Shelter Opening (1)
“Hey! Is anyone there?!” I shouted while circling around the library where the shelter barrier stood.
But the library was silent.
‘There seems to be someone inside….’
A few people were glancing through the windows at the place where I was.
Then they started talking among themselves again.
“Hey!”
After waiting a moment, a person emerged from inside the library.
“Are you an awakened?”
“Yes?”
“What’s your job? How strong are you? What star tier?”
“Wait, why are you asking that all of a sudden….”
Someone suddenly asked me about my job and strength.
It felt like they were probing me for information.
“To enter this place, you need at least a job with at least 3 stars.”
“What? No, I'm not trying to enter here, but to share information about the shelter.”
“Information sharing?”
“Yes. I have another shelter.”
The man who came out just gave me a quick glance and then turned around and entered the library without saying a word.
“Hey! Hey?”
No matter how much I called out, the man entered without responding to my words.
‘He won't share the information.’
Of course, I couldn't blame him for not sharing information. In this situation, information could be power and a weapon.
But his reaction was a bit frustrating in a situation where cooperation was desperately needed to survive among people.
I then returned to school and thought about the current situation.
‘Should we only accept awakened people?’
There must be a reason why the shelter there only accepts awakened people.
Obviously, it would benefit them more than ordinary people.
Just seeing that coins are needed to repair the shelter was enough reason to only accept awakened people.
If I thought only selfishly, that would be the right thing to do.
But I didn't want to do that.
I wanted to save as many people as possible from this hellish place.
But that was impossible now.
The most important problem was food.
It was impossible for ordinary people to go out to get food because monsters were roaming around.
In a situation where even our own food was hard to come by, we couldn't accept other ordinary people.
Moreover, most of the food in convenience stores and supermarkets had disappeared, and it was questionable whether we could produce more food now.
It seemed that we should only accept awakened people who could take responsibility for their own survival.
‘Haah. This is troublesome.’
The students here weren't saying much now, but everyone must be worried about their families.
If their families were safe, it was only natural to want to bring them here.
“Ssaem! The bulletin board is activated!”
“The bulletin board is activated?”
Fortunately, there were many bulletin boards in the school that were used for that purpose, so one of them had been activated.
The contents posted on the bulletin board.
It was really like a game bulletin board, with people posting posts.
But when I saw a post that seemed to help with the current situation.
“Jin-hwan. Click this.”
“This?”
Jin-hwan clicked it immediately.
Food Problem Solution Method
ID: Food and Drug Administration
Due to the food problem, robberies and murders are occurring. To prevent such things, I will share the information I have by using the 100 coins I have.
There are hidden shops where you can buy food with coins obtained by hunting monsters. There is a mark drawn on the floor like a green circle. If an awakened person steps on that place, it activates and a food shop appears.
You can get food there, so I hope no one dies or kills each other over food anymore.
“Ssaem. Is this really true?”
“Probably yes. Who would play with coins in this situation?”
“That's right?”
The other kids' faces showed relief at the news that food could be obtained.
The food from the convenience store.
With that, we could only last a few days.
‘If the food problem is solved, how do we open the shelter.’
I wanted to let people in without discrimination.
But it's hard to accept all people without criteria.
Even if there's a shop, from the posts on the bulletin board, it's something you can buy with coins.
Ultimately, to get food, you have to hunt monsters.
“Hyung. Can I ask one thing?”
“What?”
“I want to consult about the shelter...”
Since Hyung had been consulted a lot when there were difficult things at school, maybe there's a good idea.
The thought that we should accept awakened and non-awakened without distinction.
My words, Hyung seemed to ponder for a moment, then organized his thoughts and said.
“I also think we should accept awakened and non-awakened here. But I refuse to accept them blindly.”
Then Hyung suggested the following.
1. Among 4 people, only groups with one awakened person are accepted here.
2. At least 10 days of food must be secured, and the food of that group must be solved by the awakened person themselves.
