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It took three more days before Yoo Seodam and Aracelli arrived at the Munhwa Department Store. They had to walk for ten days straight. It was really an arduous journey.

“I can see it over there.”

Beyond the heavy rain that fell endlessly, they could see walls made up of rubbles piled up to a height of 6m, surrounding the Munhwa Department Store inside. There was something like a ‘guard post’ made of rubbles at a fixed distance between each other with two people carrying guns looking out from it.

‘Who is it?’

‘I think they’re wanderers.’

‘First, let’s report it to the captain.’

Yoo Seodam could hear the conversation they exchanged through the radio. It was only possible because of his S rank physical ability.

Yoo Seodam and Aracelli walked closer to a distance that ordinary people could communicate by yelling when the people on the guard post pointed their guns and shouted at them.

“Stop! Identify yourself!”

Both Yoo Seodam and Aracelli raised their hands to express their intention to cooperate.

“We are just wanderers. We are seeking shelter for a while before we continue our journey once again. Please let us in.”

The people on the guard post whispered once again.

‘Are they crazy?’

‘To come without any weapons…’

‘I think they are really seeking a temporary shelter, though? If that was not the case, would they come without any weapon like that? They look desperate….’

The first principle of safe encounter in a perished world.

Never trust another person.

In case of an encounter between two different organizations or individuals, carrying minimum weapons was a must. In an extremely sensitive world such as this, being unarmed was never considered to be a wise move. They could be kidnapped and held as hostage, or they could be enslaved and raised for food.

That was the reason why they were wary and taken aback after seeing Yoo Seodam and Aracelli without any weapons with them.

Once they reported to their captain via radio, they shouted at Yoo Seodam and Aracelli.

“Come closer!”

They approached slowly.

“Take off the hood!”

Then, their bare faces, which were quite tired from the long journey, were revealed. Their complexion wasn’t very good because they had only eaten simple soup so far. Judging by their appearances, it did not seem like they were cannibals. They then turned to Aracelli.

“…A girl. Boss would hate it.”

Hate it? By the time Yoo Seodam could process the man’s subconscious comment, someone with a sturdy physique in a black suit appeared followed by three escorts.

Then, she jumped down from the top of the 6m wall.

Boom!

‘Woman?’

Looking closely at the person in front of him who seemed to be the captain, Yoo Seodam realized she was a woman. She was around 180cm tall, with wild and sturdy muscles. She also had three claw-shaped scars covering half of her face. With her fierce appearance, it seemed that she had worked hard to survive in the apocalypse.

Her gaze alternated between Yoo Seodam and Aracelli for a long time, then said while scrutinizing them,

“You’re a wanderer?”

“That’s right.”

“…To come here means that you know me well. Do you want to die that much?”

“Sorry?”

What are you talking about? Yoo Seodam did not hide his confusion when he heard her question.

“I hate two kinds of people. First, a religious man. And secondly…”

She pointed towards Aracelli with her chin.

“….Man who carry women with them in this destroyed world.”

“…….”

Only then did Yoo Seodam realize the meaning behind her words. He was aware of how women were treated in the post-apocalyptic world because he had learnt about this genre before.

“What is the reason for a man to keep a woman with them when they can’t help much in battle?”

Yoo Seodam’s face hardened. He knew that it was better to back down rather than pick a fight here. He racked his brain to find a plausible excuse, Family? Sibling? What kind of excuses would be believable? While he was trying to find a good excuse, Aracelli lifted something out of her arms suddenly.

It was a pistol fully equipped with a silencer.

Flinch!

At Aracelli’s action, the captain, her escort as well as Yoo Seodam were taken aback. Then, she pointed the pistol to the right and shot three times in a row.

Then, three monsters who were hiding on the upper floors of a building crashed to the ground.

Aracelli looked at the monster’s corpse for a brief moment before turning her head and looked at the captain with cold eyes.

Only then the captain realized that she had made a mistake. The captain laughed dryly with an apologetic expression.

