Immediately after The Situation broke out, the ones that inflicted the greatest damage upon Korea were none other than military weapons.
A phenomenon commonly referred to as 'digital infection' or 'hostile malfunction.'
I called it 'bombardment.'
This supernatural phenomenon shattered humanity's order and power.
Stopping it was, in reality, impossible.
Thud- Thud- Thud- Thud- !
In the 58th iteration, I had been standing atop Bukhansan.
It was to track the trajectories of the shells falling on Seoul.
My optical equipment = eyes could capture incoming shells from over a dozen kilometers away.
Using information such as the shells' velocity and angle, I calculated their points of impact.
The original objective had been to safeguard facilities essential to human survival….
One might have asked how long I intended to keep doing something like that.
I had plenty of time.
And my patience was close to infinite.
…Though rather than patience, it might have been more accurate to say that I lacked any sense of boredom.
Back then, when I had not been very mentally mature, that tendency had been even stronger.
After repetitive work spanning multiple iterations,
I had acquired all the data on the shells falling within the capital region.
I knew everything—what would fall, where, and when.
Later, I had obtained data for the entire country,
and made use of it for a long time.
…It had been useful, but it had not led to success.
During this period, Korea's destruction was effectively sealed in its fourth year.
62nd iteration.
I decided to shift my approach.
Until now, I had focused on where the shells would fall.
This time, I calculated where they were being fired from.
And I learned an unexpected fact.
'…The bombardment from the Yangju area stops abruptly midway.'
Bombardment normally continued until the unit in question exhausted its ammunition.
To stop it beforehand, I would have had to rush over and suppress them myself.
I had tried that before, but after doing it a few times, I gave up.
To begin with, there were not just one or two artillery units in Korea.
From the westernmost islands of Gyeonggi Province to the easternmost mountain valleys of Gangwon Province, they were spread across hundreds of kilometers in key locations,
and if I suppressed some of them, others would compensate and continue the bombardment.
If I ran with the intention of blocking only the capital region as quickly as possible?
Then the missile command on the East Sea side would spring into action.
They would launch cruise missiles capable of reaching anywhere in the country, and there had been no way to stop them.
The original data would become useless, resulting in even greater damage.
The conclusion had been that enduring the bombardment was simply the rational choice.
'But… in Yangju, it stopped midway. Something must have happened.'
I immediately ran to Yangju.
When I arrived at the artillery unit nestled between mountain ridges, a gruesome sight met my eyes.
As expected, not a single person was alive.
'What is… this? Traces of some kind of monster…?'
Violent signs of destruction were visible everywhere.
It did not take long to understand why the bombardment had ceased.
The self-propelled howitzers had been smashed, and their distorted forms stood out.
They looked as though they had been torn apart by sheer force.
Clear gouge marks remained embedded in the metal.
'Analyzing armor strength and applied force… They were torn apart with at least 6 tons of force. The shape of these marks is… a human hand…?'
A human would probably have reacted with something like, 'This is absolutely unbelievable.'
In my terms, it was a case of 'detection of data contradictory to existing data.'
The average grip strength of a human male was about 50 kilograms.
Six tons meant the self-propelled howitzers had been ripped apart with a force 1,200 times greater.
'This was not the work of a monster. A human… an Awakened. …Abnormally strong.'
The abilities of the Awakened varied widely.
Among them were types whose physical strength increased.
However, this point in time was only a few hours after The Situation had begun.
To display such monstrous strength immediately after awakening…
It was an extraordinary ability.
'Stronger than any Awakened I have seen so far.'
At the time, I had a rough understanding of Korea's Awakened.
Even compared to the strongest among them, this strength was beyond standard parameters.
It was talent I absolutely wanted to recruit as part of my forces.
'Let us examine the traces. Scanning.'
I scanned throughout the unit as I moved.
The boot prints of the unit members were scattered chaotically.
Among them, finding the Awakened's traces was not difficult.
A human with a grip strength of 6 tons would naturally not have ordinary leg strength either.
I scanned a boot print embedded deep into concrete.
Now I could identify the Awakened's footprints among all those imprinted here.
I followed his trail.
'As expected… he destroyed the self-propelled howitzers alone. And then headed somewhere…?'
There were traces of the Awakened moving rapidly.
As I followed them, I found a section of wire fence destroyed in the shape of a human body.
'He simply passed through double-layered wire fencing. He ran out of the unit and moved north. Could it be….'
With a somewhat ominous premonition, I pursued the Awakened's trail.
In truth, it was hardly even pursuit….
Trees and rocks along the terrain had been destroyed in a straight line,
so anyone could tell that something had passed through.
'Capable of avoiding minor obstacles yet chose to break through… Naturally disregarded the path. Not a typical human pattern. I question whether the Awakened possesses consciousness.'
After running more than a dozen kilometers like that—
I stopped.
A barbed-wire fence blocked the way.
A fence stretching across the center of the Korean Peninsula.
The Southern Limit Line.
Beyond this lay the Demilitarized Zone, commonly called the DMZ.
'…Tracking impossible.'
I turned back.
There were countless shell craters along the path where I presumed the Awakened had headed.
There was no possibility that anything could have survived there.
Because it was an 'Absolute Demilitarized Zone.'
The DMZ had, the moment The Situation began, become a supernatural zone called the 'Absolute Demilitarized Zone.'
(…I did not name it.)
The instant a human—including myself—set foot there, bombardment would rain down.
Despite being conventional firepower, it was strangely fast and precise,
and even fired predictive shots.
I had attempted to break through this place before,
but setting aside the difficulty, it had been meaningless.
