33. Reconstruction. (2)

Damn.

I forgot to charge my phone again.

Well, I don’t have a charger anyway.

While thinking about that, I heard a ringtone in my ear.

Ah, my eyes hurt.

I just took a shower, but I’m still not fully awake.

While rubbing my eyes, So-hyeon answered the call.

“Mmm, Oppa…”

She’s still half-asleep.

I chuckled and said,

“Hey, it’s me. Everything okay?”

“Mmm…”

I’m not sure if it’s a response or a sleep talk.

She must be sleeping soundly, so everything is fine.

I smiled and said,

“Sure. Go back to sleep. I’ll call you when I’m leaving.”

“Mmm…”

I hung up the call.

She’s so cute.

I sat down, chuckled to myself, and then stood up.

Two Ingram submachine guns on my thighs.

A bow and 16 arrows.

And two swords.

It’s a rather mismatched outfit with joggers, but it’ll do.

I need to raid some clothing stores to get jeans and a white t-shirt.

I glanced at myself in the mirror for a moment and then left the room.

The motel was quiet.

Everyone must have had a good meal and fallen asleep.

When I stepped out of the motel, the team members were gathered.

Some of them had slightly puffy faces, but their eyes were clear.

I said to Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk,

“Please guide me to the nearest clothing store and medium-sized supermarket.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk smiled and nodded.

“Let’s go, Seong-hun.”

 * * *

“Phew…”

In a back alley outside the medium-sized supermarket.

I caught my breath behind a parked truck.

“Kraaaaaahk!”

Crash!

The sound of glass shattering.

Thud, footsteps.

Growling sounds.

I sat behind the truck and looked toward the supermarket.

No shadows were approaching from this side.

The team members lined up next to me, alternating their gaze between the alley and me.

I chuckled and said,

“There are a lot. It’ll take some time. Let’s raid the clothing store we cleared first and come back here later.”

One of the team members raised his rifle and said,

“Seong-hun, we can help.”

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk shook his head.

“No. We can’t make gunshots now. The ammo you have is for the Pyeongtaek base attack. We need to conserve it. Only use it when absolutely necessary.”

He glanced at me.

“I’ll leave this to Seong-hun.”

I nodded.

Sung Gyu-hyuk and the other team members nodded at me.

The leader is right.

Pyeongtaek base.

There’s no shelter there.

We don’t know how many of them are there, and there might be no cover.

If we need to unleash a barrage, it’ll be then.

We raided the clothing store and agreed to meet back at the motel for lunch. I rested in my room.

The medium-sized supermarket we just attacked.

Due to the continuous small-scale zombie waves, the entire medium-sized supermarket had become a den of the beasts.

By my estimate, there were 400 to 500 of them.

Every accessible area was packed.

The bow is good for silent sniping, but arrows are hard to come by.

I’ve only managed to gather about 20 so far.

The Ingram.

It’s great for taking out multiple targets quickly, but the noise is significant.

In such an area, the best option is a sword.

I leveled up from the raid, bringing my strength to 61.

…49 more to go.

The 100 perception specialization doubled the efficiency.

The same should apply to strength.

Once I reach 100 strength, I’ll be able to maximize efficiency in both close and ranged combat.

“Phew.”

But leveling up is too slow.

One level per 50 kills.

I reached level 16 a few days after getting the new specialization, so it’s not exactly slow, but I still feel impatient.

Crackle, crackle-

A familiar sound.

It’s not very loud, but it’s definitely there.

Someone is welding.

When we received the hardware, Sergeant Song Gyu-tae seemed quite pleased. He must be reinforcing the motel.

Right.

We need to fortify this place and gradually rebuild.

I took a short nap, then got up, had lunch with a cup of ramen, and left my room.

In the first-floor lobby, the Secretary-General, President, and Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk were gathered.

“Ah, Seong-hun. Are you leaving now? I’ll prepare the team.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk smiled as he saw me.

I’ve never seen him smile like that before.

It’s a rather relaxed smile.

With abundant supplies, everyone seems more at ease.

I shook my head and said,

“No, as I mentioned earlier, it’ll take some time to clear the supermarket. It should be done by tomorrow.”

“That long?”

