Chapter 1202: Interruption, The Meeting of the Leaders of the Northwest Section

Day 381 - 9:08 PM - Northwest Section, Yeongdo Walled City, Yeongdo District, Busan

It was quite late at night. However, the Northwest Section was bustling with activity. With nothing but torches and makeshift fire drums to light the central plaza, the survivors prepared for a small celebration.

The survivors of the Northwest Section had been struggling with dwindling food supplies for a while now. The scavenging group’s successful return with an ample amount of food was worth celebrating.

For the first time in several weeks, the survivors might finally feel their stomachs full.

And while the rest were in the middle of their preparations, a shadow lurked behind one of the shacks, observing their guests.

Unfortunately, it seemed the person could not find who they were looking for in the group, since they kept looking around.

"Hey!"

As the person in hiding was focused on the guests, someone suddenly grabbed their shoulder, accompanied by a rather loud call.

"Wah?!"

Of course, the person was startled, turning around swiftly and posing to fight, only to see the person who grabbed their shoulder was a close friend.

"Seriously, Ran. What the heck are you doing?"

Kim Yong-Hwa sighed, questioning her friend who was in full stalker mode.

"I-Im doing nothing!"

Amaya Ran was quick to deny the question.

"You think that answer will work?" Kim Yong-Hwa shrugged as Amaya Ran fell silent. "And you better stop hiding. You really think they haven’t noticed you?"

Amaya Ran turned her head by reflex. She was so focused on looking for Mark that she did not notice the rest of his group was actually watching her look like an idiot.

As her face turned red in embarrassment, Amaya Ran tried to run away. However, she could only pause on her tracks after Kim Yong-Hwa grabbed her arm.

"No running away, Miss Stalker," Kim Yong-Hwa said as she started to drag Amara Ran away. "We have a meeting to attend. Ye-Jun and Seo-Yeon asked me to find our lost love bird."

Kim Yong-Hwa sure was not holding back with her teasing. And each odd name she spat out made the culprit shiver in cold sweat due to shame.

***

Not far from the central plaza, in a shack slightly larger than the rest, the leaders of the Northwest Section gathered. That said, these leaders were no other than the ones who gathered to speak with their guests around the campfire.

Kang Ye-Jun, 27 years old. He was the overall leader of the Northwest Section of Yeongdo Walled City. Although he was a [Mutator], it was not the reason for being their leader. His mutation only allowed him to mask his body’s scent. Normally, even if a person tried to disguise himself as an [Infected], it would not work as the [Infected] was sensitive enough to sense odors that belonged to living creatures. However, Kang Ye-Jun would be able to pull it off near-perfectly. It would also work on animals, even against those with sensitive noses. Still, it was quite a weak ability in terms of combat. Instead, he made up for the fact that he was an outstanding cadet in the army, allowing him to receive fervent recommendations from the higher-ups. But despite his talent, it was not what he wanted, and he still left the army after his mandatory service ended. The unfortunate thing was that the apocalypse happened not long after his discharge. The good thing was that his training was still fresh to him, giving him more advantage compared to other people. He was also the combat instructor of his members, a testament to his skills.

The next one was Choi Seo-Yeon, 24, the vice in command and the leader of their scouting group. She was another [Mutator] and [Evolver], and her mutation lay in her eyes. It allowed her to see the so-called energy discharge of things she could see. This ability helped her distinguish people and [Infected] apart. The energy discharge she could see was also visible from afar, through thin blockades, or in the dark, allowing her to become a better scout than most mutants with eyesight-related abilities. As for her evolution, it was something she quite hated. Choi Seo-Yeon was originally a woman of average height and above-average beauty. But during the time when her previous base was annihilated by a [Queen Type], her evolution was triggered. The evolution [Evolvers] would always go through would correspond to the needs of their body during evolution to ensure their survival. In her case, in order to survive the attack back then, she needed to go through a hole in the wall of the shelter she hid in. But it was too small for her original size. Thus, her body shrunk. While she managed to survive, she was now stuck with a body that looked just slightly older than a sixth grader.

