Chapter 53: Seongsu Multiplex
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 53: Seongsu Multiplex
This guy was a nicer fellow than I expected.
"Yes... that's probably right. We've set up our base at the Seongsu Multiplex right now. The Captain has a bit of a sly look... and the Lieutenant Colonel is the deputy leader..."
Every time I patted his shoulder, he flinched. It seemed his memory of what happened earlier had left quite a strong impression.
"But are you sure you don't want to take your friends with you? I can help."
"I-it's fine. I can just come back for them later."
"What if you leave them and they get eaten by zombies?"
"...They're already dead, so what does it matter if they're buried or eaten?"
"True. It's a shame. They looked like they were in the prime of their lives."
You killed them, you crazy bastard.
Why does it feel like I can read his mind?
Well, whatever.
The informant told me all sorts of things about the faction at the Seongsu Multiplex.
"Yes, yes... I think the headcount is around two hundred. I think I heard they bought food from Seongsu Park this Saturday... They brought back a lot of meat, and I heard the hunting squad and the management team had a meat party."
He seemed to be quite the insider within the faction, as he knew a lot of things.
I like this guy.
"The relationship between the Lieutenant Colonel and the Captain?.."
"Why? Is it hard to talk about? Because I'm an outsider?"
"No, no. It's not really a secret. Haha..."
He's quick-witted, so he probably won't die easily wherever he goes.
"Yes... well, you seem to already know, but they aren't on very good terms. The Captain is a bit of a radical? He believes in expanding the faction quickly and accepting inevitable sacrifices along the way. On the other hand, the Lieutenant Colonel was a soldier, so... even if killing is unavoidable, he thinks we shouldn't cross the line. He prefers to win people over and absorb other factions if possible... So they've had quite a few clashes during the expansion process. It's still like that now."
Hmm.
So that's how it is.
Actually, in terms of personality, I'm closer to that sly bastard of a leader than Oh Yoon-seop.
Winning people over? Absorbing them?
You can only do that when your faction has power and resources to spare. In a zombie apocalypse, a living person is basically just another mouth to feed.
For every extra person, the required food increases by at least two meals a day. Setting aside whether you can handle that, if you look at it from the perspective of what you gain by giving them that food, uniting factions isn't something you should do so carelessly.
Even in zombie apocalypse games, I've seen survivor NPCs mindlessly expand their factions only for their food systems to collapse, destroying the faction overnight. Because of that, I'm even more skeptical of such things.
No matter how much supply I have, and even if I become capable of taking responsibility for hundreds of people, accepting just anyone is still something I don't want to do from a utility standpoint.
However, even taking all that into account, Oh Yoon-seop is an attractive enough figure that I want to accept him as a "Resident."
His upright personality is fully reflected in his modes, and on top of that, all of his modes are combat-related.
It might not be easy to win him over at first, but once we establish a relationship of mutual trust, he'll at least never stab me in the back.
Doesn't he look like the type who would successfully carry out any farming expedition and return safely?
His worrying about others and his strong aversion to killing can be slowly corrected.
Actually, no. I wonder if I even need to correct it.
It's just his personal belief, and in the end, I just need to make him prioritize my orders over that.
I am the one on top, and he must follow my opinion. I can't let my "Resident" change my choices because of his beliefs.
"What about his family?"
"The Lieutenant Colonel's?"
"Yeah."
"He has a daughter and a wife... His wife is doing the cooking, and his daughter was also a soldier, so she's in the hunting squad, but... sigh... this is..."
"Why? What is it?"
He must be incredibly anxious.
Well, of course.
The guy who beat five of his colleagues to death is walking beside him with a hand on his shoulder. From his perspective, his only desire would be to get away from me as quickly as possible.
He probably doesn't even know what he's saying.
He's probably spitting out everything he knows out of fear that if the conversation stops, I'll think he has no more useful information and kill him.
It's a good sign for me.
"Didn't I mention they're in a power struggle? To break the Lieutenant Colonel's spirit, the Captain has been assigning him to the hunting squad lately..."
"But didn't you say he was a soldier?"
"Yes... His stats are decent, and he has three combat skills, so he volunteered for the hunting squad... but they're sending him to dangerous places. Because of that, they're arguing even more."
"Hmm."
From the perspective of the greater good, this isn't really something to criticize either.
If someone has the skills, utilizing them is the duty of a leader.
On the surface, it might look like he's just working him hard to win a power struggle, but in the end, to survive long in this zombie apocalypse world, you have to kill zombies faster than others and monopolize the remaining resources. So if you have a strong asset, it's right to put them to work quickly, even if it's a bit dangerous, rather than letting them sit idle.
