The Regressor Only Protects Me [EN]: Chapter 32

#32. Cold

Lee Chungchun’s reconnaissance team spent two hours digging through the snow, finally reaching their target location.

They scouted the same distance every day, but the snow that continued to pile up overnight had to be dug out each time they set out.

Thus, the three leading members of the reconnaissance team were constantly shoveling snow.

They were heading towards the largest commercial district inside Anyang City, doing work close to hard labor.

Anyang First Avenue.

They finally arrived when the sun reached its zenith.

In the biting cold, the midday sun offered them a moment’s respite.

Before entering First Avenue in earnest, Inspector Lee Chungchun gave his team a break.

They had to go inside a building to rest.

The streets were teeming with monsters.

‘Hoo.’

Lee Chungchun chain-smoked, gazing at First Avenue spread out beyond the window.

Finally, today they would enter Anyang’s largest commercial district.

Until now, they had been searching and procuring food in this area, but now they had to go deeper.

Because the number of citizens was increasing daily, but the food supply wasn’t.

Their only hope was the reconnaissance team.

They had to achieve results.

Even though the world had been destroyed, Lee Chungchun carried out his duties as a police officer.

Because the duty of the police is to protect the property and lives of citizens.

After finishing his cigarette, Lee Chungchun ordered his men to advance.

Swish-!

Lee Chungchun drew his three-section baton.

And the men who had finished their break braced themselves to enter the commercial district.

As this was the largest food hub, the number of thugs or monsters would be on a different level from other places.

Of course, that was only Lee Chungchun’s thought, but everyone agreed.

A lot of food meant there were a lot of predators aiming for it.

Lee Chungchun pressed himself against the corner of a building and surveyed the wide, eight-lane road.

Silence, stillness.

And the sound of the wind blowing.

The silence soon aroused fear.

So far, dozens of police officer colleagues had died in the line of duty.

It was a noble sacrifice in a national emergency.

But Lee Chungchun didn’t want to lose any more colleagues.

He had to secure the food inside the First Avenue commercial district at all costs.

Lee Chungchun’s heart began to pound like crazy.

His pupils shook as if there was an earthquake, and his breathing became rough.

It was the fear of death, which no living creature could escape, the fear of dying right now.

‘Let’s do it. I can do it. Let’s go.’

As he stood tense against the wall, a man strode up.

It was Kang Si-On.

There was no fear in his gait.

“Whoa, wait a minute!”

Lee Chungchun stopped him, but Kang Si-On had already stepped onto First Avenue Road.

Kang Si-On entered the eight-lane road first, followed by Jin Jaehee.

Seeing their fearless appearance, Lee Chungchun leaned against the wall, watching their backs.

At that moment, he saw several tentacles stretching out from the snowfield on the left.

Swish, swish, swish-!

It was the monster that had killed his fellow police officers.

Lee Chungchun was startled and shouted at the two people walking ahead.

“It’s dangerous!”

Before his voice could reach their ears, the tentacles flew quickly.

But his shout was almost embarrassing.

Slice-!

Jin Jaehee calmly cut off the flying tentacles with her sword.

Literally calmly.

It was a single swing, and the tentacles fell powerlessly to her blade.

And as if nothing had happened, they walked forward.

“Huh……”

Lee Chungchun could only feel empty at the extraordinary sight.

* * *

The first place they entered was a convenience store at the entrance of First Avenue, where a part-time worker was dead behind the counter.

As soon as Lee Chungchun arrived at the convenience store, he immediately used the radio to communicate with headquarters.

About 30 minutes passed.

People carrying sacks full of supplies trudged through the snow.

It took several hours to dig through the snow to get here, but it took those following the path less than 30 minutes.

Police officers and citizens carrying sacks took turns filling them with food.

It didn’t take an hour to raid a small convenience store.

According to Lee Chungchun, one convenience store had the same amount of food as the entire police station’s daily ration.

I looked at the counter as I listened to him.

Jin Jaehee was taking cartons of cigarettes from the display and putting them in her bag.

Not satisfied with that, she stuffed cigarettes into all her pockets.

I stared at her blankly and asked Lee Chungchun again.

He already had a cigarette in his mouth.

“How many people are involved in food procurement?” I asked.

Lee Chungchun stared at me blankly, then flicked off the cigarette ash and answered.

“About forty people. About twenty-nine of them are police officers. There are two teams in total: the reconnaissance team and the food team. They are divided into two groups, each with about 10 people.”

His cigarette smoke scattered.

I inhaled the smoke and coughed.

I wasn’t used to cigarette smoke.

Then Lee Chungchun turned his body and apologized to me.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I don’t usually smoke… This is…”

He was older than me, but he turned away to smoke.

I waved my hand at him.

“It’s okay. More than that, I want to know more about the structure related to the station.”

