Outside headquarters, and beyond the walls of any settlement, there’s one rule you must always keep in mind.
Survive.
And the iron principle you need to follow that rule:
If you trust anyone who talks about peace, you die.
If I had to pick just one reason I’ve managed to stay alive this long, it’s that.
Peace?
Honestly, someone who says “I’m a scammer” is far more trustworthy.
If that so-called scammer tells you, “At least while you’re useful to me, I won’t stab you in the back,” that’s a lot more convincing.
To spell out what people really mean when they call themselves “peaceful”:
– I don’t really have any way to persuade you. I’ve got nothing to prove it with. I’m just that kind of person. So how about you just take a leap of faith and trust me anyway?
That’s what they’re saying.
Another common phrase is “let’s resolve this peacefully” which really means:
– Just show me one opening, please.
And lastly, there are people who say their settlement is peaceful and invite you to come with them.
Most of the time, those people don’t even have a settlement.
“So one guy leaves and another shows up? What is it today, some kind of government workers’ day?”
A so-called “peaceful” guy with a blunt way of speaking spotted me.
His tone was irritating, but honestly, someone who shows their personality this openly is better.
“Hello, Mr. Postman. Where are you headed? If you pay us a small fee, we could guide you. Interested in a deal?”
This one talks a lot, and he looks kind and has clear, innocent eyes.
Usually, guys like this are the real bastards.
Either way, this is getting annoying.
If I’d known they were this type, I wouldn’t have shown myself.
Now I’ve drawn attention for nothing.
“I prefer delivering alone.”
“Is that so? The way you came over, it looked like you had some business here.”
He’s not wrong.
Right now, the most suspicious person here is me.
I’ll just make something up.
“I’m not here for you. I came to see that postman over there. You, the one heading off alone. Hey.”
“Huh? Me?”
The postman who had been leaving alone stopped and turned around at my call.
He’s got a sour look on his face.
“How far are you going?”
“Hmm?”
The postman, who looked to be in his forties, walked over, his protruding belly jiggling.
Then, without hesitation, he reached out his hand.
What’s with this guy?
He started feeling up my arm.
“Oh, nice. Solid muscles.”
Gross.
“Alright! You pass. Come with me!”
He immediately turned around and walked about five steps, then noticed I wasn’t following.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and keep up.”
“Where’s your delivery headed?”
“The same place as you.”
Now he’s just spouting nonsense.
“Where is that, exactly?”
“Where else? Here. Bucheon!”
“I’m going to Incheon.”
“Yeah, Incheon.”
“…What?”
“I said Incheon!”
For a moment, Old Man Heo’s face, searching for his daughter, came to mind.
“So those two government guys aren’t making a deal with us, right?”
“Mr. Postman, we’re really not bad people—”
“Hey, enough, enough. We don’t have time. Whether those two go off and die together or not is their problem. Die here or die there, same thing. Lives that’ll end soon anyway. They’re postmen, after all.”
As the blunt one took the lead, the seemingly kind one reluctantly turned back.
The rest of the group followed, and at the end of the line was the postman named Kim, who had been arguing with the crazy old guy.
In the end, Kim accepted the deal.
But seriously, who are these people to be offering guidance like that?
“Sir.”
“I told you, we’re going to Incheon!”
“Yeah, got that. But who are those guys that they’re offering to guide people?”
“Those bastards? Said they’ve got a settlement around here or something. That they basically control this whole area… claimed they’ve got some kind of ‘communication’ going with other settlements. Said if you follow them, you’ll be safe. Ha! What a load of crap.”
No doubt about it, total bullshit.
But how did this guy figure that out?
“What made you decide it was bullshit?”
“Physiognomy!”
Yeah, that’s bullshit too.
They introduced themselves as having a settlement.
That would mean they’re a scouting party temporarily out on an external sweep.
In other words, they’d be out gathering resources or regularly checking for threats around their settlement.
But those guys just now weren’t a scouting party.
They were definitely raiders.
Drifters with no settlement, surviving off robbery.
The decisive reason for thinking that was the child in their group, who looked about five years old.
Judging by the child’s condition, it wasn’t a kid they picked up during a sweep. It clearly belonged to the group from the start.
If they were a scouting party, there’s no way they’d bring such a young child outside the settlement.
The kid would only be a burden and a risk. If they had a settlement, they’d have left the child there.
Another clue was how excessively heavy their luggage looked.
