episode_0125

The vehicle Hyung led me to was a transport truck, similar to a top-loaded cargo truck.

In the transport compartment, resembling those seen in movies, only one man remained.

I maintained a blank expression as I looked at the man before me.

“P-please, save me!!!”

The man, trembling and rubbing his hands together in supplication, did not present a good appearance.

His voice was weak, as if he hadn’t eaten properly, and his complexion was poor.

His hair was matted, and his grimy skin was covered in scratches, indicating he hadn’t washed.

Crucially, he was young.

At most, a second or third-year high school student?

Considering his age and attire, he didn’t seem related to the attackers.

“…What is it?”

“Save me— huh? Yes?”

“What are you?”

“J-Junsik. Park Junsik.”

Feeling bewildered, I turned to Jihyeok hyung.

Hyung merely shrugged.

“He was hiding behind some boxes. He looks like a student, and he’s terrified.”

“He is, indeed.”

In any case, it seemed he had been moving with the attackers.

I took a step closer to the trembling high schooler.

The high schooler visibly flinched in surprise, his shoulders recoiling.

Though it made me appear to be intimidating a young student, I didn’t care.

There was no doubt he was suspicious.

“Hey, high schooler.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

“What are you doing here?”

“I-I’m a student, and I’m Park Junsik…”

At the high schooler’s words, I shifted my gaze to the floor.

Then, I began to pick up the bullet casings scattered all over the ground, gathering them.

Yellow bullet casings filled both my hands.

Crrunch! Squeeze! Squeeze!

As I slowly applied force with my grip, a strange metal-crushing sound emanated.

The more I kneaded them in my hand, the more the sound faded, and their size diminished.

Thud—

I threw the recycled result from my hand to the high schooler.

“……”

The high schooler, eyes wide with silent horror, couldn’t tear his gaze away from the tennis-ball-sized metal lump in his hand.

“Hey.”

“Yes, yes?”

“I can tell you’re young just by looking, and I don’t care about your name. What I’m curious about is why you’re in here and what you’re doing. But if you keep talking nonsense…”

I trailed off, gesturing with my eyes toward the metal lump the high schooler was holding.

At my silent warning, the high schooler swallowed dryly.

And, seemingly more terrified, his breathing began to quicken.

“Just answer my questions.”

“Th-that… that’s…”

The high schooler, unable to calm down, even began trembling in his eyes.

At that moment, Jihyeok hyung, who had been quietly watching, stepped forward.

“Park Junsik? Calm down and drink some water. There, slowly~”

Hyung, gently patting him while kindly offering a water bottle, shot me a small signal from the corner of his eye.

‘…Aha.’

Realizing what Hyung was thinking, I nodded and took a step back.

Even after receiving the water bottle, the high schooler kept glancing at me, but as soon as I backed off, he gulped down the water as if hiding from a crab’s eyes [a proverb about doing something quickly and stealthily].

Just as he emptied the bottle in an instant, Jihyeok hyung softly spoke.

Armed with a kind smile and gentle eyes, as he approached softly, the high schooler’s reaction visibly changed. Hyung didn’t miss the opportunity and cautiously began to speak.

“Junsik. My name is Kim Jihyuk.”

“Oh, oh? K-Kim Jihyuk? Huh?!”

“That’s right. I know you’re very scared and having a hard time, but can you tell us why you were trapped in here? It’s an important matter for us. Here, have some more water while you speak.”

‘Wow… Hyung is really using his looks.’

He might be a famous actor, but when he truly decided to use his face, it was clear even the terrified high schooler was visibly relieved. His reaction was distinctly different from when I spoke to him.

I waited patiently without showing any signs, and Jihyeok hyung didn’t rush for an answer either.

It didn’t take long for the young high schooler to open his mouth.

The content was nothing special.

He was caught by the attackers while trying to escape with his friends.

During that process, three of his friends died in an accident, and only he survived.

That had happened just a few days ago.

The high schooler, who said he was treated poorly, ran errands, and received small portions of food, seemed to have had a very difficult time.

Watching the high schooler, I repeatedly tilted my head.

‘…Have I met him before? Why does he seem familiar?’

I felt a slight familiarity seeing the high schooler, but I couldn’t understand why.

There was no reason for me to have encountered a high schooler like him.

After waiting with various thoughts, I managed to hear several things.

“…Daehan Security? Are you sure?”

“Yes, yes. I definitely heard that.”

I felt puzzled by Hyung’s repeated confirmation despite clearly hearing it.

