Chapter 32
Of course, it was about time for awakened ones to start appearing here and there.
Even among those who had made contracts with gods, not all avatars were on the same side.
The ‘causality’ of the gods was too complex and subtle for humans to understand.
Even avatars of benevolent gods who aimed to defeat evil gods could sometimes clash with each other.
“Still, I should ask for the reason, right…?”
When Baek Yi-heon intervened, the chase ended all too easily.
‘As one of the first to awaken, there are probably few humans stronger than Baek Yi-heon at this stage.’
He’s not the protagonist for nothing.
As expected, Baek Yi-heon quickly rescued the man.
And his following action was also as predicted.
He brought the man over here.
‘That moral textbook…’
“Sehun-ah. It should work now. Can you do ‘Evil Detection’ one more time?”
“Yes!”
[(Messenger) Avatar ‘Lee Sehun’ casts ‘Evil Detection Lv2.’]
“I don’t sense any bad intentions!”
Knock knock—.
“Noah. I’m sorry, but this person…”
“Yes, yes. We can’t just ignore people in trouble. Come on in.”
I pretended to be generous and let Baek Yi-heon and the middle-aged man into the camper.
I felt a bit guilty when Baek Yi-heon looked at me with eyes that seemed to say ‘As expected of you, Noah.’
“Just in case, let’s move away from here for now.”
Vrooooom—.
I floored the accelerator and only stopped the car after we were a good distance from the outlet.
“Thank you for saving me.”
The man bowed his head, speaking with a noticeably strong regional accent.
I let go of the steering wheel and asked him:
“Who was chasing you?”
“Haahh… Of course, it was ‘Dowonhyang’.”
What’s Dowonhyang?
Seeing our confused expressions, including mine, the man was startled.
“Oh, now that I hear your speech… Could it be you’re from Seoul?”
When we nodded, the man exclaimed in surprise.
“I heard on the radio that there was some kind of tower or somethin’ in Gangnam causin’ a ruckus. How’d y’all get all the way down here?”
Momentarily unable to understand him, I was dumbfounded and stammered.
“…Pardon?”
“Ah, sorry. I got excited.”
Then the man asked again, awkwardly trying to raise his tone at the end of his sentences:
“I heard on the radio that there was a tower or something that appeared in Gangnam and caused chaos. How did you get all the way here?”
“Ah, we were lucky to be in the outskirts and managed to escape.”
I kicked Baek Yi-heon’s shin to stop him from answering honestly and gave a vague reply.
The man nodded without any particular suspicion.
“It’s quite chaotic here too. In Busan, instead of towers, dungeons have appeared here and there, and monsters keep popping out of them.”
“Oh my. …But the damage doesn’t seem too severe for that kind of situation?”
I asked, recalling the fairly intact appearance of the outlet building.
“Yes. Fortunately, on April 1st, a man called ‘Cain’ appeared and immediately organized an army.”
“…April 1st? The very day the dungeons appeared?”
“Yes.”
The man nodded with an innocent expression.
“It was as if he had anticipated something like this would happen.”
‘…He anticipated it?’
My eyes sharpened.
“The organization that man established is called ‘Dowonhyang (桃源鄕)’.”
The man took a big sip of the mixed coffee Sehun had brought and sighed deeply.
“They’re gathering all the awakened ones in Busan, saying they’ll build a monster barrier. And they’re driving out anyone who refuses to join the guild as retaliation.”
In other words, isn’t he just running away alone because he doesn’t want to work?
I asked bluntly,
“…Why don’t you join the guild if you’ve awakened?”
The man pleaded with an aggrieved expression.
“They say they’re making a barrier, but it’s really no different from exploitation!”
“Exploitation…?”
Baek Yi-heon, reacting to injustice, stiffened his face.
The man quickly nodded and lamented.
“That’s right. The number of people dying from monsters is about the same as those dying at construction sites.”
Baek Yi-heon expressed sympathy and lightly patted the man’s shoulder.
Encouraged by this gesture of comfort, the man added tearfully.
“Cain, that man treats people like completely disposable tools, using them up and throwing them away…”
While the man was complaining, I was lost in thought alone, regardless of his grievances.
A barrier? Guild Dowonhyang?
Was there such an event in the novel?
…Not at all.
That’s because the novel only progressed from the protagonist Baek Yi-heon’s perspective.
If there was any mention of Busan, it was just a description like ‘They endured the apocalypse well with their unique strong survival instinct.’
The man who had finished his coffee to the last drop soon got up.
He said he was going to his family, who were hiding with stolen food.
“Thank you for saving me. …You’re an awakened one too, right?”
As he opened the camper door to leave, the man glanced at Baek Yi-heon and cautioned.
“Be careful. Don’t use your abilities in the city at all. Monsters are better than this—I can’t stand seeing people do terrible things to other people.”
Then he waved goodbye and left.
Baek Yi-heon, who had been lost in thought for a moment, soon spoke up.
“We should go inside the outlet.”
As expected.
Our protagonist showed no character breakdown like that.
“Why? According to that man, a guild called Dowonhyang will be in control.”
“That’s why I want to see what’s happening inside.”
[(Messenger) Indra is pleased that you’re helping exploited humans.]
I sighed heavily.
‘Right. We need to find out about Choi Yudam anyway.’
“Okay. But, hide the fact that you’re an awakened one.”
“…..”
Baek Yi-heon avoided my gaze by rolling his eyes instead of answering.
“You may be strong, but you’re still not enough to face multiple awakened ones.”
“……”
I glared at him, putting my hands on my hips with a ‘sheesh’ sound.
“If we make a mistake, everyone could be in danger, right? Me and Sehun too?”
You might put the weak women and children you prioritize so much in danger because of you.
Finally, after rolling his eyes back and forth resistantly, he opened his mouth.
“…Alright.”
Only then did I feel relieved and lower my hands from my hips.
“No matter what situation arises, you’ll just observe and never intervene, right?”
“…Yes.”
He was stubborn enough to keep his word once he gave it, rather than not answering at all.
‘So it should be fine.’
[(Messenger) Indra becomes gloomy at your unrelenting personality check.]
Ignoring the god’s words, I exclaimed with relief.
“Then, shall we go!”
💎
We hid the camper near a secluded hill out of sight and set off.
Naturally, the outlet’s doors were tightly shut.
Approaching the side of the building, Baek Yi-heon held Sehun and me in his arms and leaped up to the third floor in one bound.
Crash—.
Then he simply broke a window and we infiltrated.
“This seems to have been the restaurant area.”
Baek Yi-heon, relaxing slightly, said as he scanned the area cautiously.
“No one’s here.”
The third floor had broken chairs and tables scattered about, and all the restaurant refrigerators were open and completely empty.
“Maybe they’re gathered on the first floor due to the risk of building collapse?”
My guess was exactly right.
There wasn’t a single person on the second floor, which used to be a fashion section.
Unlike food, most of the countless clothes remained in the stores.
We approached the stopped escalator and carefully peeked below it.
Sehun was fiddling with a golf ball he had picked up from somewhere.
As I expected, the first floor was crowded with people.
But something was off.
“Abandon the old folks!”
“Are you sure there are no awakened ones among these?”
Men in black outfits with yin-yang symbols on their belts were ‘sorting’ people.
Able-bodied adults to one side, and the elderly, children, and frail-looking women to the other.
💎
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