The Sequel of the novel, 'Overwatch - The Last Trip'

The Overwatch - Vietnam War crossover novel, the season 4, the final episode.

A month after Kim died. The heroes of Overwatch were returning to their original place again. However, the Shimada brothers and Asa were unable to hide their worries about Kiriko's chronic depression... At that moment, the Fox God appears in front of them, and left a meaningful message.

At the same time, Sojourn, who was reading the records that related with Sergeant Kim's death, found out one fact related to his final moment. The heroes gathered in Gibraltar once again, and began to make a new plan to solve the sudden incident. Go back to the past Vietnam, and rescue back someone, who is already died in the flow of the time.

Chapter 1. Things he left us

[Aug 15th, 2078. Kanezaka, Japan.]

Kiriko was praying quietly at the Tetsuzan Shrine.

Usually, it was a prayer for the well-being of the shrine itself, and Kanezaka, Hanamura, and the peace of other close peoples around her, including herself. But recently, something else had been added. On the newly built small altar inside the shrine, there was a small monochrome photo. The photo, which was incredibly clean considering that it was taken almost 100 years ago, showed a soldier with a scar on his left cheek. Among the other photos of Kim, this one with the brightest expression of him brought about an inexplicable sense of longing to her and everyone else.

After Kiriko had said her final farewell to Kim at Arlington National Cemetery, she had added prayers for Kim to her daily routine at the shrine. Even though she had already said goodbye to him, her feelings for him had not completely disappeared, so she wanted to remember him until the end like this. As a Miko of the shrine, she was used to being asked to pray for the souls of those who had passed away. But the fact that the person she was praying for right now, was her friend whom she had met face to face with not long ago only made her feel complicated.

Genji and Hanzo clapped their hands twice in front of the torii. Since it was Tetsuzan Shrine, which Kiriko and their old master Asa had always taken good care of, the overall neat and restrained appearance was always good to see. Kiriko finished her prayer and turned her head.

"Genji, and Hanzo. You are both here. Welcome."

"Kiriko, is everything alright?"

"Yep."

Kiriko gave the bitter smile to Shimada brothers. Hanzo and Genji could tell by just a one glance that Kiriko is surely not in a good condition. Even when they had visited Arlington together, they had thought that she would be able to accept the situation and overcome it well. Yes, she had overcome it. However, the problem was that she had only improved enough to not die. Including the dark complexion, her vitality itself seemed to have disappeared.

"It's clear that something is definitely wrong to her just by looking at."

Genji whispered to Hanzo.

"The acute depression that Mercy was talking about seems to have passed, but I don't think anyone could predict that it would develop into chronic depression."

The two of them spoke quietly, while looking at Kiriko's back as she vacantly swept the broom.

"Oh, you boys are here."

"Master."

Asa Yamagami walked into the shrine. She also quietly looking at her daughter.

"Does she also look something wrong to you two, isn't she?"

"Quite a bit, Master."

Asa sighed and swept his forehead.

"I thought that if she visits the Kim's memorial, she might would be able to accept the situation more firmly. But I overlooked the fact that Kiriko is actually more delicate on the inside than anyone else. As a mother, I really have nothing to say."

"No, Master. No one could have predicted this. This is not something to blame anyone for. Not Kiriko herself, or Overwatch, and not even to Kim."

Hanzo said, looking at the setting sun. The hot summer breeze gently swayed the forest around the Tetsuzan Shrine, which was slowly becoming darker.

[At the same time. Watchpoint Gibraltar.]

Mei ran the computer simulation again. She checked the preset conditions and input values once again. But again, the screen flashed red letters again.

'Failed'.

The scientists of Lucheng, who were isolated on Mars due to the failure of The Red Promise project. Anybody did not even dare to predict how long they could be able to hold and survive more there. They had succeeded in returning Juno, aka Teo Minh to Earth alive, but that did not mean that everything was finished. They had to find a way to help them. However, it was easier said than done. Not only Winston, but also Efi Oladele, the developer of Orisa and who had recently started to stay in Gibraltar, were also helping to solve the problem, but the results were not very good so far.

"(Sigh) We have to hurry... No one knows how long they can endure more..."

