"We were all promised something on our journey here."
"We were promised a home and safety, but they locked us out of the base and left us to fend for ourselves."
"Why do we have to stay out here while they're in there?"
"They aren't better than us in any way, so why should we compromise our safety for theirs?"
"Is it because they came first and were lucky to get in?"
"So what? We are starving here while they get to drink alcohol and party."
"Worst of all is the fact that they abused this right and started a war."
"A war that might cause damage to a place we yearn for."
"I'm not asking you to fight for me, but I'm asking you to fight for your families around you."
"For a place to sleep without having to watch your back—for your peace of mind."
"So I hope you guys choose wisely."
"Once the battle begins, we should storm in and let the best man win." Kim Ji-Hoon ended his speech.
The rest of the survivors started to contemplate the decision.
They were running low on food and didn't dare leave the safe space around the base.
They knew they had no choice, so they began to prepare for the inevitable.
People looked around the buildings for a kitchen knife, a bat—just anything that could be considered a weapon.
Kim Ji-Hoon, meanwhile, prepared in a different way.
There was a small group of people with abilities who also lived outside the base.
They were furious at not being let into the base the first time and had tried to storm in.
The guards at the gate shot one of them, and the rest backed off.
They might have some superpowers, but nothing much.
They could move objects with their minds—as long as it wasn't past a few minutes.
And not heavy.
And very slowly.
In essence, their abilities were very weak, and a bullet could easily kill them.
But now they felt it was their chance.
A chance to get revenge on those people in the hunting team who always looked down on them.
"I wanted to thank you for helping me that last time, brother," Kim Ji-Hoon said to the leader among them.
"Those stupid zombies were nothing," the leader replied, smiling proudly.
"Actually, I admire people with abilities like you—unlike me, who's just a useless person," Kim Ji-Hoon said with shining eyes.
His face was filled with awe, but his heart was sneering at them.
"As you should. Weaklings like you are naturally meant to bow down to us," the leader said, patting his shoulder.
"Exactly. That's why someone like me has to rely on the strong," Kim Ji-Hoon said, smiling at him.
"No problem at all. It's easy for me to carry a dead weight like you," the leader said, patting his back.
But in his heart, he was sneering—already planning to use him as a lackey in the future.
After all, a king needs reliable slaves to live lavishly and comfortably.
"Brother is truly the strongest person I've met, and not just in terms of ability."
"Those foolish ability users in the base will soon regret not bowing down to my brother."
"I can't wait to serve under such a strong person. Then I wouldn't have to worry for the rest of my life," Kim Ji-Hoon said with an eager expression, squeezing out a few tear drops.
The leader felt that this weakling had a nice mouth, so he should be useful enough.
Kim Ji-Hoon looked at the leader's smile and felt truly happy for joining him.
After all, he had just found sturdy meat shields.
And they had a defense as strong as a boulder.
Most importantly—they were more than one.
So why wouldn't he be moved to tears?
Kim Ji-Hoon looked at his sturdy meat shields with reverence and joy.
...
Jae-Hyun felt that something was more and more wrong.
Suddenly, the base was preparing for an all-out war between the nobles.
Not to mention that the survivors outside the base were making some secret moves.
They were suddenly so enthusiastic about leaving the area around the base to explore.
Jae-Hyun was busy trying to kill all the chaotic humans in the base, so he didn't pay much attention to the overall situation.
He wiped the sword that had just been used to slice off the neck of his latest victim.
[ Side quest completed ]
[ Main mission – stop the destruction of the base ]
Jae-Hyun looked at the main mission solemnly.
He thought that the chaotic humans were the ones responsible for destroying the base.
After all, they were humans up until they transformed.
And they were a handful, so they certainly had the ability to plunge the base into despair.
But his main mission was still active.
So what on earth could cause the destruction of the base?
The only other thing he could think of was the upcoming war.
But there was no way for this war to cause the death of every person in the area.
After all, there had to be a winner.
Wiping the blade, he glanced at the blind boy who was almost attacked.
