52. Eunha University (1)
52. Eunha University (1)
The drone confirmed a cluster of Sentient Beings. The news is that they are slowly pushing from the logistics center on the right side of Bugang-myeon downtown.
Even if Bugang-myeon is just a township, once it's infested by the Infected, it would take a while for a single platoon to clear it out.
'Inside the buildings might be dangerous, too.'
Walkers, Runners, Mirrors, Sirens—those guys are fine.
Even Flowers are fine.
But once you get to Crawlers, if they're mixed in with other Infected, it could cause some casualties for the soldiers.
If it's a Hunter or an Abomination, they'd be completely screwed.
The massive Abomination wasn't visible, or maybe it was a Hunter or other Infected, but since they said they did reconnaissance, they'll handle it.
Especially since the Hunter's distinct slashing marks are visible everywhere.
'I hope it goes well.'
If they do well, we'll be safe too. Actually, it would be really bad if the logistics center that blocks the left side of our I-Pension disappeared.
'.......'
Not that I'm going to go help them.
I had plenty of things to do on my end.
'...Need to go up north for a bit.'
Sejong is too tough, so I thought I could just look for traces of the former 37th Division in Cheongju.
And look around the Eunha University area too.
'If there are people, save them.'
Get some info if there is any, look for traces.
See if I can level up my superpower.
Look for Hunters, Abominations, or maybe Balloons or other Infected I haven't seen yet.
'If I look for them, they'll show up.'
"Seo-yoon, listen to this carefully. You never know if there might be a call."
"Ah, yes. Please be careful."
"You be careful too."
"...Yes."
I got in the car and headed toward Cheongju.
#
City.
Cheongju South, where Infected crawl around and traces of human corpses are visible.
A city that went to shit, as if the times until just a moment ago—giggling while watching chickens in the countryside, talking with the kids about how many eggs we got today and what to cook with them—were all a lie.
'......'
Since the electricity hasn't been cut off yet and the sewage facilities are fine, the city is still maintaining its form.
It seems there really is an Ability User.
Or IN Company or the government is really giving it their all to protect the power plants and nuclear reactors.
They said if nuclear plants worldwide exploded, we'd be screwed, but seeing as we're still fine, it's certain that someone is protecting them, or there's interference from an Ability User.
I'll find out later.
ㅡVroom
Anyway, today's goal was exploring for Abominations and Hunters.
Even while doing domestic affairs for the past few days, the thought that I needed to strengthen my superpower was stuck in my head.
'Just looking at Hunters alone...'
Stronger Infected could appear, and the threat of IN Company always exists.
They were the guys experimenting on humans inside the Cheongju Branch, so other branches probably aren't much different.
'I should go to the Sejong Branch too, but...'
I'm a bit reluctant to go to that infection zone with only level 4 ability. If I go to a place where there's something like a tumor in a building and, frankly, it explodes with acid or something, what then?
Dead on the spot.
And...
'It's too far.'
It was too far from here. Sejong is way down past Bugang-myeon, and Cheongju was much closer than that.
Also, the Cheongju Branch, which is destroyed, was much better than Sejong, which hasn't been confirmed at all.
Anyway.
If you go up the intersection, you see IN Mart. If you turn to the side from there, there's the house we lived in for a while, and in front of that is the Cultural Center and GP Apartment.
If you follow the road above that, you get to Cheongju Elementary School. Next to that is Imedi Apartment.
Above that is the underground shopping mall, and if you take the underground shopping mall, you get the road to Hope Villa, the road to Green Fresh Market, and the road going further up.
ㅡClunk
But I don't plan on going this way this time.
'I've seen it all.'
Because it's a place I've been running around in like a madman for months.
It would be better to go see the nearby Abomination.
There's a note saying it was barely pushed back by tank shells, it's an Infected I haven't caught yet, and since they say it's a huge guy, it seems it would have good compatibility with my ability. Since the current situation is that I can launch 20kg objects at bullet speed, it wouldn't be bad to take a look.
