“This side’s cleanup is almost finished!”
“Then go help clean up over there!”
The battle was over.
The Legion, who had just fought a battle straight out of myth, the moment the fighting ended—
started moving like ordinary soldiers, busy restoring order across the battlefield.
‘They’re collecting every monster corpse.’
‘If they do that, won’t zombies form? Before winter came, we burned monster bodies whenever we could.’
The Association’s Awakeners stared blankly at the scene.
And.
It wasn’t just the battlefield the soldiers began to handle.
“Cuh-huk...!”
There were a lot of wounded.
Jo Beomseok had led the fight with the aim of minimizing deaths as much as possible, but the scale of the war had been too large.
There were fatalities, and the wounded were overflowing.
“...Can we really trust this?”
“Leave it to us.”
To a degree that was hard to manage with the Association’s manpower alone,
a group of soldiers walked in among the wounded.
A red cross mark was stitched on their shoulders.
‘Medics.’
When those soldiers first demanded entry inside the Wall—
the Association’s Awakeners couldn’t help hesitating.
It was true they were the ones who had saved them.
But still, they were a force they’d never seen before.
A brief argument went back and forth about whether it was right to let them inside the Wall, but—
—We understand you’re wary of us. Then please, just let the medics in.
When they said it was to treat the many wounded,
they decided to take the risk and let a small number of soldiers inside the Wall.
And.
Once those soldiers began operating in earnest...
“My god... what kind of healing...!?”
The severe cases that even the Association’s Therapists couldn’t handle—
the Legion’s Therapists centered on those cases and rapidly restored the wounded.
‘That healing power is insane.’
‘Just what level are those Therapists?’
The soldiers’ capabilities—fighting those monsters—were incredible, sure.
But from the standpoint of people who didn’t really know them, what stood out even more wasn’t each individual soldier’s strength—
it was the bombardment from tanks and self-propelled artillery.
And the flying fortress in the sky.
‘Their average level might be high, but... this is still beyond what you can explain with that alone. Does that mean their gear—or their stats from a [Guild]—are also outrageous?’
But now, it was different.
At a glance, the recovery rate was astonishing, and people felt the Legion’s depth in their bones and broke out in cold sweat.
“There are a few things I’d like to ask. Could I request your cooperation?”
“What do you want to ask?”
While the Therapists treated the wounded like that,
the soldiers outside the Wall also began moving busily.
“We’d like you to tell us in detail what happened here in Gyeonggi Province. In particular, we need information about those giants, and information about the place they came from.”
“Hmm... if it’s that much...”
The soldiers outside asked about the place the giants came from.
About the source of that cold—detailed information.
And then, a little later.
“We’ve confirmed the remnant’s position!”
“All units, deploy!”
GWOOOOOOOM....
Most of their power, including the fortress in the sky, headed toward the source of that cold.
To wipe out completely any enemies that might still remain.
‘Incredible.’
A pace of work that was absurdly fast.
People realized the Legion hadn’t done something like this just once or twice.
[The first force to achieve 100% occupation rate in a region has been born!]
[Achieved Region - ROK.17]
[With the first achiever of the Occupation War event appearing, the Occupation War event in all other regions ends!]
Just before the Legion crossed over from beyond the Wall—
the System message that had appeared before their eyes.
As the Legion pacified the wide territory of Gangwon,
they must have carried out work like this again and again.
And.
“Next, may I ask who the representative of the citizens is, by any chance?”
“Representative?”
“We’ve only just crossed into Gyeonggi Province. We can’t stay here long. So postwar handling, and what you’ll do going forward...”
The soldier speaking—
replied with the attitude of someone asking something obvious.
“We’d like to know who the representative is that will communicate with us.”
*****
“General Jo, are you alright? You were practically buried in that Wall.”
“Fortunately, I’m fine now. Those people... their healing ability is no joke.”
After getting their wounds treated to some extent with the Legion’s Therapists,
the leaders of each Branch gathered in one place and began a meeting.
