12. Rescue and Truth
12. Rescue and Truth
Men fall.
"Aaaaargh! Argh!"
The men's screams ring out.
Two died instantly.
Two are injured.
The remaining four: two with makeshift weapons, two with rifles.
I quickly aim again and spray fire toward the side with the guys holding the makeshift weapons.
ㅡBang!
A man gets hit in the head and dies.
A man gets hit in the chest and collapses.
ㅡKieeeeeeeek!
ㅡKieeeeek!
Because of the screams and gunshots, Infected are swarming from outside.
The ones inside are going crazy looking at the corpses.
It's touch and go.
Those men had temporarily blocked the door with thick stones.
ㅡKieeeeek!
ㅡBang!
ㅡBang!
I quickly finished off the remaining humans.
The man shooting his gun while collapsed.
The man screaming while collapsed.
Even the man trying to hide somewhere while holding a makeshift weapon.
ㅡBang!
But this is the limit.
The gunshots rang out, and the Infected swarmed in.
The temporary barricade of stones collapsed before the horde of Walkers and Runners craving human flesh.
ㅡThud
"Kieeeeeeeek!"
ㅡRat-a-tat-tat
"Guaaaaaaaah!"
ㅡBang!
ㅡBang!
Chaos.
The quiet school parking lot quickly turned into a human flesh party.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
I quickly opened the back door, went inside the first floor, and waited by the emergency stairs.
Given the nature of Eunha High School, this is the only place humans would come to in a place that's turned into such a mess.
ㅡThud!
"Huff. Huff..!"
"Lock it! Lock it!"
"Fuck! Save me! Don't abandon me! Don't you dare abandon me!"
"Min-seok-ah!"
"No! Don't abandon me! You fucking asshole! Guaaaaaah!"
"Kieeeeeeeek!"
ㅡCreeeak Thud
As I was doing that, two men ran in.
Judging by the screams outside, it looks like they abandoned the others.
Of course, that doesn't mean it's over.
ㅡThud!
ㅡThud!
Because some of the Infected outside came this way and started pounding on the door.
"Fuck...!"
"Shut up. That bastard from earlier might be inside."
"Which bastard did it? Hae-il? Jin-seong?"
"First of all, Han Min-woo, you fucking asshole! Calm down!"
"Uh. Uh."
The men are now trying to make a plan. Of course, I didn't let them.
One clueless guy, and one sharp guy.
I carefully stepped out of the stairs and shot the sharp guy in the head.
ㅡBang!
"Uh...uh?"
The man named Han Min-woo makes a stupid sound.
ㅡThud
ㅡThud!
"Kieeeeeeeek!"
The monsters pound on the door violently at the sound of the gunshot again.
"...!"
The man trembles in surprise.
I approached behind him, aimed my muzzle, and opened my mouth.
"Hands up and drop the gun."
Han Min-woo, eyes wide, stares at me with a blank look.
"Uh...uh?"
The man still doesn't seem to grasp the situation.
I narrowed my eyes and said.
"Hands up and drop the gun. You asshole."
#
ㅡThud!
ㅡThud!
ㅡThud!
Whether they're Walkers or Runners, the ones pounding on the door are intense.
However, at night, the Infected tend to get sluggish, just like those guys said.
They tend to give up faster, too.
It feels like they're being forced to wake up and move during their sleeping hours. And sure enough, after about 10 minutes, only the sound of feeding could be heard outside.
"Th, that..."
"Shut up."
"......"
It seemed like things had settled down to some extent.
Those things will probably stagger around the parking lot after eating the corpses, or head back outside. They don't have the intelligence to open doors.
I took the magazine out of the gun on the floor and said to Han Min-woo.
"Do you have a magazine?"
"Eh. Yes?"
Ah, he really is fucking dense.
"I asked if you have a magazine."
"Uh, I don't."
"Take it out."
I kept my distance from Han Min-woo and received the magazine.
He really doesn't have one.
Well, I guess he wouldn't have come into a place like this if he did.
