After the briefing ended, we were given some free time.
Though, at most, we could only move around the nearby area.
Guided by a soldier, I made my way out of the building.
It was simply too stifling inside. I wanted to do something, anything, to relieve this suffocating feeling.
“Hoooo……”
I lifted my head and looked up at the sky.
The sky was hazy, as though a thin fog had settled over it.
Fog over Seoul, huh.
On any other day, I might have thought it had a certain charm.
The gentle light born from the sunlight striking here and there through that mist had its own value to appreciate.
But not today.
Naturally, my gaze turned toward the blackout zone.
A black cylinder soaring so high it seemed not to know the limits of the sky.
As if censoring the world, it cut off contact with the outside, rippling aloofly.
As I watched that sight, I suddenly realized just how stifling the world was.
“Would you like a smoke?”
“……”
At the words that suddenly came from behind me, I turned around.
Looking at his face, he was the officer who had been in charge of negotiating with us, including the briefing.
He held out a cigarette to me.
I stared blankly at the cigarette, about the size of my pinky.
“It’s perfect for emptying your mind when you feel stifled.”
“…Then, one.”
I took the cigarette.
How did they smoke in movies again? Put it between the index and middle finger, and then, like this……
“…Have you never smoked before?”
“…No.”
The officer asked.
Apparently, I must have looked like a complete novice.
“You don’t have to force yourself to smoke.”
“No, well……”
I wasn’t forcing myself. If I didn’t do something right now, I felt like this suffocating feeling might do something to me.
“Then I suppose we should make a slightly practical judgment. Do you know the cliché in creative works where the world ends?”
“More or less……”
“Then you’ll know. Cigarettes are traded like a kind of currency in a ruined world. If you get hooked on smoking now, you’ll lose out later when the world ends.”
The officer’s words made sense at first glance.
I returned the cigarette I had been about to smoke to him. He carefully placed it back in the pack as though it were some precious treasure.
I watched the sight, then suddenly grew curious and looked at him.
“…Do you think the world will end?”
“…If you want my personal opinion, yes. When I look at those monsters, I can’t erase that thought.”
The officer’s expression was still blank. His voice, too, had not lost its cool composure.
That was why his resignation felt all the more terrifying to me.
Because the destruction he spoke of sounded thoroughly rational.
The officer smoked for a long while, staring into the air, then suddenly spoke.
“That is why I would like to make you an offer. Go back. I will have you sent home, not to a quarantine facility, so please go back.”
“…Is that allowed?”
“There is nothing in this world that is allowed. However, it would not be so bad to overstep my authority once.”
The officer exhaled a plume of white smoke. The smoke scattered before it could even touch the fog.
“Information about you has already spread widely. The government was also going to attempt contact with you immediately. Of course, we ended up meeting like this before then.”
To begin with, I had personally gone to the neighborhood office. It would be stranger if the government didn’t know of my existence.
After all, I was probably the only angel mutant in the world. On top of that, I had become famous on the internet.
“You are going to look for your younger sister, aren’t you?”
“…Yes, well. I have to drag her back by the hair.”
“My offer still stands. The military will take custody of your sister, so how about you return?”
After saying that, the officer drew in a hollow breath.
For the first time, he spoke as though spitting the words out.
“The Republic of Korea is not fragile. Nothing will go wrong simply because one adult in his early twenties is missing.”
I gave a faint laugh at those words.
“If you put it that way, what about the other soldiers? They’re about the same age as me too.”
“They were unlucky. What can be done when they happened to be serving at a time like this?”
“I was scheduled to enlist in a week, though.”
“But now you are more than qualified to receive an exemption, are you not?”
That wasn’t wrong either.
And in any case, most of what the officer was saying to me was for my sake.
It seemed he was feeling deep skepticism about the current situation.
Otherwise, there was no reason for him to try this desperately to persuade me.
As for me……
‘Would I really be persuaded by those words?’
To be honest, I probably would.
