1979, Manager Kim is Inheriting Dictatorship! - Chapter 14



Only Krnovel

Episode 14

“Oh? It’s more normal than I thought!”

“Is it fun?”

“Would you like to try riding a snake?”

“Bring it here quickly.”

Private Lee Hyeon-su, on board a duck boat, pedals hard and glides across the water.

At first, he grumbled and said it was annoying, but now he was as cheerful as a child who found a toy.

But Private Oh Chan-il and I, looking at this, could not shake off our complicated feelings.

“It seems like you’re forcing a smile.”

“He does that because he’s afraid of getting in the way of work. He may look like a sloppy guy, but he’s actually deep inside.”

Not only did his unit disappear overnight, but he also had to lose his grandmother, his only family member.

If he were an ordinary person, it wouldn’t be strange for him to become a wreck or wander around for a while.

However, Private Lee Hyeon-su seemed to be forcing himself to act cheerful, as if he did not want to cause trouble.

“If this continues, it will collapse any moment… … .”

“That’s what I’m most worried about, too.”

There are times when the human spirit, even when it has held on tenaciously, suddenly snaps in an instant.

I wish I had cried and made a fuss, but I was more anxious because she was so cheerful.

“Well, by the way.”

“yes.”

“Did you hear any loud noise last night?”

“I heard.

“That was… a grenade, wasn’t it?”

When asked if the explosion was a grenade, I remained silent and lit a cigarette.

Then, Private Oh Chan-il nodded as if he had expected this and lit a cigarette with him.

“What are you talking about?”

Private Lee Hyeon-su, who had just arrived at the dock pulling the duck boat, asked while tying the rope himself.

We pretended like nothing happened, put out our cigarettes, got up, and hurriedly prepared to leave.

“The story about when you lost a cartridge when you were a private.”

“You bastard! How long are you going to keep worrying about that! I’m not being treated unfairly anymore!”

“Okay, just come over.”

So, after packing everything up, including the duck boat, we started the engine and headed east.

Before going to the second destination, Seogyo-dong, it was to keep a promise with a man.

“I hope the family there is okay?”

“It’s only been a day, what?”

“still…….”

“It’s on the water, so there won’t be any problems.”

Food issues aside, there’s no place safer than a floating restaurant with its entrance blocked off.

He’s probably hanging out on the rooftop right now, waiting for us to come back.

I turned up the motor output to the maximum and quickly moved towards them who were waiting.

And soon after, a floating restaurant came into view and I carefully brought the boat there.

“hmm?”

But the man and his family who were supposed to be on the rooftop were nowhere to be seen.

What’s strange is that all the infected people who should have been gathered in front of the restaurant have disappeared.

Could it be that we were attacked by those guys?

Coco didn’t react at all to that.

Feeling suspicious, my companions and I raised our guns without saying a word and looked around cautiously.

“Maybe he was away for a while?”

“There probably isn’t anywhere to go… … .”

It was still early in the morning, but if we had heard the sound of the boat, it would have been time to come out.

Feeling puzzled, I looked around for a moment, then quickly grabbed my gun and got out of the boat.

“Mr. Hyunsoo, please wait a moment.”

“Yes! I will guard the boat.”

The fact that Coco isn’t reacting at all means that at least there are no infected people.

I thought I should at least check, so I took Private Ohchan inside.

“Hey! Is anyone there?”

The shabby restaurant has an eerie air about it, making it difficult to believe that anyone would live there.

We walked around the first floor calling out to the man, but found nothing.

“Did he really leave?”

“……well.”

It’s hard to say that he left, as traces of his daily life still remain and his luggage is left on one side.

The question became even more serious because the food we had given had completely disappeared.

‘footprint.’

I shined a flashlight on the floor and looked closely at the footprints left in the dust.

And I confirmed that there were footprints of a strangely diverse range of people.

They came in towards the terrace like us.

Did you come out onto the terrace and talk to each other?

The footprints quickly became a jumbled mess, and important traces were discovered among them.

‘There’s blood.’

Although it is not visible from the outside because the floor is red carpeted, this is clearly a bloodstain.

I quietly walked towards the restaurant bathroom, following the blood trail that continued for a long time.

Squeak, clank.

As I opened the men’s bathroom door, the full horror of that day was revealed, along with the awful smell of blood.

“This way.”

“Is there anything there?”

“Yes. I think I found the right one.”

Corporal Oh Chan-il, who had been following me without thinking, suddenly covers his mouth with a groan.

In one corner of the bathroom, a man and his family lay in cold corpse form.

“What is this… … .”

“I think an outsider has come in.”

The man was stabbed multiple times in the abdomen and his family members were also brutally murdered in the same manner.

Private Oh Chan-il stutters as he is shocked to hear that it was the same person’s doing.

“Why on earth did you kill him?”

“Well, I guess the purpose was probably plunder.”

Even if electricity and water are still maintained, supplies are becoming increasingly limited.

The looting was probably planned.

The conflicts between survivors we’ve been having so far may now be nothing.

“I’ll just take a quick look and go.”

“Sorry. I’ll have to go out first.”

Because the scene was so gruesome, Private Oh Chan-il could no longer bear it and went outside.

