Rust - Chapter 769



Only Krnovel

RUST -769

People falling like dominoes.

It’s not like I’ve never shot people with anger management issues before, and there’s no way they could die from this level of anger.

Contrary to Maru’s thoughts, the reports coming in real time were dire.

[Confirmation of cardiac arrest.]

[It appears that all are dead.]

[No survivors.]

‘What is this···.’

Maru was embarrassed.

I was trying to live as cautiously as possible, but thousands of people died at once. Did they all have heart disease?

The distance was also quite far away, and it was emitting a life-threatening aura. It was calculated that it was outside the range of instant death. Even considering the distance, the expedition force that had formed a siege was closer.

But you said they killed them all?

Wasn’t it just an intermittent explosive disorder?

[Hey. Breaking news is on the air right now.]

Maru’s brow furrowed at Ki-sun’s communication.

broadcast?

What are you doing?

If Ki-soon was broadcasting it live as she had said, it meant that she had been preparing for this situation.

[This is the real situation now.]

[Everyone, please evacuate to a safe place and listen to the emergency broadcast.]

[I’ll say it again. This is a real situation. Everyone, please prepare to go to a safe place···]

[···Dear citizens. The Republic of Korea is currently under attack by an unknown enemy.]

[The government and martial law headquarters in Namsan were attacked, and the president and martial law commander were killed.]

[The reserve forces and engineering corps stationed on Mt. Bukhan were completely annihilated, and the technology development center, smart farm, and airborne unit base on Mt. Gwanak were destroyed.]

[The newly formed provisional government is currently preparing for a counterattack with all its might, but the enemy is pressuring the provisional government by massacring innocent civilians.]

At the same time, the events that had taken place at the city hall appeared on the screen. The footage was edited to look like a large-scale protest. People were rushing towards the exosuits and core armors with their bare bodies.

In reality, the screams of “Kyaaaa- Kwaaaa-” and “Kwaaaa-” and the rushing in were cleverly manipulated into shouting “Long live the Republic of Korea” and “Cannibals, get out!”

[The enemies had set up secret bases in Yongin and Dongtan, and were just waiting for an opportunity to attack South Korea···]

A view of an abandoned laboratory. A scene of pigeons committing suicide. And the video of them conducting experiments on humans and cannibalism was edited and broadcast.

[Hey- these kids···]

Ki-sun’s voice sounded like it was absurd. Maru could also tell what the guys were thinking.

[··· The conspiracy theory that there is a force that cannibalizes people has been proven true. They killed the president and the martial law commander in order to turn Korea into a giant food warehouse. They massacred unarmed civilians who resisted.]

[The war against them will be a war for justice, a war for survival. There will be many sacrifices···.]

[Dear citizens. The enemy is a cannibal who has been eating away at the Republic of Korea in the darkness. The true culprit of those many disappearances and those vicious serial murders is targeting all citizens of the Republic of Korea.]

[···The long, long darkness begins, but remember. We have always protected the dawn···. This time, too, we will drive out the enemy and win.]

The breaking news and broadcasts that followed were about cannibals eating people alive. Footage of the serial murders and the expedition team’s exosuits were cross-edited and repeated endlessly.

So now they were blaming the Holy Kingdom Expedition Force for all the sins they had committed.

[Soldiers who applied for conditional immigration for service are requesting withdrawal of their applications.]

[Survivors in the Changwon area who were being protected want to leave.]

The trust that the expedition had painstakingly built over several days crumbled like a sandcastle.

[Shouldn’t that broadcasting station be blown up?]

Ki-soon answered with her eyes narrowed, which was rare.

[It’s not just the broadcasting stations that are the problem. The Internet needs to stop too.]

It wasn’t just the broadcasting station that was the problem.

When Korea was disconnected from the world’s Internet, it quickly switched to an intranet (a method of exchanging information in a certain area or building using the Internet).

