The Ghost Mercenary Group
The moment the brothers stepped inside Sejong City, they found themselves facing a place with a truly singular atmosphere.
"Hyung, I think they've got electricity running."
Dusk was already settling in, yet the streetlights along the trees were flickering to life.
"You're right. And…"
A shop near the entrance had a radio playing, and an actual broadcast was coming through. The government had at least managed to get radio back on the air.
"The radio works."
Even the public restrooms were charging an entrance fee. When they asked the attendant about it—
"Does the water actually run?"
"Yes, it does. That's why we charge."
The answer confirmed it: they'd restored the water supply as well.
Not every district of Sejong, but the central area was currently the only place in Korea where electricity, running water, and broadcasting were all still functioning.
Sejong City was, without question, an impressive city. When they reached the main thoroughfare—
"Whoa. Is this Sejong or Gangnam?"
Just as Kang Dohun said, throngs of people packed the streets.
So many refugees had poured down from Seoul that Sejong was massively overcrowded.
Kang Dohyun took stock of how the merchants were doing business.
Food tickets here too.
As expected, they were using government-issued Food Tickets. Currency had long since lost all value. Otherwise, people simply traded in goods—canned food, cigarettes, that sort of thing.
And though the streets were crowded—
Everyone's on edge like crazy.
The whole atmosphere was one of mutual suspicion. Sejong may have clawed back its public order, but people still hadn't adapted to the new world. They were anxious, jumpy, hair-trigger sensitive.
With everyone this wound up, the only reason order holds at all is the soldiers.
Military personnel thronged the streets, and armed patrols were a common sight.
The brothers would have liked to explore further, but the streetlights only stayed on for two hours. The moment nine o'clock hit—
"Power cuts in ten minutes!"
"Everyone, head home!"
Soldiers moved through the crowds urging people indoors, and the throngs scattered toward wherever they were staying.
Kang Dohyun and Kang Dohun hadn't secured lodging, but they had a tent. They made for Geumgang Riverside Park, a good spot for camping, and found it already dotted with tents in every direction.
The brothers pitched theirs in a decent clearing and climbed inside.
"Hyung, this city's weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah."
"It looks peaceful on the surface, but something about it feels restless. Chaotic."
His younger brother's assessment was spot-on. The government had secured Sejong's public order, but even they hadn't fully adapted to the new world yet. Everything felt unstable, undefined.
So people were surviving for the moment—but they were still living under a cloud of unease, their days disordered and unsettled.
"And the security around here is brutal, right? Feels like a military city."
Civilians made up a large share, but the proportion of soldiers was considerable.
"True."
"Is that going to be a problem for what you were planning?"
"No—it will be a problem."
A heavy military presence meant a heavy combat force. And a heavy combat force meant plenty of ability users.
Even if their levels were lower than the brothers', a concentration of people with specialized Traits or Skills could still pose a real threat to Kang Dohyun and Kang Dohun.
"The special forces in particular are going to be serious."
The special forces the government was cultivating weren't the old special forces. They'd handpicked soldiers with strong Traits and Skills and forged them into a dedicated unit, and those operators had been steadily growing stronger by hunting the zombies in the surrounding areas.
Those special forces were not opponents you could afford to dismiss.
"So what do we do?"
"Good question… The two of us could probably handle up to about fifty special forces. But there are bound to be a lot more than that."
Kang Dohyun and Kang Dohun fell into a stretch of quiet thought.
The next day.
After a night of turning it over, Kang Dohyun decided he needed more information. So—
"I think I need to go poke around."
"Alright. Want me to come?"
"No need for both of us."
"Then I'll train."
Kang Dohun wanted to get stronger. He said he'd keep working out, and leaving him behind, Kang Dohyun set out alone through Sejong City.
Morning Sejong had a somewhat brighter feel than the evening version.
"Looking for hunters! Day hunters wanted!"
A surprising number of people were heading out on zombie hunts. Killing zombies meant Zombie Coins, experience for leveling up, and a chance to scavenge the surrounding area.
The government was actively encouraging zombie hunting as well, so survivors were out in force.
"Food for sale! Come take a look!"
"All kinds of goods!"
"Hunting gear for sale! Cheap!"
Merchants shouted their pitches at full volume. Zombie hunters were ability users, after all—prime customers.
Thanks to them, the streets were loud and lively.
Kang Dohyun wandered Sejong for a while, taking it in, then stepped into a restaurant.
