Chapter 62: Mutation
Chapter 62: Mutation
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"Oh my god... Ga-yeong. What about Tae-sik? Is he really all right? How badly is he hurt?"
When we returned looking utterly battered, the people who had remained behind to clean the apartments erupted into an uproar.
Seon-yeong stroked the unconscious Ga-yeong's face with tears in her eyes, then rushed over and began pulling at my clothes to inspect my injuries.
"Seon-yeong, wait. Ow, that stings. Calm down. Everything's fine, and Ga-yeong probably only overused her ability. The same thing happened to you on the first day, remember?"
"Seon-yeong, please calm down. I used my ability on Ga-yeong and checked—she wasn't bitten or injured anywhere."
We were the ones who had endured the ordeal, yet Ha-na had to step in and calm Seon-yeong as she cried and touched me with trembling hands.
"Let's carry the supplies inside first. Cleaning can wait. I'll explain everything once we're all indoors."
We left the transported supplies piled roughly in the hallway and gathered inside our apartment.
The apartment wasn't particularly small, but with eight people inside, it felt cramped.
"A horde attacked us. One zombie was unusual, and there were a lot of them, but we were close to the bunker we built before. We held them off without suffering any serious damage."
"You call that no serious damage? You're still bleeding. What exactly happened? I don't understand... Tell me everything."
"Well... we were on our way back and a zombie horde came chasing after us from behind. This is just speculation, but it looked like one Commander Zombie was controlling the others."
As I described what had happened, I also explained my theory.
Even those of us who had witnessed it firsthand didn't know the details, such as how intelligent the Commander Zombie was or how it controlled the others.
"So in the end, you dealt with it, but it's all speculation?"
"Exactly. It's not as though we can communicate with them. I wondered whether Ye-jin might learn something by using her ability on it, but..."
"Raid Leader, didn't the Commander Zombie move far more naturally than the others? It wasn't only faster—it seemed to have much finer control over its body."
"Oh, right. It even dodged the rock I threw at it."
"Hoo... I suppose we can't let our guard down merely because we've cleared a route before. You all went through a lot. We finished tidying the other apartment, by the way. Go wash up, and we'll discuss the rest over lunch."
Seon-yeong pulled So-ra and Ye-jin away with her and began preparing lunch.
The rest of us went to wash up, and Ha-na followed directly behind me.
"Raid Leader. I'll treat you before you wash up. It stings when water touches it."
"Ah, thanks. Do I just stand here?"
"Yes, but I'll need to touch the injured areas. Could you go into the bedroom and remove your clothes?"
"Let's just go to the bathroom. I've got to wash all this stuff anyway because of the blood."
I took Ha-na into the master bathroom.
The scrape of fabric against raw skin made me undress slowly and carefully. My injuries were worse than I'd realized.
"H-hiiik. Raid Leader, are you all right? You were walking normally, so I had no idea it was this bad. I don't think I can heal all of it at once."
I dropped the blood-soaked clothes into the bathtub and examined myself. Purple bruises covered my entire body.
In some places, the skin had been scraped away far enough to expose the flesh, and fragments of asphalt were embedded in several wounds.
Standing before Ha-na in nothing but my underwear made me self-conscious.
My belly had disappeared, and my body had become muscular and well built, so I forced myself to square my shoulders with confidence.
"Please endure the pain for a moment. I need to remove the debris first."
"Yeah, thanks. I know you must want to wash up and rest quickly too."
"It's fine. This is what my ability is for, isn't it? I'm the medic, after all."
"Oh? You know the word medic? Where did you learn that? Do you play games?"
"Hohoho, no, it's from watching my father play Planet War at home."
"Ah, I see—hk!"
As she spoke, Ha-na casually pulled a fragment of asphalt from my skin.
Starting at my shoulder, she removed the fragments embedded in my side and legs. I barely managed to suppress the groans that kept forcing their way out.
The injuries had barely hurt when they occurred, but the pain was now flooding in all at once.
"That's everything. But what about your... backside? Is it injured too?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. I'll check that myself later."
"No, don't. I won't look anywhere else, so just lower your underwear for me."
Ha-na stepped close and took hold of my waistband.
She had never been a nurse or doctor, yet she showed no trace of embarrassment.
In the end, I stood rigidly still and allowed her to inspect even my bare backside.
I said I was fine...
"I'm going to use Regeneration now. Rather than concentrate on one wound, I'll spread the treatment over your entire body. I'm not sure I can heal everything enough to keep water from stinging, though."
"Water isn't good for open wounds, but... I sweated so much that I still want to wash. If anything gets infected, I suppose you can heal me again."
"Yes. Just try not to let too much water touch the wounds. I'll treat you again tonight after my ability recovers."
Ha-na moved her hands from one injured area to another as she applied her ability, then left the bathroom.
I'd Enhanced Recovery and probably would have been fine without treatment, but we still had to move again that afternoon, so I accepted it.
I was only willing to shower because I trusted Enhanced Recovery as well.
It probably wouldn't become infected.
Or perhaps I should invest a few more points in Enhanced Recovery.
While showering, I rinsed the blood from my clothes and inspected my scavenging gear.
My windbreaker, the performance shirt beneath it, and even my hiking pants were torn in multiple places.
None of them were made from easily torn cotton, yet I had thrashed around so violently that every piece was now unwearable.
They didn't even look repairable...
I considered throwing them away, then gathered them up and left the bathroom.
"Oh! You're finished? Why are you walking around completely naked? Didn't you take a change of clothes inside?"
"Yeah. Ha-na treated me, and changing twice seemed like a hassle, so I showered immediately."
"Let me see how badly you got hurt."
"It's fine now. And I've got Enhanced Recovery, remember. It'll all heal fast."
