“Let’s keep that just between us.”
After I’d created a situation where that thing could only tell the truth,
I’d thrown a lot of questions at it,
But there was one thing,
Just one,
That I’d deliberately chosen not to ask.
Back when...
It had been lying,
I’d asked whether there were any traitors besides itself.
‘And it answered that there were a lot of traitors.’
That was definitely a lie.
Which was exactly why Han Iseo had shouted that it had done nothing but lie.
But...
‘Even that answer would still count as a lie if there were “only a few” traitors.’
If there weren’t many, [N O V E L I G H T] then sure, saying there were “a lot” was a lie,
But that didn’t mean there were no traitors at all.
Which was why,
After I’d fed it the confession agent, I hadn’t asked anything about traitors.
“...Why?”
And then,
As if he was desperate to know the reason, Yunseong clenched his fists and spoke.
“Why didn’t you expose them?”
“...”
“All this time, I haven’t been able to tell anyone. I had to suffer so much trying to hide it somehow. But... you!”
He looked at me as he spoke.
“If it’s you, you could reveal it. So why, in the world, didn’t you?”
“...I have my reasons.”
I scratched my head as I answered.
“This operation. If the humans of Gyeonggi Province want to survive, this operation has to succeed no matter what. For that, the Expedition’s morale is more important than anything.”
“...I’ve been attending those meetings regularly. I know at least that much.”
“Then you understand, don’t you?”
I stared straight into his eyes and said,
“That if the truth about the traitor came out, morale would crash.”
*****
After that,
Yunseong threw a few questions at me with the kind of energy that looked like he might lunge at me any second,
And I answered those questions sincerely.
‘...All right. I understand, for now.’
After a long back-and-forth,
Yunseong seemed to accept my explanation, nodded, and headed off somewhere.
‘The traitor, huh...’
Just bringing that bastard up made my head start to hurt too.
Still, fortunately,
‘I’d already figured out who it was quite a while back, so I’ve got my own thoughts on it.’
Whether it would work or not, we’d only know when the time came,
But I had at least some kind of countermeasure prepared.
“More importantly right now...”
Pushing thoughts of the traitor aside,
I looked around inside the Wall.
—If the assault team appears as enemies, we’ll have to drastically change the operation itself.
—We need to prepare gear for anti-personnel combat...
People were either drafting operations or securing equipment,
Making battle preparations for the push that would come soon.
Watching them, I thought,
‘...Since that ambush failed, the chance of them trying another ambush is low.’
They’d obtained the assault team Awakeners’ bodies,
And on top of that, they were fully using those memories.
This ambush had used those memories to the fullest,
An ambush with a plan and force designed to
“Absolutely succeed.”
They’d probably expected to win with room to spare.
In reality,
There had been a situation where the Expedition could very easily have been wiped out just like that.
Of course...
‘It went down in a clean failure instead.’
After going through absolute hell,
Their ambush ended in failure.
An operation they’d thought had a 100%... no,
More like 200% chance of success had failed.
They would now have realized that this Expedition contained forces even stronger than the information the assault team had known.
‘They’re probably on high alert right now, right?’
And then,
I thought about what I would have done in the current situation if I were their commander.
‘The odds are high that there will be few obstacles between here and the enemy main base.’
Once you know the enemy coming toward you has some unknown, inexplicable force on their side,
You don’t want to send out extra troops and waste strength.
Rather...
‘They’re on the defensive.’
Defense is clearly more advantageous than offense.
In this situation, instead of sending out troops to harass the approaching enemy,
I would conserve even the troops meant for that,
And—
‘In a single battle, with maximum strength,’
Try to stop the enemy coming to attack.
According to the information I’d heard from that ghost,
The place it called its homeland wasn’t all that far from here.
We would be able to reach that place before long...
‘And that’s where all the enemy’s strength will be gathered.’
In that case...
Hmm.
After thinking for a moment,
I rose to my feet and muttered,
“I’ll have to come up with a way.”
