Rust - Chapter 77
Only Krnovel
RUST -77
Wounds sustained while fighting the drug dealers and Executive Director Choi and his immediate subordinates.
When I was in danger due to the cytokine storm, I was treated with the help of Hotel Charlotte. While I was being treated for the cytokine, my wounds were also treated. The medicine I used at that time. It was a medicine that deserved a Nobel Prize. I remembered the medicine that had perfectly cured me, as if it had turned back time.
Maru checked the GPS map.
‘That’s why it was called Takaichi Pharmaceuticals and Yamatsuki New Drug.’
The place where President Charlotte was supposed to be delivered.
Once a decision was made, it was Maru’s style to move immediately. Let’s start by sorting out the nurses.
The nurse’s eyes grew wide.
“Huh?”
A sound burst out that I couldn’t tell if it was an exclamation or a word.
What Maru suddenly held out was a wad of 10,000 yen bills, or 1 million yen. The nurse thought about her monthly salary for a moment. It was almost 3 months’ salary. After deducting taxes and other things, it was really 4 months’ salary. But 1 million yen in advance without deducting anything? Huh? Suddenly?
“Please take care of the patients here. The hospital is already bankrupt, so how can you get a proper salary? The work is hard, and the salary is uncertain. How about taking care of two patients here and getting paid 1 million yen a month? How about that? You’ll also have to do cleaning and other things, so I’ll give you an extra bonus.”
The bonus is given based on how well you work, but it’s up to 500,000 yen? As soon as Maru finished speaking, the nurse nodded. 1.5 million yen including bonus? Monthly salary? She also works as a maid.
I managed to bribe the nurse with money. It was easy.
Okay. That was one less thing to worry about. I steered the catamaran straight to Tokyo Bay. If I had been on the move, I would have used the sails to save fuel, but fuel wasn’t important right now.
======
======
There was a lot of floating debris in the sea. Especially when passing near the coast, it really felt like a slurry, not the sea. There were broken pieces of vinyl, plastic bottles, cans, and other miscellaneous items like bags and shoes, and even houses that were submerged in seawater.
What was floating around?
house?
The half-destroyed house was floating in the sea. Even though it was a wooden house, it was still a house even if it was half-destroyed? Even if it was swept away by a tsunami, it was still a house? The house really was floating in the sea. The nurse was blankly looking at the half-destroyed house.
“Eeeeeeeee! Over there… Over there!”
Maru, who was nervously avoiding the floating objects, ignored them. The nurse was just waving her finger at the floating house in front of her. What she was doing was a bit… In any case, it was fortunate. I thought it was because of that style that I followed along.
“Wait a minute. Please stop for a moment!”
?
“This isn’t a car. It doesn’t stop right away when you tell it to stop.”
Why would you stop a ship that was sailing well? It wasn’t even a car, so it just kept sailing.
The nurse stared blankly at the floating house. In the distance, the house was getting smaller, and on the roof, a cat was looking this way.
======
======
The autopilot malfunctioned occasionally, so it was a hassle to reset it. The nurse was looking after Ki-sun and Kim-yang quite diligently, whether it was because of the salary and bonus or because of her personality.
“So, there were rumors going around that people were fleeing from the Kanto region?”
“yes.”
Maru, who was cleaning the deck during her free time, talked to the nurse about this and that. There was also the cat-ignoring incident earlier, and if things like that pile up, there is a chance that something strange will explode, so it would be good to solve it through talking. But the most important thing was the situation in Tokyo and the surrounding areas. When water was sprayed with a high-pressure sprayer, the red residue came off the deck.
“No rescue workers or Self-Defense Forces were dispatched to Tokyo?”
“···The story of the dispatch was often told on TV and in the newspapers, but after that it was quiet.”
He said he was going to rescue Tokyo, but then he lost contact. Now that I think about it, I remember the news when I was in Korea that said the foreign correspondents also lost contact.
