Chapter 32

THUD—

Something collapsed beyond the smoke.

No, it would be more accurate to say “someone.”

At the silence that followed, chills ran down my spine.

“Kh, hurk……!”

But a rough gasp came one beat late.

-Jae-gyeom, restrain him.

“Yes!”

At Cha Si-eon’s order, Kwak Jae-gyeom lowered his gun and ran.

I followed in confusion too, but there was nothing for me to help with.

Kwak Jae-gyeom tied up the crouched person in an instant.

At that sight, I was flustered all over again.

Shooting someone and tying them up.

That was something I had only seen in movies or news from the other side of the world.

But my roommate was doing it.

The psychological resistance was considerable.

As I tried to grasp the situation, I noticed something strange.

The surroundings were clean.

Judging by that person’s reaction, he had definitely been shot.

But there was no blood.

“What Jae-gyeom just fired, those weren’t live rounds?”

-They are rubber bullets for suppression.

……Couldn’t you have told me that earlier?

I was seriously startled.

Only then did I stroke down my chest. Phew.

Of course, shooting a person with rubber bullets was not ordinary either.

But that side threw a smoke bomb first, so let’s call it even. Phew.

The person Jae-gyeom bound with cable ties was a large man.

With his arms tied behind him, the man flailed about, and when Jae-gyeom sat him upright, he gasped for breath.

Then he shouted urgently toward Jae-gyeom.

“A-are you a soldier? Save me! I’ve been trapped here for over a day……!”

But the man’s plea abruptly stopped halfway through.

He stared blankly at Jae-gyeom’s bleached hair, then suddenly turned deathly pale and began begging.

“S-save me! Please save me! My mother is alone. If I’m gone, my mom will die……!”

I knew what this was.

I had also grown nervous when I saw Cha Si-eon’s topknot.

If a kid whose hair did not look military or police was holding a gun, of course it would be frightening.

The terrified man went beyond begging and began crying.

But that wailing did not last long.

-Gag him.

What?

I was startled once again, and Kwak Jae-gyeom moved silently this time too.

RIIIP—!

Jae-gyeom slapped duct tape over the man’s mouth in layer after layer.

When I tensed at that merciless sight, Cha Si-eon explained.

-That individual is subject to emergency arrest.

“Emergency arrest?”

-He stayed in the 「Sports Complex Where Corpses Are Picked Up」 for approximately 13 hours and killed 2 people. In the process, he committed unnecessary child abuse and sexual crimes.

Jae-gyeom and I looked down at the man.

The man went mmph, mmph and shook his head vigorously.

He had the face of someone claiming innocence, but setting that aside.

“So you’re telling us to kill this person and get Ha Yu-ju out?”

-No. Acts by Bureau agents attacking citizens are strictly prohibited. Even if someone is subject to arrest, their rights as a citizen are guaranteed until guilt is confirmed through trial.

Is shooting him with rubber bullets not an attack?

With that thought, I looked at Kwak Jae-gyeom’s submachine gun.

Then Cha Si-eon calmly and quickly added,

-However, response to threats and temporary measures are possible.

“……So is that why you told me to sit there?”

-The man has a corpse hidden. We will use that corpse to get Ha Yu-ju out first.

So that’s why you sat me down there, Team Leader Cha…….

And what about Baek Sa-ra, who tried to use me as a bullet shield in the hospital?

Ah, back then too, Baek Sa-ra had not been trying to attack me directly.

She had been planning to have me die by a stray bullet from the 「Moving Gun」.

Hahaha…….

I had a lot to say, but there was no time to argue.

While Kwak Jae-gyeom stood the man up, I went into the room and supported Ha Yu-ju.

-The location of the corpse is the second floor, the second room to the left from the stairs.

“Mmph!”

At Cha Si-eon’s words, the man struggled.

It seemed he really had hidden a corpse there.

-Your current location is an indoor area corresponding to the entrance of the sports complex. There are no other people in that area, so move without worry.

“How many people are here right now?”

-Including our personnel and the bound man, 9 in total. Aside from 1 minor, all are adults, and the longest stay is 2 days while the shortest is 5 hours.

“Route A. Escape through Cleaning the Field” was said to be possible when there were 5 or fewer survivors inside the Special Zone.

Even if we sent Ha Yu-ju out, at least 3 more people had to disappear.

This was why Cha Si-eon had postponed deploying the rescue team.

Here, having more of our people would not be much help.

It would only increase the number of people who had to die for someone’s escape.

That man had already killed 2 people too.

Then why had he not escaped yet?

I looked at the man struggling while being dragged by Jae-gyeom.

That man was tall and quite large.

He looked to weigh easily over 90 kilograms.

Don’t tell me the weight was insufficient?

Come to think of it, what Cha Si-eon had said earlier.

-He killed 2 people

-In the process

-He committed unnecessary child abuse and sexual crimes.

I had been too rushed and let it pass earlier, but what the hell did that mean…….

“You said killing is exceptionally permitted here, right?”

-Some acts for survival are tolerated, but not all killings are permitted.

“Was that man’s killing within the permitted range?”

-It was within the permitted range.

“Then he became subject to arrest because of child abuse and sexual crimes?”

-Correct.

“……?”

Of course, naturally, one must not abuse children or commit sexual crimes.

But the fact that a space where even murder was permitted had such a common-sense line of defense was rather surprising.

When I looked puzzled, Cha Si-eon spoke.

-The permission to kill in this place is an exceptional measure to protect as many lives as possible.

Permission to kill for the protection of life.

What an incredible paradox.

