Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 96: End of Summer

The people gathered at the stream stared blankly at the old man's corpse. Though I wasn't sure exactly, they seemed shocked to see their tormentor die so easily.

'There's no defense against ambush.'

Human life is both resilient and fragile. Even someone armed with a gun dies instantly when someone smashes the back of their head with a hammer.

That's why you should always remain suspicious and alert to everything, but this old man had apparently grown complacent after ruling the stream area for some time.

Blood flowed from the hole in the old man's head. It reached my shoes, and I grimaced, vigorously rubbing my footwear against the dirt.

"Ugh."

It felt just like housework. Cooking and eating food is enjoyable, but washing dishes is dirty and bothersome. The raid had been quite successful, but dealing with corpses was always a nuisance.

I carefully avoided the pool of blood, crouched down, and pulled out the hammer tucked in my pocket to tap the head a few more times. Habits form through repetition, and confirmation of death was a good habit to maintain.

While I did this, the stream area survivors murmured among themselves.

"Is he really dead? That nasty old man?"

"Just like that?"

Voices of disbelief and confusion. Some were happy, others wary of me, but there were also wolf-like opportunists.

"My soju!"

"Now that this guy is dead..."

They threw themselves forward to reclaim the stream usage fees they'd paid to the old man, their eyes gleaming toward the direction of his house. They clearly intended to recover the resources they'd surrendered, but unfortunately, the old man's possessions were now mine.

Click!

"Who said you could touch my things?"

The person reaching for the soju bottle froze. Everyone's attention turned to me—or more precisely, to the handgun I was pointing.

One of the more composed survivors raised a hand questioningly. His voice came out calm.

"How should we pay the stream usage fee going forward? How much and how often?"

He must have assumed I was replacing the old man as the area's ruler. I rose slowly, laughing.

"How can you put a price on water? If you're going to charge for water, you should have charged the zombies too. From now on, use it freely."

The people blinked, clearly not believing me.

At that point, I raised my hand and gestured to the mercenaries. Calling them down.

The mercenaries sauntered down the steps. The one carrying the light machine gun I'd entrusted to him made it clear he was dying from the effort.

Their helmets, body armor, ammunition belts, and rifles created considerable noise as they rattled and clanked.

The stream area survivors froze at this display of force. They were far from being the type of survivors who could coexist with zombies and live peacefully.

'This is easy.'

I quietly sized up the stream area survivors. Compared to the alliance or military, they were nothing. There wasn't even a need for intimidation.

Our mere presence overwhelmed them.

I grinned as I welcomed the mercenaries. I handed over the shotgun and received the light machine gun, slinging it over my shoulder. Then I called our member, the mother.

"Member, come over here. Take your ten percent from this."

I kicked the pile of stream usage fees collected under a fallen streetlight blocking the walkway. The mother hesitantly approached and picked up a few bottles of soju and canned food, placing them in her pockets.

The stream area survivors stared at our member.

"What have you done? Why, why would you bring such people..."

The voice trailed off as they glanced at me, but the meaning was clear. Why drive out a wolf only to invite a tiger?

Our member, the mother, seemed to avoid the people's gazes at first, but as the mercenaries surrounded her protectively, she lifted her head with newfound confidence.

Her gaze as she looked over the people one by one resembled that of a raider. She seemed to be considering who to report next.

I sat on the fallen streetlight and spoke up.

"You can use the stream freely. We're just here to conduct business."

This was the perfect place to showcase our business. I nodded to Sa Gi-hyeok, who transformed into a skilled con artist and climbed onto the fallen streetlight.

Though we were in ruins and it was just a fallen streetlight, the atmosphere felt like an executive presenting at a corporate briefing.

"Ladies and gentlemen, today is a wonderful day. The nasty person who troubled you is dead, you've gained the freedom to use the stream, and a great business opportunity has arrived before you."

I clapped my hands. Since I was the only one clapping, I looked around at the people and noticed the mercenaries subtly aiming their guns. The people enthusiastically moved their hands to welcome Sa Gi-hyeok.

Sa Gi-hyeok continued his presentation confidently.

"Good, very good. In this difficult world, it's about time something good happened. I can see how desperately you've all been waiting for good news."

As Sa Gi-hyeok's presentation continued, I quietly gazed up at the sky.

***

The business presentation ended successfully.

The people glanced at each other nervously before rushing to report someone, and we told them we still had pending reports to handle, suggesting we meet again in a week at the same place.

