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The people gathered by the river stared blankly at the old man’s corpse. They seemed shocked to see the person who had been tormenting them die so easily, though they didn’t fully understand what had happened.

‘There’s no answer to a surprise attack.’

Human life is both resilient and fragile. No matter how armed you are with guns, if someone smashes the back of your head with a hammer, you die just like that.

That’s why you should always be suspicious and cautious of everything, but this old man, as the ruler of the river area, had grown complacent after reigning for a while.

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

“Ugh.”

It felt like housework. Cooking and eating food is enjoyable, but doing the dishes is dirty and annoying. We had successfully pillaged with some joy, but corpses are always a hassle.

I carefully avoided the pool of blood, crouched down, and pulled out the hammer from my pocket, tapping the head a few times. Habits come from repetition, and double-tapping is a good habit to have.

Meanwhile, the survivors in the river area began to murmur.

“Is he really dead? That vicious old man?”

“Just like that?”

Skeptical voices and bewildered voices. Some were happy, some were wary of me, but there were also those who were like hyenas.

“My soju!”

“If this guy is dead…”

They threw themselves to reclaim the river usage fees they had paid to the old man, their eyes gleaming as they looked toward where the old man’s house would be. They were scheming to reclaim the resources they had paid, but unfortunately, the old man’s things were now mine.

Clink!

“Who dares touch my things?”

They froze in the act of picking up the soju bottle. Everyone’s eyes turned to me. More precisely, to the handgun I was pointing.

One of the survivors, who had been calmly assessing the situation, raised his hand as if asking a question. A calm voice came from his mouth.

“How should we pay the river usage fees from now on? How much and how often?”

They seemed to think I was going to take over as the ruler of this area in place of the old man. I slowly stood up and laughed.

“How do you put a price on water? If you were going to charge for water, you should have charged the zombies too. From now on, feel free to use it as you please.”

The people blinked. They couldn’t believe it.

At that point, I raised my hand and gestured to the mercenaries. Come down here.

The mercenaries shuffled down the stairs. The one carrying the machine gun I had entrusted to him looked like he was about to collapse from the weight.

The bulletproof helmet, bulletproof vest, ammo belt, and rifle clattered noisily.

The survivors in the river area stiffened at the sight. They weren’t the type to coexist peacefully with zombies and live modestly.

‘Easy.’

I quietly scanned the river area survivors. Compared to the alliance or soldiers, they were nothing special. There was no need for a power struggle.

Our mere presence overwhelmed them.

I grinned and greeted the mercenaries. I handed over the shotgun and slung the machine gun over my shoulder. Then I called out to Mom, the member.

“Member. Come on over. Take 10 percent from here.”

I kicked the river usage fees gathered under the fallen tree blocking the path. Mom hesitated, then came over and picked up a few soju bottles and canned food, stuffing them into her pocket.

The river area survivors watched our member.

“What did you do? Why, why, those people…”

They trailed off, glancing at me, but the meaning was clear. Why did they drive out the wolves and bring in the tigers?

Mom, the member, seemed to avoid their gazes at first, but as the mercenaries surrounded her, she lifted her head with confidence.

Her gaze, scanning each person one by one, resembled that of a pillager. It seemed like she was considering who to report next.

I sat on the fallen tree and spoke.

“Feel free to use the river. We’re just here to do business.”

This was the perfect place to showcase our business. I winked at Sajihyeok, and he, now a skilled conman, climbed onto the tree.

Though it was just a ruin and a fallen tree, it felt like a corporate presentation with an executive speaking.

“Now, it’s a good day. The nasty person who tormented you all is dead, you’ve gained the freedom to use the river, and a great business opportunity has come your way.”

I clapped my hands. When I was the only one clapping, I looked around, and the mercenaries subtly aimed their guns. The people enthusiastically clapped, welcoming Sajihyeok.

Sajihyeok proceeded with the presentation smoothly.

“Good, very good. It’s already a tough world to live in, so there should be some good news. I can see how much you’ve been waiting for this.”

And so, Sajihyeok’s presentation continued, and I quietly looked up at the sky.

***

The business presentation ended well.

The people glanced at each other, then rushed to report someone, and we replied that we still had reports to process and would meet here again in a week.

Of course, there were quick-witted survivors too. The one who had asked me how to pay the river usage fees.

