Headhunting (3)
The system access method. Mania. I remembered it clearly. The very first time, when my sister stabbed our parents to death and I witnessed it all. The system had detected corruption and said it would unlock a function. Right after that, among the system access methods that appeared before me was mania.
…What exactly had been there? I rewound my memory. My brain, having reached an inhuman level of high intelligence at rank 6, vividly recalled what I had seen back then.
[Dream (Basic Occurrence)]
[Prayer (Pseudo-cult, ‘New Heaven Rapture Mission Church’ Occurrence)]
[Status Window (Current Default Setting | Occurred from deep familiarity and preference for games and certain literary media)]
[Mania (Occurred from resistance to a certain level of stress and abnormal phenomena)]
At the time, I hadn’t even had a chance to choose and just moved on. Looking back now, it was a relief that I had. I could tell that much just from the present.
Dream. It probably meant I could only manipulate the system while dreaming, right before waking up. And true to its name, it would have been extremely vague, symbolic, and abstract. Hell, there was no guarantee I could even operate such a system properly.
Prayer was the same. I didn’t know how my sister was using it, but I couldn’t imagine it being more accessible than the status window. On the contrary, the first time I properly faced a zombie and ran toward the veranda—if my system access method had been prayer back then, I would have died right there. Even if I prayed for strength while slipping and about to fall, I would already be falling.
But even prayer or dream would have been better than mania, which sat at the very bottom. Mania. The name itself was ominous. I had no idea how it would let me use the system, and it was obvious I wouldn’t be able to control it at will. Investing stats? Preserving points? That would have been impossible too. Instead of investing as I wanted, it would have distributed points according to the delusions, hallucinations, and madness I saw. The quests would probably have worked the same way.
Fucking terrifying. I would have been completely swept along by it. If I fully believed what I saw, the quests would have spitefully given me the shittiest possible missions. It was an absolute blessing that the status window was the default instead of mania.
I knew my own mind wasn’t completely sound. My stomach was empty, the situation was shit, and everything was fucked. The world had suddenly gone to hell, and impossible things like zombies were roaming around. It wouldn’t have been strange at all to think all of this was just my dream or a delusion. My sanity had been hanging by a thread.
It was a little better now, but still.
‘Someone who wasn’t as lucky as you, nor as wise—’
I immediately caught what the quest was implying. It was the result I would have reached if I had been unlucky and unwise enough to choose mania. So my answer was already set.
“Fine. I’ll kill that bastard for you.”
The quest had told me to kill him. I could choose, and if I didn’t want to, I didn’t have to. But instinctively, I knew. That thing was a threat. A being that possessed the system, even if through mania. Whether it was a zombie, a variant, or a human—I didn’t know. But I didn’t know what would happen if I left it alone. And there were rewards too.
“But I have conditions.”
“If it’s something we can negotiate, we’ll accommodate you as much as possible.”
“There are a few. You don’t need to write them down?”
“If I can’t even memorize that much, I should resign.”
“Good. Then—”
*
“Oppa, what are you going to do?”
“About what?”
“That request. Are you really going to accept it? It could be dangerous… Wouldn’t it have been better to just kill him there and take everything?”
My sister spoke as we drove along the riverside, heading back to the pension.
“Don’t tell me you were actually convinced by what the president said?”
She openly distrusted the president. Maybe because he was the same type of person as the cult leader. Yet at the same time, he seemed milder than the cult leader, but also darker and more cunning inside. He was definitely a dangerous man. Dangerous, yes, but—
“Do you know what the most cunning lie is?”
“Huh?”
“A lie mixed with truth.”
That wasn’t entirely wrong. The president had to tell the truth to persuade me—that killing him and taking his weapons would be a waste. This was the apocalypse. The world was fucked. There were still too many things I hadn’t done yet to die already. I needed to act more cunningly, more intelligently. Dark inside, twisted, suspicious? If I avoided everything like that, I wouldn’t be able to do what I needed to do or enjoy what I wanted to enjoy. If I was just going to avoid dangerous people, I would have stayed in the penthouse of Sion Mountain Fortress.
The reason I didn’t was because there were too many things I wanted to do.
So we returned to Exodus Arcadia, driving both the car we had taken and the pickup truck we had left at the pension. We parked, gathered our belongings from the boat and the pickup, and headed not toward the bridge leading to the northern island, but somewhere else. My conditions hadn’t been fully met yet.
We were heading to the armory.
Without the president, I followed Presidential Security Service agent Lee Chae-rin to the armory.
“This is it.”
After being guided by the tall, slender, rather plain-faced female bodyguard, we reached the secure storage room for VIP items. The armory was there.
“…Whoa.”
