42. Logistics Center Base (2)
42. Logistics Center Base (2)
The person I see is a man in his 20s with a good impression.
He stood up from his seat and bowed his head as he spoke.
"Ah, hello. I am 2nd Platoon Leader Kim In-seop of the 4th Company, 1st Battalion, 1st Regiment, 32nd Division."
"Ah. Yes. Hello. I am Kim Yu-seong."
He's way too polite.
Besides, do they usually introduce themselves with their full rank like that?
"Ah, you can sit here."
"Ah, yes."
He said, gesturing for me to take a seat.
It seems this guy is in charge of outsiders.
I asked.
"Are you going to do some kind of inspection or something?"
"No. Well, the guys said you came from Cheongju. And that you had some questions."
"That's right."
"So. We also have a lot of questions for you, Yu-seong-ssi, so we arranged this meeting. After all, you're the first outsider to come here."
"The first?"
"Yes."
The first. That's a bit... concerning.
Doesn't that mean they haven't been able to bring in a single survivor other than the ones they brought themselves?
As I was thinking that, Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop opened his mouth.
"Um, you can ask your questions first."
"Huh?"
"You can ask your questions first."
The man repeated the same thing.
I asked.
"Usually, isn't it better for you to go first? You are the military, after all."
"You have to give something to get something, right? Feel free to ask."
If that's the case.
I'm not the type to refuse something like that.
I carefully opened my mouth.
"Then, um..."
"Yes."
"I went to Cheongju Elementary School and the Cheongju Cultural Center in the south of Cheongju. I met the people remaining there, but I heard that no rescue ever came to Cheongju Elementary, and they only took half from the Cultural Center."
"...Yes. That is correct."
I asked immediately.
"Why did you give up and turn back? If the 32nd Division troops are back here, there must be a problem."
"......"
The Second Lieutenant shut his mouth.
"Is it a sensitive issue? Like a military matter? If so, you don't have to say anything."
"No. Well."
The man sighed. Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop opened his mouth with a serious face.
"It's because after the rescue at the Cultural Center, we lost contact with the entire main force. Currently, except for our 4th Company's 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Platoons, everyone else is out of contact."
"What?"
Kim In-seop began to explain.
#
I summarized it.
"Ah, so. The division got smashed, so the organization was just changed to the 1st Battalion, and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Companies went to Sejong, while the 4th Company went to Cheongju."
"Yes."
"And the 4th Company, where Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop is, went up to Cheongju, rescued the Cultural Center first, spread the word to Cheongju Elementary and Hana Elementary, and on the way back, lost contact with all the other companies. Is that it? And the remaining personnel are 70 soldiers and about 200 civilians?"
"That's accurate. And now, we're in a situation where we can't go anywhere."
"Why didn't you contact Cheongju Elementary and that area?"
"The distance was too far, so it was out of range."
"Ah."
Then it can't be helped.
"We came here to avoid the Variants."
Variants.
There's no answer for that.
In that case, this place is just a remnant force.
I have a lot of questions, but now it was the Second Lieutenant's turn.
"......"
"......"
"You can ask more questions if you're curious."
The Second Lieutenant said. I shook my head.
"...No. Well, I know the important stuff roughly."
Yeah.
I know well that the military is completely wrecked.
Seoul, Cheongju, and now Sejong. Is there even a single place that's okay?
"Yes. Then..."
The Second Lieutenant sighed deeply.
This guy seems to be having a pretty rough time too.
"You said you came from Cheongju, so I need information about that area. The last military internal communication network said the 37th Division was going to clear out Cheongju, but according to the Cheongju civilians, no rescue ever came."
Is this the kind of question he has?
I answered.
"Well, as you expected, it's smashed. The 37th Division Commander was killed by his own soldiers, everything has disintegrated, and now they've all become reckless people, and the civilians are fending for themselves."
"...The story about the 37th Division Commander..."
"I heard it while catching deserters."
"...You caught deserters."
"Yes."
He didn't seem to make an issue of it.
"Then, it seems like there are a lot of Infected there too, how did you come down?"
I changed the subject.
"Are you using that chair? Is it okay if it disappears?"
"...It doesn't matter, but why?"
I lifted the chair. The Second Lieutenant's eyes widened.
And,
ㅡcrrr-ack
ㅡthud
ㅡclack
The chair was completely compressed and fell.
"......"
"......"
"I see."
The Second Lieutenant sighed and leaned back.
"In the end, it means there's no hope for Cheongju either. We were only counting on the 37th Division."
"This place is probably better. I haven't even seen soldiers in Cheongju at all."
"Is that so?"
"......"
The situation seems pretty bad.
Well, 70 soldiers plus civilians, that's 300 people at most.
That means only 300 people barely survived in that big Sejong City.
Plus, this guy is a young Second Lieutenant. He's probably around my age.
I opened my mouth.
"Um."
"Ah, yes."
The Second Lieutenant snapped back to reality.
"Is there no contact with Seoul or places like that at all?"
