CHAPTER 113

Gori Nuclear Power Plant (2) 

The battle between Kim Geon's crows and the Kelikans ended absurdly easily. 

"He's gotten incredibly strong." 

Although the opponents were monsters around level 20, Kim Geon's performance was overwhelmingly dominant. 

This was the effect of raising the power of the stars to three stars. 

The increase in all stats not only enhanced his physical abilities but also the power of his skills. 

The proof lay in how much the crows, who were in resonance with Kim Geon, had leveled up. 

He looked at the retreating apartment complex behind him through the eyes of the Absolute and thought: 

"So this was the Kelikans' nest." 

For him, these monsters had a particularly special significance. 

When the monsters first appeared and he was trapped at home, helpless and unable to do anything, it all began when one Kelikan flew in and died. 

In a way, it was the monster that had saved his life. 

"It really was nearby." 

A distance of about 10 kilometers was something the flying Kelikans could cover in a matter of minutes. 

"I think I understand why they came to our apartment complex." 

Judging by the fact that the nest Kim Geon had destroyed was also in an apartment complex, it seemed this species preferred to make their homes in environments like that. 

From their perspective, an apartment complex might just be like a rocky mountain full of food. 

Their habit of smashing through windows upon spotting him was likely something ingrained from nesting behavior. 

"Then the people living in apartments near where those things nested..." 

In areas mainly infested by goblins, people living in apartments generally had a higher survival rate. 

That was because goblins found it too easy to invade individual houses. 

However, near a Kelikan's nest, people living in houses might have had a better chance of survival. 

He immediately used the Eye of the Absolute to extend his field of vision and scanned the apartment complexes near the nesting site. 

Just as he expected. 

"C 

...Horrific." 

Although there were no more Kelikans in the area, the horrific crime scenes of their attacks remained untouched. 

Shattered windows. 

Living rooms soaked in blood. 

Doors destroyed by pecking beaks. 

Corpses left behind with only their organs eaten. 

If not for the abilities granted by his house, that could have been the sight in his own home. 

"I can't just leave this alone." 

As his level increased, his territory would naturally expand, eventually clearing these creatures out. But the faster they were wiped out, the fewer victims there would be. 

Fortunately, there was a party capable of comfortably handling monsters of the Kelikan's level. 

Using the Eye of the Absolute, he checked on Kim Minho's location. 

He happened to be on his way to Jeonpo Station with his party members. 

[Mr. Kim Minho.] 

"Huh? Mr. Jaehyun?" 

[Nice to speak with you. Are you busy today?] 

"Uh... We were scheduled to raid an orc village, but it's nothing urgent! What's going on?" 

[There's a place I'd like your party to take care of.] 

"Where should we go?" 

He wanted to open the East Gate for them right away, but the cooldown was still active. 

The North Gate, which operated on a similar mechanism, had to be reserved for travel to the Gori Nuclear Plant. 

But the place was too far to travel to directly. 

The roads to that region weren't even maintained, so driving wasn't an option either. 

Waiting for the East Gate's cooldown to end would be faster. 

[Could you wait for about an hour?] 

"Understood." 

[Thank you. Let me briefly explain the location.] 

While informing Kim Minho about the Kelikans' behavior and the exact location of their nest, he confirmed that Kim Geon had already arrived at the Gori Nuclear Power Plant. 

Looking down from the sky, the plant stood out due to its sheer size compared to other buildings. 

Its symmetrical layout along the seashore was particularly striking. 

And then- 

Bang! Bang! 

Gunshots rang out as soon as Kim Geon arrived. 

He immediately moved toward the source of the gunfire. 

There, he saw soldiers inside a guard post firing at goblins. 

"Goblins, huh?" 

If it's just goblins, they could be handled easily as long as there were enough bullets. 

Even without that, a grown man with a weapon could deal with them. 

So these weren't the real threat to the nuclear power plant. 

"It won't be easy to register this place as a forward base. 

To build a forward base, the prerequisite was to hunt down the leader of the monster group occupying the area. 

However, judging by how it was operating, the nuclear power plant didn't seem to have been taken over by monsters and appeared to be running just fine. 

'Well, I guess that's to be expected. If it had been taken over, there would've already been an accident by now.' 

Having somewhat anticipated this, Kim Geon had already given up on the idea of turning the Kori Nuclear Power Plant into a forward base. 

[Would you head to the Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power headquarters? If there's a command and control center, it'll probably be there.] 

Having memorized the approximate location of the Kori Nuclear Power Plant during a briefing, Kim Geon immediately dropped down toward the headquarters. 

As he rapidly descended closer to the ground, a monument near the headquarters caught his eye. 

According to what he had heard from Kim Dabin, that monument was called the Torch of National Revival, built in 1978 to commemorate the completion of the Kori Unit 1 reactor. 

'... How does she even find out stuff like this?' 

Even giving her the benefit of the doubt a hundred times, knowing the name and existence of the monument is one thing, but who would know the exact year it was built? 

Anyway, Kim Dabin's intelligence-gathering ability was impressive in many 

ways. 

The moment Kim Geon landed directly in front of the monument— 

"Kyahhhhh!" 

A woman nearby screamed in terror. 

"Aaaargh!" 

A man next to her also screamed and ran away. 

It was understandable. 

From their perspective, Kim Geon-who looked like a fusion between a crow and a human-must have seemed like a monster. 

Kim Geon hurriedly deactivated his transformation and shouted, 

"Wait a moment!" 

At the sudden sound of a human voice, the fleeing man and woman halted in their tracks. 