Other humans could not cross it.
Even if I crossed alone, there was nothing for me to do in North Korea.
Only now did I understand why this 'super-strength Awakened' had never been seen in Korea afterward.
'…In previous iterations as well, he must have crossed north and died.'
In that case, there was nothing I could do immediately.
I would have no choice but to meet him in the next iteration.
However, I wanted to gather more information about that Awakened.
I returned to the artillery unit and collected data.
By tracking the footprints, I easily identified his bunk.
'His name was Kwon Noeul. Sergeant.'
He had almost no personal belongings. It was strange.
'If his rank was sergeant, there should have been nearly two years' worth of traces of military life. And this was all?'
I learned the reason in the company commander's office.
On top of the approval documents on the company commander's desk,
there remained paperwork concerning Sergeant Kwon Noeul.
…He was a soldier with one day left until discharge.
*
To confess,
in the 62nd iteration, I still had no humanity.
So when I obtained the information that Sergeant Kwon Noeul was 'a soldier with one day left until discharge,'
I did not feel the pain and anger that I ought to have felt.
'Since he served until just before discharge, he must have been a soldier with considerable experience.'
…That was all I concluded.
Looking back now…
It would not have been entirely wrong to call me an empty can.
In any case, that was all the information there was on Kwon Noeul.
I returned to the task of saving humanity.
And—
as expected, I failed to surpass the fourth year.
I was battered and shattered, then underwent Synchronization once more.
Entering the 63rd iteration.
I had not forgotten the traces of Sergeant Kwon Noeul that I discovered four years earlier.
This time, the moment I left the laboratory, I ran north.
Fortunately, the artillery unit in Yangju was one of the closest units to Seoul.
I arrived in just a few minutes.
Clank- Clank- Gooooong-!
The unit's self-propelled howitzers had already been infected and were moving on their own.
Fortunately, there was still a little time before they began bombardment.
Without shells, they could do nothing.
An infected ammunition resupply vehicle was retrieving shells from the ammunition depot,
while the soldiers ran about in confusion.
"What on earth is going on all of a sudden?"
"Did headquarters take remote control? When was the order given!"
"I don't know! Communications are down!"
Some of the soldiers were even in training clothes rather than uniforms.
It was January 1st, a public holiday. Even soldiers rested on holidays.
The situation was extremely chaotic.
The commanding officer was absent, and the communications network was cut off.
The unit's equipment was operating on its own,
yet they could not touch it without orders.
Slice—
Of course, I could touch it without orders.
I swung the weapon I had brought from the laboratory—the monomolecular blade.
The dozens-of-centimeters-thick composite armor surrounding the self-propelled howitzers was sliced as easily as tofu.
In an instant, I reduced the weapons to heaps of scrap metal and sheathed the blade.
The soldiers shouted in shock.
"En, enemy! We're under attack!"
"Get the rifles! What are you doing at a time like this!"
Whether unfortunate or fortunate,
the soldiers did not possess a single firearm.
Personal weapons were stored in the quarters, and wartime materiel in the armory,
and the locking mechanisms were designed to release only upon issuance of an authorization order.
Absurdly, with communications paralyzed, that was impossible.
I needed to settle the confusion first.
I increased my volume and spoke.
"Members of the Army, do not panic. I am Standard-Alpha. An agent of the Korea Institute of Science and Technology."
"Ki, KIST? Why would KIST be here?"
"Hey… look! That guy's an android!"
"An android? He really is!"
Anyone close enough to see my face could tell that I was an android.
Although my appearance was almost identical to that of an adult male,
I was designed in a way that anyone could recognize as an android.
Because of the
According to this law, androids were required to attach parts that clearly distinguished them from humans.
In my case, those parts were twofold.
Red irises with a visible multi-lens structure.
And metallic ears shaped like antennae.
To add, both had their reasons.
The irises were parts that most people were reluctant to replace.
However, eyes could be concealed with displays or sunglasses,
so metallic ears—difficult to conceal under most circumstances—had been added.
The ears were equipped with extensive communication functions, but at present they were useless.
Because of these physical characteristics, once the soldiers recognized my identity…
"I see… then that's a relief."
"What the hell, you scared us."
The atmosphere relaxed considerably.
At this time, people still considered androids to be friendly.
Likely because of the strict restrictions imposed by the
…They had not yet witnessed infected androids.
Among the soldiers, one who appeared to be a non-commissioned officer spoke.
"But why would an android from KIST destroy the self-propelled howitzers?"
"The military communications network is under large-scale hacking. There are numerous cases of self-propelled howitzers bombarding civilian areas."
In truth, the term 'hacking' could not properly be applied to the infection phenomenon.
It was entirely different from human network intrusion or manipulation.
However, humans of this era knew absolutely nothing.
To say something like, 'Your precious self-propelled howitzers are being manipulated by unidentified Extraterrestrial Entities through incomprehensible means'…
would only have intensified the confusion.
At times like this, it was easier to simply call it hacking.
"Hacking? Who on earth would do such a thing…! Even so, was destruction the only option?"
"These units were already hacked and operating autonomously. A destruction order was issued."
"I see…!"
Naturally, I had received no such order.
Why? What of it?
Was an AI not allowed to lie a little?
In this case, both the intention and the outcome were good, so it could be called an exemplary 'white lie.'
At that moment, someone appeared from the barracks, dragging slippers.
"What is it… Why all this commotion on the day I'm getting discharged, huh?"
A giant of a man, standing 192.7 centimeters tall.
It was Sergeant Kwon Noeul—the one I had been searching for.