87. Cleanup (Part 1 End)
87. Cleanup (Part 1 End)
Kim Sang-chul with a miserable expression.
I plugged Kim Sang-chul's ears tightly with metal.
This way, he'd only hear a buzzing sound.
A man whose whole body was restrained.
I said I'd blocked everything about Kim Sang-chul, but who knows what those IN Company bastards might have done to him.
Or there might be other bastards connected to Kim Sang-chul.
That's why I didn't go straight to where I-Pension was.
I drove the car to the Bugang-myeon Office, where I had interrogated Park Si-woo before.
#
I brought Seo-yoon, Eun-bin, and Seol-hwa to the Bugang-myeon Office.
I left Kim Young-jin's family to wait and dealt with Kim Sang-chul first.
Seo-yoon used her ability.
"......"
"Keeping your mouth shut like that isn't going to do anything. Just read this quickly and put your thumbprint on it."
But he wasn't an easy man.
Kim Sang-chul glared at me, looking at me as if I were pathetic.
"It'd be better for you to listen nicely when I'm talking."
Should I call this guy an old fogey or an idiot?
I stared at him quietly and created an awl.
It's not like I really enjoy torture or anything.
But there are always bastards like this.
I started shoving the awl under his fingernails.
"Gueeeek. I'll do it, I said I'd do it! I will! Gyaaaaah!"
The voice of Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sang-chul in pain.
Eun-bin heals him.
"Write."
#
The funny thing is, not a single piece of important information came out of him.
There was no connection to IN Company at all; he had only been inside the IN Company bunker and didn't know anything about killing Lee Cheol-woo and the INSS members before.
He didn't know anything about Elias Sinclair or the Cheonan Branch either.
He was just a man who held a grudge against Colonel Park Young-ho.
'That's a shame.'
The story was the same from January, and after March, that is, from the time Park Young-ho left for the bunker, he started to slowly take control of the Jeungpyeong area.
To be precise, it would be recruitment.
Park Young-ho had gone to the bunker, and IN Company, Cheonan University, and GP Biotech had nothing to do with this place; they were just stories from far away.
Why, even in Korea before the collapse, weren't there neighborhoods that were extraterritorial?
It's that kind of feeling. He gave power to the people in his line, selected the ability users who needed to be sent away, and the funny thing is, he sent away all the powerful ability users with 80-90% aptitude who would be a threat to his power.
'That's why Park Young-ho didn't say much.'
That's how the Jeungpyeong Hotel Village and Jeungpyeong County Office were created.
In the end, this place was just another warlord faction created separately.
I thought they became independent as soon as communication with the bunker and Cheonan University was cut off, but it had already been operating separately since March.
Well, he had the brains for it, so he must have run this place without any problems until now. Giving preferential treatment to soldiers over civilians, suppressing complaints, and suppressing civilians with force in return.
And in the middle of that, I arrived.
"So, IN Company has never been here?"
"...That's right."
"And you guys just sent the ability users who would be a threat?"
"That's right."
"But then why did the communication ability user Ha-yoon die? Huh? You shouldn't have let such an ability user die."
But the answer was different.
"She didn't die."
"...She didn't die?"
"Yeah. That bitch escaped. With an officer she hooked up with. That was a few days ago."
She escaped.
"Where to?"
"I think it's Chungju. That's the only place that answered the communication."
"Chungju? What's there?"
"There's some warlord group or faction there."
"Tell me in detail."
"I don't know the details. Even when I tried to lure them over communication, they said they'd handle things themselves."
"But why do you think she went there?"
"Because that's the only decent group in the vicinity. Ah, Cheonan University or the GP factory could be possibilities too."
Well, whatever.
I got the information for now.
That there's a group in Chungju. And if there's a group, there's a chance an IN branch exists too.
Chungju... Chungju is a bit far.
"What about the officer who ran away with that communication ability user?"
"It's Second Lieutenant Choi Woo-hyun, who has the restraint ability."
Restraint.
That's a good ability.
It'll be quite useful against regular Infected.
It's similar to Paralysis, after all.
It's a lower-tier version of Paralysis, but it's still better than most abilities, right?
With Communication and Restraint, any group would welcome them with open arms.
Restraint is a useful ability for combat, and Communication is an incredible ability in itself.
'I'll have to go there too.'
Afterward, I re-checked the information.
They sent communications to various places, like Eunha University where Seol-hwa's group was, saying they were gathering ability users, and they would collect the ability users and send the really dangerous ones to Cheonan University.
They accommodated the ones they could use appropriately inside the Jeungpyeong Hotel Village. That's exactly what this Jeungpyeong Hotel Village was—an attempt at self-sufficiency.
He also knew about the bunker, but he was out here for reasons similar to Park Si-woo.
If he was just one of many Lieutenant Colonels there, he was the king here. Plus, this place was far from the Cheonan Hive.
That makes sense.
Is there anything more to extract? Still, I learned one piece of information.
That there is some kind of group in Chungju City.
Going there... I'll have to put that off for now. There are just too many places to go and things to do.
'Let's take it slow.'
