Ignorance
Oh Gu-sik, who had been dragging Sonjabi along at a dead run, raised a hand.
At once, the group trailing behind him came to a halt. They'd sprinted so hard that every one of them was doubled over, gasping for air from the bottom of their lungs.
Oh Gu-sik looked pretty worn out himself, but his breathing was steadier than theirs.
"Chi-soo. You holding up?"
"Yes, sir. I'm fine."
"Let's catch our breath for a minute, then run again. That alright?"
Oh Gu-sik asked while holding the Mosquito Clan leader's gaze, and only after the man nodded did he allow himself a proper rest.
Sonjabi was bound in a sloppy, half-hearted knot. Oh Gu-sik had tied him up in a hurry while running. Even so, Sonjabi hadn't so much as thought about escaping. He figured his odds of dying mid-escape were higher.
Spend enough time with someone and you get a feel for their temperament. What Sonjabi had felt from Oh Gu-sik was a man who would kill without a moment's hesitation the instant things went sideways.
"Hey. Sonjabi."
"Yes?"
"You've got two choices left. One: you get caught by that batshit crazy son of a bitch Gong Won-goo, and while you're crying, snotting, and pissing yourself, you confess every last detail of what you grabbed at the potluck. Or two: you cooperate nicely and come work under me. Under me—"
"Gu-sik! Oh Gu-sik! You son of a bitch!"
"……?"
Oh Gu-sik spotted the Trailer approaching from the distance.
"Gu-sik, you sitting there baring your teeth again?"
"Did you plant a bug on me or something? How the hell did you hear that?"
"You're transparent as glass whenever you try to run a scam. Do what you're good at. The stuff that suits you. Stabbing people, killing people. Using your head just isn't your thing. Third-rate con man."
"What scam? I gave the guy some friendly advice and that counts as a scam? I told him if that bastard Gong Won-goo got his hands on him, they wouldn't find enough bones to bury—so spill everything he asks. Hey! Sonjabi! Tell them. Did I say that or not?"
"……?"
"Didn't I? I didn't say that?"
Still bound, Sonjabi nodded his head.
"See? Then I'm going with 'No, sir, of course not.'"
"Ha…… I kept my end of the deal and this is the treatment I get?"
"Which is exactly why you should've kept it to the end."
"So Gu-sik's in one piece, huh?"
Pacific rolled forward and spoke up. At that, Oh Gu-sik craned his head sideways and spotted him.
"Hoops. You were here too?"
"Hey."
"Hey?"
Oh Gu-sik let out an incredulous laugh and closed the distance to Pacific in a blink.
Swish!
Lee Hyun-sung blocked his path. Had Hyun-sung not stepped in, Oh Gu-sik would've reached Pacific on the spot.
"Kkakdugi, you not gonna move?"
"He's family."
"Ha……"
"Hyun-sung, step aside."
"Yes, Hyeong-nim."
"Gu-sik, why are you redlining all of a sudden? Something happen between you and Pacific?"
"That bastard sold me defective goods."
"……?"
Every eye swung to Pacific. He waved it off like it was nothing, playing the clown.
"Why's everyone looking at me like that? I told you I make good money."
"I had no idea your little business ventures were tangled up with Black Shelter too."
Won-goo said it while giving Pacific a look of pure disdain. Oh Gu-sik's expression said the same.
"Same here. I didn't know you were peddling defective merchandise, you son of a bitch!"
"Come to think of it, Pacific—you're mixed up in every single incident around here, aren't you? You the ringleader or what?"
Won-goo narrowed his eyes and pressed him. Pacific waved his hands frantically.
"Whoa, why're you saying such scary things!"
"So you're saying you didn't?"
"I didn't! Fine, I did business with Black Shelter, I admit it. But I'm a merchant. A merchant! A trader!"
"A merchant is usually called a merchant, you know."
"Is that the point? Look, I'm a profit-seeking businessman. If there's a customer, I go wherever and make the deal. What am I supposed to be picky about? A merchant deals with the devil himself, long as there's trust."
"Beautiful excuse. Real inspiring. So why does a guy so proud of his noble profession go selling defective goods?"
