Chapter 33: A Trade Partner
Chapter 33: A Trade Partner
#
I left the supplies we'd scavenged in the first wagon and brought another one out of the storeroom.
This one folded as well. Seon-yeong agreed to pull it, and we left the building.
On the way out, I saw that the two men were changing clothes on the second floor, while Director Kim paced around the first as though deep in thought.
"But where are we going to get the food? Are we going back home?"
"No. Let's raid another convenience store. This neighborhood is full of them."
We'd scavenged every convenience store along the routes we had traveled so far, but another stood just across the road in a block we hadn't yet visited.
This time, instead of turning left toward the pharmacy, we would continue straight, cross the road, and head for that store.
We passed the buildings we'd ignored the previous day and went a little farther in, where we found a fairly large convenience store on the first floor.
Through the windows, I could see numerous shelves and three tables where customers could sit and eat.
What was strange was the amount of visible blood despite the complete absence of zombies.
"Wow... Seon-yeong, it looks like someone has already scavenged this place."
"Seems that way. There must be someone else out there killing zombies and moving around."
"Of course I assumed other people were killing zombies, but this is the first cleared convenience store we've found. It feels strange."
Someone had already cleared the zombies, but plenty of supplies remained.
Even a small convenience store held a surprising amount of stock when you tried to move all of it. This one was large, so a great deal remained.
We entered to make sure we checked the stockroom as well.
Knock, knock, knock.
"Hey, I'll open it."
We knocked and waited, but the store remained silent.
Assuming no zombies were left, I stepped aside and let Seon-yeong open the door.
Click.
Ugh.
I raised my bat beside her just in case. The moment Seon-yeong opened the stockroom door, though, she froze.
She remained motionless for a moment, then slammed the door shut and covered her mouth.
Very little startled her that badly anymore. What had she seen?
There didn't seem to be a zombie inside, so I pulled over a chair, sat her down, and gave her a moment to recover.
I wanted to open the door myself, but her eyes warned me not to. Instead, I fetched a bottle of water from the refrigerator and sat beside her.
"Feeling any better?"
"Y-yeah. It might not be a big deal, but it was so disgusting that it caught me off guard."
"What, was there a rotting corpse in the stockroom?"
"Yes. But its limbs had all been severed and scattered around..."
"Someone probably did that while fighting the zombie. It isn't easy to hit only the head."
"No, that's not what I mean. There were five heads. They'd put all five heads in one place, five torsos beside them, five left arms together, and so on. They didn't just kill the zombies and throw them in the stockroom. Every body had been dismembered in exactly the same way and sorted by part. What kind of psychopath does that?"
"Huh? That's strange. I should see it for myself."
When I opened the stockroom door, I saw exactly what she had described: dismembered corpses neatly sorted by body part.
A closer inspection showed smooth cut surfaces, as though something extremely sharp had severed each limb in a single stroke.
Human bones were hard. Whatever had cut through them so cleanly was probably an ability.
I searched the stockroom for anything else that might explain what had happened, but found no other unusual traces.
I didn't know whether one person or a group had cleared the store. All I could determine was that at least one of them possessed an exceptionally lethal ability.
"But I don't think there were many of them. They took far too little."
"There's a lot left... Maybe they only took what they could carry and planned to return?"
"Even then. If there had been many people, they would have taken more than this even if each person carried only a little. I'm only guessing, but I doubt there were as many as five. There are too many unknowns to be certain, though..."
"Good point. Should we scavenge quickly and leave? I don't want to be caught lingering here if they come back."
"Yeah, let's hurry. Meeting them could easily start an argument."
After discussing it, we decided to scavenge the store as quickly as possible and return.
If we lingered and encountered the survivor or group that had cleared it, a pointless confrontation might follow.
Looking elsewhere would waste time, and trying to avoid them here could simply lead us to meet them somewhere else.
There was no guarantee the other convenience stores in the area were untouched either.
"Untouched" was an odd word for it, but in a half-ruined world, insisting on stores whose zombies had not yet been cleared made no sense.
We decided to stop worrying, finish scavenging as quickly as possible, and leave.
However much we debated, our conclusions were still only our own. From now on, we'd focus on accomplishing the immediate objective.
