Chapter 58
1.
"What will you do if it's Mad Demon Lin Zhihan?"
Kim Seojun, upon receiving that question, replied.
"I will use the inventory as I mentioned before."
"You're going to trap her in there?"
At that answer, everyone nodded.
"Sounds good. Trap her and then extract information, right? Then I guess you'll need to empty the room first."
With Kim Seojun's Inventory ability, catching Mad Demon Lin Zhihan wouldn't be impossible.
Of course, it wouldn't be easy.
"Still, she won't go in there easily. She has extraordinary instincts. She's the type born with the Danger Sense ability. Should I say she's more like a beast than an actual beast?"
Noah Winston knew Mad Demon Lin Zhihan better than anyone.
"Ah, I've never met her in person."
The reason was simple.
"Instead, I've often heard stories about how Psychers I was close to were done in by her."
It meant she had lost friends to Mad Demon Lin Zhihan.
And that was the dark side of the current Space Era.
On the surface, it seemed as though all the powerful nations were advancing into space to pioneer a new stage for Humanity, but beneath that, powerful nations including America and China were fighting a war of killing and being killed.
They were blatantly attacking each other.
And that was taken for granted.
You couldn't detonate nuclear bombs on Earth, but in space, even if a few nuclear bombs went off, people would just accept it as the way things were.
Anyway, Mad Demon Lin Zhihan was not an easy opponent, and so Kim Seojun made various plans with Noah Winston.
"Provoking her to lose her reason is the priority."
They established the operation from there.
"The moment she loses her reason, we will aim for that exact moment."
Up to that point, everyone agreed.
"And interrogate her after that?"
"No."
"Huh?"
"I will kill her unconditionally."
However, everyone was surprised by his following words.
"Don't we need to know the spaceship's location?"
Wasn't finding the spaceship that China supposedly had one of the biggest reasons they were struggling so much right now?
Yet he was going to kill Mad Demon Lin Zhihan, who seemed to be the highest-ranking person?
To that, Kim Seojun spoke firmly.
"Keeping them alive half-heartedly is dangerous, whether it's a Mog or a person."
Carelessness was not permitted.
"And we have now established communication with the Gate. An opportunity will definitely come. What we need to seize that opportunity is to live a long time."
Crucially, Kim Seojun knew better than anyone here what was necessary for survival.
So he said.
"It's the same for the other remnants. Do not converse for more than a minute. If something feels off, just kill them."
They didn't need to know the spaceship's location, so they shouldn't have left any room for error.
Anyway, that was Kim Seojun's will, and so Kim Seojun emptied his inventory and then filled it with anti-tank mines.
He threw Mad Demon Lin Zhihan inside it.
From there, Kim Seojun didn't do anything else.
He didn't open the Inventory again.
There was a chance that Mad Demon Lin Zhihan might still be alive.
So Kim Seojun intended to keep the Inventory closed for at least a day.
Of course, his mind was complicated.
‘If we can't get the spaceship…….’
If luck hadn't been on their side, they ultimately wouldn't have been able to figure out the location of the spaceship China had.
Or there was the possibility that China hadn't kept the spaceship on Planet Amotia.
In that case, returning to Earth would inevitably become a distant dream, and Kim Seojun let out a long sigh.
Fortunately, that sigh didn't last long.
"Staff Sergeant Kim Seojun!"
"Yes, Ms. Jo I-Hyeon."
"I found the spaceship's location!"
Kim Seojun had finally grasped the opportunity to leave Planet Amotia.
2.
"Are you sure?"
The moment they figured out the location, Kim Seojun's group headed there without the slightest hesitation.
"Yes."
"Are you absolutely sure?"
While heading to the place where China had hidden the spaceship, Kim Seojun asked Jo I-Hyeon twice in a row.
That was strange considering Kim Seojun's personality.
Because Kim Seojun was the type of person who, even if Jo I-Hyeon had said the spaceship was currently under the queen's nest where a million Mogs were gathered, would have just said he understood and suggested they go there first and think about it later.
"……I apologize for asking repeatedly."
Nevertheless, the reason he asked repeatedly was that it was such an unbelievable location.
"I understand."
And everyone felt the same way.
"Because no one could have ever guessed, not in their wildest dreams, that they had hidden it in the Korean headquarters base."
It made sense, as the now completely destroyed Korean headquarters base was the place where the Chinese headquarters had hidden the spaceship sent from space.
