After the day of ruin.
There was something many people wondered.
‘What happened to the other regions?’
The situation in Gyeonggi Province had already been confirmed.
And that wall had opened there.
So before long, we’d be able to learn what the other regions looked like as well.
And then.
The next thing people wondered was.
‘What about other countries...... what happened to them.’
Finding an answer to that curiosity wasn’t easy.
With even communications cut off now.
There was no way we could know what was happening in distant foreign lands.
‘If there’s anywhere we can at least find out about, it’s land that’s connected by road.’
Unfortunately, the Republic of Korea is a peninsula nation.
The number of countries connected to it by land......
Was only one.
“I can see it.”
A place we arrived at after traveling by vehicle.
Somewhere in the northern part of Gangwon.
“Beyond the demarcation line...... I can see it.”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok.
Succeeded in observing North Korea.
*****
‘......What an incredible bastard.’
Where we arrived was a tall building somewhere in Gangwon.
For me, it looked like nothing but the horizon.
“Old buildings...... I never thought I’d see a North Korea landscape I only ever saw on TV like this.”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok stared off into the distance from there.
He was looking at something I couldn’t see.
‘North Korea.’
According to what Suhyeok said.
When he first tried to observe North Korea, it hadn’t been visible because it was blocked by that curtain.
Probably because the distance where that curtain manifested—
In other words, the power of the curtain itself—was stronger.
And now that the Occupation War was over.
As the curtain’s power weakened, he succeeded in observing North Korea.
Of course.......
“I don’t see any living people.”
“Well, yeah. That’s how it’d be.”
That wall was said to be even stronger than the wall we crossed.
Even the wall we crossed had been blasting heat so intense that living creatures couldn’t survive anywhere nearby.
Just like other regions, North Korea would be the same.
Even if you could see beyond the wall, the odds were high that you still wouldn’t be able to observe living humans on the other side.
‘If you think about that...... using Seo Suhyeok’s ability to observe North Korea like this might not even mean anything.’
It’s true his eyesight is insane.
But in the end, he can only see near the wall.
“It can’t be helped. Still, we’ll count confirming that observing North Korea is possible as an accomplishment, and head ba—”
“......No.”
“Hm?”
“Please wait just a little longer, sir.”
But then.
Unlike me, who was about to go back deflated—
“Hey. What’s with you? Why does your face look like that?”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok, still staring into the distance.
His face was hardening, little by little.
“I already knew humans couldn’t live near the wall.”
“......?”
“What I was trying to confirm wasn’t whether there were living humans.”
He’d already said that when he observed the Chungcheongbuk-do direction, he didn’t see any people.
So North Korea wouldn’t be an exception.
But even so.
This guy had specifically asked me to come here with him.
“There’s a reason. Look at this map.”
There was a reason.
“Because I wanted to see the boundary.”
“The boundary?”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok pulled out a map from inside his clothes.
Pointing to one corner of it, he spoke.
“As you can see, the North Korean land that borders us is Gangwon and North Hwanghae Province.”
“Ah. You said North Korea has a Gangwon too.”
“Yes. And...... I figured there was a strong chance North Korea also had its territory cut off by administrative divisions, just like us.”
This territorial severance was done based on administrative divisions.
Severance between regions was within the domain of the [System].
Meaning the System, at minimum, had an understanding of humanity’s administrative divisions.
“When I actually checked, I could see buildings near the boundary between Gangwon and North Hwanghae Province melted down.”
“I see. So they were in a similar situation to us.”
If he could even confirm buildings melted down near the boundary.
Then it meant other countries were also carrying out Occupation Wars similar to ours.
“Yes. And that’s the problem.”
“Hm?”
Corporal Seo Suhyeok furrowed his brow.
“The boundary was definitely divided. That’s certain. But.”
“So what about it—”
“They were moving around.”
“......Huh?”
He looked at my face and said it.
“Monsters were moving around between those boundaries.”
“......What?”
I had no choice but to be shocked too.
“Hey, don’t tell me that means—!”
“Yes. I thought it might be the case. But over there, right now.”
Over there, just like us, the boundary had been divided.
But there were entities moving between those boundaries.
Which meant.......
“Just like Sergeant Shin said, it looks like they’re in a similar situation to us.”
North Korea too.
Was in a state where the [Beginner Protection Zone] had been removed.
*****
According to what the System said.
The removal of the Beginner Protection Zone from us after we unified Gangwon only applied to the greater region ROK.
