Chapter 19: In the Face of Danger

It wasn’t a heavy, professional-looking bow like the one I held now, but still, I scored pretty well for someone who’d never learned.

Of course, it wasn’t just me; all the coworkers who went with me scored well too.

Still, I shot well enough to hear that Koreans are all good at archery.

It was quite helpful for relieving stress, so I went to the archery cafe regularly with my team members about twice a month.

Kang Do-hee, whose expression had stiffened for a moment upon hearing my answer, calmly nodded, deciding there was no time to argue.

“Don’t try to hit the vitals from the start; aim to hit the torso. I’ll take care of the rest.”

“…Yes.”

Kang Do-hee, who had given me the grim advice, opened the door and went outside.

I immediately followed, approaching the spot where the old man and Gamja had looked down on us yesterday.

Three men were visible in the yard. Even after looking again, they were all just like us, not monsters. The visual confirmation made my stomach churn.

Even though I had already checked the map and seen them holding weapons through the gap in the window, was I still clinging to a sliver of hope that they would be monsters?

I hadn’t even done anything yet, but my hands were already shaking, and it felt like the strength was draining from my body.

Just then, Kang Do-hee whistled softly, whee-eek.

“Eek!”

“W-what! What is it? Where is it?!”

“H-hey, on the roof…!”

The men, who had been looking around, simultaneously raised their heads.

I flinched pathetically when our eyes met, but Kang Do-hee, who stood firmly by my side, didn’t forget my request and listened to me.

“I’m asking just in case. Did you come here with good intentions? Do you need help?”

And she fulfilled my unrealistic, optimistic, and hopeless request more faithfully than I had expected.

The three men’s mouths dropped open simultaneously at Kang Do-hee’s question.

I thought they were surprised by the question, but I realized that wasn’t the case when I heard what came out of their mouths.

“What? There’s a guy too?”

“Hey, I thought it was just an old woman and a young woman?”

“No, I’m telling you, there was only an old hag and a young woman!”

“Then what’s that bastard next to her?”

Ah… my stomach is churning even more violently than before.

Just hearing that conversation, there seemed to be no need to confirm anything further. That fact made my stomach even more upset.

Kang Do-hee, who had made the same judgment as me without a word, raised the bow she had been holding down, nocked an arrow, and drew back the string.

Whoosh!

“Gack! Gack-huck!!”

The arrow, which flew in the blink of an eye, pierced the neck of the man who had been looking up at us. Before the other two men could even grasp the situation, Kang Do-hee fired another arrow.

The arrow pierced the second man’s cheek.

“Ugh, ugh-aaaaaack!”

A piercing scream echoed.

Oh no, at this rate, we’ll summon all the monsters in the neighborhood!

I grabbed my bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed. The third man was already running away with his back turned.

With trembling hands, I aimed at the receding man and squeezed my eyes shut.

“Hoo…”

There’s no time to hesitate for long. As soon as I took a deep breath, I opened my eyes and, estimating the direction indicated by the taut bowstring, released my hand.

Whoosh!

The arrow, which flew with a faint sound of cutting through the air, pierced the fleeing man’s thigh.

“Aaaack!”

The man, who also screamed, fell down, then staggered to his feet and began to limp away.

I was about to pick up my bow again, but Kang Do-hee, who had finished off the other two men while I had only managed to shoot one arrow, grabbed my wrist and shook her head.

“Ha-je. On second thought, I think we should keep one alive. I need to ask him some questions.”

“Ah, ah, ugh…”

I couldn’t even give a simple “yes” and just nodded.

Not only were my hands shaking, but even my jaw was trembling, and I couldn’t speak properly. It felt like my whole body was shuddering.

I wanted to collapse right there, but I caught sight of the man who was getting farther and farther away.

Kang Do-hee said something and started to go down from the roof. It seemed like she told me to leave it to her from now on, but I don’t know if I heard correctly.

Thump-thump, thump-thump.

I saw the two men sprawled out below the roof. One had been shot in the neck and head, and the other was lying on the ground with arrows in his cheek and one eye.

As I took in the sight of the two men and covered my mouth, I heard clanging sounds from below: clank, clank, clunk.

Then, the door opened, and I saw Kang Do-hee come out, pull all the arrows out of the men’s bodies, and run straight toward the fleeing man.

“Ugh…”

I felt like I was going to throw up.

My body was still pathetically trembling, and my heart was beating wildly. My stomach was churning so much that I felt like I was going to throw up everything I had eaten.

“Woop.”

I covered my mouth, suppressed my gagging, and staggered down the stairs. When I got down to the first floor, I saw Gamja and Kang Do-jin standing guard in front of the open front door.

“Hyung!”

“Y-you two, go, go inside the room. Don’t either of you come out until Hyung comes back! Got it!”

Considering I couldn’t even answer Kang Do-hee properly because I was trembling so much, I seemed to have spoken well this time. At least I didn’t want to show the kids this scene.

I confirmed that the two children had gone into the room and immediately ran out of the house.

Up ahead, not too far away, I saw Kang Do-hee kneeling on the ground in the bushes. With each step I took, I felt like my head was turning completely white.

My stomach was still churning, and I was out of breath even though I hadn’t run much. It wasn’t because my heart was strained.

It was just that this whole situation was too much for me, and I was having trouble controlling my breathing.

As I got closer, I saw the man who had been hidden by the bushes.

