“The Legion accepted our invitation and came to Seoul with an [Assassin]... How am I supposed to interpret that?”
At those words,
I subtly turned my head and looked around.
-KI-RROO-ROOK...!
Vividly colored translucent birds, all puffed up with their feathers standing on end.
So that was why he’d called me here.
‘Those birds. Looks like they’ve got combat ability, too.’
This nest of theirs—
was probably that man’s battlefield.
“The Legion’s conquest of Gangwon was too fast. At first, I couldn’t figure out how that was even possible.”
Whether I answered or not,
he kept talking as he stared at me.
“No matter how outstanding First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok’s command ability is, that speed makes no sense. Fighting monsters, sure, fine... but once you factor in friction with other survivor groups, it’s absolutely impossible.”
He wasn’t wrong.
At least for normal human factions, an Occupation War doesn’t end just because you’re good at fighting.
As you expand territory, you run into survivors already living in that region.
And there’s no way all of them are good people.
When you expand, conflict with other humans is inevitable.
“But... if you add an assassin into the equation, it makes sense.”
“......”
“There must’ve been humans who would’ve gotten in the way of the Occupation War. But... if you use an assassin to remove every leader of those factions, then the fight against monsters could be handled by First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok’s command ability.”
At that,
I thought to myself.
‘No, you idiot....’
To be precise—
half right, half wrong.
‘I’m not an assassin. But.’
Like he said,
if we’d had a lot of run-ins with unfriendly survivor groups...
meaning, raiders...
then we wouldn’t have been able to wrap up the Occupation War this quickly.
‘It’s true we dealt with them.’
Ariella and the vassals under her.
In the daytime, the unit members aggressively expanded territory.
At night, Ariella’s vampires cleaned out the raiders.
Even when I left for Gyeonggi Province, I’d kept most of Ariella’s vassals in Gangwon.
Because they eliminated the ones who would’ve become problems ahead of time, the Legion’s conquest could proceed efficiently.
And this method—
“is a very violent way to do it.”
Remove anyone who gets in the way and move on.
It was one of the Legion’s dark parts—
a part most unit members didn’t even know existed.
“We absolutely did send invitations to survivors in other regions, but it was a friendly message, all the way through. Yet the Legion answered that invitation and came with an assassin. How should I take that?”
“......”
“And earlier, First Lieutenant Kim’s attitude, too—does the Legion really intend to cooperate with us?”
I couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.
I’d never even imagined I’d get called out on something like this.
“Why...”
But at the same time,
I couldn’t help tilting my head.
“Are you certain my job is assassin?”
“What?”
Like he’d said himself,
that was basically the only time I’d ever shown other people how I fight.
There were other instances, sure, but the first and last time I showed combat ability that could be considered on par with the other executives—
was that moment.
‘He’s convinced I’m an assassin off that one rumor?’
Something was off.
At my words,
he frowned slightly, then thought for a moment before saying,
“...So you’re not an assassin?”
“Yes.”
I hesitated briefly, then shook my head and opened my mouth.
I had pride in my job, in my own way.
“My job is chef. Not assassin.”
*****
“Haha! I’m really sorry about that.”
A little later,
I was in the apartment he’d guided me to—
inside a family’s home.
“Chef, chef... come to think of it, there was that rumor too. That if you find the Legion, you can get food...”
“You can consider it the effect of my skills. I make ingredients you can’t eat into something you can eat.”
“I see... Food shortages are still not a completely solved problem for us, either. The one responsible for food would definitely have a high position.”
After saying that much,
he muttered in a small voice.
“...With that power, and you’re a chef.”
“?”
“No, anyway, sorry for misunderstanding.”
When he said that,
“I’m sorry. My husband’s got a bit of a suspicious streak.”
A woman brought some simple snacks and set them down in front of the table.
‘Inviting me into the house out of nowhere.’
This was the home of the man named Jang Youngwoong.
That woman was his wife.
“If we cleared up the misunderstanding, shouldn’t I just go?”
After I revealed I was a chef,
he said he wanted to invite me to his home as an apology, too.
‘Is there any reason to call me into the house?’
I’d ended up following him here, but honestly, I didn’t really get it.
“Well, it’s not like it’s only an apology.”
He popped a cookie into his mouth and said,
“First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok seems to be suspicious of us, for some reason. To be honest, we expected First Lieutenant Kim to be friendly toward us. It was pretty surprising.”
Even I’d expected First Lieutenant Kim to be friendly.
They said they’d gathered some information about us, so their expectations matched mine.
“So, persuading First Lieutenant Kim directly seems pointless. I figured I’d start by capturing the people around him.”
“You’re saying that pretty boldly.”
“Would it have been better to hide it?”
Jang Youngwoong chuckled.
I looked at him like he was ridiculous, then turned my gaze around.
