Survival for the Day
I was sitting in the corner when you approached and the guy jumped in shock.
"P-please spare me! I, I, I..."
The kid couldn't even form proper words, too terrified to speak clearly.
"Calm down and try again."
"I, I have a lot of use. I can open any door. We'll run out of food soon. We'll need to pick locks quietly. Just spare me and I'll..."
Twenties or thirties? He looked a bit older, but I couldn't tell his age for sure. Age didn't matter anyway.
"Hey, Locksmith. I'll spare you. Stay in this villa. And when I need you, we'll go together to pick locks. I'll share the food and treat you well. How's that?"
"O-of course. Just spare me and I'll work hard. T-thank you, sir. Thank you!"
The guy bowed and prostrated himself repeatedly, grateful beyond words.
Of course he had no choice. He needed to survive first. If I saw any sign of betrayal, I could kill him then without remorse.
Anyway, I freed him and grabbed the baseball bat and iron pipe that the two thugs had taken.
In the living room, I also picked up the kitchen knife the girl had been holding and grabbed the bags the group had taken.
Inside the bags was full of stolen food. I also swept up the remaining food in the kitchen. At the very least, more than two weeks' worth of rations. Ah, I would eat mine so fast it would vanish long before then.
I loaded the bags into both hands and told the locksmith to follow me.
"W-what should I do?"
The girl in the corner asked timidly.
"What do you mean? You're coming with us now. I'll spare you as promised."
I told the girl that and stepped into the hallway, tossed the food bag into my house, then said to the locksmith:
"From now on, we're going to loot this entire villa. You just pick the locks and stand guard at the front door, watching for anyone who might come. I'll only take the food, and I don't plan to kill anyone if I can help it. Understood?"
"Y-yes, yes. Ah, I understand."
This villa had four units per floor, and depending on the layout, they were either one-room or two-room apartments.
The group had already looted the units below, so I started on the ones on the same floor.
The machete was sheathed at my hip and I held the iron pipe in my hand. The pipe was a bit longer reach, but it was still practical.
The two units on the third floor were empty. Empty meant easy, but unfortunately there wasn't much food either.
I climbed to the fourth floor and the locksmith opened the door and stepped inside.
A guy in his thirties saw me and jumped in fear. I told him to go back to the corner and sit down threateningly, and he obeyed without any resistance.
All three units were easy to loot because they didn't resist my threats. Everyone seemed to have been hoarding food, and the amount they had was huge.
One man in his twenties, one woman in her thirties, and a woman who looked around forty. The forty-year-old woman cried bitterly when I told her she wasn't allowed to keep any, but she didn't try to fight back.
I climbed to the fifth floor, looted one empty unit, and in another unit there was a middle-aged man.
While I was searching for food, the middle-aged man suddenly lunged at me with no regard for his own safety.
I hit his shoulder and arm with the iron pipe and he went crashing to the floor easily. He screamed about his bones breaking and thrashed around.
I quickly grabbed the food and exited the building.
In another unit, I found the woman in leggings that I had seen before.
Since it was inside the house, she was wearing just panties and a t-shirt. When she came out of the bedroom and saw me holding a weapon, she froze in terror.
I lifted the weapon slightly and warned her:
"If you don't want to die, go sit in the corner."
The woman backed away, visibly shaking with fear. And she wet her panties, urine running down her legs.
"L-please... if you take everything, there's nothing left to eat..."
The woman said in a trembling voice from the kitchen as I searched.
Honestly, there wasn't much food here either. At this rate, it would be empty in a week.
"If you don't want to die, you'll have to find some way. If you get too hungry, come to 301. I'll spare you."
After I left her unit, the rest of the units on the floor were empty.
There were more empty units than I expected. Had they died in accidents or robberies? Or maybe they had gone back to their family homes because there weren't many people living alone here.
I gathered more than a month's worth of food. And I did it way too easily. Well, I had almost died killing the two thugs, so I had fought for my life to get it.
Still, if it stays this easy for a while, food shouldn't be a problem for long. Normal people resisting armed intruders isn't exactly easy.
"Locksmith, I'll share the food with you. Go to the empty 302 unit and wait there. Just keep resting until I call you, then come out right away."
"Y-yes... my name is Park Hyeon-seok."
"You want me to call you by your name?"
"N-no. I just thought it was right to tell you my name since I'm your subordinate... Please call me however you like."
But this guy was calling me "big brother" even though he knew how old I was.
I gave him four cans of food. He bowed deeply and entered the 302 unit.
When I got back to my room, I lay down on the bed.
I had killed two people, raped one, and beaten one.
I had threatened people to steal their food. If the people I took from couldn't get more food, they might starve to death. That was indirect murder too.
Or maybe it was right to combine forces with the people and survive together. Maybe I should combine with them and loot the food of the people living somewhere else. Wasn't that the same thing?
The girl had been pinned down and beaten just like that. It was the first time I had ever taken a woman who was so pretty and had such a great figure while she was still alive.
If I spared her, she would do anything... Should I have just killed her without raping her? That didn't seem right either...
