The Regressor Only Protects Me

Chapter 31: The Government’s Dog (3)

After the morning roll call, people split into three main groups.

The first group rushed to the bathrooms to relieve themselves of the feces or urine that had accumulated while they slept.

The second group stubbornly held back their physiological needs and crawled back to their spots.

The third group remained in the drill yard for reconnaissance.

Sergeant Lee Chung-chun stopped Jin Jae-hee, who was about to enter the building.

“Jin Jae-hee.”

Jin Jae-hee, who had been following Sion, turned to look at him.

Sergeant Lee Chung-chun was fully prepared for reconnaissance.

He was equipped with an extendable baton, a pistol, a bulletproof vest, and a woolen hat.

The reconnaissance team of the Manan Police Station departed daily after roll call.

Their goal was to secure food supplies from the shopping district or recruit survivors.

Sion paused at the entrance of the building to eavesdrop on their conversation.

Lee Chung-chun spoke to Jin Jae-hee.

“As we agreed, please join the reconnaissance team.”

Jin Jae-hee looked at him blankly for a moment, then turned to Kang Sion.

Her expression seemed to be seeking his advice.

Kang Sion nodded and approached Lee Chung-chun.

“I’ll go too.”

Kang Sion volunteered for the reconnaissance mission.

He needed information about the situation outside.

As he stepped forward, Lee Chung-chun scrutinized him.

A frail build.

A youthful face.

At best, he looked like a high school student.

If he lived in this city, he might even have been friends with Lee Chung-chun’s daughter at school.

Even if Sion joined the reconnaissance team, he would likely only serve as a porter.

Lee Chung-chun glanced at Jin Jae-hee for her reaction before turning back to Sion.

“No, it’s too dangerous. Yesterday, during reconnaissance, one of my fellow officers died. We were attacked by unidentified tentacles.”

“That’s why I’m going.”

“Yes. So… What?”

Lee Chung-chun struggled to comprehend.

Most people at the station shied away from “reconnaissance.”

Initially, some civilians were organized into reconnaissance teams, but after fatalities, resistance grew.

They had realized how dangerous it was outside the police station.

The current reconnaissance team was composed of police officers and those who joined their faction on the condition that they would participate in reconnaissance.

Of course, every single person was a valuable resource.

But Lee Chung-chun didn’t want to send the young man before him to his death.

He shook his head.

Regardless of what Sion intended or aimed to achieve, Lee Chung-chun had decided he couldn’t take him along.

“No. I’m sorry.”

“If he doesn’t go, then neither will I.”

“Pardon?”

This time, Jin Jae-hee played her trump card.

Lee Chung-chun looked at her, surprised.

She stared at him with a serious expression.

And “he”? So they weren’t siblings?

Lee Chung-chun crossed his arms.

It was a habit of his when he needed to assert authority.

“As I recall, Jin Jae-hee, you joined us on the condition that you’d be part of the reconnaissance team. If you act like this, it’s problematic.”

“Then I’ll leave.”

Jin Jae-hee answered without hesitation.

It was a bold move.

She rummaged through her pocket and handed four plastic sticks to Lee Chung-chun.

He stared at the sticks in her hand.

She shook her wrist as if urging him to take them.

At that moment, one of his subordinates shouted from afar.

“Sergeant! We’re ready to leave now.”

Lee Chung-chun turned his head to look at them.

The reconnaissance team, already prepared, was watching him.

He turned back to the two in front of him.

Neither Sion nor Jae-hee’s expressions had changed throughout their exchange.

Whether it was deliberate or natural, he couldn’t tell.

Lee Chung-chun glanced at Sion again before sighing deeply.

“Fine. Both of you, come along.”

Jae-hee was too valuable to lose because of Sion.

She was an essential asset to the team.

It was nothing more than Lee Chung-chun’s intuition, but he trusted it.

Having trained in martial arts for years before becoming a police officer, he could sense such things.

A tiger.

From the moment they met, he felt a tiger-like intensity emanating from her.

“Just don’t push yourselves too hard.”

He gave Sion one last piece of advice.

An hour passed after the reconnaissance began.

I walked along with the group.

At the front were armed police officers, followed by a group of civilians in the middle, and Jae-hee and I brought up the rear.

The reconnaissance team totaled ten people.

