What Howard brought up.
Shin Youngjun, after hearing it, kept a shocked expression for a while, then—
“...Thank you.”
Only after a moment passed did he settle his face and say it.
“It’s nothing. Seniors and juniors are supposed to give and take. Senior, I’m going to keep thinking about this part too, so....”
“Yeah. I will too. If I get some kind of realization, I’ll tell you somehow.”
Like that,
a conversation between the two that looked important came to a rough close.
And then.
“...Cooking? And what do you mean, seniors and juniors...?”
“Isn’t that a college thing?”
The three from Northern Branch, who had listened to that conversation in silence,
were standing there blankly, like they had no idea what any of it meant.
“Youngjun.”
At that moment.
Han Iseo carefully opened her mouth with a solemn expression.
“You told me last time, right? That there’s something you’re hiding from us.”
“Yes.”
“You said you’d tell us what it was later, but... that conversation just now that we can’t understand, and you suddenly saying you’re leaving too...”
“...”
“That thing you’re hiding. Can’t you tell us now?”
As the three of them looked at Shin Youngjun,
he smiled lightly.
Step....
He resumed walking and spoke.
“What I said back then. Do you remember it?”
“What did you say...?”
“I mean what I said about crossing over from beyond the Inhuman Demon Realm.”
At that,
Park Junggu let out a small laugh.
“How could I forget! Back then, I thought it was either a lie, or you were a monster that came from the Inhuman Demon Realm, one of the two. Of course, now I believe it. What you showed us was something you couldn’t show unless you’d lived inside that Inhuman Demon Realm.”
“Ah, I’m grateful you believe me, but...”
At Park Junggu’s words,
Shin Youngjun scratched his head like he felt awkward.
“I haven’t lived in the Inhuman Demon Realm.”
“...Huh?”
“To be precise, it’s not like I’ve never been there. Still, if you count it all up, it probably wasn’t even a full week, maybe.”
At that,
the three of them went blank.
“What are you...?”
It wasn’t that they had just blindly believed Shin Youngjun.
The reason they had come to believe, to some degree, that he came from the Inhuman Demon Realm was—
“Iseo, Sister?”
Han Iseo.
Because she had the power to discern another person’s truth.
“W-what is this...?”
“Iseo, what is it?”
“I-it’s true.”
And....
“The thing he said last time, that he crossed over from beyond the Inhuman Demon Realm... and what he just said, that the time he spent in the Inhuman Demon Realm wasn’t even a week.”
“...?”
“Both are true. But... how...?”
That Skill
was still being used right now.
“It’s not a lie... but to be honest, I did deceive you.”
“...”
“Now that I say it, the most troublesome thing I did after coming here was deceiving you. It couldn’t be helped, but... I am sorry I deceived you.”
Step....
After a few more steps,
only then could they notice.
‘The end of the forest.’
A small forest settled near Northern Branch.
They had reached its edge.
And.
“I can’t call it an apology, but I’ll show you.”
“Show us? What...?”
Shin Youngjun said that,
then stepped out of the forest.
“What I’ve been hiding.”
And then.
The moment they followed him out of the forest, they could see it.
“...!”
“This is...!”
A fortress so enormous it was strange they hadn’t noticed it was here.
And beneath that fortress floating in the sky,
lined up in formation.
‘Soldiers....’
Countless
figures in military uniforms.
*****
A forest at night.
A fortress floating in the sky, unrealistically huge.
A massive airborne warship big enough that you could believe it was a small island.
And it wasn’t just that warship.
Combat helicopters flying as if escorting it.
The wind blowing off those helicopters made the grass on the ground scatter.
Flashlight beams from the helicopters and the warship were throwing the ground into chaotic light.
And beneath them.
“Soldiers...!”
Hundreds, thousands of Legion soldiers standing in perfect order,
standing at attention.
Park Junggu saw that and was horrified.
“When did the Legion’s fortress get this close...!”
Even as he panicked,
he reached for the axe on his back as fast as he could.
‘We knew the Legion was moving around inside Gyeonggi Province.’
This ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) had been notified to the Association from the start.
They had been moving around to eliminate monsters entrenched in humanity’s major strongholds from before the collapse.
What they focused on most was reclaiming monsters that had taken over military bases.
‘They said it was to recover the bodies of soldiers who died as soldiers....’
A force that already had overwhelming power.
When that force spoke, the Association accepted without argument.
So the Legion had been roaming across all of Gyeonggi Province, but even so—
‘Up until now, they always respected the Association’s territory.’
The reason the Association acknowledged the Legion moving around within Gyeonggi Province at all
was because the Legion always respected the Association’s bases.
But.
Not now.
‘This is right next to our Northern Branch....’
Unlike before,
there had been no request from Legion soldiers to visit.
They were both human, but
separate forces.
And near a major base of another force,
not only those soldiers—
‘Even that fortress!’
They had appeared leading an enormous weapon of war.
And on top of that—
‘We didn’t even hear that fortress coming!’
Without making a sound!
Even if it was night and they discovered the fortress approaching late,
it couldn’t be that there was no sound of it approaching.
No, even if it was night, it was strange that they hadn’t noticed something that huge getting this close.
‘It’s an ability that conceals sound and appearance!’
And if you put it the other way around,
it meant those soldiers were deliberately
approaching near Northern Branch while hiding their approach.
