Three Out (2)
"Who the hell are you?" the man asked, speaking informally right off the bat. Hmm. Two outs. He’s a man lacking in manners. You have to give respect to get respect, after all. To be honest, ever since I saw that irezumi tattoo, any desire I had to get along with these guys vanished. So, these guys are destined to be test subjects. I’ll probably be able to get some healthy lymph nodes out of them. They’ve got good builds, after all.
"I told you. I came to trade. Do you have anything worth trading? I’ve got soju, cigarettes, and fuel. I’ve got a fair amount of food, too. Oh, and condoms. Ultra-thin ones."
At the mention of soju, cigarettes, and food, the guy’s gaze wavered slightly. He even reacted a bit to the mention of condoms. Right. You shouldn’t judge people too hastily, but there’s no way a guy with a full-body tattoo like that doesn’t drink or smoke. Plus, they’re guys who have women with them. So, ultra-thin condoms must sound pretty attractive.
"What do you need?"
"That depends on what you have. This is a barter, remember?"
The guy was definitely interested. He kept scanning me, over and over. Then, he looked at me and said, "I need to go inside and discuss it."
"That’s fine. I’ll stay in the car in the meantime. I’m a bit anxious, you see."
"Suit yourself."
With that, he boldly turned his back and walked inside. Wow. Showing me his back? He’s bold. Is it that he can’t give up on his bravado and posturing? Well, for a guy who’s even got tattoos, that stuff must be important. Short hair, big build, irezumi, bravado, and posturing. A certain type of person comes to mind. I’m not entirely sure if they’re really from that world, but still.
Waiting in the car, I thought this situation was quite amusing. It was proceeding unexpectedly smoothly. It’s a strange thing. I’m at the point where I can’t even understand the situation I’m in right now, but these guys seem different. They seem to judge that this level of interaction is perfectly normal. As expected, I must be the one with the near-obsessive paranoia. Though, they might just be a bit careless, too. One thing is certain: I’m looking at the world a bit too tensely. Of course, that doesn’t mean I have any intention of stopping this behavior. And their reaction isn’t certain yet, either. They could suddenly jump out and attack me.
The guy came out before long. Still empty-handed. It didn’t look like he’d brought anything extra. So, I got out of the car, too. We faced each other again, and he said nonchalantly, "Do you take drugs, too?"
He laughed as he said it. A slightly fishy laugh. "You aren’t talking about cold medicine, are you? You mean syringes or that white powder you inhale through your nose, right?"
"You know your stuff."
"I do take them, but I can’t verify the product right now. So, the value will be a bit lower. But if you’re okay with that, I’ll trade."
"What about tools?"
"You aren’t talking about hardware store tools, are you?"
He gave that fishy laugh again. And I roughly gathered that this was a polite threat.
"I guess you don’t really have any intention of trading. Did you decide that inside?"
"No way. I’m being serious. Then how about this? Information, perhaps?"
"Information is good. But that’s hard to trade. It’s difficult to verify the truth, isn’t it? And we haven’t built up enough trust for that yet, have we?"
"Is that so? Then I guess I’ll have to save the information. Or, I have something else. Do you happen to have any guys you want to 'take care of'?"
That sounded a bit interesting. An extension of the threat. And a way to convert that into a trade. He must be pretty confident. Seeing him speak so boldly like that.
"Unfortunately, I don’t need that, either. There aren’t many survivors left as it is, and I don’t want to be at each other’s throats."
"Then there’s nothing I can give you."
"Don’t you have water?"
"Water?"
"Yes. Clean water. I don’t know if you’re aware, but getting clean water right now isn’t easy. So, water is also a subject for trade. Its value is a bit lower compared to food, though."
That’s a lie. No matter how precious water has become, it’s hard for it to have a value comparable to food. You can’t compare it to food, which you can’t obtain naturally. But they don’t know that. So, I’ll have to bluff a little on that front.
"Just clean water? You trade with something like that?"
"Not all water is the same. Water from a tank or water from a purifier doesn’t count. Bottled water with the seal unbroken. Only that is subject to trade."
"Then what about beverages?"
"Of course, that works, too. Provided the expiration date hasn’t passed and it’s unopened."
"Wait here a second."
The guy went back inside. And I got back into the car. Good. The bait was taken. Since this is a country club, they’ll definitely have stockpiled water and drinks. Now, all I have to do is drag them all out.
The guy came out quickly. In his hand, he held a pack containing twenty 500ml bottles of water. As I got out of the car again, he set it on the ground. Then, with a triumphant expression, he said, "What can I trade for this much?"
"That’s fine. For 500ml water bottles, it’s two bottles for one can of food. Four bottles for a bottle of soju or a pack of cigarettes. Three condoms per bottle of water."
"Your standards are weird."
"That’s how they do it everywhere else."
Hearing my words, the guy stroked his chin and thought for a moment. His chin and the area around his mouth were smooth—that meant he’d shaved. So, their situation must not be all that bad. Well, that makes sense; that’s why they’d care about things like condoms. If they were truly starving and desperate, they would have already traded them for food earlier.
