He had been just about to fall into a deep sleep.
Right at that moment.
Jo Jun’s mind started spinning at high speed.
“The Legion. The Legion, huh.”
The Legion’s Radio.
And the appearance of the person named Shin Youngjun.
At a glance, they felt like completely separate, unrelated incidents.
But if he really.
If he really forced himself to look for a connection—
‘Come to think of it, Youngjun said the unit he served in was the 423rd Battalion. That unit is in Gangwon Province.’
If he said there was absolutely no point of connection at all—
That wasn’t quite true either.
‘No, no, this is forcing it way too much. If I start counting that, most Republic of Korea Army units are concentrated in Gangwon anyway, so what.’
Even as he told himself it was a ridiculous line of thought and tried to go to sleep.
Once he started sinking into the thought—
‘Youngjun... he said he’d been beyond the Demon Realm all this time since Doomsday...’
He had no desire to think any deeper than that, but—
‘If I apply that logic, isn’t Gangwon Province also beyond the Demon Realm?’
His brain, suddenly awakened.
Regardless of his will, kept digging into that thought.
‘Youngjun. He said he hadn’t come into contact with any humans in Gyeonggi until now, and then he suddenly appeared. The date he said he first ran into the Northern Branch was definitely...’
‘Right, I’m sure of it. The very same week the Legion’s Radio reported that it had succeeded in observing Gyeonggi’s abnormal weather! That week.’
And the more he dug into the thought.
That connection, which had seemed like nothing at all—
‘Isn’t that timing a little too coincidental...?’
—started to take on more and more concrete shape.
‘No, no, no, no! It has to be coincidence. Coincidence.’
‘Yeah, it’s coincidence, but...’
‘If—if by some one-in-ten-thousand chance it isn’t coincidence, then...’
He had no idea what means they had used, but.
That Legion had gone beyond that black Wall of heat.
And succeeded in grasping the situation in Gyeonggi Province.
‘And if they succeeded in observing it—’
CLICK!
‘They could also send someone here...!’
Jo Jun, who had been about to fall asleep in his exhausted body.
Hurriedly jerked himself up out of his sleeping bag.
The connections had been so tiny.
And had seemed like nothing at all.
But as he linked those points together one by one.
They led to a single possibility.
And as his thoughts followed that possibility even further—
“Right, that voice...!”
Something he had forgotten for so long.
Something that refused to come to mind no matter how he tried to recall it—
“The Legion’s first-week Radio broadcast...!”
Finally surfaced.
*****
After this world went through Doomsday.
The first radio broadcast transmitted from a military unit.
-Can you hear that, Jun?
-Yes, General.
-A unit... there’s a surviving military unit.
That radio might have been a voice of salvation for other people as well.
But for Jo Jun and Jo Beomseok, who had belonged to the military, it held an even greater meaning.
Most of the broadcasts that came after were the same, but.
Especially during that first week when the very first broadcast spread.
-When I heard that every unit had been wiped out. All I felt toward you was guilt.
-There was no need for you to feel guilty, General.
-But now it’s different.
His grandfather and he.
Kept listening to that radio.
-There’s still somewhere left for us to go...!
Over and over.
Endlessly repeating it.
-Let’s go there.
-Yes, sir.
-We’ll go there, and be with that voice. Even if you’re a bit lacking right now... I’ll find some way to fill in those lacking parts.
The fact that there was a military unit still alive.
That fact came to them with enormous weight.
-There, you’ll be able to become a general.
-...
-I’ll make sure of it. I’ll make you into a real general, not a fake one like me...
That was why.
That voice.
Had stayed in his mind more sharply.
Than any voice that came after.
“I can’t believe I forgot this...!”
Its true identity.
Was only now surfacing.
*****
The next morning.
Jo Jun, who had been a soldier right up until before Doomsday, tended to wake up a little earlier than others.
And.
As soon as he rose from his spot, he rushed out of the quarters.
“Oh, Captain Jo?”
“What brings you out this early in the morning, Captain Jo... you’re not {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} even on night watch duty.”
When the sentries on night watch spotted him like that.
