Chapter 76
Chapter 76
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 76
Chapter Title: 25. What Happened to Them. (3)
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The men began to tell their stories.
They hadn't been locked up all at once. Each had been confined at different times separately, so there were gaps in what they knew.
What one had gone through was unknown to the others.
By listening to their accounts, we could piece together what had happened to the cockroaches.
That day.
The day I sliced off the boss cockroach's two front legs and gouged out its eyes.
On that day, the boss cockroach's command vanished.
Over a hundred strong—though I'd turned twenty into corpses with the dead cockroaches—the remaining forces weren't insignificant. They plunged into chaos.
Just the healthy, active men numbered over a hundred. Whether they looked after the elderly and children or not, including the women, they'd formed a massive community of at least several hundred.
Enough that raiding a convenience store daily wouldn't even suffice.
The boss cockroach who'd led them all became incapacitated.
So who would take charge?
Who would pick the raid targets? Who would play bait? Who would divvy up the loot?
That was immense power.
The one who seized it could lord over the entire community.
It also spelled civil war.
The thugs buzzing around the power vacuum.
One faction pushed to enthrone the boss cockroach's wife. The other demanded a new leader. They clashed.
The new leader faction lacked a clear focal point but apparently had incredible unity.
Of course they did. Each one fantasized about becoming the next boss, handing out the goods, wielding that power. Their drive and teamwork hit peak levels.
The wife-entronement faction, by contrast, was made up of those who'd fed well off the boss cockroach before.
In other words, losing power to the opposition meant their downfall.
It wasn't about liking the wife or her great leadership.
They were propping her up to save their own skins.
In the end, fighting broke out.
They inflicted heavy losses on each other.
Even amid the chaos, the new leader faction took a real beating.
Their motivation and cooperation were top-notch, but with everyone stepping up as "the leader," they splintered. They ended up scattered, getting pummeled everywhere.
The thugs fled. In their flight, they looted huge hauls of the original boss's stockpiles or torched them to ruin, then scrammed.
The wife faction, desperate to hold onto what little remained, feared getting picked off one by one if they gave chase. They wound up stuck feeding hundreds with a mere handful of rations and barely any people left.
Too many wounded from all the brawling.
In the midst of that extreme stress, the wife cockroach got blackout drunk and stabbed her near-comatose husband dead.
From her view, if they hadn't dragged everyone to rush me, they could've lounged in power, looting stores at leisure.
But the boss cockroach blew it with a massive misjudgment.
He had no clue how fast I could carve through them in a flash.
That one screw-up sparked everything. The wife cockroach, seething at her inhuman-looking husband and me alike, plunged the knife in.
Then she came for me.
To kill me too.
From her standpoint, she'd been playing queen bee, lording over people, only for it all to shatter overnight.
The depth of her grudge? Killing her husband, then hunting me down says it all.
They say human greed knows no bounds and repeats the same mistakes.
After the wife cockroach got thrashed by me and passed out, the goons who'd come to fetch her.
They looked rough too.
That pitiful bunch was the absolute limit of the cockroaches' available manpower.
The cockroach forces—tattooed pigs, street punks, and guys who'd turned punk from the thrill of looting and raping women—collapsed like dominoes in a blink.
Torn apart by infighting and internal strife.
That's why the thugs guarding the warehouse with the men and women suddenly vanished.
The men escaped the now-silent warehouse, freed the women, and came to us.
We heard them out fully, discussed it over, pieced together the mess, then stood.
"Got it. You had it rough. Rest up now."
"Yes, hyung."
"Yes, Seong-hun-ssi."
The men bowed politely to me.
Our guys, Jung Eun-seo included, looked markedly different. Bittersweet, relieved.
Jun-hyeok spoke up.
"So... what about the remaining victims there?"
"What about them?"
Jung Eun-seo turned to Jun-hyeok.
"We're not a charity. We can't save everyone. It's tight just keeping ourselves alive."
The others fell silent.
I was a little surprised too.
