Hiding a Logistics Center in the Apocalypse - Episode 14
(The Tilting Scales (2))
Bang!
Jin Seong-hak, the chief of internal medicine, slammed his desk upon hearing the news.
“These bastards are getting cocky...”
It was news the chief of pharmaceutical affairs had delivered early that morning.
In exchange for providing food and sleeping quarters for Kim Jeong-gyeom's group, he had ordered them to submit to this place's control.
But Kim Jeong-gyeom had politely refused the offer, telling them to stuff their own faces and rest themselves, and had firmly declared he would not participate in scout team activities either.
Jin Seong-hak's irritation surged.
“Weren't those bastards planning to settle down here? Where the hell are they getting the balls to act like this when they don't even have food?”
“About that... Rather, they were distributing food to the nursing department staff. They seem to be giving small amounts to the patients as well. It's quite a substantial amount.”
“...What?”
His heart sank.
It was an ecosystem he had carefully built up over the past few days.
And Jin Seong-hak had prided himself on being the king of that ecosystem.
“Where the hell are these crazy bastards getting food...?”
But if this continued, cracks would form.
If it wasn't for the food, people would no longer follow his orders.
The non-brainwashed Awakened would refuse conscription into the scout teams, and the speed at which he gathered magic stones for his level-up would gradually slow down.
‘No, that can't...’
In that instant, a horrifying image flashed through his mind.
A scene where, before he even achieved his level-up, Kim Jeong-gyeom and the other non-brainwashed Awakened joined forces to target his neck.
He hurriedly rose to his feet.
“...Chief? Where are you going?”
He didn't answer.
He merely whipped around, his white coat fluttering behind him as he stormed out of the hospital director's office.
***
Thud, thud.
I was walking down the hospital ward hallway with my older sister.
It was because of what she had told me last night.
“And, you know... among the patients here, there's someone who came from Euljiro.”
“Euljiro?”
“Yeah, I don't know how he crossed the Han River bridge in all this chaos... but his mother, whom he takes care of, is hospitalized here.”
In this catastrophic situation.
I wasn't the only one who had thought of family first.
But the point of the story wasn't his touching tale of familial love.
Euljiro.
That's where Kim Sisters No. 2, Kim Sol's studio apartment was.
Of course, even if he had come from Euljiro, there was no way he would know the whereabouts of my younger sister.
How could he, with Seoul's population being what it was?
‘But at least...’
I should be able to find out the general situation there.
Like what kinds of monsters were roaming around, and how people were coping.
But unfortunately, he wasn't in a state to answer questions.
“He arrived half-exhausted... and was hospitalized for about a day. But by the next day, he'd become a completely different person.”
He was a physical ability Awakened who boasted transcendent strength.
He was one of the first Awakened to be brainwashed by the internal medicine chief's gang, and that was precisely why I was heading to his ward with my older sister.
[Song Hyeon-gu M/47]
[Choe Yeong-ja W/72]
His name was Song Hyeon-gu.
He was sharing a hospital room with his mother, whom he had crossed the Han River to meet.
Through the transparent window on the door,
I could see Song Hyeon-gu sitting on a guest chair and his mother lying on the bed.
From the outside, there was nothing strange about them at all.
He merely looked like a middle-aged man taking a brief rest while caring for his elderly mother, nothing more, nothing less.
But even so, he couldn't escape my notice.
I sighed.
“There's no... love or affection... is there?”
Familial love.
It manifests in various forms.
Even siblings who speak casually to each other, or a younger sibling grinning while watching their older brother get scolded—all of that falls within the comfortable bounds of some familial bond.
Forgetting to buy the Melona you were asked to get, fighting over one hour of computer time, and fishing for excuses to make someone your slave to turn off the lights—all of that is possible because you're comfortable with each other.
My older sister nodded at my family philosophy.
“This brat's at it again.”
Familial comfort.
But none of that could be felt from his mother's eyes.
Alienation toward her child, wariness, or perhaps even further...
