Ch.707. Greed.

# 07. Greed.

“Hmm, looking at how there’s less and less space to step, I think we’re almost at the food section.”

Broken objects and corpses covered the floor, making it impossible to tell where it was safe to step and where it wasn’t.

Deciding it was pointless to look for empty spaces on the floor, I raised my head to look at the ceiling.

Praying that whatever I felt beneath my feet wasn’t human.

“At this rate, I’m not sure if there’ll be any food left.”

I had confidently claimed earlier that places like this would have more food than convenience stores or small shops.

But being in a place where everything I looked at made my chest tighten and my head spin, I was starting to lose confidence.

“Still, there should be some preserved food… or at least a few packs of canned goods, right?”

In today’s world, there are only a few types of food I can eat without worry.

If I had to pick the most reliable ones, they’d be completely sealed canned goods that exist outside the flow of time, and solid preserved foods shaped like sticks made of several small cubes connected together.

Sometimes I find pills claiming that just one can substitute a meal, but unfortunately, those pills were probably meant for dieting—they make you feel full but don’t give you energy like real food, so they’re not suitable as actual sustenance.

“If I came all this way only to find empty shelves or spoiled food, I’d really want to cry.”

The truth is, even canned goods and preserved foods can only be stored relatively longer than other foods—they’re not completely immune to time’s effects, so I never know if they’re truly “good food.”

There’s a reason why I heat up canned goods that could technically be eaten cold.

But since I’ve never had any major health issues from eating them so far, and since there’s literally nothing else to eat in this barren land where not even a blade of grass grows, I don’t have much choice.

“I need to move faster. If the shelves are empty or only have rotten food, I’ll have to hurry back to the mart I visited before.”

The city has become increasingly unfriendly to wanderers since the electricity was cut off, but fortunately, the mart still had signs I could follow.

I follow the pillars that kindly inform me what’s being sold where, passing through countless shelves until I reach the food section.

“Good. Judging by the size, it would be stranger if there wasn’t any food here. Let’s quickly gather what we can and get out. I don’t mind being sheltered from the snow and wind, but I don’t want to stay in a place like this for too long.”

Shelves as tall as a three-story building stretch beyond the sign marked ‘Food.’ This is more of a zone than a section.

Though it’s lost its former glory with most shelves empty and the surroundings in chaos, the sheer size means there are still visible boxes scattered here and there.

“There must be something edible among those boxes, right? I’m actually getting excited. Please let there be some tasty canned goods this time.”

It would take about half a day to thoroughly check all the shelves, including the higher ones.

Viewers might point out that I just said I wanted to quickly gather supplies and leave, but now I’m planning to spend hours here.

But being able to gather food that could last for days or even over a month in just half a day is nothing short of a miracle for someone in my position.

“Let’s start from the top!”

With a big smile, I pulled out a long ladder that had been buried under corpses and placed it against the shelf.

It was an incredibly joyful shopping time.

“Haha, I think I’ve looked through everything now. It was a pretty successful shopping trip, don’t you think?”

As I’d hoped, there were quite a few edible items here, including canned goods.

Beyond individual items or bundles on shelves, there were even large boxes completely filled with canned goods.

Of course, without a cargo crate or hover bike, I can only carry a tiny fraction of what’s here, but hey, at least I found edible food, right?

“But… it’s kind of disappointing.”

Given how I’ve been carefully rationing even a single can of food for fear of running out, I should be dancing with joy right now.

Ironically though, my expression as I looked down at the box full of canned goods was anything but joyful.

“It seems that even starving people didn’t want to eat disgustingly bad food.”

Uncooked beans. Sardine-flavored bread pieces. Mint pineapple flavored chicken stew. Even undercooked insect flavor.

After searching through various shelves for food, somehow everything I found was made with extremely polarizing ingredients.

“Who would even eat these things…?”

The fact that they remained even after the apocalypse suggests that even people back then avoided these foods.

I know mass production of various foods was possible, but was there really a need to make foods that only a minority of enthusiasts would seek out?

“I know, I know. Worrying about taste in my situation is a luxury.”

Initially, I was just hoping to find any edible food, but now that I’ve found various options, I’m starting to care about taste and quality.

“They really were right when they said you can fill the ocean but not human greed. I know that finding tasty canned goods isn’t necessarily a good thing, but still.”

Even if I’m lucky enough to find fantastic canned goods in this situation, I’ll probably get used to that happiness before long.

Taste is just part of sensation, and sensation is ultimately just a form of knowledge or phenomenon.

Just like magic tricks that initially fascinate us eventually lose their appeal, happiness too will become familiar.

I might maintain a consistently mild happiness while supplies last, but as we all know, food doesn’t magically replenish itself.

