“It doesn’t look like there are any traps.”
The Capital Defense Command...... they assigned us an entire hotel that looked pretty intact as our lodging.
We hadn’t come expecting a large-scale expeditionary subjugation, so our troop count wasn’t that high, and as lodging, it was more than enough.
Just in case, I had the soldiers check whether there were any traps or anything like that.
But there was nothing, to the point where it made me wonder if we were suspecting them too much.
“Still, just in case, we’ll keep rotating sentries like we do when we go out on an expedition.”
“Yes.”
As the soldier who’d received Sergeant Lee Minjae’s order stepped out of the room,
the squad leaders who remained inside started talking among themselves.
“......What kind of situation is this, exactly?”
“How would I know?”
Gwangil, who looked flustered, looked at me and asked,
but it wasn’t like I had anything I could really say either.
“I expected Seoul to have the highest survival difficulty for sure.......”
“I thought it was possible there were people who survived somehow, but isn’t this still way too intact......? Even if we set everything else aside, the fact that the Capital Defense Command is still standing.”
Not just me—other members of the unit as well.
They were all flustered by how excessively intact Seoul looked.
“It’s too unbelievable, but there’s only one answer.”
Sergeant Lee Minjae scratched his head,
then let out a sigh and spoke.
“Seoul...... you have to assume it almost perfectly prevented this collapse.”
Surviving in Gangwon had never been easy,
and even the way we’d survived had ended up being something far removed from what we used to be.
We were still better off; on the Gyeonggi Province side, the situation was even more severe than ours.
‘We were also the ones who achieved 100% Occupation War first.’
Because of that,
with a legion like ours,
I’d thought that even compared to every other region, we were one of the ones who’d gotten through this collapse relatively easily, but.
“Maybe we were arrogant.”
“.......”
Now that I looked at it,
I couldn’t shake the thought that might have been a ridiculous misconception.
“If you think about it, we didn’t actually know the situation in other regions. We were just guessing.”
“Gyeonggi Province was worse off than us, but maybe that was the worst-case scenario for Gyeonggi Province...... and maybe we were the ones who endured at about a normal level. And the ones who overcame it the best would be.”
“Seoul, you mean?”
The unit members’ expressions weren’t exactly bright.
We’d fought our hardest in our own way,
and we’d also had a certain amount of confidence in the results of that struggle,
but it felt like that confidence had been shattered.
But.
That was only a problem on the level of taking a bit of a hit to our pride.
“Still.”
Lee Sanga said with a smile.
“Isn’t it a good thing that there’s a region that survived intact?”
“Well, sure?”
Just like she said.
The fact that Seoul was still standing was good news for us, not bad news.
“My god, Seoul is intact!”
“My friend was going to college in Seoul...... I assumed the odds were high they’d be dead, but if I’m seeing this, maybe there’s hope.”
“I’ve got a lot of people I know, too. Most of them were living around Mok-dong—wonder what happened there.”
It wasn’t the capital of the Republic of Korea for nothing.
In Seoul, there had been all kinds of facilities and infrastructure for the Republic of Korea,
and humans had been concentrated there.
‘It looks like there are far more survivors than I expected.’
Soldiers chattering about the survival chances of people they knew.
Even just thinking there was a good chance people they knew had survived helped the unit members’ mental state.
And that wasn’t all.
‘In this fight against the collapse, humanity was always at a numerical disadvantage.’
We’d been suffering from chronic manpower shortages.
To solve those shortages, we’d even been pulling monsters to our side if we could use them.
‘If Seoul overcame the collapse more intact than expected.’
Then this fight against the collapse
would become significantly favorable for humanity.
Not just talent—Seoul’s countless facilities clustered there were the same.
Since even the city’s outward appearance looked more intact than expected, the odds were high that plenty of usable facilities remained.
Which meant.
‘It’s unsettling, but it’s good news for us.’
If we cooperated with the survivors of Seoul,
our activities would become much easier.
“The problem is whether we can trust the people here.......”
When Corporal Seo Suhyeok said that,
everyone’s gaze nailed itself to me.
If there was one sticking point, it was this.
Separate from whether they had the ability to protect Seoul, whether we could trust them was another question.
I didn’t like being in a situation where we had to suspect other humans,
but we’d already experienced the situation where humans became the enemy, again and again.
We had to keep in mind that they could be the same.
“How did it look through Sergeant Shin’s [eyes]?”
I wasn’t stupid, either.
Seeing how unbelievably intact Seoul was, I’d wondered if this was some kind of trap set by monsters, but.
“They were ordinary humans. Every last one.”
The soldiers who came out to greet us,
that old man who was a lieutenant general,
[Primate - Human Species]
[It is a cooking secret you have already acquired....... ]
They were all humans.
