Chapter 79
1.
When the Space Age first began, the ones who were the most high and mighty were none other than the conspiracy theorists.
"Humanity will pay the price for touching space!"
"The King of Terror will come to Earth!"
"An alien civilization from space will invade Earth!"
Of course, the Space Age brought humanity such immense prosperity that it put those conspiracy theorists to shame.
The Gate operated perfectly, and beyond the Gate lay an abundance of rich resources Humanity had never experienced before.
Thanks to those resources, humanity could do whatever it wanted.
They made the moon like Hawaii, developed Mars, and even migrated to other planets.
There were no concerns.
And at the foundation of it all was faith.
"If a problem arises, Doctor Space will stop it!"
The belief that Doctor Space, who had opened the Space Age, would do anything and everything was prevalent!
It was the same back then.
On the day the gate stopped, humanity trembled in fear.
But they did not lose faith.
"Doctor Space will fix it soon!"
They considered it a simple disturbance.
It was the same when the Mogs appeared after that.
Mogs appeared in Manhattan and all over the cities, and while humanity felt fear at that, it thought the terror would soon be resolved.
They merely considered it a brief hardship that had come amidst a long peace.
They didn't think humanity, which had even pioneered space, would collapse because of a few Mogs.
It wasn't a wrong thought.
The gate stopping, the Mogs appearing—considered alone, they weren't enough to threaten humanity on Earth.
The problem was humanity itself.
"It's an emergency situation! An explosion has just occurred at the Statue of Liberty in New York!"
"Breaking news. An explosion has occurred at the Eiffel Tower in Paris!"
"It's an emergency! An explosion has occurred at the Big Ben Tower in England!"
In other words, terrorism occurred amidst this chaos.
"We are Space Peace Activists."
At the center of that terrorism were the Space Peace Activists, who had already been carrying out extreme terrorist activities for a long time.
To them, this chaos was exactly what they had hoped for, and they took advantage of it to launch global terrorist acts.
"This is Space Peace! humanity has been paying the price for threatening Space Peace all this time!"
Amidst the terrorism of those Space Peace Activists, the decisions made by the leaders of Earth were all the same.
- The president, the prime minister, those bastards all fled to space!
Leaving Earth.
From the leaders' perspective, it was an excellent choice.
Even on the moon, there were many restrictions for terrorist groups to operate, and issuing commands or orders made little difference whether done from Earth or space.
But the thoughts of those left on Earth were different.
Although it was an era of peace, those without money were facing greater discrimination than ever, and their dissatisfaction with the social elite was skyrocketing; in such a situation, the leaders' decision became the trigger.
Thus, a significant number of the surviving humans began to sympathize with the Space Peace Activists.
Many willingly became terrorists to tear down the social elite.
Around that time, the Space Peace Activists created a religion called the Space Peace Cult, and the Space Peace Cult rapidly expanded its influence amidst the chaos.
And in the chaos of humanity killing each other, the Mogs began to increase explosively.
In that chaos, the once-brilliant human civilization collapsed all too easily.
Sejong City in the Republic of Korea was the same.
That glamorous place, once lined with high-rise buildings and bustling with countless drone taxis, became a place where it was hard to find even a single speck of light.
Everyone was reduced to wandering in search of food to survive and a place to hide.
Among them, those who had it the hardest were those with children.
Especially those with young children, those with infants who could hardly survive a day without formula, those with babies who couldn't understand the words to stop crying—for them, the era was too great a hell.
Waaaaah!
"There, there, don't cry."
Even so, not many parents abandoned their children.
"Mom and Dad are right here."
The couple holding their baby, a tiny thing born only six months ago, was the same.
Waaaaah!
"Yeah, you're hungry, aren't you? I know, I know."
"Peekaboo! Coochie-coochie-coo!"
The couple smiled, even though their child's crying was no different from the sound of death for them.
They showed the child their smiles, trying to soothe it somehow.
But in a world that was endlessly quiet, a world where everyone held their breath, the sound of the child's crying and the couple's voices was far too loud.
"It's over there! Over there!"
"There's a brat!"
Those who heard the sound, namely the believers of the Space Peace Cult, rushed toward the direction of the noise.
As they did, they also shouted.
"Let's offer the child as a sacrifice!"
"For Space Peace!"
Such insane words.
And that was the current state of Earth.
It was a world where nothing could be solved with common sense anymore.
Naturally, there were no common-sense choices left for the couple with the child to make, either.
"I-I'll go out, I'll g-go out and buy some time."
"Honey!"
"Ji-Su, please take good care of our Seon-I., our Seon-I."
The man made that choice—giving up his life to save his wife and child.
Having made that choice, the man went outside.
With nothing in his hands.
"You bastards!"
He screamed at the top of his lungs, as if shrieking with all his might.
It was then.
"There he is!"
Hearing that sound, a group of people appeared.
"Ugh, that son of a bitch!"
"Fucking bastard, hey! Beat him up first!"
