When I Returned to Farming, National-level Big Juniors Flock - Chapter 121



Only Krnovel

121. Night Sky, Flares, and Ramen

“Hey, is anyone there?”

Oh Hyun-seong got out of the car and looked around.

But all he could hear was an empty echo. Still, no one appeared before him.

Tick ​​tick.

‘What? There’s no word that this checkpoint is closed.’

His head tilted as he was scrolling through his cell phone.

I looked around just in case, but as expected, there was no one inside the outpost and there was no sign of anyone staying there.

The buildings and warehouses next door were also securely locked.

‘It’s not like we were attacked by anyone, but why would one of the main checkpoints suddenly be left empty like this?’

Oh Hyun-seong, who had just finished eating, looked around.

A row of barriers erected to block vehicle traffic, along with signs saying “No Entry.”

But Oh Hyun-seong started to push him aside.

‘Well… I’d be fine if I could just pass quietly.’

Last time he almost got into some trouble crossing the border.

That’s why Oh Hyeon-seong got a permit this time to avoid any unnecessary trouble.

Of course, it wasn’t through the official route, but I benefited from Han Su-yeon.

Border control is not the responsibility of the Department of Emergency Management.

However, ministers of several relevant ministries were able to issue permits directly in their own names.

Even though Han Su-yeon was a deputy director, she was treated as a ministerial-level official, and as one of the key figures in the Blue House cabinet, her authority was overwhelming.

That you can write Oh Hyun-seong’s name without worrying about what others think.

However, even if there is a government-approved permit, it is often rejected based on the judgment of the on-site situation.

So, Oh Hyeon-seong was worried that he might be caught and detained at the checkpoint even though he had no special purpose.

But since there was no one here, it was actually better.

‘I’m suddenly curious about what’s going on, but it’s not my business.’

He got into his vehicle and drove straight through the checkpoint.

After crossing the border without encountering any obstacles, he headed towards the seed vault as originally planned.

The destination is the northern region of North Hwanghae Province.

Compared to my last trip to North Korea, where I had to go all the way to South Hamgyong Province in search of information about a seed vault, this is definitely less of a burden.

But this is not a very short road either.

The northern region, teeming with monsters, was completely different from Korea’s well-developed highways, so it could take several times longer to travel the same distance.

As expected, the road became rough not long after we started.

Rattling!

‘I heard the road conditions were worse than the last time I was here, and they really are. It was a good thing I took care of the car.’

Although he couldn’t rent a military vehicle like last time, Oh Hyun-seong had personally tuned up his SUV before heading there.

It was going to cost a lot of money to get the business up and running outside the borders, but money wasn’t the issue, and there was no shortage of it.

Thanks to this, I was able to get through even the roughest of roads to some extent.

Of course, this is the northern part of the Korean peninsula that has been neglected for a long time.

It was obvious that there would be many places that exceeded that level of difficulty.

Squeak.

“… This way won’t work.”

Oh Hyun-seong shook his head and got back into the car.

A bridge that appeared on the map has completely collapsed.

This was common in areas ruled by monsters.

In the past, on the Chinese front lines, which were teeming with monsters, no matter what was built, after a while there was nothing left.

In addition, there were many roads that were too close to large nests or that were difficult for vehicles to pass through.

Oh Hyun-seong had to go around him one by one.

Thanks to that, the sky got dark before reaching the destination.

‘I guess I’ll have to sleep in the car one day.’

There is no need to move around too much in the middle of the night.

Oh Hyun-seong found a suitable place, turned off the engine, got out of the car, and stretched out his heavy body.

‘Still, we’ve come a long way.’

He nodded after checking the map.

If it was this distance, we could have arrived by noon tomorrow even assuming bad road conditions.

Oh Hyun-seong, whose stomach was full, opened the trunk and started searching through it.

He knew from the beginning that a day trip would be difficult, so he not only brought various food items, but also a lot of camping equipment.

‘There’s a reason they parked the car in a place like this.’

The forest became quite atmospheric when we turned on the soft light lamps.

Of course, as a hunter, I chose the location by avoiding paths where monsters might pass and finding a place where I would be less exposed, but the second most important reason was the atmosphere.

Oh Hyun-seong lit a small fire in the brazier and started boiling ramen in a pot.

This is a homemade ramen that he worked very hard to make himself, as he could not forget the taste of the ramen he ate as a child.

After digging through past recipes and making many trials and errors, I succeeded in reproducing the taste as similar as possible.

Hururup!

“Whoa.”

Indeed, it is a taste that makes you nod your head in agreement.

It is not the trash ramen that only imitates the appearance of the ramen sold in the market today, but it conveys the exact same feeling as when you ate it in the past.

Moreover, eating ramen outdoors in such a chilly weather feels even more special.

‘The stars are really starting to fall.’

Starlight fills Oh Hyeon-seong’s field of vision as he raises his head.

The stars were so clearly visible that it seemed to fill the dark night sky.

Compared to when I was in the city, the number of stars I could see in Changyeong-ri was surprising, but it couldn’t be compared to the North Korean region, which had become a completely no-man’s land.

