Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 27
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Thump-thump-thump-thump…
The helicopter took off again.
I was sitting in the helicopter's transport bay with Lancelot.
We had cleanly taken care of the 220th Brigade.
All that remained were the people who'd been captured to be used as sacrifices.
Since we needed to head straight to my older brother's newlywed home, I'd asked the government forces over the radio to handle the cleanup.
I'd also left behind the brigade commander's classified documents.
They were encrypted with all sorts of communication terminology, so I couldn't make heads or tails of them.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff had promised to share the decrypted information with me later.
But I'd made sure to properly take this one thing with me.
[Dimensional Entity Registration Application (8th Rank)]
"Entity registration…"
An A4 sheet of a familiar size.
The contents of the document were simple.
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▣ Dimensional Entity Registration Application (8th Rank)
Welcome to your entity registration.
Before applying, please be sure to confirm the items below.
Required documents for entity registration issuance: Dimensional account in applicant's name
Entity registration issuance fee: 1,000 mana stones
Applicant: (Handwritten signature)
▣ Multidimensional Chamber of Commerce
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"What is this, a district office…"
Entity registration.
The term was reminiscent of resident registration.
It was also ironic that a dimensional account was required as a prerequisite.
Resident registration and a bank account in one's own name.
Those had been essential requirements to live as a proper individual in modern society.
Then, Lancelot tilted his head.
"That is strange. This isn't something that should be circulating yet…"
He looked like he knew something.
Come to think of it, Lancelot had also been well-informed about rank and repulsive force.
I asked.
"How do you know about this stuff?"
"Because pioneering ventures don't happen only on Earth. There are places where pioneering has just begun, and then…"
Lancelot added bitterly.
"…there are also dimensions that go bankrupt, unable to endure that pioneering."
The circumstances were as follows.
He too had been a resident of an ordinary dimension.
Then one day, the "pioneering" led by the Chamber of Commerce began… and the dimension he belonged to lost everything entirely.
Becoming the specter of the unique item "Camelot" was nothing more than an extension of that.
So there was nothing new or surprising about it.
He had grown accustomed.
To destruction itself.
He said.
"My liege, please register as an entity. It will surely help you."
I obtained a dimensional account upon slaying the Knight King.
I killed the 220th Brigade commander and got my hands on the application, so I had perfectly met the conditions to become a "dimensional entity."
But…
Honestly, it felt like bad luck.
They were the ones leading the invasion in the first place.
Who the hell do these Multidimensional Chamber of Commerce bastards think they are, demanding resident registration across the entire universe?
Grading us and treating lower beings like insects.
"Is it right for me to lower my head and enter like this? Even while offering up a thousand mana stones?"
"It is worth it. If you become a dimensional entity…"
He added.
"…you can obtain repulsive force."
"…Huh?"
Repulsive force.
A mysterious power that blocks attacks from outside.
That repulsive force would dwell within me too.
"Is that possible?"
"Of course. Because this is a
My interest was piqued.
The subspace portal was invincible, but that wasn't always the case.
If I was outside the portal, even a single bullet could end my life.
It was a power I absolutely wanted to have.
But there was one thing I needed to make sure of.
"I won't turn into a goblin or something, right?"
The figure of the 220th Brigade commander came to mind.
His appearance, completely transformed into a goblin.
Even before that, he had been covered in patches of goblin skin.
At my worry, Lancelot shook his head.
"They used a
Only then did I understand.
Why they had gradually turned into goblins.
They had gained power from another dimension, but lost themselves in return.
Lancelot hammered in the point.
"Please check what language the document is in. If it's in Earth's language that My Liege used, you need not worry."
As he said, I examined the document.
No matter how I looked at it, the writing on the document was Hangeul, created by King Sejong.
Meaning the
After a brief deliberation, I made my decision.
"Alright. Let's try it."
"If you sign at the bottom of the document, the application will be completed immediately."
I shipped out a ballpoint pen via Pax.
And then…
[Jeonggyeom]
I inscribed my name—formed of proper, beautiful words—in neat block letters in the signature field.
The change happened immediately.
[The amount of mana stones you possess is 3,422…]
.
.
.
[…It is 2,422.]
A thousand mana stones were deducted from my account as a fee.
The application document I held had also melted away into snowflake-like particles.
Sshhh…
A faint light settled over my body for a moment.
It happened in an instant, so I was simply bewildered.
"…Is it done?"
"It is."
Just as filing a change of address doesn't change the person themselves.
I too had become an 8th-rank dimensional entity without feeling much different.
"I am curious, but…"
I couldn't exactly shoot myself to test the repulsive force.
I organized my thoughts, assuming I had surely become 8th-rank just as Lancelot described.
By now, a new goal had formed.
"Later, I should get our whole family registered too."
To obtain repulsive force.
At least then they would have bodies that wouldn't die to guns or ordinary monsters.
For now, it was a distant goal.
I would have to acquire the application forms, and the required mana stones were no small amount either.
Thump-thump-thump-thump!
As I collected my thoughts, the sound of the propeller spinning vigorously anew reached my ears.
Though it was a collapsing, shattered city, I realized a familiar landscape was drawing near.
Dobongsan, covered in dense trees.
