74. Cheonan Warlord (2)
74. Cheonan Warlord (2)
"What the hell is a Wave?"
"We call it a Wave when Infected gather in a swarm and attack en masse. It's mostly composed of Balloons, Sentients, Walkers, and Runners."
Four types of Infected.
This is exactly what happened to the 32nd Division Logistics Center.
But are they actually dangerous?
A reasonable question.
"They're weak, aren't they? Soldiers should be able to stop them easily."
"There are a massive amount of them."
"How many?"
"Thousands, maybe tens of thousands."
Thousands? Tens of thousands?
"...Them?"
"Yes. That's why we abandoned downtown Cheonan. We were originally expanding our influence northwards, centered around Cheonan City Hall, but we got pushed back because of the Wave. The situation is pretty dire."
"So how do they come?"
"A Sentient Being sends out a Balloon. Then, the Sentient Beings lead the Walkers and Runners that are drawn to it and launch an attack."
"A Sentient Being sends a Balloon? Is that even possible?"
"Yes. To be precise, they lure them. They use things like human corpses to bait the Balloon and send it toward human clusters."
"And they move on their own?"
"Yes. They control the Walkers and Runners, lure the Balloon, and gather all the nearby Walkers and Runners."
"There's no way there are that many Walkers and Runners."
Enough to steamroll an army.
Thinking about it that way,
it is strange.
But the answer came quickly.
"Infected are constantly being generated inside Cheonan."
"...Infected are being generated?"
"Yes. It seems there's an Infected that creates other Infected, one we don't know about."
"So they regenerate. Like a Hunter."
"It's a bit different."
"Different?"
"Yes."
I brought up the Hunter, and it seemed they knew about it.
"Hunters regenerate by restoring parts of their bodies. They resurrect by absorbing nearby corpses or Walkers and Runners."
"......"
The secret to the Hunter's resurrection was solved right here.
"But inside Cheonan, they just keep coming endlessly. We cleared out the south of Cheonan, but it turned into a field of Infected not long after."
"Turned into a field of Infected? Even without corpses or anything?"
"Yes. That's why we suspect there's an Infected that generates them. We think it's at Cheonan City Hall, but we can't push through because of the Wave. Our ammo and such are running low, too. We've pretty much given up at this point."
"Then what are these checkpoints for?"
"They're to keep watch in case they come down."
"Why? If they come, you're dead, right? According to you."
"Because they don't come down past a certain area."
"They don't come down past a certain area. Do you know why?"
"I don't know."
It would be better if the military, the Warlords, and IN Company were fighting among the Infected.
Or if civilians were suffering in a two-way war between the Warlords and IN Company.
'But in reality, the Infected are so strong that IN Company and the soldiers teamed up and ran away.'
What a load of bullshit.
I don't want to curse, but it just slips out.
'Are there no high-compatibility, high-level Ability Users? Is that why they're gathering them?'
That can't be right.
There must be someone who reached Level 5.
I asked.
"There must be powerful Ability Users. People with extremely high compatibility who hit Level 5 or something."
"I think I mentioned this earlier, but we really don't know anything after they go to the GP Biotech factory."
"Them, I mean, not the civilians, but you soldiers must have high-rank Ability Users too, right?"
"Ah, uh... I've seen them. People like Restraint Ability Users, Paralysis Ability Users. But they all disappeared."
Disappeared.
As I was thinking that, the guy next to him opened his mouth.
"I don't think they exist. The higher-ups took the high-rank Ability Users somewhere."
"Where did they take them?"
"I don't really know."
"What the fuck, they always say they don't know."
"I don't know. They all disappeared. I've never seen them again. Come to think of it, all the soldiers disappeared."
"In Cheonan? You didn't send them to Biotech like the civilians?"
"Yes."
Something's going on.
Civilians are gathered at Cheonan University and sent to GP Biotech.
But the soldiers? They say they don't know where the soldiers went.
'......'
I organized the information I'd gathered so far.
Colonel Park Young-ho, who created a Warlord faction, and IN Company, who teamed up with him.
The soldiers follow along because they have no choice, but humans are creatures of adaptation, so they're living okay for now.
And even if they teamed up and brought in civilians, they say there's a precarious balance because the external threat comes first.
That was the case in the places I saw, too.
The military and IN Company stationed at the GP Biotech factory.
Soldiers living with civilians behind barricades at Cheonan University.
High-compatibility civilians who go to Cheonan University and then disappear to the GP Biotech factory. High-compatibility soldiers disappeared somewhere.
'Supply of Ability Users, plans to push north.'
But it's not going well.
Because of the Infected that keep swarming in.
Is it the Wave?
A swarm of thousands, tens of thousands of Infected.
If the Cheonan Warlords here were a real army, they would have steamrolled that with tanks without a second thought, but seeing as they retreated, it means they don't have that kind of power.
Even so, information regarding IN Company is being controlled.
What they're doing, and why they're here.
But one thing is certain: seeing as IN Company is cooperating with the Warlords, it seems something isn't going right.
Or they have a specific goal.
'These are guys who even shoot civilians just because they came to extract their own stuff.'
Is it really to the point where they have to cooperate with a Warlord faction like this?
And these are guys who even operate special forces.
'Well, they did antagonize the Infected.'
It seems they spread them, but they can't control them.
'Then the important thing is where the high-compatibility Ability Users went.'
I asked more, but these soldiers didn't know anything about IN Company. Well, what would low-level grunts know? To get more accurate information, I'd have to ask directly inside Cheonan.
