The Bomb
I Became an Apocalyptic "Physical" Therapist (128)
The Bomb
People gathered once again at Sanghae's restaurant.
"So is there a way to contain it or not?" Dr. Woo asked. The first line of danger, as far as he was concerned, belonged to none other than the people with stakes in Buri Island.
Which was why Dr. Woo, Sanghae, and Sapiens had all shown up.
"There's a way, sure. The problem is we can't get a proper estimate. So what we need is enough information to run estimates from every angle we can think of."
"What kind of approach are you thinking?"
That was Sapiens.
"The most reliable option first — get someone positioned near the area pulling intel in real time. Second, scrape together every scrap of related information we can, whether from information brokers, bookshops, doesn't matter."
"Haah... so you're telling us we have to go in blind and hammer away at it?"
"That's right. I've seen plenty of Giants, but I've never come across anything like that thing myself."
"Director Gong. Hold on now, is that even right? Is there truly a Giant out there?"
"Oh, for crying out loud... Master Woo. Do I look like someone who'd gather up busy people and play a prank on them? And the busiest of all those busy people is yours truly. Me."
"Tsk... I was just askin', no need to bite my head off."
"I don't think you quite grasp the mood here... This is genuinely huge. This is a situation where a Tower or a Dungeon appearing would honestly be the preferable outcome."
"Lordy. It's that serious?"
"That serious. So take it seriously."
"So what do we do first?"
The voice didn't come from around the table. It came from the back of the room.
Abal.
"First, we stop that zone from spreading any further. Given time, the monsters inside will start pouring out. Containing that comes before everything else."
"And the Giant?"
"We need more data on that bastard. For now — keep the zone from expanding. That's priority one."
"So in other words, we're stuck doing grunt work. Fuck, that damn Buri Island. Nothing about it is ever simple."
Abal propped her feet up on the table as she grumbled.
"If you eat the meal, you wash the dishes. That's just how it works."
"But is the Giant really that strong? We took down a Twin-head Ogre... if we prep hard enough, wouldn't a Giant be manageable?"
That was Pacific's opinion. Won-goo shook his head.
"Listen carefully. In this godforsaken world, sheer size is a kind of divinity."
"The Giant?"
"I know. Giants and Ogres are honestly too stupid to call gods. But think about it — a colossal being that commands the elements. At that point, calling it a real god wouldn't be strange at all."
"..."
"..."
"..."
Nobody's expression looked good. Even Abal was uncharacteristically solemn.
"You always told me the more complicated the problem, the simpler you keep it — so let's start with what we can actually do. Everyone, form your teams. We set up a camp nearby, kill everything that crawls out, and use it to build our estimates. That's the only answer there is."
"Director Gong. What about Ganjeol Point?"
Sanghae's question.
"We don't have the luxury of worrying about them right now. And if they've got half a brain, they won't move rashly either. They'll have felt that something over there is... different."
Everyone nodded along in agreement.
"But I do have one question."
"What is it?"
"If it's a Giant, wouldn't that make it a Large Species?"
Won-goo nodded silently. He knew that later on, the Giant family would be split off from Large Species into its own separate classification — Giantkin. But monster taxonomy hadn't been fully established yet at this point, so he didn't bother bringing it up.
"Go on, then. Master Woo."
"If it's a Large Species, shouldn't we be gettin' word to the Fishing Ground? After all, the specialists for huntin' Large Species are the Fishers, ain't they?"
"Pfft. Master Woo, you don't know the first thing about Fishers. The Fishers don't move for a Large Species unless there's money in it. Those bastards are some of the biggest cowards out there. Getting them out here is easier said than done."
Pacific answered. Among everyone gathered, he had the deepest ties to the Fishing Ground, so nobody bothered to object.
"But hey, Pacific."
"What? Director Gong?"
"Wouldn't the Fishers know something? Think about it — ever since the apocalypse opened up, all those bastards have done is hunt Large Species. They've got their own little community among themselves, don't they? Rules they keep among their own kind?"
"They do. Unspoken rules, same as the survivors have."
"Then information must be circulating too. Pacific."
"Got it. I'll reach out to the Fishers."
