Chapter 22
Chapter 22
4. A Winter That Will Someday Pass -4
I explained the situation briefly. That a horde of zombies would be bearing down on us soon. And that a sniper with a personal grudge against me was hunting me.
When I finished, Taemin glared at me with a rigid expression.
"So you dragged that dangerous bastard all the way here?"
He meant that if I was being chased by a tiger, I should die alone—why run toward where people were and drag them into it? I tilted one eyebrow crookedly.
It was a complaint he had every right to voice, but that didn't make it pleasant to hear. It wasn't a decision I'd made just to save my own skin.
That was when the blond kid, Mingyu, cut in with a guilt-ridden expression to cover for me.
"⋯⋯That's not it, Taemin! Noah did it because of me⋯⋯ to save me! So if you're going to blame someone, blame⋯⋯ blame me⋯⋯"
It wasn't great cover. It wasn't even accurate.
Still, he seemed to understand that abandoning him would have been to my advantage. So he felt sorry about it, apparently. Good kid. I'd pegged him for a punk just from the blond hair, but he was a decent person.
I cut straight to the point with Taemin.
"No. This was the best option. The zombie horde and the sniper are separate issues. The zombie legion was heading straight this way for whatever godforsaken reason, and it wasn't because they'd aggroed onto me. Do you understand?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"If I hadn't come here to deliver the news, you'd be dead—Sohye aside. I couldn't have dealt with the sniper and sent Mingyu alone as a messenger. He doesn't have the skills to cross the forest by himself."
How would anyone survive a zombie horde numbering in the tens of thousands? Even if you barricaded every building and held out, the moment even one of them caught your scent, you'd be overrun.
So to keep the people in this shelter alive, and to keep Mingyu alive, me coming here—even with the sniper on my tail—was the right call.
"...Couldn't you have shaken off that sniper somehow?"
"I tried."
She wouldn't shake loose.
I'd changed direction in the forest over and over to lose her, but the sniper tracked me in a perfectly straight line without the slightest sign of wandering.
If she'd gotten close during the pursuit, I would have tried an ambush, but she maintained her distance with knife-edge precision even in the forest where visibility was limited. Which meant—she probably had some way of determining both bearing and distance.
Which meant—to escape the threat, I had to kill her somehow. There was no paradise waiting at the end of running away.
I looked around the room, meeting each person's eyes one by one, and declared:
"I assume you've all realized by now that we have to move one way or another. I have a plan. If no one has a better idea, we're going with it."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Taemin avoided my gaze and lowered his eyes. He seemed to have accepted it. Even someone who'd rather live comfortably in an isolated shelter than take risks apparently changes his tune when death is staring him in the face.
The plan was simple.
Sohye and the other two would evacuate and hide somewhere the zombies couldn't reach. While they were at it, they'd hide from the sniper too. That would secure the safety of the people under protection, and at the same time—
I would hunt down and kill the sniper.
Mingyu heard that and spoke with a frightened look.
"B-but Noah. If we go outside⋯⋯ won't that weird thing shoot at us? Can we really escape on our own⋯⋯?"
"I have a way to handle that. I'll bring down strong winds and heavy rain—for about an hour."
When we went outside with the group to escape, the moment the sniper revealed herself, I planned to push Azure Wind Wanderer to its absolute limit. If I unleashed wind along with rain heavy enough to obstruct visibility, sniping would become extremely difficult.
"...You can make it rain?!"
Hm.
They'd already seen me send a car flying, so I'd thought this reaction wouldn't be anything new.
But even in a world where zombies and plant monsters ran rampant hand in hand, the concepts of skills and hunters were far more primitive here. The fact that the most powerful force in this place was a military based on gunpowder weapons confirmed that.
Living inside the System's framework, I sometimes forgot about worlds without skills. Shooting wind blades and controlling the weather must feel different to them. I flashed a grin at the startled Mingyu and said:
"I know a bit of magic. If the sniper doesn't attack, we'll take a wide detour around the zombie horde and head to Camp Ace. If we get somewhere with armed soldiers, we can guarantee our safety."
