“He lost a lot of blood, but no organs were hit. I don’t think he’s in immediate danger. Still, we should get him back to base as soon as possible.”
Tom said this after bandaging the unconscious Sergeant An.
Hearing him, I understood why a young Black man had joined the survey team.
Contrary to how he looked, he was certified as an emergency medical technician.
When he was with that macho uncle, he’d looked like some kid from Harlem, but it seemed you really shouldn’t judge people carelessly.
By the time Sergeant An’s treatment was finished, the others had finished checking the mound of dirt.
“There’s nothing. No black stone, no relics. It’s just dirt.”
Magreta agreed with Carlo’s words.
“Once the water drained out, it was practically sand. Just like the storm raging outside right now.”
At her words, everyone looked toward the entrance.
The outside, which had been bright for a brief while, had gone dark again.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwa!
The sandstorm that had retreated when we came inside had begun raging once more.
Looking at the unconscious Sergeant An, Carlo scratched his head.
“We have a patient, so we can’t just keep wasting time here…”
He looked around with a troubled expression, then asked me.
“We can’t just go back like this, can we?”
I pointed to the entrance where the sandstorm was raging.
“I could see the way in, but I can’t see the way out.”
At my words, Carlo let out a sigh.
“Ugh… Investigating ruins is part of a survey team’s job, but still. This ruin is what created the storm, isn’t it?”
At Carlo’s question, I pointed to Hanna, who was talking with Magreta.
“This place is the eye of the typhoon. On top of that, they say the sandstorm appeared after the monsters chasing those two entered the sandy area.
It seems the storm wasn’t this strong until the two of them entered this ruin.”
While I was talking with Carlo, Magreta was holding on to Hanna and continuing her questions.
How she had found this ruin and come inside, and how she had survived for more than a day.
There was no translation relic, but Hanna had no problem understanding English.
It was the same with speaking it.
It wasn’t a native accent, but she could speak well enough for the relic to translate properly.
“We were lucky enough to find this ruin. And…”
Unlike her pale face, she spoke in a calm voice as she told them what had happened.
From how they had found the ruin to how they had endured while fighting the mud giants.
It was a detailed explanation, but I realized something was missing from it.
[Looks like she’s hiding something.]
She was still a teenage girl.
It wasn’t easy to deceive adults who were thoroughly stained by the grime of the world.
Just as I had noticed, Sopeu and Magreta noticed right away as well.
“I see. Thank you for the detailed explanation.”
Magreta did not reveal that she had noticed.
There was something Hanna had hidden, but thanks to her explanation, we understood how the situation had unfolded.
Carlo let out a sigh.
“So in the end, we have to search this ruin and find a way to stop that sandstorm.”
I pointed to the passage leading deeper into the building.
“If the ruin created the sandstorm, then there should be a device at the center of the ruin that makes it.”
Everyone nodded at my words, but one person suddenly shouted.
“Explore the ruin? Are you all insane? We didn’t have to come in here! This isn’t suicide! Two missing people were enough, there’s no need to add more!”
I knew he had been building up complaints the whole way here.
But to think he would say something like that in front of the person involved.
Hanna was staring at Park Osu with a dumbfounded expression.
It was an expression I had never seen from her before.
Team Leader Park no longer seemed to care about anyone else’s gaze.
Avoiding Hanna’s eyes, he continued shouting at Carlo and Magreta.
“Let’s wait here for others to rescue us! We’ll be safe if we stay here! Besides…”
He rambled on passionately, but the two of them ignored Park Osu’s words as well.
Carlo asked me.
“Can you find that device?”
“Yes, I think it’s possible.”
The reason I could be so confident was because I had an assistant.
[My memories haven’t fully returned, but I can roughly recall the internal structure. If the building hasn’t collapsed, finding the way won’t be difficult.]
He was a foul-mouthed, senile old man, but he had never lied so far.
Nor had he ever harmed me.
Now that the staff was bound to me, I could trust what Sopeu said.
“If the guide thinks so, then we should go. We don’t have time, so let’s move right away.”
Was it because I had earned his trust all this time?
At my words, Carlo made his decision.
He pondered how to split the group.
“We have an injured man, so not everyone can go. How should we divide the people…”
“I’ll go too!”
I had thought Park Osu would be the first to make a fuss, but the one who stepped forward first was Hanna.
She clenched her fists tightly and spoke in a loud voice.
Everyone looked at her with puzzled expressions.
Their gazes gathered on her, but Hanna did not back down.
Magreta let out a sigh.
She raised a finger and pressed it firmly against Hanna’s forehead.
