A New Weapon
Unlike the gloomy outskirts of the subway, the moment we passed through the automatic doors and barbed wire inside, the atmosphere changed completely.
"Hey, young man! How about cooling off with a little fun while you're here? Just two cans of food and you can savor a woman's soft flesh for three full hours~"
The cosmetics store had been turned into a brothel.
"Come one, come all! All kinds of liquor and soju you won't easily taste anymore—and beer, right here!"
"We've got sausages and fries! All sorts of frozen foods too!"
Where a convenience store had once stood, a bar had taken its place. Tables and chairs set up outside suggested business was better than expected.
"......Interesting."
"Yeah."
Faced with the unfamiliar scene, we looked around like country bumpkins who'd just arrived in the big city. There was something dark yet bright about the place. That contradictory air made it strangely alluring.
"But how are they managing to run a bar somewhere like this? What if people from outside rob them or steal and run?"
"It's probably a shop run by the subway station. Look at the entrance—there are two guards standing right there."
She nodded at my words.
"You're right. Even if someone killed those guards, there's security by the automatic doors too, and more on the way out. You couldn't get away clean easily."
"The defenses are better than I expected. That's how they can operate facilities like this."
There didn't seem to be any living quarters, so this area was probably nothing but shops run by the subway. The free-trade zone between people would be downstairs—the noise coming up from the stairwell was loud enough to make that clear.
I was about to head straight for the market, since nothing particularly caught my interest, when—
"Oppa. I think they're selling weapons over there?"
Sohye, who'd been quiet until now, pointed to one side. The signboard was painted black, with a crude sword shape scrawled across it.
"Want to stop by?"
"Sure."
As we approached the shop, an old man sat in a chair, blowing across a bottle like a trumpet as he drank. Various items hung on the display behind him—most of them lower quality than what we already carried.
"Look around yourselves."
He waved a hand and belched. He didn't seem particularly interested in doing business.
"Are the weapons on display all you have?"
"This is plenty for smashing zombie bastards. What more do you need?"
"I'd like to see if you have things like spears, swords, or axes."
"You brat. If we had stuff like that, we'd be using it ourselves!"
At those words, my eyes lit up.
"Sohye, the bag."
"Ah, yes."
At my request, she handed over the backpack she'd been carrying. I set it on the floor and unzipped it.
"Elder, you seem to enjoy your drink. Would you happen to need more of something like this?"
A box wrapped in yellow packaging. Chinese characters ran across the surface. Someone uninterested in alcohol might not know what it was—but anyone who liked liquor would inevitably recognize it.
"Y-you... isn't that Maotai wine?"
The old man who'd been slumped in his chair shot to his feet. Watching him set his bottle down with his eyes wide open, I smiled inwardly.
"Yes, that's right. I happened to come by this and came looking to trade. I figured it might be just the thing you'd like, so I brought it out. What do you think?"
Young people tended to value whiskey or wine more highly. But the older generation preferred Chinese liquor over Western spirits and held it in high regard. My late grandfather and father had always drunk soju and Chinese liquor every holiday.
"L-let me take a look at that."
When I held out the box, the old man received it as carefully as if it were treasure. He opened the lid, took out the bottle inside, and examined it from every angle. He even shone a flashlight on it before nodding.
"......It's the real thing. Never thought I'd see genuine Maotai before I died."
"Elder. Do you like it?"
"Like it? Of course I do."
The old man smiled contentedly and met my eyes.
"So. Why did you bring me something you went to such trouble to get from a liquor store?"
"I came to a weapon shop looking for weapons. What other business would I have?"
"Heh heh. Fair enough. I'll take this. In exchange, I'll give you something you'll like."
He took the liquor and set it in a corner, then disappeared behind the tent for a moment. When he came back out holding a red fire axe, my eyes lit up.
"I was thinking of giving you this in trade. What do you say?"
The old man set the axe on the table. I picked it up and swung it around—it felt surprisingly light.
That's all thanks to my abilities, too.
In reality it would weigh over two kilos, so it wasn't a weapon to take lightly. In fact, this would easily rank in the top one percent even in Korea.
"Do you like it?"
"I do."
At my answer, the old man smirked and waved his hand.
"Then take it. I need to enjoy this liquor in peace."
"Thank you. Well then."
I bowed my head, took the axe, and turned. The two women who'd been watching blankly followed after me.