“Damn it, I knew things were going too well!”
A panicked Park Junggu hurriedly turned his body around.
If the Legion had betrayed them, this was no small matter.
‘Even so, we have far more numbers. If the entire Association resists with everything it has...!’
To inform them of the Legion’s betrayal and face them,
he meant to rush back to the Branch—
but....
“...Brother Junggu.”
Something grabbed his ankle.
A small tree vine that had suddenly grown out of the ground.
“You probably don’t need to go.”
“...What?”
The one who made that vine,
Gang Jaeho, murmured blankly.
“So that’s what it was....”
“What are you saying....”
When Junggu turned around in confusion,
he saw something absurd.
“Y-Youngjun!?”
That Shin Youngjun,
even after stepping out of the forest and seeing those soldiers,
“Stop!”
was walking toward them
as if nothing was wrong.
‘Good lord, what is he thinking...!’
As Park Junggu stared at him in a panic—
right then.
Step....
From among them,
several soldiers walked forward.
‘Those are...!’
And.
The Association people flinched when they saw the insignia on their uniforms.
‘Four bars....’
‘Sergeant.’
It had only been a short time, but
the Association had gathered what information it could about the Legion.
One of the most representative things was the Legion’s ranks.
They said that in the Legion right now, even a Private First Class was a high-ranked powerhouse.
Gulp....
‘Even that hulking warrior I saw was only a Corporal.’
And now a Sergeant.
And that wasn’t all.
‘That warrior... and even that shooter.’
The out-of-spec powerhouses who had fought fiercely against giants they thought could never be beaten with a human body.
The ones who taught them that besides the Chair and Shin Youngjun, there were other humans with that kind of power.
And behind them—
Gulp....
“The ruler of the Legion....”
An individual wearing First Lieutenant insignia.
The Legion commander said to have such overwhelming charisma that even Jo Beomseok had to break out in a cold sweat.
First Lieutenant Kim was approaching.
And.
First Lieutenant Kim was holding something in both hands.
Only after a moment did people realize it was the outer jacket of a military uniform.
As they watched in bewilderment, wondering why he was walking over with that—
“Long time no see, Youngjun.”
“...?”
The king of the Legion
walked up with a warm expression, like he was going out to greet Shin Youngjun.
“You’ve really suffered a lot.”
“...Huh?”
He draped the uniform jacket over Shin Youngjun’s shoulders
and said those words.
*****
“Long time no see, Sergeant Shin!”
“Yeah. You look like you got taller?”
“Heh. I struggle every time I have to re-measure my uniform size.”
That hulking warrior who had radiated killing intent like he wanted to chew up a giant.
“You look like you’ve gotten a lot thinner since I last saw you.”
“Don’t even start. I thought I was going to die.”
That shooter who had punched holes through a giant’s body that ignored even shells.
“You suffered a lot.”
“Me? At the end I was just watching. Looks like you did all the suffering, Brother.”
“Tch... if I’m honest, it’s hard just to stand right now.”
And.
Even that man called a Sergeant, his face somewhat pale.
Those powerhouses who likely held strength greater than even the Chair they knew.
They talked with Shin Youngjun in a friendly way, like friends who’d known each other for years.
‘What the hell is that....’
As everyone was thrown into confusion by the unbelievable sight,
Gang Jaeho muttered in a small voice like he had noticed something.
“Sergeant....”
“Hm?”
“Sergeant Shin Youngjun.”
“Jaeho? What are you....”
“...Back when we were attacked by monsters at the Wall. What Youngjun said.”
It had been a sudden attack.
Because Jo Beomseok lost his ability to command due to his grandson’s severe injury,
the Association’s Expedition Force was pushed to the brink of annihilation.
If Shin Youngjun hadn’t stepped up and taken over Jo Beomseok’s command authority,
the Association, already weakened from losing its elite, would have had the Expedition Force swept away by monsters too.
And back then.
“Youngjun introduced himself as Sergeant Shin Youngjun.”
In truth.
Even then, Gang Jaeho had questioned the word Sergeant.
-What do you mean, Sergeant?
-I told you I was on my end-of-service leave when this happened, right? It was before I had my discharge ceremony. So yes, Sergeant.
It was ridiculous, but
Southern Branch under Jo Beomseok had a structure similar to a military unit,
so he thought Shin Youngjun was putting forward a soldier identity to replace Jo Beomseok’s role, and he let it go.
But.
“So that wasn’t it.”
It had been the moment he had to suddenly command others in an urgent situation.
In that kind of situation,
people, regardless of their own intentions,
“...They just pick the label that feels more familiar.”
end up choosing the option that feels more familiar to them.
“Without even realizing it... he said the name that was more familiar.”
“...Ah.”
Shin Youngjun said he had lived only beyond the Wall of Fire ever since the day of collapse.
And he also said the time he spent in the Inhuman Demon Realm wasn’t even a week.
The condition for both of those statements to be true was—
only one.
“Youngjun. You are....”
“Yes.”
Han Iseo murmured with an expression like she’d reached an understanding.
“You... from beyond the Black Wall.”
Beyond the Inhuman Demon Realm, at its far end.
A place beyond even the wall of heat that everyone had sworn could never be crossed.
“You came from the Iron Legion.”
“Yes.”
If he came from Gangwon,
then what he said wouldn’t be a lie.
