Episode 2
Chapter 1 My World (2)
An unusual phenomenon was occurring at the Nakdong River.
The river water began to surge wildly.
The air rippled. It was like a trembling mirror.
Shortly after, that mirror shattered.
A dimension had opened.
From within, a massive lifeform leaped out.
Splash!
The moment a monster, appearing to be at least 4 meters tall, fell into the water, the hole it had emerged from quickly vanished.
“Kraaahng!”
The monster roared toward the sky.
Captain Eun in the passenger seat confirmed the monster through binoculars.
“Scout-type, Level C, Gorilla-type.”
Having heard her monotonous voice, Yeonghun muttered quietly.
“A strength type?”
Yeonghun immediately accelerated. The gorilla monster drew closer.
All sorts of weapons were fired at the gorilla monster from the trenches around the river.
Bullets and shells rained down on the monster, but they had little effect. Because it was a lifeform from another dimension, the causality of this dimension was largely ignored.
The shells were only enough to hinder the gorilla monster’s advance.
But from the trenches, they continued attacking desperately. Because if the monster stepped onto land, the trenches would be in danger.
But shortly after, the gorilla was able to step onto land. A faint green light flowed around the gorilla monster that had climbed ashore.
Having escaped the river, the gorilla monster began to rampage.
The monster clenched its fist and threw a punch forward. Then, a brilliant light burst from its fist and shot forward.
The light that streaked across the air embedded itself in the foremost trench.
Kwaang!
The trench was blown apart with a tremendous noise.
The gorilla monster that had fired the light placed both hands on the ground. And it began running toward the trenches in the rear.
The faces of the soldiers inside the trenches turned pale.
But their fate was not yet sealed.
Kwaaang!
The gorilla was blocked by something not far from the trenches.
When the soldiers came to their senses and looked ahead, a tall man nearly 2 meters tall was blocking the monster.
It was First Lieutenant Park Ganghyeok, the youngest on the team. He held a massive shield and stood before a monster more than twice his size.
But his body was being pushed back bit by bit.
“Captain, I’m losing in strength! I can’t hold it!”
He glared at the monster pushing against him and shouted toward the rear.
“Hold on a little longer.”
Yeonghun’s curt voice came from behind. He was running from afar.
In his hand was a long metal spear, and a faint light flowed along the spear. It was the dimensional power of a striker-type ability user.
“Damn it.”
At the sound of running from behind, Ganghyeok lowered his body and pushed against the shield.
Yeonghun, who had been accelerating, jumped up from right behind Ganghyeok. Revealing himself above Ganghyeok, he stepped on Ganghyeok’s shoulder and soared once more.
The monster’s face appeared before Yeonghun’s eyes.
The gorilla monster furrowed its brow at the human that had appeared before its eyes. It swung its arm at the human before it.
Puk!
But the monster was a step too late. Yeonghun had already lodged his spear into the monster’s neck. Yeonghun’s spear pierced a hole in the monster’s skin that not even shells could penetrate.
When the monster’s arm appeared before his eyes, he pushed the spear in deep without hesitation. He was flung backward.
The monster’s arm whipped through empty air, and blood gushed from the wound on its neck.
Landing behind Ganghyeok, Yeonghun drew a skewer-like sword. He charged at the monster with the sword.
The surroundings began to turn into a mess from their battle.
Ganghyeok blocked the monster’s attacks with his shield, and Yeonghun pierced holes in the monster’s body.
The enraged gorilla monster unleashed the same light attack that had destroyed the trench, but Ganghyeok was able to block it using his ability.
Yeonghun’s attacks left the gorilla monster covered in blood, but he couldn’t inflict a fatal wound. The difference in their body sizes was too great.
But he continued attacking, keeping the monster’s gaze fixed on himself.
A small ripple brushed past beside Yeonghun.
The ripple moved behind the monster and climbed up its body. Shortly after, the ripple that stopped behind the monster’s neck changed into the form of Captain Eun Seonhui.
Despite the monster’s violent movements, she hung stably from its neck.
She placed her hand on the back of the monster’s neck and focused. Her dimensional power pierced through the monster’s dimensional power and began searching for its dimensional core.
And shortly after finding the dimensional core’s location, she drew out her dimensional power into a thin thread and extended it long into the monster’s body.
The gorilla monster’s entire body trembled at the energy digging into its body.
The moment the monster, startled by the energy digging inside its body, tried to defend, Yeonghun’s attack struck its shoulder.
“Kraaaahng!”
The monster screamed and turned its attention back to Yeonghun. At that moment, Seonhui’s dimensional power began assimilating the gorilla monster’s dimensional core with this world.
From now on, it was a battle between her dimensional power and the monster’s dimensional core.
The gorilla monster, which had been continuously attacking the men, froze stock-still. And the green light flowing around the monster shook violently.