“Ugh!”
She had only pressed with a finger, but Hanna’s forehead turned red.
Pulling her finger away, Magreta said,
“Your enthusiasm is nice, but… are you not thinking about your own body at all? Forget fighting, you can’t even stand up right now.”
At her words, Hanna bit her lip.
“Are you going to come along for no reason and become baggage? You know very well that no one likes baggage, don’t you?”
I didn’t know why, but those words seemed to be the decisive blow.
“…All right. I’ll stay.”
Hanna said, lowering her head deeply.
Before Hanna’s answer had even ended, Park Osu shot his hand up.
“Me too, me too! I’ll stay too! I’ll wait here for everyone to come back!”
It was exactly what I had expected him to say.
“Hmm…”
At Park Osu’s words, Carlo tilted his head.
Was it hard for him to decide this time?
Magreta was firm.
“Mister Park has to come with us.”
At her words, Carlo asked,
“He might really only end up being baggage.”
It was a reasonable point.
Besides, it was Magreta herself who had just said one should not become baggage.
Magreta didn’t care.
“He doesn’t matter. Besides, we can’t leave him in a place where there’s an energy-depleted girl and a patient. And I don’t plan on dragging baggage around for long.”
There was something frightening in the last part of her answer.
With an uncomfortable expression, Carlo opened his mouth again.
“Is there any room for you to change your mind…”
“No.”
He did not even get to finish speaking.
Carlo raised both hands.
“Can’t be helped. As the señorita wishes.”
Fortunately, perhaps, Park Osu did not understand everything she had said.
“What does that mean? Not dragging baggage around for long?”
Or perhaps his brain had rejected it.
The members who would enter the ruin were decided.
Carlo, Magreta, me, and Park Osu.
Those who remained here were the patient, Sergeant An; the energy-depleted Hanna; and Tom, who would stay to look after Sergeant An.
I took some items out of the box and placed them beside those who were staying behind.
Combat rations, leather blankets, and a few daily necessities.
Hanna looked puzzled at the unfamiliar supplies, but without a word, I placed a few candies in her hand.
[She’ll need sugar.]
[I didn’t say anything.]
Given time, Hanna’s energy would surely recover. There was no need to worry about those who remained.
Still, there was a patient, so we had to hurry.
The four members of the survey team went inside.
We passed through a space that looked like a lobby and entered deeper in.
A long passage came into view.
On both walls of the passage, large square holes were lined up in a row. They were openings that must once have been doors.
Before entering the passage, I heightened my senses as much as possible.
Nothing caught on them.
It was strange.
The previous ruin had been filled with traps everywhere.
The Americans had said there were many traps in other ruins as well.
But here, I could not sense any traps.
Fortunately, there was someone who might know the reason.
I asked “Sopeuwiki.”
[I don’t see any traps.]
[There are no traps. This isn’t a military base. It’s just… a research facility.]
His words made me think of the mud giants. There was also the sand typhoon enveloping the ruin.
[For laboratory security, it’s pretty damn brute-force.]
At my light remark, Sopeu answered in a solemn tone.
[They were stronger in the past. This research facility was an important place.]
Feeling awkward, I turned my head and spoke to the others.
“There are no traps. If I sense anything, I’ll tell you, so for now, you can look around comfortably.”
Carlo and Magreta’s steps grew lighter.
Park Osu remained the same.
He walked reluctantly, looking around in fear.
But with Carlo in front of him and Magreta behind him, he couldn’t try anything else.
Inside the holes in the walls, in the rooms where the doors had been smashed apart, nothing remained.
There must have been all sorts of things in the past, but now there were only a few old metal frames and dust.
As such rooms continued one after another, we stopped checking them.
Instead, we quickened our pace.
The building was large, but it was nothing compared to the ruin we had gone to before.
Back then, it had been impossible to know just how far it continued.
Before long, we arrived at the center of the building.
There, a staircase led down underground, and mud giants stood in front of it.
Four mud giants blocked the way.
From the giants came the same sounds I had heard before.
“!@#!@#!#!”
It was strange speech like metal being scraped, but thanks to the translation relic, I could understand it this time too.
“The facility below is inaccessible to civilians! If you approach any further, we will attack!”
Magreta asked me.
She knew I had the translation relic.
“What are they saying?”
“They say they’ll attack if we approach.”
“So in the end, they’re telling us to fight.”
With a sigh, Magreta untied the rope around her waist.
Carlo also gripped his spear with both hands.
Park Osu, his pupils trembling, clutched his spear tightly as well.