"Whoa, hold on. Me? I sold defective goods? You ready to take responsibility for those words?"
"Pacific. Calm down. Hey, Oh Gu-sik."
"……?"
"That bastard Pacific has the personality of a landfill, sure, but he's not the type to screw around with merchandise. You actually double-checked?"
"You…… you said Black Shelter's defenses weren't up to snuff, right?"
"What about it?"
"We'd made our own preparations. And the most expensive piece of that was the alarm system we bought from that man right there, Pacific. And it never worked properly."
"If you'd had something like that, I'd have known about it."
"I wouldn't have. It was buried underground."
At that, Pacific pulled out the bag strapped beneath his wheelchair and took something from inside it. A silver cylinder of metal, shaped like a thermos, emerged.
"This one's the real deal, I can tell you. Everything I handle goes through inspection. High-end items like this, I even draw up a contract before importing them. And I sold you a defective unit? Gu-sik, are you out of your mind?"
Pacific was getting angrier by the second.
"Unbelievable…… We trusted you on that, you know. Wasn't it thirty coins a unit?"
"Thirty? Gold coins?"
"That's right. Thirty for one of those little things. We bought what, twenty of them? Expensive enough to make the shelter's finances wobble for a while."
"And that was a bargain, too. Bulk discount."
"What is that thing?"
Won-goo asked. He fished out a cigarette and clamped it between his lips, and the ever-silent Lee Hyun-sung stepped up and lit it for him. Won-goo gave Hyun-sung's back a friendly thump. Hyun-sung bowed his head.
"It's called a sensor. When more than a certain number of people get close, an alarm goes off from underground."
Won-goo grinned.
"Phew. And here I thought…… you didn't even anticipate that much? I figured it was some kind of bomb or something."
"It's not *just* that, Ttaeng-gu. If those had worked properly, our response would've been completely different. We'd have been prepared."
"Prepared or not, the result's the same, you son of a bitch. You think I'd walk in blind without anticipating something like that?"
"It's different. We would've been prepared. You wouldn't have gotten past us that easily. We were all trained that way. I mean that sincerely, Ttaeng-gu."
Won-goo and Oh Gu-sik traded a brief look.
"Anyway…… you're telling me it just didn't work? It's basically a magic item, isn't it?"
"How many times do I have to say it didn't? The results are literally lying right there in front of you."
"……"
"That paired set. Bury it in the ground and it activates, you said. So we buried every last one we bought that day. And it never once went off. Not a single time!"
"Hold on."
"……?"
"You didn't just… bury it, did you?"
"……?"
"I'm asking if you planted it exactly like this, as-is."
"You said just bury it. Dig about five meters down and plant it……"
"Oh, for the love of—!"
Pacific screamed the words out like a war cry. A colossal shout. Then he began twisting the thermos-shaped device.
Like unscrewing a cap.
"You have to twist this first—twist it like *this* and then plant it! Damn it! How many times did I tell you!"
"Huh?"
Oh Gu-sik froze, dumbstruck. The eyes of everyone around him narrowed.
It was the exact same look they'd given Pacific moments ago. Only the target had changed. To Oh Gu-sik.
"Look. Look! The light's coming on, see? Like this! You have to plant it in this state for it to work. You don't just shove it in the dirt. This—"
"He told you that?"
"No wonder he drank us under the table that day."
"No, wait…… you're telling me he actually explained it?"
"Goddamn it…… so he sells you the merchandise without even teaching you how to use it? Is he a psychopath or what……"
"There go the bastards again…… Hey! Get back to your post. Back to it. And while we're at it, I had this one hypothesis I formed while surviving this godforsaken apocalypse, and I think it just got proven. I could publish a paper."
"Now what?"
"That in a world like this one, it's the ignorant bastards who survive and thrive. Hoo……"
Won-goo exhaled a plume of cigarette smoke, shook his head slowly, and walked on ahead. Oh Gu-sik and Pacific stared at each other, blinking, taking a moment to work out what he meant.
Then Pacific shouted.
"Damn it! Director Gong! That last one was aimed at *us*, wasn't it?!"
"Director Gong! Right glad I ran inta ya!"
