Internal Affairs (3)
"....."
The room fell silent. Me, Park Donghyuk, and Lee Euna sat on the sofa, staring at each other without a word.
"...This is just absurd, isn't it?"
Park Donghyuk, sweating bullets, was the one who finally broke the silence. I nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, extremely."
It wasn't just ridiculous—it was on the verge of collapse. I let out a sigh and turned to him.
"So why the hell are you just letting them get away with it?"
"...Like I said earlier..."
Park Donghyuk repeated his earlier explanation.
"We don't know what abilities they have because they won't talk, and besides..."
"Most of them are family, so you don't want to take the risk?"
"Exactly. And on the surface, they just booze it up and throw empty threats. They haven't committed any serious crimes. Lee Euna's case ended in an attempt, so there's no hard evidence either."
What the...?
When I first heard it, it seemed like the worst possible situation. Now, it felt like making a fuss over nothing. Fine, let's say survivor morale or other reasons made it impossible. And from that Park-something deputy mention earlier, there were personal reasons too. Still, it didn't sit right with me.
"Can't you just beat the shit out of them or kick them out?"
"Uh..."
"That..."
Lee Euna clamped her mouth shut, and Park Donghyuk hemmed and hawed. I furrowed my brow, and only then did he speak up.
"Yes, you're right. Damn... Honestly, we should have..."
Park Donghyuk spilled it all in a rush.
"There are twelve minors and twelve women in the survivor camp. Including them, we only have thirteen men total."
A group of over thirty people. That's why.
"We're critically short on manpower. Too many kids, so we can't deploy the women easily. Among the men, I'm on surveillance, the two elders are in poor health and hard to take along, and excluding those bastards, we're left with just three—and their skills aren't that great either."
Losing the men would be a devastating blow. I skimmed the age section of Park Donghyuk's file folder. Sure enough, lots of minors. Most of the men's skills weren't impressive either.
"Excluding Minhyuk, the minors are all little kids, right?"
"Yes, which makes it even harder. The kids are, bluntly put, just dead weight in this situation. Sigh... So even if those guys are just filling headcount, it's hard to complain."
"......Yeah."
"Plus, with the country and world gone to hell, would they even accept sanctions quietly? That's doubtful too."
Surprisingly, Lee Euna stayed quiet. She knew kids were baggage in this zombie apocalypse. She understood they had no choice but to tolerate those drunken trolls.
It makes sense, but...
There were still too many odd points.
"You said your ability is surveillance, right, Donghyuk?"
Shouldn't he have just monitored their bullshit with that? But Park Donghyuk shook his head.
"Sigh, well, my ability is like CCTV, so I'm pouring everything into watching the north and south gates. And crucially, no recording function."
"If they deny it, that's that," he added with a sigh.
"I see."
I nodded. I got the picture now.
"Alright, I have a rough idea."
Northdong Station camp, over thirty strong. Kim Jungshik's all-male problem group. Women and kids too. Simple, absurd situation—but their camp was crumbling because of a bunch of drunken louts. That was his explanation.
Whether it's all true or bullshit...
One thing was clear: Park Donghyuk and his people wanted something from me.
"So, what do you want me to do? What's with all this buildup?"
That's why I asked. They'd spotted me—an outsider—with his ability but let me in anyway. And today, despite the embarrassment, they'd shown me their camp's clusterfuck. There had to be a reason.
Park Donghyuk spoke in a low voice.
"...Deal with those bastards."
Well, obviously. I sighed and pressed.
"What kind?"
"Anything goes."
Anything? Did that mean I could just kill them?
But I'm not sure they've committed crimes worth dying for.
Like at Our Love Church before, they hadn't outright murdered or done unforgivable shit. Just selfish thugs. Greedy humans, really? Sure, they claimed the group opened the south gate to let survivors get snatched, or tried something with Lee Euna—but that wasn't confirmed.
All I'd seen was them stealing booze from the liquor summoner and beating up that middle-schooler Minhyuk. Not enough to judge the full context.
Park Donghyuk, Lee Euna, Kim Gapsu, and Choi Youngchul could be lying.
So, the smart move was hearing both sides.
I'd like to talk to them first.
But saying that in front of these people would be idiotic. So I nodded for now.
"Alright. And what do you offer in return?"
"...We'll give you everything we have."
Park Donghyuk laid out a blank check. I glanced at Lee Euna, who nodded too. Looked like they'd already sorted it among themselves.
"Everything?"
"Excluding attack abilities, we're top-notch at everything else. I've got CCTV surveillance; Lee Euna has protection. I can set a zone and monitor it like radar."
