Loyalty Through Infestation
For the sake of their friend, the group had packed up all sorts of daily necessities and swarmed toward the Kanzaki mansion. The yakuza, who had been shooting them subtle glances for a while, let out a sigh and approached.
“What brings the scout team here?”
At the yakuza's words, the group hemmed and hawed until a short-haired man stepped forward from the center.
“Ryota, you must already know, so no need for long explanations. Some of the scout team and the entire search team are defecting to the Kanzaki family. In this world, arguing over cops or yakuza seems pointless.”
“...Because of that lunatic Satsu?”
The moment Ryota mentioned the name, disgust twisted across the group's faces.
“Yeah... No point sugarcoating it. The man we trusted and followed has lost his mind. Or rather, we just didn't realize he was crazy all along.”
The short-haired man sighed, a resigned smile on his lips.
“As you know, one day Yoshida and a few scouts just snapped. They're not right in the head... Doing that with zombies that are little more than corpses.”
Ryota, who had only vaguely heard rumors of their story, listened with a straight face, suppressing his revulsion. Honestly, it was both ridiculous and amusing. Their jobs had forced them into constant entanglement—close enough to call friendly, if not outright pals.
“Yoshida's antics even sparked an infection outbreak inside the survivor group. The ones who went mad with him are the same... Cops? Don't make me laugh. Just thinking we were in the same outfit makes me want to puke. Hell, I'm almost envious of you rough-but-human types.”
“Is that so?”
Ryota gave a wry smile at the group, their self-deprecating grins rubbing off on him, leaving a bitter taste in the air as he watched these perennial rivals slouch in defeat.
“Oh? Are you the cops thinking of defecting to the Kanzaki family?”
Ryota's hair stood on end at the lazy, amused voice from behind him.
“Yes. Kazuma-sama, we've come to defect—part of the scout team and the entire search team.”
The man who appeared was Kang San, impeccably groomed in a way that didn't suit this ruined world. Kang San's lips curved up at the short-haired man's response, his handsome face lighting with a welcoming smile.
“In times like these, we all need to join hands to build a future. Smart move.”
Kang San ordered his subordinate staff to handle the arrangements and escort them, then watched them go. Ryota had held his breath the moment Kang San appeared, observing the whole process frozen.
Once the group vanished amid minor commotion, he finally spoke.
“Ryota.”
Kang San's thunderous call snapped Ryota back; he gulped air and responded.
“Yes, Kashira.”
“Work proceeding without issues, I assume?”
Cold sweat poured uncontrollably under the gaze of eyes gleaming like a tiger's.
“Of course, Kashira. First-batch production has completed ecosystem setup. Second batch ready for inspection within a month.”
Only after Ryota finished did Kang San smile in satisfaction.
“Good. Handle any loudmouth reactionaries from the survivor group yourselves. No need for me to step in anymore.”
“'Handle ourselves,' you say...?”
Ryota's heart pounded as he asked; Kang San's eyes bored into him.
“What else? Feed 'em to the bugs.”
“Understood.”
Ryota bowed, sweating profusely, as Kang San's gaze pierced his back. Withdrawing that viscous stare, Kang San turned away. Only when his presence faded did Ryota straighten up.
“Hah... Hah...”
His body soaked in cold sweat felt grimy, but Ryota steadied his breathing.
The man called Kazuma, who entered the Kanzaki family alongside Miss Ritka, had become wakagashira as her husband with the oyabun's blessing. Most members submitted to his aura and extraordinary presence. That was charisma, wasn't it? Still, some grumbled. It was Miss Ritka's bed-warmer spot, after all. With guys in the organization eyeing her since childhood, resentment was inevitable.
Those plotters were about to scheme when reports of unrest reached the kashira—but overnight, it all ended. The malcontents now obeyed him blindly, and those with dirty thoughts about Miss Ritka suddenly spent deep nights with each other, men with men, for reasons unknown.
Amid the organization's shrouded fear, Yoshida's atrocities leaked to the survivors. Ryota, sensing an eerie parallel, learned the truth when Miss Ritka secretly summoned and explained it to him: parasites infesting human brains, controlled by the kashira.
Reeling from the overload, Ryota froze as Kazuma appeared silently behind him, forcing a choice: get eaten by the bug or swear loyalty. It was a special favor, she said, repaying a childhood debt just to him. Who'd want a bug in their brain? Ryota accepted without protest.
The rest was predictable. Yoshida's madness, cops joining his insanity. The Kanzaki family, doubling as security, used it as pretext to swallow forces bit by bit—until today, all under Kanzaki rule.
“Whew...”
Ryota sighed, rolling his stiff shoulders, then turned toward his post. He now oversaw breeding the parasites called Solitude. Predecessors had quit—impatient yakuza bothering with bugs? A few mistakes, then gone. Called by kashira, Ryota reluctantly took the heavy duty.
Shivering, he opened the greenhouse door on the family outskirts.
Wriggle. Wriggle. Wriggle. Wriggle. Wriggle.
His view filled with a writhing festival of red-and-blue-glowing bugs. Swallowing vomit, Ryota grabbed a shovel and started his task. It's not because they're eating human corpses, he told himself firmly.
+++
The game is paused.
Cracking my neck side to side brought a refreshing pop and cleared my head.
Time to bump some stats.
Back in reality, I started spreading the accumulated points across my stats evenly.
The Kyoto forces in the apocalypse world had all fallen into my hands. Cocky Yoshida and his crew became zombie bait, purged as a destabilizing element from the survivors, and the rest—orphaned with nowhere to go—were fully absorbed into the Kanzaki family.
Cute little things.
Pulling the jar from my inventory, the wriggling Solitude inside looked almost adorable after all this time.
Heh. Good boy.
Cops, yakuza, civilians—anyone I didn't like got stuffed with Solitude, bringing peace to the survivor group. All that remained were occasional outside zombies and abominations. Grunts handled regular zombies, but Ritka and I personally took out abominations for propaganda—skyrocketing my approval ratings.
Using those loyal organization members, I looted every bank in Kyoto. They didn't need gold bars anyway, right? Trading cup ramen for bullion sold like hotcakes...
Spreading the gold bars from inventory made my heart swell with pride.
Time to deal with these today.
Midway through bagging the prepped bars, my phone rang.
Jeong Jae-kyung, a buddy from my cohort. Probably calling with intel, so I picked up right away.
“Nyongya.”
“Nyongya my ass, fuck. Whatcha doing?”
“Huh? Uh... just sorting recyclables?”
The gleaming gold bars caught my eye, but whatever.
“Long time—wanna grab food?”
“Fuck. Two dudes eating alone? Gross, pass.”
Shuddering at the creepiness, I went to hang up, but he scrambled.
“Wait! I got a girlfriend.”
That bullshit hit my ear; I fired back instantly.
“Where?”
“You psycho. That gukbap joint.”
“No way a fucker like Park Jisu's haunting my dreams for gukbap. Craving a knuckle sandwich.”
“Anyway, come see my girl too. Hanging up!”
The call ended with his frantic sputter. Sigh escaped me, but no choice. What a dumbass's girlfriend.
Time to expose that black history.
Daring to brag a girlfriend to me? His balls must be swollen to bursting. Tonight, he gets dumped.
Imagining Jeong Jae-kyung's wails lifted my lips. That's what friends are for.
Heart racing, I grabbed the gold bars and car keys, heading out. The bullion? I'd stash it in a gate unmanned locker on the way home—brokers would handle it.