Yeonghun stopped attacking and watched the monster tensely. Ganghyeok also slowly moved outward.
Eventually, the radiance around the monster vanished. Seonhui’s dimensional power had won. The monster had transformed into a lifeform of this world.
Now, the gorilla monster could be killed with conventional weapons as well.
With her dimensional power depleted, she fell downward.
And the monster began to move.
“Kuooooooh!”
The monster let out a bizarre scream toward the sky and searched for the human who had done this to it.
But once again, Yeonghun was a step faster.
He snatched up Seonhui like lightning and began running away from the monster. At the same time, Ganghyeok threw away his shield and ran in the opposite direction.
“Fire!”
Shells flew toward the monster. They had been fired by soldiers who had been waiting for this very moment.
Now, conventional weapons were the ultimate tools of killing. Dozens of bullets and shells flew from the trenches.
Kwakwakwang!
The shells began destroying the monster’s body. Unlike moments ago, the monster’s body was shattered into pieces by the shells.
Shortly after the attack ceased, the monster slowly toppled over. More than half of the falling monster’s upper body was gone.
***
Ten years ago, auroras appeared in every sky, and people who could use superpowers emerged. Following them, monsters from other worlds appeared.
In the end, the superhumans were beings that this dimension had produced by strengthening them with dimensional power in order to stop the monsters.
The monsters had crossed over from other dimensions and could ignore the causality of this dimension to a certain extent. That was why the monsters were nearly invincible to existing weapons.
As time passed and the world was being greatly destroyed by the monsters, the superhumans stepped onto the front lines.
Thanks to the superhumans, humanity was able to resist the monsters, and the world became somewhat livable again.
But that too was only temporary, as new monstrous beasts appeared.
***
After the monster fell, Yeonghun and Ganghyeok returned to its side.
Yeonghun, who was still holding Seonhui, carefully set her down.
And Yeonghun and the squad members sat side by side next to the fallen monster.
“Oh! It’s risen quite a bit. If we fight about two more times, it seems like it’ll go up to B-rank!”
Ganghyeok said excitedly, looking at his wrist.
On his wrist was something shaped like a wristwatch. It was a dimensional power sensor. A machine that detected an ability user’s dimensional power and quantified it.
Yeonghun turned to look at Seonhui.
She was also looking at her sensor.
When Yeonghun looked at her, she covered it and feigned indifference. She seemed sorry.
It was clear that she too would rise to B-rank after just a few more battles. Then, she would be sent to Jeju Island.
Yeonghun looked at his own dimensional power sensor.
Level: C
Dimensional Power: 1499/1500
It hadn’t risen this time either.
His dimensional power had been stuck for seven years already. He had somewhat given up by now. His limit level was C-rank.
Several military trucks appeared from the south in a convoy, arriving late.
It was the rear support unit that had come after hearing the gorilla monster had fallen.
The three men and women sat beside the monster and watched the trucks approach.
A man of large build sat with his half-crumpled shield laid on the ground. It was First Lieutenant Park Ganghyeok, the youngest on the team.
Possessing defense-type dimensional power, he was in charge of the team’s defense.
The woman leaning against Yeonghun’s shoulder with her eyes closed again was Captain Eun Seonhui.
She was a beautiful woman who looked to be in her early twenties, but her expressionless face made her look older. She was an assassin-type ability user.
Finally, the team leader, Yeonghun, was carefully inspecting his skewer-like sword. Beside him, his already cleanly polished spear gleamed. He was a strike-type ability user and the team’s leader.
He was now thirty years old, and it had already been more than nine years since he had been fighting on the battlefield. Many team members had passed through during that time, but now only three people remained here.
Three trucks stopped here. The remaining truck moved toward the trenches. It was a truck that had come to resupply the ammunition that had been exhausted moments ago.
From the trucks, a processing team disembarked to dismantle and take away the gorilla monster. The monster’s various parts would be taken to the rear and utilized.
As the soldiers approached the monster, Yeonghun’s strike team rose from their spots. It was time to return now.
They had been patrolling the front lines to reduce response time, but now that the battle was over, it was time to return to the division headquarters.
In any case, further combat was impossible due to Seonhui’s ability exhaustion.
Seeing Seonhui totter slightly as she stood up, Yeonghun picked her up in his arms and moved. Behind him, Ganghyeok followed, glaring at Yeonghun with a look of annoyance.
They returned to their military jeep.
After setting Seonhui in the passenger seat and sitting in the driver’s seat, Yeonghun took a handkerchief from his pocket. When he unfolded the handkerchief, the object inside was revealed.
It was a dimensional core.
Yeonghun had found it before the soldiers arrived.
The dimensional core looked like a polygonal jewel, but this one, contaminated by the assassin, had turned a murky gray.
But although it wasn’t on the level of a pure dimensional core, this contaminated dimensional core was still a precious item.
It could be used as a power source along with ordinary dimensional cores, and it was also usable as a sort of battery that stored dimensional power.