Jo Jun strode up to them and asked.
“Youngjun...!”
“Yes?”
“Do you know where Shin Youngjun is right now?”
At those words.
The guards tilted their heads.
“Shin Youngjun? Who’s that?”
“Hey, it’s that guy, the insanely strong one whose face looks even scarier than that.”
“Ah, right. His name was Shin Youngjun?”
Then.
One of the sentries answered Jo Jun’s question.
“If you mean that guy, I saw him a little while ago.”
“You saw Youngjun?”
“Yes, sir.”
Jo Jun was greatly startled.
But the two guards spoke in a light tone.
“That guy gets up really early.”
“Seriously. Even you, Captain Jo, wake up pretty early because you’re former military, but I think he got up a full two hours before that.”
“It must’ve been around four in the morning... at that point, even in the army, isn’t that only the time the mess hall soldiers wake up?”
Jo Jun had no interest in their chatter.
“Where did he go!?”
“Huh? Uh, let’s see...”
“I remember now. He seemed interested in the turrets mounted up on the Wall up there, so he was heading that way.”
“Thank you!”
He expressed his thanks and dashed off.
Right then.
“...Where are you rushing off to in such a hurry, Captain Jo?”
“General Jo!”
A man whose wake-up time was as early as his.
Jo Beomseok saw him and called out.
“ Tsk, tsk... honestly. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’ve told you not to run around in such a rush. I don’t know who you take after, but you really don’t listen.”
Jo Beomseok frowned at his grandson.
“I’ve told you so many times that the more urgent things are, the calmer you need to be. Are my words just going in one ear and out the other, hmm?”
“I—I’m sorry.”
“No matter how busy or urgent things are, if you get overly worked up, you can’t see what’s around you and that’s when accidents happen. I’ve told you over and over...”
He fixed his grandson with a steady gaze.
“It’s exactly at times like that when things are most dangerous. That’s when you need to act with the greatest caution, and I kept telling you that—”
“More than that, General!”
“Hm?”
Just as General Jo’s nagging was about to drag on.
Jo Jun grabbed his grandfather’s wrist.
“W-what is it. Why are you suddenly like this?”
“Please come with me!”
“Uh, wh-what?”
With his grandfather’s hand in his grip.
He ran toward the stairs leading up to the top of the Wall.
“W-what in the world is going on, you brat!”
“You’ll understand when you come with me!”
His eyes.
Were filled with joy.
“If my guess is right, General Jo... Grandpa will have news that will make you incredibly happy too!”
“Ah, seriously, you brat! I don’t know what’s got you so worked up, but fine, just let go of my hand first. Hm!?”
Like that.
Heading up toward the top of the Wall where Shin Youngjun was supposed to be.
Together with his grandfather.
Jo Jun thought.
‘Shin Youngjun might be someone dispatched from the Legion.’
The fact that he was originally a soldier from Gangwon Province.
The fact that the first place he was discovered was the Northern Branch.
Near where the Legion would be.
The timing that oddly meshed with the contents of the radio the Legion had sent.
The fact that he hadn’t contacted anyone in Gyeonggi Province, and yet was still an overwhelming powerhouse.
If he said that man was the Legion’s top elite operative dispatched to Gyeonggi.
Everything made sense at once.
The Legion that had sent radio broadcasts to help humanity.
Shin Youngjun, who was greatly helping humanity in Gyeonggi Province.
‘To save the humans of Gyeonggi Province, who are in crisis... a savior the Legion has dispatched!’
Given the circumstances, it was a guess with extremely high probability...
But there wasn’t no problem at all.
‘It’s still not certain.’
There were too many missing pieces for him to have conviction.
It was still just speculation.
And in Jo Jun’s speculation, there were also parts that didn’t quite fit logically.
‘If this were the Southern Branch... we could have just played back the recorded Radio and checked right away.’
He wanted an answer to his hypothesis.
But unfortunately.
That recording was something they had left far behind at the Southern Branch.
In that case...
There was only one way left to get an answer.
‘Get confirmation directly from the person himself!’
The surest.
Method of all.
For that method, Jo Jun kept running.
