Chapter 186 - - Tears And New Beginning

Since that moment, a few days passed quietly. Even though Talon had declared war against the human society, nothing much changed in the daily lives of the group. Granted, Hyun-Jae was a little confused as to why he did that but when Talon explained his initial reason, she quickly caught up.

"Now that I declared war against them, they will naturally be wary and ready. They might even send military jets to scout or even try to eliminate us before we can reach them. But, I'm sure they are missing one crucial point." Sitting on the chair casually, Talon tapped his finger on the table.

"A crucial point?"

"No, actually, two crucial points. The first one is that our location is still unknown to them." He explained as he lifted one finger.

"That's true. Seoul is too big to locate us with ease."

"Mhm, and the second thing and the more important point is that whatever military equipment they might use is completely useless against us. Whether it's bullets or even military jets, we can easily destroy any of that. In other words, their military strength won't have any effect."

A month ago, Talon and Hyun-Jae had to somehow protect the gymnasium from the relentless bombing. Their lives were put at risk, but, they were still able to destroy the bombs before they could make contact with the ground.

Naturally, after an entire month with how much the two grew in strength and with the help of the others, they can easily deal with the same situation without much risk.

'We're far different than before. I know they won't put that into their plans.' Talon thought to himself.

"So, what should be our next step?" Hyun-Jae asked.

"The same… We're going to keep clearing the path out of Seoul. Whether they try to attack us or not, we're still going to get to them first."

Noticing the sharp glint in Talon's eyes, Hyun-Jae nodded her head. "Sigh, though, I'm sorry to hear that your parents aren't in that base. It must be worrying." She said.

"No, it's fine. Even though I don't know where they are, I have a feeling that they're alive and well. My dad is a very tenacious man and he probably was very delighted to see the world turn into one of his fantasies. As for my mom, she's extremely smart and knows what to do in almost all situations. She's the problem solver of our family."

"Oh? I guess you inherited some of your personality from them. I can see the similarities." Hyun-Jae smiled.

"Spare me that, please. I might be tenacious, but I'm certainly not as smart as my mother. She's actually a Seoul National University graduate. She scored the first rank in almost all of her exams. She wanted to become a neurosurgeon."

"That is impressive," Hyun-Jae said as she blinked.

Since both of them studied at the same university, they knew how absurdly hard the exams were. Scoring the first rank in all tests was ridiculously difficult and required a level of academic intellect that was rare to find even amongst gifted people.

"Sigh, well, that's the reason why she even met my dad. She travelled abroad to finish her studies and the two met and quickly fell in love. In less than a year, they married and a year later, I was born. My mother decided to stop her studies and focus on the family."

"..." Hearing that, Hyun-Jae was quite taken aback. "She gave up on her dream?"

"Sort of. But, she doesn't regret that at all. When I asked her before why she did such a thing, she told me 'After you were born and when I was able to hold you in my hands for the first time, I felt my entire world change. It only took me one moment to realize that becoming a doctor isn't my priority anymore.

Taking care of you and your father became my sole goal." As he said those words, Talon closed his eyes. A relaxed smile bloomed on his face.

Those words were something he cherished dearly in his heart. After all, his mother gave up on her dream for him, and for his father, that was a sacrifice he could not ignore.

"That's why, I promised her that I will work my hardest to achieve her goal in her stead. I wanted to become a neurosurgeon myself in the future. But… Well, here we are." He continued as he slowly lifted his eyes, only for his body to completely freeze.

He saw something he never expected at all. Hyun-Jae, who was silent the entire time, was staring blankly at him. Her eyes were wide open and yet seemed unfocused. Tears were trickling down her cheeks.

"... Hyun-Jae?" He murmured.

The girl suddenly snapped out of her daze as she touched her face. "Oh? Why am I… I'm sorry, I didn't realize…"

"..."

She then started to wipe her face quickly.

"My apologies… It was just, your story… It's really touching…"

Hearing that, the young man blinked. 'She's crying because of what I said?'

Even though Hyun-Jae was a very stoic and cold person most of the time, she had these instances where she became very sensible. Those moments always hit Talon harder since they come from a person who rarely shows any reaction on their faces.

Just seeing that look on her face made his heart race.

"I'm sure my mom would be more than happy to tell you more about it if both of you meet in the future." He replied with a bright smile.

"... Mmm, I would love to."

Meanwhile, Acrypha was sitting silently near the window as she listened quietly to their conversation. A complicated glint flashed across her eyes for a split second before it vanished.

***

The progress on the path clearing returned to speed. Talon had to assign a new group of students to explore the sewers while the rest took the boats and moved to the other side of Seoul where they began clearing the areas.

With each passing day, the students grew stronger and stronger and so the pace of their progress quickened every single day. With the addition of Sophie and Cha Kwang's men, they were able to finish almost triple the work before the end of the week.

They were also finally able to expand the areas where students could live. The warehouse was big, but it had many flaws that made it not optimal as a place to live in. Students needed their personal space too. Some plans to even rebuild many areas were set up but they were postponed for after the Human Society problem was solved.

They were also able to reach multiple energy stations in Seoul and reactivate the generators. Granted, most of the electricity devices were destroyed, but, it was still a great achievement to recover some light.

Everything was going perfectly well for the most part. But, deep down, students were still wary of what was about to come. The days left before the actual mission started were numbered.

The time to leave the city had arrived.

***

"Is everyone here?" On the morning of the next Monday, Talon stood in front of a group of people. There were almost 50 people, all carrying weapons and wearing some leather armor.

"Yes sir!"

"Good. As we discussed before, everyone will get into their assigned vehicles and follow the main vehicle closely. Make sure to keep your eyes open for anything abnormal on the way and notify me immediately. Once we reach our destination, we can discuss the rest of the plan further. Understood?"

"Yes sir!"

Nodding his head, Talon turned around. "Well, you guys better be careful about where you bring us. I trust that Sophie had told you the consequences of doing anything funny, right?"

Looking at the group of guards Sophie brought along with her, they had tense expressions.

"We wouldn't dare! We will bring you to the same route we took to come here."

Since they knew the path to Gwangju, they naturally were the ones to lead the entire group.

"Perfect, get in the cars then."

"Y-Yes!"

After that, Talon went around the entire place, making sure everything was ready before he went to the second vehicle in the line and got inside in the driving seat.

In the same car were three other people, Hyun-Jae in the passenger seat, Sophie sitting behind along with Chin-Hwa.

"Why do I have to sit in the back seat, tsk?" Sophie asked with an annoyed look on her face.

"Because you insisted on playing rock paper scissors with me 5 times and I won 5 consecutive times," Hyun-Jae replied tiredly as she stared out the window.

"That was cheating! You must've cheated somewhere!"

"No, you are just horribly bad at hiding what kind of hand you were going to play. Have you never heard of the term Poker Face? You're an actress, no?"

"I am! That doesn't mean I can be stoic and boring all the time, bleh." Sophie extended her tongue out sulkingly.

"Hey, you two, knock it off. We're about to move." Talon said as he twisted the key, making the engine roar.

With that, the rest of the vehicles did the same before the entire line started to slowly move.

The journey to Gwangju had begun.

A//N: Don't forget to support the book if you enjoyed reading ??

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