Chapter 82
The doctor, seemingly uninterested, began organizing the cloth and bottles again. A muttering, almost like a soliloquy, flowed out.
“Professional surgery is impossible. If you’re severely injured, leave your last words and die. Coming all the way here won’t change anything.”
Well, that’s true…
The electricity was cut off. It’s a world where operating rooms can’t function properly. Medical equipment that requires electricity is, of course, unusable, and medications couldn’t be stored properly.
At best, only emergency treatment, simple procedures, and field-level care were possible.
Perhaps even that was insufficient to save lives. Just seeing how they were conserving medicine made that clear.
‘Professional medications can’t be produced. But there’s an overflow of patients.’
Rather than wasting medicine to prevent uncertain infections, they seemed to focus on treating confirmed patients.
Or maybe they judged that truly sick patients would desperately offer resources.
“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”
Still, I bowed my head and turned away.
After all, it was a doctor and treatment. Even if the doctor just gave a few precautions, it was a big help. Even if it felt like a loss, as if it were nothing.
***
I went down to the first floor with my companions. They said the medical fee would be calculated at the pharmacy on the first floor. The Tower of Life is a building where different hospitals are gathered, so there’s no unified administrative office. They receive patients at the entrance, guide them, and collect fees at the pharmacy.
I roughly handed over a bag of rice to the elderly man inside the pharmacy and left immediately.
The streets were still crowded with patients.
Sajihyeok laughed and spun his gun around.
“See? Rumors can’t be trusted. They treated us just fine, didn’t they?”
“Well…”
At least we received emergency treatment. I calmly looked around, lost in thought.
Not knowing much about medicine, it was hard to gauge the doctor’s intentions. Whether they were genuinely providing efficient medical care in the apocalypse or had some other sinister motive.
One thing was certain: these people were not to be underestimated. The vicious rumors circulated, and they had indeed survived.
As I was thinking, I noticed someone limping into the Tower of Life street.
“Mr. Ho?”
Several scavengers and Mr. Ho were walking, carrying heavy bags.
Unlike ordinary patients, they entered an alley. As far as I knew, it was the way to the general hospital. They probably scavenged medical resources from distant pharmacies or hospitals and were delivering them.
I blinked and nudged my companions.
“Let’s follow them.”
“Who are they?”
“The scavenger boss.”
A human who survived a gunshot wound to the leg. That means they received proper treatment for the gunshot and have close ties with the Tower of Life.
If we could talk to them, we might get some information. The reality of the doctors’ power or malice.
We didn’t follow openly but took a different alley to the general hospital. Crossing a short alley, we crossed a road filled with abandoned cars.
Looking over the wall at the large general hospital with a spacious parking lot, the atmosphere felt quite different from the Tower of Life.
Familiar outfits and faces were visible.
“Police, riders, firefighters, electric nomads…”
“This seems to be the real deal.”
Park Yang-gun twitched his fingers and narrowed his eyes. He looked like a thief who had found a wealthy household.
It seemed similar. Unlike the Tower of Life, which only provided emergency treatment to ordinary survivors, this was a hospital treating powerful groups.
But treatment wasn’t everything.
Excluding patients with casts, wheelchair-bound patients, or pregnant women, many people were busy moving around.
Electric nomads carrying solar panels or bundles of wires, riders bringing oil barrels, a few police officers lurking nearby.
And Mr. Ho.
Mr. Ho waved his hand at a police officer sitting on a bench near the main gate.
“Delivery. Ugh, look at this leg. I got shot by some crazy person while rescuing this.”
“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”
Hearing this conversation, I clenched my fist. The atmosphere was strange. It wasn’t just a hospital. It felt like various groups were gathering for something bigger. Not just treatment, but something more.
A word flashed through my mind. Survivor Zone.
‘Are they secretly creating it because the rumors spread too much? Centered around the general hospital?’
Solar panels on the hospital roof provide power. Police handle the force. The Delivery Vigilante Group supplies oil. Oil for emergency generators.
Probably, inside the building, other groups are doing different things.
Avoiding those who cling to them.
My companions seemed to have similar expectations, each voicing their thoughts.
“It’s not just a hospital. There’s something going on.”
“That’s how it is. They pretend it’s not a scam, but it is. They act like they’ve given up on the Survivor Zone…”
On the contrary, Jeondohyeong blinked in shock and sighed.
