The internet is the internet, and reality is reality.
I am soone who strictly separates the two.
However, there are quite a few people in this world who cannot distinguish between the internet and reality, diving too deep into one or the other.
Personal Identification Number: DARAM2
Kim Daram seems to be one of those people.
"Hey. Daram, what's up?"
When I casually picked up the call, a trembling voice ca through the receiver.
"Senior."
The voice was shaking.
It wasn't fear that caused it, but anger.
"Did you say you were on the internet?"
"Yeah, I play Viva! Apocalypse! sotis."
"Blinder. You know it, right?"
"Blinder? Is that the thing you put on windows instead of curtains?"
"No, the internet site."
"Blinder? Hmm, that’s a first for . I only play Viva! Apocalypse! I'm a nad user there, by the way."
"Where are you right now?"
If my intuition was correct, Kim Daram would be sowhere near my bunker.
"Right now? I'm outside."
She replied nonchalantly.
"Outside? Where?"
"Yeah. Paju."
"Wait a minute."
Kim Daram requested a pause.
The reason was obvious.
She was probably trying to estimate my distance using the distance estimation feature on her radio.
"Really in Paju?"
"Why would I lie about where I am?"
"Why Paju?"
"Well, I’m researching sothing. About monsters."
"…That's strange."
"What’s strange?"
"Do you know Dongtanmom? I heard she’s been talking about using satellite internet too."
"Dongtanmom…?"
She paused for a mont, as if thinking.
Although Kim Daram wasn’t physically there, I imagined her dramatically pounding her fist into her palm, making a firm statent.
"Ah, I know."
"Who?"
"Baek Seung-hyun."
"Baek Seung-hyun?"
"12th cohort. He was in the field, discharged, and then ca back to freelance as a hunter. You rember him, right? You sent him to work with ."
"Ah, that Baek Seung-hyun? He's still alive?"
"He's in China now. He’s causing all kinds of chaos over there. I should have dealt with him back then..."
"Where in Paju? Have you passed the checkpoint?"
Kim Daram had great physical skills, but her intelligence was relatively lacking.
So, it was clear to what she was thinking. She wanted to know my location through the soldiers stationed nearby since I seed far away from her and couldn't be certain if I was in Paju.
But I was already on my way there.
"Not yet."
"Then, can you give my na at the checkpoint?"
"Why?"
"They’ll offer you so convenience. It’s pretty tight there these days."
"Okay. Thanks."
"No problem."
As I was about to end the transmission, I heard Kim Daram muttering on the other end of the line.
"That bitch, Bitik… Who does she think she is..."
"...."
Transmission ended.
It was my doing, but I had to admit my crisis managent skills were scary. With this kind of intuition and judgnt, no wonder I was able to earn the Golden Fleece.
By the ti I received the transmission from Kim Daram, I had already arrived near Paju.
I had been to Paju before during the Kyle Dos case.
Since then, it seed like the governnt had cleaned up the area, removing the scrap cars that had been piled up on the roads and repairing the damaged roads here and there.
The old tire tracks left on the roads suggested that large trucks frequently passed through this route.
The checkpoint was located at the end of a neatly maintained road.
Though it was called a checkpoint, it was actually a small post made from a single container with a few solar panels and, at most, four soldiers stationed.
The watchtower that was carefully built here made suspect that the real purpose of the checkpoint was not to monitor people, but to watch for monsters.
The soldiers who had been on the front lines would surely understand the threat posed by monsters better than anyone.
The sparkling vehicle next to the container further reinforced my suspicion.
I could easily bypass the checkpoint if I wanted, but since Kim Daram was involved, I decided to approach it directly.
"Stop. Stop."
As I got closer, two soldiers appeared.
Both wore sergeant stripes.
A mont later, another soldier with a sergeant-major stripe appeared.
In a black cody twist, within the army faction of the Legion, there was no "private" rank.
So the lowest rank was actually sergeant.
I briefly explained my identity and purpose.
The sergeant-major who was taking notes on a piece of paper stared at intensely.
"Sample collection?"
"Yes. I'm here to collect samples of mutated plants from the erosion zone."
From my experience in South Korea, mimicking the actions of people who are recognized by authority figures is an easy way to gain credibility.
When the soldiers seed confused, I dropped Kim Daram’s na.
It seed that Kim Daram was quite well-known within the Legion faction.
But the reason they let pass wasn’t because of Kim Daram’s reputation. It was more likely due to their specific mission.
"Well, if you’re going, we won’t stop you."
As I had expected, the only job for these soldiers was to monitor monsters. Whether or not people ca and went wasn’t their concern.
