Fugitive (2)
'......It's there?'
The perfect place, as it happened.
It was an amusement park I had visited a few times when I was young.
Though I hadn't been there once since becoming an adult.
"Is it possible?"
Yoon Seo-ha asked.
I turned my gaze from the window to Yoon Seo-ha and said,
"It's possible."
"Really?"
"But it'll require some preparation."
First, if I'm going to have guests, I'll need to clean.
Clear out the ones already roaming around. And pick out some new ones to release.
There was quite a lot to do.
Pondering how to redecorate that amusement park, I asked,
"Seo-ha-ssi."
"Yes."
"Do you like amusement parks?"
Yoon Seo-ha wore a puzzled expression.
"How about bringing those people there?"
The ones to be admitted were decided.
Whether there would be anyone to be ejected...
Well, that's up to them.
*
The sun was high in the sky.
As the saying goes, strike while the iron is hot, so I immediately began my work.
I fastened around my waist the sword I'd traveled all the way to Insadong to get.
Was it a Bastard Sword?
It was the sword most similar to the one I used in that other world.
Ziiik-
I zipped up the high-quality rider jacket I found in the shopping mall below.
Nothing else was needed.
Black cargo pants and a rider jacket.
One sword.
This much is enough for a stroll around the neighborhood.
The clattering sound from the sink stopped.
Yoon Seo-ha, coming out with the washed dishes, paused when she saw me.
"Wow......."
"Why?"
"Oh, it's nothing."
What was that?
"I'm going out now, and it might take a while. If you get bored, you can go downstairs."
"Huh? Downstairs?"
"There are no zombies up to the second floor of this building. Because I cleared them all out."
"That's unbelievable, yet it also makes sense..."
"Anyway, just rest."
I settled Yoon Seo-ha on the sofa and went outside.
Now, let's begin preparations for the amusement park's opening.
*
The official name was decided to be this:
<PLAYER UNKNOWN BATTLE ROYALE>
-MAGIC ISLAND-
Participants would pick up weapons on that magic island floating in the middle of Seokchon Lake, and survive by helping or killing each other.
And if only one person, or one team, remained?
I would give them a chance to escape.
But right now, there were too many zombies.
With that many zombies, they'd surely all die off before they could even properly play a game.
So, I'll need to clear them out a bit.
I stood in the middle of the island and shouted,
"Alright, gather up!"
The response was good.
They rushed out from all directions.
...A bit too enthusiastic?
"One at a time. Come one at a time."
I grabbed the collar of the first one that rushed in.
Two arms.
Two legs.
Its face was decent enough.
"Pass. You go to the Blue Dragon Train."
I threw it into the building next door.
The next one had no jaw.
Fail.
The one after that had no lower body.
How did you even get here?
While I was busy sorting them, an unusually large one pushed through the zombies as if shoving people aside and came out.
Arms covered in an exoskeleton. Fingernails that reached the ground. It was a Mutant.
Just by glancing at it, it looked nasty.
"Graaaah!"
Good spirit, I like it.
I grabbed the arm that flew at me.
Kwajik-
It felt quite heavy.
"You go separately."
Can a boss be mixed with minions? But why isn't it listening to me?
It didn't cooperate until the end.
In the end, after wrapping its limbs with Aura to immobilize it, I pushed it into an empty warehouse.
As soon as I closed the door, I heard a scratching sound against the wall from inside.
Keeping the struggling one suppressed consumed quite a lot of Aura.
I can't keep it there for long.
'Just stay put until tomorrow.'
I ran around for a long time afterward.
If there were too many, I cleared them out, and confined the ones I wanted to keep.
I also checked the path the participants would take to enter.
By the time I came to my senses, the sun was setting.
"Ugh."
Killing them is easy, but trying to keep them alive and use them is a lot of work.
But I managed to do it.
Half of the zombies in the amusement park were pushed into the first floor indoors.
The rest were made to roam the island.
And I cleaned up the entire island neatly.
'Because I can't show Seo-ha-ssi such a messy sight.'
Severed limbs, dropped by who knows whom, intestines caught on rides, rolling, shriveled eyeballs....
Those things that wouldn't rot for some reason were bad for both the mind and the stomach.
Thankfully, I realized a way to sweep them away by spreading my Aura wide.
If I had swept with a broom and wiped with a mop, it would have taken days and nights.
"Phew."
Still, seeing the completed arena filled me with a sense of satisfaction.