“Y-you brat... slow down a little...”
“I’m sorry! Please come up as fast as you can!”
“Has that brat forgotten how old his grandfather is...!”
They said age didn’t really matter for Awakeners, but.
Since the stats related to physical ability were a bit better for Jo Jun.
Compared to Jo Jun, who kept sprinting ahead.
Jo Beomseok couldn’t help but fall a little behind.
He cast a brief glance down the stairs at his grandfather, following from below.
Then kept racing up toward the top of the Wall.
And.
When they had almost finished climbing the stairs—
“...Youngjun!”
“Oh, Captain Jo?”
“So you were here!”
He.
Was able to find the one he was looking for.
“Captain Jo, what brings you here at this hour... wait, what. Is that General Jo coming up behind you?”
“Youngjun!”
“Uh, yes.”
Up on top of the Wall.
A little distance away.
It looked like Shin Youngjun had been in conversation with someone.
Kim Jinkyung, the other leader of the Southern Branch.
He had probably been talking with her about the turrets installed on top of the Wall.
“Yesterday, I still wasn’t sure, but... I finally remembered!”
“Excuse me?”
Regardless of that.
Jo Jun, walking toward the distant Shin Youngjun.
Spoke, step by step.
“What the secret is that you’ve been trying to hide!”
Shin Youngjun.
Looked at him with a face that basically said, ‘What kind of nonsense is this guy spouting?’
But.
“Why... why your voice sounded familiar, Youngjun!”
“...Excuse me?”
The moment he heard that.
His demeanor seemed to change a little.
Once he got a bit closer.
He could see Shin Youngjun’s face more clearly.
Maybe it was because of the cold weather.
Or because they were standing at a high place.
“...Seriously?”
He seemed to be feeling some kind of strange fear.
His whole body was trembling.
“But there was still one thing that didn’t make sense if my speculation was true.”
Unfortunately.
In his excitement, Jo Jun didn’t see any of that.
“Why you’ve been hiding it all this time!”
Right.
If he said Shin Youngjun’s real identity was an operative sent from the Legion, that answered all his questions.
But if that were the case, a new question appeared.
“If you had revealed that, everyone else... especially our group, would have welcomed you with open arms!”
Why.
Had he not revealed that truth from the start?
“No, beyond that... our Southern Branch might even have tried to come under your command. But you hid it. Why?”
“Jun...? What in the world are you talking about...”
From behind him, his grandfather.
Jo Beomseok’s puzzled voice reached his ears.
But he had no room to answer that right now.
“Please answer me, Youngjun!”
Climbing the last of the stairs.
And stepping up onto the top of the Wall where the snowstorm was visible.
Jo Jun kept shouting.
“If my guess is right, it’s basically thanks to you people that we survived. We’ve always wanted to join up with you!”
“Uh, Captain Jo? Please calm down first...”
“Whatever you were afraid of that made you hide it all this time, if you’re the person I think you are, there’s no need to be afraid at all!”
Like that.
As the distance between him and Shin Youngjun steadily shrank—
...
...
FWOOOOOOOOSH...
From far away.
There was a single sound.
Of unknown origin.
“If I’m right, our Southern Branch... no, the entire Association will welcome you!”
“...You’ve got to be kidding me. Captain Jo!”
Jo Jun.
Had no attention to spare for that sound either.
“We’ll swear loyalty to you, and follow your orders!”
“Goddammit, Jo Jun, you idiot!”
When there were less than ten steps left to reach where Shin Youngjun was.
“Yes! Youngjun! Please answer me! The secret you’ve been trying to hide is...!”
“I don’t care about any of that, just...!”
Shin Youngjun.
Hurled his body toward him and shouted.
“Get down!”
“You’re the Leg—”
KRAAAK...!
Captain Jo Jun’s body.
Was flung toward the wide sky spread out over the top of the Wall.
‘Huh?’
He lifted his head, thinking to look up at the sky.
And saw wide ground.
And.
The last thing he saw.
“...Jun?”
Was the face of his proud grandfather.
Looking up at him from that ground below.
On the verge of tears.
