It's been a while since I've felt this way.
From a distance, I spotted a man nad Kim Byung-cheol.
He wasn’t particularly tall.
His physique was average, and nothing about him really stood out.
His hair was cropped short, and he wore a neatly pressed military uniform, a simple dal pinned to his chest.
The only odd thing was the unusual gleam in one of his eyes. I was puzzled until I looked closer and realized he was wearing a monocle.
I’d heard that monocles weren’t suited for East Asians due to the lack of a prominent supraorbital ridge, but Kim Byung-cheol seed to have figured sothing out. Every ti he turned his head, sunlight glinted off the lens, scattering light in all directions.
In front of Kim Byung-cheol, Kim Daram stood stiffly, explaining the operation.
She was likely arguing that the current situation was highly unfavorable and that it would be better to wait for another opportunity.
Kim Byung-cheol listened to her in silence, then suddenly threw his head back and let out a bizarre cry.
"Achtung!"
What the hell?
Everyone except Kim Daram stood at attention, listening intently to Kim Byung-cheol’s words.
I couldn’t hear what he was saying from here, but judging by the expressions on their faces, things weren’t going well.
Kim Daram soon let out a sigh and walked over to .
"He says we have to take care of it today. No exceptions."
"That so?"
"He has his reasons."
"And what reasons are those?"
"That by tomorrow, there will be even more fanatics."
"That, I can agree with."
Kim Byung-cheol was right.
Now that the National Assembly building had been declared a holy site, more zealots would flock to it.
And once their numbers grew, they would solidify their defenses, turning the building into an impenetrable fortress.
"But what do we do? I don’t see a way in."
Reinforcents had arrived, and the zealots had entrenched themselves throughout the Assembly building. Hours of work on our end had been rendered useless.
We’d have to start over, wiping out each defensive position one by one. It was the safest way to minimize casualties while eliminating the monsters.
But it was already 4 PM.
The sun was beginning to set.
This had to end before nightfall.
"Wait. Let’s think this through."
I went with Kim Daram into the command tent to reevaluate the plan from scratch.
Ideas ca and went in my head.
It had been a while since I had to rack my brain like this.
I had hunted monsters from ti to ti after the war, but deploying and maneuvering unit formations? This was the first ti since I left the battlefield.
It was exhausting work, but I had to admit—I liked it.
I was laying out the entire battlefield.
Watching my strategy unfold, each piece moving as expected, was one of the rare satisfying monts a battlefield could offer.
I felt Kim Daram’s gaze on .
Given that my injuries had long since been exposed, wearing an eyepatch at this point was pointless. But since I still limped from ti to ti, I had no room to lecture her.
Still, she had the sa look on her face as she used to.
Like she was waiting for my orders, just like in the past—when she was my loyal subordinate.
"Here’s what we’ll do."
I suggested a rather reckless plan.
Kim Daram’s expression twisted in disbelief.
"You want a helicopter?"
"Tell the general. If he wants the Assembly building today, this is the only way."
Kim Daram rubbed her chin in frustration and sighed.
"It might not work."
*
Beep—
A sharp whistle pierced the darkening sky over Seoul.
A total of 55 combatants advanced toward the National Assembly building.
Every available soldier in the area had been gathered.
Drones hovered overhead, covering every angle, while three armored vehicles and five designated marksn provided suppressive fire from behind.
Their job was to keep the enemy’s heads down.
Bang!
The mont a shadow flickered past a window, bullets or 20mm cannon rounds tore through it.
With this overwhelming fire support, our forces stord the Assembly building.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
Boom!
The battle erupted imdiately.
These zealots were better ard and fought more ferociously than the ones we had taken out earlier.
"Protect the Divine One!"
"They’re trying to steal our God!"
They were desperate.
But so was I.
I wanted to go ho.
What better reason was there to fight with everything I had?
As the battle intensified, I boarded the helicopter.
Beyond the open door, an old general, his uniform adorned with four stars, watched from afar.
I avoided his gaze and turned to Kim Daram.
"Let’s go."
The helicopter lifted off.
Now ca the most dangerous part.
Did the enemy have Stinger missiles or not?
I was betting my life that they didn’t.
