"Yeah. Alright, I’ll give it a try."
Unlike , who communicates with people over the internet, Cheon Young-jae uses wireless equipnt to communicate with his peers or companions.
When it cos to versatility, Cheon Young-jae’s thod is far more organic.
Moreover, Cheon Young-jae and the 18th batch, under the sense of solidarity as the "abandoned batch," have used wireless equipnt to maintain tight communication even during the apocalypse.
That’s why I can confidently stay in touch with Dajeong even without the internet.
"Yeah, sure. Jeong-ho. It's , Young-jae."
We were connected to Defender.
"One of the seniors wanted to talk to you, so I’ll pass you over."
I spoke to Defender as soon as I grabbed the walkie-talkie.
"It’s Skeleton."
"Skeleton?!"
"Yeah. How's your younger sibling doing?"
"Ah, it’s just so finishing treatnt."
"Where are you?"
"Chuncheon."
"How’s the situation?"
"It’s not bad here. We already wiped out the believers in advance."
"I have a favor to ask of your younger sibling."
I briefly explained the situation to Defender.
Unlike Dajeong, Defender doesn’t have much knowledge about drones.
"I’ll tell him."
While waiting for a response from Defender, Cheon Young-jae turned to .
"You seem pretty close, huh? It’s not easy to get close to that guy."
"We had so misunderstandings, that's all."
Soon, I received a ssage from Defender.
"I’ll pass Dajeong over now."
As soon as the line switched, a familiar voice ca through the speaker.
"Skeleton! Long ti no see! What’ve you been up to? You haven’t posted anything online lately. Are you in an internet slump or sothing?"
"I’ve been busy lately. I didn’t even feel like installing Fox Gas."
"You said you had sothing to ask , right?"
"Yeah. I need your drone piloting skills."
"My piloting skills?"
"You're the only one who can do this."
"I never thought I’d hear you say that, Skeleton."
Dajeong laughed as if she found it absurd.
"Alright. I’ve got a lot of debt to repay to you, Skeleton."
"Yeah. I’ll connect you to our drone expert."
She called out for Ha Tae-hoon.
"This is Ha Tae-hoon."
It was a conversation among experts.
As expected, Dajeong and Ha Tae-hoon exchanged information that I had no knowledge of.
Soon, Ha Tae-hoon took the dish antenna out of the truck, placed it on the roof, and began adjusting it.
"How’s this?"
Ha Tae-hoon asked Dajeong.
"Hold on a second~."
Our eyes were fixed on the Super Skeleton, which had been placed on the ground.
After a brief mont of silence, the upper body of the Super Skeleton began to rotate.
Ha Tae-hoon shouted triumphantly.
"Alright! It’s connected."
Soon, Dajeong’s voice echoed through the walkie-talkie.
"Sothing feels off. The sensitivity seems slow. It’s delayed by at least a second, right? Can we raise it higher?"
"This is the limit. The equipnt’s not great, and the distance is too far."
"Well, there’s nothing we can do. Let’s amplify the frequency based on the current one. If we get jamd, it’s ga over."
"Understood."
"But one second... Haah."
That one-second delay felt like a significant issue to Dajeong.
"Not easy, is it?"
I asked through the walkie-talkie.
"It’s tough. But I’ve got to do it. It’s one of the few chances to score points with Skeleton."
"Can’t hurt to score points with ."
"I’ll send reinforcents just in case."
"Reinforcents?"
"Yeah. I got my hands on a pretty nice toy. My brother. He’s good at picking things up, isn’t he?"
"What kind of drone?"
"You’ll see. Let test it out. Can I shoot?"
"Hold on."
The mont Dajeong ntioned shooting, Ha Tae-hoon imdiately approached .
"Shooting now is risky, don’t you think? We’ve co this far with a lot of effort."
Cheon Young-jae seed to share a similar opinion.
"Yeah. Shooting might be a bit much."
But I thought differently.
Gunshots could be heard everywhere.
Right now, there’s a faint gunshot ringing out from the west.
Of course, it's quiet on our side, but even so, we cannot afford to loosen our vigilance.
In combat, even a tiny difference could determine the outco.
Let’s assu a bullet missed by just 0.1 cm.
It’s still a miss.
Whether it misses by 1 cm or 10 cm, it makes no difference.
There can be no excuses.
Because in combat, only results matter.
So, to get the best result, a little risk must be taken. That’s my philosophy.
"No, we can’t skip this. We have to make the adjustnts. Even if they hear the sound and beco alert."
I am the leader.
Though Ha Tae-hoon and Cheon Young-jae had their own thoughts, once they understood my resolve, they didn’t argue further.
I imdiately went down and attached a suppressor to the rifle mounted on the Super Skeleton.
It’s called a suppressor, but all it really does is attach a can-like thing around the muzzle.
It’s a ridiculously cheap attachnt, but surprisingly, it does the job.
The principle of the suppressor isn’t much different.
Of course, this doesn’t make the gunshots sound like the ones in movies.
