Old People Don’t Hold Hands - Chapter 143



Only Krnovel

Episode 143, The Frost Queen’s Crown (15)

It didn’t take long to find the mart.

There was only one intact building sticking out between the already half-destroyed buildings.

As we approached, the lights inside the mart were half-off and flashing repeatedly.

“… … Ugh, sir. Should I go inside?”

“Yes. Let’s start by looking at the basement level.”

“… …Why underground?”

Well… … , it’s a rule that marts and department stores usually sell groceries on the basement level.

Even if I explain it like this, Biella won’t understand, so I’ll pass.

Let’s take one more step towards the mart.

Taang!

“… … !”

Coming here, I heard gunshots that I had never heard before.

The source of the sound was… … inside the mart.

I raised my head and looked inside the mart, and I saw Inyoung among the flashing lights.

That’s right, the shadow of a soldier facing off against a goblin.

It looks like you’re alone.

I haven’t heard any gunshots in the vicinity, and I don’t feel any signs of life inside the building…

Did you get left behind?

“… … That thing, isn’t it a person?”

Well, that’s true.

“Let’s just ignore it for now and move on.”

“Is that okay?”

“Isn’t that person welcome anyway?”

“… … That, that’s true?”

As I ignored her and entered first, Biella followed with a bewildered expression.

Perhaps because the lights kept flashing, there were quite a few goblins inside.

Kir, Kirrurur?

But thanks to Biella’s hiding, I was able to avoid being caught by him.

We went straight down to the basement using the escalator as the stairs.

Likewise, on the first basement floor, where goblins were briefly visible, there was quite a bit of food left.

… … Yeah, I knew it.

It seemed like Nowen had just gone up from the first floor.

I guess you probably don’t know the common sense of this world.

I haphazardly filled my cart with well-packaged snacks, bread, and ramen.

Biella watched it and asked again and again.

“… … Huh? You’re going to eat something like that? It’s just a square object, isn’t it?”

“This is ramen.”

“What did you say… … ?”

… … After solving my curiosity and moving my hands busily, I was able to fill the cart with food.

When you push a heavy cart to a corner and move the food into your backpack while hiding.

Key, kill kill, kirk!

“Ugh, euaaaah!”

I just heard a scream near the escalator we had just passed.

Immediately after that sound was heard.

Taang!

… … The gunshots were heard again.

“Sir, wasn’t that a noise I just heard nearby?”

“… … I think I need to hurry up and pack and go.”

It seems like a soldier ran away and ended up here.

“Faster… … , ah, got it!”

Biella, who became impatient at my words, dropped the snacks while moving the bag of snacks.

Parsak!

As a fairly large bag of chips fell, the soldier also looked back at the source of the sound.

“……uh?”

The soldier turned his head reflexively and met my eyes.

He looked at me with confusion for a moment, then aimed his gun at the rushing goblin again.

… … Tick, tick!

There were no more shots fired.

I don’t know if they’ve used up all their bullets, but all I can hear is a debilitating sound.

Kirruruk!

The goblin took advantage of the gap and swung his dagger.

“Eww!”

The soldier thought it was too late to change the magazine, so he blocked the attack with his gun.

I had no trouble wrestling with a single goblin, but if there was a problem… … .

Kirrrr? Kirruk!

… … The goblins on the first basement floor heard the commotion and started to rush in.

As the men rushed in one by one, the soldier also looked in this direction urgently.

Of course, until the situation got to that point, I just picked up food and watched what was happening before my eyes.

No special action was taken.

“Excuse me, excuse me! Can, can you help me!”

“… … Are you talking to me?”

“Yes! That’s right! If you just help me get out of here, I’ll take you safely to the shelter!”

In the meantime, the number of goblins rushing at the soldiers increased from one to two.

The soldier skillfully swung his gun here and there to block their attacks.

“Sir, what are you going to do?”

Hmm… … .

Actually, there was nothing to worry about.

No matter how human it may look, isn’t that also part of the illusion?

There’s no reason to help you, you’re not even human.

Even if we save that side, all we can get is a shelter anyway… … .

Wait, shelter?

“When you say shelter, are you talking about the elementary school building?”

“… … Yes? Oh, no! There is a shelter at the cultural center. I will take you there.”

Hmm, is that so?

If we use this well, we could knock those guys off Nowen in one fell swoop?

“… … There are people hiding with us. Can you take them all to the shelter?”

“Okay, okay! Let’s get out of here first!”

As he said that, the soldier ran towards me.

The goblins swarmed around us as if they were completely surrounding us.

“Uh, if you use this as a weapon… … .”

As he said that, the soldier tried to hand over the weapon in his bosom.

“Oh, the weapon is done.”

“……yes?”

I must have filled my backpack too, I was going to go back anyway.

Let’s look at Biella with a fairly heavy backpack on our shoulders.

Likewise, Biella, who was carrying a backpack, nodded and took my hand.

There was also a soldier right next to him with a dumbfounded expression.

Let’s hold hands and let Biella unleash her power.

Key, Kirrurur… … ?

Even the goblin who was about to rush in excitedly had no choice but to stop in bewilderment.

“What, what is this… … ?”

“… … Shh, they’re pretty smart though, so if you make any noise, they’ll find out right away.”

