I explained the quest window that had appeared before my eyes to Jae Hee.
[Quest: Dog of the Government]
[Achievement Quest:
● Achieve a citizen comfort level of 30% or higher (Current: 3%)
● Secure a continuous food supply route (0/1)
● Reach 100% available labor force within the police (Current: 20%)
★ Reward: Achievement Points – 150]
I recited every single line I saw, not leaving out a word.
Jae Hee’s expression grew grim.
After thinking it over for a moment, she spoke to me.
“Achievement Points are the Gunjoo’s score. And Achievement Quests usually open up in the mid to late game. Most achievements are needed when you issue a ‘Declaration’ or ‘Edict.’ Of course, you can use them early on, but for you to get this when you don’t even have a faction yet… it just doesn’t make sense.”
No matter how you looked at it, this couldn’t be called the mid or late game.
Yet the Achievement Points I was supposed to get much later had appeared right in front of me.
A simple system error?
That didn’t add up.
This was a system created by a godlike being with enough power to bring the world to this state.
It was hard to imagine such a system would have any errors.
In the end, I could only conclude that this quest window was a special benefit given just to me.
As soon as I reached that conclusion, another question popped up.
Why me?
Jae Hee hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.
“No matter how hard I try to remember, there wasn’t anything like this in my previous life. Even if you think it’s a bug, that doesn’t make sense either. Anyway… there’s no doubt it’s a huge advantage.”
“Is it just a coincidence?”
Jae Hee immediately shook her head at my question.
“No way. There’s no such thing as coincidence in the Administrator’s system. If you’ve been given this kind of advantage, there’s definitely a reason for it.”
Her words only made my anxiety worse.
Why did the Administrator give me this benefit?
And was it really something only I received?
I had no way of knowing.
It was all a mystery.
“…Alright. If it’s an advantage, I’ll treat it as my top priority to clear.”
“Yeah. That’s the best move for now. I’ll help you.”
Whatever the case, if clearing this would give me a huge advantage, there was no reason to hesitate.
And since these Achievement Points were valuable as the Gunjoo’s score in the mid to late game, I needed to start collecting them now.
But before that—
There was something I had to do.
“First, I’m going to look for my brother.”
There was a high chance my brother had come here.
The whole reason I’d headed this way in the first place was because I’d guessed he might have come here.
Jae Hee spoke to me.
“Want me to help?”
“It’s fine.”
It was a seven-story building anyway.
If I spent a day, I’d be able to find out where my brother was.
I set down the bag I’d been carrying and walked among the people.
* * *
“He’s Jun Ho Kang, about this tall. Yeah.”
“Have you seen a kid named Jun Ho Kang? He’s about up to my chest, short hair.”
“Um, excuse me. Can I ask you something?”
“Yes, he’s about this tall. He’s thirteen years old. If you see him, I’m on the second floor.”
Zion Kang spent the entire day searching the police station.
There were quite a lot of people in the station.
If there were about 200 people per floor, and all four floors were packed with survivors, that meant there were roughly 800 people in this building.
Zion went around asking nearly everyone about his brother’s whereabouts.
But his brother wasn’t there.
Zion’s younger brother, Jun Ho, hadn’t come to Manan Police Station.
The basement was off-limits, controlled by the police officers.
They said it was for maintaining confidential security, but there was no reason for Jun Ho to have gone into the restricted area.
From the second to the fourth floor,
Zion asked almost everyone, and every single answer was the same—they hadn’t seen him.
Zion stopped a police officer who looked like a supervisor and asked,
“Has anyone who came in here left again?”
“…Yeah, well. People are free to leave. Some folks who didn’t want to follow our rules left… and there were a few who got expelled.”
The officer answered in a sleepy, subdued voice, then walked away again.
In the end, Zion couldn’t get the answer he wanted from anyone.
Of course, it was possible his brother had been here and left again, but that seemed unlikely.
His brother was still a child, and in frightening situations like this, kids usually wanted to stay close to adults.
Even if he went out now to search for his brother, it would only be a reckless move.
Just as Jae Hee had said, he was weak right now.
