novelraw Chapter 24 : Chapter 24
Chapter 24 : Chapter 24
Chapter 24
Bang Su-hyeok hesitated for a moment and then snatched the ballot paper.
“I’ll take it since you’re giving it. Instead, you take the next paper. That way it’s fair.”
“Of course. You are saying the obvious.”
“But what is the basis for your confidence that there will be more spares?”
“I saw the pursuit team going to pack the ballot papers in advance. Since they flocked to a place where three papers were gathered, they must have hoarded at least three.”
I, Lee Ju-seong, went downstairs with Bang Su-hyeok.
Four bodies were rolling around on the floor below.
Including the Glasses man on the second floor, there were five bodies.
One person was missing.
It didn't take long to realize who the missing person was.
I pointed out the fact that the snare near the main entrance was broken.
“The friend who first got caught in the snare seems to have escaped on his own somehow.”
Bang Su-hyeok also displayed his keen eyes, not to be outdone.
While I was looking at the snare, Bang Su-hyeok paid attention to the dusty floor.
“Traces of moving while dragging one foot remain on the floor. He won't have gone far yet. Let’s pursue him quickly.”
“Is it necessary?”
“What do you mean is it necessary…… don’t make me say the obvious. I’m saying let's settle it now because he'll become a source of trouble later if we leave him alive.”
“You want to feel at ease quickly.”
Only after speaking did I realize it was quite a sharp voice.
But I didn't regret it.
Because it seems like it will become a problem in the future.
Because maybe it might make things difficult for me.
I always harbored doubts about whether that was indeed a rational judgment.
To my ears, it sounded like a sound to quickly waste the means that could be utilized.
In this game, money was a resource, and the human who could earn that money was also a type of resource.
One could use them as much as possible, and remove them after being certain that there is no more utility value.
Killing and disposing of them right away looked like nothing more than a shallow insight of not wanting to think any further…….
At least it was clear that it was not a way of thinking that helps survival.
‘Hmm, he is still a little different from the Bang Su-hyeok I know. It's very subtle, but his proactivity is lower than the protagonist in the drama. I wonder if this is also because the flow of the script went awry.’
It was no wonder.
Originally, a young-looking woman should have been staying by Bang Su-hyeok’s side as a companion at this time.
The fight inside this government office was also originally a flow where Bang Su-hyeok was driven into the defensive in a battle with the Glasses man but barely reversed it, and the female companion nursed him devotedly.
But as I intervened, the battle ended in an overwhelming victory, and we were facing the first election without any particular crisis.
After a while, Bang Su-hyeok withdrew his opinion.
“You’re right. I was hasty. Things won't work out if I make mistakes in my priorities.”
“If you understand, please help with finding the ballot papers.”
“But you, do you even know what your face is like when you look at a person?”
“I’ve heard a lot of talk about having a good impression.”
Bang Su-hyeok puffed out his breath.
If he had been holding water, it was a vigorous empty breath that would have spread wide and bloomed a rainbow.
Then he said in a tone of being appalled.
“With that face?”
“Is it not?”
“With a little exaggeration, you were like Anton Chigurh.”
“Personally, I am in the middle of taking pride in being closer to Hutch Mansell.”
“Nobody’s Hutch Mansell? Isn't the age difference too much to compare to you?”
“Whether it’s Odenkirk or Bardem, their actual ages would be about the same anyway.”
Conversation went back and forth without hesitation with movies as the subject.
For an instant, I even felt the illusion that I was sharing a conversation with Kim Dong-won himself.
Bang Su-hyeok and I burst into laughter at the same time while rummaging through the bodies.
Thanks to the flower of laughter that bloomed inside the gruesome scene, I even felt a kind of comradeship.
As a result of moving our hands busily, we found two additional ballot papers.
Bang Su-hyeok handed over the two additional papers found to me.
“Two sheets both you keep them. I’ll leave it to your judgment whether you use them when accepting additional companions, or use them during the second election.”