They had hidden it among the ruins of the collapsed base.
When Kim Seojun's Group heard that, they got goosebumps.
Noah Winston and Jo I-Hyeon were the same.
"Their brains really work fast. Who could have ever imagined they'd hide it there?"
In a way, it was the most perfect place in the world.
A place no one, not even Kim Seojun, could have imagined.
"If it weren't for mind reading, we probably wouldn't have found it in a lifetime, right?"
It was a moment that brought renewed appreciation for Jo I-Hyeon's mind-reading ability.
"Private First Class Park Boseop."
"Don't worry. I can find my way there better than anywhere else. Everyone, get some shut-eye."
Anyway, Kim Seojun's Group headed to the Korean Headquarters Base in the military truck driven by Private First Class Park Boseop.
Eventually, after completing a 63-hour drive, everyone was able to reach their destination.
The sight of the Korean Headquarters Base they had returned to was even more miserable than the last time they saw it.
"It's bitter to look at a collapsed Base."
Seeing it, Noah Winston offered words of comfort to Kim Seojun.
It wasn't just lip service.
For Space Marines and others living in space, a Headquarters Base was like a home.
The feeling of seeing such a home collapsed was more devastating than anyone could imagine.
"It is bitter, but not to the extent you need to worry. I only spent a few days here."
"Huh?"
Of course, Kim Seojun didn't feel like this Korean Headquarters Base was his home or anything.
"What do you mean?"
"This incident broke out as soon as I was first assigned here."
"What?"
The moment they heard that, Noah Winston and Jo I-Hyeon made dumbfounded expressions.
"On your first day?"
"Yes."
"……Your life is seriously hardcore."
It would be hard to be this unlucky even if you tried.
"It seems so."
Kim Seojun thought so too.
Of course, the reason Kim Seojun wasn't getting sentimental here wasn't just because he lacked affection for the Korean Headquarters Base.
For one, this wasn't his first time experiencing something like this.
So he knew very well.
Getting sentimental here and harboring bitterness wouldn't be of any help in the future.
Above all, Kim Seojun and his comrades weren't here to chew over memories or make cliché remarks like 'We're going back alive!' that you'd see in movies or comics.
"I will find the spaceship."
They had come here to find a very powerful hope, and they were able to find that hope soon enough.
Among the ruins of the collapsed Headquarters Base, they discovered a single vehicle.
It was a specially manufactured truck vehicle, and the moment they entered the password into the truck's container, the sturdy doors of the container opened.
And so, everyone was able to see it.
"It's an emergency escape spaceship!"
This was the thing they had been searching for so desperately.
"Ah."
Jo I-Hyeon, who was looking at the spaceship, spoke urgently.
"But this……."
"Is there a problem?"
At Kim Seojun's question, she said.
"It's a one-seater."
Her expression was stiff as she spoke.
It couldn't be helped.
Being a one-seater meant that only a single person could escape this hellish place!
"This is totally a movie scenario. Five people gather, but only one can escape. Now we have to pick one person by drawing lots, but it turns out the four of us conspire to rig the drawing of lots to save the protagonist. It's an obvious cliché, but anyone would be moved to tears seeing it."
Noah Winston said with a smile to Jo I-Hyeon.
"But our protagonist has no sense of being moved. Right?"
"Ah!"
Only then did Jo I-Hyeon remember.
"R-Right."
That in the face of the Inventory Ability Kim Seojun possessed a factor like it being a one-seater was meaningless.
"I-I'm sorry. I was so focused that I forgot."
"No, it's fine. Everyone here understands. Even I lose my sense of reality when I'm in there drinking cola and watching a movie."
Anyway, with this, the worry about the escape itself disappeared.
"How is it? Is it usable?"
"Looking at its condition, it's perfectly fine. There's plenty of fuel too. It doesn't look like there will be any problem escaping Planet Amotia's Atmosphere."
Because of that, everyone's expressions stiffened.
"Then the problem now is what happens after we go to space."
Now they had to face a worry on a completely different level.
"First of all, Space is currently in a situation where it's dominated by Mogs."
The Space they would be going to wasn't a vast, empty ocean, but a stage overflowing with the danger called Mogs.
"It is judged that the Chinese side is able to move in space by using the Cyclops's ability to control Mogs."
Jo I-Hyeon presented her opinion on how China was capable of the execution of operations in such a space, and everyone agreed with that opinion.
"We do not have that ability."