“The station… you mean?”

“Yes. How the police officers finished the first round [initial phase of the apocalypse].”

Honestly, it was something I had been curious about since I came here.

It wasn’t like each building received a different theme, and it wasn’t like this building alone was exempt from the first round.

Most of the police officers and complaining citizens belonging to the police station seemed to have survived, and there were no traces of battle.

It was in stark contrast to the shopping mall, which was full of corpses, battles, and bloodstains.

Lee Chungchun thought for a moment with a cigarette in his mouth, then answered.

“We voted.”

“Voted?”

“Yes. What to do. Something like that.”

Click.

Lee Chungchun rubbed the cigarette he was smoking against the convenience store’s glass door to put it out.

He was now looking back at me.

He put his hands on his hips and looked outside the convenience store, continuing to speak.

“We killed a gangster. On the third day. Finding the king… isn’t that what our detectives specialize in? Fortunately, the gangster in the detention center was the king, and we killed him when he resisted. We didn’t think this situation was just a simple terrorist attack or someone’s prank. Above all, it was a decision made by the chief after gathering everyone’s opinions.”

“I see.”

He put the cigarette pack in his pocket and tried to turn around and go out.

But I blocked his way.

I looked up at him, and Lee Chungchun’s pupils were shaking slightly, as if he was a little embarrassed.

“What about the second one?”

The unrevealed king.

I hadn’t heard about the Black Team’s king.

Lee Chungchun looked into my eyes and then shook his head.

His voice was trembling slightly.

“I don’t want to tell you that. I’m sorry.”

He forcibly turned around and went outside.

I watched his back.

There was one thing I wanted to confirm.

How much of a sense of justice do these police officers have?

From the police’s point of view, I am a murderer.

I killed dozens of people in the shopping mall, and I also killed people with a gun.

The police should arrest me, and I shouldn’t be in the police station.

But it is statistically difficult to survive until now without committing such murders.

Will the police see us as criminals, or as ordinary disaster victims?

Judging from his actions now.

It seemed like they also had something uncomfortable.

Should I say it’s fortunate?

I felt like things had become easier.

I followed him out of the convenience store.

There, dozens of sacks filled with food were already piled up.

People carried them on their backs and moved to the police station one by one.

A long line stretched across the snow-covered road.

* * *

The authority to distribute food rests solely with the 담당 [in charge] police officer.

Priority was given to citizens and police officers who had gone on reconnaissance.

Also, people belonging to the reconnaissance team received one additional toilet and food stick each, separate from ordinary citizens.

It was an allowance.

At least within this police station, plastic sticks were being used as currency.

The number of sticks was close to 1000, and they were said to have been obtained from a nearby stationery store.

They were children’s toys, but no one here knew what kind of game they were for.

The value of food has not yet been established.

A cup of ramen could be one stick, or a lunch box past its expiration date could be one stick.

After the second round started, the police distributed it without compensation for a day or two, but they are now taking the same approach for control.

It was the police chief’s policy.

Around 5 p.m., when the reconnaissance ended, a long line formed on the 5th floor.

The appearance of people who had been starving all day was terrible, and the stench was also terrible.

“The toilet problem is the most serious. Even if there is less stool because there is nothing to eat, the urine problem is serious.”

Inspector Lee Chungchun said as he went up next to the long line.

Kang Si-On and Jin Jaehee were following behind him.

“Our reconnaissance team, well. We solve the toilet problem when we go on reconnaissance, but inside here, we have to melt snow every day and put it into the purification facility. It wouldn’t be a problem if it was dozens of people, but as you know, there are 741 people here.”

They ignored the long line and approached the front row.

It was the reconnaissance team’s privilege.

The right to preempt food.

Inside the noisy distribution center, the people who had gone on this reconnaissance were choosing food.

The food was neatly organized in the warehouse, and most of it was organized by police officers in charge of internal processing.

Kang Si-On chose a carbohydrate-rich lunch box, and Jin Jaehee chose a frozen convenience store raw chicken.

Lee Chungchun picked up bread among them.

“That said, we can’t indiscriminately urinate outside. Because it can’t be controlled.”

Lee Chungchun went back to his seat, opened his personal drawer with a key, and put the bread there.

Lee Chungchun continued to speak to Kang Si-On and Jin Jaehee.

“Anyway, Si-On and Jaehee, you’re still going to continue on the reconnaissance team, right?”

“Yes.”

Si-On answered, and Jaehee just nodded.

“Let’s see.”

Click-.

Lee Chungchun opened another drawer, took out a file from there, put some saliva on his fingers a few times, and turned over the documents.

And he wrote their names at the very end of the scribbled names with a Monami pen [a popular brand of pen in Korea].

Si-On glanced at the reconnaissance team name tag.

He saw some names with strike-throughs.

