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Fire. A danger that, if left unchecked, could turn into a horrific disaster.

In a situation where every second counts, the Police Officer Leader and a firefighter got into a scuffle. The Police Officer Leader grabbed the firefighter’s wrist, while the firefighter waved a silver fire extinguisher.

“The fire’s already started anyway! If we wait, those bugs will crawl out, and we can just shoot the ones that come out. That’ll be the end of it!”

The Police Officer Leader aimed his shotgun toward the entrance. The barrel was pointed directly at the stairway entrance.

“If you guys get mixed up in this, it’ll just complicate things. The raiders, you guys, the hostage Rider—if they all get mixed up, we won’t be able to properly subdue them.”

“That’s not possible. It’s an oil fire. If we don’t put out the flames quickly, it’ll spread big time. Since there’s a fire, those raiders will be too busy evacuating anyway.”

The firefighter shook off the Police Officer Leader’s arm and gestured to the other firefighters.

“Three of us will go up to the second floor to handle the flames. The rest of you, start by removing the oil barrels from the stairs and the first floor.”

“Stop them!”

A few police officers who were controlling access to the gas station rushed over to block the firefighters. The firefighter holding the silver fire extinguisher tried to push through.

It was pure chaos.

Around that time, Rider Zero, who had been crouching slightly and looking at a dead chick, stood up. Her black helmet hid her eyes, but for a moment, it felt like her gaze brushed past me.

From behind the helmet fixed on the Police Officer Leader, a heavy voice came.

“No. Let those raiders escape if they run out.”

“What? Hey, did you hit your head or something?”

The Police Officer Leader, who had been arguing with the firefighter, turned his head sharply. Rider Zero didn’t seem to care at all about his glaring eyes.

“My head’s fine. Those guys have a backer. Someone pulled the strings to make them move. We need to find that backer.”

“What kind of person could order a suicide attack? Make some sense.”

If it was just a threat with fire, maybe, but no one could make them actually set a fire. I nodded in agreement. Maybe if the Pastor had grown properly, it could have been possible, but the Pastor left this world first.

This fire seems more like a mistake or an accident…

Then, unexpectedly, Rider Zero rummaged through her pocket and pulled out two intact chicks and a lighter.

“I started the fire. The night watchmen were injured, and if we wasted time, they would have died.”

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

The arguing police and firefighters all pointed at Rider Zero as if accusing her. I also looked at her in disbelief.

A hostage Rider was injured. So you started a fire to get them out quickly? To make the threatening survivors give up and run away?

“Do you know how dangerous an oil fire is? No. No.”

“I trust the firefighters to handle it. There are plenty of fire extinguishers inside the building.”

Around that time, survivors inside the building started running out one by one, pushing the injured Rider forward as a shield.

“Move! If you don’t move, I’ll kill them!”

The injured Riders had been shot in the shoulder or thigh. Their faces were pale, and a survivor’s handgun was pointed at their heads.

The hostage only mattered to Rider Zero. The firefighter didn’t care at all about the hostage’s safety and ran straight into the building. The Police Officer Leader aimed his shotgun and laughed roughly.

“Do as you please. You’re all going to die anyway. Either die peacefully or die painfully. Choose one.”

“If we’re going to die anyway, we’ll die together. If you don’t give us a way out… you’ll die too.”

The survivors’ handguns turned toward the firefighters who were busy throwing oil barrels out of the first floor. And toward the oil barrels.

The noise of a bustling market started to rise again. The sounds of busy firefighters, the voices of survivors and the Police Officer Leader threatening each other, and Rider Zero shouting something from the side.

“Don’t kill them here!”

“Back off! We agreed to respect each other’s territories, right? This is police business. Don’t interfere.”

“Uh-oh, the flames are coming down!”

I glanced at the door where the stairs were visible.

The flames flowed like water, streaming down with the oil. Luckily, the oil barrels didn’t ignite immediately, so the oil didn’t explode, but the flickering flames and heat spread like paint.

‘What a shame.’

It doesn’t look like the fire will get much bigger. The firefighters are handling it, and the Riders were prepared. The flowing flames were quickly extinguished as the firefighters grabbed nearby extinguishers and sprayed them.

As I watched, a survivor suddenly looked at me. His pupils dilated, and he pointed his handgun at me.

“You, you! That’s right! Those people told me! They said to take a lighter and threaten the gas station! They sold me the handgun too! That person is the culprit!”

“…”

I stopped fiddling with my mask. Are you really going to say that here? Framing someone like this?

***

The Alliance members looked at me. Their eyes filled with doubt or certainty. Doubt that a mercenary like me would do such a thing. Certainty that they knew I was capable of it.

The police, who knew about the deal, also looked at me, following the crowd. I could feel the shotgun slowly being aimed at me.

If I speak up here, it might cause trouble for the police, so they might kill me to shut me up.

I smirked. I stand tall. I did nothing wrong. Sajihyeok or Jeondohyeong might have mentioned the means out of curiosity, and I only provided a handgun for a poor survivor.

“Me? Are you sure? I traded the handgun for food. I don’t know who brought it up, but I wouldn’t do something like that.”

“That scammer told me to do it!”

I chuckled.

“Sajihyeok? Yeah, he’s a scammer. But a scammer wouldn’t do something like this.”

The police quietly put away their guns. The barrels were aimed back at the survivors. But the others’ guard didn’t drop. Especially the Riders.

I know I could do something like this. The firefighters, who seemed to have caught a glimpse of my true nature, glanced at me while focusing on the fire.