"How did you know that old man liked liquor? And how did you know he had an axe?"
"Knowing he liked liquor was easy—he was drinking from the moment we met. His face was bright red too."
"Then how did you know he had an axe?"
"What am I, a shaman? How would I know that?"
"What? Then why did you show him the liquor?"
A man drinking while running a weapon shop in the subway-operated commercial district. The fact that he was an old man. And when I'd asked for spears, swords, or axes, he'd used the word "we."
"Putting all that together, I figured that old man held a fairly high position in the subway station. Otherwise that kind of behavior wouldn't make sense."
In an apocalypse, weapons were second only to food in importance. They wouldn't entrust a shop like that to just anyone.
"When you put it all together it does seem suspicious. But I still don't know if that was enough to act on."
"I was gambling too. Even if he wasn't high up, he was still affiliated with the subway, so I figured if I gave him liquor and got friendly, I could get a decent weapon or some information."
Either way, I'd judged there was nothing to lose.
"And thanks to that, I got this excellent weapon, so it worked out."
The fire axe was superior in both lethality and versatility. With this, I could even break into locked houses—expanding the range of my scavenging.
"Good thing you brought the liquor. You said to take just one before we left, right?"
"Yeah. Never thought it'd pay off like this."
I'd packed it just in case before leaving home. It had paid off big.
"Shall we head down now?"
"Sure."
As we were about to take the stairs in the corner, I felt a gaze on me for some reason.
"What's wrong?"
I stopped briefly and looked around, but couldn't find anyone watching us.
"Nothing. Never mind."
Must be because of the axe in my hand, I thought, and headed down. Below, a chaotic open market stretched out before us.
"Anyone want to trade kitchen knives for canned food!?"
"Selling cigarettes and lighters together! If you want to trade for food, come this way!"
"Selling soju and beer!"
Most people were shouting advertisements at the top of their lungs, while some had written on boxes to promote their wares.
"So this is the market. It's incredibly loud."
"You have to advertise like that if you want to get what you need."
It looked disorderly, but there was a pattern here too—narrow paths for people to pass through, and the fact that everyone wanted the same thing: food.
We walked through the entire market, then gathered in a corner to confer.
"Doesn't seem like anyone's selling food at all."
"Food seems to be the most valuable thing right now."
"Unless someone stockpiled or scavenged, this is about the time people would have used up everything at home. Plus electricity and water are still running."
So drinking water and hygiene products would be considered relatively low value. But if those were cut off entirely, values would start to shift little by little.
"For now, let's mainly buy seasonings like salt and sugar, medical supplies and disinfectant products, plus masks and disposables. There'll come a time when we need them."
"Okay."
"Got it."
I carried condoms, Sohye carried coffee, and Gahi carried cigarettes as we traded for goods. Fortunately, no problems arose.
Probably because the subway manages this place too.
Without people managing it, things would have been far more chaotic. Maybe everyone here would have killed each other to steal goods.
"Here."
"I got some too."
We managed to fill our bags nearly to capacity. Condoms, liquor, and coffee had all been quite valuable.
However, we couldn't get specialized medicines like antibiotics. It was a shame, but nothing to be done about it.
"This should be enough. Let's get out of here quick. A few guys have been eyeing us."
Our goods were valuable enough to draw attention. And more than that, Sohye and Gahi were beautiful.
"Yeah. Let's head up fast."
"Yes."
I took the lead, with Sohye and Gahi following me up the stairs.
Once we reached the subway shop district, the stares dropped off sharply. I glanced back to check if anyone was following, but fortunately no one was.
We passed through the shop district, through the barbed wire and automatic doors, and had just arrived at the place where the beggars had been when—
Woooong—
The surroundings suddenly went dark and we stopped dead. Chaotic voices rose from the subway behind us.
"What the!?"
"What's going on all of a sudden!"
At least we were close to the entrance, so it was relatively bright—but even so, we could only barely make out our surroundings.
"Oppa. Are you okay?"
A light appeared beside me. Sohye had turned on her phone.
"Yeah. I'm fine. Gahi?"
"I'm okay too."
"More importantly, what the hell is this? Did the power just go out?"
"I don't think it's a blackout."
"If it's not a blackout?"
With trembling hands, Sohye turned her phone around. The screen showed that even the internet had been cut off.
"It seems like... the electricity has been completely cut off."
Approximately twenty-four days since the world ended. The power supply had stopped.