The Military Chef of a Ruined World

“So, the military has finally started moving.”

…Moved, huh?

I hesitated on how to respond, when I heard the excited people talking more.

“See? Damn it. I told you the outside would be fine!”

“Does that mean we can go out now?”

“The fact that soldiers have arrived means there must be a way for us to leave, right? This miserable life is finally over.”

I could kind of understand up to this point.

“No, just because we can go outside doesn’t mean it’ll be all good.”

“That’s right, if they find out about our ‘awakening’, we could be taken by the government and used as test subjects.”

“Are you kidding? Even if we’ve gotten stronger, we can’t defeat the organized modern military.”

“Let’s not be so pessimistic. Instead of being test subjects, we could be treated like the superpowered heroes on TV, people who’ve undergone a great struggle and awakening.”

…From this point on, I just couldn’t keep up.

‘These people. Do they really not know that the military has been wiped out, and that outside society has collapsed?’

They had a completely different feeling from the other survivors outside.

As I hesitated to respond, Tae-wan asked,

“I just want to ask one thing. You all aren’t the soldiers who were hiding in Chuncheon or something, right? You came from outside the wall?”

“…That’s correct.”

“Ooh!”

Tae-wan let out a sigh of relief.

“I was convinced the outside world had been destroyed.”

“Destroyed?”

“Well, what else could it be? We can’t get out through that wall, and no one’s coming in from outside either… Some argue there must be a reason we can’t break through the wall, but I thought all of humanity outside had perished, drowned in that water.”

“….”

“Guess I was wrong about that. Though with that water pressure, it must have taken time to figure out how to penetrate from the outside.”

“Before that, just a moment.”

While it seemed, he was quite mistaken about some things, I decided to ask about something I was curious about first, before correcting his misunderstanding.

“You said you couldn’t get out because of that wall, right?”

“That’s right. One day, the ground started to fill with water. Whenever we tried to escape outside, there was that waterfall-like wall blocking the way.”

“Do you know when that happened?”

“Well, I do know the date…”

The date he mentioned was familiar to us as well.

It was just a few days before my discharge.

Meaning…

‘This dungeon…’

‘So, this dungeon was created on the day of the apocalypse?’

The day when the lizardmen attacked our unit.

Chuncheon had been trapped in this dungeon.

I could then understand the gap in information between these survivors and the ones outside.

“It was really shocking. The people who said the military would come rescue us soon grew quiet after a few months. There aren’t many who still believe the military will help us now…”

It seems opinions were divided among them.

Some thought the outside world had been completely submerged and destroyed, except for them.

Others believed the outside was fine, and the military would come to save them soon.

But both were wrong.

“More reinforcements will be arriving soon, right? I heard even armored vehicles can operate well underwater in this environment…”

“We are the only military force here.”

“…Huh?”

The excited faces of the people turned a bit somber.

We could try to bring in the tanks stationed at the ammunition depot, but that would be the extent of our military force.

“I see. I don’t know much, but considering how late the military has arrived, it must not be easy to breach that wall from the outside.”

We had just walked in.

The fact that no one had come in before us was likely because it looked too dangerous.

“But it’s alright! It’s hard to believe, but we’ve had a rather unique experience, in here. We’ll show you the powers we’ve gained later – I think you’ll be quite surprised.”

That power was probably something we already knew about.

I could more or less piece together the situation.

‘They seem to have experienced an apocalypse, but of a different genre.’

There are different types of apocalyptic movies – zombie movies, disaster films about floods, and so on.

While the day of the apocalypse had arrived at the same time, these people had undergone a unique experience within this dungeon, separate from the outside world.

“Since we’ve come from outside, we don’t really know the details of what happened here.”

“That’s understandable.”

“Could you please explain it to us in detail?”

“Alright, I’ll tell you.”

Tae-wan’s explanation was roughly as I had expected.

On the day of the apocalypse, slowly water began to fill the lands.

All communication with the outside was cut off.

The way out was blocked by a torrential waterfall, powerful enough to even break apart rocks.

The sun no longer rose, and even the clouds disappeared.

“When the water rose to around thigh-high, monsters started appearing.”

“At first, we thought they were just giant alligators.”

The people fled to buildings above the second floor, escaping the water and the monsters.

“You could say we were fortunate. The water didn’t rise too quickly. We had enough time to move the supplies to the higher floors. And the monsters didn’t come out of the water much, so the casualties were surprisingly low.”

Huh?

He said the casualties were low?

Hearing that, my eyes widened.

The reason I had tried to subjugate the monsters as my subordinates was because the number of regular humans had dwindled.

I would have needed to bring in monsters to build up my forces, since so many ordinary people had died.

“So, the citizens of Chuncheon are mostly still alive. Is that correct?”

Chuncheon was one of the largest cities in Gangwon-do province.

If its entire population had survived, that would be an enormous number.

“No… It’s not like that.”

“Huh?”

“Well, a lot has happened, let’s just say. The details, you’ll have to see for yourself outside…”

Tae-wan spoke with a dark expression.

One of the people behind him muttered in a small voice,

“We’ll have to testify properly in court, after all…”

I’m not sure how to put this, but it seems the number of people killed by the monsters or drowned in the water was not that high.

‘…Does that mean a lot of them died for other reasons?