As soon as they appeared, they spat curses at the man and immediately grabbed him.
Thwack!
And with that, they smashed a fist into the man's face.
"Keugh!"
The man let out a scream and collapsed to the floor.
But in this moment, the man did not writhe in pain.
Instead, he kept his wits sharp.
‘Please, please, please.’
He desperately prayed that it would end with him, that his child and wife would manage to escape safely.
"Where are the fucking bitch and the brat?"
- Right here.
But that hope was soon shattered.
- Caught them both.
- Waaaaah!
An unmistakable sound of a child crying came through the radio, and at that moment, the man's complexion changed.
"P-please, p-please!"
The fallen man tried desperately to beg them to spare his child and wife.
But he couldn't even attempt it.
Thwack!
A kick immediately flew in and struck the man's head.
In that situation, the man just had to listen.
"Bring them all. We'll drag them together. And make sure to bring the brat carefully. We have to offer it as a sacrifice for Space Peace."
He was heading toward a situation he didn't even want to imagine.
The moment he heard about that situation, the man shouted.
"G-God! G-God! God will j-judge you! You sons of bitches!"
He poured out all the anger and curses he could muster.
And at that curse, those who had appeared, the members of the Space Peace Cult, smiled more cruelly than ever and said.
"Talking about God, you retard. Where is God? Huh? What can God do? If he had existed, there would've been a hole in my head a long time ago!"
Splat!
At that moment, a hole suddenly appeared in the head of the one who was speaking.
"Huh?"
Everyone was startled by that fact at that very moment.
Splat!
Splat!
The heads of everyone present began to burst in a fraction of a second.
Everyone except the fallen man sprawled on the floor, vomiting out the contents of their heads.
"Uh, uh, uh."
The only surviving man let out a sound as if losing his mind amidst the gruesome sight.
It was around then.
Step!
Someone approached the man.
"Are you alright?"
"Ah!"
The moment he heard that voice, light returned to the man's unfocused eyes.
"E-excuse me."
The man got up, fell to his knees, and said...
"M-my, c-child, and m-my wife, please, please save them."
In this miserable situation, the man pleaded for his family's safety rather than his own.
The man who had appeared did not answer.
There was no need to.
- Ah, ah, can you hear me? Can you hear me? Is this working?
An answer came from the radio sprawled on the floor.
- Seojun, I've cleaned up here. The child and mother are fine. I felt like I should tell you through this.
"Good work."
- What good work! It's child's play compared to catching Mogdogs.
Hearing that answer, Kim Seojun helped the fallen man to his feet and said.
"Do not worry, your family is safe."
"Ah…"
At those words, the man who had stood up collapsed again as if his legs had given out.
Seeing that, Kim Seojun and his comrades couldn't say a word.
They had heard the stories through Lieutenant Colonel Kim Jin-Seok, but the reality of Earth and Korea they actually faced were even more miserable.
- I don't know if I should say this, but I think Planet Amotia was better.
To the point where a barren planet in space looked like heaven.
Kim Seojun's emotions, in particular, couldn't help but be even more devastating.
The reason he had come here to Sejong City, one of the cities in Korea, was to find his family.
It meant his family was in this hellish place.
- Seojun, don't worry too much. Your family will be fine.
Knowing that, his comrades also willingly offered Kim Seojun words of comfort and encouragement.
"Yes."
At that encouragement, Kim Seojun also suppressed his emotions.
It was then.
- Staff Sergeant Kim!
Private First Class Park Boseop, who was on standby in the distance, spoke.
- I hear people's footsteps! They're heading towards you, Staff Sergeant Kim!
The moment he heard those words, the look in Kim Seojun's eyes changed.
"Numbers?"
- It looks like about ten.
It went without saying, but Kim Seojun thought the approaching group were members of that Space Peace Cult.
And he had no intention of keeping them alive.
Even if it weren't for the current situation, Kim Seojun harbored a great hatred for the Space Peace Activists.
The fundamental reason he had reenlisted was none other than his older brother's getting caught up in a terrorist act committed by those Space Peace Activists.
So if he faced them, he fully intended to wipe them all out, and Kim Seojun gladly waited.
For them to come.
For those trash bastards of the Space Peace Cult to come.
"I'll take care of them when they come."
And a moment later, Kim Seojun's Group could hear it.
"You guys over there!"
Someone shouted toward the place where Kim Seojun was.
"Get lost right now, you sons of bitches! If you don't get lost, I'll blow a hole in your heads!"
The moment he heard that voice, Noah Winston's voice immediately came through Kim Seojun's radio.
- Wow, what a spirit. What should we do? Should I catch it?
- Staff Sergeant Kim Seojun, I can step up. Just give the order.
Major Lee Hyena's voice followed right after.
Kim Seojun answered the two of them.
"Absolutely do not step up."
Firmly.
"…Absolutely."
And with a slightly trembling voice.
Everyone was shocked by that fact.
They couldn't help but be.
