Chapter 19

Threat (3)

“Tsk, why isn’t that bastard coming already.”

One room in the barracks.

A man with a fierce-looking face, Park Gwonchang, clicked his tongue as he stared at the barracks door that stubbornly refused to open. Even though it was the evening hour when all the survivors were gathered at the base after dinner, one of his comrades was dragging his feet, delaying the perfect timing to carry out their move.

“That idiot said he wanted to eat something like ice cream…”

“Heh heh. Chanjung’s always had the taste buds of an elementary school kid.”

“In just a little while, he’ll be able to eat whatever he wants. Stupid bastard.”

If there had been a proper reason for being late, that would’ve been one thing. But the fact that it was just for some snack you could get by helping out in the cafeteria made it even more ridiculous.

If you wanted that sort of thing, you could just demand it later. But that bastard had gone to the cafeteria anyway, insisting that

‘later on, they might make it half-assed out of spite.’

‘…Come to think of it, the reason the plan got delayed in the first place was because that guy insisted we wait until his turn, wasn’t it?’

The biggest “Hyung*” of this group that had been together since before the world half-collapsed was none other than Park Gwonchang. On the other hand, Chanjung, who was absent now, had been the youngest who used to light Park Gwonchang’s cigarettes.

Originally, he was in no position to talk back to Park Gwonchang, let alone speak to him properly.

TL/N: Hyung is used when males try to show respect to other males. The original meaning is big brother and usually is used between siblings, but it’s also used this way too.

Yet the fact that he was being pushed around by a guy like that and having the schedule delayed made an odd irritation boil up inside him.

“Enough. Let’s just proceed on our own. Tell that bastard Chanjung to join later.”

“Huh? Is it really okay without Chanjung?”

“You idiot! Even without that guy, the four of us are all Awakeners. We’ve already confirmed there aren’t any Awakeners among the soldiers.”

“St, still, you never know…”

The one and only reason Park Gwonchang, the leader, and the other men were being dragged around by Chanjung’s whims.

‘Who would’ve thought that a nobody like him would awaken and grow the fastest.’

He was the strongest Awakener among them. All five of them had awakened, but among them, the youngest, Chanjung’s growth was unrivaled. Not only was his level already at 6, but his mastery over his abilities was also second to none. Especially the technique where he condensed the flames spread throughout his body into one hand and hurled it,

‘It was like a tank cannon.’

Its overwhelming power was so great that among them, they had even given it the name “Annihilation Blast.”

‘If I hadn’t been the hyung since before the Collapse, I wouldn’t even be able to hold onto that title against him.’

But whatever the case, right now, he was still the one being called Hyung. Who knew what would happen later, but there was no reason to let himself be pushed around by that bastard for now.

“Anyway! We go according to plan. Once that bastard Chanjung is satisfied, he’ll join us.”

With that, the four men rose to carry out their plan. They called it a plan, but men who had lived the life of street thugs even before the Collapse couldn’t possibly come up with anything complicated, so their plan was simple.

‘Suppression by force.’

Simple, but the most effective method.

Park Gwonchang kicked open the doors of the survivors’ rooms and shouted.

“Everyone, get your asses out here!”

* * *

The leader of the survivor group, and their only Awakener. Lee Sang-ah.

She spoke toward the opponents standing before her with a hardened expression.

“…May I ask what you’re thinking, Mr. Gwonchang?”

It was a sharp tone, but the doubt contained in her words was genuine.

‘Just what are they thinking…’

She had thought the hard times were over. Days of fleeing from zombies and monsters, sometimes having to fight them. Those hellish days that felt like every single day was torture had ended, and they had finally arrived at a military base that was still standing.

She thought they could finally relax, that they were safe now.

Until Park Gwonchang and his group suddenly kicked open the barracks doors after dinner. They dragged the survivors out to the open space in front of the barracks and forced them to kneel.

“Heh heh, well, it’s nothing special. I’ve got a chronic condition, see. If I’m not the top dog of the group, I break out in hives all over my body.”

It was Park Gwonchang who answered Sang-ah’s question. His group had been particularly prickly and violent even among the survivors, so they had always been isolated. Even so, they had been relatively obedient in front of Lee Sang-ah, an Awakener, and kicking them out of the group just because they were violent felt like a blow to the conscience, so they had continued to move together until now…

“It seems being the Hyung of your little five-man group wasn’t satisfying enough for you.”

