Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 58: Elimination

I checked the time on my phone. There was much to do. For the villa district's safety, we had to kill the person trying to buy lettuce, and deal with the wicked person who dared leak our lettuce supply.

"Weeds...? You're going to pull me out?"

The despicable person who tried to leak lettuce for their own gain muttered blankly. They looked around, but the atmosphere was hostile.

The man stood frozen like a statue, deep in thought. I adjusted my grip on my hammer while the rice seller repeatedly struck the asphalt road with their metal bat.

This clearly wouldn't end well. I wouldn't let it end well either. I thought carefully.

'Should I kill them here? Let the man execute them? Or make them into a cross?'

Death was certain - just had to decide how.

Though insensitive to group crisis, they seemed keenly aware of personal danger. The lettuce leaker forced a smile and waved their hands.

"I was wrong. This won't happen again. And it's not that serious. Trading some lettuce leaves for cigarettes and alcohol is profitable."

They tried making excuses. They approached the man desperately pleading, then reached toward the person holding the rice bag.

Their trembling hands were briefly visible in the faint moonlight. Their voice shook just like those hands.

"I know it's dangerous. That's why I was going to say I got it from Hope Community. They farm too. When people think about lettuce sources, they'll think of them first. This isn't serious enough to throw me out."

No one responded. Only the wicked lettuce leaker kept talking.

"I just, it's hard to live, the world's like this, I just relied on alcohol and cigarettes."

They seemed frightened imagining the extreme situation of being expelled from the relatively decent villa district group and having to survive without resources.

After a few seconds, the person with the rice bag spoke softly.

"Well, they seem quite remorseful. Maybe we could end it here? We stopped it beforehand, and they won't do it again."

"Right. I really won't think about selling lettuce ever again."

The lettuce leaker spoke happily, glad someone was helping them.

But the man and I remained silent. We knew better than anyone that this couldn't end like this.

Without punishment, others would make similar mistakes. Ambiguous punishment was impossible too. It would only create resentment and potential traitors.

The only possible punishment was death.

I calmly asked the man:

"What should we do?"

"Hah..."

Had he not taken that final step away from obsession? A sigh heavy with anguish. He pressed his head hard with one hand as if it hurt.

To ease the man's pain, I rambled:

"If this had gone wrong, we'd all be dead. Word of the farm would spread, hundreds would come raiding, the police and archery club would want it too, and all our stockpiled resources would be cleaned out."

This person wasn't just a lettuce leaker. They were an internal enemy trying to destroy the villa district group. A murderer trying to kill fellow survivors whose faces they knew. A weed that would kill others to survive.

Left alone, they would grow like poisonous mushrooms and kill us all. Too dangerous. Had to be eliminated.

Put that way, the rice seller scratched the ground with their bat.

"Isn't that a rather extreme assumption?"

"But it could easily happen. And once it does, we can't stop it."

The rice seller and I conversed with the man between us. After silently listening, the man suddenly stepped toward me, pulling his steel pipe far back behind his shoulder.

"...It's a simple matter."

Clouds approached, blocking the moonlight. Deep darkness covered everyone's faces.

Then came the sound of a blunt weapon cutting through air, followed by a dull impact. A crack of breaking bone, a long scream.

"Ahhh! My leg!"

Hit their leg? Not killing them now? The lettuce leaker could be heard rolling around on the ground. Then the clouds passed and moonlight shone down again.

Understanding like moonlight gathered in the man's eyes. He rested the steel pipe on his shoulder and spoke to the rice seller:

"Lock this person in an empty house. I have spare toilet paper. I'll give you that, so could you postpone today's trade?"

"If you give me toilet paper then... Still, this is..."

The rice seller blankly looked down at the screaming lettuce leaker. They seemed to think the punishment excessive. In a world without proper medical care, they'd likely die slowly.

"There's an empty house on Peace Villa's second floor. Use that."

After telling them about the corpse storage house, I recalled the man's suspicious nature.

'What's his intention? What's he thinking?'

Though I'd guided this, I couldn't guess the outcome. His paranoia made it hard to predict his thought process.

That's when the man brushed past me and spoke briefly:

"Going to kill the person trying to buy lettuce. Have to eliminate threats to the street."

"...Yes."

I checked the time before following him to the meeting place.

We walked silently. A road like ruins spread under the moonlight. The road was even worse from occasional showers. Many trash bags were torn open, probably by dogs or cats, leaving excrement and bloodstains.

