NTN 33

Chapter 33

Debate

In that instant, Jang Mok-hwa, flushed with embarrassment, snapped angrily.

“It was an unexpected situation! How could I think that far ahead?
Things were changing so fast there was no need to rack my brain over it!”

She sharply turned her head toward Baek Sae-byeok, who had been quietly listening.

“You? Got anything to add?”

After a brief moment of thought, Baek Sae-byeok spoke.

“Most wilderness bandits aim to seize supplies, not to kill.
If it had been truly unavoidable, I would’ve abandoned the jeep and its cargo.
I’d have pushed the empty vehicle into a swamp to divert their attention, and then slipped away in another direction.
There are many areas in the great swamp where people can enter, but anyone wearing an exoskeleton suit would be too heavy to follow.”

Jang Mok-hwa nodded approvingly.

“Excellent. Wanderers of the wasteland and those from the big factions tend to approach the same situation from different perspectives. Learned something, didn’t you?”

Clap, clap, clap.

Seong Geon-woo didn’t miss the cue and started clapping, and Yong Yeo-hong followed him almost automatically.

What am I even doing right now…

Snapping back to himself, Yong Yeo-hong scratched his head awkwardly.

“Yeah, but… I think it’s going to take me some time to digest all that.”

After reviewing the previous day’s battle, the four decided—just as before—to take turns standing watch in pairs.

The continuing rain made the night even colder than the last, but the amount of charcoal Jeon Du-ha had provided them for free was limited. So, they pulled out thick cotton coats from the trunk and wrapped themselves up.

The rain finally stopped at dawn after washing the darkness clean.

Thanks to the moat village’s near-perfect drainage system, no water had pooled overnight—only some patches of wet ground had turned to mud.

After drinking some water and eating a compressed biscuit, Baek Sae-byeok began replacing a few jeep parts. It wasn’t a particularly difficult repair.

Just then, Jeon Du-ha approached through the light morning mist, smiling.

“Think you can fix it? If you do, I’ll throw in a machine gun and a motorcycle as payment.”

“Deal.”

Without even turning, Baek Sae-byeok raised a hand in agreement.

Jeon Du-ha called over a nearby guard.

“Hey, come here—move that machine gun!
Honestly, you’re getting a lot more than I’m giving. Should I toss in another tent while we’re at it?”

“Sure.”

Jang Mok-hwa didn’t refuse his offer.

Just then, Jeon Du-ha’s gaze caught on the black-scaled hide laid across the jeep’s roof.

“This is… did you kill that thing yourselves?”

When the jeep had arrived the previous evening, the sky had already darkened and he hadn’t noticed what was piled on top—he’d assumed it was just a black tent.

Now, the nearby guards turned to stare at the serpent skin radiating a suffocating presence.

“A Black Swamp Iron-Armored Serpent…”

Someone among them muttered the name of that nightmare creature.

Jang Mok-hwa smiled faintly.

“It was too big, so we only brought back the hide.”

A heavy silence fell over the villagers of the moat village—so thick that even Jang Mok-hwa felt uncomfortable.

With nothing else to do, she decided to break it and asked lightly,

“Chief, would it be alright if we looked around the village a bit?”

“Of course! Where would you like to go? I’ll take you myself.”

Jeon Du-ha adjusted his cap.

“Or perhaps you’d like to visit the school? You seemed quite interested yesterday.”

In the bright sunlight, the wrinkles on his face deepened.

“That sounds good.”

Turning her head, Jang Mok-hwa said,

“You’re coming with me, Geon-woo. Yeo-hong, stay with Sae-byeok.”

Seong Geon-woo followed without protest, walking with Jang Mok-hwa and Jeon Du-ha toward a group of three buildings arranged in a triangle.

On the way, they passed through a jumble of houses in various states of disrepair—holes in walls stuffed with twigs and straw, people rushing to the fields after drinking a single bowl of cold water, and tents still damp from the night’s rain.
Thin, gaunt villagers in tattered clothes trudged toward their work.

Finally, the group reached a small cement square. A flagpole still stood there, but no flag flew atop it.

Following Jeon Du-ha, Jang Mok-hwa and Seong Geon-woo circled around the front building and entered the one at the back left, climbing to the third floor.

One side of the hallway had railings; the other had small classrooms. The light and ventilation were decent enough.

After a few steps, Jeon Du-ha led them to a slightly larger classroom.

Through the clean glass window, they saw about twenty desks and chairs arranged tightly in the small room.

Sitting at those desks were children—none older than ten—wearing worn and dirty clothes. They were focused intently on the teacher at the front.

Some trembled slightly from the morning chill; others soothed younger siblings cradled in their laps.

Though their faces differed, all the boys and girls sat with straight backs, maintaining perfect posture.

Scanning the classroom, Seong Geon-woo noticed a schedule on the wall.

“Morning exercise… general knowledge, language, math, history…”

“Middle-grade students,” Jeon Du-ha whispered, careful not to disturb the lesson.

Jang Mok-hwa nodded slightly.

