Chapter 26
Chapter 26
4. The Savior Who Ended the Cold Wave -2
Kim Sojin had been bitten by a zombie and died.
But she came back to life.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
She couldn't help but feel a bit bewildered. She had steeled herself for death and even left a will, and now, resurrection? She felt somewhat dazed. Was she just stunned by luck that had arrived so abruptly?
Was she still spellbound by the "Form of the Sun" she had hazily glimpsed at the boundary between life and death?
Or maybe it was because her stomach had turned when she heard that Sohye, that fool, had kept her zombified body alive all this time. Maybe that was why it didn't feel real.
But the confusion was brief. Kim Sojin decided to adapt to her changed circumstances. Her philosophy was that worrying didn't help in most situations.
Worrying was just what people did when they had no clear goal.
People who know what they truly need to do have no need for worry. Protect Sohye. Protect the shelter. Protect her acquaintances. Snap, snap, snap. If you pinned it down that clearly, where was the need to agonize?
Adapt.
Fortunately, this godforsaken world hadn't changed much. Taemin still clung to a life holed up in the shelter, Mingyu still flustered about, and Sohye was... frustrating.
They were exactly as Sojin remembered them.
If there was one thing that had changed in this asphalt-colored landscape, it was a single person.
"...He blew up a car with a wave of his hand?"
"I'm telling you! Noah went like this, whoosh, and then BAM!!"
The person Mingyu was spitting and passionately recounting his war story to.
Noah Won.
A white-haired man on crutches, with striking features and a handsome face that gave the impression he might have been an idol center before the apocalypse.
From what she'd heard, he was the one who had saved Sojin herself from zombification, the one who had lured the zombie horde filling the outside in another direction, the one who could make it rain, and the one who had fought an earth-shattering battle against some thug.
Was that frail-looking gigolo really that strong?
He didn't look it at all from his appearance. Though from the body visible under his clothes, he did seem to have worked out diligently enough. But combat wasn't just about the body, was it?
Apparently they were all going to pack up and move to "Camp Ace" together now, and frankly, she wasn't confident in that.
The path to Camp Ace was what Sojin had been grinding her teeth and desperately trying to break through. So did it make sense for someone on crutches like that to cross the forest while bringing other people along?
Even pouring out all the firearms they had wouldn't guarantee it.
She had to verify whether he really was a savior. Doubt and verification were virtues, and duties. Even for Sohye's safety.
Sojin pulled out a pack of cigarettes and approached Noah Won.
"It was Noah, wasn't it? Would you like a smoke?"
"Ah, I'm fine. I quit smoking. They're hard to come by, and it hurts my stamina... I'll just gratefully accept the thought."
"I heard about you. They say you're suffering from the Zombie Virus. I was wondering if you should be setting out in that condition. Wouldn't it be better to rest and recover a bit more?"
"...I understand what you're worried about. I'll take the cigarette after all."
Noah Won pushed off the wall he'd been leaning against and straightened up. Then he took the cigarette pack from Sojin, tucked it into his coat, and smiled rather provocatively.
"I have considerable experience. Just as manual labor is more about technique than strength, I can serve as a perfectly adequate guide even in this condition. Though I doubt saying so will put your mind at ease."
"No. Honestly, I'm a little uneasy."
"I'll give the cigarettes to a chain-smoking friend under my command. I can already picture him delighted to get some nicotine after so long. So, let's have a light spar. I'll face you with just my body, no abilities."
"...In that state?"
Sojin tilted an eyebrow crookedly. Was he looking down on her?
Kim Sojin was a superhuman. Since the day the apocalypse began, she had never been physically outmatched by anyone. Mingyu had made a fuss for good reason—but even taking that into account.
Humans have limits. No matter how powerful a fighter, someone suffering from a serious illness can't beat a civilian.
A man with a pallid complexion who couldn't even walk straight—how strong could he possibly be—
Whoosh.
"Huh."
Thud. Boom.
"Huhh?"
Sojin was subdued in an instant.
She had only blinked once, and before she knew it, she was flat on the floor with a crutch pressed against her throat. Through her wild instincts, she could vaguely grasp what had been done to her.
It wasn't strength. It was something—some kind of precision—that had done her in.
She even felt a slight sting in her side and abdomen. It seemed he had jabbed her with his fingers in the instant she was being subdued. If those had been blades instead of fingers, Sojin would already be dead.