So, do I take the main gate road, or do I take the mountain road?
'The mountain road is better.'
I turned the vehicle.
#
ㅡVroom
Even though it's a mountain road, it wasn't a completely unpaved road like Nami-myeon or Bugang-myeon.
A paved road.
A mountain road with a mountain on the right.
If you go straight in here, Eunha University appears.
'......'
However, the road was quite blocked.
Probably, at the time of the incident, vehicles trying to escape this way caused accidents, and the road got blocked.
'It wasn't the start of the semester for the university yet.'
ㅡScreech
The middle of the road was smashed as if there had been a multi-vehicle pileup, and mutated Walkers and Runners were staggering in the front.
ㅡThwack
ㅡThwack
After roughly clearing the Walkers by launching bullets,
ㅡCrackle
I crumpled the vehicle and threw the pieces up the mountain.
A wide-open road.
I got back in the car and moved forward.
That's how I arrived at
Cheongju Eunha University.
I lowered my gaze from the mountain to below.
'This is it.'
I saw things that looked like a campus. It was probably one of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, College of Science, etc.
For now, the place I was looking at was intact.
However, the building visible far ahead was destroyed to the point where it was miserable to call it a building.
'What. That is.'
It was as if it had been hit by a missile bombardment; one campus was wrecked, and the building was split in half and collapsed. Rebar and everything, it looked like an earthquake had happened.
However, since I haven't felt anything like an earthquake while living here,
it must be the traces of an Abomination.
But the Abomination wasn't visible here right now. I saw that it had the size of a building, so maybe I can't see it because it's night?
Or did it leave for somewhere else?
It must be that it left for somewhere else.
But then the question is why the guy left.
No, wait, it's not certain yet. It would be good to search inside this place and look at the front.
Back then, meaning, Kim Min-jun, whom I killed not long after meeting Seo-yoon, and the Eunha High School family were from the 37th Division, so the fact that the 37th Division was disbanded here meant there were traces of it.
I drove the car and went up.
Back gate.
Early April.
Even if the day is a bit warm, it's a bit chilly now because it's night.
The back gate where cherry blossoms were blooming boasted that it was spring now.
Looking at the campus map, the smashed building I saw earlier seems to be the College of Science.
'......'
After dealing with the crawling Walkers and Runners, I turned my gaze down again.
Various campuses visible here and there.
A building made of brown bricks, a building made of white, a building that looks like a dormitory, a building that looks like a library, a building that looks like a cafeteria.
Most of the buildings were in a destroyed state based on the College of Science, and it seemed certain that the Abomination came here.
Because the campus floor made of bricks and granite was dug up here and there as if it had been hit by artillery shells.
'Well, that's that.'
The Abomination seemed to have disappeared.
Well, since it's a guy that was at Eunha University, it could have moved. Wait, then...
That means that bastard could go to the logistics center or I-Pension side.
I obviously knew that, but it's something else to confirm it with my eyes like this. I wish it would just make a territory like a Crawler or Flower and stay stuck there.
'Then the country wouldn't have collapsed.'
Probably.
Isn't it because shitty guys like Hunters or Abominations are wandering around that a proper group hasn't been formed since the incident?
On top of that, since the IN Company assholes poured oil on it, it's a situation where the country couldn't help but collapse.
Then, for now, it seemed like it would be good to explore for the Abomination around here today. If it's that big, I'd be able to see it even if I just go near it.
It would be great if there were people at the university, but now that 3 months have passed since the apocalypse, it doesn't look like there are any.
On top of that, the Abomination smashed a few buildings, so it's strange if there are people.
But it was the moment I was about to turn the car.
Far away, that is, inside Cheongju Eunha University, a few human figures were visible behind a place that looked like a brown brick building.
Human figures walking out at a fast pace.
