The Mole (3)
I sent a radio transmission to Han Jiyoung via a private channel. I had set up the channel a while ago, but this was my first time actually using it.
Han Jiyoung replied as if she had been waiting.
“If you aren’t busy, come over here for a moment.”
“Enfield Shopping Mall.”
“Bravo, Delta. Five, one, six, zero, two, three, seven, nine. How long will it take?”
“If you come via the southeast main road, there shouldn’t be many zombies.”
After ending the transmission, I entered the shopping mall. Until recently, this place had been swarming with zombies. Conversely, that meant it hadn’t been touched by survivors.
“…This is incredible.”
Sure enough, food, clothing, materials, medicine, and more—massive amounts of supplies were preserved exactly as they had been. Just looting this place would be enough to last for years.
“Do you see the fountain in front? Come there. I’ll come meet you.”
Han Jiyoung ran over and bowed deeply. Then, as she scanned the mall with her eyes, her jaw dropped.
“My god… a place like this existed?”
“It used to be a zombie hell, but now it’s a supply heaven.”
Places like shopping malls inevitably have many zombies. Even if they are overflowing with loot, it’s just a painting of a cake to survivors. Unless it was a large-scale shelter like Gusan, they wouldn’t even dare to attempt it. No, even Gusan would have to endure significant casualties to occupy a place like this. I had essentially obtained this gold mine for free.
Han Jiyoung wandered around the inside of the mall, exclaiming in awe.
“Wow… it looks like no one has looted this place? It’s completely clean.”
“I told you. It was a zombie den.”
“Then where did all those guys go? You couldn’t have cleared out the corpses, Senior.”
“Did I tell you about the Alpha?”
I told Han Jiyoung about the things I had experienced with the Alpha. At first, she seemed skeptical, but she soon became absorbed in my story.
“Runners are scary enough, but a zombie with intelligence… that’s absolutely chilling.”
“I don’t know the extent of the Alpha’s intelligence. They can evolve. They probably took the ones that were here and went somewhere else. That’s the scarier part.”
“If that’s true, it’s a walking disaster.”
“Well, the important thing for now is that we’ve secured this place.”
There was no way to know where the Alpha had gone. I could only hope it had moved far away from my hideout and would never appear again.
“But why did you call me? Surely not to share this with your lovely junior? Haha.”
“Not a single word of that is true.”
“Hey, are you going to eat all this by yourself, Senior? You’ll get an upset stomach.”
“Quiet. I’ll pay you an hourly wage, so help me out.”
The first thing to do was to finish the search as I had learned at the training facility. I had finished searching the basement before Han Jiyoung arrived. Normally, it would have taken a whole day, but thanks to Do-jin, I finished it quickly.
“I’ll come down from the 7th floor, so you search from the 1st floor. If you see a door, you have to open it. Especially places like changing rooms—you have to check them thoroughly.”
“That much is basic.”
After we split up, a couple of hours passed. Just as Han Jiyoung was about to start searching the 3rd floor, she ran into me as I came down from above. Seeing her junior, Do-jin wagged his tail like a propeller.
“No way. You did the upper floors already…?”
“It’s thanks to this guy.”
“I don’t need an hourly wage, so can’t I take Do-jin with me?”
“Yeah, no.”
The next task was moving the supplies. The priority was luxury goods like beer, cigarettes, and instant coffee. In the past, I would have ignored all of that and just grabbed canned food, but now that I could trade with Gusan, it was different.
“I’m going to move them to the 1st floor.”
I started moving the luxury goods to the staff break room. This was an intention to hide important supplies from other survivors, as it would take a long time to move everything.
“If we sell all this, how many ammo boxes would that be?”
“So what? I heard Gusan is controlling ammunition.”
“If it’s at the original market price, we could buy at least 50,000 rounds.”
In fact, ammunition didn’t mean much to me. I hadn’t told the people at the shelter, but I had more than enough 5.56mm ammunition in my hideout. For the past five years, even if I didn’t grab cigarettes or beer, I would catch any zombie wearing a military uniform without fail. It was obvious that ammunition was a consumable and would become increasingly rare.
My hideout was on the 5th floor, and I used the 4th floor as a warehouse; the ammunition on the 4th floor alone was probably around 30,000 rounds.
“It looks like it’s mostly finished, right?”
“Good work.”
Han Jiyoung wiped her forehead and caught her breath. Other things were light, so it was fine, but the beer boxes were the problem. Even though the staff room was quite large, one side had to be filled entirely with beer boxes.
“Here, your hourly wage.”
“You’re giving me five cartons of cigarettes…? My hourly wage is higher than I thought? Have you finally recognized me, Senior?”
“Give three cartons to Boss Hwang. I borrowed some from him before.”
“……Hey, damn it, of course.”
“Damn it?”
“Ah, no, I’m sorry! I’ll use them gratefully!”
Even though she pouted, she didn’t argue. I chuckled and took two cans from the mountain of beer boxes.
“Want a can?”
“Oh!”
