24 Episode 24 - The Golden Glass of Napoleon, Part I (1/2)
Chapter 9. The Golden Glass of Napoleon, Part I
Translator: Khan
Editor: RED
1.
They were survivors.
”I'm from Guro District.”
”We're from Yangcheon District…”
Survivors from Seoul.
Of course, Guro District and Yangcheon District were located far from the center of Seoul, but it was clear that they were closer to Seoul than Kim Tae-hoon's party.
He was able to see the bigger picture more clearly now.
”Seoul is hell now, and the great monsters are going crazy …”
”A huge winged dragon, you can't believe it, but when the dragon spat out the fire, the building collapsed, the trees burned all over, and the people just melted down ...”
”I heard that the fighters fired missiles at Mapo bridge and Yanghwa bridge, and they destroyed them.”
The capital city of the Republic of Korea was not the most populous place in Korea, but the place with the most damage and the largest casualties in Korea.
Everyone who heard the story was white, their faces like plaster.
Kim Tae-hoon's face was also stiff.
'The fact that the fighters were moving means that more than one of the air bases played a role … Considering the distance and situation, they made a sortie from Seongnam AFB. But they destroyed the bridge … to stop the monsters from going into Gyeonggi Province? Or to prevent the monsters from entering Seoul?'
The analysis of new information and the establishment of hundreds of hypotheses based on the information did not give him any room to think about anything else.
Kim Soo-ji came over to Kim Tae-hoon and said.
”What are you going to do, major?” As she asked the question, she thought that Kim Tae-hoon's answer would come after a longer period of thought. She also expected that the answer would be very reasonable.
However, Kim Tae-hoon answered easily. ”Before we move to our next destination, we'll be briefed and ready to spend the day here.”
”Then the survivors …”
”I have no plan to work with the survivors.”
In addition, Kim Tae-hoon's answer was completely opposite to Kim's Soo-ji's rational decision.
”Major Kim Tae-hoon?”
”I say again, we don't move with the survivors.”
”So are you going to leave them like this?”
”I didn't pick them up, but if I had, I would have left them.”
”Major! They are civilian survivors!”
Whether you are a soldier or not, if you have any compassion, you should help survivors.
Isn't that a reasonable idea for anyone?
Kim Tae-hoon did not respond to Kim Soo-ji's opposition. Instead, he approached the survivors sitting on the floor and warming themselves by the fire.
Twenty-two.
The survivors did not have anything in common, such as age, gender, or occupation; their only commonality was that they had no life in their eyes.
Kim Tae-hoon told them, ”We can't afford to escort you to a safe place right now, as we don't know where it is safe in this situation either. You will have to move on your own.”
The words were blunt, but they came out gently. But there was not one person who felt favorable to the gentle words.
In the case of Ahn Sun-mi and Bang Hyun-wook, they froze upon hearing them.
They knew Kim Tae-hoon well. At the large mart, Kim Tae-hoon spoke in front of the survivors in such a way, and then he abandoned them.
For his own purposes, he did not do anything to interfere and was not swept away by compassion for what he could not do.
So they knew that Kim Tae-hoon's words were not merely threats or warnings, but genuine.
One of them, Bang Hyun-wook, came out immediately. ”Big brother! We are on the move, and we can go with them, can't we? I thought we'd sleep here today! Why don't we go with them?”
Kim Tae-hoon, who watched him talking, was able to roughly gauge his heart. There was nothing to think about. He saw Bang Hyun-wook talking to a young woman of his age among the survivors.
So Kim Tae-hoon spat out his prepared words. ”I don't want to stop you if you're going to be a hero, but you're the only one going to be.”
”What? What do you mean …”
”If monsters appear in a situation where survivors follow us, I will pull the trigger, regardless of the survivors. At least, it will not be heroic.”
”Wait, wait a minute.”
”And to be honest, it's dangerous for a survivor to be an obstacle in that way, and I'm not going to take any more risks here without any merit.”
Bang Hyun-wook stopped talking. It was meaningless to talk about who was right and wrong.
Kim Tae-hoon was right in the matter of surviving.
”If you want to leave Mac Clan to be a hero, I can let you go, but don't think you'll come back free the moment you leave.”
Working with survivors was a burden in many ways.
There were many things that needed to be done as the number of mouths increased. Movement slows down, and more food is consumed.
But the biggest problem is that there were more to protect.
It was hard to keep yourself alive right now in this world, and there was no room for someone else in this world. If there was, it was just a delusion or a bluff.
The conversation between the two was clearly heard by the survivors. None of the survivors could understand the meaning of the conversation.
'He is abandoning us?'
'What is he talking about? A soldier should protect us.'
The eyes of the survivors, the dark-dead eyes, began to shake. One of them jumped up.
”You! You're going to abandon us now? You're going to ...”
”Yes.” Kim Tae-hoon answered immediately.
”No way!”
”What the fuck is that?”
Survivors were scared, and everyone got up from their seats sequentially and started to look at Kim Tae-hoon.
Their eyes were full of fear, and their faces were full of anger. They could not understand. How could they understand that the lifeline they had barely caught onto was clawing their palms and getting out?
”You're soldiers, aren't you? You must protect us!”
”Shit, if you have received our tax money, you should protect us!”
”You son of a bitch, are you a human being like that? Are you going to live alone?”
The angry survivors began to get angry.
Kim Tae-hoon briefly told them, ”Shut up.”
The short command was filled with a murderous spirit. The murderous spirit was not visible, but there was enough power to crush them.