Chapter 37

The Empty Supermarkets (1)

‘Is this Mad Max or what?’

Vehicles bristling here and there with horns, spikes, and blade-like protrusions. They had such over-the-top, end-of-the-world designs that it was almost ridiculous.

As I stared at them in disbelief.

“Salute! Sergeant Shin, you’re here, sir.”

Corporal Lee Gong-woo approached.

The guy puffed out his chest and asked proudly.

“So? What do you think of our masterpiece.”

“Well. How should I put this.”

It did look impressive.

In more ways than one.

“Haha. The design is a bit… much, right?”

He glanced at my expression, then chuckled awkwardly. It felt wrong to harshly criticize something they had clearly worked hard on. But I hadn’t expected him to bring up the design himself.

“Honestly, yeah. Is this your taste?”

“No way. We prioritized performance.”

At that, I turned my gaze back to the vehicles…Still covered head to toe in spikes.

‘…This is performance-focused?’

“Hey. Listen to this.”

He tapped the spike-like protrusions attached to the car.

“Before modifying the vehicles, the combat engineers held a short meeting among ourselves. And we came to the conclusion that these vehicles aren’t meant for road driving in the first place.”

“If not for road driving, then?”

“Huh? Well, obviously for combat.”

“On top of that, the nature of warfare has changed in many ways compared to before, when firefights were the main focus. The enemies are no longer soldiers holding guns, but monsters with claws. So shouldn’t we adapt accordingly?”

After hearing that much, one part of it finally made sense.

If the design was meant to deal with clawed monsters.

“These spikes. They’re meant to block monsters from getting close, right.”

“Exactly.”

It reminded me of scenes from medieval battlefields. Where they’d set up formations of sharp spears to block the enemy’s advance. Even in modern warfare, there was something similar. Barbed wire fences around military perimeters. These spikes and blades probably served the same purpose.

“They’ll function as weapons too. Look. If this vehicle charges straight through a group of monsters… see those blades on the sides? Those will slice the enemies to shreds.”

Lee Gong-woo made a slicing gesture with his hand.

The blades did look pretty sharp…If something got caught on them, even a graze would be fatal.

“Well. Against monsters as tough as lizards, it probably won’t do jack squat though.”

…Maybe not to that extent.

There were monsters out there that were ridiculously durable.

“But for zombies, it’d be more than enough to turn them into ‘zom/bies.’ Even if it doesn’t kill them outright, it’ll definitely mess them up.”

“Yeah. It does look pretty nasty to deal with.”

“Think of it as a hybrid between a barricade and a tank.”

At first glance, the vehicles had looked like promotional props from a movie. But now that I thought about it, the vehicles in ‘Mad Max’ were also combat-modified machines.

So calling this performance-oriented design wasn’t entirely wrong.

“And that’s not all. We also finished soundproofing as much as we could.”

“If this were a Mad Max vehicle, shouldn’t it be roaring around screaming like crazy?”

“Pardon?”

“Ah. Nothing.”

That was my inner voice slipping out.

“Ahem, anyway. It’s not completely silent, but we managed to significantly reduce the noise, so we don’t have to worry as much about drawing monster aggro. Defensive capability is a given too.”

“That really is impressive.”

Lee Gong-woo’s explanation continued after that.

“So this part here is—”

“You even thought about that?”

Details I would never have imagined. Every single one of them carried careful, practical consideration for real combat.

Before hearing the explanation, the vehicles had looked ridiculous.

But after hearing everything….I couldn’t think of more reliable machines than these.

“In the end, it was all possible because we had good materials. It’s thanks to you deciding to prioritize securing materials.”

“Don’t give me credit for that.”

Now that he mentioned materials…Something came to mind.

“So what happened to that thing?”

“Ah, would you like to take a look?”

The entity that had strengthened the materials.

I knew the engineers had taken it away, but I didn’t know what they’d done with it afterward.

“This way.”

Following the engineers.

I saw a small wooden building tucked away in a corner of the quarters. It looked fairly sturdy for something hastily put together.

“Be careful. It’s pretty vicious.”

