Chapter 97 – Zombie Apocalypse 2 (5)

The inside of the mart we entered through the entrance also looked a little different from before.

Lee Sian used this mart near his officetel quite a lot and remembered what it originally looked like, but of course there was no trap like this.

I opened the second door of the mart, which was somewhat fortified, and entered.

Are men patrolling the outside and women guarding the inside? There were quite a few women holding spears inside.

Since few men would have ever picked up a weapon before the zombie apocalypse broke out anyway, there is no need to sacrifice just one gender.

This is possible even without a status window and mana.

The mart I entered through the second entrance had a feeling of being clearly organized, unlike when it was chaotic after being taken over by the Buddhist group.

One of the spearmen who had been guiding us from the beginning took the two of us to a place that looked like a supermarket customer support office.

“There is a leader inside, so we can talk.”

“Is it him who is the leader? I understand.”

When I opened the door and went in, there was the man who had given us a gas stove and gas when leaving the supermarket.

The wound from the blow had not healed properly, and his face was still bandaged, and blue bruises were visible beyond it.

“Hello, Mr. Lee Sian.”

“Hello… Leader?”

“This is Seongtae Choi. I heard from Youngeun that I’m older, but it’s okay if you just call me Seongtae.”

This did not mean that he would make me feel comfortable because he was older, but it seemed to mean that he wanted me, who belonged to the powerful, to be comfortable with him.

“And that’s Kim Na-eun. Is that right?”

“Yes, Seongtae Choi.”

Perhaps because Naeun was in front of me, I drew a clear line with Seongtae Choi.

“Then, I would like to hear from Seongtae Choi, who everyone calls the leader, about the current situation at the mart.”

I got a lot of information by talking to spearmen on the way, but I thought that the information that the person at the top knew would be important.

Naeun and I sat on the chairs across from us, and only then did Seongtae Choi open his mouth to talk.

“Where should I start? Wouldn’t it be better to briefly explain why I am the leader?”

That’s a story I never heard on the way.

“I was a college student who lived nearby and worked part-time at a supermarket. After returning to school, I worked part-time at a supermarket and organized things in my free time. As I talked to and helped seniors who shopped alone, I became a little more comfortable dealing with adults. I guess. I think that’s why I became a leader at some point.”

Okay. I was also an average college student, and everyone was like that.

“As soon as I heard that voice in my head, I knew I had to secure the mart. So I ran to the mart at night, and since I knew how to open the door, I was able to get in quickly. And now I came with a similar thought to me. I’m not sure if the situation is real, but I quickly rallied people who came to collect survival supplies to my side and created the first group inside the supermarket.”

“We slept then.”

After robbing a nearby convenience store, I returned home, took a deep breath, and woke up.

And then I went to the department store, but the store was already full of people.

Perhaps Choi Seong-tae’s people were included there.

“Of course, as you know, due to the ban on gatherings, the mart was divided into several groups, but after that disappeared, we naturally became one. I became the leader of the mart, perhaps because I showed my face a little by going around to seek out information about other groups and because I was the first person to enter the mart. .”

“After that, they went around promoting it to further increase their power.”

“Yes. The supplies at the supermarket were enough to last for 30 days, but we needed people who could actually use their energy well, so we promoted it by targeting the fact that it was near a university area.”

“And then they got screwed.”

“That was a turning point in many ways for Mart and me.”

The Fire Light Sect seemed to think that if they occupied a place like this with lots of people and supplies, they would be able to easily survive the zombie apocalypse, and it turned out to be correct.

It seemed like things were going very well for me until something unexpected happened.

When people still have an aversion to killing and don’t know the power they have, if you put pressure on them from above, it’s easier for them to fall into panic than you think.

Moreover, the use of women caused internal division, so I really didn’t want to imagine how the supermarket would have run if I hadn’t come to visit.

“Once freedom was lost through force, everyone started working for freedom. Before, some people fed everyone, but now everyone is moving.”

“It seems like it’s only been a few days since it happened.”

“I’m not sure how long the current situation will last, but fortunately, Sian is here.”

Choi Seong-tae seemed to share the same thought in not thinking that changes brought about by external shocks were permanent.

“If I join, won’t it actually loosen up?”

“So, I plan to receive him as a guest. Someone who can leave at any time and has the power to show us a good side.”