“At least, it’s certain that monsters didn’t change their appearance.”
“Hm...... Were there no unusual points?”
“Unusual points.”
I recalled the information I’d seen about the people as we came here, and opened my mouth.
“......The ratio of awakeners was lower than I expected.”
“Huh, really?”
The soldiers we’d encountered were more numerous than I’d expected.
If they’d defended Seoul this intact, I’d naturally assumed that like us, most of them would be awakeners.
“But they weren’t.”
Not only was the ratio low,
the level of those few awakeners also wasn’t that high.
“Mm...... On their side, it looks like it’s not a case where only a small handful of soldiers survived like us, but more like they preserved their military unit strength as a whole. Maybe because they survived with that strength, they didn’t feel the need to invest in awakening?”
“Well, that could happen.”
It felt uneasy,
but it wasn’t like there were no awakeners at all—there were some.
It was hard to infer anything from this alone.
“Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan also looked like a good person.”
“I thought so, too.”
To be honest,
whenever we expected to face a senior officer from another military unit, we assumed they’d use their authority to press us down.
But Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan was quite friendly toward us.
In the first place, he himself looked like a pretty good person.
‘And that isn’t all.’
If you look at the soldiers, you can tell the state of the commander, too.
No matter what the situation was, the soldiers’ discipline was being maintained extremely well.
Even though the entire force should be made up of people who were all former service members, not active-duty.
“He’s probably highly capable as a commander, too.”
Well.
Someone like that would be the kind of person who could rise to that position and survive this collapse, I guess.
Anyway.
“If they’re an organization far more capable than we expected.......”
“There’s no downside to forming a friendly relationship.”
Someday,
the walls blocking us from other countries would open as well.
Especially North Korea, the only country connected to us by land—there, it had already been confirmed that those zombies were undergoing evolution.
‘We need to gather strength to overcome the collapse.’
That was the reason we came to Seoul in the first place.
If their capabilities were outstanding, it would be a welcome thing for us.
And.
To form a friendly relationship with them.
“First Lieutenant Kim.”
I turned my head.
At the man who’d been silently listening to our conversation.
“Your role is going to become important.”
“......Ah.”
First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok was someone who, from the start, had been hoping to merge with government-side figures.
I’d already come to the conclusion for him that if they were a proper faction, we might be able to establish a cooperative relationship.
And now.
Now that we knew Seoul was this intact,
this situation had become the situation First Lieutenant Kim wanted most.
‘He was always the type who was good at political maneuvering, too.’
If he had the drive to build a friendly relationship,
with First Lieutenant Kim’s ability, he could produce an outcome where he formed an alliance while still securing our footing.
‘If it really turns out like that......!’
Seoul’s massive population and facilities would end up in humanity’s hands.
It didn’t look like the number of awakeners was that high,
but once you formed a certain scale, awakening itself wasn’t that difficult.
If that number of humans succeeded in awakening,
the various jobs produced from that would create all kinds of synergy.
‘Up # Nоvеlight # until now, we were at a numerical disadvantage, but this battlefront finally!’
It would be able to roll in humanity’s favor.
While I and the soldiers were getting excited by that thought.
“......Ah, ahh. Right. That’s what you meant....... Got it.”
“......?”
The person I thought would be the most excited of all.
First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok.
“Like you said. My role will be important...... so I’ll do my best.”
With a strangely lukewarm attitude,
he only nodded quietly.
******
The next morning.
We began moving, guided by Capital Defense Command soldiers.
“......You’re even operating vehicles?”
“We can’t use them freely, but we’ve secured enough fuel that we can use them sparingly.”
For movement, we boarded Two-and-a-Half-Ton Trucks brought by the Capital Defense Command side.
Our unit also had Two-and-a-Half-Ton Trucks, but since they’d gone through various modifications and ended up looking completely different from before,
the intact condition felt unfamiliar instead.
As we rode in the vehicle and moved, I looked around the surroundings.
‘Monsters...... at least around here, it doesn’t look like there are any.’
The outskirts of Seoul.
Even if there were traces of battle here and there, Seoul’s 모습 wasn’t heavily destroyed.
It looked like Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan’s confidence that Seoul was safe wasn’t a lie.
‘If we’d achieved the Occupation War even a little later, they might’ve achieved it first.’
While we were moving like that.
“......Excuse me.”
“Yes?”
One of our soldiers
spoke to a Capital Defense Command soldier who was sitting with them.
“I heard Seoul is safe, but...... could I ask how the situation is around Myeongdong?”
“Myeongdong?”
“Yes. My parents were running a business near there.......”
“Ahh.”
It was only natural.
Our unit had many soldiers from Seoul, too.
Not only the members of the 423rd Battalion, but the ones who joined later as well.
