Multiverse , Leveling Up in the World I Created

Rick quickly started looking around for any usable vehicles, and the others joined in to search for cars. But it was hard to find a working vehicle nearby. Most had flat tires or were badly damaged from accidents, and even the ones that seemed in decent shape were out of gas and wouldn’t start.

"You all stay here. I know a truck I spotted."

"Jin, is that true? Then we’re counting on you."

I quickly went to the military truck that was parked in front of the building where Merle had been trapped. The truck had plenty of fuel and was in perfect condition. It seemed no one had touched it because there were too many walkers around.

’Such a waste.’

I cleared out the nearby walkers and got into the truck. Then I returned to where Rick’s group was waiting.

"Get in!"

At that, Rick got into the passenger seat, and the others quickly climbed into the back, so I drove off immediately.

"Where did you even find this?"

"It was next to the building where Merle was."

"Ah... you mean the place where the gun bag was abandoned."

"Yeah. I cleared out some walkers and brought it over."

"You’re definitely a capable guy. I can see why the military entrusted you with such an important mission. I almost want to keep you at our camp."

I chuckled at that.

We moved quickly and arrived at the camp before dark. But there was no sign of the truck Merle had driven off in.

"Thank goodness. Merle didn’t take revenge."

"His hand was cut off and he wasn’t in good shape, so that’s probably why."

I parked the vehicle inside the camp. People started coming out one by one to welcome us warmly.

Rick’s family seemed to have been very worried about him. As soon as Rick got out of the vehicle, his family ran over and hugged him tightly.

Shane also came over immediately, shook Rick’s hand, and greeted him happily.

"Thank goodness everyone’s safe. So what happened with Merle?"

"Merle is still alive. It looks like he stole our truck and went somewhere else."

"Then why would he do that when Daryl is here?"

"Maybe he wanted to leave his brother here."

As Rick guessed that, Daryl’s expression turned very sour.

"Damn it!"

Then Glenn opened the bag, held up a can of fruit, and said cheerfully to everyone.

"Look at this! We traded with other survivors and got canned fruit!"

"Oh! Grapes, pineapple, and even peaches?"

"That’s amazing! We can eat a lot of fruit today."

Then Rick said.

"Give one to Jin. If it weren’t for Jin today, coming back safely wouldn’t have been easy."

Seeing Rick say that, he was definitely a loyal guy.

"Don’t bother. Take care of the camp people. I’m fine."

I went straight to the armored vehicle to check on Clem.

"Were you okay?"

"Yes, it was a little stuffy, but I was fine."

"Good. Did you eat?"

"I had lunch."

"Then let’s have dinner."

"Okay."

To make up for Clem being cooped up in the armored vehicle all afternoon, I cooked for her directly using a burner today. It wasn’t fresh meat, but I grilled some smoked pork belly from the freezer and served it with potato salad. Since I cooked inside the armored vehicle, the camp people wouldn’t know what we were eating.

"The food you make, oppa, is always so delicious."

"Really? I’m glad. Eat a lot. But I saw two snack wrappers in the trash?"

At that, Clem looked flustered.

"W-well, I was just so bored..."

"I’ll let it slide today since you were alone. But don’t do that again from now on."

"Got it."

Actually, there were no other snack wrappers besides those two. She had probably skipped lunch and filled up on snacks. But I decided to let it go just for today.

After finishing dinner with Clem and cleaning up, I was resting when someone knocked on the armored vehicle.

"Hyung, the camp people said to give you this as thanks."

Glenn brought over a plate of grilled fish caught from the lake.

"You didn’t have to... Anyway, I’ll enjoy it."

But then, I heard a sound from the forest.

"Did you hear that?"

"Huh? What do you mean? I didn’t hear anything."

"Damn, it’s walkers! Quickly warn everyone!"

"W-what?"

"Hurry!"

"Y-yes!"

At my urgent tone, Glenn hurried to where the people were. I quickly grabbed my weapons and warned Clem.

"Clem, stay quietly inside the armored vehicle. Got it? It sounds like there are quite a few. It’s dangerous."

"Okay, got it."

I locked the armored vehicle door securely and ran toward the people. As long as Clem stayed quiet inside, there was no immediate worry about the vehicle being attacked.

"What? Walkers? How many?"