In other words, the only place our actions caused change was the Republic of Korea.
‘Even Mirinae said the outside’s gaze would reach this land.’
They hadn’t said this world.
So other countries wouldn’t be affected by the consequences of our actions.
And yet.
The boundaries between subregions had vanished.
Which meant.
“So there’s a faction that unified a region over there, too.”
“Yes. Similar to us, or maybe...... even faster than us.”
If you think about it.
Mirinae only said the outside’s gaze would reach this land.
They didn’t say that the only place where protection had been removed was the Republic of Korea.
‘I didn’t even consider that we might not be the first faction to complete an Occupation War.’
In the Republic of Korea, we were the first.
But if you include other countries, it wouldn’t be strange at all if we weren’t the first.
Did North Korea’s humans succeed at unifying a region faster than the Legion?
You couldn’t rule out the possibility that some incredible hero appeared and did it.
But.......
Honestly, it didn’t feel very likely.
‘That place has a survival difficulty that’s overwhelmingly higher than the Republic of Korea.’
At least in Korea, if you accepted some risk, you could find food.
It was originally a country that was reasonably abundant.
But over there, it wouldn’t have had much stockpiled food to begin with.
The odds that humans barely clinging to survival could grow rapidly were low.
So then, another possibility was—
‘Occupations Wars aren’t something only humans carry out.’
Just like those Belsnickel would’ve had a high chance of unifying Gyeonggi Province if I and the Legion hadn’t intervened.
Just like that Green Mane tribe would’ve very likely dominated Gangwon quickly if we hadn’t stopped them.
‘It’s highly likely a monster faction unified a region.’
A monster faction strong enough to succeed in unifying a region.
Maybe even one that possessed enough strength to complete an Occupation War faster than we did.
If beings like that.
Grew even stronger over time?
‘An absurd threat.......’
They could grow into a threat beyond anything we could imagine.
And then face us.
“......Damn it, this isn’t some ideological education hour.”
We are soldiers.
And there’s something every soldier learns in the military.
Who our main enemy is.
Who we are supposed to fight.
‘North Korea.......’
Up there.
There were entities that could become a massive threat to us.
Our main enemies were lying in wait.
*****
“North Korea, huh.”
After confirming North Korea’s situation.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok and I returned to the unit immediately and called the other squad leaders to tell them this.
“......The radio probably spread into North Korea too. They would’ve benefited from that radio’s help, so what about the possibility that North Korea’s survivors completed the Occupation War?”
“It’s low.”
Sergeant Lee Minjae brought it up with a trace of hope.
But Corporal Seo Suhyeok shook his head and said coldly.
“......Yeah. That’s true.”
Even Sergeant Lee Minjae couldn’t refute Corporal Seo Suhyeok’s words.
No matter how optimistically you guessed, North Korea’s survival difficulty had to be higher than the Republic of Korea’s.
At least in Korea, if you accepted some risk, you could find food.
It was originally a country that was reasonably abundant.
But.
‘Over there, it wasn’t a country with a lot of stockpiled food to begin with.’
An environment where even minimum survival was a struggle.
The odds that they could grow smoothly in that environment were small.
Maybe.
By the time the radio started spreading, it had already become a situation so bad that they couldn’t even use the radio’s information.
“Whatever the reason is, what we have to do is simple.”
I don’t know why.
But inside North Korea, there might be a faction lying in wait that completed the Occupation War faster than we did.
If that’s the case.
“We need to stockpile as much power as possible...... in preparation for when that wall opens.”
“......Is it that big of a threat?”
“It might be even bigger than that.”
The Legion is strong.
But even for the Legion, it took a pretty long time to unify a single region called Gangwon.
Of course, there were variables.
‘If I hadn’t left for Gyeonggi and stayed in Gangwon, the occupation might’ve sped up a little.’
But.
No matter what I did, the time pulled forward would’ve been, at most, about a week.
And in exchange for pulling it forward by a week.
The humans in Gyeonggi Province, where the most people in the Republic of Korea lived, would’ve been wiped out.
Leaving for Gyeonggi was the best choice at the time.
And.
‘They might have completed the Occupation War faster than us.’
How much strength and potential they hold.
Honestly, I couldn’t even imagine it.
‘We have to get stronger from now on.’
Monsters that grew by swallowing an entire country.
Power that won’t get swept away by that wave.
*****
Kaang, kaang.......
Somewhere in northern Gangwon.
Loud construction noises echoed out from there.
“Reinforce that rebar more! That’s it!”
