While I was thinking, Kim Seokju, who had been standing there in a daze, suddenly shouted.
“What the hell happened? What do you mean, everyone left?!”
Seo Wonil turned toward Kim Seokju, who had grabbed him, and began explaining in a calm, orderly manner.
To summarize what he said:
Not long after Kim Seokju left to search for the food-gathering team, the other two members of that team returned.
They were the ones who had thrown Jeong Iseul and Woo Jaekyung to the monsters as bait before fleeing.
Wiping away tears, they claimed that Jeong Iseul and Woo Jaekyung had already been torn apart by the monsters crowding the commercial-complex street, and that they themselves had barely escaped with their lives.
Then, when even Kim Seokju, who possessed a stealth skill, failed to return by midnight, the more influential members of the group began voicing their opinions one by one.
With the monsters concentrated around the commercial-complex street, the surrounding area was safer than it had ever been. They argued that this was their chance to leave District 2 and cross into District 1.
They said Libra, the faction that ruled District 1, swept the area near the boundary clean every day. If they could only cross that line, they would be able to secure a safer place than where they were now.
Believing there would never be a better opportunity to move everyone, including the noncombatants, the members stopped waiting. Despite the late hour, they moved quickly, packed their belongings, and left the hideout for the boundary before sunrise.
The result was the empty hideout before us.
Come to think of it, there really weren’t any monsters on the other side of the boundary.
Yesterday, I had walked along the border with District 1 until sunset, yet I had not seen so much as a monster’s shadow beyond it.
Apparently, the claim that Libra—or whatever they were called—regularly cleared the area near the boundary was true.
After hearing the story, Kim Seokju looked utterly lost.
“But even so, leaving this suddenly… just because those two said so…? They didn’t even consider waiting for us?”
“There was no guarantee yesterday’s abnormal situation would happen again today. And you know there were plenty of people who were always complaining and testing the waters.”
Seo Wonil patted the back of Kim Seokju’s hand as though consoling him.
“The moment none of you returned, the group already had new leaders.”
Seo Wonil glanced between the troubled faces of Kim Seokju and Jeong Iseul, then continued in an indifferent voice.
“Yesterday made it obvious. Go Hyeongjun and Kwak Daegeon had been secretly recruiting people behind our backs, one at a time. They probably wanted to push you out and take over as leaders.”
“Those bastards used us as bait…!”
Jeong Iseul trembled after hearing the two names, then suddenly sucked in a breath as realization struck her.
“They didn’t throw us to the monsters just because they panicked. They planned to use the opportunity to do whatever they wanted.”
Kim Seokju and Woo Jaekyung went pale.
Seo Wonil appeared to have already suspected as much. He silently steadied Kim Seokju when the man swayed.
A brief silence followed.
Then Kim Seokju dragged one hand down his face.
As expected of someone who had led a group, he did not remain frozen in shock forever.
After gathering his thoughts, Kim Seokju looked at Seo Wonil.
“…Why did you stay?”
“I didn’t like the way those two seized the chance to strut around pretending to be leaders. And I wasn’t impressed by the others who cared only about their own safety without sparing a thought for any of you.”
Seo Wonil shrugged and slowly looked over the group.
“Besides, I didn’t think you were dead.”
“Then why didn’t you stop them?”
Seo Wonil fell silent for a moment at Jeong Iseul’s sharp question.
“There’s no point holding people by force after their hearts have already left. It would only have caused bloodshed here. More importantly, I wanted to leave you somewhere to return to.”
His gaze remained indifferent, but there was trust for the three of them within it.
I don’t know about the others, but these people are close.
I had the distinct impression that the four of them would remain tightly bound without betraying one another.
Once the atmosphere eased slightly, Seo Wonil gestured with his eyes toward the wrecked hideout.
“They scraped together every coin, item, bit of food, and spare weapon in the hideout. All we have left is the bottled water in the spatial-storage bag Jaekyung brought back. …Should we go after them and join them even now?”
“Are you insane?! Absolutely not!”
Jeong Iseul shrieked.
Her eyes were still blazing with fury and disbelief.
“I can’t stand those two, but I don’t like the people who willingly followed them either. It’s not that I don’t understand, but still, I…”
I could understand how she felt.
