8.

Before the appearance of the monsters, the power of an individual was very trivial. However, after the appearance of the monsters, the power of an individual had now become something that mankind should hope for.

The hopes of those, who had recently survived in the capital city of South Korea, were hanging on a young man named Oh Se-bum.

He was heroic from the beginning. As soon as the monsters appeared, he fought against them with his bare hands and won. So, they gave him a lot of things.

He was given the rank of Major, even though he was only in the first year of the reserve army, and the freedom to smoke when he was in front of Battalion Commander of the 35th Commandos, who protected the top leaders of the Republic of Korea.

"No way!"

"Major Oh Se-bum is down?"

"What the hell?"

He was now stretched out on the snowy field. His tongue was out, and his eyes were turned over, with dark red blood spilling out between the nostrils of a crushed nose.

'Oh, my God.'

In front of the scene, the solemn, serious expression of Lieutenant Colonel Yoo Dae-Hyun changed to dismay.

There was one more person who couldn't believe the sight.

'No.' Kim Tae-hoon also couldn't accept the sight straight away. 'I couldn't have been beaten by this guy in the future.'

Oh was definitely strong. There was no shortage of skills to gain the upper hand against Kim, who might have no rival among Awakeners.

If it was a battle that used all their relics, not bare hands, Kim would never have won a head-to-head battle with Oh.

But that was all.

'He's not the type to plan a real conspiracy and betrayal.'

He was just strong, but he was not a man of style, able to paint a big picture and plan it out.

That was what he has shown right now.

It was a totally different matter to have a position and background able to show off in front of the Lieutenant Colonel Yoo, and to actually do so.

If Kim were in Oh's position, he wouldn't have shown off in front of Lieutenant Colonel Yoo.

Lieutenant Colonel Yoo was not an absurd person. To make an enemy by behaving as one pleases is a characteristic of a low-grade player.

However, when he came to face Kim, Oh revealed his feelings as they were. At first, he looked down on Kim and immediately expressed his intention to kill him after Kim's provocations.

People who showed off their murderous spirit according to their mood were one of two types: a puppy, or a madman.

'So I told myself to use him in my dream.'

In summary, Oh was a man who could fight Kim, threaten him, and kill him, but he couldn't plan it.

'There's a mastermind."

Of course, there was someone in the background. There was a player who controlled the chessboard and used a chessman named Oh Se-bum.

'The head is the real enemy threatening me.'

Kim's idea went that far. It was not the opponent behind Oh Se-bum that Kim should deal with right now. He raised Oh, who had fainted, with his Telekinesis. Then he shouted to Lieutenant Colonel Yoo, who was in the middle of the crowd, in a loud voice, "Let's start negotiating."

Now Kim had another card to negotiate: the hostage card.

9.

"Currently, the Capital Defense Command is located to the north of the Han River. My role is to contact the surviving forces outside of Seoul."

"How's the situation in Seoul?"

"Of the thirty-one bridges of the Han River, the Gimpo Bridge and the Banpo Bridge are the only ones that are safe. This much explanation should be enough for you to understand the situation."

"Did you blow up the bridges on purpose?"

"Some of them were blown by the military, some of them were blown by monsters."

Lieutenant Colonel Yoo has begun negotiations with Kim.

He saw Kim's ability, and now he could not help but negotiate with Kim, who had taken Major Oh Se-bum as a hostage.

In addition, Kim was a man who did what he intended to do. If necessary, he would cut off the limbs of Oh and continue to carry out his will to hurt Oh.

In fact, while talking, Kim was not letting Oh Se-bum go. Oh was still stunned and standing like a mannequin. The place of the conversation was still the runway, cold winds blowing past.

If Lieutenant Colonel Yoo tried to bluff in front of Kim, the only things he would get were Oh's fingernails or fingers.

Kim had decisively showed his ability. He proved how threatening he could be. If Lieutenant Colonel Yoo continued to show hostility against him, Kim would not let him and his forces go like this.

"How many survivors?"

"Not a great number, of course, but a lot survived. Seoul was the home of more than ten million people."

That was why Lieutenant Colonel Yoo, who had been uncooperative so far, changed his attitude and cooperated. When Kim heard Yoo's story, Kim could see that the situation in Seoul was worse than he thought.

'They've saved a lot… it's not good.'

At this point, the fact that there were many survivors was a very negative factor in some ways. In the view of the monsters, once there were many survivors, they had a lot of prey. Always. The rich prey led to the emergence of higher predators. There was no guarantee that survivors were cooperative. Humans could always be more monstrous than monsters.

'There's a subway.'

There were also two fatal weaknesses in Seoul at this time. One was a lot of buildings occupied the land, and the other was an underground subway which was like a spider web. These were the best places for monsters to hide. Conversely, they were places which restricted the use of military power.

The subway was the worst. It was very hard for trams and fighters to go into the subway and kill monsters. The same was true of skyscrapers. If the monsters caused the building to collapse, the additional damage was enormous. A tall building was, in a way, a mine.

'They couldn't find the answer in Seoul, so they came out.'

Such facts were the reason why Lieutenant Colonel Yoo had led the special forces out of Seoul. They couldn't find an answer to solve the situation in Seoul.

At that moment, Kim asked Lieutenant Colonel Yoo. "How about the president or the prime minister? How are they?"

"Of course, we have secured their safety," Lieutenant Colonel Yoo answered as if he had waited for the question. His expression was calm.

"Is that so?" However, Kim was able to clearly hear that the heart rate of lieutenant colonel Yoo had changed.

'They failed to secure them.' It was the voice of a person telling lies and acting. 'We are in trouble.'

It was obvious. Currently, the powers that were in Seoul had yet to secure the defense of the top authority, such as the president or prime minister.

In other words, they were not different from Kim and other military units.

