That was all.
“The Mog Virus is extremely dangerous, so we must take every possible precaution to avoid becoming infected!”
When the infected were discussed, governments normally limited themselves to saying just one thing.
They never explained exactly how dangerous the Mog Virus truly was.
“The infected are extremely dangerous. Very dangerous. Seriously dangerous. No matter how dangerous you think they are, the reality is about a hundred times worse!”
However, those who had actually faced the infected all said the same thing without exception.
And Space Marines, like everyone else who worked in space, generally didn’t take those warnings too seriously either.
Not ordinary infected.
Kim Seojun had thought the same way.
He had already encountered the infected before.
Kim Seojun had faced an infected Psyker.
Of course, when he had been sent on that mission, he hadn’t known from the beginning that an infected Psyker would be there.
“Yes! Understood!”
No matter how obsessed Kim Seojun was with hazard pay, he wasn’t insane enough to willingly accept an order like—
“Go fight an infected Psyker!”
He had merely answered a request for support that said:
“We’re fighting a fierce battle against the Mog and need reinforcements!”
If someone had actually told him what was waiting there—
He would have run away.
And when he arrived at the scene, he was horrified to discover an infected Psyker rampaging among the Mog like a madman.
Furthermore, the world never learned what Kim Seojun had experienced that day.
As soon as he returned to his unit, someone sent by the higher-ups appeared and told him:
“If you keep your mouth shut about what you saw today, we’ll add another zero to the hazard pay deposited into your account. If you refuse, on the other hand, we’ll apply every tax we can to the money you’ve earned so far.”
Naturally, Kim Seojun accepted, and from that day onward, he kept completely silent about the incident.
That was how terrifying it was.
Terrifying enough that the government was willing to spend enormous sums of money to publicly downplay the danger.
In any case, that experience had taught him just how absurdly terrifying the Mog Virus truly was.
‘Fuck, no matter how complicated things get, they shouldn’t get this bad!’
That was why, the moment Kim Seojun heard the notifications from the Status Window, only one thought came to mind.
‘I have to get the hell out of here. No matter what.’
Not fight.
Run.
It was true that losing the Polish headquarters would be unfortunate, but that only mattered as long as the headquarters itself remained intact and there were survivors capable of keeping it operational.
He didn’t need to think about it for long.
The same was true of the new event mission.
A Platinum Ticket?
Saying he didn’t want it would have been a lie.
It was the kind of reward that could drive anyone mad with greed.
Kim Seojun himself had become a Space Marine because of his obsession with money.
But he knew better than anyone where excessive greed led.
He had seen it countless times, up close, watching people destroy themselves after becoming consumed by it.
There was a line that could never be crossed.
And now that line was right in front of him.
The reason Kim Seojun had survived this long was precisely because he knew how to recognize that delicate boundary.
The moment he reached that conclusion, he acted.
The best course of action was to abandon all his plans and retreat immediately.
He addressed the survivors in front of him.
“This is an emergency. Everyone must evacuate.”
It was then.
—Sergeant Kim!
Park Boseop’s urgent voice rang out over the radio.
As soon as he heard it, Kim Seojun immediately understood what was happening.
“Is Major Lee Hyena fighting?”
—What? H-How did you know?
From the moment Kim Seojun entered the Polish headquarters, Lee Hyena had remained outside, waiting.
Seeing her there, Park Boseop had felt safer than ever.
“With you protecting us, Major, I suppose we won’t have any problems.”
“Don’t let your guard down.”
Although she said that, to be honest, Lee Hyena herself hadn’t expected anything serious to happen either.
‘Sergeant Kim Seojun will take care of everything.’
That was how much confidence she had in him.
For many reasons, it simply didn’t seem like there was anything to worry about.
“Huh?”
Beep, beep, beep, beep!
But all those thoughts vanished when one of the indicators inside the military truck Park Boseop was sitting in suddenly began fluctuating wildly.
“Hey, hey, hey!”
Park Boseop shouted in surprise.
“I-It’s appeared!”
Hearing his voice tremble as though an earthquake had struck, Lee Hyena, who was sitting in the back of the military truck, immediately grabbed her axe, jumped out, and asked:
“What class?”
