73. Cheonan Warlord (1)
73. Cheonan Warlord (1)
Only two were left alive.
"Mmmph!! Mmph!"
I secured their mouths, hands, and feet.
Doesn't look like they have Arm Enhancement or Strength Enhancement abilities.
Next, I staged the checkpoint to look like it had been attacked by a Hunter.
The familiar cracked concrete, the slashed-up corpses. However, since Hunters take bodies and hang them up, I planned to take the bodies and dispose of them elsewhere.
'It's a bit sloppy, though.'
If they fall for it, great.
If not, that's fine too.
I loaded the dismembered corpses into the back of the vehicle.
One soldier who looked stupid.
And one soldier who looked sturdy, I brought over with metal and placed him next to the car.
"Haa. Haa..."
I untied their mouths.
I crumpled some metal to make a shard and opened my mouth.
"I have a lot to ask, and you'd better answer well. Unless you want to follow your friends."
Ping
The metal shard pierced through a corpse.
"If you say anything else, you die."
"......"
"......"
The two soldiers exchanged glances.
They seemed different from those stupid Eunha University guys from before. They could read the situation well.
No, wait. Life is precious, so it's only natural.
I'd be the same.
"The IN Company bastards would commit suicide when I caught them like this, so do it if you want. If you want to die, don't say anything. Now, answer."
"Yes."
"Ye-yes!"
Very good.
"Is your leader Colonel Park Young-ho?"
"That's correct!"
As expected, they confirmed their leader was Colonel Park Young-ho.
They said he was the 1st Regiment Commander of the 37th Division.
But I know that's total bullshit.
There's no point in asking here. It's not like I don't have a way.
Then what else? I have no choice but to take them to Seo-yoon.
"....!!!"
"......"
The two soldiers' bodies were restrained.
I roughly loaded the corpses and the soldiers into the car and flew to I-Pension.
#
On the way, I scattered the corpses in the direction of Jochiwon.
This way, they won't be able to find anything.
If they do find them, they're just lucky.
I-Pension.
"Should I use the ability?"
"Yeah."
I need to verify the mental ability first.
I restrained everything except their eyes so they couldn't resist.
Click
This time, I picked up a rifle.
Because threatening them directly with a rifle like this is much more effective than threatening them with abilities.
When I dealt with Han Hae-il last time, I was too lax, and look what happened.
I intend to be thorough this time.
Creak-creak-creak
Fortunately, it didn't seem like any mental ability was placed on them. Seo-yoon's ability activated, and the contracts of the two soldiers disappeared.
#
However, no information came out.
I failed from the very first question.
"Where is Park Young-ho? Colonel Park Young-ho. You know him, right? Tell me where he is."
"We don't know."
Is this actually working?
But it was working. They answered everything else well. This meant they really didn't know.
"Why don't you know?"
"It's been a long time since we've seen his face. The last time was in March."
"March, you say. How about you?"
"Me too..."
Ah, fuck.
Well, of course.
I want to ask why he disappeared in March, but that can wait.
I have more pressing questions.
"Summarize what you've done from January until now."
"Yes. Well..."
The two soldiers continued their explanation.
"So, you were originally supposed to go down to Daejeon, but you turned back in the middle?"
"That's correct."
"And since the country had collapsed, you just built an organization among yourselves."
"That's also correct."
Kim Min-jun never lied. In reality, the mostly decimated 37th Division split its troops and sent them to Cheongju and Daejeon.
Under orders from above, they were to join the 32nd Division.
However, Kim Min-jun's division commander and his friends came to Cheongju, engaged in battle with an Abomination in front of the Sunshine Reef Hotel, and got wiped out.
The rest of the 37th Division, which was supposed to go to Daejeon, turned back while heading down, went up to Jeungpyeong, and built their own base.
"Why did you turn back?"
"Dangerous Infected were confirmed near Daejeon, and there were too many other Infected as well."
"Dangerous Infected?"
"It's the Hunter."
Hunter.
They are dangerous. The 32nd Division was wiped out by Hunters immediately.
"What about other Infected?"
"There were Spores. Since the Seoul command and the cooperative entity told us to avoid Hunters, Abominations, and Spores at all costs, we bypassed them."
"Orders come down from Seoul? Do they still come down?"
"They were cut off in January."
I figured.
More than that...
"What's this cooperative entity? And what's a Spore?"
"It's IN Company. A Spore is a yellow, explosive, spore-like monster."
