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Ambush and raid are easy. We even knew when and where the enemy would come, so the overall situation was overwhelmingly in our favor.

So, I got suspicious.

“Is this for real?”

I stared at the note left by the fly, twitching my fingers.

Could this information be bait? Could the alliance be lying in wait for us, or could the fly have set a trap?

The alliance had a reason to attack us, and the fly had something to gain by killing us. Military gear. Firearms are one thing, but helmets and bulletproof vests increase survival odds.

As I silently glared at the note, the fly tied up in front of me spoke in a shaky voice.

“You said you’d let me go after the job. When are you going to release me?”

“Ah, the job.”

I turned my gaze to the fly we had captured as a prisoner. There was no reason to keep it hidden anymore, so I removed the cover from the window, and the sunlight streaming in made the fly clearly visible.

Pale complexion, cold sweat, dark circles. The wound on its knee looked infected, and its condition was clearly bad.

“Thanks to the information you provided last time, the job is going well. So, I’m here to reward you.”

“Just let me go. My knee… I’ll have to live as a cripple.”

A ruined knee can’t be fixed. It’ll live with pain and disability for the rest of its life. Its lifespan might be shorter, but it could survive for a while.

The fly seemed to have accepted that future, but I smiled kindly.

“I’ll ease your pain.”

“Do you have painkillers? …Hah. You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”

I silently pulled out a hammer. The fly looked at the hammer with hollow eyes, then met my gaze.

“I knew it’d come to this. But I still hoped for something else.”

“No need for thanks.”

“Wait!”

The fly shouted loudly. I paused mid-swing, blinking with interest as I scanned the fly.

Is it going to stop me here? Does it have some hidden technique or a self-destruct method? The struggle of a survivor trying to live is always entertaining and dangerous.

“Do you have something to say?”

“Can’t I at least leave some last words?”

Did it just give up? That’s boring. I raised the hammer high with a bored expression, my gaze fixed precisely on the fly’s forehead.

“Just die.”

*Thud.* The hammer gently caressed the fly’s forehead, and it collapsed, unable to control its body. The noose around its neck tightened, choking it.

I wiped the dirty hammer on the fly’s clothes and left the room.

Anyway, my job was simple. Murder. Whether the alliance was lying in wait, the fly had set a trap, or it was just a serious provocation, killing them all would end it.

***

The next provocation time arrived. Noon, when the sun hung high in the sky.

I led my criminal companions to the commercial area below the townhouse mentioned in the memo. Specifically, to the building next to the one where the targets would enter.

“They’ll come to provoke soon. Two people, armed with handguns.”

“Two? Then we don’t all need to be here, right?”

Park Yang-gun, fiddling with his rifle, spoke as if annoyed. He seemed convinced that the flies were spineless double agents, looking bored.

“No. We don’t know what accidents might happen. We need at least four people to handle any situation.”

I tapped the rifle. Firearms are strong, but numbers make us stronger. Of course, I didn’t trust Sajihyeok, but numbers alone were a force.

Jeon Do-hyeong checked the magazine, inspected the firearm, and adjusted the sights before letting out a deep sigh.

“Does this feel right? Feels like sinking in a swamp.”

“Oh, have you been in a swamp?”

“No, it’s just a saying. The feeling of struggling but slowly sinking.”

“Are you talking about scuba diving? You’ve got experience.”

Sajihyeok, spouting nonsense, let out an admiring sigh and hugged his rifle.

“I’ve only taken photos in fancy hotel pools and showed off. I’ve never actually been in the water.”

“You’re killing me. Wouldn’t you just sink and die if you went in the water? Never mind. Don’t answer.”

How long had we been having this pointless conversation?

I aimed my rifle as I watched out the window.

“They’re here. They entered through the window. No sign of the alliance.”

Two skinny people nimbly climbed through the window. No drones in the sky, no signs of anyone around.

“So, do we shoot them when they come out? That’s tough. How do we know where they’ll exit?”

Park Yang-gun was right. Maybe because society had collapsed, people didn’t use doors. They moved through first-floor windows instead of doors. Naturally, there were more windows than doors, making it hard to predict where they’d exit.

I glanced at Sajihyeok.

“Sajihyeok. Cover us with suppressive fire here. Jeon Do-hyeong, Park Yang-gun, and I will go around and shoot anyone trying to escape.”

“Suppressive fire? Me, a marksman?”

“No time. Please.”

As I hurried away, I heard Sajihyeok confidently boasting.

“Then I’ll hold this position. If they come out this way, I’ll kill them.”

Suddenly, I felt uneasy. What if these survivors were quick and realized they were being hunted? What if they escaped toward Sajihyeok?

“No. Jeon Do-hyeong. You stay here too. If they try to escape this way, shoot them.”

In the end, I left even Jeon Do-hyeong, my murder supporter, here and went out into the street.

***

*Bang!* As soon as I stepped into the street, gunfire rang out. Not from my companions, but from the sacrifices recruited by the fly.

