Surviving in the 121st Century - Chapter 102



Only Krnovel

Episode 102

As noon approached, the trail of the wilderness became more distinct. Thanks to this, the shogi who was tracing the trail was running at a speed close to full speed without even getting off at Uheo.

Jincheol sat on the tram and watched her from behind as she ran ahead. In fact, in his eyes, she did not seem to be tracing the trail of Ophesis, but rather running away from her own sadness and despair.

The sole survivor. Jincheol’s eyes sank deeply.

He is also a lone survivor. Even if he were to leave out the fact that he is the only 21st century person in this era. Before he was a 21st century person, he was the only squad leader to survive an attack by enemy superhuman soldiers, and before that, he was a conscript in a war where people were ground up like sawdust. And he was also a survivor who lost both his parents and friends to the nuclear bomb.

Life is suffering. He was just struggling to survive, but he was alone. He just wanted to go back to his normal life in this hellish battlefield, but everyone he loved was dead. Then what was the meaning of that life? When he was struggling, he never thought that survival and loneliness would mean the same thing.

Jincheol, who was looking at the back of Shogi running ahead while lost in thought, opened his mouth with his gaze still on her.

“···What happens after revenge?”

Snow, who was sitting with her artifact windbreaker turned inside out and staring into the distance like a sentry, realized a breath later that he had spoken to her. She blinked her red eyes and rolled Jincheol’s words around in her mouth a couple of times before she finally understood what he meant.

She answered.

“After revenge, you have to live a life after revenge.”

“···Revenge isn’t everything in life?”

“There is no one thing that can be the whole of life. Something can be a part of life, but life cannot be one thing. Today’s meals, sleep, and even toileting cannot be done in the name of revenge. Of course, once one revenge is over, there is a life after that. That is why revenge is justice.”

Jincheol looked back at her with a sly smile. I hadn’t noticed it because I’d only seen her quiet appearance, but it seemed like she knew how to talk longer than I thought.

“That’s a difficult question. You’re better at talking than I thought.”

“···It depends on how you accept it.”

Snow pulled up his windbreaker, covered his mouth, and crouched down.

[Heeheehee! Eating revenge! Sleeping revenge! Taking revenge shit! This too has its own tragic flavor, doesn’t it? Heeheeheehee! Be afraid, Kang Jincheol! According to my book of grudges, one day I’ll show you how to take revenge shit!]

Bonchip, who had been listening quietly, interrupted. Jincheol unconsciously shut his eyes tightly. Shogi had buried all of his dead family members last night. He couldn’t just snicker in front of someone like that. Fortunately, Shogi, who was running ahead, didn’t seem to hear Bonchip’s nonsense. Or maybe he didn’t have the energy to care even if he did.

Jincheol opened his eyes and looked up at the sky, ignoring the nonsense of Bonchip. The hot midday sun was beating down on him. In that distant land, the haze was so strong that it was shaking.

Jincheol, who was looking at the ground shaking in the wind, suddenly shouted.

“Show me!”

“···?”

Sho-ogi, who had been running after the traces, stopped and looked back. Jin-cheol clicked his tongue slightly as he looked at Sho-ogi’s face, which was dripping with fatigue.

“Let’s take a break.”

“···We need to shorten the distance further. The wind may erase the traces.”

Jincheol shook his head.

“If you keep chasing them like this, even if you catch up with them, you won’t be in a good state to fight. You don’t want to fight while nodding off, do you?”

Sho-o-gi looked back and forth between Jin-cheol and the traces spread out in front of her with a stern face. Then he pulled on U-heo-ru’s reins and approached the chariot, speaking.

“The distance to the trace is far. If you’re not careful, you might miss it.”

“Even if you miss it now, you’ll know the direction again tomorrow morning. For now, you need to rest.”

“···”

Sho-o-gi held the reins tightly and kept his mouth shut. Jin-cheol, who saw that, jumped down from the tram and yawned a little exaggeratedly.

“You may be able to stay up all night and chase your prey for a day or two, but I can’t. I haven’t slept since yesterday. And the trams are so noisy that I can’t sleep sitting up there.”

Shogi looked at Snow, who was sitting on top of the tank, and she nodded as if she agreed with Jincheol’s words.

“···I get it.”

Since he couldn’t pressure those who helped him without any reward, Sho-ogi had no choice but to nod.

In the midst of the scorching midday sun, the chariot was stopped and a tent was set up there to create shade. The group all lay down under the shade. Shogi, who had insisted on continuing the pursuit, changed his mind and lay down before anyone else and fell asleep. It seemed that he thought that since he was resting anyway, he should recover his strength as much as possible.

Jincheol, who was looking at her as she fell asleep, looked back at Snow and Doljumeok and said.

“You two get some rest. I’ll keep watch.”

“···You said you wanted to rest?”

Jincheol chuckled at Snow’s words.

“I can’t sleep now that I’m sitting down. Just rest.”

Jincheol said that and came out of the shade and climbed onto the tank. As he sat there, he could feel the faint crackling sound and heat from the parts that had expanded inside the tank cooling down. He could also see the sunlight pouring down and the earth swaying in the distance.

[···Are you really helping that red gorilla get revenge just for a drink?]

At that moment, Bonchip asked in a small voice from Jincheol’s chest. Jincheol took out a water bottle from his waistband, took a sip, and spoke quietly.

“Why? Is that so strange?”

[No matter how I look at it, I’m not in a position to compensate Kang Jin-cheol. Oh, is that your style?]

