Chapter 9
Chapter 9
For a moment, it felt like someone had struck my head.
Ten years after the collapse.
Wasn’t this supposed to be a world where every communication network had failed and the satellites had fallen from the sky?
Then why did it say [Satellite Signal: Good]?
In this era, this was practically an out-of-place artifact that shouldn’t exist.
“Ha.”
After the shock came a hollow feeling that surged over me like a tide.
For ten years, all I had done was carry loads, eat insect porridge, and snatch short naps.
Because I believed the outside world was hell, and that stepping outside the shelter meant immediate death.
But someone out there was still using satellites.
Perhaps the upper ranks of the shelters had known about it all along.
No—of course they had known.
They must have shared that information among themselves while keeping the non-Awakened blind and deaf, working them like slaves.
And once we were no longer useful, they threw us out.
“Bastards.”
Anger boiled up inside me.
At the same time, however, I felt a strange sense of relief.
Now I finally understood why the workshop system had something like an [Automated Process Protocol].
Civilization hadn’t been completely reset.
Somewhere, the spark of civilization—the technology—had survived.
“The battery’s still at 85% too.”
Three batteries wrapped in tape.
Perhaps after ten years the lithium cells had degraded, so someone crudely modified them like this.
Manufacturing or modifying battery cells wouldn’t be easy.
In any case, there had to be some method of charging them.
“They didn’t charge it with electricity from that lightning ability… right?”
No way.
Could that even be possible?
Anyway, I couldn’t analyze the modified smartphone right now.
It had a lock pattern, and mutants or other humans would soon gather here.
After all, I had just detonated a bunch of grenades.
“First, take everything.”
I flipped the bag upside down.
Clatter.
More things spilled out.
To my surprise, they were all smartphones.
Five in total.
Each one was in terrible condition.
One had a shattered screen.
Another was caked in mud and clearly water-damaged.
Another had all its buttons ripped out.
Of course none of them powered on.
“What the hell… is this guy a phone collector?”
Or perhaps there was a market for them somewhere.
Maybe for parts.
Or maybe for the data inside.
Either way, someone out there must be buying them.
One thing was certain.
These smartphones had value.
I gathered all the phones from the ground.
Inside the leader’s bag there was also a large camping battery pack.
Two bars remaining out of four.
About half.
“So that’s what they used to charge it.”
Then how did they charge the battery pack?
Could it really be charged with a core…?
Curious.
Well, I would find out sooner or later.
I turned my attention back to the leader’s corpse.
Maybe there was something else?
I searched his pockets and inner jacket, but found nothing.
Just as I was about to give up and stand up—
His waistband looked oddly bulky.
Don’t tell me…
Using the tip of my knife, I loosened his belt buckle and looked inside.
Inside his underwear, sewn crudely like a loincloth pouch, was a small cloth pocket.
“Ugh… this guy really went all out.”
The smell nearly made me gag.
No matter how valuable something was, rummaging through something hidden right next to another man’s crotch wasn’t pleasant.
But if a raider hid something in such a secret and precious place, the value was obvious.
Maybe it was something worth more than his life.
Rip.
Grimacing, I carefully slit open the pocket with my knife.
A brilliant red light leaked out.
Thud. Clink.
Two red gemstones rolled onto the ground.
“…Cores?”
[F-Grade Core]
[F-Grade Core]
Crystals about the size of a fingernail.
My eyes widened.
An item that normally appeared only after hunting a Named Mutant…
Had just come out of someone’s underwear.
A chill ran down my spine.
“Right… mutants aren’t the only way.”
To obtain cores.
You could simply kill someone who already had one.
The easiest, fastest, and most brutal method.
A horrifying realization crossed my mind.
In this world, hunting humans might be even more common than hunting mutants.
The chill faded quickly.
I stuffed the cores into my bag.
Two F-Grade Cores.
With these, I could recharge the workshop’s power.
An unexpected windfall.
I quickly checked the bags of the dead subordinates as well.
But as expected—
Nothing special.
Just dozens of canned foods.
A scorched mess kit.
A frying pan.
A 1.5-liter water bottle.
Various living supplies.
And three military radios that appeared completely broken.
“Hah. Didn’t even trust his own men. Hid the good stuff in his underwear.”
He had forced his subordinates to carry the heavy supplies while keeping the real valuables for himself.
Typical raider behavior.
Still, their belongings told me something.
These guys were nomads.
If they had a base, they wouldn’t be lugging around so many household items.
Meaning I didn’t need to worry about retaliation.
“That’s a decent haul.”
I reviewed the items one last time.
[Smartphones] ×6
(Including 1 satellite-modified unit)
[Large Battery Pack] ×1
[Auxiliary Batteries] ×3
[Military Radios] ×3
[F-Grade Cores] ×2
[Canned Ham] ×1
(Expired)
My bag was still heavy with scrap metal.
But this weight felt different.
I had left many items behind for two reasons.
First, because my leg wasn’t in good condition.
Before the collapse, the distance here would have taken less than thirty minutes.
But it had taken me over three hours.
Which meant the return trip would take at least three hours as well.
And if I encountered mutants or raiders again, who knew how much longer it would take.
Moving while overloaded with supplies would be impossible.
The remaining space in my bag had to be filled with Blade-Beak Chicken.
Human nature was strange.
Not long ago I had drooled over insect shells.
Now expired canned food didn’t even interest me.
The second reason was the child.
On the day the world collapsed, I became an orphan.
The only reason I survived was because countless strangers had helped me.
Even now, after losing most of my attachment to humanity, seeing a child still stirred something inside me.
Perhaps it was simply animal instinct.
Honestly, I was also impressed by the way that family faced mutants to survive.
A non-Awakened person from Mapo Shelter would never think of fighting a mutant with just a steel pipe.
