Black Swan Chapter 14

The man lightly waved one hand. At that hand signal, the comrade who had blocked the front of the man hesitated and soon stepped aside. The next moment, the young snake gasped. In the darkness that momentarily covered the surroundings completely as dark clouds veiled the moon, the man’s blade suddenly gleamed bright blue. It was the ‘razor-sharp, blue-gleaming blade’ he had only encountered in novels.

A blade gleaming razor-sharp and blue in the darkness. It was a cliché phrase lazy novelists habitually used. But in truth, a blade does not gleam blue in the darkness. Not just a blade, but no metal in the world emits light in deep darkness. There was only one exception, and that was a blade that had slain countless people. When phosphorus components that flowed out from human bones seeped into the blade past a certain amount, a pale blue light emanated from the blade even in the darkness.

The young snake’s entire body trembled uncontrollably. This situation was so chilling that it felt surreal instead. A ruthless blade that had slain people enough times for phosphorus components to seep into the blade was pointing straight at him. The young snake possessed an excessively calm disposition, but in this situation where a fiction he had only encountered in novels suddenly appeared right before his eyes, he could not help but be instinctively shaken.

I must not be captured alive.

The young snake strived desperately to regain his composure. If he were captured alive by the slaughterers now, it would be equivalent to falling into hell. Any snake who had been stationed at the Insal River border line even briefly knew all too clearly. It was better to commit suicide than to be captured alive by the slaughterers.

However, his body did not move at all. It was not out of fear. Though utterly unbelievable, he could not budge even a fingertip, as if his whole body were bound by invisible hands. At this bizarre phenomenon surpassing even the appearance of the razor-sharp blue blade, the young snake even harbored the brief illusion that he had fallen into an absurd horror movie.

How can this be?

How could such a….

At that moment, heavy, acute pain suddenly surged at the back of the young snake’s head. As the young snake’s eyes gently closed, his vision dropped sharply downward. Amidst his fading consciousness, a harsh curse was heard: “Damn it.”

“Is it this guy?”

A thin laugh answered.

Yes….

∞ ∞ ∞

Someone shook his shoulders roughly. The young snake barely recovered consciousness and opened his eyes.

He could see nothing. Soon the young snake realized that the slaughterers had put a blindfold on him. Not only a blindfold, but a gag was stuffed into his mouth, and he was being dragged somewhere with his entire body tied tightly with cords. The presence of private soldiers breathing heavily could be felt in front of and behind the young snake. Whenever he slowed his pace even a little, kicks poured down without mercy.

The slaughterers, having finished the ‘hunt’, were dragging prisoners toward hell. The sound of reeds scattered chaotically all around. This place where the prisoners were being dragged helplessly by the slaughterers was without a doubt the reed field beyond the Insal River, which served as the border line. In other words, this was the land of Lee Hwa, king of the northern part of the Eastern Peninsula.

Because of the blindfold, he could not take in the surrounding terrain with his eyes. This meant that escape had become considerably difficult. The young snake calmly gauged the direction of the wind. Although it was currently late March, a strong northwesterly wind had been blowing in this vicinity due to a low-pressure system formed two weeks ago.

It’s southeast.

Since he was walking with the wind against his back, the place the slaughterers were heading for was definitely southeast. Estimating from the situation where the sound of amplifiers installed by the slaughterers could be heard quite far away, they seemed to have walked a good 40 minutes from the snakes’ position.

Though it was already the seventh year since a force numbering as many as one hundred thousand had set up camp in earnest before the border line of the ‘Kingdom of God’, the snakes had not yet even grasped the slaughterers’ base. This was because they had never once deployed even scout troops, let over perform reconnaissance-in-force, for seven years. A vast reed field stretched out along the Insal River, which acted as the border line, and beyond that, large and small mountains continued like a maze. They merely vaguely conjectured that the slaughterers’ base would be somewhere among those numerous mountains.

