Master Smith Under Ministry of National Defense

Chapter 06

“Level 13?! Unbelievable!”

“The [Eye of God] does not lie. Following the designated manual, from now on, Sergeant Cha Myung-jun will be designated as a Level 13 high-risk entity and will be eliminated. All members, engage in full-scale combat.”

As soon as she finished speaking, the 18 soldiers standing around her simultaneously drew their weapons. None of their expressions displayed the leisure that could be felt when watching the battle between Myung-jun and Hee-cheol just a while ago. Only tension related to the ‘item’ which unknown to everyone.

However, even in such a situation, Hee-cheol couldn’t shake off his lingering regrets.

“Give me a moment.”

“I refuse your request. Currently, our equipment is limited to Level 12. If equipment with Level 13 capabilities or an entity of that nature appears, our top priority will be the annihilation of the target.”

“Darn it. I know you’re stubborn, but this isn’t a request! It’s an order!”

“But…”

“I’ll take all the responsibility. If Myung-jun goes berserk, I’ll suppress him. If suppression fails, I’ll bear the responsibility.”

Hee-cheol turned his head and looked at Myung-jun. There, with his knees on the ground, he was grimacing in pain while clutching his severed arm.

“Out of the 20 people here right now, 19 are eager to eliminate you. And out of those, I’m the only one who wants to save you. So, answer honestly. The Level 13 item in your right hand. What is its identity?”

“Fuck off.”

“Show me your right hand right now.”

Myung-jun stared directly into Hee-cheol’s eyes with fiery anger and pain. Then, he said,

“Moon Hee-cheol. Just before I was discharged, when I revealed my abilities, you asked me to stay a little longer for the investigation. Back then, I believed your words. When I asked you for help to protect my younger sister, I believed your words. And when I asked you for a little more help to ensure the future of Korea, I believed your words too. Even after that, I believed your words when you threatened me with my sister’s and family’s lives. You’ve never once told me the truth. So why should I tell you the truth now?”

“If you don’t tell me, I’ll have to kill you with my own hands.”

“Then do it. You son of bitch!” Myung-jun said.

“If I die, will you be sad, or will I be the one who is sad? Either way, I’m just a living slave. Why should I continue to live, especially since my sister died a long time ago? According to my calculations, if I die, you’ll have to clear Final Gate before the lifespan of the weapons I’ve created runs out. And even if I survive, I won’t wield a hammer anymore, so you’ll have to clear Final Gate. Admit it. This is the time when this fight, which has been dragged through over 30 years, needs to come to an end. And this time, I’m the one who won.”

Hee-cheol touched his forehead, dumbfounded.Then he raised his shoulders and chuckled at Myung-jun.

He found the foolishness of this man, who thought he would be free because of losing just one hand, incredibly amusing.

“Hahaha! What’s this, huh? Did you really think that I’d say, ‘Alright, my defeat,’ and release you just because you cut off one hand? Just because you lost one hand? Don’t make me laugh. Sergeant Cha Myung-jun. Haven’t you been the property of this country since 30 years ago, or even 34 years ago when you enlisted in the military? From the moment you crossed the threshold of the Military Academy, your body became property of the nation, and in such an emergency, the country has the legitimate authority to postpone the discharge of soldiers. Also my answer to your discharge request is ‘No.’ Sergeant. I can’t allow your discharge yet.”

“While others had fun for 2 years, I served for 34 years. During that long time, I was forcibly sacrificed under the pretext of ‘for the sake of the country,’ unable to even take a single vacation. If there’s an obligation for me to repay what the country has given me, I’ve more than repaid it sufficiently. Now, whether this damn country permits it or not, I’m going back home. Even if I can’t go back alive, I’ll die instead.”

“Pity! You received training for over 30 years, yet! You still lack loyalty to the country!”

“Can’t you imagine that the hate for the country has accumulated precisely because of that damn training of yours? Can’t you see that?”

“Those times were necessitated by the country!”

“Needed by you, I bet!”

“So, what’s your point? I’ve brought this country to where it is now! I’ve rescued humanity to its current state! Countless awakeners are living within the system I’ve created! And the entire world is watching under the shadow of the Republic of Korea! I am the will of South Korea! My actions for myself are actions for the world!”