In the end, if we neutralized the sniper's advantages of surprise and long-range fire, we held the initiative. The sniper would be forced into a binary choice: come in anyway, or sit back and watch. I was the one dictating terms.
For responding to a sudden ambush, I thought it was a clean countermeasure. I secretly patted myself on the back.
But.
As the mood of acceptance settled over the room, one person sat trembling with her head bowed low. As if she couldn't bear to look at me.
"I-I can't leave this place. Take the others and go—leave me here. I'm sorry. I really am..."
It was Sohye, who had done nothing but refuse this whole time. I clenched my fist without a word.
Because I wanted to just clock her one. And depending on how Sohye answered next, I really was planning to crack her on the crown of her head.
"...I've already explained the situation. You're on the verge of death. And I really hate it when people throw their lives away when there are other options. Sohye."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"I won't change my position. I'll give you a chance to persuade me—but if you don't want to be subdued and dragged out, you need to at least tell me your reason now."
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink. There's a saying like that. The proverb is partially true.
But maybe the horse just... couldn't imagine it. It figured it wouldn't be able to drink anyway. Even if it did drink, the water would be muddy. Maybe it looked at the water in its imagination and jumped to conclusions on its own.
So if it actually witnessed clear water trickling right in front of it, wouldn't its mind change?
Only then did Sohye's mouth open.
"...The truth is."
Fragments of the past flickered by.
The way she'd practically shoved the Hidden Piece onto me, even though it was an opportunity that could change her entire life.
The way she clearly hadn't used the beginner hunter subsidy to buy artifacts or equipment for improving her specs.
The way her tracking technique and movements showed she'd trained plenty, yet she seemed not to have grown through the System at all.
All of that negligence.
"Th-there's one more person I have to protect⋯⋯ I have to protect my sister Sojin. So I can't go⋯⋯!"
"Wh-what are you talking about, Kim Sohye. Sojin... she got bitten by a zombie back then and died!"
"She's still, she's still alive. A zombie, a zombie isn't dead...!"
"Kim Sohye, you don't mean...?!"
It all stemmed from a single past event.
Death.
It was a common thing in the apocalypse.
"Fuck, fuck, Taemin! The zombie bastards are pushing in from the front too! They're about to break through!"
"...Mingyu, get your head on straight and listen. We're taking the escalator and slipping out the back door."
"What?! Taemin, are you crazy? If we bail, what about Sohye and Sojin?!"
"If we go get them, we'll get surrounded and die too. I don't want to say this either. Park Mingyu, if all four of us are going to die anyway, shouldn't at least two of us survive—!"
After shouting, Taemin added:
"...Sohye and Sojin are different from ordinary people like us. They might make it out alive."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
A little mistake, a little misjudgment—they pile up into ruin. As a result, Taemin and Mingyu escaped, while Sohye and Sojin were isolated deep inside a large shopping mall.
Why had they gone on such a risky expedition when the shelter had plenty of food?
'To reach Camp Ace, we have to take the long way around. We can't cut through the forest. We have enough food, but... we need more equipment.'
It was for the future.
Kim Sojin believed they had to reach Camp Ace eventually. Stuck in this tiny shelter, the only future left was withering away and dying—so even if it meant doing menial labor, getting under the military's wing was the right call.
But in the end, it came to this.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The sound of something clawing and pounding at the makeshift barricade. Only two or three of them were there for now, but once the others heard the noise, zombies would come swarming.
Then the door would soon give way under the sheer mass of the horde, and Sohye and Sojin beyond it would die.
But depending on the choice made, one person might survive. Sojin spoke in a commanding tone.
"Kim Sohye."
"⋯⋯Yeah, sis."
"When the door opens and the zombies come in, you run out first and draw their attention. Got it?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
She was telling her to be bait.
