48. Apocalypse
48. Apocalypse
There were many corpses.
I thought they were people, but looking closely, they weren't human corpses.
On top of that, I could see two soldiers standing next to a checkpoint and barricade with mixed red and white lights ahead.
'Was there an attack?'
Well, I can just go and ask.
As the car approached, the soldiers freaked out. But soon, after checking something, they guided me to one side.
ㅡGiiing
The car window rolled down.
"U-uh, are you Mr. Kim Yu-seong?"
"Ah. Yes."
"Yes. You may enter."
It seems it's true that they were told about me.
They must have memorized this license plate number entirely.
I asked.
"What are these corpses?"
"There was an incident yesterday. Uh, I'm sorry, but we have to stand guard, so could you possibly ask inside?"
The Private trailed off.
"Ah, right."
I headed inside.
Checkpoint 2.
"Ah. Yes, please wait a moment."
However, the atmosphere was even gloomier.
In the barracks behind, I could see exhausted soldiers snatching naps here and there.
The civilians' mood was even more anxious than before.
Soldiers nearby were busily hauling corpses.
'Corpses, huh.'
As I was doing that, Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop, looking pale, approached from afar.
Soldiers saluted, shouting "Loyalty!"
I also bowed my head to greet him.
Then the Second Lieutenant looked at me and bowed his head in greeting as well.
"Mr. Kim Yu-seong. You've arrived."
"Ah. Yes. But..."
"Yes, as you can see. Let's go inside and talk."
I followed him.
#
"There was an attack by regular Infected led by a Sentient Being."
"A Sentient Being?"
"Yes. An Infected legion attacked this place. We managed to drive them off for now, but we don't know when they'll come back."
"You just drove them off, not killed them?"
"Yes. We inflicted quite a bit of damage with bullets, but we couldn't kill them all. We took some casualties too."
The Second Lieutenant sighed, "Haa."
"You didn't kill the Sentient Being."
"No. We did kill some. I meant we couldn't kill them all."
"Why? Those Sentient Beings should be a bit weak..."
"It seems they were hiding this time. We managed to kill about two, but the group didn't break up. We're currently assuming the Sentient Being cunningly sent only its underlings."
A Sentient Being cunningly evolving its intelligence and sending only regular Infected, huh.
That's really bad.
As I was thinking that, the Second Lieutenant asked.
"How did the business you went to take care of go?"
"About that."
I explained.
Since this group consists only of real soldiers and civilians, I figured it wouldn't matter if I explained it.
What happened at IN Company.
The experiments and monsters I saw there.
Even the tablet that the chief researcher had.
The man, who hadn't believed me, shut his mouth after seeing the photos and videos I took, and the documents I brought.
And he said.
"Why on earth would they do something like this?"
The man who no longer even used the military formal speech style.
"Greed, I suppose. Well."
"......"
The Second Lieutenant seemed to have a bit of a moment of disillusionment.
"Seeing as it said Sejong Branch, it seems correct that there is such a branch in Sejong City. Truly."
"So, what are you planning to do here?"
I couldn't just sit still.
"For now, we plan to just defend. They can't break through with just regular Infected. The incident happened during a shift change, so if we respond well, there shouldn't be a problem. And once things are settled, I plan to send the 1st Platoon to deal with it somehow. As for the IN Company side you mentioned, there's nothing we can do. We're in a situation where we're severely short on personnel."
That would be the case.
More than that, dealing with it with the 1st Platoon.
"Do you know the location?"
"We've confirmed it with a drone. We confirmed there's a cluster of Infected within the nearby Bugang-myeon."
Drone.
This makes sense.
More than that,
It means a Sentient Being is watching this place from around here.
Did they really come from Bugang-myeon?
"By any chance, could a Sentient Being have followed you when you came out of Sejong?"
"I'm not sure about that. At that time, we were distracted by the engagement with the Hunter. But it's probably not that. If those guys had followed us, they would have attacked when we first set up camp here."
That's true, too.
"......"
Then that means there's no problem for now.
The corpses must have all been Infected corpses, then. Honestly, except for their faces, you can't tell the ones that fell from being shot apart from humans.
As I was thinking that, the Second Lieutenant said.
"Then you haven't been able to go to Sejong City?"
"Ah, yes. I didn't have the time."
I do need to check the IN Company Sejong Branch and the Sejong City Hall area the Second Lieutenant mentioned.
"I see."
The Second Lieutenant didn't react much.
He sighed and opened his mouth.
"Actually, I think they might have all been killed by the Infected."
"The people?"
I understand.
Looking at how the situation is going, it seems too hard for civilians to survive.
There's the IN Company issue, too.
"Yes. That, and I think those IN Company people couldn't handle the Infected either. I had only been thinking about it alone, but after seeing the evidence Mr. Kim Yu-seong brought, I've almost confirmed it."
I had thought about that for a moment too.
Of course, since it's a global corporation, I didn't think that was the case.
But everyone thinks differently.
The Second Lieutenant continued to explain.
"In the case of Abominations and Hunters, honestly, you need weapons stronger than missiles. Plus, the monster you took pictures of is quite something."
"Are Hunters that strong? Along with Abominations."
"Yes. They can withstand tank shells. There are reports that they even withstood missiles in Seoul."
"Is it to that extent?"
