Volume 1 - CH 3

Chapter 3

“Hey. W, wake up.”

“Ughh…..I’m, I’m sorry……I’ve left you with the burden.”

Black Walker can’t hear the words that Haneul is saying.

He’s hurt so bad that he can’t tell a person’s voice apart.

On reflex, Haneul looked out towards the exit of the terminal and saw the figure of that green monster. It was far away, but you could see that it was bent halfway towards the ground and walking towards them.

Every step that it took, Haneul could feel fear so deep that it could be felt within his bones.

His heart was pounding like it was going to explode.

That’s when it happened.

With the sound of Black Walker’s thin breath, he spoke.

“That, that things…..right th, thigh should have gotten hurtt….even if a little…..so, I’ll leave the rest to you……I’m, I’m sorry…..”

Black Walker was on the verge of dying.

He wasn’t even able to tell who Haneul was. Through his cloudy eyes, he pictured Haneul to be his rescue and companion.

Black Walker was dying, but he said he was sorry.

For some reason, this really infuriated Haneul. He wasn’t able to just watch as Black Walker died off like this. The reason why he’s dying…….

‘He’s in this situation because of me.’

Haneul started shaking him with a face stricken with fear. A person is going to die like this? Someone is going to die after risking their own life to save his??

That can’t happen.

Haneul can’t afford to take on that heavy responsibility.

“Hey, hey you! Get up!”

“Don’t, don’t worry….I’m, I’m okay…..If I just rest a little…..*cough*……..I should be able to recover….with a little bit of rest…”

Recover?

That’s a lie.

His side was completely ripped open with his intestines slowly seeping out. There was a fishy smell reeking off of him. That wasn’t it, blood was oozing out from where his leg was cut off. Just watching all that blood oozing out would make one feel dizzy.

“Listen well! Someone like you can’t die in a place like this! No one is going to recognize you for your act! You dumbass, what’s a hero?? How is that a fucking hero?!!”

“They don’t need to recognize me……..”

At this point, he shouldn’t even be able to hear or say anything with his condition. However, with his weak voice he had said his last sentence, as he never said anything thereafter.

He was dead.

The grim reaper had come to take his life.

Haneul felt his heart turning cold as he thought of Black Walker’s last words.

It’s fine to not be recognized?

“That’s supposed to be a hero?”

I don’t get it. I can’t understand this situation, and no matter how much I try to understand it with my head, I can’t get a straight answer.

Rather than feeling fear at the moment, Haneul felt a stronger emotion rise up in his heart.

“That’s fucking bullshit. What kind of hero doesn’t want to get recognized. That’s nothing. If you die off like that, you amount to being nothing. Dying for the sake of another person, is just being stupid and impractical!”

“Kiiiikkkkk.”

Haneul’s head focused. The monster was closing in.

He got up onto his feet and saw Black Worker’s face. His dying expression was that of someone trusting in his support.

Haneul clenched his teeth and started saying to himself. ‘I will survive. I will do whatever it takes to get through this ordeal and I will find a way, until the moment I die.’

‘Black Walker, I definitely won’t die here. I will be your testimony and let the world know that you did not die a worthless death.’

With the weight of Black Walker’s life on his mind, Haneul knew that he couldn’t die. If he did, he would never be able to rest in peace.

The sad thing is, even if he wanted to run away, would he be able to? Black Walker had the skills to be able to fly around in the sky and yet died a gruesome death by that monster.

Not only that, Haneul had to carry the little girl with him…….

He saw the figure of the shivering little girl.

SHIT.

Being unsure as to whether he was just being crazy or if he was trying to follow Black Walker’s footsteps, he yelled out, “You fucking piece of monster shit, come get me!”

Just like his favorite heroes, he spat those words out, and started running like crazy.

“KYAKKKKKKKKK!!”

BOOM!

He could feel it, the strength of the thing chasing after him. ‘If I turn my head to look behind me, would the monster be right at my face?’

He might just die at this rate, but………Dying like this without being able to do anything……

“AHHHHH!!” The little girl’s crying voice could be heard.

Haneul turned to look behind him.

The shitty monster didn’t follow him.

He miscalculated. His goal was to get the monster as far away as possible from the little girl, but it didn’t happen like he had hoped.

“NOOOO!!!”

With a low growl, the monster started walking towards the little girl. One could also see its tongue moving in and out, just like a reptiles.

“MOM!!! MOOOOMMMYY!!”

At this moment, Haneul felt as if his blood was flowing backwards.

“You, you piece of shit!!”

Haneul started running towards the monster as if there was no tomorrow.

Keung Keung Keung!

His heart beat rapidly as his mind blanked out. He’s never been this stimulated before as the world seemed to slow down.

‘I want to save that child’s life. I can’t let her die like this.’

Fists like steel, a body like steel, a mind like steel. These are the things that Haneul needed.

The strength that the deceased Black Walker showed was miraculously all for this moment, Haneul cried in his heart.

“AHHHHHHHHHHKKKK!!”

Haneul’s yell reverberated through the sky as if the whole world could hear him. The strange thing was, what came after was the feeling of his body getting lighter.

This is crazy.

Haneul kicked off the ground and was flying through the air.

That’s when the monster finally looked toward Haneul’s direction.

“Grrrrrrr.”

As Haneul got closer, he threw out a punch. He knew this punch wasn’t going to do much for him.

‘You stupid bastard, what kind of death is this. A little while ago, you made a promise to yourself that you were never going to die, so what the hell are you doing? If you just faced the cold hard reality and ran away without that little girl………’

That’s when the change happened. Haneul could feel intense heat on the edge of his fist, and in an instant the thing got bigger.