May looked up at the sky and sighed. She looked at the photo stuck on the desk. She could see her old colleagues from the Antarctic exploration base, Overwatch heroes of Gibraltar, and a one soldier who came from the past and had been stayed here until recently. Mei suddenly felt longing for Kim. Of course, since he was a past man, she didn't know what he could help to solve the current problem if he was still staying here, but he often came up some creative solutions to some problems through unconventional approaches.

Tracer was watching some archive footage with Sojourn. In the footage taken with an early colored film camera, a UH-1 helicopter could be seen landing on the helipad. The man who was getting off the helicopter with a short rifle was Sergeant Kim, who was very familiar to them. And the peoples who were also walking out with him, each carrying their own weapons and equipment, then smiling at the camera. They were Sergeant Chase of the Canadian Army, and Captain Oxton of the Royal Air Force, aka the grandfathers of Sojourn and Tracer, especially in their younger days.

"I still can't believe that my grandfather was at the Vietnam with Kim."

"I didn't expect this either. Maybe, Kim came to this era because of these conditions?"

"What do you mean, Sojourn?"

"No, it's just… Kim was a veteran who has experienced the true power of the omnic virus and know how to deal with it in firsthand, but he also has connections to our grandfathers. And when the omnic virus caused problems in the future, he came to solve it by himself, even if it wasn't intentional at all. So, if something that such as fate really exists, maybe between Kim and us in this era must have a connection with these."

Tracer deeply thought about it. But whatever it was, it was true that she also missed that strange soldier fella who now existed only in the video from a hundred years ago.

"Hey, Dad."

"Hey, Fareeha. How's Gibraltar these days?"

"Still always muggy. It's the Mediterranean, you know. How's Canada?"

"Everything seems promising. Thanks for asking. I took a peek at the hives today. I wanted to see how the bees were collecting honey. Hopefully, after one harvest, I think I could be able to collect another one more before winter comes."

Fareeha was on a video call with her father, Sam English, who still live alone in Canada.

"Oh, by the way. Dad. What happened to the question I asked you about?"

"Right. I also was just about to ask you about that, Fareeha. Where on earth did you get this picture from? I've never seen this one before."

"Uh… It's a photo left by someone I knew… Anyway, can you identify who it is?"

"Of course it does. It's your grandfather when he was young, even though you've never met him before. I know my father had a few photos similar to this one, but this one, I've never seen this one before."

Pharah finally succeeded in finding out the truth of what she had only guessed so far. One of the people in the photo that Kim sent from 100 years ago through the Old Man Paul. Warrant Officer English, the superior of Sergeant Chase, who was in the Canadian Army, and Sojourn's grandfather at the same time.

This W.O English was indeed her grandfather.

"By the way of the all things could be question, how did my grandfather managed to go to Vietnam? At that time, weren't only a few Canadian aboriginals were able to enlisted in the Canadian Army? But my grandfather did not only get enlisted, but he was even deployed to abroad…"

"In a way, it has to be happened, Fareeha. Actually, I heard this story a long time ago, but this all happened when the land where my grandfather and other family members had originally lived was starting to be redeveloped by government. The government started digging up the land without caring whether the aboriginals were there or not, and our ancestors demanded to them about the government guarantee about their rights as people who had been living there for a long time. But the government proposed this compromise. The Canadian Army was currently fighting with other countries' allied forces in Vietnam, and if they would help our army, they would guarantee the basic rights of the aboriginals. All the aboriginal youth, including my father, who was the youngest and most energetic, readily agreed."

"… But why isn't there a single piece of that land left now?"

"(Sigh). In a way, it was a government trick. They made the smartest and strongest men leave for the war zone under the pretext of leaving, and forced the indigenous people, who were left with only the elderly, women, and children, to sign unfair contracts and then kicked them all out."

"… So that's how it happened so far."

Pharah rubbed her forehead. Regardless of the history and circumstances, one thing was certain: Kim had served in the same time zone and on the same battlefield with her grandfather. Not only that, but when she thought about Tracer, Sojourn, and Kiriko's grandfathers, she was certain that there must have been some clear connection about why Kim had come to this time zone. By the way, she also wondered about what kind of connection could also exist between Kim and Jack Morrison, aka Soldier: 76, who was mentioned in the group photo.

