Chapter 99: The Battlefield’s Shadow

A pall hung over the village, its atmosphere heavy with gloom. This despondency stemmed from the injured outsider who had been brought in, and the gravely negative news he carried.

“So, it’s finally come to this, hasn’t it?”

“It’s happening faster than we thought. I imagined we’d have a few more years.”

Heads bowed low, everyone wore expressions of profound sorrow. For several years now, the Esper Alliance’s response to Airain had grown increasingly aggressive.

Originally, Airain was a necessary evil for the Esper Alliance. They were the perfect scapegoat, allowing the Alliance to feign persecution while still granting them a certain degree of breathing room.

However, everything shifted the moment the commander, reeling from the shock of losing their Guide, relinquished command, and the vice-commander assumed acting duties.

They began relentlessly rooting out and eliminating every Airain refuge, as if determined not to leave a single Rain entity alive. Consequently, Airain, which had originally focused on rescuing Rain and Irregulars, formed various squads to counter these attacks.

Kang Tae-han’s action squad was one such unit, and the young Esper and Irregular who had been carried in, wounded, the previous day, belonged to it.

The clash between Kang Tae-han’s squad and the Alliance signified that the village’s location would soon be compromised.

“This village had such a good location…”

“Now isn’t the time for regrets. We need to plan a safe relocation. We also have to scout new places and provide supplies to the action squad outside. There’s so much to do.”

Even the most despondent villagers nodded, agreeing with the assessment. There was no leisure for sorrow. People began to devise plans, each seeking tasks they could undertake.

“Who will take out the supply run? To reach the outside, it would have to be an Esper.”

“We can’t completely empty our defenses here, and there aren’t any spare hands…”

Sa-yoon, who had been listening quietly, raised his hand.

“Shall I go?”

“Seol-won.”

Smiling at the person who reached out to gently restrain his shoulder, Sa-yoon continued.

“I’m the least busy person here, aren’t I? And I’m an Esper. Besides, I just need to deliver the goods, right?”

“But…”

“I can certainly handle that much. Even Elder White said I’ve recovered a lot.”

He lied without batting an eye. Yet, seeing a child much younger than himself brought in covered in blood, Sa-yoon couldn’t simply remain in the village, protected. The villagers exchanged glances, deliberated, and then nodded.

“Then, please, just this once.”

Sa-yoon gathered the first-aid kits and supplies the villagers packed for him. He slung a heavy pack onto his back and took up weighty items in both hands, fully equipped.

This was his first time leaving the village since he had regained consciousness.

“Kang Tae-han’s location coordinates are here. You must move carefully.”

“What’s the name of this place?”

“There’s nothing but wasteland, so it doesn’t really have a name. But outsiders call it ‘The Battlefield.'”

“The Battlefield…”

Sa-yoon murmured the place name, which felt strangely familiar, and nodded.

The Battlefield Sa-yoon first witnessed was utterly desolate. It was a ruin where only sand and dried tree roots tumbled across the ground. Here and there, remnants of an ancient civilization lay quietly weathering away.

During the short journey from the vehicle, which had moved through a secret passage, to Airain’s refuge, the dust that assailed his nostrils was almost unbearable.

He recalled stories that this place, too, had once been lush and abundant with trees, much like the village where Sa-yoon had been hiding. Now, however, it was merely a land scarred, living up to its name: The Battlefield.

As he approached the refuge’s coordinates, a subtly different space became visible. Drawn by the faint, distorted sensation, he moved closer, and a voice emanated from a speaker buried in the sand.

–The password is… Oh, Seol-won hyung is here?

The sand piled on the ground shifted, and the earth rose. Beyond a space barely wide enough for one person, a young man waved. Following his gesture, Sa-yoon descended into the passage, revealing a wide open space underground.

“So, Min Da-hyun, you were here too.”

The person guarding the entrance was an Esper Sa-yoon knew well. Min Da-hyun was a young man with a complex past, despite his tender age.

His former unit, he’d heard, had been sacrificed by the Alliance, isolated amidst a horde of juvenile Rain entities. Min Da-hyun, the sole survivor of that chaos, had been rescued by Airain. Later, upon learning the truth about the external powers, he had voluntarily joined Airain and become part of an action squad.

“You brought the supplies this time, hyung? Your uniform looks intact, so you must have found this place right away. Most people get lost and struggle quite a bit.”

Min Da-hyun, though much younger than Sa-yoon, was a highly valuable member who contributed significantly to Airain.

“The entrance was right there, though? It’s subtly different from the surroundings, even at a glance.”

