The Little Prince in the Ossuary

Chapter 18. The Little Prince in the Ossuary (18)

# High Risk High Return, Paso Robles (5)

Upon entering the gym, Gyeoul saw another barricade surrounding the entrance. Over the barricade, some people were watching them while holding their guns—though they only had two shotguns and one pistol. Gyeoul took off his gas mask while keeping a hand on his pistol.

When Gyeoul thought the atmosphere in the gym was filled with so much tension, however, the boy was caught off guard when he was hugged from behind. It was the woman who opened the door for them.

“Thank you so much for coming. We were just on the verge of losing it,” spoke a plump, genial-looking lady.

“Don’t mention it, Ms…”

“Amalia Plemons. Just call me Amalia. I’m not a teacher, just a contact lady of the Foster Youth Program. What about you, mister?”

“It’s Han Gyeoul. You can call me Han,” Gyeoul spoke mildly as he pushed the lady aside.

“Are there more of you?” A man holding a gun asked skeptically.

“No, it’s only us, at least for today. Additional troops will be sent here tomorrow.”

The crowd cheered at the news. Only the man that asked the question looked unconvinced.

“Am I the only one who thinks we can’t trust that guy? I don’t see a rank badge on his uniform and the rest of them don’t even have a uniform on.”

“To be honest, we are just a group of refugee volunteers. Koreans. And the reason why I’m wearing a badge-less uniform is that I’m a new recruit who volunteered during emergency recruitment.”

“Refugee volunteers, eh? Then you guys are nobodies.” It was a very neurotic response, which could be linked to his scrawny appearance.

Gyeoul’s teammates, although not proficient in English, also understood his irritating reaction and showed displeasure. Gyeoul stopped them with a gesture and ordered Jinseok and Jaejoong to put down the duffle bags. Then, he unzipped the bag, gave it a nudge and let the contents pour onto the floor.

“If we’re nobodies, what do you think of the food we brought?”

“Uh…”

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Even if Gyeoul’s team had eaten some, there was still plenty of canned food left inside the bag. More than enough to give each person a can.

There was tension in the air. These people must have been suffering from hunger for quite a while. Several people scurried in for the food, but they had to stop as Gyeoul extended his palm at them while his other hand was holding his pistol.

“We did bring these for you, but I think there’s something we need to take care of before we hand them out. We want an apology. Directly from that guy.”

And as soon as the boy said so, eyes full of reproach gathered on the man.

“I’m… sorry.”

An insincere apology. The man immediately turned away sullenly. Then, Gyeoul looked around and noticed that the people were studying his face, waiting for his reply.

“Sorry for the inconvenience. Now, please make a line and wait for your turns. Otherwise, someone might get hurt.“

The boy repeated the same thing in Korean to inform his team about it before beginning the distribution.

Gyeoul put Yura in charge of the distribution and tasked Jinseok with maintaining order. His quick temper was just appropriate for the task.

The adults, despite their constant gulping, lined up the students first. It was proof that they had not yet given up on their rationale.

“Umm… you don’t happen to have any spoon or fork, do you?”

Some students had spoons in their hands, but it seemed like there weren’t enough. Gyeoul apologized as he put on a sheepish expression.

“I’m sorry, we didn’t think that through. Hmm… how about bending the side of the lid? Then you should be able to use it as a spoon. Be careful not to cut yourselves,” Gyeoul said as he did a bending motion with his hands. The people who had been hesitating to pick up the food with their fingers then started to eat properly.

“I guess they haven’t been starving too much.”

Gyeoul spoke to an elderly man sitting in one corner. A man of ample proportions and intellectual appearance. Even amid the epidemic, he was wearing a full-fledged suit.

The elderly man gave him a nod as he adjusted his glasses.

“Oh, yeah, we procured some food from the cafeteria when we first sheltered ourselves here. But we suffered some casualties in the process… The vitamin supplements that the wise Amalia brought were also of great help. But we were starting to run out of those too, so it was only yesterday that we decided to cut back on the distribution. I’m so glad you came to rescue us. Had you been a few days late, you might’ve been greeted with corpses instead of people.”

“I see.”

“Oh, my apologies for the late introduction. My name is Stuart Hamill. I’m the principal of Daniel Lewis middle school.

“I’m glad to meet you, sir. As you already know, my name is Han Gyeoul. In Korea, we write our family names at the front, so Gyeoul is my first name.”

“Gyo-ul… It’s hard to pronounce for sure. I see why you prefer to be called by your last name, Mr. Han.”

Principal Hamill chuckled for a moment, but he soon erased the laugh from his face and asked the boy with a slightly serious expression.

“I know this is rude of me, but may I ask you how old are you?”

‘Okay, here it comes.’

As far as Gyeoul knew, in American culture one did not usually ask about someone’s age. He heard that it was because they were taught to treat all people equally regardless of race, color, age, and so on. And if someone asked for one’s age, there should be a reason behind it. And Gyeoul knew exactly where the principal’s question was leading to.

