Chapter 11: A Shelter in the Wild

The dogs, who had been growling with their heads lowered and baring their teeth until now, slowly began to lift their heads one by one.

Their angry expressions, once wrinkled like crumpled paper around the mouth, gradually started to soften.

Looking at them now, they seemed not only gentle but almost suited to the nickname “puppers” that people often use.

“Hyung, I think they were just being cautious because they were scared. They seem okay now. Look.”

“…….”

It was a question hoping for an answer, but I couldn’t respond right away.

Even some of the dogs didn’t just calm down—they began to let out quiet whimpering sounds and started wagging their tails gently.

The tense atmosphere that had stretched taut suddenly shifted, and I could feel the change in my entire body.

Seizing the moment, Hayul spoke to the dogs in an even softer voice than before.

“We’re not bad people, really. You can relax and go back somewhere safe now.”

Even though the mood had eased, I was still tense and gripping my wooden stick, prepared for any sudden outburst.

What were the chances that an animal would actually listen to a human and simply walk away?

It would be great if they left just like this, but wild animals could turn aggressive at any moment.

However, my worry quickly turned out to be unnecessary. Within seconds, I let out a sigh of relief.

‘Are they really leaving?’

Did Hayul’s words actually work?

Amazingly, the yellow dog at the front turned around and started to walk away briskly.

Soon, the other dogs followed, crossing the road and disappearing into the thick underbrush far in the distance.

‘What the… What just happened?’

As the tension drained from me, I turned to look at Hayul.

He was still waving at the now-invisible dogs, and then he met my gaze.

“Hayul, just now…”

“How did you do that, Lee Hayul?”

Before I could finish, Kang Dojin jumped in.

“Huh?”

“Did you get a skill or something?”

“A skill?”

“Yeah, like a special ability or something. Did you maybe get it as a reward?”

Hayul blinked, clearly having no idea what Dojin was talking about.

Seeing that, Dojin started mixing in all sorts of terms like skill, ability, and trait as he explained further.

Hayul, clearly not much of a gamer like me, only shook his head once he finally understood.

“Huh? No? I just talked to them like I usually do with other dogs. I used to volunteer at a stray dog shelter, and I’ve dealt with dogs like that a lot.

Even if they look aggressive, they’re usually just scared of people. As long as you don’t run away and speak gently to show you’re not a threat, they’ll calm down and back off most of the time.”

“What the…”

Hearing Hayul’s words, Dojin’s face crumpled.

He looked like he wanted to ask what kind of nonsense that was.

Honestly, I had quite a few things I was secretly surprised about, too—like how I never knew Hayul volunteered at a shelter, or that he had handled aggressive dogs before, or that he was so skilled despite not being a professional trainer.

Dojin clearly still had more to say, but as Kang Dohee came over and tapped his shoulder, he sighed and fell silent.

“Guys, we’ll talk later. You haven’t forgotten the quest, right? There’s a time limit.”

“Yep.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Yes!”

Right. Can’t forget the time limit.

We left the convenience store immediately and scavenged the already-looted gas station thoroughly.

Despite expectations, we found a surprising number of useful items—several disposable lighters, two pairs of grey socks that I hoped were new, a blanket, a pocket knife, and more.

Unfortunately, no food.

We divided up the items into our inventories, and now only one condition of the quest remained:
Find a safe place.

‘Quest window.’

Quest Progress
Find survivors: 2/2 (Complete)
Find survival supplies: 6/6 (Complete)
Find a safe place: 0/1
Time remaining: 10 hours 38 minutes

‘Why does it feel like time is flying?’

The gas station and convenience store buildings had all their windows shattered and doors broken—it was obvious at a glance that they weren’t safe.

Just in case, we checked a side room as well, but it didn’t count either.

As much as I’d begged and reasoned with the system before, even I couldn’t pretend that building was safe.

So once again, we were riding our delightfully noisy bicycles.

A little ways from the gas station, there were two house icons on the map, and another two further out.

The nearest one was even partially visible from where we were—a brick building.

It looked like one of those two-story restaurants with names like “XX Garden” or “OO Lodge.”

When we finally reached the place, the door was intact, and none of the windows were broken.

Actually, the windows had been reinforced from the inside with wooden planks and metal sheets, making it hard to see in.

“Looks like someone lives here?”

“Yeah, look over there.”

Following where Kang Dohee pointed, I saw a small vegetable garden partially hidden among the mess of tarps and junk.

