I’m Stuck on a Remote Island With the Male Leads - Chapter 293

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Part 2
(Side Story)
Episode 51
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The problem was crossing the Hangang Bridge.
Once I entered the bridge, there was no way back. It was a path of only forward momentum.
The infected organisms clustered on the Hangang Bridge were innumerable. Yet the system recommended this route because there was a temporary shelter called Nodeul Island in the middle.
Moreover, the southern end of Nodeul Island on the Hangang Bridge was an arch bridge.
The idea of climbing onto the rounded arch ribs above the bridge and crossing it wasn’t particularly novel, but it was reasonably plausible. At least the infected organisms couldn’t conceive of such a strategy.
Since it was a gentle slope arch, there would be infected organisms climbing up and clinging to it, but it would be easier than pushing through the swarms of infected organisms.
Beneath the arch bridge, there was a maintenance passage where technicians used to walk, but the system claimed that passage was torn up and unusable.
Instead, after passing through Nodeul Island, this maintenance passage remained intact, so I could move along that route.
As I formulated the plan and began preparing to climb the arch bridge, Yuanna Lucy and Ryu Je-ha voiced their opposition.
“This is insane.”
I was puzzled by Yuanna Lucy’s objection.
“Then let’s part ways here. I’m genuinely curious. Why are you two following me?”
“You saved me.”
Yuanna Lucy answered confidently.
“I can’t leave until I repay that debt.”
“Leaving might be the repayment itself.”
At my question, Yuanna Lucy looked at me with an expression suggesting she hadn’t considered such a possibility.
How to put it. This Korean version of Yuanna Lucy had something somewhat sloppy about her.
Unable to find words to respond, I watched Yuanna Lucy and Ryu Je-ha avert their gazes before making my declaration.
“We’ll part ways at Yongsan Station.”
“Why are you going to Yongsan Station?”
At Ryu Je-ha’s question, I paused in my preparations to climb the arch ribs.
I hesitated for a moment before deciding to speak.
“I’m going to find my childhood friend.”
“Looking for a childhood friend—how romantic.”
Ryu Je-ha replied. And Yuanna Lucy, who had been listening to our conversation, opened her mouth with an expression as if something was coming to mind.
“Hmm. I recently saw a man looking for a childhood friend he’d parted from ten years ago….”
What? A childhood friend separated ten years ago. That’s my story.
But in this apocalyptic world, such circumstances were common as dirt.
Yuanna Lucy seemed to share the same thought, shrugging her shoulders as she added further explanation.
“But stories about being separated from loved ones for ten years are common, aren’t they? Most people who survived alone on the day of the ‘Great Calamity’ would have such tales.”
Agreeing with her words, I abandoned my hope that the person she’d met was Seo Eun-hyuk.
“System?”
At my question, the holographic system refused to provide information, stating this was a request it couldn’t respond to.
“Why the system suddenly?”
Yuanna Lucy looks at me in bewilderment.
I shook my head.
“Ah, I apologize. I was thinking about something and it just slipped out. So where did you see this person you mentioned meeting recently?”
“At the National Assembly Camp.”
“The National Assembly Camp? What’s that?”
“You don’t know what the National Assembly Camp is?”
They really do abbreviate everything.
But the National Assembly Camp was right next to the Base Camp where I had been staying.
“Do you know that person’s name?”
“I’m not one for mutual introductions.”
“Are there people who actually enjoy mutual introductions?”
Bewildered by the question, I asked again, and Yuanna Lucy shrugged her shoulders.
“I’m not sure. But it doesn’t seem like that person’s hobby either.”
Hearing Yuanna Lucy’s words, I felt a pang of guilt.
Come to think of it, we hadn’t done a mutual introduction either. Since I already knew their names, I hadn’t thought to ask.
“So if I go to Yongsan Station, the childhood friend you’re looking for will be there?”
At Ryu Je-ha’s question, I shook my head.
“I don’t know. The only information I have is one thing. I snuck into the National Assembly Camp and overheard a conversation there.”
I briefly explained what I had heard. It seemed like Ryu Je-ha knew something about it.
“Hmm.”
Ryu Je-ha listened to my words, looked like something had come to mind, then fell silent before providing unexpected information.
“Do you know what the National Disaster Management Agency is doing at Yongsan Station?”
“What are they doing?”
“Experiments.”
“….”
“If it’s information you heard at the National Assembly Camp, then your childhood friend is likely connected to those experiments.”
“Why would my childhood friend be involved? He was just an ordinary college student.”
