Chapter 142 - - Good Cop, Bad Cop
As Talon moved back to the campus in complete silence, he felt the woman's movements completely stop as she lost consciousness.
'Her injuries aren't light by any means. It's already amazing that she stayed awake this long.' he thought to himself as he looked at her with a calm expression. Now, when she felt safe from death, all of that exhaustion and pain took over her and she succumbed to sleep.
"Let's hurry." realizing that she might not last as long as he expected with the blood loss, Talon increased his speed as he rushed back.
A few minutes later, he found himself back inside the campus and quickly moved toward his destination.
When he reached there, he headed straight toward Gu Iseul.
"Hey, Iseul!" Reaching the area where the girl was working, he called for her in a hurry.
"Leader?" When she approached him confusedly. "Who is she?"
"I found her outside. It's a long story but her condition is critical. Can you take care of her for me?" He asked.
Even though Talon knew that Iseul was busy with other patients, he knew that saving this woman's life was going to be extremely useful for him. He didn't forget about the conversation that ensued between her and those men.
'From the bits and pieces I heard, she tried to kill the leader of another group and he ended up discovering it before it happened so he decided to kill her. Probably tortured her before deciding to end her life.' He thought to himself with a frown.
But, from what Talon could see, her injuries weren't all fresh. She had many traces of torture from a few days or even weeks prior to that. So, she was either tortured for weeks because of what she did or…
'Or I'm dealing with one twisted bastard.'
Either choice told him that the people he's dealing with aren't probably good. Though, since he doesn't know the full context of the situation, he didn't want to get to conclusions really quickly.
'She could still be at fault for all I know.'
"Leader?"
"Hm? Sorry, I was thinking for a moment. I will put her down." Talon shook his head and laid the girl on one of the blankets.
Iseul sat next to her as she rolled her sleeves and started inspecting her body. Meanwhile, Talon stood next to her, waiting silently.
"Hmm… She really got a rough beating." Iseul murmured with a frown. "She also seems to be heavily dehydrated and malnourished as if she didn't eat properly in days."
"So, she had been tortured?" Talon asked to confirm his suspicion.
"Definitely. I wonder who did this to her… Monsters…" Iseul cursed as she quickly channeled her Aetheris and started the healing process.
"Can you heal her, Iseul?"
"Of course, luckily, you brought her to me before she could reach a very critical state. I can definitely save her life."
"Thank you." Talon gave her a nod of acknowledgment.
"Don't worry, leader. This is the least I can do so I will do it to the best of my abilities."
"OK, I will leave you at it. Call me if she wakes up. I need to talk with her." He said as he stood up and left.
***
"Who should scout this area, president?" A student asked Hyun-Jae as they stared at the map.
"Leave it to Young-Soon. I already told him to get a few of the best scouting team members and go there. It shouldn't be too dangerous considering how small it is." She replied as she pointed at the exact spot she was talking about. "As for you, I want you to take on the southeast. Mainly these two roads and the buildings surrounding them."
"Understood! I will start preparing to leave immediately!" The student nodded their head as they turned around to leave, only to meet to find a tall person standing in front of them.
"Oh, leader! Good evening to you!"
"You too…" Talon replied as he looked at Hyun-Jae.
"You're already back, Talon?" Hyun-Jae asked curiously.
"Yeah, and I did find something really interesting." Approaching her, Talon continued. "There are another group of survivors close to where we are."
"Another group?" Hyun-Jae raised an eyebrow. "Did you find them? Where exactly?"
"No, I didn't see their base or anything like that. But, while I was out, I found a woman about to get executed by a group of men. I eavesdropped on their conversation and from what I heard, they seemed like they were working with some kind of 'boss'. I have saved the woman and brought her to Iseul to treat her injuries." He explained with a serious tone.
"... This is interesting." Hyun-Jae fell into deep thought when she heard the entire story. "It was natural that other groups of survivors would appear if we were able to make one ourselves."
"These don't seem like they're the type we would want to meet by sheer coincidence. Even though I don't know their boss, my guts are telling me that he isn't up to any good."
"You're saying…" Hearing that, Hyun-Jae looked at him with slightly wide eyes.
"Yeah… If we end up meeting them, it will probably end up in a battle…"
Hyun-Jae sucked in a small breath as she sat down. "A battle against other humans… That doesn't sound like a pleasant thing."
This entire time, the only battles they went through were against monsters. Fighting mutated abominations wasn't that morally questionable considering the fact that their sole desire is to kill as many people as possible. But, humans are a completely different matter.
No one in the entire group had killed humans before so making them do that was a problem in and out of itself.
"It is. No one is ready to kill one of their kind. But, if we end up in a situation where we can only fight, I don't know if anyone is going to be up for that kind of responsibility." Talon sighed as he rested his back against the wall.
The two went silent for a while, thinking of all kinds of possibilities. A future where they had to kill people… It seemed almost like a nightmare to do that. A nightmare that they must go through unless they want to perish.
It didn't matter how they felt or what their past lives taught them to do, this world was different, and they were different. Keeping old ideologies such as 'Killing is bad no matter what situation it was' will only hinder them greatly or even kill them.
"Sigh, for now, let's first hear what the woman has to say. I want to know the full story before making any decisions." Talon shrugged.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. We shouldn't rush our steps."
"That's why I even came here in the first place, I want you to come with me."
As they were like that, a student suddenly entered the tent. It was one of the healers of the group.
"Miss Iseul said that the woman had woken up."
"Ok, we're gonna be there in a moment."
Hyun-Jae stood up and walked to the exit, only to be stopped by Talon who grabbed her shoulder.
"Before we go, I want to tell you something," Talon said seriously.
"Hm?"
***
"W-Where am I? What is this place?" The terrified, injured woman looked around her warily as she held on to the blanket she had.
"Don't worry, this is a safe place. The leader brought you here after he found you injured." Iseul said reassuringly.
"Leader…? Oh!"
It took a moment for her to link between the word 'leader' and the handsome young man who saved her life. For a moment, she thought that what happened was merely a dream of some kind and that she was dead.
'So… It was all true… I was saved…' Realizing the good news, the woman's face relaxed a little.
"You were lucky, miss. Your injuries weren't light." Iseul said seriously. "If it wasn't for the leader hurrying back here carrying you, you could've died."
"... Where is he? I want to thank him properly! I owe him my life!" She said as she looked around her.
"He will be here soon, just relax. Anyway, I have some other things to do. If you need anything, tell one of the healers."
"..."
Before the woman could even react, Iseul already walked away, leaving her alone. So, with nothing much to do, she started looking around her.
Seeing many students of all kinds moving around, the tens, the food, and the weapons. She realized that this place wasn't small by any means.
'It's an entire base… Just like the one we had…' She blinked surprisingly.
As she was like that, she heard footsteps approaching her. Looking to the side, she saw two people coming toward her.
One of them was the same handsome young man who saved her.
"You're already awake?" Talon said as he crouched down next to her. "How are you feeling? Do you want some food or water?"
"I…"
"I already told someone to bring you some food. I hope you don't mind." Talon said with a small, gentle smile on his face.
The dazzling smile took the girl by surprise and made her stare at him dazedly.
'Handsome…' She thought to herself.
Even though he wasn't the most handsome man she had ever seen, the woman could only find herself staring at his smile. Something about him was extremely captivating and she didn't know what it was.
"Tsk…"
Then, she felt a chill run down her spine as two extremely cold eyes peered at her. Looking to the side, an extremely beautiful yet annoyed girl was staring at her.
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