Mutual Recognition of Existence - 5
"This is it..."
It was a fairly large base. Rickety iron barriers and barbed wire loomed menacingly. There were probably quite a few people living inside.
"We're lucky. Making it here without running into anyone."
"There are people outside too?"
"Gotta guard the supply points. Honestly, folks like us who just slap up a sign saying 'No one's gonna loot this, right?' are the weird ones."
"Well, different goals, I guess."
I hadn't put up that sign to stop bad guys from stealing our stuff. It was purely so that well-meaning people wouldn't waste our resources carelessly.
"Usually, they set up a base."
"A base?"
"Leave three or four armed guys there to watch the goods. Patrol periodically to check on supplies."
I tilted my head.
"Sounds risky no matter how you slice it."
I'd considered something like that myself, but it didn't fit our settlement. No matter how great a hideout I built, I couldn't guarantee their safety. And beyond safety, their quality of life would suck. No proper plumbing meant no real washing up, and they'd always be under zombie threat.
"Figured you wouldn't get it. But normal people... they value supplies over lives. Makes sense, really."
"...People die without food anyway."
"You get it."
Before long, Seohee and I reached the main gate.
"Halt there! ...Wh-what the? A guy?"
I nodded calmly.
"Kim Sunwoo, running an organization over in Anseongu."
"Who's the woman? Your catch?"
"Came to talk about something related. This Seven Seed, right?"
The woman peering down from a reasonably high watchtower turned and yelled loudly.
"Hey, something big just dropped! Get the big sis, quick!"
Fortunately, she didn't seem hostile.
"Hah, never thought I'd come back here."
"Bad exit?"
"Horribly bad. Not a big deal, though... Kinda funny in hindsight."
Seohee stared blankly at the sky.
"Come on in!"
After some back-and-forth among themselves, they let me in without fuss.
"Hmm..."
For the first time, I saw another organization's proper base.
Feels weirdly familiar?
It was like stepping into a zombie movie hideout. No real difference from ours overall—dining hall, exercise yard, well, plaza. Guess places where people live end up similar.
But this place had way more living quarters than ours. Hard to guess how many lived here.
"Hmm..."
A woman ahead squinted at us.
"...You're still kicking?"
More precisely, at Seohee.
"What, hoping I'd croaked?"
"No... I'd never. So glad you're safe."
"Yeah, right."
"Don't believe me? Fine. And..."
Her eyes shifted to me.
"Sorry. Should've greeted you first, but seeing Seohee threw me."
"Happens."
"Anseongu org leader, Kim Sunwoo, right? Nice to meet you. Kim Chaeyun, Seven Seed Responsibility Council."
"Responsibility Council?"
Seohee snorted.
"Think of it like bosses. Not one, a bunch calling shots. They trip over each other sometimes, fight too."
"Han Seohee."
Chaeyun's gaze turned icy.
"When you got booted, I didn't say sell org secrets everywhere."
"Wasn't my call."
"What?"
"Guess you missed it. I'm a slave. This guy's slave."
Seohee grabbed my arm, rubbing her chest against it showily.
"..."
Chaeyun stared at Seohee in disbelief.
"Why?"
"Circumstances. Anyway... enough about me? Master, get to the point."
"Right."
I nodded and explained our business to Chaeyun.
"Seohee's old crew involved in a murder? True?"
"...Weren't you unrelated?"
"We are. But I need to meet those women."
"Pardon?"
"They did something awful to Seohee before bailing."
Seohee bound and pathetic—that image still horrified me. Truth be told, 30% of the misery was the cum splattered on her and her flushed pussy, and since I did that, I wasn't exactly innocent.
"No way."
"She testified."
"Seohee. That's..."
"True."
She shrugged.
"So, here to catch Seohee's old subordinates?"
"Yes. Need leads."
"...Follow me. Can share info at least."
She still eyed me warily but didn't push back. I followed Chaeyun deeper into the base.
/////
Seohee and I entered Seven Seed's reception room. As we sat, Chaeyun cut straight in.
"Victim was a Seven Seed member guarding a supply point."
"Hmm..."
Surprisingly simple—maybe hunger drove it. Kill the guard, steal the goods.
"Fucking trash. Who'd they learn that from..."
Seohee laughed bitterly, but she clearly struggled to accept they'd killed.
"Where exactly?"
"South side."
"Mart by the bridge?"
Her face twisted.
"No rotation there?"
"Of course not."
"Then shit gets complicated. Hate to speak ill of the dead, but those guys were walking corpses anyway."
"I get protecting your crew, but no."
Listening, a question hit me.
"How'd you know they did it?"
"Witness. A peddler passing by. Testified Seohee's crew killed them."
"That's all?"
One witness, one group—unreliable. Peddler might have ties, interests aligned.
Keep all possibilities open.
"Plus, patrol members ran into them."
"..."
"Bloodied, hauling supplies, fleeing. Didn't know source or whose blood then."
Low chance Seven Seed lied. Seohee's old crew likely guilty.
Though what they did to her was crime enough for revenge.
"Couldn't ID Han Seohee, but obvious her subordinates. They were all Seven Seed once."
Plenty evidence to suspect her crew.
"No clue where they went?"
"No. Maxed patrols searching. Big threat to org."
"Understood."
Few guards at a point, all found dead—ignore it, lose control of supplies.
"We'll look."
"...Good luck. You too, Seohee."
"Bullshit..."
Lots of new info, but far from solved. I took Seohee and left the base.
/////
"...Shocking."
Alone where they'd left, Chaeyun sipped tea.
Too much happening. She needed time to sort thoughts.
New Anseongu org reports had rocked the council. Neighbors now. Brazen, self-centered irregulars moved in.
...
Coldly, her ex-subordinates' crimes weren't huge worry. Knew their strength, supply deprivation, hunger roughly.
Real danger: the organization. Self-sustaining, armed, near Seven Seed.
At least, that's what Chaeyun thought.
"Need... a meeting."
Or wanted to believe it.