The reason they’d gathered was simple.
“A representative.”
To talk about the person the Legion was looking for.
About the representative of the Association.
“The Chair is the representative, technically.”
“But right now... hmm, it’s ambiguous.”
The Association was a union-like shape, with the leaders of each large group gathered under the Chair.
Now that the Chair had vanished,
there was no one person you could call “the” representative.
“Does it have to be just one person? Can’t the Branch leaders communicate with the Legion as co-representatives?”
“Hmm, I don’t think this is something we can decide that lightly.”
“Huh?”
“In the end, each of us is a Branch... in a position to lead our own group, aren’t we. The interests each of us represents are different.”
Jo Beomseok spoke with a worried expression.
“Even when we held meetings among ourselves, didn’t we have a lot of clashes? When we talk to the Legion, there’s a high chance we won’t be able to unify under a single opinion.”
“Is that a problem?”
“If it’s our own meeting, we can coordinate with each other and that’s that. But this is something we have to talk to the Legion about. The moment our words don’t match because our interests differ... they’ll think our cohesion as an organization is weaker than they expected. In a conversation between the Legion and the Association... we end up showing them our disadvantage.”
“Uh... but aren’t they a far stronger force than us to begin with? Just eyeballing it, it looked like people as strong as the Chair were a dime a dozen. Isn’t it inevitable we’ll be at a disadvantage?”
“Even so, shouldn’t we at least secure our minimum rights?”
At that—
a few people’s expressions filled with concern.
“Minimum rights?”
“...Are you saying they might take our rights away?”
“No matter what, they’re the soldiers who saved us. I don’t think they’d go that far.”
“I’d like that to be true, but we have to consider ‘what if.’”
In peaceful times, maybe.
But this reality was worse than most wartime situations.
“If they’re soldiers, we should consider the possibility they’ll be even more ruthless.”
It was true the Legion saved them, but—
in dealings between organizations, you couldn’t leave everything to the other side.
“Hoo... this is giving me a headache. When I saw soldiers appear, I was so happy I could’ve cried.”
“Is this what it means that once you return to reality, things get more complicated. Right... we don’t know how those soldiers will treat us.”
“Come to think of it, General Jo, you were a soldier. Do you recognize anyone over there?”
At that,
Jo Beomseok answered with a grave expression.
“...That’s actually part of why I’m saying we need to act cautiously.”
“Huh?”
“I don’t know what unit they are.”
After the Legion broke through that Black Wall and came over,
Jo Beomseok had examined their members carefully.
“Since they said they’re a Legion from Gangwon, I naturally assumed it would be the 18th Corps in charge of Gangwon’s defense. But the unit patch on their uniforms was different. If there’s anyone here who served, you’ll know.”
“Ah, now that you mention it...”
“Their patch looked like a lizard covered in steel-like scales... or a dragon. The problem is, as far as I know, there is no unit that uses a patch like that.”
“Couldn’t it be a unit that formed after you retired? Or maybe they somehow gathered up collapsed units and created a new unit...”
“That could be, but if you look closely, there was something else strange.”
There was a reason Jo Beomseok had looked them over so carefully.
He was checking whether anyone he knew was among them.
“There are no officers.”
“...?”
“They were all enlisted. Of those I saw, the highest rank among them—he said he was overseeing the head of the Therapists, but he introduced himself as Private First Class Sa Euijun.”
“Hmm. Private First Class.”
“Even Private First Class was considered a high rank.”
There were even people who didn’t have any rank as soldiers at all.
Probably civilians.
Even though this should’ve been a world overflowing with Reserve Army Sergeants—
among them, those with proper ranks were extremely rare.
“I may have retired, but I’ve still gone around giving lectures and keeping up with faces in the military. At the very least, I’m sure there isn’t a single face among them that I know.”
At that,
people’s gazes also became a little uneasy.
“They’re claiming to be a military unit, but there isn’t a single face you know...”
