The Player Who Eats Steel - Episode 36
36. rain falling on the waves - 3
========================
There were more than one person who wondered why the fearsome man named Choi Young-jun became an AMT soldier. Honestly, if he's that good of a guy, isn't it normal for him to be recruited by a private guild??
Regarding that point, Sergeant Kang Ik-jun of the strategy platoon, who was once Choi Young-jun's senior, testified..
“That bastard? So fucking lazy! Even when I was a private, I was just loafing around and trying to do nothing? Does that make sense? But honestly, I was good at everything, so I couldn't say anything later, you unlucky guy.······.”
He's a lazy genius..
Yeah, he wasn't very motivated at first..
“And he was constantly muttering that he didn't know why he was brought in and had to serve compulsory service when he wasn't awakened because he wanted to...······.”
It's a rebellious temperament.
They are dissatisfied with society and do not want to conform to the system..
“At first, I was just going to make a living by drawing comics, but I suddenly woke up and got annoyed or something, you crazy person! Seriously, I'm still so dumbfounded that I just laugh out loud when I see his face.?”
And there was a completely different dream, a dream I wanted to achieve..
But why did such a person suddenly change his mind and start growing day by day?······.
“Um... I heard it's fun to kill monsters? I told you he's a psychopath?”
It was a rather bloody reason..
After realizing some 'fun' that I didn't know about, I started to show my true value..
“······Choi, Sergeant Youngjun Choi!”
He was standing here now.
He stood with his hands in his pockets, slowly rolled his eyes, and looked towards the monster..
Maybe he was already feeling some kind of interest, but it didn't show on his face..
At that time, the SUV's driver's door opened and the company commander, Captain Kwak Yong-jun, revealed his face..
“hey! Youngjun! I drank alcohol. Are you okay? Should my brother do it? You only drank one sip.!”
Yes. The day before his return, Choi Young-jun met and had drinks with several discharged soldiers, including Kwak Yong-jun. Therefore, when Kwak Yong-jun received the ‘initial response team call text’, he was able to return together..
“no. If you are planning to have a second child and have to take the Chunghwa Line, you need to be careful in times like this. If you fly to one place for no reason, you will have to leave before transferring..”
“······hey! Woah, transfer, why do you say that! I was drunk, I was drunk!”
Choi Young-jun slowly walked over and extended his hand towards Ahn Min-tae..
“Mintae, give me the sword..”
“ah! This is a bit of a state······.”
But Ahn Min-tae's sword was cut in half by that woman's blow..
“W, I’m here.!”
At that time, a female soldier from the 2nd company shouted like that..
Covered in tears, she pulled the sword from her belt over the dead body of her gunner..
“Corporal Eunhee Lee, I’m sorry.······.”
And then, whimpering, he held out his sword to Choi Youngjun..
“W, here... Please, please.!”
“Thank you.”
Choi Youngjun accepted the sword and raised it up to his face..
It was to measure its length and weight..
However, it was a very short auxiliary sword with a blade length of only 50cm..
Woooooo-
Before I knew it, the zombies that had been pushed away by the SUV were all up and approaching the guard post..
The number was still over thirty..
“Me, Sergeant Youngjun Choi! Those things can't be killed with a regular sword! Also, it seems to be a bit shorter than the weapon you usually use. Are you sure you don't mind??”
Ahn Min-tae said impatiently..
Of course, it wasn’t that I didn’t trust Choi Youngjun..
But just now, when he passed by, the smell of alcohol was so strong that I couldn't help but worry..
However, Choi Youngjun nodded silently, as if he was not drunk at all..
“Yeah, I know..”
Among the zombies, an unidentified woman chuckled at his words..
“what? I know, but why do you come forward so confidently? One idiot has been added to cut off my lifeline.?”
Then Choi Youngjun rubbed his eyes with his left hand..
“Hmm... zombies talk? Was I drunk??”
“what? I'm Joe, I'm not a zombie!”
“Oh yeah? Then I'll turn you into a zombie in no time, so just wait a moment..”