The man, walking quietly as if wary of robbers, muttered as if to himself:

"Maybe my dream was too big. Surviving through cooperation with people whose faces I barely knew... Impossible. Beyond my abilities."

"Haven't you done well until now?"

Rustle, stepping on trash.

The man shook his head faintly.

"No. What's been done until now could have been done without me. Rather, it was possible because you and Jeon Do-hyung suggested the indoor farm."

Well. I think he could have organized a small group somehow anyway.

But the man didn't seem to think so, swinging his steel pipe through the air as he continued:

"From now on, I'll do what suits my abilities."

"What do you mean?"

I asked curiously. How had this person changed? Had they changed in a way that would benefit me? Eliminating street people instead of me?

The man stomped hard on trash scattered on the ground and spoke lightly:

"I learned facing the apartment people. That I had to think about killing. Same goes for street people. People I suspect, people who become dangers to the group - if I kill them all, only people I can trust and work with will remain."

"Ah."

Perfect. I grinned while looking at the back of the man's head as he walked ahead.

There was a blade that would kill villa district people. Suspicion? Danger? I could create those. Thinking that, I naturally realized why he'd only broken their leg instead of killing them.

"Then is the imprisonment also a trap? To find people who try to help or free that person?"

"That's right."

Indeed. Not bad. Killing them there would only kill one person. Using them as bait could kill more people.

I thought quickly. If done well, we could find excuses to kill several more people.

After walking lost in our own thoughts for a while.

We arrived at the meeting place. A road with large buses and delivery vehicles scattered about. A place where we could hide and move around if fighting broke out.

After double-checking my reliable hammer and loaded gun, I looked around.

"Not here yet? Lettuce!"

"Lettuce? Lettuce!"

Voices came from beyond the buses. One person? Several? Were there ambushes elsewhere? Maybe they planned to capture us after just hearing about selling lettuce.

The gun gave me courage. I spoke at a moderate volume:

"The goods?"

"Show yours first. Do you really have lettuce?"

"Ah, of course."

I rustled a black plastic bag appropriately. Though actually empty, as if it really contained lettuce.

In the end it was all about mindset. If I thought of it as lettuce, even an empty plastic bag became lettuce.

The other side didn't seem to notice anything strange in my movements.

"Can't see it..."

"Let's get closer and look together. We're trading anyway."

"...See that delivery truck on the right? Put it on the driver's seat."

"The cigarettes and alcohol?"

"In the passenger seat of the car across the street on the left."

Not checking directly? If the goods were fake, ah. Someone could be hiding near the car with the goods.

After puffing up the bag and leaving it on the delivery truck's driver's seat, I whispered to the man:

"Let's grab it and run."

"Okay."

No need to kill necessarily. Just making lettuce trades seem like scams would be enough.

As we headed toward the car with cigarettes and alcohol, someone from their side darted out and crept toward the delivery truck. I hurried ahead to check the goods first.

A heavy paper bag. Filled with bricks. They were scamming too.

"Nothing here. Let's run quickly."

By then they'd checked our plastic bag too. Shouts erupted.

"There's nothing! Damn, thought you were rich since you were selling lettuce. Just another scammer?"

"Same here. Thought you were well-off since you were buying lettuce."

We briefly faced each other across the street. After a moment of tension, they waved their hand first.

"Let's not fight between colleagues and just part ways."

"Getting hurt would be a loss."

Nothing to gain from fighting except death.

As we carefully backed away, people emerged from everywhere. A group of scammers who'd hidden behind cars and in buildings, seemingly over 5 people.

Organized marauders. They lured and caught people who seemed well-off, then raided their bases.

They watched us while slowly retreating too. The man and I walked back exactly the way we came without a word.

I sighed while walking ahead.

"Seems handled for now... but what comes next is the problem. What'll happen when stockpiles run out and monsoons come."

"The future's the problem. People are the problem. Kwon Da-in."

My steps stopped at the name called briefly from behind. Kwon Da-in was the name I'd used at church. Not Kim Da-in that I'd told this man.

When I slowly turned around, I saw the man gripping his steel pipe like he might swing it any moment. Strong suspicion filled his eyes gathering faint moonlight.

A madman who'd fallen below some psychological line smiled at me.

"Anyone suspicious must die. And, you're the most suspicious."

Only then did my happy mood sink coldly as I grasped reality.

An executioner who kills people just on suspicion, and tries to kill more. His blade of suspicion wouldn't spare me either. Though extremely unfair, there were reasons I might seem suspicious.