A Fleeting Light in Crisis [True Alpha Male]
"Huh? Ye-eun? Is that you, Ye-eun???"
He shot upright.
Geum Tae-yang had answered the phone in good spirits — only for the voice that reached his ear to be Ye-eun's, one of the children from Jo Yu-mi's orphanage, bursting into tears. His eyes went wide, and he rose from the bed.
"Waaahhh...! Mister... Unnie... Yu-mi unnie... Waaaaah...!"
Ye-eun kept sobbing, calling out Jo Yu-mi's name. This was clearly no ordinary situation.
For about a week, Geum Tae-yang had been diligently gaslighting Ye-eun into calling him Oppa. And sweet Ye-eun had faithfully gone along with it. But the situation was so urgent that Ye-eun had fallen back on the title that truly lived in her heart.
"Calm down, Ye-eun! Mister's right here. So don't worry about anything else and just tell me. What happened to Yu-mi unnie? Can you slowly tell Mister what happened at the camp?"
Even so, Geum Tae-yang had no room to feel hurt about the title.
Ye-eun seems really shaken up... Did something serious actually happen to Yu-mi?
From what I know, Ye-eun's the type who doesn't show it even when she's shocked.
This doesn't feel like her making a fuss over nothing.
He'd spent enough time with Ye-eun over that week of gaslighting to know her well. The reason being, after hearing more details about the situation there from Jo Yu-mi, he'd learned Ye-eun was the child under the most stress among those at Jo Yu-mi's camp. Despite her young age, the highly responsible Ye-eun had quietly helped her unnie Jo Yu-mi. In the process, she'd witnessed cruel scenes of the apocalypse that no child her age should ever see.
Geum Tae-yang had recognized that through their conversations, and had paid special attention to her. Having empathized with Ye-eun that thoroughly, her current state didn't sound like mere fussing at all.
"Yu-mi unnie got hurt... And she has a really high fever... Hnnngh... The fever's so bad... Waaaaah...!"
"So Yu-mi unnie is just lying there... She's always so energetic... Hnnngh..."
That was the story Ye-eun delivered to Geum Tae-yang in the middle of the night in that urgent, broken voice — Jo Yu-mi had been hurt.
"Yu-mi got hurt?"
The expression on Geum Tae-yang's face turned to one of shock. His eyes went wide, but he instinctively kept his voice steady so Ye-eun on the other end of the line wouldn't be startled further.
"Hey, Ye-eun. Could you put one of the other unnies or oppas on the phone? Mister wants to hear the details of the situation from them."
Then he immediately moved on to the next step of properly assessing the situation. In the apocalypse, after all, it wouldn't be strange for a life to be snuffed out at any moment. So Geum Tae-yang was preparing himself for every possibility and responding with calm.
"Uuuuh, so... who I can put on the phone is..."
"No rush. Take your time thinking, Ye-eun."
The camp seemed quite busy. Which was why Ye-eun was struggling to figure out who to hand the phone to. Geum Tae-yang soothed her gently.
"Oh my, is our Ye-eun on the phone with Tae-yang oppa?"
At that moment, another voice drifted in from behind Ye-eun.
Huh? That's Yu-mi's voice...
It was a voice that seemed to be approaching as it spoke, slightly hoarse with fatigue. But even so, Geum Tae-yang recognized it as Jo Yu-mi's voice immediately.
"Unnie, you're sick — why did you get up instead of just lying down... Hnnngh..."
"Unnie's fine. I'm just a little tired. So Ye-eun, can you hand that phone over to unnie?"
"H-here, unnie..."
Ye-eun responded to Jo Yu-mi in a voice full of worry. Jo Yu-mi soothed her and took the phone from her hand.
"It's me, Tae-yang."
Jo Yu-mi announced herself to Geum Tae-yang, doing her best to clear her hoarse voice.
"Are you okay, Jo Yu-mi??? I heard you got hurt!"
A flood of questions exploded in Geum Tae-yang's mind. His expression was urgent, but his voice stayed low — just in case Ye-eun was still by Jo Yu-mi's side.
"I hurt my arm a bit. Not that bad — just got cut by something sharp. There was some bleeding, so I stopped it and was catching some sleep. I'm fine now."
"Ye-eun went over to the other kids, so you can speak up."
Jo Yu-mi answered him in a voice laced with a slight sigh. Judging by the quality of that sigh, it seemed to have come from the effort of sitting up against a wall.
"Bleeding? Was it bad enough to need a transfusion or anything? Can your Sturdy Body trait handle the recovery fine???"
Thud.
Geum Tae-yang sat back down on the bed and began assessing the situation. Being serious about understanding Awakened abilities, he had also worked hard to properly grasp the various traits he possessed. But there was one trait that had been hard for him to fully understand — Sturdy Body.
Of course, the basic description said it was a body that didn't get injured easily, and one that recovered quickly. But since Geum Tae-yang himself had never been injured, he'd had trouble developing a deeper feel for it. So he'd gotten a lot of related information from Jo Yu-mi, who, given the nature of her combat style, had found herself injured on more than a few occasions. What had surprised him most was that she almost never needed a blood transfusion.
