Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 13
(The Tilting Scale (1))
"We got here quickly."
I spoke as I settled into the passenger seat after exiting the portal.
"It wasn't very far to begin with. The grenades you shared made a huge difference. Every time it got dangerous, we threw one and kept moving... There's nothing better for shaking off pursuers."
We could have used rifles, but they seemed far too inconvenient while driving.
That was why I had distributed grenades.
Outside, night had fallen completely.
When we escaped the military base, it had been early evening with darkness gradually settling in, but now night had fully descended.
There were many monsters prowling the city center.
Though a few were still chasing the vehicle, I stored the rifle through a retrieval portal.
Then, before arriving at the hospital, I gave Lee Yong-su a heads-up.
"Let's keep the rifles and grenades stored for now. We don't know what kind of people are at the hospital..."
Korea is a country where gun ownership is illegal.
Most of these brave descendants of Admiral Yi Sun-shin would be facing the apocalypse with kitchen knives or golf clubs about now; if we appeared waving guns around, it could cause needless misunderstandings and suspicion.
Moreover, Gangnam Severance Hospital, our destination, was a fairly large major hospital.
There was a high possibility of large crowds gathered there, and accordingly, many variables.
The more dire the times, the more we had to be wary of people before monsters.
Lee Yong-su nodded.
"Let's do that. After all, there's bound to be a few strange people wherever you go. It can't hurt to be careful in advance."
In truth, this too was a strategy born from having the luxury of power.
Even if we put away the guns for a while, the camping axe flying out every second remained a powerful means of attack.
The hospital building finally came into view.
From the ward buildings where patients stayed to the buildings crowded with treatment facilities and laboratories.
Buses and ambulance vehicles blocked all entrances like barricades.
I circled the spacious ground-level parking lot, throwing my axe,
Thwack!
Crack!
Crunch!
and dispatching the wandering monsters.
Whoosh!
I didn't forget to collect the magic stones either.
By the time I had completed a lap around the hospital's ground parking lot,
two men came rushing out from the building.
They looked quite surprised.
And for good reason—I had annihilated all the monsters in the ground parking lot.
Ssk-
I rolled down the window and asked them,
"Is there a nurse named Kim Ju-yeon here?"
***
The darkened hospital lobby.
The waiting chairs were packed with people trying to sleep.
From blankets embroidered with the hospital logo to outerwear, even towels.
All sorts of things were being used as bedding.
I waited with Lee Yong-su for news.
Perhaps thanks to having demonstrated outstanding combat prowess beforehand.
We were able to enter the hospital without difficulty, and the men who had greeted us left to call my older sister.
Fortunately, my older sister was alive.
'As expected, she was still at the hospital.'
Memories of my older sister from childhood surfaced.
She was eight years older than me.
One summer day when I was just seven years old, my older sister, then a middle schooler, had suddenly said this to me:
"Even if the world ends tomorrow, today I will wrap bandages around sick people's heads."
On the table behind her had been a small booklet titled
It was a pure yet bizarre statement, a mix of her dream to become a doctor and some moralistic story.
Even as a child, I must have known everything I needed to know, because I think I answered like this back then:
"...Noona, you're bad at studying."
"You little brat."
You have to study well to become a doctor.
My mother's face sighing as she looked at my older sister's report card comes to mind.
But Kim Sister No. 1, Kim Ju-yeon, was unexpectedly a person of strong will.
Her grades skyrocketed starting in high school, and though she couldn't get into medical school as she had aimed for, she proudly passed the nursing college entrance exam.
And so, she became able to wrap bandages around people's heads.
She carved out that destiny herself.
Then, a voice was heard.
"Kim Jeong-gyeom!"
It hadn't been that long since we'd last met.
It was my older sister whom I had met at a family gathering shortly before the world turned upside down.
Perhaps because I had skirted death several times since then, she felt especially dear.
We shared a reunion hug, but the situation wasn't exactly leisurely.
I spoke hurriedly to my older sister.
"I have a patient."
"What? Where?"
At the word "patient," she reflexively looked around her surroundings.
"Wait, over here."
I led my older sister to a sparsely populated hallway.
Then I opened a portal.
***
This was inside the logistics center.
'Charlie' lay sprawled on a white mattress.
Red blood drawn in a circle on the bandage.
He was still unconscious.
Without even time to explain what this space was or what my ability was,
I asked my older sister immediately.
"Should I take him out right away? Surgery outside or..."
She silently unwound the wrapped bandage, carefully examined the wound revealed between, and said,
"This person won't survive."
"Ah..."
It seemed the Juggler's attack had been too deep after all.
As I was trying to accept the grim result, my older sister continued.
"Normally."
"...?"
Then she brought her hand close to Charlie's abdomen.
A ringing sound hummed, and light burst from her fingertips.
She added,
"I Awakened as a Healer. Pretty awesome, right?"
From nurse to Healer.
In the time we hadn't seen each other, my older sister had successfully changed jobs.
Ziiing-
My older sister's treatment continued for about 20 minutes.
When she finished and withdrew her hand, she said,
"My level is still low, so... this is my limit for today. Still, he won't die, so don't worry."
Hearing that, I felt somewhat relieved.
Having put out the immediate fire, I informed her that this was my subspace and contained the entire logistics center.
My older sister wasn't listening to this on an empty stomach.
Oh Ji-su had served up a steaming hot beef radish soup, though I didn't know when she had cooked it.
My older sister promptly poured hot white rice into the clear broth.
Then, tearing into packaged kimchi from the Fresh Center, she said in a blunt voice,
"Kim Jeong-gyeom, I love you."
