Chapter 170 – Reunion (1)

Bang! Bang!

As the soldiers fell to the ground, stunned by an electric shock, the soldier standing next to the man in a suit reflexively fired his gun at us.

Ting! Ting!

The bullets were blocked by the shield Yelena had deployed. Seeing this, the middle-aged man in the suit quickly raised both hands.

“S-surrender!”

He had been acting so arrogantly just moments ago, but now he was surrendering in an instant.

It was clear that he wasn’t an ordinary person. Indeed, high positions aren’t for just anyone.

The soldier who had fired the gun also cautiously lowered his weapon and raised his hands, following the middle-aged man’s lead.

The fight, if you could even call it that, was over.

Hoffman quickly climbed onto the truck to check on the unconscious soldiers.

It was only natural to verify if any of them were pretending to be unconscious.

Watching Hoffman inspect the soldiers, Yerim asked, “No one’s hurt, right?”

“Don’t worry. I only used enough magic to knock them out,” Zahina replied.

Yerim seemed relieved, but Hoffman’s expression turned troubled.

“…But there are some with burns, and it looks like one of them even had their heart stopped.”

“What?”

Zahina’s eyes widened at Hoffman’s words.

This was a new expression from her. She seemed utterly shocked.

“I’ll heal them!”

Fortunately, thanks to Yerim rushing over, no one died.

The burns quickly disappeared, and the soldier whose heart had stopped started beating again.

Hearing that everyone was okay, Zahina let out a sigh of relief.

“I’m such a failure as a mage. I didn’t even realize how much stronger I’ve become…”

She shook her head, looking at the wooden bracelet on her wrist.

This mistake was due to her sudden increase in power.

It was unlike her, but I could understand how she felt.

Because I was in the same state.

My body—no, my mana—had changed since before we went to the sacred tree’s land.

To be precise, it was after I had exhausted all my mana, overcome the illusions, and destroyed the corrupted gate. At that moment, the mana circuits in my body had changed.

‘If they hadn’t changed, I wouldn’t have been able to destroy that gate.’

I had already scraped the bottom of my mana reserves, so destroying the gate would have been difficult otherwise.

Even though it was damaged, the gate was still spewing miasma and corrupting the sacred tree.

To cut down such a gate with a sword—it wouldn’t have been possible without mana.

Since then, I’ve been feeling something off.

I couldn’t accurately gauge the amount of mana I had, and when I tried to use my sword techniques, they didn’t unfold as I expected.

That’s why I had been letting my party members handle the fights until now.

It wasn’t that my skills had diminished, but like Zahina’s mistake, I might have ended up killing someone I shouldn’t have.

Moreover, as a knight who fights with a sword, I could have accidentally hurt my comrades if I made a mistake.

But I wasn’t worried.

This sense of disconnection didn’t feel bad. And I could feel that it would stabilize soon.

I just needed to wait a little longer.

I stood in front of the man in the suit, who was still holding his hands up, and stroked my sword.

“Say it again.”

“…The minister wants to see you in person…”

“After disarming us?”

“N-no, he didn’t say that. It’s just for safety…”

The middle-aged man in the suit was now acting much more politely compared to before.

“If you’re so worried about safety, you can just leave. We’re not in the mood to meet anyone anyway.”

I had considered meeting them to find out about the situation in Jeju Island, but given how they treated us, it didn’t seem like it would be a pleasant encounter.

“N-no, you can’t. The minister is waiting.”

“Whether he’s waiting or not. By the way, what kind of minister is this?”

I had just turned down an offer from the U.S. president not long ago.

But now, a Korean minister—no, a Jeju Island minister—was making such demands.

I made a mental note to remember who this person was.

“Minister Ahn Myeong-cheol of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”

“So, are you a vice-minister or something?”

“Yes. I’m the First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs.”

“But in a world like this, what does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs even do?”

“Well… we communicate with the U.S….”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs was the one in contact with the U.S., which was why the vice-minister had come.

It made sense, and since the First Vice-Minister had come personally, it showed they had some level of respect.

The problem was that this respect had turned into armed soldiers and irritable bureaucrats.

“And why were you so angry about the transport plane leaving?”

“That’s…”

As I stroked my sword again, he quickly raised his half-lowered arm and started babbling.

“We were instructed to detain the pilots and the plane if it landed safely. We thought we might need them when it was time to escape Jeju…”

He then clenched his eyes shut, realizing he had said too much.

“So, you’re preparing for an escape…”

“…”

This time, he kept his mouth shut.

I didn’t hear more, but it seemed the situation was worse than I thought.

While I was interrogating the vice-minister, a strange scene unfolded on the truck where the soldiers were.

“Saintess!”

“It’s true. There really is a saintess.”

“Thank you for saving us, Saintess.”

The soldiers who had been healed by Yerim seemed to have realized who she was.

They clasped their hands in prayer and even tried to grab her clothes.

