Chapter 161: Do You Know Why Wars Happen?
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 161: Do You Know Why Wars Happen?
The Main Hunting Squad and the Eagle Five Squad were busy.
They had to act as guards to prevent any trouble at the cafeteria and the food shops amidst the surging crowds.
Since Paradise's shops were opening for the first time in a while, the crowds had multiplied. Although safety systems were in place, issues always arose with the newcomers.
In the first place, stealing or dining and dashing was impossible at the food shops and the cafeteria.
At the cafeteria, the system required you to select a menu from a kiosk and pay with coins before the food would even be served.
The food shops operated the same way: you ordered the desired food through a kiosk and paid with coins for it to be dispensed.
Yet, there were always those who caused trouble.
Like trying to steal someone else's food and run.
Or trying to snatch it right in front of the cafeteria.
Even though rumors had spread far and wide that messing around in Paradise could get you blasted by a defense turret on the street, who knew where these bastards kept crawling out from? Oh Yoon-seop's hunting squad and the Eagle Five Squad had to work quite busily.
That was when they were summoned.
Gathering in front of the weapon storage, they were issued weapons.
"Pick out your firearms and ammunition, then come out."
"...!"
Rows upon rows of guns on display, and piles of ammunition stacked high.
"Anyone here who can't shoot?"
There wasn't a single person who hadn't shot a gun before.
For starters, Oh Yoon-seop was a soldier, and the hunting squad was entirely composed of men. As for the Eagle Five Squad, though they had a ratio of three men to two women, asking people who had logged over a thousand hours in a zombie apocalypse if they could shoot was practically an insult.
Without asking why, everyone selected their preferred firearms and stepped out.
They armed themselves, grabbing plenty of ammunition belts and magazines.
They also packed a sidearm each.
"Got everything?"
"Yes!"
They hadn't asked, but their expressions showed they had figured it out.
Why else would they suddenly be told to gear up with guns?
The hunting squad had never been issued guns before.
They hadn't even known that so many guns and ammunition were piled up in the warehouse.
Besides, they had no trouble hunting zombies, farming, or clearing dungeons even without firearms.
But guns all of a sudden?
Something they weren't even given during the zombie rush?
They knew there could only be one reason.
"We're going on an expedition today. We'll clear out any factions near Lotte World, stop by Olympic Park, and then head down through Suseo Station and Irwon Station to expand our territory toward Gangnam."
"..."
I showed the hunting squads the current territory of Paradise.
Everyone gasped in surprise at the Paradise Map, which displayed a 5-kilometer radius centered around my mansion.
"Is this our territory?"
"I don't think we've ever even been to this area..."
"May I ask what determines the boundaries of our territory?"
I shared the information that didn't need to be kept secret.
"This radius is where my Paradise system is active. You can assume that all services—electricity, running water, and so on—only work within this boundary. Naturally, the Paradise Membership is only available within this area as well."
"Ah!"
They understood the reason for expanding our territory.
Although not everyone within the territory was a Paradise Membership member, securing more land increased the likelihood of more people signing up.
In the end, the people gathered here were the only ones who could be considered core members of the faction.
Yet, Paradise was a massive faction whose influence spanned this entire territory.
Realizing exactly what their task was, the hunting squads' expressions turned solemn.
War.
To take over someone else's territory, there were ultimately only two ways.
Take it by force, or persuade them to cooperate.
They knew there was no way I would choose the latter.
That had to be why I was arming them with guns.
But they were mistaken.
"We won't be using the guns if we can help it."
"...?"
"First, I'll make them an offer. After all, the best choice for everyone is for them to quietly join our faction."
"That's true."
Hearing my intention, the hunting squads' expressions softened slightly.
They probably felt the burden of having to kill people, but more than anything, a fight meant a higher chance of dying, which was likely the main source of their tension.
Knowing that fighting wasn't the only option put them at ease.
Honestly, if a heavily armed group showed up and made a polite offer, most people would be highly inclined to listen.
"Pack some food. We won't be returning until we've taken over five factions, so grab whatever you need and gather in front of the residential district in an hour."
"Yes, sir!"
Everyone dispersed.
