25. What Happened to Them. (3)

The men began their story.

They were not all captured at once but at different times, so their knowledge of events varied.

One person’s experience was unknown to another.

As we listened to their stories, we could piece together what had happened to the cockroaches.

That day.

The day I cut off two of the cockroach leader’s front legs and gouged out his eyes.

That day, the cockroach leader lost his command.

With over a hundred men, even though I had created twenty dead cockroaches, the remaining number was still significant.

There were at least a few hundred people in the community, including women and possibly the elderly and children.

They needed to raid a convenience store every day to survive.

The leader who had been directing these raids became incapacitated.

So, who would take over?

Who would set the raid targets, who would act as bait, and who would distribute the loot?

This was immense power.

The one who held this power could control the entire community.

This also meant civil war.

The thugs who had been bickering over the power vacuum split into two factions: those who wanted to establish the leader’s wife as the new leader and those who wanted a new leader entirely.

The faction for a new leader lacked a clear leader but was highly united.

After all, they all imagined themselves as the next leader, with the power to distribute resources, so their enthusiasm and cooperation were at their peak.

On the other hand, the faction supporting the leader’s wife was composed of those who had benefited significantly from the cockroach leader.

If the opposing faction took power, they would fall from grace.

They weren’t supporting the wife because they liked her or admired her leadership; they were doing it to survive.

Ultimately, a fight broke out.

Both sides suffered significant casualties.

During the chaos, the faction for a new leader seemed to have taken quite a beating.

They were highly motivated and cooperative, but with everyone trying to be the leader, they couldn’t unite and ended up getting beaten and scattered.

They fled, and in the process, they looted or destroyed many of the supplies the original leader had stockpiled.

The faction supporting the wife, fearing they would be picked off one by one, didn’t dare chase after them. They were left with a small amount of food and a drastically reduced number of people to feed the remaining hundreds.

Too many were injured from the fighting.

Under extreme stress, the wife drank heavily and, in a near-death state, stabbed her husband to death.

From her perspective, if the leader hadn’t led the group to attack me, they could have continued to live comfortably, raiding stores and maintaining their powerful status.

The leader had made a critical mistake, underestimating my ability to swiftly and decisively eliminate them.

This mistake led to the current situation, and the wife, filled with resentment towards both her husband and me, stabbed him to death.

She then came to me, intending to kill me as well.

From her perspective, her comfortable life with people under her control had been shattered in a single day.

The depth of her resentment was evident from her actions-stabbing her husband and coming to kill me.

Human greed is endless, and the same mistakes are repeated.

After the wife was incapacitated by me, the men who had brought her:

They were in poor shape.

They were the limit of the cockroaches’ available manpower.

The cockroach army, composed of tattooed pigs, thugs, and those who had become thugs from the thrill of looting and abusing women, collapsed like dominoes.

They fell into infighting and chaos.

The thugs who had been guarding the warehouse where the men and women were held disappeared for this very reason.

The men escaped from the quiet warehouse, rescued the women, and came to us.

We listened to their story, discussed it, and pieced together what had happened before standing up.

“I understand. You’ve been through a lot. Rest now.”

“Yes, hyung.”

“Yes, Seong-hun.”

The men bowed to me.

Jeong-seo and our other men had changed expressions.

They looked somewhat bitter and relieved.

Jun-hyuk said,

“What about the… the other victims left behind?”

“What can we do?”

Jeong-seo turned to Jun-hyuk.

“We’re not a charity. We can’t save everyone. We’re struggling to survive ourselves.”

The others were silent at her words.

I was slightly surprised.

It was hard to believe this was the same girl who used to skate around with bags of ramen, distributing them to people.

Jeong-seo looked at the escaped men and said,

“There’s a lot of work to do here. Don’t think we just accepted you to let you rest. Find something to do and take responsibility. Understand?”

The three men nodded slightly, looking a bit intimidated.

“Yes, I understand.”

“Yes.”

Jeong-seo then left the calligraphy school.

Jun-hyuk and Mr. Hoon also seemed surprised by her attitude.

…Hmm.

I patted Mr. Hoon’s shoulder and left the calligraphy school.

I said to the three men,

“She’s not usually like that. But what she said is true. There’s a lot of work here, so find something to do. Get along with everyone. Got it?”

“Yes, hyung.”

“I understand.”

I nodded at their polite responses and walked out of the calligraphy school, heading for the elevator.

The elevator was stopped on the 10th floor.

Jeong-seo… She’s probably still on guard duty.

She must be under a lot of stress.

I know where she went.

I called the elevator and got off on the 10th floor.

I then went straight to the rooftop.

The sun was shining brightly on the rooftop.

The vegetable garden hadn’t sprouted yet, but seeing Grandma, So-eun, and the married woman tending the soil and watering the plants made me feel warm and content.

Jeong-seo was standing apart from them, leaning against the railing, looking somewhat lonely as she gazed into the distance.

When Grandma, So-eun, and the married woman waved at me, I waved back and then approached Jeong-seo.

“…Are you okay?”

Jeong-seo glanced at me and lowered her head.

“I’m sorry, Seong-hun.”

I chuckled.

“Why are you sorry to me? There’s nothing to be sorry about.”

I took out a cigarette, lit it, and offered one to Jeong-seo. She smiled slightly and took it, lighting it as well.

Click.

Phew-

The smoke drifted away.

Jeong-seo said,

“…I don’t know why I’m like this. Why am I so angry? Everything makes me angry and frustrated.”

Hmm…

I can’t even imagine how she feels.

The cockroaches had become cockroaches on their own. No one had forced them to act that way.

But it was Jeong-seo who had led them out.

Is she blaming herself for her brother’s death?

If so, has she fallen into self-loathing?

I have these thoughts, but I don’t really know.

I just stand beside her, sharing a cigarette, being a cigarette companion.

“Jeong-seo.”

Jeong-seo looked at me.

I said,

“I like you, Jeong-seo.”

Her eyes widened slightly.

I chuckled.

“No matter what you say or decide, I’ve never thought it was wrong. And I never will.”

Phew-

The cigarette tastes good.

“No one has done anything wrong. Not me, not you, no one.”

I pointed into the distance and said,

“Except for those cockroaches.”

Phew-

I exhaled the smoke as I spoke.

Jeong-seo didn’t respond.

She just turned her gaze away from me and looked into the distance.

 * * *

“Phew, hah.”

As I returned to the underpass entrance, I needed more and more acceleration.

I had gone deeper.

I don’t know how many are left, but it’s clearly fewer.

I need to find the next target soon.

A place as densely packed as the underpass.

Level 22.

Using both close-range and ranged weapons definitely speeds up leveling.

I put 8 points into Perception, making it 19, and returned to the large mart.

Combining all the arrows I’ve shot, I must have fired at least 300.

Because of this, the speed at which I draw the bow and aim has improved significantly.

With continued practice, it will only get faster.

I’ve never used a different type of bow, so I can’t compare, but this composite bow really suits me.

Even with the skill’s assistance in aiming, the bow’s tension is crucial for the arrow to reach its target.

This bow, even from a considerable distance, perhaps 100 meters away, can still pierce a head with incredible force.

This means it has the tension to guarantee a headshot from 100 meters away.

Considering the skill’s effectiveness, as long as the target is within the maximum range, it’s a guaranteed one-shot kill.

So, what is the maximum range?

I’ve cleared out all the nearby targets, and in the winding underground market, it’s hard to determine the maximum range.

I’m not about to lure a human beast and use acceleration to create distance for a test.

I’ll find out eventually.

Satisfied with the bow and skill’s performance, I returned to the large mart.