Even putting it kindly, the sight of a man who had given up even on his family was not a pleasant one.
He chose to obey orders as a soldier, turning his back on his wife and the child who would soon be born.
Not to step forward as a husband, as a father…
But to remain as one cog in the organization called the military.
However, he had not been so resigned from the very beginning.
“On the first day of the incident, the Blackout Zone did not take everything away at once. In the beginning, communication with the inside was not impossible.”
Was it on a community forum, or in the comments of a news article?
Back then, there were occasionally people who authenticated that they were inside the Blackout Zone.
Though now, all of it has been censored… I remember those verification posts.
“I knew something unusual was happening, but I didn’t know it was that serious. That day, I had already applied for paternity leave.
That seemed to be why Captain Kim had been at ease.
Because he still did not know exactly what was happening.
Because even though countless people were trapped in there, communication could still be exchanged.
So it probably was not that serious.
“That was what I thought…”
His wife did not answer the phone.
There was still plenty of time before the surgery. He checked again and again.
His wife was in a situation where she could answer the phone at any time.
And yet.
Even though the cell towers were intact, even though countless people were still maintaining contact with those inside the Blackout Zone.
[Beep, beep…]
[The call cannot be connected. After the tone, you will be directed to voicemail, and call charges will apply.]
His wife did not answer the phone.
And while missed calls piled up, layer upon layer, in Captain Kim’s call history…
[Situation arisen. All personnel on leave are to return immediately.]
An order came down from the military.
Give up your leave and return to the military.
“I couldn’t accept it. Of course I protested.”
Return to the military while leaving behind his wife, who was about to give birth?
For Captain Kim, it was something he could never accept.
So he refused the order.
Even if that choice cast a shadow over his future, what meaning would it have if he could not be by the side of the wife he loved?
With thoughts like that in mind.
He headed straight for Gangnam.
But Gangnam was already surrounded by a black cylinder, and military units were tightly encircling the area.
“I tried to sneak in, but I had no choice but to be caught quickly.”
He would not be treated very well. After all, he had disobeyed the return order and attempted to sneak in.
—Oh, aren’t you Lieutenant Kim?
Fortunately, however, the person who caught him was someone personally acquainted with him.
Thanks to that, Captain Kim was able to be treated almost as though he had returned on his own.
As soon as Captain Kim returned, he was promoted from first lieutenant to captain.
At the time, he was bewildered, unable to understand the reason, but he soon learned why.
It was because, thanks to his promotion, he was able to learn the secret earlier than others.
[At present, unknown monsters are pouring out within the region now referred to as the Blackout Zone.]
Unknown monsters.
In addition to the now-known Human-Skin-Clad Mimic Beasts, there were Rend Leviathans. And other unidentified species besides.
The government had seen the future and learned of the monsters’ emergence, but that was all.
Methods of response and basic tactics had to be learned by confronting them directly.
Not even a day had passed since the incident began, but that was precisely why so many had died.
Captain Kim was promoted to fill an empty post.
And he heard his fate.
[The first location where a Human-Skin-Clad Mimic Beast was confirmed is here. Gangnam Sarang Obstetrics and Gynecology.]
[Are there any survivors? Is there anyone alive?]
[…No. We have confirmed that all personnel are deceased.]
A sentence passed down in the name of fate.
Only after Captain Kim heard of the monsters’ existence, heard the location where they had first emerged, and was also informed that not a single living, breathing person remained there…
Did his resistance toward the order to return from leave subside.
Only then could he willingly accept the return order.
Because there was no longer any reason for him to take leave.
*
Captain Kim had given up. He gave up quickly.
No matter how much the truth had been told to him, whether or not one accepted it was a matter of the heart.
People sometimes cannot accept reality.
“You may call me heartless. You may say I lacked courage and perseverance.”
Captain Kim said that.
There was a trace of tears in his voice, but as a fellow man, I lightly ignored it.
“But the only identity left to me was that of a soldier… and according to that identity, I held my position.”
Because he was that sort of person, he must have been able to endure without collapsing.