I couldn’t feel the bone-chilling cold, but the beer I drank after sweating was like honey. Perhaps because she was very thirsty, Han Jiyoung finished one can in a single gulp and smacked her lips.
“Drink more if you want.”
“Yes!”
“By the way, how is the shelter running?”
Han Jiyoung replied while opening another can.
“As we discussed last time, I’m not going to work. I don’t really know the situation at the shelter.”
“Then go to work tomorrow. You need to know the general atmosphere.”
“Are you going to work too, Senior?”
“I’ll start the day after tomorrow. It’s a bit awkward if we appear at the same time.”
“Understood.”
I looked at the supplies filling the space. Anyway, I didn’t need this much right away. Wasn’t there a way to use it meaningfully?
“But Senior. I know you needed a hand, but is it okay to reveal this to me?”
“Why? Are you going to steal it?”
“Haha… of course not, but you never know. I was just wondering if you trusted me that much.”
“I know at least that you aren’t that kind of person. Would you dare to lay a hand on your senior’s belongings?”
“Th-that’s true. Who would dare to cross swords with McGregor unless they were crazy?”
Actually, there was a key. I had hidden things here because I found the key. And honestly, even if she took a little, I didn’t intend to scold her.
“Did you say you were saving money to buy a sword?”
“Ah, yes. Gusan has some Hunters too. One of them is a collector of fine swords. He’s in the same department as me.”
“How much more do you need to save?”
“I’ve almost saved it all. Since I got two cartons of cigarettes today, I think I only need one or two more cartons.”
I pretended to be generous and gave her two more cartons. Han Jiyoung’s eyes widened, and she teared up as if she were moved.
“I will pledge my loyalty to you, Senior!”
Yesterday, I spent the whole day moving supplies. Thanks to a rusty handcart and Do-jin, a reliable scout, I was able to move about a quarter of it. Today, I planned to go to the shelter for the first time in a while. Last night, I talked to Han Jiyoung, who had gone to work first, and she said everything was proceeding according to plan.
“Oh? It’s the Instructor!”
Sentries were standing at the shelter entrance. They didn’t even stay at their posts and ran toward me. Their faces were flushed, as if they had a lot to say.
“Instructor, please say something. Why aren’t the search teams going out? At this rate, the food rations will decrease even more.”
“What do you mean by that?”
“You didn’t know? They haven’t been doing search activities for over a week. Even when we ask the Shelter Leader, he doesn’t answer. Is something going on?”
The search team shares half of the supplies they obtain with the duty team. If the search team doesn’t go out, the duty team’s quota decreases, and food rations inevitably decrease as well.
‘They don’t seem to know about Daeheung yet.’
I gave a vague answer, saying I understood, and headed to the main auditorium. There were always people there if I came at 9 o’clock, but today, no one was gathered.
“Teacher.”
Jang Young-min greeted me, perhaps because he had been watching for me. He smiled happily and handed me a chocolate bar the size of a finger.
“You’ve come after a long time.”
“Yes, have you been well, Mr. Jang?”
“I’m fine… but is something wrong with the shelter?”
Jang Young-min had a suspicious expression. At that moment, Hwang Gyunam’s words came to mind. That he would approach me in some way. I pondered what kind of answer would be best here, and chose a head-on breakthrough.
“A survivor organization called Daeheung is targeting us.”
“Yes…?”
“It’s expected that there is a spy among the shelter members.”
“A spy? How do you know that?”
I told him everything that had happened so far. So that the guy could react. Since he must have heard everything through the wiretap anyway, there was no need to hide it. He was probably listening to this conversation too.
“No wonder… so that’s why Oh is doing nothing.”
“Do you know anything about Daeheung?”
“Well. Not particularly… but what are you planning to do, Teacher?”
The answer now seemed important. If the guy was wiretapping, his reaction would change depending on this answer.
“Honestly, I don’t care whether it’s Osori or Daeheung. It hasn’t been long since I became a formal member anyway.”
“Hmm. That is true.”
“Someone once said. A shelter is just a place where people with mutual interests gather.”
“Are you thinking of leaving Osori?”
“If it continues like this, there’s no benefit to me. And I’m disappointed in the Shelter Leader. It’s been a week, and nothing has been resolved.”
For a week, the search team hadn’t conducted external activities, and Oh Jung-hwan hadn’t taken any measures. It was natural for dissatisfaction to arise. Of course, this was all part of our plan.
“Indeed… I also think it’s unlike Oh. He has always led proactively.”
“He probably doesn’t have a way either. That’s his limit.”
“You’re colder than you look.”
“What do I have to miss to insist on this place?”
Jang Young-min looked disappointed, but soon nodded as if he understood.
“Capable people like you might think that way. Especially in a case like this, it should be resolved as soon as possible…”
“If he had been trying something, I wouldn’t have said this. I would have tried to help. But this isn’t it.”
“Yes… that’s right.”
Jang Young-min was silent, as if lost in thought. I was about to finish up and leave the auditorium when he asked with a determined face.
“Teacher. Would you like to leave with me?”
I don’t think I could manage my expression at that moment.