Chapter 62 – Memories (2)

To people’s questions about where we came from, I had Yerim answer.

“I’m Park Yerim. We came from Hanbuk University sanctuary.”

At Yerim’s answer, the people watching from the third floor shouted in surprise.

“Hanbuk University?”

“Isn’t that the place zombies can’t enter?”

“Right, they called it a sanctuary! Are they really from there?”

Having Yerim speak proved to be the right choice.

The suspicious looks seemed to disappear completely at her response.

Instead, they made a fuss trying to let us in.

“Where’s the rope? Lower the rope!”

“It’s over there. I’ll get it!”

Some even ran inside to fetch ropes.

As the commotion opposite to moments ago broke out, my friend, no, my friend from my previous life, shouted again.

“Wait a moment. I understand everyone’s excited, but please wait. We can let them in after proper verification.”

The commotion stopped immediately at his words.

People closed their mouths and looked down at us, while he scratched his head with an awkward expression.

“I said verification, but we have no way to verify. Still, their attire is unusual for people from the sanctuary, so we should check…”

At his words, Yerim introduced us.

“These people are psychics who entered the safe zone a few days ago, breaking through the zombies and skeletons surrounding the sanctuary. They’re all amazing psychics, and with their help, we’ve been scouting the area for days.”

“You came from outside?”

“From the north, from Seoul.”

Though we came from another world before Seoul, telling that here would make the conversation endless.

“What? Seoul?”

Fortunately, mentioning Seoul seemed to dispel questions about our attire.

Instead, he asked something else. A completely unexpected question.

“Then do you know about the giant monster heading south?”

I had to frown at his question.

If it was about a giant monster in this world, I had only seen one.

“You don’t mean the giant octopus?”

At my words, he looked at the person beside him.

“So it wasn’t a lie.”

Though he spoke to the person beside him, I could hear clearly.

“Unless they both coordinated their stories.”

“The person who told us is already dead, so they couldn’t have coordinated.”

After exchanging such words with the person beside him, he turned and shouted to me.

“Seems verified. We’ll lower the rope, please come up.”

Honestly, except for Yerim, we all could climb three floors, but we waited for the rope.

“Blocking ground entrances and using ropes for access… It’s an excellent method for blocking ordinary zombies and skeletons.”

The barricades using building walls and making lower floors look like ruins were excellent methods for blocking zombies and other people.

Hoffman showed admiration, but it seemed natural to me.

It was just like Jin-su, my friend from my previous life.

He was a walking encyclopedia with great leadership and personality – truly multi-talented.

There was a reason I respected him as a friend.

I wasn’t the only one who liked him. Other friends and most people who knew him liked him too.

Unfortunately, Seo Eun, my lover from my previous life, found him uncomfortable,

Well, people can’t get along with everyone.

We climbed up to the third floor using the rope they lowered.

Yerim was the only one they pulled up.

Before people could pull the rope, Zahina and Hoffman quickly climbed up, and I also climbed to the third floor in my armor.

“Ugh… Am I out of shape? I feel stronger but can’t climb up alone.”

“That’s normal. Even strong men find it difficult to climb three floors alone with this rope.”

Despite the man’s words who helped pull her up, Yerim’s expression didn’t brighten.

Though it was holy power, she knew she had awakened.

“After traveling together for about a month, you’ll be able to do it alone.”

I handed the rope to the man looking at me in surprise while speaking to Yerim.

“That means you’re going to work me hard! I’ve figured out how the party leader talks now!”

Yerim glared at me as she spoke.

At her words, I looked at the other party members who had climbed to the third floor.

Both Hoffman and Zahina turned their heads at my gaze.

I wondered who had said such things… apparently both had.

Well, it was fortunate in a way.

Hearing such talk meant Yerim was getting along with our party members better than expected.

I seemed to have gotten closer with our party members too.

To talk about me behind my back, excluding me.

I felt I should try to get closer too.

The people in the government complex guided us further up.

Fourth floor, fifth floor, we kept climbing past obstacles piled at each stairway.

When asked how far up we were going, the man walking in front answered.

“We live above the tenth floor. It’s inconvenient, but we follow because Captain Jo said safety is more important.”

I nodded at his words.

