Chapter 110 – Boarding (1)

Before long, people started gathering in front of the container ship.

Most were sturdy men, with few women and children visible.

“They’re all people who got isolated while working at the port. Those who left to bring their families never returned.”

The union chief spoke watching the gathering people.

“Those who look like families are ones who got stranded here while fleeing to Busan.”

Perhaps because of this, the families with women and children looked very anxious.

“Well, though we didn’t treat them harshly, staying with these men for over a month would naturally make them withdrawn.”

The union chief watched the boarding families with an apologetic expression that didn’t match his rough face.

As people gathered and boarded in turns, the captain who had boarded first came back down.

Fortunately, the captain’s expression wasn’t bad.

“How is it?”

“After being abandoned so long, there are creaks everywhere.”

“But it can move?”

The captain agreed with the union chief’s words.

“Yes, though it might break down midway, we should be able to start the engines in time.”

“That’s good.”

The union chief nodded while rubbing his arm.

“The ship can move and people are boarding well, now time to decide what to do with that trash.”

At the union chief’s words, the captain spoke with a hardened face:

“What should we do? Honestly, I don’t want that bastard on my ship.”

“Right? Just looking at how he kept quiet all this time, no telling what he might do after boarding. But we can’t kill him either.”

The union chief turned his head while speaking and asked me:

“What does the knight think?”

This required no consideration.

“I would kill him.”

“You’re a scary person. Guess it’s true you’re from another world.”

At my immediate response, the union chief clicked his tongue with a troubled expression.

“Can’t put him on trial anymore, and showing mercy to a murderer in this messed up world is laughable. But still feels wrong to just kill someone as we please.”

“Guess we’ll have to give him some food, lock him up and leave.”

Though it seemed an extremely soft approach to me, my past self would have reached the same conclusion as the union chief.

So I said nothing to the union chief’s words.

Besides, abandoned while locked in storage, he would struggle to survive.

That’s when.

A woman who arrived late in front of the ship suddenly burst into tears.

Even approaching the ship she had seemed much more frightened than others, and after hearing people talk at the ship’s front, she collapsed crying heavily.

“Is it true? Is that devil really locked up? So he’s not coming with us?”

Startled by the sudden commotion, the union chief hurriedly ran to ask her what happened.

But she could only cry without speaking.

Other families tried to comfort her, and even Ye-rim ran over to console her, before she finally spoke:

“*sob*… To survive here we had to listen to that devil. Said we’d be driven out if we told others… After someone disappeared for resisting the devil, everyone had no choice but to obey him.”

When she opened up, people who had been quiet started speaking one by one.

“The power harassment was no joke, but that wasn’t the problem.”

“Many women were harassed, many people were beaten.”

“He was like a complete master. Everyone had to endure his tyranny since we’d be driven out if we got on his bad side.”

The reason families with women and children looked uncomfortable wasn’t because they couldn’t get along with the port people.

The union chief’s expression hardened at the outpouring of grievances.

“So he wasn’t doing nothing. Since he was also an outsider, we had him manage other people who came from outside… To think he was doing this.”

The union chief bowed to the crying, lamenting people.

“I’m sorry. I made a big mistake. Because I misjudged someone, you all suffered terribly.”

After apologizing to the people, he asked a man beside him to handle things and got on a nearby forklift.

“Take care of things here. I’ll deal with this bastard!”

He drove the forklift toward the warehouse where the murderer was locked up.

The captain clicked his tongue watching the departing forklift.

“Tsk tsk, there goes his temper again.”

“Should we not help?”

At my question, the captain shook his head.

“He’ll handle it well, no need to worry. He’s a man who protected Busan Port fighting gangsters when he was young.”

Though slightly concerning, it wasn’t my place to help.

Moreover, I needed to guard the ship now.

Though we had plenty of time with the ice not melted yet, undead were gathering beyond the container walls as time passed.

With my luck, focusing elsewhere might cause problems again.

Fortunately, people moved efficiently even without the union chief.

They helped the crying woman and families board, and assisted the crew with departure preparations.

After loading everyone else and getting on board, waiting for the engine to start.

We saw someone running from the direction of the warehouse where the murderer was locked up.

Though far, everyone could tell who was running.

“Isn’t that Brother Kim?”

“Why is he running when he should be guarding the warehouse?”

“Is he coming to board?”

“Then others should be coming too. Don’t see Park or Ahn. And no union chief either.”

