Chapter 60: How to Collapse a Small Faction
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 60: How to Collapse a Small Faction
This ahjussi is burning with motivation, talking about some "Paradise" bullshit. It's a bit overwhelming.
Whatever the case, I needed to come up with a name for our group. Paradise, huh...
It doesn't sound too bad.
It's a strange word, isn't it?
Could a paradise really exist in a fucked-up world like this?
But precisely because the world is like this, the bar for what qualifies as "paradise" has plummeted. And as the Host—the only person in this world with Cheat Mode...
I thought that maybe, just maybe, I could actually build it.
Is paradise really that big of a deal?
In a world where having a woman wash your hair at a salon can feel like utopia.
A place that has everything for people who are cold, hungry, and without water or electricity.
That's what a paradise is.
Well, his enthusiasm isn't a bad thing for me.
I did wonder if he'd still be talking about "Paradise" if he found out that last night, under the pretext of injecting his sick daughter with the vaccine, I raw-dogged her and filled her womb with my cum. But since I wasn't that much of a psychopath, I kept my mouth shut.
I told him to equip whatever he liked from the leftover items in the weapon storage. Watching his back as he walked away, he did look quite dependable.
He also seemed to really like the Base Invincibility effect.
Just like before, he wouldn't benefit from it once he stepped outside the Safe Base, but even a tiny taste of it would be incredibly sweet.
Surely he won't die.
It's not like I gave him a mission to go out and fight to the death. I just told him to bring back the people he was close with.
The ones who were at least somewhat trustworthy.
I never expected Oh Yoon-seop to bring down the Seongsu Multiplex all by himself in the first place.
Later on, when my faction grows larger, I can put together a proper squad and send them out to crush other factions.
But right now, even with a Level 6 Combat Mode, taking on over two hundred people alone is impossible.
Sending Oh Yoon-seop was just to have him play a small part.
Some of the people he brings back as "trustworthy" will be absorbed into my faction. I don't trust them, but Oh Yoon-seop will be responsible for keeping them from doing anything stupid.
Even if the bastards he brings back do act up, it doesn't matter.
That would just trigger an event and give me points, which is fine.
Or, if it gets too annoying, I can just kill them. Simple as that.
My job is to find people I can trust—whether for their abilities, personality, or whatever else—and appoint them as "Residents" to act as middle managers.
Once the enemy faction's numbers are chipped away, even by a little, I can slowly eat them alive.
To that end, I stepped out of my small Paradise again today.
Honestly, fighting nearly two hundred people without the Safe Base effects active isn't easy for me either.
If they were all non-combatants, it wouldn't be hard.
I could just grab about ten of them, slit their throats in front of the rest, and they'd lose all will to fight and quietly die.
But these are guys who survived the Zombie Rush, occupied the Multiplex, and are actively picking violent fights with surrounding factions.
It's not like I'm immortal.
There's nothing stupider than dying before I can use Cheat Mode to grow strong enough to never die.
I must utilize my strength to the fullest.
What is my greatest advantage right now?
Overwhelming stats in player-versus-player combat.
And a Stealth Skill that keeps me hidden from crowds.
"Gah!"
I slip close and plunge my dagger into a throat.
As blood spurts and one bastard dies, I immediately move on to the next.
The guys moving in groups of five to seven can be spotted occasionally if I just wander around near the Multiplex while casually clearing the Level 2 Zombie repeat quest.
I took them out every time.
What if Oh Yoon-seop's people are mixed in with them?
There was no need to worry about that.
Our friend,
the Helmet Thief, had told me before.
The guys wearing helmets are Seo Se-hu's lackeys.
He said the ones in the inner circle get special treatment and are allowed to wear helmets, which makes them easy to distinguish.
They probably wear them to look cool, but from my perspective, it just makes it easier to pick them out and kill them, so I'm grateful.
The rest is a tedious repetition.
"W-What?!"
"You crazy bastard. Do you know who we are?"
"I know. That's why I'm killing you."
"..."
"If you don't want to die, hand over 300 Coins each. Then I'll let you live."
Since it's a repetitive task, it gets a bit boring without some minor rewards.
Still, since I'm dealing with people, adding a few different patterns instead of just mindlessly killing them over and over keeps the boredom at bay.
"I'll give you... 300 Coins. Please spare me."
"Why aren't you giving me yours? Do you want to die?"
"...I don't have 300 Coins..."
"Borrow it from your friend."