I used two magazines earlier, so I have 120 rounds left.
'It's a bit lacking.'
Can't be helped.
There are so many people, when am I supposed to kill them one by one with single shots?
I'd die before that.
Anyway, the eight people outside seem to be all dead.
"Tie your hands with this. Right now."
"My hands?"
"Then what, your feet? If you ask me again, I'll kill you. Seriously. You'll die if you ask questions, too. If you open your mouth, I'm just going to shoot."
"So, sorry..."
"Tie your hands."
Han Min-woo, with a tearful face, tied his own hands.
"Yes..."
I intended to take him to Lee Seo-yoon like this.
It's still dawn, so it's the time when Infected are crawling around.
'The back door has Infected, so I should take him through the front door.'
Just like Kim Min-jun.
ㅡThud
I kept walking while maintaining distance.
Main building front entrance.
I narrowed my eyes.
'There are way more than I expected.'
Out there.
Countless Infected were swarming at the front gate beyond the playground.
Well, I did make too much noise with the gun at the back door earlier.
It'll probably take about an hour for those things to go back.
The time is 3:30.
Let's move again around 4:30.
Can't be helped.
"Turn back."
I headed back into the school.
#
I went up to the 4th floor.
The women were in the hallway.
The women are startled.
They probably came out because of the gunshots heard outside.
"Uh...uh?"
Han Min-woo makes a stupid sound.
And the two women look at Han Min-woo with contempt.
"Shut up and follow me."
"Ye, yes."
However, the women didn't say anything, perhaps because of me.
I ignored the women and opened the door to classroom 401 and went in.
"Sit."
"......"
I sat Han Min-woo in a chair.
"I have a lot to ask."
"Th, then... will you spare me?"
Usually, I would say yes.
But I shook my head.
"No."
Then Han Min-woo's face turns red.
"Then why should I tell you! You asshole!"
He spits out awkward profanity.
I stood up from my seat.
And kicked Han Min-woo in the face.
ㅡPow
"Kuh!"
I must have hit him wrong because I see two teeth fly out.
"Heugh. Heugh."
ㅡPow
ㅡPow
I raised my hand.
Then, I slapped the man's face.
Continuously, strongly.
"Guh. Guck."
"Do you want to die painfully, or less painfully? You decide."
ㅡWhack
"Kuh!"
It didn't even take 10 minutes for Han Min-woo to give up.
#
The reason the number of men decreased was because they had broken through to the end of the underground mall today.
"On the way, because of the Siren and Mirror, the guys gathered and had a gunfight."
"Yes..."
"So you used up most of your ammo, and the mart looked hard to break through, so you just came here?"
"That's right."
Of all days, today.
Well, what's done is done. 120 rounds of ammo is enough.
I continued to ask about the rescue and superpowers.
"They say they are doing rescues at the shelter, Cheongju Elementary School. Today, I heard it on the radio today."
Cheongju Elementary School.
It was an elementary school in the lower right of Cheongju.
"On the radio?"
"Ye...yes... It came out at the mart at the end of the underground mall there."
"Superpowers."
"Th, they say if you eat the Infected's blood, it comes out of your hand with a crunching sound."
"Is that also from the shelter radio?"
"Yes..."
"Do you have a superpower then?"
"Who, who would eat something like that. So we came here today..."
He must have meant they were trying to do something.
"Did you hear anything else?"
"Th, they say the ability you get depends on your suitability. Most are in the 10~20% range, and they say 30% and up is rare. They said there is a healing ability user over 70 at the shelter... and that people who need healing should come."
"Do you know what the 10~20 abilities are?"
"...I don't know that."
Suitability.
My suitability is 97.2. Does that mean it's the best ability?
Lee Seo-yoon was in the 80% range, so she's the second best?
I don't know.
Because I don't know anything.
And...
'Because I don't know if this is the truth.'
In the end, I have to take him to Lee Seo-yoon. I have to take him and verify it. And if it's the truth, I have to make this bastard eat Infected blood and make him extract an ability.