To increase our odds of survival, our marksn and armored vehicles laid down relentless cover fire, ensuring that no enemy could even peek out from their positions.
But this was war.
Anything could happen.
"Maintain approach."
So far, no signs of anti-air missiles.
Still tense, I grabbed the rope and secured it to my harness.
"Distance: 500 ters."
The pilot’s voice was dry and calm.
The heavy thumping of the rotors filled the air as the military helicopter steadily approached the Assembly building.
"300 ters."
I took a deep breath and ntally checked the position of every weapon I carried.
"200 ters."
Bang!
A gunshot rang out.
Kim Daram’s shot.
"Tango down."
Click—
She reloaded and muttered,
"100 ters."
Below, I could see the Assembly grounds—the abandoned gardens, makeshift barracks, armored vehicles, and prone marksn still firing.
"50 ters!"
I gripped the rope and peered down.
The pilot suddenly scread.
"S-Stinger!"
Bang!
Kim Daram fired again, her rifle kicking so hard it made her stagger.
"Tango down."
"30 ters!"
I could see it now.
The heart of South Korea’s constitutional history—the massive square and do structure.
That iconic do had partially collapsed during the war.
And beneath it lay the very place where the nation’s representatives once gathered.
And I knew.
I knew what was waiting inside.
A monster.
A Spider-Type.
It was classified as a standard Spider-Type, but there was nothing standard about this one.
When it erged from the capsule, it had—quite literally—worn the man who had been transporting it like a hat.
"10 ters!"
As the pilot shouted, I grabbed the rope and leapt down.
"Descent!"
I plunged into the gap.
No prior reconnaissance.
No one had entered this hole before—not a single drone, not a single soldier.
All we knew was that this breach led into the Assembly chamber.
The world blurred past in an instant.
But I only focused on one thing.
The enormous chamber below—the vast hall filled with about 300 seats.
Bang!
Kim Daram’s rifle flashed once more.
And then I saw it.
The Assembly floor, stained a dull gray.
Thud!
I landed, cut the rope, and scrambled for cover.
"What the hell?!"
"Enemy! Enemy!"
People.
Two of them.
But they weren’t prepared.
Bang! Bang!
I confird their deaths and scanned the surroundings.
There it was.
The true master of this Assembly.
A Spider-Type.
Nad for its resemblance to a spider.
But this one was different.
It carried the mangled upper half of a man on its back, like a grotesque statue.
A man whose face I knew all too well.
"..."
Park Sang-min.
It had been years, but his face was frozen in ti—just as it had been the mont the capsule exploded.
That was why the zealots called this monster their Divine One.
Not once questioning how this poor man had been reduced to nothing more than a decoration.
"Protect the Divine One!"
"The enemy is after our God!"
Bang! Bang!
Gunfire rang out from above the roof.
At so point, Kim Daram had landed beside the roof and was providing cover fire.
"I’ve got your back."
From afar, I saw that she had already discarded her eyepatch.
That ant I had to give it my all, too.
I let go of the limp I’d been faking and looked up at the Spider-Type, which was slowly trying to rise.
Shhhk—
I drew both axes.
Already within my reflection field’s range.
The Spider-Type couldn't win a lee fight against at this distance.
My axes danced with abandon.
Crunch!
Crack!
Squelch!
There was sothing addictive about hacking apart a monster’s bark-like flesh.
Sothing about watching it dismber and inch closer to oblivion filled with a sick sense of exhilaration, clearing my mind even as it stirred sothing darker.
I didn’t know if it was the satisfaction of revenge or so deeper, subconscious sadism toward monsters.
All that mattered was that I enjoyed it.
Crunch!
That wasn't just a fleeting thought of the day.
It was an objective truth, proven by the forbidden record I had accumulated from killing countless enemies on the battlefield.
"Clear!"
"The Assembly is secured!"
The spectators arrived.
The hunters who had been running interference outside finally breached the building.
Among them was a rough-looking man with a tattoo on his teeth.
His face twisted in shock when he saw , but to , he was nothing but a welco sight.
Their arrival ant another clean hunt was complete.
The monster, already shredded from multiple strikes, tried to raise its trembling front legs.
I drove both axes into them at once.
The legs bent backward at an unnatural angle, and the creature collapsed.
