Clearing the Game at the End of the World

Chapter 59: Inside Out (6)

That cheeky grin. A straight drive to my location. These guysthey knew I was here.

With the tracking skills I saw from Vex in Area 45, its more than possible for them to track me down.

But if they were going to follow me like this, why didnt they just come with me to the hospital?

Heheheh. You seem confused, child. Just get on first. Theres still some time to Area 47, so we can talk on the way.

Human immunodeficiency virus that causes AIDS.

Area 47? Are you guys.. coming to my house?

Yeah. You dont want to walk through this sandstorm for twenty hours, do you? Just get on first.

Uh, right. Thanks.

Hey! Wait! I want to get on too!

Scram, oldie. Cars full.

Full, my ass! You could fit more than three guys like me in there! And besides, the sandstorm is getting worse, so I cant ride on that tattered buddy over there. Lets just tow that one, too, and ride together. I already linked it up.

Mmm. Well slow down, then. Just eat some sand for a bit, cant you?

Vex flipped up his middle finger to Ian as he shoved his body into the passenger seat.

Oi, Vex. Its been a while.

Kehe! It sure has been, Hepburn.

After greeting Gyosu, Vex settled down between the passenger seat and the driver seat. The sheer size of the car made it feel like there was room left over, even with the three of them sitting together.

And more than anything, its more fun with all three of us together.

Thats true. Oi Gyosu, you know the rule, right? The one in the passenger seat does the talking.

Thats from eons ago.

Vraaaam!

You dont want to? Then lets do a majority vote. According to tradition, I vote that the person in the passenger seat needs to entertain the driver so they dont fall asleep.

Add a vote to that side by Vex.

..I didnt expect you two to get along this well.

With the engines loud roar, the Raptors armored car carried the three people into the abyss of the sandstorm.

Inside the blinding sandstorm, the three of them were idly chatting with one another.

So, since when did Vex start to drive? You said you couldnt drive back into the Area 45 bunker.

Keheheh. Of course, I taught him. A man who cant drive? I cant just let that be!

Bullsshitt! How is tying up a sleeping person in the drivers seat of a car without brakes and setting it on full axel teaching me how to drive?

But I only put in thirty minutes worth of fuel! And you can drive now!

And thanks to that, I stopped in the middle of a bunch of mutants that were attracted by the car sounds!

So? I saved you!

Why do you need to make a situation where you save me?

Yap! Yap!

Grar!

They sure know how to keep a conversation going.

[This is fun! Funnnn!!!]

It had only been about a week since he bid farewell to these two guys in Area 45, but there must have been a lot of things that happened since then because whatever little conversation he started, they added a big story to it.

Hepburn, want some peanuts?

Oh, peanuts? Is it some preserved kind?

Not ours. We killed about six guys that attacked us during a trade, and these were in their pockets. We threw away the jerky and just took these.

Crunch, crunch.

The rowdy environment and the salty and savory taste of the peanuts made it feel like the three of them were on some kind of picnic.

They werent going to be attacked in this sandstorm, and the vibes were settling down just right. It was time to ask them now.

So, why did you guys follow me all of a sudden? You two said you had something to do. My pride hurts a little, you know. I thought I was pretty skilled in the Wasteland life now, but you tracked me down so easily.

Aw, the eye of a scavenger and a survivor that stayed in their shelter all day has to be different. The sign that you erased your tracks was too obvious.

Vex seemed proud of his observation skills, as he grinned brightly when he explained.

Well, thats what hes claiming. I couldnt tell the difference at all. We didnt do much. We just went to pack our stuff back home.

Pack?

Yeah. The reason I did business in Area 43 was that it was always a war zone. You know what Area 43 is famous for, right?

Gyosu recalled what he saw in the Area chatrooms. He thought he heard several stuff about the place. What was it?

[Lets see. Isnt it this? Area 43 was previously an active place for its steel industry, so there were a few factories still left in the area. Groups were always fighting over the possession of those factories, and the ones who died in battle turned into mutants, and other mercenaries and scavengers who live by killing those mutants also swarmed in, so the sound of gunshots never stopped at any time of the day. is what it says. ]

Thanks.

They say the human brain archives memories that just passed by, and Hyde must be able to read those memories that even I forgot. This guy, aside from all the dangers, is really convenient.

The steel factories, most likely?

As Gyosu recited the information Hyde had just told him, Ian looked at him as if he were a bit surprised.

You seriously know your facts. People usually just think that the place is a graveyard to pick off gear from the corpses. But anyway, there are a lot of mutants and people to kill, so its the perfect place for a spice merchant like me to do business. But the business has been dying out lately. One of the factory machines completely shut down, so the cost and profit werent matching up. Seeing that the leading group in Area 43 is starting to get a little antsy, I could see that business here was going to die off soon.

Crunch, munch.

Ian took a fistful of peanuts from the bag Vex was holding and shoved them into his mouth.

Guys like them usually do the place over before leaving. I guarantee you, they were definitely drooling over the treasure trove of my shop, just waiting to shove their asses in there. So we left a step before them.

I needed to stop that crazy bastard from taking out the gunpowder, saying that he was going to kill all of them. Theres no reason to fight them. Even if we somehow win, its just a loss to use up all of those resources. So, I stopped him. It was a big pain in the ass.

