Episode 15
“The zombies didn’t attack him?”
I couldn’t help but ask in a puzzled voice. Junyoung nodded vaguely and continued, “It was chaotic, so I might have seen it wrong, but… at least, no zombies followed him when he ran away.”
That was definitely strange. My own experiences were enough to prove how persistently zombies chased after fleeing humans. They even attacked me, who was practically their kin. But to think they didn’t attack a perfectly healthy human…
“Do you remember anything else about him? How did he fight?”
Yeonhee, also sensing something suspicious, asked another question. Junyoung’s face darkened.
“I’m sorry. He ran away before we even got to fight properly… I don’t remember much.”
“It’s okay. What you’ve told us so far has been very helpful. I’ll make you something delicious later.”
Yeonhee comforted Junyoung, who was mumbling dejectedly. So there were no other clues?
“That’s right. It’s enough to know he exists. We’ll find out the rest by shaking down his employer.”
Ki Yoo-sung, who had been silent until now, spoke up. He had a mischievous smile on his face, as if plotting something wicked.
“His employer?”
“Kid, what was the name of the guild you were in?”
He ignored my question and asked Junyoung directly. Startled by Ki Yoo-sung’s sudden question, Junyoung’s eyes widened, and he quickly replied, “J-Jaeil Guild.”
His voice was laced with tension. He must have been quite frightened, judging by the way he let out a sigh of relief when Ki Yoo-sung nodded.
“Why the guild? Are you going to take revenge? Are you going to punish the bad guys? That sounds fun!”
Nari asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement. It was a bit strange how thrilled she seemed, but if that was the case, I was also willing to participate.
“I’m not going to take revenge. It’s not our guild’s business. I’m just going to investigate this suspicious person who wasn’t attacked by zombies. He was part of a Jaeil Guild party, so asking the guild is the quickest way to find out, right?”
It was a typical Ki Yoo-sung answer. I clicked my tongue, and Kim Sunghyun, who was sitting next to me, spoke up.
“But if Jaeil Guild refuses to cooperate, we might have to resort to force.”
“That’s a possibility.”
Ki Yoo-sung grinned. His wax doll-like, inhumanly handsome face looked chilling as he smiled. It was a truly evil smile, as if it could scare the devil himself. It was quite a talent to be able to make even someone who agreed with you feel a chill down their spine.
“Isn’t the point whether or not it’s revenge? Does that guild even exist anymore? The communication network went down when the zombies broke out.”
Yoon Jinwoo interjected, as if Ki Yoo-sung was talking nonsense. I hated his condescending attitude, but he wasn’t wrong.
Before joining the guild, I hadn’t had any reason to contact anyone else, so I wasn’t interested. And after joining, communication through the watch became so natural that I didn’t realize it, but there was no way inter-guild communication was possible in this situation.
It might be possible if they had registered each other’s watches, but after it became known that there was a skill that could steal someone’s stats through the watch, registering members from other guilds had become practically nonexistent.
The probability that Daehan Guild, the best in Korea, had registered someone from Jaeil Guild, a guild I had never even heard of, was close to zero.
“We checked a few locations where we knew guild offices were located while clearing out zombies around our guild, but they were all gone.”
Kim Sunghyun added. We didn’t know if “gone” meant they had simply relocated to avoid the zombie-infested downtown area, or if they had already been wiped out. If we couldn’t even find out the status of guilds we had some interaction with, would we really be able to find Jaeil Guild?
I looked at Ki Yoo-sung, wondering what he had in mind. He wouldn’t have brought it up if he didn’t have a plan. As expected, he had a faint smile on his face.
“That problem will be solved within a week. Or rather, it has to be solved. Kim Yeonhee, would you mind calling someone from the energy team?”
He gave a cryptic answer and then called for Yeonhee. I didn’t know what he was planning, but judging by Yeonhee’s troubled smile, I could only assume he was asking her to do something unreasonable again.
“Yeonhee, are you okay?”
I asked as I handed her a glass of water, watching her stumble and sit down on a chair in the break room. Yeonhee took the glass and nodded, but she didn’t look well. It was the result of several days of all-nighters.
“Shouldn’t you go to your room and rest?”
“No. If I go to my room now, I don’t think I’ll be able to come out again. Thank you for your concern.”
There was a lack of energy in her smile as she replied. I clicked my tongue and sat down opposite her.
“Isn’t he overworking you? Why don’t you just refuse and rest?”
“Then the other members of the energy team would have to work even harder. And I want to get this over with as soon as possible. Jaeil Guild is where Junyoung was, right? He must be feeling very anxious. It doesn’t seem like it was a good guild, but I want to find any close friends he might have had there.”
