A Diverging Plot

The faint gunshots in the distance meant there was no real need to head back to the shelter.

"Even if soldiers show up, don't engage them. If they try to force their way inside, just let them know you've got guns. That should be enough to make them back off."

"Understood."

The moment I ended the call with Kim Jincheol, the others' eyes locked onto me, practically dying ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of curiosity.

"The gunshots came from the National Assembly."

"The National Assembly?"

"So they could've just been shooting zombies, right?"

"Probably."

"Haa... thank god..."

"Oppa, isn't it dangerous for them to stay there?"

"She's right. They stole guns to get out, so the soldiers already hate them. And that place is way too close to the National Assembly. I'm worried the kids might get hurt..."

I nodded at Huijin and Jeongyeon's words.

Kim Jincheol's group was made up of families—husbands, wives, and children. The husbands had been thrown into military operations and had plenty of experience fighting zombies, but the wives and kids hadn't. They ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠needed somewhere safer.

Somewhere far enough from the hostile soldiers that they could grow stronger in peace, and ideally a place where they could join forces with more people. Somewhere like this apartment complex, for example.

"Let's bring them here."

"Here?"

"We've got enough food for a while, people they can rely on and help each other with... and two heads are better than one, right?"

"Sounds good to me. We'll have to ask the others first, though."

Suho was right—this wasn't something we could decide on our own. So we gathered everyone in the center of the apartment complex.

"Damn, there are a lot of them."

The people who showed up looking uneasy easily numbered over a hundred at a glance. The fact that this many people—no, even more than this before—had been completely dominated by a gang of barely twenty thugs hit me all over again.

"Why did you call us all here...?"

"As you all know, we took care of the gang."

"Took care of them, meaning...?"

"They're all dead. They won't be coming back to harass any of you again."

The atmosphere instantly turned heavy. In their eyes, we probably didn't look ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠all that different from the gangsters. We were murderers who'd killed people, after all. But I kept going.

"The people standing over there are the apartment residents who cooperated with the gang. What happens to them is up to you."

"Please, spare us!"

"We only did what we were told!!"

"You know what those bastards were like! If you didn't do exactly what they said, they'd beat people to death—everyone saw it!!"

"Shut the hell up, you pieces of shit!! You're just as bad!!!!"

"That's right! You think we don't know?! You did the same thing to my daughter...!! Hic... sob... How much must that little girl have suffered....!!"

"......"

"......"

"......"

The men who'd been on their knees shouting about how unfair it all was clamped their mouths shut and hung their heads. They couldn't look up in front of the mother whose daughter had been violated by countless men until she finally chose to end her own life.

It wasn't just that woman. Under the gazes of people who'd lost husbands, wives, sons, daughters, parents—they started trembling and breaking down in tears.

I didn't think those tears came from guilt. They were terrified. Terrified of a death they couldn't escape. Whether those bastards lived or died was entirely up to the people gathered here, of course.

"All of you surrendered to a gang of barely twenty thugs."

"That's...!!"

"Those bastards were so cruel and terrifying—"

"I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know. But do you really think those were the only people like that in this fucked-up world?"

"......"

"......"

"......"

"As long as you stay weak, you'll keep being prey for anyone with power."

"So what the hell do you want us to do about it?!"

"Are you saying we should just do whatever you tell us now?!"

"No. Honestly, I couldn't care less whether you live, die, get oppressed, or thrive."

"Then why say all that...?"

"Get stronger. If you don't want the same thing to happen again."

"How are we supposed to get stronger?!"

"Hyeongu...!"

The one who shook off his mother's arm and stepped forward was a boy who looked about middle-school age.

"You fight. Zombies, people—whatever. To survive. To protect what you want to protect."

"So how do we—!"

"I'm planning to bring people here who can teach you how. If you all agree."

"Th-those people could end up treating us just like the gang did!"

"They might. You never know with people. But these are people who risked their lives fighting to protect their wives, their kids, their families. I believe they'll become good comrades and guides for you. The choice is yours, though. In thirty minutes, we're leaving. If you haven't decided by then, you'll just have to survive on your own strength."

I finished speaking and stepped aside with my group. About twenty minutes later, the man who'd asked Suho for help earlier came looking for us, along with a few of the former hostages Suho had rescued.

"We want your help."

"Did everyone agree?"

"Yes."

"We convinced them!"

"And we said we'd take responsibility!"

I had no idea what "taking responsibility" was supposed to mean, but at least we had the apartment survivors' consent. Now it was up to Kim Jincheol's group.

"Understood."

"Are you sure about this?"

"To be honest, we wanted to stay with you and your people, Juhan. But if that's your decision, we'll accept it. We figured we'd just be a burden to you anyway."

I didn't deny it. If they insisted on sticking with us, they really would be a burden, and I had no intention of traveling with them either way.

"Could you put the doctor on?"

"He's right here."

"What about you, Doctor? If you want to go back to the National Assembly, I can take you."

"Hoo.... Are the people there all healthy?"

"There are quite a few injured, but nothing life-threatening from what I can tell."

"If I decide later that I want to go back, will you take me then?"

"Depends on the situation at the time."

"Tch... so that's a no. Fine. I'll come over too."

"You sure?"

"What choice do I have if I'm not? The National Assembly has other doctors even without me, but these people and the ones over there would have to survive this world with no doctor at all. I do have one condition, though."

"A condition?"

"Help me bring some medicine and medical tools from the hospital."

"Got it."

Lee Hyeongmin was a good doctor. Kidnapping him had been worth it.

