The Cart People
The first rescue request had arrived.
Before we even had breakfast, I gathered with my group in the conference room.
“Ah….”
Jang Hoseop was chatting via secret comments with the person who had sent the request. Soon, he let out a sigh of regret.
“Why?”
“It’s in Seoul, but… it’s too far. It’s practically Gyeonggi-do.”
It was well outside the range we had deemed feasible for rescue. It was to be expected. Even when rescue requests came in, the probability of the person being far away was naturally higher than them being nearby.
“Tell them to move toward us.”
“Understood.”
This was the very reason I had promoted us through the Square. You had to reach level 20 to upgrade your Soul Stone to level 2 and access the Square, unless you were granted administrator privileges. At this point in time, if you were level 20, you could at least consider traveling. While there were many variables like skill types, terrain, and monsters, they would have the strength to overcome most situations.
‘Besides, other promotional methods are limited anyway.’
There were other reasons, too. It was more beneficial to rescue Awakened than ordinary people. I also considered the desperation and survival instincts they would have developed while fighting monsters to reach level 20. It might sound like I was just making up excuses, but after consulting with my group, we decided to stick to promoting solely through the Square.
“Uh… Boss. They say they have elderly people at home, so it’s hard to move.”
“Then tell only that person to come.”
“What? Oh, right.”
A moment later, Jang Hoseop spoke up again.
“I think this person is angry. They’re asking why they would have sent a rescue request if they were capable of moving….”
“But we can’t go all the way out there.”
I intended to give them a chance to become an intern at Samira if they could somehow make it to our rescue range. That was the extent of Samira’s consideration.
“It looks like the people they’re with are their parents. They’re begging us to come….”
“No. Just wrap up the conversation appropriately.”
“They say there are young children too, so they really need help.”
“Hoseop.”
“Ah, right. I’ll handle it.”
I spoke to my group once more.
“Do not consider people’s personal circumstances. Think only from Samira’s perspective.”
“Yes.”
“Stick to the standards we’ve set, and if an exception is needed, talk to me then.”
Exceptions were for cases like that. They had to possess special value, like if the requester’s innate skill was so exceptional that they were a talent we absolutely had to recruit.
“Now, the rest of you should post on the board as well. Appoint administrators….”
From now on, posts would go up on the Square under the names of other group members. We would also have administrators acting as consultants. Although the first rescue request ended in failure, from that day on, inquiries from people began to come in steadily.
Three days passed.
“Grrr….”
The Orc standing before me growled with an ugly face. Even though all its friends were dead, it showed no signs of being intimidated.
“Finish it quickly.”
“Yes!”
I left the finishing blow to Gi Eun-chae and began the Soul Extraction. The Mana Stones rose from the five corpses all at once. It was the result of becoming accustomed to my skills while manipulating mana according to my will. Thanks to this, the time required for extraction had drastically decreased.
“Thank you for your hard work.”
Gi Eun-chae, who had been waiting after killing all the Orcs assigned to her, quickly handed me water and a towel.
“Let’s rest there for a moment.”
“Yes.”
We entered a building that was still intact. We settled on the second floor to cool down from the heat of battle. I had come out today for rescue operations as well. I had been going out alone until yesterday, but I brought Gi Eun-chae today. I realized that having a means to contact my group would be more convenient after wandering outside for a few days. All other communication methods were dead, but we had the Square. The problem was that my Soul Stone was too large. That was why I chose Gi Eun-chae as my partner and allowed her to level up her Soul Stone. In Samira, possessing a level 2 Soul Stone required my permission. Choi Min-seong, who had joined as a rookie recently, had also surrendered his level 2 Soul Stone to Samira.
“We’re almost there, right?”
“Yes. Should I take out the map?”
“Yeah. Let’s check.”
There were several reasons I chose Gi Eun-chae as my partner. First, she was the first among the survivors from Myungshin Women’s University to reach level 20. She even surpassed the Awakened residents of Muhwa-dong. Gi Eun-chae was now a full-fledged employee. Furthermore, her innate skill was excellent. It was called Blessing of Growth, and every time she leveled up, she grew stronger than others. In gaming terms, it was like gaining bonus stats. It seemed similar to my own innate skill. While she didn’t have any flashy, eye-catching skills, she was cultivating her inherent strength. As her level rose, the gap between her and others of the same level would only grow larger.
“Eunchae.”
“Yes.”
“You should rest comfortably, too. I’m using Target Detection.”