I called Kim Ji-hee over separately.
"Oppa, stay safe. How many days do you think it'll take?"
"Well, maybe three to four days if we're fast? I could probably wrap it up in a single day, but we'll be farming along the way."
Honestly, if I just crushed and dismantled every faction by sheer force, I was confident I could do it in a single day.
But that would just be a repetitive grind of land-grabbing, not actual territorial expansion.
What was the point of expanding the safe bases?
Of course, increasing the absolute range of the safe bases was one goal, but ultimately, it was about growing the number of Paradise Membership subscribers. That would expand my territory, automatically generate coins, and broaden the pool of talent at my disposal.
To achieve that, I had to focus on bringing the small factions in those areas under my control as much as possible.
I'd force them to taste the Paradise Membership for at least a month. Once their area became a safe base, I'd establish transportation links to tame them with Paradise's systems.
By the time a month passed, they wouldn't be able to give up this lifestyle even if I told them to get lost.
Honestly, I wasn't even sure if I'd need to use force.
For factions outside the safe bases, if I went to them and offered to connect their electricity and running water in exchange for joining me, quite a few would probably jump at the chance.
Of course, some might refuse out of pride when told to submit.
But if it was just about meeting a certain quota of subscribers, there would be plenty of factions willing to comply.
"If anything happens, you and Lee Yu-ri handle it."
"...Do you think I can do it?"
"With your stats, you can easily smash most bastards' skulls with your bare fists. You saw how I did it, right?"
"Yes... I'll try."
There was a time when Kim Ji-hee couldn't even kill a single zombie.
But after farming with me, she had overcome her trauma of killing zombies, and now she was even tasked with defending Paradise in my absence.
In reality, with the hunting squads and me gone, the combat personnel in Paradise was practically zero.
In such a situation, the residents were the only ones who could fend off intruders.
Since all their stats were boosted by 4 levels, their raw physical abilities alone were enough to subdue any intruders.
And above all, leaving her in charge meant granting her authorization to use the defense turrets.
"If anyone acts like a piece of shit, just shoot them."
Having already verified the power of the defense turrets, I could leave Paradise without any worries.
An hour later, I headed toward Jamsil with the gathered hunting squads.
---
It wasn't like a scouting party had gone out and discovered a faction near Jamsil Lotte World.
For starters, we didn't have enough people to run a scouting party. While we did receive tips from delivery riders about small factions within the safe bases, we had no reason to venture outside our territory, so there was no way of knowing.
However, I had heard about it when I visited the Jamsil Sports Complex along that line.
"A faction of over two hundred people nearby? Hmm... I do know there's a fairly large faction near Jamsil Station. But after our scouting team returned severely injured, we haven't ventured back that way..."
"Did you chicken out?"
"At the time, our faction wasn't stable either, so we simply avoided them."
The Jamsil Sports Complex faction was also a small one, so if this other group was larger than them, just how big were they?
It would be great if they were a medium faction.
So I could wrap things up in one go.
Passing the Sports Complex and entering the Lotte World area, a skyscraper soaring high into the sky came into view.
Jamsil's landmark.
Even from afar, I could see that the incoming roads were blocked by barricades.
"The road is blocked, Captain."
The entire intersection leading toward Lotte World past Jamsil-saenae Station was completely blocked off.
And there, at a makeshift guard post, two men aimed their guns at us.
"Halt! Who goes there!"
Since we had hidden all our guns in our survival belts, we raised our hands to show we had no intention of fighting.
"Excuse me, where is the restroom around here?"
"What kind of bullshit—"
I asked nonchalantly as I drew my pistol and fired two shots.
Bang! Bang!
The speed at which I lowered my raised hands, drew my pistol, aimed, shot each of them in the head, and holstered it was faster than the two armed men could react.
Watching the two of them collapse with a thud, I climbed over the barricade.
"Grab their guns."
"..."
I could hear the hunting squads following behind whispering among themselves, sensing something was off.
"Didn't he say he was going to use words?"
"He did use words... politely asking where the restroom was."
"It's their fault for not answering."
Hearing the gunshots, people began rushing out.
I gave the signal.
"Shoot anyone holding a weapon first."