“Are they people you know?”

“They’re famous in the industry. Large-scale. Should I say, they’re scary…”

“They’re a security company, what’s there to be scared of?”

“W-well, I don’t know the details, but I heard their skills are certain, but they’re rough. I know they mainly sign contracts with large corporations.”

“Large corporations?”

“For example… Taeseong. The CEO would know more about the details.”

Finally, something was beginning to take shape, though not quite solidified.

My curiosity had been rising and falling since I lost contact with Yeom.

It would be great if this young man would spill everything, but unfortunately, he kept changing the subject.

He was subtly executing the classic ‘I don’t know anything!’

It was exactly like watching a scene where a criminal and a detective interrogate each other in a movie.

This young man seemed reluctant to say something…

‘Ah!’

It came to me.

A memory flashed through my mind, and I inwardly praised my own eyesight.

Then, I patted Jihyeok hyung’s shoulder, making him step back from his efforts to continue the gentle conversation.

It was a player change.

“Hey, high schooler.”

“Yes? I really told you everything, all I k—”

I leaned in slightly towards the frantically babbling high schooler.

And whispered softly.

“Run away.”

“?”

“City Baek.”

“Gasp!!”

Seeing the high schooler’s face turn stark white, beyond mere surprise, a deep smile bloomed on my face.

“They say you meet your enemies on a single-log bridge [a proverb about encountering your foe unexpectedly in an unavoidable situation].”

“Hic! Hiccup! Hiccough!”

Thud!

“So we meet again, everyone?”

I grabbed and pressed down on the high schooler’s shoulder as he trembled like an aspen and tried to crawl backward.

The culprit who delivered the zombie defense.

He was one of those guys who rode on the two City Baek motorcycles leading the zombie wave.

The one who shouted loudly to run away.

A face I briefly glimpsed and a shouting voice, just for a moment.

That’s why he had felt familiar.

And now that I remembered it.

I was so overjoyed that I felt like doing a tap dance of pure delight.

“I was so grateful back then.”

“Ugh! Ah! Ouch, ouch, ouch!”

“My favorite weapon was broken, you see.”

“W-wait! Ow! H-hyung-nim! Surrender! Surrender!”

As I gradually tightened my grip, the high schooler made dying noises and was tapping on my hand. As if he thought we were wrestling.

“Back then, I was covered in rotten blood and looked like a mess, right? I wanted to find you guys and beat you up, but I couldn’t find you.”

“Aargh! Ughhh!!”

“Putting me aside… what do you think would happen if people found out?”

“!!!”

“I don’t think you’d die peacefully, would you?”

At my quiet whisper, the high schooler’s face, already white, turned pale blue, and even the blood drained from his ears.

Noticing the change, I took my hand off the high schooler’s shoulder.

“Gah-huh! Ugh…”

“From now on, answer my questions honestly. Spill everything you know. Then I’ll let you live.”

The high schooler, who had been massaging his shoulder and twisting his body, instantly snapped his head up at the mention of being allowed to live.

“R-really? Hyung-nim?”

“Who’s your hyung-nim? Want me to turn you into that again?”

When I pointed to the metal lump that used to be bullet casings, rolling on the floor, the high schooler waved his hands frantically and straightened his posture.

At the sudden shift in attitude, Jihyeok hyung and the others watching nearby let out hollow laughs.

I was also speechless, but a proper conversation atmosphere had been established.

I immediately asked what I was curious about.

Unfortunately, this high schooler truly knew nothing.

Everything he knew was what he had overheard while running errands among the attackers… the Daehan Security guards. Even that mostly consisted of useless information.

However, there was also some salvageable information.

“Whenever I asked out of curiosity, they just cursed and got angry, so I don’t know the details. But I heard they were badly beaten somewhere and fled.”

“You don’t know where from?”

“Oh, no. They avoided talking about that among themselves, so I don’t know. Ah! That shelter? Safety zone? They talked about making something like that as a midpoint or something.”

“With just that many people?”

“No. There are a lot of people. There are a few more Daehan people, and quite a few soldiers and survivors have joined them.”

Listening to the story, I scoffed.

“Joined? You mean kidnapped. Didn’t you see what they did to the people here?”

“That… well. I don’t know why they did that to the people here. It doesn’t seem like they did that in other places…”

“Hey. You were captured too, right? Your friends died.”

“That was… we were told to stop, but we ignored it and passed by…”

“And forcibly capturing you because you didn’t stop makes sense?”

