Chapter 40

The Ghost of the Mart (1)

“Instead of telling you the location, I have a condition.”

She boldly proposed a deal. And that deal was something we needed as well. We really were short on food ingredients and medical supplies.

‘So she remembered what I said earlier.’

That we had plenty of meat but no other goods. Seems like she remembered something I said lightly, thinking she was just a kid. And I could guess why she hadn’t brought it up earlier, saving it until now.

‘She was probably testing whether we’d protect them or not.’

And then, when we showed signs of leaving, she finally pulled out the card she had been holding back.

That was probably it.

Thinking about it this way, she was cunning beyond her years. If I treated her leniently just because she was a kid, it might actually come back to bite me, so I decided to approach this more cautiously.

“Let’s hear it first. What’s your condition?”

“Please protect us.”

‘Well, I figured that would be it, but still…’

“Your condition is definitely tempting, but like I said already, it’s difficult To begin with… I’m not even sure I can fully trust what you’re saying.”

“I understand why you wouldn’t trust me. But really—”

“Ah, that’s part of it, but that’s not all. There’s also the issue on your side.”

I cut her off and began to persuade her.

“I know I’m only saying this now, but we’re different from survivor groups that mostly hide.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Our goal is to gradually expand our faction.”

Unlike survivors whose only goal is to scrape by day to day, we’re aiming for something beyond that.

“…A faction?”

“Well, we are struggling for now, but still.”

The world has changed.

And the rule this world presents is 『Occupation War』.

Grow your faction, and occupy territory.

As long as that’s the rule of the game, whether now or later, growing our faction is inevitable.

“In the process, we’ll frequently clash with monsters and zombies. Having more people isn’t just a good thing. It also means it’s easier for enemies to notice us.”

Even the official residence we’re using as our base right now is like that.

It wasn’t built with combat in mind. It wouldn’t be strange if monsters spotted it and turned it into a battlefield at any time.

“Staying hidden here might actually be safer than following us.”

“…”

“If you say you’ll join us later after things stabilize, we might accept you then. If the food we give you isn’t enough, we could even add a little more.”

If you’re going to make a deal, you should clearly lay out the conditions first.

I couldn’t confidently say that following us was safer than staying hidden here, that was what I was trying to explain. But…

“I still don’t want that.”

Her answer didn’t change.

“Even if it might be safer here, and even if you could come find us again later once things stabilize?”

“Yes.”

“Hm.”

She seemed pretty firm.

At this point, I was curious.

“Then at least tell me why. Why do you want to join us that badly?”

“That’s because…”

Maybe she just wanted to join a safe group. But we weren’t exactly an obviously superior option.

I had already explained that, and she still wouldn’t budge, which made it strange.

After hearing my question, Lee Suyeon hesitated for a moment.

Then, taking a deep breath, she answered.

“…It was terrifying.”

“What?”

“Living in hiding like this.”

I wasn’t sure what she meant at first. But what came out of her mouth was pretty dark.

“You know? We shut all the doors because we’re afraid someone outside might notice us, and we don’t even dare to move because we’re scared of making noise. And then. When you can’t see anything, and you don’t move at all… your hearing gets sharper.”

As if recalling those moments, a shadow fell over the girl’s face.

“Every time I heard a strange noise outside, I’d start wondering. What is that sound? Is it a monster? What if that monster finds us? Is this how we die, just like that? Stuff like that.”

“…”

“You barely make it through the day and fall asleep, and then the moment you hear some unknown sound, your eyes just snap open. You hold your breath, and Su-hyeok and I tremble together, just praying the sound will go away.”

That wasn’t something I had considered.

I had only thought that hiding might be safer, at least to some extent.

‘It really puts things into perspective…’

We, who had been in the military base, had it far better than the survivors on the ground.

She looked at me and said, “It was worse than you can imagine. There wasn’t a single day when I didn’t think about killing myself. If I had to keep living like this, I’d probably die from mental illness faster than anything else.”

“Hm.”

“Even if we end up dying in battle someday, I think following you guys will let us live longer.”

It seemed her resolve was firm.

There was no point in persuading her further.

Then the problem was on our side. Even if the kids wanted to join, we could still refuse.

