The Dominator
I already knew full well that I was a villain. But as I kept saying, I didn't particularly enjoy killing people.
Think about it. Killing living human beings—not zombies? And doing it over and over?
Even I didn't feel great about that. Instead, what I had to make crystal clear was that when someone needed killing, I would kill them without hesitation.
The middle-aged man collapsed right there, and I declared it to everyone present.
"This bastard will manage you from now on, so follow him well. Screw around like dogs and I'll put you in the same state as him."
The same went for anyone who came at me. I wasn't some religious leader with a silver tongue—I was just a guy whose only real talent was screwing women.
I had to deal with rebels decisively and hand things over to someone I could at least halfway trust if I wanted my own operations to stay smooth.
I couldn't exactly go around killing every single person I met from here on out.
If I had to draw a line, thoroughly crushing anyone who got in my way—like I just had—was about the limit of what I could manage.
An Suhyeon had ended up connected to me like this, so my current thinking was to use him for all he was worth.
I made the declaration ironclad to the frozen crowd and set An Suhyeon up as my proxy.
"Then you handle the management. I'll help you keep them under control properly."
"Th-that's too much."
"What? Right now you've got two women and two men. That's plenty. You should be able to manage that much. Think of yourself as a squad leader. And if it comes down to it, kill one as an example. Where's the knife I gave you?"
Normally I carried a couple of knives as last-resort weapons for fighting zombies. One was the military special still hanging at my waist—bigger than a kitchen knife—and the other was a thinner blade.
I'd handed the thinner one over to An Suhyeon.
"Then we need to set up shop. Where did you sleep last night?"
"Huh? Just some warehouse-type place..."
With this guy's personality, nothing would work if I just left him to it. I was going to have to designate a spot for him too.
I headed into their base and asked Woohee.
"Where do you usually sleep?"
"...."
"Answer me."
When she still didn't reply, I dropped my voice low and growled. Woohee hurriedly pointed toward the far end of the second floor.
We moved to that room. It had a non-working water cooler, assorted clothes, even a bed.
"A lot nicer than the places we just passed through. Looks like you got special treatment."
She really did give off that queen-bee vibe.
"Whoa, you've even got condoms? Good at preparing ahead, huh?"
Only a few individual condoms left in an empty box. She was thorough about birth control, at least.
Something I ought to learn from—except I hated using condoms and had no intention of bothering unless things got truly urgent.
As long as I avoided fertile windows, it was fine. The downside was that the woman had to answer honestly about it.
"Curtains too. Not bad. An Suhyeon, you use this room. Looks properly maintained at a glance."
"What?"
The one who reacted wasn't An Suhyeon—it was Woohee, still wearing that sour expression.
"Don't be ridiculous! To a piece of shit like him?"
"...An Suhyeon. Hit this arrogant bitch."
She still hadn't grasped the situation. I planted a hand on An Suhyeon's shoulder.
"You're the one managing this place. But your 'underling bitch' is refusing you right now like she has a right to? Give her a clean shot."
"Th-that's..."
An Suhyeon's eyes couldn't even look the woman in the face properly. Just how thoroughly had he been ground down living under her?
Woohee protested to me.
"Wait a second! This is insane! Being managed by a guy like him? Does that make any sense?"
"You're mine anyway, so I'll move you soon enough. Look forward to that. Until then, An Suhyeon is managing you because I said so—follow him."
"That pathetic loser trash? Hey! You say something—"
"Unbelievable."
I slapped her across the face again. This time it must have landed hard; Woohee took the hit and toppled backward.
"W-Woohee."
An Suhyeon, startled for some reason, tried to help her up only to get shoved away.
"Get lost! Get the hell away! Why do I have to take this kind of shit... Sangsu's dead too..."
Her voice cracked as tears spilled down Woohee's face.
Hmm. Experience told me this was the moment to soothe her—but with her personality, thoroughly breaking her would work better, wouldn't it?
I grabbed Woohee by the hair and hauled her up.
"This kind of shit? You're just some woman the men protect who isn't even useful. Wake the fuck up. Right now you're my property. I can do whatever I want with you. Recognize the hierarchy. And behave yourself. Unless you want more of this treatment."
"..."
Woohee just cried, tears dripping steadily. Pushing further here would be tough.
"The room's someone else's now anyway. Sleep wherever's left. And I'll say it again—An Suhyeon manages you. If I hear about resistance or any of that crap, An Suhyeon deals with it. Got it? Answer me!"
"..."
Woohee managed a weak nod. That would have to do for now.
On to the next matter.
"But An Suhyeon. The reason you all came this way is because something went wrong over by the mart, right?"
"Yes."
"Tell me the truth. You didn't run just because of one zombie. You said food was overflowing..."
An Suhyeon let out a sigh through slightly trembling lips.
"Originally it wasn't one zombie—there were quite a few. About ten. Along the way we fought each other over a single zombie and the numbers suddenly jumped."
"That so? So there was a reason you couldn't go on the attack. You should've said so earlier. Why bother claiming you ran from just one?"
"If we found people, the plan was to lure them by saying there was only one, throw them to the zombies, and take their gear. In my case they sent me to gather people."
The picture was coming together roughly.
"An Suhyeon. When those bastards sent you, did they give you food or water?"
"No. Just told me to go find people, no supplies..."
"Ah..."
I could more or less tell how it had gone. Disposable pawns, huh? They never intended to head toward that mart in the first place.
