NOVPUBI walked out into the street, dragging the combat cart with a rattle as I hummed a children's song.
"Hammer goes konk konk, machine gun goes bang bang, getting food with a pistol..."
"What kind of song is that?"
I glanced at Sa Gi-hyeok beside me, who was blinking in disbelief as he adjusted his glasses—the same man who could transform into a con artist at will.
"Don't you know children's songs? The sun is shining bright, the sand sparkles."
"Your taste is really something else. Like that scarecrow thing before. Why children's songs..."
"In today's world, what children or innocence is left? We're all just survivors."
Sa Gi-hyeok sighed deeply, then gently pointed toward the pack of wild dogs at the other end of the villa district.
"So what's the goal here? Business expansion? Are you really going to accept these people as members and expand operations beyond the stream area?"
I grinned. I had plenty of goals.
"Wouldn't it be fun to watch them kill each other after we cause internal conflict? ...I'm joking. I'm not that short-sighted."
Sa Gi-hyeok looked at me like he was questioning my humanity. For a con artist who lured people to their deaths using their dreams and hopes as bait, his reaction seemed incredibly hypocritical.
I slowed my pace slightly and lowered my voice.
"Internal division is the best way to defeat them without wasting bullets. And we might even use this as an opportunity for business expansion."
"Profitability has been declining. But are you really not considering collecting protection money?"
Protection money... As I showed signs of contemplation, Sa Gi-hyeok continued with various suggestions.
He must have been focused on his primary profession, because his voice sounded trustworthy—as if he was trying to con me.
"Isn't passive income the best? How great would it be to just collect resources people offer without doing anything? Barely any need to shoot. It's like advancing from hunting to agriculture."
It sounded reasonable, but I instinctively opposed it. His con-artist voice made me suspicious.
"No. It might be profitable, but we need to think about Immortal as an organization."
I laid out my logic step by step.
"We are raiders. Protection? Such warm concepts don't fit our image."
What kind of protection would raiders offer? We don't need such weak actions. We kill, we take, and we leave only corpses behind.
"Besides, what happens if we fail to protect? When famine intensifies, people will kill each other for food. Look at these guys. They're even attacking us."
Failure cases would be inevitable. We'd look weak and incapable. With enough failures, protection money would be out of the question.
"Our current business of receiving reports and killing is what suits us best."
"If that's your opinion, Da-in."
By then, we'd drawn close to the pack of wild dogs. Close enough to hear each other's voices.
The avenger who had survived our raid stood up. With eyes burning intensely, he spoke coldly:
"Didn't expect to meet like this, did you?"
***
I quietly met the avenger's gaze.
The reason I was almost paranoid about confirming kills was standing right there. If someone survived, they could return as a relentless avenger.
Case in point—we let one guy escape, and he immediately gathered hungry wild dogs to invade our villa district.
"No, I didn't. If you were lucky enough to survive, you should have kept quiet and lived in hiding."
"Haha. I tried keeping quiet, and I still got hit by you. So I might as well speak up now."
The avenger clearly displayed his sharpened murderous intent. His goal wasn't looting. It was me.
He was a dangerous enemy. Someone with nothing to lose but his life, and willing to use that life like a bullet. I had made him that way.
I suddenly felt like laughing. I chuckled as I faced this karma returning to me.
"How lightweight. Not even threatening."
"No. I'd say it's deadly."
The avenger replied curtly. The meaning was simple. You've already been drawn into our trap.
If we negotiated, we'd waste food. If we didn't, we'd waste bullets and risk fire. Either way, terrible losses would accumulate.
'If I make the wrong call here, we could keep getting dragged into these situations.'
But not all of them harbored revenge against me. I nudged Sa Gi-hyeok.
"I'll leave this entirely to you."
"Haha. Don't worry. Who am I, after all?"
Our speaker. A master of propaganda and persuasion. The con artist who led people down wrong paths stepped forward with confidence.
'Sa Gi-hyeok is good at this sort of thing.'
I couldn't expect him to redirect their target to the alliance, but he had the ability to create division.
"Everyone, are you hungry?"
Armored with composure and confidence, Sa Gi-hyeok leisurely looked around at the people. He had an aura that drew people's gazes.
The people who had taken cover here and there to avoid my machine gun unconsciously focused on Sa Gi-hyeok.
"I understand your hardships. Searching through ruins all day just to find barely enough food for a day, having to gather firewood and water."