#
Rattle, rattle, rattle.
In less than ten minutes, we filled the wagon and started back toward the Hana Trading building.
We'd rushed and stacked everything haphazardly, wasting space, but the load still looked sufficient to feed three people for five days.
We'd taken whatever food we saw: bundles of bottled water, instant rice, rice bowls, kimchi, canned food, ramen, snacks, and more.
"This makes quite a racket. I thought the rubber wheels would be quiet."
"It folds, so the joints rattle, and everything inside is shifting around. That must be why."
"With this much noise, every zombie on the street will react, won't they?"
"Definitely. Look, Manager Lee and Assistant Manager Jeon are outside."
As we approached Hana Trading, I saw both men smoking near the entrance.
The trip to the new convenience store and back had taken about an hour. They must have finished preparing while we were gone.
Had I known Assistant Manager Jeon smoked too, I'd have brought him some cigarettes.
They noticed us and started to approach, but I waved them back inside and parked the wagon beside the building.
When Seon-yeong and I entered, Manager Lee and Assistant Manager Jeon stood near the stairs wearing bulging backpacks.
Director Kim had changed into hiking clothes but was still selecting items from the store.
"Director Kim, do you still have much left to pack?"
"Oh, you're back. I don't know what I need or how much to take."
"Director, Assistant Manager Jeon and I have packed nearly everything we need urgently. We should move before dark, so please finish preparing to leave."
"All right. I'll go for now. I can say what else I need later."
As in my first impression, a habitually commanding air still clung to Director Kim.
I couldn't tell whether she believed she held the upper hand or was simply accustomed to ordering others around.
Manager Lee was holding a small backpack.
It was probably for Director Kim, yet it wasn't even half the size of either man's pack.
Manager Lee and Assistant Manager Jeon still appeared to be waiting on her as subordinates. I wondered how long that relationship would last.
I was curious what each of them had packed as well.
I'd advised them to prepare one survival pack per person in case of emergencies and shared the medicine I carried.
Even without opening their packs, though, I had a strong feeling that Director Kim's couldn't function as a survival bag.
How they prepared and survived was ultimately their concern. Interfering any further would be excessive.
All three appeared ready, so I only needed to explain the formation before we departed.
"Seon-yeong will lead. I'll follow while pulling our wagon, and the three of you'll come behind me with the food wagon outside. We're heading to a nearby officetel. Keep roughly three meters between each person while we move."
"Are there any other precautions we should know?"
"We cleared the zombies along the route, so you don't need to be too tense. Nothing is ever certain, though. As I explained earlier, the three of you must watch every direction and pay close attention to any sound."
I pulled our wagon of supplies out of the building first.
It was far heavier than the wagon of food and emitted a constant strained creaking that made me uneasy.
The Hana Trading group followed. They gathered around the food wagon and began rummaging through its contents.
"We're leaving now. Divide the food later."
#
The officetel we had chosen stood about halfway between the Hana Trading building and the four-story building where Min-su lived.
The route was free of zombies, and the distance was less than two hundred meters, so we arrived quickly.
There were more people than when only Seon-yeong and I traveled, and the wagons made additional noise. I worried that a zombie we'd missed might appear, but none did.
The officetel looked residential from outside. Since we'd only passed it before, I knew little about the interior.
The first floor had parking for roughly eight cars. An elevator and a glass automatic door stood to one side.
A password was required both to operate the elevator and to open the automatic door leading to the stairs.
"This is the officetel I mentioned. First we need a way inside. Director Kim, can your ability tell whether there are zombies or survivors in the building?"
"Yes, give me a moment. Hmm... Oh? There's one survivor. I think there are eleven zombies, but I'm not completely certain."
"Can you tell which floor the survivor is on? If we're lucky, we may not need to break the door."
"The survivor is on the fourth floor, somewhere near the middle."
My original plan had been to climb the exterior wall and secure an apartment with an open window.
Then I'd break the glass door and let everyone else inside. The presence of a survivor changed matters, though.
The question was how to persuade the survivor on the fourth floor to cooperate...
"Does anyone have a good idea for asking the survivor inside for help?"
There was no reason to solve everything alone. I looked at Seon-yeong and the three Hana Trading employees and asked for suggestions.