Kim Geon called out to them, 

"I have something to ask." 

The woman, who had collapsed on the spot, tilted her head as she looked at Kim Geon. 

"Huh?" 

Just moments ago, he had looked like a monster-but now, there was just a normal-looking human standing before her. 

Kim Geon spoke. 

"I'd like to meet the person in charge here." 

*** 

At the Kori Nuclear Power Plant headquarters, Director Kim Seok-joo was nursing a headache. 

'This is bad.' 

The biggest issue was- 

'We're running out of food.' 

It was the food. 

Thanks to the rivers flowing on both sides of the plant, they had enough drinking water. 

Electricity was also self-sufficient, as they were still able to generate power at the plant. In fact, they even had backup solar facilities, so there was no shortage of power. 

If anything, they had more than they needed. 

Because the transmission towers had been cut off, the electricity that used to be supplied to Busan and Ulsan was now being used entirely by the plant. 

There was a lot they could manage with just electricity, which had allowed them to survive until now. 

But- 

"How much food do we have left?" 

"Even if we cut rations in half, we only have about two weeks' worth." 

"Haaah..." 

They couldn't reduce the rations any further. 

Even now, people were barely scraping by, just enough to keep from starving. 

If they cut more, a riot could actually break out. 

"Any word from the military?" 

"They returned with no results. However..." 

"What? Is there a problem?" 

"...They rescued survivors who were there." 

...Haaah." 

He let out an even deeper sigh and held his head in his hands. 

'Damn it.' 

At first, they were thrilled to have the soldiers. 

Thanks to the gun-armed military, they'd survived the monster threat. 

But now, the soldiers were starting to feel like a burden. 

'We're almost out of bullets...' 

What's the point of having soldiers with guns if there are no bullets? 

On top of that, the esper unit was starting to gain influence. 

As monsters began to appear, people with mysterious powers started to emerge one by one. They were gathered into a special monster-hunting unit. 

Coincidentally, all of those who awakened powers were employees of KHNP (Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power), making them a completely separate entity from the military. 

They had been clumsy at first, but they'd now grown strong enough to handle goblins without trouble. 

And since most of the male employees already knew how to handle firearms, there was no longer much use for the military. 

'I was hoping they'd reduce the number of mouths to feed...' 

Instead, they'd brought more. 

'Damn it.' 

Kim Seok-joo couldn't help but make a bitter expression as a wave of self-loathing washed over him. 

He was disgusted with himself for wishing for someone else's death, but it was a choice he had no choice but to make in order to survive. 

"Nothing ever goes right." 

"At this rate, we'll have to start boiling grass and bark just to have something in our mouths." 

At that, his secretary spoke with a devastated face. 

"We're already doing that." 

"...What?" 

"There are many people boiling tree bark and grass to eat.' 

Hearing those words, Kim Seok-joo let out a hollow laugh. 

"" 

"Haha. So they really are 'gluing their mouths shut with grass.' Hahaha." 

After a few dry chuckles, Kim Seok-joo leaned back in his chair and let out a long sigh. 

'I can't see a way forward.' 

Just a month or two ago, there had been hope. 

Hope that this disaster would soon be over and rescue teams would come. 

He had been certain that a country like South Korea wouldn't fall so easily to mere monsters. 

They had all encouraged each other to hang on, believing the rescuers would come and that they'd survive together. 

But now- 

'There's still no news. That must mean... 

It was likely that the country had already collapsed. 

There seemed to be no path ahead except starving to death together in this pit of despair. 

And then- 

Knock knock knock. 

Annoyed by the sudden knock, he responded with irritation in his voice. 

"Who is it?" 

"This is Assistant Manager Go Hye-rim." 

Kim Seok-joo tilted his head. 

She was part of the PR team, and there was hardly any reason for her to come looking for him. 

'Something must have happened.' 

Internal conflicts within the organization were at their peak. 

It had already been months since anyone had heard from their families, the rations were dwindling to the point they were boiling weeds, and people were forming cliques, sharpening their knives against one another. 

Stress levels were through the roof. 

It wouldn't be surprising if something tragic happened at any moment. 

'Not that it matters." 

Either way, all that awaited them was ruin. 

With a tone of exhausted indifference, Kim Seok-joo spoke. 

...Come in." 

At his permission, the door opened, and Assistant Manager Go Hye-rim stepped in-with a stranger following behind her. 

'Who's that?' 

It was immediately clear the man wasn't ordinary. 

Despite being quite young, he gave off an air that made it hard to treat him lightly. 

Kim Seok-joo cautiously asked, 

"This man... I don't recognize him. Who is he?" 

The man reached out his hand and replied, 

"Nice to meet you. I'm Kim Geon. Could I ask you to explain the situation here in more detail?" 

The moment he heard that, Kim Seok-joo scowled. 

"What?" 

It was an absurd thing to ask, coming from an outsider with no ties to them. Kim Seok-joo was about to yell at the rude young man to get lost. 

Zzzzzzt- 

Suddenly, something began materializing around the man in a chaotic burst. 

As Kim Seok-joo stared blankly at the sight, Kim Geon turned to him and said, 

"These are bags of rice and ramen. There's also drinking water. Is this enough for us to talk?" 

Just as he said, the area around him was now filled with sacks of rice, bottled water, and boxes that packed one side of the office. 

Quickly grasping the situation, Kim Seok-joo put on a businesslike smile and addressed the man. 

"This might take a while. Please, have a seat on the sofa over here." 

[T/L: Read extra chapters on my ko-fi page "Pokemon1920" : http://ko-fi.com/pokemon1920 ]

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