3
3.
The ground, slushy with blood and filth.
Warriors groaning in pain while neglected and unable to receive treatment.
An incompetent boss who curses at you every time you hesitate and even resorts to violence against allies.
The boss who told us to only follow orders suddenly disappeared in the middle of the war.
It is impossible to know even whether they are dead or have run away.
Because I don’t have the luxury to worry about things like that.
I look for another boss just in case, but as expected, there isn’t one.
The entire command structure that demanded absolute obedience only to their orders is gone.
It is impossible to know if they are dead or ran away.
I just hope it’s the former. Yes, I’d rather it be the former.
The trembling enemies are rushing out from all directions, and we don’t know what to do.
Because until now, I was nothing more than a meat shield who didn’t need to know what to do.
Demons rushing forward, swinging swords dripping with blood.
Under the setting sun, the whole world appears stained with blood.
It feels like everything is submerged in blood.
Thump thump thump…”
buy…….”
A heart-pounding, heart-pounding situation where I don’t know what to do.
In the split second I stood frozen in a daze, submerged in a sea of blood, someone grabbed my shoulder tightly and shouted.
“Big Brother!!!”
“……!!!”
what.
That just now was… … .
I turn my head and see Eunho holding my shoulder with a worried expression.
Is that so…
Was I spaced out?
My heart won’t stop beating, as if what I just experienced was real.
It is clearly a different situation from my past life.
I am no longer ‘that’ Jin So-woon from my past life.
“Senior Brother, are you alright?”
Besides, I’m not the only one here.
match.
I slapped my cheeks with both hands.
My cheeks sting, but my senses return.
It’s nothing. I just felt sleepy.
“…….”
As I patted Eunho’s shoulder to reassure him, his eyes wide with surprise, the hunter approached.
“……
Representative, traces of Choo Jong-hyang still remain, but…
A question requiring confirmation on whether to continue tracking in this manner.
The reason he tried to join the main unit despite his strained relationship with the instructors was, above all, to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Instructors of the clan leader rank, not the instructors of the Education Pavilion.
“Even if the relationship is at its worst, at least here, it will be sufficient as a useful sword.” “It is my fault for not expecting them to be this terrible people, though.” I had placed my hopes on them since I stepped down from my position as clan head out of concern for my junior, but how could they be so different?
I won’t go.
“What? The weather isn’t very good right now. If it happens to rain, even Chujonghyang won’t be able to chase it anymore…”
“Don’t you know what the signal flare that exploded at the same time as the sun set means?”
The red signal flare that flared up at the same time as the sunset, though it has now subsided.
This likely didn’t happen by chance.
“Hey, wait a minute, so what are you planning to do?”
A member of the Jeongdohoe who was listening to my conversation with the hunter intervenes.
“If there is a way, I should follow the instructors even now!”
I didn’t look at him and whispered softly.
We don’t follow the instructor.
“What? Jin So-un, are you out of your mind…?”
“Get a grip!”
When faced with difficulties, the easiest path for people to choose is escaping reality.
Because everyone who takes their first step onto the battlefield cannot easily turn away from that sweet choice.
However, that is absolutely not the correct answer.
“Don’t you still understand? I’m asking if you can’t tell even after seeing that signal flare. The instructor isn’t coming. It’s no use chasing after him now.”
If you force them not to make foolish choices, they will resist.
After all, this is a matter directly related to one’s own life.
“Jin So-un, what gives you the right to order us around?”
As expected.
I let out a light laugh.
If it were a definite wartime situation, we could enforce it, but right now, nothing is certain.
“I have no intention of giving orders. If anyone wants to go, go. I have no intention of stopping you. However, if you wish to stay, follow my orders from now on.”
“……!”
“Article 4 of the Academy Discipline. In the event of an emergency and the absence of an instructor, academy students shall follow the orders of the academy representative.”
“Th-that is…….”
I will give you one last choice. Those who want to go, go.
He said that and turned around.
The person who was opposing me cursed and started discussing with the people who appeared to be his friends.
Then, he had a conversation with the hunter and started gathering people.
In the meantime, I went back to my team members.
For now, sleep here. Have the night watch shifts overlap to keep watch. Provide the injured with emergency treatment as much as possible so they can walk on their own by tomorrow morning.
“yes.”
“all right.”
For now, Young Master Jin, you should rest a bit too.
Although it was a completely baseless remark, Namgung Seon-hwa took the lead in distributing work to the people and began to move quickly.
