Chapter 55: Preparation
Chapter 55: Preparation
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"So your ability lets you perceive structures that are normally invisible, and instead of disabling a digital lock's electronics, you dismantle the locking assembly or latch itself. Is that right?"
"Yes. That method lets me open digital locks, door handles, and safety chains. However, after dismantling something, I can't use the ability to put it back together."
"Then you need to know which part to dismantle before the lock will fail. Did you study mechanisms like that?"
"No. I knew some things already, but after a few attempts, the correct part becomes intuitive. My ability also helps me identify structural weak points."
"Wow... so with enough time, you could take apart anything?"
"Not yet. At first, I thought I could dismantle even large, complex objects one piece at a time. I tried it on a car in the street, but I couldn't loosen even the smallest bolt. My ability probably needs to grow first."
Fascinated by the unusual ability, I continued questioning Eun-mi in the living room.
Meanwhile, Seon-yeong, Ga-yeong, and the other women tidied the apartment and prepared lunch.
The Charger's ability, Ha-na's healing, and Eun-mi's Disassembly all tempted me.
The more capable ability users our raid party had, the better our chances of surviving this world. I found myself wanting to recruit them.
Hah... I had started thinking of us naturally as a raid party and considering how to recruit talent.
A sharp reality check hit me. I'd mentioned games once, and somehow the raid-party structure had begun taking root for real.
"Raid Leader, time to eat..."
"Yeah... let's go."
The Information Display user we had rescued first came to fetch Eun-mi and me.
Even she was calling me Raid Leader now.
And I didn't even know her actual name.
What did Information Display actually do?
"Thank you for the food."
I gave a quick word of thanks and picked up my spoon.
The meal was plain white rice porridge.
The women probably hadn't been starved, but Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong must have prepared porridge because they were patients.
I'd felt too tense to digest a heavy meal anyway, so that suited me.
I'd entered the kitchen and sat without thinking. Then all seven pairs of eyes turned toward me...
Someone had brought in another small table so everyone could sit together, but no matter where I looked, I saw only women.
Seven women sat in silence and stared at me. For a moment, I could barely breathe.
I hurriedly lifted my spoon, said the first brief phrase that came to mind, and began eating.
Only then did time begin moving again. Utensils clinked, and quiet conversations started around the tables.
The women asked about one another's condition, former jobs, and experience killing zombies—safe, ordinary topics.
They didn't appear to have known one another well before this.
Seon-yeong, though, already addressed everyone by name and chatted as though they were old friends.
Her sociability was remarkable. Ga-yeong, by contrast, hunched over her meal in silence.
She was a lot like me...
"Oh, so you guys used to be a pretty big group?"
"Yes. Four people per squad, up to six squads. But then one day, some squads stopped coming back. After that, I got locked up, so I didn't know much. I only found out when those bastards told me..."
The squad led by the man in silver-rimmed glasses had devoured the rest of the Prugia Alliance.
Killing humans instead of zombies offered no gain in Available Points.
It did, though, reduce the number of mouths to feed and let them do whatever they wanted to the women.
They had adapted to an age of savagery by becoming savages themselves.
But was living solely by the rule of killing and taking truly advantageous?
Or was that simply human nature?
Was I even in a position to judge what was right or wrong?
I no longer let questions like that trap me in endless thought.
They had lost to me. In the end, all that remained was my own judgment.
"Whew, that hit the spot."
"Hm? You're done already?"
"Yeah. I'm going outside for a while. Everyone else, take your time and finish eating."
No one was shouting, yet the room somehow felt deafening. I finished quickly and escaped outside.
I went down to the apartment entrance, checked the three prisoners, and smoked a post-meal cigarette.
I still wanted to recruit the Charger and the capable women upstairs.
But accepting people solely for their abilities would inevitably cause trouble later.
I needed to discuss it with the others. Especially in times like these, I couldn't judge people only by usefulness, so I resolved to distrust my own eagerness to recruit.
No matter how I considered it, the most important question was whether I could trust someone with my back.
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"Well, I'll be off then. Keep things tidy and take care of yourselves!"
"Be careful, and please do come back and visit."
Seon-yeong exchanged bright goodbyes with the women.
The rescued women seemed remarkably resilient.
They were already able to smile.
Had only the strong ones survived?
The women had wanted to come with us, but they noticed my hesitation and didn't press the issue.
The apartment held plenty of food, and the women had experience fighting zombies. They should be able to survive together.
We decided to leave the three prisoners in the women's hands.
They'd said they would follow my decision, but their eyes were ablaze with a fierce desire for revenge.
The mood made any objection awkward, and I had no reason to care what happened to the men, so I agreed to hand them over.
They say a woman's grudge can bring frost in midsummer...
The Charger's ability still tempted me, but he was no more trustworthy than the others. I abandoned the idea and left the apartment.
"So you're heading back out to clear the road, right?"
"Yeah. We should. The Prugia Alliance was a disappointment, though. I went there hoping we could learn something, and found nothing useful..."
"Mister, I learned one thing."
"Really? What was it? What did I miss?"
