Chapter 75
Chapter 75
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 75
Chapter Title: What Happened to Them (2)
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The shutter rolled up, and people appeared.
Women. And men mixed in among them.
They looked utterly worn out.
With no change of clothes, sweat poured down their bodies in streams, and none of them had washed their hair, leaving it all matted and tangled.
The men just looked shabby, but the women were in a truly pitiful state.
Some had draped what could barely be called clothes—half-torn rags—over their bodies, with exposed collarbones and faces covered in bruises.
Some wore bras, some didn't.
They tried to cover their chests awkwardly, but under the streetlamp's glow, everything was starkly visible.
Miserable.
Haggard.
I knew it instinctively.
These women had been raped by the cockroaches.
For days, maybe longer.
From the moment they'd demanded we hand over our women, I'd suspected as much.
The people glanced at us briefly before their eyes settled on me.
Since I was standing at the front, they figured I was in charge.
The women staggered slightly, trembling just a bit.
They looked dizzy.
Judging by their exhausted appearances, they hadn't eaten properly either.
I turned my gaze to the men.
There were three of them.
All young.
Late teens, early twenties.
From the way they stood, they seemed like strangers, or at best barely acquaintances.
One of the men slowly extended a hand toward me.
His nails were pitch black.
He hadn't washed.
His face was badly beaten too.
The dark crust around his nose wasn't snot.
It was dried blood from a beating.
The man spoke.
"P... please, help us."
I looked at the man, then at the women.
How did they end up like this?
The water was still running, after all.
I descended one step.
The women, and the men, each took a step back.
As if they wouldn't dare block my path.
Completely crushed pride and self-esteem.
I went down another step and looked out into the distance.
Toward the road, and the alley by the mart's side door.
No sign of anyone else.
The women stared at me.
But when our eyes met, they flinched and looked away.
The men wouldn't meet my gaze either.
I said,
"...I heard you escaped. How'd you do it?"
One of the men answered.
"Th-the guy guarding the warehouse just... vanished all of a sudden. So... we thought if not now, we'd all die there, and we ran."
Another man spoke up.
"We... we overheard them talking among themselves. About people in the mart. So..."
Hmm...
They came here without even knowing who we were?
The first man who'd spoken to me.
The one with the crusted nose was holding a woman's hand.
They looked about the same age.
Girlfriend?
I asked,
"Locked in a warehouse, huh? Why? What did they lock you up for?"
The man with the crusted nose bit his lip and said,
"...Some of those bastards... the bad ones... they rounded up the college girls, the young women, and took them away. They tried to take my girlfriend too, so I asked why, and..."
The man squeezed his eyes shut.
...He resisted to protect his girlfriend and got beaten for it.
The man continued.
"They locked the women in the warehouse... and the men kept going in and out. We tried to save them but got caught. They threw me in the convenience store warehouse. That's where."
The man pointed to the other men.
"Those guys were there too. They all got beaten to a pulp trying to protect their little sisters or girlfriends and ended up locked in there."
...A real animal kingdom.
I could picture it.
Among the cockroaches, there must've been guys who already had girlfriends or wives—partners.
But plenty without.
Men without women.
They banded together and herded the young women to use as they pleased.
With tattooed pigs in the mix, it was probably led by those thug-wannabe punks.
The boss cockroach would've allowed it.
To keep the men in line, he had to give them what they wanted.
Hell, the boss himself might've joined in visiting the women's warehouse—who knows.
The cockroaches who'd shown up to raid us numbered around a hundred.
They wouldn't have left spare forces behind for a raid into enemy territory.
They probably brought everyone.
So, out of a hundred men, how many didn't have women?
And how many women did they lock up as playthings?
The women in front of me now.
There had to be more than just these.
I was sure of it.
But that's beside the point.
The issue right now was these women and men in front of me...
I glanced back at our group standing behind me.
Jung Eun-seo, Jun-hyeok, Tae-young, Hoon the ajusshi.
Everyone's faces were grim.
The men, fine.
But the problem was Jung Eun-seo.
She'd lost her only blood relative to the cockroaches. Flames of rage must be roaring inside her.
...These people who escaped from the cockroaches.
What would Jung Eun-seo think?