"Wait, are soldiers allowed to do things with private soldiers? Korea is sensitive about that kind of stuff."
"Well, it was orders from above... plus, most of those guys are foreigners."
I guess so. Just gotta follow orders.
More than that, foreigners.
'...The guy I saw at the hospital and the one I saw at the school were Asian.'
"Did you talk to them?"
"No."
"Is that so?"
"Yes... just things like supplies and movement, and sometimes blocking Infected. The higher-ups might know, but we don't."
"Then what do they do?"
"They collect Ability Users."
"They collect Ability Users."
So that's where this connects.
IN Company is involved in the soldiers collecting Ability Users.
Anyway, it was true that they were cooperating with IN Company.
If a regular soldier knows about it, it means they're cooperating openly.
First, about the Spores.
"Spores? Spores that emit things?"
"Yes."
"Explain in detail."
"If those yellow tumor-like things infect a building, Spores appear from within. They are creatures coated in acid; they can't melt metal, but they are extremely dangerous to the human body."
"....."
Yellow tumors. I saw this in Sejong.
More than that, these guys seem to know a lot about Infected.
"So Daejeon has Hunters and Spores?"
"That's correct."
"What about others?"
"Uh... Walker, Runner, Siren, Crawler, Flower, Stalker, Screamer, Hunter, Sentient. That's what we've identified. We don't know about the rest."
"What's a Screamer?"
"It's a creature that uses mental attacks. However, its physical abilities are stronger than its mental attacks. It makes you dizzy and attacks with its body."
Mental attacks. I've noted that for now.
"Are there no Nests? Stalker."
"What is... a Stalker?"
"You know, that one."
I explained.
The soldier shook his head.
"No."
"Is that so? What about Abominations?"
"Abominations haven't been identified in Daejeon. They are in Cheonan."
"Right. I saw traces of that too."
It seems they haven't identified everything either.
Well, that's that.
There are a ton of Infected in Daejeon. This means I have to go to Daejeon too.
But that's not important right now.
"Anyway, the place you turned back to was the Jeungpyeong County Office, right?"
"Yes. That's correct."
"The place our friend Park Young-ho made after saying 'fuck it'."
"Yes."
"Then what did you do in Jeungpyeong?"
"Well..."
The two men started explaining.
They said they excluded civilian rescue from the very beginning.
Because it was hard enough for them to survive and food was scarce.
They said they selected personnel with superpowers and organized a new structure centered around them.
A structure different from rank... At that time, they contacted the 17th Fighter Wing that was alive here in Cheonan. Then they merged.
Park Young-ho decided to be the leader, and as they mixed the units, they moved here.
That was the end of January.
"Then what do you do here?"
"Our abilities aren't very good... so we get mobilized for odd jobs like this."
32nd Division.
An act completely incomparable to Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop.
No, even without comparing to Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop, it's completely incomparable to the 32nd Division that was rescuing survivors at Sejong City Hall, or the 37th Division Commander who came down to Cheongju under orders.
"And you agreed to this?"
"We didn't have the power."
"Why don't you have the power?"
You have guns. You could have raised hell as much as you wanted. Of course, you would have died.
Well, it's natural. It's better to ride the current trend than to risk your life to overthrow it.
"That's true. However... since we are above the civilians, it's controlled to some extent."
"What do you mean you're above civilians? And what's this about being controlled?"
"We prioritize soldiers over civilians."
The phrasing is a bit weird. I tilted my head.
"When something happens, it's soldier-centric. Food is distributed to soldiers first, and if a soldier commits a crime, there's some leniency."
Proper discrimination.
"You just let that happen?"
"Because after screening for abilities, civilians are useless. But just that alone has ingrained that soldiers are in a higher position than civilians. Those people can't mess with us."
"Wow."
Should I call it an act of protecting the soldiers' loyalty? No. It's only natural for a warlord faction.
Seo-yoon made a sound of disbelief.
The soldier continued.
"The external situation is bad, too. It seems they let us vent our stress internally."
"Why is the external situation bad?"
"There are many dangers from Infected everywhere. Recently, Hunter attacks from the south and Sentient attacks from the north have been frequent, so they are discussing it internally."
I understand. I do.
The soldiers' expressions darkened.
"Whatever, so your leader is indeed Park Young-ho? You just don't know where he is."
"Yes."
"What's his ability?"
"It's Restraint."
"Restraint?"
"Yes. It's an ability that fires something invisible to stop the opponent."
"What's the compatibility?"
"I don't know that."
"Are there any restrictions?"