In the meantime, as if the group to chase the instructor had been roughly sorted out, about twenty men began to move, following the hunter’s guidance. ‘They picked out only the decent ones.’ Then again, moving at this hour of the night, they wouldn’t even think of dragging the wounded along.
Is that okay?
I turned my head and saw Malco tending to the wounded while watching the departing personnel.
“Once even they leave… half of the people here are injured.”
Their thinking is obvious.
They probably thought it was best to follow the instructor with the minimum number of people.
A foolish choice made because one has not experienced actual combat.
I looked at the guy Malco and asked.
“Malco, why didn’t you go?”
You said that back then, didn’t you?
Malco looked straight into my eyes and said.
I said I would do my best.
Then, he nodded slightly toward the back.
On the other hand, it is because what those guys are doing is not the best.
I let out a chuckle.
It was quite a pleasant laugh.
“Right. Moving now is not the best option. However, forcing them to sit is not the best option either.”
I looked at the injured man sitting far away and asked Malco.
Can you make them walk until morning?
“Jin So-un, don’t underestimate Cheongseong’s first aid skills…….”
“CEO.”
After thinking for a moment, Malco spoke in a low voice.
Representative Jin.
Are you saying you absolutely cannot use the honorific ‘nim’?
“Alright, let’s leave it at that. Make sure you take care of it properly, Malko.”
“My name is……!”
“I know Jongchuak.”
Looking at his frozen face, I curled the corners of my mouth.
“If that fellow walks properly in the morning, I’ll call him by his name.”
After looking around like that, I headed toward the newly joined ones.
Even though it is late at night, there is much work to be done.#“Why did the instructors leave you behind?”
This is the most important issue.
If the instructors, who must have painfully realized that they cannot afford to be short-handed in the spirit hunt, disappeared leaving the academy students behind, it certainly wouldn’t be because of the spirits.
Moreover, you’re saying you’ll go to the base to bring back the personnel?
If they didn’t realize that abandoning the academy students in the middle of the Demon Realm would be more dangerous, those bastards need to be investigated by the executioner.
Unless they intend to weaken the Murim Alliance’s power through a meticulous plan, they would never be able to do such a foolish thing.
Then there is only one answer.
“Why did the instructors move among themselves?”
There is another matter.
They avoid answering while only glancing at each other.
He occasionally flashes hostile glances, revealing a determination not to answer at all.
Have these bastards still not grasped the situation?
“Do you know how many dormitory corpses you’ve seen on your way here?”
“There were some among them who were better than you guys. Do you want to wait here for the instructors to arrive and end up dead?”
“As I said before, you must follow the representative’s orders in an emergency. You saw how many red flares went off, didn’t you?”
As soon as I issued a threat like this, the expressions on the faces of those guys, who had been stiff with fear, began to contort.
Yeah, even though they received all sorts of special treatment like being an elite, this is probably the first time they’ve been in such a mess.
Moreover, the guys who were perfectly fine took a hunter and went off to look for the instructor.
Of course, the heart breaks first.
As expected, there is an immediate reaction.
“Jin So-un. Are you really going to leave us behind?”
“CEO, are you really planning to leave us behind?”
This is neither polite language nor informal language.
I chuckled.
“Why should I take a subordinate who doesn’t listen with me?”
Their faces are becoming even paler.
I wiped the smile from my face and added.
“But if you just follow my orders, I will do my best to save you.”
That is all I want.
The members of the Jeongdohoe were contemplating for a moment.
They whispered amongst themselves for a moment, then one of them spoke up as the representative.
Just what kind of huge secret do you have to be acting like this?
“Instructor Noh Jin-ha… uh, I mean….”
“The instructor… no, so what about the instructor?”
The guy swallowed once, then barely managed to utter a sentence.
I was kidnapped by a spirit.
Damn, I can see why you couldn’t speak. #The surprise attack I feared most last night didn’t happen.
Of course, that does not mean that he took a comfortable rest.
A tense forest.
A monster that could pop out at any moment.
The red signal flare fired by fellow students.
No one can sleep peacefully while carrying this anxiety.
Snore
*Cough*
Mmm, mmm…
Except for the disciples and members of our Taeeulmun who are sleeping on one side.
Are my nerves dull?
“I’ve lived recklessly, so I guess you could say I have no fear.”
Considering that, Namgung Seonhwa and Moyong Jaehwa seemed to have slept soundly, too.
“I saw it. They were reaching for a blood transfusion.……”
Are you out of your mind?
While the members of the Jeongdohoe were whispering about my squad member with hollow eyes, Sa-ryeon approached me.
