109. Yoo Bo-ram (2)
The car moved quietly.
The dark dawn sky was terribly clear.
"......"
Yoo Bo-ram stared blankly outside.
What I had inflicted upon her was a bit of violence and quasi-rape.
Well, should I even call this quasi-rape?
I only went down on her, after all.
I didn't even take my dick out.
But because I didn't go all the way, and precisely because of that, she had a thoughtful expression on her face.
Clunk
I didn't bother starting a conversation either.
If she keeps acting like a bitch when we get there, I'm planning to just torture her openly.
And there was no point in asking more questions here anyway.
Screech
The car, having arrived so quietly, stopped inside I-Pension.
The guards right now are...
Young-jun and Yun-ji.
What kind of combination is that?
Young-jun, who had been tense, sees my face and waves his hand.
Yun-ji lets out a sigh of relief and sits down.
Seo-yoon comes trotting out.
Yoo Bo-ram's eyes widened.
"Oppa? You're back early?"
"Yeah. Found someone. Can you call Eun-bin and come over together?"
"Ah. Yes."
Seo-yoon goes inside.
Yoo Bo-ram looks around and stares at me with a complicated expression.
#
I placed a Contract on Bo-ram.
Perhaps because I came on strong at the motel, she accepted the Contract without any resistance.
The contract disappears.
Veins appear on Seo-yoon's hand.
Yoo Bo-ram flinches at the sight.
"...This is..."
"I told you earlier."
"This, is this real?"
"Why would I lie?"
"......"
"Whatever, never mind. I'm going to check a few things and then get straight to the point."
Since the Contract is in effect, there are no mental abilities placed on her.
I stripped her earlier and changed her into different clothes, so there's no chance of a tracker or anything like that being attached.
Well, if it's an ability, then it can't be helped.
Anyway.
She didn't lie to me.
I asked for more details.
She also seemed to understand after seeing the people here.
Yoo Bo-ram.
20 years old.
She was a woman who had survived in Jecheon for 7 months.
"I guess Jecheon is still intact?"
"I don't know. We only stayed at home..."
"You have a map, point it out."
Looking at the map, it was a house between Bongyang-eup and Jecheon.
I wondered why they lived there, and it turned out her father was the CEO of a place called Yudong Mulsan.
That makes sense then.
Anyway, her father had influence between Bongyang-eup and Jecheon City, and her family was able to survive in their house for 7 months.
A house.
'Right, that makes sense.'
People living in houses in the countryside like this were people with some level of influence.
Either fishermen or farmers with high-paying jobs.
Or some company president or director.
Yoo Bo-ram's house belonged to the latter.
A house isolated in the countryside.
Powerful Infected didn't appear much in Bongyang-eup and Jecheon, and since he was a company president, there was plenty of food inside the house and the company.
Because there was something like a warehouse to store supplies.
And there were few Infected near the house right away.
"What were your parents' abilities?"
"Father had Arm Enhancement, and Mother had Hearing Enhancement."
With this, they would be able to kill Walkers or Runners in an instant.
And since she herself had the Portal ability, moving around would be convenient too.
"What are the levels?"
"Dad is level 2, and Mom and I are level 1."
Anyway, due to several factors, her family was able to survive for 7 months after the apocalypse.
Even if it was only about 7 months.
"The military came."
"The military?"
"Yes."
"Not the black trucks?"
"That's right."
Military trucks came, huh.
"Did you get caught while you were out?"
"No. They came looking for our house."
They came looking. This means they have a Search ability.
Or they just happened to stumble upon it.
"Did they come and take you away?"
If it were IN Company bastards, that would make sense.
But it wasn't.
"No. We talked."
"Talked?"
"Yes. With Dad and a soldier."
If so, it's not the IN Company bastards.
I've never seen those INRS/INSS assholes talk.
That means they are regular soldiers.
"What kind of talk?"
"I don't know. They told me to go inside..."
"Treating you like a kid."
"......"
20 years old.
That makes sense.
Honestly, a 20-year-old is a baby.
They say they're an adult, but it's no different from a high school senior.
Especially since she's a daughter, and it's a dangerous world, her parents must have been even more so.
"They said there was a safe place. In Chungju. That the military had cleared everything out. And Dad said let's go. That he knew someone there."
"Someone you know?"
"Yes. He said Colonel Gwang-shin Choi, a high-ranking person there, was Dad's acquaintance. Also, my ability is good... so we'd be treated well if we went."
Acquaintance.
Ability.
Military.
"And?"
"And we arrived at Chungju. It had huge walls, buildings, soldiers, and people..."
Chungju Defense Force.
It seemed like she was talking about them.
"At the entrance, Mom and Dad talked with the soldiers. I just stood there, and in the middle... they did some kind of check."
"What kind of check."
"Some man came and took a quick look. He wrote something down, and the three of us had a sort of consultation with a soldier. Like what we've been doing until now, what our abilities are, etc."
"And..." Yoo Bo-ram continued.
"And they told us to go into a building and wait."
"What building."
"It was a tall building. The building we went into with the soldiers. They said if we waited there, we'd fill out personal information and be assigned a house. But..."
"But?"
"After I went into a room, I have no memory. When I woke up... I was in a car."
"My car, you mean."
"Yes."
"You have no memory after entering the building?"
"...That's right. Suddenly my memory was gone."
"Did the soldiers have anything special? Anything strange?"
"...No. Everyone was kind."
"That place is here, right?"
I took out a map and pinpointed the location. The location of the Chungju Defense Force.
"I think so."