Kim Sojin had always been the type to get ahead. Transfer to a new school and she'd finish adapting in a day, then quickly forget her friends from the old one. When her surroundings changed, she adjusted her behavior as if she'd always been used to it. She had that kind of knack.
So when the apocalypse arrived, she transformed faster than anyone, and she became more cold-blooded than anyone in order to survive in this world.
Whenever Sohye hesitated, it was Sojin who cut through that hesitation.
Even when a dying person begged for a sip of water.
'We can't afford that.'
Even when some dreamer tried to persuade them to rebuild the collapsed society and create a nation again.
'That's nonsense. Forget the old days. Keep acting like that and you'll get stabbed in the back and die soon.'
And this time would be the same.
Sohye nodded with a tear-streaked face. Yes—it was far better for her sister Sojin to survive than for Sohye herself. Unlike Sohye, who still couldn't let go of her graduation cap, Sojin had adapted to this strange reality that had changed beyond all recognition.
Surely the shelter would be hoping for Sojin to come back alive.
She thought it was for the best. Sohye had only barely survived by leaning on her sister Sojin; she still hadn't adapted to this nightmarish apocalypse. All the values she had cherished were dead.
So ending things here wouldn't be so bad.
Thud! Thud! Crunch!
Part of the door broke under the zombies' assault, and through the gap, hollow corpse eyes became visible.
"⋯⋯Thank you, sis. L-live well. Be happy."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Sohye kicked the door open and threw herself outside. She was prepared to die.
Behind her, she heard her sister Sojin's strange words. Words so full of warmth that hearing them brought back the peaceful world before the collapse.
"...From now on, you have to live selfishly, Kim Sohye. I love you."
"Huh...?"
When Sohye felt something was wrong,
Kim Sojin uttered strange words that didn't fit the situation.
"——Apollo."
And then something bizarre happened.
Graaaaah—!!
The zombies passed right by Sohye. They paid her no attention at all. As if entranced by something, the zombies targeted only Sojin. As if reacting to the words she had spoken.
"S-sis⋯⋯ sis!!"
It was too late. Sojin's figure was already surrounded by the zombie horde and no longer visible. Zombies were still gathering. It was more than one person could handle.
That single short utterance seemed to have summoned every zombie in the area.
Sohye could only stand frozen in a daze. Zombie after zombie brushed past her shoulders, lips twitching, as she stood motionless. It was as if she'd become a ghost.
"No, sis, ngh⋯⋯!!"
As Sohye bit down hard on her lip and tried to run toward her sister, now buried under zombies, Sojin's voice rang in her mind. That voice seemed to push her away.
Her footsteps stopped. If she went now, she wouldn't save her sister Sojin—they'd both die. Then Sojin's death would be meaningless.
Sohye clutched her churning chest and ran. She had no choice but to run. To her sister, the graduation cap was none other than Sohye herself.
And so she survived. Once again, protected by her sister.
And then.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Soon—not long after the incident...
[Connection complete. System access rights granted to the individual with the greatest talent on this planet.]
Kim Sohye was bestowed the System.
Clank, clank. The sound of handcuffs rattled.
Taemin and Mingyu stared at the source of the noise with stunned expressions. Against the wall, a zombie thrashed about, bound tightly with handcuffs and rope.
The zombie looked exactly like Sohye.
"...After I received the System, the first thing I did was use Credits to save my sister. They sold skills that were single-use but easy to use. And potions. I bought potions too. Because my sister seemed to be in so much pain."
"...So that's why you couldn't grow—you were pouring your Credits into this. And you're saying you'll stay because you can't leave Sojin behind."
Sojin, at least in appearance, was well-kept thanks to Sohye's care. No signs of being chewed on, no grime. But.
Grrrk, grrrrk.
Sojin, now a zombie, made grotesque sounds as her unfocused eyes rolled about. There was no trace of reason left. She was already closer to a monster than a person.