Until this moment, the green reptile looking creature didn’t think of Haneul as a threat and just continued to watch him.

That’s where it was wrong.

KABOOOOM!!!

The sound of an explosion could be heard as the sight of Haneul bouncing back could be seen.

“HUKKK HUKK…”

Haneul’s eyes grew wide as he tried to calm his breathing.

He could feel some sort of energy leaving his body as his legs collapsed under him. He was surprised as to what just happened.

Clunk.

SHweeekkk.

White steam could be seen pouring off of Haneul’s arm, and the monster that was in front of him not too long ago, could be seen stuck into a parked car.

He couldn’t understand what happened. As the smoke cleared away from his right hand, he noticed a silver armor covering his whole right arm starting from his fist, to his shoulders.

“This is…..”

Haneul opened and closed his hand. As he was confused, his vision stopped at the bizarre patterns in black.

“It can’t be…that ring???……”

ChwaReuReuk! (TN – this is supposed to be the sound of something transforming in Korean, but I couldn’t think of a proper sound to replace this with so I left it as is)

The armor that covered his whole right arm started transforming, turned into liquid, and became the ring.

“WHOAH!”

Just as Haneul guessed, the ring was what transformed his arm earlier.

“The ring is what changed it?”

Suddenly, the ring started shining a bright light as it encompassed Haneul’s arm again. But it didn’t stop there. This time it continued past his shoulders, covering his whole body and even the face.

The form it took was that of a sleek plate, excluding the chain that was hanging on him like a coat.

He could see himself through a broken mirror.

‘This is unbelievable.’

He could see the brilliant silver armor on him and there was no mistake about it, he was able to “transform”.

With a surprised face, Haneul got up from his spot and moved his body left and right. There was no uncomfortable feeling. It felt like he wasn’t wearing anything and at the same time, he felt that his senses were much sharper than before.

He could feel heat rising up from his body and as he clenched his right fist, an intense power could be felt.

#

<The warzone>

“I’m not sure yet. I can’t get a confirmation as to what’s happening right now. I’ll go and ask the reconnaissance team.” said the captain of the rescue team, as he made his way over to squad 1 of the reconnaissance team.

1st platoon 2nd squad Sergeant Minhyuk Kimwas relaying information to the refugees when he heard some news through the wired communication device. He began to frown as you screamed.

“Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“I’m sorry, sir. It was formally stated that you manage the reconnaissance team and…..”

“Shit, what utter bullshit. I knew the Lieutenant was a crazy bastard, but to think he was this retarded. How does he expect us to go out there and gather information when we don’t even know what could be happening. Is he telling us to just go and die? Fucking psycho.”

Unfortunately, Minhyuk knew there was nothing he could do and decided to move. The heroes should have arrived at the location of the monsters, risking their lives to save everyone. There was no way for Minhyuk and his team to stay hidden, just so they can survive themselves.

He could see squad 3 walking towards him. They were coming to take over the responsibility of relaying the information to the refugees.

“Now, you people from squad 2, I know everyone doesn’t want to go but you must get ready to leave. You need to let us know what the situation is out there. You have no choice but to follow the words of that shitty Lieutenant.”

There were no complaints.

Refusal meant death.

The moment the alarms went off for the earthquake, their disposition was already decided.

As Minhyuk was checking his equipment, he could hear the noises coming from the direction of Murray’s earthquake.

“They’re still fighting. What time is it right now?”

“33 minutes have passed since the earthquake happened.”

“I guess that means they’re still finishing up the first wave huh.”

It happened as they were getting close to the terminal.

Clunk Clunk.

As the sound could be heard close to their vicinity, Minhyuk instructed his team to stop and slightly turned his head to see what the situation was.

That’s when he saw the back figure of someone clad in silver.

‘It’s not a monster.’

The thing looked to be pretty bizarre, but it was definitely the shape of a human being, too early to make any premature judgments.

“What does the detector say?”

“The magic value seems to be super high, sir. Most of his magic seems to be contained, so I can’t give an accurate number but his magic level is near 1,000.”

“1,000? That means he’s minimum at the C rank level. Is he a monster, or a hero……..”

Minhyuk killed off his breathing.

He decided to watch the situation a bit more. That’s when the silver clad figure started looking around his vicinity, showing what it was holding in its arms. The moment Minhyuk saw what it was, there was no point in hiding anymore.

“We will take care of protecting any civilians.”

The silver clad figure was startled when Minhyuk jumped out from behind him.

“Hello, I’m Sgt. Minhyuk from 1st platoon 2nd squad, belonging to the special territory of the South Central sector.”

He gave a salute.

As a hero, no matter how low the ranking was in the association, they were considered to be at least the rank of an Army Captain. Thus, it was a given to salute the silver clad figure.

“Please take care of the civilian.”

As Minyuk drew closer, the silver clad figure dropped the little girl down onto the ground. As if the girl was stunned, she had no spirit left in her.

“She seems to be in a shocked state because of the monster.”

“We will take her to the relief facilities as soon as possible. Please continue to do your best in your mission.”

Minhyuk saluted again.

Most heroes were arrogant and stupid, but for a hero to come out and save a child in a desolate area like this deserved ones respect.

“No, I………..”

BA BOOM.

The ground started shaking.

Minhyuk was so startled, he lowered himself closer to the ground.

“Were you able to figure out the numbers from earlier?”

“Yes sir. The numbers seem to be fluctuating erratically. There’s no doubt that this is the 2nd wave.”

“Chet. How unfortunate for the 2nd round to be starting already…….Anywho, please make haste to the battlefield hero. If the operation is delayed any longer, there will be huge repercussions and many people who haven’t been saved yet, will die.”

Chapter 3 – End.