Chapter 68 – Expulsion (2)

On the day we returned to the safe zone, we couldn’t properly relay the octopus monster story due to sudden incidents.

So I tried to meet Seo Eun early in the morning to discuss it.

But before meeting Seo Eun, we saw people pouring out onto the streets.

It was the first march of hundreds of people we’d seen since coming to this world.

They passed by our building, heading toward the memorial hall where the Apostle was.

At this unexpected situation, we quickly equipped ourselves and gathered in my room to observe through the window.

“Do you know what this is about?”

Yerim shook her head at my question.

“No. I haven’t heard anything except about the Apostle being attacked.”

“Could it be an official demonstration condemning the terrorists?”

Yerim tilted her head at my words.

“But the people here aren’t the type to voluntarily join such demonstrations.”

Well, though food was scarce, living in the safe zone without worrying about undead, people here probably hadn’t shed their past habits yet.

“Then what could it be?”

My question was answered by shouts from outside.

There were people shouting and inciting others among the crowd.

“With zombies outside, how can you expel people? Is the Apostle trying to kill everyone!”

“I didn’t believe the cult claims, but is your god a god who kills people, Apostle!”

“In a democratic society, trying to kill people for disagreeing! That’s not what someone claiming to believe in God should do!”

“The rations are tiny, and now you’re discriminating against people too?”

“Right. The rations are too small.”

“That’s right! The terror incident must be self-staged out of urgency because more people who could maintain the sanctuary appeared!”

“Right. How could you possibly be terrorists! You’re all respected people. This makes no sense!”

Though some unrelated comments were mixed in, from the shouts and incitement, we could understand why they were heading to the memorial hall.

It was the opposite of what I expected.

These were protesters opposing the Apostle’s oppression(!).

No, more precisely, they were a few people staging resistance protests and others who followed them out.

Most people probably left their homes to find out what was happening after hearing shocking news.

“Seems the Apostle issued expulsion orders after finding terror suspects…”

Yerim continued my words.

“It looks like people opposing the expulsion orders brought others along?”

I nodded at Yerim’s words.

“Seems notices went out to the involved parties early this morning. Telling them to leave the safe zone today. People who heard this brought others along like this.”

Yerim looked at me with surprised eyes.

“You can hear everything people are saying down there?”

“That much is audible. You saw during reconnaissance too.”

“I thought that was due to detection ability. To think you could hear sounds so well too.”

Yerim sighed at my words.

“It’s a skill you can use too. If you can handle mana, you can use it. I’ll teach you bit by bit.”

I answered kindly to her sigh, but my response seemed wrong.

Yerim’s sigh deepened.

“That’s not the problem.”

She lowered her head and whispered very quietly.

“That means you heard everything I said to myself too.”

Right after muttering, she lifted her head and asked me.

“You heard what I just said too, right?”

Though it felt strongly like I should say I didn’t hear, as party leader, I couldn’t easily deceive party members.

“I heard.”

At my answer, Yerim showed a defeated expression.

“I’m done for.”

Fortunately, Yerim’s despair didn’t last long.

Soon after regaining her composure, she worried about the current situation.

“So what happens now?”

“Since they’re gathering like that, the Apostle will probably come out and say something. Everyone’s probably going to hear that.”

I stood up from my seat.

“Let’s go listen too. Whatever happens, being on scene will help us react quickly to the situation.”

Plus, I needed to meet the management department head.

The Personnel Management Department head would be where people are, so following them would let us see them too.

We fully equipped ourselves and went outside where it had become quiet.

The people who came out had passed our building and gathered in front of the memorial hall situated inside the road.

There were more people than expected. Not just hundreds, but seemed like a thousand.

“Were there this many in the safe zone?”

“Usually there aren’t many people walking outside buildings so it looked like fewer. If there weren’t enough people, we wouldn’t be short on food even after raiding the cargo vehicles.”

At my words, Yerim looked at the people with a pitying expression.

Seeming unsatisfied with what she said, she spoke again.

“But considering Daejeon’s total population, this number is…”

I raised my hand to stop Yerim.

Comparing with normal times was unfair.

Comparisons with then were meaningless statistically and unhelpful. It would only dampen the mood.

We quietly walked and stood at the very back of the gathered crowd.

Some people turned around and were surprised to see our group, but having heard about us, they turned back toward the memorial hall.

However, some people kept staring at our group, especially Yerim.

