27. Plunderer (1)
Life in the zombie apocalypse must be no different from hell for ordinary citizens. Everything they'd always enjoyed had vanished, and the daily routines they'd taken for granted were now luxuries in this world. Countless people suffered under the disaster of the zombie apocalypse, growing pessimistic and viewing this place as hell itself. But conversely, there were those who saw the zombie apocalypse as paradise.
Jo Sun-do, the self-proclaimed King of Gyeongju who ruled North Gyeongju with Gyeongju Bridge as his border, had gained things he could never have obtained before the apocalypse.
'What a fine world this has become.'
Yes, it was an era akin to hell for others, but for him, it was better than anyone else's. Things like indulging in extravagance without restraint, embracing beautiful women, or getting thoroughly wasted on drugs would have been nearly impossible in an era when South Korea's public safety was intact. Jo Sun-do wasn't rich enough to live lavishly, nor handsome enough to date stunning women. He held no power, and all he knew was committing petty livelihood crimes as a common crook. At best, he'd belonged to an organization smuggling and distributing drugs into South Korea, but he was just a disposable mule they used and tossed aside. The only pleasure he could steal was sneaking some of those distributed drugs to get high.
"Come here, baby."
"...Yes."
But when the apocalypse disaster struck, everything changed for Jo Sun-do. The social weakling and organizational discard known as Jo Sun-do vanished, replaced by the King of North Gyeongju.
Jo Sun-do had been lucky. That day, high on drugs, he'd fearlessly beaten a zombified gang member to death—and awakened in the process. And he was the first in Gyeongju to realize that an awakener's power could be grown not just by killing zombies, but by murdering other humans too.
"I can give you everything you want, baby?"
"Y-yes, that's right."
After that, it was simple. Incredibly simple. Abandoning all common sense and reason on instinct, he hunted down survivors wandering about—not just his own organization—seizing their supplies and plundering their lives at will. Hiding the traces of murder or crime? Effortless. The CCTVs in the city were useless now anyway, and you just tossed the leftover corpses to nearby zombies as bait. Then hunt those zombies yourself.
Ah! How efficient!
For the plunderer Jo Sun-do, the zombie apocalypse wasn't hell—it was paradise itself, a heaven prepared by God to grant what he could never obtain!
"But baby, why the long face? Did I do something bad? Huh?"
"No. Mr. Jo Sun-do, you're the hero of this place."
If you had power, any act was forgiven. Any act.
"You're making me out to be the bad guy."
"Gasp!"
Even the evils he committed now were tolerated. There were plenty of women who amused Jo Sun-do, and many young, beautiful women surrounded him, but they all stayed silent, watching the unlucky victim with bitter eyes. She was practically innocent, but none dared oppose Jo Sun-do. Of course not. Here, he truly was the King of Gyeongju.
"Please spare me. Please spare me. Please spare me. Please spare me. Please spare me. Please... spare me, I beg you..."
"Why say such things, baby? Did I do something bad?"
Tears streaming down her face, the victim begged for mercy from Jo Sun-do, but it meant nothing to the demon in human skin. In this apocalyptic world, Jo Sun-do's word was law and truth.
Unable to resist the violence pounding her body, the woman could only let out desperate screams. Each cry echoing in the room made the women around Jo Sun-do tremble, clenching their fists in rage—but they had no way to help her.
"What? Already out? I thought since she's an awakener, she'd last longer."
A few blows from his trained awakener strength, and she lolled her tongue out, limp and slack. A horrific state that needed a doctor immediately, yet Jo Sun-do lost interest, as if regretting the loss of a pretty toy.
"Hey. Revive this one."
"Y-yes, sir!"
Of course, he didn't forget to heal the unconscious woman. Jo Sun-do's hobby was crushing proud, aloof women beneath him—women who'd never spared him a glance before. The one just beaten had been a capable career woman he couldn't have dreamed of touching pre-apocalypse, and he'd vented his base urges this way for so long.
"Truly a great world, isn't it?"
"……"
Truly a great world. At least from Jo Sun-do's position. The woman beaten to the brink of death, and the slave treating her, couldn't possibly agree. Their utmost resistance was silence.
"What? Slave bitch, no answer? No—revive this whore right now. Fail, and you die."
Morality forced upon them was gone. They lived as he desired, with loyal slaves managing the household. Killing a slave or two? No one dared complain to Jo Sun-do. Any with a conscience to voice discontent had long vanished.
"You wanna end up like those rebel slaves last time?"
"N-no, sir!"
Those with conscience who opposed Jo Sun-do became his fodder. North Gyeongju was his kingdom. Live if he commanded, die if he commanded. Yet slaves dared rebel against him, and the King of Gyeongju showed no mercy to such insurrection. A massacre—all involved slaughtered. Not just ringleaders, but any accomplices too.
The sole survivors linked to the rebellion? Beautiful slave women subjected to sexual exploitation. They lived, but only as meat dolls in toilets for his men's lust.
'Terrifying.'