Though not perfect, it was good they had prepared this much despite knowing nothing.

As he finished speaking, the person beside him continued.

“It’s all thanks to Captain Jo. When we couldn’t enter the sanctuary and everyone was scattering in all directions, the captain led us here. And all these obstacles were his suggestion too.”

Finally, in our third encounter with survivor groups, we seemed to have found a decent leader.

I was satisfied that the leader was my friend from my previous life.

We climbed to the tenth floor while listening to praise for the one called Captain Jo.

“Whew, this is really tough. It’s hard enough just climbing, and they’ve added obstacles…”

We were fine, but the people who came up with us and Yerim looked somewhat tired.

Jo Jin-su, my former friend who arrived first, wiped his forehead and guided us to an office near the stairs.

“This is an office we use like a conference room. The interior’s a mess, but that’s similar for other offices too.”

As he said, the office was desolate.

All partitions had been cleared and piled to one side, with only a long conference table made of joined tables and chairs messily arranged behind it visible.

Still, it was better than offices turned to ruins.

We sat in a row at the conference table, while Captain Jo and others sat opposite us.

The remaining people stood at the back until, at Captain Jo’s word, they took seats in empty chairs behind.

Twenty men and five women.

These were all the people gathered in the conference room besides us.

“Are these all the people here?”

“There are more resting, but most are here.”

I looked around at the people.

They looked dirty, tired, and hungry.

Typical refugees you’d see in this kind of world.

Noticing me examining the people, Jin-su, Captain Jo, spoke up.

“Getting food has been difficult. We solved water with the rooftop water tank, but there isn’t much, and being government complex buildings, there wasn’t much food left.”

As he spoke with a gloomy face, one woman watching shouted angrily.

“That’s why the captain went out to get food himself!”

Others nodded at her words.

But Captain Jo shook his head.

“I tried to get food from outside several times, but only lost many people who went with me. We brought back some food, but it was too little considering those who died. It was all my fault.”

He bowed his head again, and everyone raised their voices to comfort him.

I clicked my tongue watching this scene.

Apologizing to people despite doing his best, and people acknowledging and comforting him…

Plus, the subject being my friend Jin-su, my previous self would have been very impressed and moved.

‘I really have become a different person.’

But now I felt nothing watching the scene before me.

Rather, it felt boring and troublesome.

It must be because my emotions had dried up from the harsh life in the other world.

I sighed and said to him.

“I understand the situation. However, I think we both have things to say.”

“Ah… You must have something to do.”

“Yes, we originally came here while scouting the area. After hearing your situation, we need to move again.”

Hearing my words, people jumped up.

“No!”

“Didn’t you come to take us?”

Only then did I remember these people had tried to enter the safe zone but had to flee.

Should we take them back?

Personally, I wanted to take them since my friend was here, but I didn’t have that authority right now.

I looked at Yerim.

Though Yerim wasn’t a representative of the safe zone, she was in the management department, so I decided to hear her opinion.

“Fortunately, the food situation has improved, so people would be happy if everyone came. The collection team has rescued people before too.”

“Looks like about 30 people, can we just take them?”

“Yes. We haven’t been refusing people who come. It would have been difficult before with the numbers, but now it should be fine since we can get food.”

Yerim’s eyes sparkled as she looked at us while saying this.

People started talking loudly again at Yerim’s words.

“But can you take this many people to the sanctuary?”

“They’re psychics who can defeat zombies and skeletons.”

“I heard there were psychics in the sanctuary, but can they really defeat zombies and skeletons?”

“They must be able to, that’s why they came here.”

I had a question about what people were saying.

“Ms. Yerim, how did you know there was a survivor group here? The people here seem to know about the safe zone too…”

Yerim answered my question.

“Ah, we briefly had radio contact with this place initially. But the batteries died quickly.”

A person from the government complex sighed hearing this.

“Everyone had such a hard time then. We barely made it thanks to Captain Jo encouraging us.”

“See, following the captain’s words brought us this chance to live.”

Eventually, the story turned into another tale praising Jin-su.

Anyway, one of my questions was answered by Yerim’s words.

Now one question remained.

They had just said they’d never seen psychics.

But there was a psychic, an awakened one, among them.

And it was someone I knew well.