And.
The one commanding that construction was—
“Thanks for your hard work.”
“Ah...... Legion Commander, you’re here!”
Someone who joined our unit not long ago.
The [Architect], Kim Jongdu.
“Is the work going well?”
“Yes, of course.”
A person specialized in building construction.
Among their abilities, the one that stood out most was [Construction Command], which made others participate in construction so buildings could be built quickly.
“You’re giving me support from these incredible combat engineers. How could things not go well?”
Even when he used it on ordinary awakeners, he built buildings at an insane speed.
But now, he was being supplied with [Combat Engineers] who already had outstanding production capability.
“Originally, even if I used [Construction Command], I could only make simple buildings. Since I had to use people without professional knowledge, there were limits I couldn’t help. But.......”
“So that’s not the case now.”
“They’re people who already have a pretty high level of construction skill. So when I use the skill on them...... it feels like the effect of me being duplicated into dozens of people.”
Just like I expected.
The synergy between [Combat Engineers] and an [Architect] was beyond imagination.
And now.
Using that insane synergy.
“If these defensive facilities are completed, even if any enemy comes down from up there, we’ll be able to hold them off for a while.”
“Reassuring.”
To deal with enemies that might come down from the north.
He was constructing broad defensive facilities.
‘The wall between us and North Korea could open at any time.’
For domestic walls, there was a clear keyword: [Occupation War].
Based on that keyword, we could at least guess when the wall would open.
But.
I muttered quietly to myself.
‘Occupation War status.’
Then.
[Greater Region - ROK Occupation War Status]
[1. Iron Legion (5%)]
[2. ??? (?%)]
A slightly changed Occupation War status list appeared.
‘It changed from the subregion ROK-17 to the greater region ROK.’
I don’t know why it makes us do this crap.
But the System was demanding that us, who finished occupying Gangwon, now occupy this Republic of Korea land.
And.
‘When Gangwon’s occupation ended, the boundaries across the entire Republic of Korea were removed. And the will of people in other regions wasn’t applied.’
If that’s true.
‘If another country’s Occupation War ends, the boundary with that country might be removed too, regardless of our will.’
No one knew when that would be.
Now that we knew a threat was lying in wait up there.
We had to prepare for the wall opening and the monsters from up there marching south.
‘At least it’s good we brought in an [Architect].’
If we’re going to guard against enemies marching down from North Korea, the area where we have to build boundary facilities is too wide.
Even with our unit’s combat engineers, it would take a long time.
But if we used Kim Jongdu’s ability, it looked like it could be completed in a fairly short time.
‘We can leave the defensive facilities to this side.’
And.
The next thing we had to do was.......
‘We need to build up our strength.’
If, just like I suspect, the monsters up there completed the Occupation War faster than us.
Then by the time that wall opens, there was a high chance that threat would already hold greater power than us.
‘We can’t do it with just us.’
Then.
There’s only one answer.
“We advance into other regions.”
If the threat lying in wait in North Korea is the enemy.
Then we have to gather all of humanity in Korea to stand against it.
*****
“How’s the expedition prep coming along?”
“It’s almost done.”
Right now.
Our unit was fully occupied organizing an Expedition Force to advance into other regions.
Launching an expedition into distant regions isn’t easy.
Especially now, when it’s hard to exchange proper supplies.
From the start, the Expedition Force had to pack and carry an enormous amount of supplies needed for a long campaign.
‘We poured our power out once on the Gyeonggi expedition, so naturally it’d take time to replenish those resources.’
Even so.
According to Sergeant Lee Minjae, the expedition preparation was almost done now.
It hadn’t even been many days since Seo Suhyeok and I reported what we observed about North Korea.
And yet, expedition prep—which normally takes serious time—was nearly finished.
Not because our unit’s work capability was absurdly good.......
But because.
“An expedition into other regions was something we were going to do from the start.”
Sergeant ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Lee Minjae shrugged.
Just like he said.
The reason expedition prep finished relatively quickly was.
Because it had already been underway the moment we returned, regardless of observing North Korea.
There are too many enemies in this world.
And compared to those enemies, the number of humans who can fight them is limited.
So we needed to keep as many of those limited humans alive as possible.
“We can’t lift Bimanar, but...... for a simple expedition, it’ll be possible soon.”
Even before we returned to Gangwon from Gyeonggi.
Our next objective was to advance into other regions.
It had been decided that we’d drive out as many monsters as possible there, and make contact with any living humans.
“However, there’s one thing we need to decide.”
