69. IN Corp Sejong Branch (1)
69. IN Corp Sejong Branch (1)
May 2nd.
Electricity and water have not been cut off yet.
Hot water also comes out just fine.
The fluorescent lights are working well, too.
ㅡBzzt
ㅡHyung, can you see anything there? I see something weird from here.
ㅡBzzt
ㅡYeah, I see it. What is it? A bird? ㅡIt's a bird. ㅡThey say it's a bird.
ㅡBzzt
ㅡIs that So-young noona?
ㅡYeah.
ㅡCheck it out first.
There are two possibilities.
Either IN Company or the government is struggling to control electricity and water, or an Ability User is maintaining it.
Or it could be both.
'Of course, I don't know if I should call someone with that kind of ability a "Superpower".'
I think I've thought about this more than three times now.
That's how important it is.
Frankly speaking, if we assume it's an Ability User's power, they could use this to abuse their authority.
They could even abuse their power while controlling things.
But would that even work?
In a world of Ability Users, there might be people stronger than the military.
Or maybe it's something like that.
IN Company or the government tried to control the Ability Users, but a psychic inside controlled the powerful Ability Users and killed the higher-ups.
And now, they're trying to climb to the top and rule the world.
'I've watched too many movies.'
Still, it's a possibility, isn't it?
Superpower or magic, it's all the same.
Watching the people scurrying around the pension, I held the map in my room.
I colored the lower Geumgang River, where the Sejong Special City Hall is located, in red.
'This is the Hunter zone.'
According to the map, this is a place I don't need to go to anymore.
I do want to check if they respawn if I wipe them out completely, but...
'There's no need to mess with the guys stuck over here.'
Later, if I need to level up our base members to lv.5, I can just boost them.
Of course, I don't have time for that right now.
I moved the map up to color the upper Cheongju area, where Eunha University and Cheongju City Hall are located.
'This is the Abomination zone.'
Cheongju has Abominations, and Sejong has Hunters. If that's the case, what I can infer is that the Abominations and Hunters keep their own separate zones.
Because there are no Hunters in Cheongju, and no Abominations in Sejong.
'Though, if I want to figure that out, it means I have to visit other regions.'
Bugang-myeon didn't have any. Or did it? It did have a Nest, though.
Anyway.
Since it's too far, I plan to check the nearby areas first.
Daejeon.
Jeungpyeong.
Cheonan.
These are the places to check now. Especially Jeungpyeong and Cheonan, since I heard rumors from Seol-hwa's group that there are military forces there, so I plan to go quickly.
'......'
Though I'll have to sneak into the Sejong Branch first.
#
I gathered the people and asked.
If anyone knew where the IN Company Sejong Branch was.
However, quite naturally, no one knew.
I mean, even if there's a famous company, how would you know where their branch is in a city you don't even live in?
And it was impossible to check with satellite maps, either.
They say it's a nationwide satellite map, but only the Cheongju side is detailed.
It was unavoidable due to storage capacity issues.
'......'
In the end, this means I have to brute-force it.
'Should I just not go?'
I'm thinking about just ignoring the IN Company Sejong Branch and going to Jeungpyeong and Cheonan to make contact with the military.
Fuck, the fact that I'm thinking about this over and over means I don't want to go.
But the problem is, I have to go.
The experiment to upgrade the superpowers that they tested at the previous Cheongju branch.
It's been over a month now.
Until now, the importance was pushed back due to the threat of Hunters, and the threats of Sentient Beings and all sorts of Infected, but now it's time to check.
'......'
Mental-related abilities are not a problem, as seen in the case of Han Hae-il.
I can block most attacks now.
Conversely, my attacks are also a good matchup against soldiers and modern equipment.
'Let's go. Fuck.'
I left on the night of May 2nd.
Now, I didn't even need fuel for the vehicle.
I could just get in the car and move it by floating it with my ability.
I didn't even need to roll the wheels; I just floated it slightly in the air and moved.
I thought about flying through the sky, but I stopped because a flying car would attract too much aggro.
ㅡ......
Quiet southern Sejong City.
I arrived at the Green Fresh Market at the bottom left.
If INRS and INSS of IN Company were here, they definitely would have come here.
If not, it means the inside is crawling with Infected.
However, all I saw were traces of the military.
'......'
I can see lots of dead soldiers. Corpses that look like 32nd Division troops, broken tanks, armored vehicles, and military trucks.
It looked like the same army I saw near Sunshine Apartment and Pureureum Apartment earlier.
As I got closer, the traces became visible.
The traces were, naturally, Hunters.
Slashed military trucks and people who died painful deaths.
However, the difference from the apartment area was that there were checkpoints and barracks set up all over the place here.
'They must have used it as a temporary base.'
It's certain that the state made an effort to restore the country again.
Right away, the 32nd Division and 37th Division tried to do something, but they got wrecked by the Infected, including Hunters and Abominations.
[No Entry]
I can see bloodstains splattered on the sign.
'It's bitter.'
And the logistics center that followed it was also wrecked by internal betrayal.
More than that, it seems like there might be useful things here too, but that's not the priority right now.
I memorized the location of the checkpoint in the lower left of Sejong and headed to the right.
