Chapter 65 – Terror (1)

Naturally, in these times when even food was scarce, they had nothing to give us as compensation.

They couldn’t make an ‘offer,’ so I finally stated what I wanted.

“Since you have nothing to give, you’ll have to pay with information.”

Both the office representative and others nodded, seeming to understand my words.

If they couldn’t give material things, information was all that remained.

“Information… Would telling you about our experiences suffice?”

“Well, since you said you’re scouting, we’d need such information. Knowing about marts or warehouses with food would reduce search time.”

People relaxed when they heard I wanted information and started talking among themselves.

“But we would have told such things without being threatened.”

“Maybe it’s just for show? To show how angry we are…”

“Is that so? Were they really good people after all?”

People continued expanding their conversations.

Feeling misunderstandings might grow if I stayed quiet, I explained more details to the representative.

“The information I want is the documents remaining in this government office. Since everything happened suddenly, you wouldn’t have packed documents separately, so they should all be here.”

“…I hadn’t thought you’d want that. I’ll show you the archives location.”

“I’d like both the archives location and any separately organized documents.”

Though the friend I respected in my previous life had disappeared, I had known Jin-su as a person for a long time.

Though I hadn’t known his true intentions, I knew how he would act in such situations.

Jin-su wouldn’t have just spent time idly in the government office.

No, since he said he led these people here while escaping, he must have come to the government office deliberately.

He probably had something to find here.

And he must have found it. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have followed us.

He wouldn’t tell what he found, but I didn’t want to know that either.

I wanted different information.

When I requested the separately collected documents, people looked at me with surprised eyes.

The representative also seemed to have no more thoughts of making excuses.

“…You knew about the separately collected documents too?”

Probably because others also knew he had collected documents.

He couldn’t have searched this large building alone. Others must have helped.

Though he now seemed completely resigned, I was no longer fooled.

Even while saying this, he would surely omit information important to him.

Sighing, he handed me a paper with the building’s cross-section.

The paper showing the government office’s internal structure had various markings.

Vending machine marks, cafeteria marks, barricade locations, etc.

Though seeing these marks for the first time, I could understand them at a glance.

“Places with many remaining documents are marked there too. The basement archives entrance is also marked. Since we won’t return here, we no longer need that map.”

As expected, he was a person of remarkable ability.

To prepare so thoroughly even in this situation.

Well, with such abilities, it’s no wonder people followed him without doubt.

“The archives can be found with that…”

He put down his backpack and went upstairs with several people.

The remaining people watched us anxiously, but I waited leisurely for their return.

Shortly after, he and the others came back down with documents filling both hands.

“Since you didn’t specify what information you wanted, we brought everything. Actually, even if you had specified, it would be hard to organize it all today.”

He spoke to me with an apologetic face, but now I could clearly feel the emotions contained in his eyes.

He had no intention to help, and his twisted malice flowed freely – if we could take it, then try.

He had deliberately brought all the documents.

Such cute malice was very helpful to me.

“It’s fine. No need to organize.”

After briefly looking through the stacked documents, I opened my pouch and pushed them in.

The documents endlessly went into the thin, small pouch.

The representative and others blankly watched the scene.

Though I had nearly filled two pouches with food, various supplies, and precious metals since coming here, there was still room for these documents.

“What’s that? Some kind of magic pouch?”

“Who knows.”

I shrugged at the representative’s question and attached the pouch to my waist.

The mountain of documents that had been piled in front of us had completely disappeared.

“Then let’s depart. We’ll go down first.”

I came down with the party members.

When all party members jumped down from the third floor, Yerim, left alone, grumbled again.

“Can’t we go together?”

“It’s just the third floor. Yerim, you can just jump down too.”

As Hoffman said, Yerim, who had awakened in the priest class, could easily jump from the third floor.

But Yerim pouted at Hoffman and grabbed the rope hanging on the wall.

“This is a psychological issue. Do you think I’m the same as Uncle Hoffman?”

It seemed Yerim had already decided on how to address Hoffman.

Hoffman was also speaking comfortably with Yerim.

