Chapter 18
4.
Boom!
After securing the supplies, Kim Seojun's group used explosives to collapse the entrance leading to Hongwon Mining Site.
Afterward, they waited far away from the entrance to Hongwon Mining Site.
It was quite far away.
So far that even with binoculars, they couldn't tell who had arrived at the entrance.
However, no one asked whether Staff Sergeant Kim's eyes were really hawk eyes or how he could see that.
Wasn't this Kim Seojun, who had shown countless miracles by now?
And Kim Seojun said:
‘We only need to count heads.’
They weren't trying to engage in combat; they only needed to check the numbers.
The reason he was aiming Hawk Eye's Gauss sniper rifle right now wasn't because he intended to attack.
It was merely a simple and basic precaution in case something unexpected happened.
It was around then.
Vroooom!
Something moved rapidly across the wasteland of the once-quiet Planet Amotia.
It was a Hoverbike.
“Huh?”
Private First Class Park Boseop spoke the moment he saw it.
“That thing's speed is unbelievable!”
“It isn't an ordinary Hoverbike.”
Major Jan Zabłocki felt the same way.
Having ridden Hoverbikes all his life, he knew that this one was no ordinary machine.
“It looks like an Uryong.”
Kim Seojun answered his question, and the eyes of the two vehicle fanatics changed at that answer.
“An Uryong? R-really?”
“This can't be!”
The Uryong was China's secret weapon, counted among the top five Hoverbikes in terms of performance.
To automobile enthusiasts, it was an incredible machine comparable to an expensive supercar.
So their surprise was only natural.
‘He could tell that just by seeing it?’
Major Lee Hyena, who was far removed from such interests, was astonished that Kim Seojun could identify the moving Uryong.
Kim Seojun himself was surprised as well.
‘If it's an Uryong, it's for VIP evacuation.’
Of course, he wasn't surprised by how impressive the machine itself was, but by the circumstances behind its appearance.
‘As expected.’
In other words, its appearance meant Kim Seojun's prediction had been correct.
At the same time, it meant that it was time to leave.
‘We can't catch it.’
Kim Seojun had planned to snipe it the moment an opportunity arose, but the situation had changed.
Even Kim Seojun couldn't deal with a Psycher who had appeared riding an Uryong.
Above all, the moment the Psycher saw that the entrance to Hongwon Mining Site had been blocked, he would undoubtedly turn around and leave without looking back.
‘He'll return to Headquarters at top speed without looking back. We have to move before then.’
Any Psycher with even the slightest common sense on a battlefield would do that.
That was why.
‘Huh?’
Kim Seojun's gaze changed.
“Major.”
Then he spoke.
“Please climb onto my back.”
5.
The value of Psychers in the Space Era was beyond measure.
However, nothing had only advantages.
Operating Psychers involved far more problems than everyone imagined.
And most of those problems came from the Psychers' lack of ability.
It couldn't be helped.
Unless a soldier who had trained all their life became a Psycher, most Psychers were people who had lived ordinary lives. Expecting them to suddenly undergo training and display proper ability after being sent to the battlefields of Space was absurd in the first place.
Moreover, even that training was rarely conducted properly.
No instructor could take a Psycher and say, You can't do more than this? Can't you do it properly? Have you lost your mind?
Field experience was no different.
There were some Psychers who rolled around in one battle after another, but most Psychers avoided hardship.
Major Jiang Wei was the same.
The moment he became a Psycher, he had only one goal.
“Earn as much as I can!”
He pursued nothing but money.
That was all.
He had never trained or made any effort to improve his abilities.
Nor had he ever experienced a dangerous situation.
It was no exaggeration to say that after becoming a Psycher and being deployed to the battlefield, Major Jiang Wei had fired at Mogs no more than a handful of times.
Even so, he was overflowing with confidence.
He possessed an extremely rare trait among Psychers, and his ability was devastatingly effective against ordinary soldiers.
Ordinary soldiers had no way to do anything to him.
That was why he didn't know.
When a problem arose that differed from the plan, the first thing to do was escape from that place as quickly as possible.
‘What the?’
Not knowing that, Major Jiang Wei brought the Uryong to a stop the moment he saw that the entrance to Hongwon Mining Site was blocked.
He then got off the Uryong.
‘Why is this blocked?’
Even after dismounting, he wandered in front of the blocked entrance.
It wasn't simply because he was bewildered.
‘The Psychers' supplies are inside!’
His attachment to money kept his feet from retreating easily.
“You damn bastards!”
Then, before long, Major Jiang Wei vented his anger.
“How dare you! How dare you!”