They were the personnel who died during the reconnaissance.

Lee Chungchun wrote their names and then entered simple physical descriptions and personal information.

And he held out his hand to the two of them.

Si-On grabbed his hand first, followed by Jaehee.

“Then please take care of us. Police officers will handle dangerous tasks first, so don’t worry too much.”

“Yes. Please take care of us.”

“Reconnaissance departs every day at 07:00 after the morning roll call. Rest now. You have to replenish your strength to do anything.”

“Yes. I will.”

Kang Si-On and Jin Jaehee avoided the long line and went downstairs.

Lee Chungchun leaned back in his chair, staring blankly in the direction they disappeared.

“Unique.”

Lee Chungchun muttered like that.

Because most survivors have a lot of questions.

Kang Si-On also had a lot of questions.

But other survivors asked, ‘When can we be rescued?’, ‘What about the government?’, ‘Does the police have a way to resolve the current situation?’

Of course, those were normal questions.

But Kang Si-On didn’t.

He wasn’t afraid or sad.

He was calm, like someone who had prepared for this disaster in advance.

At first, Lee Chungchun was particularly drawn to Jin Jaehee, but now he was more drawn to Kang Si-On.

Kang Si-On’s boldness shown in this reconnaissance.

And Jin Jaehee’s swordsmanship skills.

‘I need to pay attention.’

He drank a sip of cold water in a plastic bottle.

He felt like his esophagus was freezing.

Even inside the police station, his breath came out every time he exhaled.

* * *

Manaan Police Station, 2F.

When the sunlight disappeared and darkness fell on the city, this residence lived by relying on moonlight.

Occasionally, some people took out candles, but the candles did not last long in the cold.

The cold wind hit the glass window, making a loud noise.

Coughing and groaning sounds were heard everywhere.

The cold was terrible.

Some people huddled together, even strangers, to maintain each other’s body temperature.

Two elderly couples at their feet were shivering and enduring the cold.

I stared blankly at it, chewing on the frozen rice grains in the lunch box.

The elderly couple had cardboard on the floor and were enduring the cold with one thick padding.

No one helped the elderly couple.

Even I, who was watching it.

Helping someone here was no different from dying together.

Here, just enduring was work.

I glanced around.

I thought as I watched them suffer.

It would be a matter of time before the police’s order collapsed.

When order collapses, a new leader is elected.

I couldn’t become a leader all at once, but I had to gradually establish my position.

First, I had to gain their trust, like I did in the shopping mall.

Crunch.

I thought about a way while chewing on the rice grains.

One way to create an environment where everyone here only needs me, an environment where they can’t do without me.

“Kang Si-On.”

Jin Jaehee, who was unfolding the sleeping bag, called me.

I looked at her and asked.

“Where did you get that?”

“From the soldiers’ transport vehicle on the way here. There was only one, but this is something.”

“Okay.”

Jin Jaehee lingered around the transport vehicle on the way here.

“I packed several items in the military pack there. Entrenching tool, sleeping bag, and this.”

Swoosh-.

The light of the blade reflected in the moonlight came into view.

It was a military dagger.

“The blade is sharpened, so it’s sharp. It will be able to pierce through human skin.”

Jin Jaehee handed me the military dagger.

I accepted it.

And then put it in my inside pocket.

The night was getting late.

I put the last remaining rice grains and frozen sausage in my mouth.

It felt like the roof of my mouth was freezing.

I was going to melt it slowly with saliva.

Jin Jaehee, who was organizing the inside of the sleeping bag, went in and lay down.

I also lay down next to her.

I pushed my nose into the padding I was wearing.

Even so, cold wind came into every corner of my body.

Then, Jin Jaehee tapped my left forearm.

“Come in. I set off two hot packs [disposable heating pads].”

“What?”

“You can’t completely preserve your stamina and body temperature like that. We’re going to start training in earnest from tomorrow. I’ve roughly decided where to train with today’s reconnaissance. You need to replenish your stamina. I’ll tell you in advance, I never give any breaks when it comes to training. So, it was really lucky that you got a sleeping bag today. You have to sleep warmly to recover your stamina.”

At those words, I stared blankly at her.

Then I glanced at the sleeping bag and said.

“It looks narrow.”

“It’s okay. Because you’re small.”

Jin Jaehee answered nonchalantly, with only her face out of the sleeping bag.

I thought for a moment, then squeezed into her sleeping bag.

I had to take off my padding to get in.

It was narrow.

The musty smell of the sleeping bag, the faint smell of cigarettes, and the smell of blood seemed to be a little bit.

Smelling those things, I burrowed further into the sleeping bag.

The inside of the sleeping bag was very warm thanks to the hot pack she set off.

The temperature was maintained because the sleeping bag, the hot pack, and the human body were touching.