Creak!

When the door opened.

Kyaaahhhhh!

A sharp screech rang out from inside, that monster we had captured before.

Kyaak! Kyaaahhhh!!!

Was it trying to threaten us in its own way?

The fluffy, cotton-ball-like body puffed itself up as much as it could.

‘It doesn’t feel threatening at all.’

Its actual body was small and fragile. At best, it felt about as threatening as a kitten hissing.

“You’ve been raising it in here?”

“Yes. It’s not very strong, so as long as we keep the door secured, it doesn’t seem capable of escaping.”

Ignoring the monster that kept hissing, I looked around the inside of the wooden building.

Basically an empty, small temporary structure. Aside from the monster, only a few steel plates were lying around inside.

“Is it okay to just leave those steel plates in there? That thing seems pretty hostile.”

“Yes. We did some tests. It doesn’t seem to pose much of a threat with steel plates at that level.”

“Hmm.”

This monster.

『Mac』 had the ability to strengthen metal. And its main food source was metal as well.

“If we leave metal at a non-threatening level in here, it seems to eat some of it as food. If you look here, you can see the gnaw marks.”

“Yeah, I see them.”

“But the amount it eats doesn’t seem very large. And this is the important part.”

He tapped the steel plate he was holding.

I could already guess what he was getting at.

『Reinforced by Mac’s mana.』

“The leftover steel plates that it doesn’t eat get strengthened by its mana like this.”

“So just by leaving materials in here, you can regularly obtain reinforced materials.”

“Yes. It seems to be instinctual.”

The reinforced materials were sturdy enough to withstand even awakened attackers. Just by building a simple wooden structure and placing materials inside, we could secure such resources.

“That’s insane efficiency.”

“Right? The reinforcement speed isn’t very fast for now, but we’re trying to optimize it. Once we accumulate a certain amount of materials, we might even be able to build things like walls.”

“Walls, huh.”

“Yes. Right now, soldiers are standing guard 24/7 to deal with monsters that wander in, but if we build walls, their burden will be greatly reduced.”

The combat engineers spoke proudly.

As I listened to them, I shifted my gaze toward the monster.

Grrrrrk…!

It was still puffing itself up, radiating hostility. What the engineers were doing wasn’t bad, but one thought crossed my mind.

‘There might be a better way to handle this.’

That monster, bristling with killing intent. From its perspective, we were unilaterally exploiting it. It was understandable that it would be angry. Either way, we were the ones benefiting, what we were doing now wasn’t bad.

But, there might be a more decent approach.

‘…Well. Things are working fine as they are for now.’

Maybe I didn’t need to interfere.

‘If I ever do step in, it can be later.’

When a situation arises that calls for a new method.

* * *

While the engineers were utilizing the materials. The other soldiers weren’t just sitting around either.

“We kept up regular patrols around the area, and we tried to secure supplies in our own way, but…”

‘But, how should I put this?’

“There wasn’t anything amazing.”

“Well, what can you do?”

The quarters we had settled into were in Inje County, which was already a small county-level town to begin with. And even then, the quarters were built far out on the outskirts, which meant the area had barely had any people to begin with.

That wasn’t entirely a bad thing. Since there were fewer people, there were fewer zombies, and the number of monsters roaming around in search of prey also seemed relatively low.

‘As long as we can’t use the mobile fortress.’

From a safety standpoint, this temporary base wasn’t bad at all for now.

‘The problem is resources.’

Food and fuel and various medical supplies, Items essential for survival.

Naturally, those things would be concentrated in places with high demand…

In other words, places where lots of people lived.

‘Which means this area is completely out of luck.’

And traveling long distances was dangerous too. So up until now, our operations had focused mainly on securing safety in the surrounding area.

“The engineers have finished modifying the vehicles.”

“Performance is better than expected. Enough that we can start operating more proactively.”

“Finally, we can actually do something.”

The reason we had rushed to secure materials was to make future operations easier.

Now that the engineers’ vehicle modifications were complete, we could finally move into full-scale operations.

“There should be a supermarket around here.”

