Episode 180
Permafrost (1)
In the first place, Maritime Province is a place that everyone avoids if it is not a native there.
Well, if you have to, ask the ambassador you met in France to introduce you to an acquaintance in that area.
“They don’t even speak Russian, so a guide is essential… … , No, you don’t need to save it, right?”
Come to think of it, a local guide in Maritime Province was living just 10 minutes away from this bed I was lying on.
… … If this is tourism, is it tourism?
* * *
Around the time when the golden sun was returning lust.
“Huh~”
Academy female dormitory building B 402.
Late evening, around 9pm.
Anastasia Ivanov was humming a pleasant song in her room.
Sitting on the bed, her wet hair wrapped in a towel, she looked as usual, no better than in the past few days.
“Because the sun has come back now. Makeup tomorrow… … Should I do it again?”
A high-tension hum was heard intermingling with her monologue.
It sounded like the singing voice of a fairy that was said to be bewitching people, and it hung over Anya’s gorgeous blonde hair.
‘Desirée Chevalier, you can’t be ignored because you look cool.’
Anya muttered to herself, remembering her friend’s face.
Although she has the same western-style appearance as herself, but her attributes are completely opposite, Anya was well aware of her splendor and the splendor of Desiree.
That’s why you can’t relax.
Now that Taeyang’s taste is not clear, no one can say that he has a clear advantage.
If you accurately grasped his taste, you wouldn’t even be nervous.
No, if you weren’t his taste, you would have worked harder than now to divert Geum Taeyang’s attention, and if you were sure that you were his taste, you would have been more relaxed.
‘It’s not over until it’s over.’
Anya thought so.
Inside her room, all you could hear was the rustle of wet platinum hair rubbing against a towel.
Hearing that sound, Anya gradually regained her composure.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, how much did she rub her long hair with a towel?
-Giying.
Smartphone vibrates.
As if there was a phone call, an irregular vibration rang a few times, and then it stopped.
Anya flipped her smartphone with the Koopa Koopa gear lying face down on the bedside and checked the screen. That’s it.
+
-Geumtaeyang-
010-xxxx-xxxx
+
“… … The sun?!”
Anya, who had been lying face down on the bed, jumped up from her seat in horror.
I slowly take my trembling hand.
What the hell is going on?
What should I say? It was only a moment, but her brain was running taut as if it had been hours.
-Giying.
“Ah, hmmm—”
At the vibration that echoed again, she sat down and cleared her throat as if she was going through a pious ceremony and pressed the call button.
“hello?”
– Oh, no. What are you doing?
Hearing his voice coming through the small speaker, Anya twisted her long side hair with her right hand, not holding the handset.
“Me, what? Now I’m taking a shower and preparing for tomorrow’s class. Since Instructor Sohn said that the proportion of practice will increase from next week, isn’t it better to prepare notes in advance?”
-… … Since when did you work so hard?
“Originally, my notes came out well—!”
A single word from the golden sun causes tendons to spring up in Anya’s wrist.
A distorted sound leaked from the smartphone in my hand, saying, “Giggiggeek!!”
-… … .
“Whoa.”
After covering the microphone of her smartphone for a moment, Anya took a deep breath.
Exhaled.
“Oh, my sun. Sorry, I bumped my foot while dropping my phone.”
-okay… … ?
“And my original handwriting came out well~.”
-… … .
“Sun?”
-Uh, huh?. uh, yes… … . Anya was good at writing.
Anya smiled again.
“What is going on at this hour?”
– Oh, no big deal. Do you have time for ‘this weekend’?
“This weekend… … ?”
Anya immediately turned her head and clutched the calendar right across from the bed in her hand.
+
＜Saturday, 06-9＞
– Shopping with your classmates!
– 2 p.m. Sinchon!
＜Sunday, 06-10＞
– Listening to extracurricular activities lectures.
– Attend the Guild Fair!
＜Monday, 06-11＞
– Reunification Day! Day off!
-Date of application for practice outside the academy.
+
Anya stared at the calendar for a while—.
“It’s empty on weekends~. Totally possible!”
—I threw the calendar in my hand behind my back with a ‘poof’.
The small calendar that fell to the floor made a clicking sound, but Anya didn’t even look at it.
A voice full of laughter came over the smartphone.
-okay? then… … .
* * *
Anya, leaning her hands on the glass window that was the size of her upper body, blankly stared at her face reflected in the window.
Her shoulders were particularly droopy. At the same time, he pursed his lips.
Anya was sitting in an airplane, a military transport aircraft notorious for its worst ride quality, staring blankly through the window.
“… … But that wasn’t it.”
Anya muttered helplessly, wearing the fur jacket she bought in Hongdae, but no one on the plane pointed out her attitude.
We both know what this military aircraft is like.
First, the feeling of boarding is damn right.
The constantly shaking aircraft body gave the people on board hellish motion sickness.
Even if he escaped from the motion sickness, the hard, cushiony feeling of the chair was the magic itself that made him feel endlessly irritable.
Second, the weather seen through the window was more damning than the riding comfort.
This had a connection with the first reason, because one of the reasons for the poor ride quality was the snowstorm outside the window.
-Ahh. This is Captain Ryu Seung-hyeon, the captain of the KAF-12 transport aircraft. From now on, the aircraft will shake more violently due to turbulence, so the internal troops hope to recheck the safety device. more.