‘Fear.’
I could read it in his mother's eyes.
That Song Hyeon-gu, forty-seven years old, was not in his right mind.
It was slowly becoming time to make a decision.
I could probably use force to wipe out the internal medicine chief's gang, but it was unknown whether those who had been brainwashed would return to normal.
Moreover, if I had to fight the brainwashed people in the process, that would be unpleasant as well.
While I was contemplating, Lee Yong-su returned from distributing food to the nursing department.
He trudged over, pressing one hand to his forehead, his expression twisted in pain.
I asked, “Mr. Yong-su, are you hurt somewhere?”
“I dozed off in the waiting room for a bit. When I woke up... that internal medicine chief was right in front of me. Ever since then, my head has been splitting with pain.”
It was not a good sign.
I didn't know what method they used for brainwashing, but if even Lee Yong-su fell victim to it, the situation would become complicated.
There weren't many measures I could take immediately.
I answered, “Please enter the subspace. It may be uncomfortable... but I think you'll need to be confined for a while.”
I didn't know what effects the brainwashing would have.
If things went wrong, he might abandon his wife and daughter to follow Jin Seong-hak's gang.
For now, I planned to lock him in one of the logistics warehouse sections.
Lee Yong-su himself wasn't unaware of the situation, so he slowly nodded.
“Yes, that's probably for the best. I hope it's nothing serious...”
Whir—
Just as I took him through the portal,
Pax spoke up abruptly.
[Blocked an unidentified energy attempting to infiltrate from the outside.]
[The subspace is the user's independent domain; energy connection with the outside is impossible.]
At the same time, Lee Yong-su turned to me with a much more comfortable expression.
Like a mime performing with the vanished pain, he pressed his hands to his forehead and various parts of his head.
“...My head doesn't hurt anymore?”
“...Huh?”
We stared blankly at each other for quite some time.
Like amnesiac patients who had completely forgotten what just happened.
The full story was this.
As you know, the subspace was invincible against attacks from the outside.
But that wasn't limited to just physical attacks.
Which meant...
“It blocks mental attacks too...?”
That was possible.
.
.
.
We immediately exited the portal.
And what came into view was...
Song Hyeon-gu, an unfilial son who had forgotten his mother before his very eyes and become Jin Seong-hak's puppet.
Preparing for any eventuality, I asked Pax,
“Can you kick out someone who has entered the subspace?”
[It is possible.]
[You can expel them using the shipping skill.]
I had been worried that the brainwashing might not be lifted even after bringing him into the subspace, but fortunately, there was a kick function.
A room master wasn't a room master for nothing.
Click!
No longer needing to hesitate, we flung open the hospital room door.
“...What do you want?”
Song Hyeon-gu, with gaunt eyes, rose warily.
Pretending to attempt conversation, we slowly closed the distance between us.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Song Hyeon-gu. You were born to be loved...”
“...?”
Whoosh!
Lee Yong-su, inside the portal, yanked him in.
Thanks to the sneak attack using the strength he had built up moving delivery boxes, there was nothing even an Awakened could do about it.
And so, Song Hyeon-gu, having entered the portal...
“...What is this?”
Had returned as a bewildered, good-natured middle-aged man.
.
.
.
As expected, he had regained his heart for his mother.
“Oh my... oh my...”
Song Hyeon-gu wept as he clasped his mother's hand, and she too repeatedly caressed the face of her returned son.
I was relieved as well.
Because the tension on her face melted away like snow.
It wasn't an expression one could make often... but it was undeniably one that could only be shared between family members.
We immediately headed for the hospital lobby where people were gathered.
There was nothing to hesitate about now.
The easiest and clearest method to cure the brainwashed Awakened was in our hands.
Just as we reached the main hospital lobby, where over a hundred people were gathered murmuring...
“Hey, Kim Jeong-gyeom!”
As it happened, Jin Seong-hak, the chief of internal medicine, called out to me.