Dva looked at the glass case on one side of the Gibraltar base archives. Inside the glass case, the green shirt that Kim had often worn in here were neatly folded and placed, and on top of it, there was Kim's revolver placed that Paul Jackson had passed to them. The picture which are contained together in the case was a Kim himself, taken with other heroes during his stay in Gibraltar. Dva especially noticed the Korean writing that Kim had written on the picture on the day he left.

[Looking forward to the day we all meet again. June 27th, 2078, from the future.]

"(Sigh). Why, Kim… Why it has to be you…"

In the history of the Vietnam War, it was inevitable that Kim, who lived at that time from the first place had to follow his original timeline, but his fate as dying in 100 years ago at a similar age to herself left a sense of sadness and sorrow in Dva's heart.

"Your norepinephrine and serotonin levels are abnormally changing, Ms. Hana. Are you okay?"

When Dva turned around, Orisa, who had recently become a member of Overwatch, was standing there.

"Oh, Orisa. It's nothing. I was just reminiscing some of my…"

"I think it's because of this mister here, named Sergeant Kim in the photo."

Orisa also looked at the monochromee photo quietly.

"I also heard about who he was through Echo and Bastion. It's truly regrettable."

Dva smiled bitterly as she looked at the photo. And Efi Oladele, who had come here at some point, was also standing right next to Orisa, looking at the glass case containing Kim's traces.

"I heard secretly that Mr. Winston had succeeded in time travel by himself, but I didn't know it was related to this. Ms. Dva, what kind of person this Mr. Kim was?"

"He really wasn't stayed in sanity. Yep, he surely was definitely a half-crazy person. However, he was a person who cared for his friends and colleagues with more passionately and pride than anyone else in the world. And he was a mean person who still leaves deep feelings of longing in most of the peoples here."

"The latitude is like this, and to find the longitude, I just need to find the difference between the current time and Greenwich Mean Time, then… Wow, it's not that different from the GPS readings."

"What are you doing, Brigitte? Are you trying to be some kind of a sea navigator?"

"I'm just trying to use the last gift that Kim gave to me, Reinhardt. This sextant thing is pretty accurate even in this day and age, of 100 years later."

"(Austere laugh). I wish Kim could see you enjoying this much."

Reinhardt said, as looking far out at the horizon. Brigitte also briefly recalled a memory of some veteran from the past who had stayed in this era for some moment. She sighed and said.

"If I had known this would happen, I would have treated him a little better. All I remember is I took his gun apart without permission, and yelling at each other. I think Kim would have treated his gun as much as I cherished this armor and my flail."

Reinhardt also recalled about a young man who he knew, and probably become the dust of the past by now. He was definitely not staying in sanity level, but he had asked him if he also could have the spirit of chivalry. If only he had had a little more time to live in this era. If only he had helped him just a little, Kim would have been a solid colleague, or maybe even a traveling companion like Brigitte, who could have suggested that join the path of chivalry. The more he thinks about Kim again, the more he regrets about losing him.

[Bar at Somewhere else on the Route 66. Arizona, USA.]

Cassidy put down his regular outlaw hat for a moment and tried a green military cap on his head. He didn't look too bad in the mirror, but it definitely looked like it would look good with a short haircut. Ashe, who was holding a beer mug right next to him, scoffed.

"Where the hell did you get that hat? Oh, you've been acting like a Western outlaw so far, so now you're trying to change it up to an old-school military style?"

Cassidy took off his hat and carefully dusted it off.

"No, it's not like that. This is just a last gift from my friend I met out there. He told me not to forget our memories."

"What, how could you have fallen in love with someone so much that I could cry, huh? Ha, I've never seen someone who you being so concerned about breaking up. But no matter how I look at it, it doesn't seem like the woman who owns the hat. It couldn't have been with a man, isn't it? If someone like that guy who being so soft was my colleague, I would have punched him in the face first."

Ashe put down her glass and swung her fist in the air.

"He was a closer fella than you thought, and yeah, he was a dude. But it wasn't just a simple breakup. Because he died for us."

Ashe kept her mocking gaze on her face, then made a stinging expression at Cassidy's last words.

"Even if we could say it was inevitable… It couldn't have been easy for him to sacrifice his own life. He was not only bold, but also had great battle strategies. His personality might not have matched ours, but he would have been a very helpful companion if we could have kept him as an ally… The more I think about him, the more I miss him."

