chapter_0515

515 – I Feel Like I Forgot Something

515 – I Feel Like I Forgot Something

I hope nothing serious has happened.

It was while Hanyeoreum was focused on her tablet.

Someone knocked loudly on the front door.

“Ah…”

She couldn’t leave her spot right now.

As Hanyeoreum hesitated, Saebyeok, who played the role of the eldest sister among the kids, moved towards the front door.

Our Saebyeok is really dependable.

While silently thanking her, Hanyeoreum looked at her tablet, and the person she expected appeared.

“Did something happen again?”

“Yes…”

Hanyeoreum answered without even looking to see who had come.

It was natural for Kang Jinho and the guild members to come when there were problems with the kids.

“Is it serious?”

“No… The kids are trapped in a dungeon, but the difficulty of the dungeon itself doesn’t seem that high.”

“But why is it a problem?”

“…It would be faster to see this.”

Hanyeoreum handed the tablet to Kang Jinho.

On the screen, Gyeoul and Gaeul were having a serious conversation.

“Gaeul, we don’t know what’s below, so let’s make this a safe zone for now.”

“Okay!”

“Move as quietly as possible, block the entrance with something heavy, and gather food, got it?”

“Got it!”

In what appeared to be the top floor of a building, Gyeoul and Gaeul were moving around to block the entrance and searching the room for food.

Most of it was high-calorie but nutritionally empty snacks and candies.

‘It would have been nice if there was a break room.’

Would there be more if they went down?

Looking at the meager food supply, Gyeoul said to Gaeul.

“Gaeul, we might have to eat just a little bit from now on.”

“A little?!”

“Yeah. We don’t know how long we’ll be here, so let’s conserve as much as we can.”

Gaeul nodded at Gyeoul’s suggestion.

Even though they had to eat only a little, Gaeul seemed to be happy.

“Gaeul is great!”

“Is Gaeul good at saving food?”

“Okay!”

Seeing Gaeul’s smiling face made Gyeoul’s tail wag.

For Gaeul, Gyeoul could give up her own food.

“Gaeul can eat more than me. I’m good at starving. Did you know I once went three days without eating?”

“No way!”

“…Really?”

“Okay. Gaeul is great, and I’m great.”

Gaeul pointed at Gyeoul and spread her five fingers.

Then she pointed at herself and spread her ten fingers.

“I’m five, and Gaeul is ten?”

“Wow…!”

What could five and ten possibly mean?

Gyeoul pondered for a moment and realized the meaning through their previous conversation.

“I starved for five days, and Gaeul starved for ten days?”

“Okay. Gaeul is great.”

Gaeul pushed some food towards Gyeoul.

Gyeoul understood what that meant.

It meant that since she was better at starving, Gaeul should eat more.

Our Gaeul is really considerate.

Gyeoul silently hugged Gaeul tightly.

Then, playfully, she said to Gaeul.

“Gaeul, if you starve for ten days, you’ll be in trouble!”

“Okay! Gaeul will be in trouble.”

“…Did Gaeul really get in trouble?”

“Wow…!”

Gaeul nodded with a bright smile.

Gyeoul couldn’t help but be taken aback by that.

‘Was it really that painful to starve for so long?’

While Gyeoul was puzzled, Hanyeoreum, who was looking at the tablet, bit her nails.

The scene of young children discussing how many days they could go without food felt so unreal.

Had the kids actually starved that much?

As she clicked her tongue, Hanyeoreum turned to the side and saw Kang Jinho frowning deeply.

Ugh.

When the kids come back, I need to make them something delicious.

Hanyeoreum promised herself.

**

It was when she was sharing a chocolate bar with Gaeul.

Her ears perked up at a voice that came from somewhere.

“Gaeul, shh!”

“Shh!”

Voices of people could be heard from just below.

Perhaps because the building’s windows were broken, their conversation was easily audible.

“It seems like the whole island is like this.”

“Have you contacted the outside?”

“…Yeah. They said they would wipe out the entire island with artillery.”

“What?! What about us?!”

“An infectious disease is spreading; do you think they care about us?”

“No, even so…!”

Damn.

A sigh accompanied the curse.

Just when it seemed like silence would linger for a moment, the conversation started again.

“Still, we have plenty of time. They said they would give us three days. They need a reason to allow survivors to escape.”

“Isn’t that just going to lead to isolation after escaping?”

“No, everyone knows how the infection spreads.”

The serious voices of adults.

Amidst them, the terrified voices of children could be heard.

I instinctively realized what I needed to do amidst their conversation.