“Fly-class!”
Upon hearing the answer, Lee Hyena mentally prepared herself.
If it was only Fly-class, she could handle it.
But then—
“No, no!”
Park Boseop saw the indicator needle begin fluctuating even more violently and shouted at the top of his lungs.
“It’s Feather-class!”
As soon as she heard that, Lee Hyena’s expression hardened.
Lee Hyena was highly capable even among Psykers, but a Feather-class opponent was no easy enemy for her either.
Although Fly-class and Feather-class were separated by only a single category, in practice, the gap felt far greater than just one rank.
They were in entirely different leagues.
And for good reason.
Of course, that didn’t mean Lee Hyena was thinking of retreating.
It wasn’t the first time she had faced a Feather-class enemy, and she had already considered the possibility of encountering one in a place like this.
‘It wouldn’t be strange for anything to happen anymore. Especially now that even infected have appeared.’
Planet Amotia had already become a place where ordinary common sense no longer applied.
A place that, in a few years, soldiers and civilians alike would describe with the same words.
“That planet Amotia was hell.”
Lee Hyena loudly declared her resolve.
“Come!”
She was prepared to face whatever appeared—Mogdogs, Thorn Snakes, or anything else.
And then she saw them.
Uuuuuugh!
Space Marines wearing battle suits were charging toward them while making grotesque sounds.
Lee Hyena froze at the sight.
“Huh?”
Park Boseop reacted the same way.
“Ah……”
And Jan Zabłocki, who was already half out of his mind, sank into even deeper despair the moment he saw them.
Because those were Polish Space Marines.
They had been Jan Zabłocki’s subordinates, friends, and comrades-in-arms.
The very same people for whom he had been willing to sacrifice his life.
But now they had become infected.
They were charging toward them looking barely any different from the Mog.
And they were doing so with the intention of killing both Jan Zabłocki and the people who had saved his life.
“My God.”
At that moment, even Jan Zabłocki couldn’t help but turn to God.
Lee Hyena was no different.
Even she, someone rarely shaken by anything, couldn’t help but shudder at the situation before her.
And above all—
That wasn’t the end of it.
‘If a Psyker became infected……’
At that moment, Lee Hyena remembered what Kim Seojun had told her.
The situation he had described as the worst possible scenario.
And it didn’t take long for that scenario to become reality before her very eyes.
A Psyker wearing a black Agent Suit.
Lee Hyena saw him.
‘Damn it.’
The moment she did, her expression hardened more than ever.
It was then.
“Major Lee Hyena! He’s a Psyker! He’s Jakub Mazur, a Polish Psyker! He specializes in close combat, and among close-combat types, he’s a tanker!”
Jan Zabłocki shouted.
Information about each country’s Psykers was top secret, and leaking it carried extremely severe punishment under military law.
However, Major Jan Zabłocki no longer cared about any of that.
He simply wanted to provide Lee Hyena with as much useful information as possible.
Of course, even without his explanation, Lee Hyena had already understood what kind of Psyker she was facing the moment she saw him.
For starters, the black Agent Suit he wore was fundamentally different in purpose from conventional Agent Suits.
The so-called Block Suit.
It completely sacrificed mobility in favor of defense.
Furthermore, he was holding a gigantic axe.
Lee Hyena clicked her tongue sharply.
“Tsk!”
“He uses an axe!”
An opponent who would already have been difficult for Lee Hyena under normal circumstances had now appeared as an infected.
Naturally, it was the worst possible situation.
Considering that people infected by the Mog Virus didn’t die unless their heads were destroyed, and that their physical abilities increased on top of that, the danger was terrifying.
And as if that weren’t enough, infected Space Marines were charging toward Lee Hyena’s group like Mogdogs.
If she suffered even a single wound and any of their bodily fluids entered it, she would face the worst possible scenario.
That was why Lee Hyena immediately understood what the best decision was.
‘We have to retreat.’
And that was exactly what she intended to do.
“As soon as Sergeant Kim Seojun returns.”
“We’ll retreat.”
When the two people still inside the military truck heard her, neither objected.
“Major, but……”
If they fled immediately, it was obvious who the infected would attack instead.
