Chapter 93

“Ahhhhh! Ack!” There were only a few Seoul Survival Union members left. They cried out in agony as they ran out of the building, their bodies burning up from the flames. Only bullets were there to greet them.

Some Union members fled to the roof, struggling futility before dying. Others jumped through broken windows and did not survive the fall. It was a perfect victory. The fire and their encirclement did not let a single Union member survive.

Gae Baek Jung was standing on the terrace on the second floor. Despite burning alive, he didn’t even blink. He had a wide grin on his face that was so big that Yohan could see his uvula. He was holding Genie, whose face was utterly destroyed, in his hand. He walked across the terrace.

“Stop shooting,” Yohan ordered. If he could capture Gae Baek Jung alive, he would be able to give him an even more painful and horrible death.

‘Do something, Gae Baek Jung. Struggle and rage. Do what you’re known to do.’

But it was already checkmate. They had fallen for the multi-layered trap that Yohan had laid and there was no way out.

‘You might’ve won in the previous timeline, but this time it’s my victory.’

Yohan wasn’t aware that he had a huge, horror movie-worthy smile on his face. It was only there for a moment. In the end, Gae Baek Jung didn’t struggle or rage. He simply started beating Genie with a weapon. He didn’t care that his body was on fire and simply focused on brutalizing his love repeatedly. He had chosen to punish the dog that made them lose. It was typical of Gae Baek Jung’s personality.

The recon team members were frozen in shock as they watched the bizarre behavior. Finally, Gae Baek Jung cut Genie’s head off and held it above his head with a big smile. He poured Genie’s blood all over himself, looking like a madman. It wasn’t long after that that he was completely consumed by the flames.

* * *

The fire lasted for two more days. It devoured the building next to the recon team shelter and finally died when it ran out of things to burn. The people who had just barely escaped death watched the fire with blank expressions on their faces. No one moved from their spot. Whenever they tried, a recon team member would give them a threatening look. They even needed a recon team member to go with them when they went to the bathroom.

The camp members had been caught by surprise. They didn’t know the series of events that had led to them being held hostage. The fight was over now and, even though the battle with the Seoul Survival Union was short, it felt just as long and tough as the other battles they had been through. And, even though the fight was over, their quest for survival wasn’t. There was another important task to be done. The time for testing if people were worthy of joining Yohan to start a new beginning was over. Now, it was time to approach the operating table and surgically cut off the rotten flesh from the group.

Yohan went back into the recon team’s shelter to confirm the deaths of the Union members. He checked Gae Baek Jung’s corpse and gave it a posthumous execution, stabbing at the charred body until he was satisfied. Now he really felt like he had won.

Yohan left the building and slowly walked back to the camp members with a stern look on his face. The camp members watched him with mixed feelings. Some of them blamed Yohan for the whole thing, some respected and were thankful to him, while others were filled with anxiousness and fear.

Originally, Yohan was going to dismiss the whole issue of Soo Hee accusing Jin Soo of sexual harassment and simply pick out the people that he was going to take to the second shelter. After hearing both sides of the story, he sided with Jin Soo and was going to weed out the people that were working against him. However, Yohan changed his mind.

Even though the situation wasn’t what he intended, it ended up being the perfect loyalty test. Only when a person experienced both peace and unfortunate circumstances would they know how low they could go. Yohan had given them peace and the unfortunate situation with the Seoul Survival Union that he had no control over had given them the opposite experience. Now the test was done and he was still here to grade them.

Yohan stood in front of the camp members and prepared for surgery. There were a good number of people that caused problems and put the entire camp in danger as a result. It was time to cut out the rotten flesh so that the rest could survive better. Yohan knew that, during the evacuation, there were people that did their best to follow his orders, those that were more concerned with their own survival than others, and people that stood by and simply watched the situation unfold. He needed a cold-hearted person to help him trim the fat.

“Mr. Seo Jun.”

“Yeah?”

“Please step forward.”

Seo Jun walked up with a confused look on his face.

“Please pick out all the people that weren’t helpful to the camp.”

“Wh—what?”

“Please who didn’t follow my orders. Who didn’t cooperate and put the camp in danger due to their poor judgement. People who sold out their comrades to save themselves or were overly reckless. All those people.”

Seo Jun stared at Yohan with a dumbfounded look. He didn’t know why Yohan was asking him to do this. He studied Yohan’s emotionless eyes silently and had a sudden thought that gave him the chills. Did Yohan figure out everything that happened that caused the hostage situation?

“…Does it matter if they’re a camp leader?”

“It doesn’t matter. I’m going to abandon this camp. From now on, there are no camp leader positions.”

“Whew…alright.” Seo Jun nodded and turned around. He pointed at Marco and Soo Hee. “First, the Park Town camp. Let’s do something about these two damn people.”

“The reason?”

“They sold out their comrades.”

Marco and Soo Hee trembled. No doubt, they did not want to be in this situation right now. What they had done was unreasonable and beyond foolish, no matter how desperate the situation was. If they had thought there was a possibility of getting rescued, they wouldn’t have done it. Though understandable, it was shortsighted of them to only think about their immediate survival.

“Continue.”