There were superhumans above superhumans.
"Shall we go another round?"
Looking up at Noah Won's face as he asked that, Kim Sojin understood with her whole body.
Ah.
He's strong.
There was something I noticed while crossing the forest together.
Sojin, to put it nicely, was like a lone wolf, and to put it less nicely, had quite a beastly side to her. Meaning she had a considerable need to establish hierarchy.
Maybe because of that, after I showed her my skills once, she had no complaints. If anything, she was friendlier to me than Sohye was. To the point where I was a little taken aback.
"Noah, wouldn't it be more comfortable if I carried you on my back? If you need to exert yourself in an emergency, it's better to conserve even a little energy, isn't it?"
"Haha, I'm fine. I'm fine, so please keep some distance."
"Sis! N-Noah is uncomfortable⋯⋯!"
"Stay out of this, Sohye. Your sister is talking to Noah right now."
On the surface it looked like a situation where I was blessed with female attention, but...
Sojin was cozying up to me because she was hoping the leader of the group might toss her an extra piece of meat—not out of that kind of feeling. There wasn't a trace of pink emotion in her eyes.
It wasn't seduction, either. It felt like the youngest worker at a job site asking, "Foreman, shall I bring you the monkey wrench?"
And Sohye, who looked like she was jealous—
"⋯⋯Sis. Haven't you been glued to Noah this whole time⋯⋯?"
The object of her jealousy wasn't me. This person was jealous of me because her sister, who had come back from the dead, wasn't paying attention to her.
Had my face really withered that much from not taking care of myself lately? I may not look it, but I'm a former idol center...
No. If a comrade is emotionally clean, that's actually a good thing. No romantic squabbles, no party collapse—how great is that? No need to feel disappointed.
Breaking through the forest was simple.
It was easier than when I'd gone out with just Mingyu. Sojin and Sohye each did the work of two people. With the two of them each marking Mingyu and Taemin as they advanced, I just had to move at my own leisurely pace.
And also, only relatively manageable monsters inhabited the area. Most were the type that released toxins when disturbed, or sprayed spores that contaminated the surrounding air.
My "Azure Wind Wanderer" was the counter to that.
Whoooosh—!
When the wind blew, even the poison-filled forest returned to its original state.
Mingyu inhaled deeply with a pleased look and let out an admiring "Whoa." It seemed he was in a good mood because it had been a while since he'd enjoyed forest bathing in such a perilous forest.
Taemin, on the other hand, had a dark, sallow complexion. As expected of someone from the apocalypse, Taemin also had a decent physique, but even so, he had the lowest stamina among us. So he was dying of exhaustion.
From a superhuman's perspective, we were walking at a moderate jog, but from a normal person's perspective, it was close to a sprint.
Mingyu glanced at Taemin once and asked me.
"Can you make a cool breeze too, Noah? If you have energy to spare, just one cool breeze⋯⋯"
"Don't order Noah around—fan yourself with your own hands. Or shall I fan you?"
"D-Don't order Sojin around, do it yourself. Or shall I do it for you?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
I had that much energy to spare. I let the group enjoy a cool breeze.
After crossing like that for a while, the forest ended and an open space appeared. It was the ruined city of Onseong, adjacent to "Camp Ace"—the place I'd briefly heard about when we were planning.
Grrrrr-
In Onseong, the scattered remaining zombies greeted us. But these guys weren't a hindrance at all. There was no need to harm them.
In fact, we mustn't harm them. As long as a vaccine could be obtained, they were all potential humans.
A single gust of wind was enough to avoid combat.
I used the wind to sweep up the body odor of the group, who had worked up a fair amount of sweat breaking through the forest, and sent it flying far off in a direction cutting across the zombie horde. The zombies then swarmed after the scent. Now all that remained was one wide-open road.
"Let's not wait for the soldiers' pickup in Onseong. I think we can just keep going straight like this."
"...So simply..."
Sojin seemed a bit bitter.
The others also looked troubled, as if their feelings were quite complicated. Still, it wasn't a bad atmosphere. Each of them seemed to be sketching the hazy outline of a future in their minds.
Speaking of aggro, a question suddenly flashed through my mind. The incantation Sojin had used to draw the zombies' aggro when she'd been bitten while shielding Sohye... "Apollo."
Whether it had been a Skill or some trick using Magic Power, I could ask now. Sojin had come back from death, after all.