“I’m not stupid enough to fight an infected Psyker head-on. I’ll avoid his attacks while fighting.”
Of course, that didn’t mean Lee Hyena had any intention of risking everything in a confrontation with no possibility of retreat.
“I’ll only eliminate the Space Marines.”
In other words, she intended to evade the infected Psyker’s attacks while dealing with the lesser enemies.
It wasn’t impossible.
The infected Psyker had sacrificed his mobility.
Lee Hyena, on the other hand, had chosen mobility.
She only needed to strike and withdraw.
And Lee Hyena immediately put that plan into action.
She ignored the infected Psyker and began rapidly eliminating the infected Space Marines charging toward them.
Crack!
Every time she swung her axe, a Space Marine’s head burst like a watermelon.
Blood and brain matter sprayed in every direction, naturally coating Lee Hyena’s entire body.
It was enough to send chills down anyone’s spine.
Because that meant Lee Hyena’s body was now covered in the Mog Virus.
Grrrrrr!
If her body—or rather, her suit—suffered even the tiniest scratch at that moment, the consequences would be horrifying.
And even more chilling was the fact that the infected Psyker continued moving again and again, relentlessly trying to kill Lee Hyena.
Watching the battle from a distance, both Private First Class Park Boseop and Major Jan Zabłocki felt chills run through their entire bodies.
Park Boseop, who had reported the situation to Sergeant Kim Seojun only moments earlier, asked desperately:
“Major Jan, isn’t there any way we can help her?”
He hoped that perhaps Jan Zabłocki could come up with an answer.
And in fact, Jan Zabłocki, a veteran hardened by countless battles, knew exactly what the answer was.
“If we intervene, we’ll only interfere with Major Lee Hyena’s movements.”
A driver and a hover rider trying to join the battle of a Psyker who was concentrating every one of her senses on combat wouldn’t help.
They would only get in the way.
“The only way we can help Major Lee Hyena is to pick up Sergeant Kim Seojun as soon as he arrives and get out of here at full speed.”
At that cold assessment, Park Boseop tightly gripped the steering wheel of the military truck.
‘Sergeant, get here quickly. Please, hurry.’
It was then.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Huh?”
He heard a voice.
Naturally, Park Boseop assumed Kim Seojun was speaking to him over the radio from somewhere far away.
“Sergeant Kim Seojun! Hurry! Major Lee Hyena is buying us time!”
Park Boseop immediately responded.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
Precisely because of that—
“Sergeant Kim! Hurry!”
“I’m right beside you.”
“What?”
“I’m already here.”
Knock, knock!
As he spoke, Kim Seojun knocked on the driver’s-side door of the military truck as though knocking on an ordinary door.
“S-Sergeant?”
When Park Boseop saw him, he jumped in surprise.
Jan Zabłocki, sitting beside him, was equally shocked.
“Private First Class Park Boseop.”
“Yes! Get in immediately! We’re getting the hell out of here!”
At Kim Seojun’s call, Park Boseop gripped the steering wheel even tighter.
At the same time, he lightly pressed the accelerator, clearly signaling that he intended to leave as quickly as possible.
However, Kim Seojun asked an unexpected question.
“I have a question.”
Park Boseop froze.
“Yes?”
“Can you drive other things?”
“Other things?”
“I mean military vehicles.”
Park Boseop instinctively answered.
“Among the things in the military that have wheels, I can operate practically anything. Ah, that doesn’t mean I’m good at it! I only know how to make them move! I definitely can’t handle them the way I can a car or a hover bike!”
Kim Seojun asked him:
“Then can you drive a battle tank too?”
“What? A tank?”
At that question, Park Boseop nodded first.
“I know how to make one move. The Poles also use the Black Panther manufactured by our country, so I can operate it without any problems…… Huh?”
Only after answering did Park Boseop finally realize the serious implication behind the question.
Even after answering, he suddenly felt that he might have said something he shouldn’t have.
“W-Wait, S-Sergeant Kim…… you’re not thinking……?”
There could only be one reason why Kim Seojun would ask something like that at a moment like this.
“That’s right.”
Kim Seojun answered without hesitation.
“I’m going to kill that infected Psyker with a battle tank.”