Chapter 14 – Left Behind

Se-min opened his mouth, then closed it. Then, after some deliberation, he replied.

“N-nice to meet you, too.”

An officer who had been watching the encounter with the North Korean soldiers from behind Se-min cleared his throat.

“Private, get out of the way.”

Se-min retreated awkwardly.

Embarrassed, Se-min scratched the back of his head and grinned. Yoon Woo-jae scoffed.

“What? Magic beast?”

“Well, they do say humans are black-headed beasts.”

Se-min protested while glancing at the North Korean soldiers. They all carried cold weapons, and their behavior was calm.

The officers of both sides talked about something, then walked shoulder to shoulder back to the camp. The troops swarmed behind them.

Kim Gyu-jin stood upright, watching their joining.

It was clear that these were the ones he had said he was waiting for.

The man who had greeted Se-min, a soldier with slender eyes who always had a smiling face, introduced himself as Major Ri Gil-han. He was responsible for guiding the dispatch group to Gaecheon.

“Lately, the habitats of the monsters have shifted. I will take you on a safe road.”

“Let’s do that.”

“By the way, what about the goods…”

Kim Gyu-jin pointed behind him. They were the officers carrying the aforementioned metallic bags. Ri Gil-han smiled broadly.

“Good.”

Ri Gil-han nodded deeply and shook hands with Kim Gyu-jin.

Se-min was sure there was something important in there, but he couldn’t know what it was. He tried loitering near them for no reason, but the officers didn’t even give him a glance.

“Is it bundles of cash? Or gold bars?”

“Mind your own business.”

“It’s a life-threatening mission, don’t you want to know?”

“I didn’t risk my life.”

The troops finished lunch and began marching again.

Se-min went to the North Korean soldiers and tried talking to them, but they only smirked and did not reply.

The only one who opened his mouth from beginning to end was Major Ri Gil-han. He kept talking to the taciturn Kim Gyu-jin as if he did not find him difficult.

“Did the comrades from last time return safely?”

“Yes.”

“It’s a pity about the friends who died. I assume the South took good care of their families.”

The last time referred to the operation when Jeon Woo-yeon volunteered. However, Jeon Woo-yeon had not mentioned that there were casualties.

According to his words, it seemed more than just one or two had died.

Se-min looked around. They were walking on a half-destroyed road. Between the abandoned rice fields and ruined houses, there was no trace of humans. Only a bizarre cry occasionally descended over the mountain ridge.

Suddenly, the footsteps of the leaders slowed down.

“If we go further, some monstrous things have made a home. Let’s make a detour, comrade.”

“Was this not the original path?”

“What do they call it over there, Kinensis. Because things called Kinensis have appeared…”

“Halt for a moment.”

Kim Gyu-jin stopped. The marching column halted.

He looked ahead. It seemed Kim Gyu-jin could see the scenery beyond the ridge. He stared ahead for a long time.

“Look closely.”

Soon, Kim Gyu-jin’s eyes turned toward Ri Gil-han. Ri Gil-han still had a smiling face. Kim Gyu-jin glared at Ri Gil-han for a while.

Tension hung between the two armies.

Around the time a few began placing their hands on their weapons, Kim Gyu-jin opened his mouth.

“Lead the way.”

Ri Gil-han’s eyes curved even longer.

“Of course.”

They left the road.

The atmosphere was gloomy due to the incident earlier. Ri Gil-han, who had been chatting continuously, also shut his mouth. The northern land, where no one spoke, was silent.

A forest lined with bare trees appeared.

Yoon Woo-jae, whose breath had become short, opened the canteen cap and asked Se-min.

“Hey, what is a Kinensis?”

It was the magic beast Ri Gil-han had warned about earlier.

“A man-eating plant.”

“A plant?”

“Yes. I heard they are rare and strong creatures that stay rooted in the ground, and then suddenly stretch their necks out to attack. Of course, they are not real plants. I heard they resemble roses.”

A North Korean soldier who was listening to their conversation deliberately joined in.

“That’s right. They are very terrifying creatures.”

“Right?”

Excited to have broken the ice with the North Korean side, Se-min spoke to him.

“North Korean mister, what is your name? You don’t even have a nametag.”

“It’s because we are not as affluent as the South.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. Did you come all the way from Gaecheon to greet us?”

“Valued comrades are coming, so how could we not guide you?”

“Hahaha. You’ve come a long way, so please at least tell me your name. I am Private Lee Se-min. What about you, mister?”

