73. Gathering Information First
Right now, this place is the one with the most people I’ve encountered in the apocalypse.
Those working at the Ecological Park are already at the level of the school where Haseong used to be, but what about the Grand Park side?
As an outsider, I was simply watching these people work hard.
They were tilling the fields and even building makeshift toilets with tents.
Still, instead of the dirt of a primitive era, they had removed the entire toilet and drilled a hole underneath it.
They’d given up on odor prevention and simply let it drop straight down instead of in an S-shape.
“Old-fashioned portable toilets. Just the toilet is new.”
That’s right. In this situation where sewers are hard to operate properly, portable toilets are the top priority.
Still, the rest is modern, so the disgust isn’t too bad.
These portable toilets exist all over the place.
With so many people, there are probably people of various professions. The old man who gave me alcohol was knowledgeable about farming and leading people.
The elders pass on knowledge, and the young ones do it with their bodies.
An ideal farming society.
Yeah, this is a good place. A place where people get along well, like before Haseong went on a rampage.
Ordinary people would get assimilated here.
But I’m not.
“I need to find out the apartment location.”
It’s not easy to be sure. Thanks to Yu Moon-il’s introduction, I could come here easily, but my goal is ultimately the women.
“How many people are there here? Over thirty from the Ecological Park side.”
“Over a hundred?”
First, Cha Yejin lives in the apartment. If I rush in, I’ll be in danger too.
No, first priority is to check where they live.
It said apartment, but which apartment and how are they guarding it?
Yu Moon-il said he didn’t know about the apartment.
Yeah, as an outsider who came from Grand Park to the Ecological Park side, that makes sense.
The rest I have to do myself.
Don’t rush.
Cha Yejin usually comes at lunch and dinner to distribute food.
“…”
While glaring at people around laughing and talking, our eyes met.
Cha Yejin was pointing at me and talking to the people.
Then she came towards me. She was dressed quite casually, and her skirt was fluttering in the wind, revealing the lines of her body well.
“Hello. Are you a new arrival?”
“Yes. I came from Yongmasan.”
“Yes. This is one of our colleagues… Are you all doing well?”
“…”
I shook my head with a sad face here.
Saying “we’re all dead” casually here would look like a psychopath.
I need to look normal.
“I see. That’s unfortunate.”
“Yes. So it’s a bit empty.”
“You must be sad. As I said, relax here. Still, since it’s the rear, there aren’t many dangerous elements.”
I nodded while pretending to be depressed.
She followed without any rebellion, but it was just a transaction. No big deal if one supplier goes down.
At this moment, in front of me, Cha Yejin made the sign of the cross and closed her eyes.
Was it Catholicism?
“Is there any worship here?”
I don’t know why I did that. Instinctively, because the other person was saying something like a psychologist comforting me.
Maybe there’s something holding me back.
At this time, a woman next to her shouted.
“It’s called Mass for Catholics. You have to be careful about this.”
“Oh? Sorry.”
“No. There are many people who don’t know, so it’s fine. They do it regularly every Sunday. Will you come?”
“Where do they hold it?”
First, approach strategically. First, reduce distance and get more info.
Before long, I confirmed the location of the church where Mass is held.
Today is Friday, so in about two days.
Then before that, I need to seriously start information gathering.
Stories about Yonseong and Seocho-gu, and Gangdong-gu where Si Hyun-ah was. These three places are the current targets.
Si Hyun-ah will definitely die later, but if it’s to confirm my curiosity about women, yes.
I asked Yu Moon-il for an information broker first.
“Who is the fastest person to get news here?”
“Here? There should be a communications soldier. Since it’s at the comms post, it should be fast.”
The place where I talked on the radio is a separate management place.
I have to listen there. If I decide, do it quickly.
Received the location of the comms post and ran there.
Even there, people in military uniforms were always on standby near the walkie-talkies.
“Who are you?”
“I came from Yongmasan side.”
“Casual speech?”
Using casual speech on first meeting makes people unhappy.
But there’s a simple solution at times like this.
“Don’t mind the small things. I’m someone passing through here and need to check around Yonseong and Seocho-gu. I want to get some info.”
“…Why us?”
Did he get angry? Trying not to answer easily.
“Ah, this is tough. Being picky. I’m a traveler by myself, so there are many things.”
It’s good to give some gift here.
And one of the important things is water wipes.
“How about this? Don’t you need this?”
I could see the guard man’s eyes fill with greed.
“How do you…?”
“Hygiene is important. Let’s exchange this for info.”
If it’s a transaction with one faction, but since I’ve already come in like this, getting info from individuals doesn’t require much expenditure.
This deal can be a big gain for me. I’ve spent a lot of food to extract necessary info from suspicious people so far.
