Heeyun turned to the sound of Dohyuk throwing the man away with his kick.
‘He did it!’
She quickly turned to the direction and focused her mana on her feet.
Nature – Man of the Green
Her Nature allowed her to absorb the light energy for her mana. The real characteristic of this Nature was that she could use the mana she collected to form different tangible things. The springs that appeared beneath her feet were created by her Nature.
She took a deep breath and leaped.
“Aaaaahhh!”
It was a large, long jump that moved her over 50 meters out with a giant leap. It was not possible to land safely with her current stats, but she quickly made a cushion with her Nature to safely land on the ground. It was all outcome of what she learned from Blass recently.
“Whew.”
She then jumped again, and after a few seconds, Heeyun jumped over hundreds of meters of obstacle-filled streets and found Dohyuk standing in front of a man.
“…!”
She knew she wasn’t supposed to interrupt until Dohyuk was done with what he was doing, but she couldn’t hold back. The man was one of the very few people whom she was delighted to meet.
“Jaehoon?”
The man and Dohyuk turned to Heeyun.
“Heeyun… I see. So you were with Dohyuk…”
Jaehoon nodded in surprise. Dohyuk hadn’t said anything. He wasn’t suspicious of Jaehoon either; he was just surprised. It was an unexpected meeting with an old friend who had not been corrupted. There had been no instances where Dohyuk could truly be happy like this.
“…So, is this North Korea?”
“No. It’s called Dalian. It’s a place in China.”
The place was directly north of the Yellow Sea, about halfway from the Korean peninsula to mainland China. But why was Han Jaehoon, a Korean, all the way out here? The answer was simple.
“I’m a North Korean refugee. My father fled the country when I was 9 years old.”
“…!”
However, Jaehoon’s mother, along with his brothers and sisters, couldn’t flee the country together and they had to be left behind. Fortunately, the remaining family members weren’t taken to an internment camp, nor were they punished. They just had to bribe government officials so that Jaehoon and his father could be labeled as ‘missing’ instead of ‘fled’. Jaehoon’s father sent money to the north, and his mother used the money to bribe the officials to keep the family alive.
But it all changed when the illumination started.
“I never got to my family in the previous life. I wasn’t sure what was going on and when I decided I should try going back up, it wasn’t possible.”
At the time, the area was filled with Aruga’s deserts. It was easy to deal with now, but for Jaehoon, it was suicide to even try to go up north back then. Besides, Jaehoon was leading the group together with Dohyuk, and the group was mostly comprised of weak people.
“Let me remind you that I wasn’t being held back by our group. I had a chance when the regional trial finished… I should’ve gone up then. My chance was already over after that.”
Dohyuk did promise that if the situation got better, they would go up north to find Jaehoon’s family. But things didn’t get better. Others kept attacking their group and Dohyuk wasn’t strong as his later self. Their group had to fend off against many enemies multiple times throughout the day and Jaehoon eventually lost his life.
“I heard from Jo Mingu.”
“…!!”
Heeyun drew in a sharp breath at her father’s name.
“That you saved my life and died.”
“…Did I?”
Jaehoon smiled bitterly as if he couldn’t remember.
“Well, it was a messy fight. If your ally is being attacked, you help… I’m not sure where Mingu heard that from, but I don’t think it was that dramatic. It’s probably because I died, but I helped you fight before I died somewhere else. These things are usually exaggerated.”
From the way he was speaking, Dohyuk was certain that this man really did save his life. Mingu’s words did not contain any exaggerations.
“But it’s so good to see you alive, Heeyun. Mingu had a hard time dealing with what happened… so, where is he? Is he with you guys?”
“…”
Heeyun smiled bitterly instead of answering.
“Oh…”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry. I was…”
“It’s okay. So have you found your family?”
“Yeah.” Jaehoon nodded. He did find his family and he had been protecting them until now.
“So, how many are there? Where are they all hiding?”
Jaehoon became hesitant after hearing Dohyuk’s question, but he soon pointed to a direction. Dohyuk asked again, “Are you the only fighter in your group?”
“No. I’m the best, but there are about 10 others who can at least protect themselves. And there’s one who can use his Nature to make our hideout not invisible. Remember our slogan, ‘There are weak ones but not useless ones’?”