The world is seriously a hellhole no matter where you go, huh.

It isnt easy doing business, man. Especially in a crazy world like this, its a coin toss to guess if the customer is going to go rogue or not.

So are you just taking this chance to move to an entirely different Area?

Yeah. Thankfully, the spices of this great Metal Jaw are well known across the cities as high-quality products, so I have a decent client base in other areas as well. I just havent been selling to them because the cost of gas didnt match up with the profit. And I just happened to find a client that has a big order, so Im using this chance to get some cash and set up a new shop.

There really is no time to settle down in the Wasteland, is there? So, where are you setting it up? If its near Area 47, I could give you some pointers.

Oh, really? Thatd be appreciated. I did actually need your help.

Youre really coming near us? Thats nice. Well see each other often then. Any specific area youre thinking of?

Gyosu could feel his heart flutter a little bit. If he was being honest, he enjoyed being around these guys. Area 47 was pretty large, but they would still be able to meet pretty often. They could get together sometimes and talk about what was happening in the world and maybe open a nice bottle of booze when they found one.

Ian turned toward Gyosu with an expectant face and smiled back.

Your place.

.Huh?

Were going to live at your place.

What the fuck?

[Nice!]*

Gyosus happy imagination of a joyful Wasteland life shattered into pieces.

Definitely not. My shelter is tiny. There isnt any room for two more people to come in.

Its just a figurative speech. We wont be living in the same shelter.

Phew. I knew it. Then where

Right next to your house. We have a generator and all of the necessities, so we just need to buy a shelter kit. It only takes about two weeks to build a medium-sized shelter.

Thats basically the same thing! Living right next to each other isnt like being next-door neighbors!

You couldnt think of this matter like it was before the Great Disaster. It was better to live in the same shelter than build a new one right next to it.

By any chance, you have a large protection field?

Dont even have a small one. Why use precious energy to hide? We could just kill them all.

Oh, my goodness.

There was a reason why shelters were built in a dome shape. That was because the shape protection fields and shield generators outputted at their maximum efficiency. Protection fields were especially sensitive to these factors, so if any other protection field or shield was near it, then the wavelengths crashed together, rendering it useless. Because several small protective fields interfered with each other, you usually needed a medium or large protection field for bigger areas, but since they didnt have one, he couldnt use his either.

Do you guys even know the social system of Area 47? This place has a Dome city. If there are more than two shelters nearby, theyre considered a community and are constantly monitored by the Dome patrollers. And we dont have a protective shield, so we cant even hide.

Then why dont we take this chance to grow as a community? We even have a name. HIV.

And we used that name to mess around with the Dome and the Raptors. Do you seriously want to get bombed?

Aha!

Dont aha me! Unlike Area 43, Area 47 is relatively peaceful, even though its a large region! And do you think thats a coincidence? Of course, theres some kind of system going on! Did you guys not even research your market before moving here?

Slink

Well, we werent thinking of it. Doing business.

As I started to rant out of irritation, Vex quietly slipped into the conversation.

The business and stuff are all an excuse.

Hey, oldie, we shouldnt say..

It looks like everythings gonna get really messed up with how things are going. Hepburn, we talked with Old Man Woojin after you left the treatment room, and we decided that you shouldnt be left alone.

Me? Why?

What do you mean, why? Youre crazy. They said that mental diseases get worse when youre alone. Since you dont have anyone to talk to, you start muttering to yourself like Vex, or even start seeing things and sometimes split personalities as you did. Its much better to have someone to talk to.

So, you moved your entire business just to care for me?

Hey, did you even hear what I said? We had a genuine reason to move our shop, and you just happened to be a patient that needed to be spoon-fed, so this and that reason led up to us moving here, thats it.

While Ian explained the situation, becoming a little red, Vex took out a large needle-free injection cartridge and main body.

Old Man Woojin asked us a favor too. He said hed give us this, so we could consider this mercenary work. This is more than enough compensation for us.

The cartridge in Vexs hand was familiar. Something that every single person in the Special Forces 14 carried around during the Great Disaster days.

A revival kit?

You got it. The best drug of the Old Days that guaranteed four hours of maximum strength as long as your head and chest werent dead. Its basically called a second life, and because they were all used up in the Great Disaster days, this is a product that has a very limited supply. Its a very high reward for just taking care of a friend.

The old man really cares for you.

Whyd he do something so unnecessary.

Hwayoon just sighed at the sudden serious environment. His so-called friends just picked up their entire lives and brought them with them to help him out, and the old man he thought he was just kind of close with gave them all of his valuables to ask them a favor. How could someone who wasnt a psychopath reject them? Theyve already basically made everything happen.

Gyosu, who was no longer able to stand the puppy eyes Vex and Ian were sending at him, finally said to them,

Lets go for now. We could talk over dinner.

Yeeeeeesss!

HIV! HIV! HIV!

And I wont use a shitty name like that! Just for your information!

[Yess! A bunch of fun humans!]

Im getting a headache..

Gyosu buried his head in his hands as he thought about how chaotic his life was now going to be with these two, no, three brainless idiots.

Of course, he couldnt stop himself from laughing through his hands. Nope. Thats not me. Its Hyde thats laughing.