Chapter 33
Chapter 33
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 33
Chapter Title: Always One Step Ahead
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"No, boss! Are you really just going to let the bastard who left me like this walk away scot-free?"
"Ah, shut up. You went and got your ass kicked on your own, so why are you snapping at me?"
The ruler of the safe zone.
Kim Min-su frowned as he stared at one of his subordinates who'd come back beaten black and blue.
There was a limit to how clueless you could be about a situation.
Getting cocky for no reason, taking a beating, and then demanding revenge on his behalf—what nonsense.
"We're short on manpower who can actually fight. You really want to stir up trouble and take unnecessary losses?"
Of course, they were just three kids at most.
Sure, if a bunch of them ganged up, they could win.
But doing it right in front of everyone would ruin his image.
The system he'd carefully built could crumble.
"So you're telling me to just take this beating lying down?"
"Ah, just wait a bit. I even made them an offer to join us. Gotta give them time to think it over."
The subordinate grumbled for a while before slamming the door on his way out.
"Ha, that guy's a headache."
His head wasn't the sharpest, but his spear skills were decent enough to make good use of him.
But with his arm in that state, he was useless now.
Just a rice worm guzzling food.
'Can't just toss him out outright, though.'
Maintaining his faction was crucial to ruling the zone.
If his underlings grew dissatisfied or acted on their own, control would slip away.
Dumping him right away for a little injury would stir up talk later.
He'd have to bide his time and dispose of him quietly down the line.
-Ring ring ring!
Just then, the phone on his desk rang.
No way a phone would ring in this doomed world.
But Kim Min-su picked it up as if it were routine.
"Is the hotel faring well, President Kim Chun-sik!"
He smoothed out his frown and spoke in a deferential tone.
If it weren't just a phone, he'd have bowed too.
-......I told you not to call me by that name.
"Gasp! My apologies, President Kim!"
The man who'd introduced himself as being from some 'Doom Hotel'.
Kim Chun-sik was a big shot who called occasionally.
'At first, I thought he was some lunatic.'
But the massive amounts of coins and info he'd sent were more than enough to earn trust.
Even without that, there was no doubting Kim Chun-sik was someone enormous.
The reason a guy like Kim Min-su with no real skills could rule the safe zone?
It wasn't an exaggeration to say it was all thanks to this man, Kim Chun-sik.
"Thanks to following your orders, President, our zone is running smoothly. Truly grateful!"
-Skip the pleasantries. Time's money.
Kim Chun-sik replied curtly, as if annoyed.
These one-sided calls always came his way, but Kim Min-su lived for them.
Every time he heard from him, massive gains followed.
-So, any promising talents show up?
"No real standouts yet. But just recently, three more survivors came in."
-Survivors? They made it through the fog?
"Yes. They looked young, but they beat one of my guys to a pulp."
-......Intriguing. You didn't kill them just for touching one underling, right?
Forgetting he couldn't be seen, Kim Min-su hurriedly shook his head.
"As if! I said it was fine and started with introductions. Even offered them to join, but they turned it down on the spot."
-I see. Well, anyone who bites that bait isn't worth our attention anyway.
Kim Min-su let out a sigh of relief.
For some reason, Kim Chun-sik had a huge obsession with gathering talented people.
Unfortunately, no one up to his standards had shown up yet.
"If you need them, shall I try recruiting with better terms?"
-No, never mind. Got something more important.
"Information?"
Kim Min-su blinked dumbly.
This was a first.
-Looks like there's a hidden quest tucked into the first main quest.
"H-Hidden quest?"
He had no idea what it was, but it reeked of money.
Otherwise, why bother calling separately?
-Can't pin down the exact conditions, but only players in the main quest can clear it.
"Whoa, never imagined something like that was hidden."
He still couldn't wrap his head around what was happening in this world.
Quests? Like some game or novel.
And yet this guy Kim Chun-sik brought him top-tier info like it was nothing. Amazing.
"A hidden quest must have insane rewards, right?"
Kim Min-su had done a few minor quests himself.
Thanks to Kim Chun-sik's help, of course.
Those coins had propelled him to this position.
But a hidden quest, not just any quest?
Maybe he'd finally get invited to that 'hotel' Kim Chun-sik was at.
-Can't say for sure on the rewards. But it's apparently a seriously useful skill.
"Man, where do you even get info like—"
-You don't need to know that.
Kim Min-su quickly backed off at the firm tone.
That perceptiveness was how he'd climbed this far.
-Too bad, but I'm already at the hotel, so I can't join the main quest. Didn't expect it'd hold me back like this.
"Then?"
-I'd like you to clear that hidden quest and secure the skill for me. Think you can?
"Y-Yes, of course! This zone's locked down tight by me—just leave it to me."