"Hyeong-nim. Did you get your information brokers lined up?"
Saying they'd pull estimates through field reconnaissance meant they'd be calling in specialists dedicated to information gathering.
"Already summoned. The Yang Sisters."
"The Yang Sisters are coming back, then."
"They can't rest forever."
"Director Gong. Weren't the Yang Sisters specialized in Dungeons and Towers with their Gifts?"
Sanghae asked.
"Their base skill is still intel gathering. And the Yang Sisters don't pull any of those stubborn stunts. If it looks like something their abilities can't handle, they wash their hands and walk away on the spot. Or they'll introduce someone who can do the job."
With the coordination settled, Won-goo looked around at the others.
"If everyone understands the situation, start pulling your personnel."
"What about you, Director Gong? You going to the field yourself?"
"There's nobody here who can run the field except me. Agari's heading out in person anyway. Right?"
Abal nodded instead of answering.
"The rest of you send me your sharpest people. And supplies — we don't know when the estimate's going to come out, so logistics matter too. You folks here can coordinate that among yourselves. We all clear?"
Everyone nodded without complaint. There was nothing to complain about. In a situation like this, the most dangerous, grueling job was the one out in the field.
"Hey! You! Yellow hair! Are you planning to do that properly or not?!"
Won-goo, bundled up in earmuffs and a fur coat, was roaring at the top of his lungs.
The ambient temperature: minus seventeen degrees Celsius.
Weather that made simply standing upright an ordeal.
And yet everyone was still working.
Here lay the true marvel of Coin Enhancement: because it strengthened the human species itself, it also made people more resistant to the cold.
But it didn't erase the sensation of cold entirely, and it didn't make them immune to cold damage either.
It simply let them endure more than an ordinary person could. Which meant that in weather like this, even a Coin-enhanced survivor was in for misery.
The fact that even the rugged Won-goo had broken out the earmuffs told you everything about how brutal the conditions were.
It wasn't just the low temperature, either. Snow kept piling up, and on top of that, the wind howled fiercely.
On one side of the site, a crew shoveled snow in full swing; the rest were stacking bricks into walls.
It was nothing short of a construction site.
"Who's your crew?"
Won-goo came over and asked.
"Um... Dr. Woo's... group..."
"Haah... Hey! If you keep fumbling around like that, you make your whole crew look bad. You want that?"
"N-no, sir!"
"Stack them straight and level! The moment this wall comes down, it becomes your grave. Got it?"
"Yes, sir! I'll work hard!"
"Not hard. Properly."
"Yes, sir!"
And then Gong Won-goo was bellowing again.
"FUCK! Did you all eat slowpoke steak for breakfast? Why is everything so damn slow! You ever shoveled snow before? Move like your hearts are about to burst!"
The method Won-goo had chosen to keep the Arctic Giant from expanding its territory was to simply wall off the approaches.
First, identify the routes the monsters used to descend, then build layer upon layer of defensive installations inside them.
Even now, they were raising ramparts and guard posts.
All to hold the monsters back more easily.
Anyone who'd fought real battles knew exactly how much these fortifications could change the math.
"Hyeong-nim. Report of Orcs up ahead."
"Where's Agari?"
"She moved out ahead of us, sir."
"Good. Pacific!"
"Eh! You all set?"
"No. You're staying here to run field command."
Pacific was wrapped up tight in cold-weather gear, thick gloves and all.
"Got it."
With that, Pacific tossed over the gun he'd been holding.
Tak.
Won-goo caught it, then tossed it right back to him.
"Good. If they don't listen, just shoot them! Agh... why do they keep sending me nothing but dead weight..."
The drafted personnel weren't actually that incompetent. It was just that compared to the razor-sharp crew he was used to, they looked like garbage in Won-goo's eyes.
This was the man who kept Lee Hyun-sung — who moved before anyone even had to ask — as his vice-director, after all.
Even now, without a single order from Won-goo, the crew were gathering their gear and falling into formation on their own.
"Everyone, what did I say about fighting Orcs?"
"Kill the ones that look unusual first, Hyeong-nim!"
"Right. Don't forget it. The bastard with the absurdly flashy outfit — that's your shaman or your mage or whatever. Cut those ones down first and the difficulty drops. Got it?"