"My forearm got raked by a knife. Before Awakening, I'd have bled out and died, but now that I'm up to Rank D, it's not at a dangerous level."
Even at a glance, Jo Yu-mi's injury didn't sound ordinary. But she had been through so much rough treatment since becoming an Awakened that she spoke of it as if it were nothing.
"A knife? So it wasn't zombies — some outside force attacked??? Outlaws came after you???"
"Still, knowing there are Awakened there, I can't see ordinary camp people being the ones who attacked."
Geum Tae-yang immediately zeroed in on the keyword knife.
"Yeah... pretty much. As you know, Tae-yang, the outlaw types in the city are all rallying together. Looks like some of the smaller groups that got established early came in looking to expand their territory."
Scratch...! Scratch...! Scratch...!
Jo Yu-mi said, scratching her head as if at a loss.
"Did you take them all out? Are they maybe part of some other alliance? Do you know exactly where those bastards are holed up?"
"I'll come over first thing tomorrow."
When Ye-eun had said Jo Yu-mi was hurt, Geum Tae-yang had already somewhat expected an external attack. Someone of Jo Yu-mi's caliber, if she ran into zombie trouble, would either become a zombie herself or walk away completely uninjured — one or the other. Even for Geum Tae-yang, the only real injury threats had come when clashing with people. And if it involved people, that meant there was a high chance of follow-up situations as well. So Geum Tae-yang, faster than expected, immediately said he'd head to Jo Yu-mi's camp.
"Tch... I didn't say anything because I knew you'd do this... I guess Ye-eun really does feel comfortable with you... She acted like nothing was wrong with me, but she cried when she told you..."
The reason Jo Yu-mi had looked so put-upon earlier became clear. She'd known that if he heard the bare facts, Geum Tae-yang would try to cross the city right away.
"We've already looked into everything you're worried about, Tae-yang. Like I said earlier, it was a small group that came at us trying to grow their power. There weren't any other guys connected to them."
"We even went through all the nearby working CCTV cameras and finished checking whether any of them escaped."
And so Jo Yu-mi filled him in on the thorough cleanup — enough to show how she'd managed to lead a survival camp this far.
"Hmm... That's a relief... But wouldn't it still be better if I came by?"
Even so, Geum Tae-yang — who felt he had to do something when a comrade he cared about had been through something — voiced his regret.
"You know. There are kids here. I think it's better to come and go once we've got a more solid foundation in place, like we originally planned."
"Otherwise, things get hard to control."
Jo Yu-mi reasoned with him logically, yet soothed him as she did.
"Yeah, that's true..."
Geum Tae-yang was leading a community of only three people, after all, so he understood the hardships of Jo Yu-mi, leader of a much larger one. In the apocalypse, the most sensitive issue was contact with new factions. Children, especially, were emotionally sensitive and easily affected.
"Still, I'm really grateful, Tae-yang. For being a pillar Ye-eun can lean on. I mean that. It's something even I couldn't give her."
In the face of Geum Tae-yang's regret and concern, Jo Yu-mi reminded him that his help was already reaching deep into her camp.
"Yeah! Thanks for saying that, Yu-mi. Get some rest, then. Call me right away if anything comes up."
Jo Yu-mi's hoarse voice, full of concern for him, snapped Geum Tae-yang back to his senses. So he answered right away with a reliable front.
"Kieeeeeeeeeeeeh!!!!"
"Kwoooooooooooargh!!!"
Thudthudthudthudthudthudthud!!!
A long-legged zombie that looked about 190 cm tall, and a muscle-bound bulk of a zombie that looked close to 120 kg, charged at someone with ferocious force.
With bulk and mass like that, shouldn't they give about double the points?
That someone was none other than the harem stud Geum Tae-yang. He gripped a projected iron pipe in his right hand as he watched the two giant zombies charging at him with a nonchalant expression.
Whoooooosh!!!!
The moment they entered striking range, Geum Tae-yang's projected iron pipe swung out —
CRAAAAACK!!!
"Kwoooooooargh!!!"
— and first connected with the skull of the long-legged zombie, whose long strides had brought it in first.
Geum Tae-yang had thoroughly adapted to his Rank C physical abilities and special skills. So after several days, he'd come outside. He'd begun to feel the need for preliminary work toward advancing into downtown Hanseong Metropolitan City. So he was out securing advance routes here and there — but he wasn't using the Mana Shot he'd practiced so hard, instead beating zombies to death in pure melee. Just in case Do Min-chul's crew, or some other faction keeping an eye on him, caught wind of his killer finishing move in advance.
Psssssssssh!!!
"Kwoooooooooooargh!!!!"
Geum Tae-yang's projected iron pipe strike landed true, and the first long-legged zombie's head exploded. Dark crimson blood sprayed out from the creature.
I'm definitely visiting Yu-mi's camp within this week! Just wait!!
Flash!!
Geum Tae-yang's eyes flashed as he looked at that spray of blood. Eyes full of firm resolve — he was embarking on a full-scale project to cross the city.