“My taste is ordinary, you idiot.”

[Then why?]

Jincheol took another sip of water. What should he say? What should he say to convince this old AI? But in fact, he had already decided what he was going to say.

“I’m sorry, but that’s all I’ve said.”

[···In a world where laws and regulations have become blurred, it is said that in the end, it is only the small favors of others that move hearts. After all, this is not an era where the police chase after someone who has killed someone. Justice has become blurred, but faith and promises have become clear. This is an era that the dead Sima Qian would have liked.]

Did I say that? Jincheol tilted his head, but didn’t add any more. Interpret it yourself. I don’t want to bother saying more.

The midday break wasn’t long. Jincheol felt like it would take about two hours. He could have rested longer, but if he had, Shogi would have left on his own.

The tent that had been waving in the wind was collected, and the tank engine that had cooled down enough was heated again. Shougi rode ahead again, riding in the Uheur.

And by then, the Shincheol Sho-ogi had become able to clearly distinguish the tracks being tracked. In fact, it wasn’t that difficult. The heavy tire marks, which were probably from tank tracks or bikes, were enough to indicate that someone had passed by before, even if they weren’t professional trackers.

There was another reason why Jincheol became a little more serious.

“···There are quite a few of these guys.”

There were many traces. There were too many. Compared to Jincheol and his group, which consisted of only one armored vehicle and one four-legged U-hur, their traces included at least eighteen tanks and about fifteen other vehicles that appeared to be bikes or trucks.

Considering the looters who had clashed in the past, there would have been at least five or six attached to each truck and tank, so the number could be close to a hundred.

Jincheol didn’t care if there were just a hundred bald gorillas. Considering his physical abilities that he had experienced over the years, he thought he could easily chase them away. He couldn’t kill them all, but he could scare them away.

But the problem was that the Ologs were not real gorillas. They were intelligent and used tools. Judging from the way they handled their chariots, they were no different from other skilled chariot commanders. And of course, there were the Ophesisians who wielded amazing ancient artifacts, and the Ologs would use their artifacts as well.

Considering the estimated capabilities of the Ophisians based on the average mid-level and special envoys, the number was even more dangerous.

Shogi, who had been tracing the trail at the forefront, also felt it and stopped the group for a moment with a stiff expression on his face.

She came and said.

“It’s strange. The numbers have increased.”

“I saw it too. It looks like more people joined in the middle.”

“Are you saying that the number of people on this land is that large?”

Jincheol looked into the distance at the traces, touching his rough chin.

“As far as I know, the Ophesis guys usually try to hide their identities… No, maybe the number of Ologues needs to be greater in order to hide themselves?”

He continued speaking, looking back at the group looking at him.

“Let’s keep pursuing them for now. If there are more of them, we can change our fighting style accordingly. Let’s not just blindly charge in head-on.”

“good night.”

Once the enemy was visible, they could decide how to fight. The party began to pursue again. The trail left in the wilderness was so clear that Sho-ogi no longer had to take the lead.

As the late afternoon approached, Jincheol could see black smoke rising faintly in the distance at the edge of his vision.

Shougi, who discovered it a little late, turned around and shouted.

“It’s smoke! If there’s black smoke, there’s a fire!”

“Let’s run.”

As Jincheol banged on the roof of the tank, the Doljumeok tank started to run at full speed. Shogi riding on Uheo also followed along beside him and pulled out his rifle.

Jincheol also took out his pistol. Sandesiya revolver. Now that he has a lot of bullets, he can shoot them happily. Snow, who was pulling out his spear, looked at Jincheol like that and quickly went inside the tank, pulling out one of his stone fist rifles.

But as the cause of the smoke became clearer, Jincheol had to put away the revolver he had taken out. There was no reason to use the gun. The enemies had already left.

All that remained was a pile of ashes similar to Shogiant Gar.

“What the hell.”

Corpses and blackened tents. Broken tanks and trucks. The condition of the Olog corpses was even worse, and unlike the Shogiant Gar where they were just strewn with corpses, these corpses had signs of torture.

There were marks of being tied to a pole and having their flesh cut open for a long time, signs of being dragged around with ropes, and some of the corpses had no limbs. Judging from the pots and uneaten food lying around next to them, it was not hard to guess what had happened.

As they entered the ruined Gar, Jincheol and his party were all frowning. Not only did they suffer the same damage as Shogi, but Doljumeok, who had a strong stomach, was no exception.

He looked at the burned corpse tied to the pole and muttered.

“···Even if there was a war between Gar and Gar, it would never go this far. They would kill everyone, but they would never play around like this. These guys are strange.”

The word “strangely cruel” came to Jincheol’s mind. He suddenly remembered the cruel rule of the old Ophitis people that he had seen in Shiol, or rather, that he had seen in Jindallae’s mind. Was it their work? However, the events that had occurred throughout Gar were too extensive for it to have been done by just a couple of them.

Jincheol glanced at Sho-ogi. She had a hard expression, but at the same time, her eyes were filled with sadness, and she was clenching her teeth. Perhaps it was because she was seeing her own teaching again yesterday.

At that moment, Jincheol turned his head as if he had heard something, looked somewhere, and then started running. He was heading towards the center of the ruined Gar.

As Jincheol ran, the rest of the group followed him, even though they didn’t know what was going on. And soon after, everyone found out why Jincheol was running.

“···Are you alive?”

“···who···?”

A thick wooden pillar erected on top of the ruins. And tied to the pillar was an Olog with its eyes and limbs cut off.