"Digoxin!"
Sun Woo-hyun prepared 0.25mg ampoule. Jeong Pil-su waved his hand.
"Wakil, the patient's condition appears to be an electrical abnormality. When digoxin is prescribed, ventricular pressure drops. I have morphine."
"Are you a quack?"
Black Mamba looked at Jeong Pil-su with his wide eyes.
"I was a military doctor."
"Thank God!"
He had no knowledge about drug antagonism. He almost made a mistake in his haste. Jeong Pil-su cut the ampoule with his experienced skill and inserted a syringe into the vein.
The heart would need to have stability so that it could rule the bet with resonant waves. The minutes waiting for the drug to show its effect was as long as a day. A pale face, colorful three-tier side dishes, white rice, and hearts embroidered with black beans overlapped. It was Hae Young's mark manna, which melted the heart that had been united with anger and hatred like a stone.
There would be many people with whom one could share joy but only a few people with whom one could share difficulties. Hae Young was the woman who gave her heart when he was lonely and in pain. How could one be a man if he couldn't protect the woman he loves?!
Her eyelids trembled. The patient opened her eyes and tried to focus.
"After some rest, you'll get better. I'm here."
He brushed her eyelids with his palm. Hae Young fell asleep like a lie. Jeong Pil-su quietly grabbed her pulse and put his ear to her heart.
"Wakil, the dangerous hurdle has been crossed."
"It is said that small talent is capable of gaining big profits! So even slugs had a knack for rolling."
Black Mamba smiled faintly.
"Fucking bastard! Even if you talk..."
Jeong Pil-su's face got rotten. He didn't expect compliments, but what? A quack? He remembered the bitter memories of having his license revoked.
"Sshidenga, ogamta hamdung. And they said I am a cockroach."
Sun Woo-hyun looked at Jeong Pil-su with envious eyes. He did not remember hearing Wakil's praise.
"Thank you. For being alive!"
A sigh of relief came out of his mouth. How long did she call herself in pain? His heart was breaking. He didn't know that the pitiful eyes would leave Hae Young's sleeping face.
Jeong Pil-su looked at Sun Woo-hyun. He looked like he was going to die from wondering. Sun Woo-hyun shook his head. His head was about to explode because he, himself, also wanted to know the identity of the Korean woman who came out like a daytime goblin.
Olonge, who was in charge of cooking, picked his mind rationally. When the god's woman woke up, it would be food for eating. Sun Woo-hyun, who was holding his breath at the rustling sound, rolled his eyes. Olonge's neck turned. The Korean and Pygmies couldn't breathe much because the woman was awake.
******
Around noon the next day, Hae Young woke up.
"Where am I?"
A strong earthy smell rushed into her nostrils. It was not a stale, fishy smell that bothered her sense of smell. Her body was as heavy as cotton soaked in water, but her hair, which was hazy as if she just wandered through the fog, was as fresh as the autumn sky. A reddish sodium lamp came into her sight.
It was not the camp's detention house. The endless torture, the demonic commander, Mu Ssang appearing like a lie and flying in the sky, gluttony and screams, the steel barrel shaking like crazy, and the thick, nostalgic smell of sweat, invaded her memories.
"It wasn't a dream!'
Tears poured from her eyes. She had gotten out of hell. At the most desperate time, the male servant had appeared like a lie. He became a thousand-year giant rock that would not shake even if a typhoon blew and a tidal wave hit it, and he appeared just like that.
"You were pretending like you were smart, but what is this?"
Black Mamba, leaning against the dirt wall while closing his eyes, grunted. He had a mean tone like an older brother scolding his sister who went to play in the neighborhood and returned home late at night.
"Ssang!"
Hae Young groped her lover's face as if she was sponging something off. She wanted to engrave him in her soul. The round face angle sharpened and the eyes that were sharp like a blade deepened like a lake. His face, as white as snow, was charred and messy.
A horizontal scar had been added to the scar on the left cheek that had been scratched by a leopard's claws. It was evidence of a hard life. She remembered Paul, the mercenary officer she had met in Djibouti. Mercenary Mu Ssang! The hard world had dragged Mu Ssang into a cruel world by all means. Her heart ached as if it were burning on the arduous journey that her beloved lover had walked.
"Oh, if others hear they might think that you are swearing."
Black Mamba did not open his mouth about the past. Hae Young was a woman who had a predisposition and strong self-esteem. She couldn't even leave her place for she feared that she might commit suicide.
"I'm sorry... so sorry!" Sob!
Hae Young was choking as she cried. She had met her beloved lover like a miracle, but what was this situation?