“There is no need to exchange names…”

Se-min suddenly bumped into the soldier in front.

He had not realized the march had stopped because of the conversation.

To Se-min, who was checking ahead in panic, the North Korean soldier giggled and continued.

“Wouldn’t right now be the perfect time to part with this awkwardness?”

A fountain of blood was shooting up at the front.

A red flower-like thing held the chopped upper body high in the sky and sprayed blood. Blood also gushed out of the collapsed lower body.

Simultaneously, hideous maws like that flickered from outside the field of vision. It was more than one or two.

Kinensis.

This forest was a den of magic beasts.

The entire force took steps back.

Kim Gyu-jin grabbed Ri Gil-han by the collar. Ri Gil-han smiled and shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh dear. I must have made a mistake. We should have just gone on the path we were going.”

“What are you doing?”

“Why is someone who should know better acting like this?”

“You bastard!”

Se-min, who was watching that scene, startled and ducked his head.

A spear shaft pierced the spot where he had been standing. The North Korean soldiers giggled.

“Comrade, your body is nimble.”

Se-min gritted his teeth and raised his claymore.

A chaotic battle began. Se-min frantically parried the incoming spears and swords. In the midst of that, even a Kinensis thrust its head in while drooling.

The foul odor of the magic beast swept in. When the Kinensis opened its mouth, a pitch-black cave was revealed. Inside it, Se-min felt as if he saw dozens of white bones.

He swung the claymore.

“Dammit!”

The Kinensis retreated, then charged again. The magic beasts did not attack the North Korean soldiers and only assaulted the South Korean troops like trained hounds.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae, are you okay!”

Swords flew from both directions. Se-min rolled on the ground and swept the floor, slashing an ankle. One North Korean soldier collapsed and crawled on the floor.

It was his first time harming a human, but the excitement of battle and the blood splattering everywhere erased his guilt. The desire for survival guided Se-min.

The claymore blazed white, chopping up Kinensis and humans alike without discrimination.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae!”

“Over here!”

The reply came from behind. Se-min kicked a North Korean soldier who was tangling with him and approached Yoon Woo-jae.

Yoon Woo-jae was just pulling his sword out of the chest of a North Korean soldier. He shouted in desperation.

“We have to escape!”

The Kinensis increased endlessly, surrounding the area. The battle situation continued to worsen.

Se-min’s anxious eyes turned to Kim Gyu-jin.

He was clashing with Ri Gil-han.

“Kim Gyu-jin! You harmed our Supreme Leader, did you not expect it to end like this!”

“Was there a coup in the meantime?”

“Yes, you son of a bitch!”

Ri Gil-han swung his sword, and Kim Gyu-jin blocked it with his bare hands.

“More foolish than I thought…?”

Ri Gil-han, who was shouting, froze.

Kim Gyu-jin’s clothing fluttered. Something strange was emitted from his one eye. An unprecedented power surged out.

The scenery reflected in his white pupil lost its color.

Literally, the direction his eyes faced turned completely white. His eye was not just a sensory organ that received stimuli, but a magic pathway that exerted influence on the world.

He stared at all of them, and everything he stared at lost vitality and faded away.

Ri Gil-han in front of him, the soldiers of both sides tangled around him, and the Kinensis baring its teeth and raging above them.

Were decolorized all at once.

It was an astounding power.

“You son of a bitch!”

Ri Gil-han struggled desperately within his influence. His color returned, if only slightly. Ri Gil-han kicked Kim Gyu-jin.

Kim Gyu-jin withstood the kick and roared.

“I am Kim Gyu-jin!”

Kim Gyu-jin, who had cast aside his composure, was like a tiger. He roared and swung both arms. He punched the enemy and tore apart everything caught in his grip.

Although Kim Gyu-jin was displaying terrifying martial prowess, the overall situation was the worst. Already, more than half had been killed by the Kinensis and the North Korean soldiers.

Se-min realized that Kim Gyu-jin could never be a path of survival.

He was running amok.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae!”

Se-min’s voice became urgent.

It was different from the past. There was no savior anywhere. He had to fight by himself.

“I will open the way!”

Se-min squeezed out his aura.

“Follow me!”

Having struck down the obstructer, Se-min ran in the direction where the Kinensis’s encirclement was thin.

