92. Other Survivors (2)
92. Other Survivors (2)
The men kept moving, killing Crawlers and Infected.
I thought they were living in the residential area, but honestly, there's no reason to be inside the city anymore.
They exited the residential area and headed toward the outskirts; this was the road leading to the northwest outside of Cheongju.
'Are they heading to the station?'
The direction was right, at least.
Anyway.
Once again, flames erupted from the vehicle.
ㅡBoom!
The exploding flames shattered the heads of the Infected.
Pyrokinesis.
Judging by the firepower, it looks like it's around Lv. 3 or Lv. 4.
Definitely not Lv. 5.
Still, at that level, even if a Hunter would be too much, they could definitely kill the others.
And there doesn't seem to be a limit to the attacks either.
'That's insanely good.'
The vehicle I followed like that.
The place we arrived at was the northwest of Cheongju, specifically, above Cheongju Station.
A small, nameless village next to Seoknam Stream.
If we went through the bottom right to Nami-myeon and then to I-Pension, it seemed like these guys had settled on the top left, living around the farmland.
'There are quite a few people, too.'
Well, if they were down below, they would have made contact with the 32nd Division Second Lieutenant's group.
Like the Cultural Center group did.
Anyway, this place...
They were even standing guard like the Warlords.
Naturally, they didn't have any firearms.
It seems like a place where Ability Users just gather and live without guns.
Also.
Like I-Pension, they had blocked the entrance using geographical advantages.
And since they might have a Barricade Ability User, a barricade like the one in Jeungpyeong was surrounding the village.
'Pyrokinesis and a barricade, huh.'
This is definitely livable.
Except for the occasional lost Walker or Runner, there didn't seem to be any Infected here.
Especially in Cheongju, where only Abominations exist, it made sense for a group like this to emerge.
Han Hae-il's villa complex survived back then, so a place like this could definitely exist.
'I do see some bloodstains, though.'
I wonder what kind of group this is.
A group dominated by a single Brainwashing Ability User like Han Hae-il?
Or a group of armed factions like the Cheonan Warlords?
Or just a group that gathered en masse like the school where Eun-bin used to be?
I followed them inside.
The vehicle puttered inside.
Then the men got out, and people busily carrying bags.
I watched to see what they were doing.
First of all.
The men put all the items they brought into a refrigerator/freezer warehouse.
It was a warehouse located outside next to a house; wow, who knew there'd be something like that in the countryside.
A freezer warehouse, huh.
Someone who intended to farm probably installed that warehouse outside, and it looks like they're putting it to good use now.
Afterward, the men immediately slipped into a house.
I waited for an hour or two, but they didn't come out.
'......'
Well, they were moving around at night, so they must be resting too.
Well, the distance is close anyway. In that case, I might as well go rest and come back.
#
Morning of the 18th.
I returned to I-Pension, rested, and then headed to Cheongju.
Since I remembered the location, I went to the northwest of Cheongju.
I was able to figure out what kind of group this was.
'A new class-based group, huh.'
Men and women with gloomy faces are working.
It seems they've absorbed most of the survivors in the vicinity.
'......'
Are they all dead?
Or did they kill them?
There must have been various things that happened, and it looks like they even made some rules.
People working hard on something in the field.
A young woman laughing loudly while leaving those people to work, and the men next to her.
Men patrolling here and there with weapons by their side.
Hmm.
I don't know.
I'll have to grab someone and ask.
That was the moment I thought that.
The face of a young man working in the field with a dark expression caught my eye.
He looked very familiar.
Who was that again? Right. Isn't that the guy who was with Mr. Kim Jin-cheol at Cheongju Elementary School back then?
The guy who talked a lot.
I had spared him and sent him away back then, but I didn't know he'd be alive here.
'South Korea is really small.'
No, I guess Cheongju is small.
Jin-woo, who had the Strength Enhancement ability.
Since I'm acquainted with him, it'll be easy to talk about this and that.
I didn't have the luxury back then, so I just sent him away, but he's someone I could bring over to our side.
As far as I know, he doesn't have any family, or if he did, they would have all died during the Cheongju Elementary School incident, so it wouldn't matter if I took him.
'That's fine.'
Even if not, it'll be more comfortable than here.
Then, the question is how to get him out.
Is there a way?
I'll have to test the waters and wait for a time when he's alone.
And the opportunity came quickly.
Maybe a few dozen minutes passed.
Jin-woo moved toward a place that looked like a storage area for fertilizer or maybe a barn.
Jin-woo was heading to a place at the edge of the rural houses.
'They aren't watching this side.'
Detection is meaningless in a place with so many people.
Jin-woo headed inside, sighing deeply.
I pulled out the steel bars attached to the building and subdued him.
"....!!!!!!"
Jin-woo was startled and tried to scream.
But no sound leaked out.
I picked the lock of a nearby abandoned car and kidnapped him.
ㅡClunk
ㅡScreech
ㅡThud
The back door of the abandoned car opened, and Jin-woo went in.
It didn't look like anyone had noticed him disappear yet.
I opened the front door of the car and got in.
#
"....!!!!"
The man tried to untie himself.
Seeing the front door open, he made a fearful expression.
"Jin-woo."
"....!!!!"
Hearing my voice, the man stiffened even more.
Does he not remember?
Ah.
I hadn't untied his eyes.
I opened my mouth.
"I'm going to untie your eyes and mouth, but don't scream."