I didn’t know how the military units had joined or how the upper echelons were structured, but at least this armory was top-notch. Rows upon rows of rifles in excellent condition. An enormous stockpile of ammunition. Even if we had come in a cargo truck instead of a pickup, it would have been impossible to haul it all. Even if Ahyeon and I each drove two cargo trucks? We still couldn’t take everything. And even if we could, it would cause problems. It would be a straight path to becoming a golden goblin.
So we had to take a moderate amount… but there was enough here that I could afford to be a little greedy. To think the president could hand over an armory this well-stocked on his own authority. Was the chain of command in shambles? Or had the entire command staff died? Or had they gotten prior approval? Whatever the case, it wasn’t my concern. This was one of my conditions, after all.
“Kang Ahyeon.”
“Yeah?”
“Try this on. See if it fits.”
“Ugh, it’s squeezing my chest.”
The vest pressed her breasts so tightly they looked ready to spill out the sides. I turned to Lee Chae-rin.
“Don’t you have anything bigger?”
“…Try this one.”
With a voice that somehow sounded defeated, the female bodyguard handed over a larger vest. We received two sets—one for me and one for my sister. We immediately pulled tactical vests from the backpacks we had brought and attached them. Only three pouches fit, which reduced our magazine capacity, but we wrapped shotgun shell belts around our waists like actual belts and holstered the pistols we had received from the security service at our sides. It felt reassuring.
“Does it fit well?”
“Yes, this should be fine.”
“Then…”
“Now give us some ammo.”
When the president had made his request, I had laid out my conditions. They were simple. I don’t trust you people, it’s obvious you’re going to use us, so what if we die while working? The president couldn’t refute it, so I demanded payment in advance. And I asked for quite a lot. After all, it was a job only we could do. If we were going to squeeze them, we might as well squeeze them properly—so that even if they stabbed us in the back or used us later, we would still come out ahead. Naturally, the completion reward would be separate.
“One box each from here…”
“Kang Ahyeon, how many revolver rounds do we have left?”
“Seventeen!”
“Then we should take two boxes, right?”
No matter what Lee Chae-rin said, I paid her no attention and picked up two of the paper boxes stacked in the armory.
◈ 50 rounds per box
Familiar boxes. Familiar ammo. I examined what I had picked up, then rolled my eyes again.
Our advance payment didn’t end there, of course.
“Do you have ammo for pistols? The kind that fits these?”
“…Yes, here it is.”
◈ 72 rounds per box
I picked up two more boxes. Five magazines including the loaded ones should be enough. After stuffing them into my backpack, I took the ammo I really needed.
◈ 840 rounds per steel box
A heavy steel box. And it wasn’t even our old standard rounds—it was the new type. If that was all, I would have been very disappointed.
Two brand-new rifles. They even came with a ridiculous number of attachments. I split them with my sister and adjusted the stocks to fit us. Dot sight, foregrip—the whole package. They looked like something straight out of a game. The appearance was extremely satisfying, and their actual performance would surely be excellent too. I pulled the charging handle, shouldered them, sighted down the rails, and finished the adjustments.
Besides that, I squeezed out every last bit of advance payment I could.
“Don’t you have any good cars in the parking lot? Something tough, good on any terrain, fuel-efficient…”
“…Would you like to pick one?”
“Just choose something decent for me. If I don’t like it, I’ll make you take it back.”
“…Understood.”
“You’ll provide meals and lodging while we stay here, right? Oh, and medical care too. Since we’re on the subject, I’d like a check-up. Do you have a doctor?”
“…We do.”
“Nice. The best room is obviously being used by His Excellency the President, so we’ll take the next best one. You know that, right?”
“…Understood…”
She sounded a little pissed at the end, but what could she do about it? My sister giggled, and I smirked quietly too. Even while slightly pissed off, Agent Lee Chae-rin still fulfilled our demands. I had thought she might refuse the more unreasonable ones, but she didn’t.
“…Then, shall we begin the operation now?”
“No? There’s still one last condition.”
“…Do you really need it?”
Her voice sounded slightly dumbfounded. But I looked at her with an even more dumbfounded expression.
“Then why do you think we came all the way here?”
“Well… for the weapons… or the vehicle…”
“Who the hell comes to an amusement park to get weapons?”
Lee Chae-rin looked extremely flustered but couldn’t refute my words. I felt a surge of smug satisfaction watching the headache-plagued bodyguard. If the opponent came at me with superior intelligence, eloquence, and psychological manipulation, then I would simply abandon intelligence. I stated my final condition—the most important one—once again.
“Activate the theme park. We need to have some fun, after all. Until then, I won’t lift a single finger, let alone start working.”