Chapter 38 – To the Han River (2)

Although everything that needed to be done here was finished, they couldn’t leave right away.

There was no reason to set out in the evening when comfortable beds were available.

From that evening, Lee Jun-ho moved busily despite his tired body.

He distributed supplies, checked the resources managed by the deceased Community Leader, and went house to house meeting people.

“…There’s no need to worry. We have new people now.”

“Though they might seem a bit strange, they’re not villains like Yang Gi-hyeok.”

“Can’t you tell from how they entrusted me with work? Those people don’t like being in the spotlight.”

“That guy needs to die. Tomorrow, we’ll issue an expulsion order when people gather.”

“You need to help me. I need your help to manage people.”

Jun-ho’s words could be heard continuously without having to listen carefully. Through the corridors, refugee floors, and between windows.

Was it because of what I had said to him? Believing in my support, he tried to take control of the organization overnight. Though it seemed rushed, considering what he had endured under the deceased village chief, it was understandable. Or perhaps he instinctively sensed that we would be leaving soon.

While it was noisy outside, we prepared for departure inside.

“I gathered as much information as possible. I also got a large atlas,” Hoffman boasted about obtaining the map book at my request to gather information before leaving. 

The book he waved had “National Road and Transportation Map” written on its cover. It was the map that used to be in every car before navigation systems came out.

The generator and navigation system we had picked up from the shopping mall briefly crossed my mind, but I first thanked him for his efforts.

We didn’t know yet if we could use the navigation system.

Unlike the ambiguous Hoffman, Zahina had prepared properly. She had stacked dozens of books in the living room.

“I gathered as many books as possible. There are Korean textbooks, cookbooks, encyclopedias, and general knowledge books.”

Looking at the books she had stacked, there were various other books mixed in as well. Novels, comics, and even women’s magazines and adult magazines.

“Please put them all in. I can now read easier books since I’ve memorized some words. I think I’ll be able to read everything else after studying a bit more.”

Since coming here, Zahina seemed to be constantly learning something. The language of this world, the culture, and the people. She appeared to be trying to fill her emptiness.

It seemed strange for a Returner, but her diligent studying was helpful to me too. I wouldn’t need to pretend not to know about this world anymore. Later, when the gates opened and people crossed over, I could leave the aftermath to Zahina.

Though there was barely any space left in my pocket, I packed the books Zahina had brought, pressing them in tightly. Zahina stared intently as the books disappeared. Though her expression didn’t change, she seemed somewhat regretful. I thought we should visit a library or bookstore later when we had time.

After gathering the items they had prepared, I explained to them what had happened during the day. Unlike with others, I didn’t need to make excuses or explanations to these two. When I told them everything as it was, contrary to expectations, the two received it differently.

First, Hoffman let out a small sigh. “Though I know honor is important to you, Sir Knight, isn’t this handling it too complicatedly…?”

Unlike his usual self, he spoke indirectly, but simply put, he meant I was doing unnecessary work when I could have just killed them. Though he couldn’t speak freely to a knight, this was clearly him expressing maximum irritation. Since he wasn’t wrong, I didn’t point out his words. Even I had wanted to give up midway because it was so troublesome.

Instead, Zahina nodded at my words. “Making them punish their own crimes. Unlike other knights who only talk, you’re different. This was excellent handling, befitting a righteous knight.”

Both Hoffman and I blinked at Zahina’s bookish words.

“Was my speech strange? I heard it’s what nobles use when praising…”

It was quite strange, but more than that, praise from a Returner? It was like the sun rising in the west.

With Zahina’s praise, we went to bed. There were no more guards at the door, and we could sleep comfortably in proper beds.

The next morning, before breakfast, everyone gathered on the 30th floor refuge area. Jun-ho had gathered people to unite them. He probably planned to erase the dead village chief’s influence and establish himself as the new leader while sharing a meal with what they had brought yesterday.

Contrary to my thoughts, what he had prepared wasn’t just meals. When everyone gathered, a man was dragged out in front of everyone. It was the man who had been knocked out by Hoffman yesterday, the only one remaining from the village chief’s gang.

“Now it’s time to decide what to do with this person, the last remaining member of Yang Gi-hyeok’s group.”

Jun-ho came forward and listed the crimes committed by the village chief’s gang, with this man in front. Various acts of violence, threats, exploitation, and even rape. He spoke of murders without evidence as if they were certain.