Over the past two days, I had learned much about the police station’s operations.

The main duties of the officers included reconnaissance, control, and communication.

Reconnaissance was conducted by three rotating teams of roughly thirty members, searching the city.

Control involved almost all officers not on reconnaissance, maintaining order.

Communication was handled by a select few, including the police chief, using Anyang City’s police communication network.

However, aside from a handful of civilians assigned to the reconnaissance teams, the hundreds living in the station had little to do.

It was an inefficient survival method.

‘So that’s why it was in the quest.’

If the police chief continued this system, the faction would collapse within a month.

It wouldn’t even survive the “winter” that K mentioned.

What worried me most was that the real winter hadn’t even arrived yet.

The current weather was already harsh for humans, but was this winter even significant to “them”?

I pondered this question as I followed the group.

The only reason I volunteered for reconnaissance was simple.

I needed to learn more about this city.

In the end, everything comes down to a battle of information.

Only with superior information can one make the right choices and advance events smoothly.

Even if the purpose of reconnaissance was simply to secure food and survivors.

For me, the purpose was different.

Jin Jae-hee, walking beside me, likely understood this too.

The reconnaissance team followed a pre-determined patrol route.

Two hours into the mission, nothing had been found.

Sergeant Lee Chung-chun stopped the group and turned back to speak.

“We’ll take a short break.”

At his words, the weary team entered a nearby building to rest.

Ordinarily, the distance and time so far wouldn’t have left anyone breathless.

But trudging through snow, combined with the psychological strain of losing someone on reconnaissance just yesterday, had worn them out.

I sat against a wall, slightly away from the group, catching my breath.

I pulled out a hand warmer from my pocket to warm up.

It felt comforting.

Until a moment ago, the biting cold had made my fingers and toes feel like they were being sliced with knives.

I had to keep wriggling my toes to stave off the chill.

Jin Jae-hee approached and asked me.

“Are you okay?”

“What do you mean?”

She sat down beside me and clarified.

“The cold.”

“No problem.”

I had grown used to this level of cold while working manual labor jobs.

But if it got colder than this, it would be an issue.

Jin Jae-hee rummaged through her bag, pulling something out.

I asked her.

“Will it get colder than this?”

She answered without hesitation.

“Yes. When the cold snap hits, snow will pile up enough to completely bury small buildings.”

Snap-.

She broke an energy bar in half and handed me one piece.

“Eat this. Chocolate helps maintain body heat.”

I carefully accepted it and popped it into my mouth.

The frozen energy bar was so hard it felt like chewing on candy.

“We need to be prepared.”

Her voice was muffled as she chewed on the rigid bar.

I rolled the chocolate around in my mouth to soften it and thought.

So far, the snow had reached knee height.

But if what she said was true, it would eventually surpass that, piling up to about ten meters high nationwide.

That was no longer just cold—it was catastrophic.

For now, it was a disaster, but it would soon turn into an apocalypse.

"In my previous life, we burned the entire city to prepare for the cold snap. Haeundae, Gukje Market, Marine City, Busan Station. Every place was set ablaze, as if no civilization had ever existed there. It was the choice of those who couldn't endure the cold snap that severed their fingers and toes."

Rustle, rustle.

I fiddled with the energy bar wrapper as I listened to her.

"Thanks to the fires, the snow melted, but the people hiding were burned alive in their sleep."

Rustle-!

I clenched the wrapper tightly, then tossed it to the ground.

The wrapper slipped powerlessly from my grip and fell.

At that moment, Sergeant Lee Chung-chun glanced at the group and said, "We're moving again. Please get up."

At his words, the resting group slowly got to their feet.

I stood up before her and said, "It’s fine. We don’t need to burn the city."

Having experienced the first round, I understood the importance of preserving manpower.

Burning the entire city to get through the second round was not an option.

This round, I wanted to secure a decisive victory.

For that, I needed a foundation.

A foundation that would allow me to seize control of the faction.

First, I had to gain the trust of Sergeant Lee Chung-chun.

Jin Jae-hee got up and cautiously asked, "Do you have a plan?"

I shoved my hands into my pockets and joined the moving group.

I answered naturally, "We’ll build roads."

Hearing my words, Jin Jae-hee stopped.

She murmured quietly, as if unable to believe it. "Roads…?"