‘Are they telling me to help the survivors escape?’

My instincts were shouting at me to help them.

I hurriedly checked the arrows I had.

Twenty regular arrows.

About eighty magical arrows.

Thanks to the magical quiver, I had quite a few arrows.

Moreover, the regular arrows were reusable, and the magical arrows could kill multiple enemies with one shot.

‘Is this enough?’

As I gathered all the arrows, I heard people moving below.

From the sound, I could tell they were heading for the emergency exit.

“Gaeul, let’s go too.”

“Wow…!”

Clearing away the desk that blocked the emergency exit, Gaeul and I opened the door a moment later.

“Kill them! Aim for the head!”

“Ugh…”

Peering down the emergency exit stairs, I saw people fighting zombies with melee weapons like iron pipes.

I couldn’t feel any mana from them.

So this world lacks mana too.

Without mana, it would be tough to face zombies that have even a little mana.

I hurried down the stairs and nocked an arrow to my bow.

There were three zombies they were facing.

Just as I was about to shoot three arrows at the zombies’ foreheads.

Thud-! Crack-!

The person at the front of the group took down all three zombies.

Though I couldn’t feel any magical power from them, their movements were as agile as a special agent in a movie.

‘Incredible.’

Was that a military knife they were using as a weapon?

It wouldn’t be easy for someone without mana to defeat someone with mana.

If mana had been properly present in this world, the author might have become an adventurer like Hanyeoreum or Choi Jin-hyuk.

‘For now, there’s no need to help.’

Gaeul and I quietly followed behind them, hiding our presence.

Since there were no Beastmen in my world without mana, it was highly likely there were none in this world either, so we had to keep our identities hidden.

**

There weren’t many zombies at the emergency exit.

There were about five more zombies, but they were all dealt with by the people from this world.

‘They seem like properly trained individuals.’

From the initial talk about the military to their ability to handle zombies.

I didn’t realize they were quite skilled.

“Gaeul, we need to be quiet, okay?”

“Wow…”

So we followed the people down to the first floor of the building.

About twenty zombies were gathered at the main entrance of the building.

“Oh no…”

“What should we do?”

“…We have to deal with all of them to get out.”

Those who had faced zombies hesitated.

It was tough to face even one zombie with mana.

“Ugh…!”

A woman among them seemed to panic and started to back away.

I knew very well from years of experience that panic leads to disaster.

Crack-!

The woman stepping back crushed a piece of glass on the floor.

In a way, it was a light sound, but the horde of zombies didn’t miss it.

“Grk?”

“Graah!”

Zombies rushed towards the sound.

“Shit!”

A man with an iron pipe cursed and swung it at the zombies.

Thud-! Thud-!

An adult man had to swing the iron pipe three times with all his strength to kill one zombie.

In the meantime, over twenty more zombies were closing in.

‘I need to help.’

I nocked three arrows to my bow.

Then I used my unique slow-motion ability.

One zombie was trying to bite the man holding the iron pipe.

One zombie was running towards a child.

And another zombie was rushing in from the blind spot.

“Everyone…!”

Just as the man with the military knife shouted something, I shot arrows at the three zombies.

Thud-!

The arrows flew past the people and accurately struck the zombies’ heads.

Then I pulled out three more arrows and shot them into the heads of the zombies.

“Huh?”

“Arrows…?”

Thanks to shooting the ones that were rushing in the most dangerously, the people gained some breathing room.

As they briefly looked around, they saw the zombies charging in and began to run towards the main entrance of the building.

“Everyone, run with all your might!”

Those running outside the building.

I followed behind them, pulling out the arrows lodged in the zombies’ heads.

“Gaeul, let’s follow them. …Gaeul?”

Where did Gaeul go?

Just as I was looking around.

Gaeul peeked her head out from under the lobby desk.

“Ju-in, look.”

In Gaeul’s hand was a dead mouse.

While I was fighting, Gaeul had been gathering food.

Normally, Hanyeoreum would scold her, but this was an emergency.

We decided to take the mouse with us.

“That’s amazing. Gaeul got some meat.”

“Wow…!”

“Let’s share this later.”

If Hanyeoreum, who dislikes mice, saw us now, it would have been a disaster.

It might take more than ten minutes to wash it off.

I’m glad Hanyeoreum isn’t here.

As I chuckled, I tilted my head.

‘Did I forget something?’

What was it?

Due to the urgent situation, I couldn’t remember.

Well, it probably wasn’t anything important.

Scratching my cheek, I pulled out all the arrows with Gaeul and chased after those who had run away.

I intended to help them escape until the end.