“Let’s not bother them. Let’s go.”

When they returned to the barn after touring the village, Baek Sae-byeok had already finished repairing the jeep.

Food was scarce in the moat village—meat, even more so. So instead of further bartering, Jang Mok-hwa simply offered their goodbyes.

“Chief, we’ll be heading out now.”

Jeon Du-ha nodded.

“I hope we meet again someday.”

“Me too,” Jang Mok-hwa smiled. “I think we probably will.”

Baek Sae-byeok nodded as well.

They quickly packed up and boarded the jeep. This time, Jang Mok-hwa took the wheel.

As the jeep rolled slowly toward the gate lined with wire fencing, Seong Geon-woo and Yong Yeo-hong turned back to look at the cluster of ramshackle homes once more.

Most villagers were already out farming or hunting, leaving only a few behind. The poverty and decay seemed even heavier now.

Through the quiet, they could still hear the children’s voices echoing from the triangular school building—

“Before my bed, the bright moonlight—
I think it’s frost upon the ground.
I raise my head to gaze at the bright moon,
Then lower it, longing for my home.”
(Li Bai, “Quiet Night Thoughts”)

The children’s clear voices made Yong Yeo-hong open his mouth, but he couldn’t find any words.

No one spoke. The jeep rolled through the gate and out of the village.

“What were they reading? I couldn’t hear it properly.”

Glancing at the rearview mirror, Jang Mok-hwa replied with a faintly bitter tone.

“Before my bed, the bright moonlight…”

Seong Geon-woo softly repeated the opening line.

“I see…”

Jang Mok-hwa sighed quietly and said nothing more, focusing instead on driving down the narrow path that blended into the swamp.

Once they had completely left the area, Baek Sae-byeok spoke as if to herself.

“The reason I want to become a full company employee… is because then I can borrow more books.”

“Right…”

Having grown up in Ban-go Bio since childhood, Yong Yeo-hong had never realized how great a privilege it was to have free access to books.

“So there are no books or libraries left in the ruins of the old world’s cities?” he asked.

Baek Sae-byeok looked out into the distance.

“There were. A lot, in the beginning. But that was before I was born.
Most of them were taken by major factions or powerful individuals.
The rest were used as firewood by ruin hunters and wanderers—or eaten away by rats and insects. Only a handful are still readable.
Some unexplored cities might still have a trove of books… but those areas are extremely dangerous.”

After a short silence, Seong Geon-woo asked suddenly,

“You can read?”

“Yeah. My parents taught me. Before they passed, they made sure I had a good teacher.”

Baek Sae-byeok’s expression softened; a faint smile touched her lips.
But her eyes grew distant—like someone who had woken from a dream in the middle of the night, hugging her knees and staring blankly out a window.

Jang Mok-hwa glanced at her briefly, then smiled as she looked back at the road.

“Can we talk a little louder back there?
I’m starting to feel like you’re whispering about me behind my back!”

Yong Yeo-hong muttered playfully,

“We’re talking right in front of you, team leader.”

“We’re talking right in front of you,” Seong Geon-woo echoed at the same time.

That made Yong Yeo-hong grin wider.

“Ha! See? You’re getting predictable now.”

“Maybe I meant to copy you,” Seong Geon-woo shot back.

Jang Mok-hwa chuckled.

“Good. When you’re out in the field, team atmosphere matters more than anything.
If things start getting too serious, lighten it up. Otherwise, the tension and stress will crush you.”

Then she added,

“Alright, enough small talk. Let’s discuss Chief Jeon’s story.
Let’s extract useful clues from the details he mentioned—especially those related to the fall of the old world.”

Seong Geon-woo immediately began.

“He said the ‘soulless ones’ mostly appeared in larger cities, rarely in villages or small towns.”

“The destruction of small settlements seems to have come from a mix of war and geological disasters,” Baek Sae-byeok added.

Jang Mok-hwa nodded.

“War and geological disasters… they might have been the same thing.
Maybe geoweapons were produced before the world’s collapse. We can’t confirm that yet, but exploring the right ruins might reveal evidence.”

After a moment’s thought, Yong Yeo-hong asked,

“What’s the relationship between the soulless and the war?
Did their appearance cause the war—or did the war create them?”

“That’s something we can’t answer yet. We simply don’t have enough data,” Jang Mok-hwa said with a faint smile.
“But that’s exactly the kind of question our rescue team needs to pursue.”

As she steered carefully through the uneven path, she continued guiding their discussion.

“Why do you think the soulless first appeared mainly in big cities? Why not in small towns or villages?”

“Maybe because the population density was higher in cities? Could that have been a key condition for spreading?” Seong Geon-woo suggested.

Baek Sae-byeok offered another thought.

“Or maybe it was because cities were more important—so they were targeted first.”

“That could be it,” Jang Mok-hwa agreed.

The four continued their discussion in a question-and-answer rhythm.
They didn’t reach any concrete conclusions, but through debate, they broadened their understanding and better shaped the direction of their future investigations.