Chapter 41 – Rescue Operation (9)
A ferry full of people crosses the sea.
It is late afternoon now, and after a little while the twilight will color the sea brilliantly.
By the time Jinsu was reviewing the list of prison guards and prisoners in the central control room, prisoners who still had energy left were talking inside the ferry.
Of course, rather than idle chatter, more realistic stories are coming and going.
“I guess I didn’t do anything wrong.”
Nina looked around anxiously.
“What?”
Sasha asked.
Nina pointed around with her chin instead of answering her.
Wherever you look, you can see cabins filled with people.
And the heavily armed robots that come and go between them.
It was impressive to see him subdue the prisoner who caused the fight earlier in one shot.
Hit her in the shoulder, she couldn’t even stand up for a while, just groaning.
My co-workers looked at it, but nothing was broken or anything. It was exactly that, hurting her muscles as much as possible.
If this wasn’t a coincidence, it’s a scary law in its own right.
“You’re going to be controlled by those cans from now on, right? If you don’t listen to those bastards, you’ll beat them right away?”
None of the police officers or prison guards that Nina has been through have ever seen a person, even a prisoner, treated like that, especially a woman.
“The new place we will be staying in looks very busy.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Sasha said to Nina’s complaint.
“Now the world itself has become a tough place.”
Sasha’s gaze turned to the advertising LCDs installed throughout the ferry.
A pre-prepared educational video was being broadcast there.
It didn’t teach anything, it just showed pictures and videos of how the outside world had changed over the years.
It is a collection of the ruined cities and landmarks of Korea, and the desperate news broadcast last time by the broadcasting station, and edited them to look good.
It’s probably playing it with the intention of not thinking about it, but being aware of reality and conforming to the control.
In fact, there is no need to show anything like that.
Because everyone here knows what the outside world has become.
About 30% were moved to the island when the war was in full swing, and the remaining 70% were moved when the Republic of Korea was in full swing.
In the meantime, there are many people who have passed the ruined cities in the video.
“Black…”
After watching the video, what about the group of prisoners who are weaving in the corner to see if they have PTSD?
During the convoy, they were attacked by monsters and saw the front and back convict buses torn to shreds.
A safe home without this kind of mental education is what everyone here longs for.
“I’ll be hungry.”
Jisoo rubbed her stomach and said.
Of course, her hunger isn’t her only problem.
Growl.
The constant sound of hunger coming from all directions.
As the starving people were crammed into a narrow place, a roaring sound resounded from all directions.
“Ah, that is filthy noisy. Be quiet, bitches!”
Nina was nervous, but what to do with the sound coming from the boat?
Everyone has no energy and is afraid of Nina, so they only notice her. The security robot doesn’t seem to want to get involved at this level.
“Guardian!”
Jisoo raised his hand.
“What, what?”
The guards gathered in one corner looked at Jisoo as if embarrassed.
“Not you.”
Jisoo laughed and told them.
“Do the bitches who were released barefoot after being locked up the whole time still want to be treated as prison guards?”
The guards blushed at the insult, but said nothing.
“Guardian! Prison guard!”
Jisoo energetically called a nearby security robot. He doesn’t seem to have much complaint about bending over to a non-human robot.
Perhaps it was the realization that they are very different from the robots of the usual conception.
The situation she is now in is also not normal. She is an adaptable woman.
The security robot searched through the downloaded prisoner profile to determine the level of risk of the index.
She then came in front of her, holding the shotgun in a pointed fire stance.
“Hey, you look tougher when you look at it up close.”
[Hajisu, do you have any requests?]
“Yes! I have a request. I am very hungry. Can I get you something to eat?”
[After a while, we arrive at our destination. Meals will be served there after going through quarantine procedures and medical diagnosis.]
Ji-soo was in the bathroom when the two prisoners fought and were subdued before departure. So she didn’t know what was waiting for her in the future.
“Okay. Is that enough?”
