Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Translator: M.N 1391
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Translator : M.N 1391
Title: The Awakened Ones (2)
Chapter: 17
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At the top of the A4 paper Dae-shik picked up were the words, “Manan Police Station.”
< Notice >
–Due to the recent nationwide outbreak of a strange disease and ensuing riots, the following measures will be enforced. Please comply without exception -
At the bottom of the notice, a series of behavioral guidelines was listed.
–Since infected individuals cannot currently be identified, do not make contact with anyone until the riots subside.
–Anyone showing symptoms such as fever, extreme hunger or loss of appetite, auditory or visual hallucinations, double vision, or emotional instability must be quarantined immediately.
Etcetera, etcetera... Aside from the more formal wording, the contents were nearly identical to the precautions Dae-shik had already explained. But after reading it, a deep sigh escaped Dae-shik’s lips.
‘So it failed after all.’
Unconsciously, his grip tightened.
The dirt-stained and tattered paper crumpled in his hand. It had already been nearly a week since the apocalypse began.
If the higher-ups had taken Lee Juhun’s words seriously, they should have shown some active response by now. If they had, there’s no way he and Hye-na, who had been standing guard at the safe house this whole time, wouldn’t have noticed. And yet, there had been no action at all, which meant this flimsy piece of paper had only one explanation…
‘That Lee Juhun guy must have done this on his own.’
The higher-ups most likely dismissed his words as nonsense. So, deciding he had to do something, he must have gone around distributing these notices on his own.
‘I was hoping I’d be wrong this time…’
He hadn’t expected much, but still, he couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
From the police’s standpoint, it was somewhat understandable.
If it were zombies, that’d be one thing, but infected people just looked like lunatics at first glance.
To order that their heads be blown off right away? There was no way the higher command could issue such an order easily.
The rational procedures and thought processes befitting an era of peace had, in the current situation, become shackles instead.
‘But how did this paper even get all the way here?’
Another question crossed Dae-shik’s mind. The police station was a good thirty to forty minutes away on foot. Even if the paper had legs, it wouldn’t have made it this far on its own.
‘Don’t tell me…’
Naturally, Dae-shik’s thoughts drifted toward one possibility.
In Achaia, there had been ability users who could control light objects or manipulate wind.
‘No, that’s too far.’
But never, not even once, had he seen an awakened person capable of sending objects such a long distance at the early stages of awakening.
‘Could it be some other kind of ability?’
All sorts of thoughts intertwined endlessly in his head.
Dae-shik’s steps toward the safe house quickened. Along the way, he found two more identical notices.
At this point, he was certain these papers hadn’t just drifted there by chance.
‘There’s no way someone actually went around handing these out… right?’
If someone without any special powers had done that, it would be shocking in its own right. Either there were awakened people involved, or a well-organized group of survivors, or both. Only under those conditions could this have been possible.
By the time Dae-shik reached the vicinity of the safe house, he had made up his mind.
‘I’ll have to go check it out myself.’
* * *
“Today, we’ll have to go a bit farther.”
Dae-shik spoke as he picked up a large pot lid.
“Farther?”
“Yes, there’s something I want to confirm.”
He then began cutting a belt with a pair of scissors. All of them were items scavenged, well farmed, from empty houses over the past few days.
“How far are we going?”
Hye-na asked, staring curiously at the pot lid in his hands.
“To the police station.”
“The police station?”
A shadow crossed Hye-na’s face.
Until now, Dae-shik had always operated within range of the safe house.
He had never ventured more than thirty minutes’ walking distance away.
So, hearing that he planned to go somewhere that far was naturally worrying.
“There’s something I want to check, and they’ll probably have some useful supplies.”
Dae-shik said as he held the cut belts against the back of the pot lid.
What he wanted most right now were guns and ammunition. The noise was an issue, so he didn’t want to use them unless necessary, but they were still one of the most reliable weapons available. Especially since, if they ever recruited new awakened who weren’t combat-capable, arming them with firearms could be a lifesaver.
A taser gun would also be useful.
Against humans rather than zombies or infected, it would be an extremely effective weapon. Considering that raiders would soon start targeting safe houses and resources, it was better to be prepared.
“No need to worry so much.”
Dae-shik flipped the pot lid upside down, pulling out a hammer and some nails.
Then he began flattening the nail heads as wide as possible.
Clang, clang!
When he placed a strip of leather over the reversed lid and hammered the reinforced nail in, the nail pierced through the metal like wet soil after rain.
“Wow, is that a shield?”
Hye-na’s mouth fell open as she watched.
“Yes, but the handle’s not as neat as I’d like.”
Bending the ends of the nails with his power, he hammered them again a few times to fix the straps more firmly in place.
“Really? Looks like magic to me.”
“If my crafting level were higher, I could make something better… bit of a shame.”
Then Dae-shik reinforced the entire pot lid. He even poured all of his precious backup batteries into strengthening it, hoping to make the shield a bit sturdier.
The crowbar’s power was already strong enough without battery support, even against the Abnormal Glutton, it had performed well. So using the batteries on the shield made more sense now.
“Hye-na, hit this for me.”
Dae-shik handed her the hammer.
“Huh?”
“I need to see how sturdy it is, and check if the straps hold. If they’re loose, the shield could twist or your wrist could snap.”
“How do you even know that?”
“Uh… watched a lot of movies?”
