Counterattack
"Well…… to be honest, I did predict there'd be mafia types in the mix."
At Jo Mu-sa's words, everyone nodded along.
"It was impossible for them not to be there. Though I didn't expect them to pull a move like this."
"Don't talk like I planned it all out. I just set things up naturally. This Arctic Giant incident — we confirmed it was stalling on their end and progressing on ours. From Ganjeol Point's perspective, that's nothing short of a windfall."
"And you figured the opportunists wouldn't let that chance slip by?" Pacific said.
"That was the expectation. That's why I asked to have them placed in the camp — the suspicious ones included. If nothing had come of it, fine. But it's been confirmed now, so here we are."
Everyone nodded as if they understood. Just as Won-goo said, he hadn't laid some elaborate trap. It was nothing more than a small tripwire meant to observe a reaction. But they'd walked right into it, so beautifully that it had stopped being a small matter.
"Pacific, get some sleep. Aren't you tired?"
"I am, but…… that stuff you gave me, Gong So-jang, it's seriously incredible? Doesn't hurt at all."
"Good for you. Earn lots of money. Then you can keep using it."
"Ha…… that's the problem, isn't it. By the way, why are you contacting Montage? Is it about Ganjeol Point?"
"Partly Ganjeol Point. And it's a good hand coming in."
"……?"
"There are a lot of survivors in Shelter Arc with a grudge against Sde."
Hye-ji explained in a calm voice.
"He was that big of a Named?"
"Not just any Named. Around those parts, the mere mention of the 'Human Cook Gang' made people sick to their stomachs. Why else would a dedicated raid party have formed just to take them down?"
"What…… what kind of terrifying name is that for a gang? Human Cook Gang?"
"Want me to tell you something even more terrifying?"
"……?"
"Think carefully about why they were called the Human Cook Gang, and it gets worse. You'll also understand why so many survivors ended up frothing at the mouth."
Pacific tilted his head for a moment. Then his brow suddenly furrowed deep.
"No way…… that can't be it?"
Pacific asked with his whole face twisted up, wearing the expression of a man recalling something filthy.
"That 'no way' is exactly right."
"……."
"I don't need to spell it out, do I?"
"So he was a complete lunatic."
"Yeah. A certified lunatic. You read his eyes well."
"I did think they weren't ordinary crazy eyes……"
"If you'd been less lucky, you'd have ended up as a delicacy. Something like a Seated Steak."
"You maniac! A Seated Steak?! You don't turn people into recipes!"
Pacific convulsed with revulsion.
"Can't help it if it's true."
"What? What do you mean it's true?"
"Those bastards actually did it."
"What? They actually gave them names?"
"Why wouldn't they? You think the word 'cook' got in there just because they ate people? They named the dishes. Each and every one."
Pacific's jaw dropped open.
The crew members who already knew about the Human Cook Gang's atrocities only wore pained expressions.
"That's how the grudge forms, right?"
"Of course it does…… if your family went through something like that, it's something you can never, ever forget."
"Exactly. That's why I called it a good hand. We were short-handed as it was, and now we can fill the gap all at once."
"So Ganjeol Point played the wrong card."
"Right. No matter how desperate they are, Sde is the kind of man you do not bring in."
"But Gong So-jang."
"What?"
"We absolutely cannot lose to that bastard."
"No need to worry. We're catching him this time. I told you, didn't I? We went into their nest carrying a bomb. I'm going to collect what they owe me today — with about ten times the interest."
The rest of the crew was moving busily as well.
The weather was growing more ominous by the hour, but nobody wavered. Because Won-goo had been right.
The monsters kept surging in on a regular cycle, and with the camp holding the line, the snow's domain wasn't expanding any further.
For now, that was enough. As long as the territory didn't spread, a way to end this could still be found.
What they needed right now wasn't anything fancy. It was time.
"Gong So-jang. I'm truly sorry about this, ay…… never thought I had a piece-of-trash bastard among my crew."
"Did you catch him?"
"Caught him. And just to be safe, I swapped out every single man I'd sent over this time. I'm truly sorry, ay. To my other crew members, I'll……"
"No need for that."
Won-goo cut off Dr. Woo mid-sentence.
"There isn't?"
"They've been turning up inside other crews too."
"Oh my. So it wasn't just under our boys, was it?"
"Well…… Ganjeol Point has been coming in and out of Sabbath plenty, one way or another. There are a hundred ways to plant a mole. They could've been converted. Or they might have belonged to Ganjeol Point from the very start."
"Good grief……"
Dr. Woo and Sapiens had rushed to the scene personally the moment word of the incident broke. Sanghae, for his part, called back every subordinate he'd dispatched to the site and sent in freshly hired replacements.
They were members of the Mosquito Gang.
"So they were all in on it. That's quite a shock, I'll say."
"It's not like it was completely unforeseen."
"World's law, ain't it — anything that looks rotten is rotten…… you just figure that's how it looks, and then when it comes out like this, doesn't it just ache in your chest? Dang near miserable, I tell ya."
"You should've screened them properly instead of agonizing over it. No losses on our side. Since one turned up on every other side too, we can let this end here."
"True…… no wait, that's right. Better this gets wrapped up clean like this. If it had only come out in one place, things would've gotten all sorts of awkward, ay."
"But this time, you keep what was told to you. Understood?"
