Espers and Guides turned away from being placed under state control, instead heading toward civilian associations built by massive capital under the pretext of human rights and freedom. For now, military-affiliated Awakened bound by conscription orders occupied the majority, but it was as clear as day that these numbers would soon flip and the era of civilian association Hunters would arrive.
Discharged soldiers headed to the associations, and newly born Awakened avoided the military.
“Since it’s national cooperation work, it’ll look good on a resume.”
As signs appeared that the system maintained by young people’s sacrifices would collapse, the state gradually began joining hands with civilian associations and hiring mercenaries. It was preparation for the downfall brought on by ignorant forced conscription.
“But why are they taking that Sergeant? Is he the person in charge?”
“Soldier ahjussi, are you an Awakened? What’s your rank?”
“I’m an E-rank Guide.”
Even in that turbulent era, the fact that there was no proper place for an E-rank Guide like me to go remained unchanged.
Being less mentally contaminated was only convenient when rummaging through monster corpses to collect magic stones—aside from that, it wasn’t that big of a merit.
They should at least give me some bonus options like making my fighting power stronger or letting me search for and rescue more survivors, but all they gave me was the ability to endure stubbornly.
“Wouldn’t it be better to bring an F-rank Esper instead of an E-rank Guide?”
A college student Esper belonging to the civilian association said.
It wasn’t wrong. For magic stone detection and collection, hiring an F-rank Esper and teaching them monster dismantling techniques was at least a minimal help to the fighting force while keeping labor costs low.
“I thought you’d be at least B-rank since you’re wearing a dress uniform.”
“Soldier ahjussi, please don’t become a burden.”
I didn’t answer further. With my old temper, I would’ve caused a scene saying to flip everything over and turn the ship around, but I didn’t.
Over three years of military life had taught me the lesson that messing with civilians means you’re fucked. I was just a civilian myself once I left the base, but the attitude created by my time in the military was unavoidable.
“Sergeant-nim! Disembarkation preparations are comple—”
Kugung…
Just as we were about to get off the ship. Suddenly, the ship lurched violently. My vision shook busily.
“Kruooo—!”
Through the small cabin window, a giant eyeball could be seen.
When I rushed outside like an arrow, a marine monster had appeared in the middle of the sea, creating a massive tsunami. The several drooping legs and disgusting eyeballs reminded me exactly of the imaginary monster Kraken.
Kuwung—! Splash!
The ship was instantly swallowed by the giant wave and capsized. Those who had boarded couldn’t even try anything before being buried at the bottom of the sea. I too was caught up in it and smashed my head hard against somewhere on the ship.
With the sound of my skull shattering as the last thing, I lost consciousness.
[Skill is activating.]
[<Dream Expulsion>]
[One Esper has been expelled.]
***
“…Ugh!”
Throb, throb.
My shoulder blade ached.
“…Did I break my collarbone or something…”
First, I looked around my surroundings. Recalling the system window I’d seen just before losing consciousness was a lower priority. Investigating this unfamiliar place came first for now.
“Jeju Island… is it.”
The place I was in was on a sandy beach somewhere along the coast. Around me, wreckage from the broken ship and corpses were swaying in the incoming waves.
“Hnngh, ugh, kugh.”
And then someone’s cry was heard.
I turned my head to look at the source of that sound.
“S-s-soldier ahjussi, pl-please help me…!”
It was the college student Esper hired as a mercenary by the civilian association. In his abdomen was a hole so large that a head could pass through it.
“Po-po-potion, no, he-healer…! Anything is fine…!”
Soaking the sandy beach with so much blood that one wondered if it really came from a human body, he finally let out a child-like cry.
“It hu-hurts so much… Save me, sob, kugh.”
“Don’t talk.”
The college student Esper seemed to find even crying out loud agonizing, barely managing only a hissing wheeze as air leaked out.
Based on experiencing the deaths of countless Espers and Guides, even if an A-rank Healer was brought right now, it seemed he didn’t even have a full five minutes left.
“Please, it hurts so much… Anything… kugh, huk.”
At those desperate and faint words, I suddenly recalled the status window that had come to mind earlier.
And also that explanation text I’d seen in the past.
[Dream Expulsion: You can expel Awakened from the world.]
“Hey.”
At my call, he rolled his eyes to look at me.
“No matter how dog-like it is, I want to live. Even if it hurts like hell, I want to endure all of that and live to the end. Dying and suffering ultimately mean you’re alive, after all.”
