Zzzzap!

If he borrowed a comic-book description, it was like a thousand birds all chirping at once. That astonishing high-pitched sound struck his ears, making his spine tingle.

The world flashed again and again, and Go Byeonggap hated his vision bleaching white. Whenever he sensed his hairs standing on end, he shut his eyes quickly.

Lightning crashed from the sky, or conversely, bolts surged up from the ground. A few seconds later, a sickening burnt smell spread. The odor of scorched protein was absolutely awful.

‘Who is it?’

Climbing a small hill, Go Byeonggap wondered who might be beyond it. South Korea didn’t have many psychics. And someone with that kind of lightning power, at that level of intensity—was especially rare.

At the top of the low hill, Go Byeonggap swept his gaze across the scene below. A strange smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

“I had a hunch, but damn — it’s real.”

A man in a heavy hood was waving his hand through empty air, like a conductor leading a ghost orchestra. Pale blue plasma crackled from his fingertips.

Those motions were burned into Byeonggap’s memory. No surprise there — he’d seen them more than enough times during the expedition.

Two others stood beside the man. Annoyingly, their silhouettes were blurry; he couldn’t make out their faces.

“If I go down there now, I’ll be well-done.”

He figured he’d wait until the lightning barrage stopped. It didn’t last long. The whole thing felt less like a fight and more like a one-sided slaughter.

Once the ruckus died down, Byeonggap hurried over, deliberately letting his presence be felt. They caught on to his approach soon enough.

“Someone’s coming.”

“Sure enough. Doesn’t look like a soldier, though. Must be a straggler hunter, wouldn’t you reckon?”

“Don’t ask me.”

“…Huh? Wait a sec — that’s Byeonggap, isn’t it?”

“Who?”

Jeong Seongyeong’s brow furrowed, then immediately twisted into a scowl.

“What the hell? It really is Byeonggap! Hey! What the hell are you doing here!?”

She practically shouted it. Byeonggap, already close, answered with a drawl.

“Oh, I thought you looked familiar. It really is you, Noona.”

“No, I asked why you’re here!”

She looked utterly floored — like she’d just seen a ghost. No, even if she had, she probably would’ve been calmer.

Byeonggap gave the three of them a quick once-over.

Jeong Seongyeong. Sim Seungseop. And Han Changhun. All members of Squad C. He was genuinely curious how they’d ended up back together. If Seongyeong hadn’t been shaking him down, he’d have asked already.

“You didn’t actually volunteer, did you? Fuck’s sake! Couldn’t you just stay home and rot? What kind of place is this to waltz into?”

“Didn’t you volunteer to come back too, Noona?”

“Volunteer, my ass. The guild chairman begged me so much I couldn’t say no. You think I’d willingly set foot in this shithole again?”

“Yeah, I guess that checks out.”

Byeonggap let out a dry laugh and looked at the other two.

“Mr. Changhun. Mr. Seungseop. Long time no see. I didn’t think we’d meet again like this.”

“Aigo! I knew I seen you somewhere, now I remember right. We did owe you, didn’ we? Sure am glad to see you again.”

Han Changhun broke into a wide grin and held out his hand. Sim Seungseop, the more easygoing type, just gave a slight nod.

“Why are you alone? Where’s your crew?”

Jeong Seongyeong looked like she had a lot to say.

“No one. I came alone.”

“What?”

“Now then, how’s about we quit the chin-waggin’ and get movin’? Sun’s settin’, so parkin’ us at a camp first wouldn’t be a bad idea, would it?”

Han Changhun stepped in. Sim Seungseop looked eager to get out of there too, so they agreed to move first and figure things out later.

They scouted for a place to camp, weaving through the rubble. As they walked, Go Byeonggap explained his situation.

He hadn’t been assigned through an application and deployment—he’d crossed the Military Belt on his own. A solo decision.

Jeong Seongyeong and Han Changhun shot each other a look that said, Is this guy insane?

