At First Lieutenant Kim Hyeon-seok’s words, I could only go blank.
That I could solve it.
“......How?”
“I don’t know.”
I wondered if some method only I could do had come to him.
But it wasn’t that, either.
“If even the current you doesn’t know, doesn’t that mean there’s no answer? In the first place, is there even a way to deal with an ability that rewinds time?”
“No...... that’s not it.”
Thankfully.
It didn’t look like First Lieutenant Kim was mindlessly dumping it on me.
“If it were truly a power with no angle to break into, there’s no way you could’ve gotten your memories back like this.”
“.......”
“There’s a gap worth digging into...... there has to be.”
And.
That method......
“Has to be found by you, the one holding all the memories.”
“Inside those senses of wrongness you felt...... there’ll be a way in.”
*****
‘A way in, huh.......’
Even hearing that,
no clear method came to mind right away.
In the first place, most of the wrongness I’d felt was something my tongue tasted.
And probably.
‘This is just...... me tasting the impure flavor mixed into the air.’
There hadn’t been any clear reason.
I had to find the answer somewhere else.
With that thought, I looked around.
‘A fight this big happened. Seoul’s side will be paying attention over here, too.’
Maybe those assassins had been sent in secret.
But in this outer area connected to Gangwon, the main body of Seoul’s forces was stationed.
What I’d faced in that underground shelter had only been a tiny portion of Seoul’s forces.
Their real force was those soldiers defending the outer area.
‘Soon, the Capital Defense Command troops waiting nearby will come check this area.’
At least before that.
I had to find an answer.
‘......Or we return to Gangwon for now.’
My first thought was the simplest and safest-seeming method.
But I quickly shook my head.
‘The initiative for rewinding time is in that man Jang Youngwoong’s hands. Even if we return to Gangwon, if it rewinds again, that’s the end.’
For me to recover all my memories, I needed First Lieutenant Kim’s order.
At the point this world rewinds, I had to keep First Lieutenant Kim near me.
If we returned to Gangwon and time rewound at a moment when First Lieutenant Kim wasn’t nearby—
I’d lose all the memories I’d just recovered again, and the initiative would swing right back to them.
‘Assassination won’t work, either.’
Killing him didn’t solve anything.
It looked like he rewound time at the moment of his death.
‘Capturing him and feeding him a dish...... would be hard.’
If it worked, great.
But if he rewound time the moment we tried to capture him, it would be meaningless.
‘What is it? There has to be...... there has to be something.’
Thinking that,
I squeezed my brain dry and scanned my surroundings.
And then.
“......Huh?”
In the scene reflected in front of my eyes—
I felt a discrepancy from what I remembered.
“Over there... it wouldn’t have been like that......”
The landscape in front of me was ordinary, if ordinary.
Buildings destroyed by the battle we’d just been through.
As I stared at those half-collapsed buildings crumbling apart—
‘Come to think of it...... Yeouido was like that too.’
Things surfaced in my mind.
At first I’d just thought it was a little weird and let it pass.
But now that I’d recovered every memory and thought it through—
There had definitely been something off.
‘Just like I was able to get my memories back...... there’s definitely a gap in this power.’
......If that was true.
Then maybe.
Maybe I’d just found the solution to this phenomenon.
“Um, Sergeant Shin?”
But.
“Why do you look like that?”
“Huh?”
“You’re sweating like crazy...... are you alright?”
At the soldiers’ words,
I finally became aware of my own expression.
Pale as a sheet.
Like I’d come down with some horrific illness, drenched in cold sweat.
“Did something come to you?”
“......Yeah.”
“Then why that expression?”
“A method did come to me.”
The reason I couldn’t help making that face was simple.
One method did come to me.
The problem was—
“It’s something I really don’t want to do.”
“Huh?”
Seriously.
It was something I really, really didn’t want to do.
“......But, well. What can you do.”
Pressing my eyes hard with my fingers, I muttered in a small voice.
“Since the world turned into this kind of garbage.”
“Sergeant Shin?”
“Even if it’s something I don’t want to do...... I’ll have to do it.”
Hoo.
Letting out a sigh, I turned my head and opened my mouth to the soldiers watching me.
“Guys.”
“Yes, Sergeant.”
“It might sound like I’m talking crazy, but let’s do one order.”
At that,
the soldiers snickered like they were asking what I was even saying.
“Why are you saying that now?”