How to dispel this suspicion? Show them my sincerity. Sincerity always works.

I shook my head as I looked up at the second-floor window, where red light flickered.

“If I were the culprit, I wouldn’t do it like this.”

If I were really trying to kill the Alliance, if I were driven into a corner and decided to die together, I had a means prepared for that day. I didn’t want to reveal it, but even if they knew, they couldn’t stop it.

“If it were me, I would have burned the city. Burned the mountains to destroy the firewood, surrounded the Survivor Zone with fire, and burned the parks, streets, and the entire city.”

A last resort to die together.

Leave no firewood for winter, turn food into ashes, and turn the city into a wasteland.

In the face of a planned massive fire, makeshift explosives or guns would be meaningless. They would all be fuel for the flames. This couldn’t be stopped. The fire department isn’t functioning, so how could they stop it?

The Alliance members froze for a moment. They seemed to imagine the scene I described. The world dyed in the colors of sunset due to flames that never extinguished, the sky filled with thick smoke—an apocalypse.

A cruel means to turn the coming winter into a season of death.

A survivor, driven by hunger to raid, reflexively spoke.

“Then there’d be nothing left.”

“That’s the point. There should be nothing left…”

Is this too sincere? The Alliance might start to distrust me. I laughed awkwardly and looked around.

“It’s just a contingency plan. With this kind of plan, even the military wouldn’t dare mess with us.”

“Now I see, the one with the head injury is you.”

The Police Officer Leader spoke dryly. He stared at me without blinking, as if observing me.

“Did you damage your brain somewhere? Why would you prepare such a means to kill so many people who aren’t even enemies? Even we didn’t think that far when preparing to fight the military.”

Is this what a Police Officer Leader should say?

Originally a gangster-turned-police officer, a bomb-making Electric Nomad, a poison-making Doctor, and a comrade—why are they treating me like this? Is it because I’m not one of them?

“No… I just spoke honestly because I felt wronged by the suspicion. Why are you reacting like this?”

“Being suspected seems better. Anyway, it doesn’t seem like you. You have no reason to mess with the Alliance, and if you were determined to do so, you wouldn’t have done it like this.”

That’s when it happened. A firefighter who had been moving oil barrels outside held a bright red fire axe and spoke to me.

His voice was somewhat gloomy.

“You should reconsider.”

“About burning the city? No, that’s—”

“No. Even if you don’t do it, fires will happen naturally.”

Is he talking about wildfires? I heard that during the dry season in autumn, wildfires can start naturally.

From lightning strikes, static electricity, or leaves brushing against each other in the wind.

The firefighter, who had been diligently moving oil barrels, glanced up at the second floor. The sound of fire extinguishers spraying could be heard, and the flickering red light gradually subsided.

“People use fire because the gas is cut off. Some tie plastic bags to trees to collect water. Fire accidents are inevitable. In this world, we can’t even put out fires in time.”

The firefighter prophesied, or rather, predicted the future based on experience and knowledge.

“Maybe none of us will make it through this autumn…”

“Enough with the nonsense, just move faster!”

“Yes!”

The firefighter, who had been speaking gloomily, quickly got back to work.

I fiddled with my mask. When an expert speaks, it’s convincing. For a moment, I imagined the autumn scenery. A season dyed not in autumn leaves but in flames.

‘But blood comes before flames or autumn leaves.’

I looked at the awkwardly standing survivor and spread my hands.

“Anyway, since you’re our members, I’ll give you a chance. Drop your weapons and come here. Cooperate with the police. If you waste time and the hostage dies, there’s no going back.”

The survivors looked around, then examined the Rider they were using as a shield. He had lost a lot of blood and looked in danger.

But there was still a chance to save him. Even if I didn’t know the details, the Survivor Zone had restored electricity, so a blood transfusion shouldn’t be a problem.

“But it doesn’t seem like that police officer will spare us.”

The Police Officer Leader quickly chimed in.

“You’re our friend’s business target, right? Then we should cut you some slack. Surrender quickly. If those Riders die, we can’t help you.”

“…Can we get food while being investigated?”

“Have you watched dramas or movies? In this world, we don’t feed criminals. …But if you help, we can give you something as a reward. You know how we use informants.”

The survivors hesitated, then handed the hostage over to the Riders. The Riders rushed the hostage to the hospital.

Then, gunshots rang out. One after another, aimed at the survivors. The survivors fell one by one. The police had clearly been practicing their shooting—their accuracy was impressive. Each had a hole in their head.

The Police Officer Leader let out a bloodthirsty laugh.

“Negotiations are for the dead. …You weren’t really planning to let them live, were you?”

“Of course not. Let’s make sure they’re dead first.”

I quickly grabbed a hammer and ran over, bashing their heads. After finishing the confirmation kills, I stood up, and people were looking at me strangely.

I asked curiously.

“Did blood get on my mask?”

I don’t want autumn leaves on my mask.

Then, I felt a gaze from the side. Rolling my eyes, I saw Rider Zero looking at me, her face hidden behind her helmet. She held a surviving chick in her palm.

The helmet turned, and the Police Officer Leader also looked.

‘What is it? Did she notice something suspicious?’

She’s not an easy opponent. Burning down one gas station isn’t a huge loss. They had plenty of oil reserves and were trying to replace it with electric bikes, with many connections set up.

The leaders of any group had considerable abilities. You could say they were the main or supporting characters of the scenario, and such petty tricks weren’t fatal.

‘I guess I’ll have to kill them myself…’

 

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