What happens when I eat all the canned goods I have? What if I can’t find tastier canned goods, or even ones of similar quality?

From then on, I’d suffer while eating the dry, bland canned goods I have now.

Repeatedly muttering depressing thoughts like ‘what I ate before wasn’t like this.’

Yet right now, I’m happy just to have something warm to fill my stomach, even if it’s dry and bland.

“Ah, but still, I want to eat something delicious just once!”

But perhaps what makes us human is that we can’t shake off these small desires even when we know better.

“Let’s organize my stuff first. My backpack has been looking skinny lately, but now it’ll get nice and fat again. I’m a bit jealous.”

I start filling my backpack, which I’d placed on the floor to climb the ladder, with the food I found.

It would have been convenient to fill it all from one spot, but unfortunately, I had to move around to collect boxes I’d dropped on the floor while searching different shelves.

“You know, seeing all this sometimes makes me think it’s somewhat fortunate I wasn’t born in the same time as these people. It’s lonely and cold being alone, but at least I’m not facing life-threatening situations from other humans.”

I’m lonely, cold, and searching for survivors, but…

If the people I found were suspicious of me or threatened me with weapons demanding what I have instead of welcoming me… that would be really sad.

“Ah. There are canned goods here too… I see.”

The fallen people on the floor sometimes clutched spoiled food or broken appliances.

The same was true inside the backpack worn by someone who died looking up at the ceiling.

And the common trait among these people was that they all had wounds inflicted by others somewhere on their bodies.

“…Seeing how their attempts to survive actually led to their deaths makes my heart heavy.”

If they had known that their decision to come here for food would hasten their death, would they still have come?

“These are things you tried to protect even in death… but they’re meant for the living, so I’ll take them.”

Apologizing to the person who died clutching their bag, I take out a few preserved food items and transfer them to my backpack.

Quietly muttering that I’m helping ease their lingering attachments.

“Good. I think I’ve gathered enough now. Can you see how fat it’s gotten compared to before? If I ration properly, I won’t have to worry about starving for a month!”

My mood isn’t always like this, but generally, it’s proportional to the weight of my backpack.

After all, a heavier backpack means more tools to use and more food to eat.

In that sense, my mood right now was extremely elated. If it weren’t for this place, I might have been dancing with joy.

“That’s enough food hunting for now. Before heading out, let’s check the electronics section to see if there’s anything I can use, then find a place to sleep.”

This place isn’t terrible for sleeping, but I didn’t want to fall asleep next to mountains of corpses.

It’s like feeling I might become one of them. There was a sense that if I closed my eyes, I might never wake up again.

“There were times when I had to spend the night in places like this because of snowstorms outside. But maybe because of the environment, I always had sleep paralysis and nightmares about ghosts…”

Once I dreamed of walking through dark streets, but unlike usual, the people weren’t lying on the ground—they were standing upright.

Thinking they were alive, I approached them with a smile, but no matter how much I called out or waved, they just stood there motionless.

But when I moved, only their eyeballs followed me.

It was so eerie and frightening that I tried to run away, only to find hundreds, thousands of pairs of eyes suddenly appearing, all staring at me and smiling.

They didn’t make any laughing sounds or have bizarre expressions. In fact, it was their quiet smiles that made it even more terrifying.

“At worst, I’d wake from the nightmare only to experience sleep paralysis, unable to move, crying like a child begging for help… Anyway, I don’t want to spend the night here, so let’s look around quickly and leave.”

…But the scariest part was that even after such terrible dreams, I had no one to talk to about them.

Sometimes when the dreams were so vivid, I thought that perhaps I too had died like these people and was just wandering in the afterlife.

In that sense, I can’t express how fortunate it is to have someone to talk to, even if it’s through a drone.

At least this drone, and the living people beyond it, prove that I’m alive, right?

“…Though they haven’t said anything yet.”

I felt like I’d spent over half a day in the mart, but the drone remained silent.

“Isn’t it about time you sent me a message?”

I firmly believe a message will come if I wait… but when exactly?

I even turned the drone off and on again in case that was the problem, but with no new messages appearing, I questioned the drone accusingly.

And at that moment.

-There is a transmitted message. Would you like to check it?

“What?”

As if the drone had understood what I said.

A voice from the controller announced that a new message had arrived.

With trembling hands, I pressed the confirm button on the controller.

Then, just like before, a translucent window appeared above the controller.

[Oh my god, what are those corpses?]

[Are you filming some apocalyptic concept movie?]

[Wait, wait, this is too cruel! Are you okay?!]

The messages that appeared were clearly addressing me.

[Is it okay to break into doors like that?]

“But… the timing seems off?”

To be precise, they were addressing me from “one day ago.”