And since I looked like a lawless thug, they figured they needed to offer a carrot too.
"Then I'll clean up that mart for you."
For the ones who feared me—and to thin out the zombies.
Those two conditions lined up, so I was going to wreck the mart side.
"Keep that in mind. I'll be out for a bit, so hold the fort. I'll be back tonight."
I'd use the advantage of my gear and hit them at night instead.
Before that, I'd leave Woohee in his hands for now and pull back to gather the supplies I needed.
Just hang on until then.
I'd grab the shower unit and water from the space I'd bought near Seol-hwa's place first, scrub Woohee thoroughly clean, and enjoy her.
Then at night I'd slaughter the zombies.
That would wipe out every local headache in the area and let me push farther out.
Meaning I could start running into actual military units or other refugees in earnest.
"See you in a little while, then."
I hauled the bicycle and cart along and steadily headed for the next step.
An Suhyeon was on the verge of losing his mind.
He told me to manage them? How?
His entire life, aside from the years before school, had never known a single peaceful day.
Small frame, dull looks—a life that made him nothing but a punching bag for everyone else.
Even after the zombie age arrived, that hadn't changed.
And now, out of nowhere, he was being told to manage an entire group.
"...."
Once the man left, only silence settled over the place.
The two other men were still perfectly fine, and Woohee had had a rotten personality ever since high school.
Could he control any of that? Only five people total, but for An Suhyeon it was a crushing responsibility he could barely handle.
"Um... everyone."
He carefully addressed the people glaring at him.
"What?"
"Lucky you, huh?"
All that came back was mockery.
"What the fuck is that piece-of-shit bastard doing acting so big?"
"That guy managing us? In his dreams, the retard."
"Oppa, what do we do?"
They whispered among themselves and had already written him off.
You're the one managing them.
An Suhyeon recalled Jin Dohyuk's words and steadied himself.
"Look, let's go inside and d-discuss a plan."
"Who the hell are you?"
When the long-haired man challenged him, something surged up inside An Suhyeon.
"The manager."
"Manager? You? You lost your mind?"
An Suhyeon snapped without meaning to.
"Then what are you going to do? Wait for that guy to come back and tell him to kill all of us?"
"You little shit..."
An Suhyeon braced for a beating, but to his surprise nothing happened.
"Tch..."
"Look at you, all grown up."
The snide remarks still came, but compared to the usual violence they barely registered.
In that moment An Suhyeon understood his changed position.
So that's it. They're quiet because they're afraid that man will come after them if they touch me...
Exactly. In simple terms, he had backing now, so the people who normally ignored him were staying quiet.
A sense of efficacy.
Right now a small new feeling was stirring in An Suhyeon's chest.
Could I become like that man too?
Remembering that overwhelming presence, he had to reassess the authority he now held.
"We split the food fairly. And no one hogging the drinking water—everyone conserves the same amount."
He spoke earnestly, but because the authority had been forced on them, everyone only half-listened.
Still, the part about fair food distribution seemed to land; they at least went along with that.
"Haa..."
An Suhyeon took even that as a win.
If it had been that man, would it have been different?
If it had been Jin Dohyuk, half-listening would definitely have earned them a lecture.
But An Suhyeon wasn't at that level yet.
Who am I to... this much is already enough.
He headed to the newly assigned room and found Woohee sorting through belongings.
"...Woohee."
When he called her carefully, she whipped her head around in pure disgust.
She had always been the center of the class since high school, the one who led the pack.
Even in this zombie world she had swaggered under Gim Sangsu's protection.
Now she looked like the haggard, tear-streaked woman of a fallen king.
"I-it'll still be okay..."
"Don't talk to me! You fucking nerd! You think I'd take comfort from trash like you?"
Woohee stormed out, and An Suhyeon lowered his head.
In a way it was the natural reaction, yet a strange feeling rose in him.
Still... she doesn't have to act like that, does she?
An emotion he had never dared feel before was welling up.
No. What am I even thinking...
He was trying to shake off the thoughts that didn't match his station when Woohee's suddenly cheerful voice rang out from outside.
Who is it?
He peered out in surprise and froze in shock.
Shin Minpyeong—who everyone thought was dead—was talking with Woohee.
"M-Minpyeong?"
"You crazy fucking nerd, have you lost it?!"
Shin Minpyeong charged at An Suhyeon with a furious face.
"You insane bastard! Teaming up with that son of a bitch to take this place? You of all people? Does that even make sense?"
"Aagh! No—"
"You piece of shit! Touch me and you're fucked? You're fucked first! Go ahead! Go cry to that bastard!"
The same old violence. Violence he had grown used to.
An Suhyeon felt as if he had simply returned to his original place in the world.
Why me? Why do I always have to take the abuse?
An emotion he had never felt before was being born. Did unfairness always have to be accepted?
Use this.
Jin Dohyuk had already gifted him a weapon for exactly this moment.
While he was being beaten, An Suhyeon carefully drew the knife he had been given.
He drove it precisely into the leg of the man kicking him in a rage.
"Aagh!"
Shin Minpyeong screamed and went down. An Suhyeon finally unleashed a fury that had never existed before.
"You son of a bitch!"
He yanked the knife free and stabbed wildly, over and over.
"Aaagh! Uwaaagh!"
Shin Minpyeong's screams rang out, then after a while fell silent.
"Haa... haa..."
Before he knew it, the only sound left in the place was An Suhyeon's blood-soaked, ragged breathing.