[Standard meals will be provided for shelter workers.]
Jisoo smiled and sat down, and her guard robot moved elsewhere.
The prisoners looked at Jisoo with eyes wondering if this woman was crazy.
“Oh, I am hungry.”
Jisoo ignored her gaze and just licked her lips.
At that moment, the speaker turned on.
[This is an announcement. This ship will soon be anchored at the back door of the shelter. It is a safe underground city that will take care of your life. Passengers are guided to move to the rear of the ship. Any unsavory behavior will be subject to zero-tolerance sanctions.]
Jisoo remembers this voice. She is the voice of a young woman whom he briefly met in an auditorium at a maritime prison. Did she say her name was Rose? She used to be a great beauty.
“Sasha.”
“Why?”
Sasha was looking at her fingernails.
“Who is the bread maker where we are going? Woman? Man?”
“It’s a man.”
“Do you know anything about him? Looking at the subordinates he has, he seems a bit scary.”
Sasha thought for a moment.
“I don’t know either. You’ll find out soon enough.”
Being influential among prisoners also means being a useful prisoner control tool.
Surely there will be a chance to meet them at least once.
By the time they were imagining what their new manager would be like, that manager was facing a different problem.
* * *
[Warning. Warning. An approaching object is detected by this ship.]
A security robot waiting on the ferry bridge reported to me.
“What is approaching? Could it be another boat?”
I put down the coffee I was drinking.
Having spent time in the central control room, taking naps while conducting operations, the fatigue does not go away even with caffeine.
[No. Approaching from below sea level, not from a floating object.]
“Isn’t it a whale or a shark? Maybe a submarine?”
It is a little-known fact, but not only whales, but also large sharks such as great white sharks and mako sharks often appear in Korean waters.
If not even that, it could be a South Korean Navy submarine still alive.
[No. I will send you the sonar screen.]
Visual data was displayed on the screen of the central control room. The icon in the center of the map that emits sound waves is a ferry.
An unidentified object approaching in a straight line from a distance was displayed.
[It’s not a speed that whales and sharks can achieve. And no submarine in existence is that big.]
Artemis said.
“Is it right to aim for Perry?”
[When I first checked the approach of the object, I set the path immediately, and the object also corrected its trajectory accordingly. I’m clearly aiming for the ship I saw and chasing after it.]
“How long before you catch up?”
[13 minutes.]
“It’s close.”
The bridge behind the shelter has been completed.
The entrance to get on and off the ferry is wide enough that up to eight women can enter shoulder to shoulder at a time.
They weren’t ordinary citizens, they were prisoners whose daily routine was to move in line, so if they managed well, they would all be able to disembark before they caught up.
“I don’t know what that is, but I can only assume it’s very dangerous.”
Even now, the unidentified object floating on the screen is getting closer and closer to Perry.
In the corner of the screen, in real time, one second after another, the time that decreased by one second was annoying.
When it finally reached the 10th minute, the ferry arrived, and less than 8 minutes remained when it was docked at the temporary bridge built long from the entrance to the back gate.
[Disembark quickly.]
Under the control of the security robot, the women quickly descended.
Following my instructions, Rose was the first to get off and was already inside the shelter.
She wanted to disembark after the last passenger had left, but I ordered them to disembark immediately.
[Keep order.]
There are less than five minutes left, but not even half of the passengers have disembarked yet.
The unidentified giant object detected by the ferry’s sonar has reached the immediate vicinity. It is obviously aiming for a ship.
5 minutes left like that.
4 minutes left.
3 minutes left.
Finally, when there were less than two minutes left.
Some of the women who were diligently moving on the bridge stopped.
“What is that!”
Screams, exclamations, and murmurs of surprise echoed everywhere.
The place they are looking at is the other side of the ferry.
Dark shadows were rapidly approaching from beneath the surface.
As the distance got closer, the vast area of the sea level split, as if it was gradually rising upward, highlighting its presence.
