Surviving in the 121st Century - Chapter 95



Only Krnovel

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Jincheol and his party decided to leave Shogiant’s Gar immediately.

He repaired the tank he had brought and exchanged some of the food he had brought for supplies from Shogiant Gar. The main thing he exchanged was spices, and Stone Fist was moved to tears as he looked at the collection of spices and seasonings.

“Is it that good?”

“This is authentic Olog seasoning. It is not a crude imitation, but a precious product that can only be found in this barren land. It does not grow in other lands.”

Jincheol glanced at the small bottles and saw that they were filled with various powders. Was the meat he had eaten yesterday seasoned with those powders? If so, he could expect that the happiness level during mealtimes on the journey ahead would increase.

While they were loading water and other supplies, Shogiant and several Ologs came out to look at Jincheol’s armored tank. Shogiant touched his chin and asked Jincheol.

“It wasn’t made in the South?”

“Yes. It was made across the eastern sea.”

“Oh···”

The Shogiants and Ologs looked at the chariot more closely as if they were curious. Then they spoke to the Stone Fist who was tying up the load on top of the chariot.

“I don’t see any tube between the fuel tank and the pump drive. Is there something else inside?”

“···There is a separate internal cylinder.”

“Wouldn’t there be a problem with durability if I put it inside due to body vibration or spatial structure?”

“There is plenty of space, and the vibration is not that great. This is because the interior is so well-made. If you make it fit so well, there is no vibration. In addition, a special dumper is added, so it doubles the vibration prevention.”

“Can I take a look?”

Stone Fist readily opened up the tank’s drivetrain and showed it to me. The Ologs, including Shogiant, gathered around and craned their necks to look inside.

“What? Can the tube and suction pipe be that small?”

“We can’t reach in there with our fingers and tighten the screws. It looks like we’ll have to completely expose the inside to fix this.”

“I have a special wrench and a special tool. The Rabito craftsmen made it for me to fit my hand.”

What? There was something like that? Jincheol laughed at the sight of bald gorillas huddled together and chattering. Yesterday, when they were drinking, they were nomads from the wilderness, but now they were passionate tank mechanics.

As he was standing there, leaning on the side of the tram, laughing, Sho-o-gi came over, leading his horse (cow). Jin-cheol tilted his head when he saw her.

“You want to see me off?”

“See you off? What are you talking about? Shouldn’t we go all the way to Karakol?”

“You don’t have to go with me. Even Doljumeok knows where Karakol is.”

“Shouldn’t I go to Karakol and find a merchant? And I was just about to go get some medicine for my mother.”

“Mother? Golin?”

“okay.”

What was wrong with that woman? Considering the muscular figure she had seen yesterday, it was hard to think she was sick. Of course, it was possible that she looked fine on the outside but was broken inside, so Jincheol didn’t ask any more questions.

Meanwhile, Sho-ogi shook his head as if he felt a little disappointed when he saw Dol-fist chatting excitedly with the other Ologs.

“And even though I don’t know when the wanderer last went to Karakol, the location of Karakol then and now are different. Unlike the cities of the Southerners, Karakol’s location changes slightly every month. So don’t wander around aimlessly and end up like sand, and follow the guidance when it is given to you.”

Jincheol shrugged. There was no need to refuse since she was offering to be his guide. Doljumeok seemed to be slightly repulsed when he found out she was joining, but Jincheol did not step forward and when Shougi opened his eyes, his mouth closed.

As Jincheol and his group were about to leave, Shogiant gave them one last gift. He gave them a heavy jar of komrak.

“Farewell, Ghost of Komrak. May the Star of the Wilderness guide you.”

“Thank you for the drink. I’ll enjoy it. Let’s meet again sometime.”

After shaking hands with the hand he extended, Stone Fist’s armored tank began to move with a heavy engine sound. Stone Fist sat in the inner driver’s seat, while Jincheol and Snow sat on top of the tank. Shougi rode his own ox (horse) and led the way.

As the party began to leave, Shogiant and the other Ologs waved. They didn’t wave for long. It was just a brief, casual wave to say goodbye.

Jincheol, who was watching them quickly disperse, suddenly realized that Snow, sitting next to him, was fixated on the jar of dried pollack he had tied up earlier.

“Why? You want to have a drink now?”

“···”

At that light joke, Snow turned her gaze from the jar to Jincheol with a blank face. Then she opened her mouth slightly as if she was about to say something, then closed it again. Suddenly, the tips of her ears turned red.

She looked at Jincheol with an expressionless face, blinked, and then went down into the tram without saying a word.

