Golden Coins and Instant Ramen
"Starting today, you're the youngest member of the crew. You're the only student here, after all."
"I'm not a student."
Hye-ji said. Everyone turned to look at her. No matter how you looked at it, she was a student. A cute one, at that.
She was small, with a porcelain-white face, and the baby fat still clinging to her cheeks only made her look the part.
"Then why are you wearing a school uniform?"
"This is……"
Only then did Hye-ji look down at what she was wearing.
"This was…… my homeroom teacher's……"
She bit her lip hard as she spoke, and Won-goo caught on immediately.
"Okay. I get the picture. You can stop there. Then first thing's first—we're buying you clothes. You stick out too much right now."
"Director, could you buy us some clothes too?"
Geum Chul-soo asked, and Won-goo nodded.
Most survivors were filthy in appearance. It was an era where everything was scarce, and unpolluted water in particular was treated as an extremely precious resource.
It had gotten so bad that crews would keep a talent who could identify regions where clean rain fell on retainer.
Water being that precious also meant clean clothes were just as hard to come by.
"Director Gong. Are you sure about spending money like this? Isn't this the stash you were planning to sell off while gold coin rates are favorable?"
Mu Beob-sa's question came in. Everyone was busy picking out clothes. The building they'd entered had originally been a shoe store, but now it sold all kinds of reworked garments.
Clothes with no functions attached weren't particularly expensive, but the majority of what they were browsing in this shop had special abilities imbued in them.
"No."
"Then what? Don't tell me you brought her along just to fit her with items?"
"Hye-ji just gets ordinary clothes. Her gear's already been fitted. Mo-Kke!"
Won-goo called for the shop owner, who fawned over him so obsequiously it was almost painful to watch.
"Did you finish my order?"
"Yes, sir."
"Hand them out."
"What's this? You went and had work uniforms made, did you?"
"Something like that. Now that the crew's got proper structure, we need to unify the look."
"That's right, Boss."
Hyun-seong chimed in.
"That may be, but isn't ordering something like this usually the domain of the bigger outfits? And this stuff is just a bit……"
"It's expensive. So what, are you not going to wear it?"
"Did I ever say I wouldn't wear it?"
"Then stop acting like a stubborn old-timer, please. Ordinary folk never get to wear clothes with options like these in their entire lives. If the head's being considerate and saving on operating costs to kit us out like this, the proper response is gratitude. Not griping."
"You think I don't know a good thing? It's just—what exactly are you driving us into with these clothes? What kind of bloody frontline……"
"Hey! Mo-Kke. Change one of the measurements."
"Sir?"
"Yeah. As of today, I'm cutting this old geezer loose. That son of a—"
"Again! Again! I told you not to say that kind of thing!"
"Then keep your complaints inside, where they belong. In this brutal world! You think anyone gets to live on easy street? Ah, wait—forgetting himself for a whole month, I suppose he has had it easy lately."
"Ugh, damn it……"
"Are you wearing it or not? Yes or no?"
"Wearing it. But let's not get sent to the frontline over this."
"I'm a man who treasures his own life above all. And when my life's precious, so are my crewmates' lives. Let's all refrain from remarks that invite misunderstanding. Anyone overhearing might think I'm some kind of Poke."
What Won-goo had ordered were gray windbreakers. Plain in design, but heavily reinforced—they'd serve perfectly well as armor.
"Take good care of your work uniforms. We'll get Hye-ji fitted later. For now…… yeah, that suits you well enough."
The outfit Hye-ji had picked was a black hoodie. Skinny jeans and white sneakers to go with it.
"Better change the shoes. Unless you'd like your feet sliced off first."
As they left the clothing store, Mu Beob-sa sidled up alongside him.
"And where might we be headed now?"
"Where else? We're offloading the recovered items. There he is now. Dinosaur."
A massive container box was moving down the street. It sat on wheels, and a person was pulling it by hand.
The one pulling it was enormous in height and stacked with absurd muscle. The bucket hat shading his eyes somehow made him all the more intimidating.
"Director. I trust you've been well."
A flawless bow of greeting.
"Good to see you, Dinosaur. What kind of prices are we looking at? There were quite a few things with options attached, I'd imagine?"
"Everything recovered this time around was fine quality, if I say so myself."
"Word's already out anyway, so I'll be straight with you. Some of it came from Poke's crew, the rest we picked up during the job. Make it clear. If any of it carries a valuable option, say so now. If problems come up later, that's on you—we'll know nothing about it."
