Chapter 64
After a long while rubbing my ringing ears, I turned the speaker volume back down and checked the screen again.
The scene inside the academy was clearly visible through the lens.
A group of students, terrified out of their minds and clinging to one another, and one adult man, trembling but shielding them behind his back while watching the drones outside the window.
He must have been the instructor.
"There are fewer of them than I expected..."
I’d thought the Daechi-dong star instructor and his students would be packed together in a huge group, but the number of survivors I actually found was modest.
But for people who’d managed to hold out trapped inside an academy, their eyes were still lively.
What especially caught my eye was what they were wearing.
The instructor, as well as the kids, had thick CSAT prep books wrapped around their forearms, calves, and torsos with duct tape. It was book armor, the kind you only saw in zombie movies.
'...If the workbook is that thick, it could easily block little devils.'
Once I’d finished assessing the situation, I immediately issued orders to the drones waiting overhead.
"The kids are being tracked outside the academy. Have only the recon drone come this way and guide me."
After finishing the escort setup for the children, I picked up my spear and stood up from my seat.
I opened the door of the first car and stepped directly into Daechi-dong with the golem.
I had already gauged the strength of those little devil-like things flying around on the rooftop earlier through the drones’ attacks.
'They weren’t fast, and they weren’t much of a threat.'
I figured the golem and I could cross the city without much trouble.
"Lead the way. Let’s go while clearing out the broken debris."
At my command, the golem moved its legs and took the lead into the street.
Even the golem’s light steps were already clearing the debris in our path to some extent.
Its strength really is...
I carried my spear over my shoulder and followed behind it.
But then it happened.
Ting! Tak-!
A tiny, unfamiliar sound, like something taut snapping, echoed between the silent alleys.
It sounded like a rubber band breaking.
"What was that sound just now—"
The instant I instinctively stopped in my tracks, a long shadow dropped rapidly down from above the golem that had been leading the way.
Whoosh-!
Clang!
A traffic sign sliced through the air as it came hurtling down, then slammed into the golem’s body with terrifying force.
"Ugh..."
The sound of the metal sign colliding with the golem’s steel body echoed through the entire alley.
I hurriedly gripped my spear and stepped back.
It was a relief that the one who got hit was the golem.
Even after taking the massive sign head-on, the golem was still walking along nonchalantly without a scratch.
Instead, the sign itself couldn’t withstand the impact and bent like softened taffy.
But when I checked the dented sign, cold sweat ran down my spine.
"If I’d been the one in front—"
The side of the sign that had fallen from above was thin, hard steel, finished to a sharp edge.
The golem took the hit, but if I’d been standing under it instead, what would have happened?
That sharp steel plate, now accelerated by the fall, would have sunk deep into my skin.
'That sound just now...'
I carefully looked under the golem’s feet.
Between the asphalt and the broken debris, I could barely make out a wire so thin it was almost invisible in the dark shadow.
The golem had been walking in front and caught the cord.
That must have been the sound like a rubber band snapping.
"There’s a trap...?"
When I had searched the area with the drones earlier, they’d been too high in the sky to detect traps like this, cleverly hidden among the debris.
I’d just thought they were monsters that merely looked like weak little devils.
Never would have guessed they were the type that set traps...
"Let’s proceed carefully while keeping an eye on our surroundings."
I adjusted the spear I’d been carrying on my shoulder and fixed my gaze on the ground.
After that, our advance inevitably slowed down.
Thinking back on the trap from earlier, it had been set with a cord so thin it was almost impossible to see unless you looked closely, like fishing line.
If I didn’t look carefully—
Boom-!
While I was frozen, inspecting the trap, the artillery golem leading the way suddenly lifted the cannon on its back and, without hesitation, fired a shell.
"Kraah!"
In the corner of the alley, behind a pile of collapsed rubble, a couple of those small devil-shaped monsters I’d just seen were blasted apart, letting out disgusting screeches.
And, as a bonus of sorts...
Two nearby traps blew as well, and half-destroyed signs were flying through the air.
'Were those things setting traps and lying in wait?'
Once they realized they’d been discovered, the remaining hidden ones who’d luckily dodged the artillery blast rushed at us.
But I didn’t panic and tightened my grip on the spear.
Sshhk—!
The spear blade sliced lightly through the air and cleanly severed the neck of the small devil that leaped toward me.
'So the main body really isn’t that strong.'
Looking at the bat-winged monster writhing on the ground, I completely understood why those students had been trapped inside the academy building and trembling.
'The problem isn’t just the monsters—it’s the traps around here.'
In the end, I had no choice but to put the sturdy golem in front and follow along behind it, even if it meant moving a little more slowly.
In that short stretch to the academy building, the golem took no fewer than five large and small traps full on with its own body.
From steel plates dropping from above, to spike traps aimed at the ankles, even traps that showered us with shards of glass.
Thud! Thud!
"..."
No matter how indestructible its steel body was, the golem, after being hit by trap after trap, seemed to have lost its temper too.
The golem angrily stomped on the traffic signs and spike plates that had been turned into traps.
After that, it advanced, laying waste to the surrounding area with merciless shelling whenever even the tiniest monster showed itself.