"Yes, sir!"
"Move out."
Roughly a hundred or more Orcs came charging in.
And without a flicker of hesitation, Won-goo plunged straight into their midst.
Crang!
The shield spread wide.
THUDUDUDUK!
All he'd done was casually shove the lead Orc with his shield, yet the beasts went flying back several meters.
Orcs — monsters treated as somewhere between Tier 3 and Tier 4.
Not a particularly high rank, but their physical strength was inherently set far above that of humans.
Against survivors who had already undergone Coin Enhancement, however, they couldn't compare.
That was why the key to fighting Orcs had always been the caste members with unusual abilities.
In the past, warrior-caste Orcs with a head or two of extra bulk had counted as genuine threats. Not anymore.
Lee Hyun-sung had grown to the point where, the moment he came face to face with an Orc warrior, he could take its head off within three seconds.
Lee Hyun-sung, Rafael, and Su-won converged around Won-goo. He then put on A-One's Glasses and raised a pair of binoculars.
This was exactly why the A-One series remained useful even deep into the late apocalypse.
Its seamless compatibility with other items.
A-One's Tinted Glasses simulated the most probable events yet to come and displayed them to the user.
Used skillfully, they could just as easily be turned toward ferreting out hidden enemies.
Won-goo swept the tinted lenses and binoculars over the ground behind the massed Orcs, rather than where they clustered.
The scene transmitted into his mind: an Orc mage bursting out roughly a hundred meters away and unleashing its magic.
"Hey! Agari!"
Won-goo shouted at Abal, who was raging at the front line. Mid-kick, she raised a hand to signal she was listening.
"Eleven o'clock, a hundred meters out! There's a bastard hiding over there. Take it out first!"
Instead of answering, Abal jumped. She ran across the heads and shoulders of the Orc horde, closing the hundred-meter gap in an instant.
Boom!
There had been a reason Won-goo once said she had no business dying in the earthquake crisis.
Abal moved as if she could fly. Landing hard, she slammed her fist straight into a massive boulder.
KWA-BOOM!
The great rock split apart, shards scattering everywhere.
And out tumbled an Orc — one dressed in robes adorned with feathers like some bird of paradise.
The moment Won-goo confirmed it, he tucked the tinted glasses back into subspace.
The biggest flaw of the A-One series:
Its durability was far from impressive.
Which meant taking them out and putting them on was always a nuisance.
With the Orc mage dealt with, the rest was easy.
The crew finished looting the corpses thoroughly before heading straight back to camp — pushing further in was never the objective.
"What the hell is that sound?"
On the way back, it was Won-goo who sensed something wrong first.
It was not a sound he wanted to hear.
"Hyeong-nim. Your little brother will run ahead and check it out."
"No. Everyone, run. Something's happened."
Before he could even finish, Abal was already streaking ahead like an arrow.
It took the crew mere minutes to reach the camp and take in the devastation.
The traces of a raid, left dark and unmistakable.
The raiders themselves were long gone.
And among them all, Won-goo looked for one person first: Pacific.
The crew's eyes went round as saucers.
Pacific — the man who was always sitting down — was standing.
Covered head to toe in wounds.
"Hey! Pacific!"
"Director Gong's here. We got hit."
"Hey! Sit down already."
Only then did Pacific slump to the ground.
His wheelchair was nowhere in sight — who knew where he'd left it.
"Jo Mu-sa!"
Before Won-goo even finished calling, Jo Mu-sa was sprinting over to examine Pacific's wounds.
"What happened? Talk to me."
"We got hit. Ganjeol Point."
"F... fuck... Ganjeol..."
Everyone's faces twisted at once. Murder flickered in their eyes.
"Hey. There's something more important."
"What."
"The rifle! They took the rifle."
Pacific's voice cracked, nearly in tears.
"Ah. Really?"
"They took the rifle, I'm telling you!"
"It's fine."
"...?"
"I'm serious. It's fine. Actually, it's good news."
"...?"
"That's not just some rifle. I've got a location tracker on it."
"Then..."
"Which means they just walked home carrying a bomb."
A wicked smile spread across his face.