Then I have to watch this bastard for a day before taking him.
'Fucking hell.'
This sucks.
Should I just kill him?
But then, all the men outside are dead.
'Let's look at the long term. Long term. Yeah.'
I stood up from my seat.
And
I tied the man's body to the chair with clothes.
This way, he won't be able to get out of there unless he commits suicide.
"Wh, what are you doing."
Han Min-woo asks.
I ignored him and sat down.
#
An hour passed.
Taking a peek outside, quite a lot of the Infected had disappeared.
The time is around 4:30.
I dragged the man and headed outside.
"Ugh...!"
"Follow quietly if you don't want to die."
To the front gate.
ㅡCreeeak
I don't see many Infected.
The sun will be up soon, so I had to move quickly.
The path leading from Eunha High School - Road - U-Gwang Apartment.
Because Han Min-woo's hands weren't free, and unlike Kim Min-jun before, the distance was far, I used up about 10 rounds of ammunition.
'God damn it, my bullets.'
Where the hell do these Infected bastards keep crawling out from?
Still, unlike the Eunha High/Mall direction, maybe because I've been clearing this area for a month, no more Infected than that appeared.
Even if they did, we had already moved past them.
ㅡKnock knock knock knock knock knock
Just as I promised Lee Seo-yoon. Six times.
Seo-yoon is surprised again seeing the bloated Han Min-woo while trying to welcome me.
"You've com... Ack."
"Get inside."
Explanations come later. I decided to use Seo-yoon's ability quickly.
I hit Han Min-woo, who was asking what this was, on the head and made a contract.
"Th, this, what is..."
Han Min-woo is surprised to see her ability.
Well, I hadn't shown him my ability at all.
"Shut up and just use it."
Anyway.
"What's your name?"
"Ha, Han Min-woo."
"What's your porn preference?"
"Why would you... Ugh... I, I just like sensual videos. Th, this, what on earth..."
What I found out was that Han Min-woo didn't lie to me.
That there is a shelter at Cheongju Elementary School, that there is a healing ability user with over 70 suitability, and that if you eat the Infected's blood, a Nexus Core is created.
That, I heard on the radio.
"I, I told you it was true..."
Han Min-woo mumbles while crying.
Well, I can check the shelter and suitability matter myself. Besides, the distance from here to Cheongju Elementary School is quite far.
The important thing is the information that eating Infected blood creates a superpower.
"You, you don't have a superpower."
"Yes... No, but is this true? Su, superpowers are created. If you do that..."
"Shut up. Seo-yoon. Watch this closely."
"Ah, yes."
I smashed a Walker outside and brought back blood in a paper cup.
"Eat it."
"I, I don't want to."
"Do you want to eat it? Or do you want to die?"
"Anyway, you're going to kill... Ugh! Ugh!"
Han Min-woo spits it out.
But the verification was already done.
"Uh...uh?"
Because something automatically came up from his hand.
"Write down what came out."
"....."
===================================
Nexus Core : Enhanced Strength lv.1 [0/100]
===================================
Fucking English again.
Enhanced Strength.
I asked.
"What's your suitability?"
"It said 11%. Th, this, what on earth..."
"Write exactly what came out."
=========================
Awakening Nexus Core.
Suitability : 11.4%
Acquire a Nexus suitable for the user.
Nexus Core : Enhanced Strength lv.1 Acquired
=========================
"What is this? En... what?"
"Beats me."
I don't know either.
To think that eating Infected blood really creates a superpower.
I'll have to find out from now on.
'Though I'll have to find out other things first.'
I picked up the crowbar.
"No, no, wait a minute. Wai..."
ㅡWhack
Han Min-woo's head caved in.
Han Min-woo dies with blood spurting out.
I extracted the Nexus Core.
===================================
Nexus Core : Metallokinesis lv.2[0/100]
===================================
A core that doesn't go up even by 1.
I narrowed my eyes.
'So it doesn't go up even if I kill an Ability User.'