Chapter 58
[(Messenger) Indra is bewildered by your endless greed.]
[He appeals to your worn-out conscience, saying this is already barely passing the causality review, asking you to let it slide just this once.]
“……”
Without any response, I took my foot off the brake and stepped on the accelerator again.
Vrooooom!
[(Messenger) Indra is once again fidgeting anxiously.]
“……”
Vroooom!
[(Messenger) Indra finally shuts his eyes tightly, clenching his fists, and shouts.]
[O-Okay!]
I hit the brakes again with a screech.
“What’s going on? Why are you driving like this today!”
I didn’t care about Choi Kkang-kang complaining from the back or Baek Yi-heon looking at me with a worried expression.
‘A-grade magic stones… Twenty of them!’
Before the god could change his mind or that damn causality could intervene, I quickly shouted.
‘I accept!’
[(Messenger) You have accepted the sudden mission.
Time remaining until mission deadline: 2 days 23 hours 59 minutes.]
I won’t need to use magic stones anyway once I get to the shelter.
But still, Choi Kkang-kang could refine them and use them as batteries for various items.
Items made with high-grade magic stones will be useful in many ways.
I glanced at Baek Yi-heon.
‘Well, I don’t like owing debts. I’ll feel better if I repay them before I leave.’
“…Noah?”
“Hey, Choi Kkang-kang-ah. Why are you speaking so coldheartedly?”
I scolded him in a solemn tone as he looked puzzled.
“This is a big city, so there must be many people who need our helping hand.”
“…Why are you like this suddenly?”
“We’ve just modified our refrigerator and have plenty of food, don’t we?”
Ignoring his bewilderment, I continued with a benevolent expression like Mother Teresa.
Excited about the new freezer on our way here, Baek Yi-heon had hunted wild boars and pheasants whenever we passed through mountains.
Thanks to that, our freezer was almost at the butcher shop level.
Not only that, Yuga had diligently gathered edible herbs, and Choi Noigy had somehow obtained medicinal herbs.
“Let’s stop by the city and check the situation. If needed, we can give out food or medicine.”
At my words, Baek Yi-heon’s facial muscles subtly relaxed.
“…I knew Noah would make such a decision.”
As expected.
The other companions all looked happy with my suggestion as well.
“That’s right! As expected of Noona!”
“I agree with all of Noah’s decisions.”
“…Well, I guess you’re not completely cold-blooded after all. Fine then, let’s do it.”
As it became 4 to 1, even Choi Kkang-kang agreed as if he had no choice.
As soon as he finished speaking, I turned the steering wheel to turn the camping car around, shouting in an excited tone.
“Then it’s decided, right? Let’s go to A-gra… I mean, Onjeong City!”
💎
08. The Pied Piper
The city looked exactly as I had expected.
Which meant it was completely destroyed.
“…Do you think everyone’s been wiped out?”
Yu muttered softly while looking at the desolate cityscape where no people were visible.
“No. At first, it would have been a one-sided slaughter by monsters, but soon after, Awakened ones would have appeared here too.”
I answered calmly as I slowly drove through the city.
“Survivors will be hiding somewhere, centered around them.”
And, the largest group of survivors would probably…
‘Be around here.’
I slightly lowered the car’s speed near the huge building that used to be the government complex.
According to the original work, there should be a building with a large mart nearby…
Bang!
That’s when it happened.
A bullet flew and embedded itself in the windshield in front of the driver’s seat.
Judging by where it hit the glass right in front of me, it was an attack aimed at me, the driver.
“Noah!”
Baek Yi-heon immediately stretched out his arm wrapped in mana protectively in front of me.
“…It’s okay. Thanks to Sehun’s protective barrier.”
There’s no way we’d be in such a dangerous area without a barrier.
Before entering the city, we had already surrounded the entire camping car with Sehun’s barrier.
‘Yet it still managed to make a small dent…?’
Even if Sehun’s barrier level is still low, it’s a mana-infused shield.
The fact that it was damaged means they must have imbued the bullet with mana too.
From inside the government complex building in the distance, people approached, pushing forward barricades overlapped like shields.
The companions immediately jumped out of the car.
In contrast, I remained seated in the camping car, keenly observing the situation.
“What are you doing?”
Baek Yi-heon immediately protested in a low, stern voice.
“Attacking out of nowhere… And aiming for the driver at that.”
For some reason, his voice was filled with anger as he pronounced each word.
“You suddenly approached our building, that’s why!”
“We are the managers of the Onjeong City survivor camp!”
“We’re civil servants!”
As expected.
I, still in the car, secretly smiled to myself.
A survivor camp formed in the government complex building near a large supermarket.
Awakened ones with civil servant backgrounds managing the place.
Fortunately, unlike Busan, Onjeong City seemed to have followed the original story exactly.
“Now tell us! Who are you and why have you come here?”
“We were just passing by and wondered if anyone needed help.”
“What? Helping others in times like these?! What nonsense is that!”
“Do you think we’d believe that!”
“How do we know you’re not monsters in human disguise! Prove it!”
Then Choi Kkang-kang shouted loudly in a disgruntled tone.
“What the hell. How are we supposed to prove it if you don’t tell us how!”
Meanwhile, I, still in the camping car, muttered quietly with a cool expression.
“What they really want isn’t proof.”
I immediately took out a large piece of meat from the freezer in the camping car and stepped outside.
“Noah? Why suddenly…”
Then I threw it forcefully towards the barricade.
It was an entire wild boar, so its size was enormous.
The eyes of the people behind the barricade widened.
Having been trapped in the building, it must have been a long time since they’d eaten fresh meat.
The suspicion that we might be monsters was just an excuse.
What they were really worried about was whether accepting more people into the survivor camp would lead to food shortages.
“Is this enough to prove we’re human?”
When I asked in a level tone, they looked at each other hesitantly.
They seemed embarrassed to suddenly change their attitude after being so threatening.
If so, I should help them overcome their embarrassment.
I calmly added,
“Oh, by the way, there’s one more piece of meat this size in the camping car.”
Their hesitation was brief.
Clank.
The barricades that were stacked like shields split open on both sides.
“…Come in. But bring all the meat you just mentioned.”
💎
“Geez. What kind of people…”
Inside the building that used to be the government complex.
One of the men at the barricade guided us into the corridor.
As we walked down the dark corridor with no electricity, Choi Kkang-kang kept grumbling.
“What? ‘Bring all the meat’? Are they saying they wouldn’t have let us in if we were in danger but had no food? What the hell?”
Despite trying to act otherwise, it seems some faith in humanity still remained in his heart.
“At least they didn’t shoot us after taking our food.”
On the other hand, I, whose expectations of humans approached zero, just calmly said that.
Outside, monsters could appear at any time, and inside, food was gradually running out.
Even if they rationed the food from the supermarket as much as possible, it would barely keep them from starving.
In that situation, how many people in the world would be able to warmly welcome strangers?
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