The snakes offered all kinds of excuses for this pathetic situation, but there was only one real reason they had not deployed even scout troops for seven years. Because they feared the slaughterers lurking beyond the reed field. Because they were so scared of Lee Hwa’s fanatics that they felt like they would go mad.

The fierce wind gradually calmed down. Along with that, the air grew cold enough to pare flesh. The touch of the ground trodden under his combat boots hardened, and the chirping of birds could be heard everywhere. It was a mountain.

They continued to climb up along a rough mountain path. Among the snakes who could not see ahead, those who slipped and fell appeared one after another. Every time that happened, the slaughterers only showered violent kicks and remained silent throughout. It was completely different from their frantic appearance while singing hymns throughout the hunt. Rather than the pain of the mountain climb, the chilly silence of the slaughterers captured the young snake’s attention.

Before he knew it, the mountain path changed into a steep downhill path. After descending a good deal further, the sound of an iron gate opening finally scraped his ears. Military dogs barked loudly.

The slaughterers’ base… no, it was hell.

“Patriotism!”

“Patriotism!”

The slaughterers shouted their salute slogan and entered hell. The young snake swallowed dry spittle. Because the slaughterers shouted ‘praise’ so much during sacrificial rituals and hunts, he had assumed that their salute slogan would also be ‘praise’. At the salute slogan that broke expectations, the young snake tasted a sharp sense of tension.

Patriotism, huh….

A salute slogan reveals what a military aims for. Usually, it is set as certain victory, victory, or the like. The slaughterers’ salute slogan was patriotism, not praise. From this brief slogan, the young snake quickly saw through the slaughterers’ desperation.

At any rate, to think the slaughterers’ base was only about two hours away on foot.

Although his liver turned cold at the enemies’ boldness, the young snake soon tapped on his calculator calmly. This place is only about two hours away on foot from the snakes’ barracks. It is a distance where a large amount of smoke, which must inevitably occur when resolving food cooking and heating with coal fuel, would catch the snakes’ eyes. However, smoke of that degree has never been reported to the upper command. This means that only electrical energy is used in the slaughterers’ barracks. Unless the slaughterers are insane, they would not equip electrical facilities near a base unit that are easy to be spotted by the snakes’ scout troops, so they must use expensive batteries. If a long-term garrison of over five thousand lives on batteries alone, excessive expenses would occur, so the accommodated capacity here is highly likely to be five thousand or less.

If I’m lucky, I might be able to escape. Mind you, only if I’m lucky.

Five thousand is a number impossible to kill alone, but a barracks accommodating five thousand would be a scale relatively manageable to escape from. Success of the escape depended on how to avoid strict, watchful eyes. The young snake staked his entire gamble on his own luck.

The procession of prisoners stopped. The slaughterers grabbed the young snake’s flank and dragged him toward the left. Before long, fluorescent light squeezed through the gaps of his blindfold. A terrifying chill rose from the cement floor trodden underfoot with every step he took.

Held by the slaughterers, the young snake continued down the stairs. After walking down the hallway on the third basement floor for a long time, the sound of a door opening was heard. The slaughterers untied the young snake’s cords and pushed him roughly inside. Clang—with that sound, the door closed.

The young snake took off the blindfold and removed the gag. It was a cramped torture chamber. In one corner, there was a single chair. Everywhere on the walls, phrases such as ‘Praise!’, ‘Patriotism!’, ‘Defend the Nation!’, and ‘Fight to the Death!’ were written in Chinese characters with bright red paint, as if for the snakes to see clearly. Surrounding him on all sides, including the one-way mirror attached to the right wall, traces of murder committed by the slaughterers were abundant. The purpose of the black raincoat hanging on the left wall could be known right away without rolling one’s brain. At the pungent smell of blood that pricked his nose, a physiological nausea surged.

The young snake was not the only prisoner confined in this place. Six snakes, including Brigadier General Yang Jeo, were trembling in terror. Brigadier General Yang Jeo grabbed the young snake’s arm and groaned.

“W-We’re dead….”

The young snake sank into thought. Strange.