A few Kinensis rose like a tsunami and opened their maws toward him. Se-min swung his claymore with all his might. A few blows were exchanged, and two Kinensis lost their necks and fell to the ground.

The remaining Kinensis began to back away slowly, as if frightened by Se-min.

An opening was visible.

It was a hole through which he could escape from the place of death.

He had to run.

Se-min looked back.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae!”

And he froze.

Yoon Woo-jae was slumped on the ground, bleeding. A North Korean soldier raised his sword toward him, and the enemy’s comrades were also approaching one after another.

The path of survival was right on the verge of closing.

The scales of life and death began to tilt toward death.

The thought that he should turn back and run flashed through his mind.

However.

‘You are not a coward.’

The Tai Chi Accord throbbed.

Se-min leaped toward Yoon Woo-jae.

The claymore sprayed the fresh blood of the enemies. He gouged the abdomen, scattered the intestines, and split the spine. Carving out the flesh that got caught, Se-min helped Yoon Woo-jae up.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae!”

He shouted at the top of his lungs. His voice cracked.

“You can do it! Run!”

“Se-min!”

“We must run!”

Se-min supported Yoon Woo-jae. His warmth was transferred, bringing life back to Yoon Woo-jae’s body.

Yoon Woo-jae gritted his teeth and began to move his feet.

“Can you run?”

“I don’t know, fuck!”

The enemies tried to pursue Se-min, but at that moment, their lead exploded.

It was Kim Gyu-jin.

He tore through the front line, turning it into carnage. It was a terrifying destructive power. Wherever his evil eye met, death descended.

Ri Gil-han, who had not yet fallen, was struggling to stop Kim Gyu-jin, clashing with him continuously.

The battlefield became chaotic. The enemies’ pursuit grew loose. Se-min cut down another person and turned toward the outside of the encirclement.

It was then.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

A flash of light gleamed.

Se-min’s vision inverted.

The sky collapsed and the earth opened. In his spinning vision, the sight of a sword stabbing into Kim Gyu-jin’s body passed briefly.

“I saw your skills well, comrade. I thought there was only Kim Gyu-jin, but you’re quite something.”

Se-min’s vision went black, then returned. Blood was smeared, making his view red. A buzzing tinnitus erased the noises.

While staggering up using his sword as support, the engraving of Geoseong Metal Industries suddenly flickered in his vision. Se-min coughed and laughed.

“You didn’t die?”

Se-min, instead of answering, exploded his aura. Simultaneously as his inside was shaken, he leaped explosively.

Feeling his aura flow backward, Se-min pierced the North Korean soldier’s heart.

The man collapsed with an expression of disbelief.

Se-min’s body also went limp. He could not move. His fingertips trembled.

His breathing was rough.

He did not want to die.

Before the brink of death, past memories leaked out at will. The three years spent in darkness, the miraculous encounter, and the face of Iana smiling at him were blurry.

He was not a coward.

But he was not a hero either.

Had he perhaps seen a hallucination? Were his past memories real? Was this moment right now a dream?

The sensation of the Tai Chi Accord throbbing in his body awakened his sense of reality.

He raised his eyes.

Yoon Woo-jae was there.

Se-min spoke.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae.”

“Are you okay?”

“I can’t get up. Please help me.”

Se-min squeezed out his strength. Yoon Woo-jae supported him. Se-min leaned his head on Yoon Woo-jae’s shoulder. Se-min could hardly walk.

“First, let’s get out of here… and return…”

Se-min, who was muttering, realized that Yoon Woo-jae was standing still.

Se-min looked at him.

Right in front of him was Yoon Woo-jae’s face.

It was an unfamiliar expressionless face.

Se-min reflexively grabbed Yoon Woo-jae’s clothes.

“Corporal Yoon Woo-jae…?”

He looked back. Then he looked at Se-min again. His lips distorted.

Yoon Woo-jae pushed Se-min away.

“Corporal.”

Se-min clung to his clothes. Then, Yoon Woo-jae gritted his teeth and kicked Se-min.

Se-min, whose inside was shaken, fell away all too easily.

He rolled on the ground.

Se-min coughed and raised his eyes.

The sky was deep blue.

The sound of Yoon Woo-jae’s running steps gradually faded away. Se-min thought that he was too tired.

“Fleeing alone, South Korean bastards have no loyalty.”

Combat boots approached.

A chilling blade-light appeared, cutting through the waist of cumulus clouds.

Se-min closed his eyes.

He wanted to rest.