"Director, I won't pretend I always trade honestly. But you know I'd never do that to you."
"Then keep it that way, always, you rascal. You know I don't trust bald men by default."
"Well aware, sir."
"So, how much did we get?"
"A tidy sum, I'd say."
Dinosaur and Won-goo settled accounts in a corner. It wasn't simply a matter of selling loot and calling it a day, either. Won-goo sourced most of what the crew needed from Dinosaur.
"This is the sleeping aid you requested. Pill form. The stronger ones are over here."
The two of them stepped right inside the container to talk.
"What's this, then? Soda? Cola?"
It was liquid in a 350ml plastic bottle. The label said cola, but the contents were white.
"You shouldn't drink that, Director."
"What is it?"
"Adhesive."
"Adhesive?"
"A new drug out of Youngjae Pharmacy."
"Something like a body glue?"
"Precisely."
"Does it actually stick?"
"Works like a charm, supposedly. They say even a severed arm or leg bonds right back on."
"No side effects?"
"None at all. Except for the rotting."
"Are you kidding me? Isn't rotting the single biggest side effect there is?"
"That's why you stick the limb on first, then get it properly treated later."
"So you'd have to cut it off again to treat it?"
"In a manner of speaking. Hence the……"
"It's a prototype. Am I right?"
"Yes."
"I'm taking this one."
"Even so, we do sell that—"
"Are you giving it to me, or not?"
Won-goo asked, staring up at Dinosaur without blinking. For about a second, their eyes locked.
"Take it, please. I was planning to offer it to you anyway."
"Good. And, Dinosaur—you've wrapped things up completely with them, right?"
"Absolutely, Director. I'm squeaky clean now."
"Right. Keep proving my bald-man rule has its exceptions, then."
"Yes, sir!"
"Don't forget it."
"Forgetting it is the last thing I'll do, sir."
"And if it ever looks like it's coming back, just say the word. Follow-up treatments are free of charge."
"Completely unnecessary! I promise you'll never have to treat me again as long as I live!"
"Good. Staying healthy is what matters. Mental health especially. Mental health!"
"That's the truth."
"And understand this—telling you to finish off those cult bastards wasn't just my personal grudge. You need to keep that engraved in your skull. Got it?"
"Of course, Director. I understand completely."
"Right. Let's keep ourselves healthy. Mental well-being is important. Mental well-being!"
* * *
"Director Gong. How much did we make this time around?"
Mu Beob-sa asked.
"Hard to say until everything's settled…… but call it forty gold coins, minimum."
"A proper jackpot for the first time in a while, no?"
"More like the first real close call in a while."
"Close call, nothing. First time your blood's been up in a while, more like. So does that mean a generous cut's coming our way this time?"
"What are you talking about? We've got the losses from the past few months to fill in first. Have a shred of conscience, would you."
"Mmgh……"
"Anyway, keep your mouths shut about the coin business. Everyone keep doing what you're doing. Don't show off, but don't act like starving dogs either. Stay moderate. That's what keeps the little fish biting."
This was old knowledge to the crew members who'd worked with Won-goo for a long time.
That the biggest chunk of their income wasn't hunting high-grade monsters—but turning the tables on backstabbing survivors and eating them alive instead.
Survivors who'd fattened up just enough were money on legs. Good money, at that.
"Heading out now? Or is there more on the schedule?"
"We've still got Shelter time left. Need to rack our brains over how to spend the gold coins. And we should eat. Eat plenty while we're in the Shelter."
"Where to?"
"Sanghae's, obviously."
"Sanghae's?"
"It's mealtime at Sanghae's. We can eat for free if we show up. You know how Sanghae is—dead serious about food."
"D-Director!"
Su-won, who'd been standing around dazed, suddenly blurted out a question.
"What?"
"Th-then why is that…… gentleman called……"
"Why he's called Dinosaur?"
"Y-yes, sir."
"Because he's big, obviously?"
Jo Mu-sa answered in his place, but Won-goo shook his head.
"Wrong. Have you ever seen hair growing on a dinosaur's head?"
* * *
"Aw, hell……"
Sanghae scowled as the crowd streamed in through the door. The blissful look on his face crumpled up in an instant.
"At least eat with us. That's some fine eating there. What is that, sirloin?"
Sanghae was in the middle of grilling meat on a huge iron griddle. Thick-cut, beautifully marbled beef over a charcoal brazier.
Even before the apocalypse, meat of this caliber had been nearly impossible to come by—and here it was, piled high.