Until now, Kim Seojun had never let them hear a trembling voice in front of any Mog.
Even when entering the mouth of the Behemoth, that hell, Kim Seojun hadn't shown the slightest tremble.
Everyone tensed up at that fact, and in front of his tense comrades, Kim Seojun shouted.
"Kim Hye-eun!"
He called out the name in a loud voice, and a heavy silence fell at that shout.
Within that silence, a small answer was soon heard.
"Seojun Oppa?"
After that, silence fell once again.
Everyone was quiet, and in that quietness, Kim Seojun spoke in a more irritable voice than ever before.
"Kim Hye-eun, what are you doing right now?"
Then, an answer came right back this time.
"Oppa! What are you doing right now? No, when did you get to Earth? You should have told me if you came!"
"Hey! Kim Hye-eun! Are you not going to answer?"
And just as a full-blown sibling fight was about to begin, it was that moment.
- Hey Seojun, I know you're so happy to see your family after a long time that your reason is flying out the window, but how about calming down a bit?
"…I apologize."
Only after hearing those words was Kim Seojun finally able to compose himself, and then he spoke.
"Kim Hye-eun, come here right now."
2.
Kim Hye-eun, Kim Seojun's younger sister, experienced many things on the day chaos came to Earth after Kim Seojun had left.
First of all, she had to take care of her sick eldest brother and her very young nephew, and because of that, she couldn't freely flee to a safe place like the other refugees.
Far from fleeing, she found it impossible to even escape the hospital because of her eldest brother, who was bedridden.
So she remained in the hospital amidst the commotion, and that hospital was overflowing with people in the same situation as Kim Hye-eun.
Those who remained like that ended up organizing a death squad to protect their families inside the hospital.
After that, they joined forces with the soldiers who had arrived, and there, Kim Hye-eun was lucky enough to get an option.
"Miss Kim Hye-eun, let's go to Busan together. We can't take everyone, but we can take you and your family."
Kim Hye-eun couldn't choose that option.
"I can't go."
She couldn't choose it.
"If I go, who will protect the kids here?"
She simply couldn't choose the option of just going to Busan by herself, leaving behind the comrades who had risked their lives to fight alongside her.
So she made a request there.
"Please just take my eldest brother's family."
Someone was asking them to move their family to safe Busan.
After that, Kim Hye-eun, who remained in Sejong City, played the role of rescuing the remaining survivors with her comrades.
To be exact, it wasn't just a role; she was acting as the leader.
When they heard that story, Noah Winston and Kim Seojun's comrades were not surprised.
"Blood really is thicker than water. It is very thick."
If it was Kim Seojun's younger sister, it made perfect sense.
Of course, Kim Seojun was different.
"Hey, Kim Hye-eun! Are you out of your mind? Are you crazy?"
The moment he heard his younger sister's story, he showed a more furious reaction than ever before.
"Do you know how dangerous that is right now? What are you doing! You should have gone to Busan!"
And at that reaction, Kim Seojun's Comrades let out hollow laughs.
It wasn't wrong, but it was something Kim Seojun had no right to say.
"What do you know, Oppa?"
At Kim Seojun's words, Kim Hye-eun didn't back down, true to being a younger sister.
At that point, the look in Kim Seojun's eyes changed.
Honestly, from Kim Seojun's perspective, it was maddening.
Falling into danger couldn't be helped, but wasn't this more than just falling into danger, simply throwing oneself into it?
"E-excuse me, excuse me."
The one who stepped in at that point was none other than Private First Class Park Boseop.
"First of all, both of you please calm down a bit. Anyway, it's a relief that the family has reunited. Staff Sergeant Kim, it's really a relief."
Private First Class Park Boseop moved to change the atmosphere, and at his words, Kim Seojun swallowed the words he was about to spit out.
It was just as he said.
Anyway, he had found his family.
Furthermore, his eldest brother and his family were safely in Busan, she had said.
Above all, Kim Seojun is not alone right now.
He couldn't show himself throwing a tantrum at his younger sister in front of the comrades who had willingly come all the way here for him.
At that point, Kim Hye-eun also came to her senses soon.
The corners of her eyes twitched.
It was visible that she was barely holding back her tears.
From her perspective, the older brother she thought was dead had suddenly appeared, so her emotions couldn't help but be intense.
Just as the two siblings were about to share true joy, that was the moment.
"Huh?"
Suddenly, Private First Class Park Boseop looked around as if he felt something, and then pressed his ear to the ground.
"Uh!"
And then he shouted.
"S-something is under the ground!"
"The ground?"
The moment she heard those words, Kim Hye-eun freaked out and said.
"E-everyone has to run away!"
"What are you talking about?"
At Kim Seojun's subsequent question, Kim Hye-eun answered.
"It's a Tunnel Snake! A Tunnel Snake is moving through the Subway tracks! It's come all the way here! Oppa, we have to run away right now!"
Kim Seojun answered her, who was horrified.
"No problem."