Episode 87 [ Those Who Follow the Trace (2) ]
Torzhok City, Russia.
A large transport helicopter flew into a small city 200km west of Russia. It was a helicopter departing from Moscow.
Doo doo doo doo.
The helicopter landed at a military airfield south of the city.
The helicopter’s side door opened, although the propeller had not yet stopped. A man wearing sunglasses and a woman in a suit got off the helicopter.
A soldier waiting at the landing area held his hat down with one hand and offered to shake the man’s hand.
“Welcome to Torzok. “This is Mikhail.”
“This is Kay.”
When Kyung-hoon held his hand, the man waved his hand enthusiastically.
“You said you would go right away, so I prepared a car for you.”
He guided Kyung-hoon and the woman who came with him.
Dudu.
As they cleared the landing pad, the giant helicopter’s propeller stopped.
Giiiing.
The helicopter’s rear door came down and heavily armed troops poured out of the helicopter.
It was a national guard force sent under the pretext of supporting the awakened people from EV. It was a paramilitary organization responsible for domestic security, but its equipment was no different from the military.
While the troops lined up, Kyung-hoon got on a military tactical vehicle parked outside the landing site.
Michael, who guided him and the woman to the car, took the wheel.
Immediately the car started, and Michael started speaking.
“I heard you came from Turkey. “So are you from Europe?”
It was true that he met the Russian consul in Turkey and came to this city via Moscow.
I had moved to Turkey to disguise myself as a European, but I had no idea they would ask me so bluntly.
Kyung-hoon did not answer the question.
But the other person didn’t care. He continued talking to Kyung-hoon.
“This is my first time seeing an EV enforcer. There are a lot of rumors on the EV bulletin board. haha. You can’t post it on the bulletin board, right? And…”
The man guiding Gyeonghoon was also an awakened person. Moreover, he was a very noisy Russian.
Gyeonghoon glanced at his rank insignia. Two small stars. He was a warrant officer.
“I also just joined the Royal Guard. “Before I became awakened, I was a driver. When I registered as an awakened person, the government asked me if I should join the National Guard, so I quickly agreed.”
In Russia, a warrant officer was a decent position for a non-commissioned officer. But a soldier…
As much as he talked a lot, the Russian awakened man was also perceptive. He immediately answered the question that came to Kyung-hoon’s mind.
“In Russia, if an awakened man wants to make money, he must join the Royal Guard. “It’s best, because the only ones that fight monsters are the army and the Royal Guard.”
While he was talking, the car left the airfield and headed southeast. There was a dense forest on both sides of the road. It was a coniferous forest that Russia is proud of. “In most cases, they are swept away with fire power, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t places for awakened people to step forward.
”
“If you catch a monster, the pay is good, they pay you to study the corpse, and these days, they even pay very expensive mana stones.”
Of course, officially they all had to be recovered, but there was no way things could have worked out that way. It
seemed like there were many cases where the unit that caught the monsters divided them up on their own, and in the case of the awakened ones, the mana stones were taken away.
“Can I just talk about that?”
“Oh, you speak Russian well. It doesn’t matter. I don’t know anyone.”
He grinned at the woman sitting in the back seat.
She was a civil servant he had met in Moscow. She was a woman who never said anything other than what was necessary, so we couldn’t even exchange a few words on the way here.
Even now, she didn’t even lift an eyebrow at Michael’s words.
“But several people came.” “I heard that you came alone. Is that okay?”
“This is an advance team. We came here first to check the situation.”
“Well, that could be true. I was surprised that you came alone. I thought you might be a super awakened person who can solve everything on your own.”
Michael looked at Kyunghoon and made a fuss.
-He is a person with surprisingly good sense.
Kyung-hoon couldn’t tell if Eve was joking about Michael or if he meant it.
Buuuuung.
While Michael continued talking, tactical vehicles followed behind their car.
These were cars carrying troops who had disembarked from helicopters. About a dozen military vehicles drove through the coniferous road.
Did it run like that for about an hour?
I could see a wisp of smoke rising into the sky in front of the car.
The road was cut off. Guardsmen and barricades were blocking the road.
Tents were set up next to the road blocked by barricades. Military tents and civilian tents. I even saw a trailer.
Next to the tent, a mixture of military vehicles and ordinary cars were parked.
Michael also parked his car among the military vehicles. The tactical vehicles that followed also stopped behind Mahael.
Michael got out of the car, and Kyung-hoon and the woman followed. They followed Michael and approached the barricade. The road continued behind the barricade. Smoke was rising from the end of the road.
A large military barracks was erected next to the barricade. Inside, guardsmen and civilians in work clothes were seen.
“The guards are in charge of mutant monsters and the experts are in charge of managing the gas pipes.”
The group entered the barracks. Michael introduced people to Kyunghoon.
Officers with dark expressions and confused civilians exchanged greetings with Kyung-hoon.
Kyung-hoon last greeted a sharp-looking middle-aged man in a suit.
“This is Chairman Bykov, the CEO of Mingaz Company. “He came here not long ago and is directly directing the scene.”