It's strange to call them Infected, and there are no other Infected around to call them Sentient Beings. Then what, it's either a new Infected or a human.
'......'
And a smartphone is useful at times like this.
I zoomed in.
And what I saw was...
Two men carrying something that looked like a person and heading somewhere.
'.....?'
It's really a human.
And a survivor at that.
Their age looked similar to mine. Maybe even younger.
What are they doing?
Well, I'll know if I go and ask.
I took the gun out of the car and headed toward where the men were.
#
I moved stealthily.
I moved completely killing my presence, to the point where not a single sound could be heard.
I quietly approached the brick building... No, looking at it, it's the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. Anyway, College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
I hid in the blind spot and followed the path the men were taking.
'I think they went that way.'
The men seemed to have gone to the Eunha University main gate.
As I followed quickly, I was able to catch up to the two who seemed to be carrying a person.
The main gate I followed.
They walked forward like that, and then they threw the two people they were carrying on their backs.
ㅡThud!
ㅡThud!
People throwing them on the floor almost as if tossing them.
'......?'
What is it.
Did they dump an Infected?
To say that, what was dumped in front was a corpse.
And a corpse of a man and a woman, full of bruises.
Especially the woman, her condition was very bad, dried semen was stuck here and there, and blood was flowing from her lower body.
A situation where you could see what they did even from a distance just by looking.
'......'
As I got closer, the conversation could be heard.
"..seems like it. Right?"
"Yeah, are you that oblivious? Su-hyeok-hyung is giving hints that he wants to fuck her so bad, goddamn."
"Two idiots met."
Calm conversation.
4th month of the apocalypse. A group that survived in Cheongju.
What kind of group is it?
"More than that, can't we do something? I think we could if we did it right."
"Would it work? You idiot."
The man turns his head back and forth.
"You haven't said this to anyone but me, right?"
"Of course. Goddamn. Who else would I say this to besides you."
"It's shitty, but it's impossible because of Kim Su-hyeok's ability. You saw it too."
"That's true. Ah, goddamn. Having such a shitty thing. Ah, goddamn, Kim Su-hyeok and Choi Seol-hwa must be eating good stuff."
"You go eat too."
"To die by Su-hyeok-hyung's hand?"
"No, he left it for the women to relieve stress, So-mi and the others."
"My stomach is sticking to my backbone, but the women are acting like crazy bitches. I'd rather just have sex than do that?"
"That's true."
I don't know what they're talking about at all, but I know they're shitty guys.
ㅡ!@#$!@$
ㅡ!@$!@$
Watching them chatter about something and go toward the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, I ripped metal from a nearby car and hung it around the men's necks.
And I spread the metal wide again and tightened the men's mouths.
Strongly.
"Uh..uhh? Aack!"
Guess that doesn't work.
I wrapped it so they couldn't even open their mouths.
The men are flustered, holding their necks and faces.
Following that, I pulled it to make them come this way.
ㅡThud
ㅡTap tap
Men struggling to get away.
I dragged them and brought them to where I was. Is this... a library? It's a library.
ㅡTap
ㅡThump!
ㅡTap-tap-tap-tap
While being dragged, they kept resisting, then they saw me and the men's eyes widened.
Ignoring them, I floated the metal next to them and pinned them to the wall in a big 'X' shape.
I aimed my rifle at them and opened my mouth.
"I'm going to loosen your mouths now, but if you say anything other than what I ask, I'll kill you."
ㅡThwack
A bullet was embedded next to the men's heads.
"See?"
Then I loosened the men's mouths.
The men frown.
I pondered.
What should I ask first?
"What is this place?"
While I was doing that, the man on the left, who looked like a thug, opened his mouth.
"Th-that, sir, first please loosen this and let's talk..."
ㅡThwack
ㅡPew-shoot
ㅡPew-shoot
The man became quiet.
I aimed my rifle at the temple of the man on the right and said.
"What is this place?"