84. Jeungpyeong Hotel Complex (1)
84. Jeungpyeong Hotel Complex (1)
Two more days passed.
May 13th.
It had been about 3 days since I started watching this place.
The Hotel District is surrounded by barricades.
To be precise, farmland... should I call that farmland? Anyway, it goes all the way around the place where they farm.
And it doesn't look like humans built it.
Because it's high and sturdy.
It's not extremely high. But it's high enough that an ordinary person couldn't escape. If I had to measure it in meters, maybe around 2.5?
Inside, there is farmland.
People farm there.
Under the control of soldiers.
"Wow."
Before the outbreak, soldiers in Korea were treated almost like a lower class.
Officers had their salaries delayed and kept deserting, and since there were no people, the ones who were there were ground down.
The soldiers were the same.
Unlike when I served, they were paid a lot, but it's a conscription system, right?
They get dragged in when they don't even want to be there, get locked up, treated like slaves on the outside and called "grunts," and when they go to support civilian affairs, they get worked to the bone without pay.
But when the world collapsed, that flipped.
An armed group using modern equipment. That one phrase says it all.
Especially in Korea, where it's hard for ordinary people to get firearms, they naturally had to take a spot.
"Right now, the GP Biotech factory, the bunker, and Cheonan University were all like that."
It's no different here.
Under the surveillance of soldiers,
they plow the fields and do things all day long. Watching closely, it looks like they're pulling weeds and checking for bugs. Sometimes they even water the crops.
I see about ten men.
And that middle-aged man keeps using some kind of ability on the ground.
"What kind of ability is it?"
I'm curious.
But since it's still time to watch, I'll keep watching.
The man seemed to have a pretty important role. He uses his ability on the farmland and does farm work with the civilians.
But despite having such an important role, the treatment he gets from the soldiers doesn't seem very good.
The man gets beaten today, too.
Though it doesn't seem like they assault him severely.
Just enough to make him use his ability?
Just enough not to damage his body.
They must know they need him.
The funny thing is, the soldiers only beat the man?
The other male civilians just watch the man getting beaten. What is this, making an example of him or what? Wouldn't it be better to just beat someone else and treat the man well?
I thought that, but the soldiers were treating the man well.
When evening came, the man who used his ability on the field and the civilians headed to the barracks behind the Hotel District.
To be precise, they didn't make the man's family work.
And the guys beating the man were the same guys.
"Guess he's someone important."
Probably someone from Kim Sang-chul's line, right?
That man got marked by him, the soldiers and civilians are keeping it hush-hush, and the man keeps his mouth shut because he knows he's getting special treatment.
The civilians just ignore him because they know he's getting special treatment.
Wow...
Are the civilians not even able to live in the hotel?
But because of that, surveillance was easy.
Still, it's not communal living, but small barracks... no, camps spread out here and there.
The woman who looks like the man's wife, who keeps coughing, comes out and looks at the man with pitiful eyes.
And two young children. Their condition doesn't look very good. Especially the woman's.
If the woman had done farm work, she would have died.
"Looks like she's the only woman there."
And the surrounding civilians go into the barracks too.
Meanwhile,
ㅡDing ding ding
Some bell rings.
People flock somewhere.
A large barrack behind the Hotel District.
I checked to see what they were doing, and it looks like a place to eat.
People gather to eat.
About a dozen men.
It looks like a cafeteria.
"...No soldiers."
Looks like a place where only civilians gather to eat.
So I watched where the soldiers go, and they enter that place called Line Hotel in the back.
Looks like they eat inside the hotel restaurant or something.
"...What the. Did they kill almost all the civilians here too?"
Did they just leave the laborers?
Back to the cafeteria,
I looked at what they were eating, and there's a potato on each plate. Next to it, I could see various other foods.
"Is food distribution possible?"
Maybe that man's ability is good.
But it doesn't seem like just that.
ㅡClunk
ㅡClunk
The soldiers brought a load of something.
Food that's still fine.
I followed the vehicle, and it seems they are supplying perfectly fine food from a nearby logistics center.
Well, it's been 5 months, so canned goods or long-term storage foods should still be fine.
"Well, this is probably because there are no Hunters or Abominations here."
So the soldiers supply the goods,
and the civilians come out and carry them.
Some to the Line Hotel.
Some to the barracks.
"Hmm..."
Cheonan University killed all the civilians, but seeing as they leave the civilians here, there's definitely a difference in geographical location.
Cheonan University is located in a place where self-sufficiency is impossible, but here, they can farm like this.
"And there's an Ability User."
The middle-aged man.
Besides him, Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sang-chul. He's probably the man using Area Surveillance outside.
And the Barricade Ability User. There must be someone who built that 3m wall surrounding the outside.
I kind of want that.
Plus Ha-yoon with the detection ability.
"There are quite a few Ability Users."
Maybe there are more here?
I guess they didn't send everyone to the bunker.
That would make sense.
"They're geographically very far apart, after all."
It's a two-hour drive right now. From here to the Cheonan Bunker.
They obviously wouldn't have an ability like Teleportation, and moving takes a huge amount of time. If that's the case, how would they know if they don't find people in Jeungpyeong and send them?
"That's true."
It's the same this time.
Cheonan University purged all the civilians, but here they left them because they are needed for farming.
They might have been able to kill them, but they probably left them to avoid backlash from the internal personnel.
If they were completely useless, that would be one thing, but right now they help with the self-sufficiency system.
They keep the necessary Ability Users here and use them themselves.
It means that Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sang-chul isn't a man who doesn't use his head.
However, it's a bit questionable to conclude it like that.