I untied his mouth and eyes.
The man's eyes widened as soon as he saw me.
"Uh... uh?"
"Do you remember? Well, you must. You and I aren't complete strangers, right?"
"...Back then at Cheongju Elementary...? Yu-seong-ssi?"
"That's right. Long time no see. And calling me Yu-seong-ssi is cringey."
"How..."
"What do you mean 'how'? I'm alive and well, that's why I'm here."
"......"
"Whatever, forget it. You managed to save your life, huh? It's been almost three months since we parted ways."
"It was the end of February."
Jin-woo said, blinking his eyes.
"What happened?"
"Well, before that, is it okay to talk?"
"No. It's not, but... you're not going to let me go, are you?"
"That's right."
#
I gave him a one-line summary.
That I killed those fucking powerful Infected and leveled up.
"...We're struggling here because of those Crawlers and Flowers, but you're saying there are even stronger Infected?"
"Yeah. There's a crazy bastard called a Hunter. I guess those are the only ones here?"
"Yeah. Well."
"Now, I'd like you to tell me how you got here."
"Okay."
Jin-woo began to explain.
At that time.
That is, the moment the Speed Ability User Choi Seong-yun destroyed Cheongju Elementary School. The moment I saved Eun-bin.
He took a hammer and escaped to the area above Cheongju Elementary School.
Although he had the Strength Enhancement ability, he had been wandering outside with the External Team, so he had the ability to sufficiently deal with Walkers and Runners.
At that time, Jin-woo was surviving by looting empty houses and apartments with his Lv. 2 ability.
"Oh, you didn't look like the type, but you looted well, huh?"
"...I had to do it to survive."
"That's right."
Days of looting like that for a few days.
Early March.
He ran into people at a small mart he happened to visit. And he discovered that there was a survivor group centered around Daeyong Apartment on the left side of Cheongju.
A place gathered around a shelter, like Cheongju Elementary or Mirae Middle School.
"Daeyong Apartment? Ah, Daeyong Elementary School is there, right?"
"Yes. Daeyong Elementary was the shelter."
"Well, so you joined them there."
"Yes."
"But I guess that group you joined wasn't very good?"
"...Not very good? Should I say not very good? It's a standard group now. Just like Choi Seong-yun's group was."
Jin-woo's voice sounded a bit disillusioned.
"Of course, Cheongju Elementary must have become normal since you came, Yu-seong-ssi, but that place was just a place where a successful Choi Seong-yun was. Pyrokinesis user Choi Hyuk. The men who follow him and the women who cling to him. Those who oppose are treated almost like slaves, and if you don't like it, get out."
"And you?"
"As for me, I was just scouted from the outside and went under Choi Hyuk."
Pyrokinesis user.
The person I saw must be that Choi Hyuk guy.
"You have changed."
"I had no choice if I wanted to live. And I had to adapt."
This is how fucked up the apocalypse is.
Even the good-natured Jin-woo has changed.
"So you've been looting and acting like that?"
"Something like that. We bring people in half-threatened, check the locations of Infected inside Cheongju, think of places to get food, separate them by superpower, and keep them. We do a lot of bad things, too."
That's how it should be.
It's better to change than to die.
Or pretend to change.
"But why are you doing this now?"
"......"
Jin-woo shuts his mouth.
"Why did you stop talking?"
"It felt like this before, too."
"That's funny. So you're not going to tell me?"
He's still a guy who helped me back then.
So I can wait this much.
And he wasn't a guy without tact, either.
"Haa. There's someone I like."
"That's out of the blue."
"Just listen."
"Alright."
As I expected, the story came out not long after.
Though it was a story I hadn't expected.
Suddenly a love story...
"She was a decent woman. A woman with a good personality and an ability."
"What is it? Does she have Healing like Eun-bin?"
"Is Eun-bin noona still alive?"
"Yeah."
"Well, considering her ability..."
"Forget it, just tell me. Summarize it."
"Her name is Kim Ha-eun, but you probably don't want to hear stuff like that. We fell for each other, and we tried to run away together."
"Ah."
I get the gist.
"You were working well under that guy Choi Hyuk, but you got caught trying to run away with the girl? And the girl died?"
"Yes. She didn't die, but... I'm like this, and she is..."
Jin-woo trails off.
But I get the gist of what it is.
She probably became something like a communal rag.
"Tell me properly. That way I can decide whether to do something or not."
"...She became... communal. Used by the men. Her treatment isn't very good either."
It's said she basically became a communal toilet.
Jin-woo has to be called out by Choi Hyuk sometimes to watch that.
Jin-woo gritted his teeth.
"I even tried to fight them with the resolve to die, but Choi Hyuk's group didn't even do anything to me. They said that doing this would be more fucking miserable than killing or beating me. Ha-eun says it's not my fault, but..."
That Choi Hyuk guy is a piece of work too.
The others are something else too.
"What about pregnancy?"
"There are plenty of pills."
"Her body must be completely ruined."
"Yes."
This place is a mess too.
"But what's her ability?"
"It's an ability to make things like barricades."
Barricade, huh.
That's good.
Well, that's enough. If this is the case, I need to know the internal situation here in complete detail.
I looked outside the car.
It doesn't seem like they've noticed this side yet. Which means I can listen to more of the story.
Of course, this comes first.
"Well, whatever, if I get you guys out, do you have any intention of coming to my side? I'm thinking of building something in my own way, too."