He asked in surprise.

Um…

I need to recover my stats, but I didn’t want to say that.

The Secretary-General smiled and said,

“What’s the rush? As long as we can secure it, it’s fine even if it takes time.”

President Min Jeong-woo said to me,

“Everyone is happy and grateful. Seong-hun, don’t overexert yourself. Your health is the most important.”

“Thank you.”

I turned to Sung Gyu-hyuk and asked,

“How’s your sister?”

Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded and said,

“She’s better. Her bones aren’t broken, just a severe sprain. She won’t be able to walk properly for a while, but the painkillers and compression bandages from the pharmacy seem to have helped her sleep. That’s a relief.”

“That’s good to hear.”

As I was about to bow, Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk said,

“So, we don’t have any missions today, right?”

President Min Jeong-woo and Secretary-General Ahn Jun-gyu looked at me.

I shrugged.

President Min Jeong-woo said,

“So, you’re taking a break?”

“No, we can’t rest. We’ve had a good lunch, so it’s time to start our mission.”

Secretary-General Ahn Jun-gyu said, “Ah,” and then asked,

“Are there any survivors outside?”

“I don’t know. We need to search. Teams 3, 4, and 5 will complete their refueling missions and then search individually.”

Secretary-General Ahn Jun-gyu nodded and asked,

“Is there anything you need?”

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk thought for a moment and smiled slightly.

“We have weapons, but a radio would be nice. Since we don’t have one, we’ll use phones.”

“Right. Got it.”

The Secretary-General smiled and patted the Special Forces Leader’s shoulder. President Min Jeong-woo said with a concerned look,

“Please be careful. Don’t get hurt. Come back immediately if anything happens. We’ve already lost three excellent team members. Try not to lose any more.”

Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk nodded firmly.

“Understood. Then, I’ll go.”

Sung Gyu-hyuk bowed and climbed the stairs.

“I’ll go too.”

I bowed and left the motel, receiving their farewells.

The sunlight is nice.

It’s a bit hot, but…

Still, it’s not bad.

If things continue like this, we can quickly build a force capable of surviving the apocalypse.

Most of the people here are professionals, and they seem to have good character.

I had just exhausted my strength at the medium-sized supermarket and returned covered in blood.

I met the Special Forces Team 2 members supporting and carrying survivors.

…They are survivors.

When they saw me, they stopped in their tracks.

“There were still people.”

The expressions of Special Forces Leader Sung Gyu-hyuk and the other team members were not good.

Sung Gyu-hyuk said,

“More people died of starvation. These people are also in poor condition. We need to search the area quickly.”

He was right.

The people being carried and supported were young men and women.

They managed to survive this long because they were healthy.

Older people or children likely starved to death by now.

Or turned into human beasts.

After examining the barely conscious survivors, I nodded at Sung Gyu-hyuk.

The team members’ faces were all grim.

One of them muttered, “I’m sorry.”

…Guilt?

Why?

I watched the team members as they walked away, lost in thought.

Then, I realized.

…The continuous small-scale zombie waves.

In our neighborhood, there were still some survivors here and there, even if they ended up screaming in the end.

The continuous screams meant that someone was farming the area.

But not here.

The screams were almost nonexistent.

The one I heard last night was the last.

During the process of the zombie waves scattering and reforming, almost all the shops were overrun by the beasts.

. No ordinary person could farm this area.

The actions of launching helicopters and light aircraft, which were intended to help, ended up starving the survivors in this area to death.

The team members’ expressions reflected this realization.

Rescuing survivors required weapons. Getting weapons required me, and finding and recruiting me required the helicopters and light aircraft.

Launching the helicopters and light aircraft led to people starving to death.

How many people were living in this area?

Most of the houses the team members search will likely only contain starved corpses.

I placed my hands on my hips and sighed.

They were good people with good intentions.

But good intentions don’t always lead to good outcomes.

This is no one’s fault.

It’s just the apocalypse.

Blood seeped into the corner of my mouth.

I spat it out onto the ground and placed my hand on the hilt of my sword, walking away.

…Let’s rest.

Their mission is to rescue as many as they can.

My job is to secure the supermarket so the rescued people can eat.

Let’s recover.