The one who spoke up was Lee Sang-ah, the representative of the survivors.

She was a local who had actually lived around here. So she’d have more accurate information than us, who only went out on missions occasionally.

“Here. I didn’t go there often, but I remember seeing a small supermarket around this area whenever I passed by.”

“It’s pretty far out. I wouldn’t call it safe, but.”

“It’s better than going into the town center, right?”

She pointed to a corner of the map as she spoke. In terms of distance and risk, it seemed like a fairly decent destination.

“The only problem is…”

“Hm?”

She trailed off, looking worried.

I wondered if there was some dangerous element nearby.

“But will there even be any supplies left for us?”

“Ah.”

“That too.”

It had been nearly two months since monsters first started appearing. Survivors on the surface must have been fighting desperately to survive as well.

“This supermarket is relatively unknown, but people who lived nearby probably used it.”

“So there’s a high chance that other survivors have already passed through and looted it. That’s what you mean.”

“Yes.”

In other words, there was a high chance we’d go through all that trouble only to find it empty.

“The chance isn’t zero.”

Nothing ventured, nothing gained. The unit began preparing for the expedition.

* * *

A small supermarket on the outskirts of town. It was relatively close, but too far to walk without thinking. And since we’d need to transport supplies anyway.

We decided to deploy the newly modified vehicles right away.

While riding in the vehicles toward the destination, we encountered zombie groups several times.

“Hold on tight!”

Bang!

Two zombies standing on the road. They were ground up by the blades mounted on the front of the modified vehicle.

“My god.”

“Haha. That made me break out in a cold sweat.”

The soldier driving said, his face looked a bit pale. Charging straight into human-shaped figures on the road.

‘It goes against all common sense.’

He must have been pretty tense.

Anyway, the important part was.

‘The vehicle’s performance is solid.’

Even after running over zombies, there were no signs of monsters gathering around us. Which meant what the engineers said about reducing noise was legit.

The condition of the roads being worse than before. And the fact that things could change drastically if we ran into a group of monsters.

Those were still concerns. But overall, the limitations on our mobility had been greatly eased.

“That’s it.”

After driving for some time…We arrived at our destination.

“The front of the car is a mess.”

“Ugh, that’s disgusting.”

The front of the vehicle, having ground up zombies, was smeared with grotesque chunks of flesh and rotten blood.

A pretty shocking visual.

“Well. Who cares how disgusting it looks.”

“The real problem is that we have to clean that stuff off.”

Fortunately, the soldiers had become quite used to gruesome sights.

They were more bothered by the thought of having to clean it up.

‘Is getting used to that a good thing or a bad thing?’

Thinking about it only gave me a headache.

The soldiers got out of the vehicles and checked their equipment.

I looked at them and said, “You all brought the rations I handed out, right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Type 3. Eat up.”

The soldiers had been issued jerky I had made as combat rations.

I categorized them by type depending on the cooking effects.

The effect of Type 3 was something we were already familiar with.

『The mana imbued in the dish takes effect.』

『Temporarily acquiring the trait — ‘Keen Hearing (Degraded)’.』

“Ugh, my ears already feel sore.”

“Let’s keep our voices down.”

‘Big-Eared Alaur’ cuisine.

A dish with the effect of drastically enhancing hearing.

With this ability, even in tight indoor spaces, we’d be able to pinpoint enemy locations.

After confirming that all the soldiers had put the jerky in their mouths.

“We move in.”

Creeeak!

Pushing open the half-shattered glass door, we entered the inside of the supermarket. We were prepared for monsters or zombies to jump out at us.

“Hmm.”

“This is…”

Inside the supermarket we entered, there were no monsters, no zombies either.

The problem was….

“It’s clean.”

“Well. We kind of expected this, didn’t we?”

Not only were there no monsters or zombies.

“There’s even stuff like toys left behind.”

“In a situation like this, people are just trying to survive. No one’s going to bother grabbing that stuff.”

Toys and home appliances. Everything except items essential for survival had already been taken. One soldier pointed to a corner of the supermarket and said.

“Look over there. Even the pet food section is completely empty.”

