Crimson Flock Book 1: Crimson Flock, #1

By Paul Springsteen

It has been 4 years since the 1st crisis ripped the town of Bangseong from the Earth. Kyung Joon is a scout of the Church of the ever Loving Christ. Where he needed to identify monsters within the city and report them. Recently he has received a promotion and is asked to head to see the head Pastor Matthew Kim. What lies in store for him? Surely, it couldn't be something dangerous.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Paul Springsteen
• Release date: Apr 21, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201766696

Paul Springsteen

Paul Springsteen is someone that grew up in a medium sized town in Texas located in the united states. He went into the military upon graduating high school.  Though it didn't last long he did get an honorable discharge because of medical reasons. After this he went to the local college of his home town.  There he got a master's degree in physics. Due to illness he had a hard time in the job market before he discovered the joys of writing and wishes to spend his time writing stories for the forseeable future.  This came about from a strange origin.  From D&D of all places.  He kept feeling like he was getting shafted from playing stories.  So he pushed himself to write his own stories and enjoyed it. His stance on writing though is that he doesn't write to whatever is the it thing in the market.  Instead he has a particular way the story is supposed to go in his head and follows that.  So the reader should be aware that even killing the protagonist and having the bad guy win is a possible way things could happen in the story in the future.

Book preview

Chapter 1

Kyung Joon stood in front of a mirror, dressing up.  He was someone that liked to wear hanbok especially when he worked.  It was his work that defined him.  He had gotten something of a promotion recently.  Though he didn't know exactly why.  His boss was the boss of many in the city of Bangseong.  A man by the name of Matthew Kim.  A man that was someone of particular abilities.

He looked in front of the mirror.  He was 5'7", which wasn't that different from the typical Korean.  He had black hair and black eyes.  Very typical.  On his hands were scars that looked like his hands were torn open at one point by barbs of plants, but he didn't know where he got the scars from.  The hanbok was grey in color.  That way it was something that was more professional to walk around in.  His hanbok, in particular, had something of a red trim along with the grey that was the main part of the dress.

On his dresser of sorts in his room, there was a bangseong longsword.  The bangseong longsword was 4 feet in length of the blade.  The handle of the blade had room to allow for two hands.  It was a straight blade, not curved like a katana.  It was double bladed and had a base that was around 2-3 inches that reduced in size as it got closer to its point.  The blade was halfway weighted toward the handle, which made it something like a cross between a rapier and a longsword.

The bangseong longsword was one of the first adaptations.  It was made by a company called Dongtech that was in the city of Bangseong.  The adaptation was needed because they could keep making what they were before.  Originally they produced springs and metal plates from ore in the area.  Though mines weren't typically found in Korea, there was one nearby, which was the property of the Bin family.  It was an adaptation that was made after the first crisis.

The first crisis was the event that tore the city of Bangseong from the land of Korea into a land that was new and different.  A land that only recently had some scouting done as a consequence of the 1st expedition.  In this land, there were other creatures that were living that were intelligent, just like humans.  Though perhaps not with the same level of technology.  That was something that helped them.  Though that was the reason for the longsword.  Guns were rare, as was ammo in this new land.  It was just the city, along with some of the surrounding area, that was taken into this new world.  You could use swords over and over again.  Though there were recent attempts to remake firearms by dong tech so as to not lose their technological advantage.

That was the thing that was strange is that some people reported that there was now magic that was possible or other strange things in this new land.  Some members of the church of ever loving christ even were capable of calling forth such magics.  That was the organization that he was called to work for.  The church of ever loving christ was a faction in a city of 900k people.  It was a protestant church that was headed by its leader Matthew Kim.  He had the strange ability to know things before people told him, telling people that god told him already from the whispers on the wind.

There were other factions with in the city that seemed to be able to manifest strange abilities on occasion.  Though such things were still rare.  Usually, an organization of such people caused for it to be considered a power in its own right.  Many of such individuals didn't prescribe themselves to a particular faction, instead of desiring to be their own.  The propensity of the religious members to become part of the church of ever loving christ caused for it to become the strongest faction in the city.

The days in Bangseong were 32 hours long.  With 16 hour days and 16 hour nights.  There were practically no stars or a moon in this new land, so the nights were exceptionally dark.  Usually, it was very difficult to see, unlike the nights on Earth.  Their star was a red giant with another star that was circling around it.  So the days were typically very warm in this land and bright.

That was the new world that he found himself.  He tugged a little bit at his Hanbok to adjust it a little bit more.  Though it was kind of loose-fitting, and so it wasn't that much of a deal how much he tugged at it.  He combed his hair.  Though he couldn't put product in it.  Some things haven't returned to normal since coming to this strange land.