“Does that mean they’re not trustworthy?”
“It’s not something we should conclude that far. It’s true they saved us. And the lack of officers could simply be because they all perished in this world. But... it might be somewhat distant from the intact Gangwon military unit people were hoping for.”
The probability that they were villains wasn’t high.
But you couldn’t rule out the possibility, either.
“More than anything, they’re a ‘Legion from Gangwon.’ They may have helped us fight monsters, but they aren’t people who will represent the interests of the ‘Association of Gyeonggi Province.’”
It would be great if they could just comfortably join the Legion and be protected safely—
but reality didn’t flow that easily.
‘They’re friendlier than those monsters, but still—this is a properly organized force we’re meeting for the first time, with an identity we can’t truly confirm.’
The difference in strength was clear.
As long as that flying fortress existed, the Association couldn’t beat the Legion.
Even so.
“Leaving our fate to them is too dangerous.”
Many people in the Association had been waiting for the Legion’s support—
but more often than not, that didn’t mean they wanted to follow the Legion’s orders.
Even if the other side was stronger,
this side also had to be able to claim its rights.
They were weaker than the Legion—
but it wasn’t as if the Association had no power at all.
And on top of that—
“They asked us to guide them to our representative.”
“So what?”
“With their strength, they could’ve subordinated us under them in an instant. They could’ve ignored our will entirely if they wanted. And yet, they asked us to introduce a representative who can gather our opinions. Meaning.”
At that,
one of the leaders, Heo Yunchang, tilted his head as if he’d noticed something and muttered.
“The other side also wants us to remain an independent force.”
“...I don’t get it. What benefit is there in not subordinating us?”
“They might think that taking in a force as large as ours all at once would create chaos.”
The Association’s thinking—
and the Legion’s will—
were both converging on the same conclusion:
the Association should remain an independent organization.
“...General Jo. Let me ask just one thing.”
“What is it?”
Then,
Heo Yunchang looked at Jo Beomseok and asked.
“If I remember correctly, it seems you wanted to join the military unit.”
“Well, yes.”
“That. Is it still the same now?”
“...What?”
At those words,
everyone’s eyes widened.
*****
“Yunchang...?”
“What kind of question is that, all of a sudden?”
The question Heo Yunchang threw at Jo Beomseok.
People who heard it spoke in flustered voices.
“Right now, we don’t have enough even if we stick together—why would you say something that could stir up conflict.”
“Well, I think that too. But we have to make this clear before we move on.”
Heo Yunchang spoke with his arms crossed.
“Looking at the circumstances, that Legion doesn’t seem like a force that will blindly treat us as enemies. But there are also a lot of suspicious points that make it hard to call them allies we can trust without question.”
“...”
“In dealing with that Legion, I think we have to act as cautiously as possible. And if so.”
His gaze—
turned again toward General Jo Beomseok.
“The Southern Branch, who wanted to join a military unit... has to make that intention clear.”
“...!”
Unlike the other Branches, who had only aimed for survival,
the Southern Branch had a clear goal.
Rebuilding the military.
Or joining it.
“It seems like the time has come for you to choose.”
People looked at the Southern Branch personnel with uneasy eyes.
“Will the Southern Branch join the Legion? Or will ✪ Nоvеlіgһt ✪ (Official version) you stand with the Association?”
If Jo Beomseok and the Southern Branch joined the Legion—
with the Central Branch unable to fulfill its role right now,
it would be no different from losing a third of the Association’s strength.
Even if there was no immediate fight with the Legion,
it would take considerable time to recover that loss.
When people stared at Jo Beomseok with tense eyes—
Snort.
“Well, that’s a hurtful question. Yes.”
Jo Beomseok gave a light laugh.
“Since you asked, I’ll answer honestly. If it were just a little while ago... Association or not, I would’ve taken the whole Southern Branch and joined the Legion right away.”
“...!”