"Still, it’s good to be cautious. As you know, beyond here, it’s a full erosion zone. You’ll occasionally see not just monsters and mutations, but crazy, out-of-their-minds people too."
"Understood. Do monsters ever cross over?"
"Sotis, but not too many."
"Is that so?"
That was surprising.
At this distance, I expected to see a lot of mid-sized monsters, practically tripping over them.
Maybe it would’ve been different during the killzone days, but not in tis like these.
After parting ways with the soldiers, I went further down the road.
At so point, the road’s condition deteriorated rapidly, and the scenery turned a dull gray.
Perhaps Kyle Dos’ bunker was around here? It was said to have been eroded, but it wasn’t this bad back then.
From the scorched earth and traces of shelling, it seed that battles might have occurred here while I was unaware.
I headed towards the abandoned military base, as I had heard from Woo Min-hee.
It used to be a base for an elite unit that ford a killzone in front of a rift, but now it had turned into a broken concrete grave, with grass growing all over it.
A white flag was fluttering above the graveyard.
A surrender to the monsters, perhaps?
Passing the half-damaged flag, I saw a cluster of containers that made up a hideout.
A man stood on a high rock, his faint aura watching as I approached.
As soon as he spoke into the communicator, several people erged from the containers.
Only one of them was ard, but most of their eyes held a faint glow.
I imdiately called Woo Min-hee on the radio.
The door to the mansion at the highest point opened.
"Senior~!"
My junior, wearing a prosthetic arm and leg and a white coat, waved at enthusiastically from above.
*
Seokwiwon, 551st Observation Base
Commonly known as the Gray Valley.
This was the last refuge where Woo Min-hee and her subordinates had gathered.
The camp appeared to have around 20 to 30 people. The health and cleanliness of the individuals were good, and the atmosphere was not as bad as I had imagined.
Woo Min-hee was living in the military quarters.
She guided to the reception room.
An unfamiliar woman, who appeared to be an Awakened, served us tea.
Woo Min-hee nonchalantly picked up the teacup with her prosthetic arm and savored the tea in front of .
"Why the sudden rush to co here?" she asked.
"Just because. I figured I should pay you back for everything you've done for ," I replied.
I pulled out the supplies I had brought: food, dical supplies, and so comfort items like sugar.
Included in the food were dried herbs I had personally grown. It wasn't much, but for a group of 30, it might barely suffice.
I made sure to get straight to the point.
"Is it okay if I stay for a few days? I have sothing I’d like to investigate personally."
One of Kim Daram's nicknas is "Goldfish."
That’s because his mory isn’t great.
More accurately, he tends to rember only what’s necessary and forgets the rest quickly. But it’s a good trait.
It’s especially useful for people like us who have seen so many unspeakable things on the battlefield.
I figured that in about three days, he would cool down.
Even though the battlefield was dangerous, it was nothing compared to Kim Daram being called “the fishwife.”
“How many days do you need?” Woo Min-hee asked.
“Three days? No, maybe just two.”
Woo Min-hee stared at with a peculiar look.
“Did you get yourself into trouble or sothing?”
“You know , right? I’m the model student.”
“Hmmm…”
I deliberately ignored the insinuation in Woo Min-hee’s eyes and looked around.
Sothing about the place didn’t match my expectations.
I had imagined a chaotic battlefield, one that seed ready to crumble under a monster attack at any mont.
But contrary to that, there were no visible signs of conflict, and none of the Awakened, including Woo Min-hee, showed any signs of stress from the battlefield.
No matter how easily the Awakened may defeat monsters, this was an erosion zone.
It wasn’t just fighting a few small monsters; this was a place where hordes of dium-sized monsters road.
And now there were even monsters targeting the Awakened.
Even with Woo Min-hee here, the tranquility was hard for soone like , who had spent so long in the trenches, to understand.
Then, as if to prove wrong, gunshots rang out.
Looking out the window, Woo Min-hee smiled.
“Ignore it. It’s nothing.”
“Nothing? Really?”
“North Koreans. They’re probably just scouting for sothing to steal, food or whatever.”
Woo Min-hee stood by the window, pointing towards the gray forest with a hook-like finger.
Indeed, there was a gaunt figure with hollow eyes staring in our direction from a distance.
Bang!
A bullet shot through the tree beside us, but the middle-aged woman didn’t flinch. She just continued to stare at us before turning away.
The figure was human in appearance, but there was sothing distinctly inhuman about it, enough to send a chill through that I hadn’t felt in a long ti.
"Are you guys alright?"
People in the erosion zone tend to lose their sanity.
Though many deny it, those of us on the ground accept it as undeniable fact.
