Chapter 34: Area [2]

Chapter 34: Area [2]

"You have a police friend?"

The uncle's eyes widened. The police these days are not really police. The weak police have already been hunted down and become treasure goblins, and the surviving police have become gangs filled with malice.

Having connections with such police would be worth showing off.

I looked around at the people nearby one by one. The atmosphere had already shifted towards me. They were focused on me.

"I can even get a police uniform. I can probably enter the apartment complex without any interference. I can also open the doors."

The people leaned towards me with a cold expression, but they still gave me looks of denial and doubt, not yet desperate.

"But there will be a lot of people in the apartment complex. What if they retaliate?"

Is he someone who has been holed up safely in his home? Doesn't feel like an apocalypse survivor type.

"Then will you just keep getting attacked? Even if the apartment people come in, burn down the villa neighborhood, kill people, and loot?"

I looked at the uncle, asking him to help me out a bit, and the uncle, though confused, responded reflexively.

"Didn't I say earlier? Next time won't end like this."

"Offense is the best defense. I have a plan. Just listen first."

I quickly explained the scenario before the atmosphere turned suspicious. I had polished the scenario using information I had gathered from the internet, making it plausible enough for them to act on.

"We just need to invade the management office. That's the control tower of the apartment complex."

The internet still occasionally cuts out, but SNS is still running, and I've been spying on some of the apartment complex residents' SNS to gather information.

The management office is the control tower. They broadcast warnings if a zombie wave is approaching or if zombies appear in the elevators.

They also broadcast announcements to gather people when they need to go out in a group.

We can take over those broadcasts.

"Some people will set a fire big enough to make smoke on the apartment rooftop, and some people will broadcast the fire evacuation announcement from the management office. And when the apartment people come out?"

I held up a few fingers and folded them one by one.

"We can run them over with cars, or time it to lure in a zombie wave. Or we can capture a few zombies and extract their saliva to make water guns."

"Huh? That far?"

The people looked at me with a sense of alarm and disgust. It seems that the act of getting their hands bloody is still troubling their conscience.

Or maybe they have other intentions.

The uncle, who had been rolling his eyes, suddenly clenched his fist and stood up, gesturing around.

"The plan is good, but let's do it a different way. Driving the apartment complex people out is, well, peaceful? As the villa youth said."

His outstretched hand swept across the area, beyond the villa neighborhood to the surrounding neighborhoods.

"I'm sure there are more than a few people who have seen the apartment people's violence. If we gather those people, we'll have more numbers than the apartment people."

Does the uncle's suggestion appeal to him more? The people's focus shifts back to the uncle.

It's understandable. After all, humans are social animals, so they feel the greatest sense of security in numbers. In that sense, he seems to want to increase his allies, even if it means sharing the spoils, rather than just having the lacking people from the villa neighborhood step up.

I briefly saw the uncle. My thoughts were more scattered than expected.

'I'll use my words to gather more people.'

Even in this small meeting, there is a whiff of political maneuvering as they try to take control and check me.

"You don't need to go as far as doing something so heinous. Just gathering a lot of people and storming the apartment will avoid a bloody incident."

I could continue the war of words here and play politics, but I respectfully step back and keep my mouth shut.

It's fine. I'm not the type to be obsessed with the leader position, and apartment looting isn't my sole goal. As long as the villa neighborhood people step aside.

"Then I'll go gather some people. Let's set a date as the plan progresses!"

That's how the villa neighborhood people's meeting ended. As I wanted.

***

"...What do you want me to do?"

Reporting the meeting results to my fellow looters. Jeon Do-hyeong blinked his eyes as if doubting his ears.

I slowly repeated myself.

"On the day the villa neighborhood people go to raid the apartment, you and Uncle Park-yang should go around the other villa houses. Mix the zombie saliva into cups or water."

Was it from a mafia movie? There's a saying like that. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer.

Interpreting it by turning the perspective, the nearby villa neighborhood neighbors are the enemies, aren't they?

"Whether it's the apartment people or the villa neighborhood people, they'll eventually come after our villa anyway. If the situation gets worse, they'll try to share our resources too. Let's take care of them all now while we have the chance."

It felt a bit haphazard. Instead of professionally occupying the management office first and then infiltrating, they were rushing like a wave to sweep through each destination one by one.

Woooo-

People shouted.

I felt a little uneasy, but I casually waved my hand in agreement. Apartment attack? Even if it fails, the fellow looters will work on the villa street.

'It's good to think hard.'

Restraining the impulsive urge and refining the clumsy plan has its rewards.

People rushed down the street. The zombies were not a problem. They retreated at the sight of the many people.

"Aaaah!"

Occasionally, a zombie with diminished judgment would charge, but it would soon become a corpse under the clubs of the people.

It was as if the zombies had become people, and the people had become a zombie wave. This trend became more pronounced as they approached the apartment. The groups of people from other neighborhoods joined one by one.

"Welcome! The destination is the apartment management office!"

"I understand!"

The excited voices of people walking the streets without worrying about zombies. Confidence from their overwhelming numbers. Ragged breathing can be heard everywhere, and cold steel weapons scatter their icy chill.

Soon the destination came into view.

An expensive-looking apartment. The perimeter wall surrounding the apartment complex like a castle wall, and the entrance barricaded like a castle gate.

"Hurry! To the apartment management office first! The arson squad, go to the rooftops of each building!"

"Yes!"

The crowd. A human wave rushes into the apartment complex. A part of the wave has broken off.

I advance towards the management office, observing the apartment. How many apartment buildings are there? How many people live in them? I look up at the towering apartments and feel the pressure.

'A full-scale attack is really out of the question.'

There must be over a hundred people entrenched inside the reinforced concrete fortress. How can we win this?

Around there, the uncle and a few people who seemed to be representatives from the neighboring districts were the first to reach the management office. The pale electric light shines in the management office.

"Let's get in quickly!"

We step inside, passing through the already broken entrance. And we simultaneously realized that something was wrong.

"...There's no one here?"

There's no one. It's empty. We searched the supply room and various rooms, but there were no signs of life. They didn't even hide. They just don't exist.

In the room with the elevator and CCTV screens of the apartment complex, only the faint sound of machinery running could be heard.

"Huh, what!"

Soon, a bewildered cry came from the crowd surrounding the management office, and someone came running out of breath.

"We're surrounded! The apartment people have surrounded us! What do we do?"

"How...?"

An unexpected turn of events. The apartment residents had already prepared for the attack. They surrounded us instead.

I immediately grasped the situation, and the uncle who led this attack gritted his teeth.

"Traitor! There was a traitor!"

A betrayer, someone who sold our attack information to the apartment people. With the combined numbers from the various neighborhoods, there could have been people with different thoughts, but...

'The real problem is people.'

I sighed. The attack failed. If things go wrong, even the work on the villa street could be disrupted. Checking my phone, I realized I needed to stall for time.

'I have to drag it out until the blackout comes.'

I glance at the uncle. He is gripping the iron pipe in anger at the betrayer, but his eyes are shaking, seemingly flustered.

I approached him.

"If we retreat like this, we'll lose. We have to get something. Otherwise, we'll lose a lot. Who will believe our words from now on?"

It's a fatal blow to the uncle who had gathered people and wanted a leadership position. After gathering people and moving, to fail? The value of the people is greatly diminished.

The shaking in the uncle's eyes stopped. He tightened the red string with "Unity Struggle" written on it.

"I know. At least we should get back what we stole from our own neighborhood. They also don't want to fight to the death, so we can negotiate."

That's it. Problems caused by people are solved by people. I chuckled and hid my smile under the mask.