Chapter 109

“I want to see the helicopter.”

“I’ll take you there.”

Yohan followed Rina to the helipad. Back in his Air Force days, he used to see this helicopter frequently from the sky. AW-139. He’d heard it was a relatively new model.

“How did you get the helicopter?”

“Hehe, I raided the Coast Guard base where I used to work. I knew the layout inside out.”

The one who answered Yohan’s question was the pilot, Luca. He always wore a confident expression, seemingly proud of being a helicopter pilot.

Well, even if you don’t know much about other professions, being a helicopter pilot is undeniably special.

This kind of mobility would definitely come in handy again and again. An invaluable asset with no room for debate.

Yohan couldn’t hide his good mood. Two capable combatants suitable to support the medical team—his most urgent concern—and now the addition of a helicopter and its pilot, which would greatly boost the camp’s mobility.

It was like gaining a mighty force without shedding a single drop of blood.

Even that smug bastard pouting after getting beaten up by Sweeper looked adorable right now.

“I need to see if there’s a spot on Sindo we can use as a helipad. For now, let’s start by moving the supplies and people. What do you want to do about the supplies? If you want, we can keep them separate until you use yours up.”

“Thank you for the consideration, Yohan. Please do whatever’s most convenient for you.”

“Are you sure that’s okay?”

“I believe you won’t let us starve.”

What on earth is she relying on to place this much trust in him? Yohan felt both pleased and uneasy about the trust she offered. He still held to the belief that no goodwill comes without a price.

Even as they took the boat back, he wrestled with trying to understand her perspective, but it wasn’t easy to grasp her decisions or attitude.

Surely she could have survived without their help.

‘They’re not just naive kids, that’s for sure…’

That wasn’t the feeling he got. After all, it was hard to call her a selfless fool when she chose to follow prophecy over saving countless believers despite being a nun.

In the end, Yohan couldn’t hold back his curiosity and asked her about it on the boat.

“Honestly, I don’t understand why you trust us so much.”

“All of my actions are guided by revelation, Yohan. If you had seen my dream, you would understand.”

“The future, huh… Among the futures you’ve seen, is there anything else you can tell me?”

At Yohan’s question, Rina suddenly blushed.

Why is she blushing?

Yohan tilted his head at the odd timing of her flush.

“In fact, I haven’t told you the most important part.”

“The most important part?”

“The very first dream I had with you in it… was a future where I married you.”

“…….”

What is this woman saying?

Seri, who had been listening nearby, let out a dry cough even though she hadn’t been drinking anything. The mood instantly turned awkward. Yohan frowned while the others stole glances at Seri.

They wore complicated expressions.

“…So that’s why you’ve been so friendly from the start.”

She nodded like a shy girl.

If that’s the case, then yeah, it kind of makes sense why she’d be so trusting.

The atmosphere unintentionally grew a bit cold. Yohan gave her a flat look, as if to ask what the fuss was about, but Sweeper, watching Seri’s reaction, nudged Yohan.

As if telling him to say something.

‘Good grief…’

If they knew his personality, they’d realize there’s no way this could ever happen. So why were they all staring like that?

“It’s a completely impossible prophetic dream.”

“Is that so.”

“Sorry, but I’m not thinking about romance, marriage, or raising kids. Not now, not ever.”

Even while rejecting her confession, Yohan’s expression remained calm. To him, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.

Love is a luxury. Romance doesn’t exist. He’d said it over and over again.

Thankfully, she understood him right away.

“It’s fine. It’s only one of many possible futures.”

“That’s a good attitude.”

Her gentle smile left an impression. Perhaps because Yohan’s answer and Rina’s reaction were appropriate, the briefly tense mood gradually eased.

He was still suspicious, but learning the reason behind her goodwill was a significant gain.

“Okay then, any other dreams?”

“Hmm…”

Rina fell into thought again.

It seemed like a habit to pause before speaking.

“I saw a scene where people were fighting. Many people died… and throughout the battle, you looked incredibly sad, Yohan.”

“Of course I’d be sad if people died. Seems like someone’s always dying in your dreams.”

“This is the kind of world we live in.”

“Yeah, it is.”

“But it wasn’t sadness from someone dying. It was just… the battle itself made you so sad, you didn’t want to be there, and you wanted to run away.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

It was a meaningful statement. A battle he found heartbreaking and wanted to avoid. He couldn’t imagine such a thing right now.

Combat always carried danger. While he wanted to avoid violence when possible, he had never thought of battle itself as something to grieve over.

It was just a matter of course—killing to survive.

Just then, the boat rocked briefly. Sweeper shouted toward the helm.

“Jung-hwan! We’re gonna throw up over here!”

“Sorry!”

After scolding the novice sailor Jung-hwan, the boat steadied again.

“Leave him be. He’s doing fine for a beginner.”

While chatting over the few topics they had, the group arrived at Sindo. There were six more people than when they had gone out for the morning search.

“There’s a church on this side too, so let’s set up near there. Maknae, show them around—the church, the dining hall, and the situation room. Let them rest, eat dinner, and then meet at the situation room.”

The team members replied enthusiastically.