“There were no stories at all about people fleeing from the Tokyo area?”
“At first, rumors started circulating in newspapers and on the internet, but it was such a strange story···.”
“What was the story?”
“Animals attack people···.”
Now, the words he was saying were cut off in the middle. Maru took a deep breath. Let’s not rush things. This is just how he is. Where did he shorten ‘에’ and ‘또’? What are you going to do if you fix everything?
“Isn’t it true that the rescue team or the Self-Defense Forces gave up rescue operations because of the animals?”
The nurse had a look on her face that said, ‘You can tell me that.’
“Was there no other story on the Internet broadcast?”
“They said the illness was serious.”
“What kind of illness is it?”
“It’s Corona. Corona has mutated strangely.”
Hmm- I remembered the story about the vaccine not working, or the breakthrough infection. Could it be that the already troublesome corona has undergone a radiation mutation? Since my immunity was so high, I was a little worried about the disease. When I stared at her, telling her to keep talking, the nurse fidgeted. No, I stared at her, telling her to keep talking, but why was she fidgeting?
“How did it mutate?”
“Uh. That’s it. If you get the mutated coronavirus, you get excited easily, don’t stay still, and run around, so you spread the disease and stuff… And there are a lot of people who die from suffocation due to respiratory failure caused by pulmonary fibrosis.”
It was a nurse who was slowly taking notice of the situation. I could guess something was wrong from the way she looked, which seemed to have turned from cheerful to timid, but there was no need to mention it.
“There was no rumor that Mt. Fuji erupted?”
“Yes. There were reports that strange clouds appeared over Mt. Fuji, and that micro-earthquakes were observed underground at Mt. Fuji, but there was no report of an explosion.”
When you go near Tokyo, it seems like a good idea to anchor the ship a little farther away and go in wearing a gas mask. It was painful to lose all the quad skis. It was really amazing that both the water and the amphibious could reach a speed of 80 km. To think that they just used it to crash. There was no other way at the time, but looking back, it was heartbreaking.
The amphibious vehicle was about 40km on land and about 5km in water. Although the payload is said to be ample, speed was more important than payload in the current situation. Could the speed be increased by changing the motor? I needed to check. If I could change it to a motor with good horsepower and make it about 20km in water, it would be fine. Since it is 8X8, it can run on rough terrain.
Yaaang
Okay
Is that a cat? In the ocean? The nurse looked around and made an audible “Ah!” Something hit the nurse’s head and flew away. The nurse looked up to find what had hit her head.
What looked like clouds were densely filling the sky.
‘Huh?’ A nurse with a blank expression.
What is it? Maru also turned his gaze to the sky.
It was as if the clouds were stirring. It sounded like a rain shower in the distance, but it was definitely the sound of wings. The high, sharp bird-like cry mixed with the sound of wings, and it sounded like a rain shower.
“Get in!”
“Don’t just sit there blankly, come in!”
I sent the absentminded nurse down to the cabin where Ki-sun and Ms. Kim were, and closed the cockpit door. A moment later, dark clouds covered the white catamaran.
The cockpit was shrouded in darkness.
The sound of the bird’s wings turned into vibrations that rattled against the cockpit window. Little by little, traces of seagulls began to appear on the glass that had been unshaken by the storm.
Is this a seagull? Is this the same species as the kids who were trying to get shrimp chips in Busan?
Seagulls swarmed the catamaran like a swarm of bees, pecking at the cockpit window with their beaks, slamming into it, scratching with their talons, and swatting at it with their wings.
Shake, shake.
The ship, which was moving forward with difficulty, rocked back and forth and from side to side.
What should I do with this?
There are rumors going around that animals are attacking people?
This isn’t something that will just end as a rumor, right?
If you were to encounter a flock of seagulls like this while riding a small fishing boat, wouldn’t you just die?
It was fortunate that I was on the boat. What if I had encountered it while walking along the beach? It was terrifying just to imagine.