At that mont, Park Sang-min’s upper body ca down to my eye level.
I stared into his gaping, ashen face and spoke calmly.
"I was a little late."
After finishing what little was left to say, I buried my axe into his head.
Crunch!
May the last representative of this Assembly rest in peace.
*
The hunt was over, and night had fallen.
The zealots who had resisted so fiercely scattered into the ruins the mont they saw their so-called Divine One perish.
Outside the Assembly, the hunters were celebrating their victory, raising a modest toast.
Of course, I didn’t join them.
Amid the boisterous cheers, Kim Daram approached .
Our eyes t, and, as if by silent agreent, we both smiled awkwardly.
She moved first.
With a wry grin, she took off her eyepatch.
Where I had expected emptiness, her sharp, lively eyes remained intact, gleaming as brightly as ever.
I stared at her accusingly.
She smirked and shrugged.
"You were cosplaying too, weren’t you? I figured if I did this, it would make you co along. Thought it might play into your stubborn personality."
She looked away and laughed, a little bitterly.
Even as we shared this mont, I could feel it.
That invisible wall between us—sothing that could never be erased.
But tonight, I wanted to end things with a simple, unguarded laugh.
"Kim Daram, you really..."
That was just the mood.
"I'm a mother now, you know."
She grinned—sowhere between a smirk and a sneer—and signaled toward the armored vehicle.
The doors opened, and she climbed in.
"We're moving out."
The armored vehicle rumbled to life and started forward.
Even as it rolled away, Kim Daram stood by the roadside, watching off.
I glanced back at her.
Her tall, sturdy fra carried a presence that rivaled any man’s.
And then, like the first ti I saw her at school, she strode away with the graceful power of a panther, disappearing into the bright, celebratory night.
"Team Leader!"
"Kim Team Leader!"
She stood in the light, basking in the cheers, the admiration, the respect.
Once upon a ti, I had been part of that world, had wanted to be part of it.
But now... that bright world no longer felt quite so dazzling.
Had it beco tireso?
Or was it simply ill-fitting now?
As the thought drifted, another realization took hold of my mind.
Maybe my true forbidden record wasn’t the digital trail of SKELTON on the internet.
Maybe it was the history of hatred I had carved into the battlefield.
Even knowing it was wrong, I had still felt exhilaration hunting alongside an old comrade.
And I had enjoyed it.
Maybe, deep down, I had always been no different from the monsters I killed.
"Stop!"
The armored vehicle jerked to a halt.
Soone had asked to see .
I stepped out.
Standing in the headlights was a man in sunglasses and a uniform decorated with four stars.
"Are you the hunter, Park Gyu?"
Kim Byung-cheol.
I’d lost track of him earlier, but of all places, he had co looking for here.
And he had swapped his monocle for sunglasses at night.
"Well done. Thanks to you, we’ve reclaid the heart of Korea."
He smiled affably and shook my hand.
His one visible lens glead strangely in the starlight.
"I can’t fathom why a hunter as remarkable as you would choose to live in hiding. But one thing is clear—Awakened are the enemies of mankind. They cloud people’s judgnt. I don’t like the Chinese, but if there’s one thing we should learn from them, it’s how they deal with the Awakened."
This man.
He liked .
Of course, he would.
I had done him quite a few favors today.
"Do you have a K-Walkie-Talkie? If not, I can send you one with your personal ID pre-registered."
"I have one."
"Oh? You do? Then tell your call sign. Hold on."
As expected, I had no choice in the matter.
Not even Kim Daram had a say here—the leader of the Legion faction was asking directly.
And in this country, no one was more powerful than him.
Falling out of favor with him would bring nothing but trouble.
"Alright! Verilight! Ready!"
Kim Byung-cheol adjusted his smartwatch, far too high-tech for a man his age.
"Go on, tell ."
"SKELTON."
Kim Byung-cheol entered my ID, then suddenly lifted his head and stared at .
"...Skelton?"
His eyes bore into .
Intensely.
"Skelton, huh..."
He smirked, the kind that sent a chill down my spine.
Then, in a low voice, he asked,
"By any chance... do you use the internet?"
"?"
"You’re on Viva! Apocalypse!, aren’t you?"
What...?
What the hell was he getting at?
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