At least, that’s what Lee Jin-ju’s memories showed.
Seo Eun-hyuk had been a truly ordinary student. Between us, there was no romantic interest whatsoever—we were simply friends.
“That was ten years ago. How many people do you think have lived normally since the Great Catastrophe?”
Yuanna Lucy answered with a cynical expression. Ryu Je-ha continued, providing new information.
“I’ve heard rumors that the National Disaster Management Agency is searching for people with special blood these days.”
Special blood?
As I grew curious, the System listening to our conversation automatically began its analysis.
There it goes again. That System acting on its own. There’s definitely a person behind that System.
[Analysis in progress…]
[Analysis Target: Seo Eun-hyuk (Enoch). National Disaster Management Agency Agent]
[Special Circumstances: Infected Individual. Possesses a soul fragment of Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid]
Wait.
I noticed something strange in the Special Circumstances section and blinked my eyes.
I couldn’t understand the meaning of this “Infected Individual,” so I furrowed the space between my eyebrows.
An Infection? The same Infection I know about?
‘Are they saying she became a zombie?’
No. Surely not. That can’t be right. A National Disaster Management Agency agent infected?
‘Wait. More importantly, a National Disaster Management Agency agent?’
Since Seo Eun-hyuk’s true form is Enoch Aster Klaus Langrid, it wasn’t strange at all that he could become a government agent with those stats.
Anyway, I seized the moment when Yuanna Lucy and Ryu Je-ha were deep in conversation about the National Disaster Management Agency, and whispered in a low voice.
“System, analyze that rumor for me too.”
[Analyzing request…]
[Analysis complete]
[Organization Name: National Reconstruction Authority (N.R.A)]
[Establishment: Government organization restructured three years after the “Great Catastrophe”]
[Primary Functions: Survivor protection, resource supply and management, urban reconstruction and Infection zone cleanup, “Special Individual” collection and research, surveillance and reconnaissance]
Special Individual collection and research.
I paused at that item. Collection, huh….
[Organization Characteristics: High frequency of covert operations, numerous conflicts with civilian survival camps]
[N.R.A Recent Activity Patterns:
– Searching for “rare blood types” or “mutation-compatible candidates”.
– Collecting individuals with contact history with Infections]
‘Mutation-compatible candidates’? That was a term that looked like it was meant for test subjects, no matter how you looked at it.
Perhaps because it was a post-apocalyptic world, the state organization restructured atop the ruined world took a form somewhat different from the government organizations I knew.
Rather than a nation or government, it seemed more like the largest survival camp—the one with the most power among all the camps.
If Seo Eun-hyuk was an N.R.A agent, I definitely had to go to Yongsan. They said Yongsan Station was a location related to the National Reconstruction Authority.
Anyway, I continued putting on equipment under the Hangang Bridge. I distributed the gear I’d taken out of the Camping Trailer to Ryu Je-ha and Yuanna Lucy as well.
After putting on the harness, gloves, multi-purpose rope, and carabiners, I fastened a hip bag containing a MacGyver knife and made sure to grab a nail-studded baseball bat as an essential.
“You’ve all finished equipping yourselves, right? As a final choice, I’m giving you the option. Are you really going to follow me to Yongsan Station?”
At my question, the two people who had finished equipping themselves looked at me with bewildered expressions.
I should have asked before they put on the equipment.
Feeling awkward, I scratched my cheek, and Yuanna Lucy spoke to me with eyes filled with firm and unwavering resolve.
“I’m going with you. I have nowhere to go if I leave here. If I go back to Yeouido, I’ll have to see those crazy psychopaths again. If I see those bastards again, I don’t know what I’ll do to myself.”
At Yuanna Lucy’s words, Ryu Je-ha, who had been hesitating, hurriedly extended his hand to me.
“I’ll go with you too. I have nowhere to go right now anyway.”
Somehow, it felt like I should ask them about their circumstances at this point. It seemed like something huge was about to come out.
But unfortunately, I didn’t have time right now to hear their stories. Instead, I could at least do a mutual introduction.
I extended my hand toward them.
“Alright. Good. In that case, let’s do a mutual introduction now.”
* * *
At the top of Seoul Dongjak-gu Park overlooking the Han River at a glance.
Seo Eun-hyuk stood before the railing of the walking path there, looking toward the Hangang Bridge through a telescope.
Because some crazy woman was climbing the arch rib there.
‘I feel like I’ve seen that face somewhere before.’
Somehow, she resembled the childhood friend I had parted ways with ten years ago….

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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