The Gwangmyeong Faction
The conversation flowed more freely in a relaxed atmosphere. As they talked, they openly vented their rage toward Gusan; they claimed that in Gwangmyeong, they were subjected to daily beatings, while in Amhyeon, their women were snatched away.
“They even took women who had husbands. Right in front of our eyes. Are those even human beings?”
Management of the small and medium-sized shelters was handled by the Information Department, and they explained that each shelter had a different supervisor. It seemed the experiences varied depending on what kind of person that supervisor was.
“You guys have it much worse than us.”
“We’re on the better side of things.”
Hwang Gyunam said with a bitter expression. I had heard something similar before—that because Oh Jeonghwan was such a renowned athlete, Gusan treated him with a certain level of respect. At the very least, it meant they weren't treated like playthings as these people were.
“What’s the exact scale?”
“Gwangmyeong has 18 people, including myself.”
“Amhyeon currently has 14. We originally had twenty, but they took the women….”
The Amhyeon shelter leader, Seo Jeongwoo, trembled slightly. From the moment Gusan was mentioned, Seo Jeongwoo seemed unable to control his emotions. He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and let out periodic, stifled sighs. We all realized it. Among the women Gusan had taken, his wife was included.
“Mr. Seo Jeongwoo. The coalition’s purpose is to keep Gusan in check; we cannot attack them immediately. The gap in military power is too vast for that. Do you still wish to join?”
“I know. It’s just… I feel like I’ll only be able to sleep if I do something.”
There is a saying: don’t trust people, trust the situation. In that sense, Amhyeon had sufficient justification to stand against Gusan. On the other hand, it was still hard to be sure about Gwangmyeong. As I shifted my gaze to the Gwangmyeong shelter leader, Choi Giseop, he spoke as if he had been waiting.
“Do you know the difference between a thug and a gangster? For a gangster, if you lose your dignity, you’re finished.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Ah, you didn’t know about Gwangmyeong. The Gwangmyeong Faction was a fairly famous organization in Gangnam. The current members are all the family from back then.”
So they were hoodlums—no wonder their physiques looked unusual. Perhaps because of my prejudice, Choi Giseop’s words didn’t carry much credibility.
“Isn’t it a blow to your pride to have been beaten by my peer?”
“It’s different.”
“I don’t know. I don’t see what’s different.”
“If someone is just insanely strong, you can just serve them as your big brother, right? But getting beaten with a stick by some scrawny bastard without even being able to throw a single punch? That’s completely different.”
Hmm…. Getting beaten up is the same regardless, so what exactly is the difference? Honestly, I didn’t quite understand, but I decided to hear him out for now.
“I only want one thing. I just need to crush that bastard who hit our kids with the stick.”
“And after that, you intend to crush my peer?”
“No. I have no hard feelings toward your peer. We fought fair and square and I lost, so I have nothing to say. But there is a condition.”
“A condition?”
I had already made up my mind to provide supplies. Even if they refused, I intended to support them anyway. Choi Giseop scanned our members and brought up something completely different from my expectations.
“If it’s a coalition, don’t you need a coalition leader? Everything else is fine, but let’s decide the leader by pure strength.”
“Excuse me…?”
“Let’s have a fight, and whoever wins becomes the leader. I can’t serve someone weaker than me as the boss—it’s bad for my dignity.”
Choi Giseop’s eyes sparkled. I was confused whether he was just incredibly simple-minded or if he was still living with a sense of romanticism.
Han Jiyoung, unable to watch any longer, stepped forward.
“Listen here, Mr. Muscle Pig? Didn’t you say you got beaten up yesterday? My senior is way stronger than that guy, you know?”
“Hmph! You never know until you try.”
“So that’s why you go around getting hit.”
“Hey, watch your mouth. I don’t go easy on people just because they’re women.”
“Oh, I’m so scared. You’re the type that would be cut down by me alone.”
“If you’re so confident, why don’t you have a go right here?”
As Han Jiyoung snorted and lowered her sword sheath, Choi Giseop stood up, showing no intention of backing down. I felt like I had just gained another troublemaker.
“Jiyoung, stop.”
“Why? You hate these kinds of people too, Senior.”
“Do I?”
“Never mind then.”
As Han Jiyoung sat down with a pout, Choi Giseop smacked his lips as if disappointed. Anyway, a coalition leader…. A representative position was absolutely necessary, but I hadn’t thought about it while focusing on forming the coalition. Personally, I thought it would be better for Oh Jeonghwan to take it. Since the coalition was an alliance between shelters, it looked better for an existing shelter leader to hold the position.
“What do you think?”
I asked Oh Jeonghwan, but his thoughts seemed different.
“Naturally, you should take it. You’re the one who worked the hardest to form the coalition, and you’re the strongest.”
“What about you, Shelter Leader?”
“As I said before, I’m negative about the coalition. It would be absurd for someone like me to be the coalition leader.”
On the surface, it felt like he was yielding the representative position to me, but the underlying meaning was that he was drawing a line. It meant that forming the coalition wasn't the stance of Osori Shelter, but merely my personal action. It meant he was still afraid of Gusan.
I realized Oh Jeonghwan’s intent and nodded.
“What about you, Mr. Seo Jeongwoo?”
“I don’t care who does it.”
“Then it seems we only need the Gwangmyeong Shelter’s agreement.”
As soon as I finished speaking, Choi Giseop stood up again. Was he a fighting maniac? He had been crushed yesterday, yet he wanted to fight again? Seeing him warm up and lift his chin as if he were confident, I felt a strange sense of detachment.
