Chapter 53: Preparation
Chapter 53: Preparation
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Thwack.
"Agh!"
I flicked the Charger user in the forehead with my middle finger, and he came noisily back online.
"Name. Age. Ability. Where you live."
"Ah, fuck!"
Thwack.
"Name. Age. Ability. Where you live."
I asked politely and quietly, but the Charger only groaned incoherently.
With no other choice, I flicked the exact same spot again and repeated the four words.
The axe wielder's ability was dangerous, so I had broken his hands first. This man clearly was the Charger, however, so a finger flick should be enough.
After I mercifully repeated the finger-flick-and-four-words combination three times, the Charger finally began functioning properly.
When something stopped working, giving it a smack first was the universal rule.
"Kim Hyeon-min, 25 years old, Transformation: Energy Conduit, Prugia Apartments Building 201, Unit 102. Please stop hitting me."
"What the hell? You live with the axe wielder?"
"Yes, the three of us live together. Our leader told us to share a place so we could respond quickly if anything happened."
Before I knew it, Ga-yeong had fetched the tablet and was taking notes on the Charger's answers.
And his ability was kind of unusual.
"Explain your ability. Everything you know, in detail."
"My ability transfers the energy in my body to a person I choose. When I touch them, I visualize... How do I explain it? Please move that hand away. Right, like a converter. I picture a conduit that changes my energy into the kind the recipient can use. Then, if they use that energy to kill zombies, my Available Points increase as though I shared their experience. I'm still calculating the exact ratio."
I cocked my middle finger beneath my thumb and waved it before his eyes. The explanation poured out of him.
We seemed to have uncovered an enormous amount of important information.
Ga-yeong and Seon-yeong listened beside me with wide eyes, completely focused on the Charger's explanation.
"We're four guys and five women, and they're all in the apartment. And..."
"Alright, sleep for a bit."
Thump.
The axe wielder apparently had not lied, because the Charger gave the same answers about their alliance.
Once again, a single knife-hand strike to the neck put the Charger to sleep.
We organized what we had learned.
According to the Charger, each person drew on a different kind of energy when using an ability.
His own ability could convert that energy into a form another person could use.
Also, up until now, I'd thought your Available Points only went up if you personally killed a zombie. That wasn't the case.
Indirect gains were possible, much like sharing experience in a party.
"Unless they coordinated their stories in advance, everything we just heard is probably true. Your questions covered too many random details for the answers to be rehearsed... Mix some false information into your questions for the last man. Tell him the other two already confessed everything."
"Okay. Ask something like, 'Where are the rest of your men?'"
"Exactly. Say, 'The others said there were six women, so why are you saying five?' Or, 'Where is the group that was supposed to ambush us if you didn't return?' Things like that."
We decided to mix false details into the final interrogation. I flexed my fingers, then woke the Tracker.
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"Agh! That's wrong! Those bastards lied. I'm telling the truth. Why are those crazy fucks trying to screw me like this? They lied just to fuck me over, boss."
Thwack.
"Who are you calling boss? That won't do. Go back to sleep."
The Tracker sank into unconsciousness wearing a profoundly wronged expression.
This guy must've been quick on the uptake, because he spilled all the info after just one finger flick.
"Seon-yeong, what do you think? Their stories seem reliable enough now."
"Yeah. None of them seems calculating or bold enough to maintain a lie that elaborate. Still, that Charm almost put us in serious danger. Was my mental resistance too weak...?"
"They said it seemed more effective on women. Even the man who used it didn't understand it completely, but that is probably true. Every Status Window seems equally unhelpful."
Charm didn't directly overpower the target's reason.
Instead, it built goodwill toward the user and made the target trust him.
The effect grew stronger with prolonged exposure, though its strength varied from person to person.
The unconscious trio had spent so much time beside their leader that lately they would have believed him if he claimed the sky was green.
The daze Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong experienced was apparently a one-time reaction when the ability first took hold, after which the target gradually returned to normal. None of that mattered now.
"What do we do now? How should we handle these men, and what about the five women at Prugia Apartments?"
"We'll inspect Prugia Apartments. As for these men, we need to think a little longer."