While Zarya was sewing the gloves she wear when she did some exercises, a memory of someone came back to her mind.

"In your time, you had to fix your own combat uniform, didn't you, Kim?"

Zarya asked, as looking at Kim who was sewing the top of his combat uniform. Kim answered with a questioning expression.

"Then, do people of these days are asking to others to please fix their combat uniforms for them, Ms. Zarya? Regardless of whether they are men or women, I learned that grown up peoples have to take care of their own things and do their own works by themselves. If the clothes I wear got torn out, I should mend them by myself. And if they are damaged beyond my ability, I should throw them away and buy new ones, or pay someone else with better skills to do the job."

Zarya pondered at Kim's words, then looked at his combat boots. M1962 McNamara boots. It was an old combat boot made of pure leather and rubber sole, without any of the digital fibers or reinforcements that were commonly used in this era, or not even the Gore-Tex, which was already out of technology these days.

"… Hey, Kim. If you don't mind, can you show me how did you polish your combat boots?"

"… With all of sudden, Ms. Zarya?"

"No, this kind of shoe polish or shoe brush is no longer used."

"That liquid shoe polisher or something like that definitely looks more way beyond good than mine. And there must be a reason why it was got replaced. Even more, this thing smells worse than you expect. And, uh… It's so different from the modern methods, it might give you a bit of culture shock?"

"Huh, whatever. I just wanted to see it. I mean, how bad it would smell?"

Kim shrugged and picked up the combat boots. Zarya could tolerate the smell of the old shoe polish. It wasn't that bad at all. But when Kim not only just use lighter fluid to polish, but also setting a fire to polisher with his Zippo lighter, she felt the culture shock that Kim had warned to her about.

Zarya burst into laugh as she recalls that fresh shock. Then, she looked at a corner of the lobby lounge which is now empty, and sighed with regret.

Winston was watching a documentary about his own kind. Although the Earth's environment has changed a lot due to global warming and the destruction of tropical rainforests, gorillas, even though they are an endangered species, they still live as part of the natural ecosystem. However, they could not speak just like him or think at a higher level.

In fact, he also thought about himself that if there were more gorillas exists which similar like him, that would be a problem, too. Wasn't the Horizon Lunar colony mutiny was also led by gorillas of the same species? At least he was in Overwatch, so he could have lived this kind of life. If he had been thrown into human society directly, he would have had a more difficult life.

Anyway, when it comes to human society, he remembered the honest reaction of someone who had never lived in the present era but had seen a gorilla who thought and spoke like him for the first time.

"Aaaah! A Gorilla can talk?!"

The words that Kim, right after arrived here in the year of 2078 from 1986 had said to him as soon as he saw him, still made him giggle by just thinking about that. Contrary to the prejudice that fella was from the past and was an past-age person, he was quite smart and often said things that transcended the times.

"Kim, do you wanna hear a joke related to the periodic table?"

"Uh… Maybe that's not gonna work out to me. I only speak English at the most basic level, and I always fell asleep during chemistry class after the part that Mr. Lavoisier classified the 33 elements."

That day, Winston, who was bored to death, said this to Kim, who was cleaning his rifle at his seat. Kim chimed in with Winston's words and cleaned his rifle. Winston, who was looking at Kim's XM177 rifle, asked a question.

"Kim. I'm just asking. If there's one thing that doesn't change no matter how much time has passed, what would it be? I haven't been to the past, but you're the only person who's lived in the era before 1986 and in 2078 at the same time, right?"

Kim thought carefully and put the gun back together. Then he opened his mouth.

"There are many ones, but… There's one thing that keep stands out. The endless greed of humans."

Kim aimed the gun once. Even also reassembled the rear sight correctly that Brigitte had secretly disassembled and put it backwards.

"There were many wars before my time, but I never expected that there would be this much more wars will be continued even after our time ended. At the time, everyone, including me, was stuck in the mud in the trenches of Vietnam, but I thought that if we could just endure this, we would all be able to live without worrying about war anymore. But, it turns out that no matter what time period you live in, those who do not care about the means and methods to satisfy their unfair interests and greed dominate the world. This is also the case with fools who intentionally enjoy conflict."

