Marauder of the Apocalypse
Chapter 150: Winter

I went out into the street. My companions stood in the falling snow, shivering with cold. Looking around at them, their expressions were far from normal.

There were those who had lost family members to IEDs in the survival zone, those with wounds wrapped in clean towels, those who seemed to distrust me because of meaningless deaths, those worried about an uncertain future, and those suspicious about the gunshots they'd heard yesterday and Jeon Do-hyung's disappearance...

The atmosphere felt like questions and accusations would pour out the moment I opened my mouth.

I smiled slightly. Since I wasn't wearing a mask, my smile must have been clearly visible.

My companions seemed momentarily confused. They stared at my face intently before giving me puzzled looks.

"Why aren't you wearing a mask? Be careful. Even though we all wear masks..."

"Don't worry. I'm already infected."

"Oh, if that's the case... Wait, what?"

I answered calmly, and those who had initially missed the significance of my calm response now raised their voices.

For a moment, shock paralyzed people's minds. I seized the opportunity and continued speaking. Like a joke, I drove knife-like words into their minds for my amusement.

"But why are you all still wearing masks? You're infected too."

"We're infected too...? Did you...? Are you trying to make us all die together?"

People's pupils dilated as they struggled to comprehend the situation. Combat personnel instinctively clutched their rifles, and just as some murderous intent was about to explode toward me, Sa Gi-hyeok hurriedly stepped forward.

"No, why would you phrase it like that? Everyone, it's not what you think. Did anyone eat the food Jeon Do-hyung prepared yesterday?"

What was wrong with how I phrased it? I was just joking around.

But judging from how quickly they showed hostility toward me, my position as leader had already been severely undermined. Not that it mattered much to me anymore.

My companions blinked, then suddenly flinched.

"He did this?"

"Yes. He committed terrorism with the virus yesterday and even tried to assassinate Kim Da-in, so Kim Da-in executed him last night."

"Why, why..."

Those who had thoughtlessly eaten Jeon Do-hyung's cooking mumbled in confusion. Probably because Jeon Do-hyung had maintained decent social relationships with them.

I looked at them and sighed. Perhaps because my heart had already left, everything seemed disappointing.

What kind of marauder asks for reasons? They should have dragged out Jeon Do-hyung's corpse and unleashed their hatred. They should be thinking about enjoying their remaining time rather than feeling confused.

'Marauders, failed.'

I evaluated their marauder qualifications for the first time in a while, then grinned.

"Well, that's what happened. What do you want to do now? I don't think we can maintain this organization any longer."

I spread the confusion's ripple effects to those who weren't infected. With about half the people infected, the situation was grave even for those who were fine. Now wasn't the time for the uninfected to feel relieved.

I was curious how they would react, but their response was more subdued than I expected.

"From what I understand, infection doesn't spread to others immediately. I heard it takes a week to become contagious, so let's wrap things up until then."

"We have to wait for the snow to stop anyway..."

Minds worn down by the apocalypse. They easily accepted even significant shocks. They remained calm despite accidents and incidents. They simply focused on what needed to be done right now to survive.

It was a world where loss happened too easily and too frequently.

Even the infected companions laughed hollowly as they lowered their weapons.

"I had so much I wanted to ask the leader. Guess there's no need now."

"Three weeks... I should just eat a lot of food."

"Let's take off these damn masks first."

Those who had eaten Jeon Do-hyung's fried rice began removing their masks one by one. They made up about half of our group, with combat personnel being particularly numerous among them.

They abandoned any thought of confronting me further and started taking out the food they had been saving from their packs.

"Let's enjoy our breakfast."

People moved about busily.

I quietly observed them. Wasn't conflict going to break out? Wouldn't someone say why those who would become zombies were wasting food? And weren't they going to decide what to do next?

Brushing the snow from my head, I suddenly noticed the fierce will to live in their eyes. I couldn't help but smile.

'Each of them is thinking about how to survive from now on. They're just like this because they can't decide anything right away.'

An undercurrent seemed to be flowing. The uninfected might join hands and kill the infected. Or they might grab weapons and food and run away like Park Yang-gun.

I thought I understood why they weren't confronting me. Because there was nothing to gain from it in this situation.

I take back my evaluation—they hadn't failed as marauders. These were excellent survivors, and excellent survivors were essentially marauders.

So people gathered food ingredients and entered the building while hiding their true thoughts. Then Sa Gi-hyeok approached me.

"I have something to say."