"We met at the elderly song on the 8th of April. You gave me deep affection in the uninhabited underground! I hope we can be a couple in the sky and be a yeonliji on the ground. Even though the eternal heaven and earth may end, loneliness will continue endlessly and will not end."
A bitter cry resounded in her ears. How painful was the breaking heart! Even after 10 years, it was like yesterday. But she was so sad that she couldn't hold him in her arms.
Sob, sob! "I'm sorry!"
Tears that she thought had dried up, burst out.
"Cry Goma. It's gonna be a flood. Spare your words and don't think about anything. You have to pull yourself out of your body band to be the best."
Black Mamba wiped away her tears with his rough hands. He was an old warrior who had gone through a hundred wars. He had learned as much as he could and had tasted the bitter and spicy tastes of life. He knew Hae Young's feelings, but it was neither a place nor a time to consume her emotions.
A sign that the Yankee search team was wandering through the jungle like a starving hyena was caught. They had no trace, but they had predators who were more sensitive than hounds. Before the Beat was revealed, they had to bounce.
"Shall we see?"
A spear was attached to the chest. Hae Young flinched. It felt like he was putting on a bulldozer. Mental pain was a hundred times greater than physical pain.
The corners of Black Mamba's lips curled up. She was feeling a lot better than yesterday. The resonance wave was loosened like a thread to relieve the congestion and penetrate the blocked blood vessels. Hae Young's face relaxed.
"My hands are healing hands, aren't they?"
"Really! Where's this place?"
"Beat, I'll say it simply. It's underground. Olonge!"
"Hey!"
Olonge, who was quick to notice, picked up fruit and C-ration.
"Thank you!"
"Heh, heh, heh!"
Olonge smiled with all his black teeth exposed. His flat face was covered with tiny wrinkles. She was a woman who smelled good. Meanwhile, Sun Woo-hyun cut the coconut and put it out.
"Drink the water first."
"Thank you."
"Don't thank me too much. I am Wakil's subordinate. Since this friend is a grunt, you can just call him a grunt. That short friend is Olonge from the Pygmy tribe."
Sun Woo-hyun shoved his nose to the ground. She was a woman who might be the real authority. There was nothing wrong with putting the relationship first.
"Thank you!"
Hae Young smiled brightly. Memories from 10 years ago flashed before her eyes. Idiots with funny nicknames such as Hyeolgal, Bigak, and Pok-jeo, who volunteered for the Guard of Sambul overlapped with Sun Woo-hyun's face.
Troubled Mu Ssang was called Sambul (Three No). When Mu Ssang was reading a book, he must not be disturbed. When Mu Ssang was talking, no one should speak. When Mu Ssang was thinking, no one shouldn't walk in front of him. So, he was Sambul (Three No).
An agriculture practical work with cabbage butterflies fluttering, a stooped aged man, Mu Ssang's arm under the aged man, Mu Ssang melting like a still alive person, a precocious and extraordinary troubled student, and an immature trainee teacher met under the elderly song like fate.
Before or now, Mu Ssang was the same, but love had gone along with the fallen leaves. No. Love was still there, but in a body ruined by a foolish choice, how could the love stay?
She felt like her heart was shredding. Life didn't have the right answer, but one had to be responsible for own choices. She bit her lips. The only thing she could give to Mu Ssang was the hidden Oparts.
"Baby, Oparts is..."
Black Mamba pressed Hae Young's lips with his finger. Jeong Pil-su was not a family member. And he knew enough about Oparts. "Ugh, you said baby!'
Sun Woo-hyun flinched. She looked haggard, but she was more beautiful than Jin Soon. She was holding a group of flowers, but it was a flower again. It was fresh in his memory that Schuberze including Ombuti foamed at the mouth.
"Subordinate, check out Olonge and surroundings."
"Yes, Sir!"
Having noticed quickly, Jeong Pil-su followed Sun Woo-hyun.
"I know Oparts as well. We have to be strong first to get out."
Black Mamba made a serious mistake. The Oparts that Hae Young hid was the essence of Concretus science. The reason humans had no choice but to be humans was that they could only predict the future by tracing the past and did not know veritas (truth).
"Oh!"
Hae Young's heart fell. The power of the U.S. military stationed in the camp was enormous, even for an outsider Korean. She was sad for herself because she was not helping her lover and instead became a burden endlessly.
"You're the only man in my life. But I'm broken!" she said in her mind.
She had a lump in her throat. Hae Young ate crunchy steak and grilled salmon. It wasn't the time to get emotional. To relieve the burden of Mu Ssang, she had to cheer up. Hae Young could not beat her drowsiness and morphine aura and fell asleep again.