“Huh…. I’m sorry. I said something offensive. I sincerely apologize. You are better than those bastards who suck their fingers and hide behind others.”

She didn’t praise Aracelli’s shooting skill. But rather, she complimented her guts for pulling a gun and shooting monsters in front of her group members. Because guts were one of the most essential elements to survive in a destroyed world.

In fact, Aracelli was able to pull that off not because she had guts but rather because she was confident that she wouldn’t die. But she had no intention of telling anyone about it.

“Alright, kid. I like it. My name is Park Han-seo, the leader of the survivor group here at Munhwa Department Store. I will allow you to stay at my discretion for a day or two. Follow me.”

After that Park Han-seo turned around and walked towards the Munhwa Department Store building.

Then, Aracelli looked at Yoo Seodam. She was asking him to praise her.

Yoo Seodam smiled and nodded his head with a baffled expression.

“Yes, good job.”

* * *

The department store was surrounded by dozens of guard posts, as well as lights and barriers in all directions, so it seemed that it would be quite difficult for monsters to invade. In fact, if monsters appeared in the vicinity, they would be shot by guns, and Park Han-seo said some monsters didn’t even get close to the barriers around here.

“Isn’t there any shortage of bullets?”

“Not yet.”

It may be lacking someday. But not yet.

“In a destroyed world, bullets are treated as more valuable currency than gold or diamonds. We use bullets when trading food or water.”

“Is that so?”

Park Han-seo didn’t bother to explain that there were cases when they shot bullets in order to trade.

When Yoo Seodam and Aracelli entered the department store, they could see a clearly structured interior. They had removed the unnecessary junk and used blankets as partitions to mark each person’s territory. It was similar to a shelter when a disaster occurs. However, it was very different from disaster shelters. People did not have clean water to wash themselves and were very dirty.

“Let’s pray. Everyone, get down on your knees.”

““Let’s pray.””

In the distance, they could see a woman, who seemed to be in her early 30s, gathering about 100 people and was giving a sermon with something like a bible in her hand.

Park Han-seo looked fed up as she saw them.

“Those crazy people are starting again….”

However, she ignored them without any intention to stop them and climbed the unfunctional escalator. Yoo Seodam looked at the priest as he followed closely behind Park Han-seo.

It was not that Park Han-seo didn’t have any intention of stopping it, but rather she couldn’t.

Religion was a wonderful haven for people in the world that had changed for the worse.

Those who hoped to be saved from this terrible despair carried a huge hole in their hearts. Religion effectively penetrates this gap and solidifies itself in their hearts.

A suitable religion may be a help to survive in Apocalypse. However, if it was a ‘pseudo-religion’, the story will completely change.

‘Pseudo-religion is also a cliché in post-apocalypse….’

For Yoo Seodam, those guys reeked of trouble. It was a cliché in an apocalyptic story that pseudo-religion would cause an accident every once in a while.

Yoo Seodam caught up with Aracelli who was walking behind Park Han-seo. She was in a bad mood as she told them about the origin of this cult.

“At first, everybody said she was a crazy woman, and no one believed her.”

“I bet that was the case.”

“But as time passed, people started to believe that crazy woman’s bullshit. ‘Believe in God, you will be saved.’ They tweeted like sparrows all day long, and even cried loudly when they heard such words.”

Once Park Han-seo said that, Aracelli looked at the believers downstairs. Horrifyingly, they were staring at them.

“Those people… feel weird.”

Aracelli’s remark sounded very strange. Because they seemed to be crazy already.

‘Ah.’

Then, Aracelli met the eyes of the religious woman who was preaching other people. She was staring at her with displeasure, as if she saw something she did not like.

Aracelli couldn’t help but frown when she felt that unpleasant feeling radiating from that woman. However, she tried her best to not show it in front of Yoo Seodam.

* * *

“…..You want to meet Kim Ha-soo?”

“Yes.”