Behind the house, there was a single ruined building that probably corresponded to another house marked on the map.

The neat house had wooden stakes surrounding it, with fishing lines strung low between them and tin cans hanging intermittently—likely to alert the owner of intruders.

‘Is the owner still living here?’

Maybe monsters don’t come near this area?

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a little scary to live here?

I checked the map again.

From the mountain path to here, there were hardly any black dots.

Aside from the four blue dots far from us, there were no other marks nearby.

“Noona, should we try going a bit further, or wait here?”

I was planning to follow the others’ lead either way.

Honestly, my legs were killing me, and I was exhausted.

But since we were the ones asking for shelter, barging in without permission might cost us points, so we had to decide carefully.

We had bicycles, so checking out one of the farther places on the map wasn’t a bad idea either.

If that place didn’t work out, we could come back and wait for the owner here.

Or in the worst-case scenario, we could enter the house before the quest timer ran out and apologize to the returning owner later.

Sure, the owner might faint from shock, but that was something we could deal with afterward.

A bit selfish since it didn’t consider the owner’s point of view, but given our situation, it felt like the best option.

Especially considering my permanent injury penalty… though again, that was our problem, not theirs.

As I was looking at Kang Dohee and Dojin for their opinion, Hayul tugged at my sleeve from behind.

“Hyung, what if we ask the owner?”

“That’d be great, but the map says the owner isn’t nearby.”

The map still hadn’t changed.
We could wait for them like Hayul said, but if they didn’t return by dark, we’d waste time and lose daylight.

“So it’s better to decide quickly—”

“Isn’t that the owner on the rooftop?”

“Huh?”

Dojin and Dohee were already looking where Hayul was pointing.

I followed their gaze—and saw a person on the rooftop.

A small-framed figure.

With a hood pulled low and a mask on, it was hard to tell their gender, but somehow I felt like I understood how this person managed to survive safely in such a remote place.

“What am I even looking at? Am I seeing things?”

“You’re not. I see it too.”

“Hyung, I see it too.”

“This… I didn’t expect. That’s wild.”

There were two beings watching us from the rooftop of the two-story building.

One was the small-framed person. The other… was a massive bear.

A real bear—with a white crescent mark on its chest.

‘A druid…?’

The combination was so baffling that I couldn’t even form words.

As we stood there blinking in silence, something small and orange-furred crawled up the bear’s back.

It was hard to see clearly, but if I saw right—it was a raccoon.

“…….”

Strange.

Truly strange.

The bear standing upright with its paws on the rooftop railing, the proud raccoon sitting on its head,
and the person pointing a gun at us…

“It’s a shotgun. If they fire, we’ll be swiss-cheesed. Where did they get that? That’s not a legal hunting gun.”

At Dohee’s muttering, I couldn’t help but let out a mix of awe and dread.

Awe at her ability to identify the gun from this distance, and dread at the idea of being turned into a colander.

“Is it loaded?”

Yeah, I was wondering that too… but more than that, why was the bear just standing there like that?

What even is this situation?

Was it really right to greet them politely and ask if we could stay there?

While a massive bear stared right into my soul? I was sweating bullets.

I was about to say we should just go check out another building, but then—someone who didn’t seem fazed at all by the absurd tension between rooftop and ground shouted out:

“Hello! Sorry to bother you! Would you be willing to let us stay the night? We’re really not bad people!”

It was Hayul.

Was my little brother always this bold, even in front of someone holding a gun?

‘No, wait. That’s not the issue here.’

Hayul and Dojin may still look like kids to me, but to the person up there, we must seem like fully grown men.

It was entirely possible they felt threatened and things could take a bad turn.

I stepped in front of Hayul and looked up at the rooftop.

I couldn’t tell what expression the person was making behind the hood and mask, which made it scarier.

But Hayul clung to my arm and added in a desperately pleading voice:

“Please! We really need help! Just help us avoid the monsters—please? Please!”

Hearing Hayul’s heart-wrenching plea stirred something deep in my chest.

His desperation hit me so hard that I almost wanted to just let him go inside immediately.

“…Huh?”

And apparently, I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

The barrel of the gun aimed at us started trembling slightly, then slowly lowered.

And that wasn’t all.

The Asiatic black bear standing next to the presumed homeowner also slowly lowered its massive paw from the railing and gently patted the person on the shoulder.

It looked almost like… it was comforting them.