To put it simply, there was no justification.

They could not prove they were the power that represented Korea. It was like a national seal of the Three Kingdoms. It did nothing by itself. The presence of a president at this moment did not mean that the president could escape from the monsters or that he could kill a powerful monster.

What was important is that the group under the direction of the president could claim the power of the Korean government. Those who were hostile to the force were, of course, anti-government forces. But if there is no president or prime minister, the concept of anti-government forces disappeared.

'It's the best situation to have ambition.'

For those with military power, this was simply an opportunity to rewrite everything. Of course, if this was known, the Republic of Korea would no longer be able to remain South Korea. They would repeat the history of the Korean Peninsula. There would be several military governments on the Korean Peninsula, and they would wage war.

It was not what civilized people would do, but those who survived now were not the civilized ones.

"I'm glad they're safe." Here, Kim no longer quizzed Lieutenant Colonel Yoo about that fact. "If so, please speak well of us. The Mac Guild will kill monsters in nearby areas, including Bucheon City, and secure the safety of survivors."

It was time to get what he wanted.

"If you give me your support, I will also hunt monsters in major cities, including Incheon."

At the words of Kim Tae-hoon, Lieutenant Colonel Yoo recognized that it was time to finish the conversation. With this, Kim had expressed all his desires. The idea was very simple.

'If you want to use the Mac Guild in Bucheon to deal with monsters, you should pay us. In addition, the only remaining power available to the remaining forces in Seoul is the relics.'

"Okay, I'll try to get good results."

At that remark, Kim brought up something to end the conversation.

It was something from his pocket, and it twinkled like a jewel under the light. But it was not a gem.

It was a chain with a military serial number.

It was a chain with a military serial number from the special forces who entered the Gwangmyeongsageori Station in Gwangmyeong City to carry out their mission, but who were annihilated by the Bell-tailed Rat.

"The funeral was simple."

"… thank you."

The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Yoo as he received the chains was more subdued than ever.

"I'll meet you here again on March 18th, after fifteen days."

That's how they ended their conversation.

10.

"Major Oh se-bum is fine. He has just fainted from the shock. He has a broken nose, but we can mend it."

As soon as he was told that by his subordinates, Lieutenant Colonel Yoo no longer worried about Oh. He summoned two of his men immediately. A man and a woman, who appeared to be in their mid-twenties, were wearing berets, just like Lieutenant Colonel Yoo.

They were both members of the 35th Commandos, which was led by Lieutenant Colonel Yoo, and both became Awakeners. Their abilities and credits were the most reliable.

"Find out all about Kim, his surrounding relationships, everything that could be a weakness."

The two were ordered by Lieutenant Colonel Yoo. Instead of answering, the two disappeared from his eyes.

From now on, the two would follow Kim and stay in Bucheon to find out everything about him for fifteen days. Of course, they are trying to catch his weaknesses.

'If things go like this, we will be led away.'

The existence of Kim and the Mac Guild had to be accepted. In a situation where it was too hard to protect Seoul, to antagonize the force who had been in Bucheon was not different from having a knife at one's throat.

Even if Lieutenant Colonel Yoo was the decision maker, he would have had no choice but to accept Kim's offer.

Kim Tae-hoon was also aware of that. As he knew, he came to Gimpo International Airport and showed himself. He gave us a choice: whether we would leave him as a threatening enemy, or a card we could use if we would pay the price.

'What he is after is a relic.'

If the deal started like this, Kim Tae-hoon would win after all.

'I need his weakness.

'On the other hand, in order not to take the loss, I must somehow grasp Kim's weakness. The two men who were just sent out will fulfill their duties, even if they have to give their lives.'

At that moment, Lieutenant Colonel Yoo felt the touch of the chains in his pocket. He gritted his teeth hard.

11.

A forest of buildings...

The two, a man and a woman, were moving secretly to a quiet place, where it was almost impossible to find even an indication of a person being around.

They were like ghosts. Their movements were silent, and their faces were as cold as ghosts. They didn't even talk. The dialogue between the two consisted only of eyes and signals.

Then a man sent out a signal. The man's fingers pointed to footsteps crossing a desolate forest of buildings. The woman who saw the footprints looked straight at the building next to the footprints. Immediately they went into the building. As soon as they entered the building, they shouted out breathlessly for the first time.

"Huck!"

At the same time, their dull faces were filled with astonishment. The cause was none other than the man they confronted the moment they entered the building.

It was Kim Tae-hoon. The person who the two should be following, and who was supposed to be on his way to Bucheon City, was in front of them. At that moment, a manual came into their mind to deal with the urgent situation: the female soldier tried to grab Kim's attention, and the man would inform Lieutenant Colonel Yoo that the operation has failed after he had fled!

That was the contents of the manual. There was no need to exchange a signal or look before carrying out its instructions. All they had to do was follow the manual.

"Huck!"

But they could not execute the manual. They could feel that a huge hand held them tight the moment they tried to move.

'I can't move.'

Kim Tae-hoon spoke low to the two, "I don't want to confront Lieutenant Colonel Yoo by making you two into corpses. On the other hand, I don't want to experience a situation where the two of you are all around me and stir up monsters."

"… What do you want?"

"Stay and act in my sight for fifteen days."

"That's-"

"Or you`ll be in full custody for fifteen days, and without any results, you`ll be delivered to Lieutenant Colonel Yoo. If you choose to be restrained, be prepared to wear diapers. I don't want to leave any room for the members of the 35th Commandos who became Awakeners."

At that moment, the Telekinesis holding the two was gone.

"I'll give you three seconds."

And at the beginning of the notification, the two spoke after checking each other's eyes.

"I'm Sergeant Kim Yu-ri."

"I'm Sergeant Kim Joo-hyuk."