"Hyung said walkers are coming... I don’t know how many either..."

The people were still unarmed and running around in confusion. Since Rick’s group had returned safely and they had gotten canned fruit, everyone must have let their guard down.

"What are you all standing around like idiots for?! Grab your guns and gather at the center of the barricade!"

Only when I shouted did people snap out of it and hurriedly grab their weapons.

Grrrr...!

That was the moment.

Beyond the barricade made of parked cars at the camp’s perimeter, a massive horde of walkers appeared. They were grabbing onto the vehicles, climbing over, and trying to get into the camp.

"Damn it!"

Bang bang bang! Click, bang! Click, bang!

People fired their guns in unison at the walkers trying to cross the barricade.

The barricade was definitely doing its job. The walkers’ movements slowed significantly as they had to get over the vehicles, giving people more time to react. If the barricade hadn’t been there, they might not have even noticed the walkers approaching, and a sudden attack could have resulted in many casualties.

Click, bang! Click, bang! Thud! Smash!

"You sons of bitches! Die!"

Daryl, in particular, was visibly enraged, shooting and bashing walkers with his rifle stock, taking them out with fury. It was as if he was venting his anger and frustration over his brother abandoning him onto the walkers.

Of course, I wasn’t idle either—I swung the Vector, slicing through walkers trying to climb over the barricade.

After fending them off for a while, the number of walkers trying to cross the barricade noticeably decreased. The men then went over the barricade to clear out the remaining walkers, and eventually, all the walkers that had swarmed the camp were dealt with.

"Hah... what a mess in the middle of dinner... Is anyone hurt?"

Shane asked, looking around.

Then Carol urgently spoke.

"My husband is missing!"

"Where was he?"

"Well... he was alone in our tent outside the camp..."

Hearing that, the group hurried to the tent where Carol’s family stayed outside the camp.

What they found there was Ed’s severely mutilated body. Having been badly torn apart by walkers, the corpse was barely recognizable, with bones exposed—a truly gruesome sight.

"Damn it... I told them so many times to set up the tents inside the barricade..."

Shane muttered through clenched teeth.

Carol and her daughter Sophia, upon seeing the sight, began to cry in shock. Lori approached them, hugged them tightly, and quietly comforted them.

Honestly, from what I saw in the original, Ed wasn’t a good family man. He was a terrible husband who frequently abused his family, and he acted authoritative while doing nothing himself.

Moreover, his violent tendencies weren’t limited to his family. He tried to mistreat other women in the camp too, but after Shane beat him up badly, he became increasingly isolated. Because of that, he didn’t get along well with the camp people, and probably never bothered to move his tent from outside the barricade. In the end, that choice led to this tragedy.

I called Rick and Shane over.

"Hey guys, I told you before. I said this camp looks the most dangerous. If you want to keep this group together longer, you need to train people quickly. You felt it yourselves just now—this can’t go on. Everyone needs at least basic training to protect themselves."

Shane agreed.

"Yeah, screaming and shrieking from the back doesn’t solve anything. We got lucky this time. If we didn’t have the barricade, there would have been more victims besides Ed."

Rick also nodded in agreement.

"Yeah... you’re right. This can’t go on. Fortunately, we have more weapons now, so we should start training tomorrow."

With that, the camp people began gathering the walker corpses through the night. I put Clem to bed in the armored vehicle and helped them as well.

By the time we finished gathering all the bodies, the sun was beginning to rise. We set fire to the pile of walker corpses.

Whoosh...!

As the bodies started burning, a foul odor quickly spread around. The smell of burnt flesh permeated the area, and the camp people all grimaced, forced to cover their noses.

Ed’s body was buried separately. The camp people arranged it as a consideration for Carol and Sophia.

After burying Ed, Nick looked around and asked.

"Does anyone want to say anything?"

A moment of silence followed. Then Carol stepped forward, looked at the grave, and spoke.

"You weren’t a good person, so you’re definitely in hell now. You used to be a dumb but stubborn and decent person. I don’t know when you changed... Hoo... I might think of you sometimes."

With that, the simple funeral ended, and Shane gathered everyone.

"You all worked hard clearing the bodies all night. You must be tired, so get some rest. Starting this afternoon, I think it’s a good idea for everyone to learn how to shoot. We might have been too complacent. We can’t let there be more victims."