Seon-yeong nagged me as she inspected every inch of my body.
Now that other people lived with us, she warned me not to walk around naked while looking me over from head to toe.
"Whew, what a relief. His Highness the Prince is unharmed. Both of his companions are fine too."
"..."
After gently lifting my precious parts and inspecting them thoroughly, Seon-yeong straightened with a relieved expression.
I was relieved as well, but the fellow had no tact and began stirring the moment a woman touched him, which was mortifying.
"It's time to eat. Everything is ready, so hurry, get dressed, and come out."
Seon-yeong pecked me lightly on the lips and left.
I dressed and entered the living room, where the women sat around a long dining table I'd never seen before.
It was large enough for all of us. They must have brought it from another apartment.
"Where did you bring this from? We could all have meetings here too."
"We brought them from the sixth floor. They're folding solid-wood tables joined together. Anyway, how are you feeling, Raid Leader?"
"I'm fine, don't worry. I got treatment from Ha-na and everything. How's Ga-yeong?"
"Ga-yeong still hasn't woken up... We laid her down and tried several times to wake her, but eventually came back out. Once Ha-na joins us, let's eat first."
Seon-yeong and So-ra made all the younger women sit while the two of them set the table.
The two oldest women said that everyone standing would only create chaos and quickly served the meal themselves.
Ha-na, who had gone to wash a little later than the others, soon joined us, and we ate lunch together.
"How long has it been since I ate with this many people? I'm truly relieved that everyone is safe."
"I know. I'm thinking of joining the transport work this afternoon too. We should have at least one more person with an offensive ability."
"Ah, speaking of that, haven't you finished tidying the apartments yet?"
"We've already moved the shelves and most of the other things, and the apartment next door is more or less habitable. We haven't finished organizing the storage apartments because we need Ga-yeong for that."
"Then let's rest through the hottest part of the afternoon, check Ga-yeong's condition, and move together afterward. We'll transport all the supplies first and organize them tonight."
"Yeah, that would be better. I hope Ga-yeong wakes up soon... Did she simply collapse without warning, as though someone switched her off?"
"Yeah, she was bleeding from the nose too."
We continued discussing the morning's zombie attack as we ate.
By the third week after the Zombie Outbreak, we had begun to underestimate the zombies.
The day's events restored our sense of danger with a vengeance, and we concluded that far more preparation was necessary.
There really was no rest, was there?
The more people I spoke with, the longer the list of preparations grew, while the time available never seemed sufficient.
I'd hoped that increasing our numbers would finally give us room to breathe, but apparently the word "leisure" had no place in this ruined world.
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"What should we do with this? Do we need a TV?"
"I'd like it if you set it up. We can use it even if we're not watching broadcasts."
After lunch, I helped arrange furniture in the apartment next door.
When we converted Unit 501 into storage, we had removed the beds, sofas, and other furniture. It was fortunate that we hadn't thrown any of it away.
In truth, I'd left everything in the hallway only because hauling it outside seemed like too much work. I never expected it to find owners again.
Both apartments had three bedrooms, which made housing four people in each slightly awkward.
Because Seon-yeong and I shared the master bedroom, one person could have the study to herself in our apartment. In Unit 501, though, two women would need to share a room.
We hadn't yet decided how to divide everyone between the apartments, so for the moment we simply continued cleaning.
What criteria should we use to divide them?
They would probably work it out among themselves.
"Raid Leader. Ga-yeong woke up!"
Ha-na, who had been checking on Ga-yeong's condition, shouted as she came back over to our side.
At the news that Ga-yeong had woken up, everyone stopped what they were doing and came rushing over.
"Uh-uh... I'm okay. Sorry for making you all worry..."
Everyone crowded into Ga-yeong's room and packed themselves around the bed, each speaking at once. The poor girl had no idea how to respond.
Why did it feel as though we were ganging up on her?
"Seriously, what a relief. I was really worried something might have happened. Can you stand up?"
"Yes, Mister. I'm a little low on energy, but I can stand up."
"Okay, then once you pull yourself together, come out and eat. You have to eat something to get your strength back."
Ga-yeong looked overwhelmed, so I ushered everyone else out and left only Ha-na with her.
Now that Ga-yeong was awake, we planned to finish Unit 501 while she ate, then organize the sixth-floor storage apartments.
"Raid Leader, have you thought about how we should divide everyone between the apartments?"
"No, nothing specific yet. Why?"
"Well, if you don't mind, I was thinking that Su-jin could move into Unit 502."
Of course.
There was really no need for me to agonize over it.
"Yeah, that's fine. Is there a particular reason?"
"It's nothing serious, but... Ye-jin and Ha-na are the same age, and Ye-jin still depends heavily on Ha-na. The trauma from what those men did to her is so severe that she remains afraid to sleep alone."
"Ah, she seemed a little better lately. But of course... wounds that deep can't heal easily."
"Right. I thought those two could share the master bedroom in your apartment. Su-jin is only a year apart from Ga-yeong, so I think they'd get along well too."
"Alright, let's do that then. What matters is that everyone's comfortable with each other."
I didn't know whether So-ra had worried about the arrangement alone or discussed it with the others.
Either way, her suggestion sounded sensible, so I accepted it.
At first, I considered dividing the group according to combat strength, but abandoned the idea almost immediately.
It wasn't as though we could let our guard down at home, but people still needed room to breathe.
The psychological security provided by one's home couldn't be ignored.
Besides, living apart from Seon-yeong would have been inconvenient for me in several personal ways.
To be honest, that was the biggest reason.
In terms of combat power, Seon-yeong was probably second only to me.
We agreed to devise additional security measures later, but for now, we ended the discussion by adopting So-ra's arrangement.