“…We were running away after stealing their bags…”

“It’s a miracle they didn’t shoot you dead.”

All the guys who were speeding on the City Baeks with him died, except for this one.

He was severely injured when his motorcycle crashed, and it seems this Junsik’s wounds also originated from that.

But I felt no pity.

As he started to speak, his fear seemed to lessen, and his complexion began to return to normal.

Seeing that, I continued the conversation without hesitation.

“You said there were more people. How many?”

“Hmm… there are about ten more of those people. And about twenty soldiers? Everyone else is just regular civilians.”

“How many in total?”

“Uh… I think there are over a hundred… I’m not sure, but I heard they need a lot of manpower.”

“Crazy bastards. How do they plan to handle that many people?”

Even for me, it was tough getting our group to the shelter.

But for a group of fleeing people, without a proper base, to feed and house over a hundred individuals?

That’s simply reckless bravado.

Still, it seemed these guys had put some thought into it.

“There’s a large mart in Sangbong-dong. They’ve set up there.”

“Sangbong-dong? What large mart is there?”

“Hollysale. Oh, there’s also a D-Mart nearby, but they gathered at Hollysake.”

“……”

The moment I heard the high schooler’s words, my heart turned cold.

The thought of these guys setting up there made my memories feel defiled.

It felt like someone else had trampled over a pristine, untouched field of snow that I cherished.

The high schooler, oblivious to my mood, continued to babble on.

‘To summarize…’

Armed forces and survivors, pushed back from somewhere, fled and settled in Sangbong-dong, where they were establishing a base.

Furthermore, the high schooler said he clearly heard that the weapons held by the Daehan guys were supplied by Taeseong.

“I heard they needed to find and acquire something, but I don’t know what that is.”

“…Did you happen to hear why they’re collecting doctors?”

“They said they’d need a lot of doctors in the future. Oh! And coming here was because of a doctor-nim.”

“…Really?”

“They said they absolutely had to find Dr. Jang Myeonghwan here. That’s why I was dragged along to guide them.”

This high schooler, though treated poorly, wasn’t tied up.

So I thought he was being used, but it seems he served as a navigator.

Whatever.

“…So that’s what happened…”

My head grew cold.

“What did they say… they were shouting that to confirm something and take care of health, it was still far from enough…”

“Who was shouting?”

“The deputy team leader. Didn’t you see him? The big, ill-tempered guy.”

“Ah… that guy…”

Only saw him?

The very person who incinerated him in mid-air is right here.

“Then what about the team leader? Is there a separate commander?”

“Yes. He’s busy moving with people at the mart. Th-that, oh, what was it…?”

The high schooler, squeezing his head, mumbled with his mouth.

“Ah~ Ugh! What was it? Th-that health? No…”

“…The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency?”

“That’s it! He was constantly holding meetings and arguing with someone from there.”

After that, he continued to blabber, but there was no valuable information.

Still, a faint thread of understanding had been grasped.

A leading domestic conglomerate, a private organization, a collapsed military, and a national administrative agency.

A terribly awkward combination was now gathered in one place.

Given that meetings were frequent, it seemed they had some hidden agenda.

My dormant curiosity peeked out.

‘…I’ll just have to check it out myself.’

Of course, I had no intention of approaching them peacefully through conversation.

Peace had already gone out the window since I had my reckoning with Yeom.

The attackers… the Daehan Security bastards were no different.

Thanks to the stacks these guys had accumulated, I felt I could charge in without hesitation.

‘Since I’ve been hit first…’

Although I wasn’t directly hit, I was shot at.

This was enough to approach them without hesitation, wouldn’t you say?

I turned my head and looked at the building.

Director Jang Myeonghwan.

I would need to have a serious conversation with the Director as well.

He was currently in surgery, so I would leave him for later.

For now, it was the place where the Daehan Security bastards were gathered.

“Hey, Chunsik.”

“J-Junsik.”

“Right. I promised to let you live, so I will.”

“Th-thank you!”

“One more thing. Do one more thing for me, and I’ll give you some food and let you go.”

The high schooler’s eyes gleamed at the mention of food and being let go.

Forgetting he was scared of me, the high schooler’s eyes shone.

“A-anything! Just say the word!”

His attitude, as if he would give his liver and gallbladder [a proverb about being willing to give anything], seemed servile but I liked it.

So, I casually stated my purpose.

“Where is Sangbong-dong? And their location. Recite it exactly.”

The high schooler and my companions blinked at my words.

My day was likely going to be quite long today.