While the others prepared to fight, I stepped back.
Seeing me retreat, Park Osu ground his teeth.
“Fuck, there’s a bastard running away when it’s time to fight, so why am I the only one…”
Was it because I had never shown him how I fought?
It seemed he had gotten the wrong idea.
I shrugged and retreated a good distance back.
Carlo shouted,
“Everyone take one each!”
At his words, Park Osu flared up.
“What do you mean, one each! There’s one left over!”
There were three people standing in front, and four mud giants, so it was understandable that he would be angry.
Of course, that was the wrong way to think about it.
Having stepped back, I threw my spear with all my strength.
Shwaaaak!
The spear sliced through the wind as it flew.
Thud!
The spear lodged deep into a mud giant’s head.
“Gah!”
I heard Park Osu’s startled cry, but no one paid it any attention.
I called Sopeu.
[Hurry, please. It’ll be troublesome if it revives.]
Sopeu did not answer my words.
Instead, he cast a spell.
[Cohesion Release.]
The spell cast with the dark energy he had drawn in advance made the mud giant collapse.
Gwa-rurururu.
I ran forward and pulled my spear out from within the collapsed mound of dirt.
As I shook the spear to fling off the soil, Sopeu’s voice reached me.
[What a pity. They were excellent guardians who protected this place for tens of thousands of years.]
[No matter how excellent they were, right now they’re enemies blocking our path.]
This was no time to listen to an old man’s lament.
Enemies still remained.
I pushed energy into the spear again.
The energy-filled spear glowed faintly.
I launched myself toward a mud giant that was struggling, bound by rope.
Like that, I attacked them one after another and ended the mud giants.
The battle did not last long.
A little while later, Carlo poked at the clods of dirt and tilted his head.
“Are these mud giants not reviving? What changed?”
What had changed was that a mage had used magic.
Of course, he could not know that.
We had defeated all the mud giants, but one of us had been injured as well. It was the person I had helped last.
He was far worse than I had expected. He did not know how to use a spear, and he could not use energy properly either.
Of course, I had also helped him too late, but no one said anything to me.
“Fuck! You did that on purpose, didn’t you? How can you do this to a fellow Korean?”
He shouted, but like Carlo, I ignored him.
The place where Bak Osu had been struck by the mud giant was his chest.
His chest was caved in, and blood was streaming from his mouth.
“You’re lucky. Both you and I are. Now I can settle this by ending the suffering of an injured soldier.”
At her words, Bak Osu spat blood and said,
“Damn it, even if I did something wrong, does that mean I deserve to die? What you’re doing right now is murder!”
Even at his words, she merely shook her head.
Bak Osu wasn’t wrong.
If this were Earth, there was no way he would be sentenced to death for something like this.
He might have been detained, or if he was lucky, gotten off with a fine.
But this was not Earth.
There was nowhere to imprison people, and we couldn’t live alongside someone we couldn’t trust.
Just as Margreta was about to finish him off with her spear—
[Indeed, you people do have a violent streak.]
The mage showed interest in Bak Osu’s words.
What a stubborn old geezer.
“Haah…”
I let out a sigh and stepped forward.
Margreta looked at me with a puzzled expression.
I said to Bak Osu,
“Did you think we wouldn’t know? That you’re a spy?”
“What?”
Bak Osu’s eyes widened at my words.
“You know it too, don’t you? That Benedict didn’t die in an accident.”
“What? It wasn’t an accident?”
I clicked my tongue loudly.
“Tsk, tsk. With instincts that dull, no wonder that side gave up on you.”
At my words, his expression changed wildly.
His deathly pale face turned ashen.
In the end, he opened his mouth with a vacant expression.
“No. No. I was only supposed to help a little. I barely did anything. I was just supposed to drive a bit of a wedge between you and tell them what I heard. Really, I’m nothing. Please.”
As expected, this sort of thing worked well on injured people.
After hearing his confession, I stepped back.
Margreta, who had been looking at me with an impressed expression, raised her spear and stood before him.
Thud.
There was the sound of the spear sinking in, and Bak Osu’s breath stopped.
After finishing the matter, Margreta asked,
“How did you know?”
“Hm? Know what?”
“That he was a spy.”
“I didn’t.”
At my words, Margreta’s mouth fell wide open.
“I just took a stab at it. It wouldn’t have mattered even if he wasn’t.”
“You’re a frightening person.”
That was completely absurd.
“Frightening? I merely did my utmost to find a proper reason. No matter what anyone says, I’m nothing compared to my superior.”
At my words, Soph grumbled.
[A match made in heaven.]