93. Other Survivors (3)
93. Other Survivors (3)
As expected, Lee Jin-woo agreed.
I don't know if his story is true, but I'll find out once I take him to Seo-yoon.
For now.
"You said you can't leave your post, right?"
"Yes."
"Does anyone look for you or anything?"
"It's not that, but we have roll call in a bit."
"Is that so? When?"
"In 10 minutes."
"I see. And after that?"
"I'm free until lunch."
"Alright. I'll take you there, so go do your roll call, and then come back to this spot—you know, the one from earlier."
"Ah. Yes."
He might stab me in the back, but if he does, I'll just kill everyone.
"Go on."
"No way... Aaaargh!"
I lifted him up and sent him on his way.
#
Lee Jin-woo returned after finishing roll call.
As expected, no one followed him.
I asked.
"Are there people here you need to save? Besides you and that Kim Ha-eun girl?"
Getting those two out is easy.
Killing everyone else is easy, too.
"...Yes."
However, killing only some of them is difficult.
Unlike the previous case with Kim Young-jin's group, Lee Jin-woo said there were people he needed to save.
Well, that's not bad. They're going to be people I put in the Multi anyway.
However, perhaps Lee Jin-woo misunderstood that reaction, as he spoke quickly.
"It's not just people without abilities. Ha-eun is one, and there are many decent people. It's just because of Choi Hyuk."
"Choi Hyuk. The Pyrokinesis user. What's his level?"
"I believe it's lv.4."
lv.4
Then that means he could slice through Flowers too.
Actually, fire abilities seemed like they would be incredibly effective against Flowers from the start.
He must have leveled up in an instant.
Though he probably couldn't kill an Abomination. And Hunters are excluded since there aren't any.
"...That's right. He tried shooting at the giant monsters a few times, but he said it didn't work and turned back. Since hitting level 4, he's gained confidence and is now roaming around inside Cheongju."
Well, there aren't any other Infected here.
With no internet and information being controlled, he probably doesn't know how dangerous other Infected are.
Still, it would be enough to roam around inside Cheongju.
"So, what you're doing is a group of raiders?"
"Yes."
"Then, what's your criteria for who you need to save?"
"......"
Lee Jin-woo looked at me.
"That..."
I cut him off.
"Well, you must have your own criteria, right?"
"Yes. That's right. Are you going to call me selfish?"
"No."
The world is like this, after all.
You survive by luck.
And this time, they're surviving based on Lee Jin-woo's criteria.
"Then why couldn't you run away with those people?"
"...Because of the barricades and the surveillance."
Well, it's all manpower.
I didn't care if they were good or bad people. What mattered were the Ability Users.
"What about abilities? Just list the good ones."
"Ha-eun has the Barricade ability. Bae Ju-a noona has the Light Ability. Hyun-jun, Kim Hyun-jun, has the Water ability."
"What's the Light Ability?"
"It's a light ability."
"...Light?"
That's a curious ability.
Water would be water manipulation, I suppose.
Very good.
"Anything else?"
"The others are just so-so. But they're decent people."
"Whatever. Water ability is a good ability even in the current situation. But their levels must be low, seeing as they can't even resist."
"Yes. Everyone is... lv.1."
That seems to be the case.
Even the barricade looks weaker than the one in Jeungpyeong that looked sturdy.
On top of that,
being able to supply clean water anywhere is an incredible ability.
It means they can continuously create water without any conditions, even without a connected water supply.
As for light,
I'm sure there's a use for it. Like shooting a blinding beam or something.
"How many people are there? The ones you need to save."
"Twelve people."
"Excluding you?"
"No. Including me."
"I see."
"So, I can kill everyone else, right? Don't you have family or anyone like that?"
"...No. None of them."
I figured.
Since these are people gathered after the initial cleanup.
Barricade. Water, Light.
Light aside, Barricade and Water are very important abilities.
They'll be useful if I bring them to our base. Along with Lee Jin-woo.
The Pyrokinesis user... well, I'll have to deal with him. I could bring him, but if I did, Lee Jin-woo and the other ability users would slip away.
For attack or defense,
the Pyrokinesis user is better, though.
The Contract ability is incredibly good, but it's not an ability without any loopholes.
Even though they're a group of raiders, he has ability in the sense that he's leading them properly, but it's questionable whether I could completely control him with a contract.
Besides, these aren't people I'm going to keep at I-Pension forever.
'If I weigh the options, Lee Jin-woo's side is better.'
Now, the question is how to take over this place.
First, I have to take him to Seo-yoon.
#
Arrived at the Bugang-myeon Office.
This place is really nice.
"This place..."
"We're not going to live here. I just brought you here temporarily."
"Ah..."
I applied Seo-yoon's ability.
Lee Jin-woo nodded and accepted the contract. Well, he'd have at least this much sense.
His story wasn't wrong.
He wasn't the type to lie in the first place, but you never know.
I explained everything.
About the Multi.
About Seo-yoon's ability.
"Are you confident you can persuade the people?"
"Yes. Even if it doesn't work, I have to try. It'll be better than that place."
"I like your confidence."
Lee Jin-woo nodded.
I sent Seo-yoon and the people back.
I took Lee Jin-woo and headed back to the survivor camp.
ㅡVroom
A car floating in the air, with no headlights.
Lee Jin-woo staring blankly outside.
I
asked again.
"I'll ask one last time. You don't need the other people, right?"
"...Yes. They're not very good people anyway."
"Well, you said you did too."
"......"
Lee Jin-woo shut his mouth.