Was this the same girl who'd zipped around on inline skates, arms full of ramen packs, delivering to people?
Jung Eun-seo eyed the escaped men.
"There's tons to do here. Don't think we took you in just to lounge. Find your roles and pitch in. Got it?"
The three men nodded, a bit cowed.
"Yes, understood."
"Yes."
Jung Eun-seo headed out of the calligraphy academy.
Jun-hyeok and Hoon's ajusshi seemed taken aback by her tone too.
...Hmm.
I clapped Hoon's ajusshi on the shoulder and left the calligraphy academy.
As I did, I told the three men,
"She's not usually like that. But she's not wrong. There's really a ton to do here, so find work and handle it. Get along with everyone. Got it?"
"Yes, hyung."
"Understood."
I nodded to the men answering so politely and walked out to the elevator.
The elevator sat stopped at the 10th floor.
Jung Eun-seo... Her sentry shift shouldn't be over yet.
Guess the stress got to her.
I knew where she'd gone.
I called the elevator and got off at the 10th floor.
Then headed straight to the rooftop.
Sunlight poured brightly over the rooftop.
The vegetable patch hadn't sprouted yet.
But seeing Grandmother, So-eun, and Hoon's ajusshi's wife tilling soil and watering made it feel cozy, heartwarming somehow.
Jung Eun-seo stood apart from them, by the boxy railing.
Arms braced on the wall, gazing into the distance—her face looked somehow lonely.
Grandmother, So-eun, and the married woman waved at me, so I waved back and approached Jung Eun-seo.
"...You okay?"
She glanced my way, then bowed her head.
"Sorry, Seong-hun-ssi."
I chuckled.
"Nothing to apologize to me for."
I pulled out a cigarette, lit up, and offered it. She smiled faintly, took it, and puffed.
Chik.
Hoo—
The smoke drifted apart.
Jung Eun-seo said,
"...I don't get why I'm like this. Why am I so pissed? Everything just... infuriates me."
Hmm...
I couldn't even imagine what Jung Eun-seo was feeling.
The cockroaches had turned themselves into cockroaches. No one had egged them on.
But she'd been the one to draw them out.
Was she blaming herself even for her sibling's death?
If so, maybe drowning in self-loathing.
Just a hunch, though. I wouldn't know.
I could only stand there beside her, sharing a smoke. A smoke buddy.
"Eun-seo-ssi."
She looked at me.
I said,
"I like you, Eun-seo-ssi."
Her eyes widened a touch.
I chuckled.
"Whatever you say, whatever calls you make—I've never once thought you were wrong. Won't going forward either."
Hoo—
Nice drag.
"No one's at fault. Not me. Not you. Nobody."
I pointed off into the distance.
"Except those cockroaches."
Hoo—
I exhaled the smoke with those words.
Jung Eun-seo didn't answer.
She just turned her gaze away, staring far off.
"Hoo, haa."
Getting back to the underpass entrance took more acceleration than ever.
Meaning I'd gone deep.
No clue how many were left inside, but they'd thinned out noticeably.
Time to scout the next target.
Somewhere teeming like the underpass.
Level 22.
Definitely leveled faster mixing close- and long-range weapons.
Dumped 8 points into Senses for 19 total, then headed back to the hypermarket.
Arrow practice included, I'd fired at least 300 shots so far.
Made a difference—drawing the string, aiming, both quicker now.
Keep it up, and it'll get even faster.
Never tried other bows, so no real comparison, but this recurve bow? Love it.
Skill handles the hits, sure, but reaching the target demands solid draw weight.
This one, even from what felt like 100 meters, sent arrows smashing through heads with crazy power.
Headshots guaranteed from 100 meters out.
Factor in the skill, and it's one-shot, one-kill anywhere inside max range.
So what's the max range?
Cleared the nearby ones, and the curving underground mall made it tough to gauge.
Not bothering to lure a human beast, Acceleration away, measure distance—that's too much hassle.
I'll figure it out eventually.
Satisfied with the bow and skill, I headed back to the hypermarket.