If getting from individuals, consumption is easy.
Especially if it’s a strong-smelling water wipe!
“What about the Yonseon side? Did the military force flee to Seocho-gu?”
“Yes. They blocked the bridge and went into indefinite defense, and the situation is the best.”
The man was diligently wiping his dirty face.
No, no matter how you use it, it’s good. But I don’t need to take off my clothes in front of me.
It’s fortunate I didn’t take off even my panties?
“Is the military supply being done? Gwangjin-gu, the bridge is blocked, but beyond that?”
“Radio contact is possible, but it seems difficult on that side too. They say they’re busy protecting when asked for help.”
The military that went from Yonseon to Seocho-gu doesn’t seem to have any plans to advance further.
“I heard there’s a facility for protecting refugees in Seocho-gu? Air raid shelter?”
“Ah, yes. In the early days when contact was good, I heard they were growing crops like potatoes or something, not as much as agriculture. The military also mobilized and it’s much faster.”
This man gave me an interesting fact here.
“There was internal strife in Seocho-gu too.”
“In Seocho-gu?”
“We’re a mess too, but Seocho-gu is a bit different in temperament. It says the Ttukseom side kept sacrificing and holding out, and this side understands.”
Ttukseom kept sacrificing? This is really good info.
“Ttukseom kept sacrificing? You all fight together?”
“The Yonseon side has been strong, and they blocked it proactively. It’s like a border area like ancient nomads, a tough place.”
“I see. But why Seocho-gu? Did they fight over food?”
At this time, the informant seemed reluctant to speak.
“This is hard to say… If I talk about internal military affairs…”
“Ah, I see?”
I took out a secret weapon from my bag.
“This is… cola? Is this cola now?”
Canned cola. The one given as a bribe when ordering delivery food, but it’s different here.
“Cola? You’re giving this?”
“In exchange… you know?”
I experienced the person’s psychology changing dramatically right in front of my eyes.
After a cough, info came in.
“One commander went crazy over a woman. A love war broke out.”
“…Is that the cause of the civil war? Commanders fighting civil war over women in the zombie situation?”
I’m not either. I already decided to live as a villain, but what about these soldiers?
“So it’s pathetic, right? Tell this to someone. Our commanders were so dumbfounded they asked back.”
“So Seocho-gu is in the middle of a civil war.”
“But why are you going there? Do you know anyone?”
Plenty. A woman named Hyojin who needs to be thoroughly broken with humiliation and shame.
“Yeah, but it’s not easy to go.”
“But crossing the barricade would be hard? I heard they installed landmines.”
“Landmines?”
This is also good info for me. Without a landmine detector, I’d have been blown up if I went wrong.
“Yeah, maybe going through the lower part is better. But it’s hard because the zombie area isn’t cleaned up? And I don’t know this, but…”
“Don’t know?”
“They say crazy zombies on drugs are roaming around Gangdong-gu side.”
Instantly, my head went blank.
“Zombies are zombies, but what are crazy zombies on drugs?”
“So it’s weird. We just passed it, but they told us that. Different from normal zombies.”
I have to be careful about zombies.
“Yonseon?”
“Apocalypse. I can’t tell you anything else. They shot so much, and it felt like the entire Yonseon-gu citizenry had changed. No, rather it increased more. I’m dying of weirdness.”
So Yonseon ultimately lost to the suicide zombie tactic.
Anyway, no more necessary info came out, and I moved to the base again.
How can I safely explore that woman and come out safely?
Honestly, it would be easy right now if I just went. The after is the problem. Entering boldly, this side has a high chance of dying too.
It’s a completely different case from when I explored with Soyeon and Seol-hwa. Those two had no one protecting them and few surrounding personnel.
So it was easy, but this is different.
Touching a saintly woman who is praised around?
Not easy. If I carelessly handle a respected woman, it could turn the entire Grand Park force into enemies.
How to easily claim a woman protected by many.
“Should I just attach to the Konkuk University side?”
I protect humanity but not all humanity.
Again, I’m not a good person. Whatever I want and desire must be fulfilled.
So no matter if the innocent Grand Park side suffers or not, it’s not my business.
I just need to lead it favorably.
To do that, I need to move busily. Isn’t there still time until Sunday?
“But going to Konkuk University blindly is too dangerous.”
I don’t know how the other side will come out. In the worst case, if they suddenly pull out a gun and attack when I’m negotiating, I can’t do anything alone.
Is there no way to use my position as a third force?
And that should be the condition for me to own Cha Yejin.
Start with small steps.
First thing I can do is one thing: Trust in me. To get close to Cha Yejin, I will deliberately cause danger here.
The first step was set like that.