His voice was quiet and calm, but the content was somewhat violent..
“Mintae, take a good look. When using a weapon, the important thing is not the length..”
“yes? then······.”
He advanced towards the horde of zombies, and instead of answering, he swung his right hand and his sword..
Cha-ak
‘What, what happened??’
Ahn Min-tae had no choice but to think that way..
With a single strike, the heads of three zombies rose into the air..
Cha-ak!
The heads of two zombies fell off in the ensuing blow..
Cheolpuk-
With the head cut off like that, even a zombie couldn't move..
In fact, it was so natural.
In the case of low-level undead that move independently, they cannot function if their heads are cut off..
But who would dare think of cutting off a zombie's head with a one-handed sword?······.
“Did you just see it? Distance, accuracy and timing are the keys to physical combat..”
Youngjun Choi said that as if he was giving a practical lecture rather than a battle..
However, Ahn Min-tae's gaze had no choice but to be somewhere else..
“-uh! Before!”
This is because the woman’s long blade was falling towards Choi Young-jun’s head..
Chae-Ang!
However, Choi Youngjun blocked the attack without even turning his head..
Really, it was an amazing scene..
The woman's blow, which cut Ahn Min-tae's sword and shield like paper, bounced off so vainly. That too was blocked with a sword of a much lower grade than Ahn Min-tae's sword..
even······.
-Okay!
Choi Young-jun's sword, which was swung at the same time as he parried the attack, cut the woman's thigh..
The woman staggered back with a surprised expression..
“Oh, what is it??”
But this time, a scene that was beyond amazing and unbelievable unfolded..
The woman's long torn thigh was healing in an instant..
It was so fast that it was visible that the wound was forming..
“······That makes sense.?”
Everyone here couldn't believe their eyes..
It was truly an incredible recovery ability..
However, Choi Young-jun still had an indifferent expression..
“What, you're a zombie??”
The woman patted her thighs as if they had dust on them..
“For an AMT, it looks like it uses a bit of a knife? But what should I do with this? Don’t you think it will be of no use to me? Cutting off a few heads of zombies and then showing off to his successor... I know it's really not that good.?”
At those words, Choi Youngjun smiled and took a step forward..
“okay?”
But in that split second, Ahn Min-tae felt a strange emotion contained in Choi Young-jun's expression..
‘I'm having fun...?’
I felt like I had discovered Choi Young-jun's psychopathic side, which his senior colleagues had claimed..
“Well, then... what do you think this is like??”
There was a hint of playfulness in his voice..
And once again something strange happened.
Whoosh- whoosh-
Youngjun Choi swung his right hand twice very quickly and concisely, as if giving a jab..
The next moment, all ten of the woman's fingers were cut off and the raindrops fell down..
“Wow - evil!”
The woman was scared and screamed, but Choi Young-jun did not stop..
I took another step closer and swung two more times..
Damn! Cha-ak!
His left calf and right forearm were cut..
Before the severed body parts could be separated, there were two more flashes of light..
Damn! Cha-ak!
This time, the left shoulder and right ankle were cut off..
“Kak, keuh-ah!”
Like Legos, limbs falling apart at the joints······.
It was so unrealistic that it didn't even feel cruel..
“Shut up, turn it off······.”
A woman who lost her limbs in an instant fell to the floor and moaned..
The tip of Choi Youngjun's sword touched the woman's chin..
“Well, it looks like there's only one place left to cut... Can you tell me before that? Is this bad too? how was it?”
“Please, please······.”
“······Honestly it was pretty good?”
“······.”
However, Choi Young-jun did not swing the sword..
He lifted his right foot and struck the woman on the head..
Sigh!
The woman eventually fainted..
“Mintae, can you get some rope and tie this well so it doesn’t come loose??”
“······Uh, ah, yeah!”
“The recovery speed is fast, so you might come to your senses quickly, so hurry up..”
Yes, we had to capture this crazy raider to reveal his identity..