“Since there's not much time left, let's head to the ballot box immediately.”
“Let’s concentrate the votes alternately. Concentrate on them first.”
“Let’s do that. Though the probability of being elected isn't high.”
“You never know. In this game, even approaching the ballot box is a chore. Moreover, even if they somehow arrive, everyone will probably vote for themselves.”
It is much more convenient to snatch papers from players approaching the ballot box than to go around looking for ballot papers.
One can also remove competitors while they're at it.
It was the common opinion of Bang Su-hyeok and me that there was a high possibility of an ambush around the ballot box.
“Lee Ju-seong, if by any chance there is an ambush, step back behind me immediately. I’ll throw scrap metal to create a barricade instantaneously.”
“That’s truly reliable.”
“There’s no rule to only utilize traps passively.”
Net-type traps, protruding wedge traps, confinement-type traps that lock in a cage, etc…….
There were many traps where the structures themselves could be utilized as cover.
But as if making full preparations was useless, there was no one around the ballot box.
There was no ambush of any kind, and there was no surveillance of any kind.
We quietly put the ballot papers with Bang Su-hyeok’s name written on them into the ballot box and then left the place.
“It’s strange. I certainly thought there would be an ambush.”
“It’s not even that traces of a battle having broken out near the ballot box remained. Does it make sense that everyone quietly only voted and left?”
“That nonsensical thing happened in reality.”
“There are no nonsensical things in the world. Everything has a reason.”
After leaving the branch school, we moved while taking a direction toward the 6 o'clock direction.
Since we scouted the vicinity of the 12 o'clock direction once, the intention was to set up a new camp and look for ballot papers in the 6 o'clock direction that we hadn't looked around.
During the move, we could encounter an announcement broadcast informing the voting results.
The result was quite shocking.
[Announcing the results of the first vote for the Class President Election Game.]
-Yoon Ji-ho : 11 votes
-Bang Su-hyeok : 2 votes
-Abstain : 1 vote
Bang Su-hyeok and I, who were looking for a place to make a base, stopped our movements as promised after hearing the results.
“Yoon Ji-ho 11 votes?”
“Yoon Ji-ho pulls this off.”
“11 votes is a number that can surely get him elected as class president even if everyone was surviving. That fellow has completed a picture where he can surely win.”
“Since he has an overwhelming ability optimized for this game, he should do at least that much. That way, the side that attacks also gains motivation.”
It’s okay to give about 500 million.
Because in the end, the right to monopolize all prize money will be given to the person who became the last class president.
Moreover, we gained the upper hand in the information war with this vote.
Concentrating the votes on Bang Su-hyeok in the first vote was the correct answer.
With this, Yoon Ji-ho does not know my survival status.
‘I only know that Bang Su-hyeok is alive, my life or death status wasn't revealed at all. Roughly guessing that I will be alive and being certain that I am alive are completely different. I should take profit while staying in the blind spot of information.’
I needed a punch to give Yoon Ji-ho, and additionally, materials to make an overwhelming profit in this game.
To do that, revealing the trick Yoon Ji-ho used to gather votes was the first priority.
I considered it a time when agility and sincerity were needed.
“Finding out the trick Yoon Ji-ho used will be the priority.”
“I think monopolizing the ballot papers is also not a bad strategy.”
“Let's proceed with both simultaneously.”
We turned the direction toward the 9 o'clock direction in the middle of a four-way intersection extending neatly inside the ruins.
Even though the planned route was suddenly changed, there was no fluff in our movements.
As if personally proving that variables cannot become our stumbling blocks, we changed the approach toward victory with a flexible mindset.
Not to set up a camp and wait for the enemy, but toward the side that actively approaches first.
***
“Heff heff heff!”
On an unpaved road slightly away to the north from the branch school.
There was a player moving while dragging his foot using a wooden club as a cane.
The player's name was Kwon Jin-woo.
He was a player who entered the public office building because his eyes turned at the bounty and then got caught in a trap first.
