Hunter in the Bush (2)
The most interesting things in the world usually happen at dawn. That’s why I can’t go to sleep early. I have to check if anything is happening. That’s the only way not to fall behind. Hmm. That was a decent excuse. In reality, my sleep pattern is just completely shattered. But even if it’s not an excuse or a justification, dawn is actually important. Places like the U.S. or Europe are in the middle of their day then. Dawn in Korea is the time when the U.S. day begins. In Europe, it’s roughly the time when the daily routine ends. So, it’s only natural that there’s a high volume of information at dawn.
If I go to sleep around 6:00 AM and wake up, it’s usually around noon. Even if I want to sleep more, it’s hard to do so. My eyes open naturally. Once I wake up, it’s hard to fall back asleep, too. Anyway, when I wake up like that, the first thing I do is check my phone. To make sure the communication hasn't died while I was sleeping. It hasn't reached that point yet, but you never know. Communication is important. If that disappears, I won't be able to receive any information coming from the world from that moment on.
Still, I’ve taken out insurance. I couldn't just do nothing. A low Earth orbit satellite communication service. That will truly allow me to use the internet until the very last moment. And the moment that stops will be the confirmation that humanity has reached a truly dire situation.
Anyway, my days are monotonous. Watching in real-time just how much the world is collapsing. Self-generated electricity, groundwater with no fear of being cut off, stockpiled food. Thanks to that, I have no reason to go outside. It means there’s no reason to expose my body to that chaotic outside and get swept up in it. The world has already reached a state of being out of control. There is no interaction between people. Since you never know when or where someone might suddenly go crazy, you can’t carelessly mingle with total strangers.
The government has been responding, but it hasn't been very effective. Actually, that’s to be expected. Declaring a national disaster-level response doesn't make the spores go, "Oh, I'm so scared!" and die off. For now, all the government can do is strict control. Making sure people don't come out and suppressing problems as soon as they arise. But there’s no way that’s easy. Humans aren't made of steel. We are creatures with physical limits and mental wear and tear. Besides, people on the government side are also getting infected and attacking those around them, so nothing is going to run properly.
Still, seeing that the infrastructure is being maintained, it seems the government isn't just sitting around. They are probably pouring all their efforts into guarding it like the final bastion. Power plants, power grids, communication networks, water and sewage systems, the military, medical institutions, supply depots. Places like these. If those collapse, you can consider it completely over. The sturdy fortress of society that humans built will crumble, and everyone will be exposed to danger with nothing but their bare bodies.
Whether that happens or not, I wait leisurely. All I have to do is wait. For it to collapse further. For the final breath to be cut off. And then, one day after a long time, the internet finally cut out. When I immediately switched to satellite communication to check, there was no response from any domestic sites. Foreign sites were still accessible. In other words, only the domestic communication network had died. It seems the main data center has gone down. The power is still alive, but only the communication network is dead? There are a few things I can guess from this situation. Either the power going to the communication network died. Or a place like a data center went down. Or, if not that, the government blocked the communication network.
I can't say which one is the answer. Anyway, the fact that the domestic communication network is dead is what’s important. Is the situation in our country uniquely serious? I don't think so. But a few days later, even the power was cut off. And as the water pressure gradually weakened, after about a day, the water supply was also completely cut off. With this, I could be certain. That even the final bastion had collapsed. That the government can no longer do anything.
Maintaining something with difficulty and it being completely cut off are entirely different stories. It’s difficult to revive something that has died. Especially things like that infrastructure. So, only now can I definitively conclude. The world has definitely collapsed. Now, the time has come for the survivors to survive at their own discretion.
Of course, there are still many survivors. The government probably hasn't completely dissolved either. But how many will there be? In this chaotic situation, what can they do with people who are like ticking time bombs that could go off at any moment?
I contacted the Doctor. Fortunately, P is still fine. It’s natural, since they were people who knew this would happen from the beginning and prepared for it. I relayed the situation in Korea to the Doctor. A bitter voice. The sadness that what was bound to happen has finally come. At the same time, I heard about the situation in the U.S. And I was told that the situation there is similar. That it wouldn't be strange if everything became paralyzed at any moment. It’s probably because it’s the U.S. that it’s still being maintained. Anyway, there would be more options there than here.