A way to win
That one single battle where both sides would collide with full force.
*****
A little later,
The place I headed to in order to find that way was...
[Temporary Ward]
The temporary field hospital set up inside this Wall.
And inside it—
“Iseo.”
“Ah, Youngjun?”
Was the Association’s shaman,
Han Iseo.
“Youngjun... I thought this from the first time we met, but you turned out to be a far more amazing person than I imagined.”
“Huh? Where’s that coming from all of a sudden?”
The moment she saw my face, Han Iseo started saying things like that.
“Honestly, I was thinking that after seeing what you did in this battle too. But what surprised me even more was that interrogation.”
“What about it...?”
“To be honest? I was confused why someone like me, who doesn’t have a combat Job, was even included in this Expedition. But to think...!”
She spoke with eyes sparkling, as if she couldn’t hold back her amazement.
“That the enemy’s true nature would be something like that... and that I was called here to reveal it!”
“...”
“Since you called me, doesn’t that mean you’d already guessed the enemy’s true identity?”
“Well, yeah. I had.”
“How could someone who came down from the Inhuman Demon Realm so recently notice something no one in the Association had? I knew you were amazing, but this is beyond what I imagined.”
...Ahem.
Even so, hearing this kind of praise right to my face was...
I scratched my cheek in embarrassment, then noticed what was beside her and changed the subject.
“Anyway, what were you doing here?”
“Ah, that.”
Beside her was a simple cot,
And on it, a man lying down.
“Actually... I was trying to wake Shooting Unit Captain Jang Ji Han.”
The man whose body that monster had stolen.
Jang Ji Han.
“Wake him?”
“That monster said it too, didn’t it? That Jang Ji Han had only had his body stolen, and that his soul remained deep within the flesh.”
“Ah.”
“No matter what people say, he’s not someone who became an executive of our Guild for nothing. If he could just open his eyes, he’d be a major asset to the Expedition Force. So I wanted to try and wake him somehow.”
At those words,
I glanced around.
‘An offering table, huh.’
Behind her,
There was an offering table with dried-up fruit laid out on it.
“That’s...”
“It’s preparation for me to use my abilities, I suppose.”
“That offering table, you mean?”
“Yes. I basically offer a rite to the great spirits... and they grant wishes depending on the amount of offerings I present...”
As her words trailed off,
I could more or less guess the conclusion.
“Sounds like it didn’t go well.”
“Unfortunately, that’s what happened.”
Han Iseo shrugged, letting out a sigh.
I glanced at the face of the sleeping Jang Ji Han and said,
“If you really wanted to wake him [by force], I do have a way...”
To be sure,
From fighting him up close, I’d thought his qualities as a sniper were questionable,
But if you evaluated him not as a sniper but simply in terms of long-range shooting, he was extremely skilled.
With sufficient escort troops to keep enemies off him, he could display tremendous ability.
If I used the power of cooking, I might be able to do something.
I’d been thinking of helping somehow to wake him when—
“No, it’s fine.”
“Hm?”
“The reason it failed wasn’t because the power of the great spirits was lacking or anything like that.”
Shaking her head, Han Iseo spoke.
“Honestly... just waking him isn’t that hard.”
“What do you mean?”
“The real problem is what happens after you force him awake. Mm, how should I explain this...”
She thought for a moment,
Then grabbed my hand and brought it over Jang Ji Han’s face.
“Try placing your hand on his head. And close your eyes.”
“...?”
Not really understanding, I did as she said, placing my hand on Jang Ji Han’s forehead and closing my eyes.
Then—
“Do you see it?”
Beyond the darkness behind my closed lids,
Far away,
Very deep down,
Was a small, timid-looking shape,
Curled up like a baby.
“It’s too far to see clearly, but... is that...”
“Yes. That’s Jang Ji Han’s soul.”
In a small, regretful voice, Han Iseo said,
“Just as you saw, he’s currently sleeping in a very, very deep place.”
“...”
