The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 31

#31. The Government’s Dog (3)

After the morning roll call, the people were largely divided into three groups.

The first group rushed to the restrooms to relieve themselves of the waste and urine that had accumulated overnight.

The second group stoically endured their bodily needs and crawled back to their assigned positions.

The third group consisted of those who remained on the training grounds for reconnaissance.

Sergeant Lee Cheong-chun called out to Jin Jae-hee, who was about to enter the building.

“Jin Jae-hee.”

Jin Jae-hee turned to look at him, having been about to follow Si-on.

Sergeant Lee Cheong-chun had completed all the necessary preparations for reconnaissance.

He was equipped with a three-section baton, a pistol, a bulletproof vest, and a wool hat.

The Manan Police Station’s reconnaissance team departed every day after roll call.

Their purpose was to obtain food from the shopping district or to recruit survivors.

Si-on stopped and eavesdropped on their conversation as he was about to enter the building.

Lee Cheong-chun said to Jin Jae-hee,

“As promised, please join the reconnaissance team.”

Jin Jae-hee stared at him blankly before turning to look at Kang Si-on.

She had an expression as if she was seeking advice.

Kang Si-on nodded, approached Lee Cheong-chun, and said,

“I will go with you.”

Kang Si-on volunteered for reconnaissance.

He also needed information about the external situation.

As he stepped forward to volunteer, Lee Cheong-chun scanned Kang Si-on.

A small build.

And a youthful face.

He looked like a high school student at most.

*If he lived in this city, he might be a school friend of my daughter*, Lee Cheong-chun thought.

Even if he were included in the reconnaissance team, he would likely only be able to perform the role of a porter.

Lee Cheong-chun gauged Jin Jae-hee’s reaction before turning back to Kang Si-on and replying,

“No. Reconnaissance is dangerous. Yesterday, we lost a fellow police officer during reconnaissance. He was attacked by an unidentified tentacle.”

“That’s why I’m going.”

“Yes. So… what did you say?”

*That’s why he was going?*

Lee Cheong-chun couldn’t easily understand.

Most people in this police station were reluctant to go on ‘reconnaissance’.

Initially, they had formed a reconnaissance team with some of the citizens, but after fatalities occurred, there was strong opposition.

They realized that it was dangerous outside the police station.

The current reconnaissance team was made up of police officers and those who had joined the force on the condition that they would participate in reconnaissance.

Of course, every single person was desperately needed.

However, Lee Cheong-chun didn’t want to send the kid in front of him to his death.

Lee Cheong-chun shook his head.

No matter what Kang Si-on was thinking or what his purpose was, he decided that he couldn’t take him along.

“No. I’m sorry.”

“If this person doesn’t go, I won’t go either.”

“Excuse me?”

This time, Jin Jae-hee played her hand.

Lee Cheong-chun looked at Jin Jae-hee, slightly surprised.

She had a serious expression on her face and was staring straight at him.

And ‘this person’.

*Does that mean they’re not siblings?* Lee Cheong-chun wondered.

Lee Cheong-chun crossed his arms.

It was a habit he had when he needed to set the mood.

“I remember that Jin Jae-hee came here on the condition that she would join the reconnaissance team. It would be difficult if you act like this.”

“Then I’ll leave.”

Jin Jae-hee replied without hesitation.

It was a desperate measure.

Jin Jae-hee rummaged through her pockets and handed four plastic sticks to Lee Cheong-chun.

Lee Cheong-chun stared blankly at the sticks placed in her hand.

She shook her wrist as if to tell him to take them quickly.

At that moment, his subordinate shouted from afar.

“Team leader! We’re about to depart.”

Lee Cheong-chun turned his head to look at them.

The team members, who had already finished preparing for reconnaissance, were looking this way.

Lee Cheong-chun turned his head back to look at the two people.

During the few exchanges that had taken place so far, the two men and women in front of him hadn’t changed their expressions at all.

Whether it was intentional or natural.

Lee Cheong-chun looked back at Kang Si-on before letting out a deep sigh.

“Okay. Then let’s go together.”

Jin Jae-hee was too valuable to give up because of Kang Si-on.

She was an essential asset to the reconnaissance team.

It was only Lee Cheong-chun’s intuition.

Having been involved in martial arts for a long time before becoming a police officer, he could tell.

A tiger.

From the first time he met her, he felt a strong spirit like a tiger emanating from her.

“But don’t overdo it.”

Lee Cheong-chun gave Kang Si-on one last warning.

* * *

An hour had passed since the reconnaissance began.

I walked along with the group.

Armed police officers led the way at the front, with a group of ordinary citizens in the middle, and Jin Jae-hee and I followed at the very back.

There were a total of 10 people on the reconnaissance team.

The information I had gathered from examining the police station as a whole yesterday and today was that:

The main tasks of the police officers were reconnaissance, control, and communication.

