Surrender

The man yanked his pants up in a frantic scramble and lurched to his feet, one arm shooting out to shove the woman behind his back.

"There's someone here! Somebody get over here!"

He bellowed it with everything he had. The woman crouched naked behind him, and Junhyeok could only stare at the scene, blank.

I couldn't even fight back...

His fist clenched as he remembered the day Kang Jinsu took his girlfriend.

"Shit. Fuck. This isn't that base, is it?"

His companion seized him by the arm.

"R-run! Hurry!"

The two of them spun toward the trees. In that instant, men with axes burst out of the brush.

"Hold it right there!"

Three or four of them had the pair surrounded in seconds. Junhyeok took one look at the axe blades and threw both hands up, and his companion followed suit.

"W-we're not here to fight! We came from the base next door!"

"The next base?"

The axemen glanced at one another. One of them pulled out a phone.

"I'll call the Commander."

At those words Junhyeok squeezed his eyes shut.

We're fucked.

He saw it again—the stranger howling in front of the commander's office. Caught, of all people, by a commander who threw his own man out as bait.

Ha... Jiyeon. I'm sorry...

The foraging team marched them into the base with the two of them out front. Turrets stood on either side of the entrance. The gate was intact, and there wasn't a single zombie corpse in front of it.

The zombies never even got here.

A commander who sacrificed one man to keep everybody else alive. Maybe that wasn't such a bad thing.

Of course, I've got no idea what he does to intruders... Am I about to become bait too?

The foraging team dropped both of them to their knees in front of headquarters. People resting nearby looked up and stared. A moment later a man walked out of the building—messy hair, horn-rimmed glasses, mild as anything to look at.

Junhyeok's eyes went to his waist. A pistol was holstered there.

If he's going to kill me, I'd rather he just ended it in one shot with that...

Before he knew it, his hands were up again. The man turned to the foraging team.

"Good work. I think you can stand down now."

The axes came down. He stopped in front of Junhyeok.

"You came from the neighboring base?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"...Yes."

"And why are you here?"

Junhyeok swallowed. What came out wasn't an answer.

"Are you... going to use us as bait too?"

"Bait?"

"L-like that old man. Zombie bait... I-if that's the plan, could you just kill us clean?"

"Ah...?"

The man tilted his head.

"That man half-killed a woman and was about to rape her. That's why I banished him. I have no intention of killing any of you."

Junhyeok lowered his hands, slowly.

"...For real?"

"Yes."

Beside him, his companion simply folded and sat.

"Haa... fuck... we're alive..."

Junhyeok stared at the man, dazed.

"So. Why did you come here?"

"...Our commander sent us. Said some base nearby lured the zombies onto us, and told us to find out who."

Hmm. Lot of grievances on these two. Plant them as double agents and they'd be perfect.

I looked the kneeling man over at my leisure. A decent frame, packed with lean muscle—the classic tanned-playboy build.

Which means there's a good chance he has a girlfriend... and a good chance that girlfriend got NTR'd.

Right then, the man seemed to make up his mind. He lifted his head and looked at me.

"S-sir! Could you please do something about that piece of shit running our base? That bastard, he—Jiyeon... no, my girlfriend, he..."

"I-I'm surrendering! I'll surrender! Please take me in!"

"Whoa, whoa. Let's sort this out one thing at a time. So the tanned playboy—sorry, the handsome one—I'm not entirely sure what you want done, but you'd like me to wreck that so-called commander. And you, the darker-skinned gentleman, don't much care about any of that. You just want to live here. That about right?"

"...Yes."

"Yes, sir! That's right!"

The darker one really did seem to want nothing more complicated than a place to live. The playboy was a little more tangled.

"Then this gentleman is a resident of our base, starting today. Just work hard at the foraging."

"I'll stake my life on it, sir!"

He bowed so deep he looked ready to plant his forehead in the dirt.

"And you, the handsome one. Could the two of us talk alone, over there?"

"...? Yes. Of course."

I walked the playboy far enough from the others that nobody could overhear, and started again.

"Any interest in being a double agent?"

"O-of course, sir!"

"Shh—! They'll hear you. I'm not deaf, so bring it down a little."

"Ah... yes. Um, once we've taken that piece of shit apart... would it be all right if I came here with my girlfriend? P-please!"

"Of course. First, shall we exchange numbers? I'm Kang Taehyun."

I held my phone out as I said it. He took it, punched in his number, and placed the call. It rang.

"Lee Junhyeok. I'll be in your care."

"Likewise. Want to rest here the night before you head back?"

"No, sir! I'll go right now!"

"Ha, I like the energy. Get there safe, then. I'll put a plan together as fast as I can. And it's dangerous, so don't text me unless you really have to. Just win a few of the people over there to our side. I'll handle the rest."

"Understood. Thank you, sir!"

The next morning, people gathered in the field to pick the breadfruit.

"They actually grew... but why's this called bread? Doesn't look a thing like bread."

Somebody muttered it, turning a fruit over in both hands.

"Um... Commander? How are we supposed to eat these?"

"Roast them, or steam them."

"Yes, sir! Thank you!"

I returned the man's greeting, picked two of the fruits, and headed for headquarters. In a corner of the building sat the woman the old bastard had nearly had his way with. A candy-like swelling still sat on the jaw where he'd hit her, and it was a hard thing to look at. I held out one of the fruits.

"Here. Roast it or steam it."

"Thank you..."

She took it in both hands.

"If... if anyone gives you trouble, or says anything, you tell me. I'm sorry. For putting you on a team with a bastard like that..."

"Ah, no, it's..."

She shook her head.