“Is… that so? That’s strange. Even those Alliance bastards can’t find this place. Anyway, you’ve worked hard. Just drop the bags here.”

Min Da-hyun staggered slightly as he took the heavy bags from Sa-yoon, then spread the contents onto the floor. He first took out medicine and bandages, distributing them to the people nearby.

“That must have been quite heavy.”

“It was manageable. The vehicle also dropped me off nearby.”

“Your strength must be returning, hyung. That weight is even a bit much for me.”

After regaining consciousness, Sa-yoon had to relearn even how to hold a spoon. Now, he could easily carry heavy objects, and his body felt light. He was strong enough to present himself as an Esper anywhere.

“I think you’re almost fully recovered, aren’t you? You must be close to how you were before you lost your memories.”

Min Da-hyun offered an awkward smile at Sa-yoon’s words. It was evident he had much to say but was holding it back, struggling with the inability to express himself. Having been part of an Esper unit, he was one of the few who knew of Sa-yoon’s past exploits.

“Huh? What are you doing here?”

“Tae-han hyung.”

Kang Tae-han emerged into the square, drawn by the commotion and the distribution of medical supplies. Spotting Sa-yoon’s distinctive white hair from a distance, he hurried over.

“I told you to rest at home, so why are you here on a supply run? Did anything happen on the way? Are you hurt anywhere? Weren’t the supplies too heavy?”

Kang Tae-han fussed over Sa-yoon, who stood still, checking him from every angle. To outsiders, it must have looked comical: a tall, handsome Sa-yoon being worried over like a child by an older man.

Perhaps because of this, many people around them craned their necks to observe the two. With members dispatched from other villages in addition to Sa-yoon’s own, Sa-yoon felt his face flush.

“Hyung. Stop it. Everyone’s staring.”

“Stay cooped up in the refuge. Don’t even think about going out if a conflict breaks out.”

Airain’s refuges, despite their name, were closer to combat bases. External forces constantly tracked Airain’s locations, and Airain had to conceal the villages where they truly lived.

Thus, they established combat bases, named refuges, in various places to serve as camouflage for their actual villages. The strategy was to hide the vulnerable people in the villages and draw attention to the refuges.

“Tomorrow, when supplies arrive from another village, you’ll leave this place immediately with the vehicle.”

“Understood.”

Sa-yoon nodded, not bothering to argue. While his physical strength was returning, it wasn’t enough for him to engage in combat. Amidst the clash of powers, Sa-yoon was little more than an ordinary person with a sturdy body.

“Is there anything I can help with?”

“No, no. Just rest quietly.”

As Kang Tae-han nudged him, Sa-yoon walked through the refuge’s passages. He met curious gazes along the way. There were many unfamiliar faces.

Airain, appearing as a single organization, was a collective of marginalized people and villages that had chosen unity after realizing the true nature of Rain. Though they moved together under Kang Tae-han’s leadership, they were a dispersed, ‘dot-like’ organization. This characteristic allowed them to survive despite being heavily targeted by external forces.

Even if one village fell, others would sustain them, allowing them to endure for a long time.

As Sa-yoon passed through the underground space, which resembled an ant colony with its many interconnected areas, he caught a strong scent of blood. It was an unpleasant odor, mingling with the smell of earth and gunpowder. At the source of the smell were people diligently bandaging patients.

“This doesn’t seem like a treatment room.”

The space, filled with crudely finished earth mounds and grease-stained boxes, was far from sanitary. In the midst of it, patients in poor condition were being treated by others.

“They’re Irregulars who were captured outside recently. We rescued them urgently, but…”

There hadn’t been time to take them to a proper treatment room; they were receiving emergency care as soon as they entered the refuge. Sa-yoon frowned, looking at the Irregular who seemed on the verge of death. The outsiders’ methods were cruel.

If they disliked someone, they could simply kill them, yet they insisted on dissecting, experimenting on, and torturing people. Although he had never encountered them directly, they were a group he wanted no part of. Sa-yoon paused, gazing for a long time at the Irregular being treated.

His chest ached somewhat. Perhaps it was because they were both Irregulars, but it felt like a tickle, as if something he had forgotten was about to resurface. Someone from the past, who might have died like that in a laboratory…

“Seol-won. Are you okay? You look pale.”

“…I guess I was just a little surprised.”

Sa-yoon turned his head away from the sickening sight.

“Why do people do this to their own kind? Even if it’s Rain, Irregulars are born human.”

“Because they believe it’s how they can maintain their position. They probably want to eliminate both Irregulars and Rain.”

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