He resolutely turned away from himself as a husband and himself as a father.
So now, the only self remaining to him was himself as a soldier.
Because he had given up on himself, because he had fallen into despair…
He was able to remain as one cog in the organization called the military.
“…”
We were silent.
Because the ending Captain Kim had met was, perhaps, closely connected to us.
His family had been stranded in the Blackout Zone, and though he had tried to save them, he had knelt before the truth…
If there was one difference between Captain Kim and us, it was this: we had not received official confirmation of their deaths.
We were barely moving forward, using that hope as our lifeline.
But perhaps because the story seemed to resemble our own possible end, it did not sit well with me.
Using that as my reason, I opened my mouth in the silence.
“Captain Kim. Let’s try saving your wife first.”
“…That won’t do. Our mission is, strictly speaking…”
“To purify the Incubator. And we succeeded at that, didn’t we?”
“…The mission includes withdrawal.”
Normally, it would be right to complete only that and then escape.
Leaving everything else aside, purifying the Incubator would leave me defenseless.
Until now, the extent of my ability had been one person per day. Barely that much.
“But look at me now. Do I look like I’m about to collapse?”
“If I’m being honest, yes.”
Mm, Captain Kim wasn’t wrong.
My whole body was aching with muscle pain, and there wasn’t a single part of me, from my mind to the tips of my toes, that wasn’t exhausted.
“But I haven’t collapsed, have I?”
“That is also true.”
My ability had grown one stage after facing a colossal existence like a speck of the Colony.
The proof was that I was standing here on these two feet.
Of course, I was exhausted enough to collapse at any moment, but that meant I wasn’t actually going to collapse.
“In other words, I still have room to spare. Room to accomplish an additional objective.”
We could save one more person here.
Of course, among this multitude of pitiful souls, choosing exactly one was no easy thing.
But petty man that I am, it was only natural that my heart would go first to those closest to me.
“So let’s try saving her.”
I added one more sentence with a grin.
“It’s not like we can go back anyway, is it?”
After all, we had to search the third floor regardless.
Saving Captain Kim’s wife would just be something we did along the way.
*
My astonishingly keen intellect shone even within this repulsive dimension.
To the point that I wondered if perhaps the light coming from my halo was not holy power, but my intellect.
“Captain Kim, you have some idea where your wife might be, don’t you?”
At those words, Captain Kim flinched.
This man, who had become foolish by resolutely cutting away his own identity, was pathologically reluctant to reveal what was inside him.
Just like his expression, which normally never showed itself.
Of course, that was not necessarily a bad thing.
Thanks to that, he had been faithful as a soldier.
But even if the part that had been cut out no longer existed, the sting remained.
To relieve that sting, he had made me his substitute.
He had tried to soothe the pain of what had been severed by placing me somewhere safe.
So what I wanted to say was…
‘Fundamentally, he’s a fragile person.’
A person who, even if he resolutely whittled away his own identity, could not forget the pain of it.
That was the human being named Kim Hyeongcheol as I understood him.
“On the second floor. When you faced the Mimic Beast that had taken your wife’s form.”
“…”
“You didn’t hesitate much. I think there must be a reason for that.”
Even if he knew it was a Mimic Beast, even if he could predict that the basis of it was not truly his wife…
Could a man who could not forget that sting, who sent pity toward others because of it, really have made that decision so easily?
Of course, he might have been able to do it just as he had cut away his own identity.
However, just as he had disobeyed orders and tried to go to the Blackout Zone… there must have been some attempt.
Captain Kim obediently admitted my prediction.
“…Yes. I have an idea.”
“But because you were a soldier, you didn’t say it. Because completing the mission had to take priority.”
“You are the most important person here. Naturally, as a soldier, I must prioritize your safety…”
I smiled at those words.
A soldier—the only identity left to him. He was struggling to protect even that identity.
But that applied only to him.
“Here, aside from you, Captain, none of us are soldiers, are we?”
All of us were civilians, if only in name.
We had gathered not to obey the orders of the state, but to save our respective families.
Though for him, perhaps only orders remained now…
For us, our families are everything.