Especially since this isn't a game where things respawn.
"O-over there."
After walking a bit further, a large building came into view in the distance.
A massive multiplex complex.
An enormous size, nine stories high and nearly thirty-five thousand square feet.
"They took over that place?"
"Yes, yes..."
There's definitely a reason they can't leave, even if they're unhappy.
It seems they secured a great location early on.
Even so, a building that large wouldn't be easy to defend against a zombie rush. But thanks to the leader's ability, they somehow managed to hold out. After that, living off what was inside the multiplex would have left them wanting for nothing.
If there's one thing I'm curious about, it's why they bothered to buy food with expensive coins when a multiplex of that size surely has a mart inside.
Well, no matter how much stockpile they have, food is an endless necessity, so they might have just bought food thinking they had coins to spare.
Seeing how they wanted to sign an exclusive mass distribution contract, they might be thinking about the long term.
"It must be tough to guard all the entrances."
"We blocked off the side and back doors, so only the main entrance is accessible."
"Right, right."
"Um..."
"Yeah. Sure, go ahead. Thanks to you, it was an entertaining walk."
"Yes, yes... Thank you. Thank you."
The guy who gave me the helmet cast a wary glance and hurried toward the multiplex.
He looked back several times, fearing I might follow and kill him.
"Hmm."
I've gained an unexpected harvest.
I never expected a faction to have set up a base here.
Normally, a massive multiplex like this should be a demonic lair.
In terms of dungeon level, it would be Level 2 or Level 3.
A similar example would be Homeplus.
This building is actually larger than Homeplus, and they took it over right from the start and prevented it from turning into a demonic lair?
It seems this is a faction that shouldn't be underestimated.
Setting aside combat power, there must be quite a few guys who know their way around a zombie apocalypse.
Though even so, they didn't seem like a perfect faction.
The detailed internal information I overheard made me see a certain possibility.
Honestly, this is practically a cliché.
A cliché that would 100% play out if this were a novel.
But since this is reality, it might not.
Then again, the probability of it not playing out is even lower.
When you're thrown into dangerous places every single day basically to go die, if you survive that not just for a day or two, but for weeks or months, it would be stranger if you did keep coming back alive.
Anyway, now that I know the location and the internal situation, I decided to wait a bit.
It's not like I'm in a position to go run over there and cause a scene right now, and even if I did, it's not like Oh Yoon-seop would say, "Oh, thank you," and jump over to my side.
In fact, in a way, I'm a strictly superior version of that sly bastard of a captain.
The most ideal picture would be for that bastard to make Oh Yoon-seop thoroughly sick of him, forcing Oh Yoon-seop to compromise with reality to some extent, and then I'll swoop in and pick him up.
"Hmm. Interesting."
I didn't really do anything today.
Killing a few Level 2 zombies, watching the apocalypse survival stories of people I saw on the street, and getting a helmet I liked was about it.
But in the process, I did a good deed that didn't really suit me, and as a result, I got the information I wanted.
"Indeed, one must live a good life."
I didn't do it with the intention of being good, but if the result is goodwill and justice, isn't that enough?
I pinned the location on KakaoMap and headed back.
On my way back, I saw some familiar faces.
"Huh?"
"...Who are you?"
Those people might not remember me.
Since I was just watching them from afar.
But thanks to them, I earned about 500 coins and witnessed an interesting situation.
"Ah, you're the ones who got shook down earlier, right?"
Since I was in a good mood, I decided to play the good guy.
"...Yes."
It was a pity.
I approached them with the expression of a good person, yet they were completely on guard.
Because of those motherfuckers earlier, these people's faith in humanity had evaporated.
"You can go back there and hunt again. Those guys went back."
"...Huh? Where to..."
"Did they go home...? Or maybe they went to meet their ancestors..."
"..."
"Anyway, it'll be safe over there now, so feel free to hunt."
I gave them a bright smile and turned to leave.
Since I left without doing anything, a hesitant farewell came from behind.
"T-thank you..."
"Don't mention it."
It's not like I don't know how to speak politely.
I just don't do it because there's no reason to.
I also know that when trying to lower someone's guard like this, speaking politely is faster than using informal speech.
Receiving their deep gratitude, I wrapped up my day with a sense of pride.
[Quest Complete!]
[Obtained 1 Point]
And when I returned, I realized there was a reward I hadn't checked yet.
[Hidden Repeat Quest 1-1]
– Kill Users
– 10 / 10
– Reward: 1 Point