Reconnaissance was carried out by a total of about 30 people divided into 3 teams, who took turns searching the city.

Control was the task performed by almost all the police officers except for the teams that went out on reconnaissance, and communication was carried out by a small number of people, including the police chief, using the police network inside Anyang City.

However, apart from the small number of citizens assigned to the reconnaissance team, the hundreds of people living inside the police station had nothing to do.

It was an absurd way of survival.

*So that’s why it was in the quest*, I thought.

If the police chief continued to adhere to this method, this force would be destroyed in less than a month.

They wouldn’t even make it through the ‘winter’ that K had mentioned.

More than anything, what made me even more uneasy was the thought that winter hadn’t even arrived yet.

The current weather was cold enough to be considered winter for humans, but was it really winter for ‘them’ too?

I followed the line of people, pondering such questions.

The only reason I volunteered for this reconnaissance was that:

I needed to know this city in more detail.

In the end, everything is a battle of information.

Only when you have the upper hand in information can you easily develop a case, no matter what options are given.

Even if the meaning of reconnaissance is simply to secure food and survivors.

The meaning given to me was different.

Jin Jae-hee, who was walking side by side with me, would also know that fact.

The reconnaissance team was using a pre-determined patrol route.

Two hours since the reconnaissance began.

So far, nothing had come out.

Sergeant Lee Cheong-chun, at the front of the line, stopped the line and turned around to say.

“Let’s take a break for a moment.”

At that voice, the reconnaissance team, exhausted, went into the building right next to them and took a break.

Originally, it was a short distance and a short time of reconnaissance that wouldn’t even take your breath away.

However, in addition to the physical fatigue of plowing through the snow, they couldn’t help but be exhausted due to the psychological pressure that people had died during reconnaissance just yesterday.

Thud-.

I sat down on the inside wall of the building, a little away from the reconnaissance team, and caught my breath.

I put my hand in my pocket and warmed my body with a hot pack.

It was warm.

Until just now, I had been suffering from the cold, which felt like my fingers and toes were being cut with a knife.

I had no choice but to keep wiggling my toes.

Jin Jae-hee approached and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“About what?”

She sat down next to me and asked.

“I’m talking about the cold.”

“No problem.”

In fact, I had become accustomed to this level of cold when I was working as a day laborer, so it wasn’t a problem.

But it would be a problem if it got any colder than this.

Jin Jae-hee was taking something out of her bag.

I asked her.

“It’s going to get colder than this, right?”

Then Jin Jae-hee replied without hesitation.

“Yeah. When the extreme cold comes, the snow will pile up enough to completely cover even small buildings.”

Crunch-.

She broke the frozen energy bar she had taken out of her bag and handed me half of it.

“Eat it. Chocolate helps maintain body temperature.”

I carefully took it and put it in my mouth.

The chocolate bar was frozen solid due to the cold, and it felt like I was chewing on candy.

“We have to prepare.”

Jin Jae-hee’s voice, with a hard chocolate bar in her mouth, was slurred.

I, too, licked the chocolate bar with my tongue and thought.

So far, the snow had risen to the level of my knees.

But according to her, it would exceed that by far and snow would accumulate to a height of about 10 meters above the ground [approximately 33 feet].

And that was nationwide.

That was beyond the standard of extreme cold.

It was a disaster now, but it was a catastrophe.

“In my past life, we burned down the entire city to prepare for the extreme cold. Haeundae, Gukje Market, Marine City, Busan Station [major landmarks and commercial areas in Busan, South Korea]. Everything was burned. As if there was no civilization there in the first place. It was the choice of people who couldn’t overcome the extreme cold that cut off their fingers and toes.”

Rattle, rattle.

I listened to her words, fidgeting with the energy bar wrapper.

“Thanks to that, the snow melted, but as a result, the people who were hiding were all burned to death in their sleep.”

Rattle-!

I clenched the bag tightly and then dropped it to the floor.

Then the energy bar bag fell limply from my grasp.

At that moment, Sergeant Lee Cheong-chun looked around at the people and said.

“We’re leaving again. Please get up.”

At that voice, the people who were resting got up one by one.

I got up before her and said.

“It’s okay. We don’t have to burn down the city.”

Having experienced the 1st round, I had a certain understanding of the importance of preserving manpower.

We couldn’t burn down the entire city to solve the immediate 2nd round.

I wanted to gain a clear victory in this round.

To do that, I needed a foundation.

A foundation to seize power.

First of all, I had to gain the trust of Sergeant Lee Cheong-chun in front of me.

Jin Jae-hee followed and asked carefully.

“Do you have a plan?”

I put my hands in my pockets and joined the line of people walking ahead.

And I answered naturally.

“I’m going to make a road.”

At my words, Jin Jae-hee stopped.

