Mercenary Black Mamba

"Lackey, is the Moranbong Theater the only thing you can think of? I am the god among gods since Samdi, who is the god of the Pygmy tribe, is my subordinate. Every single one of billions of humanity is an actor. It is up to each one how big a stage they will walk. The world is my stage and my acting is planetary. I am either welcomed by bullets and cannons or worshipped as a god. My popularity doesn't wane anywhere. Hahaha!"

Mu Ssang giggled.

"You are Mu Ssang the great. You are indeed great."

Sun Woo-hyun opened his mouth wide at Mu Ssang's half-joke. If someone else said such a thing, he would have beaten them up, but what Mu Ssang was saying was true.

Mu Ssang did nothing but grin. Humans are not objective rational creatures. They see the world through a filter of their prejudices and interpretations. The Pygmy tribe refused to hold rifles even after the bodies of their people were piled up and blood ran like a stream. The perspective that outsiders were not adversaries but something to flee from was engraved in their genes.

Just as the Pygmy tribe couldn't accept guns, Sun Woo-hyun couldn't shed the frame formed as he grew up in a society full of surveillance and secret information. Samdi's truth was open to others; however, Sun Woo-hyun's truth was only persuasive to himself. That's why there is a saying, great wisdom equals great ignorance.

"Olonge, didn't I tell you last time not to bow?"

Mu Ssang lifted Olonge from his bowing posture.

"Sun, tell everyone to stand."

"Stand!"

Sun Woo-hyun interpreted.

"We praise the Great God!" Olonge shouted. A great drumming sound followed.

"Haha!"

The Pygmies began their characteristic dance in which they shook their butts sideways and flailed their arms.

"How ridiculous!"

Sun Woo-hyun cringed at the sight.

"Wakil, did you hang out with the Pygmies during the last operation?"

"Yeah, I gifted them an elephant."

"I shall gift them two."

Sun Woo-hyun was resolute.

"Huh!"

Mu Ssang was speechless. Sun Woo-hyun must have misunderstood that the Pygmies would treat anyone who gave them an elephant as a god. Prejudice leads people to misinterpretation, but how simple-minded was he to think in such a way?

"Olonge, did anything special happen in the village?"

Sun Woo-hyun interpreted.

"There is. Mauni got married."

"Not something like that. Any incident involving outsiders?"

"There is a stupid woman called Zumba in the nearby village. She gave us two bags of corn for one monkey. Hahaha!"

Olonge giggled, revealing his blackened teeth.

"Ugh!"

Mu Ssang gave up. With no common shared cultural and conceptual background, communication proved difficult.

"Hahaha! Wakil, you will go bald if you continue being a god for the savages!"

Sun Woo-hyun burst out laughing at last. It felt good to see uneasiness on Mu Ssang's face. Mu Ssang's gaze alternated between Olonge and Sun Woo-hyun. Sun Woo-hyun began to feel anxious.

"You look like you can be good friends based on your face and height. This god will excuse himself here, so you two friends can talk freely."

Mu Ssang shouldered the burden of communicating with the Pygmy tribe to Sun Woo-hyun. Knowing language alone was not sufficient for a good conversation. Cultural knowledge was essential too. Had he brought the young man called Ongore, he would have found it easier to communicate.

"What are you saying? I am at least a palm taller than these guys!" Sun Woo-hyun yelled.

In North Korea, he didn't feel any inconvenience, but once he came out to the world, no one was shorter than him. His height was barely over 160 centimeters, and along with his features, it made him self-conscious.

"Mahadu kaduta aimi. (Let's be friends.)"

Olonge shook his hips back and forth like a bonobo. It was a display of friendship among the Pygmies.

"I'm driven out of my mind!"

Sun Woo-hyun frowned deeply. Of course, people were going to talk more freely to a friend than to a haughty god. One by one, the Pygmies entered Sun Woo-hyun and Olonge's conversation. Soon, dozens of them were yelling and gesturing. The village clearing was soon crowded.

"Lackey, is there any useful information?"

Sun Woo-hyun shook his head.

