Editor’s Survival Guide - Chapter 46

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Editor’s Survival Rules Episode 46

 

ep9. Rooting Out the Fake (7)

 

To be honest, what was the point of taking control of the Special Zone?

 

“28 million…!”

 

“30 million.”

 

“31 million won!”

 

But faced with that heated price competition and the absurdly rising amounts, I understood.

 

Wherever people gathered, a market would inevitably form.

 

“31 million! Anyone else want to bid?”

 

People hesitated at Teddy Bear’s question.

 

“Got it! Mister, sold for 31 million!”

 

When Teddy Bear declared this, two skeletons approached the winning bidder.

 

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

 

When the skeletons stood on either side of the middle-aged man, he pulled out his smartphone.

 

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

 

It looked like he was scanning a QR code.

 

Ding-

 

“Done. Payment confirmed.”

 

What? How?

 

Regular smartphones shouldn’t have signal here, right?

 

Whatever method they used, Teddy Bear’s gang had successfully completed a real-time bank transfer.

 

And the man who had suddenly sent such a large sum turned deathly pale and squeezed his eyes shut.

 

“Call out prices again!”

 

At Teddy Bear’s shout, the next bidding began.

 

This process repeated two more times, producing absurd results.

 

The subsequent winning bids were 34 million won. And then 40 million won.

 

Why did the winning bids get higher as it went on?

 

The “Fake Humans” were consumable items for escaping from here.

 

There wasn’t really anything better or worse about them, yet for some reason people competed more desperately as it went on.

 

It wasn’t because everyone had deep pockets.

 

Whether they succeeded or failed in bidding, everyone looked equally grim.

 

Meanwhile, Teddy Bear said cheerfully:

 

“It’s okay, you can pay back the money by working hard! And for the misters and ladies who can’t leave today, there’s tomorrow too!”

 

A very excited voice.

 

Of course he’d be excited. That bastard had made 100 million in an instant.

 

And the items he sold had no production costs or distribution costs.

 

He just caught things that appeared naturally and sold them.

 

Should I call this excellent business acumen, or despicable?

 

When the auction ended, the skeletons led the winning bidders and “Fake Humans” somewhere.

 

At that moment, the winning bidders looked deeply dejected, as if they weren’t escaping this hell but being dragged to another hell.

 

“You saw, right? We catch ‘Fake Humans’ every day, so if mister wants to leave, just participate in the auction.”

 

Teddy Bear came back toward us and said.

 

“But auction participation is only possible from the third day after arriving here. People who came first should leave first – that’s fair, right?”

 

I almost got convinced by the word “fair.”

 

But this Teddy Bear’s fairness wasn’t what I had in mind.

 

“But if you’re really urgent, like you have your wedding tomorrow, there’s also a premium pass.”

 

“Premium pass?”

 

“Premium Pass. Pay just 9.9 million won and you can participate in the auction right away!”

 

9.9 million won instead of 10 million won.

 

The effort to look even slightly cheaper was pitiful.

 

Choi Sang-eun seemed to have similar thoughts, as he protested indignantly:

 

“What kind of name is 9.9 million won?”

 

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

 

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

 

“We caught them. Items originally belong to whoever hunted them.”

 

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

 

Choi Sang-eun pointed at me and raised his voice.

 

As he said, I was the one who caught the “Fake Human” named ‘Im Jong-hak.’

 

So according to this Teddy Bear’s logic, it should be my property.

 

But when cornered by logic, Teddy Bear played dumb.

 

“Aw, why are you being so nitpicky?”

 

“How can I not be nitpicky? You’re suddenly demanding thousands from people?”

 

“Ah, I don’t know. Just think of it that way.”

 

“Hey!”

 

When Teddy Bear tried to sneak away, Choi Sang-eun roughly grabbed him.

 

“Mister, why are you doing this? Want to fight me?”

 

“Who are you to extort money from people? It’s not just a few pennies, why are you taking almost their entire fortune? What are those people supposed to do when they get out!”

