Chapter 46

Deserters (4)

“So. Monsters showed up at your unit, and you figured you’d all get wiped out if you stayed there, so you decided to run?”

“Y-Yes…”

In a corner of the building. The soldiers were interrogating the deserters who had been disarmed and knocked down.

“And while you were at it, you thought the other soldiers whose defenses would collapse and get wiped out were, what, going to die anyway, so they might as well die a little sooner. Is that right?”

“T-That’s right.”

“You’re a bunch of real trash, aren’t you?”

Smack!

The soldier conducting the interrogation struck the deserter on the head.

If the target had been a junior, it would’ve been a sight to frown at, but,

‘Doesn’t really bother me.’

Those bastards were deserters who had driven their fellow unit members straight into death.

If anything, they deserved at least that much.

“Well. I get that you thought you were all dead anyway. If the ammo ran out, it would’ve been over.”

“W-What? N-No. We had plenty of ammo.”

“What? Then why did you think you were all dead anyway?”

“It’s just that… they’re monsters that are hard to kill even with bullets, and there were so many of them…”

The interrogation continued. The other soldiers and I stood some distance away, watching the scene. The time it took to subdue them was under five minutes.

Honestly speaking, even we were surprised by the result

“No matter what, they were soldiers with guns.”

“Were we always this strong?”

The soldiers reacted as if they couldn’t believe it, even though they were the ones who had done it. It had been quite a while since we awakened, but, up until now, we’d only fought monsters. We’d never fought humans.

Soldiers with guns were basically a symbol of modern military power.

To have subdued them this easily…It was only natural to be shocked.

“We’ve leveled up a lot over time, and the amount of buffs we get from Young-jun’s cooking is no joke. Of course this is the result”

“Oh, is that how it is?”

“When you think about it that way, it was a fight we could win, but it still feels strange.”

Of course, we couldn’t afford to be mistaken. What we subdued were deserters with guns. They weren’t a proper army with an organized system and defensive lines.

If it had been a real army…No matter how many awakened ones we had, even a hundred of us probably wouldn’t have been able to do much.

While we were chatting behind them.

The interrogation of the deserters continued.

“By the way. What do you mean you had ammo to spare?”

An interesting topic came up from the mouth of the soldier doing the interrogation.

And for good reason, we were in a situation where our ammo was almost depleted, after all.

I was comparatively less concerned about it, but the soldiers in the shooter squads seemed pretty worried about that part.

‘But these guys looked like they had plenty to spare.’

After subduing the deserters, I went around the building roughly with the soldiers.

What we found there was an enormous amount of supplies…Food and fuel, of course.

‘And a significant amount of ammunition, too.’

Food and such could be explained as having been obtained through looting. But the ammunition couldn’t be explained by looting alone.

Our unit’s shooter awakened ones accounted for more than half of our firepower. Right now, with them unable to fully exert their strength due to ammo shortages, information about ammunition was more important than anything.

“No matter what, how much ammo could a normal unit even stockpile for you to say you had plenty to spare? Come to think of it, the ammo you guys were carrying was a considerable amount too.”

“That’s because…”

But the answer that came out of his mouth was, more than we’d expected.

“Our unit is an ammunition supply unit.”

“An ammunition supply unit? What’s that?”

“Yes. It’s also called an ammunition battalion… simply put, you can think of it as a unit that manages ammunition that needs to be supplied to nearby units.”

“So it’s different from an ammo depot?”

“You can think of it as a lower-tier version of an ammo depot. If you’ve never done related work, it’s understandable you wouldn’t know.”

“Then where exactly is it?”

“It’s… not that far from here…”

An ammunition battalion.

At those words, the soldiers’ gazes focused on the deserter.

“If this goes well.”

“We might be able to solve our ammo problem in one go.”

If that happened, our situation would improve by a lot.

Guns consumed ammo and were loud, which were drawbacks, but, the firepower of our shooter squads was strong enough to offset those drawbacks.

‘Huh, that guy…’

Among the gathered deserters, one of them was slowly edging toward the corner. Maybe because the talk had shifted to ammunition, The other soldiers, focused on the deserter’s story, didn’t seem to notice.

“Hey, stop right—”

Just as I was about to stop the deserter who was clearly moving suspiciously.

“E-Everyone, don’t move!”

He jumped to his feet and shouted. What he was holding in both hands were, a pistol. And…The pistol in one hand wasn’t a big problem. But the problem was the other hand.

“A grenade, huh.”

Seeing that, I couldn’t help but frown.

“Didn’t we confiscate all their weapons?”