The next few days were pretty busy. We had to safely bring Kim Jincheol's group to the apartment, scavenge whatever useful supplies we could from the burned-out hospital, and teach the apartment people how to fight zombies.

More accurately, we watched them fight zombies and stepped in whenever things got dangerous.

"Hyeongu, you idiot! You have to stab the head! Why do you keep wasting time stabbing the chest and neck?!"

"The zombies come too fast!"

"What's fast about this?!"

"Watch how Suho hyung does it! That's how you're supposed to do it! Hyung, show him."

"......"

"Kraaagh!!!"

Who was teaching who here? I could've just left it all to Suho, but Jaemin and Yeonghun stuck to the middle-schooler Park Hyeongu—who was braver than most of the adults—and never stopped raining complaints on him. I couldn't tell if they were showing off or actually worried.

"Hey, be honest. This is a quest, right?"

"What quest?"

"Something like 'Raise these people' or whatever?"

"No, dumbass."

"Then why the hell have we been stuck here for days?"

Gihun had a point. It had already been several days since we settled into the apartment. It wasn't because I was still salty about that quest that only paid out a measly 50P.

Though yeah, it did sting that everyone except me got three stat points, 200P, and a random box. That ridiculously lucky primitive bastard, plus Nari, Yeonghun, and Jaemin all pulled skills out of their random boxes.

But the reason I was still hanging around here had nothing to do with leftover quest regret. It was because of that department store right over there.

They eventually clear it, sure, but the first attempt costs almost as many lives as the Spawning Ground. I couldn't just leave with something that dangerous sitting right under our noses. No—I had to be here to save the protagonist's party when they came bolting out of the place in a panic.

"Wonder when they'll show up."

"Who?"

"The protagonist."

"Here?"

"Over there."

"When?"

"No idea."

"Then let's go do other quests."

"We've pretty much cleaned those out. Wandering around might trigger more, but missing the timing would be worse."

"Hmm... Do we even need to join up with the protagonist? Aren't you stronger?"

"Protagonist buffs aren't something you can just ignore. And if they don't show by tomorrow, we're going in ourselves. There's something I absolutely have to buy."

"What?"

"A Safe Zone Setting Ticket."

"Those cost ten thousand points for just thirty pyong."

Expensive. But buyable.

Just from wiping out the gang, I'd earned nearly 800P on my own. The base points my companions got from clearing that quest added up to another 2,200P. Right now our group was sitting on a total of 8,960P. Clear the department store quest and a thirty-pyong Safe Zone Setting Ticket was as good as ours.

The problem was time. The shop was about to disappear. It only stayed open for a week. Two days left. Exactly two days from now, at the same time it appeared, the shop would vanish. It would show up somewhere else eventually, but the next respawn location I knew of wasn't in Yeouido. That meant I had to buy the Safe Zone Setting Ticket now. That way, once we left Yeouido, the protagonist's party would suffer a little less of the absolute hell they were originally in for.

So I planned to lure them to the department store.

"Suho, make some calls."

"To who?"

"The people who went to the National Assembly. Tell them a shop appeared in front of the commercial building we were at, and spread the word that you can earn a ton of points if you come to the department store."

"Spread the word?"

Once the rumor got out, people would check it. Once they confirmed the shop existed, they'd realize how important points were and scramble to stockpile as many as possible. And that would lead them straight to the department store, where the big points were. Since the shop rumor turned out to be true, they'd figure the department store rumor had a high chance of being true too.

"Yeah. Yeah?? A firefight inside the National Assembly?"

"A firefight?"

"Hold on. Yeah. Okay, got it. I'll be careful."

"What was that about?"

I asked Suho the second he hung up, and got an unexpected answer.

"Some of the soldiers and civilians seized firearms and broke out of the National Assembly."

"Again??"

Was a new resistance group forming just to keep the story moving? If that was the case, they might not throw a large force at the department store so casually. Things were starting to go worse than I'd expected.

Temporary Brigade Commander's Office, National Assembly.

Brigadier General O Yongwon, the commander in charge of all military forces at the National Assembly, frowned at his subordinate's report.

"So that thing actually exists?"

"Yes, sir. We just finished confirming it. However, modern weapons like firearms and ammunition are not among the purchasable items. Aside from that, most goods—including water and food—can be bought."

"A shop where you buy things with points... And the department store?"

"We haven't confirmed it yet because you'd have to cross Yeouido Park. But given that the shop exists, we assess that rumor is likely true as well."

"Source of the rumor?"

"Still unconfirmed."

"Possibility of a trap?"

"I'll send a recon unit to verify the rumor's authenticity and check for any trap."

"Does this 'quest' thing have a personnel limit?"

"Unconfirmed, but there was a case where twenty-six people received the same quest simultaneously."

"If the rumor about earning points at the department store is true, commit as many personnel as possible and secure the maximum number of points."

"Understood. Then for the force composition, primarily soldiers—"

"No. Send only one squad of soldiers and fill the rest with civilians. Issue firearms only to the soldiers. Use the remaining forces to form search teams and hunt down those traitor bastards who ran off with guns. Keep ammunition expenditure to an absolute minimum—and if you spot those bastards, shoot them on sight so they can't waste any more bullets either."

"Understood."

Things were unfolding in a completely different direction from the webtoon Kang Juhan had read. But the objective had been achieved.

"Baek Sihyeon, Choi Junseok, Lee Jeongcheol, An Gyeongsu, Yu Eunseol, Kim Seojeong. The six of you just called are Team 4. Baek Sihyeon will serve as team leader."

"Yes, sir."

An operation team of forty-two civilians—including the six members of the protagonist's party—plus eight soldiers was being deployed to the department store.