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We rummaged through the supply room that was used like a warehouse.

There was a large container with kimchi, probably picked up from somewhere, and expired ramen. There was also some poorly smoked meat. It looked like dog or sparrow meat.

There were quite a few different types of soap, probably taken from various bathrooms, and masks that seemed to have been collected for recycling.

Park Yang-gun, who was wandering around the room, rummaged through the ashes and trash, then let out a laugh.

“Roasted chestnuts? Did you get them from the mountains?”

The chestnut shells looked like they had been carved with a knife. They must have roasted and eaten the chestnuts.

‘It seems they’ve been hunting and gathering.’

After spring and summer, autumn arrived. Just like the changing seasons, people had changed too. With the city’s resources running dry, it was no longer possible to survive just by scavenging, so they had returned to a primitive lifestyle.

They picked fruits and hunted animals.

In a way, they might be more suited for survival than pillagers like me. They avoid danger, run away quickly, and get food from nature.

It’s better than pillagers risking their lives every day to steal others’ food…

As I was organizing the resources in the warehouse, I suddenly felt something was off.

“There’s no canned food or salt. There should be rice too.”

“Haha. They probably prepared those to take with them at any time. Look at how calmly they managed the warehouse resources.”

Is that so? Well, they must have packed a few survival bags to escape at any time, so the important resources must be in those bags.

The thought crossed my mind that I should also prepare a survival bag. Just in case my comrades rebel. After all, even pirates have mutinies.

Sajihyeok, staggering nervously while moving luggage, suddenly smiled happily.

“But we still made a decent profit.”

“Yes, if we had given them more time, they would have taken everything and run.”

Anyway, the surprise visit was effective. If we had told them to stay longer, they would have noticed and moved out completely.

We visited a few more houses, but they were all empty, and we filled our bags with the resources left behind.

***

We returned to Villa Street and waited for our comrades to return. How long had it been? The comrades came back, dragging heavy transport carts or barely carrying cardboard boxes.

Since there were more than one or two piggy banks, the resources we gathered were quite substantial.

A comrade who put down a heavy box on the roadside spoke to me in a low voice.

“One of our team members died.”

“Ah, I see.”

I looked at this comrade again. He was carrying two rifles, so I wondered if someone really died.

The problem was that I didn’t know who had died. As the leader of the organization, I couldn’t express an appropriate reaction. There was no one to mimic. I was the only leader here.

I briefly turned my gaze and counted the number of comrades.

‘Missing heads… Two? Two died?’

They were armed with guns, yet two died. Did they fall into a trap or get ambushed? Maybe someone dropped a refrigerator from the roof or shot them in a vital spot while hiding in a concrete fortress.

There were also injured people. A comrade whose face was scratched by a blade, another rubbing a bulletproof vest, complaining of pain.

“Our members must have been tough.”

“Yes, everyone’s a survivor, after all. We missed a lot of people.”

The comrade who was speaking to me hesitated, then lowered his voice.

“The dead friend has a family. That family…”

Family. I wanted to just cut them loose. Why bother with people who aren’t even capable of fighting?

But to maintain the organization and prevent ‘rebellion,’ I had to take care of that family. My method was to present benefits and losses to prevent rebellion or betrayal, and taking care of a family even after someone’s death was one of those benefits.

I hid my true feelings and patted the comrade on the shoulder.

“They’re comrades, right? That family is also our family. Go comfort them. Tell them not to worry.”

The comrade smiled brightly and quickly turned around. He hurried over to the deceased’s family and said something, but the family reacted calmly. In a world where death is common, people have run out of tears.

Watching that, I clenched the hammer tightly. It felt like I was only offering benefits. I needed to start injecting some losses too.

Just then, Jeondohyeong slowly approached. He was walking while looking at a map and then handed it to me.

“I found a good place to move.”

“How?”

In a world where the internet doesn’t work, it’s hard to get detailed information. You can’t know the location of underground water sources or wells, terrain favorable for defense, or the layout and spacing of buildings.

But Jeondohyeong blinked in surprise and sighed.

“You don’t care about the people here, do you? That uncle over there used to be in real estate, so he knows well.”