If they had, they might still be working under Team Leader Choi.
Binding the beak with a steel pipe.
Trapping it with a net.
It looked like a coordinated strategy.
They must have some circumstances behind it.
I wanted to ask about that too.
But I didn’t want to reveal myself to them.
And to them, I probably wasn’t a savior.
I was another source of terror.
A being that slaughtered vicious raiders in seconds with invisible attacks.
The raiders probably saw me as some kind of insane bomber.
“Hm… that’s not a bad reputation.”
If such a terrifying presence roamed the area, raiders would stay cautious.
Which would make it easier for me to move around.
After all, I’d have to visit Hyochang Park often to hunt Blade-Beak Chickens.
“I need a way to communicate safely without showing myself.”
After thinking for a moment, I came up with an idea.
I took one of the raiders’ radios from my backpack.
The antenna was bent.
The casing cracked.
Just a piece of scrap metal.
[Old Military Radio]
[Durability: 0]
There were three in total.
Complete junk.
But I didn’t need working radios.
I needed usable components.
“I don’t need to know the exact structure.”
I had seen these things in the supply warehouse for ten years.
They ran on electricity.
They received voices and transmitted them.
That was enough.
I placed both hands on the radio.
[Partial Disassembly]
Hum—
With a low resonance, the damaged casing dissolved into particles of light.
[Microphone Module]
[Speaker Unit]
[Transceiver Circuit Board]
[Battery Cell]
Then I designed two devices in my mind.
One transmitter for my voice.
One receiver to deliver that voice to them.
A very simple structure.
But—
[Miniature Transceiver Circuit Board]
Durability: 0 / 15
Status: Circuit severed, major chipset damaged
As expected.
Disassembling a durability-zero radio produced durability-zero components.
The materials needed for repair were:
[Copper] 0.1 g
[Insulating Resin] 0.5 ml
[Semiconductor Silicon Crystal] 0.01 g
“Hm.”
No need to go far.
I grabbed the remaining two broken radios.
[Disassembly]
Crack.
The plastic casing, rubber buttons, and wire insulation collapsed completely into raw materials.
[Copper Wire Bundle]
[Aluminum Fragments]
[Silicon Crystal]
I obtained Insulating Resin by disassembling nearby wood.
Experience paid off.
After spending so much time disassembling junk at the garbage hill, I knew what materials came from what objects.
Preparation complete.
I placed the circuit board on my palm.
[Repair]
Whoosh—
Blue particles danced across the board.
Like the invisible hands of a master craftsman.
Metal powder melted into the broken wiring.
Microscopic silicon filled the damaged chipset.
Transparent resin coated the surface.
Watching electronic equipment repair itself felt like studying engineering.
Clink.
With a clear mechanical sound—
The circuit board gleamed like new.
[Durability: 15 / 15]
A thrill ran through me.
Turning trash into treasure.
Now I just had to manufacture the devices from my mental blueprint.
[Transmitter]
[Ultra-Compact Wireless Speaker]
Since they only needed basic functions, I removed everything unnecessary.
Soon, a crude black transmitter with a single button appeared in my left hand.
In my right hand was a receiver shaped like a thumb-sized stone.
To hide it easily in the forest, I used disassembled wood to create a wooden casing.
The appearance looked decent.
But looks weren’t everything.
To make them function, they needed power.
The battery cells from the radios weren’t charged.
So when I manufactured the transmitter and receiver, I installed charging ports on their sides.
Then I pulled out the Large Battery Pack from the raider leader’s bag.
I had already confirmed it had power remaining.
I grabbed the tangled cables attached to it and was about to start charging—
When a system notification suddenly appeared.
[Repair Available]
“…Huh?”
I frowned.
I had just manufactured the device.
Its durability was full.
Why repair?
As I studied the status window, realization struck.
“Ah.”
Wait.
Still holding the battery pack, I activated [Repair].
Something astonishing happened.
Blue particles streamed out of the battery pack and flowed into the transmitter and receiver.
Instead of consuming materials, the battery pack’s energy transferred directly.
[Power: 100%]
…The battery was fully charged in a single second.
Since the battery pack had such a large capacity, its charge gauge didn’t even change.
Well, I had only charged a tiny battery.
That made sense.
I stared blankly at the devices in my hands.
“So the Awakening System treats low power as a status abnormality?”
There was no need to plug in cables and wait.
Even incompatible connectors didn’t matter.
As long as an object contained electricity, [Repair] could instantly recharge it.
In a world where electricity was more precious than gold—
This ability was absurd.
“This… is way more valuable than I thought.”
That meant these batteries could recharge the workshop’s power.
Of course, the capacity difference would be enormous.
Still.
“But the reverse should work too.”
Recharge the workshop with cores.
Then use that energy to power electronic devices.
A grin spread across my face.
I knew how much suffering people endured inside shelters just to power a single light bulb.
Satisfied, I placed the battery pack back into my bag.
“Alright.”
Time for delivery.
I took out the High-Tension Bio Sling from my belt.
The receiver, shaped like a small stone, was placed in a leather pouch.
Checking the range.
The target was the thick branches above the bushes where the family was hiding.
I took a deep breath and pulled the sling tight.
Thunk!
With a lively vibration, the receiver shot forward.
At the end of the pouch was a thin High-Tension Wire I had prepared earlier.
The target was a thick branch above the bushes.
As the receiver skimmed past the branch—
I tugged the wire sharply.
The receiver swung around the branch.
The wire wrapped around it several times.
The receiver settled perfectly behind the trunk, hidden from sight.
Like a spider web trapping prey.
Using [Disassembly], I cut the wire at the appropriate length.
Then I whispered to myself.
I am the bomber.
I am the bomber who hates raiders.
“Phew.”
Steeling myself, I raised the transmitter to my mouth.