Us
Im Jongchan brought the people he had captured at the Solarium back to the shelter. It seemed he had a habit of picking up lost souls like this and wandering around until he found a place for them to settle.
Personally, I thought it would have been better to just kill them, as they were remnants of the Solarium, but Im Jongchan’s opposition was so fierce that I decided to leave them to him.
“By the way, are you the shelter leader?”
“The leader is someone else. Someone you’d probably recognize.”
“Wow, so you, the number one among us, are playing the role of a subordinate?”
Im Jongchan and I crossed the playground, looking around the elementary school. His gaze was a bit strange; to my eyes, it was mixed with envy.
“Why don’t you settle down here while you’re at it? The people here are all decent.”
“Well, if you say so, it must be true.”
“If Koisa joins, it’ll be a huge help to us.”
“Us?”
Im Jongchan stopped walking and stared at me, looking surprised.
“You’ve really changed a lot.”
“In your memory, was I such a piece of trash?”
“You were such a loner that I never thought you’d belong to a group. I bet the other trainees think the same. The legendary Mac-Gree, not even a shelter leader, but just a member?”
“It just turned out that way.”
We moved to a classroom. The classroom building was where the working shifts stayed, and it was also Kim Ganghyun’s territory. Kim Ganghyun, wearing a white gown, brought four cans of beer, placed them on the desk, and disappeared.
“What the? You even have a doctor here?”
“We have nurses, too.”
“Are they pretty?”
“If they are, will you settle down?”
Even if they all carry the label of ‘Hunter,’ they aren’t all the same. The gap between high-ranking Hunters and regular Hunters is significant, and since many subjects are graded on a curve, the difference in skill between classes is clear.
My class, the 4th, was a legendary one where not a single dropout occurred in a school with a graduation rate of less than 50 percent. And Im Jongchan was a high-ranking Hunter from that legendary class.
“I like it the way it is now.”
“You were envious earlier.”
“I just heard there were nurses.”
“You were envious even before you heard that.”
“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll keep living like this.”
Im Jongchan refused flatly. I could see the inner thoughts he had carefully hidden behind his bitter smile. The inner thoughts that inevitably become a trauma when you live in a world like this.
“Whenever I join somewhere, it always goes to ruin.”
“You don’t have to say it. I understand.”
“Are you a shaman?”
“The one you’re dragging around is a shaman. The secret he said he’d tell me—that’s Choi Junseo, right?”
We looked out the window at the same time. Beyond the glass, Choi Junseo and the Koisa group were sitting on their electric bikes.
“How did you know?”
“He said it openly. Something about ‘The General’ this and that.”
“Hahaha. That must have been absurd. I can see it clearly without even looking.”
“If you think about it, it’s not that strange. It’s not like only Hunters survived.”
The beer we had shared, two cans each, was hitting the bottom. I felt that once the beer was gone, he would leave. I hesitated to finish it, and Im Jongchan smiled at me.
“The zombies were running. You know that, right?”
“Running? There are some that have intelligence, too.”
“Did you catch something from me? You’re talking nonsense you never used to.”
“So you didn’t know.”
I downed the beer and told him about the Alpha. As the conversation grew longer, it naturally led to the existence of Gusan and the reason I was trying to form an alliance.
“That’s why I need you. I’ll ask you again. Join me.”
“…….”
Im Jongchan’s deliberation lasted a long time. Darkness was crawling into the classroom where only the two of us remained. Watching his subordinates outside the window, he finally put a period to his thoughts.
“I’m sorry, classmate.”
“…Right. I shouldn’t force you any further.”
“Instead, I’ll leave you a gift.”
“A gift?”
Im Jongchan stood up without a word. As he stepped out of the classroom, his subordinates waved as if they had been waiting. It was the moment Im Jongchan’s stiff face brightened up again.
“Boss! The sun has set, what are we going to do? What kind of chatter are two men having for so long?”
“You brat, when have we ever cared about day or night?”
Just as I had found ‘us,’ he, too, belonged within the name of ‘us.’ Im Jongchan looked at his subordinates and said:
“This is where the classmate I told you about is. You won’t find anyone stronger than this guy anywhere. Anyone who wants to settle here, raise your hand. As always, we’ll let you go without any hard feelings.”
No one raised their hand. The Koisa group seemed to have no intention of doing so in the first place, just looking away. Their leader was Im Jongchan, and Im Jongchan was their leader.
“Ugh, you tiresome bastards.”
Even as he said that, he didn’t seem to dislike it. Im Jongchan climbed onto his electric bike, and at that moment, Choi Junseo approached him.
‘What is it?’
They looked like they were about to leave immediately, but Im Jongchan and Choi Junseo moved to a corner and exchanged words for a long time. Before long, the expression on Im Jongchan’s face as he returned was somewhat unusual.
“Cheonil. This guy says he wants to stay, what do you think?”
“Huh…?”
Choi Junseo wants to stay? Why is that shaman guy suddenly doing this? I looked at Oh Junghwan, but he just shrugged as if it didn’t matter. I asked Choi Junseo.
“What is your reason for staying? Did the General tell you to do this, too?”
“Don’t ask, just choose. If you refuse, I’ll just go.”
“…….”
Honestly, he wasn’t a guy I clicked with. Still, at a time when I was desperate for manpower, he was a person with high combat ability. He was a guy I needed for our sake.
“Fine. But you have to follow the rules here.”
“Understood.”
