Chapter 62: Expanding the Faction, but No Intention of Taking Them In
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 62: Expanding the Faction, but No Intention of Taking Them In
In movies, the bosses of massive factions rarely die absurdly.
Unless their role is minor or they inevitably have to be absorbed by the villain, bosses usually manage to save their skins and survive no matter what.
But reality isn't always like that.
Whether you're the leader of a faction or a common lackey, you die just the same if you get stabbed.
Everyone has only one life, and yours isn't any tougher than anyone else's.
Of course, depending on how much you cherish your life, you might live a bit longer since there are plenty of people around willing to die in your place.
But Seo Se-hu seemed to have forgotten that simple truth.
The reason he hadn't died yet wasn't because he was the leader of a massive 200-man faction, but because he had only ever met people who lacked the courage to fight back against such a force.
Seo Se-hu's actual combat ability was low.
He hadn't raised his stats, nor did he possess any skills suited for direct combat.
To put it bluntly, if Oh Yoon-seop had just killed Seo Se-hu before leaving the Multiplex, things might have turned out very differently.
Anyway.
A bastard like that was acting cocky right in front of me.
Why should I hold back?
I was in a position where I had to dismantle the Multiplex faction anyway.
Normally, I hadn't planned on resolving things so directly.
Dismantling a "faction" isn't as simple as recklessly killing its leader for no reason.
Anyone can replace the head of an established faction with a structured system.
Unless it's run by a single, overwhelmingly powerful individual like mine, anyone could just step up and shout, "I'm the next boss of the Multiplex!"
That's why I planned to chip away at them a bit more first.
But things just turned out this way.
In the end, it worked out well.
No one blamed me for my actions.
Did they also think Seo Se-hu deserved to die?
Or was it just that my food looked more valuable than Seo Se-hu's corpse?
Whatever the case, the Multiplex faction had been dismantled.
I didn't know the exact inner workings of why killing Seo Se-hu triggered the completion of the quest to dismantle them.
Maybe they were more rotten on the inside than I thought, or there was no one left capable of maintaining the faction, or perhaps what little influence Seo Se-hu had left had finally snapped.
The Helmets threw down their weapons.
They took off their helmets and fell to their knees.
"Please take us in!!"
"Please lead the Multiplex!"
"...What kind of bullshit is this?"
This pathetic comedy sketch just won't end.
"Should I send you to join your boss?"
"..."
Some of the Helmets here were probably the ones I'd been tormenting over the past few days.
That would explain why they surrendered so easily.
The rest of them must have heard about what had been happening lately if they were close.
They probably realized that resisting was futile.
And unless you're greedy for power, it's much easier to serve under a new powerhouse than to try and lead a collapsing faction.
The problem was, I had no intention of doing that.
"If you're not buying, get lost. I have a business to run."
"..."
"Why don't they ever listen when I ask nicely?"
When they hesitated and showed no signs of leaving, I stabbed the neck of the closest guy, and only then did they start moving.
Do they think this is a school staffroom where they can just dig their heels in?
I had no intention of absorbing the Multiplex faction.
A quest to expand my faction had appeared, but there were many ways to do that.
I could absorb everyone and huddle together in a single base like the Multiplex to grow, or I could go a step further and exert influence as a faction that rules over other factions.
Well, that was essentially a "faction above factions," which wasn't something easily established in a zombie apocalypse.
If each faction had its own power and started arming themselves with guns, who would want to listen to another faction when they already had plenty of strength of their own?
They could betray you the moment things went south, and even if they did listen, they'd probably be lining their own pockets behind your back.
But here, it was possible.
With Cheat Mode, that is.
And that way was much more convenient for me anyway.
So, I would just dismantle the faction and leave them be, whether they formed a new one or the Multiplex people just lived amongst themselves.
As my Safe Bases multiplied and I cleared more Faction Quests, the day would come when the intangible faction of my dreams would naturally take shape.
This was also why I had only threatened the ten people Oh Yoon-seop brought along.
Unless they were "Residents," there was no need to go out of my way to manage them.
Getting emotionally invested would only hurt me.
A relationship of giving and taking through precise transactions.
Because that was what I considered the most ideal form of obedience.
"Today, Hetbahn is 15 Coins. Ramen is 15 Coins. 1.5 liters of water is 10 Coins. Meat is 30, 30, or 40 Coins per serving."
Even after all this chaos, people hesitated before coming over to buy goods.
People forget quickly.
