Chapter 11. People Gathered at the School.

'Do I want to raise these people up and form a group?'

Truth be told, I hadn't created the group called 'Disaster' myself, either, back on Titan. People had gathered after hearing of my reputation, and the group had simply formed on its own. They'd borrowed my name and operated under it according to their own will.

It was simply that everything I'd destroyed in pursuit of my goals back on Titan had happened to be trash. From their perspective, I probably looked like some kind of special 'revolutionary.'

'But does Earth even have those kinds of mighty, overwhelmingly powerful beings?'

No. Earth was a peaceful planet where neither magic nor martial arts existed. Invisible hierarchies built on power and money existed, certainly, but most countries professed democracy.

'Protecting these people with my strength is easy. So what is it that I really want from them?'

Individualism had always been my motto. Trust no one. Depend on no one.

Looking back now, I had grown unexpectedly attached to 'Disaster.' People who'd lost everything and come to me with nothing but my name to go on. People who'd refused to surrender to the walls of reality and sought me out anyway.

"Now that I think about it, whenever something came up that they couldn't handle, I'd step in and deal with ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠it myself because I didn't want to see them get hurt..."

Does that make it love-hate, then? No. I hadn't hated them. I'd 'reigned' to keep them safe, but I hadn't 'ruled' over them. It was simply the kind of person I was.

If that was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who I was, then I wouldn't change—not there, and not here. So long as they didn't change, either.

* * * * * * * *

"Unless a special specimen shows up, none of you should have too much trouble handling zombies. But when you do engage, crush their heads in a single blow. Think of it as fighting another person."

Take a person with ordinary sensibilities and morality. How many of them could take a life without hesitation?

Tell them to kill a small cat or a dog and they'd agonize over it, stabbing only after dozens of false starts. Tell them it's a human being and they'd manage a thrust or two at most.

And what I was demanding was that they crush the skull of something that looked exactly like a human—kill it in a single blow.

Swinging a blunt weapon or a blade right in front of you was a world apart from pulling a trigger or loosing a bowstring from behind. They were going to hesitate, badly.

"Hesitation is natural. But think it through, all of you. I am not an omniscient god. If the person next to you gets bitten and turns, I will, without the slightest hesitation, take his head."

At that, their grips tightened around their respective weapons.

—Chae-ae-aeng...!

I channeled mana into my middle finger and flicked the blade, drawing in quite a few zombies.

"Hwa-ap...!"

The old man let out a shout and planted his shield at his feet. Chaeyeon struck at the center of the swarm, and Jia picked off zombies coming in from blind spots.

The remaining two cut down any that tried to clamber over the shield.

It hadn't been a long fight, but everyone except Chaeyeon and the old man was gulping for breath—first real combat would do that.

"A chieftain once held off a legion of demon beasts with nothing but a single shield. A queen of the elves used to kill enemies over the next mountain with her bow."

"Son, I'm pushing sixty."

"Oppa, I've literally never touched a bow in my life, you know."

"Don't talk to me about age. And Jia, that's what happens when you recklessly dump raw mana into the bow. Refine it. Put it into the arrowhead without wasting it."

Having said that, I looked over the others. Chaeyeon was managing fine on her own. The other two stared at me with expectant faces.

"The swordsmen I used to know would've fainted if they saw this mess."

Just look at that clumsy, brute-force manipulation of internal energy. Still, they'd only just picked up swords. Considering that, they were doing fine. It didn't satisfy me, that was all.

I kept walking and repeating the process—observing their combat, giving feedback.

We'd walked for a while when, for the first time, we ran into another group of survivors.

"Are you people from the hospital? The deadline hasn't..."

Because I'd talked so much about looters, my group, still on high alert, kept their eyes fixed on the strangers.

"We don't have a fixed place of our own. We're just survivors banded together, moving around."

"You're genuinely not from the hospital?"

"No. And we've got no reason to lie, anyway."

They whispered among themselves, stealing glances at us.

"We've gathered survivors and are staying here at the school. If you're wandering, would you like to stay with us?"

"You don't know who we are and, if I'm being blunt, you seem wary of the hospital people. What would you do if we were from there?"

"If you were from the hospital in the first place, we wouldn't have been able to talk this long..."