"Radar?"
"Yes. Anything approaching the area—set my own criteria, and I can track it. That's how I knew you were a lone traveler, a real survivor. Raiders usually send bait first and hide the main group behind, ready to rush if you open the door."
Zombies or blood clump zombies go without saying, he added with a chuckle.
"I clocked you coming from the blood clump side and thought, that's legit... And... sorry for the deception, but Lee Euna actually has another ability."
Figured as much.
"What is it?"
"Her class is Barrier Summoner. As long as she's conscious, she can apply a one-time, three-second defense to everything in her protection zone."
"So that's why that Minhyuk kid made all that noise but wasn't hurt?"
"Yes, exactly. Protection setup summons barricades, and protection application shields people in the zone. That's why casualties are low in murder or violence incidents."
"Especially the kids and women love it."
Lee Euna gave a bitter smile.
"Huh."
Better than expected. Zone protection and one-time personal shields—combined with my Ashes Veil, plus Park Donghyuk and Lee Euna's abilities, the synergy was huge.
Park on surveillance, Lee Euna on protection setup—no need for night watchmen.
Securing a base would be a breeze with them.
Though why they can't stand up to Kim Jungshik's crew with those powers is a mystery.
I decided to hear more.
"The rest, as per the files, focus on attack, defense, and food summoning. Few in number and insecure, but they all follow my lead."
"And?"
"Again—they follow my lead."
I scowled. Didn't make sense. The answer came from Lee Euna.
"Please understand Donghyuk. Like I mentioned before? Everyone got their abilities thanks to him."
Ah.
"And basically, this place holds together because of me and Donghyuk. There are other room or support ability users, but they're all intertwined with us."
So, simply put...
"Honestly, without Kim Jungshik's gang, we could self-sustain here forever. Excluding a few, they're all from the same apartments, so good relationships too."
"If a few people vanish, just recruit more. Short on night watch? Recruit more."
They didn't give a damn if those guys disappeared.
"Huh..."
These folks weren't pure saints either. Was anyone sane left in this ruined world? I sighed and changed tack.
"Got it. So if I handle them, you provide the base and abilities?"
"Precisely. Trash disposal in exchange for base and abilities. You mentioned leaving Seoul too. We need to relocate eventually. So if moving time comes, we'll join you."
That actually built trust. I summed up Park Donghyuk's pitch.
"You want them gone but can't kill them yourselves, and even if you could, it'd mess up the community and your leadership. So use an outsider's power to clean house. Then seize full control of the group and figure out how to ditch Northdong Station. And also..."
"......"
"You need someone strong in attacks to protect people, someone reasonable—not the southern Liberation Army. After agonizing over that, perfect timing: a lone outsider crawls in."
"...Embarrassing. But yes."
Park Donghyuk scratched his cheek; Lee Euna bowed her head. Not bad, all things considered.
Better than a backstab...
Shady backstory, but they spilled it all. In this world, that made them the good guys.
Plus, leading a group with kids.
I let out a hollow chuckle and asked the final question.
"If I announce I killed them, won't that cause issues in the group? An outsider you brought in killing internals."
That was the problem. If word got out I killed people, it could complicate me and my crew coming and going later.
But Park Donghyuk shook his head.
"...I'll handle that. Lee Euna's incident got swept under the rug too. A few deaths? Easy to gloss over."
His piggy eyes gleamed. He grinned slyly and continued.
"Say the Northdong Station defenses got breached and a few vanished. Kim Jungshik's crew is on the north residential side. After Lee Euna's incident where Mina got snatched, if trouble hits north, everyone'll buy it."
"...Huh."
"Or reuse Lee Euna. They were gonna do something to her, right? Heh. People believe what they wanna see. A few thugs gone? Who cares?"
Park Donghyuk had it all planned. He'd read the people's reactions and the situation perfectly.
This guy's a madman too.
But if true, he'd make a solid leader. Sheltering the weak and elderly, mediating people, knowing his limits and boldly bringing in outside help.
In this world, only types like him survive.
I liked that he upheld basic humanity but was ready to axe rule-breakers for the group's discipline.
Would be great to have him under me.
I mentally slotted Park Donghyuk in. Not merging with Jeong Suhyun's crew, though.
Perfect as a separate base leader—easier coordination when moving.
Not merging Our Love Church and Northdong Station, but keeping distance while shifting bases? He'd be way more useful.
"Yeah, alright. Got it."
Of course, assuming everything matched his story and cooperating worked out.
"Please."
Either way, I needed to meet Kim Jungshik's crew myself. One side's word alone wasn't enough to grasp the full picture.