“Let’s go to your shelter instead of here.”
“Eh? You want to go to where our kids are? They say even a stray dog gets half the advantage on its own turf—are you sure about this?”
“I want to be certain.”
“Wow, you’ve got more guts than you look. Fine by me.”
None of the Osori members were worried about me. Only Seo Jeongwoo, who followed behind, wore a face full of anxiety.
“Senior, I’m going too.”
“Why you?”
“Hey, I can’t miss such an entertaining spectacle.”
“Then me too!”
Han Jiyoung and Kim Inbeom followed quickly. Finally, Choi Junseo accompanied us in silence; they were the only people within Osori who were positive about the coalition. It was reassuring to have key members of our combat strength with us, especially Han Jiyoung.
“You, if you’re thinking of pulling any tricks on my Senior, you’d better stop. You’ll actually die if you try.”
“Hmph! Who do you take me for, a hoodlum?”
“You’ll see when you find out.”
“Just say you’re scared if you’re scared. Stop yapping, tsk!”
“You really don’t know anything. Do you even know what a Hunter is?”
“It’s English. A hunter.”
“……Yeah. That’s truly impressive.”
“Hmph! That’s basic.”
“I got it, so just hurry up and walk.”
“I’m a college graduate, you know?”
“I really want to crack your head open.”
I was following Choi Giseop, but I was a bit dumbfounded. I expected a process of negotiating with supplies and persuading with logic—who would have thought it would be decided by a mindless brawl?
“We’re here. It’s that building.”
The place Choi Giseop pointed to was a kickboxing gym. As we went down the stopped escalator and entered the gym entrance, two men with short, buzz-cut hair bowed at a 90-degree angle.
“You’ve arrived, Boss!”
“Yeah. Nothing wrong, right?”
“Yes, nothing, Boss!”
“Good work.”
“Thank you, Boss!”
They answered boisterously, as if zombies were the least of their concerns. What was even more bizarre was that there were no particular security systems or sentries posted. If the basement floor was their main base, it was common sense to post sentries on the ground level. The buzz-cut men I saw earlier were just gatekeepers, not sentries.
“They really live without a thought in their heads.”
I agreed with Han Jiyoung’s words two hundred times over. Inside the gym, which was as wide as a playground, men who looked like gangsters at a glance were sweating as they exercised. There were shouts of exertion everywhere, but not a single person paid attention to us, focused only on their training. It felt like time had stopped here, as it was a scene identical to any gym before the great apocalypse.
“Hey, you guys! The Boss is here, aren’t you going to greet him?”
“Greetings, Boss!”
I didn’t know about anything else, but I had to give them a thumbs up for their discipline. The space that had been full of vitality turned silent and motionless at Choi Giseop’s single word. They weren’t robots, but they all took the exact same posture, as if there was a set angle for their greetings.
“Now, attention.”
“Attention!”
“This gentleman wants to form a coalition. He says the purpose is to keep Gusan in check. So, don’t we need a coalition leader? You know what I mean, right?”
“Yes, Boss!”
It felt like a lot of explanation was missing, but did they even understand? Or were they people who didn’t need understanding in the first place? I was beyond confused; I was dizzy.
“We’re doing it by our rules. Whoever wins is the boss.”
“Understood, Boss!”
The gangsters began taking off their gloves and putting down their exercise equipment. Like partners who had been in sync for a long time, they understood the intent with just a few words. And that wasn’t all. Their ability to act was enormous. They pushed the equipment into the corners in an orderly fashion and formed a circle to create their own ring—I had never seen such people in my life. Not one person asked back, and not one person complained. They just followed orders and moved.
“This is really….”
A man who looked like the youngest entered the ring and warmed up. His face was covered in bruises, likely from being beaten by Im Jongchan yesterday. Yet, there was no fear in his eyes. Defeat is like a trauma, and it’s common sense that getting hit in the same spot again hurts like hell. But none of them cared about yesterday’s defeat. I didn’t know if they had collective amnesia or if they only had one circuit in their brains, but suddenly, I had this thought:
That recklessness that doesn't care about yesterday's defeat. That simplicity that insists on a one-on-one duel even in the overwhelmingly advantageous situation of their own base. Suddenly, I thought:
These people are truly charming.
Perhaps they are people who live with a sense of romanticism that is most ill-suited for this era.
“…This is a problem, I’m starting to like them more and more.”
“Senior, show us a move!”
“This is going to be fun, isn’t it?”
I hadn’t felt any fighting spirit because it was the first time I’d felt such an affinity for someone in such a short period. Given the atmosphere, I couldn’t persuade them without fighting, so what should I do?
“Are you ready?”
“Ah, wait a second.”
“Why is it taking so long? Don’t tell me you’re scared of our youngest?”
Even after hearing such provocations, I didn’t feel like fighting. Still, there was no choice. I had no other option but to finish it as quickly and painlessly as possible.
“Come at me all at once.”
“Eh? You want us to gang up on you?”
“Bring weapons, too. Do everything you can.”
“Ha! You’ve been looking down on us as hoodlums since earlier, but we are gangsters. Gangsters don’t do things that lower their dignity.”
“This is a problem, I like them….”
I stepped into the ring, half-forced. The youngest gangster rotated his shoulders and raised his guard. To think I had to hit that chestnut-looking guy—God is truly cruel.
“Then, let’s begin!”
Thwack—!
“Ugh!”
The chestnut-head rolled and rolled, tumbling out of the ring. Choi Giseop shouted:
“Alright, next!”