Orca nodded slowly, then stared at the bodies. I sensed that it was lost in its own sense of power and pride as it looked at them. Apparently the five men who had made it this far were formidable enough to elicit such a response from Orca.
Orca was observing their dead bodies as if it was admiring a work of art while emanating an aura that suggested it didn’t want to be disturbed.
When I shifted my gaze to the bodies, Orca opened its mouth, “Orca’s spoils.”
Their weapons had all been destroyed as it was a quite fierce battle. No information window popped up, and there were more bodies of intruders outside. Orca’s insolent attitude was annoying, but it was acceptable. It had defended the headquarters, so it was up to it if it wanted to take all the spoils. I nodded at it to express my approval.
Then, unique Maruka tentacles grew out of the mud. Dozens of small and thick tentacles intertwined with each other to form the shape of a throne. Other tentacles that were not part of the throne were used to tie up the dismembered body parts. The remains of a body that had been severed from the head down to the groin, as well as the body of a female whose limbs had been completely cut off, were pieced together and suspended in the air like exhibits.
I left after watching Orca appreciating its trophies.
The structures that once served as warehouses and stores in the former Jeonil Resort were in ruins. Although they had already been marked for demolition, the destruction of power lines and buried pipes resulted in water pooling on one side. There was evidence of fire on the other. It was the military’s responsibility to deal with them.
Jamie had entered with the soldiers, and she walked towards me. Upon seeing the forty-five torn and trampled bodies that had died in various ways, she eventually began to vomit. Only the Awakened could look around the place where blood and organs were cluttered in an unperturbed manner.
I spotted Kim Ji-Hoon sorting out the unique characteristics of the dead. Indeed, the composition of the invaders varied. Some were species that were no different from humans, but I also noticed a species that resembled dwarves from their solid skeletons.
The invaders could be classified into three species. There was the one that looked the same as mankind, the dwarf species, and the pointy-eared species. Therefore, everyone had the same suspicion that the extraterrestrial beings that were often described in fantasy novels actually existed somewhere in outer space. Yes, like the elves and the dwarves.
Regardless of what they called themselves, their appearance resembled the fantastical creatures that humans had imagined, making the names made by humans seem fitting for them.
“Hehe…”
One of the Awakened laughed in a weird manner, then he immediately shut his mouth in surprise. However, he wasn’t the only one who welcomed the emergence of new enemies. None of them had spoken these thoughts out loud, but they were all thinking the same thing. They wanted to check the intruders’ mainland and regain the power they enjoyed in the Stage of Advent. They wanted to unleash the strength that had been suppressed.
***
After returning home, Kim Ji-Hoon only felt content for the first two weeks. Following the honeymoon period, more frustration overwhelmed him as time passed by. The news was busy broadcasting China’s and the world’s economic war and they often used the faces of the earth’s authorities as references.
However, it was ridiculous. Almost everything was absurd here. Although he was certain that he could decapitate either the Chinese leader or the U.S. president at any given moment, he refrained from doing so, as he had no reason to and it went against the guidelines set forth by the association governed by Odin. He could also steal the fifteen thousand tons of gold stored in China if he wanted to.
What if I grab the Chinese leader’s neck and threaten them?
If the other Awakened didn’t intervene, then he had the power to do everything imaginable. He had even reached the master section.
In fact, he believed that he would be able to exert his power upon his return to the mainland of humans[1]. The ideas he had discussed with his squad members were plans that they intended to implement as soon as he arrived. Their goal was to gather all the Awakened from around the world and establish a world of Awakened under the leadership of the Savior Odin by reassembling their squad.
However, Odin clearly had a different intent. He always claimed symbiosis with the poor mainlanders. He even said that he would implant microchips inside the Awakened. Control was imposed, so the current situation was the same as the time before the Stage of Advent. The Jeonil Group still governed Korea, and the world was only run by money.
Shit.
All the time that he had spent rolling around like a dog and fighting like a demon on the stage were in vain. Furthermore, now normal humans looked warily at the Awakened who had saved the world for them.
We are the ones who are keeping the world safe! Not the two hundred thousand dollars or pieces of a gold bar!
The Awakened deserved more, especially those who stood on the side of Ms. Mary in the Final Stage.
About a month had passed after returning to the mainland, and it was an unexpectedly long time. He was unable to exercise his full potential due to his increasing dissatisfaction and frustration, which hindered his ability to make sound judgments.
However! It seemed to be coming to an end.
Ting-
Kim Ji-Hoon flicked his finger, causing a blood-soaked gold coin to spin mercilessly. This was the only item that he was authorized to take from the dead invaders. He snatched at the coin again and began to giggle in a silly manner.
A portrait of an old man donning a crown was embedded in the coin, but the minting hadn’t been done delicately. It resembled a coin from the Middle Ages, indicative of the intruders’ lack of civilization.
Another thing that was important was their appearances. He had seen Odin’s skeletal dragon before, so it was possible for strange monsters to exist in the world like elves and dwarves. If these bodies were still intact instead of being chewed by the Kciphos, then they could be beautiful elves.
According to Odin, their mainland was the extraterrestrial space where the Awakened would invade and advance in the future. He had expected the next destination to be the monsters’ mainland, but the land of the elves sounded much better!
They would depart sooner or later, and there would be no need to make peace there. This was something Odin and the association had consistently declared.
I will be able to exert all my power there!
Kim Ji-Hoon crumpled the coin after staring at it for a while. The king carved on the coin was also crushed. Right around that time, he received instructions for all Awakened to withdraw and return. He hastily stuffed the crumpled coin into his pocket before venturing out to find Ji-Ae noona.
He couldn’t approach Mary or the other leaders of the association, but apart from comradeship, there were always other people he needed to make sure that he was on good terms with. Ji-Ae was one of them.
“Are you going to Seoul, noona? Then, I will drop you off there.”
“By car?” she asked.
“We can’t get around on our usual rides, so I got a car instead. Or would you like to drive? When you press the accelerator, it’s not too bad.”
He had spent his entire share of the two hundred thousand U.S. dollars he had received to get the car.
“There is a lot to tell you on the way.”
“Just send me a message later,” Kim Ji-Ae answered bluntly and turned her back to him.
He lowered his head. “Okay, noona. Take care.”
Kim Ji-Hoon then raised his head and moved to his car. Since he had been inside the building where the Maruka clan member resided and had recovered many bodies, his car had quickly become dirty with mud and blood. He could use the shower at the rest area.
Anyway, he couldn’t wait to get off the highway. One of the ways to relieve his stress over the past week was to overtake low-class civilians’ cars on the road. He felt better when he had a quarrel with the owners of bougie cars. He could coquet them, stop the car on the shoulder of the highway, and give them the bitter taste of violence.
After beating them to the point where they were barely alive and were begging for mercy, he often snidely said: “Thank Odin, you poor things.”
He felt a sense of relief after making such a statement.
A quick look at .com will leave you more fulfilled.
Woong-!
Kim Ji-Hoon started the engine. However, the phone on the dashboard vibrated and caught his attention. He had received messages while he was cleaning up the headquarters: one spam and another from his father. The others were notifications from the group chat.
The Stage of Advent was fucking long, but it appeared that everything had come to a halt since his departure. The group chats he had prior to entering the stage remained the same in his phone application. Although he had never responded to the chat of low-ranking civilians, something caught his attention all of a sudden.
Oh Soo-Il.
The name sparked a vague sense of appreciation within him. He was a civilian colleague who had gone to the same school as him in the past. It was when Odin was his classmate and Mary was his homeroom teacher. The savior with divine prestige and power was once in the same space with him. None of his civilian classmates would know the truth.