“Well, it’s true I don’t recognize any faces... but they still take the shape of a military unit. From my standpoint, it’s simply more familiar. And besides, calling it an Association is putting it nicely... we were just an alliance of different groups forced together by necessity. And that process—if I’m being honest—was pretty coercive.”
An organization forced together by the martial strength of a single person.
The Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association.
Its cohesion was quite loose.
“Especially us at the far southern end—we barely even exchanged with the Northern Branch at the far northern end. I saw Junggu once in a while, but with Iseo, there were times I’d hardly even seen her face.”
“T-that’s true, but... you should still think it over a little more...”
When people’s faces turned pale—
“Well, that’s how it was until recently.”
“...?”
“Of course it isn’t now. In the first place.”
The old man gave a light, amused smile.
With a gaze that looked deliberately offended, he said—
“After we fought together for months like that. Aren’t we comrades now?”
“...!”
The Association had been an organization with almost no cohesion.
But the past few months were different.
They attacked the source of the cold.
They fought back against those giants.
They resisted together until the very end, inside this Inhuman Demon Realm.
That period was only a fraction compared to the entire time the Association had existed—
but its density was something that didn’t lose to years, to decades.
“S-so what you’re saying is...”
“Let me ask you for a favor.”
Jo Beomseok scratched his face as if embarrassed and spoke.
“Somehow, my nickname got cemented as ‘General Jo,’ you see.”
“Yes. We heard you really were a general.”
“Ahem, it’s embarrassing so I don’t usually tell people... but honestly, I only made brigadier general right at discharge. The time I was actually called a general wasn’t even that long.”
“Oh—was that so?”
“It was a kind of honorary appointment they pinned on me before discharge. It just so happened I started getting called that... but I always thought it was a pretty embarrassing title. So.”
The old man shrugged.
“From now on, I’d like you not to call me General.”
“...!”
A strange atmosphere spread among the leaders.
Trust in one another.
“I lived as a soldier for decades... but now, I think my identity as a Branch leader in the Association has become stronger.”
Without a unified head, clashes of opinion could happen.
But—
they had won together through a brutal fight.
A shared understanding—comrades.
That was binding them together firmly.
*****
“Then back to the point. We were talking about choosing a representative.”
“Yes.”
“I want to recommend Shin Youngjun.”
No one was surprised.
He wasn’t here due to injury right now, but—
there was no disagreement that he was the person who had exerted the greatest influence on the Association.
But.
“Actually, I already went and asked.”
“Hm?”
“He says he doesn’t want to.”
“What?”
Park Junggu scratched his head and said—
“He says he’s a severely wounded patient, and he isn’t even someone registered with our Association. He said he absolutely doesn’t want a representative position, and it’s right for someone else to go...”
“Good grief... there’s no one more fitting than him.”
A regretful sigh spread through the group.
“Come to think of it, Youngjun’s always been like that. Unless it’s unavoidable, he seems to dislike stepping to the front.”
“...His ability is outstanding, but his personality isn’t?”
“He looked pretty young, but I didn’t think he’d have zero ambition for a position.”
“Saying it won’t work because he’s not in our guild... he doesn’t have to think that way...”
The leaders fell into grim contemplation.
All the leaders gathered here had similar influence.
Even Jo Beomseok taking the Expedition Force commander role had only been because it was the best position to leverage his Job.
It wasn’t influence you could call the head of the Association.
“...Do we vote among ourselves?”
“Wouldn’t that just create conflict for no reason?”
“Youngjun is the perfect fit... is there some way to persuade him...”
While they were racking their brains—
“E-excuse me...!”
Suddenly,
someone came running in from outside, flustered.
“I—I have something to report!”
“W-what is it?”
“Outside, outside...!”
The Association member looked urgent.
“The Chair—”
“...?”
At the words that came out of their mouth,
the leaders could only be shocked.
“The Chair has returned!”
“...!”
Shock spread through the group—
and then.
“...I’m sorry to meet you all in such a state.”
An old man—
appeared inside the tent.