Contrary to expectations, she was getting along well with Zahina too.

Am I perhaps the only one still awkward with Yerim?

Surely not.

While I was thinking this, Yerim came down.

She dusted off her palms and asked me.

“But why did you take so many documents? Though it’s not a problem thanks to the mysterious pouch, it’s still all just baggage, isn’t it?”

Well, in this ruined world, most of these government documents seemed useless.

From the brief look while collecting them, most seemed to contain useless content like building registrations, census surveys, and government emergency guidelines.

“It’s fine even if they seem useless. These documents are gifts for people who will come later.”

The documents I collected were meant to be handed over to superiors, bureaucrats, and nobles who would come through the gate.

“While we just need to deal with the undead and current people, they’ll be curious about this world itself. When they come over or we return, they’ll surely ask detailed questions about this world. These are materials to hand over then. They’ll eagerly accept national documents from this world.”

…That was my official reason for wanting the documents.

At my words, Yerim from this world frowned slightly, but both Hoffman and Zahina nodded.

Indeed, it was a well-received excuse.

It wasn’t just an excuse since I actually intended to hand them over.

However, that wasn’t my main reason.

Jin-su had collected documents better than I expected.

It seemed unnecessary to come back here to check the archives.

Even from a quick look, almost all the documents I needed were included.

First, from documents like government emergency guidelines, I could deduce locations of armories and government shelters.

Looking at Daejeon area property registrations and current status was easier than asking people about warehouse and store locations.

Comparing registrations and property tax payment records would immediately reveal where rich people lived and where gold and silver shops were.

While other things were good compensation too, the last one was truly excellent compensation.

This level of compensation made friendly and safe service possible.

People came down the rope one by one.

About 30 people, mostly men. Though they looked tired in worn clothes, their expressions weren’t bad.

The representative stood at the front of those who came down.

Though he had said he would stay earlier, he was allowed to leave with everyone (forgiven?) and kept his position as representative.

“How interesting. There were clearly suspicious things, yet they all trust and accept it like that. Is it because of his excellent speaking skills, or is there another reason?”

“Sister! You shouldn’t say such things! Others can hear!”

Yerim tried to cover Zahina’s mouth in surprise, but Zahina instead waved to the representative.

“It’s fine. No one except the person involved can hear. Right?”

At her words, the representative turned his head with an awkward expression.

“Even without that damn personality, still a frightening race.”

I had to nod at Hoffman’s words.

The return journey was neither dangerous nor difficult.

We had already cleared the path when coming to the office in the morning, and our party had a priest and naturalist who hindered undead approach.

With Zahina concealing people’s presence and Yerim blocking approaches, dozens could walk through undead-infested land.

Naturally, the two couldn’t completely block zombie approaches, but I handled all that slipped through.

Of course, I couldn’t protect all directions. Hoffman covered the rear that I couldn’t protect.

Since Hoffman could handle a few zombies sufficiently, I could run over and deal with them while he blocked.

Finally, as expected, the other awakened one was of no help at all.

Though he led the group holding a spear made from a kitchen knife, he showed none of his abilities.

Rather, he seemed to activate his stealth ability, as zombies approaching him couldn’t find him and tried to attack others instead.

Of course, I eliminated the zombies before they could bite anyone, but his self-preservation was quite unpleasant.

However, I was the only one who saw him preserving himself.

People just thought the zombies attacked others.

Rather, people seemed to trust him more for standing at the front in such situations.

‘But he’s changed too much?’

Before, he had hidden completely so no one could notice, but now it was quite risky.

Whether because the world ended or for other reasons, he seemed very different from several years ago.

‘Well, it doesn’t matter. He’s not my concern.’

If he became a hindrance, I could just remove him.

After bringing people back to the safe zone like that, instead of welcome, we heard unexpected news.

“The Apostle is injured. It’s terrorism. People attacked the Apostle. People tried to kill the Apostle when they learned there was an alternative.”

At those words, we looked at our party member who returned with us.

Yerim, who had unknowingly become an alternative to the Apostle, looked at us with a pale face.