Chapter 53 – Safe Zone (2)

Numerous tents were set up on the lawn along the path leading north from the Symbol Tower.

People stood between the path and tents, watching us.

The tents on the lawn weren’t the only places where people lived.

Laundry was hanging from all the school buildings beyond the tents.

Word must have spread quickly, as people, from elderly to children, were watching us from the windows of the buildings.

The school buildings that were once classrooms were now all occupied by people.

They were busy discussing among themselves as they watched us.

“Where did they get that armor at a time like this?”

“If it’s real, it might be effective though? Real iron armor would protect against zombie bites. And their movement doesn’t seem bad either.”

Some were evaluating my armor,

“That girl in elf cosplay is really pretty! I’d believe it if someone said she was a real elf. Is she a celebrity?”

“And another one wearing leather armor… They’re surprisingly well-coordinated. With this much effort during these times, they must be unusual people.”

Some were praising our cosplay(?) skills.

“But these are unfamiliar faces, aren’t they people who came from outside?”

“No way… Zombies and skeletons are surrounding this area. No one has come in recently.”

“Right. Even the collection teams haven’t brought anyone in. Only people dying…”

“Shh. Don’t speak carelessly.”

Some were having more realistic conversations.

Though I couldn’t hear everything, I could hear more than ordinary people would.

People seemed confused by our appearance.

Moreover, the people in this safe zone seemed unable to let go of their old common sense.

Being in a relatively safe place with many people gathered, it seemed their old values were better preserved than elsewhere.

From the gazes and conversations of the people, it seemed none of them believed we were real.

While eavesdropping on people’s conversations, I asked our two guides what I was curious about.

“There are more people than I expected. There doesn’t seem to be any stored food in the school, how do you manage supplies?”

At my words, the senior looked troubled, but the loose-lipped junior quickly answered again.

“We have teams that go out to bring back food.”

Jahina tilted her head at his words.

“What? But you’re surrounded by undead. It seemed difficult for ordinary people to pass through. Are there more people who have awakened to mana?”

“Is that what they call people with supernatural powers elsewhere? Besides the apostle who made this school a sanctuary, there are two more people with powers. However, neither of them has anything to do with the food retrieval teams.”

The junior’s expression wasn’t very pleasant.

He seemed displeased with the awakened ones here.

“Claiming to protect the apostle, neither of them will consider going outside the safe zone. Instead, other people are literally dying.”

The junior’s words grew increasingly harsh.

The senior, who had been watching uncomfortably, cut in.

“The school has underground passages connecting to other blocks. They say it was built for wartime… Thanks to that, everyone’s managing to avoid starvation.”

Even at the senior’s words, the junior didn’t stop his criticism.

“But even that’s not easy anymore. There’s almost no food left nearby. People keep dying going far out to get supplies.”

“Enough!”

The senior finally silenced him, but the junior just pouted.

“They’ll hear it all after just one day anyway.”

Still, the junior stopped his complaints after that, and we looked around as we walked, just as others were watching us.

The tents covering the lawn were all different in shape and color, probably brought by people themselves.

The people watching us from beside the tents were also diverse.

While some families looked clean and well-fed, others wore dirty clothes and had gaunt faces from lack of food.

“Though they say they distribute fairly, it’s difficult to do it properly.”

Seeing me observe the people, the senior spoke up.

“Since people had different amounts of food before entering the sanctuary, and some steal or take from others…”

From seeing the patrol system, collection teams gathering food from outside, and two awakened ones serving as guards, I had thought that this ‘apostle’ who created the safe zone had established a proper system.

However, unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Theft and robbery within the safe zone…

Moreover, he hadn’t managed to collect food and supplies from people when they entered the safe zone.

Despite having the power to create and maintain a safe zone, he was running this place rather poorly.

“Is it because he’s from a democratic country, or is it just his personality?”

Either way, I would find out soon enough.

“Are we going to meet this apostle now?”

The senior shook his head at my question.

“Ah, we’re heading to the Population Management Department now. That’s where newcomers go first. I’m not sure if you’ll be able to meet the apostle after that.”

Oh? We might not be able to meet him?

“Of course they’ll meet! They blew away the skeletons and entered here. They seem much stronger than those so-called powered people, why wouldn’t the apostle want to see them?”

This time, even the senior nodded at the junior’s words.

Though I was curious, meeting this apostle wasn’t an urgent matter.

We’d meet eventually. I asked about something more pressing.

“Is this Population Management Department where you keep records of the people living here?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Not just records, it manages the actual residents themselves. It’s like a government office.”

Looking at this, it seemed well-managed in some ways.

I couldn’t help but be puzzled by the inconsistent administration.

