Chapter 27
Chapter 27
4. The Savior Who Ended the Cold Wave -3
“Solving the zombie virus—sounds nice. But the Great Plant Front will lose strength equal to the resources spent on it. Can you persuade me why I should do that?”
I had plenty to say. Dozens of ways to persuade him.
But words produce wildly different results depending on “who” says them and “how.”
And while I’m no great orator, if I had to pick, I was on the “who” side—the one holding the weight of force. Meaning I was roughly on the same level as this Colonel Oh.
So even if I slipped up a few times, the board wouldn’t flip. But what about Sohye’s group?
Compared to Colonel Oh’s camp, they were insignificant. Sojin might be a superhuman born with talent, but she still wasn’t at the level of taking on guns, and Sohye held the possibility of the System but hadn’t even sprouted yet.
Which is why it would’ve been nice if she’d gotten the Hidden Piece with me.
“⋯⋯⋯⋯”
And so, all the more, I kept my mouth shut. This moment was an opportunity for Sohye’s party to appeal to Colonel Oh. If they earned his recognition, it would create a foundation for them to build their strength without overreaching in a safe nest.
I could open that much of a door for them.
As I stayed silent, the group, having been watching for cues, began answering Colonel Oh’s question one by one.
“W-well, that’s... there must be so many people who can’t forget the family members who became zombies, Colonel...”
Sohye appealed to compassion.
“Isn’t that what soldiers are supposed to do?! This is a chance to save a mountain of civilians right now, and you’re saying you’d abandon all those people...!”
Mingyu appealed to principle.
“People make mistakes, don’t they? Maybe a capable adjutant could become a zombie by accident. To prepare for that—I don’t think purchasing a supply of the treatment we’ve prepared is a bad choice, do you?”
And Sojin tried to close at least part of a deal and take a profit.
Lastly, Taemin...
He fiddled with the empty area around his neck as if adjusting a necktie. Then, stiff as a fresh new hire, he opened his mouth in a rigid posture of attention.
“There is a reason the zombie situation must be resolved. I will now present it.”
“Haha. This fellow’s grown quite a lush beard. Go on, let’s hear it.”
The atmosphere was a little different from what I’d expected.
Taemin launched into his presentation with passion.
“First, we can eliminate a potential threat. The nearby satellite city of Onseong still has zombies remaining, and standing guard against zombies is a waste of manpower!”
“I said earlier. If we wanted to, we could have swept the zombies away long ago. Zombies are no great obstacle against firearms.”
“That may be true. But the ammunition expended is also a problem, and above all—it becomes a problem when a Gate opens nearby and combat with plants breaks out. Like how complications easily arise in a body weakened by a cold.”
“That’s a fair point. But is that all?”
That much is plenty, you bastard. Greedy too.
Anyway, had this man Taemin been an office worker before? Seeing him present with that scruffy beard actually suited him...
His delivery was a bit stiff and awkward, but that wasn’t from lack of polish. It was nerves.
Analyzing just the technical side, he showed signs of having learned presentation skills—maybe even taken classes—and practiced a lot on his own. I knew this stuff pretty well, having been an idol.
Taemin continued persuading Colonel Oh.
“...Population is power. If you turn zombies back into people, the available workforce obviously increases, so it benefits your company!”
“Hm.”
“Your troop numbers will grow, and so will the people doing odd jobs inside the camp. And also...”
“Then a food problem would arise. Our camp’s food supply is limited. And what I’m saying is, some people can’t earn their keep. Of the people you treat like that, how many do you suppose would actually be useful?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯”
At Colonel Oh’s words, Taemin swayed slightly. More than embarrassment at being struck in a spot he hadn’t considered, it looked like—how should I put it—a trauma had been poked. His expression was not good.
I’d been debating whether to step in. That debate should have happened sooner.
“...So you’re saying people who aren’t needed have no meaning.”
“Huh.”
“And! Whether someone is needed or not! You have to fucking give them a chance first, that’s how they show you—!!”
“Hohoho.”
In front of Colonel Oh, Taemin slammed the accelerator.
Colonel Oh said he’d think it over and shooed us out of his office. Taemin stood blankly with his head against the wall. He seemed to know what he’d done wrong.