“Yes. We took everything they were carrying on them…”

“Tch, looks like he had something hidden in the room. The guys who checked that area, come see me later.”

“S-Sorry!”

The soldiers who had been in charge of searching the room turned pale.

Putting that aside…

“I said don’t move!”

“…”

“I know you’re monsters who can get to me before I even fire a shot. But can you withstand a grenade too? The moment I pull the pin, everyone in this room dies.”

“You won’t get out of this in one piece either.”

“I’m dead anyway. Might as well all die together. Right?”

The problem was how to deal with this guy.

Judging by the looks of it, he seemed pretty unhinged.

I glanced at the name tag on his uniform.

The name written there was Hwang Jinyoung. He was the very guy who had threatened us on the ground and whom I had personally subdued back then.

“Sergeant Shin.”

“Yeah.”

“Shall I handle it?”

Gwang-il, who was standing behind me, stepped forward slightly and said. Corporal Jeon’s physical abilities were overwhelmingly high even within our unit.

‘…Honestly, with this guy, it felt like he could deal with a grenade or whatever somehow’

“Wait.”

“Yes?”

I stopped Gwang-il.

He looked puzzled, but…

“We should give them one chance.”

I silently watched what they would do.

“What are you idiots doing?! Hurry up and grab the guns!”

Hwang Jinyoung shouted, still aiming the pistol at us with the grenade in his other hand.

At that, the deserters who had been kneeling during the interrogation got up.

“Well done!”

“Jinyoung, you bastard. I knew I could count on you!”

“Heh heh, looks like the tables have turned.”

The deserters moved toward the guns that had been piled up separately in the corner.

That was when, I looked at them and spoke.

“You guys.”

“Huh?”

“Are you sure you won’t regret this?”

In my own way, I was trying to give them a chance.

“Heh heh. Now you’re finally scared?”

“No regrets, you piece of shit.”

“What regret? Can’t you read the situation?”

Their attitude was completely different from how submissive they’d been just moments ago.

At this point, giving them a chance was meaningless.

“Sigh.”

I let out a breath and called Gwang-il’s name.

“Gwang-il.”

“Yes. Corporal Jeon.”

“Take care of it.”

The order I gave to my subordinate. And the response to that order was not…

‘Yes, sir!’

Or…

‘Roger!’

It was…

“Grrrr…”

A grotesque sound like the growl of a beast. The unit’s strongest warrior, and the ‘Berserker’ awakened one, Corporal Jeon. Madness spread through his body.

Boom!!

That massive frame charged straight at the deserters.

“You think I’m joking?!”

Jinyoung’s reaction to that sight was immediate.

Ping!

He actually pulled the pin and threw the grenade high.

‘Crazy bastard. I didn’t think he’d actually throw it.’

“Y-You crazy bastard!”

“What the hell are you doing, actually pulling it?!”

“Screw you, bastards! If I’m gonna die, we’ll die together!”

Even the other deserters looked flustered by that sight.

If the grenade went off, it was obvious that no one in this room would come out unscathed. But…

“Eh. Doesn’t really matter.”

From where I was watching.

I didn’t particularly feel like it was dangerous.

“Graaaargh!!!”

With a beast-like roar, Corporal Jeon sprinted.

His hand shot toward the grenade in midair. The grenade had been thrown high. But with a freakish leap that didn’t seem possible for that body frame, Corporal Jeon jumped up high.

Like a dog snatching a toy in midair, he easily caught the grenade and…

“Grrk!”

Threw it out the window.

Boooom!

The grenade exploded outside the building. The massive explosion and shockwave could be felt even from where we were.

“You crazy monster bastard!”

Seeing that, Hwang Jinyoung fired the pistol at Jeon Gwang-il. But…

Bang, bang!

“Grrk…!!!”

“T-The bullets didn’t even work?!”

He’d endured assault rifle bullets. There was no way a mere pistol could penetrate the uniforms we were wearing.

Crash!

In the end, the deserter named Hwang Jinyoung was slammed into the wall, his head grabbed in Gwang-il’s hand.

“…Huh?”

“What, what just happened?”

“What the hell did we just see…?”

From the moment Gwang-il leaped to the moment he subdued Hwang Jinyoung, not even five seconds had passed.

The situation had turned around in an instant. The deserters who had been moving to grab the guns muttered in confusion.

“Grrrk!”

“Uh, uhh…”

“D-Don’t come near me!”

The smug expressions they’d worn just moments ago, thinking they’d seized victory, were gone.

Overwhelmed by Gwang-il’s gaze as he let out beastly sounds, the deserters shrank back.

