Chapter 14
Chapter 14
“What I am, you see, oh ho ho, is the leader managing this place. Kim Hyeseong, at your serviceee.”
I already hated the way he talked.
Beside me, Lee Sua was also frowning while staring at Kim Hyeseong.
Then—
“Oh my, don’t look at me like that.”
Kim Hyeseong sat behind his desk and gestured toward something in front of us.
Like serving guests, he had prepared small snacks, a teapot, and glass cups.
The thing he pushed toward us was a glass filled with fragrant tea.
“Please drink before it gets cold.”
“…”
Tea?
At a time like this?
I couldn’t understand it.
From what I saw outside, it looked like he was squeezing every last drop of labor out of people.
But the inside was completely different.
Luxury itself.
The perfume alone proved it, and now tea and snacks too.
Nothing here made sense.
“Oh my, are you not drinking?”
At Kim Hyeseong’s prompting, Lee Sua picked up the glass first.
Then she gave a slight nod.
No poison. Nothing strange inside.
Just tea.
Sip…
The moment I drank it, the rich fragrance and warm liquid flowing down my throat told me immediately.
It was expensive tea.
“So thennn, why did you come here? Just visiting? Feeling nostalgic?”
“…”
Normally I would’ve answered politely.
But for some reason, I just didn’t want to answer him.
Still, manners were manners.
“You can think of it as a casual visit.”
“Oh ho ho. Then I simply must introduce you to the utopia I created!”
“Utopia?”
“That’s right! With my genius intellect, I built this perfect system!”
I stared blankly at the narcissist for a moment.
“Shall we?”
Soon, Kim Hyeseong rose from his chair and began leading us.
As he walked, he continued talking.
“When I first arrived here, I was quite shocked. Inefficient systems, idiotic executives, all sorts of things that needed changing.”
“And?”
“So I decided to slowly devour the organization from the inside. Fortunately, I had people who came with me.”
“The people who came with you?”
“Oh, you saw them earlier. The two gatekeepers.”
“You took over with just two people?”
“Oh ho ho, thank you for the compliment.”
Honestly, his ability really was impressive.
No matter what, taking over leadership of a group with fifty to sixty people that quickly wasn’t normal.
“I simply applied capitalism directly.”
“What, you made a currency or something?”
“Exactly! But ordinary currency in a world like this is inefficient! Therefore, I simply created an efficient currency instead!”
“And that is?”
“Batteries!”
“…What?”
Currency made out of batteries?
“Electricity is survival itself. I merely transformed it into moneyyy.”
“…Damn.”
Following him, we arrived at the nearby stream.
Water was flowing steadily.
But strange devices had been installed there.
Turbines.
They slowly spun with the current.
“I produce electricity this way. Ah! And underground, we also generate power using bicycles!”
“…Wow.”
“Other shelters come here specifically to trade for our electricity. It sells for quite a high price, you know?”
Honestly.
It was genius.
This man had recreated capitalism inside the shelter using electricity alone.
“That’s impressive.”
“Seriously.”
Even Lee Sua and I couldn’t help admiring it.
But—
“Then why are those people working like that?”
The people who had remained in the shelter before I left.
Most of them were out farming.
“Oh my, I never forced them.”
“You didn’t?”
“They simply have no other way to survive besides farm work and bicycle power generation.”
“Don’t they need bicycles for that too?”
“Well, I must collect transaction fees somehowww.”
So that meant—
“What about Kim Subin and Park Junseo? The engineering guys.”
Friends of mine.
People who had shared food and survival supplies with me before I left.
“Oh ho ho! They’re resting comfortably up above! Technical talent should always be preserved!”
“…Damn.”
He really was smart.
But—
“How are you handling wealth inequality?”
“Oh hoong! What a sharp question!”
In a system like this, the biggest issue was obvious.
Wealth disparity.
The gap between assets would grow endlessly unless controlled.
“That’s what welfare is for.”
“You collect taxes?”
“Every month, everyone’s tax contributions are publicly displayed on the giant board over there! So nobody complains.”
“And if they don’t pay?”
“Minimum punishment is exile. Maximum punishment is execution.”
Well.
Honestly, I had no reason to interfere.
I didn’t even feel like it anymore.
This was simply his system.
Destroying it would make me the villain instead.
Still, there was one thing I wanted to know.
“I heard you trade with another shelter. Is it a large one?”
At my question, Kim Hyeseong smiled slyly.
“Oh myyy, information is leaking already. If you wish to know more…”
“Here.”
I handed him something he would definitely like.
A capitalist like him would understand.
Information itself was capital.
“Th-this is! Wine?!”
“Yeah.”
One of the bottles I grabbed while looting convenience stores.
A pretty expensive one too.
“This is more than enough! In fact, it’s excessiveee!”
“Then start talking.”
“There’s a shelter in Sejong! Since there was a former government official there, it’s quite sturdy!”
“Oh?”
A shelter in Sejong.
About an hour away by car.
That sounded promising.
“Exact location?”
“Oh ho ho, since the payment exceeds expectations, I shall even provide a map!”
“Much appreciated.”
“Oh, think nothing of it! But why were you exiled in the first place? You seem so reasonable.”
“I lost the political game.”
“Oh dear… This is why humanities majors should never control management rights!”
Well…
Looking at things now, maybe he wasn’t wrong.
“Honestly, this is kind of satisfying.”