“Shut the hell up!”

A hammer manifested in Myung-jun’s right hand accompanied by a flash as he shouted in anger. His longtime companion, whom he swung thousands of times every day for 32 years.

Myung-jun swung the hammer he held in his right hand towards Hee-cheol, but Hee-cheol had already stepped back upon the hammer’s appearance and had positioned a doll in front of him.

–Kwa-aang!-

With a deafening sound, the doll’s head, hit by Myung-jun’s hammer, exploded. However, the smirk at the corner of Hee-cheol’s mouth didn’t fade away.

Considering what he knew of Myung-jun’s combat prowess, even if he brought Mjolnir instead of a hammer, Hee-cheol knew he wouldn’t be able to defeat him.

“Hold him. Don’t kill him.”

As dozens of additional dolls were summoned in an instant and rushed toward Myung-jun, he swung the hammer wildly as if he had turned into a madman.

However, unlike the first attack, Hee-cheol’s dolls were blocking Myung-jun’s attacks with steady movements, using their shields, and were slowly approaching Myung-jun.

Given that Myung-jun’s only equipment was a hammer used for forging, it didn’t take much time to overpower him.

So, after a while, Hee-cheol was able to stand before Myung-jun, holding onto his dolls with both arms and looking at Myung-jun with eyes full of hatred.

And as Hee-cheol gazed at Myung-jun, devoid of any emotion, he swung his fists forcefully toward Myung-jun.

–Whaaack! –

A loud sound echoed throughout the corridor as Hee-cheol’s fist hit Myung-jun’s body. While blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, Hee-cheol smiled at Myung-jun with his lips smeared in blood.

Then he spoke to Myung-jun.

“I’ve been witnessed your rebellion for a very long time. Though I couldn’t give you freedom, I’ve done anything you wanted. Even if you smashed a TV every week, I replaced it each time with a new one. Every food you ate was gourmet food that people suffered from the Gate Incident couldn’t even dream of. But you insisted on lying in a military bed like a soldier, always having meals like a soldier. As if you didn’t want to owe me anything. I understood all your arrogance though. I imprisoned you, took away your freedom, and concealed your sister’s death, all my fault. But in the end, what’s coming after 30 years of consideration is an endless resentment and condemnation that’s become strong enough for you to cut your own wrist. Consideration ends with this moment today. you won’t hold the hammer anymore? Until you beg me to let you swing the hammer, I’ll carve pain into your body every day. If necessary, I’ll peel off your skin, press a steel pin into the place where you pulled your hair, even if I have to. But I won’t let you abandon your abilities. Freedom? Discharge? I’ll make you savor a painful life until you beg me to stop.”

“Revealing your true nature now, aren’t you? Are you going torture me now?”

“For the country and the world, there’s nothing I can’t do. If inflicting pain on one human like you can uphold the world’s order, I’ll gladly bear all that guilt.”

“The more someone forces sacrifice onto others, the more they pretend to be loyal and patriotic, yet when their own life is at stake, they willingly betray the nation. In the end, everything you’ve done is just selfish behaviour for your own benefit. You’re not a saviour of the world, but a disgusting hypocrite.”

“Think as you please. Just because you think that way doesn’t mean the world will come to know that fact. You will continue to wield the hammer endlessly in the depths of the underground for the sake of humanity’s well-being. And I, I will stand in the position of the world’s saviour, using the equipment you’ve created to save the world.

But I am lenient. So, I’ll ask one last time. Devote yourself to the nation and the country, and to me.

If you give me everything you have, I will give you everything except for freedom.”

Myung-jun spat. Then, droplets of blood landed on Hee-cheol’s military boots.

Seeing that, Hee-cheol looked up with an angry expression. In return, Myung-jun smiled at Hee-cheol and said,

“My answer will probably be given by my severed left hand.”

Hee-cheol looked in the direction where Myung-jun’s left hand had been cut off just a while ago.

And then, his face contorted with an intense anger.

In the direction he looked, because Myung-jun’s clenched fist, with his middle fingers still extended, was directed toward him on the blood-smeared floor.

However, before the enraged Hee-cheol could say anything, Myung-jun’s laughter voice echoed through the corridor.