“H-Heh… these crazy, monster bastards.”

Hwang Jinyoung, rubbing his face against the wall, spoke.

“That was my last-ditch effort, but it didn’t do a damn thing.”

“Nice try. But you should’ve picked your opponent.”

If the soldiers here hadn’t been us or at the very least, if Gwang-il hadn’t been here, It might’ve actually been a pretty effective move. But from the start, it wasn’t something that would work on opponents like us.

“Heh… do whatever you want with me now.”

“Hm?”

‘By the way, this Jinyoung guy. He’d been acting strangely arrogant this whole time, as if being a deserter somehow made him special.’

“Hey, Ajusshi.”

“Kill me or spare me, do whatever you want.”

“I don’t know if this is some middle-schooler edgelord act or what, but.”

He still didn’t seem to grasp the situation. So I decided to explain it to him a little.

“I don’t think we’re the ones who get to decide what happens to you.”

“…What?”

Just then, from far away, strange sounds could be heard.

Kaaaak…!

Grrk!

Kieeeeeee!

“This sound is?”

“The sound of them coming.”

“C-Coming?”

The guy who’d been acting so bold asked in a noticeably anxious tone.

I asked back, genuinely dumbfounded.

“What, did you think we don’t shoot guns because we can’t?”

“What are you talki—”

“We’re already trying to avoid making noise with gunfire as it is. And you go and throw a grenade? I was wondering what kind of lunatics you were.”

“Ah.”

Even a pistol made a considerable amount of noise and on top of that, a grenade explosion.

With that much racket, wouldn’t every monster and zombie in the area come swarming this way?

“W-Wait, no, um, sir.”

Only then did the deserters seem to realize what they’d done. They spoke in pitiful, ingratiating voices.

“P-Please. We were wrong. Just this once, please spare us.”

“Like it or not, we’re all soldiers, right? We should help each other out in times like this.”

“I-If you just spare us, we’ll repay this favor someday—”

“The grenade and all that was Jinyoung’s doing! We already surrendered!”

“…You crazy bastards.”

The other deserters joined in, begging for their lives.

“So. You should’ve taken the chance when it was given to you.”

Sergeant Lee Minjae shot them a cold look.

“Sorry, but deserters are subject to summary execution.”

“What?”

“You should be grateful we’re not killing you ourselves.”

At those words, one of the deserters shouted in a voice thick with resentment.

“A-As if you guys are any different!”

“Of course we’re different.”

I replied nonchalantly, then turned back toward our soldiers and shouted.

“Lieutenant Kim!”

At that, Lieutenant Kim emerged from among the soldiers.

“Young-jun. Did you call?”

Seeing him, the deserters began to mutter.

“A l-lieutenant?”

“There’s even an officer here?”

“…Don’t tell me. These guys aren’t deserters?”

“But the survivors they enslaved said all the other units were wiped out. With monsters swarming like that, how could anyone have survived…”

When they’d talked about being in the same situation, I’d wondered for a moment.

Looks like they thought we were deserters like them.

Ignoring them, I spoke to Lieutenant Kim.

“Lieutenant Kim, please give the order. Order a retreat.”

“Understood. All units, retreat safely, as fast as possible!”

As Lieutenant Kim shouted, a strange vitality surged through our soldiers’ bodies.

『Commanding Shout — ‘Retreat Order’ resounds.』

『Bonus is granted to targets for disengaging from the battlefield.』

There was no way we had the leeway to deal with all the monsters that would soon be swarming in. Just as we were preparing to pull out immediately…

“W-Wait, don’t go.”

Someone grabbed onto my ankle.

A familiar face. It was Hwang Jinyoung, who had just been rubbing his face against the wall.

I looked down at him in disbelief.

“You were trying to die together with us earlier, and now this?”

You said we could kill you or spare you as we liked and now you’re begging for your life.

I wanted to just leave him here to die. But at the same time, a thought crossed my mind.

After seeing two of my juniors get killed by monsters right in front of me not long ago, I’d developed a small compulsion.

‘I don’t want to see humans being killed by monsters.’

It was a purely personal thing. But still, rather than leaving him to be helplessly killed by monsters, I didn’t like that option either.

‘If you’re going to be punished for desertion, then so be it.’

I decided to give them just one more chance.

Tak!

“Eat this.”

“T-This is?”

What I tossed in front of them was,

Jerky I’d just made recently…Combat rations.

‘Since they’re not awakened, the stat boosts won’t apply.’

But maybe the traits would still apply. It was impossible for me to save these guys. The only thing I could do was throw this to them and tell them to survive on their own.

‘If they have even a shred of will to live.’