"Yes. There's nowhere we've made contact with. We keep trying to send messages through the internal communication network, but there's no response from anywhere."
"We're fucked."
"Yes."
I used profanity, but the Second Lieutenant didn't really care.
Because we are literally fucked.
The silence returned.
Only after a long while did the Second Lieutenant open his mouth.
"Um..."
"Yes."
A cautious question.
"Did you come here to join us?"
I shook my head.
"No."
"......"
He continued to ask.
"Why, are you planning on forced conscription or something?"
"Since it's under martial law, it's possible, but honestly, as long as you have superpowers, I think it's impossible."
"I suppose so. Honestly... I find it amazing that this military is even here. Right now, the people below must have, um, each developed different superpowers."
It's no different from people having invisible guns.
Especially for Koreans who aren't used to guns.
The Second Lieutenant sighed, perhaps in agreement.
"Yes. It's a place that's hard to even call a military right now."
.....
.....
The silence flowed. The Second Lieutenant quietly opened his mouth.
"The 37th Division has also disintegrated. And Cheongju is also in an uncontrollable state, that's what you said, Kim Yu-seong-ssi."
"Yes, and you can consider the 32nd Division dead everywhere except here, right?"
"...Yes."
"......"
This, it seems like the whole country is just ruined.
The Second Lieutenant said.
"Then, do you have any more questions?"
Uh... questions.
"Oh, right."
"Yes."
"Yes. Well, do you happen to know if there are guys like special forces in Sejong? They're going around here and there extracting superpowers."
"...Special forces?"
"Yes."
I explained.
About IN Company and the Extractor, the special forces and submachine guns. About the black trucks.
The Second Lieutenant asked with a serious face.
"...Are you sure about this?"
"Yes. There's a K7 submachine gun in the vehicle out there, you can check it."
"...No. More than that, that K7 is originally a weapon used only by Special Forces..."
"Anyway, that means they aren't in Sejong."
"Yes. We've been going around everywhere, but we've never seen them."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
Of course, I'll have to go and check.
"I see. And."
"Is there more?"
"Yes. About the Variants."
I asked about the Variants. Starting from what the Sergeant said, to Crawlers, to Sentients.
"The Sentient you mentioned, and the crawling Crawler, are Infected we also know about."
"Oh, are there other types?"
"Yes. Just a moment."
The Second Lieutenant went outside and called someone. Then, the sound of conversation. The Second Lieutenant brought a piece of paper from outside.
"These are the Infected we've confirmed. It includes the Infected from the last report, as well as new Infected."
He handed me the paper.
Walker, Runner, Mirror, Siren, Flower, Abomination, Crawler, Sentient (Intelligent Creature), Hunter, Balloon.
"Crawler is a Crawler here too?"
"That's right."
"Sentient is the Intelligent Creature, but what are Hunter and Balloon?"
The Second Lieutenant explained.
Hunter is, literally, a hunter. A dangerous monster with the grip strength to crush an armored vehicle and the size of a car.
Balloon is a guy that looks like a balloon. It's not dangerous, but if you kill it, it sprays a foul liquid and attracts nearby Infected.
"That's dangerous."
"Yes. We had quite a few casualties fighting that Hunter."
"Is it more dangerous than a Sentient or a Crawler?"
"Many times more."
Sentient, Crawler.
That means it's more dangerous than those two.
"On top of that, they say there are many Infected that haven't been identified yet."
"How so?"
"It's the last report from Seoul."
"......"
Last report. When was it? January?
"Is it January?"
"That's right."
"......"
Certainly, like that community said, it seemed like Seoul was smashed right away.
"But is it okay to tell me things like this?"
"The information so far. Everyone here knows it."
Aha.
"That's all. Do you have any more questions?"
"No. That's enough. What about you, Second Lieutenant?"
This... I can't hope for help.
The people here must be busy thinking about their own food.
Actually, they'd be busier than me.
With 300 people, they won't be able to last long with what's left in the logistics center.
"We're done for now too."
The Second Lieutenant stood up from his seat.
"Then, are you going to go back right away?"
"Uh... yes. I should, right?"
I do want to look around a bit.
But I got everything I needed from here.
Seeing it earlier, it seems like this place is also desperate to save their own lives.
Also, meeting other officers, older people, might be annoying.
Did that show on my face?
"Would you like to look around inside? Shall I show you around?"
"Is that okay?"
He's supposed to be a busy person, right?
"Yes. Well, follow me."
Yeah, since I'm here, might as well look around.
"......"
However, I felt something strange on his face.
It doesn't seem like he's trying to stab me in the back.
'What is it.'
It doesn't seem like they're trying to force me to do anything.
If they were going to threaten me, the soldiers would have swarmed me from the beginning, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
Are they trying to persuade me after seeing my ability?
'The Second Lieutenant is a low rank for that.'
I don't think it's that.
It is suspicious, though.
'I'll know if I follow him.'
I headed outside, following him.