“Oh ho ho!”
Seeing the people who exiled me now reduced to near-slaves working the fields…
It felt pretty good.
Anyway.
As we headed back toward the exit—
“M-my goodness! Isn’t that Choi Han?!”
“Choi… Choi Han?!”
The people working in the fields spotted me standing beside the leader and staggered over in ragged clothes.
Their faces were filled with both joy and shame.
“Hello.”
I greeted them politely.
But—
“D-do you have any food?”
“A-anything from outside!”
“Please just share a little!”
They clung desperately to my pant legs, begging.
However—
“Everyone! Please do not inconvenience our guestsss!”
At Kim Hyeseong’s cold remark, they immediately flinched and backed away from me.
His authority was overwhelming.
“Not a bad leader.”
“Yeah.”
With someone like him around, at least nobody would starve to death.
He was competent enough to always find a way to survive.
“Would you like to stay the night? I’ll give you a discount!”
“No. We need to leave before sunset.”
“How unfortunateee!”
I thought he was a villain.
But it turned out he was simply capable.
The real villains were the ones now slaving away in those fields.
“I wanted to introduce you to the engineering talents toooo!”
“Maybe next time. And this—”
“Oh my! What is it?”
“Please give it to my friends.”
“Of courseee!”
I handed over food and clothes for my former companions.
From behind me, I heard grateful voices.
My steps suddenly felt lighter.
After leaving the shelter I once belonged to, I unfolded the map he had given us.
“This is where we are.”
I pointed at the map for Lee Sua.
Then—
“If we go this way, it should work, right?”
Her suggestion.
But—
“…That means taking the highway.”
“And if we don’t?”
“It’ll take several times longer.”
Lee Sua nodded.
“Then we don’t have a choice. Let’s take the highway.”
We slowly made our way toward it.
“Is this it?”
The moment we stepped onto the highway, an entirely different scene greeted us.
“…Damn.”
I was speechless.
The highway was completely clogged with wrecked vehicles.
Cars twisted from crashes.
Blackened remains from explosions.
A bus that had rammed through rows of passenger cars.
Shattered glass and rusted metal covered the asphalt, creating a landscape that looked like civilization’s final graveyard.
And among them—
Zombies.
Some trapped beneath vehicles.
Some wedged between trunks.
Some wandering aimlessly for no reason at all.
“There are zombies here too?”
“They’re literally everywhere.”
Countless zombies wandered near the highway.
But honestly—
This was an opportunity.
“Asura.”
The massive Asura had been silently following us from afar.
At my command, it immediately charged forward.
“GRAAAAAH!”
With its six arms and gigantic body, it smashed and scattered zombies in every direction.
“Let’s rest for a bit.”
“Sounds good.”
We left the zombie cleanup to Asura and entered the camper van to rest.
In an apocalypse where everyone feared zombies…
How many people could do something like this?
“This is ridiculously convenient.”
“Seriously.”
About ten minutes later—
BOOM!
The camper shook violently.
“Holy shit!”
I rushed outside to find Asura proudly shaking the camper to announce it had finished the job.
“Hey, just talk next time, idiot.”
“Grrr…”
That thing definitely needed souls.
Its intelligence was way too low.
“Sua. Let’s go.”
“Okay.”
We began walking along the now-cleared highway.
The government complex located in Sejong Special Self-Governing City had already fully transformed into a shelter.
Thick steel barricades surrounded the entire building.
Heavy iron gates blocked the entrance with overwhelming presence.
Inside, the sounds of survivors talking, walking, and living drifted through the air.
Even after the world collapsed, this place was still alive.
The kind of shelter every survivor dreamed of.
But—
“Haa…”
The shelter’s leader let out a deep sigh inside a cramped office without windows.
Not once.
Not twice.
Her repeated sighs were heavy enough to burden even the listener.
Deep wrinkles formed between her brows, and her gaze remained fixed on empty air.
A man cautiously approached her.
“What’s wrong, Saetbyeol?”
At his words, Saetbyeol frowned slightly and answered shortly.
“It’s just… I have a bad feeling.”
“Because of what’s underground?”
“…Yeah.”
The greatest problem facing the Sejong mega shelter—
Was the underground level.
Reports claimed massive hordes of zombies existed beneath the shelter.
But even calling them “reports” wasn’t accurate.
Nobody had actually gone down to confirm it.
No one knew how many there were.
Or whether something besides zombies existed below.
The only clue was the low, irregular noises echoing through the walls.
“What about the awakened one?”
“That bastard is… passed out drunk again.”
“Haa…”
Saetbyeol closed her eyes.
Their only awakened individual spent every day drinking himself unconscious.
A worthless thug masquerading as an awakened.
Her stomach churned.
But she couldn’t throw him out.
Awakened individuals were invaluable.
Their overwhelming combat power alone acted as psychological reassurance for the shelter residents.
-As long as that person exists, we’ll survive.
That belief alone kept hundreds of survivors going.
Even if he appeared useless, that alone held value.
What else could they do?
“This is dangerous.”
Saetbyeol spoke in a low, firm voice.
“If we don’t clear out the underground soon… something terrible is going to happen.”
By now, she knew instinctively.
This wasn’t simple anxiety anymore.
It was only a matter of time.
“I’ll investigate.”
The man bowed his head and exited the room.
Left alone again, Saetbyeol released another long sigh.
Only the sound of her breathing filled the empty office.