Yohan headed to the situation room ahead of the others. Despite the fancy name, it was actually a converted auditorium on the third floor of the welfare center. Inside were a large map, a HAM radio, public address system, and an operations board.

“Hey, old man.”

“Oh, Yohan, you’re here?”

“Yes, thank you for your continued hard work.”

“Haha, hard work, huh.”

One of the treasures Yohan had acquired—Mr. Kim, a jack-of-all-trades when it came to facilities, hardware, and electrical engineering. Due to his complex about his name, he preferred to be called either Mr. Kim or just “old man,” and thanks to him, countless things had become easier.

“Let’s take a look, shall we?”

Inside the radio room where Mr. Kim sat, the large antenna hanging over the terrace and the equipment filling one side of the situation room immediately caught the eye.

Amateur radio—HAM radio.

It had been set up to communicate over a distance of 20 kilometers with the Bupyeong District Office. Since they were counting on the district’s mercenary unit to act as a forward base, maintaining constant communication was essential.

Handheld or military radios likely had frequency limitations, so they’d arranged a preliminary setup in advance.

Yohan sent a signal.

When there was no response, he sent the signal again.

Still nothing.

“No reply.”

“Well, they’ll probably respond once they check.”

Just as he was about to give up after several attempts, the radio crackled with static and a voice came through.

—Is that you… brat?

“Reception’s poor.”

—Hold on.

After a long stretch of static noise, a clicking signal tone came through again.

—Can you hear me clearly?

“Yes. I can hear you.”

—You’re late, brat.

“Got caught up in a few things. Everything alright over there?”

—Plenty of things going on.

“What happened?”

—First off, the brat who took all the supplies pretended like nothing happened.

Yohan chuckled.

“You look well enough, though.”

—A mutant showed up.

“Hmm.”

—One from the list. The one we named ‘Tall Guy.’ Not too hard to deal with.

“That’s a relief.”

—Yeah. The damage was big, but at least the product earned its keep.

Tall Guy. A mutant on the same level as Gollum, or slightly weaker. As long as you avoided zombie waves and airborne infection, it shouldn’t have been too hard to handle.

But what Yohan was more curious about was—

“How’d you end up getting hit by a wave? Was there a failure in personnel distribution?”

—Hell no, you little punk. The camp that got hit had 20 people.

“…….”

—So I set up another camp. 15 people each. Oh, and I made contact with Seoul. I might be able to relay updates from that area now too.

“Be cautious around strangers.”

—What, you think I’m a kid?

“More importantly, how are the people I sent over?”

—How do you think? They’re working like dogs. Bunch of trash.

This time Yohan laughed a little harder. Just imagining them getting whipped into shape felt refreshing. Even after the world went to hell, some people still hadn’t come to their senses. A bit of suffering would do them good.

—Still, a few of them show some promise.

“That’s good to hear. Oh, right—”

Yohan brought it up. He had important intel to share.

“On the way back, I saw a column of zombies.”

A zombie column. Different from a wave, but still an unusual enough phenomenon to note.

Yohan relayed everything he’d seen without omission. What came back was a string of tough curses.

—Damn it. They really won’t leave us alone. Anyway, thanks, brat.

“I’ll contact you again. Stay safe.”

—Got it.

His head throbbed slightly. It was rare to see a wave at a 20-person scale.

Yohan fell into deep thought. His consciousness drifted through tangled worries.

* * *

As the long day came to an end, everyone except for the minimum number on guard duty gathered in the situation room.

The meeting’s topic was the findings from the recent search and identification of anomalies.

The biggest issue was the presence of surviving soldiers on Yeongjongdo—and the possibility that a mutant might attack the area soon.

There was broad consensus regarding the Yeongjongdo faction.

Initial approach: non-intervention.

“It’s risky to attack a force we don’t know the size of or even whether we’ll clash with.”

As moderates, Hajin and Hyuk held a firm stance. Others were willing to defer to Yohan’s judgment.

Naturally, the newly joined members had no idea what this conversation was about.

“Um, if Yohan decides to fight the soldiers… would you guys really go through with it?”

When Berda adjusted the glasses perched on her nose and asked, Sweeper grinned.

“Of course, if he says fight, we fight.”

“Wait, how can you fight soldiers…?”

It was a reasonable reaction, but the members of Camp Yohan only chuckled.

“Alright. Since there are no objections, we’ll keep observing the soldiers on Yeongjongdo. We’ve got more urgent matters. Actually, the most important thing right now is the harvest. How successful this harvest is could decide the entire next year. Whether you’re on production or recon, if Old Man Park asks, support him however you can.”

“Roger.”

“And now the real problem—the mutant…”

Since it was their first time hearing about it, no one had a concrete solution.

Instead, Yohan compiled and shared the information Rina had given him earlier.

“For now, it’s a new mutant not on the list. Based on the witness account, it seems to have no set pattern. Even if it was just a dream, if it wiped out an entire unit, then it likely has at least [David-class combat strength].”

Tension crept into the air. Memories of the fierce battle with mutant David surfaced. Especially for Hajin, who’d lost an arm in that fight, even his elbow seemed to ache.