"Yes, but they can be killed. So, it's correct that there is something stronger in the Seoul and Seongnam areas."
Tap tap
The Second Lieutenant tapped the desk.
"No matter how much I think about it, the Seoul defense line collapsing makes no sense. Right away, they were the elite of the elite, possessing mobile missile launchers, and they would have blocked the Seoul and Seongnam defense lines by scraping together everything the military had. But it was breached on the first day. This means there are guys stronger than Abominations or Hunters, and from there, what I've thought is that while doing those experiments, stronger guys came out, and I'm guessing they were all overwhelmed by them."
"Couldn't the government and IN Company have been working together?"
"That could be the case. We don't have anything certain yet."
The Second Lieutenant continued.
"Mr. Kim Yu-seong."
"Yes."
"You must be doing something in your own way, Mr. Yu-seong. Whether it's work related to superpowers, or your other companions."
"Yes."
"You're planning to take your time with the contract details we made, right?"
"That's right."
I have a lot to do.
I have to raise the kids,
"Then, as an advance payment, we will provide you with supplies including drones, so could you quickly check the Sejong City Hall direction? Just whether the main unit is intact or dead."
"Suddenly?"
"The reason is that we seem to need to shift our direction toward self-sufficiency now. It seems to be about time we decide whether to find a decent place nearby on the satellite map and move the group, or keep waiting for the country's support. There was a power outage recently, too. Inside the logistics center, if electricity and water are cut off, it's impossible to live anymore."
Ah, power outage.
Water outage.
We're 8 people so we can endure it, but there's no answer for them.
The Second Lieutenant said.
"Please."
#
I accepted.
Anyway, the Sejong City Hall direction isn't inside the city, but a place that comes out along a road with a low population by the stream.
There's a two-lane road right below,
And another small road below that.
And a stream too.
The 32nd Division main unit must have kept this as their main base because of this traffic.
'I'm curious too.'
I think I can just invest about a day to sneakily check the City Hall along the road.
What happened to the 32nd Division main unit?
Sejong City is too far so I hadn't thought about going there yet, but honestly, I couldn't resist the drones.
USB. I received a USB that supposedly contains videos on how to operate the drones, and four military drones. I'll probably be able to scout the surroundings with this.
If I bring back additional information, they said they would also support me with thermal imaging or night vision goggles.
They said it's not a fiber-optic drone, but rather, since it's a war against Infected, not modern warfare, wireless drones would be more effective, so just with close-range drones capable of scouting several km, the safety of our base becomes certain.
I returned to I-Pension and told them the story.
"Ah, then..."
"Yeah, but I'm just going to check the City Hall and come back, so a day will be enough. After I get back, let's go to the Cheongju side and level up."
"...Yes!"
On top of that, let's try to find some people in Cheongju.
If we raise Seo-yoon's level, we can use the Contract more efficiently, so if we find decent people, we can send them to our base.
If they're not decent.
Hmm...
'If they're normal people, I'll just abandon them at that logistics center, or if not, I'll have to kill them.'
Because there's still a lot to get from the logistics center.
#
Thus, the night of the 26th arrived.
I quietly drove the passenger car and left Nami-myeon.
ㅡClunk
ㅡClunk
Then to Bugang-myeon.
'I want to see that Sentient Being legion once.'
ㅡKkudeudeudeuk
I cleared the car blocking the road and... calling it "inside Bugang-myeon" feels a bit weird.
I headed toward downtown Bugang-myeon.
The direction of Bugang-myeon where cars hit here and there were stuck.
Did the logistics center drone reconnaissance say there were Infected around here?
However, on the road I was passing through, I didn't see any Infected controlled by a Sentient Being.
'They're not here.'
Since the Second Lieutenant didn't lie,
It seems they are hiding tightly, unlike the Sentient Beings I saw in Cheongju.
ㅡPak!
ㅡPak!
Infected falling with bullets embedded in their heads.
'Is their intelligence rising?'
If so, the possibility of them becoming more dangerous was high. Plus, since the Infected don't attack each other at all, only people will be dying.
The necessity of superpowers.
And the situation where the necessity of a group is gradually rising.
"......"
The quiet streets of downtown Bugang-myeon, where not a single person could be seen, and the road following the Gyeongbu Line Bugang Station were chillingly quiet.
I carefully drove the car and left Bugang-myeon.
#
ㅡClunk
ㅡClunk
Well, the Infected in the Bugang area are the logistics center people's share.
It's a place with few people but quite a lot of supplies, so they'll figure it out.
Especially since I don't think the military would be pushed by mere regular Infected, no matter how intelligent the Sentient Beings are.
I just need to check the Sejong City Hall side.
I go down along the road like that.
From the Bugang-myeon side, onto the road heading toward Sejong City.
ㅡClunk
ㅡClunk
Since it's only about 20km to begin with, I can move quickly.
Although Infected or smashed vehicles block the road, I can clear them now.
Bullets pierce the heads of the Infected, and the blocked vehicles are compressed and scattered here and there.
ㅡKkiiik
Such a quiet bridge.
I parked on it.
The panoramic view of Sejong City faintly visible in the distance.
"......"
Something like a throbbing tumor between the tall, high buildings.
It feels like the building itself is infected.
What on earth happened in Sejong?
I drove the car and went down further.