#961. I have to pay for the meal
* * *
Time flies.
An hour seems like an instant.
A day in the blink of an eye.
A month is like a dream of one night.
…and a few nightmarish months.
growl
when you open your eyes
What he felt was an uncontrollable hunger.
No, it would be more accurate to say that I woke up because of that hunger.
The pain, as if the skin of the stomach was sticking to the skin of the back, was enough to make a corpse stand up.
So, Booth got up and staggered toward the corner of the room.
Then, I cleared the chest of drawers on one side, rummaged through the luggage I had hidden behind it, and pulled out a small pocket.
“…Is this the last one?”
Two pieces of dried jerky.
And one small biscuit.
If you save well as planned, you can last until tomorrow, but hesitate for a while over the food that is too small to fill your stomach.
growling
He erased his hesitation at the urging of the sound of thunder that came from inside the ship again.
I just swallowed them following my instinctive hunger.
well well.
The rat meat jerky is chewy like rubber and full of fishy taste, perhaps because it is not properly smoked.
Brick-like biscuits that are hard enough to break your teeth, so you have to moisten them with saliva and nibble them.
If it had been a few years ago…
no, even last year, I would have thrown it in the trash without tasting it.
But now just being able to fill his stomach was so precious that he chewed and savored them hundreds of times, savoring them as slowly as he could.
But maybe because it was so small?
Even though I ate so slowly, of course, I ate it all before only a few tens of minutes had passed.
Let the hunger that still does not go away for a while.
He went to the sink to fill his stomach with water and turned on the faucet….
Sigh.
“…Did the water supply cut off?”
His expression darkened.
It wasn’t unexpected.
There was no way that the water could not be maintained forever when even the electricity and gas were cut off.
Especially when it’s a shabby empty house like this where even the people who lived in it ran away, let alone the electricity and water bills.
“This filthy world.”
Nevertheless, in an attempt to break through the reality of being hungry and thirsty, he packed up his belongings.
whether to find a new place to live.
Whether it’s to fill a hungry stomach.
It was necessary to move quickly to escape the cold and hunger.
profit.
‘…Okay, no one is there.’
Is there something missing?
Take a moment to look through the crack in the door.
After confirming that there was no sign of anything, he carefully opened the door and stepped out.
What greeted him after leaving the half-destroyed house was ruins.
Or, to be precise, it was a landscape of a city full of garbage and rubble, desolate and shabby enough to be misunderstood as ruins.
sneaky sneaky.
‘Is there still food left?’
Naturally, as if you were already familiar with it.
But keep vigilant about your surroundings.
He moved cautiously.
It wasn’t just because of the monsters.
Even though it looked like ruins, there were still many people left in this city.
It was.
He was more wary of ‘like’ people than monsters that might pop out at any moment.
It was natural.
Monsters just kill or eat people.
I didn’t try to deceive them with lies, set traps, steal food, blackmail them, or kidnap them and drag them away.
Having actually gone through all of that, of course he had no choice but to be wary of others.
The problem was there.
‘Convenience stores and such are all empty, there are too many people in supermarkets and the like, and the distribution center is completely out of the question…’
He wandered the streets.
Just like bees and butterflies are attracted to flowers.
People flock to food and supplies.
As he avoids people as much as possible and wanders only in deserted places, it is inevitable that it will be difficult to find food every day.
So far, they have been lucky enough to survive by finding hidden food or hunting animals.
But even that is slowly reaching its limits.
Finding food and supplies was getting harder with each passing day.
Now he too had to choose.
Whether to expand the field of activity even at the risk of contacting people, or to leave this place altogether and find another place.
Of course, either way was an option.
‘Shit! Why did I end up like this?’
‘No, the reason is fixed.’
‘Because of those damn bastards…!’
hunger and fatigue.
anxiety and nervousness.
stress and anger.
It was the time when he was wandering the streets struggling in a whirlpool of all sorts of emotions.
What I felt was a small sign.
rustle.
‘This sign is… a rat? No, could it be an individual?’
His face suddenly brightened, and he lowered his stance and slowly moved in the direction where he felt his presence.
His presence, too small for a human, made his mouth water.
either a mouse
either dove.
either a snake or a frog.
As I hadn’t had a proper meal for several days already, I was confident in using anything as a valuable protein source.
But after a while.
Upon discovering the owner of the presence, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of disappointment and bewilderment.
‘A girl?’
Middle school students at most.
Or maybe a high school student?
I don’t know exactly, but I can’t see him as an adult because of his petite body and twisted face.
He put on an absurd expression as he saw the girl walking carefully through the dark alley carrying a backpack that was too big for her body like a snail.
I don’t know if it was before.
These days, it’s been a long time since even adults have come together in groups of three or four.
It was because the appearance of a minor and a young girl walking alone seemed so foreign.
But when he saw the object in the girl’s hand, he understood.