“……Foot, ……stard. ……Like shit.”
It was Kwon Jin-woo who comforted himself by adding swear words as interjections even while gasping for breath.
The right foot had already been smashed after being caught in a trap long ago.
It would be a relief if it was only that the bone was broken, but unfortunately the flesh was deeply dug and the amount of bleeding was accumulating in real time.
“This is all…… because of the other five idiots. If I lead at the front there…… heff heff, they should support from the back.”
If it goes well, it's thanks to him, if it doesn't go well, it's others' fault.
It was a typical loser's mindset.
Kwon Jin-woo, steeped in despair, repeatedly blaming others, and finally reached the stage of resignation.
“Haa haa, I know too. That I'm an underachiever even in this bottom. I know that it's hard to survive anymore.”
While floundering in the swamp of resignation, a person appeared from beyond the ruins who would put a full stop to his life.
Blue hair and a nose piercing.
A smirking smile that is not an exaggeration even if called a trademark.
As soon as he witnessed the opponent, a falsetto popped out of its own accord.
“Yu, Yu, Yoon Ji-ho!”
The thought that it was finished now was rampant in his head.
Just as a tiger cannot pass a deer with an injured leg, that psychopath would not leave an injured player alone.
Yoon Ji-ho sprayed madness while making his characteristic fuss.
“Ooooh~ what's up brother~. Oh my, you’re hurt a lot. Can you survive with that body?”
“Sa, save me…….”
“Of course, of course. I should save you. They say all of humanity are friends, right? Hey!”
When Yoon Ji-ho shouted toward the inside of a semi-destroyed house, people swarmed out from inside the ruins.
Including Yoon Ji-ho, it seemed that there were slightly more than ten people by estimation.
In a short time of only one hour, he had recruited more than a majority of the players.
What was even more surprising was Yoon Ji-ho's decision regarding Kwon Jin-woo.
“Doctor! There’s a sick person here~!”
An old man in golf wear slinked out of the crowd.
The old man looked at Yoon Ji-ho’s face, and Yoon Ji-ho urged silently with his eyes wide open.
As if Yoon Ji-ho's gesture was soon becoming law, the old man placed both hands on Kwon Jin-woo’s ankle.
“Ability manifestation.”
Green light flowed from the old man’s palms.
The part where the light touched gradually healed and after about 3 minutes, the pain completely disappeared.
Simultaneously, Yoon Ji-ho grabbed Kwon Jin-woo’s lower jaw with his right hand.
As Yoon Ji-ho applied strength, strength entered the hollow parts of both cheeks, and the mouth opened regardless of Kwon Jin-woo’s will.
“Usually, you receive money if you heal someone. But I actually wanted to give money. Don't refuse and take it.”
A 500 ‘yen’ coin was held in Yoon Ji-ho’s left hand.
His left hand descended obliquely and dug into Kwon Jin-woo’s mouth.
Fingers reached up to the uvula and saliva pooled.
“Ack! Aack! Ack!”
Instinct swallowed the saliva pooled in the mouth at its own will.
But it wasn't only saliva that passed over the throat.
A heavy foreign body sensation was felt together with the saliva.
As the uvula gulped greatly, Yoon Ji-ho withdrew his fist.
“Hey, it’s medicine, medicine. But they say medicine can go wrong sometimes. You’ll move as prescribed, right?”
Kwon Jin-woo intuited.
That a bomb took its place inside his stomach.
Not only that, he had no choice but to do as this man said if he wanted to live.
Nod nod nod nod!
He realized for the first time that a person can shake their head at such a fast speed.
When he stopped after shaking his head like crazy enough to feel dizzy.
Yoon Ji-ho’s face came into sight in the middle of being dizzy.
It was an evil expression enough not to be inferior even when compared to the shape of a devil.
“I’m not a bad person either if you get to know me. I’m telling you it’s all a misunderstanding. Let's get along well from now on. From now on, we are friends. No betraying between friends, okay?”