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Jeondohyeong blinked stupidly, his face turning red as his hands trembled. It seemed he was excited at the thought of committing a crime, fitting for a vicious electric thief.

“Y-you’re going to kill them all? Not leaving a single one?”

“No. You, Park Yang-gun, we should try to spare Sajihyeok if possible.”

How could he even think of killing his criminal companion? That’s just too cruel. I quickly waved my hands to stop him.

Jeondohyeong clasped his trembling hands as if in prayer. The sound of his rough breathing seeped through his mask.

“The kids too, we have to kill them.”

“Of course. We can’t discriminate.”

They’re not just kids. They’re workers, survivors with the same experience as me. They shouldn’t be treated specially or looked down upon. They’re enemies to be faced with full force.

A flash of lightning struck, followed by a rumble of thunder.

Jeondohyeong tightly closed his eyes. Deep breaths followed. The trembling stopped. He calmly picked up the hand axe.

“I’ll do it.”

“Then I’ll explain the plan. It’s simple.”

The uncle’s loud shouting must have alerted the street people. We’ll explain the situation and then raid the house.

Faith was our weapon. The faith to show our weaknesses. We’ll use that faith to attack.

Most people live separately, so we won’t be outnumbered.

Armed with hammers, handguns, hand axes, and shoelaces, we stepped out into the pouring rain.

***

“Hello. There was someone trying to sell lettuce to pillagers. That’s why we’re here.”

“Oh my. Someone was short-sighted.”

“But you all have short lives.”

The elderly couple. As I struck the grandmother’s head with the hammer, Jeondohyeong quietly moved behind the grandfather and strangled him with a shoelace, killing him without a sound.

“We need to discuss how to punish them… Ah, can I borrow a towel? I’m soaked from the rain.”

“I’m not sure if there’s a dry towel left. I’ve been putting off laundry, just a moment.”

“I’ll find it. Stay still.”

I struck the head of the person who dared to turn their back to me and headed to the bathroom with the hammer, and the hand axe slit their throat.

“The person buying lettuce was a pillager. We almost all died.”

“Hey, hey. What are you going to do with that person? We can’t just leave them be!”

“We can’t leave them be. We’ll do this.”

Kill the angry ones, kill those who refuse to join the meeting, kill those who thought of selling lettuce, kill them all.

Of course, not everything went smoothly.

Some people were strangely wary of me, so I sent Jeondohyeong ahead. Some went to bed early, so we had to knock on their doors for a while before killing them. Some even dodged my hammer swings with quick reflexes.

“Ha…”

I slumped down in the hallway, gasping for breath. The hammer clattered to the floor.

In front of me, a blood-soaked man lay face down. A hand axe stuck in his back, he coughed up blood and gasped for air.

He was a tough opponent. He dodged my hammer and lunged at me, throwing punches. If it weren’t for Jeondohyeong, I might have died.

Suddenly, fatigue overwhelmed me, and my eyelids grew heavy. How many times had I swung the hammer? How many people had I killed? A chilling cold crept up. The rain had stolen my body heat. I felt like I might catch a cold.

‘I can’t afford to catch a cold.’

My stamina was too drained.

“Ah, ahhh! Run away!”

A sudden scream. I struggled to open my eyes. The man with the axe in him screamed desperately, warning the neighbors.

I chuckled.

“No one’s listening.”

Everyone in this villa is already dead. The other villa? Only one house is left, and the heavy rain makes it impossible to hear.

The man vomiting blood looked up at me with difficulty, then turned his gaze to Jeondohyeong.

“Why, why. You, you.”

“…”

Why ask Jeondohyeong? You don’t even need to ask me. It feels oddly unsettling.

Looking up at Jeondohyeong, he calmly looked down at the soon-to-be corpse. He even bent down to retrieve the hand axe. With a thud, he struck the neck with the axe and muttered.

“I’m just doing what I can.”

A classic confirmation kill. Jeondohyeong, stepping over the pool of blood, said to me.

“I’ll handle the rest. Take a break.”

“Ah… No. There are still kids left. A mom and two kids. How can you handle three alone?”