ㅡSwish
With a sound cutting through the wind, a red dot appeared in the center of Lieutenant Colonel Kim Sang-chul's forehead.
ㅡSplurt
Blood and brain matter spurted out.
Kim Sang-chul collapsed with a thud.
I walked outside.
#
I returned to I-Pension.
Afterward, I asked for consent from Kim Young-jin and his family and cast the Contract again.
Earlier, I had only asked about the important things.
"Mr. Kim Young-jin."
"Yes."
"How old are the kids?"
"Ah, they're 6 and 4."
"And you, Mr. Young-jin?"
"I'm 34, and my wife is 29."
"I see."
His wife is the same age as Eun-bin.
Eun-bin was a virgin until she met me, but this woman got married at 22 and had a kid at 23, right around her honeymoon.
Well, she's a woman worth that. She is pretty, after all.
That's probably why that Captain what's-his-name messed with her.
Afterward, I started verifying them one by one.
Everything, down to the details.
Well, it's not like they could do anything if they didn't consent.
Kim Young-jin had never lied.
Seo Ji-hye hadn't had an affair either.
She was truly a victim, just as described.
...Of course, it was shocking that Seo Ji-hye had been gang-raped by all the civilians there.
But since it was forced, I just let it slide.
That Mr. Kim Young-jin is a pitiful man, too.
After checking even the kids, I came outside.
Kim Young-jin was standing there with an anxious expression. Seeing his kids' faces, he brightened up a little.
He opened his mouth.
"I said this earlier, but... it's a truly terrifying ability. A mental ability, of all things."
"That's why I believe what you say."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes. There are even scarier abilities. Like Brainwashing, where you become a slave just by hearing their voice."
"Is that for real?"
"Would it be fake? More importantly, I'm glad you didn't lie."
"I, and my family, have no reason to lie."
"Wouldn't it be nice if the world worked that easily? Right?"
"......"
Kim Young-jin shut his mouth.
Because he was a victim who had experienced that firsthand.
I looked to the side.
I saw Seo Ji-hye, who had received the contract first and gone to Eun-bin.
"You said you kept coughing, right? And phlegm came out? Green?"
"Yes."
"You also had a fever; if it had been a little later, it could have been dangerous. It's exactly like pneumonia symptoms. Are you okay now?"
"Ah. Yes. Thank you. Truly."
"Still, just in case, let's keep an eye on your progress. The kids were done earlier, and they were fine."
"Thank you."
"Thank you, eonni."
The kids who were next to me trotted over and greeted Eun-bin.
Eonni, huh.
Do they know that Eun-bin and their mom are the same age?
"Eun-bin. Is it done?"
"Yes."
"What about Mr. Young-jin?"
"Mr. Young-jin, um, seemed to have some slight internal injuries. The treatment seems to have gone well."
"Really?"
"Yes."
"Seol-hwa."
"Yeah."
"There's nothing around, right?"
"Nothing."
"Good."
With this, I think I've done everything I needed to do here.
There's no tracking or anything.
Well, if there was tracking, they would have come when I smashed that bunker. This place is kind of like a bonus, anyway.
#
Thus, the cleanup of the Jeungpyeong Hotel Village was finished.
What I gained was Kim Young-jin and 3 bonus people.
Now, I'm truly ready to implement self-sufficiency.
'Although dangers are still scattered around.'
The Cheonan Warlords I messed with right away have been dealt with.
I looked at the remaining space in the pension and said.
"For now, I'll give you one side over there, so clean it up and use it."
"Thank you."
"Thank you, Yu-seong-ssi."
The couple greeted me.
"I'm going to work you hard from now on, so there's no need to thank me."
"Still."
I thought as I watched the couple's backs.
'It would be nice to have a Barricade ability user, it would be nice to have a Communication ability, and it would be nice to have an Attack ability user to protect this place.'
Especially since, even if I could deal with area-of-effect attacks with a Claymore for once, the problem was that there was no one to suppress powerful bastards like Hunters.
Right now, there isn't a single person with an attack ability inside the base, is there?
'Should I have just kidnapped them and brought them here?'
Well, whatever.
I've been acting like a maniac for a few days, so I was planning to rest a bit and clear my head.
I watched the people go inside and headed toward Tae-jun's group, who were standing guard.
This time, it was Tae-jun and So-young.
"Tae-jun."
"Hyung, you're here."
"Nothing happened?"
"Yes."
"What about you, So-young?"
"Me neither."
"Have you seen that Infected moving back and forth like last time?"
"No. The last time was when I told you."
The last time.
Bugang-myeon.
The place where the former 32nd Division logistics center was. Come to think of it, I've had a tendency to neglect internal affairs because of Cheonan and Jeungpyeong this time.
I should clean this place up too, and bring all the remaining supplies with the kids.
On top of that, I should try killing that Abomination I've been putting off. I should slowly look for a place with more space, too.
The Cheonan Warlords have been dealt with, but there was still so much to do.
Also, just because that place was cleared didn't mean the Infected that were a threat to us were cleared.
This was just the beginning.