He was like a candle flickering in the wind, and if he wanted to find his brother, he needed to get stronger first.
Whether that meant finding Artifacts, improving his status window, or completing quests.
For now, he had to focus on the task in front of him.
‘Don’t rush.’
If you get impatient, things that could have worked out won’t.
Zion repeated that to himself.
Before he knew it, deep darkness had settled outside the window.
The city at night, without electricity, was so dark it was almost frightening just to look at.
Now and then, huge shapes would suddenly loom between clouds lit by the moon, looking less mysterious and almost otherworldly.
As Zion gazed at that majestic sight, he felt like he could understand why ancient people, when faced with whales, giant squids, or natural disasters, imagined gods.
While Zion was staring out the window, a police officer coming down the stairs spotted him and said,
“It’s almost curfew. Please return to your assigned area.”
Zion looked at him.
He was a young officer.
At most, in his early thirties.
Zion stared at him for a moment, then nodded and headed down to the second floor.
There, people were getting ready to sleep, relying on portable lights.
It looked just like a disaster shelter, with everyone bedding down together like refugees in a gym.
Zion squeezed through the crowd and made his way to his assigned spot.
Jae Hee was sitting there, waiting for him.
As soon as Zion sat down, Jae Hee naturally asked,
“Did you find your brother?”
She whispered, but they were so close that it sounded loud between them.
Because they’d mistaken Zion and Jae Hee for siblings, the two of them had been assigned to the same space—there was no helping it.
Zion shook his head.
At that, Jae Hee quickly looked away.
All around them, faint groans, coughs, and the sounds of people tossing and turning filled the air.
Right next to Zion, a man was sleeping, and at his feet, an elderly person was dozing.
Zion looked at the elderly people sharing a single padded jacket and spoke to Jae Hee.
“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to do quests.”
“Okay.”
“I’ve got a plan.”
“I’ll follow you. But there’s something you need to do, too.”
“What is it?”
“You’re going to train whenever you have time.”
“Train?”
When Zion asked, Jae Hee fell silent for a moment before finally speaking.
“Yeah. Training. Your body’s still way too weak. So you need to be able to protect yourself in case I’m not around. That’s what the training’s for.”
Zion nodded silently.
He agreed with her.
Still looking straight ahead, Jae Hee said to Zion,
“It’s going to be really tough. I won’t go easy on you. It’s all to keep you safe.”
Jae Hee curled up a little.
Zion glanced at her once, then looked away.
He slowly lay down.
Lying down, he closed his eyes for a moment, then looked up at Jae Hee and said,
“Get some sleep. You need to save your strength.”
Crouched under her fur hat, Jae Hee was smoking a cigarette, keeping an eye on their surroundings.
She closed her eyes a little and answered him.
“I will. Once you’re asleep.”
“……”
Zion thought about her words for a moment, then let it go.
He was just too exhausted from the day—sleep was already washing over him.
Zion soon fell fast asleep, and only after making sure there were no dangerous people nearby did Jae Hee lie down next to him.
The first day of Round 2 came to an end.
It had only been a week and a day since all this started.
‘…….’
Jae Hee quietly recalled the days of her previous life, then soon fell asleep.
But their precious sleep didn’t last long.
6:30 a.m.
Police officers began shining flashlights and waking people up.
* * *
A life under control.
It was the way those oppressed by the powerful were forced to live.
First floor parking lot.
At 6:30 a.m., before sunrise, everyone inside the police station came out here and lined up.
It had snowed heavily all night.
Even during roll call, the snow kept falling without stopping.
I walked down the stairs and moved through the crowd.
Second floor, third floor, fourth floor.
People from each floor stood in line according to their assigned spots.
Everyone pressed close together, desperately resisting the cold.
“Second floor! Line up, please. This’ll be over soon. Get in line!”
“Hey, mister! Don’t just sit there, stand up. Come on.”
“Alright! I’ll call your names one by one. Ji Seok-ho? Kim Yong-pyo?”
Police officers shouted at the people in line, calling out names from all sides.