“That’s true, but…”
I couldn’t really argue with her when it was for Junyoung’s sake, so I closed my mouth. Yeonhee, as if reading the worry and frustration on my face, spoke again.
“Once I’m done with this, I’ll hand it over to the information team and step down. I helped out because time was tight, but I’m not part of the energy team anymore.”
“That’s good to hear. Just hang in there a little longer.”
I ended the conversation, knowing that further concern would only burden her. Yeonhee, who had finished her glass of water, got up from her seat, saying she had to go. I let out a sigh as I watched her walk back to the energy team.
“It’s all because of that guild master.”
The solution Ki Yoo-sung had proposed was surprisingly simple and practical.
‘Now that the power plant is cleared, start energy production. The facilities are decent, so you two should be able to generate enough to restore our guild’s network.’
It was a rather exploitative statement, but it wasn’t a bad idea. The problem was the time frame. A week was too short to completely overhaul a facility.
Moreover, that time wasn’t solely allocated to the energy team. When they said they could only restore our guild’s network with the amount of energy they could produce, Ki Yoo-sung added, “Not bad. No need to go out of our way to help other guilds. Just restore our network and extract the information on the other guilds’ receivers in the power plant. They should have GPS in their receivers, so locating them shouldn’t be a problem.”
Thus, the information team was brought in to hack the power plant data and analyze it. The two teams were still bickering over who would get more time.
With the situation being what it was, it seemed Yeonhee couldn’t just ignore it. Out of loyalty to the energy team she had been briefly a part of, she was working tirelessly, going back and forth between the guild’s energy team and the power plant, helping to rebuild the power grid.
It must have looked quite pitiful because even Junyoung, who was also a Caster, hesitantly asked if there was anything he could do to help. Of course, Yeonhee declined, telling him to rest for now.
Was it thanks to this Spartan-like work ethic? Yeonhee actually finished all her tasks for the energy team that day. After a few more days of overtime by the information team, exactly one week after Ki Yoo-sung had made his proposal, the network reconstruction was complete.
“I’m glad our guild members are so competent.”
Ki Yoo-sung spoke up in the meeting room where seven people, including those who participated in the power plant subjugation and Junyoung, were gathered. I hated his smugness, but it was true that the results were impeccable.
“So, are we going to raid them now?”
“Raid? We’re going to negotiate.”
He replied smoothly to Yoon Jinwoo’s question. It was so infuriating. As if noticing my frown, Ki Yoo-sung added with a wry smile, “We’re really going to negotiate. And it’s just going to be me and Kim Sunghyun. If the conversation doesn’t go well, we might have to raid them next time, but do you think they have the guts to refuse?”
“Well, no, but… Wait, just the two of you? Isn’t that dangerous?”
If we went there and found out that all of Jaeil Guild had turned into zombies, it would be a disaster.
“Are you serious?”
Ki Yoo-sung chuckled in amusement at my question. Then I remembered our first encounter.
This man was the type who would calmly cut down an entire guild’s worth of zombies if they attacked him. I shook my head, feeling foolish for even asking.
“Um, excuse me.”
Junyoung, who had been clinging to my side, suddenly spoke up. Everyone’s attention turned to the boy, who rarely initiated conversation.
“Can I come with you…?”
“Why do you want to come?”
Ki Yoo-sung asked, raising an eyebrow in puzzlement. Junyoung seemed uncomfortable with all the eyes on him, but he gathered his courage and spoke again, “I think the guild master might lie. I’ve seen that person before… I might be able to tell if he’s saying something completely false.”
The boy explained his reasons calmly, but he couldn’t hide the anxiety in his eyes. Was it fear of the “guild master”?
“Junyoung, you don’t have to come if you’re scared.”
“You’ve already saved me, I can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
I said it out of concern, but Junyoung shook his head. I wasn’t one to talk, but it was sad to see how his environment had forced him to grow up so quickly.
“Then I’ll go too. Is that okay?”
Ki Yoo-sung nodded as if he didn’t mind. I couldn’t leave a child in the care of Ki Yoo-sung, even if Kim Sunghyun was there. I wanted to go with him and offer whatever support I could, since he seemed to be the most comfortable around me out of all the guild members.
“I’d like to go too, if that’s okay?”
It was Yeonhee who spoke up just as the conversation was coming to a close. Nari, who was sitting next to her, widened her eyes in surprise.
“I didn’t know visiting another guild was such a popular activity. Anyone who wants to come can come. Any more takers?”
“Eunha and Yeonhee were planning to hang out together.”
Ki Yoo-sung looked surprised but accepted her participation without any objection. Nari grumbled as if disappointed, but she didn’t seem particularly interested in attending the negotiation.
“Then I’ll brief you on the schedule.”
After confirming that there were no more participants, Kim Sunghyun summarized the situation. An unexpected outing had been decided.