Chapter 46

To be honest, I had wondered what one could even do by seizing a Special Zone.

“28 million……!”

“30 million.”

“31 million won!”

But before that heated price competition and the absurdly rising sums, I understood.

Wherever people gathered, a market formed.

“31 million! No one calling higher?”

People hesitated at the teddy bear’s question.

“All right! Mister, sold for 31 million!”

When the teddy bear declared this, two skeletons approached the winning bidder.

He was a middle-aged man in his 50s with rough skin.

When the skeletons stood on both sides of the middle-aged man, he took out his smartphone.

The skeleton side also took out a smartphone, and the middle-aged man fumbled for a moment.

It looked like he was scanning a QR code.

Ding—

“Done. Deposit confirmed.”

What? How?

An ordinary smartphone should have no communication here.

Whatever trick they had used, the teddy bear gang had succeeded in a real-time bank transfer.

And the man who had suddenly sent a huge sum of money shut his eyes tight, his face dark with despair.

“Call the price again!”

At the teddy bear’s shout, the next bidding began.

This process repeated two more times, and an absurd result came out.

The following winning bids were 34 million won. And 40 million won.

Why were the winning bids getting higher as they went on?

A 「Fake Human」 was a consumable item for escaping from this place.

There was no need for one to be better or worse than another, yet for some reason, people competed more desperately as the auction went on.

It was not because everyone’s wallets were comfortable either.

Whether they had succeeded or failed in bidding, all their expressions were equally bad.

In the middle of that, the teddy bear spoke cheerfully.

“It’s okay. You can work hard and pay the money back! And the misters and madams who can’t leave today still have tomorrow!”

A very excited voice.

Of course. That bastard had earned 100 million won in an instant.

On top of that, the goods he sold had no production costs or distribution costs.

He had only caught things that appeared on their own and sold them.

Should this be called outstanding business sense, or wickedness?

When the auction ended, the skeletons led the winning bidders and the 「Fake Humans」 somewhere.

At that moment, the winning bidders looked deeply dejected, as if they were not escaping from this hell, but being dragged into another one.

“See? We catch 「Fake Humans」 every day, so if you want to get out too, mister, just participate in the auction.”

The teddy bear came back toward us and said this.

“But you can only participate in the auction from your third day here. It’s fair for the people who came in first to leave first.”

At the word fair, I almost found myself persuaded.

But this teddy bear’s fairness was not the kind I was thinking of.

“But if it’s seriously urgent, like your wedding is tomorrow or something, there’s also a Prem Pass.”

“Prem Pass?”

“Premium Pass. If you pay only 9.9 million won, I’ll let you participate in the auction right away!”

Not 10 million won, but 9.9 million won.

The effort to make it look even slightly cheaper was tearful.

Perhaps Choi Sang-eun thought similarly to me, because he flared up and protested.

“Is 9.9 million won a child’s name to you?”

“If you don’t want to buy it, don’t buy it. Am I forcing you to?”

“What right do you have to sell those things in the first place?”

“We caught them. Originally, items belong to whoever hunts them.”

“Then that old man belongs to this person. This person confirmed he was a fake and subdued him.”

Choi Sang-eun pointed at me and spoke with his veins standing out.

Just as he said, the 「Fake Human」 named “Im Jong-hak” was something I had caught.

So according to this teddy bear’s logic, it was my property.

But when he was pushed back by logic, the teddy bear pretended not to hear.

“Come on, why are you being so picky?”

“How am I supposed not to be picky? You’re suddenly telling us to pay tens of millions.”

“Ah, I don’t know. Just know that’s how it is.”

“Hey!”

When the teddy bear tried to slip away, Choi Sang-eun grabbed him roughly.

“What’s with you, mister? You want to fight me?”

“I’m asking what gives you the right to rip people off. This isn’t a penny or two. Why are you taking nearly their whole fortune? What are those people supposed to do once they get out?”

Choi Sang-eun sharply pressed the teddy bear.