After hanging up the phone, I found myself smiling. Why am I happy? Why am I so happy? But I know the answer. I’m just deceiving myself. Because of the social etiquette and character education I’ve received until now. But now that all the infrastructure has collapsed, there’s no need to wear that mask anymore. So I was happy. I was honestly happy. Now, everyone has fallen into the abyss. I was just staying still, but others plunged in on their own. That felt good. A sense of superiority gained without any special effort. There’s nothing better than this. It’s no different from why people like big lottery wins. Maximum effect gained with minimum effort. There’s nothing like this. Where else could there be a bigger win than this?
Anyway, that’s enough. Now I can slowly leave the bushes and act. People don't have the luxury of caring about others. They’ve become busy taking care of themselves. So, they will become indifferent no matter what happens around them. That’s the situation I want.
I take out what I’ve prepared. The first thing I took out was a drone. A drone equipped with a thermal imaging camera. A fairly expensive product. With this, I can fly it as much as I want even at night to scout the surroundings. Until now, I handled it carefully only in the vicinity for fear of being noticed, but now it doesn't matter.
I wait for night to fall and fly the drone. The destination is, as expected, that village I had been observing with binoculars. My own scale to know how much the world has collapsed. When I saw that place four days ago, there were still quite a few people. Then, what about now? Are there still people?
The appearance of the village is visible through the thermal imaging camera. A different landscape. A sight I’m seeing for the first time. A human heat source is detected. That flickering light looks like a bonfire. Uh... Is that a furnace? That’s right. Since it’s the countryside, there would be furnaces. That’s a dog. That place looks like a chicken coop. That side is a livestock barn. There are a lot of cows.
Then, there was a house where an unusually large number of heat sources were detected. When I switched the screen to see what it was, the lights were on in that house. It means electricity is coming in. Ah. Solar panels. Right. Then it’s possible. Besides that, a few more houses had lights on like that. And quite a few people are gathered in those houses. Probably, since electricity is coming in, they gathered there. But the number isn't that large. Even if I look around the whole village, the number of people I discovered doesn't reach twenty. Of course, since I wouldn't be able to detect them if they were inside the house, there would be more than that.
But are there no infected? Everyone is unexpectedly calm. Moreover, I don't see any injured people in particular. Is it because most of them are elderly? Or, are the injured lying inside the house? It would be good to look around during the day, but that’s a bit much. It’s too noticeable. That won't do.
I observed it with the drone every night for a few days like that. In the meantime, foreign sites also died one by one. The largest communities in the West, SNS, and even small things were all in a situation where I couldn't access them one by one. Then, eventually, not a single place left to access remained. At least most of the addresses I knew were inaccessible. Well, it’s meaningless even if there is an internet. What use is satellite communication? There’s no place to access.
Therefore, now all I can do at night is watch the world with a drone. A monotonous routine of sleeping and checking during the day, and observing with a drone at night. While doing so, I look for prey. There’s no better time to hunt than now, when it’s appropriately ruined. Besides, the earlier this is, the better. That’s the only way to suck a little more honey.
Then, I discovered the perfect prey. It’s a restaurant a little distance from my house. A restaurant that is a bit separated from the surroundings. A place where I think, "Who would even go there if you built it in a place like that?" There was one person there. Of course, the only thing that can be called a person is that existence. Since it has already let go of many things and become subhuman. It’s definitely an infected man. And it seems it’s been a while since he became like that. Dirty clothes stained with blood. The appearance of one arm dangling as if it were broken. But he doesn't seem to feel pain or anything. Even though his arm is dangling, the man doesn't care and just wanders around. There didn't seem to be any separate purpose. The man spent a lot of time blankly. Is it because there’s no place to vent his anger? That’s unknown. Anyway, the man spent most of his time standing blankly.
And the shocking thing is... The man was chewing on a corpse. I doubted my eyes when I first saw that scene. Eating a corpse? Really? Actually, if you think about it, it’s not strange. If there’s nothing to eat, you could eat a corpse. But wasn't he rational enough to handle firearms? And yet he eats a corpse? I couldn't gauge the level of the infected person's state. It seems intelligence remains. Has the rational part completely disappeared? Does he move according to instinct? Then that makes sense. If that man were smart, he wouldn't be blankly standing there. He would have moved to another place to vent his anger.
Anyway, my first prey was decided like that. Catching that man. And checking various things. To do that, I think I need to prepare firmly. Because I can't die by being attacked by the prey on my first hunt.