“Huh? Why pet food?”

“That’s not exactly essential for survival either, is it?”

Some of the soldiers voiced their doubts. But that only applied to our unit, which hadn’t gone hungry yet.

“The taste might be bad, but people can eat it.”

“Ah.”

“When you’re in a situation where you might starve to death, anything edible is something to be thankful for. Human food or animal food, it doesn’t matter.”

Honestly, we weren’t that different either.

Pet food or monster meat. Most normal people wouldn’t even consider putting that in their mouths.

“There might still be something useful left. Search thoroughly.”

“Yes, sir.”

Just in case.

There might be something usable left behind. The soldiers spread out and began searching.

“There’s a zombie corpse here.”

One of the soldiers found a zombie collapsed in a corner.

Was it a supermarket employee?

The zombie was wearing an apron with the supermarket’s logo on it.

“Well. I’m not sure if calling a zombie a corpse is accurate.”

“…That’s not important. Any other unusual findings?”

“Hmm. Its head has a wound that looks like it was split open by something like an axe.”

“An axe, huh. So survivors who came through here already took care of it.”

Just as Lee Sang-ah had worried.

Enough time had passed. It seemed others had already come through, killed the zombies, and looted the place.

“They really cleaned it out.”

“We’ve been holed up at the base, but survivors on the surface weren’t just sitting around either. It can’t be helped.”

It was a bit disappointing. But even as we investigated, I already suspected there wouldn’t be much left.

I was starting to think about giving the order to head back.

That was when…

Rustle!

‘A sound!’

Somewhere, a small sound could be heard, it wasn’t loud.

Normally, we would have missed it. But with our senses enhanced by the trait, there was no way we’d overlook it.

‘Sergeant Shin.’

‘Yeah. I heard it too.’

All the soldiers who had been looking around froze in place.

They spoke in hushed voices from a distance. Because we all had the same trait, this kind of communication was possible.

‘What should we do?’

That question gave me pause.

The trait’s power was strong. The sound was faint, but we had already pinpointed its source.

‘Inside the butcher section.’

A small steel door there.

The sound had come from behind it.

The problem was… There was definitely something there. But did we really need to mess with it?

‘That thing is deliberately suppressing its sound, isn’t it?’

‘It seems so.’

After that one sound, nothing else could be heard.

It was deliberately hiding its presence, something that hid its presence.

A type of monster that lay in wait to ambush prey that let its guard down. A monster that suppressed its presence had a reason for doing so.

‘If it’s not an ambush predator, it’s probably weak in a frontal fight.’

Otherwise, it would have boldly hunted in the open.

‘Let’s deal with it.’

‘Yes, sir.’

We could have ignored it and moved on without much trouble. But if this monster caused problems later, that would be worse. Better to deal with it while we could.

A few soldiers moved closer after hearing my decision. One warrior holding a hammer looked at me.

I drew my kitchen knife from my waist.

‘Break it down.’

I nodded toward the door.

“Haah!”

Craaaash!

The hammer slammed down hard, smashing the door. The soldiers immediately pushed their bodies into the broken doorway.

At that moment…

Whoosh!

Something inside swung down at me.

‘From above!’

But I had already been prepared.

I slashed my kitchen knife toward whatever came down at me.

Slash!

The sound and sensation of cutting through something with a woody texture. Judging that I had blocked the attack, I turned my gaze toward where the attack had come from.

‘No matter what kind of monster it is, if I figure out its weak point, I can win.’

The moment I turned to look at the figure that had attacked.

I activated the skill, 『Chef’s Eye』.

But….

『You have already learned the preparation method for this ingredient.』

『You have already learned the cooking method for this ingredient.』

『Chef’s Eye does not activate.』

‘…What?’

The skill I had expected didn’t activate.

Instead, something else did.

『Ingredient Identification』

『Primate — Human Species』

“…Primate — human?”

The message appeared before my eyes.

Looking beyond it…I saw two figures.

A young-looking boy and girl. The girl, who had attacked me, spoke.

“P-please don’t eat my little brother.”

What the hell is this supposed to mean?