Marauder of the Apocalypse
Chapter 130: Karma

We'd gained two more motorcycles, bringing our total to three. The resources from the investigating riders weren't bad either. Some food loaded on the motorcycles, pistol ammunition, rider suits, and swords.

Above all, the fuel was most valuable.

The fuel could be used to make Molotov cocktails or power cars and motorcycles. It meant we could significantly improve our combat capability.

"Weapons. We need to trade for weapons."

I wandered lazily around the townhouse and stopped to watch Park Yang-gun at work.

He was draining the expired fuel from one of the better-condition cars and replacing it with the good fuel from the motorcycles.

Cars had poor fuel efficiency but greater power. Even if riders swarmed us, we could run them over with a car. And then we could loot fuel from the dead riders' motorcycles—good efficiency.

Park Yang-gun, his gloves stained with oil, glanced at me.

"Kim Da-in. Out for a stroll? While making me work?"

"I am working. I'm checking if the organization is running smoothly. And thinking about various things while I'm at it."

I looked around.

Sa Gi-hyeok had done a decent job classifying people and dividing tasks, and Jeon Do-hyung had gathered all the remaining materials in the townhouse to create manuals.

The person in charge of farming was diligently harvesting and watering the small garden, while the person responsible for firewood was carrying branches with a crudely made A-frame carrier.

My combat-capable companions took turns standing guard, ready to spring into action if needed.

Park Yang-gun filled a clear water container with fuel and tightly closed the lid.

"Things are good here. We have groundwater, that house has electricity, and there are plenty of resources in the mountains. The only problem is the people outside."

The conflict with the Delivery Vigilantes.

If the fight got too dangerous, Park Yang-gun seemed ready to abandon everything and run. It made sense. There was little emotional attachment or loyalty to the organization.

"We'll be fine as long as it's not the Electricity Nomads. This location is excellent."

I answered calmly.

I was genuinely confident. The mountain was a giant pile of firewood, we had a machine gun positioned at the only entrance, and now we even had a car. We had the ability to fight the alliance head-on and inflict terrible damage.

Somehow, the organization I led had grown this powerful.

From simple survivors to a group of criminals, and now a substantial raider organization. That's what we'd become in our relentless push forward.

As I was lost in this strange feeling, Park Yang-gun clicked his tongue.

"Those electricity folks are the problem. They have drones. If they attach bombs to them, we can't win."

I closed my mouth for a moment. The Electricity Nomads were a kind of asymmetric force. Drones, improvised explosives—weapons that even the military was wary of.

"They are troublesome."

"Whatever happens with the delivery riders, I don't want all-out war with the alliance. We'd only lose."

I wasn't so sure. Life after the zombie outbreak had always been about loss. We all faced equally harsh conditions—us, the alliance, the military. Even if we lived more abundantly than other survivors, it couldn't compare to when the world was normal.

At this point, losing everything would just mean experiencing the inevitable future a little earlier.

I looked up at the sky and answered casually.

"Don't worry. The alliance has a lot to lose by fighting us too. It won't escalate to all-out war."

But who knew? From what I'd heard, they were short on water to the point of outsourcing farming.

Park Yang-gun stood up energetically and got into the car to start the engine. It wasn't difficult since he'd already searched the corpses and houses for car keys.

"The engine works. It might be hard to use for moving, but we can run over anyone who enters the townhouse."

"That's good."

Then I turned and continued wandering around the townhouse.

***

Time passed quickly. Once we started properly developing the townhouse, there was plenty of work, and with plenty of work, the days flew by.

My companions and their families seemed to feel the same way. They worked hard when the sun was up, played in the solar-powered house when the sun went down, then returned to their homes to sleep.

The combat personnel, who took turns standing guard, seemed to barely notice how the days passed.

In the deep night, I suddenly woke up from the cold and wobbled over to the window.

'Cold...'

A cold breeze blew in through the wide-open window. Perhaps because we were on a mountain, a cool chill wrapped around my entire body.

Maybe it was because I was still groggy from sleep, but a doubt suddenly rose up.

'Did I leave the window open? No, wasn't the window broken to begin with? Oh, that's not right.'

I occasionally got confused, not being fully accustomed to the house yet.

Just as I was about to grab and pull the window, my blurry vision suddenly cleared, and I saw light leaking from one of the houses.