On her unsmiling lips, kimchi juice clung like thick lipstick.
My older sister looked at Chef Oh Ji-su and added,
"I don't know who you are, but I love you."
There was no greater discourtesy at a first meeting.
She must have been damn hungry, if I had to guess.
And understandably so—for in this world, eating and drinking were far from easy.
Charlie's treatment was resolved, and I had met my older sister whom I came to find.
Now we should go find my younger sister together, but she shook her head.
"Sorry. Now isn't the time for that."
"What's going on?"
"There are about 800 people gathered just at this hospital. There are patients who need continuous observation and medication, but..."
I thought she was going to say she couldn't leave the patients.
Because my older sister was that kind of person.
But the situation was a bit more complicated.
"Anyway, it's not a situation where people will die just because I'm not here. The problem is..."
She began her story.
***
Meanwhile, Jin Seong-hak, the head of internal medicine, had no choice but to be roused from sleep by the news that had arrived in the dead of night.
In the hospital director's office, which had come to be used as his room, sat Pharmacy Director Gu Min-cheol and Nutrition Team Leader Park Jong-hyun.
It was truly a bolt from the blue.
Pharmacy Director Gu Min-cheol spoke.
Originally a position in charge of pharmaceuticals within the hospital, he was now managing the patients and Awakeners under Jin Seong-hak's command.
"I heard from the Awakeners standing guard that his combat power is considerable. An ability to summon an axe from thin air, they say... He swept away all the monsters in the ground-level parking lot. Judging by his appearance and the military vehicle he arrived in, he might be from some special forces unit."
Nutrition Team Leader Park Jong-hyun added in an impatient voice.
"Chief, if that's true, shouldn't we try to recruit him to our side as much as possible?"
But Jin Seong-hak, the head of internal medicine, clicked his tongue.
"Ridiculous. That bastard just happens to be Kim Ju-yeon's younger brother, doesn't he? Wouldn't he look down on us?"
"...Then what should we do?"
"No need to worry. He must have come because he needs food and shelter, and we have a tight grip on the food here, don't we?"
"Ah-! That's true. After all, it's all about eating..."
The nutrition team leader chimed in boisterously.
The hospital's nutrition team was in charge of preparing hospital meals and managing food supplies.
And knowing this, Jin Seong-hak had co-opted this very nutrition team leader before taking over the hospital.
The sudden institution of a food rationing system at the hospital the day after the outbreak had been the swift strategy of the head of internal medicine.
It was destined to become power, and indeed it had.
But Jin Seong-hak's weapons didn't end there.
"If he won't listen... Well, we'll just have to work him over."
"Is that possible? Since he's not a patient, it would be difficult to administer drugs..."
"We mix it into his food. The effect will be a bit weaker than an intravenous injection."
Jin Seong-hak was also an Awakener.
His ability was
It was a powerful ability that turned the target into his servant, but it had significant limitations.
He had to break through the target's conscious resistance, and to solve this, Jin Seong-hak utilized narcotic painkillers handled by the hospital.
To exploit the gap when their consciousness grew hazy.
The results had been successful.
He selected Awakeners among the hospitalized patients, mixed drugs into their IV drips, and brainwashed them into becoming his servants.
It was possible thanks to the help of the pharmacy director who managed the drugs.
Thus, the conspiracy among the three was tightly woven.
As if they had been looking forward to this apocalypse.
Jin Seong-hak wrapped up the conversation.
"Anyway, let's suffer a little longer. Once my
"Heh heh. You're absolutely right."
They laughed like that.
***
"...Brainwashing?"
I asked again, bewildered at the absurd news.
My older sister nodded and answered.
"I'm sure of it. Otherwise... people wouldn't change overnight like that."
They were patients who had greeted us happily just the day before.
But the next day, they flinched upon seeing us and suddenly began supporting the head of internal medicine's faction.
"There seems to be some limitation. For one, me and the nursing staff are all fine. The ones who've gone strange are only the hospitalized patients. And among them, especially the Awakeners."
That wasn't the only problem.
The head of internal medicine Jin Seong-hak's faction used food as leverage to force the remaining Awakeners into scouting and guard duty.
And they took every single magic stone obtained in the process.
Under the pretext of prioritizing distribution to stronger Awakeners... but of course, proper distribution never happened.
"When I came to my senses... the balance had already completely tipped."
As a result, people were conscripted into scouting parties as they demanded, had their magic stones taken, and were reduced to begging for the food they doled out.
Even if they wanted to rise up, no one could easily step forward because of the brainwashed Awakeners.
My older sister spoke.
Her voice was filled with determination.
"I've been secretly collecting magic stones. If my healing ability level rises, I might be able to cure the brainwashed Awakeners. Even now, I can treat things like drug addiction. So..."
After hesitating briefly, she continued.
"You go to Sol and Mom and Dad first. I'll survive here somehow."
But that was impossible.
Rescuing the remaining family was urgent, but I couldn't leave my older sister in known danger.
Moreover, her plan to raise her level and cure the brainwashing was merely a vague hope, hardly a guaranteed one.
Though it was a secondary reason, Charlie's treatment was also unfinished.
After organizing my thoughts briefly, I answered.
"Let's resolve this as quickly as possible."
"How?"
The weapon they currently held was food.
Next was the scouting party made of brainwashed Awakeners.
Using these two, they secured magic stones and gradually intensified the imbalance of power.
When you thought about it, the conclusion was simple.
"We just have to break the balance, don't we? Whether through resources or power."
I had the ability to do just that.