Chapter 32 – Shopping (1)

A vast warehouse-like space with high ceilings.

The place we came to for supplies was a warehouse-style shopping mall I had seen in my previous life.

In the dark underground space, flashlight beams were moving quickly.

People were searching for items.

I stood at the entrance, watching the scene.

‘The smell is really something else.’

The stench was terrible here, but it must be even worse inside where the food was rotting.

I thought I had adapted enough after being born in a medieval world and rolling around with the Demon King’s army, but this rotten smell was not easy to handle.

The men searching for items inside the mall had towels wrapped around their faces, but they still looked very uncomfortable.

Anyway, gathering supplies wasn’t my job, so there was no reason to subject myself to the unnecessary stench.

Moreover, I had already accomplished my purpose for coming here, so I didn’t want to move around anymore.

Instead of helping others, I stroked the pouch attached to my waist.

As I caressed the pouch, my hand brushed against the gauntlet hanging on my waist alongside it.

‘It’s uncomfortable. I wish I could just put it in the pouch.’

If I hadn’t kept the space expansion pouch a secret, I would have put it in there long ago.

However, the space expansion pouch was something that absolutely must not be revealed to the people here.

I had warned my party members several times and never used the pouch in front of people.

There was no way people wouldn’t be tempted if they knew about the space expansion pouch.

Even if they didn’t try to steal it, they would surely ask to use it together in situations like today when transporting supplies.

There was no reason to allow that.

I needed to use this pouch myself. Especially today, it was more necessary.

Right now, this pouch contained precious metals. All of them were precious metals processed into necklaces, earrings, and accessories.

They were all taken from jewelry stores in the building I had just entered.

Leading a horde of zombies, I went to a building where jewelry stores were gathered.

I subdued the zombies and skeletons that entered the building and looted the jewelry stores.

It would have taken longer if the jewelry stores were intact, but unfortunately, many had already been looted.

People must have robbed them before it became a zombie field.

There were still quite a few precious metals left, but it was inevitable to feel that it wasn’t enough.

Instead, I looted a nearby luxury goods store.

Luxury bags, handbags, and even watches.

They were items of little use compared to precious metals, but I took them just for my own satisfaction.

The watch on my wrist now was one of them.

An expensive luxury watch that I could only window-shop for in my previous life.

Looking at this watch worth tens of millions of won, I no longer felt any regret.

‘I can always get more later.’

There was still plenty of time.

Besides, jewelry stores and precious metal shops weren’t only found here.

As my mood improved, my hand felt empty again.

I smiled wryly as I looked at the gauntlet hanging on my waist.

Feeling that I needed the gauntlet more than the luxury watch, it seemed I was now a medieval knight rather than a modern person.

‘Well, even in my previous life, I still don’t understand why this watch is so expensive.’

Unlike the luxury watch that was only expensive in price, my gauntlet had saved my life several times, worth its high cost.

‘It’s natural to prefer things that are worth their money.’

Putting aside various complicated feelings, I decided to just think that way.

I took off the watch and put the gauntlet back on my hand.

Click.

The heavy metal glove enveloped my hand.

As I was a knight with mana and the gauntlet was made by a fairly skilled craftsman, it wasn’t very uncomfortable.

Then, I carelessly stuffed the watch into my pouch.

The community leader, who was with me, went over to the others, probably thinking I was uncomfortable.

Thanks to that, I leisurely put the gauntlet back on and looked around alone.

While I was enjoying this relaxed time, one of the people gathering supplies approached me.

It was Lee Jun-ho, whose life I had saved at first and whose name I still remembered.

“Is there anything you need? I’ll try to gather as much as possible for you.”

There was no way I didn’t need anything.

Although the perishable foods in the refrigerators had all gone bad, there were still many edible things left.

Various foods and snacks, ramen, and drinks.

There were plenty of things I wanted to take.

Plus, clothes I hadn’t seen in a long time, electronic devices, and even game consoles.

If only the electricity was working properly, I would have wanted to take everything.

‘No, maybe it doesn’t matter?’

I looked at a not-so-small machine in the corner of the shopping mall with shining eyes.

Below the machine was written its product name.

‘Gasoline Generator’

With this generator, electricity wouldn’t be a problem.

It seemed others had the same thought as me.

“If we take this generator, couldn’t we use electricity?”

“Isn’t it for camping? That wouldn’t be enough to properly power even one house, would it?”

“Still, if we could properly run even one refrigerator, we could store perishable food for longer…”

Even the person who first suggested taking the generator scratched their head at the others’ objections.

“We need to find fuel, and we haven’t decided where to put it, so let’s take the generator next time. We can’t carry it anyway because we have too much luggage.”

As the discussion grew, the community leader stepped in to make a decision. Since it wasn’t wrong, everyone followed the community leader’s words.

Watching everyone nod in agreement, I laughed inwardly.

Seeing the community leader glancing at me while speaking, it was clear he didn’t want to say those words either. If I hadn’t been there, he would have surely taken it without hesitation.

‘It certainly looks uncomfortable.’