Did you sleep?
“no.”
“What on earth… are you thinking? You even made the others sleep after giving them a blood transfusion.”
I was waiting for something. Though it didn’t come in the end.
“What?”
Red signal flare.
The rescue signal to be fired by the Jeongdohoe members who left with the group of hunters.
However, in the end, the signal flare did not go off during the night.
This means…
Either you have safely joined the group of instructors, or… … .
What was it?
There is no need to show Saryeon the absolute bottom.
It’s nothing.
However, I had no intention of stopping my actions out of a guilty conscience.
Because past lives alone are enough regrets.
“Go call the squad leaders. We have to leave now.”
“Already? The sun hasn’t even risen yet.”
So we have to move now. While the opponent is still letting their guard down.#“Are we really moving with the injured? ……
Representative Jin?
“representative……
I don’t know what you’re thinking, but since there are so many people, I think it would be better to select just the special task force and send them.
“Right. Since everyone is moving, isn’t this just pointless suffering in the end? Jin… CEO.”
Tsk.
What the hell are you guys acting?
Seriously, is it really that hard to use honorifics under a hierarchical system? Or just go straight to the punch. Look at the way they’re acting half-honorifics just because they’re trying to read the room in the middle of all this.
You may stay here if you do not want to.
However, no one wanted to stay with the injured.
“Then shut up and follow me.”
Having reached an agreement through conversation, we immediately finished preparing to depart.
The number of injured was so high that we couldn’t form a proper formation.
I didn’t even intend to do that in the first place.
Those who had injured their hands or arms carried those who could not walk on their backs and secured their bodies with cloth.
To those who could at least use one hand, they were given weapons and stones to keep them in check.
The strongest and uninjured personnel were deployed to the vanguard, while personnel were positioned on the left and right wings in order of military strength.
The only guide, the quantum plane, was positioned immediately behind the front.
Because they have to give directions in case I run out.
Maintain a consistent speed. Moving steadily is more important than moving fast.
“Where are we going, Representative Jin?”
The garrison. I am going there.
“Without joining the instructors?”
“Didn’t I say the instructors’ destination was a base anyway?”
The conversation did not continue for much longer.
It’s not that I have nothing to say, but because a monster appeared.
“White-faced Blood Lord!”
If there are any monsters awake at this dawn, most of them would be guys like this.
I drew my sword and lunged forward.
It is a guy who shoots webs like cannonballs.
Even though spiderwebs are not poisonous, they are not easy to remove once they stick to your body.
He deliberately stepped on the Taeeulpalmansinbo while shining a dazzling light.
Eight eyes spun wildly in a brightly lit illusion, and a round spiderweb was slammed into the bare floor.
The moment he quickly tried to find me.
I split the guy’s belly in half.
Kiiieeeek!
When I returned to the ranks after confirming that the guy was dead, the vanguard running with me could not hide their surprise.
“The sword energy…….”
“When did your skills improve again…….”
The people gaping in disbelief.
“Focus. Now is not the time to worry about anything else.”
“Uh, sure.”
“Understood. Representative Jin.”
As the sun began to rise, the monsters blocking the path started to increase one by one. ‘They are definitely different from the beginning.’ Unlike the monsters I had encountered so far, which were wary of humans and refused to leave their territories, the monsters appearing now charged ferociously, as if humans were enemies or prey.
As a result, those in charge of the front lines soon had their entire bodies covered in monster blood.
“Damn it… If I’d known this would happen, I would have stood at the back.”
Of course, it wasn’t as if there was no damage to the rear.
Because they would wait for the students to pass by and then launch a surprise attack on their weakest points.
“Damn monster bastards……!”
Although not even an hour has passed since we set off for the base, everyone looks visibly exhausted.
However, no one suggested taking a break.
They have also started to feel it.
The amount of monsters appearing is increasing as time goes by.
About two hours had passed since I started running like that.
We stopped for the first time.
“You bastards…….”
“Why here…….”
Some of those standing at the front line approached the corpses lying on the ground.
“A total of twenty-one… How is it that not a single one managed to escape?”
While the members of the Jeongdohoe wore expressions of despair as they gazed at the corpse, I examined the wounds. ‘Do they no longer even intend to hide the fact that this was the work of a beast?’ The cross-sections of the wounds were clearly made by human weapons.
In addition to that.
rattle
Jeokbonghwan trembling once again.
I did not assert it until now because I could not be certain, but now I can be certain.
“Damn it.”
There is a demonic cult in this forest.
And it is clear that they intend to kill us all.