Then there was Park Sung-Min, the group’s main runner and messenger, sometimes bait. He was a [Mutator] with mutated legs. While likely not enough to be called a [Speedster], his max running speed was more than double that of world record holders before the apocalypse. Unfortunately, his speed only mattered when compared to humans since there were far more creatures outside that had mutated to be faster than him. Nonetheless, his mutation was far better than others as it also allowed him to use less energy and stamina on running or walking. He could also run up steep surfaces and jump higher, but these parts of his ability could not be compared to those with mutations that specialized in these capabilities.

Next were the twins, Kim Yong-Hwa and Kim Yong-Gyu. Oddly enough, despite being the leader of the combatant group, the two were neither [Mutators] nor [Evolvers]. In a sense, the two were just regular people. That was if they ignored the fact that they had a physique as strong as heavyweight wrestlers despite having bodies not too different from regular people. While the two were unsure themselves, they suspected it to be because of their mother, who was Chinese. She taught her children the basics of martial arts and spear arts when they were young before she disappeared when they were 10 years old. Still, after her disappearance, the two found martial arts manuals secretly stashed by their mother, which the two continued to practice to remember their missing mother.

Lastly, Amaya Ran, 23. The special case of the group. Unlike the other five leaders, she was a pure-blooded Japanese. And while her athletic capabilities exceeded ordinary humans, she was the same as the twins, neither a [Mutator] nor an [Evolver], and she was not a martial arts practitioner, either. Instead, she was the sole person labeled as an [Esper] among all the people in the entire Yeongdo.

Due to the things that happened during today’s hunt, the leaders gathered to discuss things.

Well, four of them gathered. Two of the girls were missing.

"I brought her!"

Kim Yong-Hwa said out loud as she arrived, dragging the distressed Amara Ran with her.

Everyone turned to the two and saw Amaya Ran’s appearance. It was clear that Kim Yong-Hwa bombarded her with teasing.

"Ran," Choi Seo-Yeon called out. "We understand your circumstances, but we have a lot of important things to do. Please, don’t get too distracted."

"I’m sorry."

Amaya Ran timidly apologized.

"Take your seats," Kang Ye-Jun said. "We need to at least finish discussing a few things before dinner."

With the two latecomers sitting down, the meeting began.

***

The first thing to discuss was the results of the hunt, which almost failed. The distraction worked at the start, but the [Mountain King] was able to notice what happened, and they nearly lost Amaya Ran.

They underestimated the intelligence of the [Mountain King]. It was clear that it would be impossible to pull off this stunt again. Thus, they needed to find another food source before they consumed all the meat they brought back.

Unfortunately, the idea for this would not come easily. They could only move to the next topic.

The next topic was their guests.

"Except for Ran, what do you all think of that group who called themselves [Evernight]?"

Kang Ye-Jun asked.

"Wait, why am I excluded?"

Amaya Ran asked in confusion while pointing at herself.

"Because whatever answer that will come out of your mouth right now will surely be biased towards Sir Mark."

Kang Ye-Jun straight up stated the fact, making the rest nod in agreement.

Unfortunately for Amaya Ran, she had no way of refuting that. She had been too obvious, after all.

Seeing Amaya Ran fall silent, the conversation continued.

"They’re a weird bunch, but I think they’re good people."

Park Sung-Min was the first to state his opinion.

"Same here," Kim Yong-Gyu raised his hand. "They didn’t need to, but they saved us a couple of times already. If not for them, we probably wouldn’t have made it back."

"Yup, I agree too," Kim Yong-Hwa chimed in. "They even shared food with us. It did look weird, but when I passed by the kitchen, there didn’t seem to be problems with the black rice. It even smelled good."

At this moment, Kang Ye-Jun and Choi Seo-Yeon exchanged stares in a silent pause.

"What’s with this eerie silent exchange between you two?"

Kim Yong-Hwa could not help but question them.

Kang Ye-Jun then nodded, prompting Choi Seo-Yeon to speak.

"I’ll just say this first. I don’t have any concrete evidence I can show. And trust me, I’m not saying this out of malice," Choi Seo-Yeon panned her eyes at the group and continued. "I think, Sir Mark, Miss Mei, and their children, Miss Elise, and the younger barefooted girl that arrived later, they aren’t human."

"What do you mean?"

