Recruitment
"Huh?"
"The Nero Family's done and over with. So you've got nowhere to go, don't you?"
"Well..."
"No plans. No contingencies either, I take it?"
"......"
"If I let you stay at the Shelter, would you take it?"
"......?"
"I'm going to give you work. Work. Your memory's good, but you couldn't read the room to save your life. Do you understand what I'm saying or not?"
"This is where you'll be staying from now on. You've been to the Shelter, so you know what this place is."
"I do..."
"You're not going to tell me you can't live here because it's the scene of a crime, are you?"
"......"
"Your job is simple. The Nero Family warehouse, this place — I showed you our crew's warehouse too, right? You manage those three, and in return you get room and board at the Shelter. How about it?"
Danshin's impression of Won-goo had been downright awful ever since the Chameleon Ring was stolen from him. And yet, listening quietly, the offer was nothing short of a steal.
It was true that Danshin had a special ability, but it could hardly be called a crowd-pleaser at this point in time. He'd risen to an executive position in the Nero Family, sure, but no one could say he'd been treated generously there.
"Then... can I use this place as I see fit?"
"Use it for what, exactly? Throwing a party, maybe?"
"No, it's not that..."
"Then what?"
"It's just... so filthy..."
"Clean it up and tidy it to your heart's content. I'll give you a sleeping bag for now, and sooner or later I'll swap it out for a proper bed. You'll do it, I mean it."
"I'll do it."
There was no reason not to. At this moment, what survivors feared most was anything touching on their survival itself.
But as long as he could remain in the Shelter, life would go on, one way or another.
The steady cost of it was a flaw, certainly, but at the current level of Won-goo's crew's finances, squeezing one more person into the Shelter was no difficult feat at all.
"Then I'll go fetch a contract, so in the meantime... Ttugi."
"Yes, Hyeong-nim!"
"Danshin's as good as one of us now, half and half anyway, so take him along and show him a good time."
"Understood, Hyeong-nim!"
"And good work, everyone. I really won't have anything to call you for for a while, so go enjoy yourselves."
At that, the crew scattered at speed.
Danshin, wedged among the departing crew members, still turned to look back at Won-goo, murmuring a low 'the ring...' — but Lee Hyun-sung immediately threw an arm around his shoulders and ushered him out.
"Old man Woo still hasn't left?"
"How have you planned to proceed from here, I wonder?"
"Proceed with what? I clean up, that's how."
"Does that include truly handing Buri Island over to Dr. Woo?"
"That's something to mull over. Because Abal will be staking her own claim to it too."
"So invoking Abal is reason enough, is what you're saying."
"Well... Dr. Woo won't have a leg to stand on, will he. Respect, the Nero Family, and a whole mess of little gangs have all been gutted — you think he'd dare act up? That bastard's got as much sense as he has pride, so it'll be fine."
"And what of Sanghae, if I may ask?"
"I'll look after Sanghae too. The nerve of him, sure, but still."
"So that was how you were thinking, I see."
"Then how did you think I'd handle it? I'm going to take care of Sapiens too. I think everyone's got the wrong idea about something."
"And what wrong idea would that be?"
"That Buri Island is even bigger than anyone thinks."
"Everyone already thinks Buri Island is quite large, that they do."
"No — bigger than even that."
"That is... thinking quite large already, I would say..."
"Enough. So here's my point. A chunk that big will wreck you if you try to swallow it alone. And Buri Island's nature makes it inseparable from the Shelter — you have to unload the items that come out of it, after all. And to keep dirty business from creeping into that process, what do you suppose has to happen?"
"One must share the meal, is that it."
"That's it. Split it up and you avoid the disasters. And Buri Island is plenty big enough to go around. In this line of work, nothing beats a steady source of income."
"Then I had no cause for worry at all. I shall take my leave, then."
"Did you think I'd actually go to war with Sanghae?"