To the community leader, who had been boasting absolute power as a superhuman, my party members and I must have been thorns in his throat.

If I were in the community leader’s position, I might have tried to drive us out too.

‘However, I can’t forgive the thought of killing us.’

Everyone turned their gaze away from the generator with regretful expressions, and I also waved my hand to decline Jun-ho’s offer.

“It’s fine. You don’t need to leave out other items because of me.”

Hearing my words, Jun-ho looked at me with an admiring expression, but the others who heard me looked at me with a strange expression, as if they were looking at a pushover.

It seemed they misunderstood something, but it didn’t matter.

There was no need to unnecessarily add a few more items now to show off.

I was planning to come back later and take everything anyway.

Everyone stuffed as much food and supplies as possible into the bags they brought, but it didn’t even look like the items in the shopping mall had decreased.

Still, people left the shopping mall in high spirits.

After rebuilding the cart barricade we had cleared away and lowering the building entrance shutter again, we headed towards the apartment.

The way back wasn’t as difficult as expected.

The people carrying heavy bags couldn’t fight or run, but everyone was able to return safely to the apartment.

This was because the zombies we had pushed to the back of the street were still gathered there.

They started to swarm again when they saw us leaving the building, but everyone was able to escape safely with me briefly luring them away.

When we returned to the apartment, we received a grand welcome.

All the people in the apartment came out and happily greeted us who had brought the items.

Of course, what the waiting people welcomed was not the people who brought the items, but the items they had brought.

Although they showed more interest in the items, the people who brought them smiled and took out the contents of their bags.

The majority of the items from the bags were food, but there were also many other daily necessities.

What people wanted wasn’t just food. Sanitary pads and wet wipes, shampoo and soap, toilet paper and first aid kits.

Various items poured out of the bags and were distributed to the people.

Whether the community leader had managed the organization well so far, the distribution of items was completed fairly without major issues.

Judging by the expressions of the apartment people, it seemed they had brought more than expected.

On the contrary, the community leader’s people looked at me and the community leader with disappointed faces.

To me, it seemed like a fair distribution, but it didn’t seem so to them.

Seeing them glance at me, they must have said it was distributed that way because of me.

It seemed misunderstandings were piling up due to what the community leader had done, but it didn’t matter much.

They weren’t people I would be seeing for long anyway.

I had some doubts when I first arrived here, but I had already decided to leave this place.

The time to leave would be after the community leader told us about other organizations.

I planned to leave right after hearing the story and finishing a few necessary tasks.

One of those necessary tasks was already completed, and I planned to handle another one tonight.

That evening, a party was held in the apartment.

Several tables were spread out on the 30th floor evacuation level, and food was placed on them.

Of course, it wasn’t as lavish as the parties I had seen in my previous life.

There were only dried side dishes brought from each home and rice.

Still, there was a gas stove in the center of each table.

Instead of meat, ham and sausages were being grilled on top, and somehow wine filled the paper cups in front of people.

As all the people in the apartment gathered to watch the sausages being grilled, the community leader raised his cup first.

“Thanks to the help of our new guests, we are able to have such a plentiful meal after a long time. Let’s give a round of applause to our guests!”

Although he emphasized the word ‘guests’ diligently, it was still a welcoming remark unlike yesterday.

People applauded us, and we responded to their greetings with applause as well.

The somewhat cheerful time ended quickly.

“We need to move again tomorrow, so let’s not drink anymore and go to bed early. We don’t know when we’ll have another chance, so we should take full advantage of this opportunity.”

As people finished their meals and were about to pass around drinks, the community leader ended the gathering.

As he said, it seemed he planned to gather as many supplies as possible while we were here.

It was a statement that left no room for us to stay here, and it seemed he intended to make us leave as soon as possible no matter what.

It wasn’t a bad idea for us either.

Of course, the apartment people probably wouldn’t want that.

At the community leader’s words, people looked at us nervously as they wrapped up the gathering.

They seemed to want to say something to us, but the community leader didn’t give them a chance to speak.

Of course, I had no intention of listening either.

After returning to the room, I asked the two people.

Zahina relayed the story she had heard today in response to my question.

“I asked people, but no one knew about any other places besides here.”

As expected, no one except the community leader’s group knew about the news from outside.

“More people than I thought had complaints about the person called the community leader. But it seemed they followed him out of fear. And for some reason, whenever I asked about the community leader, everyone worried about me.”

We could also understand the thoughts of the people in this apartment.

Since I had asked Zahina to just find out about the surrounding news normally, this was enough.

What I wanted to hear more was Hoffman’s words.

Unlike Zahina, I had given Hoffman proper instructions.

This time too, Hoffman brought proper results.

He took out several gold bars, a few documents, and a small notebook.

“There was a safe with a dial. I brought everything inside.”

These were all things brought from the community leader’s house.

Things I had asked him to look for while the community leader was away from home.

Luckily, it seemed the community leader had a mechanical safe.

A mechanical safe in this world was useless against a thief who could sense mana.

I returned the gold bars to Hoffman and checked the documents and notebook.

It was as expected.

The notebook contained all the details of contacts with other organizations.