"Know your limits. Keep this up and……"
"We've been through real hell this time. One slip and you'd all be missing a few limbs right about now? You should've seen how viciously that bastard Poke had gone off the deep end. Talking about cutting off my arms and legs and gouging out my eyes, I swear."
"Aigoo…… fine, sit. You're leaving the Shelter soon, aren't you?"
"This is the last time. We're busy. No plans to come back for a while."
"Why? Ran out of contracts on your rounds? Off to dump gold coins, maybe? You wouldn't have actually come here just to eat, I know that much."
Even as he talked, Sanghae was briskly ordering them to fetch dishes and tableware from the kitchen. And he laid more meat on the grill.
The meat sizzled, and the crew's eyes lit up like lanterns.
Even Mu Beob-sa, who lived with a complaint perpetually hanging off his lips, went quiet whenever he came here. He knew all too well that butting in carelessly on a conversation between crew heads would cost him his free meal.
"We did actually come to eat. And to have a meeting."
"Do you think I don't know you, Director Gong?"
"You know me well."
"So you're offloading gold coins? How many? Sell them to me."
"And you'd throw in, what, ten extra silver coins for the privilege?"
"Twenty's doable these days. You saw when you came in, didn't you? Gold coin rates have gone insane lately. Eighteen hundred silver per gold."
"That's steep. Eighteen hundred."
Eighteen hundred meant a single gold coin was worth eighteen hundred silver ones.
It was a figure so high it seemed absurd—but there was no helping it. Silver coins went mainly toward Shelter entrance fees and use of the facilities, but with gold coins, you could buy abilities.
With a single gold coin, even an ordinary person could hold their own against monsters.
Gold that valuable was naturally going to command a premium.
And beyond that, there was the fact that silver's value dropped the moment you stepped into the Shelter.
Not only did you have to pay the entrance fee every twenty-four hours, but using the facilities inside cost a hefty amount as well.
The cost of eating and sleeping in particular was so ruinous it made the entrance fee look like a bargain.
Even living frugally, Shelter life ran five silver coins a day, entrance fee included.
Spend the day a little more comfortably, and ten to twenty silver coins vanished in no time.
With per-head costs like that, mid-sized gangs couldn't even dream of resting in the Shelter for a few days.
This was exactly why survivors struggled to save up gold coins.
Whatever they earned evaporated just as fast.
"You made a decent haul this time, though. Why not exchange while the rates are good?"
"Not doing it. It'll climb higher—what's the point?"
"Climb higher? You're saying this isn't the peak?"
"That's right. It'll climb. The meat's good, by the way."
"Director Gong. You have any basis for that?"
"I do."
"Care to share that basis?"
"Why do you think the big deals keep coming your way?"
"This is about coin rates, isn't it. In a world where people kill each other over a single silver coin, gold is something else entirely. If someone's trying to shake the market, I'm not sitting still for it."
In a world where a day outside the Shelter was impossible to survive without abilities, the Shelter was beginning and end for every survivor. Pay your coins, and at the very least, you lived another day.
"Don't fish for information. Bring more meat instead. And what would shaking me even get you?"
Won-goo didn't so much as blink, even as Sanghae turned serious.
"I'm being serious. This is an important matter."
"If I had no basis, you could just let it go. Why so touchy about it?"
"Anyone else's mouth, I would. But this came out of Director Gong's mouth."
"You're awfully good at pretending to care."
"I do care. Among the powers throwing weight around in this area, your crew has the fewest numbers. And yet you operate just fine."
"Skip the flattery and give me a basis, then."
"Eat more meat. I'll pour you a drink too."
"Not that. Ramen."
"……"
"You've still got some stashed, haven't you?"
"You know it's precious, and yet……"
"No? Fine."
"Our Director Gong's craving ramen, is he? I'll boil some up right now."
Sanghae laughed, and Won-goo laughed along with him.
"What you're serving now is a given. Ten boxes. Jjapagetti if you can manage it."
"That's precious stuff. You know how rare ramen is."
"If you don't want to, forget it."
"That's a firm promise, is it?"
"And if it isn't? We're not exactly strangers, so what would be the point? Me, of all people? You know me better than that."
"Fine. Deal."
"Boil twenty packs of ramen too."
"Eat your meat. What is this ramen obsession? You'll burst."
"No worries. Our crew's never burst from eating yet."
Sanghae went to the kitchen, traded a few words, and came back.