“Well… There’s a problem that I’ve always been concerned about as an educator… It seems to me that your age isn’t much different from that of my students, but looking at you in a military uniform and a rifle behind, reminds me of…”

“A child soldier, is that right?”

“…Right.”

To the educator, surely, child recruitment must be an unacceptable and despicable crime.

“Yes, I’m only seventeen years old.”

“Oh, no…” Principal Hamill was dismayed at his answer.

“Well, I think it’s inevitable in this kind of situation.”

Gyeoul, for once, spoke from his heart. But the principal shook his head.

“No, Mr. Han. No matter what kind of situation we are in, children have to be protected. Fighting with one’s life on the line, it is an unbearable experience even for adults. For a child, It would leave an indelible scar. Besides, the people who came with you seem to be following you, Mr. Han, am I right?”

“I’m saying this again, but I’m doing this to save myself and to save others. And those people are following me because I have shown them what I can do, and what I will do for them.”

“And that’s why it’s even more dangerous. What you can do for them, huh? What about killing people? Can you murder other people if they ask you to? If yes, then you must know, that’s exactly what notorious killers say to justify their crimes.”

Principal Hamill was so into his speech that he seemed to have forgotten to eat. He was a good man. Gyeoul, however, couldn’t view him favorably. A methodical person like him would not fully acknowledge Gyeoul’s leadership and that problem would come back to bite the boy from time to time.

“Thank you very much for your kind words. I really appreciate it. But sir, please understand. If I hadn’t taken up arms, more people would’ve been hurt, or even killed. Of course, that includes me.”

“…” Principal Hamill sighed deeply.

“Sorry to have interrupted your meal. I was just here to ask you if you could join us after you’re done eating. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of your meal.” Gyeoul then quietly left the seat.

After an hour, Gyeoul gathered the principal and the other adults around the podium with a map spread out on it. He then began asking them about the locations of grocery stores, pharmacies, firearms dealers, and storage facilities and had them mark them on the map. It was to gather information for the next procurement mission. There was a clear limitation to the information obtained by relying on the photos taken by aerial reconnaissance.

Gyeoul then memorized the information they provided. Of course, he didn’t memorize it by himself. He learned a new skill, 「Memorization」, and stored the information in the character’s memory.

The memory that could be acquired through 「Memorization」 worked similarly to that of a computer. It could recall the stored information whenever the user—the player, required it, and it could interact with other devices, in this case, skills.

It was a useful skill, but it wasn’t essential, so Gyeoul conserved his experience points and only raised it to level 2. It wasn’t high, but it was still better than nothing.

It was already late at night when things came to an end. Although there were several bright lights installed in the gym, the people inside only relied on lanterns and flashlights as the mutants tended to flock around light sources. It was a well-known fact thanks to the disaster broadcast that the government had been sending via radio.

Gyeoul took a look around the gym before calling it a night. To his surprise, the survivors had been leading a rather stable life considering they hadn’t been prepared for it. They had a few giant tents used as a sleeping area and a portable water filter for drinking water. If anything was lacking, it would be a toilet. But even that was easily solved by throwing the waste through a window on the upper floor.

After returning from his little walk, Gyeoul was quickly surrounded by the people of the school. They were curious about the situation at Camp Roberts.

“The situation isn’t that good even in the camp. Of course, it’s much better than here.”

“How many people are there?” asked Amalia, raising her hand.

“There’s a lot. Like, really a lot. The majority of them are refugees, mostly Asians and some Polynesians. There are also some American citizens who’ve joined after California fell.”

“Umm… Could you be more specific about the… bad situation?”

“We’re currently having problems with food and winter supplies. That’s why the refugees like us are carrying out procurement missions. Besides, the supplies hardly fall on our hands because they give preference to American citizens.”

A silent sneer was heard amongst the students. It wasn’t hard to find the owner of the sound as they were wearing a scornful look. It was highly likely that they possessed a 「Racist」 characteristic. When Gyeoul hadn’t gotten used to the game yet, he often became furious at these people. He knew that they weren’t real people but just an artificial intelligence, still, he found it hard to contain his anger. Now, he had become so used to such discrimination.

But that didn’t mean he had to tolerate the disdain all the time. If he expected something from a virtual reality, it was that he didn’t need to hold back his anger. The boy had already endured too much.

“You, with the snapback. Did you just laugh? Is that how you treat a person who came here to help you?” said Gyeoul, pointing at a student in the back.

“Wh-what do you mean? I didn’t laugh! You probably misheard something.” The boy answered disconcertedly.

“Oh, really?” Gyeoul raised his pistol as he tapped its slide. The boy’s face completely distorted before he sprang up to his feet and left the tent. The others, despite not being pointed out directly, also scattered away intimidated.

When issuing a warning to a large number of people, the scope of its effect will often be halved if the target of the threat is not specified. Humans tend to become arrogant when having a numerical advantage. This was also a lesson Gyeoul learned from playing 「Days After Apocalypse」 over and over.