“Hahaha! General Moon Hee-cheol. You know what? Do you realize that you and I are fundamentally different human beings?”

“What do you mean, different?”

“For over 30 years, you’ve been lying to me, but even in this final moment, I’ll tell you the truth. The advice given by the female soldier who held the bow earlier was correct. The item in my right hand is about to activate, and you should have killed me when that happened.

But you couldn’t let go of your attachment to what you possess, even in the midst of situation that surpasses your abilities. That is the reason for your defeat.”

Myung-jun opened his right palm.

At that moment, Hee-cheol’s eyes met the two pupils staring back at him from within Myung-jun’s palm. Eyes possessing a mysterious depth, to a degree almost unimaginable for humans.

Hee-cheol couldn’t fathom exactly what Myung-jun could do with it, but he instinctively knew one thing. If he left Myung-jun like this would lead to a dangerous outcome.

“We’re changing the plan! All troops, eliminate Sergeant Cha Myung-jun immediately!”

As Hee-cheol urgently flung himself backward, issuing orders to the dolls to eliminate Myung-jun, a brilliant blue light exploded from Myung-jun’s entire body.

At that instant, everything touched by the light began to transform as if time were reversing.

The engraved studs on the dolls ignited into a fiery red, forming shapes like ores that started to break apart piece by piece. The elaborate painting that adorned them melted like freshly applied paint, turning into dust and dispersing.

In that moment, the 20 members of the institute attacks simultaneously struck Myung-jun’s body, yet all these attacks vanished into thin air upon contact with the light, as if they had never taken place.

In front of this light, even the hundreds of dolls armed with the equipment that Hee-cheol had been so proud of couldn’t exert any force.

Upon contact with the light, they lost all their abilities, reverting to their original material state and collapsing to the ground.

If a Level 12 item possessed abilities beyond human imagination, then a Level 13 item’s abilities exceeded what humans could comprehend.

Caught in fear of this ‘unknown power’, Hee-cheol shouted towards Myung-jun, who stood within the light, his cold smile fixed.

“Sergeant Cha Myung-jun! I demand an answer right now! What is that ability?!”

“The power to turn back time.”

“Absurd!”

“It is the ability to reverse everything you have built and rewind the fabric of time for this universe.”

“That’s impossible! No matter how extraordinary an item’s ability is, it can’t reach such a Level!”

“Your existence, too, will soon vanish into nothingness, without any turmoil. I’ll return to the day I first met you 32 years ago. And when I meet you again, I’ll never reveal my abilities to you.”

“Stop this right now!”

In an instant, a luminous arrow aimed at Myung-jun vanished.

When Myung-jun turned his gaze in that direction, he saw a woman in military attire, holding the bow he had crafted, aiming at him.

“If it’s 32 years ago, it’s before D-day. And on that day, billions of humans died. Do you really intend to reverse those deaths?”

As Myung-jun nodded his head, she shouted.

“That’s absurd!!!”

“Then if we leave things as they are, will the people who died that day come back to life? What has happened has happened, and even if time were reversed, similar events would likely unfold. But the course of history proceeding anew will change drastically from the present.

The world won’t be under the control of those bastards who enjoyed absolute power using my strength. Instead, it will be a world where people fight for themselves and are granted their rightful rights.

You claim to have brought order to the world? Then I will go back to the past and bring freedom to the world.”

“Stop this now!”

Hee-cheol, who could never have imagined that Myung-jun’s intentions involved time reversal, shouted toward Myung-jun.

In his eyes, there was a strong mix of greed and regret, as if he didn’t want to lose what he had built until now, and that expression was clearly far removed from any expression a hero could make.

“Thank you.”

Myung-jun said.

“For being disgusting till the end. Thanks to you, I was able to obtain the final piece I needed to reverse time.”

Myung-jun finally felt the time had come.

Beyond the oppression of that long time, it was time to gain true freedom.

Regretting the loss of one of his hands, Myung-jun clenched his remaining fist with all his might, extending his middle finger powerfully towards the soldiers.

“Goodbye!! You bunch of bastards! you were filthy together, and let’s never meet again!!!”

At that moment, the entire universe clock surrounding Myung-jun began to turn backward.

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