Meanwhile, I noticed something strange and started examining the body with gloves on.

‘He’s not someone who’s done it once or twice.’

There is no sign of the clumsy swordsmanship or accidental violence typical of beginners.

In particular, this skill of precisely targeting only vital points was so good that it could be considered expert work.

‘I don’t feel any emotions.’

The problem is that when a person kills another person, they don’t even show a hint of emotion.

People who kill people this way usually have strong egos of their own.

Slurp.

I took out my water bottle and handkerchief and carefully wiped the murdered man’s right palm.

As expected, an X drawn with a knife was clearly visible in the middle of the palm.

‘Symbol.’

He considers murder a trophy.

That’s a trophy I want to show off to others.

For sheep, the collapse of the fence is like the collapse of the world that protected them.

But for the wolf, the collapse of the fence meant liberation from the confining framework.

The unleashed wolves have entered society.

Maybe that wolf is not the only one.

I quietly closed the eyes of the man who had become a scapegoat and left the bathroom.

“Are you looking for something?”

“Yes. I’ll have to be more careful from now on.”

“……okay.”

“Don’t tell Mr. Hyunsoo.”

Corporal Oh Chan-il, who is quick-witted, does not ask again and instead answers with silence.

We came out of the restaurant.

Private Lee Hyeon-su, who had been organizing his luggage and ropes for a while, greeted us with a surprised look on his face.

“Huh? You came early. Did you find it already?”

“He left us a note. He said he went to a safe place, so don’t worry.”

“Hehehe, that’s fortunate.”

Private Lee Hyeon-su smiled brightly and looked satisfied when he heard that he had gone to a safe place.

For him, who had suffered the death of a loved one, there could not have been better news.

“Let’s go now.”

“yes!”

The next destination was Seogyo-dong. The boat started up and soon went down the Han River.

In front of the restaurant, only the duck boat we had brought was sitting there forlornly.

It was an unusually cold winter.

* * *

Unlike Cheonho-dong, which is relatively close to Hanam City, Seogyo-dong takes quite a while to get to.

Since I had some time left, I asked Private Oh Chan-il in detail where his hometown was.

“Messenapolis? Isn’t that Hapjeong-dong?”

“According to the address, it is Seogyo-dong.”

“Wow, Sangbaem! Isn’t that a rather expensive area? I guess you’ve already bought a house.”

“Is that my house? It’s my parents’ house.”

I was worried because it was called Seogyo-dong, but it is actually closer to Hapjeong Station.

This means that at least you can go there by bike, like Cheonho-dong, which is right next to the Han River.

But the problem was not the distance, but the special nature of Messenapolis.

“This is not good.”

“Yes. I think the location is a bit… … .”

A 39-story high residential complex with living spaces, shops, and even a subway station.

It can be said that most of the floating population coming and going from Hapjeong Station is flocking to that area.

In normal times, this would be a good thing, but isn’t this the current situation where an infection outbreak has occurred?

It was obvious what would happen to Hapjeong Station, which was connected to Messenapolis by an underground passage.

“There must be a way. Let’s think about it some more.”

“thank you.”

I sat down in my seat, comforting Corporal Oh Chan-il, whose expression was gradually darkening.

I’ve been trying to quit smoking for a while, but I feel like I’m smoking more and more cigarettes these days.

“Hyunsoo. Can you turn it off?”

“Oh! Was it noisy?”

“What on earth are you doing?”

“I was just wondering if there was a signal. Let me add one last thing.”

While the boat was moving, Private Lee Hyeon-su was holding the radio and doing something diligently.

As soon as we showed interest, he started showing us his radio and tuning the frequency himself.

“CQ, CQ. This is xxxxxx (call sign). Frequency 504. Listening on 504. Are you there?”

It looks like they’re randomly scanning the frequencies to find other amateur radio stations.

But no matter how desperately I called the call sign, there was no response.

“It used to be fine, but… … .”

“If you were me, would you be leisurely communicating in this situation? It’s a waste of battery, so turn it off.”

Private Lee Hyeon-su, who has been nagged once again, puts away the radio with a sullen face.

Just then, Hapjeong Station, lined with large buildings and Yanghwa Bridge in the distance, began to come into view.

[Chi-chi-chik, chik!]

“… … ?”

But at that moment, the HAM radio, which had been quiet until just a moment ago, began to blare loudly.

[Chisick, sic! This is… … sicick! Frequency 504… … receiving. Sicick, sicick! I can hear it.]

Woof! Private Lee Hyeon-su shouted and quickly raised his antenna to respond.

“Received 504! There is some QRM (noise)! Could you please say that again?”

The real answer came.

We were startled and listened to the radio, waiting for the other party’s response.

Then, a woman’s voice began to flow from the radio where the noise had disappeared.

[Received again. This is xxxxxx. Hapjeong Station Messenapolis. Can I copy it, over?]

“… … You didn’t mishear that just now, did you?”

“No, I think I heard you correctly.”

Amateur radio base station. No, the other party’s current location was Hapjeong Station Messenapolis.

We were embarrassed.

“I can hear you!”

[Where is the OM you are receiving from?]

“It’s the Han River!”

[… … The Han River?]

“Yes! This is the Han River!”

The other person was also embarrassed.