“Nice to meet you. This is Boris Bykov. first. See you.”
Kyung-hoon held Chairman Bykov’s outstretched hand.
As the Chairman said, it was Kyung-hoon’s first time seeing him in person.
While Kyung-hoon was greeting people inside the barracks, the woman who had been following him left the barracks and made a phone call.
“There is only one person. No one joined in the middle and there was no sign of anything special…”
Her words were conveyed to the State Guards headquarters in Moscow, 200 km away.
*
State Guards headquarters conference room.
Her words were transmitted to everyone in the room via speakerphone.
[… He seemed to have a very disciplined body and an Asian face, but his Russian sounded like a native.] After
her report was finished, the commander opened his mouth and said,
“Okay, stand by.”
“All right.”
The phone hung up.
Those listening to her report looked at the commander.
“There is still time, so continue the briefing.”
At the commander’s words, everyone gathered at the headquarters looked at the screen in front again.
The screen moved again, and an officer next to the screen continued his briefing.
“The sanctions imposed on China by EV not long ago are a means for each country to control this awakened group. “We now know how vulnerable they are to attack. According to the Ministry of Intelligence, the monster moth rampage in Shanghai has a lot to do with this incident.”
On the screen, a huge moth flying over Shanghai and a procession of refugees were shown intersecting.
“Moreover, the situation has become difficult thanks to the US government’s recognition of this group. The US is fully capable of solving domestic mutations on its own, and its energy supply and demand is also shared with other countries. There is no other problem.
Moreover, Dr. Hye-rin Yoon, who discovered mana stone power generation, also started a business in the United States.”
Next, various indicators were displayed vertically on the screen.
“But in Russia, the situation is different from the United States. The economy is plummeting beyond the decline of the world economy. Although a large number of monsters have been dealt with with the power of the powerful Russian military, “The supply of various natural resources became impossible, and roads and railways were cut off in many places.”
By now, everyone here knew the story:
“Fortunately, we were able to receive equipment from EV after the United States, but the number was too small. Thanks to the justification of providing equipment mainly to multinational forces, the equipment was only distributed to a small number of awakened people in the country. And…”
The commander frowned and interrupted the presentation.
“I quickly pass over stories I know. “I don’t have a lot of time.”
“All right.”
The officer quickly flipped through the screen.
“Accordingly, our National Security Committee reported on the operation to placate the EV enforcers and obtain information.”
After the officer finished speaking, the commander looked around at the people.
It wasn’t much different from the KGB’s operational briefing I heard a while ago.
The expressions on the staff’s faces were no different from before. The commander pounded on the desk.
“Looking at your expression, I don’t think there’s any need to ask.”
The commander picked up the landline phone on his desk.
A moment later the phone was connected to the Kremlin.
“Yes, I think it would be best to proceed. The situation has only gotten worse than when the operation was first set up. We, Russia, cannot bow down to a mere awakened organization like China. “If an opponent is insubstantial and cannot fight properly, they should be brought into the ring.”
The commander held the receiver in a standing position and continued speaking.
“Yes, please leave it to me. “The National Guard will show proper results.”
He put down the receiver and looked at his staff.
“An order has been issued from the President. “The operation is underway.”
The room became bustling at the commander’s words. At that time, the chief of staff asked the commander a question.
“What will you do when you fail?”
The commander looked at the officer who had briefed him.
“The National Security Council recommends burying the matter as a warning.”
“Your Excellency’s intentions must be in that direction.”
The commander called. This time it was a call from a cell phone.
“Go ahead.”
His orders were relayed to the woman on the scene.
*
“Everyone is busy.”
Kyung-hoon opened his mouth as he looked at the woman calling from afar.
Chairman Bykov twitched under his eyes at Kyung-hoon’s words.
The two people were now separately inside the barricade. This was because the chairman said he would personally explain the situation on site.
“Why did EV send someone?”
The Chairman pointed to the front where the smoke was rising with his hand and whispered softly.
“Didn’t I contact you separately saying there might be a trap? But does EV have any sense in sending someone like this?”
Kyung-hoon looked at Chairman Bykov with a happy expression.
The chairman did not forget EV, who saved his daughter’s life. And I tried to repay him.
The chairman now seemed very disappointed.
“Did I make a wrong choice? “I didn’t know EV was such a stupid organization.”
Eve whispered after hearing the chairman mutter to himself.
-It seems like it also includes business decisions. Is this human intuition?
In any case, people’s help made Kyung-hoon happy.
“Do not worry. “That’s why I came alone.”
The chairman gave a puzzled look at Kyung-hoon’s words.
-If it wasn’t for dimensional travel, I would have opposed it. It’s too reckless to jump into a trap.
Kyung-hoon also came here believing in the fraudulent nature of dimensional travel. There was no way I would be foolish enough to jump into a trap if there was no way to escape.
The moment Eve finished speaking, Michael’s cry was heard from afar.
“Did you enjoy the story? “Everyone is ready!”
A woman in a suit who had finished talking on the phone and a hot-headed Russian man were coming this way.
It was time to work.
