Chapter 104
The cab of the train traveling down the tracks.
I swiped my finger across the Gallery map displayed beside the monitor.
Of all the routes leading toward Busan, the closest place with a properly established safe zone was Ulsan.
'As expected, it must be because it's a metropolitan city.'
The Ulsan area on the map was densely covered with countless blue information pins, proving that many survivors were living there.
Curious, I searched the Gallery for Ulsan and skimmed through the posts, where I found a record that surprised me.
It seemed that Ulsan, too, had been covered by the bizarre abnormal weather phenomenon we had experienced until quite recently.
But apparently Ulsan's countless survivors and Incarnations had joined forces and broken through it.
"It couldn't have been easy."
After scrolling through old Gallery posts for quite a while, one caught my eye.
"Huh?"
[Video of the mod fighting snake beastkin]
It seemed that a group of survivors had filmed and uploaded the video back then.
It showed the confrontation with the snake beastkin, while Nabi and the drones showed off their abilities.
As for me, I was merely standing there with my arms folded, watching it.
It wasn't a video that matched the title.
The interesting thing was that this video had been posted on two boards.
One was the main board used by ordinary survivors.
ㅇㅇ : Are that rat and snake beastkin too? Is the mod trying to put together some kind of Bremen Town Musicians?
Ranger : What's with the laser-firing drones? What the hell is the mod making aboard that train?
ㅇㅇ : A kitty that can even do dropkicks—we should worship it, right?
MeowWoof : Beastkin! Argonians! Ratmen! Hngh! Hngh! Hahh! Heehee! Hahh!
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Somebody stop this guy;
ㄴ ㅇㅇ : Those beastkin are lucky lol. If they'd met this bastard instead of the mod...
Most of the survivors' reactions were positive.
The drones and Nabi, who displayed abilities far beyond the norm, must have left a strong impression on them.
My video had also been posted on the Constellations' board, apparently copied directly from the one on the main board.
But the reaction there was different.
Knight of Steel : Hmm... The snake beastkin underestimated their opponent too much. They should've attacked together.
Shadow Tracker : The mod is honestly a bit overrated. The cat beastkin was mostly why the snakes were scared, and the mod's own physical ability hasn't been verified. If our Incarnations keep growing, we can reach that level too.
Flame Fairy : Drone carried.
ㄴ Green World : Even without drones, there are a train, a golem, beastkin, and a spear, though?
ㄴ Flame Fairy : Constellation carried.
Hammer Warrior : Honestly, you Constellations are all so narrow-minded.
The Constellations' board was full of comments trying to keep me in check, and even comments brimming with fighting spirit.
'Right. I prefer Constellations like these.'
Looking through some of the Constellations' posts, I found that many of them truly treated their own Incarnations as tools.
Compared to that, seeing these people keep me in check while cheering on their Incarnations was actually rather nice.
...I had a feeling things might become a little troublesome, but I had the train, after all.
Let them come if they wanted to.
Psshhh—
The train finally came to a smooth stop at Taehwagang Station in Ulsan.
I opened the cab door and looked outside, but the area around the station was more desolate than I had expected, with no notable facilities in sight.
According to the information pin, walking a little farther toward the city from this station would bring us to a safe zone with many people and even several shops that were still open.
"Downtown Ulsan."
Come to think of it, at the previous IKEA, a series of incidents involving rat beastkin and snake beastkin had broken out along the way, so Ha-seon, the siblings, and I hadn't been able to enjoy a truly peaceful outing.
I asked them whether we should properly enjoy sightseeing and shopping around the city together this time.
When I told the siblings and Ha-seon, they all said they wanted to look around.
Ha-seon was a little frightened, but she gathered her courage, if only to overcome her phobia.
"All right, everyone, get ready to disembark."
We opened the train doors and stepped down into the station.
The formation for heading into the city had already been decided.
First, Junwoo's group of survivors who had boarded our train would walk at the very front.
The sturdy golem and Nabi, her ears perked up, would guard them directly on either side and form the forward line.
Six paces behind them were Ha-seon and me, the siblings Jiwoo and Sua, and the drones floating overhead.
There was a reason we had spread out so widely front and back when taking our positions.
Ha-seon was generally uncomfortable around Junwoo's group, particularly the men, and more importantly, spreading out this way was the best formation for dealing with any unexpected ambushes or other variables.
"If we walk for about fifteen minutes from here, we'll reach the main commercial district."
Junwoo, who was leading the way, called out in a tense voice.
He seemed to have roughly familiarized himself with the area by looking at the Gallery map as well.
"Take it slowly. We'll keep watch on our surroundings."
Holding the shaft of my spear lightly, I slowly headed toward downtown Ulsan while doubling as their escort.
The outskirts of the city were not a particularly pleasant sight.
It was a somewhat bleak street lined on both sides with old hotels and motels bearing flashy signs, giving off the air of a seedy entertainment district.