3. The cost of coins for the shelter should be divided fairly.
These 3 conditions.
They seem okay.
The key is that food must be secured entirely by the awakened person.
For that, one awakened person is needed.
“It doesn't look bad.”
“That's right? If you have a better idea, tell me.”
Anyway, to fit these conditions, that food shop must be true.
We must be able to get food by killing monsters so that we can cooperate without conflict among people in the shelter.
***
Several more days passed.
Now the students naturally accepted this situation.
No more ordinary days.
We have to adapt to the newly changed environment.
‘This time, can I find it?’
For a while, I searched for the food shop and walked around the area, but no luck.
According to the post on the bulletin board afterward, there are at least a few in the area, so it must be nearby.
“Okay. Everyone, get ready.”
Today, we prepared to go out.
4 people and monsters like when going to the convenience store.
First, we started walking to a fairly distant neighborhood after leaving the school.
The smell of decaying corpses was spreading around, worse than yesterday, as if they were starting to rot.
As we walked the road, we encountered a group of goblins and a few bugbears.
Of course, now it's easy to handle that level.
“There are no monsters on the streets now.”
“Yeah. The last time I ate instant noodles at that house was just yesterday...”
Monsters occupying the streets where people used to walk around.
Moreover, shops with completely closed doors because of that.
Except for a few awakened people wandering around, most people locked their doors at home and never came out.
‘How about the food of ordinary people?’
Awakened can get food from the food shop, but ordinary people can't.
People without jobs, can't use the shop or bulletin board, have to stay inside the house avoiding monsters.
If all food in the house runs out, they have to come out somehow, but if there's no awakened person, survival seems difficult.
“Ssaem! There's a bugbear there.”
While turning a corner in the residential area, we encountered 2 bugbears. But those bugbears weren't targeting us.
Bang! Bang!
Bugbears smashing one of the doors in the residential area.
Inside, if there's a person, they smashed the door and entered beyond the entrance.
“You damn pig bastards! Get out!”
Bung! Bung!
Inside, a middle-aged man was swinging a golf club to keep the bugbears from approaching.
Behind him, family members trembling.
The man's body also seemed to tremble a bit.
To protect his family, he was scared but confronting the bugbears.
“Damn it all. They promised to cooperate when monsters come.”
The people in this residential area had promised to cooperate if monsters enter this side and deal with them together.
But was that promise only up to goblins.
Seeing the bugbears with their monstrous size, everyone hid inside the house and wouldn't come out no matter what happened to that family.
But there's no one to blame them.
Their life is the most important, right?
At that time, a giant goblin with a huge body entered the house and cut off the heads of the bugbears with a huge sword.
The man was even more shocked by that sight.
His whole body stiffened so much that he couldn't even swing a golf club at the big goblin.
The man thought he would die like this.
“Are you okay?”
He looked back at me who appeared behind the man, his eyes wide open.
The man who was pushed back by me returned to his family's embrace.
“Thank you. Thank you.”
“No. Have you seen anything like a green circle around here?”
“A green circle?”
The man shook his head, as if hearing it for the first time.
But at that time, the young child said in a trembling voice.
“I... I heard something.”
“Heard what? Don't be scared, tell me.”
“I heard the awakened people talking as they passed in front of my house yesterday.”
According to the child's words, some people found a green circle at the end of this alley, but said it was impossible to approach.
“Thank you.”
I stroked the child's head once and said before going to the place where I heard the story.
“Save one awakened person. I'll open the shelter soon.”
“Shelter?”
You can't just accept anyone into the shelter just because the family is worried.
Only if conditions are met will it be accepted into the shelter.
“Then let's go.”
We went deep into the alley as the child guided.
Then, the green circle in front of us was clearly visible.
And I understood why other awakened couldn't approach.
A group of red slimes filling the alley.
Red Slime - Lv8
It looked like a high level, but seeing that, I thought.
‘Is that strawberry flavor?’