 

Choi Sang-eun fiercely pressed Teddy Bear.

 

Teddy Bear seemed surprised and said nothing, while other people looked this way.

 

For a moment.

 

Teddy Bear muttered:

 

“Worrying about others?”

 

“What?”

 

Thwack-!

 

Choi Sang-eun’s body bent with a crack.

 

But Teddy Bear remained in the same relaxed standing posture.

 

Thud-!

 

“Huk, urgh…”

 

Choi Sang-eun couldn’t breathe as if hit in the solar plexus.

 

And above him writhed some chunk of flesh.

 

It flew savagely toward Choi Sang-eun.

 

Bang-!

 

That heavy appendage slammed down next to Choi Sang-eun’s head.

 

…That guy really was a contaminated being.

 

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

 

Teddy Bear lightly kicked the frozen Choi Sang-eun and said.

 

“And I didn’t set the prices either, right? I’m helping people out. So don’t give me grief.”

 

Choi Sang-eun couldn’t respond.

 

Teddy Bear lightly mocked the reporter, then suddenly turned to me:

 

“And hyung, if you want to join our side, go ahead. I’ll help you make lots of money!”

 

Sudden recruitment.

 

I looked at the skeletons just in case.

 

Those guys wearing skeleton masks had much younger eyes than I’d expected.

 

* * *

 

Teddy Bear and the skeletons left.

 

What remained in the 2nd floor lobby were me and Choi Sang-eun, plus the people who were there before.

 

Seven people in total.

 

When the auction ended, people scattered in all directions.

 

Then they collapsed their tired bodies into the lobby sofas.

 

“How long have you been here?”

 

Choi Sang-eun asked the man who was closest to him.

 

But that man turned his back as if annoyed.

 

It wasn’t just that man – everyone had the same reaction.

 

Still, Choi Sang-eun persistently went around, and a woman who couldn’t stand watching it spoke up.

 

“Everyone’s exhausted, so stop bothering them.”

 

“Exhausted?”

 

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

 

There was a single piece of paper hanging there.

 

—

 

Clean drinking water 1,000,000 won

 

Stale crackers 500,000 won (Not hardtack!)

 

—

 

What the hell is this price list that looks like peak season rip-off rates.

 

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

 

Now I could see they were on the verge of exhaustion.

 

“Where do I go to buy that stuff?”

 

“The ground floor.”

 

Choi Sang-eun listened to the woman’s words and immediately ran down the stairs.

 

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

 

“I’ll share some water with you, so please tell me what’s going on.”

 

Choi Sang-eun, who had been terrified just moments ago, had somehow recovered his journalist spirit.

 

Perhaps because his initials matched someone else’s, this person was also quite extraordinary.

 

“It’s been a week now.”

 

The woman who had moistened her throat began speaking with a complicated expression.

 

“People with money or those who could get non-face-to-face loans left almost as soon as they arrived, and the rest are people who have no money to borrow. The young boys joined up with that bear mask guy.”

 

“Is there no way to get out of here other than participating in that auction?”

 

“No. Cell phones don’t work here either. That bear mask guy only opens the wifi when we’re making payments, otherwise it’s completely dead.”

 

“Have you tried collusion? Like deciding the order in advance and having only the person who’s supposed to leave bid at the lowest possible price…”

 

“We tried that. We tried everything, but they’re not idiots either. When we wouldn’t raise the prices, they just wouldn’t sell at all. Instead, they raised the water price to 5 million won. So everyone just participates in the auction.”

 

The woman bit her lower lip as if fed up.

 

“The longer you stay here, the more you lose. That’s why everyone tries to get out as quickly as possible. There’s the money spent here, plus we have livelihoods outside.”

 

Right, I was also anxious about my company when I was first dragged to the Special Zone.

 

I was fortunate enough to be able to take sick leave, but such convenience isn’t available to everyone.