Those who were in high positions always seek high places. Just like any other leader, Park Han-seo also claimed her own room on the top floor of the building. At first glance it seemed like it was a weapons room.

“Well, I understand you. That place is a really good place to live… But will he accept you?”

“I’m curious about that too. What do I need to do to be part of his group?”

Then Park Han-seo answered simply.

“You need to be a useful person for Kim Ha-soo.”

Park Han-seo told a story from back when the destruction began.

When monsters suddenly struck this world, all armed military units in the world evaporated into thin air. They just disappeared suddenly, no one knew where they went.

For modern civilization who lost its army, they were very vulnerable to the monsters. And when humanity was struggling for survival, Kim Ha-soo fortified an entire island and fought safely from there.

“The first person who entered there… Um… Did he say he was in charge of the maintenance of the tidal power plant?”

“Is a power plant technician useful in this destroyed world?”

“It turns out that it was useful. I heard there are a lot of electronic items, including televisions and computers, adult films, movies, entertainment shows, and cultural art. There’s nothing missing.”

At a glance, I understood why a power plant technician was deemed as ‘useful’.

“After hearing the rumors, many people flocked towards his island. Some were accepted, some weren’t.”

“Then you are….”

“I did get accepted. But, I refused.”

“Sorry?”

As my eyes opened up in surprise, Park Han-seo said, while pointing downstairs.

“To be precise, it was only ‘me’ who was accepted. How can I go alone when those people who are like my own family and have been together with me for years since the beginning of destruction, have been rejected?”

“What is the reason for the rejection? Did Kim Ha-soo deemed that they were useless?”

“No, that’s… I don’t want to talk about it.”

Park Han-seo was silent, and I didn’t ask any more questions.

“…So, is this reason why you come here simply to stay overnight? I don’t think that’s it.”

“You are correct.”

I confessed the reason why I came here.

“As I said, I want to enter Kim Ha-soo’s fortress. I heard that he doesn’t meet anyone easily… but I also heard that they are interacting with you. I need help.”

However, as expected from her facial expressions which had deteriorated since I brought up Kim Ha-soo’s name. She rejected me.

“I don’t even want to go anywhere near his place. I’m sorry, but I can’t help you with that.”

“……I see.”

I nodded. Then, Park Han-seo stood up.

“Anyways, take a good rest over there. Because your friend is already asleep.”

I turned around and saw that Aracelli had fallen asleep on a blanket, as if she was dozing. Luckily for her, I had washed the blanket with the help of silver pot before she fell asleep.

“Yes. Thank you.”

When Park Han-seo walked away, I carried her in my arms and moved her onto the mat. There was only one mat in this narrow corner, and she told me to sleep on it while she herself tried to sleep on the floor.

Her intentions were touching, but I preferred to sleep on the bare ground since I was already used to it from the field missions I had attended.

So I fell asleep on the floor.

And at late dawn.

I had no choice but to open my eyes because I felt something warm in my arms, but soon I laughed wryly.

“….Gosh.”

Even though I had put her on the mat, Aracelli had crawled into my arms at night and held me tightly.

“Aracelli. Go sleep on the mat.”

“Eum….. No, I don’t want to.”

When I pushed her slightly, she only snuggled deeper in my embrace.

Then, I gave up completely and covered her body with a blanket. Either there, on the mat, or here, it would be best to sleep in the most comfortable place.

So, I fell asleep again while hugging Aracelli.

It was a very cozy and warm night.

* * *

The dawn when everyone was asleep.

-I’m thirsty….

A plant on the pot which was quietly sitting in the corner of the room, slowly raised her head. With her at the centre, a pure white powder was scattered across the room.

The silver spirit looked out of the window blankly and slowly shook her leaves.

Then, the flower floated on its own towards the window. The pots, which carefully settled by the window, began to soak in the rain.

Although the body of the silver spirit was a plant, her body, including the lower body had become more human-like, and now she looked like a small girl sitting on a flower.

She shook her legs and hummed.

-I like rain….

Another day in the destroyed world passed by.