According to Kim Seokju, the few combatants they had possessed had practically devoted themselves to earning coins and gathering food.
They could only have gone that far because they felt genuine attachment and affection for the others. After being stabbed in the back so thoroughly, there was no way they could simply shrug it off.
Had the others been nothing more than burdens, the betrayal might have hurt less.
The problem was that Kim Seokju and Jeong Iseul had truly regarded them as family.
Kim Seokju patted Jeong Iseul’s shoulder and sighed.
“…There’s nothing we can do. Maybe this was when we were meant to part ways.”
It might have been different had they remained ignorant of the others’ true feelings. But now that Seo Wonil had explained everything, they no longer felt compelled to force the relationship to continue.
Kim Seokju, apparently having finished sorting through his emotions, turned toward me.
“I’m truly sorry… but this is what happened. I don’t even know what to say.”
“No, it’s fine. This is actually better.”
“What?”
All four of them looked at me simultaneously.
Seo Wonil, who must have already heard about me from Jeong Iseul, looked particularly intrigued.
“From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t sound like the group was ever bound together like a real family. You can just think of this as filtering out the unnecessary people.”
Only after saying it did I realize how cold I must have sounded.
Sure enough, Jeong Iseul’s and Woo Jaekyung’s faces twisted subtly. Kim Seokju gave off much the same impression.
They looked as though they wanted to ask whether I really had to respond so heartlessly after they had just lost a crowd of people they had considered family for years.
What?
It’s true that I’m a thinker, but why are you discriminating against thinkers? You’re going to hurt our feelings.
And strictly speaking, thinkers do empathize. We’re just realistic about it.
I admitted my words had sounded cold.
But they were not wrong.
What mattered now was not clinging to those who had left and drowning in sentiment, but figuring out how the remaining people would survive.
“It may not sound pleasant emotionally, but purely in terms of combat strength, this isn’t a bad situation.”
I looked around the ruined hideout once before continuing.
“Originally, the plan was to use my skill to compensate for your shortage of fighters and cover the noncombatants. Now we simply change the justification and say I’m making up for your lack of numbers instead. That should be acceptable enough.”
“Hmm…”
To put it bluntly, the noncombatants in Kim Seokju’s group had been extremely low-Level and, from what I had heard, heavily dependent on the combatants.
There was a high chance such people would not have been much help even after joining Eclipse.
Of course, they were not people Kim Seokju could simply abandon. But if the only consideration was getting into Eclipse’s raid party, the current situation was actually cleaner.
Kim Seokju turned to the others.
“Is everyone all right with that?”
“It feels pretty hollow, but it’s still better than chasing those bastards around District 1.”
“I-I think we should just forget those ungrateful people and… live happily among ourselves…. Ah! N-not in a strange way….”
“I stayed because I intended to move with all of you from the beginning.”
After hearing their answers, Kim Seokju looked noticeably relieved.
“Thank you, everyone.”
When he looked at me again, there was no longer any uncertainty in his eyes.
It seemed he had firmly decided that the five of us standing here were now a team.
I looked at Kim Seokju and the others one by one.
“Let’s fill our stomachs before we leave. You must all be hungry.”
Their expressions changed instantly.
The food from the hideout was gone, and the supplies the food-gathering team had newly obtained had also been taken by the others. There could not possibly be anything edible left besides the bottled water in Woo Jaekyung’s spatial-storage bag.
Since we had decided to become a team, I intended to at least feed them properly.
That would also help ease their wariness and awkwardness around me.
They had probably not forgotten the people who had left entirely.
Even so, now was the time to distinguish between those they should hold on to and those they needed to let go.
I lowered the pet egg from my back and rolled up my sleeves, intending to cook for them myself.
“Is there anything you want to eat?”
Come to think of it, Kim Seokju had said the smell of fermented-cabbage stew was what led him to me.
Kim Seokju, Jeong Iseul, and Woo Jaekyung all lit up.
“Fermented-cabbage stew!”
At the expected answer, I gave a quiet laugh and opened the spatial-storage bag.
Starting with the portable gas burner I had packed before leaving, all kinds of cooking ingredients spilled out.
All four of them erupted into cheers at once.