Business Interference (1)
“We’re not messing around.”
Before his words could even finish, paang!—with a sharp sound tearing through the air, Eun Wol’s figure blurred.
“Ugh...!”
As Choi Tae-su reflexively tried to pull the trigger on his pistol, Eun Wol’s toe shot toward his hand.
Ppakak!—a grotesque bursting sound as the metal lump crumpled. The pistol in Choi Tae-su’s grip bent like taffy and flew into the air.
“Ugh!”
The moment he swallowed a groan from the impact, Eun Wol—having already closed the distance—pressed her chilling hand blade against the nape of his neck.
“B-Boss!”
The thugs behind him freaked out and drew their weapons one by one, but Choi Tae-su hurriedly raised one hand to hold them back.
“Whoa, whoa. Calm down... As expected of Juddak. Guess the Hunter title isn’t just for show.”
“Cut the fake nonchalance. If you don’t want to lose face in front of your lackeys.”
Eun Wol growled, but Choi Tae-su instead lifted his head stiffly.
“Not content with suddenly jacking up water prices by three times, now you’re threatening to unilaterally cut off the refugee camp rations I’ve been steadily supplying with Magic Stones? What’s your reason!”
“Reason? I fucking told you!! It’s because of that goddamn shop.”
“You’re pulling this shit just because your rice bowl might shrink a bit?”
At Eun Wol’s words, Choi Tae-su’s expression hardened coldly for a split second.
“A bit? Because of 350 bottles of Odasu flooding the market, the prices for the water we were selling got fucking wrecked. The refugee scum are bitching, ‘The shop sells it for 20 stones, so why the hell are you charging 50 for your Dirty Water!!!’”
“That’s because you’ve been gouging them all this time! We turned a blind eye to maintain some semblance of order, and now you’ve crossed the line?”
Even at Eun Wol’s sharp rebuke, Choi Tae-su glared with greedy eyes.
“Yeah, you get it! So now we’re gonna restore order...!”
“What?”
“You know full well the shop’s stock has limits anyway, right? 100 every three days? That’s nowhere near enough.”
“...”
“If we stop selling water, prices will skyrocket again. Once they do, our dear customers will snap out of their shop high and come to their senses.”
Choi Tae-su’s eyes began to gleam with arrogance.
“They’ll realize just how precious Oasis is, crawl back under our feet, and shell out big bucks for even our Dirty Water, don’t you think?”
At that vile logic, Eun Wol’s red eyes flickered with rage. She ground her teeth and said in a strained voice,
“...If Magic Stones are the issue, I’ll cover the refugee camp’s water rations myself. Keep the distributions going as is.”
For Eun Wol, this was a compromise born of swallowed pride—to protect the ordinary folks and Awakeners of the Yellow Zone.
But the moment Choi Tae-su heard it, he burst into roaring laughter.
“Puhahaha! Juddak, you’d make a shitty merchant.”
“...What?”
“You think we’re going through all this hassle just to squeeze a few extra stones? You pay for them instead, and those scum will suddenly get their situation?”
Pat!—Overwhelming killing intent erupted from Eun Wol, crushing the space.
“Oh yeah? What if I blow all your heads off right here?”
But Choi Tae-su just snickered.
“Kekeke... Gonna fight all of us? Even for Juddak, you think you can pull that off?”
Sreung—click! The moment Eun Wol furrowed her brow, ominous metallic sounds echoed from all directions.
The thugs who’d backed off in panic moments ago had now completely surrounded her blind spots.
“Even if you kill us all, starting tomorrow, you’d have to supply the entire Yellow Zone’s water yourself, righteous Juddak. Think you can handle that?”
“Th-That’s...”
Now it was Eun Wol’s expression that stiffened.
Tak!—
“If you’re not gonna kill me, get off.”
Choi Tae-su tried to casually flick her wrist away, but her hand didn’t budge an inch.
“Kuh...! Kuh!”
Even in that awkward spot, his mouth didn’t stop.
“...What? Gonna perma-ban me from the Gallery too?”
“You think I won’t?”
For regular Stalkers, a Gallery perma-ban was as good as a death sentence. It meant total isolation and solitude even in the apocalypse.
“Kuhahat! Do it! Try it! Ban us or whatever! We’ve already got our own independent comms network.”
At those words, Eun Wol’s red eyes trembled faintly.
It didn’t make sense for a pissant Oasis Guild to build an independent network just by scavenging a few comms devices.
Still, she pressed,
“Who’s backing you? Which big guild?”
“Ha! No!”
Under her sharp interrogation, Choi Tae-su grinned wickedly and yelled,
“Someone higher up...!”
At the same time, Eun Wol’s eyes widened.
“To be precise, people you know all too well. Your old comrades...!”
As her eyes shook violently, Choi Tae-su shoved his face close and whispered mockingly,
“You’ve got the brains to figure it out. The big shots in the Green Zone don’t like the shop one bit.”
“...!”
“We caught their eye with this little stunt.”
Those words stretched Eun Wol’s sanity to the breaking point.
“You crazy bastards...!!”