The issue was the condition they had offered.

“That place where the goods are.”

And it wasn’t far from here.

I glanced back at Squad Leader Lee Sang-ah.

“…”

She was frowning, lost in thought.

When our eyes met, she spoke.

“What do you think?”

“Well, no matter how small the neighborhood is, there’s more than one mart or warehouse. There are plenty of other places besides this one. I can’t even guess which place Suyeon is talking about.”

“But you suggested we come to this mart after filtering through all those places. You must’ve had a reason for that, right?”

“That’s true. This mart was relatively small and remote, so not many people came here. Other places are more well-known, and more people know about them.”

Which means…

“Most of them were probably already visited by survivors, so in that case, we might as well…”

“Be guided to a place where there’s a higher chance that goods are still left?”

“Pretty much.”

Her judgment wasn’t wrong.

This mart itself wasn’t difficult to clear or anything. The problem was that it had already been visited, so there were no supplies left.

“I’m sorry, but that’s what it is. The place you’re talking about was probably already visited by someone too, so it’s not that valuable to us—”

“No. That’s not it.”

The girl shook her head and objected.

“The goods there are still intact. Maybe not all of them, but I’m sure most of them are still there.”

“How do you know that?”

“Because I saw it myself.”

“What?”

As Squad Leader Lee Sang-ah and I were taken aback by the unexpected answer, the girl continued.

“All the adults died there.”

* * *

To summarize what Suyeon said, it went like this.

“Your group went there to get supplies, and everyone except you and your brother was wiped out?”

“Yes.”

If that was true, then it did support her claim that the goods were still there.

She had actually seen that they were still there.

‘It did seem a bit strange that two little kids managed to survive on their own until now.’

It made sense if they hadn’t been acting alone from the beginning. They had joined a survivor group and survived together with them and recently, they had lost that group.

“Wait.”

At that moment, Squad Leader Lee Sang-ah stepped forward slightly and asked,

“Can you tell me who the people in that group were?”

“…? Yes. There were the two of us, and the leader was—”

Suyeon’s explanation continued.

After listening to everything, Sang-ah nodded slightly.

“Do you know them?”

“Not personally. But I’ve heard the names here and there.”

Because of their need to hide, survivor groups couldn’t grow very large, but whenever they ran into each other, they exchanged information. It seemed she had heard of that group during those encounters.

After thinking for a moment, as if recalling something, she said, “My memory’s a bit fuzzy, but I heard that the Awakener who led that group was quite strong. And there was another Awakener besides her.”

“Ah. You’re probably talking about Auntie Sun. She awakened as a warrior… And the second Awakener would be Cheol oppa.”

A warrior.

Squad Leader Lee Sang-ah fought pretty well herself, but her job, like mine, was a production-type class. She couldn’t match pure combat classes. A pure combat class like a warrior.

If the woman named Sun, who led that group, was a warrior, then her group was likely stronger than the group Sang-ah led. And not just that, she was famous for being strong.

There were two Awakeners in that group.

“So that kind of group was wiped out.”

If it were just ordinary survivors dying, that would be one thing.

But the annihilation of a group with two Awakeners couldn’t be taken lightly.

Of course, our guild, with more Awakeners, couldn’t really be compared to that survivor group, but we had no way of knowing how strong the thing that wiped them out was.

At minimum, strong enough to kill two Awakeners. At maximum, strong enough to wipe out our guild as well.

The monster ‘Mac’ we encountered at the steel warehouse was also overwhelmingly powerful.

There was no ignoring the possibility of a monster on that level.

At least with Mac, we managed to deal with it by feeding it. But there could be monsters that don’t even have the concept of eating.

And, after hearing Suyeon’s story, one thing bothered me.

“Let me ask you one thing.”

“Yes. Anything.”

“You said telling us about that place was the condition you offered.”

“That’s right. There were definitely enough goods there to supply all of you.”

Well, just hearing that much did make it tempting.

“But that condition. Is it really for our benefit?”

“Huh?”

From the sound of it, the two siblings and that group seemed pretty close. Close enough that the group sacrificed themselves to save the two of them. And the place she was guiding us to was where that group was wiped out.