Just picking that jerky up and putting it in their mouths would be enough.

『Deep Guilt of—』

The jerky had already been coated with 『Special Sauce』. If they ate that and somehow survived.

“After you eat it. If you acknowledge your sins, come find our unit.”

After that, they’d be wracked with guilt And when they came looking for us in that state, they’d receive punishment befitting deserters.

That was what I had in mind, but…

“H-Heh, jerky.”

“Is this you telling us to fill our stomachs before we die?”

Not knowing the effects of my combat rations, they couldn’t understand my intention. They threw away the rations I’d given them and sobbed.

“I-I won’t ask you to spare me.”

And then, some of them said this.

“Then at least… at least, could you just kill us instead?”

What they were begging for wasn’t their lives.

“D-Death is unavoidable anyway. We were supposed to die back at the unit in the first place, and… after losing everything because of you guys, even if we somehow survive here, we won’t live long.”

“…”

“B-But. We want to at least choose how we die. I don’t want to be eaten alive by monsters.”

Death was unavoidable. But there were different kinds of death.

If they were executed by our hands, at least the moment of pain would be brief. But…

‘Being eaten alive by monsters and zombies.’

That was a completely different story. A duration of pain and terror incomparable to a firing squad.

“So please…”

“I-I’m not even asking you to spare us! Asking you to kill us instead is something you can do, right?!”

Looking at them, I cursed inwardly.

‘You’re giving up this fast?’

I had done every desperate thing I could just to survive. If there was no hole to crawl through, I’d been ready to dig one myself.

But, these guys didn’t even try to struggle to live.

‘The most important thing is surviving.’

If they’d been my unit members, I would’ve shouted that at them. But…

‘They’re not my unit members.’

With a sigh, I spoke to the soldiers behind me.

“The pistols Gwang-il knocked away earlier.”

“Yes.”

“They should be rolling around somewhere in that corner of the room, right? Leave them.”

“…Is that really okay?”

“It’s practically impossible for them to escape from here anyway. They don’t have much ammo left, so they can’t go looting with those pistols either.”

Then I turned to the deserters.

“There should still be bullets left in the magazines. How you use them is up to you.”

“A-Ah…”

“Use them to kill monsters, or to kill something else. Do whatever you want.”

“Th-Thank you… thank you…”

If they had pistols, at least they’d be able to die comfortably.

And…If, just if,

‘Even one of them has the will to survive.’

With pistols, they might be able to survive somehow.

Especially,

‘If they eat those combat rations they threw away.’

Their chance of survival wouldn’t be zero.

‘I’ve made a hole for you to crawl through.’

Whether they’d crawl out of that hole with willpower, or choose a comfortable death instead, was up to each of them.

I shook off the guy clinging to my leg, and left the room with my unit.

“Hurry!”

“Understood—”

As we rushed to get out of the building as quickly as possible,

Bang…!

“…”

The sound of a pistol shot from upstairs. What that sound meant, before the monsters even arrived, every soldier here knew.

‘You stupid bastard.’

Even though I’d made a hole for them to survive through, they were so crushed by fear that they didn’t even try to find it.

‘I don’t know how many chose death.’

But guys that weak wouldn’t have survived long anyway.

“Young-jun! We need to hurry!”

“We’re in danger too!”

I’d be lying if I said my heart didn’t ache. But I didn’t have the luxury to worry about people who had already chosen death.

‘We’re different from them.’

Whether someone was a deserter or not wasn’t the important difference.

The most important difference was…

‘Whether you have the will to survive or not.’

As the sound of gunfire echoed, I made a vow to myself.

‘I will never die like that.’

Until the day I can open my own restaurant…I’ll survive, no matter what.

‘And to do that, first.,.’

The monsters that would be swarming in from all sides. We had to get as far away from this building as possible before they arrived.

With the awakened ones’ physical abilities. And with Lieutenant Kim’s buffs layered on top…

“This still won’t be enough.”

“What?”

“Then what do we do?!”

It didn’t look like we could completely escape before the monsters arrived.

If that was the case, there was only one option.

To the soldier who asked what we should do, I replied calmly.

“Everyone. Take out your combat rations.”

“What?”

“All the ones we’ve been saving up…”

In a situation like this, there was only one answer.

“Let’s eat.”

I took out a dish from my coat.

One of the combat ration series I had been saving.

And among them, one I had never tried even once.

『Light-Footed Sleipha Jerky Made with the Care of a Low-Rank Cook』

I had thrown it to those deserter bastards just now, but they’d tossed it aside themselves.

“A hole to survive through.”