"Course. I've sworn my right-hand boys won't hear a word of anything shared head-to-head between us. Yes sir. Absolutely. After something like this happened, if I blabbed again, what kind of human would I even be? Gotta figure a man's half beast to begin with."
"Use your family motto however you like, Doctor. Just apply it to this one matter."
"Got it, ay. So what's the plan now?"
"Wait here a little longer. They haven't all arrived yet."
"Who're we waiting on?"
"They're here. Right on time."
Montage and Potion appeared at precisely the right moment.
And with them, a whole crowd of survivors who worked the area around Ark gathered up.
Needless to say, it was a gathering of people harboring insane grudges against the Human Cook Gang.
People flooded into the camp all at once. The number of survivors pouring in from Ark was already on par with the ones stationed at the camp.
They were all survivors organized into small groups. Won-goo could gauge roughly how far each of them had been enhanced from their appearance alone.
None of them had reached Named yet. Short of truly exceptional cases, anyone who hit the first Milestone Trait at Named level ended up with different gear from the start.
Better gear meant a different look. It didn't apply to every single case, but most followed that path.
The reason was simple: after landing the first Milestone Trait, investing in equipment gave better returns than pouring coins into enhancements.
Before the first Trait, gearing up meant almost nothing. The most efficient route was to land the Trait first, then match equipment to the combination of Gift and Trait.
"Boss is here?"
"Yeah, we're here…… good grief…… it's cold enough to peel my skin right off."
"That's what I said. Dress warm. It's nearly minus twenty out here."
"I've endured that kind of weather before. But this place is different……"
"That's when the wind's not blowing. Here the wind howls nonstop. Factoring that in, it feels like three times colder."
"Does it now? That much difference from wind alone?"
"Of course. Now, Jaws — how's the leg?"
He turned and looked at Jaws standing behind them.
"Yes sir! Fit as a fiddle! Boss got me a proper one fitted! That thing on before wasn't even a foot, I tell ya. THIS is my leg now — solid steel, through and through! Wahahaha!"
Montage spun around and glared at Jaws.
"Jaws, you, you should just……"
Montage's voice hung low and heavy. Jaws flinched hard and shrank back.
"……."
"Can't you read the room? You think we came here for a company picnic, you little bastard?"
Montage said it while glancing back at the Ark survivors standing behind them with somber faces. Only then did Jaws catch on and quietly shut his mouth.
"I'm sorry. Jaws here's a good boy, but every now and then he goes and misses the mood like this."
"It's fine. Better than being a wet blanket."
"No, no. Every time I see my little brother here, I keep thinking I raised him wrong. Man needs a proper house-cleaning once to come to his senses. Who shows their teeth off at a funeral house, I ask ya."
"Maybe not quite a funeral house. Though from where I'm standing, they're the ones who look more like it."
Won-goo tilted his head toward the Ark survivors.
"Until that Sde bastard is caught, that place stays a funeral house. Permanently."
"Well…… I understand."
"Right. Enough greetings. So, where?"
"Over there."
"You preserved it well?"
"Of course. And I told you, you don't even need to check. It's Sde. I'm certain."
"Listen here, Gong So-jang. If it's your word, I'll take it as gospel. But those folks over there think differently, see. This is blood we're after — they need a proper justification before they move. They're men whose hearts are already heavy as it is. Just coming this far took a monumental decision from every one of them."
"No decision involved. The grudge is simply that strong."
"Hm. That's fair too."
They moved to the spot where Pacific and Sde had fought. The area had been cordoned off like a police line, with a tent raised over it so the snow couldn't bury the traces any further.
"Quiet now, everyone, for a moment."
With that, Montage went into focus. The survivors who'd followed him watched the scene with grave, complicated expressions.
"Now let's have a good look at this."
Montage gestured at the tent, and the crew members sprang to carefully peel it away.
Then, silence.
Montage examined the site crouching, then lying nearly flat against the ground, more meticulously than he had ever been in his work.
"It's him. That's Sde's movement, no doubt about it. The footprints. The weight and the height. Pacific."
At Montage's call, Pacific wheeled himself over.
"Yes?"
"When that bastard slipped away — did you see anything?"
"I was just talking to Gong So-jang about that. Some kind of mist around him."
"Then it's confirmed."
Montage turned toward the survivors from Ark. He gave a small nod. The survivors asked nothing in return. They simply let out a long breath and moved the way men clearing a long-overdue debt would.
Not a flicker of expression crossed their faces.
Won-goo knew exactly how relentless people with that look could be. It was the face of men who had already accepted everything.
Negotiation would never work on people wearing that face.
Either Sde, the last member of the Human Cook Gang, died — or they themselves vanished. There were only those two options.
Faceless, they drew out their vicious-looking equipment and began strapping it on.
"Well, that's intense……"
Pacific murmured.
"We have to see this through to the end with that Sde bastard, you see. Gong So-jang — it's settled that you hand Sde over to us, right?"
"We already shook on it, didn't we?"
"Then we're good. So — where to? Let's go."
"Hold on. We're still waiting on someone."
"Who's not here yet?"
"Fresh and Yeongyeong, and……"
"I've arrived, Ttaeng-gu."
Fresh's figure came into view. Beside him, clamped to his side, was Yeong Chi-soo in his winter gear.
The corner of Montage's mouth crept upward.
"Good roster, this. With a lineup like this, we're not marching over there just to take a beating, are we?"
"What a thing to say. We're not going there to trade blows — we're going there to kill."