The Population Management Department was located on the first floor of the Central Museum building north of the Symbol Tower, in what used to be the Employment Support Center.

Though situated in a quiet building slightly off the main street, it was now as chaotic as a community center during a crisis.

“The rations are unfair!”

“Please, give us more food. Our children are starving.”

“The guy in the next tent stole our things!”

“There was a fight in our room and all our belongings are ruined. The guys who fought don’t care at all, please do something.”

People kept shouting at the women sitting at the reception desk, and women of various ages were frantically trying to listen to everyone’s complaints.

The chaos was so intense that neither the people nor the receptionists noticed our arrival.

‘Is this not a workplace but just a place to vent?’

However, seeing the twisted expressions of our two male guides, this wasn’t how it usually was.

Either way, it was difficult to move forward because of the commotion.

I was about to release some killing intent to clear a path.

But before that, a young woman’s shout rang out.

“Everyone be quiet! Anyone who keeps making noise will be the first to be recommended for the collection team!”

The shout came from a woman who looked like a college student in her early twenties, who had just come out from inside.

The noisy interior immediately fell silent at her shout.

“Please register in order without shouting. I’ll be watching.”

At her words, people looked at each other nervously before lining up again to register in turn.

As people found their places, the woman noticed us standing in the back.

“By the way, who are those people in the back? What brings you here?”

At the woman’s puzzled words, everyone turned their heads.

And they looked at us with surprised eyes.

Perhaps worried it would get noisy again, the senior quickly ran over and whispered in the woman’s ear.

“These people just came from outside. While we haven’t confirmed about the others, the man in armor is powered. He pushed back the surrounding skeletons and zombies by himself to get in.”

Though he spoke quietly, my mana-enhanced ears heard it clearly.

At his words, the woman’s eyes widened.

“Come this way. I’ll handle your case personally.”

She led us inside.

Behind the reception desk was a small conference room enclosed by low partitions.

As we passed the reception desk, people murmured about us. However, perhaps due to the woman’s earlier warning, they weren’t as loud as before.

We sat around the table, and the senior-junior pair who guided us stayed instead of leaving immediately.

The woman who seated us brought paper cups of water and placed them in front of us.

“It’s been a long time since anyone came from outside. Could I hear the details?”

At her question, the two students who remained in the conference room told her about how they met us.

When she heard about skeletons and zombies being thrown up into the trees, the woman looked at me with sparkling eyes.

“Then that armor isn’t just cosplay, is it? Surely those ears can’t be real though?”

Jahina answered her question in an indifferent tone.

“They are real, actually.”

The woman stared blankly at Jahina’s ears.

“What?”

Jahina pushed her hair back and wiggled one ear.

“I’m sorry but… is it some kind of mutation?”

“No. It’s just a characteristic of our race.”

“Race…”

The woman’s expression grew increasingly bewildered.

The two college students who came with us looked similarly confused.

“Seems like there’s more to hear than I expected. I’m not sure if I should handle this alone without the team leader…”

As expected, there was a separate person in charge. Probably due to age.

When she paused, I spoke up.

“Let me first introduce our party members. I am Knight Jansen Egger. This is Jahina, Child of the Divine Tree, and this is Soldier Hoffman.”

The young woman bowed apologetically.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was so rushed I skipped introductions. I’m Park Yerim. I work at the Population Management Department.”

“It’s fine. You seem quite young, but your charisma is impressive.”

Despite not being in charge, everyone fell silent at the young woman’s words.

Even if the content was scary, getting everyone quiet at once wasn’t easy.

“Ah… that’s…”

The woman sighed, and the junior spoke up to explain.

“That’s because people believe Yerim was cured by the apostle when she was bitten by a zombie.”

“I told you that’s not true.”

The senior scolded the junior, but Park Yerim waved it off.

“Well, even if it’s not true, that’s what people believe. At least it makes controlling people a bit easier.”

Park Yerim.

It was the same name I’d seen recently. The same surname I’d seen on a nameplate.

I asked her again.

“May I know why you were in such a hurry?”

At my words, she sighed.

“My father is outside, so I thought I might hear some news…”

I asked her one last question.

“Did he work at the water treatment plant?”

“You know my father?”

The woman stood up abruptly.

Though I had figured it out partway through, I hadn’t expected her to be someone I knew about.

I hadn’t kept asking her questions because I knew her, but for another reason.

The reason people fell silent at her words earlier wasn’t because she was close to the apostle.

Just as her not turning into a zombie after being bitten wasn’t because of the apostle.

The reason she didn’t become a zombie was that she had healed herself after being bitten.

She was an awakened one with mana.

There weren’t three so-called powered individuals in this safe zone including the apostle, but four.