"It will be easier to talk to a chimpanzee. They say there was a battle involving helicopters and missiles in the eastern part of the forest and many people died. The Americans used airplanes to spray the forest with pesticides and defoliant which destroyed the forest and killed animals. Outsiders shot at everyone and they even saw black-cloth-faced outsiders. Many Pygmies were killed or captured, so they hid deeper into the forest. Last night, countless people reached up to where the elephants live. The rest, I can't quite understand."

"Great. That is quite some information. Soon, it will be dark. We will begin the search tomorrow. We first need to find the woman who fled from the camp. Then we will decide upon the scope of the operation."

"Isn't it like finding someone named Kim in Seoul?"

"Hopefully, we'll be lucky."

Mu Ssang said what he routinely said and jumped among the Abyssinia branches.

"You are always so relaxed!" Sun Woo-hyun grumbled as he unrolled his mat and set up his tent.

"Lackey, set up a mosquito tent inside the tent. Kissing bugs can penetrate the tent with their needles."

A sleepy voice was heard from a talk treetop. Darkness settled in the jungle of Ituri. Sun Woo-hyun couldn't fall asleep with the hundreds of needles penetrating the tent and the sound of venomous insects and beasts skulking around the tent.

* * *

There was a foreign sound of a machete hacking off bushes and sturdy grass. Dozens of blue lights appeared where a harpy eagle leaped from. A Pygmy man with a leash on his neck led the way and black men with rifles hacked off the overgrowth to clear the path.

The black men with blue eyes shining like a wild beast's eyes were Mbembe Squad of Ntaganta which he thought highly of. Everyone in the squad was a voodoo believer. With skin enhanced by spells, they didn't fear vipers and venomous insects.

Ntaganta, as requested by the KGB, deployed 3,000 men across Mambasa. Pomsky, his friend, offered him a variety of gifts in exchange for finding the treasure map. Twenty Strela-2s, 10 field guns, 50 machine guns, 70 RPG-7s, and 2,000 rifles were promised. Some of them were already in their hands. With weapons secured, he could recruit any number of men. He was going to use the treasure map to secure weapons. Now that he had the weapons, his friend could have the map.

After suffering heavy losses, Ntaganta realized that they needed to get a local informant if they were going to explore the forest. Residents in the area barely knew anything about what was going on in the forest itself. They cultivated farmlands outside the forest and exchanged goods with the Pygmy tribe. 300 men in the Mbembe Squad began hunting for a Pygmy they would use as a guide.

"Is this the right direction?"

"Don't worry. These people don't know how to lie," a black man holding the leash answered.

"Pick up the pace. We need to take over three villages by first light."

"Aye."

The black man kicked the Pygmy's butt. The Pygmy began walking faster. No one knew how many Pygmy villages were hidden inside the jungle of Ituri. They estimated the number to be around 30. Everyone in the Mbembe Squad was anticipating the incoming joy of murder and the prospect of eating barbecued Pygmies.

* * *

"Uninvited guests."

Mu Ssang suddenly opened his eyes wide. Muggy air was pressing down on the jungle. The fog was everywhere, waiting for the sunrise to lift them. He chose to sleep on a treetop rather than in a tent because he hated moisture. Billion Water Armor wrenched off a tree branch.

"What's that?"

Sun Woo-hyun awoke at the sound of the branch hitting the ground.

"Lackey, we have guests. 400 meters from the village entrance in the five o'clock direction."

"I got it."

Sun Woo-hyun stood abruptly, shouldered his backpack, and exited his tent. He didn't have any doubts. He might complain and act up sometimes, but he was the greatest warrior and a Novatopian with a king to serve. If Mu Ssang said enemies, there were enemies. If he said 500 meters, then they were 500 meters away.

Sun Woo-hyun, exiting the village, camouflaged in the trees with his headset on. Muggy fog hid him perfectly. Dark shadows strode on. These had proper uniforms unlike motley crews often found in East Africa.

"They are walking straight to their death! They are quite insane!" thought Sun Woo-hyun.

Sun Woo-hyun raised his MP5sd3 headset. Just as he was about to switch on the night vision, his hand stopped. Those men looked uncanny, non-human-like. Humans don't have eyes glowing blue like beasts nor can they smother their footsteps like that.

"Wakil, something feels weird."