Kang Do-hee, who was straddling the fallen man, was holding his arms behind his back with one hand and pressing down on his head with the other.

The man was trembling and begging with a face covered in tears and snot.

“Hic, h-hic, f-five people, five more, th-there, hic, s-save me. Save me. I-I’ll tell you everything.”

“What’s the composition of those five people?”

“Hic, ugh, four are about my age, hic, men, and one is the boss, aaaack! It hurts, save me!”

“Do those guys know the location of this place?”

“Hic, I-I don’t think so, we, we didn’t tell them, we only snuck out tonight, hic, hic, huck! I-I can’t breathe…!”

Kang Do-hee’s hand, which had been pressing down on his head, seemed to have increased its force, and the man coughed and tried to twist his head to the side.

“You really don’t know?”

“R-really, yes, really.”

“Why did you keep coming here a secret from them?”

The man couldn’t answer the repeated question and closed his mouth tightly. Then, he started to tremble even more violently.

Kang Do-hee, who had been pressing down hard on his head, slightly loosened her grip and leaned down to whisper in the man’s ear in a calm voice.

“I asked why you kept it a secret.”

“Hic… hic… the, the boss… tries to take everything for himself… and doesn’t share with us… hic!”

“…….”

“Hic, please save me, we’re just that guy’s slaves, please save me.”

Ah, it’s so disgusting that it’s not even worth listening to.

Even in a world where monsters are roaming around, they banded together with the sole intention of plundering others and even came with weapons, yet seeing their mouths running wild made me want to vomit.

Kang Do-hee continued to ask questions in a voice that still showed no emotion, repeating the same questions over and over.

How many people there were, what the composition was, where their base was, what weapons they had. The man answered Kang Do-hee’s repeated questions faithfully, like a parrot.

As a result, we were able to obtain information that they had stockpiled food, two rifles and some ammunition, and that five sturdy men were at another gas station quite far from here.

And that they had each ridden a working bicycle to get here and parked them in the bushes across the street.

“Are there any cars at the gas station?”

“Yes, yes. Th-there is. There is. A van, there’s a van.”

“…Can you guide me there?”

“Yes, yes! Of course!”

“Good. Then lead the way. If you guide me there safely, I’ll let you live. When you get to the gas station, run away far away on your own. But be prepared to end up like those two if you come back here.”

“O-of course! I will! The, the bicycle, first the bicycle, hic! My leg! Hic!!”

Kang Do-hee, who had covered the man’s mouth in preparation for him screaming, pulled the arrow out of his thigh with a shwoop.

The man thrashed like a seal and then burst into silent sobs of pain.

Even seeing that pitiful sight, I didn’t feel any sympathy at all. I just felt disgusted.

Kang Do-hee gave the man time to recover. He must have thought his life was at stake, because he limped and led us to where he had hidden the bicycles.

“Hic, hic…”

The man, who had been sobbing, struggled to get on his bicycle and started pedaling.

I was about to get on my bicycle and follow, but Kang Do-hee, who had figured out the direction the man had taken, raised her bow and fired an arrow.

Whoosh!!

Thwack!

With a heavy sound, the man’s neck was pierced.

I was so surprised that I gasped and froze in shock, but I tried to calm down and turned to look at Kang Do-hee.

“Ha-je. Take all the bicycles and put them in the yard. I’ll take care of this.”

“……..”

Again, like an idiot, I couldn’t answer properly and just barely nodded.

As I grabbed the handlebars of two bicycles in both hands and dragged them away, I glanced back and saw Kang Do-hee, who had pulled the arrow out of the neck of the man who was lying on the ground and coughing, grab his head and twist it with a crack.

“….!!”

Seriously… what kind of person was that noona…?

I’m curious, very curious, but I feel like I shouldn’t hear it, and it would be better not to listen because I’d be scared if I did.

With trembling legs, I dragged the bicycles to the yard and laid them down, then went to get the other one, and I saw Gamja walking out with the two men who had been lying in the yard tucked under his arms.

Gamja strode past me and put the two men down in the bushes near the house. As I got closer, I saw a handcart hidden in the bushes.

Gamja grabbed the handle of the handcart as if he were used to it and trudged toward where Kang Do-hee was.

Gamja, who had approached, picked up the man who had fallen on the road and threw him onto the cart without Kang Do-hee telling him to.

I covered my mouth as I saw the three men, piled up and crumpled like inanimate objects on the cart.

Perhaps the facial muscles had begun to stiffen in the last expression they had made, all three of them were staring wide-eyed, showing their terrified faces.

“Hic… woop.”

Gamja, who had been watching me barely suppress my gagging, turned the cart so that I couldn’t see the corpses and started pulling it across the street.

I covered my mouth to hold back the rising nausea and checked to see if the black dots that had heard the men’s screams had approached nearby, but fortunately, they were all distributed far away, just like before.

“He’s probably going to leave them there because the smell will attract things.”

“H-hic…”

I didn’t know how to react, so I nodded for now. My body was trembling pathetically, so it probably looked more like I was shuddering than nodding.

I felt Kang Do-hee’s gaze linger on me, but I couldn’t dare to meet her eyes.

It wasn’t because I was afraid of Kang Do-hee. It was just that, unlike her, who had calmly taken care of everything, I was trembling so much from only hitting one leg, and I felt so pathetic.

Then, Kang Do-hee, who had come right up to me, pressed her finger on my forehead and lifted it up, making me raise my lowered head.

And then she said in a low voice.