As soon as the presentation ended, that survivor muttered to himself and quickly walked away.

“Where did these even more vicious people come from… I need to move.”

Otherwise, the atmosphere was quite good.

We followed the path guided by Mom, the member, toward the old man’s house. As we walked, Sajihyeok summarized the information he had gathered during the short presentation.

“There are more survivors around here than we thought. It’s not just the people we saw earlier.”

“Of course.”

There would be people who had paid the river usage fees before we arrived and those who came after we left.

Jeondohyeong, who had been silently following, suddenly spoke.

“It’s by the water. People gather for water, and there’s food to be found by the water too.”

He was right. In a world where electricity was cut off and water systems were broken, people had no choice but to gather around water. That meant our business would go well for the time being.

Then, Mom, the member, spoke.

“We’re here. Over there.”

After winding through the alleyways, we arrived at a multi-family residential area near the river. Among the tall buildings, there was a particularly small single-family house.

A one-story old house.

At the fence of that house, the member’s family was waiting. Dad, son, daughter. The dad, as if guilty of something, waved his hand first.

“We haven’t gone in yet. We haven’t touched any of the old man’s things.”

“Of course. If you had, your head would be gone.”

I brushed it off casually and examined the fence surrounding the old man’s single-family house.

It was a common green wire mesh fence. Beyond the fence, some unknown green plants grew densely on the dirt yard.

There was no sign of movement inside the building, but I didn’t let my guard down.

“Uncle Park Yang, watch the entrance. The rest of you, check for traps.”

That old man had ruled this area alone. There must have been more than one or two people who came to assassinate him at night, and he had survived them all. There must be alarms or traps.

“It’s ambiguous.”

Park Yang looked around and shook his head.

“There’s an entrance, but it’s too obvious. It seems like he made a path and set traps on purpose.”

It was highly likely that he had created a fake path filled with traps. Soon, Jeondohyeong took out a hand axe and stepped forward.

“Let me check it out.”

Jeondohyeong crouched in front of the forcibly opened door, waddled forward, and tapped the ground with the axe. We followed behind.

As we followed, a jingling sound rang out. Jeondohyeong picked up a fishing line hidden among the thick grass. A bell tied to the fishing line swayed.

A simple alarm.

“Found one.”

“Good job. Keep going.”

There was no way that was the only alarm. Jeondohyeong found various traps with his hand axe.

“The ground here feels weird… It’s a pit trap?”

A pit trap dug into the ground, covered with a tarp, dirt, and plants. Below the pit were spikes or nails pointing upward, smeared with feces.

There were also a few booby traps. Traps where touching the fishing line would send rusty nails flying.

I looked down at the traps in disbelief.

‘What is this? A hunter?’

Looking at the yard now, that old man wasn’t the type to fight head-on. He had filled the yard with primitive traps, killing anyone who entered.

Our members, who hadn’t known about this, trembled and shrank back. They muttered as they carefully stepped.

“No wonder everyone who came to kill him died…”

Sajihyeok was almost frozen like a stone, not moving a step. He seemed worried that if he fell, he’d trigger a trap.

It was time for Sajihyeok to speak, but he was in no state to do so. I spoke to the family on his behalf.

“The information wasn’t accurate. If things had gone wrong, several people could have been seriously hurt. That’s a reason to cut the incentives.”

“We didn’t know either. If we had, we would have said something earlier. There’s no reason to hide this.”

Mom, the member, spoke urgently. I grinned and spoke lightly.

“I know. But since you’re the first member and this is the first business, we’ll let it slide this time. Be more careful next time.”

“Yes, yes.”

As we had that conversation, we reached the front door.

Park Yang glanced at the front door and shook his head. He turned to look at the window beside it.

“With the yard like this, can the front door be safe? Who knows what will happen if we open it. Let’s go through the window instead.”

“Break the glass?”

“Yeah. It’s dangerous too, but it’s better than the front door.”

The judgment was that the window was safer than the solid, opaque front door. Even if something was set up, we could just destroy it outright. Following the advice of Park Yang, an expert in theft, we moved.

Jeondohyeong used the hand axe to clear the fishing line set up on the window, then swung the axe inside to check if it was safe.

And so, we entered the old man’s house.

 

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