Amaya Ran immediately asked, nearly jumping out of her seat.

"You all know my ability," Choi Seo-Yeon explained. "It’s just that those I mentioned, the energy their bodies release, even the way they were released, are different from how humans do it."

"Are you sure?" Kim Yong-Hwa inquired in all seriousness. "You said before that no two humans would have the exact same energy release, right? Maybe it’s just that?"

"No," Choi Seo-Yeon shook her head. "I’m pretty sure that’s not the case here. Actually, I’ve seen something a bit similar to their energy release before?"

"Really? Where? Who?"

Amaya Ran, a little agitated, asked rapidly.

Choi Seo-Yeon took a deep breath and answered.

"Lady Seolhee."

That name shook everyone into silence.

Lady Seolhee, while not taboo, no one would openly say her name in public as no one wanted to be labelled disrespectful.

But who was this Lady Seolhee?

While it was true that Yeongdo Walled City was owned by the Chaebol families, there was one person who reigned above them while remaining in the shadows.

It was Lady Seolhee. A beautiful woman of unknown origins. The only thing everyone in Yeondo knew was that she was a powerful being.

And yes, Lady Seolhee was not human. It was an open secret that nearly everyone in Yeongdo knew.

Lady Seolhee was a [Gumiho]. A living and breathing myth. And the guardian of Yeongdo Walled City.

And, of course, [Gumihos] did not have the best reputation due to their habits and lore. Thus, everyone was afraid of her.

"Are they [Gumihos], too?"

Kim Yong-Gyu asked.

"Of course not," Choi Seo-Yeon frowned. "I only said it’s a bit similar. Not exactly the same. They might be another type of magical or mythical race at the same level of [Gumihos]. Maybe, they could be [Demons]. I’m not sure."

"Well, you’re already correct, so don’t change your assumption anymore."

A voice not belonging to the six of them echoed inside the room, making all of them flinch.

But before they could ask anything, a surge of black mist flew into the room and materialized into a human shape.

All of them had seen it before and realized who the intruder was. Still, they could not help but get surprised by the suddenness of the situation.

"Sorry about suddenly intruding," Mark apologized the moment he appeared from the mist. "I just figured that I need to bring this to your attention."

As the entire surge of mist vanished completely, they all saw that Mark was not alone.

THUD!

The other person, tied up and gagged, unceremoniously fell to the ground.

"Mun-Yeong?"

Kang Ye-Jun recognized the person.

And while the rest were baffled as to why one of their members was brought here in this state, Kang Ye-Jun and Choi Seo-Yeon immediately caught on.

Thus, as Kang Ye-Jun turned to Mark, he asked an unexpected question.

"Seo-Yeon and I already had a list of people under suspicion, but is Mun-Yeong the rat?"

"He should be," Mark nodded. "I caught him trying to sneak out. If you need more evidence, I suggest checking his pocket."

Upon hearing that, Mun-Yeong tried to thrash around in protest.

Park Sung-Min ignored the protest and reached for the man’s pockets. He then found something large in one of them and took it out.

"A radio?"

Kim Yong-Gyu voiced out as the item was put atop the table.

"Sir Mark, can you let him speak?"

Kang Ye-Jun asked.

Mark nodded and removed the black metal clamp on his face and the cloth blocking his mouth.

"That’s not mine! This bastard put that in my pocket to frame me!"

Mun-Yeong immediately roared in defense.

"That’s nonsense!"

On the other hand, Amaya Ran immediately jumped into Mark’s defense by instinct.

And it seemed Choi Seo-Yeon was in agreement with Amaya Ran.

"It’s not planted," Choi Seo-Yeon declared. "There’s not even a trace that Sir Mark touched this radio."

It meant that Choi Seo-Yeon could not see any traces of energy, which indicated that Mark touched the item.

"By the way," Mark ignored the accusations of the rat and took out three items from out of nowhere. "Sayuri got these from the snipers."

Mark then put three radios identical to the one already on the table.

"And there’s another piece of strong evidence we can check," Mark added. "That radio I haven’t touched and these three radios. Their frequencies might be set in the same settings."

Hearing Mark’s words, Kang Ye-Jun immediately checked.