The reason I joined this reconnaissance was precisely for that.

I needed to find a certain creature.

Something resilient to the cold and easy to capture.

If my plans worked as intended…

I could take control of the police station without much difficulty.

Anyang City, Dongan District, in front of Anyang City Hall.

Thud-!

Saebom collapsed forward, unable to withstand a kick.

Two women approached him.

One of them grabbed Saebom by the scruff of his neck and forced him to stand.

"Get up. Stop thinking foolish thoughts."

"Huff… Huff…"

The woman pushed Saebom forward again.

On the road in front of City Hall, ten men walked in a line, tied together.

The ones guarding and driving the men were all "warriors."

They were the masked warriors of Anyang City's First Faction in Dongan District.

The men tied to the warriors trudged forward powerlessly.

They were all goods.

Offerings for the queen.

"Cough! Cough…!"

Saebom staggered and collapsed again.

The man beside him stumbled as well.

A woman holding a pipe approached them.

"Hah… Hah…"

Through his blood-soaked vision, Saebom saw the woman's shoes approaching.

She mercilessly struck Saebom’s back with the pipe.

The impact sent searing pain through his body as though his bones were cracking.

Saebom let out a pained scream.

When the warrior raised the pipe again to strike Saebom’s face, another warrior stopped her.

"Not the face."

The warrior lowered the pipe carefully.

Then, grabbing Saebom by the hair, she yanked him to his feet.

"Walk, goods. Or you’ll die."

Saebom stumbled along, half-dragged by the chains.

Every few steps, another kick came from behind.

"Hah… Hah…"

Saebom raised his head to look at City Hall.

The faction that had taken control of City Hall.

The First Faction that had unified all of Dongan District in just three days.

Standing before them, Saebom realized that what they had done inside the shopping mall was nothing more than child’s play.

The roads were different.

The roads were the arteries connecting the city.

And when the League began, the roads held the largest populations.

The First Faction had seized the roads and rapidly expanded their influence.

While Kang Sion's Red Team had dispersed as soon as the round ended.

This faction remained intact.

No, more than intact—they were formidable.

In front of City Hall, warriors armed with makeshift weapons chatted amongst themselves.

"Ten men."

"Only ten? That’s not enough."

"Don’t worry. This time, there’s a premium product among them."

"A premium product?"

The hooded, masked warriors’ eyes gleamed like those of predators.

One warrior turned to look at Saebom.

When Saebom saw her smile, a chill ran down his spine.

"Ah. That’s the premium product. The queen will be pleased."

The masked warrior drew a small dagger from her coat.

She approached Saebom and tilted his chin up with the blade.

With the knife pressed to his throat, she whispered seductively.

"Be careful. The queen is very hungry right now."

"…My sister. What did you do to my sister?"

"Huh?"

The warrior tilted her head.

Joo-yeon, a former 707 operative, had been helpless against the attackers.

Even now, Saebom couldn’t forget the sight of Joo-yeon, bloodied and bleeding through her lips just the day before.

Her limp body had been hoisted up like laundry.

After that, Saebom hadn’t seen her again.

The warrior continued, removing the blade from his throat.

"I can’t tell you that. But if you please the queen, she might let you live."

"Why are you doing this… Why?"

"Why? Hmm. If we don’t meet our quotas, we’ll be executed too."

"Executed…?"

"You must be from the buildings. I guess you don’t know about the ‘law’ yet."

Law? Buildings?

Even as Saebom listened to her, he understood nothing.

Everything that had happened in the shopping mall—everything inside the building—was insignificant compared to this.

The law.

The queen.

And the faction that had taken control here.

It had only been nine days since the world ended, yet this place was an entirely different world.

Human lives were taken as easily as flies.

How could it have come to this?

Until he faced the queen, Saebom would know nothing.

The men entered City Hall in a single file.

However, three men at the back of the line, right behind Saebom, were denied entry.

"Wait. You three stay here. You’re not worth much as goods."

The remaining men trembled with fear.

As Saebom was dragged inside, he glanced back through the rotating doors.

Thud, thud, thud.

The three men who couldn’t enter were stabbed in the neck and killed on the spot.

Their deaths were stark.

Without a scream, they simply collapsed forward with daggers in their necks.

Through the rotating door, Saebom caught a glimpse of their final moments.