But Jiwoo and Sua seemed to find even this sight entertaining.
The children looked around in every direction and chattered excitedly without pause.
Then Jiwoo suddenly pointed at the enormous sign on a building and turned to me.
"What's that thing written on that building—'nightclub'?"
"Huh?"
For a moment, Ha-seon's and my gazes stopped at the same time.
The siblings' clear, innocent eyes sparkled as they waited eagerly for an answer.
"Er, well, that's... how should I put it..."
When I laughed awkwardly and trailed off, Ha-seon beside me also looked away and swallowed nervously.
There was no way I could explain it to these children directly.
"Ah, I suddenly can't remember very well... Sorry, even sis forgot."
When I mumbled my way through it, Jiwoo and Sua looked terribly disappointed.
Sorry, kids. I can't exactly explain this for educational reasons—
To divert the children's curiosity elsewhere, I quickly pointed at a familiar sign attached to the neighboring building.
"Oh! See that karaoke place over there? You go inside a room, grab a microphone, and sing and have fun together."
"Songs? Like nursery rhymes?"
"Nursery rhymes? There are nursery rhymes too—ah."
Sua's innocent question suddenly made me realize something.
'I see. They probably haven't heard many songs, have they?'
They might have heard nursery rhymes from their mother or here and there before the world changed, but they probably had never encountered ordinary songs.
They had grown up without ever fully enjoying that kind of culture simply because they were too young.
I felt sorry for the children.
'Later, if I find a music player or some CDs, I should bring them back.'
Seeing the karaoke place made me want to listen to music as well.
While I carved that small goal into my heart, we walked for another ten minutes, and at last the commercial buildings and the huge barricade surrounding our destination, the Ulsan safe zone, came into view.
I could see armed guards around it and quite a few survivor silhouettes on the other side of the barricade.
However, as soon as we approached the safe zone, the guards stopped Junwoo's group, who were at the front.
"Hey, stop! We're not accepting any more survivors! Turn around."
"Huh?"
Junwoo waved his hands in confusion.
"No, why not? Is it because you're short on food or resources?"
"It's not a food problem. It's just..."
The man standing guard frowned and trailed off.
"We once let anyone in out of pity, and an incident broke out inside. So we've decided not to let any more survivors in for a while."
"Even so, this is a safe zone..."
"Still no."
His attitude was cold and unyielding.
As the guards around the wall began edging closer and the atmosphere grew tense, Nabi's tail stiffened, and she slowly started raising one hand.
I could see vines beginning to sprout around Nabi's feet.
"Hand."
"Meee..."
I stepped forward slowly and spoke in a low, concise voice.
Nabi flinched, then grumbled and reluctantly lowered her hand.
If I hadn't stopped her, that guard would have been in serious trouble.
When someone showed Nabi such excessive hostility, it seemed to awaken her wild instincts.
When I stepped forward, the guard's gaze shifted to me and my combat drones hovering in the air.
"...Th-that person is—"
He inhaled sharply when he saw me.
Anyone who had seen the Survivor Gallery couldn't have failed to recognize my appearance.
He might even have seen the video that had just been uploaded.
The man swallowed hard with a stiff expression, hurriedly conferred with someone nearby, then put on a deliberately bold front and offered me a new condition.
"All right. If you help us, we'll make an exception and let you enter this safe zone—"
"You crazy bastard, has this man lost his mind? Who do you think you're talking to—!"
"We're the ones who want to get in, so why are you dragging the mod into this?"
"Y-you're really going to die...! Take it back, quick!"
"We'll do it, we'll do it!"
"Huh...?"
Junwoo's group hurriedly stopped the man who had tried to impose a condition on me.
The man was flustered by their reaction.
I calmly asked him instead.
"What is the condition?"
"Ah... Th-there's a building called Ulsan Upsquare not far from here, and a group that occupied it recently stole our generators. If you retrieve them and bring them back... not only will you be allowed into the safe zone, we'll reward you as well..."
As soon as the condition was presented, Junwoo and the others at the front turned even paler and shouted urgently at the guard.
"Hey! Do you really not know who that person is?!"
"The entire safe zone is going to get hit by missiles...! Real missiles!"
"What? Missiles? That's ridiculous—"
Junwoo's group hurriedly asked whether he hadn't seen the train on the Gallery.
Regardless of what was happening in front of me, I quietly opened the Gallery map and checked the location of Ulsan Upsquare.
A strange smile formed at the corners of my mouth.
"All right."
"...Huh? Are you really sure?"
Junwoo's group asked in bewilderment, but my mind was already putting together what needed to be done.
When I looked it up, I found that the building also housed a very large bookstore.
And large bookstores had a very high chance of still containing countless music CDs and albums from before the apocalypse.
I decided to retrieve the safe zone's generators and collect a reward, while also bringing back music CDs and books for the children all in one go.