Winston recalled Kim's answer and looked at the photo he had left behind. There was nothing wrong with what Kim said. Human society has always been filled with conflict and war. However, what even they could not have known in advance was that Kim, who had already known this fact, was also destined to fall on the battlefield.

Lùcio was listening to music that had been out for almost 100 years ago. He was listening carefully to songs from various old bands, including Black Sabbath, Creedence Clearwater Revival, and the Rolling Stones, as well as The Queen and Nirvana. Although the overall atmosphere was definitely different from today, he could clearly see why these songs remained as best classics. They had captured people's hearts, and even now after two generations passed, some people still listen to them.

He thought about how he had first come across these songs. Obviously, the reason why he had come across these old songs was provided by Kim.

"Kim, what are you so exciting about?"

Lùcio asked as he entered the empty lounge lobby where no one was except Kim. Kim, who had been shaking his arms and legs and twisting his body excitedly, froze in surprise at Lùcio's unexpected appearance.

"Damn it, Lùcio! Make some noise when you come in! … How much did you see?"

"Oh, I didn't see anything else besides you shaking your arms and legs excitedly."

"Then that does mean you saw everything. Damn it."

"Kim, come on, play me some songs. Since I'm a musician by profession, I think I might get some good inspiration."

Kim looked at Lùcio suspiciously, then pressed the keys on his keyboard.

"Don't laugh at me for being so old-fashioned."

Dire Straits' Sultans of Swing flowed out through the speakers. It may have been a popular song at one time, but it is no longer that much of popular in a time when 100 years have passed. However, this old rhythm is enough to make even Lùcio, a musician of the present age, to move his shoulders by rhythm.

"Hey, this feels better than I thought? When was this released, Kim?"

"1978. Wow, come to think of it, this song is exactly 100 years old! Yeah, let's get drunk on music from 100 years ago since it's just the two of us!"

Kim shook off his shyness from earlier and started shaking his body again. Lùcio tried to imitate Kim's movements out of curiosity, but it wasn't easy.

"Is that the official choreography for this song? Why is it so complicated?"

"There's no such official choreography for this song, Lù! I just enjoy it! I listen to the rhythm and feel it the way I want and shake my body freely! Yay!"

Lùcio laughed as he thought back to the time when he and Kim danced together with some ridiculous, nonsensical dance and shook their bodies wildly. It was nonsense, but thinking back, it had been a long time since he had enjoyed music so purely. Kim was a soldier who was naturally disciplined and rigid, but at the same time, he was also a person who had the free spirit and excitement that people in the 1980s often had.

However, who would have thought that such a cute and free-spirited colleague would be the subject of a memorial song that he released? Lùcio still cannot believe that the song he had first written inspired by one of his friends would be his memorial song, but it was also sad. Kim would also must hated to be remembered in this world as a sad lyrics.

Echo and Bastion were standing on the ledge of the island's cliff, looking out over the vast Mediterranean Sea and the surrounding islands. At that moment, an object that had been floating around in the waves slowly floated down to the front of the cliff.

"That one is…"

Echo reached out and pointed. Bastion could see what it was. Shortly after Kim arrived at the Gibraltar Watchpoint, and when he suddenly being asked to demonstrate some of the past weapons, and it was the remains of the drone target boat that he had blown up during the demonstration.

"That thing is still floating around here. I thought it was completely destroyed and all sank into the sea."

"(Interesting beeps)"

Bastion reached out and lifted the hat he was wearing. It was a military-colored cap with various lettering and symbols drawn on it, similar to the helmet that Kim used to wear. It was clear that there were no life forms like the current omnics back then, and if there had been someone else more who had come directly from that era, they would have felt quite uncomfortable after seeing Echo and Bastion. However, Kim did not feel uncomfortable about them at all, and rather, he got along with them in a friendly manner.

Bastion still vividly remembered the conversations he had with Kim.

"(Curious beeps)"

"Excuse me, Bastion? Why am I not afraid of you? Uh, buddy, did I do something wrong to you recently?"

"(A mix of denial and explanation beeps)"

"A-ha, That was you saying, huh? Well, I was actually scared at first. But after hearing some explanations from other fellas, I was able to understand that you guys are also the beings who can think and have feelings just like us. So, I think I can treat you without hesitation like I did to my friends in the past."