“The elders must have deceived me too. After all, I’m an outsider.”
I gripped the hammer tightly. The leather gloves tightened, and it felt like the blood stopped.
‘Are they really making it? Here?’
Actually, the location conditions are quite good. The Tower of Life has spread poison, so zombies don’t approach. There’s a river within a 10-minute walk.
This changes the situation a bit. It’s not just a light investigation to satisfy curiosity about the doctors’ reality, but to get proper information.
I said,
“When Mr. Ho comes out, we’ll talk in the alley. Prepare your firearms.”
***
We stood on either side of a narrow alley. The alley Mr. Ho would pass through. He would probably use this path on his way back, so we hid behind abandoned cars or utility poles and waited.
About 20 minutes later, Mr. Ho and the scavengers approached, still carrying heavy-looking bags.
They noticed our ambush and quickly scattered to the surroundings. Like us, behind cover.
“What’s this? Who are you? Don’t you know the doctors will raise hell if you cause trouble here?”
“It’s us.”
I peeked out. Mr. Ho pulled out a hand mirror to check my face, then suddenly stood up.
“You!”
Still, his face was covered with a hat, sunglasses, and a mask. But his voice was full of irritation, making it easy to guess his emotions.
“Why again! Wasn’t putting a hole in my leg enough?”
“I have something to ask. And I got my head busted too.”
I casually took off my baseball cap and showed the wound. Evidence of the doctor’s treatment.
Mr. Ho suddenly burst out laughing.
“Right. If you go around hurting others, you’ll get punished. Who hit you? I want to give them something later.”
“Not a person. I got hit by something blown by strong wind.”
“Haha, you got punished.”
For some reason, Sajihyeok and Jeondohyeong let out faint laughs. I glanced at my companions, then turned back to Mr. Ho.
“Can we trust the doctors here? Just in case, I didn’t take any medicine.”
“Why should I tell you that?”
“Because it’s annoying to have a shootout here?”
My companions behind the cars and utility poles subtly pointed their guns.
Mr. Ho sighed, seeing this. He put his gun to his head and scratched his hat with the barrel.
“Did the police sell guns to crazy people, or are crazy people looting and doing crazy things on streets where there are police?”
As I stared, Mr. Ho grumbled.
“The general hospital is trustworthy. But that Tower of Life is ambiguous. They use bad medicine first.”
“There are rumors they intentionally kill patients.”
Rumors don’t just appear for no reason.
Mr. Ho chuckled.
“Depends on the patient. Humans bitten by zombies, those who messed up, those who threatened doctors and tried to enslave them. Those guys are all dead.”
At the beginning of the zombie outbreak, all sorts of humans flocked to the Tower of Life.
Humans threatening to treat zombie bites, kidnapping doctors, trying to claim the Tower of Life as their territory.
All those humans were killed by the doctors. Pretending to treat them, killing them with sleeping pills or anesthetics, intentionally worsening injuries.
“So, let’s not cause trouble here. Don’t get on the doctors’ bad side.”
“Right.”
I nodded.
They’re all the same people. People who die if injured. Only doctors can give a chance to survive, and at the same time, pretend to save while killing.
It’s a loss if you get marked.
I lowered my gun and asked one last question. Actually, this was the main point.
“Is the Survivor Zone being created here? At the general hospital?”
“…”
Mr. Ho closed his mouth. I could feel his gaze from behind his fully covered face.
“I saw you openly moving resources. It’s hard not to be suspicious.”
“You, last time you mentioned dealing with some alliance. What’s your goal?”
Mr. Ho hid. Crouching behind a car, as if preparing for combat.
“Who knows?”
“Are you a military spy?”
Suddenly, the word ‘military’ came up. I blinked in confusion. Military? Suddenly? Aren’t they farming on the outskirts?
“Is the military interested in the city?”
“Don’t you really know? The typhoon and rainy season ruined the crops. The military left there has no food to eat.”
The military is showing signs of entering the city to survive.
I suddenly realized. The reason they hastily formed an alliance. The reason they would all die otherwise was none other than the military.
“No, the military…”
“Right, if you don’t understand the situation, you might oppose the Survivor Zone. But think straight. Only with an alliance can we counter the military. It’s okay to cling, but don’t interfere.”