"Mister, did they do those things because their leader was controlling them?"
"It doesn't sound like outright mind control. I think they are the same kind of scum as their leader. We'll decide after we reach Prugia Apartments and see the women's condition. Think about it yourselves and tell me what you believe then."
The trio had been reluctant to explain exactly how they treated the women they kept.
Each shifted the blame, claiming that he personally had done nothing and that the leader was the one who tormented them.
The women were the only subject on which the three prisoners failed to give matching answers.
That alone made it certain that the five women in the apartment had been treated terribly.
We were neither vigilantes dispensing justice nor a rescue team.
They had attacked us, so we could have thrown them to the zombies and continued toward our original destination.
However, I wanted to know how they had secured their apartment and what defensive preparations they had made, so we decided to visit Prugia Apartments.
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Scrape, scrape. Thud, thud.
"Agh... Please, let us walk. Urgh..."
"Shh."
We tied all three pairs of ankles together and dragged the men behind us, producing a constant racket.
The Charger woke first. When I showed him my cocked middle finger, he fell silent again.
"Isn't that a little harsh?"
"Ga-yeong, remember what these fuckers intended to do to us. Their offer to let the women remain indoors wasn't an act of kindness."
Honestly, I wanted to punish the bastards far more severely.
I hadn't expected one billiard ball to kill their leader. Dying that easily was more mercy than he deserved.
I was already holding back out of consideration for Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong, but even this seemed difficult for softhearted Ga-yeong to watch.
I heard Seon-yeong step in and start explaining just how vicious these guys were.
"This side's all cleared out. It's clean."
"Right. Only the route we came from was still uncleared. Honey, do you think these men already looted the hardware and stationery stores?"
"We haven't gotten to that side yet, urgh... so far. We just barely finished cleaning—argh... cleaning up the apartment and the area arounth ith."
"Shh. Be quiet."
I silenced the Charger again when he interrupted Seon-yeong, then led the way through the main gate of Prugia Apartments.
By the time we reached Building 201, the axe wielder and the Tracker had regained consciousness and begun watching us nervously.
"You two can sleep a little longer. I'm doing this because I would rather not hurt you again, so be grateful. If any information you gave us is false, I'll demonstrate how a finger flick can break every bone in your bodies."
If we dragged them up the stairs with their legs tied, they might actually die.
I didn't want to carry them, either. I prescribed another dose of my knife-hand sleeping pill and used more of Seon-yeong's rope to bind them so tightly they couldn't move.
"Ga-yeong, it's two people in Unit 201 and three in Unit 202, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Okay, let's start with Unit 201."
We went up to the second floor, punched in the passcode they'd given us, and opened the front door.
As we stepped into the silent apartment, hot, stuffy air washed over us.
Beyond the inner door lay a spacious living room and kitchen that looked no different from an ordinary family home.
Maybe they weren't big on ventilation or cleaning, because there was a slightly musty smell, and a fair amount of dust had settled on the shelves and floor.
"Ugh... it's a total pigsty."
We kept our shoes on as we entered. Folding doors in the living room and kitchen led to a balcony, and four bedroom doors opened off the hall.
The three of us entered together, starting with the room that appeared to be the master bedroom.
There was a chance those guys had collectively deceived us.
There could be some kind of trap or ambush waiting.
"Urgh..."
"Ah... how..."
"These fucking bastards."
When I opened the master-bedroom door, a scene far more horrific than I had imagined filled my vision.
A woman was bound to a king-size bed, and I could not tell whether she was still alive.
The sight was so horrific that I worried about how badly it would shock Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong.
As women themselves, they might find it even more painful to witness.
Should I send the two of them out and handle this situation alone?
But the place wasn't fully secured yet.
"Honey, this looks like the bathroom. Help me check it too. Ga-yeong, pull yourself together. We need to help this woman."
"Okay. Sorry, I was startled for a second. I'm fine."
While I stood frozen and uncertain, Seon-yeong's and Ga-yeong's voices cut through my thoughts.
I had told myself not to overprotect them, yet in my attempt to shield them, I had begun underestimating them.
They were capable companions who were already adapting well to this world.
I couldn't afford to forget that.