Sojin, saying she was so frustrated she could die, went outside to get some air. Sohye and Mingyu glanced at me, then quietly gave us space as well.
I leaned my back against the wall too, arms crossed, and asked.
“You were doing well. Why did you suddenly ram into him?”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯”
Taemin sighed to himself for a long while, restlessly clenching and unclenching his hands, then—
“...Noah Won, I envy you.”
“What’s this all of a sudden?”
He opened with a bewildering remark.
“You must have succeeded at everything your whole life. You’re good-looking and you have superpowers.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯”
I had a mountain of rebuttals, but I held back for now. If only this bastard could see my negative Credits.
“But I’m not like that. I was a pathetic guy. Every job application I sent got rejected, and for over five years after graduating I bounced between part-time jobs. The suit and tie I’d bought in advance—I never used them except for interviews.”
“...And?”
“And, I thought I’d rather this world just end. Buying up emergency rations and a generator and stuff—that was escapism. If a meteor fell and the world was destroyed, I wanted to at least be special in the ruined world.”
So that was why his shelter was oddly decent quality. It was less thorough preparation and more like getting lucky on the lottery.
“...So I hated the idea of going to Camp Ace.”
“Right, because at Camp Ace you might end up working as a handyman. You’d rather live long and die in your own fortress.”
“...Yeah. So why did you bring me here—no. No. What I want to say is, I’m sorry. Because I’m such a pathetic guy, I ruined things...”
“It was sudden. But things haven’t gone wrong. I’m not saying don’t reflect, but you can reflect a little less.”
“⋯⋯⋯⋯?”
Taemin looked at me as if asking what I meant. I explained the answer.
“Colonel Oh has probably already decided to cooperate with us.”
There was a clue. The very question Colonel Oh had raised.
Wasn’t it strange? If he’d truly intended to seriously weigh whether to cooperate, he’d omitted the most important thing—verification of the “zombie vaccine.”
The ability to make rain fall from the sky is completely unrelated to zombie treatment. What exactly was he trusting to keep the conversation going?
So it was one of two things. Either he had no interest in the vaccine itself, or he intended to take my hand no matter what I brought. I leaned toward the latter.
“...The possibility that Colonel Oh had no interest in the vaccine?”
“There’s a clue for that too. The city near Camp Ace we just passed through—isn’t it strange that zombies still remain in Onseong?”
As Colonel Oh repeatedly said, if they could pour firepower on the zombies and wipe them out—then why hadn’t they swept them away long ago and left them alone until now?
Because bullets and bombs were too precious?
Looking at the camp’s scale, that didn’t seem to be it. Camp Ace, as a force fighting plants from the start, had essentially proven its potential. Without resources or strength, you just hunker down and get beaten, like our Seoul.
If a force with sufficient strength leaves a potential enemy alone like a demon lord in an old-school RPG, it means there’s a reason.
That was when I’d finished speaking. The door to Colonel Oh’s office quietly opened, and the adjutant came out, snapped a salute, then walked ahead down the corridor. Colonel Oh followed.
“That was an interesting story.”
Yeah. I’d figured he was listening from inside.
Which was why I’d spoken openly nearby. Deliberately, so he’d hear. I’d made a roundabout statement of intent: let’s stop the posturing and move things along.
Colonel Oh chuckled and spoke to me.
“By the way, you’re sharp, aren’t you? I thought the atmosphere was heavy from the start. You look young on the outside—maybe you just have a baby face and you’re actually around forty?”
“Life’s had some twists and turns. Seems they’ve left some invisible wrinkles.”
“Hahahahaha! Right, wrinkles are life’s twists and turns. I have something to show you, so follow me. The major who went ahead will have opened the door to Bunker 9.”
Colonel Oh turned his back and walked ahead. I gestured to Taemin, who was frozen awkwardly. On the way, I gathered the scattered group members and brought them along.
While walking, I chatted with Colonel Oh about fishing and hiking. Most people around his age were crazy about fishing and hiking, so I’d learned about them back in my celebrity days to humor the broadcasting station people.
As Colonel Oh and I chatted amiably, Sohye and Mingyu visibly relaxed. They seemed to realize that things had somehow been smoothed over.
The Bunker 9 we reached like that was in an outlying area of the camp—built underground in a place where entry was restricted.
