Fire is dangerous. Especially in a ti when fire departnts no longer function. If a spark flies astray and spreads, there's no stopping it.
That's why we prepared fire extinguishers before setting the fire. The heavy extinguishers weren't considered essential resources, so they were scattered throughout buildings and easy to find.
Crackle, crackle.
The flas danced.
"Burns well."
I mumbled absently while watching the flas consu the pile of corpses. Perhaps because we'd gathered trash from the streets and broken branches from fallen streetlights, it burned exceptionally well.
Watching the flickering flas brought a sense of peace. That red glow and gentle movent. This was...
"Is this what they call the camping vibe?"
Do-hyung would have protested in horror if he were here, but he was asleep back in the villa district.
The people gathered here were all raiders with questionable humanity. The rcenaries snickered as they joked around.
"Our captain is so considerate. Giving these folks a proper funeral in tis like these."
"What's it called again? Cremation, right? These bastards are living it up even in death."
Their jokes made laugh too. I grinned widely. They had a similar style to mine. Though I'd ford this group by chance, I felt I'd made the right decision.
"These kind souls are giving us their precious resources. The least we can do is provide this service."
In this cheerful atmosphere, I glanced up at the villa building.
We're making all this commotion, and still no reaction? I'd expect them to be firing their guns in irritation by now.
Ti to provoke them a bit.
I cleared my throat with a fake cough. It wasn't yet ti to use our speaker, Sa Gi-hyeok. Glancing to the side, I saw our mber, the father.
He stood stiffly among the rcenaries. I draped my arm around his shoulders in a friendly manner and raised my voice.
"Are you listening? This guy here paid us resources to kill you."
"What? What?"
The father mber trembled as he looked at . I tightened my grip, pulling his neck closer. My voice flowed cheerfully.
"But when I think about it, the cost-benefit doesn't add up. I don't want to waste more precious bullets. And I definitely don't want to crawl inside and get shot."
I shoved the father mber toward the rcenaries and snapped my fingers.
"So let's settle this cleanly. Give us more than what this bastard gave us. Then I'll kill him right here and leave."
"That's not what you said! And we didn't give you anything in the first place!"
The father mber shouted with a face drained of color. I gestured lightly, and a rcenary imdiately struck the back of his head with a rifle butt.
"Argh!"
"Shut your mouth. Say another word and you're dead."
Click-click, several rcenaries aid at the fallen mber. He lay face down on the ground, squirming and making unintelligible groans.
The rcenaries followed orders well. Probably because it didn't conflict with their interests. Sa Gi-hyeok fidgeted nervously, as if thinking this would ruin our business, but remained silent.
I looked around before raising my gaze upward again. Still no reaction.
"I'll give you three minutes. If there's no answer in three minutes, we're setting the building on fire."
A lie. Wouldn't arson destroy valuable food too? This was just a show of force. Of course, making threats without following through would expose as a fraud, but I was confident in my ability to cover that up.
I could threaten that they'd die painfully for wasting our precious three minutes.
Just then, a rcenary casually remarked:
"I brought cup noodles. Should I boil so water? We've got a fire here, and cup noodles take three minutes, right?"
He was looking at the fire using the corpse pile as firewood. I stared at him in disbelief. Is this appropriate? I finally opened my mouth to nitpick.
"Doesn't that take more than three minutes when you include boiling the water?"
Cup noodles aren't a three-minute dish. It's three minutes after adding water. His ti calculation wasn't accurate.
The rcenary awkwardly fiddled with the transport cart. It contained supplies in case we couldn't return straight to the villa district.
"If you like them firm..."
Just as I was about to sigh in exasperation, a voice ca from above. A man's voice.
"You crazy bastards. Mister, are you insane? Even if we treated you roughly, bringing these psychos!"
Words condemning our mber.
I craned my neck upward and saw a head poking out from a third-floor window. A sharp-featured face wearing a mask.
I imdiately drew my pistol and fired in that direction. Bang, a single gunshot rang out, scraping the villa's exterior wall.
The man's head quickly disappeared. I heard frustrated yelling.
"What the hell! I thought we were going to talk? I need to know how much to give you!"
"No. I just don't like being looked down on."
A small prank, with a bit of purpose too.
"Co down here and we'll talk."
"Kill that bastard first! Then we'll talk!"
I glanced at my wristwatch.
"Tick-tock. Ti's running out. And how much to give? Almost everything you have, obviously. It's the price of your life."