Meanwhile, the shouts from among the people grew louder and more persistent.

“Come out, Apostle!”

“Step down, Apostle!”

“Just because a cult gained power, you’re harassing people! Even in this world, we must follow the law!”

Seeing the atmosphere gradually heating up, it seemed a riot might break out at this rate.

A riot in this situation.

Though absurd, it was also common enough that I could only shake my head.

So I decided to handle more urgent matters.

I spoke to the person beside me.

“Another hard day’s work.”

“What?”

Seo Eun looked at me with surprised eyes.

“Why do you say that?”

I had deliberately approached with my group to speak to her after seeing her standing at the back with her husband.

Though I thought I spoke normally, her reaction was unexpected.

Her husband standing beside her also looked at her questioningly, finding it strange.

“Ah, sorry. Mr. Yeager’s words remind me a lot of someone I knew.”

Ah, come to think of it, these were words I often said to her in my previous life.

‘Hard work today.’

‘You worked hard today.’

‘Love you today too.’

‘Loved you much today too.’

‘Thank you so much today too.’

Words I said to her every day while living together.

The words I spoke thoughtlessly resembled those words.

After apologizing to me, she looked at me again.

“Somehow you keep reminding me of him. Even though your height, appearance, and personality are all different, why?”

“Who are you talking about?”

At my words, she startled and lowered her head again.

“I’m sorry. Someone who’s already dead…”

I waved my hand, accepting her apology.

It wasn’t strange for Seo Eun to think of her dead former lover when seeing me.

Though the body was different and I’d lived another life, that person was still me.

Rather, I felt reassured by her words.

Anyway, she thought of me as someone else.

Since she, my former lover, had drawn this line, there wouldn’t be any misunderstandings(?) about my previous life.

“Ah, sorry. I keep talking about other things. Did you all come because you’re curious about what’s happening?”

After bowing several times, she asked me.

Since that was partly true, I nodded.

“I’m sorry, but I hardly know anything either. I only found out when I saw people gathering. My husband didn’t know either.”

Maybe that’s why her husband Jaeha’s expression wasn’t good.

If she didn’t know the current situation either, it was time to bring up what I needed to tell her today.

“That’s part of it, but there’s something I couldn’t properly tell you yesterday because we were busy.”

“Yes?”

“It’s about the octopus monster that the people at the government complex heard about.”

Seo Eun’s worried expression immediately relaxed at mention of the octopus.

“Ah, I heard about that too, but it’s just words from someone who’s already dead. It’s hard to trust information that’s passed through several people, and even if we believe it, we don’t know where it’ll go.”

“We’ve seen that octopus monster too. We saw it appear in the Han River and head south. They say they saw it coming down the Jungbu Expressway above Sejong City, so it’s definitely coming to Daejeon.”

At my words, Seo Eun stared at me and sighed.

“…Even if that’s all true, there’s nothing we can do.”

Her expression earlier wasn’t relaxed – she had given up.

She looked at the gathered crowd with a tired face.

“This place is a survivor community established solely on the fact that zombies can’t enter.”

Looking at the people, she turned to look at me and my party members.

“Except for you all, there’s no one who can fight zombies or survive outside the sanctuary.”

She smiled looking at Yerim after watching the party members.

“The Apostle, who was expelled as a cult leader, seized power because of his ability to maintain this sanctuary, and people gathered like this because they heard rumors that someone else could use that power.”

Yerim shook her head vigorously at Seo Eun’s words.

“Don’t worry, I heard too. Actually, the Apostle’s acting like this probably because he learned Yerim can’t control the sanctuary. Perhaps he felt relieved from his anxiety?”

She looked at the memorial hall with a puzzled expression.

“But it’s strange… He wasn’t the type to act so rashly without telling us…”

Well, I couldn’t be as certain about the Apostle as she was.

He had tested us from the start and was fanatical enough about his faith to be called a cult leader.

But Seo Eun had maintained this safe zone with him, so her perspective on him might be different from mine.

While Seo Eun and I had different thoughts about the Apostle, we both realized who had enticed the Apostle when he came out.

I laughed in disbelief seeing the man coming out with the Apostle,

“Jo Jin-su, that b*st*rd…”

Seo Eun clenched her fist watching the man.

Standing beside the Apostle who came out of the memorial hall was the representative of the government complex survivor group who had entered the safe zone yesterday.