“Are you trying to use us for your revenge?”

“…!”

“Wait a second, Commander?”

It wasn’t just Suyeon who was flustered by my words.

I stopped Sang-ah as she tried to intervene and said, “This is an important point. If it’s a deal involving information, it’s something we absolutely have to confirm.”

“…I didn’t lie about anything! And it’s true that there are supplies piled up there. You can check for yourselves if you go there!”

“Even if everything else is true, if your motive is false, it’s hard for us to accept the deal.”

The place Suyeon knew about wasn’t safe.

At the very least, it was a place where monsters capable of killing two Awakeners resided.

Yet she was offering information about such a dangerous place to us. Could we really be sure that she wasn’t trying to lure us into danger out of a desire for revenge for her fallen group members?

After hearing my question, Suyeon seemed to be at a loss for words, as if I had hit a sore spot.

Her gaze wandered aimlessly in the air.

“…To be honest.”

After a moment, she spoke, as if she had organized her thoughts.

“I won’t say I never thought about revenge.”

“S-Suyeon?”

“Hm.”

“They were people who were really good to us.”

If that was the case, then we couldn’t accept this deal. There was no way the guild could risk itself for the revenge of survivors we had just met today.

But, her words didn’t end there.

“That was in the past.”

“What?”

“Not now. I don’t want revenge anymore.”

“That’s surprising. Why? You’re not just saying that to get out of this situation, right?”

“Because…”

The younger brother, Su-hyeok, who had been sitting beside her listening to this conversation.

Suyeon turned her gaze toward him.

“Su-hyeok and I survived.”

“Hm?”

“There were people who died protecting us. If we obsess over avenging the dead and end up getting killed ourselves.”

“…”

“Wouldn’t that make their sacrifices meaningless? I don’t want to make the things they gave their lives for end in something so pointless.”

Looking straight at me, Suyeon said firmly, “My goal is simple. My survival, and Su-hyeok’s survival. Even if things go wrong and I die, I want my younger brother to live. If we stay here, we’ll probably die from mental illness anyway. I only offered that information because I thought it would be useful as a trade condition. I had no intention of seeking revenge.”

“Hm.”

“I’m telling the truth. Please believe me.”

Her top priority was survival…Staying alive.

“That’s similar to me.”

“Huh?”

She had seemed too bold when she suddenly proposed a deal, but I liked that part.

In this world, that kind of mindset was the best one to have… the optimal mindset for becoming a companion.

As she said, obsessing over the past and suffering losses because of it would be putting the cart before the horse.

“Let’s change the condition.”

“W-what is it?”

“Bringing you under protection is difficult We don’t have the leeway to protect anyone.”

“Then what’s the point of the deal—”

“Join the unit.”

At my proposal, Suyeon looked confused, as if she didn’t understand what I meant.

To her, joining and being protected probably sounded like the same thing. But Sang-ah, who had been listening beside us, seemed to understand and let out a sigh.

“Child soldiers… Do you really have to do it that way?”

“She wants it strongly herself, and if she awakens, her age won’t really be an issue. I’m not planning on throwing her into dangerous battles either.”

To begin with, there were already children in the survivor group Sang-ah had led.

Those kids were going to be awakened eventually too. If these two were included with them, it wasn’t that big of a loss. They wouldn’t be under protection, but would become unit members as Awakeners.

That was acceptable.

“So… does that mean you’ll take us in?”

“For now. The difference is that you won’t just be protected, you’ll have to fight alongside us.”

“I don’t mind that. Even when we were with the adults, we didn’t just sit around doing nothing.”

“Good.”

The deal was settled.

“Then first, tell us about the place you mentioned. Or rather, information about the monsters that killed the adults should come first.”

“Ah, that’s…”

“Hm?”

She hesitated when I asked about the monsters that wiped out the group.

I soon found out why.

“I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I saw the adults die right in front of me. But I never saw what the monster looked like. People just suddenly got holes punched through their bodies and were cut down in empty space.”

“What?”

What she described reminded me of a concept that, although I hadn’t seen it myself, felt oddly familiar. Almost like…

“As if a ghost appeared.”