Seo Jun pointed out Gap Soo, his bodyguards, and anyone that complained about Yohan’s orders even a little bit. Seo Jun didn’t know what Yohan wanted, so he just pointed out everyone he could think of without hesitation. Finally, he pointed at Ah Young, who was hiding behind Jung Hwan.

“Wa—wait a minute. Sir,” Jung Hwan protested.

“I’m sorry, but it’s true that you and the others were put in danger because of her,” Yohan replied. He didn’t want anyone to interrupt Seo Jun. If one person started complaining, it would create a chain reaction and get out of hand. Yohan signalled with his hand and Jung Hwan stopped objecting.

Yohan nodded at the recon team members, who took Ah Young and put her with the group of people that Seo Jun had pointed out. Ah Young weakly tried to hold onto Jung Hwan as she was taken away.

In the end, Seo Jun had pointed out roughly 20 people. Since some people had died during the fight with the Seoul Survival Union, there were less than 70 left now. Yohan looked over the 20 people that were picked out. They ranged from extremely problematic people to people that hadn’t been much of an annoyance so far. He didn’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but all the people that he had been keeping an eye on were in the group.

“Please add in their family, lovers, and friends.”

The operation wasn’t over. Yohan had to get rid of potential problems as well. If he took along people who were connected with those left behind, there was a possibility that information would get leaked. Seo Jun looked through the camp member list and called out eight more people. Yohan stood in front of them, looking extremely intimidating with a gun in his hand. Everyone in the group looked worried and trembled with fear. It felt like he was going to execute them here right now.

“Yohan.” Jung Hwan grabbed Yohan’s hand, not knowing what his intentions were.

“What is it?”

“There was nothing that could be done regarding Ah Young. She’s still a student so…”

Yohan stared at Jung Hwan. He already knew what happened, he just needed to decide what he wanted to do about it.

“Will you take responsibility for her?” Yohan asked. It was clear what kind of responsibilities he meant and Jung Hwan didn’t ask, he just silently nodded his head. Yohan gestured with his chin and Ah Young ran out of the group and stood next to Jung Hwan.

“Ex—excuse me…” As expected, someone else chimed in as soon as one person started objecting. It was one of the original hospital camp members. Unlike the recent members that Yohan could barely remember, he had been with the camp for a long time. He felt some affinity with Yohan and approached Yohan. “Mr. Gap Soo has contributed a lot to the camp. Can’t you let him off this once? I’ll take responsibility so…”

Yohan answered in the form of a cold-hearted stare. Even though the hospital camp member was way older than him, Yohan did not bother to speak to him formally.

“Wh—what are you planning on doing to us?” Gap Soo looked back and forth between the various groups present, anxiety filling his eyes. He looked decidedly less confident than when he used to boast about being a camp leader.

“I’m not going to do anything. You guys just won’t be joining us. We’re going to move to a safer and more stable location. You guys will have to survive on your own. I’m going to hand this camp off to someone else. You’ll have to accept their leadership if you want to keep living here. Frankly, since there won’t be any supplies, it’s best for you to just accept them.”

“Wait, are you saying that you’re going to take all the supplies?”

Yohan nodded as if it was obvious. “I’m not going to leave one drop of water behind. Is that a problem?”

“How do you expect the rest of us to survive? Yohan. Please have mercy. Don’t you think…this is too harsh?”

“That’s weird. Shouldn’t you be grateful to me just for saving your life?” Yohan tilted his head, acting if Gap Soo’s request was beyond common sense and that he didn’t understand. “Our agreement is over. You agreed to follow my orders unquestioningly and, in return, I provide supplies. Since you all didn’t follow my orders, I’m not obligated to provide you with supplies. However, I still saved all of you because I didn’t give notice that the agreement was over. I kept my side of the deal until the very end.”

Credibility was critical when striking a deal. The mercenaries had been quietly watching the scene unfold up until this point. The old man laughed out loud at Yohan’s last statement and clapped his hands, complimenting him. The other mercenaries started mumbling amongst themselves.

“I’ll say it again,” Yohan said, “our agreement ends here. It was fun while it lasted. Let’s never see each other again.”

“Wa—wait…”

“Old man, you can take whoever you want.”

The mercenary leader laughed as he stepped forward. Even though he was fairly old, he was still a large man with an intimidating aura. The group that Yohan had abandoned looked nervous and stiff. The old man looked at them as if he was picking out livestock. He lifted their chins, poke them in various places, and then turned to speak to Yohan.

“Hey, don’t you think this is not fair?” I feel like I’m the one that’s losing out here.”

“I think you’re misunderstanding something. These people aren’t the payment for our deal.”

“Oh? Really?”

“The payment is the entire camp location as well as all the information regarding the zombies. The information on the mutants is valuable. You don’t get that anywhere. What I wanted in return were the items and getting rid of these people.”

The old man laughed again, now understanding.

“Is that so?”

“Please take them all.”

“Wait, Yohan.” Seo Jun interjected. “I don’t care about the other people, but don’t you think it’s dangerous to hand over those two? They sold out their comrades.”

“Do you want to kill those people?” Yohan asked, holding up a hand to stop the old man for now.

“I think they need to die,” Seo Jun replied. Marco and Soo Hee started trembling again.

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