Dirty Sweet Baby Chapter 75

“Now. A broken heart is a broken heart, and a mission is a mission. Everyone, return to your positions. Captain, sir, you should stop crying, too.”

“I wasn’t crying.”

Captain Sung pouted his lips like a child and lamented.

“Is that so, sir? You were sniffling.”

“It was my nose running.”

“Well then, let’s just blow our noses, sir.”

Second Lieutenant Yoo slapped Captain Sung’s shoulder with his gloved hand. He patted him vigorously as if to tell him to cheer up.

“You need to focus your mind. What if you get distracted for a moment and get caught by a creature? This is the field, you know?”

The members of the 2nd Special Task Force, who had broken formation to watch, also reached out one by one to pat Captain Sung’s shoulder and returned to their places. Even the commander of the 2nd Special Task Force, with a feigned solemn gesture, coughed dryly and gave Captain Sung’s shoulder a pat as he walked by.

In fact, just a few years ago, the Center’s military system was much more closed off than it is now, and awakened beings lived in an extremely controlled, isolated manner.

Their basic lives and common sense were thoroughly separated from those of the general residential district residents, and they could only live as weapons against creatures under a meritocracy evaluated by performance and a class system differentiated by grade. Naturally, things like dating, which civilians enjoyed, were something they couldn’t even dream of.

However, a great revolution occurred due to a certain mutant, no, a late-bloomer, who awakened as the first S-grade guide, and from then on, a massive military reform was implemented, leading to the current new military with its everyday atmosphere.

There was such a dark age in a period of history. It’s all in the past now, though.

Rumble, rumble, rumble.

Right at that peaceful and harmonious moment. A loud roar echoed.

The ground shook violently as if there were an earthquake, and the floor was overturned.

The remnants of the old era left in the development zone, the collapsed concrete buildings, the rusty steel frames rising like grotesque structures here and there, the broken glass shards, the dust and dirt accumulated in the cracks, all rushed to be pulled down into the ground.

“Is a gate appearing? All units, to your positions!”

“It’s in the 12 o’clock direction!”

A black hole appeared in the center of the 3rd Development Zone. The hole, which was initially the size of a manhole, gradually swallowed its surroundings and expanded its territory each time the ground shook, growing to the size of a house in an instant.

A sinkhole.

A giant sinkhole was forming before their eyes.

And below that sinkhole…

“Lieutenant Colonel, sir! It’s not a new gate. The entrance is already fully open!”

Captain Sung, who had grasped the battle situation, shouted loudly.

The sinkhole, which at first glance looked like just a black hole, was constantly churning and moving inside. Like a swarm of ants boiling in an anthill, the bottom of the sinkhole was filled with countless black creatures.

Second Lieutenant Yoo and the other members of the 2nd Special Task Force also rushed to report.

“How many… The AI can’t estimate the number of individuals!”

“The ground is collapsing rapidly. It will reach the barrier in about 4 minutes and 20 seconds!”

“Communications! Transmit the coordinates to the Center and request immediate support!”

Meanwhile, the sinkhole continued to widen. The ground collapsed like a waterfall. Against the backdrop of the clear, clean blue sky, a bizarre and gloomy sound, terribly out of place, was heard loudly.

Ooooooo!

Awooo!

Kyaaaaa!

The sound of wailing, something scratching, chewing, running, flapping…

From the bottom of the abyss, demonic and grotesque monstrosities endlessly surged out.

There hadn’t been a hole in the outer boundary wall. The hole was in the ground, drilled deep beneath the earth. From the gate, which had been open for several days, countless creatures had crawled out, dug a cave, formed a kingdom, and hidden there.

Underneath the 3rd Development Zone, this vast expanse of land was all a cozy home for the black and wicked things.

“All units, prepare for battle.”

The members all released the safety on their rifles. The sound of clicking overlapped like a vocal ensemble.

“The 2nd Special Task Force will not retreat.”

“Yes, that’s right, sir! Lieutenant Colonel, sir!”

“We will defend the boundary wall at all costs until support arrives.”

“Yes, that’s right, sir! Lieutenant Colonel, sir!”

“We have lived for this day, and we will die for this day. Even if we are all annihilated, we will not let a single creature into the general residential district!”

“Yes, that’s right, sir!! Lieutenant Colonel, sir!!”

It was like Dante’s Inferno.

Soon, the demon king Lucifer would be released from the bottom of the pit and color humanity with the color of fear.

“Catch.”

On a strangely quiet afternoon. Cha Moogyul threw a square box.

Heeheon, who was doing some light cardio in the annex training room to recover his stamina, caught what was thrown at him with one hand.