Is that me?

If you feel like you’re watching the supermarket instead of joining it, it won’t be much different from what you’ve endured so far, but the area around here will still be clean with voluntary zombie hunting.

“We don’t have any intention of doing anything bad, but what do we do if someone gets scared and tries to do something bad to us?”

Naeun asked about another possibility, whether it was because his body was not mature.

“No one would do that. Unless they want to be the first to be executed according to the supermarket’s internal regulations.”

It seems there are rules we don’t know about.

Naeun also nodded at those firm words and looked at me, the person with the authority, for the last time.

“I will provide additional strength when I need it, and follow the conditions. I have not completely joined, but will stay as a guest. If Naeun and I do something foolish, I can judge him on the spot.”

“Yes. That’s also true. In this situation, touching something that shouldn’t be touched only means wanting to sacrifice one’s life.”

Receive special permission to join the mart.

If the person living next door hadn’t filmed me, I wouldn’t have had that permission.

“Ah. But are you still accepting other people?”

“No. I plan on holding on like this for now. Everyone is doing what they have to do instead of avoiding going into battle, so it’s okay to not have to increase the number of people.”

It seems like the supermarket has changed quite a bit since the incident that day.

Naeun and I left the customer support room.

Then, Young-eun, who had been waiting nearby as if her shift was over, came waving to us.

“Xian. Naeun!”

She bowed slightly to me and hugged Naeun tightly to her chest.

“Ouch… My right arm hurts right now.”

“Oh. You said so, right? What happened?”

“I decided to stay as a guest. Rather than saying I fully joined, I’m the type of person who can leave if they don’t like the mart? Sian, right?”

“Yes. If there are better conditions, you can show me the video and leave.”

“I guess there are a lot of people who think that’s an impersonation, right? We knew right away because we saw the power that knocked the leader of the Fire Glow Sect into the wall with a baseball bat.”

“I didn’t think of that possibility.”

A man with black hair holding a baseball bat.

How common is this person in this zombie apocalypse world?

“Let’s just settle at the supermarket?”

Young-eun seemed to have decided to seduce Na-eun by clinging to his left arm.

I don’t know how they overcame those moments they didn’t want to remember and became so bright, or whether they want us to smile brightly and contribute to safety because of that.

*

After organizing our luggage and sitting in the mart to spend some time, leader Choi Seong-tae started gathering people inside the mart.

“Shall we go too?”

“Yes. I’m a guest, but it would be good to hear it.”

When I went to the place where people were gathered, there was a map of the surrounding area of ​​the supermarket printed on a printer and placed in the center.

I made it bigger by sticking four sheets of A4 paper together and clearly delineated the surrounding area with a highlighter.

When we arrived, Seongtae Choi pointed out the area around the mart with his hand.

“Currently, we thought that the red border was the territory of the supermarket, so we killed the zombies and searched the inside building.”

“Have you found any survivors in the process?”

“Yes. Since it’s only been a week, there were more people than I thought holding out at home. I made an exception and asked them to join, but no one joined.”

Seongtae Choi answered my question and turned his attention to the spearmen.

“Are there any infected people on patrol today?”

“No.”

“I haven’t received any reports of anything unusual either. Then, let’s talk about expanding the scope of the search.”

Should we say that a place makes a person?

Choi Seong-tae, who told me that he worked part-time at a supermarket just a few days ago, seemed to be clearly carrying out his role as a leader well.

“I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything between these if I stretch it out.”

Among the spearmen, a slightly older-looking man expressed concern about the widening gap between the supermarket and the red line.

“Zombies eat zombies, so we have to patrol closely so that there are no zombies left behind, but we don’t have enough people.”

Other spearmen also responded negatively to the idea of ​​increasing the patrol range.

“So, I would like to suggest another method. I would like to leave the patrol scope as is and form a group for exploration or contact with other groups. What do you think?”

“Another group, a university?”

“Because it is the biggest among the known groups.”

A supermarket and a university.

I’ve roughly looked into how supermarkets work, but I’m not sure about universities.

Because I was possessed by Lee Sian, I didn’t feel much for my friends.

“I don’t know much about the university group. Do you know anything?”

I asked leader Seongtae Choi.

“Hmm. They say it’s not as warm there as here.”

I had a strong feeling that if I contacted the university group, there would definitely be trouble.