#
There are absolutely no survivors in southern Sejong City.
It's completely different from Cheongju, where there were at least a few people.
It seems the Hunters have been picking humans clean for 4 months.
'Especially this school here is particularly bad.'
The middle school near the apartment complex seems to have been used as a shelter, but the barricades made of desks and chairs in front were completely smashed.
There's no need to even look inside.
Passing the school, I found a real estate office.
If you go to a real estate office, they usually have offline maps of the area, so I planned to take a look at those.
ㅡTak
ㅡThwip
After clearing out a Walker ajumma and a fat Runner ajusshi, I examined the map.
'Hmm...'
The location isn't great.
Sejong City is a neighborhood with strangely many apartments.
It would be easier for me to move if there were some complex roads, but Sejong Special City has a lot of wide-open roads.
And unlike Cheongju City, financial buildings and such felt sparse and scattered.
The IN Company Sejong Branch I was looking for was also located in the northern part of Sejong City, just sitting there all alone near a park.
'......'
Still, I have to go.
I looked at the map and gauged the location.
#
I turned towards Sejong Jiphyeon University, which leads to I-Pension.
It would be faster to go this way than to break through the apartment complexes in the middle.
Besides, the apartment complexes have yellow infected zones, so I felt uneasy about going there.
Since chemical attacks are the most dangerous thing from my perspective, I planned to bring the kids later and check those places that look obviously dangerous with drones in advance.
With the drones that the 32nd Division troops used when they cleared the Nest and Bugang-myeon, that is.
Anyway.
The floating car moved slowly at a speed of 40-50km/h.
The bridge I crossed like that.
Driving roughly by eye, I held the map I tore off from the real estate office.
The IN Company Sejong Branch was stuck in the corner of central Sejong Special City, between mountains.
'I can just move along the road in the middle of the mountains here.'
There's no reason to go to dangerous places for no reason.
I can see from far away that it's crawling with other Infected, so there's no need to crawl through the downtown area.
However, there were no traces of Hunters, which meant there was a chance that people might be there.
I'll have to go there sometime, too.
I kept going up the road.
#
I arrived near the IN Company Sejong Branch after crossing the quiet mountain road.
I narrowed my eyes at the white, hospital-like building visible ahead.
A white building built next to a mountain.
'That must be it.'
IN Company Sejong Special City Branch. That's what it said on the map.
It had a different vibe from the Cheongju branch; if the Cheongju branch felt like one big building, the Sejong branch felt like the main building and annexes were separated.
Or should I say it felt like Building 1 and Building 2 were divided?
Anyway, it was quite big.
'......'
A building that also possesses an underground parking lot.
However, the exterior didn't look like a building that was being operated.
On top of that, there didn't seem to be any people.
The familiar black trucks weren't visible. Maybe they could be underground, but...
'Did this place get wrecked too?'
I headed to the front of the Sejong Branch.
ㅡTak
ㅡTak
The closer I got, the more I could see that the building wasn't maintained.
Well, 4 months had passed.
The door was locked, but I just crumpled it and ripped it off. Then, what I saw inside were a few Infected crawling around.
'I seem to always be late.'
But it couldn't be helped.
Other things were much more urgent than these guys.
ㅡPuck
ㅡPuck
I killed the visible Infected and looked around the surroundings.
Well, it's a normal pharmaceutical company interior. When I found the floor guide, the contents were similar.
There are labs and experiment rooms on the 5th floor, and labs and experiment rooms in the basement.
Seeing Walker and Runner Infected wandering around, I could just go straight to the basement.
I found the way to the basement.
A door that I could see.
'......?'
It looks several times sturdier than the Cheongju branch.
On top of that, there was a place to type in a password.
It felt like... a bunker door I'd seen in movies or media.
I ripped the door off.
ㅡKkudeudeudeudeuk
I went down the iron stairs.
A clean hallway is visible.
'It's the same as the Cheongju branch.'
[Clinical Lab][Animal Lab][R&D Lab][Analysis Lab][New Drug Storage][Drug Storage][Synthetic Bio Lab]
I see the same labs I saw in Cheongju.
Literally, labs with the same specifications.
'...Typical bastards.'
However, the difference from that time is that unlike Cheongju, which felt suffocating, the air is fine, and on top of that.
ㅡKkiiik
The interior of the Clinical Lab, which was full of bloodstains and flesh, now has clean beds and curtains in place.
'.......'
Did the internal experiment end successfully?
ㅡGiiiing
I opened it to the side.
There were no animal corpses in the Animal Lab either.
The R&D Lab was the same.
Back then, the light bulbs, freezer/refrigeration storage, flask holders, machines, desks, and chairs were all broken, but this place was clean.
Is someone here?
'But then again, no people are visible.'
ㅡSeu-euk
And there was some dust piled up on top. It means they abandoned this place and left for somewhere else.
'Well, I haven't seen the main part yet.'
The place where they did monster experiments at the Cheongju branch is the main lab.
To be precise, the Main Lab and the Analysis Lab. Back then, I got information from the computer and tablet that were turned on at that time, and the Chief Researcher's Office at the end of that side.
It seemed like I only needed to check this side and leave.
ㅡGiiiing
The automatic door opened.