"You didn't do a single thing wrong, Commander. Thank you. Truly."

I said goodbye and stepped outside, then opened Squad Member Vision Share.

Oh. Wasn't sure it'd actually work, but look at that.

A still forest, and then a sigh. He hadn't made it back to that base yet, by the look of it.

"Oppa!"

A familiar voice cut in. Seoah came over with a fruit in her hands and sat down beside me.

"I'm sorry... I was so tired yesterday. I should've made sure you ate, and instead I just slept the whole time."

"Hm? No, no. You don't have to go that far. Have you tried one of these? Want to split it?"

"Yeah..."

Seoah ducked her head. Her ears were red. Then the phone rang.

Out at the entrance, three men were waiting. The one in front waved.

"Ah, this is the place. Saw it on the gallery and it looked pretty livable, so I came by."

His eyes landed on the fruit in my hand, and he smacked his lips.

"You'd be the Commander? I came to make you an offer. Something good for both of us."

"An offer?"

"Yes. Only it's not the sort of thing to discuss at the gate. Is there somewhere we could sit for a minute?"

He flicked a look at the two behind him, and they took a step back outside the entrance. I brought him to the commander's office. Seoah followed me in and stood by the door. Before he sat, the man bowed.

"Forgive me for dropping in unannounced. I saw the posts about this base on the gallery. You cleared the first wave without a single casualty, and had lodging and a field up within a day."

"...Well. Something like that."

"Our commander sees it as an opportunity. We have the people, but not the strength to stop a wave. You have that strength."

"And?"

"A division of labor. We'll take the food. Grow whatever needs growing, make cheese besides. Your side manufactures weapons, trades them for our food, and protects us if it comes to that."

Division of labor, and trade. At least the man seemed to know the basics of a strategy game.

"Cheese? There's no milk. How do you make cheese?"

"Exactly. Which is why we'll need one exchange of personnel."

He glanced once at Seoah by the door, then back at me.

"Anyone you mean to keep at your side is excluded, of course. The rest of the women, trade them to us for our male workforce. We'll impregnate them and take the milk. That's what we make the cheese from."

Seoah's hand closed around the doorknob. The man asked the question in the exact same voice as before.

"What do you say?"

He watched me, waiting. I opened my mouth and shut it again.

This grade of bullshit... delivered that dead seriously?

I didn't even know where to start swinging back.

"...Excuse me. Do you happen to know why the state monopolizes violence?"

"...Pardon?"

"Max Weber defined the state as a community that claims a monopoly on legitimate physical force. Put it in Hobbes's terms and if you don't, you get the war of all against all—so to stop people from owning other people and disposing of them, violence gets concentrated in one place. Now the state's gone, which means that monopoly has passed to the commander, and therefore what a commander is supposed to do is—"

The man blinked. Only then did I come back to myself.

"Ahem! Anyway."

I cleared my throat.

"In plain speech: no. Fuck off. That's the answer. There's still a line a human being does not cross. For fuck's sake."

He was quiet for a moment, then nodded.

"A pity."

He stood and pushed the chair back where it belonged.

"Then I'll have to take the same offer to the other bases nearby. Thank you for your time."

He bowed once more and left the office.

How are bastards who talk like that so polite? Christ. It really is the end of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠days. The end of days.

Kang Jinsu had his feet up on the desk, flicking through the gallery. His stomach growled.

"Fuck."

He hadn't eaten since yesterday. Rubbing his belly, he tapped the next post.

Kang Jinsu stared at the photo of the bed for a long while.

Nobody died?

The bastard next door had known where the zombies would come from. He'd even meant to drag them onto somebody else's base.

A world where some game addict comes out on top. End of days. Truly the end of days.

He scrolled down to the comments.

"Cheese? Puahaha. Takes all kinds of lunatics."

The door opened.

"...I'm back."

Just the one in the blue shirt.

"Where'd you dump the other one, coming back alone?"

"...He stayed there. He surrendered."

"What? So you did find those bastards' base?"

"We found it. Keep going straight down the path that old man came in on, and there it is."

"So he stayed because he liked it better, and you came crawling back to protect your girlfriend. That it?"

"...Yes."

"Pfft..."

Kang Jinsu broke into laughter.

"Hey, Jiyeon. You ever taken it up the ass? I'm thinking of letting that bastard fuck you as a reward. Me or him—who should plug your shithole?"

"P-please... stop... please..."

"Pwease stop, pwease. Think I'd quit if I were you? Hehehehe. Get born a man, get a taste of that pussy of yours, and you'd see what an insane pile of bullshit that is. Real shame. Honestly."

Knock, knock. Someone rapped on the commander's office door.

"What?"

"I've come with a good proposal. May I come in?"

"A good proposal? Why's this smell like a cult? Fine, come in."

The door creaked open. The man who stepped through bowed the instant he saw Kang Jinsu.

"Forgive the intrusion. I've come to make a proposal. How would you like to divide the labor with us? We'll take responsibility for the food. Grow this and that, and make cheese as well."

"Cheese? There's no milk, so how do you— Ah! Fuck. You people were the cheese?"

"You've seen it? Fortunate. That makes the explanation simple."

He went on without so much as a blink.

"Anyone you mean to keep at your side is excluded, of course. Please exchange the remaining women for our male workforce. Your side manufactures weapons, trades them for our food, and protects us should the need arise."

Kang Jinsu scratched his chin.

Food comes in. I hand over a few women and get men back.

Not exactly a proposal that got him hard. But men were strength, and anyone with strength could put a knife in your back whenever they pleased, so it didn't sound half bad.

"Deal."

Windows bloomed one after another in front of him.