A Lucky Day (2)
Crunch, crunch.
Crunch, crunch.
Jeron was climbing the hill behind the neighborhood.
He figured that since the ground was high here, climbing to the top would make it easier to scout the surrounding area.
Feeling something fall on his face, he looked up at the sky to see white snow drifting down.
Climbing the mountain path in the sleet, Jeron realized that winter had truly settled over Earth.
It was a sentiment that strangely clashed with the memories of his past life.
Ever since the family's guardian dragon had forcibly dragged up his memories, the faces of his family would pop into his mind from time to time, no matter how much he tried to suppress them.
This time, it was his childhood.
In the mid-90s, before the IMF crisis hit, Jeron had lived in a harmonious household.
In the autumn, they would always leave the city to go camping, so he considered it a reasonably good childhood.
His parents on Earth, who were quite sentimental, would sometimes visit campsites even in the winter. Having a barbecue by a fire on a day when sleet was falling was as good as it got.
These were the fond memories Jeron held of his parents.
Walking along the mountain path without a single animal footprint, he smiled as he recalled those old memories.
Jeron himself didn't know why he became such a sentimental person whenever he came to Earth. He simply chewed over the memories as they arose.
How can there not be a single animal on a mountain?
There wasn't even a trace of common squirrels or chipmunks on the path.
At the very least, he should have seen some water deer droppings.
Not a single bird was in sight; only plants existed.
Jeron had absolutely never seen such a sight in his life.
Although Earth's landscape was desolate, even on this back hill, it wasn't necessarily a bad thing.
Since all the animals had disappeared, various medicinal herbs were scattered all over the place.
The fact that plants were functioning meant that at least insects remained. If he could pick up an illustrated guide to medicinal herbs, he could transplant and propagate useful plants to the Karen Continent.
Whoosh!
As a gust of wind blew and shook the surrounding branches, Jeron lowered his body further and stayed alert.
Although he hadn't run into a mutant directly yet, the overlapping memories of his past life naturally made him act with caution.
Once the wind died down, he resumed his trek up the mountain path.
Still, the path was well-maintained as a hiking trail. There was a spring water site halfway up, and a rest area had been set up as well.
But he couldn't afford to rest.
If he had plenty of time and could move at his leisure, it would be one thing, but if he went up as if on a trip, lost in sentimentality, it would only be his loss.
This was strictly a scouting mission.
Jeron shook his head and thought about the camcorder he had picked up in the master bedroom earlier.
"The spare battery definitely had one bar left. Maybe I can get some useful information from it."
Survivors sometimes left traces of their existence on this Earth.
Some left diaries, and others recorded videos, though handwritten notes were more common due to battery issues.
In that sense, today was a lucky day.
Jeron reached the summit and quickly scanned the area.
Around the pull-up bars, parallel bars, and unidentified exercise equipment, weeds had grown and died, leaving them dry and brittle. On one side, a broken, ruined vending machine stood desolately.
Perhaps because it was a neighborhood with decent public facilities, there was also a restroom and a small plaza.
At the edge of the plaza sat a wide rock.
The view was open in all directions, but the sleet made it difficult to see. Strangely, as Jeron headed toward the rock, the snow stopped and sunlight began to break through.
"It really is a lucky day."
Checking the surroundings through the sniper rifle's scope, he saw the middle school he had set as his first target.
The view of the middle school through the scope was nothing short of disastrous.
The classroom windows were shattered or smeared with blood, and mummies dried up in their school uniforms were scattered everywhere.
Such corpses were strewn all over.
They were not only on the playground but also hanging from classroom windows, and some were half-torn, dangling from where they were caught in the school gates.
It was a scene truly fitting for the apocalypse.
Strictly speaking, Jeron's target wasn't the middle school itself. It was the stationery store, or fancy shop, that should be in front of it.
The school would also have various items, including writing utensils, so it could be used as a farming location, but that was only a consideration if the stationery store was ruined.
"Looks decent."
It was a good sign.
Compared to the gruesome sight at the school, the stationery store looked intact.
The windows seemed broken, but he doubted there was any place where they weren't.
He turned the scope toward the school gates.
In front of the gate, he saw familiar police transport buses.
"Riot police buses?"
There were as many as three riot police buses.
In front of the school gates, shriveled mummies lay dead in riot gear.
Frowning, Jeron was about to turn the scope away when he refocused on that spot.
Although Jeron hadn't served in the riot police during his military service, he knew the rough details from what his friends had told him.
The shields used by the riot police were made of polycarbonate.
It is lightweight, sturdy, and widely used as an industrial material, but it is also used for riot control shields.
It possessed high strength and heat resistance, and was used for the windows of fighter jets, aircraft, and even high-speed trains.
Being a plastic material, it was light but extremely sturdy.
They were wide enough to cover the entire body, and the shield itself was curved, making it look easy to deflect swords or arrows.
Carbon shields would be better, but even this was something to be deeply grateful for.
If they were riot police buses, they would naturally carry riot gear and portable fire extinguishers inside.
Riot gear was basically equipped with stab-resistant and flame-retardant functions.
With three riot police buses, there would be about a hundred sets of riot gear and shields inside.
What if he used them in war?
"Today really is a lucky day."
Finding a whole sack of seed potatoes alone was a massive harvest.