"So? What's the basis? No more stalling, or I'll lose my temper."
"It's going up. If you have any trades pending, cancel them. If you go through with them, you'll regret it."
"That's what I'm asking—why will it go up?"
"And that's exactly why people say you keep your nose buried in contracts too much. Who're the hottest outfits around here right now?"
"Among the ones throwing weight around?"
"Yeah. The ones doing dirty work."
"Around here, wouldn't that be Respect's Clan, Dr. Woo's office, and the Nero Family?"
"What's the common thread?"
"Well, they're all completely different……"
"No. They're all painfully mediocre."
"That's true."
"And which was the biggest of the lot? Poke, wasn't it. Turned out to be all bark, but still."
"Hm?"
"With Poke gone, what do you think the mediocre outfits are going to do?"
"Ah……"
"So stop staring at your contracts and look around you once in a while. It's all information."
"Things are about to get noisy, then."
"And it'll last a while. Satisfied now?"
Sanghae nodded.
"Then write up a contract, too."
"Another contract now? I wrote the one with Poke for you already."
"You'd hand over information this valuable for just that?"
"Hey. Director Gong. A man's got to protect his livelihood. Contracts are my bread and butter."
"Think I don't know that? It's a simple one. See over there—our new crew member."
Won-goo said, jerking his chin toward Jeon Hye-ji. She was quietly eating in a corner.
"I need a contract drawn up with her."
"That's all?"
"That's all. And then there'll be nothing left loose between us. You know me. I keep my contracts to the letter."
"Understood. I'll see to it. What'll be in the contract?"
"We'll talk terms over the food. Food first."
* * *
"P-Poke's gone, so why would things get n-noisier?"
That was Su-won for you—curious about everything. Apparently taken with his newly bought hat, he kept fidgeting with it as he asked.
"Because he's gone."
Jo Mu-sa supplied the answer.
"W-shouldn't things get quieter when the biggest gang disappears, though?"
Geum Chul-soo joined in as well.
"And what, pray tell, lies around this area?"
"What do you mean, Mr. Mu Beob-sa?"
"What everyone around here has their eyes on is Buri Island."
"Ah……"
"What's Buri Island?"
This time it was Jeon Hye-ji who asked.
"An island where beaked beastmen live. Birdfolk. You've never seen one?"
Jo Mu-sa explained kindly, and Jeon Hye-ji shook her head.
"Not every beaked beastman is the same, but the ones living on Buri Island around here are extraordinarily friendly toward humans. On top of that, they know how to grant special abilities to objects. That's why everyone wants to visit Buri Island. They love human-made things, so if you bring them some, they'll hand over items in return."
"I'd imagine there are limits, though."
At Jeon Hye-ji's remark, everyone turned to look at her. It was a way of saying she was sharper than she looked.
And Won-goo smiled for a different reason as well—because Jeon Hye-ji was adapting fast.
Just now, she had mimicked Mu Beob-sa's verbal tic. A telling glimpse of just how smart she was.
Mu Beob-sa, who'd been wearing an indifferent expression, let out a small chuckle.
"Right. That's exactly it. Items out of Buri Island come with quantity limits, and the humans desperate to get their hands on them are everywhere."
"Could it be…… that Poke's gang had a monopoly on that?"
"No. They were all just warily watching each other. To reach Buri Island, you have to cross the Long Legs. And that place is an incident-prone zone."
"You mean the gangs cause a lot of trouble there, don't you?"
"Our Hye-ji, what a fast adapter. Keep participating this actively from now on. Only the proactive survive this godforsaken world."
Jeon Hye-ji nodded.
"To you, Boss, I shouldn't nod, I should——"
"That's enough. How many times have I told you this isn't some hierarchy? Radish kimchi. Rein it in, will you?"
"Sorry, Boss."
"To sum up: Buri Island is essentially a stable income source. So of course plenty of people covet it. What do you suppose works best? The best play is to ambush the ones heading home after finishing their trade. In a world where everything's scarce, you thin out your competition and make money at the same time."
"Two birds with one stone, then."
"Right. Our Hye-ji must've come from a good school, hmm?"
"……"
"With the biggest outfit, Poke's gang, gone, the others will move to devour the vacancy now. They'll figure that alone, they're more than strong enough to tidy up the whole neighborhood."
Won-goo wrapped it up neatly.
"Anyway, that's a worry for another day. What we need to prioritize is something else entirely."
"What's that?"
"Now that the gold coins are in, it's time to chart our course."