"They must have realized that the GP Biotech factory, Cheonan University, and the bunker are out of contact."
It was 3 days ago that Jo Min-hong from Cheonan University traded with this place.
Since I killed Jo Min-hong, it's been about 3 days since they lost contact with this place.
However, they didn't send anyone outside toward Cheonan.
"Is it a case of 'it has nothing to do with us'?"
They must have heard it through communication, but I don't know what they're thinking. If communication went through that they were raided by an Ability User, that report must have come in.
Is there some reason?
I just need to find that out from now on.
"Alright then."
Now, the question is what to do with this place.
#
Night has fallen.
22:00 on May 13th.
The day has turned dark.
The Hotel District has become quiet.
There are barricades, and since there are no dangerous Infected in Jeungpyeong County, they trust the barricades and Area Surveillance ability and have switched their days and nights.
That's why at night, only the soldiers on guard duty roam here and there.
Although there is Area Surveillance here and there, that's as good as no ability the moment it's detected.
Unless you have a detection ability.
"......"
And as a result of me watching for four days... now it's four days, I know that the middle-aged man goes to the rice paddy for a moment at this time.
He's probably going to spread that ability.
"About four times a day."
There is no surveillance.
Well, the non-ability users are all guarded by soldiers at the entrance, and the rest is behind a barrier taller than a person's height, and there are sharp things attached to the top, so they probably don't even think about escaping.
That's why it's the perfect time to kidnap him.
Our farming guy heads to the field. That ability seems to be applied to everything once used, but I'm so curious about what kind of ability it is.
I float in the air and enter, avoiding the Area Surveillance.
"Is there detection?"
I wondered, but the range of detection is short.
Even if there is, it would be at the Line Hotel, not here in the farming area.
Then I just need to be careful of Area Surveillance.
I entered the inside, avoiding the red light.
I crouched down and subdued the farming guy who was emitting a white light.
"!!!!!!!"
He tries to scream something, but it's meaningless. Because metal has completely subdued him.
And in that state, I float him into the air.
He flails around, but this isn't even a city.
It means there's no light at all except around the hotel. There is no one who can know he's being kidnapped.
He is kidnapped into the air like that and brought outside the barrier.
"Done."
It's so easy.
I dragged him toward my vehicle.
#
The man struggles.
It's meaningless.
ㅡClunk
The completely subdued man was dragged to the back of the vehicle.
Fear is piled up in his eyes.
A little bit of doubt, but fear has completely covered him.
I picked the front door of the car and got inside.
The man is terrified.
"!!!!"
First, I decided to calm the man down.
"Calm down first, ahjussi."
"......"
The ahjussi's eyes are shaking back and forth.
He looked like he was in his 50s from afar, but seeing him up close, he looks like he's in his 30s? 40s at most?
Well, if he were in his 50s, his kids would be all grown up.
"If I wanted to kill you, I would have done it a long time ago. I'm going to untie your mouth, so let's talk first. Okay? It won't be a bad thing for you, ahjussi."
I untied his mouth.
"...What. No, what, what is this? Th, this right now..."
The flustered ahjussi.
He seems afraid because he doesn't understand the situation.
The man still looks dazed.
I said with several bullets floating in front of his face.
"First, take a deep breath. I didn't call you here to harm you. Okay?"
"......"
The man rolls his eyes back and forth.
The man calmed down quickly.
"Good. You must have a lot of questions, but I'm a bit in a hurry."
"Ye...yes."
"First, how much time do you have left right now?"
"Uh..yes?"
The man asks back.
I asked again.
"You were spreading some ability on the field earlier, how much free time do you have? You were brought in to work, right?"
"Ah. Ah. Ab, about an hour or two."
That's quite a bit.
"Is that so? Then there's quite a bit of time now. Still, I'll get to the main point first. Do you want to keep living here? I've been watching for a few days and you kept getting beaten by the soldiers, you wouldn't want to live like that either, right? If you come to my side, I won't do things like that, so how about you come with me."
"......"
The man closes his mouth.
He carefully opens his mouth.
"Th, this situation, I don't understand it at all."
"Well, that's fine."
If I didn't have time, I would have just skipped it, but since this ahjussi said there's quite a bit of time.
"To summarize, that group over there, so I should call them Warlords now, right? I was killing those people and found this place. And I was going to wipe this place out too, but I saw your group. To be precise, your superpower. It's a farming-related ability, right?"
"...Yes..."
The man nods.
"I want that. Originally, I was just going to kill everyone, but your ability looks good, and you don't get very good treatment here, so I'm trying to persuade you. If you say the word, I can have your family and everyone come over here together."
"Th.."
"Yes."
The ahjussi asks a question.
"Th, then, don't you not have to say things like this to me?"
"You mean why don't I just kidnap you with my ability? Kill everyone?"
"...Yes."
Shortened words.
But I understood what he was saying.
It's a story about why I don't just do something with force.
"Well, I could do that. I have the ability. But the world doesn't keep running on threats, does it? If I ignored your family and only brought you, would you have worked?"
"......"
The man closes his mouth.
"Plus, things like this aren't hard. Well... if there's a problem..."
"......"
"It's that you might be connected to someone with a communication ability right now, but actually, it doesn't matter even if you are. Are you connected?"
"No."
Well, that would be the case.
So.
"That's why I'm going to do it. I'm going to ask. You have to agree for me to tell you the next part. Well, actually, I'm going to take you even if you don't agree. It's just the difference between your family getting out safely or getting out a bit dangerously, right? Plus, my trust in you will go up a bit... and my trust will fluctuate depending on whether you lie or not."
The man opens his mouth.