It was difficult in many ways to tie up a living person with his or her limbs cut off, but it was inevitable..
Meanwhile, Youngjun Choi began to easily wipe out the crowds of zombies that were flocking in..
***
After Lee Hyeon-wook defeated Heo Yeong-tae, he immediately moved toward barracks 2..
‘Seo Eun-ha went to barrack 1, so there is no need to worry about that..’
However, there was a high possibility that the 2nd barracks was still defenseless..
“······Do whatever you can, stop it!”
“Please take out your weapon quickly.!”
Sure enough, as I approached the 2nd barracks building, I heard women shouting..
Slowly! Less and less!
The sound of bones crashing, dozens of skeletons filling the parking lot of barrack 2..
They broke the window, ripped off the security window, and put themselves inside, and even near the front door, they fought against each other, trying to get in by any means possible..
It was moving solely to tear humans to pieces, without any purpose or system..
Pu-uong-
2A shot of fire magic was shot from inside the floor window and exploded in the middle of the parking lot..
Three or four skeletons in the blast radius were crushed..
“The magic works! Quick, get ready again!”
Among the undead classes, Skeletons were good at 'retiring' with normal attacks..
Just crush your bones so you can't stand up again..
However, as in this situation, the number was so large that it was a problem..
“driving me crazy! If this continues, there is no limit.!”
“1It keeps coming in through the upstairs window! Stop it somehow!”
A gate opened right next to the barracks, and skeletons continued to pour out of it..
‘A path was finally cleared a few hours later, but the system eventually collapsed due to significant casualties..’
Afterwards, a significant number of soldiers broke away from the battle lines and fled. The remaining soldiers and executives who hastily returned work together to successfully block the gate, but······.
At that time, irreparable damage had been suffered..
That was history as it should have happened..
‘But this time, we face the wave with almost all of our power preserved..’
Lee Hyun-wook fired all his weapons and swept away the tangled skeletons..
Bur-bur-burb-burr-burb-buck-!
The moment they touched the weapon containing divine power, they collapsed as if they were made of sand..
Just like that, dozens of skeletons collapsed like bowling pins at once, and dust rose up..
“uh?”
Seeing that, the female soldiers of the 2nd company reacted absurdly..
One by one, they stuck their heads out the window and looked at Hyunwook Lee..
Lee Hyun-wook slowly walked between the piles of bones and approached the front door..
“······.”
The tanks blocking the front door slowly lowered their shields..
After that, I saw female soldiers who were not yet fully prepared for battle..
“Uh, that person······.”
“Right, right?”
There were some female soldiers in their underwear, perhaps because they hurriedly rushed out from their sleep with only their weapons..
It was a bit embarrassing, but now wasn't the time to worry about that..
Lee Hyun-wook walked into Barrack 2, Geumnam’s district..
“who commands?”
At his question, the female soldiers turned their heads one by one and looked at someone..
In the area where all eyes were focused, a short woman was standing with a frown on her face..
“······I guess right now, it's me..”
Because she was wearing a defense-colored sleeveless top and no combat uniform, her rank was unrecognizable..
“The officer on duty tried to run away by himself in a car like an idiot, but died alone there..”
She pointed to one side of the parking lot with the dagger she was holding..
“But is that Sergeant Lee Hyeon-wook of the 1st Company? Right?”
Although she checked the name tag on the combat uniform, she seemed to know Lee Hyun-wook..
It was natural. For the past few days, every issue in the battalion has been about him..
And Lee Hyun-wook also recognized who she was..
‘Kim Se-hee has the characteristics of an elementalist, but has an unusual history as an assassin..’
Kim Se-hee was called the goddess of the 2nd Company within the 1st Company, and was more famous for her looks than her skills. However, it wasn't long before she was chosen by the 'Black Tiger' and she later rose to the rank of sergeant..
And five years later, after the second wave, he was deployed in a special operation to assassinate the king of the Orc Kingdom founded in Shanghai, and made a contribution to befriend the Orc King 'Stonox', leaving his name in history..