“Oh, we’re fine. Despite the condition, we’ve been maintaining strict quarantine protocols. We’re doing regular health checks, and we’ve secured clean drinking water.”
Woo Min-hee led outside the mansion.
Atop a sharp mountain peak, a pale, wall-like structure stood shrouded in the faint mist, rising slowly along the slope.
She guided toward the structure.
As I got closer, I realized it wasn’t a wall.
It was a long net, suspended in endless rows.
I knew what this tool was.
“This is... a fog collector?”
“Oh? You know it?”
Woo Min-hee looked at with surprise, but any veteran Viva! Apocalypse! player would know it.
In mountainous regions of Africa, where groundwater is hard to co by, a similar net is spread out to collect the water in fog and channel it through pipes to secure a large amount of water for daily use.
Given the equipnt's need for a wide, sloped area, this would be more suitable for collective survivalists rather than individual ones like . Still, I had once considered buying it when rumors circulated that nuclear strikes would contaminate South Korea's groundwater.
“The underground water in the erosion zones is especially dangerous, they say. There was a hypothesis published by our research lab about the sap leaking from trees mutated by the erosion affecting the mind.”
“I see.”
As I listened to her explanation, I surveyed the surroundings.
Once again, no signs of combat.
“Senior, what are you thinking about?”
Woo Min-hee was sharp.
I imdiately spoke my mind.
“Where do you stop the monsters?”
At my question, Woo Min-hee gave a sly smile.
She started walking back toward the mansion, speaking as she did.
“We don’t stop them.”
“What?”
I couldn’t understand.
Song Yoo-jin had said that Woo Min-hee went to the frontlines to fight monsters.
I thought they were actually stopping monsters. After all, with so many monsters appearing, there was no doubt that large ones could be found in Seoul as well.
If that were the case, any dreams of recovering the National Assembly would have been impossible.
“Ah.”
Woo Min-hee smiled knowingly and looked at intensely.
“I think it’s ti to tell you. At this point, there’s no reason to hide it anymore.”
I was waiting for her to speak, wondering if there was sothing she was keeping back.
“We don’t need to stop them. Think about it. Why did we fight the monsters in the past? Because if they appeared, Seoul and the tropolitan area would be hit, so we fought with blood and money, right?”
“True.”
“What about India and Pakistan? They didn’t stop each other. They just kept an eye on the open rifts and hunted only the monsters that ca their way, ignoring the others.”
That was true.
“If we’re being honest, most monsters will eventually self-destruct, except for certain types. If there’s nothing to stop, there’s no need to kill monsters. Especially in a world like today, where resources are scarce.”
“So, what do you do then?”
I had already predicted one possibility in my mind.
It was manipulation.
Drawing the monsters elsewhere and waiting for them to self-destruct.
As Woo Min-hee had said, it was the wisest solution, one that didn’t require shedding any blood.
“We lure them,” she said.
That left one problem.
How do you lure monsters—creatures that are almost machine-like, devoid of intelligence and instinct, and move only according to their programming?
As far as I knew, no such thod had been developed or researched.
But Woo Min-hee seed to have found sothing.
“I’ve discovered a bias in the monsters.”
“Bias?”
“Yeah. The monsters that co from the rifts have a habit of heading toward positions dominated by small infiltration-type monsters. We’ve decided to call this bias.”
“Then what about those children?”
I asked, gesturing toward the screens. Woo Min-hee turned toward with a smile.
“Those children are the reason we can survive.”
“…”
I didn’t know how this was possible, but at least I knew it wasn’t sothing right.
Still, I remained silent.
I wasn’t a hypocrite, nor did I have an overwhelming sense of justice.
The thought that we were surviving because of those children held more weight in my mind than any hollow sense of morality.
“Colonel Woo Min-hee!”
Suddenly, a young man’s voice echoed from the speaker.
Woo Min-hee tapped a key on the keyboard, and one of the hundreds of screens zood in.
On the screen, a pale-skinned, delicate-looking man was glaring at us with an urgent expression.
I’d seen that face sowhere.
But I didn’t know him well.
The man glared at us with reprimand and urgency.
“When will the food and dicine arrive? Huh? We’ve been waiting here, our necks stretched!”
Woo Min-hee responded in a calm, soothing tone.
“Sorry, Commissioner. The supplies we were expecting from Jeju haven’t arrived yet. We’ll send what we have in stock for now.”
“Don’t just talk! Get them to us today!”
The transmission was cut off.
I turned to Woo Min-hee.
“Who was that?”
She snorted, mocking the tone of the conversation.
“Soone from Jeju.”
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