Choi Junseo bowed his waist to me, not Oh Junghwan. My classmate, whether he felt relieved or sad, quickly turned the bike handle.
“Take care. I hope you have no regrets about your choice.”
“Thank you so much for everything. Boss.”
Im Jongchan and his group exited the main gate. The sight of them waving and exchanging well-wishes looked natural, as if it were a common occurrence. If we stay alive, will we be able to see each other again someday?
A pleasant coincidence had lingered quietly like an electric bike and then left, but my heart was still noisy.
Three days had passed since then. During that time, I had been searching for the next shelter to form an alliance with Han Jiyoung, but there was little progress.
Around 9:00 AM, I received a radio call from the sentry at the main gate. There, I saw two strangers who were keeping a considerable distance, as if they didn’t know each other.
“Are you, by any chance, Lee Cheonil?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
The one with a build like a muscle pig asked. When I answered, the man behind him, who had been watching the situation, approached with a bright face.
“Oh, we found the right place.”
“But where did you two come from? You seem to be strangers to each other.”
“This person is indeed a stranger. I came from Gwangmyeong.”
“I came from Amhyeon…. I’m the shelter leader there.”
“Gwangmyeong and Amhyeon?”
It felt like I was dreaming. I had been searching for them so desperately, and they had walked in on their own. I wondered what kind of situation this was, but then Im Jongchan’s words flashed through my mind.
‘Was this the gift?’
Come to think of it, the two men’s faces were quite haggard. The muscle pig was a bit better off, but the slender Amhyeon shelter leader was looking around nervously. It must have been Im Jongchan’s doing.
‘You bastard, you left me a big gift.’
With the experience of the Koisa group wandering around looking for settlements, combined with the high mobility of electric bikes, finding shelter sites must have been simple for him. Thinking back, I was the cautious type even in school days, but Im Jongchan was the opposite. He was the guy who would ignore the lead instructor’s advice to avoid obstacles, saying ‘Fuck that,’ and charge in headlong.
To put it nicely, he had significant drive; to put it badly, he was reckless. Thinking of his way of handling things, it was a miracle he was still alive.
“Come on in, first.”
As the sentry opened the gate, the two men passed through the main gate, looking hesitant. They kept looking around until we entered the main auditorium, and I could tell they were quite tense. It was natural, as they had come alone to another shelter.
“Who are these people?”
“They are the shelter leaders of Gwangmyeong and Amhyeon. It seems my classmate pulled some strings.”
“Uh…?”
Oh Junghwan also looked very flustered. When I signaled, Han Jiyoung brought two chairs with a bewildered expression.
“Sit here.”
“Ah, yes….”
The difference in their physiques was noticeably extreme. The Amhyeon shelter leader looked like a total nerd with a slender body, while the Gwangmyeong shelter leader had an impression that suggested he had been quite a handful in his day. It was the Gwangmyeong shelter leader who spoke first.
“Um…. Is the person who came yesterday your classmate?”
“The guy who came on an electric bike?”
“Yes. The one who suddenly demanded a fight.”
“That has nothing to do with us. But I’ll apologize on his behalf.”
“It has nothing to do with you, so why did he do that yesterday….”
They were like rabbits who had wandered into a tiger’s den. A big rabbit and a small rabbit. There was only a difference in size, but that’s how they looked to me.
“You don’t have to be nervous. I was looking for you all to form an alliance, and it was just a mishap caused by my classmate trying to help.”
“Ah…….”
The small rabbit, who had been watching the situation, raised his hand cautiously.
“Um… is it an alliance? Not an absorption…?”
“It’s an alliance. In other words, a coalition.”
I answered with emphasis. Relieved by the word ‘coalition,’ the rabbits’ expressions brightened considerably. When Hwang Gyunam even offered them canned coffee, their remaining wariness seemed to melt away.
“Actually, that classmate of yours told us yesterday to unconditionally follow whatever Lee Cheonil says.”
“Forget everything that guy said. I am proposing, not forcing.”
“But he said if we didn’t listen, he’d come back and beat us up again…….”
“I told you to forget it. Now, Red Sun.”
Just how badly did he beat them up that these people, who are leaders of shelters, are this terrified…. I was envious that they lived their lives so comfortably.
“Are there any casualties?”
“He beat us just enough not to die.”
“Were the members hurt badly?”
“Just bruises…. He gave us ointment, so we applied it.”
I asked cautiously, thinking ‘what if,’ but unexpectedly, he seemed to have kept the line well. A capable bastard. Should I catch him again right now?
“But may I ask why you are trying to form an alliance?”
“Because of Gusan. Their power-tripping has become severe lately. If we don’t take any action, they will make even worse demands in the future.”
“Gusan!?”
At the word ‘Gusan,’ the rabbits’ eyes changed into those of predators. As expected, they were leaders. Whether the scale is small or large, a representative of a group always has something different about them.
“We will join the alliance.”
“Me too. My blood boils just thinking about those Gusan bastards.”
The two men ground their teeth. It seemed they had more grievances than I thought. Unlike their first impressions, they had transformed into leaders of a group.
Im Jongchan walked to the corner of the playground and asked.
“You said before that there was a place where you would die, right? Is this place that place?”
“You remembered.”
“Honestly, my brain can’t understand it. If you know you’re going to die, isn’t it normal to avoid it? Won’t you regret it later?”
“There is no other option. I have to die here.”
Im Jongchan was serious, but Choi Junseo only smiled faintly.