In other words, he thought his subordinates had taken the goods here and fled.
In truth, it was a nonsensical thought.
This was Planet Amotia, not Earth, and escaping after taking goods from here was extremely difficult.
The Gate wasn't even operational at present, was it?
But Major Jiang Wei's common sense was different.
From his perspective, where the rule was to grab someone else's goods first and run, fleeing after obtaining something valuable was only natural.
‘They moved to another Headquarters. Definitely. With the goods!’
Furthermore, betraying his country was also an excellent option that Major Jiang Wei could choose at any time, by his standards.
In any case, for those reasons, Major Jiang Wei stood blankly in front of the entrance to Hongwon Mining Site.
Then he soon realized.
‘I'm going to get an earful.’
Senior Colonel Wang Lei was going to throw an incredible fit and fly into hysterics over this mission's failure.
“Damn it.”
It was at the moment he vented his anger aloud over that fact.
Crack!
Major Jiang Wei's helmet was destroyed, and everything inside it was scattered in all directions.
6.
In the war against the Mogs, it was very easy to watch soldiers, including Space Marines, die.
Psychers were different.
It was very difficult to see a Psycher die.
There were two reasons for that.
One was that the durability of the Agent Suits Psychers wore was on an entirely different level from ordinary Battle Suits.
The other was that if a battlefield was dangerous enough for a Psycher to die, ordinary soldiers would already have been massacred.
That was why.
Fwoosh!
When light burst from Kim Seojun's muzzle and the distinctive report of the Gauss sniper rifle rang out, everyone froze, but Kim Seojun didn't panic.
He had seen it many times.
Psychers dying on battlefields.
“S-Staff Sergeant Kim, did you attack a P-Psycher?”
“I did. I aimed for his helmet, and fortunately, I hit it.”
“What?”
“The main reason Psychers die on battlefields is suffocation. More often than not, they die because their helmets are destroyed rather than their Agent Suits. No matter what, there are limits to how much a helmet can be reinforced, especially the visor, which has to provide visibility.”
That was why he had deliberately aimed for the visor, and at Kim Seojun's explanation, everyone understood.
This hadn't been a mistake; he had truly aimed for it.
So they would have no reason to remain friendly with China on Planet Amotia from now on.
Of course, neither Private First Class Park Boseop nor Major Lee Hyena was surprised by that fact.
They had never intended to remain friendly with China even before coming to Planet Amotia, and they had no such intention in the future either.
“Are you attacking China right now?”
The situation was inevitably different for Major Jan Zabłocki.
“A Chinese Psycher? My God!”
He was horrified the moment he grasped the situation.
“To actually do something this crazy!”
Then he spoke with great intensity.
“I respect you!”
The moment they heard that, everyone in Kim Seojun's group understood one thing first.
Because of Major Jan Zabłocki, this incident would not immediately become a problem.
Regardless, Major Jan Zabłocki spoke excitedly.
“I've wanted to properly get revenge on China for a long time, but I never expected an opportunity like this!”
He expressed his intense anger toward China.
“It seems China has given you quite a hard time.”
“What country hasn't it?”
Of course, in the current Space Era, that wasn't particularly strange.
“This incident won't cause any problems! Poland Headquarters will repay the favor of saving us to the very end!”
“Thank you.”
Kim Seojun immediately nodded at Major Jan Zabłocki's words.
That was the end of the matter.
“Then, now that we've completed our objective, we'll move.”
There was no reason to stay here any longer, and Major Jan Zabłocki nodded at that.
Then he spoke.
“It's a shame to leave that behind, but it can't be helped.”
In Major Jan Zabłocki's eyes as he spoke were the dead Chinese Psycher's corpse and the Uryong.
And for good reason, since the things there were beyond measure in value.
For starters, the items worn by the Chinese Psycher—an Agent Suit alone was something money couldn't buy.
And what about the Uryong? Its value was one thing, but it was also a clue to China's classified technological capabilities.
Most importantly, every Psycher possessed a Prophet's Relic without exception. Without one, a Psycher was no different from an ordinary person.
However, taking those things with them was obviously impossible.
‘The moment we take them, we'll be tracked.’
The Uryong, of course, and the Agent Suit were both packed with devices that made emergency location tracking possible.
Unless they removed those tracking devices in a space that completely blocked radio signals before moving, carrying those things across the open wasteland would be no different from telling Chinese Headquarters, Please kill me.
‘I wish I could ride the Uryong at least once.’
Major Jan Zabłocki felt disappointed by that fact.
“I wanted to ride that Uryong at least once. Tsk.”