"We need a Healer too. Someone like Ha-na."
"Yeah, you're right about that."
Going straight back and asking only Ha-na to come with us would be awkward.
It was probably a privileged concern, but I wanted more time to think before expanding the group.
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In the end, we turned back before reaching the elementary school.
The dense commercial district was packed with zombies, delaying us too much.
"Honey, talk with me after dinner."
"Huh? About what?"
Seon-yeong had said one of those perfectly ordinary lines that inexplicably triggered my PTSD.
Why did such a harmless sentence make me so uneasy?
"Pfft. Why so tense? I'm simply requesting an emergency meeting of Kim Tae-sik's Raid Party!"
"Ugh... Why did you tell them about Kim Tae-sik's Raid Party? That was so embarrassing."
"What was embarrassing about it? We needed to introduce ourselves somehow, and they reacted better than expected. Calling us a raid party even sounds a little cool."
"There are plenty of better terms. This isn't a game, so why a raid party? I meant it only as a private joke between us."
"What would be better? The Kim Tae-sik Family? Kim Tae-sik's Party? Group Tae-sik? Hmm..."
"Seon-yeong, I think the Kim Tae-sik Family sounds good. It has a mafia vibe. That's kind of cool."
"Hey, does my name have to be in it? Can't we choose something normal? We aren't an idol group. Do we even need a group name?"
Over dinner, the two of them joined forces and teased me without mercy.
They must have grown very comfortable around me.
I didn't think even Ga-yeong would do that, though.
After dinner, the three of us gathered in the living room.
Because of the emergency meeting, we gave up clearing more apartments and returned downstairs to sit in the living room.
"Alright, let's hear it. What's the agenda?"
"I want us to take in the women from Prugia."
Seon-yeong stated her request directly.
Until now, she'd always accepted my decisions and presented her own thoughts only as advice. This was her first firm demand.
"Give me your reasons. Emotion alone isn't enough."
Ga-yeong said nothing. Her eyes moved between us as she gauged the mood.
"This isn't only emotion. Of course I feel sorry for them, and I worry about how five women will manage alone. But I'm suggesting this ultimately for our sake."
"You want all five? Then I'll be the only man in a group of eight. Do you really think that's safer than leaving five women together?"
"Why wouldn't it be? Now that abilities exist, hasn't the combat-power gap between men and women, old and young, narrowed considerably?"
"Not completely. Basic physical differences still matter. Look at every survivor we've met. We haven't seen a single elderly person or child."
"The people we've met are far too small a sample. Just hear the rest of my reasoning first."
No matter how I considered it, Seon-yeong's urgency felt strange.
I couldn't shake the suspicion that emotion was driving much of her argument.
Still, I hadn't heard all her reasons. I took a deep breath and calmed myself.
"Fine, I'll listen. Go ahead."
"First, their abilities. I've thought about it carefully, and a wider variety of abilities would let us handle more situations. Some abilities are valuable even without direct combat power. Right now, you're filling every role yourself, while Ga-yeong and I both have the same Shield ability. Most importantly, we absolutely need a Healer."
"Okay, and?"
"Second, yesterday we agreed that we need more safeguards. Those safeguards are meant to protect us, and recruiting five more people would solve several problems at once. You often still have energy left, but you abandon apartment clearing and scavenging because Ga-yeong and I can't keep up. More people would remove that bottleneck."
Seon-yeong's reasons made sense.
We'd begun discussing intrusion defenses because the person left home alone had been endangered while the other two were away.
A larger group would at least ensure that no one had to remain alone.
On the other hand, several noncombatants might create new burdens rather than solve old ones.
"Ga-yeong. What do you think?"
"I think I need more time to think... Traveling together every day lowers our efficiency because Seon-yeong and I run out of stamina. But even if one of us stayed behind with the new people, would you truly feel safe enough to move freely, Mister? I'm not sure."
"Tae-sik, Ga-yeong. There's one more thing."
Ga-yeong seemed to share my concerns.
Seon-yeong clearly had more to say, so I turned my attention back to her.
"We don't have exact numbers, but I compared the survivors we've encountered in Zones A and C with the food still available in convenience stores. Even a conservative estimate says the eight of us could eat for months without difficulty."
"Yeah, that's true. The expiration dates are more of an issue, really."
"What you and Ga-yeong truly fear is that the women might cause trouble or betray us after joining. Put simply, they have no reason to. Antagonizing you would hurt them far more than us. I don't think you understand how important your role has become."
"So, in one sentence: all benefit, no downside, so recruit them?"
"That's a little too condensed, honey. Hehe."
Seon-yeong laughed in disbelief at my summary.
I'd oversimplified it, but the general meaning seemed right.
"We all seem worried about the same things. Let's not decide tonight. Think for one more day, and tomorrow we'll choose one way or the other. How does that sound?"
"Got it." "Okay!"
"We should also consider bringing in the people from the client company. I'd prefer more time to judge their character, but we may no longer have that luxury."
In the end, we wrapped up the meeting without reaching any decision.
I wondered whether I was being too cautious.