It was 4 earth years since the first crisis or about 2 in this land as the time of the year was longer.  There were events which have happened.  Though it was still a land that was ripe full of opportunity.  The population had grown some since they did some kind of census over the area.  Though it could either be less or more in that time.  There was a famine that preceded the 1st expedition before the Geon family created an initiative to have a lot more farms in the area.  Around a city called Mija that was founded by Mija, the man that headed the first expedition.

The population could be less because there were other things here in this land.  There were monsters here.  Though they took on different forms.  That was one of the things that that the church of every loving christ concerned itself with.  They were much more militant than the Christians that were typically associated with earth.  It was something of an adaptation.  The church of ever loving christ concerned itself with hunting monsters.  Though not everything different was considered a monster.  Sometimes the lines were a little blurry.

Though when you have to worry about the walking dead and demons, things get blurry.  Is someone that is possessed a monster.  What do you do with something like that?  The church of the ever loving christ decided to take something of a hard-line stance in this situation.  As such, the church was feared.  They were much more inclined to the warrior part of the religion than other groups were in the past.  Not since the crusades were it as militant.

Though his recent promotion hung on Gok Kyung Joon's mind.  Did he have to hunt a monster of sorts?  He was something of a loyal practitioner within the church, as was a supermajority of the city of Bangseong and Mija.  He would have to got try to talk with Matthew Kim on the subject.  Killing monsters and saving people.  That was something that the church did.  Though sometimes the lines blur.  As Matthew Kim said, the first position of the church is the will of God.  Then it is the safety of humanity.  Which he assured everyone typically goes hand in hand to a nervous congregation.

The church was situated in a large cathedral in the Gameseong District of Bangseong.  The cathedral was something special, but they were expanding the city, so perhaps there were more people living within it since it got started.

Then he looked at himself once more in the mirror.  He liked to keep his hanbok clean, but the soap was still something that was kind of expensive.  Working for the church didn't really pay that well.  It was something more of a calling.  Though the sword was given to him as part of the position.

That isn't what he had been up to recently, however.

It was like it was yesterday.  He used to patrol the streets of Bangseong.  Not looking for a crime like a police officer.  However, his task was to try and get an ear on behalf of the church of ever loving christ.  Intelligence in order to find if anything unnatural was happening within the city.  The church was interested if there was any evidence of monsters or anything that would be construed as such.  If they did find something, he was supposed to report the issue back to the church and relay as much information as he could possibly explain to them.  Though it was more important to explain something in general just so that a force could be sent to dispatch the disturbance.

He wasn't alone, though.  The church found that it was best to have people wander out in twos.  That was usually if someone was killed, there would be another to report.  Or, more likely, if both survived then, they would have multiple points of view to provide information.  So he had something of a battle buddy to relay information with.  It also helped with bravery to have someone else there with you.

Though his area was rather tame.  It was the Gamseong district of the city of Bangseong.  It is one of the more populous areas within the city.  The district was where the head cathedral of the church of ever loving christ was located.  It was built pre-crisis.  There were a couple of teams of scouts that patrolled this area.

Being a scout unit wasn't something that was very difficult.  Though it did have surges of danger.  The fact that your job was to find dangerous monsters meant that you never knew if something was there lying in the dark.  The dark was the worst.  Here in this new post-crisis world, the dark was darker than what you would find on earth.  There were little to no stars or moon to reflect the sun's light back on the planet.  Each scout team had something of their own protocol to deal with such monsters.  Though finding monsters was rare, it could very easily get you killed, so it was necessary to always stay on edge so as to not die from some unsuspecting part.

Once a monster or other such disturbance is located, there is something of a judgment call to be made.  If it is decided that it can be dispatched, then a kill team, usually comprised of clerics, zealots, and paladins are sent to deal with it.  There are others that don't follow class levels or ascension paths that sometimes go along too, but usually, they are given secondary roles as their fighting abilities aren't at the level of such people.

He remembered his former partner Dae sung.  They had been on many scoutings together.  Perhaps hundreds.  He was the partner or battle buddy that helped Kyung Joon stay on his toes.  He had also been doing it for about an earth a year longer than him.  Though the whole setup wasn't that old, so he didn't have that much experience on him.

Did you remember to get some caffeine in you?  Dae sung said to Kyung Joon.

I did, but such things are usually kind of rare.  Kyung Joon said.  We can't just keep taking such gifts from the locals.

Nonsense.  They know that we are here to help them.  So they give us things so that our job is easier.  We are essential.  Dae sung said.

Well, we aren't that essential.  They could always report back to the church instead of us if something happened.  Kyung Joon said.

"Hah.  Just think of old