Chapter 57 – New Official (1)

Despite the controversy, we eventually left the safe zone with Park Yerim.

We escaped the school through an underground concrete passage that was said to be built for war preparation.

The underground passage started from the basement of the building at the northern end of the school and extended to Daejeon Marshalling Yard Station far to the north.

We walked through the dark concrete passage holding flashlights.

“This underground passage is the only way to get outside while avoiding the zombies and skeletons surrounding the sanctuary.”

I could see everything inside the passage even without the flashlight.

But Yerim, seemingly scared of the dark passage, started talking without being asked.

“If we hadn’t found this passage, everyone would have starved to death in the sanctuary.”

It was obvious.

The food remaining at school couldn’t feed that many people.

“Now we can’t easily find food anymore since we’ve cleared out all the safe stores around the station.”

About a month had passed since the incident, so they must have gathered all the food that could be safely obtained.

More people must have died trying to get more, and now the collection team using this passage must have become truly dangerous work.

When we came out through the station’s basement, abandoned freight cars were lined up on the tracks.

It was natural to see freight cars lined up in front of the marshalling yard station, where train cargo was distributed.

All the freight cars lined up on the tracks had their doors wide open.

The collection teams must have opened the freight car doors looking for food.

“We were lucky.”

These freight cars seemed to have kept the safe zone from starving.

The surrounding residential and factory areas didn’t look easy to find food.

The collection teams must have been taking credit for bringing food from the freight cars at the station.

And when the freight cars ran out of food, they must have died searching the surroundings.

In fact, it wasn’t much different from the previous story.

People died going to dangerous places to find food.

Rather, seeing those abandoned freight cars gave me an idea.

If not food, other items might still remain.

And if freight cars were abandoned like that, there might be intact ones too.

While roads were often blocked by cars, railways weren’t.

If we needed to move later, it might not be bad to get a freight car and move along the tracks like in movies.

But we had other things to do today, so I just kept the idea in mind and left the station.

After leaving the station, we moved southeast.

Passing the fire station and following the road beside the apartment complex southward, we came to the water treatment plant.

We entered the water treatment plant.

* * *

“If it weren’t for the clothes you’re wearing, even I, your daughter, wouldn’t recognize you.”

Yerim closed her eyes looking at the corpse mermaid lying on the floor.

“If you had become a zombie, at least some of your appearance would have remained…”

Yerim seemed to regret seeing her father who had become a corpse mermaid.

“That’s why I said it would be better not to come together.”

Hoffman clicked his tongue seeing her reaction.

He had opposed when she said she wanted to go with us.

The reason was that her father had died before, and the corpse mermaid’s remains weren’t her father’s body.

Hoffman was right.

This wasn’t my first time seeing such scenes while fighting the Demon King.

Many people wanted to see their dead family again, and many wanted to put their undead loved ones to rest.

Most of those people greatly regretted seeing their family and lovers who had become undead.

There was no beautiful farewell they had imagined with the undead.

The undead weren’t their dead family, but merely monsters wrapped in death energy.

Though I was emotionally against it, I allowed her to come along.

It was to confirm what abilities she possessed.

Since she prevented becoming undead while awakening, her abilities were likely related to that field.

Purifying the surroundings, healing people…

Or maybe even making potions!

Our current party was far better than I initially thought.

Though a free knight, we had a knight, and though a former thief, we had a thief.

Plus, though somewhat ambiguous, we had an elf with abilities similar to a mage.

Thinking about it now, it was a much better party than the one I came with to this world.

However, our party was missing one profession.

That was a cleric.

But since they were rare even in the other world, I had given up on finding one in this world where clerics didn’t exist.

However, here in Daejeon, there was a cleric. An impressive one who could create a safe zone.

Though it was impossible for that cleric to move with us.

He had to maintain the safe zone, and moreover, he was the type of person I absolutely didn’t want as a party member.

‘A person who could easily become an enemy with the slightest misalignment… or maybe he’s already halfway there.’

If it weren’t for the safe zone, I might have crushed him when he picked a fight.

No, others would have dealt with him before that.

Fortunately, there was an alternative besides him.

That alternative was Yerim, who was now crying with her head turned away.

If we could draw out her abilities and persuade her well, we could get help until the gate opens.

We’d already buttoned up the first step by delivering news of her father, so if we maintained good relations going forward, even if she didn’t become a party member, we could stay close.