Jaehoon then smiled awkwardly, realizing that Dohyuk did not remember.
“…I see.” Dohyuk nodded, “If you and your people agree… I suggest you all come with me. I can’t go into the details right now, but it is a safe place and I can assure you a basic quality of life.”
Jaehoon seemed to be very glad.
“That’s great news! I’m sure everyone will be happy to hear this! They’ve been with me all this time without complaints!”
Sadly, things didn’t go as Jaehoon expected.
Jaehoon was strong. He was, after all, one of the two leaders in Dohyuk’s group at the early stages of the previous life. Jaehoon had died at an early stage, but he still managed to stay alive in this ever-changing world until now against experienced people. He also managed to find his family.
The problem came afterwards. Jaehoon wasn’t Dohyuk. He had different circumstances, and he did not have the ability like Dohyuk. That’s why he had to find another way out. After Jaehoon became strong enough, he went to the strongest group near his hometown. He offered to serve the group with his strength and proposed that he would ‘control the weak ones’.
-They will be useful. We will ensure their safety while we will obtain their Nature and labor in return.
Unlike the south where Jung Ilgyu was in control, there weren’t much who had the idea of using the weak ones as slaves. Jaehoon’s plan worked and he was able to ensure the safety of the weak. He then began working for a group, but he never fully joined the group. He provided labor for a small price to the group and when the group perished, he provided the same service to a new group.
Like that, Jaehoon was able to travel through many regions of North Korea, then to a remote region of China where he was right now. Things seemed to be going well, if it wasn’t for the gray coin that appeared a few days ago.
“We have decided to surrender. You have no say in this.”
“Wh…. What?”
It was what was waiting for Jaehoon, who came excitedly along with Dohyuk and Heeyun.
“We can’t flee forever.”
“Tens of people have died already! It’s better to surrender and suffer than let ourselves die! We don’t even have food!”
It seemed that most people, except for his family and a few people from his hometown, had talked it over. It was understandable as the only thing waiting for them was despair.
Everyone was now after them. The reason they were ignored because they were uncorrupt was now the reason they were being chased after.
“B-but everyone…”
Jaehoon introduced Dohyuk. but it didn’t seem to excite people either.
“He’s useless.”
“Doesn’t he want us because he’s in need of people too? It doesn’t change anything.”
It was more like giving up than objecting Jaehoon’s leadership. Even those people who did not agree didn’t seem to be sure about what was right. The only one who opposed it outright was Jaehoon.
“You can’t do this! We cannot give up on our freedom like this!”
“Jaehoon.”
A middle-aged man spoke. He was the one with the Nature that could cover up their hideouts.
“It’s too late.”
“Mr. Hwang. You can’t…”
“I’m sorry, but we’ve been talking about this for the past few days already… with them.”
“What?” Jaehoon asked back, and a voice came from behind.
“He’s been talking with us.”
From the top of the ruins, a group of about ten men appeared.
“Jang Gukhan…!”
Jaehoon frowned as he watched the man and turned to Mr. Hwang again.
“How could you…”
“You know it was only a matter of time. I just did what is right.”
“…!”
Jaehoon clenched his fists as his lips shook with rage.
“Yeah. So, how about you surrender just like your friends, Jaehoon?” Gukhan shouted as he laughed, “Or you can choose to run alone. Not sure if you can succeed in doing that though.”
It was then-
“Jaehoon.” Dohyuk asked, “Who is he?”
“They’re the strongest group nearby… the leader and his lieutenants… there’s 13 of them, so it’s all of them except 2…” Jaehoon mumbled with a pale face. All of them were either equal or stronger than Jaehoon himself. There was no way to fight or flee.
“Strongest?” Dohyuk asked again. It was Mr. Hwang who answered.
“Yes. Young man, how about you give up too…”
But before he could finish, Dohyuk had disappeared. Nobody saw where he went and so did Gukhan and his 12 other men. After he heard the sound of his ribcage crushing, Gukhan realized the man standing next to Jaehoon had appeared and kicked him.
“Is that all?” Dohyuk mumbled as he spun. He didn’t even glance at Gukhan flying off in the distance.
Dohyuk wasn’t strong, but that was compared to the enemies that he personally measured himself up against. He wasn’t a Great Emperor yet, but he still was a King.