"I only wondered if you hadn't struck a little too hard. We've eaten quite well off him already, haven't we."
"We can afford to feed off him to that degree, so we feed. Do you have any idea how much that Sanghae bastard leaves on the table?"
At that, Mu Beob-sa gave no answer and walked out the door.
"Why isn't Abal's color black, Director?"
"Well, look at that. Your Gift, I mean. I keep telling you — it may not measure strength. It could be nothing more than a gauge of whether someone is dangerous or not. Or else..."
"Or else?"
"It could shift depending on the situation. Besides, you've got me to look at, don't you?"
"You've been red from the very first day, Director."
"Don't obsess over the color. Your read on whether a person can be trusted or not is more than enough to earn your keep. Prod people the way you did with Danshin earlier — well-timed, well-placed — and keep filling me in. From now on, always. Got it?"
"Yes. But where are we headed right now? Baek Seol's?"
"We ought to drop in on Baek Seol too. Look after what needs looking after. But before that, a call came in."
Won-goo held up his pager as he said it.
"That thing actually works?"
"Of course it works."
"I thought it was a decoration."
"Look at you, Hye-ji, all grown up. Knowing when to needle a man for money."
"I was an adult to begin with."
"So now that you're an adult, you want to move out?"
"......"
"You get rich by pinching pennies, kid. Everything we're doing right now — walking in here, eating, clothing ourselves — it's all money. Money, you brat. Save on the small stuff so the crew can drink one more round, that's how it works."
"Yes..."
"And listen, dummy. Where we're going is the post office. The post office."
"The post office?"
"That's right. Didn't know the Shelter had one, did you?"
"No..."
"It does. The fees are so steep people only use it for important things, but it exists."
"So we're going to see something important?"
"Exactly. Something important. Mail from Mt. Samgak."
"Mt. Samgak?"
"3B. Information on the Samgaksan Branch."
Jeon Hye-ji realized at once that this errand was for her sake.
The post office stood at the very center of the Shelter.
Tucked behind the Coin Exchange, it was hard to stumble across by accident, but Won-goo found it without trouble and stepped inside.
"Director Gong. Long time no see."
A pigeon-faced Beastman was guarding the interior, sprawled so far back in his chair he was nearly lying down — business being what it was, there was hardly any to do.
"Had business worth coming for, that's all."
"Even so, you never come."
"Then lower your prices."
"Fixed rates, so that's a no."
"Same speech every time. Just hand over the letter."
"This one's a bit pricey."
"How many?"
"Fifty."
Won-goo immediately wired the payment from his Shelter account. When using the enterprises the Shelter ran itself, this was the convenient part.
He could pay however he pleased.
Zi-ing.
Won-goo tore the letter open right there and read it.
"Fifty Silver Coins... just for the delivery fee?"
"The delivery fee is separate. This is the charge for mail routed from one Shelter to another."
Jeon Hye-ji's face was pure astonishment. Fifty Silver Coins was enough to survive fifty days inside the Shelter.
"That was my face too, the first time I heard the price. Expensive, right?"
"Yes."
"In exchange, it arrives, guaranteed. Say I hand this letter to an errand runner right now and ask him to get it to a shelter near Mt. Samgak."
"Yes."
"What would you put the odds on it being delivered in one piece?"
Viewed that way, the price did start to feel almost reasonable.
"You don't know, do you? Can't run the numbers at all."
"No."
"Right. That sliver of chance going wrong — that's what people here can't stand, so they use this place. Don't write off the Shelter's basic facilities just because they're expensive. You want to know everything there is to know. There'll be times you need it, like now. Even dog droppings have their uses in medicine, as they say."
With that, Won-goo went back to reading the letter.
"Your sisters' names. Su-ji and Yu-ji. Correct?"
"Yes. Jeon Yu-ji and Jeon Su-ji."
"For now — there is no woman in the Samgaksan Branch under those names."
"You're certain?"