On the way back, they kept running into their people one after another. About ten minutes in, Montage's crew came into view.
"Hyeong-nim. You're safe. Thank goodness."
"Don't even get me started…… Earthquake comes outta nowhere and the whole place went straight to hell. Anywho…… take a look at our Joce here, would ya?"
Joce was being carried on another crew member's back.
"Hey there, Won-goo hyeong-nim."
"You got hit, huh? Should've been more careful."
"Reckon it kinda happened like that."
"Kiss managed to keep him alive, at least…… but this leg. You think it'll be alright?"
Jo Mu-sa hurried over and examined the wound. The left leg had been torn clean off—as if a monster had gripped a person and ripped him apart like a piece of meat.
"The rest of the leg's right here."
Montage held out the torn limb, wrapped tight and bound in cloth. It looked like he was presenting a pig's trotter.
"The leg's here! The leg! Take a good look at it, will ya!"
Montage was a man of considerable nerve, but when it came to his own crew, he clearly struggled to keep his composure.
The tear was nothing ordinary. It hadn't simply been wrenched off—the flesh had been twisted off. The same motion as twisting a drumstick off a chicken until it comes away. And among Ganjeol Point's executives, exactly one man could leave a wound like that.
"You ran into 'Ogong'?"
"Aye. That boy was gone clean off the deep end……"
"Unbelievable…… I told you to be careful around Ogong, didn't I?"
"He was manageable at first. But…… the intel was wrong."
"What do you mean?"
"Joce puts up a real fight, that boy does. He got in close and drove a blade right into him? Then Ogong foamed at the mouth, shook like a leaf, and transformed a second time."
"You're certain? That he transformed again?"
"Ask Dr. Woo later. Hair sproutin' out all over, a tail poppin' out—total pandemonium. Thought I was watchin' King Kong."
So there was a gap in the intelligence.
Ogong was a survivor with a possession-type Gift. He channeled a monkey, gaining comparable agility and ferocity. Because his base physical abilities were massively amplified in the process, he was a survivor you had to approach with real caution. It was said that a transformed Ogong was vicious enough that even monsters would quietly give him a wide berth.
But that was where the information ended. It noted his enhanced physical abilities and monkey-like behavior—but nowhere did it say he could transform like that.
Has he already progressed to full Beastification? Then this gets difficult……
"And what happened to Dr. Woo?"
"Don't get me started…… that old man's scary fast for a fella with such stubby little legs. He headed back ahead of us, I reckon."
"Good to hear. Jo Mu-sa, how is he?"
"I think we'll have to amputate below the knee and fit a prosthetic."
"You know that adhesive, right? The stuff they sell at Youngjae Pharmacy. Use that to patch it on for now."
"That only works if the shapes roughly match…… and this leg doesn't match."
"What do you mean it doesn't match…… we brought Joce's leg back just as it was!"
Montage and Won-goo went over to inspect the leg. They didn't need a close look. Even the shoe on it was different.
"Goddamn it…… Hyeong-nim. You're supposed to bring the *same* leg. You bring somebody else's leg and ask me to attach it, you understand? This is—"
"It…… it's different? Ah, damn it…… the work!"
Montage whirled around and bellowed at his crew.
"Chores can wait. Let's head back first."
"But Joce's leg……"
"Prosthetics are good these days. Plenty of them better than the real thing. I know a guy—I'll introduce you. So let's head back first. Back. Joce!"
"Yes, hyeong-nim."
"You holding up?"
"Am I holdin' up? Of course I am. What's a prosthetic leg these days, anyhow? Back in the day it'd be like gettin' a wee extra tattoo slapped on, that's all."
"I don't think it's quite like that. Anyway, I'll get you a good one, so let's get moving. Pacific!"
"What?"
"Give Joce a shot of the sweet stuff so he can sleep easy back there."
Pacific pulled a syringe from his bag and passed it to Jo Mu-sa. Then he sidled up close and dropped a remark.
"Hey. Director Gong."
"What?"
"That theory of yours? It's dead-on."
Won-goo's lips slowly curled into a grin.
"I told you, didn't I? You've got to be simple to survive long in this world."