“Crazy… I knew you were a weird bastard, but not this level of weird. You came to a shithole like this ‘cause you had nowhere else to go? What, you got a few bodies buried in your backyard?”

“Nah, nothing like that.”

Go Byeonggap couldn’t bring himself to say he’d come to farm goblins. So he decided to fudge it.

“I wanted to know what’s happening out here. Things feel off lately. But I didn’t want to get drafted into the military, so I moved on my own.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Mr. Byeonggap, you said you crossed over eight days ago, right? So you might know what’s going on outside, aye?”

Han Changhun asked. Go Byeonggap shook his head, his face grim.

“Not good. There’s a monster wave happening down south too. Not as bad as here, but people are dying every day.”

“Aigoo, the whole world’s gone to hell. What are we gonna do, then?”

“What can we do? Illumission’s running themselves ragged.”

“Is that so? Well, Illumission does have a ton of hunters—”

“Illumission is our enemy.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

He’d blurted it out reflexively. Go Byeonggap silently cursed his loose tongue.

Jeong Seongyeong and Han Changhun stared at him, faces demanding an explanation. Only Sim Seungseop looked like he couldn’t care less.

“Illumission’s the enemy? What the hell are you talking about?”

“Well…”

“Let’s camp over there.”

Sim Seungseop pointed ahead. A building that had once served as a North Korean government office came into view.

It was about half-collapsed, but it looked good enough for a short rest. The other three nodded in agreement and filed inside.

The air was thick with mildew, but there was no sign of monsters or people.

They dropped their gear and sat in a circle. Han Changhun pulled preserved rations from his pack and laid them out.

“Have a bite too, Mr. Byeonggap. I brought plenty, so there’s enough for everyone.”

“Then I’ll eat well.”

“Finish what you were saying earlier.”

“Before that—what were you all doing out here? No porter, and the team’s too small to be a raid team. Plus I’m curious how you three ended up together again.”

“Ah, that’s a long story…”

Jeong Seongyeong gave him a rough rundown of the mission they’d been assigned. Here’s the gist of it.

A few days ago, a large-scale force was deployed near Sinpo, South Hamgyeong Province. Sinpo was a strategic chokepoint bordering the docks, so a full seventeen S-ranks and sixty-two A-ranks had been mobilized.

The subjugation seemed to be proceeding without a hitch. But then, just yesterday—contact with the subjugation team was suddenly lost.

Headquarters scrambled to locate the team via satellite observation.

But an unidentified force field had spread throughout the Sinpo area, reducing the multi-billion-won observation satellites to little more than scrap metal of equal weight.

Headquarters fell into pure chaos.

Seventeen S-ranks. Sixty-two A-ranks. And beneath them, another hundred and seventy hunters had gathered. If they were dead, it would leave a massive gap in their combat strength.

So a reconnaissance squad was formed to confirm whether they were alive or dead.

Jeong Seongyeong and her party were that reconnaissance squad.

“Us three getting grouped together like this is just coincidence. It just so happened we were among the volunteers, and since we already knew each other’s faces, we formed a team.”

“That so. Then you were heading to a place called Sinpo, I take it?”

“Yeah. Should reach it by around noon tomorrow.”

“But what happens if all the hunters that got deployed end up dead?”

Jeong Seongyeong gave a bitter smack of her lips instead of answering.

Han Changhun, who’d been watching for a cue, spoke up in her place.

“In that case, the whole area’d catch a barrage of bombing. Any monster that can wipe out a subjugation team o’ that scale ain’t no ordinary monster.”

“I see.”

“Let’s just hope they make it out safe.”

The worry in Jeong Seongyeong’s voice turned the air somber. Her face set hard, she turned to look at Go Byeonggap.

“We’ve finished our business, so how about you start talking now? What’s all this about Illumission being the enemy?”

“Hmph.”

“To be honest, I’ve had my suspicions for a while. Those bastards act too damn weird. You know something, don’t you?”