The teddy bear seemed startled and said nothing, and the other people also looked this way.

That lasted for a moment.

Then the teddy bear muttered,

“You’re worrying about other people?”

“What?”

THWACK—!

Choi Sang-eun’s body suddenly buckled.

However, the teddy bear remained in his loosely standing posture.

THUD—!

“Hhk, urgh…….”

Choi Sang-eun could not breathe, as if he had been struck in the solar plexus.

And above him surged some kind of lump of meat.

It flew savagely toward Choi Sang-eun.

CRASH—!

That heavy end slammed down beside Choi Sang-eun’s head.

……That guy really was a contaminated person.

“Mister, this is self-defense, okay? You know that, right?”

The teddy bear said this while lightly kicking Choi Sang-eun, who had frozen solid.

“And it’s not like I set the prices, right? I’m helping people. So don’t complain to me.”

Choi Sang-eun could not answer.

The teddy bear lightly mocked the reporter, then suddenly spoke toward me.

“And hyung, if you want to join our side, join us. I’ll make you a lot of money!”

A sudden scout offer.

Just in case, I looked at the skeletons.

The bastards wearing skeleton masks had far younger eyes than I had thought.

---

The teddy bear and skeletons left.

Left in the second-floor lobby were me, Choi Sang-eun, and the people who had already been there.

There were 7 in all.

Once the auction ended, people scattered in all directions.

Then they crammed their exhausted bodies into the lobby sofas.

“How long have you been here?”

Choi Sang-eun asked the man closest to him.

But that man turned his back as if annoyed.

It was not only that man. Everyone had that reaction.

Even so, Choi Sang-eun persistently went around, and a woman who could not bear to watch said,

“Everyone has no energy, so stop bothering them.”

“No energy?”

At Choi Sang-eun’s question, the woman pointed to the lobby wall.

A single piece of paper was dangling there.

---

Clean bottled water 1 million won

Dry, crumbly snacks 500,000 won (not hardtack!)

---

What is this peak-season rip-off price list?

I looked at that price list and then looked around at the people again.

Now that I saw them properly, they were on the verge of collapse from exhaustion.

“Where do I go if I want to buy that?”

“The very bottom floor.”

After hearing the woman’s words, Choi Sang-eun immediately ran down the stairs.

Then he soon appeared with a 500ml bottle of water.

“I’ll share water with you, so please tell me what happened.”

Choi Sang-eun, who had been terrified earlier, had somehow recovered his reporter spirit.

Perhaps because his initials matched that person’s, this man was rather extraordinary too.

“It’s been a week now.”

After wetting her throat, the woman opened her mouth bitterly.

“People with money, or people who could get non-face-to-face loans, mostly left almost as soon as they arrived. The rest are people who don’t even have money they can pull together. Young guys joined that bear-head side too.”

“Is there no way to leave this place other than participating in that auction?”

“No. Cell phones don’t work here either. That bear-head only opens the Wi-Fi when you’re paying. Other than that, everything is dead.”

“Have you perhaps tried colluding? For example, deciding the order in advance so that only the person leaving bids at the lowest possible price…….”

“We tried. We tried everything, but those kids aren’t stupid either. When we didn’t raise the amount, they didn’t sell at all. Instead, they raised the price of water to 5 million won. That’s why everyone just participates in the auction now.”

The woman bit her lower lip as if tired of it all.

“The longer you stay here, the more you lose. That’s why everyone is trying to get out as quickly as possible by any means. The money spent here is one thing, and they have livelihoods outside too.”

Right. When I had first been dragged into a Special Zone, I had fretted because of my company too.

Fortunately, I had been able to take sick leave, but that kind of convenience was not possible for everyone.

Some people might already have lost their jobs, and for self-employed people who had to personally open their shops, every day would be a loss.

“So if you have money, just think about leaving quickly.”

“Then, what are your plans going forward…….”

“Plans?”

At Choi Sang-eun’s question, the woman let out a dry laugh.