"To summarize, you stayed for 7 months, met soldiers, followed their persuasion to go live there, entered a building, and passed out. You woke up and I was transporting you, is that it?"
"...That's right."
"You were there with your mom and dad, but you were alone, right?"
"...Yes."
Then it makes sense.
Her reaction too.
If you pass out in a room and wake up being kidnapped by someone, that reaction is understandable.
Especially in a situation where she was with her parents.
'But then, what kind of building did they take them to?'
For one, the Chungju Defense Force doesn't seem like a normal group either.
According to the story of the three soldiers, it seems there are soldiers who don't know anything at all and soldiers connected to IN Company, separately.
'It's a different feeling from the Cheonan Warlords.'
And the regular soldiers really perceive this place as an army built for the defense of Chungju, and they are saving people.
Conversely, the IN Company side collects people, makes them into Human Pills to eat, and the high-ranking IN Company officials are growing among themselves in some bunker using Portal abilities.
'......'
If this is the case... it's impossible to distinguish.
I'd have to place a Contract on everyone one by one like the trio.
That's impossible.
'Suicide missions are becoming the standard strategy.'
No.
I should take her, figure out the location of that building, and then target that place.
Though I should start with her ability first.
"Bo-ram."
"....?"
"You said your ability is Portal."
"Yes..."
"Explain it to me. What kind of ability is it? Exactly."
#
A quiet night.
I heard the explanation about the Portal.
Just as I saw, it was not a Portal ability, but a Portal Stone creation ability.
An ability to create Portal Stones that can create portals connecting to spaces she has personally visited.
Compatibility is 89.4.
'Is it a crafting ability?'
Well, barricades are a crafting ability too.
With all these abilities, why isn't there a food crafting ability?
"Passageway?"
"Yes."
"Explain it in detail."
To summarize simply, the Portal ability is as follows.
Based on level 1.
The ability user can designate one place they have been to.
And they can create a Portal Stone that can move to that designated place.
The location is from the place where the Portal Stone is used, to the designated place.
"One place the user has been to. You, specifically?"
"Yes."
"Not the other way around?"
"No, only the place I designated."
"Is there a place designated right now?"
"Dad's warehouse."
"So you survived by going back and forth like that?"
"That's right."
"Then you met the soldiers and ended up like this. Do you remember the date?"
"To...day is what date?"
"July 6th."
"It's the 4th."
The 4th.
Then that means among the vehicles that went back and forth during the three days I was watching, there was a vehicle that carried them.
This is a headache.
Let's organize this.
The Chungju Defense Force is connected to IN Company.
This is certain because the black trucks are going back and forth inside, and they are currently extracting humans at some location.
However, it's hard to say that all the soldiers are connected to that side.
Taking the Cheonan Warlords as an example, they knew that even the subordinates were collaborating with IN Company.
The soldiers I killed right now are an example of that.
However, in this case, there are times when the lower-ranking soldiers don't know.
The three soldiers I left with Lee Jong-hoon in Naesu-eup are proof of that.
Then this means that unlike the Cheonan Warlords, they are ostensibly claiming to be a safe warlord group, or rather, an army.
In addition, they are saving civilians, and there must be cases where they bring them in and actually let them live, like Yoo Bo-ram.
If their ability is... moderate.
So, if they only have abilities like muscle strength or stamina.
In this case, it's better to just make them farm or work rather than extracting them.
However, in Yoo Bo-ram's case, I think her ability was too good, so she ended up being turned into a Flask.
"Then are all the soldiers in on it too?"
I shook my head.
"No, the soldiers I caught in Naesu-eup didn't know anything about this. I think they are separating and operating a specific unit. They are hiding that group inside an army that really protects civilians."
The trio in Naesu-eup were in a position to only receive supplies.
They only knew about the IN Company trucks and had no idea what they were doing.
They probably wouldn't touch soldiers or soldiers' families either.
'They are selecting only outsiders.'
It seems there is a separate unit that catches people.
And a group that has been specially selected by the higher-ups, whose information can be controlled.
They probably pay them a huge kickback too.
'Or they control them with mental abilities like Contracts.'
I think they are the ones who go out, snatch people, and then hand them over to the IN Company side.
And maybe they extract the abilities there and share them with the warlords or something?
Seo-yoon said a word.
"Why is there not a single normal army?"
"Tell me about it."
As we were doing that, Yoo Bo-ram asked with a blank expression.
"Then... my mom and dad...."
"......"
Well, that's probably it.
"Ah..."
Bo-ram is about to collapse.
Seo-yoon catches her.
I thought while looking at those women.
'I secured a Portal ability user, albeit in a different way. But this means I don't have to leave them alone anymore.'
To be precise, it means I don't have to feel much burden about killing them anymore.
However....
They have a Portal ability user too.
It means the most important places are hidden by Portal abilities, just like that hidden Extraction Room.
Even if I go and destroy the Chungju Defense Force, it means the IN Company and the high-ranking officials can cut their tails and run away.
Unlike the previous Cheonan Bunker.
Then what should I do?
'I haven't seen a tracking ability yet.'
There should be an ability to know locations, but there wasn't one.
Then.
'I can use the portal to kidnap key personnel.'
Putting the Appraisal Flask I took from the Extraction Room into Lee Jong-hoon, and kidnapping them via portal, this made the level of the Portal ability the top priority.
Well, if I raise it, the number of uses will increase, or the time the portal opens will decrease, right?
'Let's play the long game.'
I have to keep the Cheonan Hive in check anyway.
Because it seems the clue to level 7 is there.
I need to do more base defense too.
While doing that, I'll start messing with the Chungju Defense Force.
'Good.'