”
That information had already been deleted and concealed in the days when I had access to classifieds.
Now, it will probably be dismissed as a legend that only a few people remember.
It is unavoidable.
Dark times demand the emergence of heroes, and heroes only appear in dramatic circumstances.
Defender called his brother through his headset.
“I came to the open field. Do some scouting.”
“I Captain!”
Waited a while.
Soon a black spot rose above the darkness.
It is a Chinese-made combat drone equipped with night vision equipment.
“Clean. You may go.”
Before the younger brother could finish his words, the defender sprinted towards the clearing with all his might.
The clouds had lessened and the land was clearly exposed under the moonlight, but he did not show the slightest hesitation in his speed.
Reluctantly, I sprinted after him.
By the time we were breathing comfortably, we entered the wooded forest again.
“This is my area.”
On the way, thick clouds completely covered the sky and the moon, so we had to rely on going through pitch-black darkness.
After going through several uphills and downhills, the Defender stopped.
“Let’s go back.”
He pointed to a dark corner with a laser pointer.
Anti-personnel mine Craymore.
Maliciously, a wire was installed under the shortcut between the rocks, and the moment it was touched, hundreds of iron beads were designed so that not only the person who touched it but also the comrades who followed it were turned into rags.
“I hadn’t before. It looks like it was installed recently.”
“Are those guys?”
“well. The important thing is that you can’t live in this town anymore, right?”
“admit.”
The detour was more of a rock climbing course than a road.
Shall we say that it is a feat that is possible only because the darkness is clearly covering it?
Soon, beyond the twilight, a tall gabled roof revealed a faint tip.
This is Defender’s house.
It took quite a while, but arrived safely.
But Defender suddenly turned around.
“sorry.”
he passed me
“Let’s go the other way.”
“why?”
“There is something I don’t want to see. I’m really sorry.”
It was not a casual apology, but an apology with sincere regret.
Why would you want to leave the house and go back?
It was a moment when I was about to question and turn around.
The world suddenly brightened.
There was a very small gap between the dark clouds that covered the moon and stars, and through that narrow gap, the tightly hidden moonlight gracefully covered the world.
The fleeting brilliance brought out the secrets hidden in the darkness.
A body was hanging from a tree.
It was a parched, mummified corpse.
The corpse, which had hanged itself, was looking down at the theme park spread out beneath its feet.
The face of the dried up corpse had lines similar to those of the Defender siblings.