Oh my. It seems you remember the mess you made the day before. Jincheol turned his head with a big smile. He saw the sight of Shogiant Gar again, with its large tents and armored tanks crowded together. Between the tents and tanks, there were Ologs moving around, and cows (horses) whose names he had not yet known, walking around leisurely.

The scenery gradually became distant as the stone-fisted chariot gained speed, and soon after passing over a couple of large and small hills, it soon disappeared from view. Jincheol’s gaze, which had been looking at the scenery behind him, also turned forward again.

The wilderness unfolded again.

The green grass along the river had dried and turned into a dry yellow-brown, and even that was dry, and the ground of the wilderness was covered with dry dirt, sand, and broken stones. The roaring engine sound of the tram, the clattering of the caterpillar tracks, and the sound of the wind in the wilderness lingered in my ears.

Although there was no trace of moisture, the sky there was a deep and vivid blue. The thirsty earth seemed to want to lick the blue of the sky, and raised dry dust and flew it high, but the deep blue sky did not allow even the yellow dust or a single white cloud, and was distinct only in its own color.

The leading Shogi led the party northwest, and as they went, the ground cracked like broken glass. The cracked dirt was crushed into small pieces by the tram’s tracks. The ground gradually lost its solidity and turned into sand.

They continued to advance for several hours without much conversation. Shogi, who was in the lead, raised his hand. The tank stopped and she approached.

“I need to give Uheor some water for a moment.”

She said this and got off her horse (ox) into the small shade created by the tram. Doljuk in the driver’s seat and Snow inside also came out and entered the shade. Hot air flowed out from inside the tram that had turned off the engine.

Sho-ogi first gave water to his beasts, and then drank himself. Stone Fist and Snow also took out their own water and drank it.

Jincheol, who was sitting on the tram and looking at them, spoke to Shogi.

“Are you calling that beast Uhur?”

“Yes.”

“Then the meat I ate yesterday was Uheoru meat?”

Sho-o-gi nodded while stroking U-heo-ru’s neck. The beast, which looked like a cross between a cow and a horse, was flicking its tongue and licking the area around its mouth with the water it had just drunk. Then, as if it felt Sho-o-gi’s touch, it slowly brought its head closer to her.

She gently scratched his head. Uh-huh didn’t move, as if it felt good.

“Uhuru becomes our feet, gives us wine, and gives us meat. It is a faithful and beautiful animal.”

Was that animal a natural creature? Or was it a creature that was created long ago, like other species? A head that resembled a cow, but long legs that were good for running like a horse. Gentle and intelligent enough to communicate with people. Jincheol, looking at the creature’s face, thought the latter was more likely.

After a short break, Stonefist decided that the engine had cooled down enough and started it again. The journey across the wilderness began again.

Snow, who had been inside the tram, came out again, perhaps because of the heat inside, and sat on the tram roof like Jincheol. Her snow-white skin and red eyes looked even more out of place, perhaps because of the dark and yellowish ground.

But she pulled out a windbreaker from somewhere and covered her body and head with it. In an instant, she was left with only her eyes visible.

Jincheol quietly watched her fidgeting like that.

“···why?”

Snow, who felt Jincheol’s gaze, blinked her red eyes and looked at Jincheol.

Albinism is a disease that occurs when the skin pigment melanin is not formed. Naturally, it is very vulnerable to sunlight. I thought that perhaps the journey to this land itself was hardship for her.

“Are you okay?”

“···?”

“Didn’t you put it on because the sunlight was hot?”

She blinked while looking at Jincheol and shook her head. Because of the windbreaker she was wearing, it seemed like only her head was moving.

“It’s hotter than that.”

“It’s hot, so why are you turning that inside out?”

Then her hand slipped out of the windbreaker and grabbed Jincheol’s hand. Surprisingly, her hand was cold.

“what?”

Her cold hand guided Jincheol’s hand into her windbreaker. In an instant, a cool chill enveloped Jincheol’s hand. Jincheol’s eyes widened.

“What the hell. That’s an artifact?”

“huh.”

When I looked closely, Snow had a lot of artifacts. Like Jincheol’s fishing sword, it was usually the size of a palm but grew longer when fighting, flash grenades that he would throw around happily when fighting someone, an owl mask that was immune to flash grenades, and the air-conditioned windbreaker he was wearing right now, etc.

Although it is not very noticeable, the thin breastplate and shin guards she is wearing are also likely artifacts, as they are similar in shape to the breastplates worn by warriors of the Antera family in the past.