Whether he understood what I was saying, he tremblingly raised his blood-soaked hand toward me.
“I will never die comfortably.”
I grasped that hand and made the sign of the cross on my chest with my remaining hand.
“Dirty and wretched, I will survive to the very end.”
[Skill is activating.]
[<Dream Expulsion>]
His raised hand drooped limply and the strange light that had been swirling in his pupils disappeared.
[One Esper has been expelled.]
A bizarre friction sound came from where my broken collarbone had been, and I felt the sensation of flesh sprouting and bones attaching.
Soon, the pain that had clung to me ever since I’d opened my eyes on the beach came to an end. At the same time, I realized.
For me to live, someone must die.
“…Fuck.”
With this ability, I’ll never be able to become a hero.
***
“What the hell is this novel thing?”
I stood before the corpse of the troublesome boss monster from Jeju Island’s District 4.
“Is it human?”
The monsters I’d seen plenty of so far generally had the form of beasts, as if taking motifs from life forms existing on Earth.
However, the corpse of the monster to be processed this time had a human shape with four limbs. Though it had a large frame that seemed to exceed 5 meters and the appearance of a hollow skeleton without proper flesh or hide, from afar it looked like a person at a glance.
“Was it human?”
Well, that’s not my concern. I just came to do the work I was given.
Crack, crack—
I took out my dismantling equipment, peeled off the unnecessary mucous membrane, and crushed the bones to find the magic stone near its heart.
Living monsters couldn’t be dismantled with equipment made of this alloy steel. However, after death, they gained the hardness of ordinary chunks of meat or at most granite, so if you had the skill, dismantling them wasn’t all that difficult.
The extracted magic stone becomes a high-efficiency energy source incomparable to petroleum energy.
The state tried to monopolize magic stones but failed. Capital that caught the scent of money was faster, and it led to the creation of civilian associations. Espers and Guides ultimately flocked toward the money side as well.
“Resources are only needed if there are people to use them, aren’t they?”
I raised my hand to hold up a particularly large and golden-glowing magic stone under the sun. The light transmitted through it while flaunting a dazzling spectrum was unrealistically beautiful, as if it shouldn’t exist in this world.
***
“How does it feel to become a Warrant Officer?”
Year four—I was promoted to Warrant Officer in recognition of my achievements thus far. It was a modest commissioning ceremony with no fancy medals or congratulatory guests.
The high-ranking officers sending sharp gazes from the podium also didn’t seem to have much desire to congratulate me. It was a formality-only procedure where not a single person smiled or clapped.
“I will continue trying to live.”
When I stated my thoughts on becoming a Warrant Officer, an officer approached and attached my rank insignia. The hand that attached the silver Warrant Officer rank insignia to my shoulder trembled faintly.
Not a single person who attended the commissioning ceremony saw me as a servant of the nation who had steadily risen from E-rank Guide Infantry. They held wariness as if facing a monster.
It seems to you people, a true infantryman can only have their value recognized by dying on the battlefield.
“Warrant Officer Ha, have you ever done Guiding?”
After finishing the commissioning ceremony, as I was smoking a cigarette, Sergeant Major Kim-nim approached and asked with a smile. He was the only person who treated me comfortably after even the Guide Infantry unit began finding me difficult once I became a Staff Sergeant.
“Do you want to sexually harass someone young enough to be your son?”
“Sexual harassment?! Asking a Guide if they’ve done Guiding is work management!”
Sergeant Major Kim-nim mischievously asked, “So have you done it?” I just blankly stared at the sky and took a drag from the cigarette in my mouth.
“I really like seafood soybean paste stew, but I don’t understand why the kids call it shit soup.”
“Don’t dodge the question~ Come on~”
It was obvious he’d keep asking tomorrow and the day after if I didn’t answer properly. But no matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t come up with an answer that would satisfy Sergeant Major Kim-nim.
“I guess I’m not attractive enough.”
That was the reason I came up with.
Can’t do Guiding, and not attractive enough, so I don’t have a pair.
An extremely simple reason that no one could refute.
“Hey, man! Even ugly guys make pairs just fine! Wasn’t there any romantic vibe or anything all this time?”
Up until I was a Corporal, I’d been subjected to dog-like sexual harassment from empty-headed Espers who knew nothing, but as I became a Private First Class, then a Sergeant, then a Warrant Officer, the frequency decreased until now no one carelessly ran their mouth in front of me.
In other words, I’d only consistently been sexually harassed, with no time to feel proper flirting or any romantic vibes.