Soon after, gunfire from Sajihyeok or Jeon Do-hyeong followed.

“Let’s run to that yellow car.”

“Why bother with the pain? We’ve already secured their escape route in our sights.”

“Still, it’s better to shoot while they’re climbing through the window. Easier to kill them while they’re busy.”

Anyway, a handgun is still a gun. Even with bulletproof vests and helmets, getting hit in the face or limbs was dangerous.

I quickly ran to a car that gave me a clear shot of the building’s back, and Park Yang-gun grumbled as he followed.

Then, a few seconds later, the two survivors appeared. Lips tightly shut, making no sound, their heads popped up like ghosts through the first-floor window.

They should’ve been cursing after the suppressive fire, but like skilled survivors, they focused on staying hidden.

“These aren’t easy targets.”

That’s what street survivors are like. People who stay calm under pressure. It’s no wonder they’re hard to find, moving through dense concrete buildings using them as cover.

One of the survivors about to climb through the window suddenly saw me.

Even though I was hiding behind a discarded car, our eyes met.

“…”

“…”

In that instant, many thoughts flashed through my mind. Did it spot me? Should I pretend to be a zombie? No, that won’t work. I’m wearing military gear. Better to shoot immediately.

A split-second decision. As I pulled the trigger, the two survivors moved at a similar speed. Their heads ducked below the window.

The bullet I fired narrowly missed the survivor’s head.

“Ah.”

It started off wrong. The hunt turned into an indoor battle. The difficulty level just multiplied.

First, I couldn’t pinpoint the enemy’s location. Were they crouching below the window or crawling away?

Park Yang-gun clicked his tongue.

“This just got annoying. They don’t look easy to deal with.”

“Only the toughest have survived. The weak are all dead.”

I kept my vision wide, taking in the entire building. Ready to shoot at any movement, my finger on the trigger.

But the enemy didn’t reveal themselves easily.

“Are they waiting for us to leave? Or planning a counterattack inside? Or looking for another escape route?”

One thing was certain: there would be no negotiation.

“We can’t set a fire.”

“Fire’s out. Too close to the townhouse.”

“I know.”

Wasting such a powerful weapon as fire on just two guys wasn’t an option.

But I couldn’t think of an easy way to kill the enemy inside. Still, solving such problems is part of the fun.

“The enemy is a wary survivor. Too suspicious to trick with fake talk. But they know the difference in firepower, so they won’t want to fight.”

In my mind, the two survivors transformed. Herbivores fleeing from predators.

They’d probably want to escape if they saw an opening. So, my method would be tracking and hunting.

I grinned and raised my voice.

“Hide and seek isn’t fun. How about tag?”

No response. But they were definitely listening.

“I’ll open a path to the left. You run, and I’ll chase and kill you. How about it? I’ll give you one minute to run. If you don’t escape in one minute…”

I pulled out a lighter and lit it.

“I’ll set the building on fire. Run through the path we opened.”

It’s a lie. I won’t set the fire. I won’t even wait a minute. I’ll shoot them as soon as they come out. But the important thing was how they’d react.

“Go!”

I checked my wristwatch. 59, 58, 57… Even after 10 seconds, there was no movement. Maybe they thought I wouldn’t set the fire, or maybe they were still thinking.

Second by second passed. Park Yang-gun spoke.

“Leftmost window.”

Rolling my eyes to check, I saw the ghostly figures of the two survivors. Silently, smoothly climbing over the window frame.

Their position was perfect. Cars and streetlights provided cover between us.

I shouldered my rifle and dashed forward. At the same time, the two survivors who had come out into the street moved quickly, using the cover, and a warning shout came.

“We set the fire first!”

Looking at the window they came from, a faint red glow flickered. They must’ve gathered trash inside to set a fire and slow us down.

A choice: deal with the fire or let them go and put out the fire.

I grinned and pulled the trigger.

“Thanks! I wanted to burn it all down anyway!”

Rapid fire. Gunshots rang out like fireworks. A barrage of bullets pierced the car, embedded in the streetlights and building walls, and flew toward the two survivors.

“Ah!”

“Damn it. We shouldn’t have listened to them. Now it’s come to this.”

Cornered prey, their eyes filled with malice. They turned their bleeding bodies toward us, holding handguns.

The malice of mutual destruction. The determination to at least exhaust all their bullets so we’d gain nothing.

At that moment, *bang, bang*, two gunshots rang out sporadically. Park Yang-gun’s shots. The two bullets precisely hit the survivors’ heads. They collapsed backward.

Looking back, Park Yang-gun, standing far away, slowly lowered his rifle.

“Kim Da-in. No need to run so fast.”

“Hey. If you shoot from behind, what if you hit me?”

Did I almost die just now? If Sajihyeok had been there instead of Park Yang-gun, I’d have been hit. Same if Park Yang-gun had betrayed us.

 

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