I opened my eyes and asked,
“It was definitely an interesting sight, but what’s the problem there that you can’t wake him?”
“The problem is that he’s gone down too deep. How should I put it... ah! Do you know anything about diving?”
“Diving?”
When I tilted my head,
She began to explain.
“There’s something called decompression sickness.”
“...?”
“When someone dives deep underwater, people who don’t know much about diving tend to think that you can just come straight back up quickly, right? But that’s actually not the case at all.”
“Why not?”
“Because of pressure.”
The deeper you go, the stronger the water pressure.
And underwater, the human body slowly changes under that pressure.
“The problem is when you come up to the surface from that state.”
The pressure around you undergoes rapid decompression,
And a body that’s changed due to the higher pressure can’t withstand that sudden change and begins to malfunction.
“So to come back to the surface from deep underwater, you absolutely have to take a long time and come up very slowly.”
“Huh, that’s fascinating, but... why are you telling me this now?”
“The mind and soul are similar.”
Han Iseo put her hand on Jang Ji Han’s head, closing her eyes.
“His mind has been rammed into a very deep part of his unconscious. It’s lodged so deep that he’s adapted to that dark, deep place.”
“...”
“If we tried to drag him up by force, it’s not that we couldn’t... but if we suddenly pulled a soul that’s adapted to the pressure of that deep mental depth upward...”
With a PUFF—
She mimed an explosion with her hand.
“It’d be worse than decompression sickness. It would just blow apart.”
So his mind would collapse.
“Then what do we do?”
“I told you it’s like diving, didn’t I? The answer’s the same.”
She shrugged and said,
“You let him come up slowly.”
“...”
“Now that the monster soul that stole his flesh is gone, the empty place... the spot where he originally should be, will pull Shooting Unit Captain Jang’s soul upward. Waiting for that is the safest way. We don’t know how long it’ll take, but it’s also the surest way.”
Unfortunately,
It would be hard for Jang Ji Han to join the fight right away.
And at the same time—
‘...It’ll be the same for Mom and Dad.’
Even if we somehow succeeded in saving them,
It would be hard for them to open their eyes immediately.
“Still, if you just give it time, he will eventually wake up. So you don’t have to worry too much.”
“...I see. That’s a relief, at least.”
“Mm, but.”
After finishing her long lecture on souls,
Han Iseo looked at me as if finally remembering and asked,
“Why did you come here to see me? You’re someone who must be very busy right now.”
“Right, about that.”
Ah.
Listening to her talk about souls and such, I’d forgotten my reason for coming myself.
Looking between Jang Ji Han and Han Iseo, I thought,
‘She’s even more capable than I thought in her specialty.’
If it was her,
She could definitely handle the job I was about to entrust to her.
“About what you said earlier.”
“Hm? Which part?”
“The part about me calling you here because of that monster’s soul.”
“Ah, I was really amazed by that. So what about it?”
Han Iseo thought I’d predicted those monsters’ true nature
And called her to reveal that truth.
But—
“What you said, Iseo? Half of it is right and half of it is wrong.”
“...Huh?”
It was true I’d called her to discover the monsters’ true nature,
But that wasn’t the only reason.
“Now that we know where the enemy is... all that’s left is to fight, isn’t it?”
“That’s right.”
“In that case, what else is there for a non-combat Job like me to do...”
“There is something. And...”
I grinned.
“It’ll have a huge impact on the battle.”
“Excuse me?”
She looked flustered.
Or more precisely—
She,
And the offering table behind her.
Looking at both, I said,
“I wasn’t completely sure, but after hearing what you said, I’m convinced. If it’s you, Iseo, you can definitely do it.”
“???”
“Well, I’d like you to give it some positive thought.”
Yeah.
Back when I’d first met her too, there’d been that same offering table with fruit laid out on it...
And now,
[Soul Cuisine Initiate]
Shapes swirled around that offering table,
Staring at the dried-up fruit with eyes full of longing.
I grinned.
“I’m sure those great spirits... will be very satisfied as well.”