“Our five? That’s way too small! This survivor group is small too.”

Then, glancing around, the man continued.

“A base this size… yeah, that’d barely satisfy me.”

“Haah…”

Letting out a small sigh, Lee Sang-ah crossed her arms and slipped them into her sleeves.

At this point, there was no helping it.

“I did think you’d cause trouble someday…”

What came into her hands were two sharp pairs of scissors.

“Mr. Gwonchang, do you know this?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“When I first awakened after killing a zombie… I had no idea those people were zombies.”

On the day the world collapsed, when people who had lost their reason stormed the tailor shop where Lee Sang-ah worked and tried to kill the clerks,

she had driven her scissors into the back of the attacker’s head without a moment’s hesitation. It was only later that she realized they hadn’t been living humans, but zombies.

‘If it’s to survive.’

Lee Sang-ah had already experienced killing, for all intents and purposes.

If an enemy that threatened her life appeared, she had no intention of hesitating a second time.

“Heh… scary.”

Park Gwonchang knew how frightening Lee Sang-ah was. Despite the gentle-sounding title of tailor, once she started snipping with those scissors…what got cut wasn’t just scraps of cloth, but the heads of zombies and monsters.

“Boss, leave her to me.”

The one who stepped forward in front of Lee Sang-ah was the second-in-command among Park Gwonchang’s group.

The second seemed confident, but Park Gwonchang was cautious.

“That’s fine, but she’s strong. Third. You join in too.”

“Yessir.”

The third stepped forward alongside the second. From Sang-ah’s point of view, that just meant going from one big, burly ordinary man to two, but then her eyes narrowed slightly.

They knew her abilities well and yet they were still acting so boldly. That meant…

“Hah. So that’s what you were relying on. You were hiding the fact that you’re Awakeners?”

“Isn’t that personal information? You should respect our privacy.”

The two men snickered as they slowly approached Lee Sang-ah.

And then, they clashed.

“Then that takes care of the most annoying woman.”

No matter how strong Lee Sang-ah was, the second and third were both Awakeners at level 4. On top of that, Lee Sang-ah’s job wasn’t even a combat class, but tailor. Against one, she might manage, but against two, she might hold out for a bit, but the outcome was obvious.

That was when…

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

The soldiers, having sensed the commotion, rushed in.

Dozens of soldiers armed with guns. Those who had been posted on nearby rooftops to scout the perimeter even at night had come down.

“Heh heh, you finally show up.”

But even at the sight of guns, Park Gwonchang didn’t show fear, only a face full of ridicule. Corporal Seo Su-hyeok, leading the riflemen, stepped forward and spoke to Park Gwonchang.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but if you don’t stop immediately…”

“If we don’t stop, what?”

“…We will open fire.”

“Heh heh… that’s funny.”

Even at the mention of opening fire, he remained unfazed.

Corporal Seo Su-hyeok, leading the shooters, glanced subtly behind him. The sight of Lee Sang-ah, representing the survivors, fighting with two men.

‘So there was more than one Awakener hiding.’

Including the man in front of them, at least three. But that alone didn’t justify their confidence.

‘Awakeners are definitely strong, but…’

The awakened soldiers were feeling their own power more and more with each passing day. From the moment they first awakened, they had become no different from masters who had trained to their limits.

As their levels rose and they began equipping gear, they were even starting to transcend human limits. But…

‘They’re not strong enough to beat guns yet.’

Even the strongest warrior-class Awakener in the unit, Corporal Jeon, would be critically wounded if shot. Someday, they might reach the realm where they could deflect bullets with their bare bodies, but reaching that level already was absurd.

There were two possibilities. One was that the opponent had beaten those absurd odds and grown into an Awakener strong enough to ignore guns. The other was…

‘Are they relying on hostages?’

The same thought crossed the soldiers’ minds at once.

If that was the case, things would get troublesome. With hostages taken, they couldn’t recklessly attempt to subdue them.

“What are you standing around for?”

“…What?”

But instead of taking hostages, Park Gwonchang stepped away from the survivors and walked closer to the soldiers.