"I am. Which means the odds they weren't taken again just went up. This is solid information. I bought it from someone inside 3B."
At those words, Jeon Hye-ji's eyes sharpened and cleared. She was still adjusting, but she was curious and quick-minded, and she caught every drop of information condensed into Won-goo's few words.
"If it's an insider, then the cost..."
"Consider it a bonus."
"The mail alone was fifty Silver Coins... so wouldn't that mean you've spent more than what I hired you for?"
"About even."
"Why..."
"You're crew."
"......?"
"Back then you weren't crew. Now you are. And you've grown enough to earn your share of the work."
"......"
"Too early to get misty-eyed. This is nothing information."
"Thank you..."
Jeon Hye-ji said it while looking straight at Won-goo's face. He made no move to meet her gaze and simply carried on with the explanation.
"As of now, there's a strong chance your sisters are no longer inside the 3B Samgaksan Branch."
"Ah! 3B sometimes calls people by different names, you know."
"Like baptismal names?"
"Yes."
"Well, as you can see here, there are no women your sisters' age in there either. So we dig further. But the worst outcome's off the table for now, wouldn't you say? Nothing could be more horrific than them being taken back in."
"Yes..."
"Slow and steady. We're growing fast. If we keep climbing at this rate, even 3B becomes worth a fight."
"3B? Us?"
"What's so shocking. 3B is dangerous for one reason — sheer headcount. Not that many of them are actually skilled."
"Still..."
"Hard now doesn't mean hard later — that's all I'm saying. For now, take that letter and wait outside. Smoke a cigarette or something. I've got one more letter to pick up."
Jeon Hye-ji went outside. Won-goo paid the pigeon Beastman a further fee and received two more letters.
One held information on Seals. The other — information on Yeom-gwi.
Yeom-gwi.
Won-goo had long suspected she was connected to Neo-Mason, the faction that would one day sell off the Earth.
The approach they had made to him recently bore an uncanny resemblance to how Neo-Mason had once recruited their own confederates.
But when he tore the letter open, he couldn't quite keep the strange look off his face.
This doesn't match Neo-Mason. Did something change them along the way?
With that thought, Won-goo called to mind the core figures of Neo-Mason, seared into his memory.
Neo-Mason was, at its root, a multinational coalition.
And among them, the individuals who could truly be called its leaders had never been many.
Korea had exactly one. China, three. Japan, three. North Korea, one or so.
Expanded across the globe, the numbers grew larger still. Yet Won-goo had already identified most of them.
Those who, even if they weren't leader-tier now, would rise to become the ones who sold humanity — who sold the Earth itself.
Won-goo's purpose was the same now as it had ever been.
To hunt them down.
And for that, this moment was a critically important one.
He had to take down at least one leader-tier traitor before the Apocalypse fully opened — only then could he scheme for the rest.
When the Apocalypse fully opens.
The Apocalypse was still in its transitional phase. Once that phase ended, the whole world's population would be thrown together, and Neo-Mason would swell to a colossal scale almost overnight.
So I have to catch them before that... but this movement is strange. Did they notice my inquiries?
To hunt Neo-Mason's leaders, the first step was determining who belonged to Neo-Mason and who didn't.
Won-goo had been quietly bleeding out information fees to find out, but the returns had been meager.
Then recently, Yeom-gwi had shown him a meaningful opening.
It was time to start scraping information together again.
Yeom-gwi — I'll keep watching her.
With that, Won-goo pulled out a small notebook. It was filled with lists of names.
Yeom-gwi — the most recent entry.
Beside her name, Won-goo marked a ▲.
Above Yeom-gwi, the lists went on and on, but most were X'd out.
Within the category labeled Korea, only a single name bore a circle.
The rest were X's, with the occasional ★ sprinkled in.
The curious part was that the names of Won-goo's own crew appeared on that list as well.
And among them, Lee Hyun-sung (Kkakdugi) sat high up the ordering — with a ★ marked beside his name.