-Good answer. Clear the hidden quest, and I'll have you brought to my hotel.
"Th-Thank you, President! I'll do my utmost."
With that, the call ended.
Kim Min-su swallowed hard.
'Nail this, and I can make it big even in this crap world?'
Even after the apocalypse, human nature didn't change.
Latch onto the right rope, and the path ahead was smooth sailing.
'Ha, but how the hell do I find clues for a hidden quest?'
Kim Min-su's gaze drifted to the thick fog in the distance.
In a place walled off by fog everywhere, clues had to be out there.
'Sure, it's crawling with monsters, but...'
It wasn't his problem anyway.
The rice worms would handle the scouting.
Kim Min-su summoned his gathered underlings.
What was the secret of the fog?
To find out.
I sought out the woman who'd tried tempting me before.
I handed her a biscuit, and she beamed, snatching it away in a flash.
"Mm, this'll only cover a hand at best. That okay?"
Even as she said it, she was already tearing into the biscuit.
Pretty thick-skinned woman.
"Forget that. I came because I have questions."
I placed another biscuit in front of her.
She must've been starving.
Her eyes were glued to it.
"What's on your mind? Big sis doesn't know much."
"Do you know what monsters come out of the fog?"
She tilted her head as if it were an odd question.
"That's the tentacle monster from the movies, right? Oh, small ones pop up sometimes too."
"Small ones?"
"People who go into the fog mostly hunt the small ones for coins, yeah? They run at the sight of the big ones from afar."
"......"
I stared at her quietly.
Didn't seem like she was lying.
"Haha, I've never gone out myself 'cause I'm scared. Just going off what I've heard."
".......Does everyone in the zone know that story?"
"Pretty much. Place is too cramped and desperate not to."
So that info had spread around.
Didn't seem intentional.
Everyone seemed to share the idea that 'scary movie monsters' came out of the fog.
"Thanks. That's all I needed."
"H-Hey, wait! Anything else you're curious about? Or if you're really okay with it, me and—"
The woman called out urgently.
I tossed her a chocolate bar.
"Try not to go outside the fog if you can. You'll probably die. The fog will clear in a week at latest."
With that, I headed out.
I'd confirmed everything I wanted.
Then a hand shot out from the side, poking my cheek.
"......Looking out for other girls too? So sweet, our Ji-hoon?"
"Huh, did I?"
"You did."
Hye-na wore a slightly pouty expression.
She must've heard the whole conversation.
"Even gave her a chocolate bar. Got a thing for older sis types?"
"No way. I see pretty girls like you two every day."
Honestly, I do worry sometimes.
See girls like this daily, and my standards might skyrocket.
Readers without illustrations would miss out on these faces.
Pity those who don't know our heroines' beauty.
"P-Pretty...? Hmph! Not like that makes me happy or anything."
She said that, but her mouth was grinning ear to ear.
Childhood friend experience told me she was in a great mood.
"......But if I piggyback on you, will your ability really work? N-Not that I want to or anything!"
"Hm.......Dunno. Never tried it on animals."
Personally curious, but not something I want to test.
Piggybacking a girl while bashing zombie heads with a baseball bat?
What kind of rootless character is that?
"More importantly, let's sort out what we know."
Yoo-ri, who'd been standing quietly beside us, spoke up.
"Did you get the answers you wanted for sure?"
"Yeah, looks like my hunch was right."
I'd asked not just her, but several other survivors about the monsters.
That let me confirm one key fact.
"The monsters in the fog appear in the form people imagine."
"Hm."
That explained why we'd only encountered bugs so far.
Based on Yoo-ri's first experience and words, we'd pictured 'fog monsters as bugs'.
"But people here imagine fog monsters as something like 'tentacle horrors from movies'. That's probably why those came out."
I'd known this quest deliberately pushed 'fear'.
Emphasizing monsters, safety, escape on purpose.
I thought it was to make people fight each other.
But the fog itself fed on that fear.
"So the reason I only ran into bugs back in the original world was......"
"Yeah, rumors like that were already spreading."
Didn't seem like someone deliberately spread it.
But fear, once started, spreads fast.
Like how people here thought of monster movies upon seeing the fog.
"So the more scared people get, the stronger the monsters that appear?"
"Depends on the imagination, but yeah, high chance."
At least not easy mosquitoes like ours.
The movie monsters I remembered were pretty terrifying.
Theirs might've been real beasts that could smash cars effortlessly.
"......Impressive. Even after going through the fog myself, I never thought of that."
"I wouldn't have noticed without your story, Yoo-ri."
I shrugged.
"In the end, the fog manifests monsters from people's imaginations. That's its secret—and the point of this quest."
The moment I said that.
A message popped up before my eyes.
I blinked at the sudden message.
"......What the hell is this?"