I turned at the sudden shouting, and his face was steaming like a rice cooker.
He continued, fuming.
“Someone who knows better shouldn't act like this. Don't you know how group life works? Where did you learn such insolence?”
So that's why he was suddenly flying off the handle—he was furious that I had firmly declared I wouldn't participate in the scout team.
The fact that I kept distributing food at the hospital must have been getting on his nerves as well.
He said, “I'll make this short. If you don't need food or a place to stay, get out of here right now. Someone like you only muddies the waters. You think people go out on the scout team because they want to? Everyone's risking their lives...”
I cut him off before he could spin his sophistry with that smooth tongue of his.
“I'll do it. The scout team.”
“...What?”
“But I won't be doing it with you. I heard there's a nasty piece of work skimming magic stones...”
“What are you...!”
Only then did the internal medicine chief begin to notice the crowd filling the lobby.
It was a truth those who knew, knew—but he must have felt burdened to have it exposed so openly in front of everyone.
“Scout team activities are about bringing back food, right? Want to make a bet? Let's see who brings back more—your scout team or me.”
“You little... Do you think bringing food back is a joke?”
“Young people have a saying for this. If you don't play...”
“What?”
I finished the sentence.
“You lose.”
With those words, I strode out of the lobby.
.
.
.
Swish! Thunk!
Crack!
I walked in front of the hospital, throwing axes at the approaching monsters.
I had called it a bet, but it was merely an excuse.
It wasn't as if I could plant an axe in someone's face in front of so many people.
I had simply moved locations because things might get a little rough.
I was fairly confident.
They were snakes that slowly strangled people's throats while lurking in the shadows.
It was the perfect opportunity to secretly kill me as I left the hospital alone.
Of course, on the other hand...
‘...Will they really try to kill me?’
I shifted my steps, imagining a future where they didn't follow me out.
No matter how much the world had ended, it hadn't even been ten days yet.
No matter how absent law and order were, making the resolution to kill someone simply because they got on your nerves was by no means an easy thing.
So I was curious.
Just how far were these people willing to go?
But as if laughing at my humanitarian perspective...
Rustle.
I heard movement from behind.
I turned to see Jin Seong-hak, the chief of internal medicine, his right-hand man the chief of pharmaceutical affairs, and a group of brainwashed Awakened slowly surrounding me.
They seemed to have mobilized every available person they could; the number looked to be at least thirty.
Jin Seong-hak spewed a faint smile and said,
“Hey, Kim Jeong-gyeom. You should have known when to quit. A rolling stone should know to lie still. Or did our hospital look that pathetic to you?”
I didn't answer.
Because he had just given me the answer to my question.
He shifted his feet brazenly and gave orders to the chief of pharmaceutical affairs and the other Awakened.
“Get ready.”
The chief of pharmaceutical affairs also seemed to be an Awakened, as his body swelled up, and the other Awakened began manifesting their respective abilities.
I nonchalantly opened a portal.
I had someone to introduce to them.
Thud, thud. Song Hyeon-gu stepped out of the portal.
The chief of pharmaceutical affairs' eyes went wide upon spotting him.
“...Why are you coming out of there?”
“Fuck, what do you care! Get him now!”
Swoosh!
At Jin Seong-hak's roar, the brainwashed Awakened charged all at once.
But I had no intention of fighting them head-on.
I took Song Hyeon-gu and entered the portal,
Thud!
The Awakened were blocked by the portal.
Then Lee Yong-su, who had been playing with Yu-jeong inside the subspace, rushed over urgently.
“...What's going on?”
“We have some guests...”
Thud! Thud!
The guests were banging violently on the portal door.
“...I'm going to let them in.”
[An external entity is attempting to enter.]
[Will you permit entry?]
“Permit it.”
Shwoosh!
The Awakened entered the subspace one by one,
“...?”
“......?”
And blinked their blank eyes like goldfish that had forgotten their memories after three seconds.
One of them asked,
“...What is this?”
Their brainwashing had been undone.