***

Sa Gi-hyeok was dressed differently than usual. He wore a formal suit like when he first came to the villa district, and he had broken glasses on.

Clothing that offered neither warmth nor combat function. Pale from the cold, Sa Gi-hyeok rubbed his hands together.

"The world is quite cold, isn't it?"

"Yes. Are you planning to leave?"

I understood what Sa Gi-hyeok was thinking. He probably wanted to escape from an organization without a future. After all, he was the one who said escaping after pulling off a con was the most important thing.

Sa Gi-hyeok's eyes sparkled with a gleam like the white snow as he spoke something unexpected.

"Yes. Because you were wrong, and I was right."

He suddenly says something like this?

I quietly looked at Sa Gi-hyeok. His demeanor was like when he had once worn the mask of a good person. No, that wasn't it. It wasn't a mask.

In Sa Gi-hyeok's eyes was the conviction of someone who had reached his own conclusion after deep contemplation. Eyes similar to mine when I had conviction as a marauder.

"The way to survive in this world is through goodwill, cooperation, and consideration. If people had systematically cooperated from the beginning of the crisis, the world wouldn't have collapsed to this extent."

He said that if people had maintained productive activities together since spring, if they had worked together to recover from the damages of the rainy season and typhoons, perhaps more people could have survived.

"Do you think that was possible?"

I laughed emptily. It sounded like a delusion.

What kind of systematic cooperation was possible when even the most organized governments had fallen?

Sa Gi-hyeok nodded seriously.

"It's close to impossible. But maybe it could have been possible. And living according to your way of thinking eliminates even that slight possibility."

It was nonsense in the context of the apocalypse.

I worriedly examined Sa Gi-hyeok's head. Had he been hit in the head? I was willing to let him go if he was leaving, but I was concerned about him moving in such a deranged state. Shouldn't he live longer to kill and plunder more people?

Regardless, Sa Gi-hyeok continued speaking with a faint smile.

"I'll leave behind everything I gained while being with you. Take care."

That was it. Without hesitation, Sa Gi-hyeok turned around and left footprints in the accumulated snow with his dress shoes, taking one step at a time.

I called out to his retreating figure.

"You'll die. Either from freezing or from being attacked."

"I know. I'll probably die. But maybe."

Sa Gi-hyeok moved away with a smile. His body became blurry in the raging blizzard. His voice reached me.

"I might find someone who will accept me with goodwill. I'm going to search for that warmth."

Sa Gi-hyeok's figure disappeared. Snow quickly covered his footprints, erasing them. The wind blew fiercely, and the cold penetrated to the bone.

I shook the snow from my head.

All my criminal companions had left. Jeon Do-hyung to the afterlife, Park Yang-gun and Sa Gi-hyeok to paths that would soon lead to death. But they had all moved according to their own thoughts, prepared to die.

Laughter escaped me.

"I can't lose to them."

As a leader, I couldn't lose. A body that would become a zombie in three weeks. It wasn't just being prepared for death—death was already scheduled. I couldn't act more pathetically than those criminal companions.

***

When I returned to the house where I was staying, Jeon Do-hyung's corpse greeted me. I laid Jeon Do-hyung's body straight and took out batteries from a flashlight.

'He was a well-trained companion after all.'

I should show some respect to an excellent student. Just as in the old days somewhere people would place coins in the mouths of corpses, I opened Jeon Do-hyung's mouth and put batteries inside.

For a malicious electricity thief, batteries seemed more fitting than coins.

"Is one not enough?"

After briefly considering, I added a few more batteries before slowly searching the house.

There was much to do, and I needed supplies. For instance, paper and a pen. Fortunately, I found a large notebook that the homeowner had used as an account book.

I took the notebook and pen and sat at the desk.

"Three weeks."

The time I had locked myself in my room to work on a screenplay contest was three weeks. After those three weeks passed, the zombie outbreak began.

The chairman's face vaguely appeared in my mind. It took three weeks for the chairman to release the virus and transform the world.

'I might not be able to change the world like our chairman, but I can change a few people.'

I grinned as I played with the pen over the clean paper. This wasn't a screenplay. This was solely about how I had lived, my thoughts, and the insights and techniques I had gained through raiding.

The fundamentals of raiding, written so that even those unfamiliar with it could easily learn.

I muttered as I wielded the pen as if possessed.

"If I write it simply, I can make several copies. One week should be enough to distribute them to people. And with the remaining time..."

I couldn't stop until I died. There was much to do. There were many people to kill and many ways to make them die.