Furthermore, Jo I-Hyeon had tried her best, but she failed to restore the Kiklops that the Chinese side had.
Of course, that was a very natural outcome.
It's hard enough to glue a broken glass cup back to its original shape, but what Jo I-Hyeon was trying to restore was something of a higher dimension than a supercomputer.
Rather, it was a miracle that she gathered the fragments from it and created a communication device that enabled communication with the Gate beyond that Space.
"The only ones we can trust are the Survivors of the Gate."
Thanks to that miracle, they could still dream of hope.
"It's questionable whether they will believe us, though."
The only problem was that this hope was hanging by a thread.
Still, it was better than nothing, and so Kim Seojun's Group waited for the time when communication with the Gate would become possible again.
They waited for the moment the Gate would reach them from beyond the distant Space above their heads, and when that moment came, they began communication.
Tap-tap!
This time, unlike before, Jo I-Hyeon had prepared a screen, and thanks to that, everyone could see the communication content in real time.
- This is Planet Amotia. We have eliminated Mad Demon Lin Zhihan.
Jo I-Hyeon sent the message like that, and then the other side gave a reply as if they had been waiting.
- Provide evidence.
At those words, everyone looked at Kim Seojun.
The corpse of Mad Demon Lin Zhihan, which could right now serve as that evidence, was inside the Inventory.
Regarding that, Kim Seojun answered.
"Can we send a photo file too?"
"Well…… then it will take quite a bit of time. If we send it now, they'll probably only receive it tomorrow."
"Are you saying we can send it?"
"Yes? Ah, yes."
"Then please ask them that question."
At those words, Jo I-Hyeon immediately typed on the keyboard.
- Do you have evidence that we can trust you?
That was a question prepared from the beginning.
It went without saying, but there was a possibility that they were not the Survivors of the Gate, but the Chinese side.
No, considering what China had shown so far, the possibility that China was currently managing the Gate was much higher.
And from the perspective of Kim Seojun's Group, if they were China, going to them was like shoving their heads into a tiger's jaws voluntarily.
Of course, there was also a high possibility that they would give fabricated information here.
But whatever the case, there was a difference between throwing the question out there and not doing so.
This might cause the conversation with them to be cut off, but at the very least, Kim Seojun had no intention of making a blind bet here.
Above all, Kim Seojun believed.
"I said it last time too, but they are the ones in a desperate position."
They were the ones holding the hilt of the sword right then.
It wasn't arrogance.
"They do not have the ability to keep China in check."
If they could have done something about China, if they could have done something in this situation, they would already have done something a long time ago.
"And they do not have the ability to fix the Gate."
Crucially, on Kim Seojun's side, there was a Genius named Jo I-Hyeon, a mechanic who could fix the problems of that Gate.
Anyway, there was no reason whatsoever to beg for their lives here.
It was then.
"It's here!"
A reply came.
- The only thing I can prove here is my identity.
- I am Lee Yeong-Jun, Commander of the Space Battleship Sejong, affiliated with the Korean Space Force.
The moment they heard that reply, everyone's expressions didn't change much.
It made sense, as nowhere in this could they find evidence that they weren't Chinese.
At that point, Noah Winston looked at Private First Class Park Boseop and Major Lee Hyena.
"Is it a name you know by any chance?"
Since he said Korean Space Force, the two of them should know.
"W-Well, I don't know."
Of course, in Private First Class Park Boseop's case, he didn't know.
He might know a Company Commander, but a Space Battleship Commander would have at least one star, and there was no soldier interested enough in the Military to memorize all of them one by one.
Major Lee Hyena was the same.
"I know the name."
Since he was a general officer, she heard the name.
"But as far as I know, he is not affiliated with Gate 7. I'm certain. That name was not on the list of General Officers I checked when I received my mission here."
At her words that came out then, Noah Winston's eyes narrowed.
"So it's a lie?"
A name that shouldn't be there was mentioned?
That moment was the moment their suspicions deepened.
Kim Seojun said to Jo I-Hyeon.
"May I type for a bit?"
"Yes? Ah, yes!"
At those words, Jo I-Hyeon stepped aside, and Kim Seojun immediately started typing on the keyboard.
And everyone was able to see.
- This is Kim Seojun.
Then, a reply came.
- You crazy bastard, why are you here?
The moment they saw that, everyone looked at Kim Seojun, and under their gazes, Kim Seojun spoke.
"He is the person who used to be my Company Commander."