"Cut the crap. What are you going to do?"
The avenger interrupted by slamming a nearby car. Don't let the enemy speak.
"Will you hand over the food or fight?"
"My, what a terrible leader you are. It's a shame when such a foolish person is in charge."
Sa Gi-hyeok smiled brightly and extended his hand. That hand swept across the pack of wild dogs.
"Will you keep getting food by raiding us once? And would we just sit back and be raided anyway?"
"It's better than sitting around and starving to death. That's why we've all gathered."
The eyes of the dog-like survivors showed pure hunger and the will to survive.
Sa Gi-hyeok nodded as if he agreed, but his words said otherwise.
"There's an old saying: 'Don't give a man a fish; teach him how to fish.' I'll teach you how to fish. A way to steadily obtain food from now on."
"What? Become your members? That won't work. In today's world, what good is giving away 10 or 20 percent?"
The avenger sneered.
Having already experienced internal division once, he seemed prepared, refuting each point.
"Besides, you killed informants too. When my friend betrayed us and reported to you, what happened to him?"
Being a skilled con artist, Sa Gi-hyeok wasn't flustered by such interference. Without blinking an eye, he smoothly continued his pitch.
"That was outside business hours, but now we're open for business. We're even in the middle of an expansion event. Including a Chuseok promotion."
Sa Gi-hyeok made a show of taking a deep breath. His conducting-like hand pointed to the rooftop.
"Since it's a holiday, those who join now will share in the meal. And if you kill a competitor, we'll count it as performance. Your incentive increases with each person you kill."
The avenger let out a hollow laugh and looked around at the pack of wild dogs.
"Do you believe this? Think about it. We'd get more by simply threatening and fighting."
He was saying that our willingness to talk was itself evidence of fear. That it would be more profitable to stick to the plan rather than fall for such nonsense.
The argument continued for a while, but the atmosphere gradually tilted toward Sa Gi-hyeok. The avenger was quite capable, but he was no match for Sa Gi-hyeok, a genuine con artist.
"..."
"..."
Eerie killing intent spread through the eyes of the dog-like survivors as they glanced at each other. The distance between the survivors, who had taken cover and formed a formation, gradually widened.
Feeling hungry, I rubbed my stomach and spoke in a bored voice.
"The food's getting cold. Let's hurry up if we're going to do this."
After all, their goal was food, and they were a hastily formed group without any sense of solidarity. I couldn't understand why they were being so hesitant.
'They're survivors from the same area. Neighbors probably already want to kill each other, and we've given them the perfect excuse.'
The avenger, who had been arguing with Sa Gi-hyeok, suddenly stopped speaking.
"Ha... You're actually swayed by this nonsense?"
"You should be. Your friend switched sides without even getting an offer. And you seem to be misunderstanding something."
I took out my pistol from inside my jacket and flicked it slightly.
"Whether you threaten or fight, you won't get any food. Want to know why?"
Grinning, I fired my pistol at the avenger. Bang bang, six consecutive shots rang out. Unfortunately, only one hit his thigh.
"I'd rather burn it all than hand it over to others."
The statement that they wouldn't get a single grain of rice became the trigger.
Violence erupted everywhere. As blades shining in the autumn sunlight passed, rainbow-like fountains of blood spurted up, and when blunt weapons like steel pipes were swung, dull impact sounds rang out like percussion instruments. 𝒏𝒐𝒗𝒑𝒖𝒃.𝙘𝒐𝒎
The avenger frowned deeply, then immediately turned. He shouted as he limped away:
"I knew this rabble wouldn't work! See you next time!"
"No, there won't be a next time."
If I'd already faced karma for letting him escape once, that should be the end of it. There wouldn't be a second time. This time, I'd kill him for sure.
"Mr. Sa Gi-hyeok! Guard the combat cart!"
I swapped my pistol for a hammer and ran at full speed. The enemy with a gunshot wound to his thigh. Like zooming in with a camera, his back of his head suddenly grew larger, and I brought my hammer down on it.
Konk!
After tapping the fallen avenger's head a few more times, I looked around.
Once started, the internal conflict had blurred the boundaries between enemy and ally. It was impossible to tell who was killing to become a member and who was fighting back to survive.
I sighed inwardly.
'People with nothing to lose really are troublesome.'
These were people who had nothing. People whose lives were literally lighter and less valuable than bullets—killing them would yield nothing.
That made them annoying opponents for raiders. Fighting them just wasted resources and time.