Dae-shik gave a vague answer as he lifted the shield. It wasn’t a center-grip shield with one handle in the middle; instead, it used two straps to secure the arm, an enarmes-style design. That way, the wrist wouldn’t twist from impact, and it would reduce strain on the arm overall.
In Achaia, where monsters stronger than humans roamed everywhere, this enarmes style had been preferred.
Dae-shik was no exception.
“Alright, go ahead.”
“Okay! Be careful!”
Thud!
“That’s too soft! Harder! Hit it like you mean it!”
At his insistence, Hye-na gritted her teeth and swung the hammer full-force.
Aiming straight for his head.
‘Did she really have to aim for my skull?!’
Thunk!
The hammer slammed against the shield with a loud metallic echo.
Thunk, thunk-thunk!
She didn’t stop, striking again and again. But the straps didn’t loosen, nor did his wrist twist.
“This should be enough…”
Whoosh!
“Ahh, stop! Stop!”
Dae-shik shouted, and Hye-na lowered her arm reluctantly, grinning.
“This is fun. I think I’ve got a talent for it.”
He had no idea what kind of talent she meant—but one thing was clear: she definitely had a violent streak.
Dae-shik swallowed his thoughts and checked the rest of his equipment before grabbing his crowbar.
“Anyway, I’ll go to the police station now. Just guard the base like usual.”
As he stood up, Hye-na suddenly grabbed his wrist.
“I’m coming with you.”
“Huh?”
“This time, I’m going with you.”
“No.”
“If you die, I can’t survive alone anyway. And you want me to just sit here doing nothing?”
Her tone was firm and serious. The usual airheadedness was nowhere to be found.
“I told you, there’s always the risk of infection…”
“Staying inside doesn’t guarantee I won’t get infected. And going outside doesn’t mean I will. It’s already been a week.”
Then she pulled a folded piece of paper from her pocket and held it up to his face.
“And this is a map of the area.”
The hand-drawn map was so neat and precise it was hard to believe she’d done it herself. It even included terrain details that Dae-shik didn’t remember and couldn’t have seen from here. Even better, she had marked zombie concentrations in the area with small symbols.
“See here? If you go this far, I won’t be able to see your signal because of this building. Then I’ll just be sitting here sucking my thumb.”
She began outlining the route to the police station point by point.
“So first, you go this way… then through this building, you can signal again. After that, move to this one…”
As Hye-na explained, Dae-shik found himself nodding slightly without realizing it.
It was a safer route and it meant they could bring back more supplies.
Then Hye-na added, carefully watching his face.
“And there’s a pharmacy near the police station.”
Apparently, that was her real reason for insisting on going.
The word “pharmacy” alone was enough to make Dae-shik hesitate.
In the apocalypse, access to medicine could mean the difference between life and death.
“I can bring the medicine myself.”
“Do you even know which ones to get?”
“For headaches… Xborin?”
Hye-na’s eyes immediately went cold.
“What’s in a basic first-aid kit?”
“Disinfectant, bandages?”
“What’s the difference between red medicine and alcohol disinfectant?”
“……”
“What do you use for lacerations, and what’s the correct treatment order?”
“……”
“Burns? Stomachaches?”
Dae-shik could name over a hundred herbs from Achaia, but now, he couldn’t say a single word. Even without his time in another world, his pharmaceutical knowledge began and ended with Xborin, Xirrenol, and Xfos.
“You could just tell me the names and—”
“Could you even pick the right ones? Every drug has different ingredients. Each pharmacy stocks different brands. Some have the same effect but totally different names.”
After a brief silence, Dae-shik nodded slowly.
There was definitely risk, but not beyond what he could handle. And the benefits of taking her along were tangible.
He’d need an extra pair of hands to carry all the ammo, tasers, and medicine anyway.
It was a gamble worth taking.
“Alright. But no sudden moves. You follow my instructions exactly.”
“Don’t worry.”
* * *
The two left the safe house and headed for the first point marked on Hye-na’s map.
Her record was flawless.
Thanks to her map, Dae-shik was able to navigate the less-populated areas efficiently.
While they were at it, he even started teaching her some basic zombie-hunting techniques. Since she was outside now, she might as well get some field practice, right?
“You’re doing great.”
And in the process, he made a surprising discovery…
“Uuughghh!”
Hye-na was actually quite good at fighting.
Though she grimaced every time, she consistently cracked skulls or struck vital points in one clean hit.
He had expected her to panic or flee at the sight of zombies, but instead, while she did flinch, she never even blinked during combat.
“You’re braver than I thought. You’re aiming for vitals well, and you’ve got strength too.”
To that, Hye-na gave an odd but convincing answer.
“I’m an emergency medic. I’ve seen way worse things than this. And I know the human body better than you do. Also, medics need to be strong.”
Of course, she was still far from capable of handling infected. Even a small crowd of zombies could easily overwhelm her. But against one or two? She could probably hold her own without getting bitten.
‘Yeah, she’s definitely not dead weight.’
The two proceeded slowly but steadily, safely making their way to the next point. But when they reached the third checkpoint...
“Duck!”
Dae-shik suddenly grabbed Hye-na’s wrist and yanked her down flat to the ground. His face had gone deathly pale, and beads of cold sweat ran down his forehead.
Peeking up slightly, his eyes locked onto a single corpse…
A police officer, his limbs grotesquely twisted.
Translator: M.N 1391