‘Pistol! I see, so you believe that and walk alone?’
It wasn’t anything particularly strange.
I don’t know if it’s a monster.
Even a handgun is dangerous enough for a person.
If you have the confidence to protect yourself, it’s better to go alone to monopolize food and supplies.
‘Then…’
That was it.
The reason why he rolled his eyes when he saw the large backpack the girl was wearing was swallowing a dry saliva and revealing his presence.
“Here is the student.”
Clap!
“Whoa whoa! don’t get excited am i not a bad person? I’m just saying this because I have a suggestion…” He
smiled awkwardly at the girl who was pointing a gun at him as if he was startled.
he asked earnestly.
“Don’t you need a reliable older brother?”
* * *
Crunching hiss.
“…Are you really a high-level player?”
“Ummm okay then! Even if I look like this, I’m a player over level 70.”
“…”
“So don’t worry, student. I will protect the students no matter what monsters come out in the future, even if it’s because of the food money I received.”
Maybe it was because he couldn’t ignore that blatant stare even while he was frantically devouring food.
The girl, who stared blankly at him as he answered confidently while wiping his lips, asked after a while.
“Then you’re just a deserter?”
“what? What do you mean!?”
“That’s right, the only high-level players not affiliated with the military are unauthorized players or deserters.”
“What nonsense!”
he was hot
And, without realizing it, he screamed out loud.
“Since when did the player have to get permission in the first place! The government that even regulating players wasn’t enough, and even forced conscription, it’s crazy!”
“…is that so?”
“The original player can be anyone! Banning it has put the country into this state!”
“But I think I was at least able to live when the government was fine. The rations came out much better than now, and the monsters…”
“That’s because you don’t know what!”
he grinded his teeth
In the first place, the distribution itself was a trick.
They enjoy the mountain and sea delicacies.
Everyone knew that they were controlling the people by giving out rice or canned flour as if they were patrons.
That wasn’t all.
disregard for people’s human rights.
It monitors and oppresses players.
Whoever offends them is captured and made to fight monsters or forced to do hard labor.
Since the monster wave started, everything in this country has been going crazy.
“is that so…?”
“okay!”
“…indeed.”
If the few remaining people with will hadn’t stopped the atrocities, people would have suffered much more than they do now.
At the end of staring at him talking excitedly.
The girl nodded.
“So that’s why you killed the president.”
“…!?”
That moment.
As he sighed, he hardened his face.
At the same time, like a high-level player, I got up from my seat like a bullet and tried to rush at the girl…
but!
“You poison your food…”
Dizzy head.
stiffened limbs.
to the cold body.
It took a moment for him to put on a despairing expression as he realized that the food he had eaten to his stomach a while ago was eating away at him.
He gritted his teeth and glared at the girl.
“Why me…”
“Do you need a reason to catch the criminal who killed the president?”
“That is a misunderstanding! I didn’t kill the president! That guy brought his own death!”
He was genuinely sorry.
If the president admitted to selling the country to the Seven Dragons.
And if it was revealed that all of this was a conspiracy of the Seven Dragons to rule the world under the pretext of a monster wave.
I wouldn’t have to kill him.
However, he denied the traitor to the end as if he were some kind of martyr, and rather tried to convince them.
He was angry at the shamelessness and only hit one.
So he was innocent.
It’s only the fault of the bastard who died at that level.
Or the problem with the social system in which an incompetent person who is not a player could become president.
“I’m sorry, but I’m not interested in that kind of story. Someone else will listen.”
“Someone else…?”
“It is as you say.”
“…!”
He opened his eyes.
It wasn’t just because a figure appeared from behind the girl.
Because he knew who the black man was and what he would become from now on.
“Oh no…! Gagging!”
That’s why his efforts to commit suicide by biting his tongue were unfortunately blocked by other black men who appeared from behind.
As he was gagged and dragged into the darkness.
The black man said to the girl.
“Good job. Go back and rest for today.”
“It’s okay to continue without going back. It’s more effective if I become the bait.”
“…Did you forget that not pushing yourself too hard was the condition for cooperation?”
“I have no intention of overdoing it. I just do my job.”
“Is there something to do?”
“That’s what Nakyung unnie always said. People say you have to pay for your own food.”
“…”
“Especially when the price of food is the price of life, as it is now.”
It’s already been half a year since the Dungeon Wave started.
The defense line collapses.
With 70% of the world lost.
Now that the majority of humanity has already become or become a corpse.
A girl who took on the role of bait to catch criminals and illegal players in order to pay for her siblings who grew up together in childcare.
Shia’s dry words.
The black man did not deny it.
After a long silence, he just disappeared in the shadow of the girl who packed her bags and left.
There are only two left where they left.
It was the remains of the Last Supper, eaten clean by the player who murdered the last president of the country once called the Republic of Korea.