"Fine. How much do you have?"
"Why don’t you come and see? Just don’t get too close."
With that, I opened the back door. The items I’d loaded up when I left the base. Canned goods, cigarettes, alcohol, fuel, and all sorts of other miscellaneous things.
"I guess you have more than just what you mentioned?"
"I do."
"Can my companions come out and take a look? We have more water, too."
"That would be great. Take your time. Everything here is for trade, so feel free to take as much as you need."
"Got it. Wait a minute."
That’s what he said before going back in. Brat. Still talking informally until the end. How pathetic. A little while later, he came out with two other people. One man with a similar vibe but slightly shorter, and one woman. The woman was honestly pretty. And her appearance wasn’t too bad, either. Is water plentiful inside? She didn’t look grimy from not being able to wash. She had a bit of plastic surgery, but her base features were good even without makeup. Her figure was nice, too. But the woman had tattoos, too. Not irezumi, but I could see lettering and patterns faintly on her wrists and ankles. Hmm. I can roughly guess the situation. Seeing her with these guys, I can guess what her profession was. But that woman must have been a decent trade in her own right. As long as she just spread her legs, she’d have survival and food taken care of for her.
The two men came up to me carrying another pack of water in each hand and set them down. So, they’d brought four more packs in total. But the woman was empty-handed. Sigh. I guess they aren’t treated too badly, after all. Being pampered like that. Anyway, those guys looked quite excited. Maybe they thought they’d hit the jackpot. They really seemed like they were going to trade innocently.
"Are you going to trade all of that?"
"Of course. A total of 100 bottles. This should be enough to pick whatever I want, right?"
"Sure. Then could you step back a little? I’ll take out the amount you want."
"First, a carton of cigarettes."
I let out a small, dry laugh. These guys must think I’m some convenience store clerk. But did they not even bring cigarettes when they came here? Ah, were they already out? Or did they smoke them all?
"A carton of cigarettes."
Saying that, I reached into the back of the car. Then, I pulled out two taser guns, held one in each hand, and fired at the two men.
"Ghhhk!"
"Ugh!"
"Eek!"
The two men let out strange groans and collapsed to the ground with a thud. The woman was screaming.
"So noisy."
I swapped out the cartridges and fired at the woman, too. She collapsed while making a similar sound. The situation ended far too simply. Oh, wait. I didn’t count the outs. The order got mixed up. Hmm. What do you call it when it’s three outs? Ah. Right. Let’s call it their innocence and stupidity. They were too innocent. And too careless. At least one of them should have been watching from inside. Well, these guys must have thought I didn’t know there were only three of them. That’s why they came out so boldly. They must have assumed I wouldn’t be able to pull anything funny. But the conclusion is this: they’ve been handcuffed and tied up with hiking rope. The number of test subjects has increased. It’s a shame I can’t send them to Elder Choi, but at least they’ll be of some help to me.
I loaded the three of them into the back of the truck. I also loaded all the bottled water they’d brought. They were struggling and resisting, but that didn’t mean anything. They were tied up tight, so what could they do? It was a futile struggle. Ignoring them, I looked toward the clubhouse. Ah. They mentioned drugs, didn’t they? That must mean there are drugs inside, too. So, I’ll go in and take a look. It’s a bit of a waste to just leave them behind.
I took a quick look around. The interior wasn’t as much of a mess as I’d expected. It was in pretty good condition, considering? I lightly scanned the restaurant, lobby, lounge, the place marked 'Pro Shop,' and the desk. I didn’t think there would be anything there anyway. Then, I followed the arrow marked 'Lodging.' That’s probably where they slept. Following the hallway, I found the rooms. And among them, there was one door left open. Is that it? They didn’t even close the door? I went inside and found the beds were disheveled. Beside them were a few side bags. I opened the bags one by one. One was full of gold jewelry, and another was full of sashimi knives and other such tools. Wow. They really carried stuff like this around. Are they really gangsters? I’m glad they aren’t Yakuza. If they were Yakuza, they would have had guns, right?
Searching a bit more, I was able to find the drugs and syringes they’d mentioned in another bag. Pure white powder. This couldn’t be sugar or salt. It must be a drug that makes you feel good when you inhale it. And you’d be craving it for the rest of your life. Good. I have absolutely no intention of doing it, but if I have this, it’ll be convenient in many ways. Plus, the amount is huge. A quantity this large? I could describe it like the news—'enough for tens of thousands of people to use at once.' I put the drugs into the bag with the gold jewelry and brought it out. I don’t have much interest in gold. But what if the world gets better later? There might be demand for it then, right? It’s more valuable than leaving it here to be abandoned, anyway.
I returned and tossed the bag into the back of the truck. Then, I checked the condition of the guys loaded in the back one more time and climbed into the car. I don’t let my guard down like those guys. So, I should refrain from doing things like this from now on. Risking my life for an adventure is enough just once.