"Sojin. What is 'Apollo'?"
"Huh? That's⋯⋯ the name of the sun god. But I guess the name Apollo exists over there too? I heard you're from another world, Noah—not the Korean Federation, but the Republic of Korea."
"Ah, yes. Some names are used in other worlds too. But that's not what I was asking. You know what I mean. I want to know about the aggro incantation you used."
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
Sojin then spoke with a puzzled expression.
"...What do you mean?"
She didn't remember a thing about the "Apollo" she had uttered in her final moments.
Omitted. We arrived at the entrance to "Camp Ace."
Camp Ace had barbed wire laid out along the outermost perimeter of its wide grounds, soldiers posted at regular intervals in temporary guard posts, and two-and-a-half-ton trucks passing in and out from time to time.
As we approached, one soldier jumped up in alarm and ran out with his gun raised.
"Halt! Halt! Who goes there!"
"Survivors. We'd like to join Camp Ace."
"You came just by yourselves? Through that zombie horde? No, we run regular patrols—why didn't you wait? Through that dangerous place..."
"Also, we have important information and would like to meet with a senior officer of the camp. Could you call someone for us?"
The soldier's expression turned troubled.
Right, I get it. I understand. In a situation like this, how many requests must he have heard from people claiming to know some general or saying someone in the camp was their father-in-law, asking to be put in touch with the higher-ups?
I'd seen people like that too—guys expecting special treatment because they claimed to be close to a National Assembly member. Even though the power contained in those four syllables had long since vanished along with civilization.
But building trust from the bottom of the camp and working my way up to make contact would be too much of a waste of time. So I decided to show my value plainly. I extended my index finger and raised it toward the sky.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯?"
"'Azure Wind Wanderer.'"
Rumble-
Clouds gathered and instantly covered the sky in black. Then raindrops began to fall, one by one, plip-plop, until a fine drizzle was coming down.
Plip. Pitter-patter-
"Wh-wha...?!"
The soldier's mouth fell open and his eyes went wide. It wasn't because of the sudden drizzle. The reason he was shocked was that no rain was falling where our group stood.
As if a spotlight were shining down, the weather was clear only above my head.
This much of a visual should be enough to get a meeting. I withdrew my hand, stopped the rain, and spoke to the soldier.
"Can I meet with a senior officer now?"
"I-I'll put in a call...!"
The soldier dashed off and brought back his superior, and I showed the rain to that superior too. Then that man also brought his superior... and after going through about two rounds of that, at last.
"The Colonel is calling for you. Please come inside—we'll escort you."
We were able to meet Colonel Oh, who governed "Camp Ace."
"Hahaha, I heard the story from my adjutant. You can command rain at will, is it?"
"I have a few more small tricks like that."
"Oh my, that's frightening. A few more powers that can summon indoor roll call whenever you want!"
Colonel Oh was a middle-aged man with a warm, genial appearance. He received us in an office with medals from the old era displayed on the walls, but the room was not as spacious as the power he held.
It was a space that would be nearly full if five people pulled up chairs and sat in a row. So this place felt more like a soldier's room than a powerful man's room.
I took a seat and began my explanation. What we had come to propose.
He listened calmly to the "supply provision and zombie quarantine cooperation" plan we presented, then smiled as if troubled and said.
"Camp Ace's greatest enemy right now is the plants. Zombies could have been cleared out long ago if we'd set our minds to it. Isn't that right? How would half-flailing corpses possibly contend with modern firearms?"
"⋯⋯⋯⋯"
"Solving the Zombie Virus—sounds nice. But the manpower it would cost would weaken the anti-plant front. Unfortunately, those bastards have the adaptability to react keenly to any quantitative withdrawal on our part. Now, can you persuade me why I should do it?"
Words drawing a line.
My eyes lit up with interest. He was properly assessing the danger of those plant bastards. Certainly, putting strength toward the plants rather than the Zombie Virus was the wiser judgment—but.
That didn't make rejecting the proposal to resolve the Zombie Virus logical. Even more so when the one proposing it was a superhuman who commanded rain. And Colonel Oh knew that too.
In other words, he seemed to want to... test us a little.
Just as I was about to cut off Colonel Oh's probing with "I don't have time for these games," I noticed Taemin wearing an odd expression. It looked like resentment, or some very stale emotion, so.
I decided to watch a little longer. Colonel Oh seemed inclined to accept my proposal anyway.