That is why the currency reform using central bank digital currency (CBDC) was successful, and the policy to support pregnant women was able to be implemented.

Everything from production, distribution, circulation, and inventory management was based on the intranet, and all cutting-edge systems operating in Korea were based on the intranet, that is, the existing Internet.

What if you disconnect from the internet like that?

It was obvious that the claims made by those on the emergency broadcast would be used as evidence that they were true.

So you just leave it like that?

News that they’ve taken over the broadcasting station will spread all over the internet. It would be the same if they blocked both the broadcasting station and the internet at the same time.

With just one broadcast, the image of a force more cruel than the Japanese, more vicious than North Korea, and more cannibalistic than China was engraved in people’s minds.

‧

‧

‧

The success of guerrillas depended on the relationships they developed with civilians in the areas where they operated.

If the people in the surrounding area were hostile, the guerrilla force would be quickly defeated. On the other hand, if the people fully supported the guerrillas, the situation would be extremely tiring.

It must have been so bad that he said that the most certain and simple method was to completely wipe out the village connected to the guerrillas.

In fact, Japan used such methods, and so did China, Russia, and the United States, and in Korea, civilians’ blood was shed under the pretext of eliminating partisan guerrillas.

[So, it would be better to dispose of everyone related to cannibals, including those who hid them.]

Kim Yang insisted on the annihilation, saying that historically it was not done without reason. He wondered if the politicians or commanders at the time were stupid enough to do so.

Since the image has already fallen into the abyss, the story was that it was better to deal with the cannibals by any means necessary.

[What do we gain by doing so? Hatred of the Korean people?]

Maru had no intention of doing that. But he had no intention of just leaving the cannibals of Gwanaksan alone after they had shit themselves and hidden away.

Ki-soon nodded. No matter what happened in the future, the cannibal had to be caught and killed.

[Looking at the way that detective Han sniffs out things, it seems like it’ll take some time, but he’ll catch them all.]

[I hate that person. What if he pretends not to know and then does something weird at an important moment?]

[I don’t think so. My feelings have changed.]

Ki-soon dismissed Kim Yang’s concerns. Even among the Holy Church, a color that could only be seen among fanatics was emanating from one detective.

‘It’s not exactly the same as fanaticism, though.’

One detective was completely unmoved by the fact that he had seen their fabricated broadcast. Instead, he continued to track down the cannibals, even cutting back on his sleep.

[Not at all. I checked anyway, and it was almost like HOLLY class. The problem is not that, but that they seem to have noticed.]

As they realized that they had pursuers, they gradually set up traps and began to move in reverse to catch one detective.

[It’ll be okay since I’ve given you a bodyguard.]

We’ve sent a bodyguard armed with the latest nuclear armor, so even if we fall into a trap, at least one detective will be able to escape.

[The problem is that they are trying to contact Russia through the East Sea.]

Maru was wary of Russia and the Gwanak cannibals joining hands.

[Russia won’t be able to afford to worry about this because of Ukraine?]

[That’s right. That. Joseph Meyer said that Europe was a mess. Yeah.]

Ki-sun and Kim Yang seemed to agree that Russia could be ignored.

That was the information Joseph Meyer’s dregs contained.

London, England was a mess, and so was Paris, France. With Maru nuking London and Paris, the chaos would have been even greater.

It was nearly impossible for Europe, already struggling with mutant monsters and climate catastrophe, to contain Russia.

They promised to help Ukraine, but they donated all the equipment they had, and before they could replenish their equipment, the mutant monsters appeared and the European countries were thrown into chaos in an instant.

The reason Ukraine was able to fight a tense battle with Russia was because of the support from various countries. But when that suddenly stopped, Ukraine was left struggling to stop Russia’s advance.

The only reason Ukraine was able to hold out was because of the harsh winter lasting more than six months and the extended rasputitsa period.