The chaotic human this time had been captured by some gangsters who were frustrated due to the war.
They wanted to teach him a lesson, but Jae-Hyun slaughtered them all.
Then the chaotic human ran in the direction of the inventory.
Jae-Hyun intercepted him just as he was about to jump on a teenager.
Jae-Hyun realized the boy was blind from his silver, unfocused eyes.
But the blind boy was calmer than he expected, which surprised him.
For someone with such a huge disability, he didn't even flinch at the transformed man about to tear him apart.
Or maybe he couldn't see the danger, so he didn't know.
Soon, a group of teenagers came to his side.
They examined him carefully, then began to talk.
Jae-Hyun looked at the teenagers, feeling a sense of familiarity.
He thought hard and realized where he had seen them.
Usually, the chaotic humans would run off somewhere after killing someone.
And one of these teenagers would be around the corner in different places.
He remembered seeing at least one of them after eliminating the chaotic humans.
"Hey," Jae-Hyun said, walking up to them.
Once is a coincidence.
Twice is weird.
Three times is a connection.
The five flinched and stepped back from him.
Jae-Hyun looked at their wary faces and realized this was the first time someone regarded him as scary.
"We don't know anything," Ming Jun said.
He looked at Jae-Hyun with burning eyes because he felt Jae-Hyun must be special.
He had that main character aura—especially when Ming Jun heard from old man Yi that he had five busty beauties with him.
And they all looked strong.
Ming Jun immediately connected the dots.
This guy must definitely be the main character!
In fact, Ming Jun was resisting the urge to ask him if he had a system.
Come to think of it, I was desperately looking for a system at one time...
Suddenly, Ming Jun felt uncomfortable.
So he blurted out that sentence.
Well, he knew the main character was probably off investigating something in the base.
"What exactly do you not know?" Jae-Hyun said with an eyebrow raised.
"Nothing," Ming Jun shut his mouth.
"Then can you tell me why you guys keep lurking around me?" Jae-Hyun asked.
"Don't think so much of yourself. You're the one appearing around us," Shae Harris said.
"We don't know what you mean, but we're the victims here," Wei Zhi said.
"I guess we just have bad luck," Noi Karn said, shrugging.
Jae-Hyun studied them with a deep look.
There was nothing out of the ordinary at first glance.
And his intuition was also silent, so they seemed normal from every aspect.
"It's time for lunch," Yi Zheng said, walking over to them.
He didn't bother to pay attention to Jae-Hyun and took them away.
They followed him, but Mori Aoi turned back to bow to Jae-Hyun as a sign of departing.
"The main character is truly different—so intimidating," Ming Jun said, patting his chest.
"I just thought that he was very arrogant. Is that how all main characters are?" Shae Harris said, crossing her arms.
"I guess so. After all, they are the son of heaven," Ming Jun thought seriously.
"He's scary," Mori Aoi said.
"Yeah, his eyes were always sharp," Wei Zhi agreed.
"That's called murderous intent. A main character usually has that serial killer aura when he's serious," Ming Jun said.
"He probably offends a lot of people," Noi Karn added.
"Why are you all agreeing with him? What son of heaven—this is the real world," Yi Zheng said, frowning.
"Yeah, but we also have zombies, so why can't we have a main character?" Ming Jun said.
"Then we should also have a game character too," Shae Harris said.
"Well, I have proof that he might be the main character. Just watch him—if the objects in his hands disappear, then he probably has a system and a storage space," Ming Jun said.
The others agreed just as they reached the cafeteria.
By now, everyone had formed a small group by joining all the tables together.
After all, the survivors had to work to earn points.
So the only free time was during lunch and after work hours.
Han Seojin wanted to use as much time as possible to plan their strategy.
Yi Zheng and the others stayed at the only table left alone.
This attracted a lot of attention since they were too separated from the rest.
Han Seojin eventually walked up to them.
He sat down at their table, and they all flinched.
At first, Han Seojin came to persuade them, but he froze.
