Episode 74. Survival missions (8)
From noble mtl dot com
The instructor continued the explanation.
“Everyone probably knows that the government is promoting the 7 major historic tourism projects recently. This Gyeongju is the only place in the old Asian region included in the 7 major historical sites.”
‘So that’s why you put the shield on?’
It looked like they were going to start a restoration project soon.
Dante took out his tablet and put it through the scanner.
Beep.
[Revolution Team. Race through checkpoints. ]
The team members stared at the instructor’s face.
“What are you doing? depart.”
Is this the end?
Dio asked.
“Do you have any hints? The location of the mana stone… … .”
“There are no hints. Instead, I want to tell you this. In a race, don’t just look ahead and run, look around and walk slowly. It is a city with a long history.”
Gyeongju is a place where the hope of a ‘restoration project’ sprouts from a long abandoned history. This was another reason why faculty members chose Gyeongju as their mission site.
“… … yes.”
Dante told his teammates.
“Let’s rest here for 10 minutes and move on.”
“okay.”
The intention was to rest inside the shield if possible. I ran 20 km non-stop.
The next checkpoint is Taebaek. It was over 200 km. Today, I was thinking of moving to the northern part of Pohang.
The team members put down their military uniforms in a place where they can see the tombs and rested. As I packed a lot of drinking water today and tomorrow, my military uniform became heavier.
Freesia complained after drinking the water.
“I think my shoulder will fall off. 10 purification capsules are too much, really.”
In addition, four of them, excluding the club site, were not in good shape. These are children who have lived on energy capsules all their lives. My body was rejecting food, and my intestines were not comfortable.
“But aren’t China and Japan the biggest in this area? Why was Korea selected as one of the 7 historic sites?”
Dio lay down on Dante’s knee and looked at Junmori.
Jun asked bluntly.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Aren’t you Japanese?”
“no. Our Mori family was naturalized in the United States 500 years ago. And I never once thought of myself as Japanese.”
“Then why do you still use Japanese surnames?”
“It’s not a Japanese surname, it’s just one of the thousands or tens of thousands of surnames that remain around the world. Do Echo Base kids still identify by hair color or surname?”
Dio did not answer the question.
Echo Base is the area with the most ethnic color among the six countries. There were many cultural differences from Central Agras.
This time, Dante asked Jun.
“so. don’t know why Why was Korea selected?”
“I know. I’ll explain briefly. Once the land of Japan has sunk. So no.”
In the 200 years since the first monster attack in 2028, there have been three major earthquakes in Japan. As a result, 70% of its territory sank below the surface of the water.
This is the reason why Japan was excluded from the 7 major historical sites.
“And the relationship between the US and China has been bad since the old days. That’s why I fell for this business.”
Central Agras is a country built on American soil, based on American capital and American military power. At the time of the monster attack, China did not cooperate with the United States until the end.
This is the reason why China was excluded from the 7 major historical sites.
“As far as I know, Korea was not among the candidates for the 7 historic sites. But the Roly-Poly Company stepped in.”
The Roly-Poly Company, a Korean company, has entered the business of restoring ruins. In addition, the descendants of Korean conglomerates of the old era who possessed the relics have actively expressed their intention to donate.
This is the reason why Korea was selected as one of the 7 historic sites.
“Although he doesn’t work externally, he bought a lot of artifacts at his own expense from large corporations like Sam, El, and Hyun. It seems that the Korean government even sold some of the relics it had collected to large corporations. The rest are sold to the Agras government at a low price and are on display at the central museum.”
At that time, Korea’s richest people were under strong pressure from the Agras government. However, he did not put the relics he had purchased for private collection into the end.
Then 500 years later. Gyeongju was included in the seven major historical sites restoration project, and a museum was also scheduled to be rebuilt on Korean soil.
The descendants of the conglomerate intended to return the treasures they had kept to Korean soil, not to Agras.
It was the best choice for them.
Dante lay down with Dio’s head on his lap.
‘Whoa.’
Breathe slowly and concentrate.
Three straight lines rose and disappeared in the air repeatedly. It’s so hard to put one more stick here.
‘When will the curve be… … .’
Freesia’s defense magic was more advanced than ever before. Do you think the lines that make up the pattern have increased by about a dozen?
That said, magic also evolves.
‘Does Freesia know? That you are growing.’
Adding about 10 lines does not change a C-class skill to a B-class.
There was a standard that Dante had established by observing patterns.
More than 3,000 are S-class.
More than 2,000 are grade A.
More than 1,000 are B grade.
Below that are C-E grades.
BS has two S-class skills and one A-class.
Alicia’s defense pattern is A-class, close to S-class.
If Freesia wants to grow into a B-class wizard, she needs at least 200 more lines.
Dante stood up and checked the condition of his teammates.
Jun and Danji, D.O.
I had never seen the three of them use magic. Among the three, if you were to choose the one with the highest probability of becoming a wizard, it would be surprisingly Claudio.
‘Dio is excellent at shaping mana.’
Dio still had the habit of spewing all his mana right before going to sleep.
Even in the first semester, it was monotonous shapes such as stars and hearts. These days, it creates quite complex shapes.
Looking at it, does it feel like playing with clay?
And why is the magic bullet control messed up? On the one hand, I wondered.
“Now let’s start slowly.”
As instructed by the instructor, the children looked around and walked slowly.
Jun Mori explained as we walked through the Kyochon Hanok complex.
“This is probably a traditional Korean house. Hanok.”
Most have been completely destroyed. At least a few half-destroyed buildings remained, so it was possible to infer the original appearance.
“The scheduled completion of the restoration of the Gyeongju area is 150 years later. That means we will die without seeing what it will look like after restoration.”
Restoration of cultural properties takes a long time. First of all, it was a problem to get wood and stone to be used for restoration.
