Internal Conflict
“What did you just say?”
“A large quantity of vaccines?”
I examined the architectural layout in detail. It was a hospital building—the general hospital known to be the largest in the vicinity.
“So, because it’s a large hospital, you’re saying there must be vaccines there?”
“It’s not a guess. There are people who used to work there.”
“Can you trust them?”
“I even know the exact location. If someone hasn’t beaten us to it, the probability of them still being there is high.”
Given the flow of the conversation, the role of the scouting team must be to clear a path to that general hospital. After all, the straight-line distance to the hospital was over 20 kilometers.
“How much progress have you made?”
“About 5 kilometers left.”
“That’s a long way to go.”
“It’s slow, but we’re making progress step by step.”
I understood what they meant. The shelter’s goal was to acquire the vaccines. Because they were investing all their resources into the scouting team, they couldn’t even clear out the immediate threats nearby.
It sounded plausible at first glance, but when I thought about it carefully, there was one part that didn’t add up.
“Even if it slows down progress a bit, it would be better to clear out the university first. Is there a reason you’re in such a hurry?”
“Hoo.”
Everyone’s expression darkened. It seemed there was a problem I wasn’t aware of. Han Jiyoung was the one who answered.
“It’s because of Gusan.”
“Why Gusan?”
“The information about the vaccines is a top-secret matter known only to the people inside this room. Even the guard shifts don’t know.”
“You’re keeping it a secret even from fellow shelter members?”
“Because the moment that information leaks to those Gusan bastards, the vaccines are as good as gone.”
I had heard about Gusan from Hwang Gyunam. He said the shelters in this area were under Gusan’s control.
Han Jiyoung glanced around and continued, “There’s probably a Gusan spy in our shelter, too. That’s their way of doing things. That’s the same reason they don’t trust you, Senior… Ah! Of course, I’m not one.”
All the puzzle pieces were falling into place. It would have been difficult to trust a drifter who appeared out of nowhere.
Oh Junghwan gave a faint, self-deprecating smile. “We’re gambling right now. If you’re a Gusan spy, all the effort we’ve put in will be for nothing.”
“I’m not. I only found out about Gusan recently.”
“Actually, that part is even more suspicious. How could you not know about Gusan?”
“Well, whether you believe me or not is up to you.”
There was no reason to protest further. As long as my own conscience was clear, that was enough. Above all, it wasn’t as if there was absolutely no one who trusted me.
“Senior wouldn’t do such petty things. If everyone knew who he really was, they’d be shocked!”
“Han Jiyoung, I’ve heard that enough, so stop it.”
“It’s because you don’t listen no matter how much I say it.”
“And you, fix your tone.”
“Why don’t you fix your hands, Captain? I almost died earlier, you know? I held back because you’re the captain, but otherwise, I would’ve drawn my blade right then.”
“……Hoo.”
A thought suddenly occurred to me: I’m so glad Han Jiyoung is on my side. I don’t think I could handle that spitfire.
“You two can fight separately. I think we need to talk about something else right now.”
“Talk about what?”
“I understand the situation here well. Still, you can’t leave the university as it is. If your base collapses, what good are the vaccines?”
You can’t leave a bomb under your feet when you have a major task ahead. If casualties occur like they did today, their momentum will weaken just as much.
Contrary to my firm belief, Oh Junghwan was skeptical.
“We fully agree with that part. But there’s no way. There are probably 500 of them inside the university alone. If a battle breaks out, surrounding zombies will gather, too.”
“Even assuming there are a thousand, we have to deal with them.”
“How are you going to deal with a thousand? We lack ammunition and we lack manpower.”
Including me, there were 15 people in the auditorium. If you counted the guard shifts, there would be about 30. Dealing with a thousand alone would be impossible, but with this many people, it was worth a shot.
“How much ammunition is left?”
“…About 3,000 rounds.”
“Then why are you saying it’s insufficient?”
Geez, I thought they had less than a thousand. I didn’t know what the problem was when they had 3,000 rounds.
“Um, Senior… not everyone here is like you.”
“What do you mean?”
“On average, it takes 5 rounds per zombie. And that’s assuming they have quite a bit of combat experience.”
“It takes 5 rounds to take down one zombie?”
“Haha… y-yes.”
The people in the auditorium started coughing awkwardly. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t know the combat capabilities of ordinary people. It was more pathetic than I had imagined.
“So you’re saying you need 5,000 rounds to catch a thousand?”
“Ha, haha…”
“What about you?”
“M-me?”
“You’re from the school, too. You said you weren’t from the Cut-line generation, right?”
“That’s true, but… actually, my specialty is swordsmanship…”
“What specialty? You’re supposed to be able to do everything.”
Han Jiyoung’s face turned bright red. Look at this. There’s a reason why those who aren’t Senior Hunters are the way they are. I understood perfectly well why they were lacking those 3 points.
‘But do these people even know about runners?’
If they needed 5,000 rounds based on walkers, what about runners and Alphas? My head started to ache.
“But you do know that they can run, right?”
“Excuse me? Who runs?”
