Chapter 44, Raiders (2)
Lee Yeonhee's determination was admirable, and I was grateful.
But separately from that, I didn't really want her to push herself that far just to treat me.
This wasn't about whether she would succeed or fail.
During the last three days, I had clearly seen what kind of sacrifices Lee Yeonhee made to restore my leg.
She slept only three hours a day.
And even those three hours weren't sleep she chose willingly.
They were the hours when she collapsed from exhaustion and was forced to sleep.
During those three days, she hadn't voluntarily gone to sleep even once.
Not even for a minute.
The fact that she had lost nearly five kilograms in only three days showed just how hard she had pushed herself.
I couldn't make her do that again.
Besides, curing the zombie virus would obviously be harder than restoring my leg.
For now, I could endure the symptoms by releasing my violence on raiders.
So I told her we should think about it a little longer.
Lee Yeonhee nodded with a disappointed expression.
Then she returned to the bedroom to continue sleeping.
I dropped down where I was sitting.
Then I pulled a vibrating phone from my pocket.
It wasn't mine.
It was a phone I had taken from one of the raiders.
When I checked it, the vibration was coming from the raider group chat.
“I forgot to turn off the notifications.”
Phones often got destroyed during fights even when I kept them inside my pocket.
The phone I currently carried was something I had taken in a hurry after my previous one broke.
Because of that, I had forgotten to disable its notifications.
Leaving notifications turned on for a raider group chat that received thousands of messages every day was nothing but irritating.
I frowned and prepared to turn them off.
Then I stopped.
The person who had posted the newest message was unusual.
The message began with, [Announcement].
The sender's nickname was [Epsilon].
He was the creator and owner of the raider open chat room.
I immediately opened the group chat and read his message.
The message said that the situation had become dangerous recently, so they should gather together.
In short, he was inviting the members of the group chat to meet in person.
At the very bottom of his long message, he had even kindly written the date and location.
What is this guy trusting to openly reveal himself like this?
What if the other raiders betrayed him?
And even if that didn't happen, someone who hated him could have infiltrated the group chat.
I couldn't understand why he would openly request a meeting.
Still...
The violent urge stirring inside my chest made me think this was actually perfect.
The meeting would happen one week later, on the same day of the week as today.
The time was around evening.
I memorized the date.
Then I stared blankly at the sky.
A deep blue moon released faint moonlight.
Arlin and Hwa-ryeon followed my gaze and looked at the moon as well.
Perhaps because the atmosphere felt strangely heavy, they started talking about random things.
“The moon is pretty. I don't think it looked this beautiful when I saw it in a place called America.”
“Oh, foolish Hwa-ryeon. The moon looks the same no matter where you observe it from...”
“Huh? No way! I'm sure it looked different when I saw it from America...”
Leaving the noisy pair behind, I entered the Gallery and killed time reading posts.
A week passed quickly.
Before I knew it, the date of the meeting had arrived.
“Are you really going alone, Oppa...?”
“I have the book, Lucy, and the glove. I even have the flame. And most importantly...”
I took a round cylindrical object from my clothes.
When I squeezed it, a red flash shot outward.
The brilliant red pillar of light extended for about three meters.
Then it stopped growing.
But it didn't shrink or disappear either.
The three-meter beam remained exactly as it was.
This was one of the finest pieces of future technology I had taken from the Company.
“I also have a beam sword.”
It was a beam sword.
The beam sword produced enough heat to melt titanium alloy.
Against a human, even brushing against it would cook the skin.
Personally, I didn't really like using it because holding it made me feel like a child again.
“I've prepared thoroughly, so don't worry.”
I relaxed my grip.
The beam gradually shrank until only an ordinary cylindrical handle remained.
I carefully stored it inside my clothes together with a compact railgun.
My preparations were complete.
There was a saying that you shouldn't use a butcher's knife to kill a chicken.
My preparations were excessive enough to make that saying feel meaningless.
I hugged each of my companions once.
After lifting and bouncing Confirmation Bias affectionately, the cat was the final one to approach me.
The cat pressed its paws against my leg several times.
Then its right head cried.
Meow.
It seemed good fortune would come.
I smiled, stroked the cat, and left home.
After completely leaving the apartment complex, I took out a motorcycle and climbed on.
The motorcycle shot forward with a refreshing engine roar.
That was the signal.
The signal to release the violence I had carefully suppressed for the last week.
It had already reached its limit and was beginning to overflow.
Killing intent filled my heart so strongly that Hwa-ryeon probably would have been horrified if she saw me.
The murderous intent was strong enough to belong to a martial artist from the martial world.
A passing cat jumped in surprise.
Birds sitting in nearby trees cried out and flew away.
With trembling hands, I turned on my phone and checked the map.
“The distance... is pretty far.”
The meeting location was an abandoned factory.
It was located in a somewhat isolated area.