After checking the map, Eunchae was looking out the window. She was standing guard, taking the stinging sunlight head-on.
“I’m fine. You’ve taken care of almost all the monsters, Lee Hyun….”
“Come here.”
“Yes….”
I tapped the spot next to me. Eunchae didn’t say anything more and immediately came into the shade to sit down. I also liked her high level of loyalty toward me. ‘Though her emotions are fluctuating quite a bit today.’ Eunchae was showing extreme emotional swings today. Excited, then nervous, then calm. Right now, her shyness had grown a little.
“There hasn’t been any separate contact from Samira, right?”
“Yes, I just checked.”
“Good.”
Gi Eun-chae had good stamina and was the one who could keep up with my running the best. With all these factors aligning, I had decided to make her my partner.
“Let’s get up now.”
“Yes.”
We rested for a while, sitting side by side, before getting up.
“Oh, did they leave a marker on the rooftop?”
“They said they hung a yellow blanket.”
“I think we can see it from here. Let’s check before we go.”
We went up to the building’s rooftop to look for the marker left by the rescue requester. We spotted a yellow blanket on a building in the very next block. We were able to meet the rescue requester shortly after.
To request a rescue from Samira, one had to disclose various information first. That was the condition. ‘One 21-year-old male and four women.’ The requester was a man. I had already grasped his appearance, level, and skills.
“So, you’re saying that if I go to Samira, I have to start as an intern and work hard?”
In the chaotic first-floor cafe, the man who had requested the rescue and Eunchae were in the middle of a conversation. The man had an ordinary look. He was thin and had messy, unkempt hair.
“That is correct.”
“No, I’m level 22, you know? Even so?”
“Yes. You must start as an intern.”
“I heard interns use a communal dormitory? Will you put us in the same room as my group?”
“No. The dormitories are separated by gender.”
Only the man had come down to the first-floor cafe. The women were on the second floor, and I was monitoring their movements with Target Detection. ‘It looks like they’re all gathered in one room….’ There were no unusual movements.
“So, if I want to get a separate room, I have to pay with Mana Stones?”
“Yes.”
“Damn it… I don’t have many Mana Stones saved up. What did you say the intern’s base pay was?”
The messy-haired man had many questions. He was weighing and calculating everything.
“How about this? I’ll cover the share for my family, so just provide the room. My family won’t work….”
“That is not possible. There is no one in Samira who does not work.”
“No, I mean, I can just go out and catch more monsters, right? Isn’t it fine as long as the total amount is the same?”
He was even trying to change the standards we had set.
“Oh, seriously. Excuse me. Isn’t there anyone here with decision-making authority?”
The messy-haired man argued with Eunchae for a long time before jumping up from his seat. This was the first time this had happened. Since the start of the Cart People Project, we had rescued a total of nine people. They had all followed us immediately. They hadn’t haggled over conditions like this. The messy-haired man must have been doing well enough for himself.
“You there, sir? I can’t seem to get through to this woman….”
Gi Eun-chae asked with her eyes what she should do. I shook my head.
“Talk to me instead.”
“No, everything is ‘no’ this and ‘no’ that. You only ever say everything is impossible.”
“The same goes for you.”
“Huh… geez. Didn’t you come to rescue us because you needed us?”
“The rescue request came from your side, however….”
The man’s emotions grew heated.
“Oh, forget it. Either meet my demands… or connect me with a superior! You just say no without even asking.”
As his anger grew, so did his voice. Nevertheless, Gi Eun-chae stated the established rules without wavering. It was different from when she spoke to me. Eunchae maintained a cold expression and tone from the very beginning.
“Oh, forget it! Just go. Samira or whatever….”
The man finally turned his back. Perhaps trying to vent his anger, he muttered curses to himself. Even I could hear his mumbling.
“Fucking power-tripping assholes. Who do they think they are, acting like we can’t live without them? And that bitch is impossible to talk to.”
I rose from my seat and lunged at him. He had crossed the line.
CRASH—
I grabbed the back of his head and slammed it into the wall. The concrete wall crumbled. This man’s skill was similar to Chairman Park’s. It was a physical enhancement type, but it didn’t show on the outside.
“You fuck… Ugh.”
And I knew how to deal with this type of skill. I grabbed him from behind and choked his neck with my arm.
“Heh, heh. Do you think that’ll work?”
No. It was different from Chairman Park. I had choked his carotid artery properly, but he was fine. It seemed like a skill that didn’t just strengthen the skin, but the body itself.
“Yeah. I think it will.”
So, I used more mana.