As expected, they didn’t know. My vision went dark. Cheonsa had said she wanted me to have a guardian, but it looked like I was going to be their guardian instead.
“Haa. The zombies. There are individuals that run.”
“Hey, Senior, you’re joking, right?”
“I’m not joking.”
“Haha… why don’t you say they have intelligence, too?”
“That’s right. There are some that have intelligence. They’re called Alphas.”
“Eh…?”
The smile vanished from Han Jiyoung’s face. However, Oh Junghwan seemed to already know. While everyone else was in shock, he was the exception.
“I guess the shelter leader knew.”
“…….”
“Why didn’t you inform us when you knew such important information?”
The eyes of everyone in the room turned toward Oh Junghwan. His troubled expression proved that what I said was true.
“Captain…? Is this for real? They run?”
“I was going to talk about it anyway.”
“No, why are they suddenly running? We didn’t hear anything like that at school!”
“I only saw one. I’ve never heard about them having intelligence either.”
The inside of the auditorium grew dark, as if storm clouds had gathered in broad daylight. Everyone was so shocked that no one could open their mouths. Anxiety, fear, and frustration—negative emotions repeatedly spread to one another, growing endlessly.
I felt the need to break this flow before it was too late.
“We can create an advantageous environment and concentrate our firepower.”
They didn’t want to listen to me. It seemed they couldn’t recover from the shock yet. I slammed my hand against the blackboard. Starting with Han Jiyoung, one by one, they began to look at me.
“Focus.”
“…….”
“The reason you need 5 rounds is because you start shooting from when they are far away. If you lure them within 100 meters and concentrate your firepower, you can reduce ammunition consumption.”
Vaccines are like a life to humans living in this world. If we could obtain surplus vaccines, the difficulty of survival would drop significantly. However, to do that, dealing with the university zombies had to come first.
“There is only one Alpha, and even if the others run, they are still linear. We just need to use that to our advantage.”
“Can you explain in more detail?”
“We lure them into a narrow space and install obstacles on the ground to slow their advance.”
I was in the position of persuading them. And what they needed right now wasn’t a slim possibility, but a concrete plan. So, I added a bit of exaggeration and put some strength into my voice.
“They will get tangled up and fall over each other. While they do that, if 30 people maintain a tight firing line, we can stop not just a thousand, but two thousand.”
“Ah…”
“If they have changed, we just need to set up a strategy that matches them. Nothing has changed.”
Did the persuasion work? The eyes of despair began to change slowly. Oh Junghwan, who had been listening quietly, nodded.
“Jiyoung, go bring Jang Hyung.”
“Will it be okay?”
“We don’t have any other choice.”
Han Jiyoung, who had left the auditorium, brought back a man. He was one of the twins I had spoken to earlier. Was his name Jang Youngmin?
In that short time, Oh Junghwan had rolled up the hospital architectural layout again.
“You called for me? Why?”
“I have a favor to ask of Jang Hyung.”
“A favor from our great scouting team?”
Oh Junghwan gave a bitter smile at the sarcastic tone. It looked like they didn’t have a good relationship, even at a glance.
“The guard shift has something to help with.”
“What is it? Should we go clean up some corpses somewhere?”
“It’s not that… we’re planning to deal with the university zombies.”
“Wait a minute. Why are you telling me that?”
At Jang Youngmin’s remark, Han Jiyoung clicked her tongue as if she had expected this. The situation was getting a bit strange. I decided to watch their conversation.
“That’s why I’m asking Jang Hyung for a favor.”
“Ha! Outside work is for the scouting team, and we only stand guard. Did you forget?”
“I know. But the current situation is—.”
“When we were cleaning up corpses outside, you guys just sat here and chatted, and now you want us to help with outside work?”
Is there internal conflict even in this small shelter? It felt like I had climbed one mountain only to find another one appearing.
Han Jiyoung, unable to hold back, chimed in.
“Aren’t we the ones bringing in everything you eat, drink, and wear? Do you think it’s fair to split that 50/50? We have plenty of complaints, too!”
“Then quit. You keep us around because you need us, too.”
“Who said anything about that? Just help us with this one thing! We take turns standing guard, too!”
“Where the hell is this bitch shouting from? You were like that yesterday, and now you think I’m a pushover? Huh!?”
As Han Jiyoung was about to flare up, Oh Junghwan quickly stepped in. Jang Youngmin, perhaps having bottled up too much, shouted as if he were vomiting out his anger.
“And what?! Take turns standing guard? That’s only because we’re the only ones dying and there’s no one left! Damn it! Two people died yesterday, too! We’re already standing guard for 14 hours a day, and now people are dying again!”
“Do you think we don’t know that you treat us like back-room old folks just because you scouting team bastards bring in a few supplies? And now you want help?”
“Forget it, you guys handle the outside work yourselves! We’ll just stand guard!”
Bang!
Jang Youngmin slammed the auditorium door and walked out. Looking at their expressions, it seemed everyone except me had expected this.
Sigh… nothing in this world goes easily. The road I had to travel was still ninety thousand li away.