It doesn’t make sense to be carrying loads that heavy when the goal during a resource sweep is to gather as much as possible and return.
But if they’re raiders, it makes sense.
They don’t have a safe shelter, so they have to live on the move.
That means they often end up carrying all their possessions on their backs.
Of course, if they had just hit the jackpot and every single one of them was loaded down with resources on the way back, it could make sense, but something like that might happen once in a lifetime, if ever.
That said, I couldn’t fight them.
There were too many of them, and every one of them was already watching me.
Avoiding them was the best option.
“Then, Mr. Physiognomist, you should get going.”
“I told you, I’ll go with you to Incheon.”
“I never asked for—”
“Gooood! Then let’s do it this way. You can come with me!”
Why would I do that?
“So, what’s your name, young man~?”
A different kind of unpleasant compared to Director Bae.
That guy looks like a bear you want to punch, while this one’s like a drunk chimpanzee.
Come to think of it, he smells like alcohol.
“What’s your naaaame!”
Ignoring him and trying to go on my way didn’t work.
The “physiognomist” started stubbornly following me.
He wasn’t just following quietly either. He kept making noise.
“Whaaat’s your naaame~”
The name “Woo Jung-kook” is just a paper alias I made for working as a postman.
Back when I was a hunter and when I was in the military, I used different names too.
Only the surname Woo stayed the same.
Anyway, it’s not really a problem if I tell him.
Still, I usually avoid it since I don’t like people remembering me.
“Woo Jung-kook.”
I’ll just surrender to this guy.
I considered making up a random name, but I had a bad feeling that giving him false information might come back to bite me.
“Now will you please shut up?”
“Woo Jung-kook! Same Woo as me, little brother!”
That’s not a good sign.
Feels like I’ve gotten tangled up in something unnecessary.
Best to cut this off early.
“What does sharing a surname matter? I don’t do this ‘big brother, little brother’ stuff.”
“You think other surnames are the same as Woo? Seems like you don’t know the history of our clan, little brother.”
Of course I don’t.
Maybe I should’ve done some research before picking an alias.
“The Woo clan all comes from Danyang. There’s only one place of origin! Sure, there are records of other Woo lines, but they all trace back to Dan-yang. So that means you and I share the same blood, little brother!”
I can’t tell you how relieved I am that I’m not actually related to someone like him.
My real surname is Son.
“I knew it the moment I saw you! Your features just scream our family line!”
When he first saw me, he definitely had a look like he’d just bitten into something unpleasant.
“Alright then, let’s join forces and get moving, little brother! Where in Bucheon did you say you were headed?”
“Not Bucheon. I’m going to Incheon.”
“Exactly! Where in Incheon?”
There’s actually a reason I’ve been letting this guy follow me around making noise.
It’s because it’s still been safe.
As if I were traveling alone.
The “physiognomist” wasn’t just following me mindlessly.
He was stepping precisely where I stepped.
And when a strange noise rang out and I went on alert, he immediately shut his mouth too.
He didn’t stop because he saw me get cautious.
At the exact same moment I sensed something, he picked up on it as well and switched his stance.
– You’re actually going to trust people like them? Ha, guess it’s about time you kicked the bucket, Kim-ssi. I’m leaving, so do whatever you want!
Come to think of it, he was the one who refused to travel together and chose to pass through this dangerous area alone.
He saw right through the fact that they were raiders.
Like I did, he probably found it suspicious that there was a child in the group.
One thing’s certain. He didn’t figure it out by reading their faces.
Just look at how he said my features matched the Woo clan.
– Alright! You pass. Come with me!
Was that his way of trying to get me out of danger from the raiders?
Or did he just need someone to travel with to improve his own chances of survival?
No way to know.
And the smell of alcohol.
That’s fake too.
It’s different from the smell that comes from actually drinking; it’s something he sprayed or applied.
Putting all of that together, it means this guy is using a survival strategy where he pretends to be weak.
“Incheon~ Incheon~ Do they have any local specialties there? Like booze?”
That carefully calculated sloppiness is completely ingrained in him.
A survival strategy where you dress well, stay neat, and present yourself as strong is usually used when you have companions.
From a raider’s perspective, it’s a burden to attack a group that shows off polished organization and a composed, orderly appearance like a military unit.
On the other hand, when you’re in a small group, especially alone, it’s better to pretend to be weak.
