They say the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
It's a common saying, but the first ti I actually experienced it was during that infamous Chinese campaign.
On that battlefield where everything was obscured, where there was no room for indulgent values like human rights or righteousness, you had to use whatever was available.
Especially after the fall of Beijing, when China's decline beca irreversible, there was no choice.
In battlefields overflowing not only with monsters, but also hostile civilians, ard anti-governnt factions, and religious fanatics, it was near impossible to carry out operations with our limited manpower alone.
Of course, using monsters—the natural enemy of mankind—is not recomnded.
They’re incomprehensible beings born from logic outside human understanding, making it impossible for human will or imagination to interfere.
So instead, we used other humans.
Ruined gacities were the most common battlefield form we encountered in China.
These cities were always controlled by at least two mutually hostile factions. If the monster we had to eliminate was located in the center of one group’s territory, the operation wasn’t all that difficult.
We just had to neutralize the monster while keeping one faction in check.
But if the monster was located along the border between two such groups, the situation beca complicated.
We had to prepare for the possibility of confronting more than one faction at the sa ti.
If luck was bad, we’d find ourselves in areas entangled in the interests of three, or even five factions.
In the early days of the China deploynt, when tis were still “good,” we could just steamroll with firepower and take out the monster. But after Beijing fell, the number, quality, and equipnt of support troops degraded by the day.
In direct contrast, the number, gear, and combat experience of anti-governnt rebels surged.
To eliminate monsters in such a battlefield while excluding hostile factions, you had to get creative.
Many tactics were proposed and implented, but the most effective by far was the thod the Chinese themselves called using barbarians to control barbarians—sowing discord between local groups.
It was bound to work.
Humans are more likely to hate the people close to them than those far away.
Especially when conflicting interests are involved.
Those hostile groups start fighting amongst themselves.
And we use that chaos to slip out of the city.
Since we’d already co through this city once, getting out wasn’t difficult.
“Captain Park Gyu! Captain Park Gyu! Where are you? Huh? Where did you go?!”
Pyo Won-sang belatedly sent out a radio call, but by the ti he realized we’d left, we were already on the city outskirts.
It was the price of his greed, trying to bag both Jeong Dae-kyung and the monsters at once.
Recon drones scattered in all directions trying to find us, but by then we had already entered the wooded mountains concealed by thick greenery.
The real problem, however, didn’t co from Pyo Won-sang or Cha In-seop—it ca from soone inside our group.
“Where are we going?”
Even one of Kang Han-min’s kids wasn’t a complete fool.
He’d picked up on the atmosphere and realized we were heading off-route, to an “unauthorized” location.
Woo Min-hee gestured for to ignore him, but... well.
Soone like Woo Min-hee could easily silence him with brute force.
Given her personality and capabilities.
But that’s not how a proper leader operates.
As long as the situation allows it, I believe a leader should explain their decisions and the reasons behind them to the team.
Fanatics are so quick to throw away their lives because they believe in their motivations more fervently than anyone.
People don’t want to die for reasons they can’t understand.
“Our goal is to secure Jeong Dae-kyung, not to die honorably on the battlefield. We could stay with the expedition team, sure, but as we saw earlier, we’d likely be deployed to the most dangerous areas and ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ burned up as disposable. As you know, we’re here at Kang Han-min’s request—or command. We’re not here under Pyo Won-sang’s orders. Technically, we’re just guest mbers from so-called Room 803. We’re not part of the official expedition.”
I don’t believe a few words are enough to win people’s hearts.
I can tell just from their faces.
Moon Yang-gyeong was listening with an uneasy expression, Park Hae-min gave a half-smile like he was used to this sort of thing.
Go Jun-hee didn’t bother hiding her displeasure.
Which ant my words hadn’t landed.
Even so, they needed to be said.
There’s nothing worse than hiding things.
They’re adults too.
Forget legal age—anyone who can wield a gun and protect others in this world is an adult.
“I’ll leave the decision to you. You can go back, or follow .”
Go Jun-hee was the first to turn back.
Hot-tempered, sure, but also the most by-the-book. A fitting choice.
Park Hae-min seed sowhat interested in our side, but once Go Jun-hee decided, he quietly followed after her.
Moon Yang-gyeong paused to think, then looked at .
“...You said we’re securing Jeong Dae-kyung?”
I nodded.
She sighed and leaned in to whisper sothing to her comrade.
That she returned to my side afterward was a bit unexpected—but not exactly welco either.
It was awkward.
Unlike the younger kids, my traditional allies were of course already committed to following .
“Where are we going?”
As usual, Emgu asked casually, cheerful as ever.
I smiled and replied.
“Prophet.”
“Prophet? You an that Prophet from the Soup War?”
“It’s the Spoon War. Spoon War.”
