53. Eunha University (2)
53. Eunha University (2)
A man says, terrified.
"It's a university... no, it is a university!"
"Keep your voice down. Who doesn't know it's a university? I'm asking what the people here are doing."
"I, I don't know!"
The man, disciplined and tense.
"You're one of the people here, so why don't you know?"
Left.
A hole was punched through the center of the man's head,
and blood and brains dripped out.
I asked the other man.
"Explain."
"Ye, yes?"
"The people you mentioned earlier, Su-hyeok and Seol-hwa, and that stuff about not being able to read the room. Explain it."
"Yes. Ye-yes..!"
The man began to explain.
People taking winter semester classes. Faculty, university lecturers, staff, teaching assistants, etc.
Even though it was January, there were quite a few survivors.
The infection outbreak started on January 7th. Many people turned into Infected, but humans are animals of adaptation; the people in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences gathered their strength and cleared out the Infected.
Centered around an Ability User named Su-hyeok, who possessed the Paralysis ability.
Paralysis ability, huh...
"What is this Paralysis ability?"
"It, it's an ability that makes it so you can't move at all. You can't use anything except, uh, superpowers."
"You can use superpowers?"
"Yes, yes. Things like Vision Enhancement or Arm Enhancement work. But since you can't move your body, you can't do anything!"
I pressed my rifle against his temple.
"Really?"
"Re, really! It's true...! Why would I lie to you..! My, my ability works too!"
"What's your ability?"
"Muscle Enhancement!"
Why, indeed.
There's plenty of reason to.
Then there shouldn't be anything dangerous.
Though I'll have to be careful.
"That's the guy Su-hyeok, and that girl Seol-hwa?"
"It's, it's a strange ability.."
"What's strange about it?"
"It's like, a detection ability. It's hard to explain in words, but they say she can distinguish between people and monsters nearby!"
Detection, huh.
"......"
Anyway, that's how the people gathered.
They rationed their food and waited for rescue.
Luckily, there were only Walkers and Runners.
So, the 22nd.
They waited for rescue, but what came was a massive monster.
The monster destroyed most of the campus and killed several survivor groups. The only ones who survived were the people in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
'The 22nd, huh.'
There is, in my memory.
I heard that the 37th Division was wiped out near Eunha University around mid-to-late January.
That must be it. If it's January 22nd.
Then there's something else I need to ask.
"Did you hear gunshots?"
"Ah. Yes... I did hear them. They disappeared not long after, though."
"No people who came saying they were the 37th Division?"
"Yes?"
Judging by his reaction, he doesn't seem to know.
"Are you talking about soldiers?"
"No, shut up. Did soldiers come or not?"
"N, no, they didn't."
He doesn't seem to know.
Anyway, they waited for rescue, but it didn't come, and people grew increasingly exhausted.
From there, the people, including Su-hyeok and Seol-hwa who blocked the Infected...
"Where do you get food?"
"There's the cafeteria refrigerator and freezer, right? And, uh, there's the snack bar too..."
"That's not much."
"...So they're talking about going outside now."
Of course they would.
It's been 3 months, so it must have all run out.
Because of that, this group eventually transformed. From a group that stuck together to survive, into a group ruled by a hierarchy of power.
"So the head of that place is a man named Su-hyeok, and the girl named Seol-hwa is stuck to his side?"
"That's right."
"And since there's no food, you start killing people."
"...Yes. We killed the weak ones first. Then the old people. Then, the ones who resisted."
"Why did you kill those guys earlier?"
"Su-hyeok hyung... no, Kim Su-hyeok tried to do something to that woman, but the man resisted, so the guys ended up killing them."
And then they would patrol the adjacent building, killing the men and raping the women.
Sometimes throwing the women to the men below.
A fucking obvious story.
In the end, a group that succumbed to power.
"Then have you seen that monster again?"
"The, the big one?"
"Yeah."
"No. I haven't seen it. Not since it came that one time on the 22nd."
"Then it destroyed that thing back then."
"Yes. Yes..."
"So how were you planning to live here now? There's no food left. Were you going to go to a supermarket outside?"
"They say there's an army in Jeungpyeong County!"
"Jeungpyeong County?"
"Yes, yes."
"There shouldn't be an army there. The 37th Division is all dead."
"No. A soldier with a Communication ability contacted us. They said their 37th Division and the 17th Fighter Wing are in Cheonan City and Jeungpyeong County, and they're recruiting Ability Users."
"What the fuck. You said you didn't know earlier."
"I, I was, I was trying to say..."
I must have cut him off.
Whatever, never mind.
"Not saving survivors, but recruiting Ability Users?"
And Cheonan City and Jeungpyeong County.
The 37th Division and the 17th Fighter Wing.
The 37th Division part must be bullshit.
All the survivors were sent toward Daejeon and Cheongju, and they all died. It means they didn't go north.
"Uh... yes."
"Tell me in detail. The 37th Division commander died here. That's for sure. The remaining troops headed to Cheongju and Daejeon."
"Ye..yes? The division commander died?"
"Yeah, you said you got a message. That mysterious Communication ability."
"But I don't know the details about that. The communication came in through Su-hyeok hyung and Seol-hwa..."
"Is that so? Then you didn't receive it?"
"Yes..."
"Really?"
"It's true. I swear it's true."
"Alright."
"Hu, huuu.."
"So you're all in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences?"
"Ye..yes. We're using that, and the dormitory right next to it, [Eunha Hall]."