CRACK—
An ominous sound came from his neck.
“W-wait….”
I pressed down on the back of his head with my palm with all my might. His head snapped forward violently.
SNAP— SPLAT—
His flesh tore, and his vertebrae protruded. Unpleasant fluid splattered onto me.
“Lee Hyun!”
Gi Eun-chae ran over, startled. She hurriedly tried to wipe my face first. I stopped her and extracted the Mana Stone from his body. I scraped up every bit of mana.
“I… I’m fine.”
Gi Eun-chae stood beside me and muttered. What was she suddenly fine about?
“Still, thank you. Going this far for me….”
I could feel that she was moved. ‘Ah.’ She must have mistaken my actions as being for her sake. That wasn’t it. The man had wasted my time. He had also partially deceived me about the effects of his skill. Although his skill was a waste, I felt there was no room for compromise. That was why I did it.
“Four people on the second floor. Let’s go up.”
“Yes!”
I finished the extraction. I decided to let Gi Eun-chae’s misunderstanding slide without saying anything.
I returned with no gains. The man was dead, and the women with him were not in a normal state either, so I turned them into Mana Stones. Ah, since I obtained Mana Stones, it wasn’t entirely without gain. I also brought back some of the supplies they had stockpiled. Still, the feeling that I had wasted my time remained, so I wasn’t in a good mood.
“Hyun!”
As I arrived on Samira’s grounds, Bom-noona was waiting for me at the main gate. It was the afternoon, with the sun high in the sky. The fact that she was here at this hour meant something had happened.
“You know… ah, you’re back safely? You aren’t hurt anywhere?”
“Yeah. Nothing happened. But why are you out here?”
“I have important news.”
She cupped her hands in front of her mouth as if to whisper, so I lowered my head.
“A secret comment came in.”
“A rescue request?”
“No. They said they’re coming here.”
I was a bit surprised by her answer and lifted my head. Looking into her eyes, I could see it was true.
“I waited because they asked for a meeting spot.”
“What about other things? Did you ask the basics?”
“Yes, yes. Here.”
Bom-noona held out her diary. It was a pink, flashy-looking diary. I was used to this diary now. Noona didn’t have a separate Soul Stone administrator. She had posted just one promotional post for Samira following my instructions, and it seemed someone had commented on it.
“But the person I talked to is level 17.”
“They must have received administrator privileges.”
“Yes. They said they were the representative, so not to worry.”
I dismissed the others and listened to her story while walking to the main building with her.
“They said there are 21 people in total?”
“21 people?”
“Yes. That’s quite a lot, right?”
I arrived home and opened Bom-noona’s diary. The round handwriting made my eyes dizzy.
- Yuri-an. Female. 38 years old. Level 17???
- Residing near Seoul Station. Total group of 21.
- Can depart tomorrow if the meeting spot is provided.
> Deliver to Hyun quickly!!!
Underlines, circles, asterisks, etc. It was messy with all sorts of markings. Anyway, the content was thorough. The gender ratio and ages. How many were Awakened, what their levels and skills were, and so on. I carefully checked the necessary information.
“This woman is the representative, but the other twenty are all men?”
“Yes, yes. That’s what they said.”
“The age range is mostly in their 30s… there are people in their 20s and 40s too.”
Although I hadn’t seen her in person, a woman with a very strong aura was drawn in my mind. After finishing the check, I called the group together. We began preparing to welcome our guests.
The next day. I led the people out to the meeting spot. The weather was cloudy. It was an early hour, and the dawn mist hadn’t yet lifted.
“They seem quite diligent on their end, too. So early….”
Jang Hoseop said, his gaze fixed straight ahead. We didn’t have to wait long before a sound began to be heard from afar.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—
It sounded like wheels rolling. And my Target Detection picked up multiple energies.
‘Not 21 people… 18?’
There were fewer people than I had heard.
“It’s 18 people.”
“Understood.”
The group’s vigilance rose. Soon, the other side revealed themselves through the mist.
“Oh, those really are the Cart People.”
Just as Jang Hoseop said. I could tell just by their silhouettes. They felt like homeless people in America. The large group approaching us in a disorderly fashion was each pushing a cart. The sound of rolling wheels grew louder.
“Huh? That person… isn’t that the woman?”
It was when we were close enough to recognize each other’s faces. Jang Hoseop spoke as if he had seen someone he knew.
‘Yuri-an….’
I had imagined a woman with a strong aura. But a woman who was quite tall but had a very slender build was standing at the lead.