Mingyu clawed at his blond hair and spoke in anguish. His voice was full of guilt over having abandoned the Sohye sisters.
"I get it, I get how you feel. But Sohye... there's no way to bring a zombie back as a person. Even when society was still functioning, all those scientists researched it and there wasn't so much as a whisper of progress!"
"I know. But I wanted to protect my sister, even in this state."
"Snap out of it! You're saying you'll stay behind and die too, just to protect someone who's already dead? Does that make any sense?!"
"...I know."
Step.
Sohye stepped forward as if shielding Sojin. She knew full well. There was no madness in her eyes. Only deep sorrow rippled there.
She knew everything, and yet she couldn't let go.
"I'm sorry, Noah. I still—even now—can't let go of my graduation cap. I know this isn't some kind of conviction—it's just childishness. I know that, but..."
"...Sohye."
"If my sister had survived, she would have been the one to receive the Status Window. If that had happened, you wouldn't be in this difficult position. I'm sorry. I'm weak... weak, and yet I keep dragging you down. A frustrating fool who won't even listen to the last words her sister left her..."
Even so.
Whether it was remorse, regret, belated atonement, or some complex emotion encompassing all of it—Sohye wanted to protect her flesh and blood.
I let out a faint sigh and said:
"Then let's do that. I'll help you."
"...What?"
"But don't worry too much about what your sister said. 'Live selfishly'... it's a nice sentiment, but."
I shrugged in front of Sohye, whose eyes had gone wide with surprise.
"Didn't your sister fail to follow her own advice? She ended up sacrificing herself too. So you don't have to listen to her either. At the very least, advice is only worth taking to heart if the person giving it isn't a hypocrite. Don't you think?"
What I meant was: don't carry guilt over something that isn't your fault. Sohye looked at me with wavering eyes and stammered out her words.
"...Wh-why are you... doing this, Noah?"
"What do you mean?"
"You could just abandon us and run. Noah. If you give up on the Stage and go back, you wouldn't have to deal with the sniper or the zombies at all. I only pushed the Hidden Piece onto you because I didn't have the luxury to take it. So why..."
Why pursue goodness like that?
Couldn't you just abandon us and run?
Why go this far for us?
That was what she was asking.
"Hm."
There were plenty of things I could have said. That leaving without clearing the Stage would incur a penalty fee, and I didn't want to add to my debt. Or that the sniper seemed intent on chasing me to the ends of the universe, so killing her early was the profitable move.
But I was embarrassed, so I just said it plainly.
"I'm doing it because I want to, and because I think I can."
When things get desperate, you abandon. I agree with that.
In a car chase, you're better off dumping all the heavy cargo. In a situation where you have to flee in a hurry, you throw your backpack, your weapon, everything, and then you run—that's how your odds of survival go up.
Morals and values only mean something if you're alive. On the brink of death, you have to throw away everything in your hands and resist. That's how I've lived. Even now, if it comes down to it, I'll ditch everything and bolt.
But, in my judgment.
Now didn't seem like the time to throw everything away.
"How about we fight a defensive battle? A plan where we stay here and hold the position... you'll have to play a major role, Sohye. Since it's about protecting your sister, let's work on it together."
She'd been passive so far, but if she was willing to throw her whole body into using her power—Sohye's abnormal detection ability would be a huge help against the sniper. With that card added to the table, this was genuinely doable.
Sohye pressed her lips into a thin line. She looked up at me with dark eyes from behind her glasses.
"...Noah. You really are..."
Hm.
I swept my bangs back for no reason. It wasn't like I'd done any of this to impress Sohye. What if she developed romantic interest in me or something?
Then I'd have to politely draw the line and say, 'Things are too busy right now for dating'...
"...I'm jealous."
"Excuse me?"
"The fact that you can act like that—I'm so envious, I'm jealous."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
That wasn't the reaction I'd expected. Looking into her eyes, she really did seem jealous.