“I can’t leave here. The winning bid is at least 30 million won, but I have nowhere to pull that kind of money from, and I can’t pay it back either. So I gave up. Whether I die outside or die here.”

The woman’s voice was calm.

As if she had no more tears to shed, it was only calm.

It was then.

My smartwatch quietly blinked.

-To the bathroom.

It was Cha Si-eon.

---

“What the hell is this situation…….”

I muttered quietly in the empty bathroom.

Then Cha Si-eon gave an excuse for their negligent management.

-This Special Zone is entrusted to an external management contractor.

“……Are you saying you outsourced it?”

Special Zone management? To a subcontractor?

-The 「National Theater」 is a Special Zone for which exploration has been completed. During its previous active phase, citizen casualties were stable at 0.6 people per day.

0.6 people a day is low? That is 3 people in 5 days.

-In addition, there was a judgment that the external contractor could respond to 「Alpha」 and 「Delta」, whose base is the 「National Theater」, more easily than our employees.

「Alpha」 and 「Delta」.

The names of the special dangerous entities born from the 「National Theater」.

Right, I could accept this much.

Because I had heard more than once how atrocious those two entities were.

Though it felt somewhat strange for Cha Si-eon to mention them.

“So that external contractor says it didn’t know this place was in this state?”

-No. According to confirmation, the contractor was aware of the contaminated person’s activity, but tacitly permitted it because the return-alive rate had ultimately increased.

What an all-around disaster.

Hey, is it over as long as people get out with their lives attached?

I had truly a lot to say, but I held it in and took care of the main point.

“That contaminated person seems to hold a huge grudge against you, Team Leader Cha.”

-That contaminated person’s name is Kim Hae-seong, 22-year-old male. It is reported that he manifested as a contaminated person around February last year and moved in a group with contaminated people of similar age. However, he is someone I do not know.

“You don’t know him?”

-6 months ago, I did execute a contaminated-person sweep operation, but our team’s list did not have the name Kim Hae-seong.

“Then what about what that Kim Hae-seong guy said earlier?”

-It seems he snooped around nearby when his gang was being captured. He claims he ran away, but to begin with, our team never attempted to capture Kim Hae-seong.

“So what that means is…….”

-It means he is simply small fry.

Simply small fry…….

Right, he certainly had not looked smart.

-I will send a payment QR code to Mr. Seo Do-un’s smartwatch.

Having finished his explanation, Cha Si-eon immediately got to the main point.

-Participate in the auction tomorrow and escape immediately. There is no upper limit on mission expenses.

Expenses with no upper limit. This was state power.

It was reassuring, but slipping away alone like this felt a little uncomfortable.

“Are you going to keep leaving this place like this?”

-Now that we are aware of the situation, we will discuss it. However, if there are no criminal allegations, we cannot forcibly apprehend a contaminated person either. Therefore, in order to sanction Kim Hae-seong’s actions, grounds are necessary.

We will discuss it. Grounds are necessary…….

It sounded far too relaxed.

“Team Leader Cha. What happened to the incident report you wrote last time?”

-Why are you suddenly asking that?

“If that passed without trouble back then, I wondered how you’d feel about one more.”

-……What are you thinking this time?

Cha Si-eon asked in a suspicious voice.

So I calmly tried selling him on it.

And I succeeded splendidly.

---

“Hyung, didn’t you say you were unemployed?”

The teddy bear tilted his head.

“Ah, right. You lived in a good neighborhood, didn’t you? I’m so fucking jealous of rich kids.”

When I did not answer, the teddy bear guessed alone and nodded alone.

Then he started making a show of generosity again.

“I can sell it, but no reselling here. We’re keeping the price low because we think about people too.”

A cat worrying about a mouse.

“I’m not reselling it, so just sell.”

After finishing discussion with Cha Si-eon, I went straight to find the teddy bear.

And I bought 80 bottles of bottled water and 40 tins of biscuits.

Altogether, it was 100 million won.