"(Agreeing beeps)"

"… By the way, Bastion. This is something that neither Mr. Torbjörn nor Brigitte could clearly answer when I asked to them… You know, the sounds you make are definitely very different from the verbal language that we humans do speak, right? But how is it possible for me able to communicate with you so accurately? I asked you this once before."

"(Sick and tired beeps)"

"No, no, I'm not trying to harass you at all, I just can't understand. People in this era are still living in the same era as you, so maybe they have some other knowledge that I don't know about, and that could be why they can communicate with you! But what's the secret to me, who came straight from 1986 when there were no talking robots, being able to talk with you?"

"(Sighing beeps)"

Even for Bastion's standards, Kim was a pretty good friend, except for the occasional question that hit him hard. On top of that, he was so friendly with him that he even gave him this hat as a gift.

Echo thought about the conversations he had with Kim while he was here.

"Sergeant Kim. What are you thinking so intently about?"

"… About Bastion's fate over there."

Just as Echo was talking to Kim, Bastion could be seen, playing with Ganymede in front of them.

"I don't say this in front of Bastion because I'm afraid he'll get emotional hurt, but Bastion was one of the actual offensive weapons used during the Human-Omnic War, right?"

"That's true… Is that something you're worried about, Sergeant Kim? You can rest assured about Bastion. He's just…"

"No, that's not what I meant at all. I know Bastion is a good guy. … It just makes me think about the ugliness of our humanity once again."

Kim continued, touching the scar on his left cheek.

"100 years ago, they trained us so harshly until even before we lost our humanity, then gave us each a gun and sent us to the battlefield, telling us to kill the opposing humans. But still, there was a vague expectation that we would all be able to live in peace in the future if we could endure this out, but when I saw this era for myself, I saw that humans were still committing violence against their own kind, and they even gave personalities and thoughts to animals and robots, and made them get involved in their own conflicts. Why do we humans have to live by constantly killing each other?"

Kim trailed off as if he was feeling empty. Echo tried to think of an answer, but it was a topic that she couldn't easily make out a conclusion either.

"The enemies we had to fight in Vietnam were also all innocent. We were just dragged to a place we didn't even know where to go and did what we were told to do, but they had a clear goal. To drive out the invaders. Even back then, they were divided into the North and the South because of ideology, but in their eyes, foreign soldiers like us must be like a barbarian who invaded their country. That's probably why they won the war and we lost. The future isn't much different now. There are Talon, Null Sector, and other small terrorist groups, and Overwatch is here to fight against them. But even in this point, Overwatch doesn't seem to have a clear advantage. The same goes for the terrorist groups on the other side. What are we all fighting for? Why are we keep fighting now?"

The words that Kim quietly spoken out lingered in Echo's mind for a long time. Echo just looked at the distant horizon, thinking about what a soldier from the past had left for her. Only Bastion, who was playing with Ganymede who had just flown back in, seemed to have no worries at the moment.

Mercy stretched as if she was going to take a short break, and then her eyes fell on a picture frame hanging in a corner of the infirmary. It was something that had been taken from someone's body who had first experienced the Caduceus treatment a few months ago, and had been hardened in clear resin. Everyone who witnessed them being taken out of his bodies were shuddered, but that things were still amazing the more she looking at, and being the relics of the past war itself.

They were displayed not simply for the purpose of using them as decorations, but to raise awareness that these things should be treated properly so that they do not remain in the patient's body. However, these old bullets were always a source of wonder. Copper discolored by blood, cold pieces of lead, bullets shattered beyond recognition, and shotgun balls that were so round that they could be mistaken for artifacts, but when you realize that they were originally embedded in someone's body as a bullet, then suddenly get goosebumps.

In the first place, in this day and age, artificial body parts were widely commercialized, and since Genji, one of Mercy's colleagues, had personally completed his artificial body by herself, she no longer felt uncomfortable with the idea that there were parts made of metal in addition to the flesh, bones, and muscles inside someone's body. However, whenever she saw the bullet that Kim had to carry around inside his body even though he didn't want it, Mercy wondered how much of guts he had.