I’m sorry, but what can I do?
Still, the Roman restoration will be completed next year.
I can only take comfort in that.
It feels strange to see a house that I only saw in old historical dramas.
Dante ran his fingertips through the chipped tile.
‘You know very little about the real Old World… … .’
School history classes focus on the AA era. A hopeful history created by mankind and superhumans who survived the brink of the apocalypse.
That is why the project of restoring the ruins was meaningful. It means that now I have enough time to turn my eyes to the past.
The children sped up again and ran to Pohang.
The club manager who took off his mask and ran said.
“wow. The smell of the sea.”
“really?”
Everyone on the team pulled back their masks and took a deep breath.
And put the mask on again.
“Ugh. Is this the smell of the sea? It smells completely rotten?”
Still, he did not stop running.
The sea was right in front of me.
The first sea in my life.
I wasn’t expecting the clean beach that I saw on TV. We all know that the sea is a garbage dump.
Still, I wanted to see it at least once.
The sky and the sea meet to conceive the sun.
‘It’s all here!’
No matter who said it first, I stepped on the breakwater and climbed up. And quietly listened to the sound of the sea.
My heart was pounding thump.
“Let’s all see the sunrise together tomorrow. please.”
Everyone nodded at Dante’s words and walked away from the sea. It felt like a monster would pop up any moment.
In modern society, there are many ghost stories about rivers and seas. It was the best way to keep the spoiled children out of the water.
On the second day, I stayed at a closed school in Pohang. I ate giant flounder for dinner, and the mana stone mission failed.
On the third day, we traveled 80km and stayed in a small mountain village called Yeongyang. You succeeded in collecting mana stones near the Seonbawi Rock tourist attraction, and met a rainbow under a small waterfall.
Dante made a wish for this damn mission to end quickly.
morning of the fourth day.
Jun Mori was convinced that it was impossible to survive on one meal a day. Eventually, he ate snake meat for breakfast and joined the ranks of the savages.
“under. i really want to wash Can we use our capsule now?”
Dante flatly refused.
“no. Just wait three or four hours.”
“Whoa… … .”
it’s moving again
There was also a way to walk along the coastal road, but the Revolution team chose the mountain path.
First of all, the beach side was dangerous and it was not easy to obtain mana stones. It was certainly easy to find mana stones in the rocky mountain area.
From the 4th day, we hardly talked while moving. Dante encouraged his teammates from time to time.
“Let’s work hard and endure for just one week. This is the hardest time ever. know?”
“evil!”
At that time, only Claudio responded.
All you can see are desolate roads and tall, rugged mountains. Occasionally, screams could be heard from the mountains.
In the words of Gudanji, it was the sound of the mountain crying.
As time passed, the children realized. The fact that the score is not important.
it’s a fight with yourself
I felt like giving up dozens of times a day.
Eventually, Jun and D.O showed abnormal symptoms.
“hey! Something just passed over there… … .”
“I saw it too. Were you a person? It was definitely a person.”
Then, he was overreacting to windblown vinyl. Because it’s a monster.
It was to the extent that I wished that a real monster would come out to me.
Dante, Danji, and Phrygia were also struggling mentally.
The children ran frantically and stopped repeatedly.
I’m trying to make sure the drone is following me well.
When I couldn’t find the drone right away, it stayed there for 30 minutes or an hour until I found it.
“… … You’re watching us right?”
“maybe.”
“Should we wait for other teams when we arrive at Taebaek Point?”
“Yeah, that’s okay too. Good idea.”
It is a club that has lived outside the base for 16 years. Even such a gudanji was just a weak human being in front of mother nature.
Tramps also form and live in their own groups. It was just the first time I had stayed so long in the deep mountains.
‘I want to go back. where there are people. I want to see you too.’
I felt like the whole world had died while I was alive.
‘Why? Why are you scared?’
Monsters, loot, guns, hunger, loneliness.
The fear I had been experiencing could be defined in one word. But this time it’s vague.
I thought hard, but I couldn’t find out what the hotbed of fear was. You can’t prepare because you don’t know the reason. So I was more afraid.
I traveled 85 km today.
There was only one reason why I ran so recklessly.
check point.
It didn’t matter if the instructor waiting for him was Red Devil. I felt like I would cry if I met a gorilla.
Taebaek City, Gangwon Province.
After passing through a few small villages, we finally entered the city.
In front of me, I saw a small church that had managed to survive without collapsing. Seeing the cross made me want to go in and pray.
From noble mtl dot com
The team in front stopped walking.
“wait for a sec.”
‘Kyaaagh!’
“I can hear?”
I hear it.
Judging from her voice, she sounded like a little girl.
[ Detect Mana Pattern ]
The human form has not yet been seen.
‘go away!’
This time the voices were a little closer.
it’s not english
“The club. Is that Korean?”
“huh. I told you to go away.”
I saw someone running in the distance.
Dante spoke quietly.
“Go into the building on the left.”
Team members jumped through the broken windows and hid behind walls.
“help! hey!”
This time, the gudanji provided simple interpretation.
‘You want help? Am I being chased?’
They hold the managun in their hands and exchange glances with each other.
There were three windows.
The five of them took seats on either side of the window.
tat tat tat.
footsteps approach
Dante, Danji, Junmori.
The three of them slightly poked their heads out to examine the situation.
A little girl in rags was running towards the building. Apparently, I saw it moving this way.
After thinking for a moment, the three of them opened their mouths almost at the same time.
“It’s a trap.”
Danji drew his greatsword and quickly jumped out.
Then, with the knife pointed at the girl’s neck, he asked in fluent Korean.
“Where are the people who came with me hiding? If you don’t answer within 3 seconds, you die. one two!”