If I could taste even a little more peace, just a little longer… nothing would be more than enough.
If I went back, there would be a lot to do. I’d have to play the mobile games I’d fallen behind on, and there were plenty of console games I’d bought and never touched.
And I’d have to spend time. With friends, or with family.
Yes, I would go back and spend time with my family.
With my family……
“…It’s not easy.”
Since my thoughts would not continue any further, that was all I could answer.
As I stood there, simply staring at the black cylinder, the officer said to me,
“As long as it is before today ends, my offer remains valid.”
How truly, tearfully grateful. Seriously.
*
I returned to the briefing room.
About half of the mutants remained there.
“Where did everyone go?”
“Half of those who aren’t here went out for some air, and the other half decided to go back.”
That answer came from the owlbear beastman.
Everyone must have a lot to think about.
But more than that, I was surprised by the fact that even half of them had remained here.
“Then the people here aren’t going back…?”
“Yes, well. That’s how it turned out.”
The owlbear spoke in a tone that sounded somewhat resigned.
“I was an old man who didn’t have many days left to live in the first place. My only joy was looking after my grandchild… There would be no meaning in spending the rest of my life peacefully.”
“…Is that so?”
“Yes, that’s right. Besides, from what I hear, those things called mimic beasts mimic others, just as their name suggests, don’t they? Then I suppose I may at least get to see my grandchild’s face, haha……”
The owlbear beastman’s expression as he said that was not particularly bright.
Of course it couldn’t be. Even if he saw his grandchild’s face, it would only be a monster wearing his grandchild’s skin and pretending to be them.
“…And I should take revenge. For now, that is the mindset with which I remained here.”
“…Thank you for telling me something difficult.”
I said that and was about to turn away.
This time, though I hadn’t even asked, a certain vampire took the lead and began telling his own story.
“I don’t have any family. I was an orphan, you see. The only thing I lost in Gangnam was my studio apartment, which I paid for with crypto.”
“Then why are you remaining here?”
“Because this must be a trial sent down by God.”
At those words, I flinched.
God. Perhaps it was because among those who had cried out that word, there was someone who had left me with a bad impression.
But as though he didn’t care about my reaction at all, the vampire instead sent me a passionate gaze and launched into a speech.
“Look! This world is a great furnace of tempering. That abyss of blackout is the flame that burns away sin, and we are the materials that must be reborn within it as pure gold. And here, our Redeemer stands among us! Is your very existence not the clearest sign that this hell lies under God’s control?”
The vampire’s eyes remained fixed on me as he spoke.
Well, to me, it sounded so absurd that I suddenly burst into laughter.
“I’m not anything like that. I was just thinking about going back right away myself.”
“If that is what you choose, then do so.”
The vampire smiled kindly with his pale face.
I could see his facial muscles spasming, but he did not lose his smile.
“Your will is the Lord’s will, and your path shall be salvation. Do as you wish.”
“…What will you do if I don’t join you?”
“Even so, I must do what I believe in.”
After a brief pause, the vampire continued.
“Judging by your expression, it seems you have a poor impression of people like us.”
“…Yes. To some extent.”
“But how could a person possess only one side? Everyone has two faces. Just as I, who follow the Lord’s will, bear the appearance of a wicked minion.”
There was not the slightest tremor in the vampire’s voice as he said that.
“The Lord said, Love thy neighbor as thyself, and I will simply receive and follow those words.”
And that seemed to be the most decisive reason he had remained here.
Helping others. Truly a heroic type of person, the kind that has been hard to see these days.
“…I’ll have to think about it a little, just a little more.”
But suddenly, I came to a decision, said that, and left the briefing room.
The place I headed to was the same place where I had been speaking with the officer earlier.
The officer was still standing there quietly, smoking his cigarette.
Noticing me belatedly, he spoke to me.
“…You’ve come. Have you made up your mind?”
“No.”
“…I understand. It is a difficult decision.”
“But I’ve brought an answer.”
I……