"You've dealt with them in Doba. They are voodoo fanatics."

"Aha!" Sun Woo-hyun exclaimed.

He had a painful memory of Doba where he lost face. Drugged-up and possessed humans were able to exert supernatural powers. They didn't die unless their heart was pierced or their head was smashed.

"Lackey, they are led by a Pygmy. The one wearing a helmet in the middle is the leader."

"All right. I'll show them what I'm capable of."

Mu Ssang was implying that the Pygmy and the leader should be spared. Sun Woo-hyun was feeling confident. Close-range combat was his weakness but he was good at sniping. Blue balls that were the men's heads appeared in his night vision. The heads floating in thick fog was a quite grotesque scene.

The sound akin to a stick striking a blanket resounded in the quiet clearing at dawn. One shot, one kill. Sun Woo-hyun shot their foreheads and temples precisely. The enemies fell without even having time to scream.

"Delatun!"

When the sixth man fell, there was a shout. The heads floating in the fog disappeared at once.

"Not now!" said Sun Woo-hyun in his mind.

Sun Woo-hyun exited the area, crawling close to the ground like a lizard. Retaliatory bullets rained down on him. Sun Woo-hyun rose a bit to make haste.

"Shoot, it's moving to the right!"

Bullets followed him like a shower of rain.

"Ugh!"

Sun Woo-hyun, being startled, found his target after taking cover behind a rock. A shadowy figure, sprinting on all fours like an animal, fell to the ground. Bullets flew in from both sides. He was being flanked.

"No!"

Surprised, Sun Woo-hyun clung to the rock like a pancake. Machine guns opened fire. The rock debris shot everywhere and dust rose. Whenever he tried to poke out his rifle, their rifles opened fire. Sun Woo-hyun couldn't move.

"They have a clear vision!" he said in his mind.

Their eyes shining blue must have granted them night vision like a nocturnal animal. They saw his every movement and reacted with gunfire. Now, he was really in a pickle.

"Help me, Wakil!"

"You are a General. Are some fanatics giving you trouble?"

"They are not normal."

"Hey, do you think being the Pygmy's guardian god is an easy task? Samdi obliterated them as if he was swatting flies and he even killed a few monsters. That's why Dino disrespects you and Ombuti thinks you don't deserve your rank."

There was an instant nagging.

"How petty!" said Sun Woo-hyun to himself.

Sun Woo-hyun frowned deeply. His master really had to return the remark he had made yesterday evening.

"Be careful! 35 meters at 9:15!"

Sun Woo-hyun fired before Mu Ssang could finish his sentence.

"Hurgh!"

A scream was heard for the first time.

"42 meters at 10:20!"

Sun Woo-hyun moved his barrel at lightning speed.

"A grenade!"

"Fuck!"

Sun Woo-hyun rolled like a ball and left his cover. A flash of light illuminated the dark. Dirt and debris rained down. The characteristic sharp sound of a Soviet machine gun was heard. Sun Woo-hyun ran and rolled. He was almost losing his mind in the midst of the fierce attack.

"Wakil, I'm dying here!" 
Sun Woo-hyun screamed. He underestimated his enemies and was now paying the price.

"That's why you should have trained instead of fooling around. Back!"

Startled, Sun Woo-hyun thrust the butt plate on his rifle from under his armpit like a spear.

"Aargh!"

There was a heavy thud and a scream ensued. A black man collapsed with his head smashed. He was holding a machete with a gleaming blade. Without Wakil's warning, he might have died as a bachelor.

"Huh."

Chills ran down his back. Their combat power was extraordinary. It wasn't just because his senses were dulled by the grenade explosion. He might not last until sunrise.

"Wakil, I apologize. I will never act up."

Sun Woo-hyun begged, not caring about losing face.

The sound of hitting a sandbag with a stick was heard three times in a row. There were also several sounds like a spear swishing through the air. Before a minute could pass, all gunfire ceased.

There was a strange noise. Mu Ssang stepped out of the fog. He was holding something that looked like a child between his arm and his other hand was clasped around an ankle. The noise was the man being dragged and his head hitting the ground. Sun Woo-hyun, dumbfounded, merely stared.