‘In fact, I’ve seen this kind of night sky so many times on the Chinese front lines… but back then, I was so tired that I didn’t have the energy to appreciate the stars or anything.’

Oh Hyeon-seong stared at the sky for a moment.

On the other hand, the memory of that time when only the smell of blood came from my mouth came back to me.

It was a new experience to be able to look at the same thing with such a leisurely mind.

“But seriously, why is it so delicious?”

Oh Hyun-seong tilted his head and moved his chopsticks busily once more.

A truly criminal taste.

Even though I boiled enough for two, I felt sorry that the amount decreased with each stroke of my chopsticks.

However, Oh Hyun-seong, who decided to put aside his regrets and enjoy the food, ate the kimchi he brought and even ate the cold rice he had prepared in advance with the hot soup.

Phaaaat!

At that moment, a red light burst out from far away.

A ray of light from the sky that Oh Hyeonseong could not help but know.

It was a flare.

Then, a heavy, earth-shaking gunshot sound was heard.

It wasn’t that annoying because they were fired from such a far distance, but it was obvious what was going on.

“Everyone is having a hard time at this hour. Are you destroying the nest or something?”

Beyond that ridge, the military’s night operation is underway.

In the dark, monsters generally had the advantage.

This is because their senses are developed in a much more colorful way than humans, and they are often far less subject to visual limitations.

But that’s a story based on universal standards.

Depending on the type of monster, it varies greatly, and there are some that are much more advantageous to attack at night.

Being able to choose when to take advantage was an advantage humans had over monsters.

Although this was a story from the ‘front line’, not a city gate that had to be dealt with as quickly as possible.

‘Whatever it is, it’s none of my business.’

Horok.

Oh Hyun-seong sat on the trunk of his car and drank warm tea.

Moderately windy and moderately chilly weather.

He lay there for a while, listening to the crackling sound of the camping stove and the distant sound of artillery fire supporting the monsters.

*

Shake shake.

Oh Hyun-seong’s body, which was sleeping soundly while lying in the car, shook back and forth.

Oh Hyun-seong blinked and got up awkwardly.

In front of him, who had half-raised his upper body, there was an otter that had climbed onto his stomach, not knowing when it had climbed on.

“Squeak!”

“Ah… It’s that time already.”

Oh Hyun-seong woke up from his sleep, fumbling around with a fluffy otter.

After receiving a light slap on the back of his hand, he snickered, lowered his legs, and crumpled his shoes.

Albert, who had been watching over him while he was sleeping.

Without a reliable night watch, even the most excellent high-ranking hunters would die without anyone noticing, and the battlefield would be the place where they would be found dead.

“Thank you, now go and rest.”

“Squeak!”

Albert nodded and disappeared in a flash.

After Oh Hyeon-seong finished packing his luggage, he started running along the route he had planned in advance the day before.

I opened the window and ran, and the cool breeze helped me wake up completely.

The surrounding scenery was nice, so I was able to run quite pleasantly.

It is said that the North Korean region was once overdeveloped and full of barren mountains, but after the human presence completely disappeared.

The void was filled by lush nature.

Of course, considering the things lurking within, it was far from a completely peaceful nature.

Kookookookook!

‘It seems like you’re busier than last time I came.’

The faint sounds of artillery fire can be heard from afar.

It didn’t seem to come from just one place, but rather from quite a few places as we moved upward.

Originally, this area was said to be a place with many monsters, given its relative proximity to the border, but this level of frequency of shelling was unusual.

It’s a frequency that can only be heard in the border area near the Amnok River.

Squeak.

But when we got pretty close to our destination.

Oh Hyun-seong stopped the vehicle at the sound of something.

‘I can feel their presence. There are quite a few of them.’

After turning off the engine and hiding his presence, he carefully made his way through the bushes.

A location fairly close to the secret seed vault he had hidden.

From here on, he has to react quite sensitively, so this is to check for any variables in advance.

As he approached the many sounds he felt, Oh Hyeon-seong was able to discover a line of vehicles stopped in the middle of the forest path.

‘These are the hunters from the special forces. Are they having a blast here?’

Vehicles were broken and overturned here and there.

Several vehicles appeared to have been perforated with holes and black smoke was rising from them.

Not only that, the only tank at the rear had one of its tracks completely dented and sitting on the ground.

Judging by the monster corpses that were difficult to recognize around, it seemed like a big battle had been fought here.

‘It seems like we were suddenly attacked, but it doesn’t seem like there was a major problem since they are hunters from the Special Forces.’

Although almost all of the vehicles were lost and the situation was crippled, the hunters suffered no losses at all.

If you make contact, support from a nearby unit will arrive quickly, and there is little chance of problems arising.

‘There’s nothing good about running into each other for no reason, so I’ll just quietly go my way.’

Oh Hyeon-seong took a few steps back without making a sound.

After making sure they were completely unaware of his presence, he turned around to leave.

Creepy!

But at that moment, Oh Hyeon-seong’s feet, which were leaving, suddenly stopped.

A familiar feeling behind my back.

Beneath the ground where the special forces’ hunters stood, something was stirring.