Something so huge that even the intense twilight scattering couldn’t hide it was coming here.
[Move quickly. Don’t stop.]
The security robots immediately took control and the women moved right away.
It’s because I instinctively realized that it wasn’t something to look at just because it was amazing.
With less than a minute left, all personnel completed disembarkation.
“Send the ferry out immediately.”
[Okay.]
Remotely controlled by Artemis, the ferry moved away from the shelter at full speed.
30 seconds like that.
20 seconds.
10 seconds.
At last a shadow appeared on the surface of the water.
My first impression of it was mantis shrimp.
The round eyeballs, a mixture of purple and blue, seemed to be at least five meters in diameter.
The torso exposed underneath was lined with dark blue carapaces that formed joints, and each segment of the carapace was slightly smaller than a ferry ship.
The seawater between the carapaces poured like a waterfall and hit the sea surface, and the impact alone caused the ferry to tilt pathetically.
The lower body submerged in the sea is made up of muscular tentacles, like those of cephalopod molluscs, the length of which cannot even be guessed.
But the most impressive part was different.
Arms hanging on both sides of a chest like a mountain that surpasses the size of a giant.
At the end of it is a huge fist reminiscent of an iron ball used to demolish buildings.
The anaconda-like tendons that ran from the fist to the arm to the torso were pulled taut, and the fist could be seen rolling inward.
Kwaaaaang!!!
There was a roar, no explosion.
The women in the last ranks, who were still moving from the bridge, screamed in unison and covered their ears.
Some of them lost their balance and fell into the sea.
When I looked at the ferry again, nothing was left above her deck.
The 2nd and 3rd floors, and the bridge disappeared.
Boom!!!
When the second explosion was heard, the center of the ship exploded and split in two.
A huge amount of seawater pours into the section and sinks the ship.
But that colossus doesn’t seem to want to wait.
Kwak!!!
When the third explosion sounded, the front of the ship was flying far away as if it were exploding.
The colossus watched the ferry with only the back half left for a moment, then sank into the water like a whale twisting its body.
The recoil caused tentacles of enormous thickness to rise above the surface of the water and spread out in a circular shape like sunflowers.
Phew-!
The tentacles closed at once, creating a huge shockwave, and the recoil pushed the monster away.
A sonic boom above sea level, and a torrent of waves below sea level.
[Kyaaaaagh!]
[Ahh!]
The spray created by the sonic boom flew all the way to the cave and knocked over all the women running on the temporary bridge.
In an instant, a black shadow disappeared on the distant horizon.
The wreckage of the ferry is now nowhere to be seen.
[Help me!]
[Heuuuuu, Mom…]
All that remains is a handful of women who run away as if they are crawling across a bridge, bleeding from their ears, and women struggling in the sea.
Artemis said while a reserve boat was immediately dispatched to rescue the women.
[Leviathan…]
Indeed, it is a being worthy of its name.
“Even the sea was not safe. I don’t know how many of them there are, or how many types there are.”
I feel that even the hope that there will be a survivor group centered on the Navy is disappearing.
Suddenly, a question came to mind.
“Why did you just show up now? We were lucky, but there must have been plenty of opportunities to attack.”
[Maybe he took a break of some sort after he got rid of everything that could hurt him. Or they went hunting further afield. I can give you any number of hypotheses. One thing is for sure, if we launch the boat now, that guy will come looking for us soon.]
I looked at the sea, which was slowly getting darker.
The blue sea on a sunny day, the sea at sunset, or the dark night sea.
The sea was a treasure of natural scenery that changed its appearance over time.
But now I don’t think I can fully enjoy that beauty.
I am aware that the daily life that I enjoyed for granted, such as walking in the forest with my hands in the pockets of my pants in simple clothes, or taking a walk in the park, has disappeared.
However, the fact that the territory now extends to the sea has weighed heavily on my heart.