After all the hardship yesterday, no one objected and everyone nodded in agreement.

The camp people rested well through the afternoon, of course taking turns keeping watch. I also showered, made Clem breakfast, and rested for a while.

Around 2 p.m., Rick and Shane woke everyone up and started shooting practice, so Clem and I joined in.

"Clem, let’s try shooting from different stances now. You’ve been shooting from a comfortable stance so far, right?"

"Yes."

"But you can’t always shoot from a comfortable stance. Watch me and follow along."

"Okay."

I demonstrated various stances and began teaching Clem. These were the basic movements for gun kata.

"Ugh... this is hard."

"Right? But once you get used to it, you’ll be able to shoot without breaking your form in any situation. That’s why you need to learn it."

"Got it."

While Clem practiced hard, I went to the armored vehicle and pulled out some spears I had made back when I was at Lee’s camp and handed them to Rick.

"I brought these from another camp I was at before. They already have one for each person there. You can thrust with them, and also use the small blade on the side to strike. They’re very useful. And they’re easy to make if you have a welder. I think they’ll help."

"Thanks for your concern. By the way, do you know anything about the CDC in Atlanta?"

"Yeah, I know they tried to develop a vaccine there too. But their situation is probably similar to ours. I’m guessing they all failed. According to the doctors I talked to, it’s not an ordinary virus. That’s why I’m looking for someone with antibodies."

Rick sighed at that.

"Is there any safe place around here? This place is too open. I feel like we could get attacked again."

I thought for a moment and said.

"You should be careful about moving the camp. You could run into raiders or a horde of walkers and get separated. The best option would be to build walls here. You’re close to the city, so supplies are easy to get, and there’s water."

"But Atlanta is a big city with too many walkers. We can’t always risk our lives for supplies."

Rick seemed to think this place was very dangerous, just like in the original.

"I can’t tell you about other camps. If conflict breaks out, it becomes the military’s responsibility. What I can tell you is that there are a lot of empty farms north of Atlanta. If you do decide to move, that direction would be good."

Hershel’s farm was there too.

"...I understand."

Rick seemed deep in thought after hearing me.

Clem and I planned to leave the next day. I packed our things and filled up the armored vehicle with fuel.

Meanwhile, Rick’s camp people started discussing something. But the conversation seemed to drag on longer than expected—they were still arguing back and forth even after we finished dinner. From a distance, I could see voices being raised. It seemed they had strong disagreements and couldn’t reach a conclusion easily. Since this was their decision to make, I didn’t interfere. I just washed up, watched a movie with Clem, and rested.

The next day, when I said I was leaving, the camp people gathered to say goodbye. Glenn especially seemed very reluctant.

"Hyung, I don’t know when we’ll see each other again..."

"Hold on."

I handed Glenn ten eggs.

"I coated them in oil so they’d keep as long as possible, so they should still be fine, but without a fridge, you should eat them soon."

When I handed over the eggs, Glenn teared up and hugged me tightly.

"Thank you, hyung. I’ll enjoy them."

Glenn being like this was a bit overwhelming.

"Whoa, calm down. We’ll probably see each other again in a few months."

Rick and Shane also said goodbye.

"Did you decide where you’re going?"

"I’ll stop by Atlanta briefly and then head east. Next stop is probably Athens. Keep your radio on when you can. There might be good news from the military."

"Yeah, got it."

Clem also said goodbye to everyone. She especially spent some time talking with the other kids, having bonded with them over the candy she had shared.

And so we left the quarry camp and headed back to Atlanta.

Our first stop was the nursing home survivors we had visited before. For some reason, I couldn’t just leave them alone.

"You’re one of the people we traded with before. What brings you here today?"

When Guillermo asked, I got straight to the point.

"I came to trade guns. Do you have any gold or silver? I can trade them for guns and ammunition."

"Really? That’s good to hear. Wait a moment."

After a while, Guillermo came back out with the others from the nursing home. In their hands, they had quite a lot of gold rings and necklaces. They must have gathered all the gold left in the nursing home.

I traded ammunition with them the same way I had with Rick’s group and had them buy what they needed.

"Then, we’d like three rifles and five pistols. And we’re low on shotgun shells, so trade us some of those too."

"Got it."