The bitter cold of temperatures below -50 to -60 degrees Celsius was a severe cold that made it difficult to survive, whether it was war or a cold front, and when the weather cleared up, a horrific Rasputitsa as terrifying as the frozen reaction unfolded across the plains of Ukraine and Russia.

So the two countries had no choice but to attack each other using multiple rocket launchers, cannons, missiles, and drones.

If they went in to attack, they would only become prey the moment they fell into Rasputitsa, so there was nothing they could do. And if this war of attrition were to be prolonged, it would be extremely disadvantageous for Ukraine.

This was because Russia was able to produce all its weapons and supplies domestically, while Ukraine was surviving on weapons aid from around the world.

[In this situation, would Russia join hands with Korean cannibals? Is there a reason for that?]

[I agree. Yeah. There is no reason for Russia to join hands with the cannibals of Mt. Gwanak.]

Maru shook his head.

[No. There is.]

Ki-sun and Yang Kim were puzzled by Maru’s assertion.

?

??

[Newborns.]

[!]

[?]

The catchphrase, “A country where people are resources,” has become a reality.

Even China, which is divided into seven parts, is trying to get a piece of the action by pushing in refugees, so will Russia miss this opportunity?

If the cannibals just maintain the system they’ve created in Korea, wouldn’t at least a million newborns be born every year?

If the Russian upper class was dominated by cannibals like other countries, it was clear that Russia would try to reach out to Korea. Either by directly occupying it or by regularly receiving tribute in return for supporting the Gwanak cannibals.

Ki-soon let out a low breath.

[It’s dangerous. If Russia, which has abundant resources, gives us energy and food, Korea will have no choice but to become dependent on Russia.]

[······.]

[Perhaps the Gwanaksan forces had been planning this from the beginning.]

It was definitely like that, judging from the fact that they were preparing for the broadcast and waiting until Russia. To be honest, in the current situation, the only realistic alternative for energy and food imports was Russia.

The Namsan government and martial law command were forces supporting Ukraine, so they were preparing to bring them down and join hands with Russia, and the Holy Kingdom ended up getting involved.

Maru nodded slightly at Gisun’s interpretation.

[If I had been prepared… I could have aired a broadcast like that.]

I prepared a broadcast condemning the Namsan government and martial law command as cannibals, but when the Holy Kingdom Expeditionary Force blew up Namsan and Bukhansan, I put the Holy Kingdom Expeditionary Force in the place of the cannibal branding.

[So what are we going to do? If the cannibals penetrate Gangwon-do and reach the east coast, they will get involved with Russia.]

[What should we do? We have to catch them before they reach the east coast.]

Without much thought, Maru declared that he would track her. Ms. Kim agreed to Maru’s declaration of tracking her. However, she remembered the time when she worked at the company.

There was a team that created confusion in the rear to support the retreating team after completing their work. It was likely the same now.

[Then the guys hiding here will try to interfere with the tracking, right?]

[It doesn’t matter. I have no intention of struggling to recover my image that has fallen into the abyss.]

Hmph – As expected, the highest dignity.

Then how about something like this?

[How about gathering people together and ‘killing’ them? Even a closed-minded detective changed in one go. I think the closed-minded people who watched the manipulated broadcast would also be ‘educated’. How is that?]

[That’s difficult.]

[It’s hard.]

Maru and Gisun answered negatively at the same time.

Ms. Kim protested with her eyes.

No. Why?

How about ‘sal’?

Don’t waste time

Wouldn’t it be okay to just educate them with ‘life’?

[People with anger management disorder mutations were wiped out by even the slightest desire to kill. They must have done something. They must have taken measures to ensure that people died quickly.]

Ki-sun heard Maru’s story.

[If there are a lot of casualties and people watch it live, they will support them. In that situation, will Maru raise a live broadcast? No matter how weak he is, there will be casualties, and then there will be a backlash.]

[······.]

match-

Maru clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention.

[I will pursue those who run away to Gangwon-do.]

A moment later, an elegant, white marble-clad airship headed east.