“Didn’t you say you’d shoot if we didn’t stop? Why aren’t you shooting?”

“…”

He spread his arms wide, as if daring them to shoot.

“Heh heh, a bunch of punks barely past twenty, talking about opening fire.”

It was a blatant provocation.

‘So it’s not hostages. He really thinks we won’t shoot?’

That was the more likely hypothesis.

Soldiers sounded strong, but as active-duty troops, they were still just young men in their early twenties. Plenty of them would be scared to even kill a small mouse, let alone shoot another human being. But…

‘We’ve been through too much.’

Even if the target was human, pulling the trigger on a living being had become a daily routine for them.

“Corporal Seo Su-hyeok?”

“Hah. This is annoying.”

Muttering that, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok immediately shouldered his rifle. And without much hesitation, he placed his finger on the trigger and pulled, but the gunshot he expected didn’t ring out.

“…?”

“…Tch! You were really about to shoot without hesitation? You’re not the kind of punks I can look down on so easily.”

For some reason, the bullet didn’t fire.

Feeling puzzled, Corporal Seo Su-hyeok tried again, shouldering his rifle and pulling the trigger, but the result was the same.

“Heh heh! You think I’d start something in a base full of soldiers without a plan?!”

No matter how much of an Awakener you were, you couldn’t be fearless in front of guns.

Even if your physical abilities developed and you gained strange powers, for now, you were still just human, if you got holes punched in your body, you died. And yet, one of the reasons Park Gwonchang dared to make a move in a military base.

He opened his status window.

『Awakener : Park Gwonchang』

『Job : Arsonist Lv. 5』

『Stats : Strength 12, Agility 8, Mana 10, Luck 4』

『Traits : Lowest-grade Physical Resistance, Lowest-grade Fire Affinity, Lowest-grade Knowledge of Evil Deeds, Lowest-grade Demonic Energy Affinity』

『Skill : Lowest-grade Flame Control』

『Lowest-grade Flame Control』

『You possess control over nearby flames and flame-related phenomena.』

This was why…

“Guns are basically firearms! Ammunition has to explode for them to fire. But all flames and explosions are under my control!”

The same went for other weapons like grenades. And soldiers without guns were nothing more than ordinary people.

For Awakeners like them, it would be easy for just five people to dominate a hundred.

‘I observed them for days. These guys only used guns to hunt monsters!’

If you were an Awakener, there was no need to go to that trouble. This was the reason Park Gwonchang had been so confident in carrying out his coup.

“Now then, everyone, get on your knees. If you behave, I won’t treat you badly. I’ll even let you obtain power similar to mine…”

“What, that’s all it was?”

But then…

“Phew… got scared for nothing.”

“…What?”

The soldiers didn’t panic. Rather, once they realized why their guns were neutralized, they seemed relieved.

“So how do we do this?”

“There are two over there, right? Two of us should be enough here too.”

“Why not just gang up on them?”

“The survivor-side Awakener is fighting over there. We should send a few people that way.”

They even started chatting among themselves as if Park Gwonchang in front of them didn’t matter anymore.

“You bastards… don’t you understand the situation you’re in right now…”

He was flustered by their boldness despite knowing their guns were useless, but Park Gwonchang soon came up with a reason.

‘There aren’t any Awakeners here, so they don’t know how strong Awakeners really are.’

In that case, he just had to show them. That even at level 1, you were more than worthy of being called superhuman.

Flames surged up from Park Gwonchang’s body and soon engulfed him entirely.

“I’ll have to kill one of you as an example!”

The blazing monster charged toward the soldiers.

“Then let Han-il and Daewon handle that guy.”

“Sure.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve had some fun.”

As Park Gwonchang swung his fist, thinking at least one of them had to die, two comparatively large-built soldiers sprang forward. And…

‘Hah! They must be suicidal, ’

Thud!

‘Huh?’

A black object seemed to rush toward his vision, and a dull sound rang in his ears.

“What’s with this guy?”

In a single blow…Park Gwonchang lost consciousness.

“He’s crazy weak.”

“What was he even relying on to charge like that?”

As he collapsed, it felt like he heard voices like that.

“…Have we gotten too strong?”