Connections with clerics who had healing or purification abilities were a great blessing for those fighting the undead.

Potions alone were often insufficient when fighting the Demon King’s army.

Among the Demon King’s subordinates were liches who cast curses, wraiths who corrupted minds.

And even monster-class undead that spread powerful death energy.

When fighting such undead, a cleric’s blessing was essential.

Moreover, potions weren’t always available.

Like us now running low on potions, they were always scarce consumables.

That’s why we needed a cleric.

A cleric who could heal and purify.

A cleric who could make potions!

Though the mages said they would open the gate as soon as possible, we couldn’t know when that would be.

Being prepared in advance would help us deal with late openings or other problems.

We’d already confirmed one of Yerim’s abilities on our way to this water treatment plant.

It was the ability to make undead wary.

We easily reached this water treatment plant not only because there were fewer undead than before, but also because the undead tried to distance themselves from Yerim.

Of course, they didn’t flee just from her approaching, so there were still fights, but it was much easier to deal with undead when with Yerim.

‘Perhaps similar to clerics using purification abilities.’

Even in the other world, undead would flee when clerics used powerful purification abilities.

Though not usually the case, the results were similar.

‘It would be good if she could heal too… even better if she could make potions.’

As Yerim requested, we buried her father, who had become a corpse mermaid, in a nearby flower bed.

Actually, cremation would have been safer, but we couldn’t refuse the request of a potential cleric.

“Thank you.”

Yerim looked at her father’s grave, then bowed to us.

Yerim’s sincere thanks gave me great satisfaction.

This was another step forward in getting a cleric party member.

“So, are we going to scout the area now?”

I shook my head at Hoffman’s question.

“We can’t do that when we have someone to escort.”

I raised my arm, pointing first to the northwest direction we came from, then to the west where the safe zone was.

“We’ll just check while taking a different route back. We’ve already roughly checked on our way here.”

“True… I noticed the numbers were drastically reduced when we came.”

Yerim tilted her head at Hoffman’s words.

“What numbers are you talking about?”

Zahina kindly explained to her question.

“The undead, the dead ones you call zombies, were much fewer than when we first came.”

After Zahina finished, I spoke to Hoffman and everyone.

“More than half were gone. We just need to check the number of skeletons surrounding the safe zone.”

Just confirming the sudden change in undead numbers would complete today’s reconnaissance mission.

Plus, we’d identified several unconquered convenience stores and marts on our way here.

“The question is why they decreased…”

Hoffman shrugged at my words.

“That’s for the people in the safe zone to worry about. As scouts, we just need to deliver accurate information.”

Though Hoffman answered indifferently, I couldn’t do the same.

“That would be true if there were people who could find the real reason with that information.”

There weren’t any reliable officers or administrators in the safe zone.

“Wouldn’t… our team leader know?”

I could only give a bitter smile at Yerim’s words.

Yerim seemed to respect Team Leader Seo Eun more than I expected.

However, unfortunately, I knew the Personnel Management Department’s team leader better than Yerim did.

If she hadn’t changed from two years ago, she was an excellent administrator but not a good strategist or advisor.

Though not knowing about Seo Eun, both Zahina and Hoffman shook their heads at Yerim’s words.

The party members were well aware that people in this world were still ignorant about the undead.

We escorted Yerim back to the safe zone along yesterday’s route.

As expected, the undead numbers on the return path were also reduced by more than half.

The same was true for the zombies and skeletons surrounding the safe zone.

No, the skeletons were completely gone.

Upon returning to the safe zone, Seo Eun and others welcomed us.

People gathered to comfort Yerim when told we had properly buried her father,

And Seo Eun smiled happily seeing our safe return.

“Now no one will doubt your skills.”

She specifically emphasized the word ‘skills.’

It seemed they could believe in our skills but found it hard to believe we were from another world.

Afterward, I reported the undead numbers we saw outside to Jaeha, a psychic who came with Seo Eun.

While Seo Eun and Jaeha were delighted about the decreased undead numbers, my party members and I didn’t look pleased.

The two might have thought it would be easier to gather food with fewer undead, but we knew better.

Such a sudden decrease in undead numbers wasn’t a good sign.

A sudden decrease in undead was similar to the ocean’s water suddenly receding before a tsunami.

Undead suddenly decreasing meant the Demon King’s army was gathering nearby undead.

And naturally, the Demon King’s army gathered undead for attacks.