Even Jeondohyeong can’t handle three. Kids? Just seeing them run at me with a screwdriver is terrifying.

I picked up the hammer I had dropped, but it felt incredibly heavy. My arms hurt, maybe from a cold or muscle strain.

The trembling hammer. Jeondohyeong shook his head.

“You’ll just get in the way. Just lend me the hammer. I’ll throw the hand axe and swing the hammer.”

“Let’s rest for a bit and go together.”

At least avoid an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation. We’ll face anyone with full force, no matter who. If necessary, I’ll even shoot the handgun.

I forced myself up, leaning against the wall, but my strength wouldn’t come. I was more exhausted than I thought. My mental strength had also dropped significantly. Even though I killed easily, I couldn’t help but stay tense.

Jeondohyeong took the hammer from my hand.

“Really, why are you so stubborn? Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

I handed over the hammer obediently. Swinging the hammer in this state is too much. I’ll use the handgun instead. Two bullets left.

“But let’s go together.”

“Ah…”

I staggered forward, and Jeondohyeong followed slowly.

The streetlights lit up the street as the power outage ended. The pouring rain hit the corpses and the road, washing away the blood splattered on our clothes.

We headed to the last remaining house.

Leaving the sound of rain behind, we climbed the stairs step by step. The villa was quiet. Our footsteps squelched up the stairs.

Knocking on the door, a cautious voice answered. The kids’ mom.

“Who is it?”

“Yes, it’s us. There was someone trying to sell lettuce to pillagers. So the uncle sent us to talk.”

After a brief silence, the door slowly opened. The bright hallway. The mom, holding a kitchen knife, looked us over and hesitated.

“Blood?”

“We dealt with some pillagers while escaping… The person buying lettuce turned out to be a pillager.”

I signaled Jeondohyeong. Swing the hammer or axe quickly. But Jeondohyeong stood still, and I had no choice but to continue.

“We need to discuss what punishment to give the lettuce leaker. Do you have any opinions?”

“…Can we share their food?”

The mom’s eyes lit up. It seems they’ve given a lot of food to the school, so they want food first.

I naturally reached into my pocket. The handgun hidden under my jacket to keep it dry was within reach.

Then the kids suddenly peeked out from behind their mom. They looked up at me and Jeondohyeong with curious eyes.

“It’s the cross uncle. Why are you here?”

“We’re here to make you into a cross.”

“Ah, stop lying.”

I laughed. It’s true. Now, scarecrows like crosses are meaningless. It’s time to abandon the strategy of threatening to drive them away.

I nudged Jeondohyeong. He just turned his head and looked at me.

“This doesn’t feel right. This really isn’t it.”

“…”

Is he serious? After coming this far? Has he not fully adapted yet?

“Let’s just go back. We don’t have to do this. We can go back to the Hope Community, just take the remaining resources-”

“Ah, right.”

I sighed deeply, exhausted, and took a step back. As if agreeing with Jeondohyeong. Jeondohyeong’s stiff expression softened, and the mom, sensing danger, gripped the kitchen knife tightly.

And then, I pulled out the gun and fired.

Bang, bang. Two gunshots. Sparks flew. I then snatched the hammer from Jeondohyeong’s hand and swung it.

“Uh. Ah.”

Jeondohyeong just babbled incoherently. He seemed out of his mind, but I was too disappointed to care.

I left a few short words and went down the stairs.

“Let’s move the resources slowly.”

We don’t want them to get soaked in the rain.

As I stepped out into the street, the world suddenly lit up. Almost simultaneously, thunder roared, and all the streetlights went out.

A real power outage. Lightning must have struck something, plunging the area into darkness.

Even though we cleaned up the villa street neatly, my heart felt heavy. Summer. The season of disaster has come. The season when infrastructure and people fall apart.

At least we’ve stockpiled enough resources.

‘Let’s eat the lettuce first, store the villa people’s resources well, don’t get hurt. Charge the phone in the car. Anyway, we’ll survive the summer.’

I pictured a survivable future and headed home.

 

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