Starting the Faction Smash-Up Now (2)

I let out a dry laugh as I looked over the gallery, which had been wrecked into a glorious mess.

The main quest’s difficulty had gone up.

Exactly how much it had risen, and exactly what had changed, didn’t seem to be explained anywhere.

Everyone was too busy asking what the hell had happened to the green moderator, or, to be honest, just busy stirring up trouble.

Of course, Ho-jun and I seemed to understand the cause perfectly well.

"You can see it too."

"...Yeah. I guess you can too, Sol?"

"Obviously."

I still didn’t know exactly how it had changed, but I understood one thing perfectly: because Ho-jun and I had entered Yeouido, it had become much harder for everyone else to survive.

"So we’ve become enemies of humanity."

"……."

"This is why they say Calamity-class is such a problem."

I scratched the back of my head in embarrassment, and Ho-jun sighed before saying it was his fault.

"...I shouldn’t have followed you."

"Exactly."

"……."

"So it’s all your fault then?"

"No, what do you mean by that...! We fought it together."

He muttered in a small, wounded voice, but that was a different matter entirely.

Besides, we’d woken up, hadn’t we? That basically meant I was cleaning up the mess Ho-jun had left behind.

"Then why did you crawl all the way into Yeouido in the first place?"

"……."

Knowing full well he had screwed up, Ho-jun apologized and didn’t say another word.

He admitted he’d been wrong, and scolding him wasn’t going to stop people from dying anyway, so I nodded and brought the topic back to the factions.

"Actually, this works out better."

"Hmm?"

Ho-jun tilted his head, and I grinned as I started writing on the ground with my scabbard.

"The more ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chaos closes in, the more public opinion starts to wobble, right?"

"Yeah."

"So if we show up with supplies and say we’ll protect them, way fewer people will die."

At this point, the people in the First Protection Zone were probably already preparing to move to another zone.

I spread out the map and checked each district one by one.

The First Protection Zone was Guro and Geumcheon, bordering Yangcheon, Yeongdeungpo, and Dongjak.

There were four factions operating there.

Someone might think it was strange that more than half of them were still around.

You could say fewer zombies were better, sure, but those two areas also bordered Gyeonggi-do directly.

At the boundary between Gyeonggi-do and Seoul, zombies had effectively carved the line in two, as if they’d set up a barrier themselves.

Most of them were C- to B-class zombies, so from the perspective of a faction with an A-class boss, it was basically a money printer.

And if they helped the green moderator deal with the Yeouido zombies that occasionally came down, they’d get a little extra on the side too.

"...But why are they blocking the ones coming down from Yeouido?"

"Because if the users themselves disappear, the gallery dies. They know exactly where their power comes from."

"Hah. So the green moderator isn’t exactly a sane person either."

In other words, the factions didn’t care if they ran wild; they just wanted to keep the zombies from coming down and killing everyone, so they were only bothering to manage that part.

'They’re just sitting around, blocking the yearly Wave and living off the easy money? Unreal. What a scam job.'

I cursed the green moderator inwardly and looked toward the First Protection Zone.

"Anyway, the people there will probably try to pass through the Second Protection Zone, Gwanak and Seocho, and head for the Third Protection Zone. But there’s one problem..."

The Third Protection Zone was a clean zone with no factions.

That made it a place where we wouldn’t have much trouble building our own faction.

The problem was the zombies still scattered throughout the zone itself.

Even though awakened humans had increased in number, most of them were only D-class, so they still couldn’t wipe out all the C-class zombies running around by default.

The factions only worked as far as their own interests went.

It was easier to make a living dodging crap and farming loot than risking your life, after all.

Everyone always thought someone else would take care of it, and that’s how it had gotten this bad.

Thanks to that, the would-be zombies being exploited in the First and Second Zones had a hell of a time trying to cross into the Third.

"...Well, not being able to come this way because of zombies should be fine."

"Why?"

"Because if they stay there, they’ll just die at a human’s hand anyway."

"That’s true, but... if it were me, I think I’d rather be killed by a person than by a zombie."

Wasn’t becoming a zombie kind of awful?

However much you wanted to die, being killed by a human was still better than that.

I was wondering if we should make it easier for them to cross over here when it hit me.

"Oh, then that works."

"……?"

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠snapped my fingers and pointed straight at Ho-jun.

"You save them!"

"That... what?"

"I mean it. You just go around doing relief work!"

"……."

"You can just keep rescuing the people trying to get across."

Wasn’t that basically his job in the first place?

"I’ll pull in a ton of points from this side, so what do you think?"

"...Well, if you order it, I’ll follow."

I grinned at how obedient Ho-jun had become after I’d planted that little seed of guilt from Yeouido.

I’d already made a plan to draw all those people over here.

Now the important part was...

"Need someone who can help round up awakened humans. Looking for a willing Ho-jun."

"……."

"No Ho-jun?"

Gathering up awakened humans.

I didn’t need small fry like B-classes or C-classes.

I’d take them, sure, but right now what I needed was definite combat power.

"Aren’t there two more candidates?"

At Ho-jun’s words, I nodded as if it were obvious.

There were seven A-classes who had formed factions.

And there were three more who operated alone, never joining any faction.

One of them was the paramedic standing right in front of me.

Another was the Saintess, one of the most famous figures in the gallery.

As for the last one... I didn’t have ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠much information about them.

I knew they were active in the gallery, but they apparently didn’t go around openly advertising the fact that they were A-class.

Rumor had it they used a gun...

For now, I was treating that as complete nonsense.

However you looked at it, a gun was far too inefficient.

"What are you going to do?"

Leaning against the wall, Ho-jun threw the question at me.

I smiled, got to my feet, and looked toward the Third Protection Zone.

"I’m going to start with the easiest one to win over."

"...Understood."

"Good."

The target was set, and winning over the Saintess was simple enough.

There was not a single survivor on Earth who didn’t know that the Saintess had a hair-trigger hatred for wrongdoing.

That said, even if I did some small good deed and asked her to join our faction, she still wouldn’t come.

Factions were, by nature, in competition with one another, which meant there were fewer opportunities to perform good deeds in the first place.

But...

'An overwhelming good deed.'

If it was a deed so great it bordered on a miracle from God, would that Saintess really be able to resist it?

"Bwahahaha...!"

Just wait, Saintess! I’ll show you a miracle so close to divine power that mere humans couldn’t possibly perform it!

J-just wait fifteen days, Saintess!

As I kept walking while laughing my head off, I could feel Ho-jun quietly taking two steps farther away from me.

The Saintess, who had once just been an ordinary high school girl, or rather Baek Ha-rin by her real name, pressed both hands together and slowly read the notice post the green moderator had put together.

"...God, please show us mercy."

The Saintess, who had no combat ability at all, could only pray.

"Kwahahaha!! Damn it! What the hell is this holy crap!! Ooooh! My Dragon Heart is growing!!!"

"...Shut up already! You’re bringing the zombies over!!"

"Kwahahaha!!! Points, come to me!!!"

She had no idea that a maniacal baby dragon, twenty-one years old in human terms, was coming her way.