No matter how tough you try to act, being alone is still being alone.
If you look like you have something, you just end up becoming a treasure goblin for no reason.
Anyway, if you know how to act strong or act weak like this, you’re already a top-tier survivor.
Most people just show the situation they’re in as it is and don’t know how to act.
Acting only comes when you have the breathing room for it.
If I were doing relatively safe deliveries like usual, being a top-tier survivor or not, I wouldn’t need a companion.
But right now, having someone like this with me might actually help.
“Ajhussi.”
“Call me hyungnim!”
“I won’t say anything about traveling together, so tell me properly where your delivery destination is.”
“Incheon!”
So he has no intention of sharing.
Fine.
Either way, he’s probably headed somewhere via Incheon.
I just need to stick with him until I reach my destination.
Of course, you can’t just travel with anyone so easily.
Trust? That’s just a misspelling of death.
Trust is nothing but a mirage.
So I tested him whenever I got the chance.
I deliberately showed openings along the way to check his reactions.
But he didn’t seem like he had any intention of stabbing me in the back.
After continued observation, he definitely seems to be a real postman.
“Where are you headed, little brother?”
“AAA.”
“A-YO! But isn’t that a place that doesn’t receive mail? Tough luck, little brother.”
“It’s my job, so I have to at least try.”
“Ha, look at that sense of responsibility. Still, make sure you stay alive while you’re at it.”
“Responsibility, my ass. I’m just doing it because I’m told to. Either way, I really am unlucky.”
“No! Meeting me means you’re lucky!”
“Sure, sure.”
Even if their delivery routes overlap, it’s rare for postmen to travel together.
That’s because everyone has their own survival strategy.
Living on this land is a constant series of choices.
Do I hide in this building or that one?
Should you sleep during the day and move at night, or sleep at night instead?
Even if it means taking a longer route, should you go the safer way or take on some risk to shorten the delivery time?
Even for a single delivery, you have to make dozens of choices like these.
It’s nearly impossible for two people to make the same choice every time.
That’s why you have to make concessions and compromises, but if it comes to that, it’s obviously better to be alone.
Concessions and compromises?
That’s just death and death.
We found an abandoned building that looked like a good place to rest for a bit.
“Oh, little brother, excellent choice!”
When I went inside without a word and started laying out a spot, the physiognomist set up his place as well without any complaints.
The sun would be setting soon.
“I’m only going to sleep for two hours.”
“You’ll wake me up, right? Right?”
“Yeah.”
“Little brother, I really like you! You’re handsome!”
On the latest map issued by headquarters, there were multiple reports marked of snipers appearing along the straight route from here to Incheon.
Avoiding snipers and taking a detour would be the right move, but at a time like this, just before sunset, waiting for nightfall is also an option.
Hide in the darkness, avoid the sniper’s eyes, and move quickly along the direct route.
Moving during the day is better when I need to move while observing things myself.
Grr, fuu….
The physiognomist sat across from me and fell asleep.
I leaned against the left wall, and he leaned against the right. In other words, we were against the same wall.
There was a single window in the wall, positioned exactly between me and him.
Of course, the glass had long since been shattered.
A flying insect drifted in from outside, buzzing around between me and the physiognomist.
What bothered me wasn’t the insect, but his bag.
He had set his mail bag down beside him and was holding a smaller side bag in his hand.
A bag with a weapon in it?
An uneasy situation.
If it’s something like a knife, it’s not unusual to keep it in a bag.
Compared to knives, bulkier weapons that are harder to carry on the body are often stored like that.
I have one like that too.
The back scratcher.
Still, what matters is that both he and I are postmen.
We both left everything we had at headquarters, so how impressive could what’s in our bags really be?
It’s unlikely we’d end up pointing guns at each other.
If we’ve agreed to work together, the priority for now is to cooperate and finish the delivery safely.
I pretended to sleep and watched him for a while.
Saying I’d sleep for two hours actually meant I’d sleep for thirty minutes and spend the remaining hour and a half keeping an eye on him.
After about thirty minutes, the physiognomist started snoring, and another thirty minutes later, I too drifted into a light sleep.
How much time had passed?
Srrk.
The sound of cloth brushing against cloth.
Then a faint clattering noise followed.
The distinctive movement of a firearm being handled.
When I snapped my eyes open, I locked eyes with the physiognomist, who was in the middle of pulling a handgun out from inside his clothes.
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