'Come to think of it, those pieces of trash we first ran into said they were operating out of a hospital.'

For starters, these people weren't Awakened. Just ordinary folk holding weapons. And I didn't sense any particular killing intent from them, either.

We followed them and, along the way, heard why they'd been so on edge about the hospital.

The hospital was a group of trash, mostly Awakened. For some reason, despite the overwhelming gap in force, they left the school side alone—except for the occasional times they dragged off women and men.

"So none of you ever thought about fighting back?"

At that, he let out a self-deprecating laugh.

"Why wouldn't we have? Awakened are still human in the end. They die if you shoot or stab them. But..."

"Then why..."

"When a typhoon you can't resist comes at you, people just lower their heads, tremble in fear, and pray it passes over quickly..."

Some might call it cowardice and spit on it, but these people had chosen to survive—even if it meant living like dogs.

"The truth is, the first time we raised arms against them, they took a few of the ringleaders and killed them—brutally, unimaginably savagely—right in front of their parents, their children, their lovers... What choice do you think the people who saw that scene would make?"

I'd been through it too, in the days when I had no power. I'd wished that the giant monsters would simply pass by without stepping on me, without even noticing me. Later, I'd built my strength, fought back, and won.

But I'd been alone. These people each had families, lovers.

'Doesn't change the fact that they're all trash who deserve to die, no matter what.'

I swallowed the words and looked at my party.

'The kind of trash that wouldn't stir even a flicker of guilt. As my group's first kills, they'll make excellent teaching material.'

Some people say any sinner has the potential for redemption. I have no desire even to understand that view, let alone sympathize with it.

Give men like that a chance at penitence and they'll just murder more cleverly to avoid getting caught, steal more carefully to keep from leaving a trail. People don't change.

"Ahaha, have I been too grim? The school up ahead—that's where we're staying."

The party had subspace rings, nothing huge, but they stowed their weapons inside. Walking into a group of civilians armed on first meeting would put them on guard.

The people leading the way were startled to see the weapons vanish in an instant, but they quickly turned their heads away with the vague thought, "Well, they're Awakened."

Just then, a man standing guard in front of the school approached.

"Group leader, heading back? And who are the people with you?"

"Haha, just a bit of recon, looking for food. These are survivors we met on the way."

"Ah... I see."

The man on watch studied us with a vaguely uneasy expression before finally averting his gaze.

"Anyway, come on in. Normally the men and women are split up, but the school is big for our numbers, so you can just find an empty classroom and settle in there."

He guided us to a vacant room, then excused himself and left, saying the man in charge was calling for him.

"Sihu, did you see their faces as we walked in? They all looked so... hollow."

"Well... there are looters around, and from a civilian's standpoint, this is the kind of situation where it's hard to keep your head on straight, isn't it?"

"Chaeyeon's right, and the old man makes a good point, too. It was almost like they were all doped up..."

Even as I said it, I found it strange. From a position of power, there was no particular reason to drug them. And Awakened had already transcended ordinary human strength. There was no need to go so far as to use drugs.

'I'll watch the situation unfold before I decide on a course of action.'

"More to the point, I don't understand the looters' position. From their perspective, this place is just prey. Why they're leaving it alone—I'm curious, and I can't figure it out."

"I honestly think you've got a point there. If they're going this far, there's bound to be a reason."

Time passed, and when the ration distribution hour came, we collected our food and returned to our room.

"Hold on..."

Sensing something off, I took a bite of the food I'd received first.

'Those goddamn fucking...'

I spat out what I'd eaten and burned the rest I was holding with my aura.

"It's not poison—some kind of drug has been mixed into the food. The people we saw outside have probably been eating this, too."

Immediately, I used internal energy to burn the drugs out of my system, then spoke to the others.

"If you don't eat, they might get suspicious, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so you'll have to. I've burned the drugs out, so it's fine now."

Something had been off from the very start. Even if you had an interest in growing your group's size, who so easily welcomes total strangers into the fold?

If I intervened, I could resolve this in an instant. But these people needed the experience of navigating the situation themselves.

For now, I told everyone to spend the time as they pleased and regroup in the evening to share what they'd observed.

As for me, I planned to mask my presence ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and take a walk around the school to gather information of my own.