The chaotic whispers he had managed to suppress flared up just as he sat down.
The voices sounded with glee as they urged him to tear the five teenagers apart.
Han Seojin barely managed to stop himself before walking away.
After staying at a distance, the voices grew less excited.
He glanced at the table far away with a guarded look.
He didn't bother to approach them anymore.
After all, he could easily win the battle and kill them after that.
He turned back to his seat.
The teenagers sighed in relief.
"I think it's time we leave," Yi Zheng said.
"Definitely. This place is horrible," Shae Harris replied.
"Yeah, if we stay, then we might end up as cannon fodder for the main character," Ming Jun said.
"More importantly—would we be safe if either side won?" Wei Zhi asked.
"I'm going if you guys are," Mori Aoi said.
"Then the best time should be at the start of the battle," Noi Karn suggested.
"Everyone would be fighting while we sneak away," Yi Zheng added.
While they discussed their escape, Jae-Hyun, on the other hand, was meeting with Han Seojin.
"Stop the war," Jae-Hyun said.
"I'm sorry, but it's impossible to stop at this point," Han Seojin replied calmly.
He didn't get angry at Jae-Hyun's words.
"What if I can make the nobles also back down?" Jae-Hyun asked.
"That's impossible. The nobles might offer a peace treaty, but that wouldn't change who they are.
"It might last a few days, but then they would harass us even more after that," Han Seojin said.
Jae-Hyun began to think of any method to dissuade him.
But he couldn't think of anything.
They had a legitimate reason to start a war.
And he couldn't just beat them up—it would only aggravate everyone.
Then he might end up fighting all of them.
Kill them?
But he wasn't the kind of person to slaughter a bunch of people just because they didn't listen to him.
After all, they were reasonable.
The only option he could think of was to reduce casualties.
And help one side win without losing too many people.
But which side to choose?
The nobles were definitely out of the question.
Those rotten people deserved everything they got.
Jae-Hyun didn't want to make a decision just yet.
So he went to the director.
"What's your game?" Jae-Hyun asked.
"A fair competition where everyone gathers to fight for their interests," the director said.
"Are you really okay with giving up the base? There's a high chance you'll die," Jae-Hyun said.
"Hmm… then I would be glad that I died doing something I love.
"Achieving my dreams," the director said earnestly.
There was no fear of death on his face—only peace at the idea of it.
Jae-Hyun glanced at the madman one last time and turned to leave his office.
"Oh, and there's something important you just reminded me about," the director said before he left.
Then he stood up from his seat, put one hand around Jae-Hyun's shoulder, and dragged him to the cafeteria, where lunch was about to end.
"Hello everyone, just to reassure you that I'm serious about the competition—
"I'm going to disappear from the base two days before the battle.
"But I'll be back ten minutes after midnight, on the dot, to hand over a gift.
"So I hope you guys wait for me—after all, I'm the only one with the password to the laptop that has all the necessary information for running the base," the director said with a smile.
Then he patted Jae-Hyun on the shoulder and gave one last meaningful look to Yi Zheng and the others before leaving.
Jae-Hyun watched the director depart before heading to the gate.
The survivors there looked as usual, but he could sense the currents shifting.
He suspected they also had a role to play in the battle.
But only one person could win.
Is this perhaps the reason for the destruction of the base in his last life?
He felt that it couldn't be.
After all, there was no reason for them to slaughter every single person.
He glanced at their resentful eyes and knew there was no chance for reconciliation.
So he decided to wait and see.
The battle was going to happen no matter what—but what he cared about was protecting the winning side.
...
True to his words, the director disappeared from the base two days before the battle.
The preparations were complete, and the air was thick with gunpowder.
The skirmishes lessened, and no one went to work because there was no one to enforce the rules.
The other people in charge of running the base were quiet and stayed back as a neutral observer.
The commoners stayed in the classrooms all the time planning.
The nobles stayed in the Entertainment Sector, never going out.
The survivors outside the base got ready.
Soon, it was the day of the battle.