Go Byeonggap swept his gaze across everyone in the room. As far as he knew, none of them belonged to Illumission.

This time, he checked their necks and hands. No sign of the hexagonal pendant symbolizing the Hexagram Order. It might still be too early to judge friend from foe based on that alone, but in his experience, these people were trustworthy.

Go Byeonggap gathered his thoughts and slowly began.

“Everyone here probably knows about the Hexagram Order.”

“Know them? They’re a bunch of cultist bastards.”

“Right. …Any Hexagram Order believers here?”

He asked just in case. No one answered.

“Guess not.”

“What’s your point? Cut the suspense and spit it out.”

“This is just my hypothesis. Believe it or not, that’s up to you. But I’m almost certain.”

The people wore expressions urging him to get on with it.

Byeonggap cleared his throat and dove into the main topic.

“Maybe… humanity will be wiped out soon.”

* * *

Go Byeonggap told them almost everything he knew.

He left out anything related to Asvillam, of course. Even if he told them, they wouldn’t understand. He also tweaked the parts about Ms. Sihui, just a little.

A few patches here and there, but the story reached the audience without any major holes in plausibility.

The three of them listened intently. They frowned and tilted their heads now and then, but nobody cut in to argue.

Byeonggap’s conspiracy theory ended with the claim that the Hexagram Order’s fanatics would wipe out humanity.

Even Sim Seungseop, who rarely showed emotion, sat there slack-jawed. The other two were even worse.

“Th-that… is that true?”

“I told you. It’s just a hypothesis. But given how things are unfolding, doesn’t it feel less and less far-fetched?”

“What the hell…”

“Th-then, where is Ms. Sihui now? Has she already left to catch Go Geonryong?”

“No idea. I haven’t been able to reach her since that day either.”

“Huh… hell of a world. How can something like this happen.”

“Take a look at this.”

Go Byeonggap raised his left hand, showing the hexagonal ring on his ring finger.

“This is the thing I told you about. The one I took from an Illumission hunter. I tested it—it’s real. The monsters didn’t attack me.”

“Illumission, those bastards! Teaming up with monsters to kill people? Who the hell do they think’s gonna just roll over and take it?”

Jeong Seongyeong shot to her feet. Byeonggap hurriedly stopped her.

“What are you gonna do?”

“What do you think? I’m gonna tell everyone right now! Or just cut off those Illumission fuckers’ heads!”

“Calm down, I told you. Even if people believe you, there’s a problem. If we pull our forces from here, how are we gonna stop the monsters coming down?”

“That doesn’t mean we can just sit here doing nothing!”

“Even Seo Sihui, an SS-rank, can’t do anything to them—she’s hiding and running. This isn’t something you can solve alone, Noona.”

“She’s right.”

Sim Seungseop spoke up abruptly. As eyes turned to him, he wore an expression of annoyance.

“Well… regardless of what Mr. Byeonggap said, we’ve got immediate business to handle. Let’s wrap that up first. We ought to check whether those people are dead or alive, don’t you think?”

“…Damn it all!”

Jeong Seongyeong chewed her lips raw, swallowing her fury. Moments later, she pulled a cigarette from her pocket and stormed out.

Sim Seungseop let out a small sigh, then asked Go Byeonggap.

“Looks like you don’t have any other plans either.”

“No, it’s nothing to be proud of, but this isn’t something I can handle alone.”

“Then maybe keeping quiet for now is best. Like you said, spreading it around would only add to the chaos.”

“My thoughts exactly. The front’s already a goddamn mess as it is…”

Silence settled over the room. Each of them likely had mountains of things to think through.

Not long after, Jeong Seongyeong returned, and Go Byeonggap broke the silence that had settled over the area.

“There’s only one thing I want to advise you all. First, survive. Then, think. We need to find a way to turn this situation around.”

They spent the night in a shabby building. As soon as dawn broke, they set out on the road.