Are seagulls crazy? How did they become crazy? If you’re talking about animals, aren’t seagulls the only ones that do this kind of crap?
Shake. Shake.
The shaking grew a little louder. I looked out the cockpit window, where the deck was filled with seagulls.
What the fuck
These crazy birds.
The seagulls that had landed on the catamaran were fluttering and landing again. As they flew up and down from all sides, the shaking began to grow. There was no problem because of the catamaran’s unique stability and recovery, but the patients were a problem. They had to be stable anyway.
What do you do with them?
I couldn’t even go out with a knife and cut them. There weren’t even hundreds, there were so many that I couldn’t even count them. What was worse was that I couldn’t go outside because the seagulls were hovering around.
What if I go out and get attacked?
There was no answer.
[Those patients came to their senses.]
“Both?”
[Yes. The male patient asked why his stomach was shaking like this.]
“Please tell them it’s because of the seagulls. Is the female patient okay?”
[Yes. He’s still not responding well, but he’s definitely regained consciousness. His fever has also gone down a lot.]
“Wait a minute. Turn up the intercom volume.” Ki-soon’s cracking voice was heard.
[···Hey. What do you mean the boat rocks because of the seagulls?]
“The seagulls are going crazy and running wild. They’re being aggressive and they’re circling around the boat.”
[No shrimp chips? Any other snacks?]
“It’s not a candy problem. Even if you throw them in boxes, they won’t show up at all.”
[Is there that much?]
“I can’t see the sky.”
“Patient, stop talking.” The nurse stopped Ki-sun. Ki-sun struggled to say that he was okay, but then became quiet after being injected with a sedative or sleeping pill. The shrapnel in his arm wasn’t the only problem. Even though he was wearing multiple bulletproof vests, it seemed that the shock wasn’t enough; his ribs were damaged, and his internal organs were also damaged. Ms. Kim said that the only problem was exhaustion and her cast-wrapped right arm, but that she was fine otherwise.
‘Ms. Kim?’
It flashed.
Miss Kim. Miss Kim’s trauma. Fog. Smoke. Seagulls.
Don’t seagulls also chase food visually?
Don’t seagulls have a sense of smell? Birds have nostrils too.
The eyes were open, even if the nostrils weren’t open. There were also ear holes.
Kids.
Boom- Boom- Thud-
Push-shush- Puhwaaaaak-
I made up my mind and threw it away.
Smoke from the tear gas engulfed the catamaran.
Kieeeeeee!
Gyaaaahhhhhh!
The seagulls began to fly away, making cat-like noises.
The radar, which had been down because of the seagulls, showed all directions. The direction in which the flock of seagulls had flown appeared as clouds on the radar image.
As the birds flew away, ships caught on radar were immediately marked. There were ships blocking the route that was being navigated on autopilot. The distance was about 4~5km? If other ships had used autopilot, it would have been natural for them to have been driven on similar routes. If the seagulls had not been dealt with quickly, they could have collided.
Maru put on his gas mask and went out of the cockpit. The deck was covered in a toxic trail of tear gas. He had tried hard to clean up the blood, but now the seagulls were all over the place. He went to the cockpit and looked ahead with his binoculars, and saw ships marked on the radar.
Large cruise ships, luxury mega yachts, and medium-sized yachts were floating together, all entangled together, with ropes and rope ladders. Whether they were trying to transfer from cruise ships to mega yachts or vice versa, the medium-sized yachts were also entangled together.
The corpses hanging from the net ladders and swinging showed traces of what had attacked them. Not only were the corpses corpses, but the boats were all blackened as if they had been on fire. There were traces of burns everywhere.
Someone must have noticed this from the other side, because someone came out and fired a signal flare into the sky.
A signal flare exploding in the sky.
Is that a rescue signal?
I don’t know anything about ships, so I wouldn’t know anything about maritime signals.
Maru chewed refreshingly and rode slightly avoiding the area where the pears were entangled.