Black Mamba immediately stripped off her blouse. He sent subordinates out so that he could look at her body. Eight black bruises on her white breasts stabbed a knife in his eyes. It was a mark of being held with both hands.
"Damn it!" he said inwardly.
If the area where a man would feel atrocious pain was the testicles, it was breasts for a woman. The pain that Hae Young must have felt made his mind turn mad. He took off her pants. He was sad when he saw her red panties under the sodium light. Hae Young would not wear red panties. When he took off her panties, his heart shattered at the truth that was revealed. He'd rather deal with an armored brigade.
"Ha, that's right!"
Black Mamba growled like a wounded predator. The ominous premonition fit so well that it became trouble. She had got bruises and swelling as if local areas were parasitized by Bancroft worm. He carefully traced the inside of the local area with his fingers.
Red blood came out of it. It was not cold blood but fresh blood that came out of a ruptured blood vessel. It was not just rape, but it was evident that hard objects had been used. The corners of Black Mamba's eyebrows turned upward.
"Ahh, how dare they!"
Something snapped in his mind. He could heal physical wounds, but emotional wounds caused by rape were traumatized until death. Even in Novatopia, rapists were the toughest shelterbelt management.
Assyrian-style execution with being staked alive from the anus, Caligula-style execution with being cut through a thousand times with a sharp knife, Nero-style execution with using tarring as a substitute for human torches, Tuareg-style execution with burying alive and leaving the faith to the wild animals and the likes quickly passed by.
"The nightmare is over. Just think you had a bad dream while this male servant was not with you. From now on, the nightmare belongs to them."
Enraged with anger, Black Mamba couldn't see the tears rolling down from the corners of Hae Young's eyes.
******
On the 3rd day of Beat hiding, Hae Young's condition improved rapidly. Quack Jeong Pil-su had done his part. The resonant wave had tightened the bet and energized the cells. More than anything, Hae Young's wish, which was to not be a burden, became strong.
"Wakil, the frequency of patrols appearing has increased significantly."
"I know. Get ready."
A predator's electronic nose would surpass that of a dog's. It could identify the type with only a few molecules drifting in the air. Thanks to the resonant wave that blew and mixed the surrounding air, it had not yet been able to determine the location, but detection was only a matter of time.
"Call the Gazelle. Female comrades are still weak."
"No. If we want to open satellite communication, we have to be prepared for heavy rain from multiple rockets. How about the nearby Areva Mine?"
"That's the same. It is said that they are American babies and they have a tendency to go when their pride is hurt. They're the ones who will blow the whole Areva."
"Well!"
As Sun Woo-hyun said, the venomous cobra did not discriminate against its opponents. When the camp's power hit, the 11th Airborne Brigade Unit defending Areva would become a mud wall swept away by flooding.
According to his nature, he wanted to summon Garuda and erase the camp, but he was neither Hitler nor Hideki Tojo. Thousands of innocent indigenous people had been unintentionally killed in Bachikile. Beam cannons and plasma particle cannons were no different from nuclear weapons. If they called Garuda, they would have nothing to say even if the US dropped a nuclear bomb.
If Hae Young could board Garuda, it was simple, but unfortunately, only he could board inside Garuda. It was a situation where he had to shake his arm for this and that.
"We're going to Mavivi. There is a hospital belonging to the Ministry of Internal Affairs at the Bukavu Resources Development Center. We will be evacuated to the Gazelle from the Mavivi base."
"Yes, Sir."
Black Mamba took off his body armor and put it on Hae Young. Hae Young couldn't withstand the pressure waves when she was carried in a steel basket and faced the wave on the camp side.
"Subordinate, put it on your back!"
"Don't worry. I will gladly do my best for the beautiful comrade."
"I'm sorry."
When Hae Young blushed, Sun Woo-hyun waved his hand.
"Don't say like that. Even if it is uncomfortable, you can't take off the helmet."
Sun Woo-hyun pulled the Beretta slide, showed off the trigger, and placed it in Hae Young's hand.
"It is probably not necessary to use this but.. use it for self-defense."
Hae Young pushed Beretta into her chest. The cold metal texture was eerie.
"Don't even use the headset. The signal replaces the forest water rail sound. Let's go!"
Sun Woo-hyun looked at the steel basket as if it was a pity. As he was about to go through the jungle carrying a weak woman, he sighed ahead. Olonge took the lead and Black Mamba stood in the aft. The four shadows that escaped from the ground were sucked into the darkness like oozing ink.
******
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel