Chapter 10: Then What About Cluster Munitions

Right, let’s just skip over the boring and depressing parts.

It’s obvious. They’ll see me as a madwoman, or a warmonger. Like that guy, Wittrich.

But despite that, my thoughts haven’t changed. What I did to end the war was necessary. Of course, the war ended differently.

Well, it’s all in the past now.

A finished story.

Anyway, I start talking.

Infinitely heavy, cruel, depressing, and yet, thrilling.

“…And that’s how I ended up here.”

I force an awkward smile.

Silence hangs over the table. Everyone just sips their beer or picks at the side dishes, saying nothing.

It’s a suffocating silence.

Feeling awkward, I just poke at the innocent samgyeopsal (pork belly) in front of me.

-Ding!

A text notification sound breaks the silence.

It was Grandpa Chunshik’s phone. Damn, that notification sound is loud…

“Eh? Looks like one more person is coming?”

Then he suddenly makes a call.

“Hey! Over here, XX Samgyeopsal! No! Not that alley, the other side!”

Then he hangs up abruptly…

“Who ish it?”

Ion, completely drunk, asks with slurred speech.

“Who else? A friend with big ears like us. Though what’s inside her head is a bit strange. Just like our Ms. Fride here. Haha!”

“I’m perfectly fine.”

“Everyone says that. If you have to insist you’re fine yourself, you’re definitely not normal.”

‘Is that so?’

‘Maybe.’

A short while later, an elf wearing a brown trench coat appears.

“Am I too late?”

Then she suddenly shouts?

“What?! There’s another fascist b*stard here??”

What? Fascist b*stard?

“What did you say?”

“Talking about you. You came from the same place as Ion, right?”

“That’s right, but how did you know?”

“Ion was always talking about Fride or whoever, you know? Seeing you stuck together like that, aren’t you that person?”

Just as the elf said, Ion was currently dead drunk and glued to my side.

No, uh… don’t rub against me…

“Of course, I heard from the old man too.”

“More importantly, isn’t it wrong to spout such insults the moment you see someone?”

Who on earth curses at someone they’ve just met?

Really.

“Like some crazy b*tch.”

Oops, that was my inner thought.

Hearing my words, the one getting angry… right, from now on, you’re a Red.

Her hair happens to be red too, what a fitting nickname.

“What did you say? You vicious fascist…”

-Beeeeeep

Before she could finish, a piercing alert sounds from a phone.

An emergency alert text?

[Emergency Alert: Large-scale Dimensional Anomaly Phenomenon Occurrence.]

And immediately following, another alert sound. It was the Self-Defense Corps app I downloaded recently.

The notification showed the detailed location and danger level, and the highlighted ‘Dispatch’ button seemed to tempt me to check it out.

Right, let’s go take a look.

The same notification popped up on Ion’s phone beside me. Unable to even press the button properly, Ion pressed ‘Dispatch’ only after tapping three times.

“You… can you even go…?”

“Of course! Let’s hic go!”

The problem is, we don’t have a car to get to the location.

No, wait, there’s one right here?

“Chunshik, I’m borrowing the car.”

“What? No way, you brat! You’re drunk!”

“I’m fine.”

I quickly grab Chunshik’s car keys from the table and run out.

I think I heard Chunshik’s scream from behind, but I lightly ignored it.

The dark night sky. Something shimmers in the middle of it. Soon, sparks fly, and cracks begin to form.

The thin cracks quickly turned into fissures, and the fissures became a hole.

‘Did I come out of a place like that too?’

Ion and I were under the Gate… spacing out.

What.

Nothing has jumped out yet, and there’s nothing we can do. Or maybe we should just blow up that Gate?

“Ah, right!”

Ion suddenly trots over to the trunk and… brings out a gun.

“…?”

A single-shot rifle made of wood. No matter how I look at it, it’s a real gun.

“Is that a real gun?”

“Of course not! It’s a model!”

“Then why did you bring…”

“Because you can shoot it hic by filling it with mana!”

Aha, well, Ion probably knows how to use magic too. But is such a model really necessary?

To my question, Ion only gave the absurd answer, ‘Because it looks cool!’

The Gate begins to fluctuate violently. Right. It’s starting.

Just then, several trucks come rushing from afar, accompanied by loud military songs.

-“You female comrades up front! Get out!”

Soldiers in worn-out brown uniforms get out of the old, beat-up trucks. Each holding an old AK rifle.

They look like those Pyongyang Defense Force guys or whatever.

“Seeing you up close, you’re knife-ear comrades, eh? Anyway, this dimensional gate is under the control of our Pyongyang Defense Force.”

‘Knife-ear comrades,’ indeed.

Ion shouts.

“No! It’s mine! I’m short on cash these days…”

It seems Ion is only thinking about killing the monster and getting paid.

“Still can’t do that. Isn’t it our role to protect the people and defeat the enemy?”

-Crackle! Zap!

“They’re coming out. Everyone, load your bullets!”

With clicking sounds, the Defense Force soldiers take their positions.

What emerged from the Gate was a beast-like monster resembling a wolf. But twice the size of a wolf.

The monsters charged, letting out roars.

“Fire!”

-Rat-tat-tat-tat! -Rat-tat!

‘Well, looks like we won’t even need to step in.’ The moment I thought that, identical monsters started pouring out continuously.

“Why are so many coming out?”

Moreover, perhaps stronger than the first ones, the creatures that died from one or two bullets now barely die even after emptying an entire magazine. Dozens more such creatures poured out.

“Major Kim ! We’re short on bullets!”

“Break open the reserve ammo crates!”

“We already opened them and are using them!!”

“Where did you sell off the anti-tank weapons?”

“That… they say they didn’t bring the shells.”

“You d*mn dimwitted b*stards!”