"Well, you can see the projectile flying. It's like an invisible thread. It's so fast that it's impossible to dodge."
"It must catch monsters too. Then can't you just use that to catch Hunters?"
"Well, they break free quickly, and they can also tear it off with strength. It's been a long time now, so I don't know."
"Is that so?"
I guess so. Then it seems worse than Paralysis... Come to think of it, I didn't ask what the compatibility for Paralysis was.
Would Seol-hwa know?
I told Seo-yoon to bring Seol-hwa.
"Huh? Paralysis?"
"Yeah. Kim Su-hyeok had the Paralysis ability, right? Do you know it?"
"Uh... I think it was like 91.2%."
"Over 90%?"
"Yeah."
Then I guess Restraint is a lower-tier version of Paralysis.
Back to the topic.
"So Park Young-ho created a new warlord group like that, and they divide people up and go hunting among themselves?"
"That's correct. But I haven't seen him since March."
I'm sure.
"Right. Then, with that hierarchy, leveling up, and gathering people, why is IN Company collecting Ability Users?"
"That... I don't know."
I'm sure.
"Haven't you heard anything?"
"They say it's a requested item, but I don't know well. I'm not in charge of that."
"Do you know when you contacted them?"
"Well, it's mid-March."
"March, that overlaps with when Park Young-ho disappeared, right?"
"That's correct."
Mid-March.
I know what happened then.
That was when they were extracting superpowers. And it was also when Baek Hanmin mutated at the Cheongju branch.
"What kind of cooperation? Just tell me what you know."
"First, we don't attack each other. We share information, or help if there's an operation."
"What kind of operation?"
"Clearing areas densely populated with Infected or rescuing civilians. We also defend against Infected."
"Civilians. Ability Users?"
"That's correct."
"Was that done after the cooperation, not by you? You said you didn't rescue civilians originally."
"Yes."
"Do you know why they have those private soldiers?"
"I don't know."
"Do you know why and how you cooperated with IN Company?"
"I don't know that either."
"Do you know what they are doing right now?"
"I don't know that either."
"Is IN Company at that GP Biotech factory?"
"No. That's a transit point. I know they are stationed somewhere else... but I don't know the details."
"So you're collecting Ability Users there?"
"To be precise, we collect them. We gather them at Eunha University, then send them to GP Biotech."
"And?"
"And I don't know."
Important information came out.
Transit point. They send them from Eunha University to GP Biotech.
Then it means waiting there is the right thing to do.
'Good.'
Let's summarize for now.
These guys are the remnants of the 37th Division. The unit that was supposed to go down to Daejeon turned back in the middle and went up to Jeungpyeong. There, they created a new warlord faction with a new hierarchy centered around Colonel Park Young-ho, who has the Restraint ability.
Including the 17th Fighter Wing in Cheonan.
Anyway, they cut off civilians and formed a self-sustaining group among themselves in January.
They lived centered around Colonel Park Young-ho until March, then made contact with IN Company in mid-March to form a cooperative relationship.
Perhaps that's when the connection between Park Young-ho and IN Company was formed, and Park Young-ho moved to IN.
After that, they say they've been collecting Ability Users at IN Company's request. Up until dawn today, May 8th.
Warlords. IN Company private soldiers. Cooperation. Ability User supply.
'Collecting Ability Users.'
It's been like that since I heard it from Seol-hwa's group or Han Hae-il, but this sentence reeks of something fishy.
Supplying Ability Users.
'Normally, this would mean finding Ability Users to work with in our group.'
But would a warlord faction that treats civilians like shit and treats people without abilities like shit, and IN Company that experiments with superpowers on humans, really collect Ability Users to use them?
The timing also matches perfectly.
'There's something here.'
The possibilities are that they use Ability Users for experiments like Baek Hanmin before, or they are collecting Ability Users to strengthen their own power.
Both seem a bit ambiguous.
'Instead, there must be something the warlords get in return for giving those Ability Users.'
I should look into this a bit more.
Next question.
"Then, do you cooperate with any other places besides IN Company? Like the government, or other groups?"
"I don't know..."
"Why don't you know? There must be other warlords. Or don't you communicate with the military or using military equipment? Or go to other regions?"
That would be better for gathering people.
"No."
The answer came from the soldier next to him.
What the fuck, it's always "I don't know" or "No."
"Originally, we tried to communicate with various places, but recently it's been pushed back because of the Wave. They say it might resume soon, but I don't know."
What the hell is a Wave again?