Well, as long as it wasn't something damp and heavy, I didn't care. Jealousy—well, didn't it have a fiery quality? Heading into a fight, maybe I could even see it as a positive⋯⋯ probably.
And so I changed the plan once more. Based on the current situation and conditions, I decided to set a trap. I didn't know why, but that magic incantation that summoned zombies—if we used that, it seemed like we could make something work.
I would catch the sniper here, and hold back the zombies too.
Plip, plop.
Rain began to fall, little by little.
"Rain... heh heh, fitting weather for a funeral."
Hori, the assassin sent by the Hunter Alliance, emerged from the forest, fiddling with the nail in her grip. Her view opened up, and the landscape of the small city where Noah Won was located came into sight.
Behind her, a massive zombie army was following, marching at an interval of about thirty minutes.
It wasn't that Hori had any particular ability to command zombies. She was simply making use of the silently marching zombie army as she pleased.
For the three days she'd been watching the compass, Noah Won hadn't moved a single step from his position. He hadn't even tried to flee. It seemed like he was up to something, so Hori had prepared the zombies as a sub-plan.
Whatever trap he had, how would he handle a hundred thousand zombies?
As for Hori herself, if things went south, she could just pay the penalty fee and exit the Stage. Of course, the same applied to Noah Won. He was a stranger in this world too, so if he chose to simply leave the Stage, he could escape.
That was the Hunter Alliance's aim.
Hori would attach herself to every Stage Noah Won appeared in. That way, she'd force him to pay the penalty fee every time and prevent him from earning Credits. Then Noah Won, with no backing like the Hunter Alliance, would eventually wither and die.
Once he became a debtor, the System's key functions would be locked and he wouldn't be able to grow—so he'd be weeded out and die on his own.
According to intelligence, an anonymous figure who had recently formed an alliance of credit delinquents was suspected to be Noah Won... but if that were true, his growth rate was abnormally steep.
Probably bad intel. Or he had no debt at all and was deceiving debtors into gathering around him.
"Heh heh heh... once your Credits drop into the negatives, will you still go around sticking your nose into other people's business? No, you won't. You'll realize you're the same kind of scum as everyone else."
Beep.
She advanced in the direction the compass pointed. She'd move slowly like this, pinpoint his exact location, and harass him by firing nails from a distance.
That was when.
Plip, plop, whoooosh——!!
Heavy rain began to pour. The raindrops stung, and the downpour was thick enough to obscure visibility.
"...Ugh, uuugh!"
Hori shuddered, cringing. Getting soaked was unpleasant. She ducked into a nearby building to escape the rain. Then she took up position on a high floor and prepared to snipe.
Rain, huh.
Under these conditions, the rain would conceal Hori. But since Hori had the compass, she could still track Noah Won's position—so all things considered, she was lucky.
This created a comfortable situation where she could fire at him one-sidedly.
Beep—
There was movement on the compass.
Right—he'd have to move to avoid being overrun by the zombie horde following behind. And conveniently, his route was heading into her firing range. Hori held her breath.
She could see him. Through the rain... a blurry silhouette, but a human shape.
Judging by the direction the compass pointed, that was definitely Noah Won. If she could shoot him dead from here, she wouldn't have to bother chasing him from Stage to Stage. Hori carefully poured power into a single nail.
"It's over... Noah Won."
But she didn't know. The single line of text reflected in Noah Won's Status Window.
[Kim Sohye: Found her. Northeast, point B5. Fourth-floor window position.]
Kim Sohye's tracking had been just a little faster. Noah Won grinned and extended his hand precisely toward Hori. Two joints of his fingers crackled and transformed into cloud and wind.
And then.
"Azure Wind Wanderer: Fishing Rod."
Whooooooosh——!!
"——Kyaa?!"
With an abnormal suction force that erupted in an instant, Hori was pulled out from the fourth floor and sent flying toward Noah Won. As Hori's figure drew near, Noah Won raised his shield and took a combat stance.
He had hooked the sniper.