"Even if we pool everything, we don't have enough."
"That's a shame. Then just give me whatever you have."
"Gah... Why..."
"I only stabbed you 250 Coins' worth. You won't die."
My goal is to dismantle the Multiplex faction, not to stab to death every single person I see.
Well, if that becomes necessary in the process, I'll have to do it, but from my perspective, whether I kill them or not, as long as the faction collapses, it's all the same.
If I can get 300 Coins instead of killing them, there's no reason to break my word.
Besides, letting them live doesn't change the outcome I want.
In fact, letting one or two of them live and send them back is exactly how the plan falls into place.
After doing this for a day or two, they started moving in groups of ten or more, and by Friday, I couldn't find any of them wandering around at all.
It didn't matter.
In the meantime, I had fully filled the quota of 50 Level 2 Zombies.
[1 Point Acquired]
[Safe Base-Exclusive Outer Wall (★) Acquired]
[Repeat Quest 2-2]
- Defeat Zombies (★★)
- 0 / 100
- 1 Point, Normal Mode Level (★) Selection Ticket
In the current situation, it's not easy to hunt 50 or 100 Level 2 Zombies.
But as the difficulty rises, the rewards for the repeat quests increase accordingly.
"Oh."
An endless feast of dopamine.
I'm in a dilemma.
There are just too many fun things to do in this world.
Just staying cooped up inside and having sex with Kim Ji-hee all day is fun.
Planning how to decorate the house, going out to farm for what I need, and then decorating it is fun.
Even the process of scouting the surrounding area to bring back useful people is incredibly fun.
Meeting new, unfamiliar people is only uncomfortable and awkward when you're on equal footing. If you put them under you, there's nothing uncomfortable about it at all.
After all, they're the ones walking on eggshells around me.
And the most fun part of all is dismantling a faction, which blends all of these elements together.
On top of that, even the repetitive grind of the repeat quests provides fun rewards. What am I supposed to do?
I think I'm getting addicted to this world.
"Just one more point."
Upgrading the Safe Base to Level 7 requires 3 points.
Is there anywhere I can get 1 more point?
Tomorrow is the day we sell food at Seongsu Park, so I'm hoping some fun event might happen.
Even without Oh Yoon-seop, the Seongsu Multiplex faction will have to come back to get a steady supply of food.
How will they react when they see Oh Yoon-seop standing with us?
Won't that trigger a pretty fun and interesting event?
In preparation for that, I had already registered Oh Yoon-seop as a "Resident."
"Let's just wait one more day."
They say the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.
But even if nothing special happens, I won't be disappointed.
Because I can just build up that expectation myself and turn it into fun.
"Lulu-lala~"
I should spend the rest of my time farming nearby before heading back.
---
Oh Se-i had nothing in particular to do when she woke up.
She ate the meal her mother had prepared and was about to go out hunting as usual, only to realize that this wasn't the Multiplex.
It felt incredibly awkward.
Although it hadn't been for very long, at the Multiplex, she had to go out at dawn and gather Coins until the sun went down.
Having repeated that routine, it had become second nature, and not doing it felt strange.
Feeling restless staying in her room, she stepped outside.
It was a run-down alley, but there were no zombies in sight.
She tried to enter the building across the way, but the door wouldn't open.
Her mother, who had followed her out, spoke to her.
"They said this building is used by that young lady and young man over there. They told us to ring the bell if we have any business."
"..."
Should she ring it?
After a moment of hesitation, Oh Se-i rang the bell.
Soon, the door—which looked like a steel gate from the outside—opened, and Kim Ji-hee stepped out.
"Oh? What's the matter? Do you need something?"
"No... I was just wondering what I should do..."
A bright expression and a clean face.
She was stunningly beautiful.
"You can just do whatever you want. You're older than me, right?"
"I'm twenty-six..."
"I'm twenty-three. Speak comfortably, Unni. Anyway, if you don't know what to do, think about what you're good at. Your mother said she's good at cooking. This is a place where you just earn your keep by doing what you're good at."
What am I good at?
Oh Se-i couldn't think of anything in particular.
Seeing her serious expression, Kim Ji-hee offered some advice.
"I don't know how you'll take this... but you're plenty attractive yourself, Unni. Oppa has rather high standards, you see."
Realizing what she meant, Oh Se-i changed the subject.
"Thank you."
Kim Ji-hee didn't push the matter any further either.
Around evening.
Oh Yoon-seop returned, bringing about ten people with him.