23 Episode 23 - The Second Relic, Part III (2/2)
”What nonsense!” Kim Soo-ji was frightened, her face paled, and she refuted it quickly. ”In the old days, I met him just once!”
”In the old days, in the army?”
”I saw him at the Army Headquarters for a moment. That's all I've ever had to do with him.”
”He's a soldier, too, right? Good. I thought he was some kind of hitman. Killer's better, but a soldier is better than a killer. He is from the special forces, isn't he?”
”That's …” Kim Soo-ji was silent at his questions, which came without a break.
'It's not something I can tell you.' She did not have the right to answer Bang Hyun-wook's question.
Kim Tae-hoon was the only person who could reveal that he belongs to a secret special unit that was not officially recorded in the history of the Republic of Korea.
Of course, Bang Hyun-wook was not really curious about such things, and he did not say that to make Kim Su-ji embarrassed. He just needed to spend time ignoring his own worries.
Therefore, Bang Hyun-wook did not stop talking, and nobody seemed to be able to stop him.
”Where can you get a tank or a rocket gun or something?”
---
At some point, Bang Hyun-wook stopped talking.
He looked at the road with a hard expression, the road that he and the Mac Clan had worked hard on for a long time... and a group of people now walking down the road.
Kim Soo-ji looked at them, too.
”Alert!” she shouted as loud as she could.
”Alert!” she yelled again. ”Alert! Alert!”
The soldiers leaped up at her cry and began to move in a flurry with the guns they had kept at hand
The driver got into the driver's seat quickly and started the engine.
”Get on!”
”Come up quickly!”
The soldiers climbed into the dump truck and got ready, with only eyes and muzzles visible in the back.
Kim Soo-ji also climbed up onto the back at once.
Bang Hyun-wook was the only one who stayed on the ground and didn't get on the loading dock. After all, the captain of the assault squad could not just rush up there.
”Hoo!”
'Don't hesitate, Bang Hyun-wook. You should not hesitate just because they are human. If it's dangerous, you have to deal with it. You have to do it.'
They were not a monster who he did not need to feel remorse about, even if he smashed its head at once.
”Hoo!” Therefore, Bang Hyun-wook, who was preparing for the battle, was pouring out a white breath like a steam locomotive.
It was evidence of tension.
As time went by, the distance between them became closer, and soon they confirmed each other's identities.
'Civilians, I'm sure they are survivors.'
'What the hell do we do?'
The soldiers bit their lips, confirming that they were survivors, not monsters.
”Soldiers, soldiers!”
”Soldiers?”
”They are soldiers!”
The moment they saw that the men in the dump truck were soldiers, the faces of the crowd approaching the dump truck seemed to bend enough to express joy.
”We are saved! We are saved!”
”Ung-ung!”
”We're saved! A rescue team is here!”
The screams that could not control the joy, the crying that could not bear the joy.
They made all kinds of noises and did not stop walking toward the dump truck, as if they were possessed by something, like zombies in movies.
The soldiers were embarrassed.
'What? Why are they coming? Why are they coming?'
'Do we have to shoot them? Damn it, do we have to shoot or not?'
If they were monsters, they would aim and fire at everyone approaching before the shooting order was issued.
But they were human beings, civilians who were not armed.
Just by imagining that they were aiming guns at humans, their hearts were starting to pound.
”No access!” It was the same for Kim Soo-ji.
She would easily give a firing order to a monster, but it was not easy to take action in a cool manner, even if she had assumed this situation to the civilians.
”No access! We will fire if you approach any closer!” she shouted again, warning them.
But the people who were converging on the dump truck did not think to stop.
”We are saved! We are saved!”
”Help us! Seoul is now …”
”Uh-ung, uh-ung!”
There was no room for Kim Soo-ji's voice in the midst of the endless praise for saving them, desperation, and crying that burst out endlessly.
Kim Soo-ji's expression hardened. 'What should I do?'
Her mind was hardened, too. 'They are defenseless civilians.'
There was only one thing that soldiers learned about civilians during military training: Don't even sneeze against civilians!
It was impossible for Kim Soo-ji and the soldiers to have any experience in dealing with this situation.
Bang Hyun-wook, who was not a soldier, was also embarrassed.
'Oh, my God, Joo Ha-yeon?'
There was a girl with a familiar face among the crowd, a girl's face he could not forget.
'Why is she here?'
While everyone was so embarrassed that they could not do anything, the distance between civilians and the dump truck narrowed.
It was not a good picture. A picture that was not good even if something big happened.
Awwwoooo!
The painting was painted with a new color called howling, a dark color...
It was not a simple sound. It had a clear power and hostility.
”Huck!”
The people who approached the dump truck stopped when they heard the howling. The shots that followed the howling made the civilians' stopped legs shake.
”I warned you.” The shots were a warning.
”From now on, those who approach will be killed instantly without warning. I say again, whoever approaches the dump truck without permission, I will fire without warning. Everybody, sit down or lie down.”
So everyone stopped acting and looked at the issuer of the warning, Kim Tae-hoon!