Even with a pool of blood right next to them.
It wasn't their blood, so they had no reason to care.
The prices had gone up by 50% in just a week, but perhaps thanks to my little performance earlier, everyone bought what they needed—well, probably just as much as their Coins allowed—without a single complaint.
There were far more people now, but it was much cleaner than the first week.
Everyone was slowly adapting to the zombie apocalypse.
Things like Coins.
They were realizing that while gathering Coins was hard and required risking their lives, the Coins they earned from those life-or-death struggles didn't have as many uses as they'd thought.
A single meal for fifteen Level 1 Zombies.
Once they got used to these prices, the next carrot I dangled would taste sweeter than anything.
"Alright, alright. There's not much left. Once I sell out today, that's it, so if you haven't bought yet, hurry up."
"No more Hetbahn?"
"It's all sold out. Can't you see?"
"...Give me some Ramen, then."
By the time the sun began to set, all the food I had brought was sold out.
The most popular items, Hetbahn and Ramen, had run out early in the afternoon, the meat was completely gone, and the massive pile of frozen foods was entirely sold out as well.
Perhaps because the frozen foods were more expensive than Hetbahn, they weren't very popular at first. But once the Hetbahn sold out, various frozen items like frozen dumplings and heat-and-eat kimchi fried rice sold like hotcakes.
Honestly, if you had the Coins, who would want to eat plain rice?
You'd want to eat something with actual ingredients.
It was just that when considering cost-effectiveness for filling one's stomach, those items weren't very efficient, so people put them off.
I did offload a lot of food today.
I had brought so much meat that I barely had any left.
I'd have to gather supplies again for a while, but I had amassed a massive amount of Coins in return.
13,000 Coins.
Combining today's food sales, the zombies hunted while chipping away at the Multiplex this week, and the Coins extorted from those guys...
It felt like the Coins were having sex and multiplying on their own.
"Hehe."
The quest rewards were highly satisfying, and with my pockets full of Coins, I felt completely sated.
"Let's go. Tonight is a meat party."
Nothing felt better than having plans go exactly as intended.
And starting today, the direction in which I wanted to grow my faction in the future felt firmly set.
About half a box.
The number of people rushing for the leftovers after everything sold out was far greater than last week.
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We huddled together on the rooftop, eating meat.
Kim Ji-hee, myself, and Oh Yoon-seop's family.
I told the other ten people to gather and eat in the studio apartment building across the street.
It wasn't because they made me uncomfortable.
They'd probably find eating with me uncomfortable too.
And I certainly wasn't doing it out of consideration for them.
I laid out my future plans.
"From now on, only Residents and their families will receive food and everything else provided here for free. Everyone else will have to sign up for a Paradise Membership. It's not just about signing up; there's a separate registration fee. Once you join, you can pay Coins to buy food, rent rooms, or use the bathhouse."
There was no reason for me not to establish a hierarchy.
I just wouldn't divide classes by physical force.
From now on, the classes in Paradise would be divided by Coins.
Of course, exceptions had to be made for the special position of "Resident."
That way, I wouldn't end up contradicting the very system I created.
"50 Coins per person every week. No exceptions. Since they're the people the Lieutenant Colonel brought, I'll leave them be until the system is officially established, but after that, everyone must comply. Otherwise, they can get out."
"Understood."
Oh Yoon-seop didn't show any dissatisfaction.
Even though they were the people he had brought along.
He had every right to feel hurt, but seeing how he didn't even show it, he seemed to think of it as a problem he had to solve himself.
The more I saw of him, the more I felt bringing him along was a great decision.
Well, if they got upset over this and wanted to leave, there was nothing I could do about it.
"I think it's a good system."
In fact, he even looked at it positively.
"In the Multiplex, only the people in the leadership's inner circle received good treatment. Even if they gathered the same amount of Coins, those who were blacklisted didn't get treated properly. I don't think you would do that, Boss."
"Well, that's true..."
"I've realized after going through various events: a person doesn't need to be good. But if the system is good, then that place is Paradise."
"..."
I mean, I didn't even ask him to suck up to me, so why is he kissing my ass so hard?
"Ahjussi."
"Yes, Boss."
"Did you bury gold in Paradise or something? Why do you love Paradise so much?"
Oh Yoon-seop spoke without batting an eye.
"Since the world has turned into hell, my yearning for a place called Paradise has only grown."
"...Right. Well, it's not bad. Paradise. Let's build it well."