Of course, there were also quick-witted survivors. Like the one who had asked me how to pay the stream usage fee.

As soon as the presentation ended, that survivor muttered quietly while walking away briskly, almost like fleeing.

"Even worse people have shown up... I need to move away."

Otherwise, the atmosphere was quite favorable.

We followed our member, the mother, toward the old man's house. As we walked, Sa Gi-hyeok organized and reported the information he'd gathered during his brief presentation.

"There are more survivors in this area than I expected. Not just the people we saw earlier."

"I'm sure of it."

There would have been people who paid the usage fee and left before we arrived, and others who would come after we'd gone.

Do-hyung, who had been following silently, suddenly spoke.

"It's a waterfront. There are people gathered because of the water, and food that can be obtained from the water too."

That was correct. We lived in a world where electricity was cut off and plumbing had broken down. People had no choice but to gather around water sources. This meant our business would continue to thrive for the foreseeable future.

Just then, our member, the mother, said:

"We're here. It's that one."

After winding through narrow alleys, we reached a multi-family housing street near the stream. Among several tall buildings, there stood a notably small single-family house.

A worn, single-story house.

The rest of the family was waiting in front of the fence—the father, son, and daughter. The father waved his hands nervously.

"We haven't gone inside yet. We didn't touch any of the old man's things."

"As you should. Touch anything and your head could fly off."

I dismissed his concern casually and examined the fence surrounding the old man's house.

It was a common green wire mesh fence. Beyond it, unknown green plants grew tall and dense on the dirt yard.

While I didn't particularly sense anyone inside the building, I remained cautious.

"Mr. Park Yang-gun, please check the entry route. Everyone else, look for traps."

The old man had ruled this area alone. There must have been numerous people who came to assassinate him at night, yet he had survived them all. There had to be alarms or traps.

"This is suspicious."

Park Yang-gun looked around with a displeased expression and shook his head.

"There's an entrance, but it's too obvious. Looks like he deliberately created a path and set up traps."

He meant the old man likely created a fake path filled with traps. Soon after, Do-hyung stepped forward, clutching his hand axe.

"I'll go first. I'll check it out."

Do-hyung crouched in front of the forcibly opened gate and moved forward like a duck, tapping the ground with his leading axe. We followed behind him.

As we progressed, bells jingled. Do-hyung lifted a fishing line hidden among thick vegetation. The bells attached to the line rattled.

A simple alarm system.

"Found one."

"Good job. Keep going."

There had to be more than just alarm systems. Do-hyung discovered various traps with his hand axe.

"Something's wrong with the ground here... It's a pit trap."

A pit dug and covered with tarpaulin, dirt, and plants. Underneath, awls or nails were positioned pointing upward, covered in filth and excrement.

There were also booby traps. Traps where rusty nails would fly when the fishing line was disturbed.

I looked down at these traps with disbelief.

'What is this? Was he a hunter?'

Looking at the yard now, it was clear the old man wasn't the type to fight head-on. He was the kind who covered his yard with primitive traps to kill anyone who entered.

Our members seemed unaware of this too, shaking their hands and shrinking back. They walked carefully, muttering:

"So that's why everyone who tried to kill him died..."

Sa Gi-hyeok had frozen like a stone, not moving a single step. He seemed worried about falling into a trap by accident.

It was time for Sa Gi-hyeok to speak, but he was in no condition to do so. I spoke to the family in his place.

"Your information wasn't accurate. If it had been wrong, several people could have been seriously injured. That's a reason to reduce your incentive."

"We didn't know about this either. If we had, we would have told you right away. There's nothing for us to gain by hiding this."

The mother spoke urgently. I smirked and replied lightly.

"I understand. Since you're our first members and this is our first business venture, I'll let it slide this time. Be more careful in the future."

"Yes, yes."

As we were having this conversation, we reached the front door.

Park Yang-gun glanced at the door and shook his head. He turned to look at the nearby window.

"If the yard is like this, the front door can't be safe. Who knows what will happen when it opens. Let's go through the window instead."

"By breaking the glass?"

"Yeah. That'll be dangerous too, but better than the front door."

He judged that the window was better than the solid, opaque front door. If something was set up, we could just openly destroy it. Following the professional thief's advice, we moved.

Do-hyung cleared away the fishing lines installed on the window with his hand axe, then swung the axe through the window to check if it was safe inside.

And that was how we entered the old man's house.