Jae Hee and I joined the line and stood in a spot that seemed about right.
Honestly, it was so cold I couldn’t think straight.
It felt like it was at least ten degrees below zero.
My teeth clattered together uncontrollably, even when I wasn’t paying attention.
The cold.
It was pure agony.
Most people here had probably never felt cold like this before.
Maybe it was different for those who’d served in the military.
But in these harsh conditions, anyone would struggle to bear the cold.
“Lee Jong-won! Song Seung-bo! Kang Jin-seok!”
Starting from the front row, a police officer called out names and handed out two sticks to each person as they checked attendance.
The cold made my vision swim.
It felt like my hands and feet might freeze solid at any moment.
Just then, something poked into my right pocket.
Swish—
……
I reached into my pocket and found a hot pack, radiating warmth.
I turned my head to look behind me.
There was Jae Hee, her fur hat pulled all the way down over her head.
She was the one who had slipped the hot pack into my pocket.
She leaned in a little closer and whispered to me.
“Don’t let anyone else see. Around here, hot packs are literally more precious than gold. That one lasts over thirty hours. If it cools down again, let me know. I’ll swap it out for another.”
With that, Jae Hee turned her head away again.
At that moment, I thought how lucky I was that she was such a thoroughly prepared regressor.
The chill that had made me shiver just moments ago melted away with a single hot pack.
Right now, it felt like hot packs were the greatest invention of human civilization.
Just then, a police officer came over and handed me two sticks.
“Mr. Zion.”
“Yes.”
“Here are your two. And the person behind you—Jae Hee?”
I accepted the two sticks from the officer.
Since I hadn’t used the bathroom or eaten yesterday, I now had a total of four sticks.
The officer handed sticks to Jae Hee as well, then disappeared toward the back of the line.
Waiting in the cold was more than just boring—it was like being trapped in a gas chamber during chemical warfare training.
Every minute dragged on like an hour—a brutal, endless wait.
Before I knew it, the police had finished checking several hundred people and began climbing onto the platform one by one.
They wore batons and pistols, keeping the crowd under control.
A few officers smoked at the front, and soon, a man walked out from the police station.
I warmed my hands on the hot pack and looked up at the platform.
A deep gray sky, the sun not yet risen.
The backs of countless heads in the front rows.
Snow swirling in the wind.
Beams of light from the police officers’ flashlights.
And then, a man stepped up onto the platform.
He was a middle-aged man.
Even with things in such a state, the man on the platform kept his clothes neat and tidy.
He spoke in front of the crowd.
“Citizens, it is now the morning of Day 5. We are continuing our efforts to contact headquarters and are following government directives. I know you are all exhausted, both physically and mentally. But we, the police, will never give up—not until the very end. We will protect your safety and property to the last. Yesterday, thirty more people entered our police station, and twelve left without permission. What I want to ask of you is this… Out there, it’s hell. Already, twelve of our officers and twenty-two members of the Volunteer Security Force have died in the line of duty during reconnaissance missions. Even if things are hard here, even if you’re bored or suffering, please trust us. You must follow our instructions. We, the police, will make sure you all return safely to your homes and families.”
An old man started clapping, and soon, weak applause spread here and there.
I couldn’t understand how anyone could clap in a situation like this, but there was no doubt who these people were relying on—the police standing right in front of them.
Even with their lives so tightly controlled, there was only one reason they could be content.
Like the Chief of Manan Police Station said, outside this place was hell.
Only here, in the police station, could they live anything close to a human life.
But even with all their support, I couldn’t bring myself to clap.
The man on the platform, receiving the citizens’ applause.
The Chief of Manan Police Station.
I was planning to eliminate him and take control of this group for myself.
“Hoo—”
A white puff of breath escaped my lips.
Snow was pouring down from the sky.
After the chief went inside, the police organized the people and led them back into the building.
What we had to do here.
It was to carry out the quest called “Dog of the Government.”
I followed the line of people and started heading inside.
When I turned my head, I finally saw the sun rising over the distant mountains on the horizon.
Its light shone brightly over the ruined city.
(To be continued)
