When I stared at the radio with wide eyes,
Han Iseo smiled lightly and said,
“That radio broadcast basically airs every day... but new content gets added on a weekly cycle. Today is the day new content gets added.”
I definitely
had told her I wanted to listen to that radio.
“In fact, we gather once a week and listen to that radio ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) together.”
And after I’d said that—
today happened to be the very first day
new content would be added.
“The truth is, I figured you might still be awkward with everyone... so I was going to prepare a separate radio so you could listen in private. It’s a precious, important item, but I already got Jaeho’s permission...”
Her gaze
turned toward the people inside.
“Seeing this now, there’s no need.”
“...Haha.”
Just like she said—
when she and I stepped into the room,
the people who, until a short while ago, had been glaring at me sharply—
their looks not only softened,
“Oh...! Youngjun, you came too.”
“Boss, sit here.”
they even stepped up proactively,
trying to accept me.
“Let’s go, then.”
“Yeah.”
Like that,
with the group’s welcome,
I sat at the center of the seats.
Moments later—
ZZZT...
From the radio,
just as a bit of static crackled—
—...We are... the Legion.
that voice spread out, and—
“It’s starting!”
At that voice,
every gaze in the crowd locked in.
****
What we heard after that
was the Legion’s usual strategies against monsters.
—The newly added... tactics for the monster are...
The Legion’s policy every week
was to disseminate newly obtained info over the radio.
To me, it was information I was already somewhat used to.
As for the sensation I felt—
‘Is that Byungmin’s voice?’
I simply
found it mildly neat to hear a voice I knew, but—
perhaps it hit differently for the people here.
The instant new info began to flow—
“Record fast!”
“The characteristics of this monster... I’ve seen them! Those are the creatures blocking the entrance to the villa complex over there.”
A few people stepped up eagerly
and began writing the info down quickly.
—Recently... our Legion...
And next—
they shared information the Legion had obtained beyond monster strategies.
—We succeeded in peeking beyond the ‘Wall.’
“...!”
At that voice,
shock spread among the people.
—We belong to the Gangwon region, so there weren’t many areas we could observe, but we succeeded in observing parts of the beyond-Wall zones in Chungcheong and Gyeonggi.
The gathered people couldn’t hide their excitement and began to buzz.
“T-They succeeded in observing Gyeonggi?”
“That’s us.”
“That Legion... they managed to look at where we are...!”
“T-Then that means—”
Hopeful eyes turned to the radio,
and soon—
—Among them, we witnessed the abnormal climate phenomenon occurring in Gyeonggi.
contents began to flow that answered those hopes.
“The Legion...”
“They grasped the abnormal phenomenon in our region...!”
Despite the people’s shock,
the radio just carried on steadily.
—Also, in our estimation, the wall of heat blocking movement between regions—
—we expect it to function as a kind of ‘Beginner’s Protection Zone.’
—By our conjecture, the moment even one of the region-by-region territory wars is concluded, the Wall will be released.
—Accordingly, the Legion is continuing conquest operations as fast as possible, and we expect to conclude these activities within three months at the latest.
At those words—
people who had seemed to have no hope left,
just dangling limp, as if waiting for the day to die—
in their eyes—
“Three months...!?”
“So we just need to hold out for three months...!”
a small
light of hope took its place.
—So. Survive.
—Then, someday—
—we, the Legion... will come find you.
With the Legion’s usual closing words,
the radio cut out.
“...Waaaa!”
Among the gathered people,
a near-mad excitement spread.
“Those soldiers figured out our abnormal phenomenon!”
“They’re coming in three months... so we just need to last three more months.”
“Damn it... life’s been crap, but if I just hold on a little longer...”
Watching that scene,
I could only be surprised at their excited reactions, but—
“...To think they succeeded in looking beyond the Wall—what means would you even have to make something like that possible... Truly, they’re an astounding force.”
While I was watching, amazed,
the one watching with me,
Han Iseo, said,
“Don’t you think so?”
“Uh? Y-Yeah.”
Her eyes as she said that
were gleaming in a curious way.
“You asked earlier: with everyone exhausted and struggling... with their mental state anything but stable, how can our group function properly?”
“...Yeah. I did.”
“That is the answer.”
Han Iseo
put great weight on the next word.
“Hope!”
“...”
Whether it could truly reach other regions,
whether it might become meaningless—
it was something we did unsure, half-and-half.
From our point of view, it had been about that level of a task.
But to them,
“Hope...”
It had become
the hope to keep living on.
“When those blizzards started outside, and when the Chair and the Association’s elites headed out to solve the cause of the blizzards and all vanished—when everyone despaired and it seemed like humanity would be wiped out as-is... that radio reached us.”
“...”
“Up to then, we thought all non-Awakened humans could only freeze to death in winter... but when we did as that radio taught us, everyone Awakened and could gain strength. The reason we survived in an environment like this... is because that radio taught us the strategies against the monsters.”
She
spoke, clenching her fist tight.
“Everyone thought civilization had collapsed and even government had lost meaning—can you believe it? Somewhere out there, there’s a military force that somehow restored forcibly broken communication lines, figured out strategies against the monsters, shares those strategies with others... and even has the power to peek beyond that black Wall!”