Or catch a few high-ranking officials from IN Company or new executives within the Warlords.
"So you don't know about Park Young-ho. It's certain he was originally at GP Biotech but disappeared, right?"
"Yes."
"Then who's at Cheonan University and Jeungpyeong?"
"Lieutenant Colonel Park Si-woo and Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sang-chul were there respectively."
Past tense.
"Si-woo? That's a very recent name. How old is he?"
"25 years old."
"Huh?"
How is a 25-year-old a Lieutenant Colonel? Ah.
"Is that some kind of new hierarchy executive thing? What's Park Si-woo's ability?"
"Yes. That's right. Lieutenant Colonel Park Si-woo has an Appraisal ability."
"Appraisal. So that means he takes the Ability Users to the university first."
"That's right."
Appraisal can mean many things, but here it must be that ability. The ability to distinguish people's abilities.
It's a good ability, though.
"What about Kim Sang-chul?"
"Area Surveillance ability. He's in Jeungpyeong."
Area Surveillance.
Same ability as Second Lieutenant Kim In-seop.
"Is he in his 20s too?"
"No. He's about 49, I think."
"I guess he was originally a Lieutenant Colonel?"
"That's right. He's the 1st Battalion Commander."
Whatever.
"Tell me everything you know about Park Young-ho, Park Si-woo, and Kim Sang-chul. Where they are, what they're doing."
"They are Park Young-ho's inner circle. Park Si-woo is Park Young-ho's son, and Kim Sang-chul is Colonel Park Young-ho's friend. I don't know anything else. I'm sorry."
Figures.
He probably threw the Lieutenant Colonel rank at his son.
I mean, there's no country, so he can just hand out ranks however he wants, right?
"Are there IN Company troops in Jeungpyeong too?"
"I don't think so."
Not that they don't know, but they believe there aren't any.
"Why not?"
"I think it's because there's no IN Company in Jeungpyeong. There's no talk of IN Company over there either."
"You said they don't station here either."
"Yes."
"But you don't know."
"Yes. We only receive troop support."
Fucking suspicious.
The other soldier next to him answered.
Is that so.
Then there's some possibility.
"Does communication work well? Even from far away?"
"Yes. It happens instantly."
"How does it work? There must be some distance. Walkie-talkies wouldn't work at this range, right?"
"There's a Communication Ability User. We have walkie-talkies, too. But beyond the range of the walkie-talkies, the Communication ability makes it possible."
"Communication works via walkie-talkie?"
"Yes."
"What about other things? Like smartphones."
"Other things... I don't know. We only use walkie-talkies..."
Because the ability that came to Seol-hwa's place before was also a Communication ability.
But that means if I touch one place, the other place will know about me.
It means they can respond.
"Where is the Communication Ability User?"
"They're in Jeungpyeong."
"Exactly where? The county office? Who is it?"
"I don't know."
Oh, for fuck's sake.
"Whatever, if you don't know, fine. So, is that Communication ability capable of smooth two-way communication?"
"Yes. As long as there's a medium, two-way communication is possible as much as we want. Just like telepathy."
"Did you communicate that I came?"
"We couldn't."
It's not certain where Park Young-ho, Park Si-woo, and Kim Sang-chul are. It's old information.
IN Company isn't certain either.
The only thing certain is the movement path of the Ability User civilians.
If they took people to Jeungpyeong/Cheonan saying they were recruiting Ability Users for Seol-hwa's group, there must be some people who got lured and went.
To find that, I have to go to the GP Biotech factory.
I have to extract information from there now.
"Do you have any photos of them?"
"Uh... we do, but we don't have them right now."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"We, uh, left all our phones behind."
"The guy next to you too?"
"Yes."
#
I debated what to do with the two soldiers, but I killed them.
Their abilities were both Muscle Enhancement. They would have been fine to use as laborers, but something about it just didn't sit right with me.
The probability is low, but there could be a location tracker or something, so I dumped them in Jochiwon.
The night of May 8th.
Honestly, I can come out during the day now.
Since the others won't be active during the day except for the sentries, it's actually better for me to watch from this side.
But conversely, if I move around during the day, the chances of them observing me increase.
Because visibility is reduced at night.
'......'
Anyway, I headed for Cheonan.
'Fucking far, damn it.'
I got in a vehicle and drove straight up, which saved a lot of time.
That's how I arrived at the Cheonan Southern Checkpoint.
'......'
The soldiers are still there? Looks like they didn't do any tracking. But there are a lot of people near the area where I deliberately left the Hunter's traces.
Yeah, it must be strange. It'll be slightly different from a Hunter.
Well, the ones already dead are a lost cause, and it looks like they sent others quickly.
It didn't seem like they had any tracking abilities. If they did, they would have come this way while I was resting yesterday during the day, but that didn't happen.
'Then this place is fine.'
It's enough that I confirmed there's no tracking.
I went further up and headed for the GP Biotech factory.
#
GP Biotech factory.
In the end, waiting is the right move.
Either an executive comes out,
or until an IN Company truck moves.
That's the only way to catch the head.
'......'
But the IN Company bastards have no intention of coming out.
In the end, it seems better to target an executive.
As I was thinking that, I saw someone patrolling in front of GP Biotech.
Doesn't look like IN Company, looks like soldiers.
Let's see where they're patrolling.
Because if I want to infiltrate, I have to follow them.
However.
'......'
A soldier walking listlessly inside looks familiar. I've never seen a soldier before, so if they look familiar, that means... I must have seen them somewhere.
'That bastard.'
It's the guy I saw at the 32nd Division Logistics Center.