"Welcome."
"I'd like breakfast. How do I pay?"
The owner looked him over from head to toe.
"If you don't have Food Tickets, three cans of tuna or one Zombie Coin will cover breakfast. Got either?"
Kang Dohyun pulled three cans from his bag and handed them over.
"Alright. Just a moment."
He sat at a table and waited. A large bowl of porridge arrived.
"Here you go. Enjoy."
One bowl of porridge. With the value of a filling meal sky-high these days, three tuna cans bought you exactly that.
The taste was nothing special, but Kang Dohyun savored the warmth of it while he watched the room.
It was a breakfast place, so a lot of Sejong's zombie hunters used it. They each paid a single Food Ticket, downed their porridge like they were chugging it, and hurried back out—and in the scraps of conversation they tossed off on the way, there was information.
"Let's head south today."
"All the way to Daejeon? No way."
"Yeah, just hunt along the Daejeon border."
"I heard Cheongju's crawling with outlaws."
"Cheongju's dangerous."
"Go hunting there with a small group and you'll end up the ones getting hunted."
"West is easiest—Gongju, right?"
"It's safe."
"Which also means Gongju's boring. Nothing worth scavenging."
Just from eavesdropping, he was piecing together the situation in the surrounding regions. And more importantly—
"I heard part of the Daedeok Industrial Complex got breached."
"Yeah? Daedeok?"
The Daedeok Industrial Complex—a massive industrial zone in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon, made up of multiple dungeons. Until recently, a green-rank dungeon, the lowest tier, had been there. And the reason it was gone—
"Special forces and Ghost cleared it, apparently."
"For real? The Ghost Mercenary Group is something else."
"But those guys never do anything that doesn't pay."
"I heard they took a government contract."
"Figures."
The instant he heard the words Ghost Mercenary Group, something clicked in Kang Dohyun's mind.
They're already active? The Ghost Mercenary Group… Right. I can use those guys.
A very particular plan took shape.
Kang Dohyun left the restaurant and wandered the streets until—
Already?
—he spotted a shop with a ghost emblem painted on it. He stepped inside.
"Welcome. What can I get for you?"
"I came because I want to see a ghost."
At that, the woman behind the counter looked him over carefully.
"Commissions for the ghosts don't come cheap, you know."
"If they take my job, I'm prepared to pay fifty combat rations."
At the mention of fifty combat rations, her face lit up.
"Really? If you're just talking—"
Kang Dohyun pulled a combat ration straight from his inventory and held it up.
"I don't have a bag on me right now, but I can hand over the rations whenever."
"!"
Food appearing out of thin air. The clerk had never seen an inventory before and was startled—but she recovered her expression at once.
"You're a person of means. Understood."
She drew a small token from her pocket and handed it over.
"Take this to Costco."
Kang Dohyun accepted the token and left the shop.
When he arrived at the Costco on Sejong's south side—
"Halt!"
A mercenary guarding the entrance ordered him to stop.
"This is Ghost Mercenary Group territory. Unauthorized approach will be met with force."
Kang Dohyun showed him the token.
"I'm here to commission a job."
At the sight of the token, the mercenary dropped his guard and opened the way.
Kang Dohyun had arrived bearing a token that marked him as a qualified client—so he was escorted straight to the leader of the Ghost Mercenary Group.
"A pleasure. I'm Jin Taeseok, commander of the Ghost Mercenary Group."
Jin Taeseok extended his hand first. Kang Dohyun took it.
"Kang Dohyun."
They shook—and Jin Taeseok squeezed first, testing him. But—
"Ohhh!"
—Kang Dohyun answered with far greater force and crushed the grip. Jin Taeseok looked at him not in pain, but in genuine admiration.
After that little contest of strength posing as a greeting, Jin Taeseok asked,
"This token… we only give it to very particular people. And you've brought one. What kind of job are you looking to commission?"
Kang Dohyun asked something first.
"The Ghost Mercenary Group will do anything as long as the pay is right—correct?"
"Mm… 'anything' isn't quite the right word. Mercenaries or not, we have an agreement with the government. We don't take actions that go against them."
"And by 'actions that go against the government,' you mean only direct attacks on the government, right?"
Instead of answering, Jin Taeseok simply smiled.
"Then the job I'm commissioning should be fine."
"What kind of job?"
"I want you to blow up a dungeon."
"Excuse me?"
Jin Taeseok's face registered pure surprise at a request he had never seen coming.