I went up to the hotel and called Yoon Seo-ha.
"Seo-ha-ssi."
"Oh, oppa, you're back?"
"What were you doing?"
"I did some cleaning. Because I felt a bit restless just sitting around."
"Cleaning?"
Ah, now that I think about it, the room had become incredibly clean.
The amenities seemed to have been replaced with new ones too.
What was this?
"I told you to go downstairs and have some fun, but how did you find cleaning supplies?"
Yoon Seo-ha fiddled with the hair that reached her chest.
"Well, actually, I used to work a part-time hotel room maid job. Not here, but all hotels are pretty similar."
Suddenly, I imagined Yoon Seo-ha in a maid outfit.
Ugh, I quickly cleared my head and said,
"Wow, so that's why. It seems even cleaner than when I first arrived."
"Heeh......."
"Did you eat?"
"Not yet."
"I told you to eat what's in the fridge."
"I wanted to eat with you."
Ah.
I held the jacket I was taking off for a moment.
How long has it been since someone waited for me to eat?
"......You must have been hungry."
"A little."
Her answer was too quick for 'a little'. I should feed her quickly.
I took out a few retort pouches.
While Seo-ha heated them, I brought plates and cutlery.
When I ate alone, I just ate straight from the pouch.
By the time we finished eating, the sun was setting.
Yoon Seo-ha looked out the window. I also looked at the same spot for a moment.
It was a sight I saw every day.
But today, I found myself looking at it for a while longer.
"Tomorrow, I'm going to Geondae."
Yoon Seo-ha turned her head.
"Already?"
"There's no reason to delay."
Even now, they must be doing the same thing.
If I go a day late,
the people there would have to endure one more day.
"But I need to know who's who. Is there a way to distinguish them?"
Yoon Seo-ha pressed her lips together for a moment.
"They have scars on their faces."
"All of them?"
"They marked themselves. As a sign of being on the same side."
Convenient. Do they wear name tags on their faces?
"About how many are there?"
"There were over twenty, but exactly... I'm sorry."
"That's enough."
I said, stacking the empty plates.
"I can just count the rest when I get there."
*
Early morning.
I left the hotel for a preliminary reconnaissance.
Yoon Seo-ha was still asleep.
'This makes me feel like a husband leaving his wife behind...?'
Did I go too far? Anyway.
From here, if I cross Jamsil Bridge, it's a short distance to Geondae.
I jogged slowly, with the feeling of a morning workout.
The problem was once I arrived at Geondae.
Such a closed-off group would never let a man traveling alone inside.
...Should I just smash it down?
Smashing the entrance is easy.
But if I have to catch the guys who run away after hearing that sound, it'll become troublesome.
First, let's see how many of them are where.
As I pondered this, I found myself at Guui Station.
I stopped my steps without going any further.
The reason I stopped at Guui Station was because.
I sensed a presence.
I climbed onto a nearby three-story building and surveyed the situation.
"Move it, quickly! Any sons of bitches who don't bring back more than five portions today get no rations!"
Hmm. So that's how it is.
People got off a city bus covered in steel plates.
All of them looked haggard.
Among them, the guy shouting from atop the bus caught my eye.
He was plump and shiny, unlike the others.
That's the one.
But why did he even get a scar?
He's ugly even without it, but with that, he looks even uglier.
I watched the people move for a while.
Perhaps because they were survivors until now, they had a fairly established system.
Their response to zombies was skillful, and their movements were quick.
I watched the situation for a bit, then, taking advantage of the leader's momentary distraction, I entered the bus.
About an hour later, people started gathering.
Chwiik-
The bus door opened, and people came in.
I was crouched in the seat directly in front of the very back of the bus, and people started filling up the seats.
Soon after, someone sat next to me.
"??"
The person next to me glared at me.
I began acting like a good-for-nothing.
"Oh, hello?"
"Who... are you?"
"Um, I just joined a few days ago... this is my first time coming out."
"Ah... you've had it rough. How old?"
"Twenty-four."
"Oh, same age. Wanna speak casually? We'll be seeing each other every day anyway."
"Every day?"
"Oh, didn't you hear? If you want to live in Geondae, you have to come out every day. Those dog..."
The man lowered his voice.
"...sons of bitches."
I am the dog catcher who came to catch those sons of bitches.
A few minutes later, the bus stopped, and people started getting off.
I got off with the twenty-four-year-old man who introduced himself as Park Jin-woo.
The scarred man glanced at me.