Yerim, her face red, asked the soldiers, “Where did you hear about me?”

“People from Busan told us.”

It seemed the people we had rescued from Busan had settled well in Jeju.

“They even hold thanksgiving services for you.”

Thanksgiving services? They had praised Yerim excessively before, but now it seemed even worse.

“No, thanksgiving services for me? I didn’t do anything. What should I do? People will think I’m a heretic.”

Surrounded by soldiers on the truck, Yerim looked at me with a troubled expression.

I didn’t know what to say either.

As far as I knew, in this world, Yerim was the only one with the ability to heal people and prevent them from turning into zombies after being bitten.

Honestly, if she were a priest performing miracles, it would make sense for people to pray to her.

Even in Ea, there were villages that prayed to statues of priests.

It was something Yerim, with her extraordinary abilities, would have to endure.

I shrugged, and Yerim pouted.

While I was teasing Yerim, I overheard the vice-minister muttering to himself.

“So the saintess is real. Then, everything Yang In-hyuk said was true…”

But then, a familiar name came up in his muttering.

“Do you know Yang In-hyuk?”

The man, who had been lost in thought, bit his lip and answered me.

“…Yes. He’s the leader of one of the three factions ruling Jeju, though his group is the smallest.”

This was unexpected.

Moreover, the vice-minister’s tone had changed.

“Three factions?”

“Yes. The Korean government that evacuated to Jeju, the military that retreated from the Nakdong River front after fighting zombies, and finally, the Busan citizens who evacuated here—three factions.”

The vice-minister continued to explain the situation in Jeju.

“Before the satellites fell, even though there were many problems, the existing government was still functioning…”

Both the military that had retreated from the Nakdong River front and the refugees from Busan had followed the existing government’s orders until the satellites fell.

This wasn’t because they trusted the government’s leadership, but because of the military power the Korean government still held.

Unlike the air force, which had been completely wiped out after the zombie outbreak, and the army, which had shrunk due to continuous battles, the navy had maintained some level of military power until the satellites fell.

There were no undead to destroy the ships, and since Jeju Port was intact, repairs and fuel supply were possible.

Of course, many ships that couldn’t be repaired due to the lack of functioning factories were docked at Jeju Port, but they still had intact missiles and cannons.

Jeju Port had effectively become a massive fixed artillery battery capable of covering the entire island.

Having abandoned the mainland, the government realized the power of Jeju Port’s fixed artillery and, to save fuel, had most of the ships anchored there.

This plan greatly helped the government maintain order in Jeju, but it ultimately led to disaster when the satellites fell.

The Korean military communication satellite, Anasis 4, fell into Jeju Port, wrapped in mana.

Every ship in Jeju Port sank. The only remaining military ship was a single patrol frigate.

At that moment, the Korean government’s military power was completely gone.

“That’s when the factions started to form. The military stopped following the government’s orders, and Yang In-hyuk began organizing the citizens to voice their concerns.”

Fortunately, the three factions hadn’t completely split and divided Jeju Island.

Like political factions, they seemed to voice their opinions within the existing system.

“So, do the other two factions know we’re coming?”

“The existing government didn’t inform them.”

The vice-minister spoke to me as if he were reporting to a superior.

Moreover, he referred to his own government as if it were someone else’s.

‘Has he really switched sides?’

It seemed that after hearing about the saintess, he had quickly changed his allegiance.

It was an impressively swift decision.

I was genuinely amazed by the vice-minister’s skillful maneuvering.

After hearing all this, it seemed difficult to just leave.

Yerim also jumped off the truck and said to me, “I’d like to see if the Busan people are doing okay.”

Even if they were strangers, we couldn’t ignore the fact that there were people we knew on Jeju Island.

Especially since the situation seemed worse than expected, it was hard to turn a blind eye.

“Alright. Let’s meet the minister.”

“Thank you.”

“But we’ll keep our weapons, and we won’t meet him secretly.”

“Understood. We’ll take the main road, not the back road. If we enter Jeju City Hall through the main gate, the other factions will notice immediately.”

He now acted completely like my secretary.

He arranged seats for us in a tactical vehicle, sent the other soldiers back to the truck, and drove us himself.

The distance from Jeju Airport to Jeju City Hall, which was being used as the Korean government’s office, wasn’t far.

After driving a short distance along the military road connected to Jeju Airport, we entered Jeju City, and soon Jeju City Hall came into view.

The roads were empty, with only broken-down vehicles parked along the sides.

At the end of the road, in front of Jeju City Hall, a crowd had gathered.

On one side were soldiers and officers with stars on their uniforms, and on the other side were people we knew.

The soldiers we had fought alongside with Yang In-hyuk, the men from the port—they were all there.

“No need to inform them separately.”

The faction opposing the government wouldn’t be weak in gathering information.

They knew we were coming and had been waiting for us.