If it’s a raging blizzard, or if it’s snowing in general, when you see it from inside the plane, the captain just says that some difficulties are expected through the broadcast, so openly, ‘It’s going to be like what the environment inside is like.’ do not declare
But military transport did just that.
“Ha-. Last time in Hongdae and this time too… … . I should have recognized it when they asked me to volunteer for the weekend.”
Anya sighed and sat next to her, staring at the face of Taeyang, who was sleeping unaware of the world, then moved her gaze forward.
There were two additional girls who seemed to have nothing to do with this severe winter scene.
“Ah~, is there no in-flight meal here?”
“Will there be any?”
“really? I woke up early in the morning and couldn’t eat a single meal. Rie, are you not going to eat?”
“… … I’m done. Are you okay anyway?”
“… … Why are you anxious?”
“Rice, ramen, kimchi. There are only three military in-flight meals. Even ramen is not boiled ramen, but cup ramen.”
“… … really? Wouldn’t it be at least something people could eat?”
‘Desiree Chevalier’ and ‘Elizabeth Windsor’,
Literally, it came with two more ‘girls’. Watching their conversation, Anya’s mouth popped out like a duck’s.
“… … I thought it was just the two of us when we went to volunteer.”
The protruding lips twitched.
“… … I was really looking forward to going to Maritime Province.”
“Anastasia? no? Aren’t you going to eat the in-flight meal?”
Elizabeth suddenly peeked out from between the chairs in front of her and asked Anya.
Anya flinched at the moment and shook her head.
“I’m fine.”
“hmm… … okay?”
Elisabeth nodded at Anya’s reply, which was similar to the weather outside, and did not recommend it to Anya anymore.
‘Eh~ I don’t know.’ Elisabeth muttered an order for in-flight meals, and Anya sighed as the transport plane moved through the frozen clouds to the north.
* * *
Our transport plane crossed Vladivostok and landed at an airbase several tens of kilometers north of downtown Ussuriysk.
Anya, Desiree, and Elizabeth each packed their bags and got off the runway, and finally I came out with a cool stretch.
The day comes when he rides a transport plane in plain clothes, not in military uniform, but his power and position are the best.
On the contrary, the weather is the worst.
Even though it was mid-May and early summer, I immediately stopped stretching and wrapped my arms around my shoulders in the midst of a blizzard.
“Such crazy, no matter how set up, what the hell was done in the Bering Sea, and the aftermath reached the Maritime Province.”
Shivering from the rapidly dropping body temperature, I hurriedly took out the academy winter uniform and field coat from my bag and put them on.
Fifty years ago, Russia was defeated in a decisive battle in the Bering Sea.
The Russian military class wizards-War Mages-who were mobilized in that battle had developed national-level magic with the mindset that everyone would die together just before defeat—.
—In the aftermath of that magic, the entire Far East Siberia, including the Bering Sea, became permafrost where the ice does not melt even in summer.
It was painful to say that the surrounding areas such as Maritime Province, Alaska, and northern Manchuria were directly hit by the aftermath.
what… … . It’s not a bad setting considering the story unfolding in the background of the snowy field, including the ‘Owner of the Frozen Land’ route, but I feel dizzy when I try to go through it.
“This is why everyone is reluctant to come here… … .”
As if I wasn’t the only one who was affected by the damn weather, the kids who came with me nodded as they took out their coats while their hands trembled.
… … Originally, it was planned to come with just the two of them, but due to their own reasons, the number of people increased to four.
There were various reasons why the children followed, including Anya.
nope, what It’s right that I invited you because I called.
As much as in the Maritime Province, I, who is half black-eyed, uses a mixture of Korean and Russian, but Russian is the main language in everyday life. I needed her help to move comfortably.
Besides, she was vaguely aware of the existence of a higher world, so it didn’t matter if I put my purpose on her this time.
I’m going to set up a schedule and leave.
A problem arose here.
This goddamn service was so tricky that the Awoken Association measured it down to a risk level, so they had to work as a minimum of ‘one team’.
And it was caught by Desiree. Searching for volunteer activities in the Maritime Province in the library, I got it exactly.
Their eyes met then, but it was the first time Desiree had raised her eyes so ferociously.
… … I don’t know why the kids put themselves in such a dangerous place.
No, Desiree seems to know why.
Since I killed myself during the last artificial saint, if I told you where to go, he would frantically follow me.
This time, Yeonhaeju asked why he was going, and he looked like a mother who was worried about her son.
… … My mother is well on Earth.
In the end, they couldn’t find a suitable team member, so Desiree joined. When Desiree joined, Elizabeth also came along like a sausage.
What she said was spectacle.
‘Is there a safer seat in Korea than next to you?’
I couldn’t bear to give another answer to her as she looked up at my face and said.
There was also a shortage of one person from the minimum number of four people.
The result is a party of 4 now.
wrapped around the forehead Why the hell did you not follow me in such a dangerous place?
The moment the kids scuffle with each other, saying, ‘Do you think you can live without wearing a few coats for a while?’.
I saw a group of people coming towards us.
Made up of exactly three people, they approached us wearing air force jumpers.
“Welcome to Maritime Air Force Base, Geum Taeyang. I heard the story from Ambassador Lee Jong-min. Awakeners these days are reluctant to come here, but they said they came voluntarily? He is a student with a strong sense of justice, which is rare these days.”
It’s a star.