Upon inspection, it was a small cubic box made of tanned black leather. It had a slit in the middle and looked like it would open up and down like a clamshell.

It looked just like a jewelry box.

‘What?’

Heeheon blinked twice, very slowly. The fine hairs on his skin stood on end, and he felt a chill.

‘No way.’

No, already…?’

It had only been a few days since they had that conversation, so quickly?

It had been exactly three days since then. They were days of such turmoil that he didn’t even know how time was passing.

Contrary to Cha Moogyul’s wish for him not to have nightmares, Heeheon was plagued by severe nightmares as soon as he fell asleep. His subconscious was in turmoil, and all sorts of fragments of memories were jumbled up and overflowed.

A young Cha Moogyul, a young Baek Heeheon, the meeting of the families, the wedding, the family photo, creatures bleeding black blood and exploding, piling up corpses, a gun muzzle firing with a loud bang, a sharply broken beer bottle… When he woke up as if having a seizure, his whole body would be soaked in cold sweat.

As he gasped for breath, clutched the blanket tightly, and tried to come to his senses, Cha Moogyul would be there at some point. Sometimes he would just watch Heeheon from nearby, and other times he would approach without a word and stroke his back. Heeheon felt a strange sense of stability from his comforting touch and gradually became accustomed to his presence, which was naturally around him.

For the past few days, Heeheon felt like he was completely trapped in the existence of Cha Moogyul.

His life was entirely Cha Moogyul. Though it had always been that way.

Literally, Cha Moogyul had just taken over Heeheon’s life. As if that was his place to begin with. Even though they didn’t have a physical relationship, he slept with Heeheon next to him every time he went to sleep, and when he was working, he sat on the white sofa in Heeheon’s room. They ate together at the same table, and as he could see now, he even trained with Heeheon next to him in the annex training room.

That wasn’t all. As if seeing each other’s faces all day wasn’t enough, he initiated physical contact whenever he had the chance. Having his cheek pinched happened so often that he was starting to get used to it, and he was kissed here and there, hugged, leaned against, had his hair stroked…

‘Because of that, I completely overlooked it.’

The ring.

The ring…

‘I didn’t have time to prepare my heart.’

Heeheon stood blankly in the training room, unable to rashly open the box, and caught his breath.

He had just been on the treadmill, so his breathing was a little ragged. He wiped the sweat from his forehead, pointlessly smoothed out his workout jersey, and raised his eyes to check Cha Moogyul’s demeanor…

“What. Are you holding a memorial service?”

Cha Moogyul, who had been silently watching Heeheon’s antics, sneered in a low voice. He came closer and tapped the lid of the box in his hand with his index finger.

“If you’ve changed your mind, tell me. A tattoo would be fine, too.”

“No… it’s not that.”

“Then don’t act so reluctant. How are you going to handle the aftermath?”

…I’m not being reluctant. Does it look that way to him?

“I’m just a little flustered. Because I forgot about, this.”

“Right, you always have a plausible excuse, hyung.”

“I said it’s not that. It’s not.”

Heeheon fidgeted with his fingers and toyed with the box. Through the conversation they had, it was confirmed beyond a doubt that what was in his hand was a real jewelry box, and that inside it was the ring they had talked about in their last conversation, which made it even harder to open the box.

‘Cha Moogyul is giving me a ring…’

No, fuck, does this even make sense? How can something like this happen? Is an asteroid going to fly in and hit the earth tomorrow, and the world will end? They say there’s a possibility of a collision because the Apollo and Aten asteroid groups move across Earth’s orbit…

‘A-a couple’s ring.’

Wow, me, what do I do?

No, seriously. I’m not kidding.

‘What do I do… What do I do…’

I can’t calm down at all. I want to be calm, but I can’t be. Heeheon repeatedly told himself, ‘Just a moment,’ and then pleaded with some unknown entity, be it the sky, God, or fate, ‘Please.’

‘Save me. Somebody save me. Please save me…’

Heeheon’s gaze kept wavering nervously. Suddenly, heat rose from his whole body, as if sweat were breaking out, and his body felt like it was floating up into the sky, defying gravity. Even though he was indoors, it felt like if the wind blew, he would just float away somewhere.

What on earth was this feeling?

‘Anticipation… Is it anticipation?’

No, the ring has already become a reality.

Then is it a sense of accomplishment from having my anticipation fulfilled…?

‘No. It’s completely different from accomplishment. What is it, really…’

I don’t know this kind of trembling, floating feeling. I’ve never experienced it in my life.

“Hey, but, this…”

Heeheon, whose eyes were trembling minutely and who had repeatedly swallowed dryly, said, desperately maintaining his composure.