Her eyes turned to me.
She pressed her lips tight.
Then, she gave a slight nod.
Yeah.
Jung Eun-seo.
Even with that fire burning in you, you're still a good person at heart.
I turned back to the escaped women and men and slowly nodded.
I didn't say anything.
I just turned around, climbed the stairs, and headed for the elevator.
As I passed, I patted Hoon the ajusshi's shoulder once.
Ajusshi, you're in charge of handling this.
Hoon the ajusshi nodded as if he understood, stepped forward, and said,
"Come on in. There's plenty of empty rooms up top. Let's get you washed up and some food in you first. We've got lots to eat."
I got into the elevator, listening to Hoon the ajusshi welcoming them.
Jung Eun-seo followed.
The doors closed.
I said,
"Good call."
Jung Eun-seo didn't respond.
If we took their word at face value, those young men and women were pure victims.
Even for Jung Eun-seo, who harbored infinite hatred for the cockroaches despite their association, it would've been hard to turn them away.
I asked,
"You okay?"
This time, Jung Eun-seo answered.
"...I want to kill every last one of those bastards."
No shouting, no outrage.
She just said it.
But her voice was chilling.
...Hmm.
I nodded and said,
"Next time, we'll wipe them all out."
Jung Eun-seo didn't reply.
Her mind seemed complicated.
As we got off the elevator and headed to Ye-eun's room, Jung Eun-seo spoke.
"Seong-hun."
I turned.
"Mind giving me a smoke?"
I nodded and headed toward the stairs.
"Sure. Let's go."
Up on the rooftop, we lit up and gazed at the night view.
Jung Eun-seo was silent.
On my end, my head was a mess too.
From what the escapees said, it sounded like a hierarchy had formed among the cockroaches.
Slaves not even treated like humans.
And punk thugs lording over them.
With law enforcement—the tiger—dead in the apocalypse, the tattooed pigs ran wild.
They weren't like our group, living in harmony.
Even survivor groups from the same neighborhood, and yet their vibes were worlds apart.
Probably the influence of the boss cockroach and his wife.
Assholes who treat people like trash, act however they want, but flip out if it's done to them. That's exactly what happens when scum like that grabs power.
Crystal clear.
But the question was, what the hell happened to those guys?
"Hoo..."
The cigarette smoke drifted away.
It was late.
Details could wait till tomorrow.
The escapees needed rooms assigned, showers, and a proper meal to feel human again.
The next day.
Su-hyun, Ye-eun, and the other women went door-to-door welcoming the new girls their age.
Just light greetings and some bread Han-tae baked—that was it—but it might make them feel like they'd escaped hell.
Meanwhile, I took the three escaped men into the calligraphy academy.
To hear the full story.
I gestured for them to sit at the table, grabbed a chair, and sat facing them.
"How were the rooms? Decent?"
The men nodded.
They looked worlds better than last night, faces no longer caked in sweat.
Still gaunt from days of starvation, but at least human now.
Their expressions showed real gratitude toward me.
The one whose nose had been crusted—now cleaned up—replied.
"The room's great. Thank you for taking us in. Really, thank you. My girlfriend seems a bit more at ease too."
...He said "seems" more at ease. Probably not truly yet.
After what they'd been through with the cockroaches rampaging, it wouldn't vanish overnight.
I just nodded and asked,
"I called you here to find out what happened with those cock... those guys. But first, let's get names and ages. I'm twenty-five, Han Seong-hun. I'm not exactly the leader here, but the guy who steps up. You?"
The men introduced themselves one by one.
And I forgot them immediately.
Damn, why do guys' names just bounce right off?
Even Jun-hyeok and Tae-young barely remembered.
Anyway, they were twenty, twenty-two, and twenty-three.
A few years younger than me.
I nodded and said,
"Alright, I'm oldest, and we'll have plenty to discuss going forward, so drop the formalities. Call me hyung or Seong-hun, whatever."
"Got it."
The men replied.
Just then, Jung Eun-seo, Hoon the ajusshi, and Jun-hyeok came into the academy. I'd told them we'd hear the story here, so they'd finished their errands.
I nodded them in and asked,
"So, what the hell happened over there with those cockroaches? Tell us what you know."