“Where did it all come from?”

“I took it with me when I left home.”

“···Is that okay?”

Snow shook his head again.

“No, that’s why I brought it out.”

Heh heh. She brought it out even though it wasn’t supposed to. That means she brought it all out with the intention of feeding the family a piece of shit. I could see why her mother was trying so hard to find it, but she was trying to kill the head of the family, the eldest in the family. Snow didn’t just steal the artifact; she was also defying the head of the family’s name and orders.

“ah.”

At that moment, Snow’s body stiffened slightly. Her eyes turned to his hand in her arms. While his entire body was wrapped tightly in a windbreaker, Jincheol’s hand was stuck there. The shape was strange.

Jincheol, who felt that, said while pulling his hand away as naturally as possible.

“I don’t think it just has a cooling function. Does it also get warm in cold places?”

“···that’s right.”

“Huh. If I had one of those, I wouldn’t have to get clothes tailored separately, that would be nice.”

“···huh.”

Snow, who had given a short answer, squirmed and dug into his windbreaker, and Jincheol turned his gaze back to the wilderness. The tram was once again filled with only the sound of the engine and the dry wind.

The main chip vibrated slightly, as if breaking the silence.

[···The age difference is one year. Exactly ten thousand. Let’s get rid of all the nonsense and meet exactly ten thousand.]

“What the heck?”

[A person must have a conscience. Lie down quickly.]

Jincheol laughed heartily at Bonchip’s joke. Jincheol shook his head and looked into the distance.

[This guy still thinks I’m joking. Hurry up and stretch! Depending on what you do, this instructor can be either a devil or an angel…]

At that moment, the tank came up over the ridge of the low hill, and Jincheol also got up onto the tank. Naturally, Bonchip’s words stopped, and Snow also looked at him.

[···Are you really going to stretch it out?]

Jincheol ignored Bonchip’s nonsense and narrowed his eyes to look into the distance. In fact, he didn’t have to look that carefully. The shape was obvious even without trying to examine it.

What Jincheol saw was a huge lump of iron lying in the middle of a distant wilderness, and its shape, tilted against the clear blue sky, looked like some kind of spaceship or warship to anyone in the 21st century.

“···A battleship that has retained its shape for ten thousand years. It’s not some kind of alien technology.”

As the armored tanks advanced along the Shogi in the lead, the shape of the lump of metal became clearer. It was a much larger footprint than the snail shell of the Hakon that had been seen the day before, almost several times larger.

Its surface was rusted to the point of being black, and it was in places collapsed, and its steel frame was sticking out like fish bones. It was clear that no matter what method was used, it would never be able to move again. It was no longer a flying warship that had been flying in the sky, but a mound of iron erected to be its own tombstone.

But despite all the signs of decay and wear and tear, the greatness of the iron block could not be erased. It was a gigantic structure, tens of meters high and hundreds of meters long. That was all that remained, even after excluding the parts that had crumbled over time. It must have been much larger and more magnificent when it was in service ten thousand years ago.

Jincheol blankly stared at the trace.

“···You idiots. You should have thought of going to another galaxy to play on something like this.”

A muttering that was unclear as either a sigh or a sentiment. Jincheol spoke as if sighing and stared blankly at the declining past.

At that moment, Snow, who was watching what Jincheol was seeing, suddenly took off the windbreaker she was wearing. At the same time, a long spear popped out from her hand. When she looked at it wondering why, she instead looked at Jincheol with a puzzled look.

“···why?”

“···what?”

The two people who had trouble communicating for a moment stared blankly at each other. Snow finally opened his mouth.

“···Didn’t you see those guys?”

Only then did Jincheol turn his gaze again. And he could realize that there were guys running towards him from under the traces of the lump of iron that he had been looking at just a moment ago.

“What are they?”

Trucks and bikes with only half of their frames remaining, armored tanks decorated with skeletons and such were rushing forward, kicking up dust. There were red-skinned Ologs squealing with excitement.

Soon Jincheol’s hearing picked up their voices.

“I’m going to eat! I’m going to eat!”

“Let’s eat! I’m hungry! Let’s boil it, grill it, boil it! Let’s eat deliciously!”

“Wow! I thought I was going to die of hunger!”

While Jincheol was dumbfounded at the sight, Shougi, who had also discovered them, pulled on Uheo’s reins and shouted.

“They are vagabonds!”

“···Are there that many vagabonds?”

“A group of five or six wanderers have come together as one! Let’s run!”

After hearing Shogi’s shout, Stone Fist turned his chariot around and started running down the ridge.