He had ransacked an entire township to find them, but hadn't found a single potato or anything resembling a seed.
But what about today?
He had found a camcorder that might contain useful information, along with canned food and alcohol.
This alone could be considered a jackpot, but he had also discovered three riot police buses. What an incredible harvest.
It looked like it would take quite some time to move them, but he figured he could move them all in about a month.
Finally, he looked toward the apartments.
Just because it was an apartment complex didn't mean a pleasant sight awaited him.
Not many corpses were strewn about, but blood was splattered everywhere.
Had people held out for a long time because it was a fortress-like stronghold? If food was plentiful, blocking the apartment balcony and holding out might have been the best choice.
When he casually swept the scope up to the roof of the apartment...
Jeron almost dropped his sniper rifle.
"Kieeeeeek!"
"Ugh! What the hell!"
Thump! Thump!
As the familiar shriek echoed, he felt his heart pound wildly.
A screeching sound like metal scraping.
It was over two meters tall, and its entire body was red, as if it were about to spill blood at any moment.
Its emaciated body was a solid mass of muscle, and he could see its hollow eyes and sharp claws.
Jeron's hands and feet trembled at the overwhelming visual and the high-pitched wave of sound, but he checked the creature's exact position.
"Ah!"
The thing looked directly toward where Jeron was.
What? How did it see me?
Their eyes were degenerated. Even though it shouldn't be able to identify Jeron, it was looking straight in this direction.
"Is it... a coincidence?"
He believed it had to be.
But the mutant stared at where Jeron was and let out another long shriek.
A sharp, tingling sensation rippled out in all directions.
[So, you were there?]
Jeron slumped to the ground.
The creature hadn't spoken, but it felt as if it had.
The shriek also felt like a roar of joy.
"Huff! Huff!"
It felt as if the PTSD buried deep in his chest was vividly coming back to life.
The current Jeron had continuously practiced practical swordsmanship and had plenty of experience killing monsters and barbarians.
Because of that, he had thought he wouldn't be so afraid even if he actually saw a mutant, but he was wrong.
Grit!
Jeron grit his teeth.
He wouldn't recklessly head toward the apartment, but he felt he didn't need to tremble in fear so much either.
Its appearance was overwhelming, but no matter how fast that bastard was, how fast could it be? No matter how strong, how strong could it be?
Jeron had seen all kinds of monsters on the Karen Continent. So even if there was a mutant, as long as he knew its location, he just had to avoid encountering it.
With that, his mind eased a bit.
Just then, the Golden Key flickered.
Jeron immediately opened the dimensional gate and crossed over to the Karen Continent.
A warm energy naturally washed over him.
Jeron took off his winter gear, closed the dimensional gate, and took a deep breath.
"Whew, motherfucker."
The fear of the unknown.
Even the trauma.
If it was a mutant active around the time he died, Jeron was confident he wouldn't lose in a one-on-one fight.
Nine times out of ten, he would be able to pierce its head.
The problem was that he didn't know how strong they were now.
"It's a good thing I scouted. There's no need to run into it."
Unless it was an unavoidable situation, there was no reason to risk danger by fighting. That was Jeron's thought.
"Ah! The camcorder!"
Jeron emptied the contents of his backpack.
A bottle of Scotch whisky, canned food, a few snacks, and a sack of seed potatoes tumbled out.
Among them was the camcorder.
Jeron swapped in the spare battery and played the video from the beginning.
"Year 7, Month 10 of the Fall. If anyone is watching this, I'm probably no longer of this world. Still, I'm leaving this observation log in the hope that it might help someone. My name is Han Soo-hee. I hope you'll remember me."
"..."
She looked to be in her late twenties.
She had a reasonably pretty face, but like all people living in a ruined world, she looked disheveled and unwashed.
She was quite thin, and her skin was pale as if she were ill.
The screen of the camcorder then showed the appearance of mutants.
"Crazy. To observe mutants this closely."
Had she lost her mind because the world was ruined?
She had filmed the mutants from a very close distance, and had even hunted one with a net, conducting experiments on it as it slowly died.
"The mutants are evolving. Previously, their physical strength was about twice that of a human, and their agility was 1.5 times. Now, we have to assume it's double that. Their strength is four times that of an ordinary person, and their agility is three times, meaning escape is impossible."
Mutants running around while shrieking.
They were devouring not only humans but also wild animals indiscriminately.
He had wondered why there wasn't a single dog in the neighborhood, and it was because the mutants had eaten them all.
It was a truly terrifying appetite.
"Year 7, Month 11 of the Fall. The mutants have grown even stronger and have begun to emit a blue light. Once that blue light starts to seep out, they become 'amplified,' turning into monsters that cannot be matched by strength alone. Fleeing is useless, so we must devise other methods. If you have a gun, shooting them in the head is obviously effective. If not, the eyes, temples, and under the jaw are the only alternatives. Their eyesight has degenerated, and they identify objects by sound, wind, and smell, so utilizing this might help you survive."
"A blue light, a blue light..."
The log he had read before also mentioned a blue light.
Jeron suspected this might be mana, and the woman in the camcorder was mentioning that light as well.
Suddenly, Jeron recalled the intense vibration he had felt when the mutant shrieked earlier.
"Could it be?"