The man called Kim by a soldier who looked like his subordinate glances at us and speaks.

“Uh… Knife-ear comrades? Do you happen to know how to use sorcery?”

Magic? My specialty.

“Of course.”

‘Asking for help? After telling us to get out of the way earlier.’

“Just help us out a bit. Aren’t we fellow comrades?”

‘Fellow comrades? Since when were we comrades?’

“You told us to get out of the way earlier…”

“Don’t be like that! Aren’t you comrades Returnees or something? Then aren’t you the same Korean people? Shouldn’t we help each other as the same people?”

‘He’s desperate.’

‘Well, I planned to help anyway.’

‘I have no intention of letting monsters run rampant in the city center.’

Next to me, Ion was already hunting monsters with her model gun. Perhaps because she was drunk, 7 out of 10 shots missed.

“Move the soldiers back. They could get caught in the explosion.”

“Everyone fall back!”

Shall I begin the incantation? This is perfect for suppressing such a large number of enemies.

A magic circle about 2 meters in diameter is drawn on the ground. Soon, three artillery shells rise from it.

Exploding above the monsters’ heads, the shells release hundreds of submunitions.

A rain of steel from the sky. Yes. Cluster bombs.

The steel rain hitting the ground causes powerful explosions and flames. The numerous monsters either ceased to exist in the explosion or were roasted alive.

The smell of grilling meat is striking.

Cluster bombs are inhumane and banned by treaty, you say? My country, Albheim, as well as the Republic of Korea, never signed such treaties.

Meaning it’s legal.

Kim speaks in a bewildered voice.

“G-great stuff, really.”

Of course, it’s great. Whose magic do you think it is?

Korean People’s Army 337th Unit, 2nd Battalion. This was the unit Kim belonged to. His family name was Kim, and Major was his rank.

Of course, that was in the past. As the South Korean army advanced northward, all military units below Pyongyang were either wiped out or surrendered.

And the South Korean army reached the doorstep of Pyongyang. He had to decide. Surrender and survive, or die demonstrating loyalty.

He was a rational man. More accurately, a self-preservationist. He wanted to surrender and continue his life. Unfortunately, his superior did not.

“We must burn our lives to kill even one more South Korean American imperialist aggressor!”

‘D*mn it… isn’t socialism or capitalism all about making a living?’

His unit was in no condition to fight. Lack of fuel, rusty vehicles, insufficient ammunition. And most soldiers suffering from malnutrition, reduced to skin and bones.

His superior, the battalion commander, wanted all his unit members to gloriously perish as revolutionary warriors of the Marshal. And naturally, he didn’t want that.

The decision was swift. He put a bullet through his superior’s head and ran towards the South Korean army that had approached right outside the garrison.

Waving a white flag from the command vehicle.

Thus, the ROK Army, the South Korean army, entered his unit’s garrison without bloodshed.

‘I managed to survive, but what if the soldiers resist? There are already many dimwitted b*stards.’

Fortunately, that didn’t happen. The socialist revolutionary warriors were completely won over by the combat rations distributed by the ROK Army.

‘Do South Korean warriors eat things like this even during war? They seem to eat better than me, man.’

Of course, Kim felt the same.

After the war ended, or more precisely, after the Republic of Korea government’s Pyongyang Reclamation Operation ended, Kim was able to keep his uniform due to the circumstances of the South Korean adults.

He even became the commander of the battalion he was previously in.

His affiliation changed, his superiors changed, but he was still a soldier. And a die-hard self-preservationist.

And there was someone who sounded the alarm for his self-preservationism. It was the South Korean advisor dispatched to the Pyongyang Reconstruction Government, to which he belonged, or rather, was assigned.

‘That South Korean b*stard keeps shouting about gradual military reduction; I cannot tolerate actions threatening my livelihood.’

Unfortunately, he lacked the power to stop the South Korean b*stard. So, what should he do? He needed to show his competence to avoid discharge. Discharge meant guaranteed unemployment.

And when high-ranking people try to show competence, those below them get ground down.

Because of this, the officers and even the soldiers in his unit badmouthed Kim whenever they met. But what could they do? When ordered, they had to obey.

That day was like any other. A dimensional gate opened, and monsters came out. They had to deploy as quickly as possible.

Before the Self-Defense Corps arrived. Then, exaggerate the report about the monsters from the gate as much as possible.

This was Kim’s method for survival.

But why were there two women there?

Looking closer, their ears were long. While knife-ear comrades (Elves) were quite numerous in Pyongyang, he, stationed some distance away, wasn’t familiar with elves.

Whatever the case, with the mindset of ‘I’m taking this case,’ Kim ordered the elves out and prepared for battle.

Soon, wolf-like monsters poured out. At first, they seemed to die quickly…

But as time passed, they grew larger, and didn’t die easily even when shot!

As misfortunes never come alone, while many monsters remained, the lack of one-shot kills meant they were running low on ammunition.

Anti-tank weapons! Let’s use the anti-tank weapons!

They didn’t bring the shells… D*mn it. Kim vowed to half-kill that guy if they returned alive, then thought of the elves.

‘Right! Can’t the knife-ear comrades use sorcery!’

Kim begged the elves and barely managed to get their help. Of course, the green-haired elf was already shooting magic bullets, but being quite drunk, she was basically firing wildly.

Kim placed his hope on the blonde, green-eyed elf in the black military uniform. That elf listened to him and told him to move the soldiers back.

Just as he was wondering how powerful her sorcery could be, the elf chanted a spell. And artillery shells rose from the ground.

The shells exploded in the sky, releasing countless submunitions. A scene from hell unfolded in an instant. The monsters exploded and burned to death.

‘Wow… amazing, truly amazing. She’s like a one-person artillery unit.’

Kim fell under the grand delusion that all elves could use such magic.