It had the atmosphere of a secret research facility.
Colonel Oh spoke as he crossed the facility.
“From my position, I had no choice but to accept your deal.”
Beep. Rumble-rumble-rumble.
The massive steel door blocking the passage opened. That repeated three times. As we went deeper, a faintly familiar howling sound reached us.
“That thing you’re offering... you have no idea how long I’ve been searching for it.”
“...Th-then, if you were searching for the vaccine—why did you pretend you didn’t need it and test us?”
“As you age, the first thing to grow is belly fat, and the second thing to put on weight is suspicion. Before the vaccine’s existence, I wanted to know your intentions. No matter how famous the hospital, if the doctor has strange ulterior motives, would you bring your family there?”
Graaaaah—!
As the last door opened, everyone realized.
“⋯⋯⋯⋯”
“...Th-this place is.”
The bunker’s contents, revealed after no fewer than three security checks, were—
a staggering number of zombies, stored with their limbs tightly bound.
“708 total. Soldiers bitten by zombies during operations, and civilian zombies captured one by one from nearby cities.”
“Oh my god...!”
“Haha, they’re also my friends and family. What do you think?”
This was on a different scale from Sohye.
The colonel, too, had been waiting for the end of winter in his own way.
After that, there was a simple verification.
They selected a zombie with minimal external damage, performed surgical suturing, then administered the “Holy Water” we’d brought. Our group, Colonel Oh, and the researchers surrounded the zombie and began observation.
“...Gurk, grrrr— I-I got bitten! I got bitten so leave me behind, you fucking bastards! H-huh?”
“Hahaha! It’s been a while, Sergeant Oh Minwook! How does it feel to return after overcoming death?”
“L-loyalty...?”
In about five minutes, the zombification curse treatment procedure was complete.
Sergeant Oh Minwook, who had held the entrance alone to save his comrades and been bitten by zombies, woke from his long sleep after one year, two months, and seventeen days.
Colonel Oh formally signed a contract with me.
He agreed to trade supplies and Holy Water in three installments, and as an advance payment provided various firearms and construction materials. The construction materials I’d take entirely for myself to use in rebuilding Seoul, and some of the firearms would go to the Saintess.
Camp Ace officially established a zombie response unit. They would capture zombies, bring them to camp, heal them, and then turn them back into people as Holy Water was supplied.
“⋯⋯⋯⋯”
Zombies with severe damage die the moment they’re turned back into humans.
But with potions sold by the System, even those could be healed, as in Sojin’s case. So Sohye seemed to hesitate—whether to explain the System to Colonel Oh and help save even those people.
Or to simply remain silent.
I deliberately didn’t offer an opinion. It was in the realm of choice.
But if she used it to hand out freebies, I planned to nag her. If she wanted to do that, couldn’t she trade with Colonel Oh and receive full-scale support in return—trade Credits and goods to profit?
And lastly.
The “Corpse-Plague Curse” is a skill. And a skill has a caster.
The zombies in Sohye’s world are strange. They draw mystery circles with their own bodies, they swarm for some reason, and they go berserk at the word “Apollo” from Sojin.
These abnormal behaviors are strong evidence of a “caster’s” existence. Didn’t it look like someone... was controlling the zombies with some intent?
When I told Colonel Oh that fact—
“I knew. I’ve researched it for a long time. Do you know? Looking at it from a very broad... tactical perspective—these zombies move as if guarding a certain area.”
“Then...”
“The zombies—no, the prospective civilians. I analyzed their movement patterns and identified points where the enemy command camp is likely located. Three in total...”
Two were easy places to investigate. The remaining point was the problem.
A forest at contamination level 2 occupied that spot. Same difficulty as the dark forest in that neighborhood Sergios and I had broken through. Not that I couldn’t break through it.
[-> Download Slot 2: 『Corpse-Plague Curse』 (Downloading... 91%)]
If only my condition were normal.
I’d need to think a bit about whether I should personally deal with the source of the plague.
Honestly, from my position, wouldn’t it be more profitable to just cleanly finish the deal here and leave? At this point, I’d already gotten everything I could get.
For now.
Now that it was wrapped up, let’s head back to Seoul.
Loaded with the mountain of weapons, materials, food, and everything else piled before me.