6.

It was a dark basement. Only one light, a yellowish lamp, glowed in the darkness. Under the lamp was a metal chair.

A man sat in an iron chair that reminded someone of an electric torture chair, expertly tied up. His limbs were firmly fixed on the metal chair.

The man looked terrible.

His two hands were tied to the armrests, and all ten fingers were bleeding, with no nails, and broken multiple times. The shape of his thighs was even worse, with dozens of nails sticking out of them.

The name of the man with terrible wounds and a gag was Cho Sung-yeon.

'Ah.'

The 28-year-old young man was on the verge of death. The only reason for his death was that he had said that something wrong was wrong.

'Damn it.' Of course, he was angry at the fact. In other words, he kept his will in spite of this terrible wounds.

Screech! There was finally a sound in the basement. It was the sound of the door opening.

'Who is it?'

Clump. A string of footsteps followed. Cho carefully opened his eyes, which were burning very brightly, unlike his horrible shape.

Was that why? Cho was able to see two men coming toward him from beyond the darkness. One was a man in a military uniform. His rank was Major, but his image was not at all like a soldier. He looked like a civilian in a military costume play.

The other was a man dressed in an outfit reminiscent of a Japanese Samurai of the Sengoku period, wearing breathtaking armor and a sword at his waist.

It was an extraordinary combination, but it was a familiar combination one to Cho. 'Here they are, the damned Japanese and the pro-Japanese bastard.'

Kojima and Jang Byung-wook. It was already the third time that they had come to Cho Sung-yeon. The two stood in front of Cho. When Kojima gave the signal, Jang immediately pulled out the gag in his mouth.

"Whew! It's numb." As soon as the gag disappeared, Cho Sung-yeon immediately spoke to Jang.

Jang was not surprised, as this was not the first time for him, but the third time.

"Oh, I'm tingling," Cho said after his jaw was loosened to some extent, because he had been gagged.

"I don't want to kill myself by biting my tongue, but you keep gagging my tongue. You fucking bastards, I will not die if I bite my tongue."

Jang did not answer to Cho's complaints. Instead, he conveyed his words to Kojima in Japanese.

The samurai, with his thick beard covering his chin, nodded and smiled. Then Kojima said something, and Jang interpreted the words.

"He says the offer is still valid."

"What? What? I can't hear you because you're a pro-Japanese bastard."

Jang's face hardened, and Cho smiled deeply.

"What are you doing? Just interpret it. You got the Major's rank to do it. Of course, under the Second Operations Command, there are more people with Major ranks than Second Lieutenants. They have no pension, and they have to make their own rank-insignia and attach it to their clothes by themselves. The Major is a rank that everyone ignores."

Jang interpreted the words again after he clenched his mouth tightly at the words of Cho.

Kojima's expression hardened when the interpreter had properly delivered it.

Then again, Kojima spoke, and Jang Byung-wook translated it.

"If you accept the offer, the Ninja and Samurai on the Japanese mainland will be your power, you can destroy the Second Operations Command, you will manage Korea, and you will be the king of Korea."

"No, I can be a king by myself. Why do the damn Japanese decide that? Funny little bastards."

The conversation was repeated through the translation. But in fact, the interpreter was actually meaningless to Cho.

'I'm annoyed to hear the translation in the middle, pretending not to speak Japanese.' Cho knew how to speak Japanese. But he pretended not to know Japanese, and then he could hear it straight away.

"You must win him over to our side somehow, and he must not die."

"But you see, he is so stubborn… you know that he is a real tough cookie."

"He has to be alive."

"Well, it's not something I can do..."

The two talked to each other, giving up the conversation with Cho… Anyway, thanks to acting like he could not speak Japanese, he learned important facts.

Kojima, this samurai from Japan, wanted to save Cho. He had never told Jang why, but Cho was able to guess the reason.

'Maybe he'll release me soon.' That way, the Résistance led by Cho would harass the Second Operations Command as ever, so that the Second Operations Command would pay tribute to these ridiculous 21st-century ninjas and samurai.

Or, on the other hand, the Résistance would quake and bow down to Japan to destroy the Second Operations Command. To Japan, it was much better than one side pushing the other side.

'Shit, they really piss me off.' It was ridiculous to Cho.

"Tanaka went to catch Lee Yeon-ah. He'll catch her sooner or later, and then I'll talk to him again."

Cho heard the name of Lee Yeon-ah. 'Damn it.' When he heard it, he closed his eyes to hide how shaken he was.

Thump! A sudden roar shook the Daegu City Hall building above them.

Screech, screech. The light shook above Cho's head, and it told them that the shock they felt was not an illusion.

"What's going on?"

"I, I don't know."

"We're going out. If an earthquake happens, it's not good to be underground."

The two left the basement immediately. For their benefit, Cho responded with all his might. He clutched the fingers of both his hands, still tied to the armrests, except the two middle fingers.

7.

Kim Tae-hoon had been unusually weak. It was not a joke.

He had always had to deal with overwhelming enemies, and of course, he knew better than anyone how to deal with a strong person.

But it did not mean that the strong did not know how to deal with the weak. Rather, in order for the weak to catch the strong, he had to know how the strong catch the weak.

Therefore, he knew better than anyone else how to deal with the weak.

"It's a monster!"

"A monster of smoke!"

Kim's choice against the Second Operations Command was not difficult, it was a straight frontal breakthrough. He attacked once he summoned the golden smoke using the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje.