Below it sat a nicely aged high-rise apartment.
A house whose charm was the fierce wind blowing from the mountain.
It was my older brother's newlywed home, barely a few months since moving in.
***
Monsters existed around there too, as expected.
With builds similar to goblins and faces like a mix of dog and pig, Lancelot called these creatures "kobolds."
It was a bit annoying that they moved in packs, but their combat power was that of cannon fodder unable to match orcs.
My oldest sister and Kim Sol formed a party with me, and with Lancelot and Bedivere's help, we quickly cleared them away.
Crack!
Crunch!
Before we knew it, we had reached the building entrance while clearing them.
Leaving the non-operational elevator behind, we climbed the gray stairs flecked with pebble patterns one by one.
And so…
we finally arrived in front of the front door.
With my two sisters anxiously fretting behind me, I slowly reached my hand toward the doorbell.
Clunk.
A sound like a loose screw.
The doorbell didn't work.
Having no choice, I knocked on the door.
Bang! Bang!
"Hyung! It's me!"
But from beyond the firmly shut front door, there was no answer.
I immediately called Bedivere out.
"Open this door for me."
Bedivere nodded, lowering his head, then grasped the doorknob and began exerting his unique strength.
But…
Snap!
With that sound, the doorknob broke off entirely.
There was no helping it.
Rrrrip!
This time he grabbed the hole and tore the entire door off its frame.
Thud!
The entrance, pushed aside to one side.
Beyond it stretched a desolate living room.
Since it was a newlywed home that had just finished remodeling, everything looked new and clean.
As if no one had ever lived inside.
A hollow feeling crept in.
I wanted to believe that perhaps I had gotten the wrong address.
"…Was I too late?"
Just as I was blankly trying to organize my thoughts,
"There's something here!"
My oldest sister, who had headed toward the kitchen, discovered something.
.
.
.
What my oldest sister had discovered was a letter.
An ambiguous letter with no certain recipient.
Our older brother had left a message for his younger siblings who might come looking for him.
We three siblings gathered in a circle and slowly read through its contents.
—Juyeon, Sol, Jeonggyeom. I don't know which of you will read this. Phones aren't working, and since you might be able to come here, I'm leaving this letter.
As expected, our brother had anticipated we would come.
Perhaps even that it was uncertain.
However, he hadn't ignored that possibility.
So this letter could also be seen as containing his wish.
A wish for a reunion to happen, even if through this.
The main point was in the next sentence.
—We're going to try going to Father's house. Given the situation, I can't be sure you're safe. My in-laws' place is nearby too. There are many strange things besides that… but there's no time to explain right now.
Finally, our brother added the following:
—Whether you're Juyeon, Sol, or Jeonggyeom, please make sure you survive. I'll be waiting at the Uijeongbu house.
We three put down the letter with bewildered expressions.
We hadn't met our brother. Still…
"…It's not the worst."
The date written on the letter was the day after the apocalypse began.
It was a time before the 1st Legion showed their true colors, at least where monsters were concerned.
So…
they must have safely joined up at the Uijeongbu house where our parents are.
I decided not to ignore that possibility.
We decided to head straight to Uijeongbu, where our parents' house was.
A distance that wouldn't take even 20 minutes by helicopter.
Whoosh—
My sisters entered the subspace.
I asked Yongsu to pass on the news and make various departure preparations.
Now what remained was my role.
Going back to the helicopter that had landed in the empty lot.
Since monsters would be prowling the path, I was about to summon Lancelot and Bedivere again.
Just as I was about to leave the empty living room.
Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump!
Crash!
Along with shattered glass shards, heavy rounds flew into the living room.
Tang! Ping! Clang! Twing!
Bullets that pierced the walls here and there bounced around wildly, and the newly assembled wedding furniture was torn like paper.
The house, pristine as a brand-new suit, was utterly destroyed.
Then,
Whoosh!
A missile flew in from the helicopter.
Boom!
The bullets were gentlemanly by comparison.
Due to the intense explosion, the lights burst with a pop.
Walls engraved with bullet marks like decorations.
Above them, acrid soot poured like waves.
Fwoosh…
Embers slowly smoldered over the torn wallpaper.
Meanwhile, I…
"I'm perfectly fine…?"
It was truly a maddening attack.
Bullets from a minigun had accurately swept across my torso.
But all I received was a slight recoil.
Bullets slid and bounced off the moment they touched, and even the explosion from the missile felt like nothing more than scattered sand grains before my eyes.
Of course…
"Damn, that stings…"
I couldn't help but scratch my skin vigorously at the unfamiliar sensation.
The repulsive force obtained through
Truly, that power was incredible.
It made a UH-60 Black Hawk equipped with all sorts of weapons feel like a park pigeon.
It circled its rotors beyond the veranda, still staring at me.
It was clear it had been trying to blow me away along with the house.
My older brother's scorched, pitch-black newlywed home.
I didn't feel good.
But objects are not to blame.
The person wielding the object is to blame.
With a benevolent heart, I reached my hand toward the terrified, pitch-black pigeon.
"Come here, Black Hawk."
I activated
A Black Hawk armed with a minigun and missiles.
I needed to put it in a cage for now.
As for the pilot…
He could live or die.