“Hm?”
“Prepping is good, but...... we don’t have that much slack either. We can’t attack all other regions at once. Each expedition, one region is the limit. So.”
Sergeant Lee Minjae looked at my face.
“You decide where we should head.”
“......Hmm.”
If the [Mobile Fortress] could fly, maybe.
But right now our power was mostly ground power.
Advancing to other regions would also have to be done by land routes.
There are five lands that border Gangwon.
If you exclude North Korea and Gyeonggi Province.
‘Chungcheongbuk-do, Gyeongsangbuk-do, and...... Seoul.’
I wanted to ask that “shaman,” but.
That shaman seemed like they’d suffered plenty in their own way.
‘If they had any advice they could give, they would’ve told me yesterday when we met.’
There was a high chance they couldn’t give proper advice on this part anyway.
In the end, it meant I had to judge and decide on my own.
“As for me, I recommend Chungcheongbuk-do or Gyeongsangbuk-do.”
As I was thinking for a long time.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok carefully opened his mouth, reading my mood.
“Chungcheongbuk-do or Gyeongsangbuk-do?”
“Mm. It’s not really that it has to be those two...... I just think it can’t be Seoul.”
“Why?”
“If we’re going to clear somewhere, we need to consider efficiency, don’t we?”
He shrugged.
“Seoul probably...... even if we clear it, we won’t gain much.”
“.......”
There was a topic the Legion members sometimes talked about.
What happened to the other regions?
And in most cases.
That conversation tended to stay pretty optimistic.
It often ended with the conclusion that there were survivors in other regions too, and even if they weren’t as strong as us, they were somehow holding on and surviving.
The reason was simple.
‘It was better for mental health to think that way.’
But.
‘Seoul was an exception.’
Even with a lot of relatively optimistic predictions.
When it came to Seoul, people rarely made hopeful guesses.
Among all the other regions.
The region thought most likely to have had humanity wiped out was Seoul.
‘For the opposite reason of North Korea.’
If the reason North Korea’s survival difficulty was judged high was because of resource issues like food.
Seoul was the exact opposite.
‘Too many people packed into too narrow a region.’
You might say having lots of manpower is good.
But based on what we experienced so far, the place that became hell first was the city center.
Excluding exceptions like Chuncheon, most survivors were people who were in places with few people on the day of ruin.
‘Monsters...... gather where there are lots of people. Lots of prey.’
If it’s just monsters, it’s still one thing.
But the leftover flesh of people torn apart by monsters becomes zombies, turning into another threat.
That’s why surviving in a city center with lots of people is hard.
‘Other regions, you could escape the city center somehow and try to survive in the outskirts.......’
But Seoul was too narrow.
Even if you ran, there wouldn’t be many safe areas.
“Our goal is to clear other regions and rescue the humans in those regions to form cooperative relationships. If you look at it like that.”
“We put Seoul—most likely wiped out—lower priority?”
“Yes. Other regions have a fairly decent chance humans are alive...... so I think it’s right to prioritize those.”
A cold judgment.
But it wasn’t a wrong judgment.
First, send only a few people to gather information in Seoul...... and prioritize clearing other regions.......
As I was thinking that.
‘Huh?’
Outside the window.
I felt like I saw something.
At first, I didn’t think much of it.
But then.
“......That is!?”
“Something’s coming!”
The soldiers went into combat posture.
I also pulled out my sashimi knife from my pocket and took a stance.
A white dot-like shape that had been far away.
It grew and grew.
And only when it came close did I recognize what it was.
‘A bird?’
It was a pure white, translucent bird.
It flew toward the command-and-control room we were in.
And then.
Slither.......
Like a ghost with no physical body.
It passed through Bimanar’s wall and came inside.
‘It pierced the fortress!?’
No strong monster could pass through this fortress that easily.
Before swinging my weapon, I tried to observe it as closely as possible.
{Ingredient Identification}
[White Bird of the Herald]
And.
Before I could even properly grasp its information.......
[Ah, ahh.......]
“......!?”
From the bird.
A familiar sound came out.
‘Korean.......’
It wasn’t like other monsters, forcing understanding of another language into the brain or soul.
It was perfect Korean you could understand the moment you heard it.
[Hello, citizens who have survived.]
[We would like to take this opportunity to inform the citizens of the Republic of Korea of important news.]
And then.
From the bird’s mouth.
[The government of the Republic of Korea...... Seoul is still standing!]
A story I couldn’t believe.
Was spilling out.