"Well, I think that's a person."

"That's not a person."

Now, the Gilt-bronze Incense Burner of Baekje used Kim's mana. He had eaten the monster stone of the blue-grade Gamecock, so now it summoned figures made of wild animals, flying animals, and humans.

The summoned creatures of the golden smoke that appeared began to hunt the soldiers who were filling the area around Daegu City Hall. It was a one-sided hunt.

"Aaaaaaargh!" The summoned creatures' teeth and claws ripped into the soldiers' bodies without mercy, but they responded with a rain of gunfire.

Tututu! "Fuck, the guns don't work!"

Rather, the shots passed through the body of the summoned and hit the bodies of their forces beyond it.

"Stop shooting! Stop shooting!" someone with a Major's rank shouted, but someone else with a Major's rank also shouted. "Shoot! Get that monster!"

It was a mess.

"Fire!"

It was the fire that started to fill the surrounding buildings of Daegu City Hall and made it an even greater hellish mess.

Foo-hoo-hoo! The fire was caused by Kim. He started to set fires everywhere. He knew the power of fire, especially in this confusing situation, and people never approached a place where fire was located. Of course, people were driven to a place where there was no fire, and where they were driven…

Boom!

"Aaaaaaaaaaargh!"

The booby traps that Kim installed were in operation. The booby trap, which was created based on grenades, caused a lot of casualties.

"Ugh… help, help me."

"Get away! Run!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaargh!"

It created a huge fear that could not be compared with the casualties. In front of that fear, proper leadership and command were no longer possible.

'As expected.'

In addition, they were not able to receive proper leadership and command.

'Their ability to fight against monsters is very weak.'

'Daegu City is currently under the influence of the Tripitaka Koreana of the nearby Haein Temple; they are free from the threat of monsters.'

'It is not bad. It is a miracle and a good fortune given by heaven. But it is also true that the miracle took away the monster Résistance that Daegu people should have. It is the opposite of the Mac Guild.'

If it were the Mac Guild, they would have certainly shared their roles in this confusion. They would have evacuated, and the commandos would have risked their lives to earn the time to evacuate.

Of course, the situation would not have changed much. If that ability was present in the Second Operations Command, Kim would have devised a new plan accordingly.

'I will go in.' Soon Kim changed his dress. As soon as he had arrived in Daegu, he had donned the Major's uniform and held a bag and a Sword at his chest.

Kim went into Daegu City Hall, leaving behind the chaos he had created. No one was deterring him. It was 7:33 PM.

8.

The door to the machine room was a steel door. Standing in front of the solid iron door, Kim looked at the doorknob. The doorknob started to turn slowly. But the door did not open. It was locked.

Kim realized that, and he twisted the doorknob.

Crack! The doorknob screamed as it was crushed. He opened the door and went in.

The pitch darkness welcomed him. It was not difficult to find what he wanted in the dark machine room. There was only one man under a lonely lamp.

"Who is this time, huh? Where are you from?"

A little while ago, Kojima and Jang forgot to gag Cho because they left in a hurry, and he was willing to confront the new visitor as best he could.

Kim narrowed the distance to Cho. When it was close enough, he examined Cho's face carefully.

He had the image of a man in his late twenties, his lips split from torture, and his skin and bones dried by dehydration. His dark eyebrows were like a pine caterpillar drawn on the skull.

But his eyes were the most impressive. Even in front of this absurd torture, the eyes of Cho were not dead at all.

"There's another weird bastard again." In the eyes of Kim, Cho vomited his words without his spirit not being pressed.

"Name," Kim asked him the first question.

"What? What?" Cho questioned in return with a wry smile.

"Name."

"Look at this. Do you have… eighth-grade syndrome?"

"Name."

"My last name is Mother, and my first name is Fucker. Together, it's Motherfucker. That's my name."

Kim smiled at the repeated defiance of Cho. Cho's spirit died for the first time with the smile. 'What's with this bastard?'

Cho considered Kim a Major of the Second Operations Command. He had no choice but to think so. It was enough to think that the uniform with a Major's rank he was wearing was not a Japanese military uniform.

However, Kim's eyes and attitude were completely different. Above all, that smile was totally different. Since December 31, 2016, Cho has never seen anyone smile like that.

"Who are you?"

"Kim Tae Hoon."

"No, I did not ask your name. Why are you here?"

"I'm here to save you."

Cho did not rejoice at the remark. Rather, he made his first serious look. Then he swallowed and said, "Okay, kill me now."

His words had not been a joke. "I'm serious. There's nothing good about me being alive. Look at my body. Can I ever be a leader with my body in this condition? I have to die and then they can have a new leader. So kill me."

Kim did not answer at the sincerity of Cho.

Cheureung! Instead of answering, one of the two Swords he was holding at his chest, the Sword of the Imperator, was picked up.

The self-picked Sword flew back behind Kim.

Clank!

Immediately there was a harsh sound of iron meeting. It was the sound of two blades hitting. Kim's eyes narrowed.

"He's called Kojima, he's a samurai," Cho explained to Kim. "Be careful, his skills aren't normal. My colleagues couldn't even touch him. No, just kill me and go. Considering that you're here, your skills are not normal…" he warned Kim.

"Does he have good information?"

"What?"

"Is he worth not killing?"

"Well, well, it depends on you being able to take out the information."

Of course, it was the most useless warning in the world.