Outsourcing Is a Problem Solver's Basic Skill
On the motorcycle racing toward the gas station, Ban called Eve while slicing through the harsh wind.
"Professor Jung. Anything unusual on watch duty?"
[Ah, Master! Yes! Not a single Walker shadow in sight. It's completely peaceful~!]
Eve's nasal voice flowed through the earpiece.
"Good, good. Looks like you're keeping a solid watch. Head down right now, grab sixty cans of food and two bottles of whiskey with the kid, and wait in front of the Humvee."
[Huh? Sixty cans all of a sudden? Did something happen?]
"We're bringing some guests, so don't ask questions and just do as I say."
[Ehhh? Guests? Got it, Master!]
It wasn't long before Ban's motorcycle and the Blackheads' beat-up jeep pulled up side by side at the gas station entrance.
"Master! You're back!"
Eve, waiting in front of the Humvee, jumped up and down while waving her hands. Beside her stood Yui, who still couldn't meet his eyes because of last night's incident and was pretending to be distracted.
And on the Humvee's roof.
"You're here? Those people..."
Haze looked down at him, holding the sniper rifle she favored. Wait, hadn't she just gone on shift a few hours ago? Yet here she was again, already back out with a gun in her hands. He really couldn't fathom that older sister's insane stamina.
"Whoa... insane..."
"They're goddesses..."
The Blackheads climbing out of the jeep froze in unison. A voluptuous beauty, a pale and pretty little thing, and even a sexy sniper—all gathered in one place. In the wasteland where only grimy bears lived together, this was obviously not a common sight.
The mercenaries' eyes darted around as the sound of them swallowing hard reached all the way over here.
"Ahem. Ahem."
Jin cleared his throat and shot his subordinates a look. Only then did they flinch and avert their gazes, though Jin himself was secretly shocked.
"So. This is the base you guys took over?"
Jin scanned the gas station's exterior and slightly furrowed his brow. Of course it looked like shit. The barrier had been ripped out by the roots, and aside from the main building, it was just a skeletal old gas station shell.
"What the hell is this? You call this shithole a base?"
At Jin's sneer, Ban grinned.
"Well, it might look like a shithole on the outside, but it's a cozy base for us. That's why we need the barrier. Those Unchained bitches ripped out even the benches from the wall."
Jin burst out laughing at Ban's words. Made sense. Publicly, the Unchained were that whole "saintly order for justice" bullshit faction.
"For a saintly group, they sure hold a nasty grudge. Well, doesn't matter. So, did you at least make the inside of the main building livable?"
"Obviously. It's where we eat and sleep, after all. Oh! But invading privacy is off-limits, so no coming inside, got it?"
"I promise."
Ban picked up the duffel bags Eve and Yui had prepared and handed them to Jin. When the heavy bag opened, a pile of canned food and two bottles of gleaming whiskey were revealed.
"Down payment. Thirty cans and two bottles of whiskey—all pre-apocalypse vintage. When can you start the job?"
"......Holy shit."
Jin's scarred eyes widened in shock. Thirty pre-apocalypse preserved cans were no small sum, but that pre-apocalypse whiskey was a crazy item that went for whatever price you named. To throw pre-apocalypse whiskey as a down payment just to guard this shithole gas station...
"Where the hell did you get stuff like this... Who are you really?"
"I told you, I'm a stylish problem solver. Quit yapping and just answer."
At Ban's urging, Jin swallowed dryly and nodded.
"...Today. We can start right now."
"Okay. I like how quick you are."
Ban casually picked up the remaining duffel bag and placed it in Ann's arms. It was heavy, packed tight with thirty cans.
"Eek. It's heavy... Huh? W-what is all this...?"
"Payment for that Michelin-star stew from earlier. Give it to the old man."
Tears welled up in Ann's eyes again. He'd saved her life, and now he was handing over enough food to fill the entire camp's stomachs.
"Th-thank... thank you!!! Thank you so much!!!! Hic... hicc... hicc..."
"This uncle here is weak to kids crying, you know? If you cry, you'll grow horns on your butt."
Ban gently patted the crying Ann's head, then looked at Jin.
"You'll need to bring materials and manpower for the work anyway. Drop this kid off at the camp on your way."
