Marauder of the Apocalypse-Chapter 103: Teacher

I carefully armed myself first. I put on the bulletproof vest, threw on a leather jacket, and donned the bulletproof helmet. I also slipped on leather gloves and checked each of my backup weapons one by one.

Hammer and pistol. The light machine gun was mounted on the combat cart.

I casually asked Sa Gi-hyeok:

"The intel? Enemy numbers, level of armament. What are we looking at?"

"There's just one adult teacher, and the rest are all kids. High schoolers, middle schoolers, elementary students. Apparently, the teacher took in children wandering the streets after their parents died. About 10 of them?"

I gripped the hammer I'd temporarily set on the desk while getting dressed. I spoke with gravity:

"We can't let our guard down."

We really couldn't let our guard down. This was the apocalypse. Every human had the same survival experience as me. Men, women, elderly, children—all survivors who had experienced everything since the beginning of the apocalypse just like me.

Do-hyung sighed as if I was being ridiculous again, and Sa Gi-hyeok awkwardly scratched his neat hair.

"They're children. There's no need to go all out..."

"No. Children are actually scarier. And we can't ignore their numbers. A knife wielded by a child cuts just as deep."

Everyone was a survivor. The kids might have even adapted to this world more flexibly than I had.

"Couldn't determine their armament level?"

"Well, yes. Apparently those kids avoid conflict, so there hasn't been a chance to confirm exactly. From what could be seen, they just have baseball bats and clubs."

I swung my hammer through the air.

"That means they could have weapons small enough to conceal. Pistols, water guns, syringes, things like that."

"Oh, come on."

Do-hyung sighed heavily and turned his head away as if he couldn't bear to watch. Sa Gi-hyeok chuckled and said to Do-hyung:

"Try to understand. He's always been like this. As the old saying goes, a pig only sees other pigs, and um... never mind."

Do-hyung burst out laughing. I blinked in disbelief and tucked my hammer into my pocket.

"Being suspicious isn't a bad thing, is it?"

"It was a compliment. Sometimes I don't express myself properly. I made another mistake."

What kind of person would compliment someone like that? But Sa Gi-hyeok had always been this way, so I waved my hand dismissively and moved on.

"Call all the mercenaries. There are many of them over there, so we can't be outnumbered."

We'd need tactics that kept maximum distance too. Since we didn't know what the kids might be hiding, we should make the most of our rifle range.

"Let's execute them safely from a distance."

Just then, Do-hyung took a deep breath and slightly raised his hand.

"Wait a minute. Do we really need to kill them? It seems like a losing proposition to me."

"Why?"

I asked sincerely. I was an imperfect person too, and there might be aspects I hadn't considered. Filling in those gaps was the role of companions.

Do-hyung glanced outside. At the villa buildings where the other mercenaries lived.

"They're kids. Killing them would only harm our image. Some of our mercenaries have children of their own."

"..."

I fell into thought. He had a point. As always, protecting children was close to a human instinct, and crossing that line seemed inhuman.

Glancing at Sa Gi-hyeok, I could see he wasn't enthusiastic either. Though he'd eagerly brought the report, he slightly averted his gaze as if looking away from the situation.

"I don't know. It's your call, Da-in. I just heard the information and passed it along."

A defensive mechanism to avoid responsibility or guilt. If the scammer who led apartment residents to their deaths and the vicious electricity thief who stole government power were acting like this...

After brief consideration, I adjusted my clothing. Making sure the bulletproof vest, jacket, and pants wouldn't hinder my movement.

"We kill them. All of them."

"But why?"

Do-hyung reached out as if to stop me. I shot him a sidelong glance and calmly said:

"You asked me earlier. Whether I consider the mercenaries true companions. Let's find out."

Crossing a line together creates something like a bond. Those who can't cross that line will be ostracized. And once you cross the line, there's no going back. It's like falling off a cliff.

This was a good opportunity to test the mercenaries. In a way, this was like a real initiation ceremony.

"Hurry and gather the mercenaries. Don't tell them the exact details."

"Yes."

Sa Gi-hyeok left. Do-hyung stood frozen. As I tucked the pistol inside my jacket and walked past him, I said:

"I'm not doing this because I want to kill people. Others have to die so the people living here don't starve."

***

The mercenaries gathered one by one at the roadside. Sitting on a car hood, I pushed and pulled the combat cart with my foot as I looked them over.

People whose names I couldn't even remember.

The only one who made an impression was the cup noodle mercenary. The man who wanted to cook cup noodles while cremating corpses at the stream area, but who had kept fast-food ketchup packets as gifts for his son.

How would these people react? Would they oppose like Do-hyung? Look away like Sa Gi-hyeok? Or act like me?

'Looking away wouldn't be bad. They're just followers. If someone opposes, I can push them off the edge, and if I can't push them, they'll just leave at worst. The most dangerous would be...'

Someone like me would be the most dangerous.

Top priority for elimination. A person without brakes who could betray at any time when they had their own reasons. Fatally, at that.

The armed mercenaries swallowed nervously, showing signs of tension.

"Who are we up against? If we all need to move, it sounds like it won't be easy."