“If it’s Sergeant Shin’s order, a little crazy stuff doesn’t bother us.”
Elite soldiers who’d done weird things plenty of times under my orders.
At their words, I let out a short laugh and spoke.
“Thanks. Then, well...... what we have to do from here is simple.”
I looked out at the scene spread before me—
a scene far too similar to the past—and opened my mouth.
“We destroy this city.”
“Whaaat?”
*****
Kugugugugung.......
“......Is that the sound of combat?”
Seoul’s main strongpoint connected to Gangwon.
Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan, stationed there, frowned at the combat sounds coming from far away.
“Did monsters show up nearby? We need to send troops—”
Lieutenant General Kim moved quickly to respond to the sound—
But.
“Lieutenant General Kim.”
The one who stopped him was—
“Is there really a need to respond in such a hurry?”
“......Mr. Youngwoong? What are you talking about.”
The man reigning as Seoul’s leader now.
Jang Youngwoong.
“You’re saying there’s no need to respond quickly when we can hear fighting?”
“Isn’t the north already a place where the monster cleanup isn’t finished? With the wall opening, monsters from the Gangwon side probably started roaming too, so maybe monsters clashed with each other. It’s just rare these days—back then, it happened all the time.”
“......That’s possible, but you know as well as I do, Mr. Youngwoong.”
Lieutenant General Kim spoke with a voice laced with concern.
“That northern area is where Gangwon’s soldiers are. We only recently sent them an invitation.”
“That’s true.”
“If they accepted our invitation, it’s possible they were attacked by monsters on the way here. We should send troops and at least confirm what’s going on—”
But at Lieutenant General Kim’s words,
Jang Youngwoong just shrugged and replied.
“That’s exactly why we shouldn’t scatter our forces unnecessarily.”
“What?”
“We sent an invitation to Gangwon, sure, but as expected, they’re people who absorbed Gangwon’s military base power as-is. If they get any bad ideas and march south...... we’ll have to stop that attack with everything we’ve got.”
At that.
Lieutenant General Kim opened his mouth, his expression filled with disgust.
“You’re saying Gangwon’s soldiers might attack us?”
“The probability isn’t high, but it’s not zero.”
At those words,
Lieutenant General Kim stared at the man in front of him.
‘I want to yell at him.’
But these Gangwon soldiers were a target to be wary of, so he’d stepped forward saying he’d help guard nearby in case of anything......
The leader of the current Republic of Korea government.
And at this moment, his one and only superior.
Lieutenant General Kim swallowed down his anger as much as he could and said,
“They’re people who shared information that helped many without asking for anything in return. Great soldiers who devoted themselves to the citizens even after the government’s support was cut off. Suspecting them without any basis...... honestly, I find it a bit unpleasant.”
“If I offended you, I apologize.”
“The Capital Defense Command is under my jurisdiction. There was fighting nearby, so the response is mine to handle. There’s also a chance those soldiers are the ones fighting, so I will dispatch troops—”
“Mm. But Lieutenant General Kim.”
Even as Lieutenant General Kim tried to persuade him,
Jang Youngwoong made a troubled face and said,
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“.......”
There had been friction between them at first.
Lieutenant General Kim was a soldier who’d sworn loyalty to the nation.
And Jang Youngwoong had tried to treat him as if he were his subordinate.
“Then give an order. If it’s an order, I’ll follow it.”
But that was in the past.
Over the last year, the many achievements he’d built.
The meetings among the surviving citizen representatives, and being selected as the government’s temporary leader, and more.
Now, Lieutenant General Kim acknowledged him as his superior.
“......Rather than an order, I’m asking you.”
“Haa.”
And.
Watching Lieutenant General Kim like that, Jang Youngwoong forced a bitter smile inside.
‘What a pain in the ass.’
He said he’d follow orders.
But despite his big, easygoing demeanor, he was rigid to the core—a soldier.
He would follow an order, but
if someone like Jang Youngwoong, who hadn’t even been elected through a proper vote, casually went around issuing orders, he was the kind of person who’d grow wary.
‘If I had my way, I’d put someone easier to handle in that seat.’
In fact, he had, before.
But none of them could train the soldiers as excellently as the general in front of him.
A person whose ability was worth tolerating, even if he was difficult.
“Think about it. Even if those soldiers really are fighting, they’re people who finished their own occupation war faster than we did. If they have that much power, they can handle a minor clash on their own.”