“Yeah.”

I frowned at people’s conversation.

As expected, my luck was bad.

Seems trouble arose again on the opposite side from where I chose.

I sighed then jumped off the ship.

“Ah, someone fell… no, not quite.”

“Is that a person?”

“Wow. How can he jump from there?”

Surprised cries came from the ship but I ignored them and ran forward.

In a few steps I met the running man.

Clutching his side as he ran, he immediately shouted when I approached:

“Damn it, Brother Ahn was in on it too. He stabbed Park and freed the murderer!”

Blood flowed from the side the man was holding.

Seems he was stabbed too.

Looking at his pale face, the wound didn’t seem shallow.

I looked back.

Fortunately, Ye-rim and Hoffman were coming down from the ship.

“The union chief woke me after I fainted, and he chased after them.”

I couldn’t help but sigh at the man’s words.

Things were getting more complicated.

Who knew the murderer had accomplices.

Well, unless he was just quietly hiding, it would have been difficult to cause trouble alone.

Plus, why did the union chief chase after the escapees…

They could just leave by ship, yet he deliberately chased them.

Though I understood the situation, thinking about cleaning this up gave me a headache.

“I understand, so stop talking. Keep talking and it’ll be hard to treat you.”

I carried the man on my back and ran to the ship in one go.

“Please treat this person.”

“Yes. Put him down carefully.”

Ye-rim who came down from the ship started treating the man, while I stood in front of the ship heightening my senses.

Having to find normal people in a port crawling with undead and civilians.

It wasn’t easy but couldn’t be abandoned.

Though I had no intention of finding the two who fled, I needed to find the hot-tempered union chief before the ship departed.

The union chief was needed to lead the port people on board.

I spread out Enhanced Senses and Mana Detection widely to cover the entire port.

Dozens, hundreds of presences were caught in detection.

I eliminated presences one by one.

Removed people with mana, removed undead. Finally removing people by the sea, three presences remained.

“Two are together and one separate, seems I found them well…”

The training from Sword Master hadn’t just strengthened my swordsmanship.

Before coming to this world it would have been impossible, and before training I would have collapsed already, but now I had energy left even after using detection like this.

Though it should have been something to be happy about, I could only harden my expression.

Because all three presences found were strange.

First, the two presences together were in an unexpected location.

Right where we had crossed the container wall earlier.

As I looked toward where I sensed the presences, speakers throughout the port rang out:

[Ah ah, can you hear me? Amazing to taste civilization again after so long? I turned on the broadcast with hidden batteries. Before prison I was actually a successful electrical technician. And no use going to the broadcast room now. I’m broadcasting by radio.]

Sorry to him, but I knew where he was.

More importantly, seems the man had been unconscious for a while. To go turn on the broadcast room then get to the container wall.

But why stay at the container wall instead of escaping?

[You’re all probably wondering why I’m broadcasting. The reason is…]

The murderer built suspense like starting a sports broadcast, then shouted loudly:

[To let everyone taste the terror of death! Right now, I’m going to open the container doors and let zombies into the port!]

Before his words finished, another voice came through the broadcast.

A young voice filled with terror:

[What are you doing! You said there was somewhere to escape to!]

It was the man said to have freed the murderer.

[Hahaha, you believed that? You really are gullible. Where would such a place be? Whether I go where people are or stay here, I’m dead anyway. Since it’s come to this, let’s all die together.]

Seems the young man called Ahn had been deceived by the murderer.

[Stop you crazy bastard!]

[Kyahaha, think I accepted the knife for nothing?]

[Aagh!]

The young man’s scream came with crashing sounds.

Seems the young man was killed by the murderer too.

Though absurd, I wasn’t sorry about the man’s death.

Instead, I increased my speed.

I had already started running before the scream was heard.

But unfortunately I was slightly late.

When I jumped over the containers lined up at the dock and directly checked the container wall, the container door was already open.

Zombies and skeletons pouring out of the opened door.

[Hahaha, let’s all die, die…]

The murderer by the door laughed excitedly even while being eaten by zombies.

As I clicked my tongue and tried to run toward the open door.

Someone, no, a forklift rushed in ahead of me.

*vroom*

A forklift carrying a container charged at the container wall.

The union chief was driving the forklift.

Black veins bulged on the face and arms of the union chief biting his lip.

As I sensed, the union chief was turning into an undead.