"What? A rookie? I haven't seen your face before."
Park Jin-woo stood in front of me and said,
"Yes, he's a rookie. You know rookies don't have to meet their quota on their first procurement, right?"
"...He looks like a gigolo, I wonder if he can even use any strength. But starting tomorrow, there'll be no exceptions."
"I'll teach him properly."
No exceptions, huh.
That's what I should be saying.
I went down to Line 7 with Park Jin-woo, past the stairs of Geondae's above-ground station.
And I witnessed a tragedy.
At first, it just looked like an ordinary refugee camp.
But the state of the people was beyond words.
Boxes and tents lined up along the platform.
People were living inside them.
Haggard faces and filthy appearances.
The unusual thing was, they were all men.
Well, it's obvious, those sons of bitches must have the women.
The words slipped out unconsciously.
"Wow, this is a total shitshow."
"Huh?"
Park Jin-woo, who was next to me, asked as if wondering what I meant.
"It's worse than I thought. I didn't expect it to be this bad."
"Watch your mouth. And what do you mean by that? Worse than you thought? What is?"
"You don't need to know that, anyway, those dog... the scarred people, where can I find them?"
"...Why?"
Why, you ask? To kidnap them.
But for now, I hid it.
"Because I want to join the Combat Unit too."
"You'll die if you do that."
"Huh?"
"Those people don't let weak ones join."
"Never mind that, just tell me."
"...They're in the station staff office."
"Okay. I'll take care of you separately later."
"???"
I headed straight for the station staff office without looking back.
Originally, after a reconnaissance, I had planned to lure them out and take them all at once.
My mind changed.
These bastards shouldn't be left alone for another second.
Boisterous sounds came from inside the station staff office.
Among them were a woman's cries.
Kwaang-
I smashed open the door to the station staff office and entered.
"Wow, fuck."
It was a sight I couldn't bear to see.
"I came because I heard there were scarred sons of bitches here, but they were just horny sons of bitches, weren't they?"
One woman was stripped naked, held by two men.
One guy was filming it as if he were a professional photographer.
Another guy was watching with his pants down... pressing a woman's head between his legs.
And another guy was observing the whole situation, holding a soju bottle.
This is truly a bumper crop of bullshit, really.
"W-what the fuck!"
The son of a bitch holding the camera shouted.
"Ah, ah. I heard there were a lot of sons of bitches here, so I came."
"What? Sons of bitches?"
"I have a use for you. Anyone willing to come quietly?"
Among them, a slightly muscular guy approached.
"...A rookie?"
"No. A dog catcher."
"This bastard!"
A fist immediately flew at me. It was pathetically slow.
I didn't even bother to dodge.
Ppaak-
The fist hit my face.
"Aaagh!"
My body was clad in an Aura barrier.
If anything, it was harder than that fist, not softer.
"What?! An Awakened?!"
The men who had been vigorously 'exercising' with the woman in the middle hastily pulled up their pants.
Yeah, yeah, you should put them on. It's unsightly.
The middle-aged man furthest inside shouted,
"What are you doing! Just deal with him and drag him out!"
"Yes, sir!"
"W-why is that bastard answering?"
"?"
Huh?
You told me to deal with him and drag him out.
I began to 'deal with' them.
A flick to the forehead for the guy who punched my face.
A slap to the cheek for the guy who just pulled up his pants.
A karate chop to the crown of the head for the guy holding the camera.
A hit to the back of the head for the guy who still couldn't get his pants on.
As for the guy who had the woman between his legs...
"Lady, please step back for a moment."
Kwaduk-
"Ugh! Urk..."
One stomp to put that hideous thing away.
*
Including the station staff office, I cleared out all the scarred guys scattered throughout the station.
Later, people voluntarily told me where the sons of bitches were.
I personally carried them one by one and put them on the bus.
And they even brought something perfectly suited for the task from somewhere.
If there hadn't been a bus, I would have had to make over a dozen round trips, taking a few at a time.
Are you watching, Isekai?
This is the power of modern civilization!
Anyway.
I dropped them off in the middle of Seokchon Lake.
Counting them, there were thirty-eight people.
Quite a lot, huh.
"Hoo, hoo. Wake up, wake up!"
I even provided a door-to-door service for those who wouldn't get up.
"Kim-byeongjang-nim. It's time for duty!"
As I personally woke them up one by one, only then did they look around.
"......Where is this?"
I smiled and said to them,
"Welcome to the land of dreams and hope."