Private First Class Park Boseop, who was about to start the military truck, felt disappointed as well.
“Huh?”
“Huh?”
At that point, the two looked at each other and soon nodded.
They had plenty to talk about, so it seemed they wouldn't be bored for a while.
“Major Jan.”
“Yes, please speak.”
Kim Seojun asked Major Jan Zabłocki:
“Is there a place at Poland Headquarters where we could safely remove the tracking devices?”
“There is.”
“Can we access it?”
“It won't be difficult.”
The moment he heard that answer, Kim Seojun immediately looked at Private First Class Park Boseop and spoke.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Yes! I'll depart for Poland Headquarters immediately.”
“Wait here.”
“Pardon?”
Leaving Private First Class Park Boseop startled by those words behind, Kim Seojun ran toward the Chinese Psycher's corpse.
Everyone could only watch from a distance, and soon they saw it.
They watched Kim Seojun place the Chinese Psycher's corpse on top of the Uryong.
Whiiiiir!
Then Kim Seojun started the Uryong, rose slightly into the air, and soon landed again.
“Huh?”
And the Uryong's form gradually began to disappear.
“Whaaaaaaaaaat!”
Major Jan Zabłocki's eyes grew as large as saucers when he saw that.
After placing the Uryong and the Chinese Psycher's corpse into his Inventory, Kim Seojun approached the group.
“Major Jan.”
He then climbed into the military truck, which was already running, and addressed Major Jan Zabłocki.
“Everything you have seen here is classified. Please maintain confidentiality.”
“······Of course.”
Kim Seojun's mind wasn't particularly complicated as he heard the answer.
As always, the trouble caused by his ability would come after he left Planet Amotia.
And Kim Seojun was fairly certain.
Major Jan Zabłocki wasn't the kind of person who would make a choice that could cause great harm to himself and his comrades.
No, even before that, he was the type to risk his life for someone, not to harm them.
If he hadn't been, Major Jan Zabłocki would never have risked his life to lead his subordinates as bait, become the final bait to save his remaining subordinates the moment the mission was complete, and thereby encounter Kim Seojun's group.
Considering that, giving up the Uryong and everything else just to hide his Inventory ability would have been far too wasteful a choice.
Above all, Kim Seojun had one more important concern.
‘Please let Poland Headquarters be safe.’
Vroooom!
With that conversation over, the military truck headed toward its destination, Poland Headquarters.
The road wasn't difficult, and thanks to that, they arrived near Poland Headquarters at the expected time.
“I can see Eagle Rock!”
Major Jan Zabłocki's face brightened when he saw the enormous rock shaped like an eagle's head near Headquarters.
He couldn't help but be happy.
“Everyone will be surprised when I return.”
They had been prepared to die, yet he was returning with good news instead of death.
“We'll stop.”
With Poland Headquarters about five kilometers ahead, Private First Class Park Boseop stopped the military truck.
If he drove the military truck toward Headquarters without first establishing proper communication, Poland Headquarters would quite naturally answer with artillery shells and bullets.
Of course, there was no need to worry.
“I'll send a radio transmission.”
With none other than Major Jan Zabłocki—the man who would now become Poland Headquarters' hero—there, what was there to worry about?
With an excited heart, he grabbed the radio and transmitted toward Poland Headquarters.
“This is Major Jan Zabłocki, Major Jan Zabłocki speaking.”
There was no reply to the transmission.
No one was particularly surprised by that.
Radio communication was unreliable on Planet Amotia.
So after waiting for about ten minutes, they sent another transmission.
“This is Major Jan Zabłocki.”
They waited another ten minutes afterward, but there was still no reply, and by then, their expressions had changed.
Kim Seojun spoke.
“Private First Class Park Boseop, turn the vehicle around.”
“Pardon?”
“The other way.”
“Ah, yes.”
The military truck, which had been facing Poland Headquarters, turned around to face the opposite direction.
By then, Major Jan Zabłocki's expression had also hardened.
Even if radio communication was unreliable, receiving no reply repeatedly from a distance of about five kilometers was clearly a problem.
And on Planet Amotia, nothing would be surprising if a problem had arisen.
“That can't be. It can't be.”
Just as everyone began to worry, that was when it happened.
Krrrk!
Another radio signal came through, and Major Jan Zabłocki's expression changed.
- Th-this is, this is He-Headquarters!
The moment he heard the voice, Major Jan Zabłocki smiled and spoke.
“The interference must be severe! This is Major Jan Zabłocki! I've arrived!”
- ······Ma-Major, p-please don't come!
The man on the other end of the radio spoke toward that smile.
- Th-this place is i-infected!”