‘A family home.’
If you ignored the uniform I was wearing,
it really felt like I’d come to an ordinary home from before the Ruination.
I could feel, all over again, just how intact Seoul had kept itself through this collapse.
“Okayyy, time to eat~”
There was even a child in this family.
A baby that looked like they were maybe one year old.
They’d protected that baby in this Ruination.
Honestly, all I could do was admire it.
“If you’re talking about persuasion, Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan already came by.”
“Oh, Lieutenant General Kim did? As expected... I really can’t keep up with that man’s drive.”
“So you don’t need to explain any more. We’ll handle the conversation on our end.”
“Well, sure, that might be enough. But shouldn’t I still try?”
He leaned back,
then looked around his home as he spoke.
“I wanted to show this to someone from the Legion at least once.”
“...?”
“This is the scene I want to protect.”
He stood up from the table,
then lightly tapped the baby’s cheek with a finger while the baby sucked on a bottle.
“Ever since the day of Ruination, there’ve been so many bewildering things. But I... I’ve clenched my teeth and held on with nothing but the thought that I had to protect myself and my family. It’s not something to brag about, but I did get results, in my own way.”
“I saw. It was impressive.”
“My resolve won’t change going forward, either. If someone tries to break the peace of me and my family...”
His gaze slid—
and landed on me.
“I’ll eliminate them, no matter what it takes.”
Only then did I understand.
The reason he’d brought me here wasn’t anything else.
To show me his sincerity.
******
“For my family to live in peace, cooperation between people is essential. Thanks to that radio, the Legion’s influence on this land has grown substantially.”
“......”
“I don’t know why you suspect us. But I’m someone with a lot to lose. To protect these things, I’m prepared to do anything. I’d like you to tell First Lieutenant Kim that.”
When you encounter another faction,
some degree of suspicion about whether they’re the real deal is unavoidable.
But like he said—
‘No matter how I look at it... they’re serious about overcoming this Ruination.’
Now that I’d seen his weak point directly,
I could feel it clearly—how serious he was about beating this Ruination.
‘That discomfort I’d felt before, and what First Lieutenant Kim said, still bother me, but...’
Truthfully,
it wasn’t like I’d been certain they were some strange group.
Even the discomfort I’d felt was only at the level of feeling vaguely uneasy.
And that discomfort could’ve just been a minor misunderstanding on my part.
Or...
maybe I was secretly proud of the Legion—
and it was jealousy toward the people who’d overcome this Ruination more smoothly than the Legion had.
‘First Lieutenant Kim really made a mess of things, but... maybe it’d be better to build a proper cooperative relationship, starting now.’
Thinking that,
I looked at Jang Youngwoong and spoke lightly.
“How old is the kid?”
“Hm?”
It wasn’t a question with any deep meaning.
I just figured it would look weird to sit there blankly lost in thought, so I tossed out something without thinking.
At that,
Jang Youngwoong’s wife wiped the baby’s mouth and said,
“They’re one now. Fifteen months, exactly!”
“Ah.”
Because it was a thoughtless question,
I didn’t think much about the answer at first.
But...
‘...Fifteen months?’
At that answer,
I couldn’t help feeling a sense of wrongness.
‘No way. It can’t be.’
Different from the discomfort I’d felt until now—
this one had a clear reason behind it.
“Mr. Youngwoong.”
“Hm? What is it.”
“May I ask you something.”
Even as I felt that wrongness,
I asked him, thinking I hoped it was just my imagination.
“I heard about one-tenth of Seoul’s people survived.”
“Mm. That’s right.”
“May I ask what proportion of them are Awakeners?”
“...Mm. Is this meant to confirm our capabilities as an ally?”
Normally,
asking about another faction’s strength like this would be rude.
But—
‘Seoul was different.’
They didn’t even flinch at asking about an Awakener’s skills.
Then they could probably accept a question like this, too.
“To be honest, it isn’t many.”
“May I ask why?”
At that,
he thought for a moment before opening his mouth.
“We secured a lot of weapons early on.”
“...?”
“The Capital Defense Command’s combat power isn’t that strong, but Seoul has a lot of Reservists, so the stockpiled weapons alone should be just as plentiful as Gangwon’s. After we retook military bases however we could and got those weapons, we became able to handle most monsters. So, how should I put it... the need to Awaken became a bit lower.”
“...Ah.”
“You might be dissatisfied that there aren’t many Awakeners, but I can say our combat power is solid. And we’re planning to increase them slowly going forward.”
“Yes. I acknowledge that.”
“Then if you have other questions, feel free to ask. For the sake of a good relationship between the Legion and the government, what question couldn’t we accept.”
After that,
I talked with him about a few things and was given simple snacks.
“Then, get home safe.”