"In a world like this, there's no one completely clean anyway."
"That's true. But I can't help but feel regret."
The man with a bitter expression.
"Killing people?"
"Yes. I still remember. Those voices. I tried to harden myself, but I guess it was impossible from the start."
It is like that, a person killing a person.
Of course, that's meaningless too. If you die, it's over, right? I have to survive first.
What's the point if you kick the bucket?
If you die, it's over.
At this point in time, with Infected overflowing and the nation collapsed.
That's why I'm not talking about delivering some kind of righteous judgment on that guy Choi Hyuk.
"But since you're alive, you can at least have those thoughts. It's better than being dead."
"...That's true."
"So, tell me about the dangerous guys there or any decent ability users."
#
Choi Hyuk.
A Pyrokinesis user, lv.4.
Compatibility is 93.3.
He said he couldn't trust the people around him at all.
All ability users who could threaten his ability were killed.
Therefore, the ones left are himself and the Strength Enhancement or Arm Enhancement ability users he can control.
"What abilities did they have?"
"There was someone who had an ability like Binding. But they died suddenly one day when they went outside."
"Binding shouldn't die easily."
Binding, Paralysis.
CC abilities are honestly superior in defense compared to the attack ability of Pyrokinesis.
Because it's an ability that can stop even most Infected.
This is a story Seol-hwa told me, so it's reliable.
"Ah, he probably did it because he was worried it would be troublesome later. Because it's dangerous if they stab him in the back when he goes out somewhere. Right?"
"That's right. That's why he took care of them. The others have low levels, even if they have good abilities."
"He must be quite paranoid."
"I guess he survived because of that personality, though."
"True."
Well, aren't dictators like that? Always facing assassination threats and coup threats. It seems the man named Choi Hyuk is just a bit more extreme about it.
"Then, is there nothing else around him?"
"The rest are decent-looking women clinging to Choi Hyuk. And some hulks who use their strength quite a bit, men who are good at leeching off others, people like that. On top of that... they also have guns."
"Guns?"
"What guns? I didn't see any earlier."
"Revolvers. Revolvers found on police corpses. They also have tasers."
"Ah."
"That explains it."
"So that's why you guys couldn't do anything."
"Yes."
"But Choi Hyuk said he couldn't trust the strong guys, yet he gave them guns?"
"He only gave them to his closest aides. The gang that's been with him since the beginning."
"I suppose so."
"But can he trust that gang?"
I don't understand.
Or... he can block bullets.
'The probability that he can block them is higher.'
Pyrokinesis level 4.
There's a possibility he could melt things like bullets around him.
"...I don't know about that. From what I saw, he wasn't level 4."
"I see. Then, other than that, are there any other supernatural abilities? Even if it's not an attack ability like Barricade, something useful."
"Ah... there is a Plant Growth ability user."
"Since you didn't mention him, he must be on Choi Hyuk's side, right?"
"That's right. Choi Hyuk gave him some power within the group because he's a key member."
"Anything else?"
"No."
"None?"
"Yes. There were some, but he killed them all. There was a person with a Truth Detection ability, but Choi Hyuk dragged them around and then killed them."
It's ambiguous.
Truth Detection would have been nice, though.
Plant Growth, huh.
It would be nice to have one more, but it didn't seem necessary to bring him.
"What about numbers? There are twelve of you, how many are they?"
"Nineteen. Including Choi Hyuk."
"Are there any women being held captive or anything? Looking at this place, I feel like there might be."
"...They're included in the twelve."
"They don't have any detection or anything, right? Abilities."
"Yes."
"Then I can just go and kill them."
#
Infiltrated the inside with Lee Jin-woo.
A farmland with barricades set up.
It's approaching lunchtime.
I did spend some time going back and forth with Lee Jin-woo.
People patrolling here and there.
People carrying something from the farmland.
We watched them from the blind spot next to a house with an old fence.
"What are they doing?"
"They're moving the grown crops. Things like watermelons."
"Watermelons? Can you grow watermelons right now?"
"Yes, they're fully grown and harvested in 2 weeks. Since he reached lv.4, he ignores things like the weather. As long as you give him the necessary fertilizer and water, they get harvested."
That's an insane ability.
I think I did well bringing Kim Young-jin.
The more I think about it, the more I want to find an Animal Growth ability user.
If I just get something like a pig to breed, can't I eat them infinitely?
And every time I see things like this, I realize that superpowers are abilities humans can't create.
How could you create superpowers?
Especially by assigning different compatibility levels to each person.
'Or is it?'
Is it possible?
Well, I'll find out later when I look for more of the IN Company guys.
"That..."
"Why."
"Do you need that person?"
"No. We have one on our side too. A farming ability user."
"Ah..."
And they're a reliable person, too.
More than that, it was clear that they were divided by class.
Because there were people working and people just lounging around separately.
People patrolling far away.
People standing guard at the barricade near the entrance.
Well, it's similar.
"Over there, the person in the middle is Choi Hyuk. That man with the good-looking impression."
"I see."
I'm not a person who believes the weak are good.
As you go through life, you find that the weak are often more evil.
However, I do trust Seo-yoon's Contract ability.
That's why I believe these words from Lee Jin-woo as well.
'Is it the Multi?'
I used my ability stronger than usual.
If he can block bullets, he might be able to block my ability too.
It actually looked like the metal I launched was getting caught on something.
ㅡThwack!
However, it pierced through that and went straight through Choi Hyuk's head.
ㅡ!@$!@$!!!
ㅡ!@$!@$!!
A commotion broke out in front.