“Still, doesn’t ‘Soup War’ sound better than ‘Spoon’?”
“...Anyway, we’re eting that guy.”
Roughly around here.
Sure enough, there were signs of life.
Soon, soldiers erged from the woods, clad in a mismatched blend of U.S. military jackets and ROK Army fatigues.
Prophet’s people.
And Prophet himself appeared a few steps behind them.
“That’s Prophet?”
Emgu asked.
I nodded and straightened my back confidently in front of Prophet.
He took off his sunglasses and gave a friendly look.
“Skelton.”
His glittering eyes quickly scanned over to Woo Min-hee.
“...You brought a big shot.”
Woo Min-hee only gave a faint smirk.
Reaching out to Prophet was an extension of the idea that the enemy of my enemy could be a friend.
He opposed Jeong Dae-kyung.
“What’s your plan?”
Of course, I wasn’t under the illusion that he was on our side.
But he wasn’t hostile either.
That was what mattered.
“I plan to observe for now.”
I briefly explained our reasons.
Especially emphasizing that Pyo Won-sang was trying to use us as at shields.
“...Is that so?”
Prophet’s reaction wasn’t exactly warm.
Well, it’s not like we gave him advance notice. Not only that, we’d brought soone as dangerous as Woo Min-hee—anyone would be on edge.
So I added one more line.
“Our goal is only Jeong Dae-kyung.”
Everyone has a magic word.
For Prophet, that magic word was those three syllables: Jeong Dae-kyung.
His guarded deanor softened, and after glancing briefly at Woo Min-hee, he let out a shallow sigh and turned around.
“Yeah. That bastard’s the real problem. I get it. Co with for now.”
Prophet led us to his camp.
It was a sparse setup by a low-water valley—just so camouflage netting and makeshift tents.
Still, befitting a major power in the region, the inside was stocked with various electronics and surveillance gear—including a live feed showing the entire city currently under attack.
As we watched the footage, Prophet spoke.
“...It’s just like last ti.”
The city was still holding up for now.
Apparently Cha In-seop’s experience with Rift duty wasn’t a bluff—he was handling the monsters’ attacks from all directions pretty efficiently.
Though most of the credit should probably go to South Korea’s artillery units.
Drones still hovered above the mountain peaks, but they weren’t engaging.
Even if taking out Jeong Dae-kyung is the priority, leaving those monsters unchecked will cost the entire region—so they don’t have the leeway to act.
Besides, they can’t afford to waste valuable drones on monsters.
Boom!
The bombardnt struck the ground.
The monsters tried to resist with repulsion fields, but once the damage exceeded the threshold, their bodies shattered like brittle sticks and began dissolving into particles of light.
“Just like last ti.”
Prophet looked at us.
“When the warlord that ruled this region fell, it played out exactly the sa. They had enough force to form a kingdom if they wanted. But they couldn’t withstand the monsters swarming in from every direction... and they collapsed.”
I asked him,
“What about after Jeong Dae-kyung arrived?”
Prophet rolled his eyes once and then stared directly at .
“Since then, no monster waves have appeared. Just the occasional stray creature wandering into the area.”
“So Jeong Dae-kyung really does have the power to control monsters.”
Prophet neither confird nor denied it.
Instead, he simply repeated what he’d always insisted on from the beginning.
“Jeong Dae-kyung is a monster. A monster wearing human skin. Therefore, he is the enemy of humanity. If left alone, only misery awaits us all.”
I understood.
No matter how he tried to dress it up, in the end, he was just a mber of a survivalist faction. It wasn’t hard to see what he wanted from us.
He wanted us to deal with Jeong Dae-kyung.
That was precisely why I’d risked coming here.
“I want to et with Jeong Dae-kyung again.”
Prophet’s gaze flicked toward Woo Min-hee once more.
“I plan to go alone.”
“You won’t make it on your own.”
“Did you forget who was the first to defeat a General-type?”
“...That was...”
Prophet fell silent.
No matter how much he wanted to deny it, the truth was clear.
The only one on Earth to have taken down a Nesis-tier was —Professor.
Against that fact, no amount of denial or twisted logic held up.
Staring calmly at the now-silent Prophet, I asked plainly,
“You must have at least a rough plan, right?”
One of the reasons an enemy’s enemy makes such an efficient ally—because they know the target better than we do. They’ve studied them for far longer.
Sure enough, Prophet t my expectations.
“The ROK Command Bunker.”
“The Command Bunker?”
“Back before the fall, when North Korea was expected to lash out with a nuclear provocation, they built an underground base here to house thousands of troops. The North collapsed before it even got off the ground, but the contractors who’d been paid forced construction ahead anyway and demanded full paynt. As always, the state secretly compensated them with tax money.”
A typical pre-war story.