When all the conversation was over,
and I was returning to the lodging—
‘...’
I blankly looked up at the sky.
Seoul, with its outward appearance intact, yet most of its light gone.
The stars were visible to a degree that would’ve been unimaginable in the Seoul of the past.
******
“As we said yesterday, we brought documents and photos that can prove our identities.”
The next day.
In the same meeting room as yesterday, the government-side people held out several materials as they spoke.
In the photos, they were pictured working in their respective positions.
“And yesterday, I’m sure we were far too rude.”
After the evidence was verified,
Jang Youngwoong bowed his head slightly and said,
“You may be soldiers, but it seems most of the Legion’s members are filled with civilians. Presenting only soldiers’ duties to people like that would be a problem.”
“What are you saying?”
“As I said yesterday, we will proceed with the Legion Commander position and the promotion to Lieutenant General, but the Legion will be an independent unit that belongs to no command structure, and we will grant it complete autonomy.”
Unlike yesterday, when things were proceeding toward placing the Legion under the government,
today’s terms included content that respected the Legion as an essentially equal force.
“Cooperation will proceed in the direction of exchanging materials and information, and consulting together when something big happens to decide...”
After that, too,
all sorts of discussions went back and forth about how the four forces gathered here would cooperate.
The content was quite normal and rational.
To the point it was impressive how much they’d prepared in just one day.
“Mm, at this level...”
“I don’t really know, but isn’t good just good?”
Even the Gyeonggi Province side and the Gyeongsangbuk-do side
nodded along without any particular complaints.
“To survive in this world, we have to pool our strength together.”
“We feel the same way.”
And so,
the meeting’s atmosphere proceeded smoothly,
and the discussion flowed like the alliance between the four forces was about to be concluded—
“May I ask one question.”
“...Hm? Who are you?”
With my arms folded, I spoke up.
“Ah, he’s someone I know. I talked with him briefly yesterday.”
“Ahh, if Mr. Youngwoong says so.”
“Right. Youngjun. You’ve got a question? I told you yesterday too—ask anything. Not just me; the others will answer sincerely as well.”
“No, the others are fine. I only want to ask Mr. Youngwoong.”
“Hm?”
“The way Seoul looks right now...”
I looked at Jang Youngwoong and said,
“Is this... really normal?”
“...?”
At that,
“Normal, you say?”
“...What kind of question is that?”
Everyone else looked at me like I was strange.
Even I thought it was the kind of question that would sound weird to others.
“...Of course.”
At my words,
Jang Youngwoong hesitated for a moment, like he was trying to grasp what I meant.
Then he nodded and said,
“I don’t really know what your question is aiming at, but Seoul is running in an extremely normal way. There’s nothing abnormal.”
“...I see.”
At that,
I looked at the government-side people seated up above and thought,
‘They’re probably good people.’
Right now, we didn’t know each other well, so the cautiousness was stronger.
But if the relationship progressed,
we’d come to know a lot of their good sides.
‘They’re sincere about wanting to overcome this Ruination, too.’
And the results proved they had the ability to back it up.
If their capabilities and ours produced synergy, unifying all survivors on this land would happen fast.
But—
I couldn’t help letting out a bitter smile inwardly.
Advancing the relationship and learning their good sides.
Creating synergy with their capabilities.
“First Lieutenant Kim.”
“Hm.”
“As I told you then.”
That kind of thing—
I knew was impossible.
“...Right. Is that so.”
At my words,
First Lieutenant Kim smiled bitterly and said,
“Jang Youngwoong, was it. And Presidential Acting Authority... Vice Minister Yoo Jinhwan, as well. I won’t talk long.”
He pushed his chair back,
then stood up and said,
“There’s no alliance.”
“...Yes?”
“The Legion won’t cooperate with the government. This decision won’t be reversed, so we’ll return to Gangwon now. Then.”
With that, First Lieutenant Kim really headed out of the meeting room.
Me and the two corporals moved after him, following behind.
“No, First Lieutenant Kim...?”
“What the hell is this.”
At our reaction,
the Seoul-side people, of course, and the people of the other two forces, too, all stared at us like they were flustered.
“Please at least tell us the reason! First Lieutenant Kim!”
From behind us as we left,
Jang Youngwoong’s voice came.
“Was it the conditions? Or was it our attitude yesterday?”
“I said the decision won’t be reversed.”
“Still, you can at least tell us the reason!”
Jang Youngwoong shouted with a face that looked like he truly didn’t understand.
I looked at that face and slightly opened my mouth.
“We...”
When I opened my mouth,
the tongue inside came out.
The slightly damp air of the underground shelter touched that tongue.
“Seoul is a safe place!”
And—
from the tip of that tongue I’d stuck out,
‘This taste is.’
a bitter, fishy taste—
‘the taste of lying.’
I could feel it.