“… … .”

“Well then, let’s go out for now.”

After that, I encountered quite a few goblins until I left the mart with the soldier.

Nothing special happened.

Even the most sensitive ones only sniffed around and didn’t spot us.

I came out to a relatively deserted street and started talking to the soldier while maintaining my hiding place.

As soon as he could speak, the soldier looked at me as if he had been waiting.

“What, what is this? It’s like the monsters don’t recognize us at all… … .”

“That’s because this child has a special ability. He can hide his body.”

“Oh, how is that possible… … .”

“In a world where even monsters pop out, is this such a strange thing?”

At my words, the soldier was silent for a moment and then looked at Biella.

“Well, that’s true… … .”

He recited it with a bitter expression on his face for some reason.

So, as I returned to the subway station, I gently shook the closed shutter.

Soon after, the light from a cell phone began to shine inside the otherwise quiet subway station.

“… …Dicklen? You came back quickly!”

Nowen’s voice was also heard.

“Yes, please open it first.”

As soon as the shutter opened, I met eyes with the guys inside the subway station again.

The guy who was lying on the floor and putting on a show as if he was sorry for not coming back alive even clicked his tongue.

“It’s good that you came back safe and sound… …, but who’s next to you?”

“Oh, I’m the survivor I met at the mart.”

“Survivor… …? Well then, isn’t this guy a soldier?”

“Ha, haha. My name is Private Lee Chil-seok. I was avoiding artillery fire and got lost at the mart.”

At the appearance of the new survivor, Nowen seemed momentarily taken aback, but then patted the soldier on the back and said it was good to see him.

The men behind Nowen glared at me with even more murderous expressions.

… … It seems like they don’t like the fact that there is one more outsider.

I looked at them and smiled brightly.

What, what do you want me to do?

“So, Leader, I have some good news.”

“Good news?”

“Private Lee Chil-seok said he knew where the shelter was. He said he would guide us there.”

“But the shelter is definitely… … .”

“Yes, you said you were attacked. But the place this person was trying to guide you to was different.”

“Then, wait a minute! Can, can we go to the shelter?!”

As soon as the topic of shelter came up, the guy sitting alone in the corner jumped up and shouted.

If you look at the place where the guy was just a moment ago, Inozen was there too… … .

Okay, it looks like my request has been faithfully carried out.

“… … Miss Diana.”

A little further away, Diana, who had regained consciousness, was sitting.

Perhaps because the aftereffects of destroying the welcoming body still remained, his complexion was quite pale.

… … That’s fortunate.

Diana also came to her senses.

As the story of bringing soldiers here and the shelter came up, the atmosphere inside the subway station changed again.

“Ugh, hahahaha! I survived! I, I survived… … !”

The man who was alone seemed so happy that he was ready to dance.

“… … I would like to hear more details about the shelter.”

Nowen also spoke to the soldier with a serious expression.

Perhaps because they didn’t like the situation, the guys behind Nowen all had scary expressions on their faces.

“I think we should just head towards the shelter without hearing any more. Aren’t we running low on food from the mart?”

Of course, this is also a joke.

The basement level was barely touched, so there was a lot of food left.

“… … So the reason you came back early today is because there is no food left?”

“No. I tried to scrape together as much as I could from what was left, but I can’t keep taking from there forever.”

“That’s true. Then let’s all go to the shelter together… … .”

When Nowen opened his mouth while he was thinking about it.

“… …Just a moment, Leader.”

Again one of the guys opened the door with a sinister smile on his face.

… … Yeah. I knew you’d stop it.

“It’s great that we can go to the shelter, but isn’t it too much to go right away?”

“… … You think that’s impossible? Why do you think that?”

When I asked him again, he looked at Nowen with a serious expression as if he had never smiled before.

“There are a lot of patients here. It’s impossible to move them right away.”

As he spoke, the guys behind him also started to pretend to be sick, as if they had never been fine before.

“How about we first heal our wounds and then move on?”

“… … Is it true that the wound is healing?”

“Haha, that’s a strange thing to say. This is also a lot better.”

… … What the hell.

Do you think I don’t know that you’re just trying to waste time by reopening wounds that will heal anyway?

“Hmm… … , indeed. That makes sense.”

“Leader, wouldn’t it be better to go anyway? There will be more medical supplies in the shelter, and there might even be a doctor there.”

“Oh, that’s right. Leader! Oh, we need to go to the shelter quickly!”

Well, let’s leave the man’s interference aside and look at the soldier.

“Yes, that’s right. There will probably be a military doctor there too.”

The soldier nodded in agreement with what I said.

“There are people whose stomachs are bursting like that, so I don’t think it will get better even if you hold on.”

Let’s specifically name the guy who was lying down and putting on a show today.

Nowen looked at him and nodded.

“Well, that’s true. Then to the shelter… … .”

Before Nowen could finish speaking again.

“Okay, just a moment. Leader!”

One of the welcomers opened his mouth again in a hurry.

“Then how about we decide by voting? Whether to go to the shelter now or later?”

“Are you talking about voting?”

“Yes. First of all, we are one group, so we can’t make decisions unilaterally, right?”

… … Huh.

You really think it’ll come out like this?