To the women who witnessed that fate up close, Jo Sun-do was a true tyrant. Terrified, they supported the foaming, convulsing woman and hurried from the room to save her.
Watching the slaves flee like that, Jo Sun-do surveyed the now-empty room with a bored expression.
"This gets stale after a while."
Always the same women. Same pleasures. Same luxuries. At first, acts impossible before the disaster brought daily bliss, but now it was monotonous routine. Embracing captives felt rote. These indulgences seemed normal now.
Going further? Impossible. An awakener's body resisted his old drugs. Overdosing might work, but Jo Sun-do strictly avoided that.
"Damn it. Yoo Su-seong. That Jeong Dong-gun bastard."
Even his current house—the finest building he'd plundered—now felt too cramped for Gyeongju's king. He'd tried recruiting survivor and architecture professor Yoo Su-seong quickly, but the fool ignored the king's offer and joined the Balhut Cult.
"Even if not Yoo Su-seong! Jeong Dong-gun, you should've been with me!"
Not just Yoo—even Jeong Dong-gun, whom he thought kin, had left. Surely someone suppressing dissent through overwhelming force would understand his noble heart! Yet he'd abandoned status and kingship!
His supposed sole kindred spirit! This beast in human skin couldn't comprehend their actions.
"Thinking back, I should've eaten more women when I had the chance."
Lee Hyun-ah and Lee Su-ah sisters. How he wanted to twist those haughty faces into screams. At the Bahamut temple, he'd fantasized kidnapping them countless times.
"And that young cult leader bitch looked tasty. Should've skipped scouting and just taken her."
And finally, Choi Yu-na. He still regretted her often. Before baring his fangs, he'd eyed Yu-na in the survivor camp many times. Wanted to fix her habit of collecting useless junk too.
But variant zombies ruined his plans, and in the chaos, Yu-na fled far away.
'Damn it.'
So his base fantasies ended there. The women and talents he craved had slipped from his grasp long ago. They'd built a massive force in South Gyeongju beyond Gyeongju Bridge, now threatening him—a fact he never forgot.
Yet Jo Sun-do dared not attack the aggressively expanding Balhut Cult.
"Damn it. Damn it. Damn it!"
His good mood chilled as thoughts reached that point. He couldn't understand or accept the cult's actions. He simply refused to tolerate his kingdom crumbling over some weird dragon called Bahamut.
Of course, he hadn't sat idle. He'd spread rumors calling Bahamut a lie in Gyeongju and other communities, and rallied North Gyeongju's underworld plunderers into an anti-South force. That was his capability.
But Bahamut's mere existence forced an unfair fight on him.
"I can't understand it! I can't!"
Blaming it all on Bahamut, he bellowed that he couldn't comprehend its followers. Why pledge loyalty? Why follow without hesitation?
"That thing's a monster!"
It wasn't human. A monster. So why no hesitation? Why squander this golden age? Why didn't the cult acknowledge him as North Gyeongju's ruler? Useless trash. Fit for the dump.
"Bro. I'm back."
"Oh, yeah. Got the goods?"
At least one useful subordinate returned. To shake off his gloom, Jo Sun-do demanded the item he'd requested.
"Well... couldn't get it."
"What? Can't even snag one pack of smokes?"
"They said no more bartering from now on."
"What bullshit is that?"
Bullshit. Pure bullshit. Were they seriously switching to worthless national currency now? Jo Sun-do was about to interrogate if the subordinate had pocketed the goods when—
"No choice! Everyone says they'll only trade with coins issued by the Balhut Cult."
"Again! Again! Again! Those Balhut Cult bastards!"
Balhut Cult again. He could feel his kingdom crumbling because of that dragon bastard.
"So no more bartering?"
"Yeah, bro. No trade without Balhut Cult coins... that's what they said."
"Then what? Plunder South Gyeongju? Or counterfeit the coins."
"B-bro... Inside North Gyeongju's fine, but raiding Balhut Cult territory? Too dangerous. Might make us their enemy."
"Balhut. Balhut... Ahahaha. So raiding the cult makes us enemies, huh?"
Why trust that dragon? Why not pledge to me, Gyeongju's king? Am I not this world's protagonist? Jo Sun-do, mighty leader of mighty power!
"Ha. Ridiculous."
"R-right? So it's safer... Gurk!"
Those who dared insult him died. No matter. He had many followers, and endless slaves to die in their place.
"Assemble all the boys."
"B-bro?"
He'd show them. His rule and influence as Gyeongju's king. And declare to the defiant Balhut Cult that he was the true king.
"Can you believe this? Would you trust this crap coin?!"
Yes, the cult would fail. Even if not, he'd force it.
"Ha. Not like me at all."
Yes, passively watching wasn't his style.
"Right. We've been too tame. Time to do it our way."
"B-bro? War?"
"Sounds good."
Plunder, seize, rape. That was this world's truth. Yes, return to the good world.
"I'll turn this nightmare world back into paradise."
Death to the hated Balhut Cult, dragging the world into nightmare.