As we carved a path forward so noisily, a familiar silhouette finally appeared high above us.
It was the formation of combat drones and sniper drones I had already ordered to escort us.
The fact that those drones were circling around and guarding this area meant that the people I needed to save were inside this very building.
"Stay alert, kids."
Together with the golem, I cautiously entered the academy building.
Climbing the emergency stairs floor by floor, I first raised my voice toward the fourth floor where I’d heard signs of life.
"Survivors! I’m here to rescue you!"
At first, there was dead silence.
Since this was a place with crafty monsters that even set traps, they must have been suspicious of answering a human voice so readily.
I kept calling out to them again and again, softening my tone a little more each time.
Then, from beyond the fire door at the top of the stairs, a cautious voice came.
"...Are you really a person? Then do you know the formula for the volume of a cone?"
"Pardon?"
For a moment, I wondered if I’d misheard.
I hadn’t expected they’d use a question like that to judge whether someone was human.
"Hmm... what was it again..."
I wanted to answer the question, but I couldn’t quite remember.
I knew it when I was a student, but enough time had passed that it had evaporated from my brain.
I think there was something with pi in it...
I could feel the golem’s gaze beside me, as if asking how I could possibly not know that.
Sorry.
"Uh... any other questions?"
After I answered, I heard them whispering to one another beyond the door.
"Hey, maybe he's a demon and doesn't know it?"
"Hey, hey, he might not know it. Is there any guarantee the soldier who came to save us would be good at math?"
"Was that a problem that required being good at math...?"
"..."
Their innocent question made my heart ache.
A little later, another female student’s voice asked a question.
"Then... what do people most often eat or give as gifts on CSAT day?"
This one was easy.
A question any Korean would have to know.
"Yeot and... sticky rice cakes?"
Even I, who wasn’t taking the CSAT, would get one or two of those while walking down the street on exam day.
Creak—
Only then did the tightly shut fire door to the fourth-floor emergency stairs open a little, and a couple of girls wrapped head to toe in hastily made book armor peered out.
"Ah, hello."
"Ah... yes, hello..."
I waved awkwardly with a stiff smile.
Once they saw my face, they looked briefly relieved by how young I seemed.
But soon their gazes shifted from my smiling face to the spear in my hand and the golem moving behind me, and they gradually stiffened.
"Th-those...!"
"Isn’t that a monster?"
"No. It’s safe."
The students’ faces instantly hardened with suspicion.
They looked like they’d just come face-to-face with something terrifying.
The golem seemed a little intimidated and drew its feet in slightly.
"Don’t be scared. We’re here to save you. The drones outside are mine too."
At my frantic explanation, the students exchanged quick glances with one another, and after another student came over and whispered something, they soon seemed to make up their minds and opened the door a little wider.
"F-for now... come upstairs. The teacher is waiting up there."
Guided by them, I took my first step inside the academy building where the Daechi-dong survivors were hiding.
Inside the large lecture hall on the fourth floor that I was cautiously led into, one instructor and three or four students were gathered, just as I had seen through the window.
The instructor let out a sigh of relief and hurried over to me, bowing repeatedly.
"Thank you, truly, truly thank you. I don’t know how you made it all the way here, but seeing another person like this makes me feel like I could cry."
Facing his face up close, I dug through my memories.
He looked familiar, but I definitely didn’t know him.
'Ah.'
I remembered the giant advertisement board hanging prominently among the signs as I came through the academy street.
As expected of a place where dozens, even hundreds, of academies were clustered together, the ads weren’t for ordinary food or games.
[Many star instructors for Korean, English, and math!]
[A grade-4 student got into medical school!]
[13 students got into Seoul National University with a top instructor!]
An ad board introducing the instructors.
It was exactly the same face as the top instructor in that photo, standing there with his arms crossed and a relaxed smile.
Of course, because of the apocalypse, his cheeks were sunken in and a scruffy beard had grown in, so his expression was completely different now.
"You’ve been through a lot. For now, I’m just glad everyone’s safe."
At my greeting, he gave me an awkward smile and looked me over.
But his gaze stayed on me only for a very brief moment.
He then glanced meaningfully toward the drones outside, as if asking for an explanation.
"What on earth are those... and how did you even know about us..."
I spoke as gently as I could.
"I came after receiving a request from the chairman in the Yeouido safe zone to rescue you."
"The chairman?"
"Yes. Didn’t you submit a rescue request?"
"Uh... I did, but come to think of it—"
The instructor tilted his head and looked at one of the students.
The student nodded.
"Right before my phone battery died, I told you I filed a rescue request on the site!"
"...I thought it was a lie when you said the site would still work even without data..."
"I told you it was real!"
Come to think of it, it would have been hard to believe.
For now, I decided we’d talk about the site and the chairman after we got out.
"Shall we get ready for a bit, then?"
"Are we leaving right now?"
"No."
Everyone stood up at the thought that they’d finally be getting out, but I said it was still too early to leave.
"Let’s wait until the drones and the golem clear out the traps and monsters."
At my words, the drones and golem immediately headed out into the street and began clearing the traps by stepping on them or smashing them to pieces.
The children, who had been afraid of the golem until just moments ago, each offered a word of encouragement.