They’d come as legion soldiers for now,
but there were many who were worried about family or acquaintances in Seoul.
‘I was like that, too. It can’t be helped.’
Back when I went to Gyeonggi Province, my position then was their position now.
I watched the scene without stopping them.
“For now, I understand the monsters around Myeongdong have mostly been subdued.”
“Then......! My parents’ names are.......”
“T-That said, things like who among the people there survived...... I don’t really.......”
“Ah, ahh...... Of course. Ahem. I’m sorry.”
“No, there’s nothing to apologize for.......”
The soldier who’d spoken in excitement retreated as if embarrassed.
Of course.
That Capital Defense Command soldier was just an ordinary soldier.
They couldn’t possibly have memorized the names of everyone who survived in Seoul.
“You’ll have a chance for that soon.”
“Yes?”
At that moment.
As if they’d been listening to the soldier’s 이야기,
a man with an officer insignia approached and spoke.
“We don’t have it on hand right now, but the place we’re going has a compiled survivor list for all of Seoul.”
“......!”
“For a while, we’ll probably be busy welcoming survivors coming in from other regions, so I don’t think we’ll have much room to breathe...... but if you stay here a bit, we’ll have more leeway. Then, organize a list of your families or acquaintances and send it to us. If you do, we’ll be able to confirm their survival status or location for you.”
At those words,
not only the soldier who first spoke, but the legion soldiers walking nearby as well widened their eyes and spoke toward that officer.
“I-Is that really true!”
“Yes. We didn’t invite you to Seoul without thinking.”
“My god......!”
The soldiers’ faces brightened.
The ones who’d been stuck in Gangwon had no choice but to worry about acquaintances in other regions.
I’d also been excited when I heard they could confirm my parents’ survival in Gyeonggi Province.
So I understood that kind of reaction.
‘Especially because it’s Seoul.’
In our expectations, the place we’d picked as having the highest survival difficulty was Seoul.
Many people who’d left precious loved ones in Seoul had, deep down, already stopped hoping.
But Seoul had turned out to be safer than expected.
‘It means the hope they gave up on came back.’
Their joy would be beyond words.
The fact that Seoul was still standing was, for many people, the happiest kind of news.
As we kept moving while exchanging all sorts of idle talk, how long had it been.
“We’re almost there!”
When the driver said that,
everyone’s gaze went to one place.
And then.
A building came into view in the distance.
“All I did was pass by and see it from far away.”
A gigantic building located by the river.
Enormous pillars that reminded me of an old temple decorated its entrance,
and above that, a massive transparent dome sat over it.
When that white bird first appeared to us,
it told us the place where the ‘government’ was located.
“This is my first time visiting it like this.”
The National Assembly Building.
That place was.
The central stronghold of Seoul’s survivors.
*****
‘Of all places, they chose somewhere like this as their stronghold.’
The National Assembly Building.......
More precisely, Yeouido, where the National Assembly Building was located.
That place was Seoul’s survivors’ stronghold.
As if that wasn’t a lie,
the closer we got to Yeouido, the number of people visible around us increased sharply.
They were wearing various protective suits, or carrying rifles slung on their shoulders,
but even so, it was a considerable number of humans.
Yeouido was an island, but
its boundary with the mainland was closer to a small stream than a river.
It wouldn’t be usable as a moat.
Even so, the reason they chose this place as their stronghold was probably.......
‘Symbolism, maybe.’
Yeouido carried a feeling of symbolizing the politics of the Republic of Korea.
They were calling themselves the government.
If they wanted to borrow the power that name carried, a place like this was appropriate.
In fact, even leaving that aside,
a terrain adjacent to a river reduces the routes by which enemies can approach over land.
And they’d be able to supply drinking water easily...... so it wasn’t a terrible stronghold.
“The others will probably be waiting while preparing the meeting. Among them, there’ll be some prickly types...... but I’ll coordinate that well, so.......”
But.
At that moment.
CRRRK.......
“......Huh?”
In the place we were approaching.
Near Yeouido’s sky.
Something like black noise became visible.
At first, I thought it was a mistake.
After pushing myself in Gyeonggi Province, my condition hadn’t been good,
so I thought my vision blurred for a moment and I was seeing things.
But.
“......Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan?”
“.......”
CRRRRRK.......
CRACK.......
“What is that?”
As that noise-like thing started growing bigger and wider,
only then did I realize it wasn’t just my mistake.
First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok, who had spotted it, frowned and threw out the question,
but Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan’s answer was.......
“......I don’t know, either.”
He said he didn’t know.
“Most of the dangerous elements within Seoul should be fully subdued...... then what is that?”
And unfortunately.
We weren’t given enough time to even speculate about what it was.
KIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEK!!!
“!?”
From within that twisted hole.
Monsters poured out.
