50. Safety or a Gamble (4)
"We were on daytime guard duty together with Suhyun oppa today."
It sounded like what happened after I left.
"I was down below, and Suhyun oppa was up top with his gun, keeping watch. Then, way off in the distance, I saw three figures walking toward us."
"The black guys, right."
"Yeah. So, with that ice wall you left behind, boss, I figured we'd just ignore them at first?"
Ignore them. Solid choice.
"But somehow they knew there were people here and kept yelling for us to come out."
"...In English?"
"Yes. They kept shouting, 'Hand over the promised goods! Where's your promise!' So, I called out to them from a distance."
Calling out to them? That seemed way too risky. I frowned.
"Why not just keep ignoring them?"
"Well, they started banging on the ice wall with some weird hammer thing, and the noise was insane."
So they went straight for the building. Still, not a good call on her part.
"Next time, just ignore them. It's dangerous. Or at least alert someone else right away."
"Yes, sorry."
"No need to apologize. What was Jeong Suhyun doing at the time?"
He would've prevented this if he'd been there.
"Oh, uh, Suhyun oppa happened to step away to the bathroom right then."
Nothing to be done about that. I pressed on with the questions.
"So, what did you talk about?"
"They kept asking where Ripley was, demanding I hand over the goods fast, and told me to get the boss."
"The boss? Ripley? Goods?"
"Yeah, they said open the damn door, what the hell is this wall, stuff like that."
"They didn't say anything to you directly?"
"Huh? Oh, no. Just where's the boss..."
The boss couldn't mean me. Not with weird terms like "Ripley." And "goods"—even just hearing about it, I could tell it wasn't anything ordinary.
Drugs? Food? A woman?
"Got it."
"I played dumb, said I had no idea what they were talking about. They seemed connected to those Liberation Army guys from before."
"And then?"
"They threw a fit when I said I didn't know, then started screaming and pounding on the ice wall..."
I could guess the rest. Jeong Suhyun's ruthless in situations like this—he'd have pulled the trigger the second he saw them acting up out front.
But I'd gotten key info.
They mentioned a woman.
Choi Yuri was a woman. And the original gang here were scum who killed people. But the Northdong Liberation Army was made up of reservists and soldiers—no women. Even if not, they were the type to rape women and slaughter indiscriminately.
So either there's a woman in the Northdong Liberation Army, or they're from a different group.
But the fact they'd tried talking to Choi Yuri first confirmed there was at least one woman among their underlings.
Anyway, that was that.
"All right. I heard the rest from Jeong Suhyun. You handled it well enough."
"Oh, thank you."
"No thanks needed. You did good, Yuri."
These people here had the basics down. From Jeong Suhyun on down—Yuri, Dojin, Yunjin. They were the only ones I could truly trust so far.
I've gotta keep them safe, no matter what.
Losing them would hurt bad. Plus, their abilities were solid, except maybe Dojin's.
As I was thinking that, Yuri asked me a question.
"But, uh, who were those guys who came earlier?"
"Oh, you mean the men."
Dojin, who'd been listening quietly beside her, chimed in too.
"I'm curious too."
"Survivors from Northdong Station. I was planning to set them up with their own outpost, but..."
I gave them a rough rundown of what happened, same as I'd told Jeong Suhyun.
"Whoa... sounds like a lot of trouble."
"Tell me about it."
"Th-those blood-clump monsters... did you see them? Zombies can't even get near them."
Dojin shuddered as he asked.
"No. That's the problem. I need to deal with them, but now we've got this church mess."
I trailed off there. But they seemed to get it—the black guys were a new wildcard they knew about too.
"Whew... anyway, I'm planning to rest up and sort things out today. No other issues besides the black guys, right?"
I steered the conversation back. The couple nodded.
"Yeah, nothing else."
"You gonna remake that broken ice wall, boss?" Dojin followed up.
I thought for a second.
"...Yeah, probably should."
We had Jeong Suhyun's skills, night watch rotations, and the vice-leader's abilities, but without the ice shield, things still felt shaky.
"Can't fully trust the new guys yet, after all."
"I see."
I'd decided to trust them, personally. Just not telling this group that.
"Yeah. Trusting people isn't that easy."
"...True."
We'd saved them, so our bond was there, and Jeong Suhyun was similar. But not them.
"So for now, stay cautious—no one goes down to the first floor. Jeong Suhyun's talking to their leader, so hold tight till then."
"Just the second floor, then?"
"Yeah. Two at a time, rotating shifts. You two stick here."