“Really?”

I looked at the person Jeondohyeong pointed at, but I didn’t recognize him. He was just an ordinary comrade, an uncle.

“I should remember that.”

I took the map from Jeondohyeong, who had nicknamed one of the comrades “Real Estate Uncle.” He had circled an area with a pen.

“That’s just a mountain. Are we going to the foothills?”

“The map is old. That uncle said there’s a townhouse there.”

A townhouse is several single-family homes grouped together like an apartment complex.

Jeondohyeong continued to explain.

“He said it uses underground water and even has a solar generator installed. He mentioned a few other spots, but this one seems the best.”

I examined the map carefully. The location and facilities were good. Then we had to consider the distance. The distance from Villa Street to the townhouse, and the distance to the alliance.

It looked like we could move in a day. It was also a decent distance from the alliance.

“Let’s send a few people first to investigate.”

“Yes, there might be survivors gathered there.”

Good facilities tend to attract people. We also needed to check if the facilities were damaged by landslides or heavy rain during the summer.

I clapped my hands to get the comrades’ attention.

“We’ve decided on a candidate for relocation. It’s a well-equipped townhouse. Anyone want to go scout?”

“I’ll guide the way.”

The Real Estate Uncle quickly stepped forward and smiled.

“I’ve been there a few times, so I know the way. Just follow me, and we’ll be fine. Any volunteers?”

“Is it far?”

“If we ride bikes, we’ll get there quickly. If we leave in the morning, we’ll be back by evening.”

“Not too far.”

Seeing signs that they were trying to avoid hard work, I added.

“The rest of you need to get carts or wheelbarrows. Once you get those, we’ll need to pack and move. No one gets to rest.”

Moving in this day and age is no easy task. You can just threaten people with guns to steal a house, but getting to that house is the problem.

Carrying heavy loads over long distances. You need all sorts of preparations.

Scouting is actually the easier task. The comrades who realized this quickly raised their hands.

“I’ll go scout.”

“Me, me!”

I picked people on a first-come, first-served basis and finally looked at Park Yang-gun quietly. Isn’t Park Yang-gun the expert in scouting or exploration?

Park Yang-gun shook his head in disgust.

“It’s not even stealing, why are you looking at me?”

“Isn’t it pre-work for stealing?”

“Even if you say that, I’m not falling for it. You’re just going to pillage, not steal.”

Then Sajihyeok stepped forward.

“Should I come along? I can build trust when dealing with strangers.”

“No, no. You don’t need to come.”

I didn’t say anything, but the scouting team quickly stopped Sajihyeok.

After scratching my head for a moment, I gestured lightly to the scouting team.

“Head out tomorrow morning and come back. Be careful of ambushes.”

***

Early in the morning, the street was filled with busy noises. The scouting team left on bikes, the resource team moved to find carts and wheelbarrows, and the base team packed up. Everyone was moving non-stop.

People going up and down the stairs like ants stacked boxes neatly on the roadside.

I wandered around, constantly nagging.

“Minimize your luggage. Only take what’s absolutely necessary. …Pajamas? Blankets? Throw those away. We can pillage for them later. Lightness is the priority.”

We only needed to pack food, sanitation supplies, weapons, drinking water, and tools. Everything else could be supplemented by pillaging. Furniture and clothes were really unnecessary.

“Throw away all the furniture. Chairs, tables, computers, TVs—none of that is needed. Just take the stove or heater.”

As we moved around, it was suddenly lunchtime, and the resource team started returning one by one. They brought back handcarts from who knows where, and some pushed blood-stained carts.

“We killed some guys from another river area and took their stuff. We also grabbed some resources.”

They had ambushed and wiped out pillagers from another river.

“Good job. Take a break and have lunch.”

Thanks to everyone’s hard work, and the fact that we didn’t have much luggage to begin with, the moving preparations were mostly done by evening.

The scouting team also returned safely.

The Real Estate Uncle, who got off his bike, said ambiguously.

“The townhouse isn’t in the best condition. Some houses were swept away by landslides, and only one solar generator is intact.”

“People?”

“There’s a group of survivors.”

 

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