It just makes it difficult for the enemy to pinpoint the location.
That’s enough.
I grabbed an unused shelf and placed so empty cans on it.
The cara on the Super Skeleton’s head opened and closed its aperture, repeatedly zooming in and out. Finally, the rifle with the cans attached fired.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Tatatatatang!
The aim was perfect.
All the cans were shot through and fell off the shelf.
"How’s it?"
I asked the pilot about the performance.
"It’s not bad. But the sight... Can you move it just a little to the left? Just a tiny bit."
"Okay."
But Dajeong sure has a lot of demands.
"When I walk, it feels like it drifts to the left a little. It’s pretty uncomfortable, you know? Can you put so kind of non-slip material on the bottom?"
"Please clean the main cara with a cloth. The smudge is bothering ."
"Sorry, but could you write 'Blood Blue' sowhere on the drone? Even with a permanent marker, I don’t care. Oh, is this so kind of jinx?"
Cheon Young-jae, who had been listening, spoke up.
"Are you a pro gar or what?"
A pro gar, indeed.
At least, that’s how I see it.
How many people in the world can drop bricks with a drone and break skulls?
Though it was botherso, I indulged all of Dajeong’s picky requests, excluding what was impossible.
After testing for a while, Dajeong finally gave a signal of satisfaction.
"Hmm. I’m not thrilled about it, but I guess I’ll have to settle for this."
A brief rest period was given.
To be precise, it was the charging ti for the Super Skeleton.
Even during this ti, vigilance was not relaxed.
"Hey. The Chinese sent a patrol."
Ha Tae-hoon said while watching the night drone footage.
"People? Or drones?"
"People. Open-top SUV. Four of them. One has a machine gun."
"How troubleso."
"What should we do?"
I checked the ti.
2:20 AM.
It was a sufficient amount of ti, but in June, the sun rises particularly quickly.
Considering the speed of the Super Skeleton, we couldn’t afford to waste ti.
"Let’s begin."
Ha Tae-hoon nodded and whispered sothing to Cheon Young-jae.
"Mm. Got it."
Cheon Young-jae went down.
I asked Ha Tae-hoon.
"What did you tell him?"
"I told him to grab whatever netting or barbed wire he could find."
"Drone counterasures?"
"Have to be prepared for the worst."
While we moved quickly, a faint blue light began to shine from the body of the Super Skeleton.
"Alright. So we just go ahead, smash the drones blocking the path, and then head to the house to get the disc, right?"
Dajeong’s cheerful voice ca through.
I couldn’t help but feel a sense of satisfaction from her enthusiasm as I replied to her.
"Exactly."
"Alright. Then, Blood Blue 12. Comnce movent."
"Super Skeleton."
"I don’t want to use that la na."
"La?..."
Despite my protest, the Super Skeleton moved forward.
Wheeng~ Wheeng~
Though it was designed to resemble a human, its legs were bent in reverse, and it was made of tal, plastic, and semiconductors—essentially, a war machine—now walking on two legs through the darkness like a person.
"…The die is cast."
Hah Tae-hoon watched the drone fly off and spoke in a low tone.
In his hand was another cara and drone. It was a blade-type suicide drone.
“I hope we don’t have to use that.”
“I hope so too.”
Hah Tae-hoon responded nonchalantly and turned his head.
His gaze was fixed on the dozens of screens densely packed on his narrow tablet display.
“...”
The real battle was about to begin.
It was a war not between humans but between toys. Of course, the human conflict still continued.
“The Chinese military vehicle is approaching.”
“I see the lights. They’re heading this way.”
“Let’s hide for now. Let’s watch and observe.”
While the Super Skeleton Ho was heading toward the operation area, the Chinese military reconnaissance vehicle approached from the other side.
They had co after hearing the gunshots.
It was a problem of our own making, but there was no regret.
It would be more foolish than suicide to die because a neglected weapon failed to fire during combat.
Brrrmm—
The vehicle was heading this way.
It was a dostic model.
Probably a civilian vehicle.
The license plate was still Korean.
However, the color of the plate was different from a regular civilian one, indicating it was likely a corporate vehicle.
Brrrmm—
The vehicle slowed down.
Were they being cautious?
It was unlikely, but I kept the rifle aid at the headlights, just in case there were any low-level awakened soldiers in the Chinese military.
Crackle—
Cheon Young-jae’s voice ca from the comms.
“I’ll take the side.”
Hah Tae-hoon was already fiddling with the blade-type suicide drone.
It was easier to work with experienced, well-trained combatants.
Without needing explicit orders, they knew exactly what to do and moved into action.
Of course, the final decision was mine.
Brrrmm—
The vehicle was moving slowly toward us.
With the blinding headlights, I checked the close-up footage on the fixed cara.
“Look at this bastard.”
Hah Tae-hoon muttered in a cold voice I didn’t recognize.
There was an eerie intensity to the murderous aura in his words.
I soon understood his anger.
On the Chinese soldier's arm, sitting in the front passenger seat of the vehicle, several shining tal objects were wrapped around his forearm.