“Anyway, despite what’s commonly known, the place is still usable to so extent. That’s where the local warlord once holed up, and now Jeong Dae-kyung has claid it as his personal hideout.”
“That so?”
“Right now, Pyo Won-sang’s hamring it with everything he’s got, but there are over a dozen ducts and entrances to the defense system. Pounding on just a few of them won’t even leave a scratch.”
What I feared had beco reality.
Jeong Dae-kyung wasn’t just an over-level-10 Awakened with divine power.
He had extensive combat experience and deep knowledge of the area.
In fact, Jeong Dae-kyung had revealed his own location on purpose.
In other words, he chose the battleground himself and lured Pyo Won-sang into it.
While Pyo thinks he’s driven Jeong into a corner of unquenchable flas, it’s the complete opposite.
Jeong Dae-kyung is safely protected within an unknowable, massive facility—summoning monsters at will.
Which brings us right back to square one.
“You know that facility well?”
Prophet nodded.
“Of course. I used to work under the warlord stationed there. I even know about a secret passage—one Jeong Dae-kyung doesn’t.”
Click.
Good. Then we act swiftly.
Taking ti to weigh every possibility might be ideal, but the current clash between Pyo Won-sang and Jeong Dae-kyung makes now the perfect mont.
“Can you guide us?”
Prophet fell into brief thought.
He excused himself, stepped out of the tent, and whispered into his radio.
When he returned, he had an answer.
“For now, let’s keep observing.”
His expression was stiff.
It didn’t feel like his own decision—more likely the will of Jeokgodan’s leadership.
The reasoning was obvious.
To the survivor factions vying for the Shangri-La throne, Pyo Won-sang was just as dangerous an enemy as Jeong Dae-kyung.
They might be hoping Jeong Dae-kyung will weaken Pyo’s forces.
Waiting for the two tigers to maul each other into near-death.
But life doesn’t always go the way you plan.
The “perfect ti” is always judged after the fact.
You strike when you still can.
“This looks like the best chance we’ll get.”
Prophet didn’t reply.
“If Pyo Won-sang falls, it’ll be too late.”
I looked back at the screen.
BOOM!
Pyo’s artillery division was still surgically destroying the incoming monsters with uncanny precision, but even the blurry aerial drone footage showed it now—
More than 30% of the deployed artillery had stopped firing.
Once the artillery stops, Pyo Won-sang’s expedition crumbles.
And that wasn’t the only problem.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
Bang! Bang!
Gunfire rang out from all over the city.
It was Jeong Dae-kyung’s people.
The sa people who had been docile as sheep during Pyo’s occupation were now rising up, launching coordinated attacks.
Tat-tat-tat-tat!
BOOM!
Caught off guard, soldiers who’d been focused solely on Jeong and the monsters started dying one after another.
Heavy machine guns placed atop Jeong Dae-kyung’s palace spat fire in retaliation, but the newly-organized residents pushed forward from the blind spots, out of the gun’s arc.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
All across the city, armored vehicles, machine guns, field artillery, mortars, rifles, and even crossbows unleashed deadly firepower at asymtric targets.
The city, already drowning in gloom, sank fully into the swamp of chaos.
Watching the hellscape unfold, I said,
“This is our only chance.”
Prophet was thinking.
He could feel it too.
That this might be the one and only opening.
Having watched Jeong Dae-kyung’s every move, he would know better than anyone.
And soon, Prophet reached a decision.
He took a deep inhale from a vape-like pipe and exhaled a scentless cloud of vapor, then looked at and said,
“Alright. Let’s go die. Or kill him.”
We ford the team on the spot.
Given the mission type, only a minimal strike unit would go.
Team 1: , Cheon Young-jae, and Moon Yang-gyeong.
Team 2: Prophet and two of his own people.
We waited for Woo Min-hee’s answer.
“I’ll follow your lead, sunbae.”
Woo Min-hee picked up one of the rifles resting in the camp.
I watched her with slight concern, but she smoothly checked the weapon and gave a faint smile.
“Looking forward to it, Team Leader.”
She had joined.
Not as an Awakened like before—but as a hunter.
I looked at her quietly.
“......”
Whether this really was the ideal mont or not—I didn’t know.
But we couldn’t afford to wait anymore.
“Alright. You’re in.”
I nodded.
In the end, we’re all just residents of a dying planet.
Whatever we do, it all ends in the sa way: death.
“We’re here.”
We had arrived at Jeong Dae-kyung’s fortress.
It was a swamp, filled with foul-slling trash.
And then—
THUD!
There’s a monster in there.
Whether it’s a monster in human skin, or a human in a monster’s skin—remains to be seen.
One thing is certain.
Jeong Dae-kyung is deeply connected to Kang Han-min.
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