Chapter 59
“Geez. How did the world come to this…”
Ignoring Choi Kkang-kang’s continuous grumbling, I surveyed the corridor.
Surprisingly, the interior of the government building was kept quite clean despite the chaos.
After a short while, the man walking ahead of us stopped in front of a door.
Knock knock—.
“Come in.”
A clear and kind voice answered from beyond the door.
As we entered after opening the door, a bespectacled person in a room full of stacked documents stood up abruptly.
He was a man with a very ordinary and kind-looking face.
“Chief Kim Seo-min. These are the newcomers. They’ve already paid their ‘rent’.”
“Ah, is that so? Then I’ll take care of the rest. Thank you.”
The man who guided us bowed his head and quickly left the room.
Fortunately, the man called Kim Seo-min was a very friendly person.
Contrary to our worries, he seemed very welcoming.
“Welcome! I assume you’re here to join the camp, of course?”
“Ah, that’s not…”
Thwack.
Taking advantage of the moment the man was rummaging through the pile of documents, I kicked Baek Yi-heon’s shin hard as he was about to answer honestly.
Of course, this yaksha’s avatar with mana flowing through his entire body merely looked more concerned for my toes.
I discreetly turned my head and shook it at the other companions.
“Ah, found it! Haha. We haven’t had new residents lately…”
At that moment, the man lifted his head with perfect timing.
Then he handed us a single sheet of paper he had somehow extracted from the pile of documents.
“Here. To stay at the camp, you first need to fill out this registration form.”
“…A form?”
What kind of registration form in times like these?
As Choi Kkang-kang asked incredulously, the man called Kim Seo-min scratched the back of his head sheepishly.
“Well. It’s a procedural requirement…”
“And who made this procedure…?”
“I’m just following orders from above, so I don’t really…”
Then Choi Kkang-kang, looking even more bewildered, asked again.
“And where exactly is this ‘above’…?”
“Ah. Currently, high-ranking officials are in charge of our camp.”
Kim Seo-min explained with a kind smile.
“Us lower-level employees just follow the decisions made there.”
Even Yu couldn’t hold back and quietly added a question.
“Then are those people perhaps from the Disaster Management Headquarters or the Ministry of National Defense?”
“No. Uh… As far as I know, probably the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Employment and Labor, Ministry of SMEs and Startups…”
Choi Kkang-kang’s mouth just gaped open, looking too dumbfounded to say more.
In this crisis situation, of all things, they’re playing leaders based on civil servant ranks.
It’s enough to be flabbergasted.
“Hmm. Then how many of these ‘higher-ups’ are there? …About five, perhaps?”
When I casually asked, blending into the atmosphere, Kim Seo-min nodded readily.
“That’s right. You guessed it perfectly. So, about the form…?”
After completing the rather complex registration form, we were soon guided into the building.
“For now, I’ll assign you to temporary quarters A. People are living there together.”
“If it’s A, does that mean there are other rooms?”
“Yes. There are quite a few people in the camp, so they’re living in several large conference rooms.”
“I see. Then… where are those ‘higher-ups’?”
When I asked casually, Kim Seo-min answered without any suspicion.
“Ah, they live separately in the adjacent building connected to this one. They also manage and distribute food from there.”
“I see.”
As I was nodding, suddenly a small hand tugged at my clothes.
“Noona, Noona.”
“Hm? What is it, Sehun-ah?”
“Well… I think I hear a strange sound.”
Sehun rubbed his ear with an uncomfortable expression.
I looked at Baek Yi-heon and Yu with a puzzled expression.
Noticing my gaze, Yu quickly replied.
“I’m not sure. I didn’t hear any sound.”
Even if I couldn’t, there’s no way they wouldn’t hear a sound with their extremely enhanced bodies, right?
As I was wondering, I suddenly remembered when Sehun had lied out of anxiety at Hwacheon Prison.
“My, my stomach hurts…”
Could it be that he’s having separation anxiety again after coming to the camp? Afraid that I might leave him behind?
What should I do in this situation?
After hesitating for a moment, I awkwardly placed my hand on the child’s head.
“…Um. It’s okay, it’s okay.”
‘As soon as the mission is successful, we’ll leave today.’
Fortunately, the child’s expression brightened immediately as I patted his head.
Relieved, I asked again.
“Can you still hear something now?”
“Um… No! I think I must have heard wrong!”
The child even grinned as if he enjoyed my touch.
It must have been a symptom of separation anxiety, after all.
“…Is that child about twelve years old?”
At that moment, Kim Seo-min, who had been watching us intently, asked with a kind face.
“No! I’m eleven!”
“I see. I thought you were older because you’re tall. You’re the same age as my second son.”
The man smiled with a warm yet somewhat sorrowful expression.
It was a strange smile.
We soon arrived in front of a room called temporary quarters A, which was previously used as a conference room.
“Then, I’ll come back before dinner to explain the camp rules and precautions.”
Kim Seo-min bowed and left the room.
As I had observed on the way, the interior of the conference room was also very clean.
There didn’t seem to be any injured or wounded people.
However, how should I put it…
‘There’s a strange atmosphere flowing?’
I can’t exactly pinpoint it, but the way people huddled together and glanced at us without greeting despite new people coming in.
Or the subtly tense atmosphere flowing in the spacious room.
“…It’s better than I thought.”
“Yeah. It seems well-managed, doesn’t it? They must have distributed food too, I wonder if there’s anything more we can do?”
The companions who had settled in a corner whispered softly.
We had originally stopped by to provide medicine and food.
If it seemed to be running well without any particular problems, there was no need to stay longer.
“……”
However, I sat with my arms crossed, surveying the large conference room.
“Why are you like that?”
Choi Kkang-kang asked, nudging me.
I flinched slightly at the familiar gesture, but only for a moment.
I immediately asked back with a serious expression.
“Haven’t you noticed anything strange?”
“What do you mean?”
I muttered quietly, looking around with a grim expression.
“…Since we’ve been here, we haven’t seen any children even once.”
💎
The tragedy of Onjeong City mentioned in the original work was precisely the serial disappearance of children within the camp.
It was an incident where high-ranking officials who were in charge of the camp had their subordinates kidnap and murder children.
The reason they committed such a heinous crime was simple.
In times like these, children only consumed food without contributing to the workforce.
What shocked me most when reading the novel was the words of the subordinates who directly carried out the crime.
“Why on earth did you do such a thing?!”
An enraged Iheon grabbed the man’s collar and pushed him against the wall.
The man with his neck pressed choked and struggled wildly.
“Does it hurt? Is it painful? Feeling all of that! Yet you did such things to children! Why!”
“Just… kack, just…”
The man struggled to speak through his pressed throat.
“I just… cough. Just did what I was told from above…”
Such inhumane incidents kept appearing in that apocalyptic novel.
‘Back then, I found the protagonist so frustrating for not giving up on humanity even after experiencing all that…’
I looked at Baek Yi-heon sitting in front of me with a newfound expression.
But now that I’ve actually observed and experienced him by my side…
Baek Yi-heon, whose eyes met mine, raised one eyebrow as if asking what was wrong.
With an expression that felt quite affectionate.
I was startled for a moment and turned my head away.
💎
Thank you for reading! ♡