However, apart from his guts, he was not entirely free from the effects of war. Just like other heroes in Overwatch. Mercy often recalled Kim's unusual behaviors.

"Kim? What are you doing here?"

Mercy had been up late at night, having not finished her research. When she went out to the lounge lobby to get a cup of coffee and try to shake off the sleep, she saw Kim was sitting quietly in front of an empty projector screen. Since no one was using it, the power was turned off, and only a black wall filled one side of the dark lobby.

Kim wasn't asleep. He was leaning back on the sofa, but his eyes were wide open and staring at the black screen. His eyes were already unfocused from fatigue, but his expression was very intense.

"Kim?"

When Mercy put a hand on his shoulder, Kim jumped up in surprise, almost jumping up to reach the high ceiling.

"Aaaah! For fuck sake! Doc, please make some noise when you come at me!"

Mercy almost fell backwards in surprise at Kim jumping up. He took a moment to catch his breath and said to Mercy awkwardly.

"I'm sorry for swearing at you, Doc. I never meant to startle you."

Mercy stared at Kim for a moment.

"Kim, would you mind coming to the infirmary for a moment?"

Mercy dragged Kim to the infirmary. She sat him down on the examination table and examined him for a moment. She checked his pupils with a light pen and measured his heart rate and temperature. In addition to the deep fatigue that was usually visible in his eyes, she felt something else.

"Kim. Are you sure that everything really good? Your hormones from anxiety and tension are pretty high."

"Can you even diagnose that now without inserting a device or drawing blood? Wow, the world has really become a better place."

Kim rubbed the back of his neck and looked away, seeming embarrassed.

"Don't worry about me, Doc. I've always been like this at sometimes. I'm usually fine, but sometimes, at night, I feel like this."

"What does it feel like? Hold on… Kim, are you having memories of the battlefield come back to your mind or something?"

Mercy asked cautiously. As a former field medic, she had seen this kind of things before. Even Overwatch heroes often complained of the pain of having memories of battles constantly haunt them.

"… Doc. When I first got here, you strongly urged me to quit smoking, didn't you?"

"… I did. And you've had some success, haven't you? You haven't smoked in two months since you came here."

"That's right, Doc. Actually, let me add one thing: I quit smoking because some of the colleagues here didn't like the smell of cigarettes, too. But actually, I didn't like cigarettes that much even back in the 1980s."

"Huh? What do you mean, Kim? Then why did you keep smoke?"

"Well… because there weren't many ways to temporarily suppress the memories I wanted to forget. Drugs like cocaine and morphine can be addictive if I do it wrong, so the best option was cigarettes."

Mercy could immediately recognize Kim's symptoms. The symptoms he was showing now were post-traumatic stress disorder, shortly PTSD. Mercy was used to this, so she immediately made Kim sat down comfortably and spoke calmly.

"Okay, Kim. Now calm down and take it easy. Can you tell me slowly what memories are bothering you?"

Kim let out a long sigh and looked up. Beyond the examination room window, a full moon was visible in the sky.

"When you told me about yourself, you said you lost both your parents during the first Omnic Crisis, right? As someone who also lost both of my parents in an accident, I could understand what that meant. But what touched my most painful memory was the story you told me about the war orphans."

Despite Mercy's dissuasion, Kim got up from the examination table and slowly walked around the examination room.

"Baptiste was the same, but you were also a war orphan too, so you must have a special affection for the childrens. But, in fact, I can't look any children directly in the eye. Because, I am also the one who created countless war orphans with my own hands."

Kim found a mirror that reflected his face and quietly turned it around.

"This happened in June, 1984. Under a brilliant blue sky and refreshing clouds, I was leading my platoon on a patrol in the area called Mo Lai, the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. We had received intelligence a few days earlier that the Viet Cong were active in that area. Then we came across a village of a certain size. It was inhabited by the Hmong, or Montana, as the Americans called them. They were a neutral people who lived quietly by slash-and-burn farming and hunting, not taking sides with either South or North Vietnam. Knowing that they were that kind of people, we greeted them politely, asked them a few questions, and left right away. We also gave some candy and gum to the little children over there.

It happened only an hour later. We had already walked more than ten miles south of the village when our platoon radio operator relayed a message from higher commanding center. They said that a bomber plane was flying toward what appeared to be a Viet Cong outpost about ten miles north of our position, and that we should check it out if possible.