"...You're a better person than you look. Understood."
Jin glanced back and forth between Ann and Ban in surprise before answering. The mercenaries grabbed the bags, climbed back into the jeep, and Ann bowed repeatedly as she got in too.
Vroom—!
The jeep carrying the Blackheads and Ann kicked up a cloud of dust and disappeared from view. Ban exhaled cigarette smoke and watched their retreating figures with a relaxed expression.
Only after the jeep's engine noise had completely faded did Yui, who had been hiding behind the Humvee, creep forward hesitantly.
"Um... who were those big guys earlier? Why did you suddenly hand over all those cans and whiskey..."
Yui asked in a small voice, subtly avoiding Ban's eyes.
"Ah, I outsourced some work to them. They're going to rebuild the entire barrier and stand guard for us. They're called Blackheads—pretty decent mercenary group, apparently."
"What? Outsourced? You gave them sixty cans and two bottles of pre-apocalypse whiskey just to hire them?"
Yui's eyes widened into perfect circles. The awkwardness from before vanished, and the information-specialist kid's usual tone burst out.
"You idiot! No matter how much pre-apocalypse warehouse stuff we looted, you don't just hand over such precious goods to complete strangers!"
Yui pointed accusingly and shrieked.
Oh. She was finally back to her usual nagging, high-strung energy.
"Kiddo. Roughly how many cans were in that underground warehouse earlier?"
"Uh... just eyeballing it... I don't know. There were a ton...?"
"Exactly. Out of all that ridiculous amount, we threw away sixty cans and two bottles of rotting whiskey and bought ourselves a solid barrier and some useful guard dogs."
At Ban's shameless but airtight logic, Yui could only move her lips wordlessly.
At that moment, Haze lightly jumped down from the Humvee roof and approached Ban's side. Her light-green hair fluttered pleasantly in the sea breeze.
"Mr. Ban's judgment is reasonable, but..."
Haze spoke calmly while securing the safety on her rifle.
"Are they trustworthy?"
"In this fucked-up world, where would you find trustworthy people? Still, from what I saw, they're not bad. Especially that leader guy."
Ban shrugged.
"Judging by their armament and eyes, they're definitely battle-hardened veterans. They'd chew up most raiders without breaking a sweat. Doesn't seem bad."
"Right? Our sexy sniper lady always gets it."
Ban chuckled and stubbed his cigarette out on the ground.
"But there's one thing we need to watch out for. Those bastards said they'd start construction today, which means they'll be tearing up the ground around this gas station."
Ban's gaze turned toward the skeletal main building of the gas station. Inside it was the hatch leading down to the underground bunker.
"Human greed being what it is, if those worthless mercenary bastards see this honey pot, their eyes might roll back in their heads."
At those words, both Eve and Yui's expressions hardened.
"What should we do, Master? Should we cover the hatch with a screen?"
Eve asked worriedly.
Ban smirked and shook his head.
"That wouldn't be bad either. But I already told that bear-like Jin bastard not to enter the main building. Mercenaries tend to follow their own weird code of ethics."
"If they're decent people, that should be fine. Just in case, we should lock the main building door tightly."
Haze added her opinion to Ban's words.
"Good. Oh, right. Kid, did you finish what I asked you to do earlier?"
"I'm not a kid, okay? Of course I did. What do you take this genius hacker Yui for?"
Yui puffed out her chest proudly and snorted.
"I dug through the main computer and pulled every single pre-apocalypse CCTV node from outside. There were a ton! I hooked them all up to the main room screen."
"Ooh~ As expected of the Intelli Master! So how far can we see?"
Ban smiled in satisfaction.
"Not just the main building—we can see the entire gas station. Even up to a kilometer in the surrounding area."
Wow. At this level, they could watch the surface situation from underground in full HD. Leave the barrier construction and guard duty to the bears while they relaxed in the safe underground bunker watching CCTV. This was what a lucky apocalypse was all about.
"Then from now on, we'll take turns on duty just watching these. No need to crawl outside anymore."
After locking the door, covering the hatch with a screen, and heading down to the bunker main room.