Then she murmured quietly, as if she couldn’t believe it.

“A road…?”

The reason I came on this reconnaissance was this.

I had to find a certain creature.

One that could withstand the cold well and was easy to capture.

If the methods I’m thinking of work well…

I wouldn’t have much difficulty taking over the police station.

* * *

Anyang City Dongan-gu, the road in front of Anyang City Hall.

Thud-!

Se-beom fell forward, unable to withstand the kick.

Two women approached him.

And she grabbed Se-beom by the scruff of the neck and lifted him up.

“Get up. Don’t think nonsense.”

“Huff… Huff….”

The woman pushed Se-beom to walk again.

The road in front of City Hall.

Ten men, tied in a row, were walking into City Hall.

Guarding and leading the men were all ‘warriors’.

The warriors of the 1st force in Anyang City Dongan-gu, their faces covered.

The men tied to the warriors walked weakly.

They were all merchandise.

Merchandise to be offered to the Queen.

“Cough! Cough…!”

Se-beom lost his strength while walking and fell out of line again.

The man next to him staggered.

Then a woman walked up with a pipe in her hand.

“Haa… Haa….”

In Lee Se-beom’s bloodied vision, he saw the woman’s shoes getting closer and closer to him.

And the woman mercilessly struck Se-beom’s back.

The pain of the pipe hitting his back and breaking his bones permeated his entire body.

Lee Se-beom screamed in agony.

As the warrior was about to strike Se-beom’s face, the warrior next to her stopped her.

“Not the face.”

Then the warrior carefully put away the pipe she was holding.

And she grabbed Se-beom’s hair and lifted him up.

“Walk. Merchandise. Or I’ll kill you.”

Se-beom walked, half-led by the chain.

Every time he walked, kicks followed from behind.

“Haa… Haa….”

Se-beom raised his head and looked at City Hall.

The force occupying City Hall.

The 1st force that unified the entire Anyang City Dongan-gu in just 3 days.

In front of that force, Se-beom realized that what they had done inside the shopping mall was just children’s war games.

The road was different.

The road was the path that connected the city.

And when the league was held, the road also had the largest population.

They occupied the road and quickly expanded their power.

Kang Si-on’s Hong team had all scattered as soon as the round ended.

This place is still standing.

No, it was more than just standing, it was solid.

In front of City Hall, warriors armed with various homemade weapons were talking.

“10 people.”

“Only 10 people? What are we going to do then? It’s not enough.”

“Don’t worry. There are top-quality products mixed in this time.”

“Top-quality products?”

The warriors, wearing hoods and masks.

The warriors’ eyes were like those of beasts.

The warrior turned to look at Lee Se-beom.

Se-beom’s whole body was covered in goosebumps when he saw her smiling eyes.

“Ah-. Top-quality products. The Queen will be pleased with that much.”

The warrior wearing the mask took out a small fruit knife from her pocket.

And she slowly approached and used the knife to lift Se-beom’s chin.

She whispered to Se-beom in a seductive voice.

With a knife to his throat.

“Be careful. The Queen is very hungry right now.”

“…Sister. What did you do to my sister?”

“Huh?”

The warrior tilted her head.

Joo-yeon, from 707 [South Korean Special Forces unit], was helpless against the thugs.

Se-beom still couldn’t forget Joo-yeon’s appearance, just yesterday, bleeding from her lips.

The thugs dragged Joo-yeon’s body, which was hanging like laundry.

After that, Se-beom couldn’t see Joo-yeon.

The woman still spoke to Se-beom, putting away the knife.

“I can’t tell you that. Try to please the Queen. Maybe she’ll spare you.”

“Why are you doing this… why.”

“Why? I don’t know. We get executed if we don’t meet our quota.”

“Executed…?”

“You. You’re from the building. You don’t know about the ‘law’ yet.”

Law? From the building?

Se-beom couldn’t understand anything even while listening to the woman’s words.

He realized that everything that had happened inside the building, that is, inside the shopping mall, was just a drop in the bucket.

About the law.

And the Queen.

Even the force occupying this place.

It had only been a week and two days since the world had ended, but this place was a completely different world.

Where people’s lives were dying like flies.

How could this have happened?

Se-beom couldn’t know anything until he faced the Queen.

The men entered City Hall in a row.

However, three men from the back row could not enter City Hall.

It was the men up to the back of Lee Se-beom.

“Wait. The three of you stay. Your merchandise value is low.”

The remaining people were trembling with fear.

Even as Se-beom was being dragged into the place, he glanced at the revolving door of City Hall.

Stab, stab, stab.

The three men who could not enter this place were stabbed to death on the spot.

Their deaths were simple.

Without even a single scream, they simply fell forward with a fruit knife stabbed in their necks.

The view through the revolving door.

Se-beom kept their end in his eyes until the end.

(Continued in the next episode)