“Even so, since we invited them, they’re our guests. And...... to me, they’re also soldiers of the same nation. If allies might be in trouble, we should help them however we can, shouldn’t we?”
At that.
Jang Youngwoong thought with a bitter smile inside.
‘Help them? Who’s helping who?’
He’d seen the power those soldiers had.
Humans numbering barely a hundred.
He’d experienced firsthand just how much power that small number could exert.
‘I left the northern monsters unpurged on purpose, but those monsters won’t mean much.’
If it was those soldiers, they’d be shredding the monsters left in the north without effort.
In the first place, he’d «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» never believed ordinary monsters could stop those soldiers.
He only wanted one thing.
‘That assassin...... I just need to remove Sergeant Shin Youngjun.’
The person who’d discovered the information he’d tried to hide and tipped off First Lieutenant Kim.
An assassin with stealth so exceptional that even he, a high-level awakened person, couldn’t sense their presence.
That was why he’d come here.
To keep Lieutenant General Kim from sending troops out
until a single casualty came out of the battle happening over there.
‘He’ll be a pretty strong assassin...... but he’s still an assassin.’
For that purpose,
he’d selected only the strongest among their extremely limited awakened forces and sent them there in secret.
‘It’s common sense that assassins are weak in frontal combat.’
A clash with the monsters left in the north.
If, inside that, an unexpected attack by awakened people happened—
No matter how outstanding the assassin was, as an assassin weak in frontal combat, they’d have no choice but to be overwhelmed.
And, just as he intended.
“......It got quiet.”
“Looks like the fighting ended.”
As they went back and forth like that,
the combat sounds that had continued without pause had already vanished.
‘Success.’
At that fact,
Jang Youngwoong smiled to himself.
“Haa...... I don’t know what you’re trying to accomplish with all this.”
Lieutenant General Kim sighed and said,
“But we still need to confirm what happened. I’m thinking of sending a few soldiers...... are you going to stop that too?”
“No, of course not. The Capital Defense Command is under General Kim’s jurisdiction, so do as you like.”
“After holding me up like that, you’ve got some nerve.”
Lieutenant General Kim looked at Jang Youngwoong with a fed-up expression—
then let out a short laugh and shook his head.
“Well, it’s not the first time you’ve done something I can’t understand.”
“Haha.”
“This time too, I’m sure you had a reason. I don’t know what it is, but now I’m going to do my job.”
He turned his head and called to an officer behind him.
“Captain Seo! You’ve already finished estimating the location where that combat sound came from, right?”
“Yes. Like you expected, it seems to be near the border with Gangwon.”
“Mm. Of all places, it’s somewhere our surveillance doesn’t reach well. Were there any soldiers who witnessed the fighting?”
“Haa...... We really should’ve increased the number of reconnaissance posts in the north too.”
“What can you do. The north still isn’t fully cleared of monsters.”
Most monsters inside Seoul had already been eliminated.
But some areas, including the northern border, still weren’t fully under their control.
Because for some reason, Jang Youngwoong had been delaying the monster purge near the north.
“Get the soldiers ready to deploy. We need to go confirm what happened ourselves.”
Watching that,
Jang Youngwoong thought.
‘Sergeant Shin Youngjun will be removed...... and the remaining soldiers will finish their clash with the monsters and come here.’
With assassin Sergeant Shin Youngjun removed,
First Lieutenant Kim would have no way to gather information.
‘On the first day, First Lieutenant Kim was generally cooperative toward us. Before getting suspicious information through Shin Youngjun, he was favorable toward the government. This time, I’ll step in personally and start persuading them from the outset.’
Even if persuasion failed a few more times, if he kept trying—
Eventually, just as he aimed for.
‘The Legion’s countless awakened people will come under my command.’
With that thought,
just as he was smiling in satisfaction—
Fweeeeeeng......!
“......Huh?”
A loud sound came from far away.
And.
Jang Youngwoong and Lieutenant General Kim turned their heads toward where the sound came from—and their faces stiffened.
“......Five red signal flares.”
Five red threads painting the sky.
And what it meant was simple.
‘An invasion by a powerful enemy.’
Jang Youngwoong stared at the city, not understanding.
And then.
‘......No way.’
Looking at that scene,
Jang Youngwoong couldn’t help thinking to himself.
‘Something’s gone wrong—seriously wrong.’
The countless high-rise buildings filling Seoul’s skyline.
Those buildings—
KWAHHHHHNG.......
Were collapsing.