When I looked at the people around us—
even though their grueling lives had painted heavy dark circles on everyone’s faces—
“And that army told us they would come find us someday.”
“...”
At the news delivered by that radio,
they were forgetting the grind of their days and chattering with joy.
“When we’d given up everything, when we thought all that was left was to die as-is... that’s when hope came down.”
“...Hope, huh.”
“That’s why we were able to hold on. The hope that radio threw us... we clung to that, and somehow the group managed to keep moving.”
At those words,
I drifted off into thought, blankly.
‘I had checked that the radio spread well...’
But the impact—
I hadn’t imagined
it would be to this degree.
“...Can you really trust that radio so completely?”
“Mm... It’s not like there’s no anxiety.”
At my words,
she shrugged and answered,
“For all we know, even that radio could be something monsters send to lure in prey, or that military could be a place that lures people and does evil.”
“Well... I doubt they’d be that rotten.”
“Haha. You’re pretty positive, aren’t you, Youngjun? But if you watch movies, that’s quite a common cliché—stories about a corrupted military... Thinking about that, even if the day comes when we meet that unit, we’ll have to keep plenty of caution. But...”
After the broadcast ended,
with everyone gone,
she collected the radio and said,
“I think we should at least be grateful for the part where they gave us hope.”
“...”
“This radio... the reason I told you that you should listen to it at least once was exactly this. We’ve lost so much; we despaired... but we’re surviving day by day by clinging to the hope this radio gave us.”
Her gaze
speared into me.
“You were... looking for people.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t think I can tell you that they’re all alive and well.”
I knew that, too.
It was an era where that many had fallen.
However—
“We gained hope through that radio.”
Those who had lost so much
had barely managed to regain hope.
I could guess what she was trying to say.
“You want me... not to let go of hope either. That it?”
“Yes.”
I mulled over her words,
then nodded and said,
“I’ll make sure of it. Thank you.”
The radio transmissions we attempted at Minjae’s request—
we had no certainty whether it would work or not.
It was something we did simply because we believed we had to.
But—
it had, unmistakably...
“been worth it.”
Because of that,
people who had given up everything and were about to collapse
were able to grab hold of hope and endure.
I clenched my fist tight.
When we first started that radio broadcast—
in a time when it was hard enough for just the Legion to survive—doing something for all humanity?
We were told it was no different than being a total sucker.
“Even so.”
We
carried out that sucker’s errand.
Because to survive in this world,
we believed we had to help all humans, not just our own.
“What we’ve done up to now... wasn’t wrong.”
After moving into Gyeonggi,
there were plenty of hard things, and I had my fill of annoying crap, but—
“What I’m doing right now won’t be wrong, either.”
In the end,
what you do for everyone,
after going round and round,
becomes
what you did for yourself.
That—
I could be sure of.
“That’s all I had to say. I hope it got through to you, too.”
“It got through perfectly fine, so I don’t think you need to worry.”
“Haha...”
After the radio transmission ended,
she was about to return to her original duties.
“Tomorrow the squad leaders are scheduled to hold a meeting. Your joining could bring big changes to our group... so we’re going to properly discuss how to make use of this opportunity.”
“Understood. I’ll attend and offer what advice I can.”
“Thank you. Then around noon tomorrow, in the same conference room as last time...”
“Ah, before that.”
I stopped her as she was about to leave.
“Didn’t you say you were going to set aside a personal radio for me?”
“...Huh? Ah. I did say that. I figured it wouldn’t be necessary and let it go...”
“Even so. If it’s all the same, I’d like to have that radio.”
“That—well, I already have Jaeho’s permission, so it’s not hard... but you’ve already listened, haven’t you? If there’s information you need, we can give it to you. Why insist?”
“Mm. I just... thought I’d like to keep listening to it over and over.”
At first, she seemed like she didn’t get it,
but after a brief moment of thought, she said,
“Fair. It’s meaningful enough content... I can understand wanting to hear it again even if you already know it.”
“Thanks for understanding.”
“Then just take this one. We can replace the communal radio with another. Let’s make this your personal radio...”
Like that,
I was able to obtain the radio everyone had been gathered to hear.
A short while later,
after Han Iseo returned to her group duties,
left alone in the room I’d been assigned,
I carefully turned the radio on.
—Good day... ZZZT...
New content gets added once a week,
but since it basically keeps broadcasting on repeat constantly,
I could listen at leisure in my room.
—We are... the Legi... BEEP—
Maybe the audio quality just wasn’t great—
the radio was full of crackles and beeps.
And then—
I took out the notebook they’d issued me,
“One ZZZT... two BEEPs...”
and started recording every bit of static and beep,
and all the other noise.
“Confirmed settlement of vampires near the Wall... received details on the Legion Commander’s [Penalty] as well.”
After a moment,
I muttered under my breath as I looked over the notebook.
“As soon as production finishes for gear that can counter the heat, they’ll deliver it... If there’s any area where support is needed, request as much as we want...”
Heh—
a laugh slipped out.
“Looks like everyone’s doing fine.”
By the look of it,
they were doing fine over there, too.