Among the soldiers of this unit, the three who would later become famous were Lee Hyun-wook, Choi Young-jun, and Kim Se-hee..
in other words-
‘useful.’
Lee Hyun-wook nodded and turned around..
“Everyone, arm yourself while I hold off. We need to close the gate right now..”
“Is it possible alone...? I just looked at it and it seems like it will work······.”
“It won't last long. Mana is not infinite. hurry up, please.”
“all right.”
Kim Se-hee turned around and shouted, “Whale, whale!”.
“What are you doing! Go in quickly, get everything dressed, and come out.!”
The situation improved dramatically with Lee Hyun-wook's intervention alone..
He was able to block dozens of skeletons alone. Even if he were to control just 11 iron balls right away, he had more firepower than an 11-person gunnery squad armed with sacred arrows..
In the meantime, the soldiers of the 2nd Company were able to stably arm themselves..
“move quickly!”
Then, I came out of the building and took the ‘raid position’ that I had been trained in several times..
“Arrange each person properly.!”
“There's an empty spot in front of the shield.!”
The tank stands in front and advances, followed by the gunner, wizard, and healer..
This simple and clear formation was optimized for dealing with such low-intelligence monsters..
rattle- rattle-
The sound of bones crashing rang out, and white demons walked out of the darkness..
“Skeletons are coming!”
“Ready for battle! 2nd row firing! Break it all down!”
A well-organized company of troops was not pushed back by skeletons coming out of one gate..
“Okay, keep this pattern and move forward.!”
In the first place, skeletons were not that threatening unless there was a boss monster with the 'command' ability..
The reason I was struggling until just before was because it was a completely unexpected attack while I was defenseless..
Meanwhile, armed troops began to appear from Barrack 1..
Seo Eun-ha wiped out the skeletons that had advanced towards it and saved Barrack 1..
“Look, the 1st Company is also showing up.!”
“it's okay! If you do this, you can stop it.!”
Some soldiers shouted and expressed relief..
2With one company of troops, the operation to block one gate would not have been difficult..
Of course, most of them didn't know that there were more gates..
Lee Hyun-wook approached the 1st Company lined up in front of the 1st Barracks..
“uh! Hey, this is Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook.!”
When Lee Hyun-wook appeared, the soldiers of the 1st Company all turned their heads..
And most of them expressed subtle relief..
This is because I believed that Lee Hyun-wook would give a trustworthy command..
However, Oh Sang-guk and Kwak Jin-cheol, who had virtually led the entire company until just now, had a shocked expression on their faces..
Lee Hyun-wook stood in front of them..
“Sergeant Oh Sang-guk, another gate has opened at the guard post. Have you heard??”
“······.”
“It looks like we can somehow block this side with the 2nd Company's troops, so our 1st Company should move there and respond individually. Why don't we move right away??”
The company members listened to Lee Hyun-wook’s voice..
However, Oh Sang-guk’s face was filled with uncertainty..
“······Are you ordering me now??”
Oh Sang-guk spoke with such annoyance, but there was not much confidence in his voice..
“No, sergeant, why are you like that??”
“Ha... It's time to show off your pride here.?”
I heard whispers like that from behind Oh Sang-guk..
In this way, in just a few days, the reputations of the two people completely diverged..
“Sergeant Oh Sang-guk, I am not giving an order, but rather an opinion.······.”
“Then I command.”
That was Seo Eunha’s voice..
Before she knew it, she was wearing gray full plate armor and carrying a shield and great sword on her back..
“Do as Sergeant Oh Sang-guk and Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook say. I'm leading three squads and going to the guard post right away. The 1st Company Commander is already there, so join us and proceed with the gate blocking operation..”
“······Yes, I understand.”
Faced with a real order, Oh Sang-guk had no choice but to turn around with a stern expression..
Seo Eun-ha wrapped KG19 around Lee Hyun-wook and looked over his body..
It was to check if there were any injuries..
“Hyunwook Lee, what happened? That vampire······.”
“I finished it well..”