"Damn it! Fine! Wait!"
The mont they agreed to negotiate, our fallen mber suddenly jumped up and tried to flee, but was caught by a rcenary. Two rcenaries grabbed him from both sides and forced him to his knees.
"Stay put."
"I'll forfeit the incentive! I withdraw my report! Please!"
We pretended not to hear the mber's cries, and soon soone erged from the entrance.
A tall woman holding a box. Seems the guy I was talking to sent her out instead. He was probably hiding sowhere safe, assessing the situation.
I gestured with my pistol at the woman who was taller than . I aid at her thigh.
"I said I don't like being looked down on."
"You sick..."
Even as she cursed, the woman awkwardly hunched down. This naturally let see the contents of the box. Not many resources. Canned food and cup noodles. At a glance, items with expiration dates drawing near.
"Leftovers? Why no new items? And so little?"
The woman looked up at with frustration while maintaining her awkward posture.
"Where would you find new items in today's world?"
"...True."
I tapped my helt with my gun hand. Maybe it was because of the rcenary who ntioned cup noodles earlier. I felt like I was becoming stupid too.
All such food left in the world was close to expiring.
I hurriedly waved my pistol.
"Put that down on the ground. Bring more. It's not enough yet."
"This is everything... You don't believe ?"
"You expect to believe that?"
The woman sighed and turned around. This was repeated several tis. Surprisingly, she showed no attachnt to the resources. Maybe it was a raider trait.
Easily obtained resources. Resources you could get anyti as long as your body and gun were intact. Saving your life was the priority.
The woman finally put down the last box.
"This is it. There's really nothing more."
Her voice was full of sincerity. When a rcenary dumped the box into the transport cart, sighs erupted from all around. This business was truly a failure. These people were poorer than the old man.
There were only about three boxes, and the resources inside were ager. The cost-effectiveness was terrible no matter how you looked at it.
I guess with eight people, they couldn't stockpile much. Or maybe they were true raiders who didn't care about stockpiling at all.
The woman glared at our battered mber with hatred-filled eyes.
"Now kill that bastard."
The arrow of hatred pointed in an unexpected direction. Not at us who attacked them, but at the weaker mber. A voice ca from above as well.
"A deal should be clean, right? It would be even better if you threw him into the fire with my friends."
"Ah, that."
I glanced upward to see the man just barely poking his gun out. I spoke in a regretful voice as I slowly pulled the combat cart backward. The rcenaries matched my pace.
As the burning pile of corpses grew more distant, an idea flashed through my mind. Fire. We could use it.
"Why would I kill my client? That was obviously a lie. We have fire extinguishers here, so you can put out the fire yourselves. Leave it, and the fire will spread and burn you alive."
"I knew he'd say that! What killing? No, just go!"
With those shouts echoing behind us, we departed.
***
In an alley a short distance from their hideout, I stopped the rcenaries.
"Those guys must have more resources, right?"
"Of course. Who acts honest and straightforward these days?"
They must. I lied myself just now. This made things very simple. I turned the cart around. If we went back now, the timing should be perfect.
"Should we go back and kill them, boss?"
"But they're holed up in the building."
"No. They'll have co out to put out the fire."
They would definitely need to co out to stop the campfire-like flas. Left alone, the fire would spread everywhere. We'd use that.
Without another word, I imdiately pushed the cart forward at a brisk pace. The cart rattled and shook as it rolled over the rough road.
And in no ti, we arrived at the street with a view of their hideout.
The mont I put my finger on the trigger, I clearly saw two figures in the distance.
"That's how he died."
"It's a decent death. Rember that guy last ti who died from diarrhea after getting sick?"
People sighing as they sprayed fire extinguishers. White powder fell like burial shrouds over the blackened corpses. The flas were dying down.
Perhaps because I rushed forward without hesitation, they sensed my presence and turned around despite the distance, but it was aningless. We had different weapons, and the range was entirely different.
Ta-da-da, gunshots rang out in quick succession. The two people beca corpses, falling on top of their friends.
"Haha."
I grinned as I confird the kills with my hamr. Then, picking up the fire extinguisher, I coated their bodies with the sa white powder as their friends, digesting the idea.
'Disguise, lure, trap.'
Leave as if finished, lure them out with fire, and shoot them when they erge. It was an improvised scenario, but effective, and if refined properly, it would beco my weapon.
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