 

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

 

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

 

“Then, what are your plans for the future…”

 

“Plans?”

 

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

 

“I can’t get out of here. The winning bid is at least 30 million won, and I have nowhere to get that kind of money and 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, she was simply calm.

 

That’s when it happened.

 

My smartwatch quietly blinked.

 

-To the restroom.

 

It was Cha Si-eon.

 

* * *

 

“What the hell is this situation…”

 

I muttered quietly in the empty restroom.

 

Then Cha Si-eon made excuses for their management oversight.

 

-That Special Zone is managed by an external management company.

 

“…You’re saying you outsourced it?”

 

Special Zone management? As subcontracting?

 

-「National Theater」is a Special Zone where exploration has been completed, and during the last activity period, civilian casualties were stable at 0.6 people per day.

 

0.6 people per day is low? That’s 3 people in 5 days?

 

-Also, there was a judgment that external companies would be more capable of responding to 「Alpha」and 「Delta」, which are based in 「National Theater」, than our staff.

 

「Alpha」and 「Delta」.

 

These are the names of special dangerous entities born in 「National Theater」.

 

Right, I’ll acknowledge this.

 

I’ve heard about the extreme wickedness of those two entities several times.

 

Though it’s somewhat strange that Cha Si-eon is mentioning them.

 

“So you’re saying that external company didn’t know this place was in this state?”

 

-No. Upon confirmation, the company was aware of the contaminated individual’s activities but overlooked it because the survival rate ultimately increased.

 

What a complete disaster.

 

Hey, is it over as long as you get out alive?

 

I really have a lot to say, but I held back and focused on the main points.

 

“That contaminated individual seemed to have a big grudge against Team Leader Cha.”

 

-The contaminated individual’s name is Kim Hae-seong, a 22-year-old male. He manifested as a contaminated individual around February last year and appears to have traveled in groups with other contaminated individuals of similar age. But I don’t know this target.

 

“You don’t know him?”

 

-Six months ago, we did execute a contaminated individual extermination operation, but there was no name Kim Hae-seong on our team’s list.

 

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

 

-It seems he was lurking nearby when his gang was being captured. He claims he escaped, but our team never attempted to capture Kim Hae-seong in the first place.

 

“That means…”

 

-He’s just small fry.

 

Just small fry…

 

Right, he certainly didn’t look very smart.

 

-I’ll send a QR code for payment to Seo Do-un’s smartwatch.

 

Having finished his explanation, Cha Si-eon immediately brought up the main point.

 

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

 

Unlimited expenses – this is state power.

 

It’s reassuring, but I feel a bit uncomfortable about escaping alone like this.

 

“Are you going to leave this place like this?”

 

-Now that we’re aware of the situation, we’ll discuss it. However, if there are no criminal charges, we can’t forcibly detain contaminated individuals either. So we need evidence to restrict Kim Hae-seong’s actions.

 

We’ll discuss it, we need evidence…

 

That sounds too leisurely.

 

“Team Leader Cha. What happened to that incident report I wrote last time?”

 

-Why are you suddenly asking about that?

 

“If that went well, I was wondering how about trying once more.”

 

-…What are you thinking now?

 

Cha Si-eon asked with a suspicious voice.

 

So I calmly tried to sell my idea.

 

And I succeeded brilliantly.

 

* * *

 

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

 

The puzzled Teddy Bear.

 

“Ah, right. You lived in a nice neighborhood, right? I’m so jealous of you rich kids.”

 

When I didn’t answer, Teddy Bear made his own assumptions and nodded to himself.

 

Then he started showing off again.

 

“We can sell it, but no reselling here. We’re also thinking of people so we don’t raise prices.”

 

A cat thinking of mice.

 

“If you’re not going to resell, then just sell it.”

 

After finishing my discussion with Cha Si-eon, I immediately went to find Teddy Bear.

 

And I bought 80 bottles of water and 40 containers of biscuits.

 

It was 100 million won in total.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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