-Committing antisocial crimes under the excuse of such a situation does not match the purpose of reducing loss of life, and is instead regarded as abusing the system. Such acts are strictly punished.

At Cha Si-eon’s explanation, I nodded.

In other words, this seemed similar to how war crimes are punished even during war.

Even in wartime, where hostile forces kill each other, civilian massacres, torture, rape, and the like are prohibited under international law.

Because the purpose of war is to secure various interests, not to commit crimes against humanity themselves.

So acts of invasion that are not armed conflict between state and state, or military and military, are strictly prohibited as war crimes.

Of course, forbidding them does not mean such things do not happen.

Rather, because such crimes can easily happen in such situations, it is closer to defining the lowest line.

No matter what the situation is, there are things one must not do.

“Mmph! Mmph!”

When we arrived at our destination, the man’s resistance grew fierce.

It was completely different from how he had cried and begged earlier.

Now that he knew we could not touch him, his true nature seemed to be coming out.

Kwak Jae-gyeom opened the door while holding onto the man.

The inside of the room was darker than the corridor, so nothing could be seen.

Jae-gyeom took out a searchlight.

The concentrated light slowly illuminated a soft sofa, a desk with a nameplate, and a display cabinet full of trophies.

This was a space like a representative’s office, or a chairman’s office.

-The corpse is under the desk, sealed in black plastic.

“Mmmph!”

“Ah, stay still!”

When Cha Si-eon pinpointed the location exactly, the man nearly went berserk.

Kwak Jae-gyeom threw down the searchlight and subdued the man with his whole body.

So I had no choice but to accept my fate.

As expected, taking out the corpse is my job…….

I sat Ha Yu-ju on the sofa and approached the desk.

When I pulled out the chair, urgh, there really was an object wrapped in black plastic.

Please go to a good place.

May you be reborn in paradise, be held in the Lord’s arms, and rest peacefully in heaven.

I prayed briefly and bent down under the desk.

But what is this?

“There’s another small plastic bag.”

It was about the size of a school bag.

It was placed in front of the larger plastic bag that seemed to be the corpse, so I grabbed it for now to move it aside.

Then I startled violently and let go.

“……!”

What was inside the plastic bag was moderately cool and moderately soft.

At the same time, it formed moderately hard lumps.

So I felt I should not touch it.

“There’s something inside the plastic.”

-It is likely the victim killed first by that man.

“Pardon?”

-The first victim is said to have been a woman of similar build to that man. After he killed her, he immediately took her to the field, but before he could reach the goal, the 「Running Corpses」 damaged most of the corpse. This is presumed to be part of the corpse he managed to retrieve at that time.

“Ha…….”

So this was why he had killed 2 people and still had not gotten out.

Because he had already failed once.

With a horrible feeling, I grabbed the knot of the bag.

Then I took it out and carefully placed it beside the desk.

Now all that remained was the large bag.

The bag crumpled under the desk was literally large enough to contain one person.

If I pulled carelessly, the bag would tear.

I had no choice but to grip it firmly with both hands.

Twitch—

……It felt like it moved somehow. Was it rigor mortis?

Holding back the chills crawling all over me, I pulled the bag.

Just as I had pulled it out halfway.

Rustle— rustle—

THUMPTHUMPTHUMP—!

The bag began thrashing!

“Aaagh!”

Startled, I let go, then was startled in another sense and tore at the plastic bag.

When I ripped through the black plastic wrapped in several layers, something shot up through the gap.

“Hurk……!”

Then came ragged breaths.

“Hurk, huff……!”

“A-are you okay?”

I asked, nearly sighing the words.

The second victim was still alive.

What had been trapped inside was a thin male student in a school uniform.

On top of that, his face was covered in bruises.

His movements looked uncomfortable.

Looking again, his arms were tightly bound with plastic.

-Untie him.

Cha Si-eon spoke before I even asked.

I immediately tore off the plastic binding the male student.

Then I handed him a water bottle and asked again,

“Are you all right?”

The boy hurriedly gulped down water first, then glanced up at me with gloomy eyes.

The way his face watched our mood was shadowed in a way that did not suit a child.

“Ghk, khp!”

At that moment, a strange sound came from the side.

When I turned to see what it was, the man caught by Jae-gyeom was going ghk, ghk by himself.

……He was laughing.

As if to say it served us right.

As if our predicament was very funny.

The bastard knew we could not harm ordinary citizens.

He also knew Ha Yu-ju was an emergency patient who needed to get out as soon as possible.

But the corpse that had been our only means of escape had come back to life.

Now, we were stuck in a situation where we could neither do this nor that.

The bastard had instantly realized it and was mocking us.

Feeling hollow, I looked at the man.

Kwak Jae-gyeom ground his teeth as if his jaw would break.

“Mmph, mmmph! Mmmph!”

The man, triumphant, babbled something.

He was appealing with his whole body that he had something to say, but I felt as if I knew without having to hear it.

He was probably saying to make a deal because he would step up and kill the boy for us.

Damn it, how do we handle this…….

-Stay still.

At that moment, Cha Si-eon spoke.

-Do nothing and wait.

What is he suddenly talking about…….

Rustle—

Then the boy stood, pushing away the plastic covering him.

Perhaps he was still having a hard time, because he leaned against the display cabinet for a moment, then stood upright again.

Then he began staggering toward Kwak Jae-gyeom.

The next moment.

THWACK—!

The boy struck the man’s head.

With a heavy, sharp trophy he had just taken from the display cabinet.

The man’s neck snapped sideways, and droplets of blood scattered through the air.

All of us were shocked.

But no one stopped him.