The moment we heard that, our entire platoon turned pale. Private Jordan, our radioman, shouted into his radio that it was not a Viet Cong outpost, but a civilian village. And without anyone saying anything, we all started running north again. The flat, easy-to-walk road had never been so damn long. We had barely gotten to where the village was starting to come into view. But, the strong smell of gasoline and laundry detergent already filled the air. We tried to overcome the deep despair rising in our hearts and ran to the village.

There were already a few people standing at the entrance to the village. But those clothes and guns. They were none other than the North Vietnamese army. Our enemies who were desperate wants to kill us. However, even after they found us, they couldn't readily point their guns at us. They just stared blankly at us with unfocused eyes. We couldn't raise our guns either. Instead, we burst into tears and collapsed on the spot.

The houses made of wood, reeds, and dirt had all disappeared. The entire area was a pile of blackened ash. The village chief and the adults whose faces we had seen were already gone. All that was left were human-shaped charcoal lumps and white bone fragments that suggested they were them. But what was truly terrifying was the children who had gathered at the entrance of the village, crying naked, and their skins were peeled off like melt plastic bag. In their hands, they still held the candy and chocolate we gave them, all melted and burned by the napalm."

Tears flowed down on Kim's cheeks. Mercy listened quietly to Kim's words.

"We were able to save less than six children in the village. And two of them died in our arms. There was no clash with the North Vietnamese soldiers on the scene. I think our instincts to save the children coincided for a moment in that dire situation.

We chose the three children with the least burns and left them in the hands of the North Vietnamese soldiers, and we decided to take the three children with the most burnt wounds. We forgot all the hostilities and battles we had fought, and we gathered our powers to save the children. Will I ever able to forget the sight of them turning back after making a silent agreement with us, with the naked children walking while holding hand with them, and the two children who died in our arms on the way back?"

Mercy shook her head, trying to forget the memory. Kim did not said those words to scare or torment her, but his lament about his nightmare was enough to rip open the painful memories she had. War was always terrible, but the fear and shock it gave to children was the most blasphemous thing in the world, a pure evil that should not exist.

Mercy was able to wake up from her horrible flashback thanks to the notification on her computer. She put aside her conversation with a veteran who had returned to the past, and opened her email. However, she was immediately in deep trouble.

What confused Mercy was the email from her old colleagues who had been deployed in the conflict zone of North Africa. Of course, they were colleagues who were still on good terms with her, so their contact did not bother her. Rather, she felt pleasant welcome.

However, the part of the email that asking for help to her, was very disturbing.

"The omnic virus treatment there is not working well?"

The mass infection in Toronto was suppressed by the serum provided by Kim, but a small number of carriers had already spread the virus around the world without knowing that they were infected, so news of the small virus outbreak was still heard from everywhere. In fact, the virus outbreak itself was something that all doctors around the world, including Mercy, could handle to some extent. Even though the solution itself was quite cumbersome, since the disease code was registered, it was easy to classify, and there was a cure.

However, everyone could be shocked that if the cure they had in stock was not working. Mercy walked to the refrigerator storage on one side of the lab, thinking that it would be a little busier.

[500ml blood, Jinho Kim. Omnic virus antibody holder]

Blood tubes, each divided into 10ml, were neatly placed inside an aluminum case. Mercy picked up one tube. The blood of a person who died 100 years ago still remained in this world. At first, it felt special, but now, the fact that this was all that was left of her dead friend made her feel complicated every time she saw it.

Anyway, emotions were not important right now, and the priority was the omnic virus antibodies. Mercy put Kim's blood tube into the plasma separator and started the antibody separation process.

Two hours later, only an unpleasant silence flowed in Mercy's lab. On the desk where the plasma separator, petri dish, and incubator were placed, the plasma, platelets, and blood cell isolate that Mercy had spilled were scattered in a strange manner. Mercy couldn't hide her confusion and ran around the lab, cross-checking to see if she had made a mistake or missed anything. However, no matter how many times she repeated it, there was nothing wrong with her work. That meant that one desperate hypothesis had become reality.

Mercy immediately ran to Sojourn, and requested an emergency meeting.