They were military identification tags from the Korean army.
At least a dozen or more identification tags, trophies from their battles, were wrapped around his arm.
“Those bastards…”
I could feel Hah Tae-hoon’s frustration.
I spoke calmly but with force, as if warning him.
“Ha-sunbae, calm down.”
“...”
His eyes were filled with the fury of soone about to explode. He kept his lips tightly sealed as he stared at the vehicle.
“The front just passed by. What should we do?”
The comms crackled as Cheon Young-jae asked for a decision.
He must have thought this was the best possible situation.
“...”
As always, making a decision wasn’t easy.
Especially for those of us whose results would be imdiately apparent, and who would bear the full consequences of those results.
“Defender.”
I called out to Da-jeong.
While she had her own na, in this context, "Defender" seed more fitting as a call sign for their sibling duo.
“Yeah?”
“How’s the situation over there?”
“We’re about to enter the combat zone.”
She couldn’t see it, but I nodded and issued orders to Hah Tae-hoon and Cheon Young-jae.
“...For now, wait and stand by for my orders.”
Neither Hah Tae-hoon nor Cheon Young-jae replied.
It was clear they weren’t satisfied with my decision.
But I didn’t need to address every mber’s dissatisfaction.
Sotis, being the team leader ant taking the bla, even if the others were resentful.
The vehicle was already passing us by.
At a speed of about 20 km/h, the Chinese soldiers on board scanned the area, trying to figure out the source of the gunshots.
One of them looked in our direction and muttered sothing in Chinese.
One of the Chinese soldiers pointed a finger at us.
The vehicle stopped.
Had we been discovered?
Hah Tae-hoon intentionally let out a loud breath and glared at .
His gaze was so intense it almost burned my side.
I ignored him.
I ignored his gaze and focused on observing the enemy’s movents.
“Hey. Are you okay? They’re right in front of us. I’ll take them out if necessary.”
I ignored Cheon Young-jae’s words as well.
Combat is always the last resort.
It’s right to delay as long as possible, especially when you have no chance of winning in a direct fight with the overwhelming numbers and equipnt of the Chinese military.
“We’ve been spotted. Damn.”
Hah Tae-hoon’s grumbling grew louder as the Chinese vehicle began to move again.
The Chinese soldiers had ignored us and were leaving the area.
Hah Tae-hoon tilted his head.
“They must’ve stopped to check out the Monster’s territory.”
Finally, I gave him a glance and spoke.
Since the comms were intentionally left on, Cheon Young-jae must have heard too.
My grasp of the situation was spot on.
What had caught the attention of the Chinese was the Monster’s territory behind us, beyond the construction site’s iron fence.
It was a desolate place, filled with the remnants of a partially collapsed mid-sized shopping mall, its colors and patterns twisted by another world’s rules. It was filled with eerie, overgrown weeds that seed to spiral into endless right angles, creating a creepy and ominous atmosphere.
“...”
The vehicle was now moving away.
“That’s frustrating. Damn it.”
Hah Tae-hoon seed disappointed that he couldn’t confront the Chinese soldier showing off the Korean military’s slaughtered soldiers on his arm.
But even he, with his vast combat experience, knew the value of patience.
“Well, they got away, but that was good.”
I could feel his gaze as he spoke.
“That was a smart move. You were able to stay calm in that situation. If I were the team leader, I would’ve snapped. As expected from Professor. You live up to your na.”
Recognition and an apology.
It was the best kind of apology you can get on the battlefield.
“You did well too, Ha-sunbae. Cheon Young-jae too.”
I threw so praise their way.
As a team leader, even if no one had done anything extraordinary, offering praise was one of the small tricks I could use.
Just as the tense situation seed to ease, a voice ca over the comms.
“Ah, shit.”
It was Da-jeong’s voice.
“Guys, I think they’ve sniffed us out. There are more of them than we heard earlier!”
Hah Tae-hoon checked the high-altitude reconnaissance drone’s feed.
His drone was a U.S. military night-vision version, far more reliable for nightti surveillance than the Chinese military’s equipnt.
While Hah Tae-hoon checked the screen, Da-jeong spoke again.
“Should we wait and go later?”
“How long?”
“Two hours.”
“No, we can’t.”
Hah Tae-hoon motioned to .
“Hong Jeong-ho’s younger sibling is right. It’s a combat deploynt.”
“...”
“They’ve sent reinforcents to the direction where we heard the gunshots. Three combat drones. It’s about a squad’s worth.”
I imdiately asked Da-jeong.
“Can you handle it alone?”
“No, it’s three of the sa type of drone. These slow-ass walking drones can’t avoid them.”
“Really?”
Countless options raced through my mind.
Though it was a little draining, there was really only one option.
“...”
Ti was not on our side.
I called out to Hah Tae-hoon.
“Ha-sunbae.”
“?”
I pointed to the fading headlights.
“We can take them out.”
Hah Tae-hoon, who had been grim-faced, smiled brightly.
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