A massive display covering one entire wall was broadcasting real-time footage of the gas station exterior. The image quality was disgustingly sharp. It was the pinnacle of pre-apocalypse optical technology that could make even the latest modern cameras look pathetic.
The kind of clarity where you could count the whiskers on a rat crawling within a one-kilometer radius. That kind of feeling.
Ban immediately grabbed a bottle of whiskey and sprawled on the soft sofa.
"This is insane. It's basically watching a documentary. Ahh~ This is living."
Ban took a sip of the pre-apocalypse whiskey and giggled while staring at the high-definition CCTV screens before him.
Just yesterday he'd been up there getting blasted by sea wind on watch duty. But now he was sitting on a plush sofa with whiskey in one hand and a cigarette in the other, looking outside. This was why everyone's eyes rolled back at the mention of pre-apocalypse bunkers and relics.
"I wonder when that bear Jin will show up."
Ban muttered while swirling his whiskey glass.
He planned to go back up once the Blackheads brought construction materials and work out more detailed contracts—like zone assignments and guard protocols.
While Ban was lazily staring holes through the CCTV screens with perfect comfort...
A completely different atmosphere was unfolding in the bunker's indoor shooting range.
Bang—! Bang—!
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Ouch! It's too loud!"
Yui and Eve were sitting on the floor, covering their ears with both hands and screaming.
"Stop whining and stand up."
Haze, standing in front of them, scolded them in a cold voice.
In Haze's hands were two pre-apocalypse rifles she'd taken from the armory.
"We're not combat personnel~! I'm a doctor, and she's a hacker!"
Eve pleaded with teary heart-shaped eyes.
Yui nodded vigorously in agreement.
"That's right! Sis!! We're high-value brainpower! That kind of stupid hunk of iron..."
"That kind of stupid hunk of iron...? What were you going to say next, Yui dear?"
Haze's light-green eyes narrowed, radiating a chilling killing intent.
"Ah... n-no! Sis!! I really want to learn!!"
Yui snapped to perfect attention like a private on drill.
Haze shook the pre-apocalypse rifles in her hands with a click and glared at the two alternately.
"Both of you listen carefully. How did you feel when you faced those unfamiliar mercenaries outside earlier?"
"How did we feel... they were guests..."
Eve said in a tiny voice.
"Ha. Right... Then what if they weren't guests, but the kind of normal bastards from earlier?"
"Huh?"
Eve and Yui's gazes met in midair at the same time.
"Even those normal guys from earlier took one look at your faces and bodies and started drooling, calling you goddesses or whatever, right?"
Haze pointed her chin alternately at Eve's enormous chest and at Yui.
"What if they had been crazy raiders instead? What if those kinds of bastards had burst in this morning while you, Eve, were standing guard alone up top? What then?"
At the brutal dose of reality, both women's faces turned pale.
"You'd either get fucked on the spot and dragged off as slaves or end up dead. I can't be glued to your side twenty-four seven. Do you understand?"
Haze's grim warning weighed heavily on the shooting range.
It was a truly horrifying reality. No matter how heavenly the bunker was inside, the outside was still a hell crawling with madmen.
"Eve. I roughly showed you how to shoot this morning, right? Get your stance right. Yui, since this is your first time, follow my instructions carefully."
"Scary sis... Yes..."
Even while grumbling, Eve and Yui were overpowered by Haze's aura and lined up in front of the firing line.
"This is a pre-apocalypse firearm with a perfectly built-in recoil control system. Your thin shoulders won't get dislocated when you fire, and the scope automatically locks onto targets, so just shoot as instructed."
Haze forcibly pressed one rifle into Yui's arms.
It was much lighter than she'd expected. Whirring— A faint mechanical sound came from inside the scope as it automatically acquired a target, and the gun made minute adjustments on its own.
"Huh? What the... the gun's moving by itself?"
True to her Intelli nature, Yui quickly grasped the machine's principle, and her eyes sparkled with curiosity.
Eve, who had already experienced it that morning, aimed the muzzle toward the target with familiarity.
"When I give the signal to fire, hold your breath and pull the trigger."
Haze stood behind them and gave instructions in a cold voice.
"Target confirmed. Fire."
Bang—! Bang—!
Two gunshots rang out simultaneously inside the shooting range.