In truth, we couldn’t know if all those crimes were true, or how much this man had participated in them. But Jun-ho spoke as if he was responsible for all the crimes.

The gathered people didn’t oppose his words, and the man couldn’t argue back due to being gagged.

Though Jun-ho had been seeking my opinion until now, this time he didn’t. Seeing how he changed according to the situation, Jun-ho wasn’t much different from the dead village chief after all.

“Though this man committed such crimes, we shouldn’t kill him like the previous village chief did. Instead of killing him, I think we should banish him from this place.”

Hearing Jun-ho’s words reminded me of pirate execution methods. Like making someone walk the plank above shark-infested waters. There was no difference between pushing someone into shark-filled waters and banishing them to the outside world full of undead.

It was just covering their eyes and pretending, but no one opposed Jun-ho’s words. Even we, as third parties, said nothing, and the accused physically couldn’t say anything, so the man’s punishment was decided as banishment.

“You bastards! You think you’re any different!”

While being pushed out of the apartment after his gag was removed, the man cursed everything he could. But as if the curses weren’t even heard, Jun-ho calmly spoke behind the man being driven out.

“If we see you after this time, we’ll treat you as a potential zombie and attack.”

The man, seemingly scared by Jun-ho’s words, quickly disappeared beyond the apartment complex.

After sending the man away, people who returned to the 30th floor refuge area started breakfast with somewhat awkward expressions. However, the awkwardness disappeared as the meal progressed.

Perhaps because only original apartment residents remained, the rigid atmosphere from when the dead village chief was around wasn’t felt. Like before zombies appeared, people looked at each other with smiling faces.

As everyone was comfortably and happily finishing their meal and having simple desserts with disposable coffee, my party members and I stood up from our seats.

People looked at us with puzzled expressions.

“Thank you for everything until now. Our party will be leaving now.”

I dropped a bomb on the people. Everyone made dumbfounded expressions at my words.

They looked back and forth between me and Jun-ho with surprised faces.

It was understandable that people were surprised, as Jun-ho’s words from yesterday were overturned in just one day.

Jun-ho’s expression also hardened at my words.

Unfortunately, it seemed he hadn’t expected me to leave right away.

“But…”

“Weren’t you staying with us?”

“You said you’d help instead of the village chief…”

Though neither I nor the party members had ever said such things, thanks to Jun-ho’s enthusiastic talk, people already believed that.

“There seems to be some misunderstanding. Please wait a moment.”

Jun-ho spoke to the people and hurriedly approached me.

But there was no misunderstanding, and nothing would change by waiting.

“Thank you for providing lodging and meals until now. Fortunately, we heard about another survivor group in time.”

We had sufficiently repaid the lodging and meals by helping obtain supplies from the shopping mall. Moreover, we might have even done them a favor by removing the village chief’s gang.

Of course, people who had been relying on the village chief’s protection would be anxious, but we couldn’t make everyone happy. Nor did we intend to.

Seeing that my mind wouldn’t change, one of the men who had run with the village chief shouted at us.

“Then what about us!”

Why ask us that…

Still, I answered kindly.

“I hear there’s a larger survivor group in Guri City than here. That might be one option.”

At my words, he looked at me with a mix of expectation.

“Are you going there too?”

Was he thinking of coming along if we were going?

Sorry to him, but we had no such intention.

“No, we’re heading south. We plan to cross the Han River.”

At my words, both the man and Jun-ho’s expressions hardened.

It was a completely different reaction from when I mentioned Guri.

“Cross the Han River? But all the bridges are blocked. There are monsters in the river…”

There was a reason people reacted with horror.

This high-rise apartment had a view of the Han River, and they could see the Misa Bridge at the eastern end of the Han River.

Perhaps because of this, they knew the situation at the Han River well.

And during the two days I was here, I could observe the Han River like them.

Hundreds of zombies wandered between cars on the bridges that were completely blocked with vehicles, and below in the Han River, monsters, not fish, were cutting through the water.

While the apartment residents were scared even to look at the river because of the large monsters, not zombies, both Hoffman and I were indifferent to seeing the monsters.

That’s because we knew what they were.

“The cars being blocked like that and people all turning into zombies was because of the monsters in the water. Those monsters climbed onto the bridges and turned people into zombies.”

Though they kindly explained thinking we might not know, I knew more about those creatures than they did.

Undead like rotten mermaids made by mixing drowned corpses and fish.

The monsters in the river were scale-covered half-human half-beast undead, corpse mermaids.