"How many people are there?"
"Twenty-six people."
"Including you two and those two from earlier? Or excluding them?"
"Twenty-six including them."
"I see."
Then 22 are left.
ㅡThud
A slightly dull sound was heard.
The man collapsed with a look of shock, a hole in his forehead.
ㅡDrip
ㅡDrip
Dripping blood.
Then, that Su-hyeok with the Paralysis ability is a bit dangerous, so I'll just keep the one with the Detection ability alive and take her.
I'll go, and after Seo-yoon uses her ability, I'll decide whether to kill her or not.
I'll hear a bit about Jeungpyeong County, Cheonan City, the 37th Division, and the 17th Fighter Wing.
#
College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
A quiet building at night.
Well, they didn't even set up a lookout here. Then again, what's the point of a lookout in a place with only Walkers and Runners?
'Wait, no, an Abomination came.'
It was true that they were just living brainlessly.
ㅡCreeeak
I opened the door to the long lecture building on the 1st floor.
A long hallway, and six men smoking with the windows open up ahead.
ㅡGrrrind
I tore off some metal, sealed the limbs and mouths of the six men, and pinned them in a row against the wall.
That makes six.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
"Mmph!"
Tied them up well.
First, I started checking all the lecture rooms on the 1st floor.
None.
None.
None.
None.
Seems like there's no one on the 1st floor. There was a place where they gathered food at the end, but looking at the trash scattered around, it didn't look like a very good place.
1st floor easily suppressed.
To the 2nd floor.
If the 1st floor was like a movie theater-style lecture hall, the 2nd floor felt like classrooms. Well, that's how universities usually are these days.
There was nothing in the 2nd-floor hallway.
Hmm...
I searched the lecture rooms one by one.
ㅡSlide
Three men.
Tied them up immediately.
Two men.
Tied them up immediately.
Two men with their lower bodies exposed, tied up, and three women tied up next to them being raped.
Seeing semen coming out of their vaginas doesn't look very good.
'They're already tied up.'
I just tied their mouths shut too.
There are six left.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap
College of Humanities 4th floor. Two burly men up ahead.
I sent metal flying to tie them up.
ㅡTap
ㅡTap-tap-tap
But they broke free immediately.
"Fuck. What the? Jeong-un!"
One guy was tied up, but the other tore it off with his own strength. I wondered what it was, looks like it's an Arm Enhancement ability.
Since the strength isn't maintained after I tie them up, it seems he naturally tore it off with his own ability.
That's a shame.
ㅡThud!
ㅡBang!
One man collapses.
The man looks at him with a shocked expression.
Four left.
'The ones left are probably that man Su-hyeok and the woman Seol-hwa.'
Add two to that.
ㅡSlide
At that moment, a door opens up ahead.
"What the fuck. Why is it so noisy? Jeong-un, Seong-cheol, what are you doing?"
A big, thug-looking man holding a rifle.
Is that Su-hyeok?
I immediately fired metal at him to tie him up.
But at the same time, an ability manifested.
'Oh.'
My body didn't move.
This must be the Paralysis ability he mentioned earlier.
"Mmmph! Mmmph!"
Of course, he couldn't do anything either because he was tied up with metal,
the man tied up and making muffled noises.
While that was happening, perhaps hearing the noise, a dazed woman popped out of the lecture room next to where the man came out.
"What's going on?"
A busty beauty with short hair and a noticeable tear mole.
She saw Su-hyeok tied up and me frozen in the state of holding my gun, and took something out.
There was a gun in her hand.
The woman looks at me with a flustered face.
"Who are you...!?"
Funny.
More than that, this Paralysis ability seems a bit ambiguous.
It can stop the opponent, but the fact that there's no restriction on using superpowers makes it too ambiguous, I guess.
"I asked who you are!"
The woman screams.
"Mmmph!"
Su-hyeok, full of anger, shouting something.
Probably telling her to shoot or something.
The woman aiming the gun.
She's probably that Seol-hwa girl.
Getting annoyed now. My mouth won't open, so I can't speak.
"Mmmph mmph!"
I didn't want to hear the muffled sounds of the man whose mouth was blocked with metal.
And it doesn't seem like he has any intention of releasing the paralysis.
ㅡThwack
Su-hyeok's head was pierced, and he fell to the floor.
Blood and brains flowing out onto the white hallway floor.
If this doesn't release, I'll have to wait until it wears off...
Fortunately,
my body moves.
"...Huh?"
The woman makes a stupid sound.
Her hand goes up.
I could take the gun, and I could control it as I pleased, but I didn't.
"...Ho...how?"
The woman freezes in disbelief.
I opened my mouth.
"What do you mean 'how'? It's an ability, just like that guy."
"......"
"You have one too, don't you?"
The woman shuts her mouth.
She stares blankly at the corpse of Kim Su-hyeok lying on the floor.
Then the woman collapses to the floor.
"......"
The woman watching the guy named Su-hyeok blankly.
'This Paralysis really is a dangerous ability.'
It seems like it was enough of an ability to take over this place.
Because it makes the opponent unable to move at all.
Probably, it would be a really good ability against Infected too.
'Keep that in mind for now.'
Then, shall I finish cleaning up this place?
"Hey."
I called the woman.
That was the moment.
The woman aimed the gun at me and said,
"Don't come any closer."
I said.
"If you shoot that, you die. Keep that in mind."