The house with the generator. Someone was using electricity at this hour—light sparkled through the windows.

"..."

I stopped dead and quietly stared at the solar-powered house. We weren't supposed to use electricity in the early morning, yet someone was using it at will.

I stay in my house at night, and someone's freely using electricity? Was this a sign of rebellion?

I put on my rifle and protective gear and approached the house. Since it was a communal house, all the locks had been disabled, allowing me to enter the solar-powered house silently.

TV and computer screens illuminated the dark room. Two people were inside.

"Building a house is hard. Am I doing this right?"

"I don't know. Please be quiet, I'm watching a movie."

The real estate guy was sitting in front of the computer playing a game, while a companion I'd nicknamed "Gloomy" was watching a movie on the TV connected to a DVD player.

Rifles and bulletproof vests were scattered around them.

I cleared my throat.

"What are you doing?"

"Oh."

The two companions jumped up in surprise, then scratched their heads awkwardly when they saw me.

"Well, I just finished my guard shift and couldn't sleep, so I was playing games for a bit."

"I have insomnia, and boring movies help me fall asleep... Sorry."

I looked at them silently, then smiled. This didn't seem like a sign of rebellion. They just seemed to be secretly playing after their shifts.

"That's understandable. Because of shift work, you don't have much time for this. I'm not going to lecture you about something like this."

"Captain, why are you here?"

To the real estate guy's question, I sighed.

"I woke up and was just walking around."

"As the leader of the organization, you must have a lot on your mind. But you should still get enough sleep."

I would have slept fine if I'd just closed the window. As the real estate guy and I were talking, Gloomy reprimanded him in a gloomy voice.

"If you could sleep just because you wanted to, why would insomnia exist?"

But I don't have insomnia. I sleep fine.

However, Gloomy continued muttering in his depressing voice.

"This world is a mess. In a world like this where bloodying your hands is normal, people who sleep comfortably must be lacking in thought. Or their minds are broken."

What? Why do I feel like I'm being insulted? He reminds me of Sa Gi-hyeok with his lack of social skills. The real estate guy and I looked uncomfortably at Gloomy, and I turned away.

"Still, please be mindful of electricity usage. The refrigerator needs to run continuously."

"Oh, yes. By the way, Captain, is there any news from the Delivery Vigilantes?"

At the real estate guy's question, I stopped walking.

There had been no news from the Delivery Vigilantes for days. It meant the enemy was moving in places we weren't aware of.

"No. Since we don't have an information network, we can't know what's happening outside the townhouse."

"That's a bit worrying."

We moved here. As soon as we moved, we had a gunfight.

The survivors in this area seemed to avoid us, not showing a single strand of hair. They seemed to flee into the concrete fortresses scattered around the moment they sensed human presence.

Since we couldn't run Sa Gi-hyeok's multi-level business, we couldn't establish an information network either.

I casually spoke up.

"I'd like to run a reconnaissance team, but it seems unrealistic."

"Impossible. It would destroy our bodies."

Gloomy slowly shook his head.

I expected as much. The guard rotation alone was using most of our combat personnel. Adding reconnaissance teams would be physically unsustainable.

Building and defending a proper base wasn't easy. Human resources were...

'Could we catch a zombie and train it?'

The stray thought passed quickly. I said simply:

"Still, they'll probably figure out the situation and make contact soon."

Enough time had passed for them to gather information from nearby survivors. They could guess our identity and deduce the situation. It was time for a response.

I turned and left.

***

Sure enough, someone came the next day. The guard rang the alarm bell to signal unwelcome visitors, and I walked leisurely toward the entrance.

'No gunshots. They sent an envoy first instead of attacking right away?'

No, it could be a diversionary tactic. If it were me, I'd send someone to negotiate up front while secretly sending people to set fire to the mountain from behind. Then I'd set up a field of fire at the escape route.

But the Delivery Vigilantes' riders didn't seem like they would use such tactics.

I arrived at the entrance a bit late and saw unexpected people.

A rider and the police sergeant.

"So our friend really moved to the mountains?"

The police sergeant, his shotgun dangling, looked around like a hiker and muttered meaningfully.

"If a fire starts here, it could spread all the way to the alliance."

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- raei (￣ー￣)ゞ