Among the people I looted from, there were quite a few men too. They might gather together and attack. I had a feeling I could handle something like that.
If someone had a clear head and good sense, they would do exactly that. If they were afraid of me, they wouldn't be able to do anything.
If I hesitated and grew weak from hunger, I wouldn't be able to do anything. Even if it hadn't been me, all the people in the villa would have been looted by the Large Mart group. They had many numbers and their appearances were more intimidating, so it was obvious no one would dare resist.
Lying on the bed and resting, the wounds were recovering quickly.
My stamina was overflowing, so I felt like I was about to itch if I didn't use my strength.
The only downside was that I had become a glutton. My appetite was at least four times more than usual.
With this kind of appetite, I was probably eating more than those famous food vloggers who were famous for it.
By afternoon, I decided to go out a bit.
I had a backpack on my back and the iron pipe stuck in it. I had been thinking of carrying it in my hand, but since it could be threatening, it seemed better to hide the weapon for now.
The machete was hidden inside my coat. Carrying it like that was convenient and easy to hide.
There weren't many people on the streets. Even from far away, I could feel the fear between them as they avoided each other.
People with good judgment and strong bonds would quickly form groups. That was probably the way to survive. In situations with the same weapons, the side with more numbers and power would always win.
I went to a nearby convenience store. The inside was completely empty up to the warehouse. Right now it wasn't a zombie situation, so there were many survivors. With so many people, they must have eaten up a huge amount of food.
I also stopped by another convenience store. It looked completely empty from the outside, and inside it was empty too.
Fortunately, a few water bottles were still left. Unsliced water bottles had a longer shelf life, so they were quite important. I put all the remaining water bottles into my bag.
On my way back home, I saw an old man sitting on the street. When I got close, he reached out and spoke.
"D-do you have any food... I've been hungry for three days now..."
He didn't look like a homeless person. Just a few days ago, he must have been an ordinary citizen. Had someone taken the food from him?
Electricity had been cut off, and on the seventh day, people who were short on food were at the point where they could starve.
I kept my distance from the old man and quickly walked away.
On the way almost back to my house, I heard a loud explosion in the distance.
Flames and smoke rose up from far away. Was it just a fire? Or maybe a gas explosion.
Some people looked out the windows to watch the explosion.
Running water still came out of the toilets, but if the water tank ran out once electricity was cut, water would also run out.
Originally I had stocked up on a lot of water bottles to drink, so I still had quite a bit of water. But soon even water would become scarce.
Urban areas without distribution would starve to death. You had to somehow get water and food to survive.
Should I go to the countryside? Would there be anything to eat there?
The countryside had no houses and the crops in the fields and rice paddies weren't enough to feed the huge number of people in the city.
Until the situation stabilized, the population would inevitably die out.
When late evening came, someone urgently knocked on the door.
Through the peephole, I saw it was the girl. What, had she come for revenge?
I didn't open the door and said quietly.
"What is it? Why did you come here?"
"P-please help me. I'm being chased..."
"What? Why would I help you? Have you gone crazy?"
"There's nowhere else to go, so I came. Please..."
"Back away from the door."
I opened the door slightly and checked the surroundings. There was no one else in sight.
I grabbed the girl's arm and pulled her inside the house, then closed the door.
She was tall over 170, with breasts that were large and burdensome. Her makeup was slightly smudged from crying.
"You didn't come here to take revenge, did you?"
"N-no. I found out that Chairman Jang-su died and the other brothers came to rape me..."
"What? If that's the case, why did you come here? I raped you too."
"Y-you... you're handsome..."
"What?"
Ah... now I remembered. I was at the absolute peak of handsomeness in this world right now... Apparently, handsomeness even surpassed rape.
I had killed my comrades and come to me, a man who raped her, because I was handsome...
"A-and there are too many of them. If they drag me away, what will happen... But I like you more than those guys... I only managed to come here after agonizing over it..."
At that moment, I heard a shout from outside the window. It seemed like the guys who were looking for the woman. Looking outside, there were three of them in total.
"Those guys? Is that all of them?"
"Y-yes... There were supposed to be more, but it looks like only three came."
"If I help you..."
"Eh?"
"Why would I help you?"
"A-also... I can do anything for you... I don't hate it at all..."
"That's all? That's basically what you want to do because you like it."
"R-really..."
"If you become my slave, think about it."
"A slave?"
"I'll do any work and release my lust. It seems good to have one such woman."
"U-uh... I'll do it. Even if I'm a slave... Please help me."
The woman was disposable. But this attractive body of hers also piqued my curiosity, but I also wanted those guys' lives.
If it had been before, I would have naturally chosen to hide and survive. But now I was greedy. I thought I could win. I wanted to kill them and become stronger.
I grabbed her arm and dragged her out into the hallway.
"K-k, why suddenly..."
When we went down the villa stairs and outside, the guys were standing not far away, talking.
They looked like they were in their twenties, with tattoos on their arms, and their fashion showed they weren't ordinary people. They were holding weapons like machetes and iron pipes in their hands.