Seo Eun-ha’s eyebrows twitched. Because she was absurd.
Does that mean it can be passed off as a job well done?······.
“You go to the command and control room with me first..”
“Command and control room... Are you talking about this??”
Lee Hyun-wook showed a puzzled expression..
“You know very well that you are not worthy of being among the soldiers over there..”
“······.”
“And when we have time, we need to set up a response plan, and honestly, we need your help..”
Seo Eun-ha honestly said that..
No one handled the current situation better than Lee Hyun-wook..
If it weren't for him, the entire battalion would have already suffered great damage..
“······And above all, the battalion commander is looking for you..”
And that reason was included.
As soon as Kim Kang-seok heard the news about this place, he went to see Lee Hyun-wook first..
‘But he is not in the compound now..’
He had been dispatched to track down the Sword Saint assassin, Kaito Okita..
It seemed like he was probably giving orders remotely..
***
The command and control room was a huge underground bunker that connected the main buildings in the compound, including the headquarters, barracks 1 and 2..
“······3The battalion is connected! However, it is said that a gate occurred there as well.!”
“It is said that a number of gates were discovered near the Cheonghwa Guild headquarters.!”
“There are no adjacent units that can provide support! Rather, requests for support come in.!”
When we arrived at the command and control room, situation soldiers, i.e. administrative soldiers and signal soldiers, were coming and going frantically..
However, 'NO SIGNAL' was displayed on the screen filling one wall of the conference room..
It was natural that over a hundred CCTVs had lost their functions, and with the exception of shortwave radios, all wired and wireless phones and the Internet were out of service, making smooth communication with higher-level units and neighboring organizations impossible..
This was because the large amount of mana that exploded when the gate was opened disrupted communication..
But that doesn't mean there isn't a way to communicate with the outside world..
“13Once Mana Messenger, connection is complete. Currently, 5 communications are possible..”
Like the 'Mana Messenger' that Lee Hyun-wook received during his expedition, communication was possible through mana rather than radio waves. Of course, the scope of its use was extremely limited, so considerable effort was required in many ways..
“······Yes, I will. ah! Battalion Commander, your friend, Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, has arrived now..”
The duty commander and regional magic control officer, Major Moon Tae-ho, appeared to be communicating with the battalion commander, but stood up when Seo Eun-ha and Lee Hyun-wook entered..
“Sergeant Lee Hyun-wook, you are the battalion commander..”
Kim Kang-seok's voice came out from the square 'medium-sized mana messenger' handed over by Tae-ho Moon..
- ······Yes, Hyunwook Lee, can you hear me??
“Yes, I hear you well..”
- I'm rushing back now, but it might take some time. You know very well that I trust you... and I want to confirm that trust again this time..
“Of course, battalion commander..”
- Yes, as I said last time, the 2nd platoon commander is currently absent. There is a deputy platoon leader, Sergeant Choi Seon-ah, but I believe you are more suited to command the 2nd platoon. what do you think?
2Platoon leader Hee-min Lee was on sick leave after the Seoul Station Unlucky event..
The next conductor would of course be Choi Choi, but everyone knew she was not suitable..
- Of course, I can perform the platoon leader duties.?
Temporary platoon leader, it was ultimately Lee Hyun-wook's job to do..
“Yes, I understand. But... I have one favor to ask of you..”
- say it.
“Could you please give me permission to use the battalion armory??”
A considerable number of weapons were stored in the battalion armory..
And most of them were items.
Lee Hyun-wook was now requesting to be able to use all of them without restrictions..
- do that.
***
Ku-ku-ku-ku-ku-
Light came on with a heavy sound..
Cheolkeong!
The floor opened completely and cool air leaked out..
Jeopuk- Jeopuk-
Inside the unlit armory, only the sound of a single footstep rang out..
The underground weapons warehouse of the 1st Battalion of the 3rd Port Horse Brigade, and the weapons lying inside.······.
Those steels, countless steels, came into Hyunwook Lee’s senses..
Comments