We could watch outside while pairing up to cover down to the first floor.
"Not outside, obviously, so sit if you need to. Tell Jeong Suhyun too. Once he says the talks are done, follow their lead."
"Got it, boss."
"Understood."
With that, I headed outside. Needed to repair the shattered ice shield.
"Yaaawn..."
There was Kim Yunjin, yawning in the guard room, staring out the back door.
"Kim Yunjin."
"Oh, boss."
We'd only exchanged greetings earlier, so I went over and sat in the chair next to her. I filled her in on Northdong Station and setting up Kim Jungshik's group on night watch.
"Ah, so I can head up, then?"
"Yeah."
"Ugh! This spot's a pain anyway. You can kinda see the path down but not really."
"Right? I felt the same my first day."
The guard room had crap visibility.
"Hehe. Hope we get more people soon. Standing all day is exhausting—keeps making me wanna collapse."
True enough. From the back door, the lower area was hard to see, so you'd have to pop up constantly if anything felt off. Me and Jeong Suhyun could manage sitting, but not her and the others.
"Still, can't leave just the night shift uncovered."
We hadn't even discussed base rules yet.
"Fair. But those ajusshis seem pretty chill despite how they look. They were cussing you out?"
"Yeah. Why?"
"I've dealt with plenty of boomer types. They're fine at that level. Even if they've got ulterior motives, long as they don't cause trouble?"
Jeong Suhyun and now Yunjin both rated them positively.
"Still, safety's not locked in. We've got minimal trust, sure."
"Not ready to make 'em full comrades? Nah, we just can't be sure about trusting them yet?"
She nailed my thoughts.
"Yeah. Like Jeong Suhyun said—age gap, and it's only been a day..."
I was about to smile and share more when—
BANG!
A massive gunshot cracked the air.
"Eek?!"
Yunjin yelped in shock. I jumped too, though I didn't say anything. No reason for gunfire here.
Enemies?
I pulled Yunjin behind me, summoning two Ice Spears and hovering them overhead. Ready to whip up an ice shield fast.
Nothing.
No one outside the back door.
BANG!
Another shot. Not aimed at us—I could tell from the direction now.
Jeong Suhyun.
I whipped around, looking up to the second floor. There he was at the window, rifle trained outside.
And where his barrel pointed...
Out front.
"Kim Yunjin, head upstairs."
"Y-yes?!"
"Enemies. Go join Yuri, quick."
"...Got it! Be careful, boss!"
She panicked but snapped to it, rushing inside. Non-combat healer like her wouldn't help in a fight.
Jeong Suhyun wouldn't fire without reason.
I sized up the situation fast.
"What was that noise?"
"Sounded like a gunshot."
The men on the first floor came out too, hearing it.
Whoosh whoosh.
I signaled them with hand waves. A few stared blankly, but Kim Jungshik and the vice-leader got it quick, herding them inside.
BANG!
Another boom. I peeked out the door—no one—then dashed inside and up to the second floor where Jeong Suhyun was.
Thud thud thud.
BAM!
Door open: Jeong Suhyun, still aiming out the window, eyes locked.
"Jeong Suhyun! What's going on?"
"Junyoung, you see that over there?"
He ignored my question, pointing far off. Toward the fancy houses, behind some streetlights: two men in blue clothes, crumpled on the ground.
Bodies?
"Zombies?"
"No. Humans."
He shook his head, pointing farther. Shadows of a few people standing. Just silhouettes—their bodies weren't visible from here.
"Shot at 'em, but they won't budge. Two dead already."
"...Why'd you shoot?"
That first. Highest chance they were the black guys' buddies, but could be regular survivors.
Jeong Suhyun's eyes flushed red as he answered.
"You know my skill. Theirs were all optimized for surveillance and eavesdropping."
"Surveillance, eavesdropping?"
Why skills like his?
I knew there were other skills and classes. But that alone didn't justify opening fire. He knew it too, continuing.
"Yeah. Enhanced vision, enhanced hearing—they kept staring this way, slowly closing the distance."
"...Closing in, huh. High chance they're hostiles."
"Exactly. The close ones were all black guys. The ones out there now have the same surveillance skills. I saw four total."
BANG!
One more shot. The distant shadows slipped away slyly.
Confirming it, Jeong Suhyun clicked his tongue.
"Two got away. Shit, this is getting serious."
If he was right, they were black guys with surveillance and listening skills. Had to be comrades of the ones who'd attacked while I was gone and got shot dead.