“Juddak! You really think you can rebuild this ruined world? Cut the bullshit. The Control Bureau’s been a toothless figurehead for ages.”
“...”
“Face reality! Where’d all your precious Hunter buddies go? They gave up rebuilding ages ago, slunk off to the Green Zone, and turned into lapdogs licking the rich asses!!”
“Shut your fucking mouth...”
“Even Hunters fighting on the front lines? You’re the only one, Juddak. Better compromise with reality a bit...”
Leaving a slimy sneer, Choi Tae-su turned away without regret.
“Hug that lofty sense of duty and play the noble hero all you want—ultimately, the ones who die are you and those Gallery scum.”
Watching Choi Tae-su and his Oasis thugs vanish into the darkness,
“Fucking bastard...”
Eun Wol could only clench her fists and tremble.
Around the same time.
“Rock-paper-scissors!!!”
I thrust my palm toward Geomsam standing beyond the control room’s transparent barrier.
Ttaeaeng!—One of Geomsam’s grotesquely twisted necks whipped around—pure coincidence?—in sync with my hand, smashing its head into the invisible wall.
“Hey! You, second head up on the right!! You moved the same direction!!!”
Geureuk!—
“Yes!!! I win!! Hey, forehead flick time.”
I yelled at Geomsam while priming a flick.
Geureureuk!—Geomsam bared its reason-defying maw in a roar, but inside the tile with Ownership active, it meant jack shit to me.
“Come on, Geomsam! If you still don’t get the game rules after three explanations... ”
Geureureuk!—
“No no, no passing. Don’t you remember I let the last round slide?”
Kyaaaak!—
“Ugh, too gross, pass. Scared you’ll actually call me out for a head-on brawl.”
Looks like Geomsam wasn’t in the mood for flicks today. I knew I couldn’t actually go out and do it anyway. Even if I did, who knows how many heads I’d have to flick, but hey, no losses yet.
Got bored while eating and scrolling the Gallery—all shop update talk—so I played a bit with Geomsam for exercise, but he’s not playing along.
“Geomsam’s killing the vibe like a total buzzkill.”
I grumbled and turned away. Good timing—starting to feel nauseous from his shape anyway. Not disappointed at all.
“Eh, no fun bait rolling in the Gallery?”
Back to the Gallery, and...
What the fuck is this???
Unlike this morning, the bait had totally shifted.
“What the hell.”
Why this suddenly.
Skimming the Gallery, I pieced it together.
“So that’s it...”
Because of my premium bottled water, the offline water sellers felt their rice bowls threatened. They’re artificially hiking prices and threatening to cut rations.
“Hmm... this is kinda...?”
Classic textbook move by a monopoly blocking a new disruptor’s supply chain, but doing it so brazenly is straight thug shit. Sure, rice bowl’s at stake, but there’s a thing called moderation.
And since it’s because of me, it’s hitting different.
“Hmmm...”
As I rested my chin, scanning reactions,
But looking into other supply routes or alternatives.
If no luck, I’ll head to Red Zone myself foter, so don’t worry too much
Juddak herself posting a notice after personally funding water for powerless civilians and refugees.
“Whoa...”
This ain’t something to just let slide.
Comments buzzing with debate when the next post dropped a bombshell.
No skill to get water yourselves, leeching off us then bitching about prices?? Mad? Buy all from shop then, retards. You can’t lololol
Shop restocks 100 every 3 days? Line up like beggars for scraps lol
Bet a week, see if you depend on shop or us lololol
I slowly lowered my resting hand from my chin.
“They crossed the line...”
Fine, rice bowl war, I tried understanding. But cutting already-paid refugee rations on a whim, ignoring market logic to gouge with arbitrary hikes and make it unlivable?
“That ain’t it, not merchants—just blatant thugs.”
And though I’m stuck here solo, my abilities mean I can’t survive alone anyway. Ultimately, symbiotic with outside survivors. Like crocodile bird and croc. Straight up, their better lives mean fatter earnings for me.
“Can’t tolerate messing with my potential customers!”
They all thrive, I thrive. And hey, rice bowl war? My bowl comes first.
Kidnapping and threatening my customers? Blatant business ethics violation and sales interference.
Fuck that.
“Fucking intolerable messing with customers I secured!!!”
Already stomachache selling way below market.
“Sales interference too?”
No way no way. Can’t take this.
Then really buy Dirty Water at 150 stones??
“Market’s ambiguously supplied, that’s the issue.”
Fix that, done. Easy for me.
I manipulated the status window.
Max per Slot (LV.1): 100
Upgrade Cost: 1,000 Magic Stones
Current Magic Stones: 3,000
“Was gonna expand tiles with this.”
Even better. Selling this batch’ll net way more than tile stones.
Until Refill: 4 minutes
“You started the shit first?”
Righteous self-defense.
Dal-kak!—
Consumed 3,000 Magic Stones to upgrade max capacity of Slot 1 (Odasu 500ML)
Slot 1 (LV.1) → (LV.4)
Current Slot 1 Max Capacity: 100 → 700 (UP!!)
As I posted from the shop account, I muttered,
“You bored fucks picked the wrong fight.”