They had more gold and silver than Rick’s group, so they were able to get a considerable amount of weapons and ammunition.

"What a relief. Honestly, I was really worried about our lack of weapons. Now I can breathe easier."

After all the trades were done, Guillermo looked relieved. So I gave them a warning in advance.

"I got information that there are quite a few raiders roaming around. You should be careful."

"Thanks for the tip. I hope we can trade again sometime. And take care, little lady too."

"I don’t know when I’ll be back, but understood."

"Goodbye."

With that, I felt I had done what I could for the nursing home. The rest was up to them.

We left the nursing home and headed to a gun shop this time. We had traded away a lot of supplies, so we needed to replenish.

Atlanta had quite a few gun shops on the outskirts. Due to community opposition and various regulations, it was hard to establish gun stores in the city center, so many naturally settled in the outer areas. For me, it was like a goldmine.

I started checking gun shops one by one around the outskirts of Atlanta. Of course, I wasn’t being greedy about it. The goal was just to secure necessary supplies, and since I was moving with Clem, I planned to avoid dangerous places and search slowly.

But as expected, supplies weren’t easy to secure. Since these were outer-area gun shops, many had already been looted. We had to visit several places to find ones that still had supplies.

"Oh! This place has quite a bit!"

"It sure does."

The way we gathered supplies was simple. I backed the armored vehicle up to the gun shop entrance and lowered the rear door. The door was mechanically operated and extremely powerful—just pressing a button would push through and smash the entrance, making entry easy.

After going around like that for a while, the interior space was nearly full.

"I think it’s full now."

"Looks like it. I think we can head out now."

We continued moving east, meeting various survivors along the way. We sold food to some survivor groups and medicine to others. Of course, we never forgot to secure necessary supplies while traveling.

Then, about a month into our journey, I received a message from my clone. The trading post was finally complete. They had also searched other military bases and secured a significant amount of supplies, and in the process, had taken in several surviving soldiers.

Hearing that news, I gradually started informing survivor groups about the trading post’s location and how trading would work.

But since we had already traveled quite far east, most survivors showed interest but were reluctant to actually make the trip. They didn’t see the need to take risks traveling long distances.

Meanwhile, Clem was visibly growing through the journey.

She no longer hesitated when dealing with walkers like she used to. She also began seriously training in the gun kata I had started teaching her. Since she was still young, I hadn’t taught her the deeper techniques yet, but her skill had improved to the point where she could shoot stably from various stances.

Clem and I traveled through North Carolina toward Virginia in the armored vehicle.

But then, we saw a group of people blocking the road ahead with their bikes parked across it. Just by their appearance, I could roughly tell what kind of group they were.

"Yeah, I knew we’d run into them sooner or later."

"Is it, is it going to be okay?"

Clem seemed tense since this was her first time directly seeing raiders.

"Don’t worry. This armored vehicle is bulletproof. As long as we stay inside, they won’t get in easily."

"Really?"

There was a reason we hadn’t encountered raiders before. The vehicle we were traveling in wasn’t a regular car—it was an armored vehicle. Even in the apocalypse, not many people were foolish enough to pick a fight with an armored vehicle.

But now was different. Right in front of us, those fools had appeared.

"Get out now and hand over everything you have. Then we’ll let you live."

I grabbed the microphone and said.

"Are you out of your minds? You’re going to take on an armored vehicle? Just clear out while I’m being nice."

"You haven’t heard of the ’Saviors’? Sounds like you’re the one who’s lost it. From now on, everything you have belongs to ’Negan.’"

I was a bit surprised at that. Negan was already active.

"Really? So the leader of these raiders is named Negan... I’ll remember that."

Without hesitation, I activated the automated turret mounted on the top of the armored vehicle.

Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!

Blam! Blam blam! BOOM!!!

The bullets from the automated turret tore through the raiders and their bikes blocking the road. They fell in an instant without even a chance to react, and some of the bikes caught fire and exploded.

"Aaaagh!"

With brief screams, the road turned into chaos.

In the end, all the raiders fell without putting up any real resistance. They paid the price for recklessly challenging an armored vehicle.

"Idiots."

"Ugh... I don’t like seeing that."

Clem was still young, so it was hard for her to watch. I drove the armored vehicle forward, crushing their bodies as we passed.