“Ooh! This one’s not bad, right? Judging by the size, we could probably sell it for quite a bit.”
Ganghyeok said, poking his head from the back seat. His expression was beaming at the thought that they had made a good haul.
Yeonghun also nodded. This much wasn’t bad.
Yeonghun put the handkerchief back in his pocket and started the jeep.
And the military jeep passed over unpaved roads and old roads that hadn’t been maintained, entering a small city after forty minutes.
It was Uiseong-eup, Uiseong-gun, Gyeongsangbuk-do, where the headquarters of the Nakdong River Defense 3rd Division was located.
***
Humanity, which had barely maintained a balance with the monsters, began to be rapidly pushed back by the invasion of new monstrous beasts.
Pushed back again and again, humanity was finally driven out from most of the continents.
Most of the earth now belonged to the monsters. The remaining few humans continued their resistance from the corners of continents and islands.
Korea had continued to be pushed back by the monsters’ offensive and had finally established its Maginot Line at the Nakdong River.
Korea now had only about 2 million civilians left. Most of them and the government were staying on Jeju Island.
And here on the Nakdong River front, soldiers and ability users were fighting with their lives on the line to protect the last industrial facilities.
If they lost these industrial facilities, the Korean military might have to fight bare-handed.
***
The interior of Uiseong-eup was filled with the scars of war. It looked exactly like the Korean War from sixty years ago.
Yeonghun’s jeep arrived at the division headquarters located at the town office.
In the parking lot, massive electronic equipment stood pointing skyward.
Dozens of long antennas pierced the sky above the complex electronic equipment, and two diesel generators were operating this equipment.
It was equipment that blocked the monsters’ dimensional movement. Thanks to this equipment, monsters could not appear around Uiseong-eup. The very reason the division headquarters could exist was because of this electronic equipment.
Ganghyeok greeted Yeonghun and Seonhui, then immediately dashed out of the division headquarters. He seemed to be planning to buy a woman and relieve his pent-up stress.
Yeonghun left the exhausted-looking Captain Eun in the car and went to report to the division commander.
When Yeonghun entered the division headquarters, the surrounding soldiers were startled and stepped aside.
An unintentional bloodlust flowed from the striker. It was a bloodlust born from fighting monsters face-to-face on the front lines.
Many strikers suffered from mental illnesses due to the aftereffects of combat.
Yeonghun’s team was no different.
Ganghyeok hid his violent tendencies with chatter, but when combat ended, he relieved that stress through deviant sexual acts.
Seonhui had built walls against the world and become numb to her own death. That was why she always threw herself toward danger, leaving Yeonghun with no choice but to be on edge.
Fortunately, Yeonghun had Seonhui’s help and a place to rest, so he was relatively intact.
When uncontrollable weapons of war walked around, people were bound to be afraid. But the military had no other alternative, since aside from them, there were no means to resist the monsters.
Yeonghun reported the battle that had occurred at the river to the division commander and immediately left the building.
The division’s strike teams were organized into three shifts. Since the assassin-type ability user on Yeonghun’s team could not fight now, the other two teams had to patrol for the next 24 hours until her dimensional power returned.
Since there was only one assassin remaining per team now, if even one of them died, this front line could no longer be held.
Yeonghun woke Seonhui, who had been sleeping in the car, and left the headquarters with her. Shortly after, they entered the last remaining motel.
The motel owner recognized the two and immediately handed over the key, and Yeonghun gave the owner a monster’s liver. He had secretly taken it from the gorilla monster they caught today.
Unable to let the exhausted Seonhui rest in a military barracks, Yeonghun had been making use of the motel in this manner.
They entered their room. Fortunately, perhaps because it was a soundproof room, the moans that had been heard in the hallway could no longer be heard.
Upon entering the room, Seonhui wrapped her arms around Yeonghun’s neck and kissed him deeply. Her eyes were half-closed.
“I’ll sleep first.”
She went to the bed and immediately fell asleep.
Yeonghun sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Seonhui. Her face, now that its rigid expression had relaxed, was lovely.
After gazing at her face for a moment, Yeonghun undressed her and wiped her down with a wet towel. And after showering himself, he lay down beside her.
Yeonghun took a machine shaped like headphones from his bag and put it on his head.
The reason Yeonghun could maintain his sanity was thanks to Seonhui’s existence and also thanks to the machine he was wearing on his head right now.
Dimensional access device.
It was a device intended to reverse-search the monsters’ dimensions.
But the project had failed, and the dimensional access device was being utilized for a different purpose. Namely, it was used to peep at oneself in a parallel world.
Now it was time for Yeonghun to relieve his own stress.
Yeonghun pressed the switch at his ear. Then, the machine trembled slightly and began operating.
Yeonghun placed both hands on his stomach and closed his eyes.
He connected to himself in another dimension.