"Are we raiding soldiers to replenish bullets?"

I burst out laughing.

"They're not difficult opponents. Rather easy, actually. There are just a few more of them than usual."

"How many are we talking..."

"A bit over 10?"

A strange look flashed in the mercenaries' eyes. Honestly, just 10 people. That meant they weren't threatening if they had rifles.

"With 10 people, just the light machine gun would..."

"We need to move supplies. We expect to get a lot of resources this time. At minimum, enough food for 10 people for a day, and at maximum, I can't even estimate."

The mercenaries finally grinned and readjusted their rifles.

"Then we all need to go."

So we left the villa district with light steps. Since our destination was quite far, we chatted as we walked.

"What kind of weapons does this target have? We should still be careful about handguns, right?" freewebnøvel.com

"Don't worry. Just baseball bats and pipes, I hear."

The laughter didn't stop. The mercenaries rattled their guns, pantomiming shooting.

"This is easy. Targets without firearms are a piece of cake."

"We don't even need to plan a strategy. Similar numbers of people, but our firepower is overwhelming."

They were excited at the thought of easily obtaining so many resources.

Do-hyung's eyes trembled as he watched them. Various thoughts seemed to be flashing through his mind.

Just then, Park Yang-gun, wearing his bucket hat pulled low, silently approached and stood beside me. He whispered in a low voice, as if sharing a secret:

"Da-in. What's your angle? Your eyes look just like they did when you were going to kill the pastor."

"My eyes?"

I brought my gloved hand to my eyes then lowered it. How was I when I was planning to kill the pastor, when I was recruiting Park Yang-gun? I probably was excited about recruiting a thief.

"...They are similar."

Anyway, this would be the day mere subordinates and manpower would become true companions.

Park Yang-gun bowed his head and spoke quietly:

"Who are you planning to kill now? There can't be another person like the pastor. And if there were, we'd have trouble dealing with them too."

"It's nothing like that. The enemy isn't that dangerous. We just need to be careful of unexpected attacks at close range."

He seemed worried the fight might be dangerous. Even though I'd only told the truth, Park Yang-gun began to drift toward the back of our formation.

"I'll keep watch from behind."

"Yes, whatever you prefer."

"Who the hell are we up against..."

Park Yang-gun's grumbling footsteps stopped. His bowed head cast shadows from his bucket hat over his eyes.

At the same time, the mercenaries' light, cheerful voices also fell silent.

I turned my head and spotted our targets.

Several students in school uniforms. Dangerous enemies carrying something in crumpled black bags—litmus tests for the mercenaries' humanity.

With a grin, I said cheerfully:

"There they are. Our targets. Didn't I tell you? Very easy, with plenty of resources."

"..."

No answer came. An unreadable silence.

I made eye contact with the students ahead of us. Having noticed us, they lowered their weapons in surrender. They raised their hands and carefully stepped backward.

"Students! Stop right there if you don't want to get shot!"

***

"Come here."

The students obediently approached. A mix of middle and high school boys and girls, plus one small child.

Their emaciated bodies, likely from hunger, wore old and dirty school uniforms. A high school girl held the small child in her arms and carefully bowed her head.

"Hello."

"Oh, uh. Hi."

One mercenary awkwardly greeted them, then looked at me as if asking if this was right. The other mercenaries seemed somewhat confused too. All the mouths that had been cheerfully chatting were now closed.

I closely observed these mercenaries' reactions while also examining the students before us. Something felt off.

Seeing my narrowed eyes, a high school boy quickly held out a black plastic bag.

"Is this what you want? Take it. But, could you leave us just a little? Just enough to feed the youngest..."

No mercenary moved to take the bag. Instead, I stepped forward, took it, and looked inside. Food gathered through scavenging.

This wasn't important. I lifted my head and looked the students up and down.

"You're wearing school uniforms?"

"Yes, ah. Yes. I'm sorry if you don't like it."

"I'm thowwy."

Even the small child apologized with a lisp, bowing at the waist. I laughed.

'A psychological attack?'

What kind of school uniform was worth dying for? Why insist on clothes with absolutely no defensive value? The world was full of corpses and clothes.

The non-resistant attitude, the excessively servile behavior, and the composition including a small child.

Clothes that screamed "minor," non-resistance that avoided conflict, a psychological attack that pricked one's conscience.

This was created through education. All of it was camouflage. Camouflage appealing to human instinct and psyche. Even our mercenaries had fallen for it.

'They're not thin from hunger. They're deliberately maintaining that weight.'

I'd never seen camouflage like this before. Not warning coloration, not protective coloration, but still camouflage. And remarkably effective.

"Um, Captain. Could we, could we have a quick discussion?"

"I have candy, no, I should give it to my son, no."

People wavering.

Grinning, I recalled memories from the past. I drew up past emotions. From when the world was normal, when students would make noise outside my window as I tried to focus on my screenplays.

I took out my pistol and aimed it at the forehead of the student who had handed me the bag. My voice flowed out, filled with murderous intent.

"I hate school uniforms. And I hate kids even more."

Let's see. Whether there was someone like me among the mercenaries who needed to be eliminated. Or who I needed to push off the edge.