“Your seats are over here.”
The meeting room was a wide, semicircular auditorium.
Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan guided us to a section of the auditorium.
A seat with a placard that read [Gangwon].
The soldiers and I walked over there in silence.
Then I could feel the gazes of the people who had already arrived inside turning and fixing on us.
I could roughly sense the emotions inside those stares.
Curiosity and anticipation.
Wariness and anxiety.
And.
“.......”
A trace of shock and...... fear.
It wasn’t hard to figure out why.
Before coming here.
The survivors of each faction gathered here, and we, had fought the monsters.
Each faction fought at a fair distance from the others, but.
Even from far away, they could still witness parts of those battles.
They could also verify what things looked like after the fighting ended.
And if they saw it like that.......
‘No one slaughtered as many monsters as we did.’
We racked up the most achievements.
Well, in truth, a huge part of it was because that monster bastard let go of its control over the monsters at the end, but.
Without meaning to, we ended up advertising our combat power to everyone.
Among the survivor factions gathered here right now, the ones they were most wary of, most focused on.
Were us.
‘Man, they’re glaring like they want to carve us up.’
Feeling those stares, we went deeper into the meeting room.
As I sat in the designated seat and looked around, I frowned slightly.
‘A lot of empty seats.’
Maybe they expected quite a lot of factions to show up.
There were many seats with placards prepared.
But most of those seats were completely vacant.
Even though we were clearly the last to arrive.
I looked over the seats that did have people sitting in them.
And the first thing I spotted was.
Faces that were pretty familiar to me.
“You are......!”
An old man staring at my face in shock.
Seeing him, I let out a quiet snort of a laugh.
‘The Association.’
The Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association was also a faction representative.
I already knew they would accept this invitation, so it was obvious I’d end up facing them.
“Told you it wasn’t a lie, right?”
“......So that kid really was in the Legion.”
Behind the old man stood Han Iseo and Heo Yunchang.
Since this was a place for talking with people, bringing Han Iseo along was the right call.
Heo Yunchang was probably here as an escort.
“.......”
And the old man serving as their head.
Jo Beomseok stared at me with a face full of disbelief.
‘The Northern Branch trio probably told him that I came from the Legion.......’
Still, seeing it with his own eyes was a whole different matter.
It must have been a pretty massive shock.
I hesitated over how to react.
Then.
With a small smile.
I lightly waved a hand in his direction.
“......Heh.”
Like I was casually greeting someone I’d run into on the street.
Maybe that attitude was so absurd to him that Jo Beomseok let out a hollow laugh.
A familiar face.
The fact that trustworthy people were in this room with me was genuinely reassuring.
After that.
I looked at the people sitting in the other sections.
Hoo.......
A scar-covered man smoking with his legs up on the table.
“Heh heh.......”
An elderly woman with a gentle impression sitting nearby.
“.......”
An old man in white who looked benevolent.
And behind him, people in the same pure white clothes, standing there in silence.
‘Including us and the Association...... that makes five total.’
No.
To be precise, there was one more.
A semicircular auditorium.
What I’d been looking at were the people seated along the rim of that semicircle.
“Then, now that the soldiers from Gangwon are seated.”
And.
On the opposite side.......
“As scheduled...... we will begin the survivors’ gathering.”
The faction that called us here.
The people of Seoul were seated there.
*****
The Seoul group’s seats were where the moderators would sit in a normal setting.
If you called this a small meeting, it was the seat of honor.
Quite a lot of people were seated there.
“First, we would like to offer our thanks to all of you who fought alongside us against those monsters.......”
While the young man who seemed to be running the meeting continued speaking.
I studied the faces of the people sitting there.
Among them was someone I’d already met: Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan.
“......Sergeant Shin.”
At that moment.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok whispered to me in a small voice.
“Over there, the person sitting in the fourth seat from the left. That face looks familiar.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’ve seen them a lot on the news. A politician, I think. Probably someone pretty high up.”
At that, I couldn’t help widening my eyes a little.
And of course.
Corporal Seo Suhyeok’s eye for faces wasn’t wrong.
“Before we begin the gathering, we will introduce the key figures who are currently leading the Government of the Republic of Korea.”
The man handling the proceedings pointed at the seated people and began explaining.
“A former Vice Minister of the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, now serving as the commander of the Gangnam Autonomous Unit.......”
“The commander of the Capital Defense Command.......”
“......A former National Assembly member.......”
Hearing their backgrounds, I was honestly a little surprised.
‘There are way more big shots than I expected.’
This was Seoul, where they said the living were close to ten percent.
If a lot of big shots survived among them, that itself wasn’t strange, but.
‘People who held high positions before the collapse are still keeping those positions even now.’
That was the part that surprised me.
Gangwon, where we were, also had people who’d once held pretty impressive status.
Not many, but they existed.
There were also plenty of cases where you could call someone a local power broker who survived.
But.
Cases where they still held that status after time passed were extremely rare.
‘This is a world where surviving comes first.’
A world that had collapsed.
Status from before the collapse didn’t matter.
What mattered more was the power needed to survive.
‘In the end, the head of a survivor group ended up being a strong Awakener.’
That wasn’t just us.
Gangsan, who used to be the Chair of the Association in Gyeonggi, was just an elderly man living alone who happened to have talent for fighting.
None of the Branch Representatives had held particularly lofty positions, either.
Even so, the reason they became representatives of their groups was because, as Awakeners, they had abilities that were advantageous for survival.
‘So Seoul is different?’
At least, judging from what I was seeing right now.
Seoul looked like it had preserved its pre-collapse status hierarchy.
I didn’t know how they managed it, but.
‘Efficiency...... might not be bad.’
People in high positions would have been in roles where they managed many others even before.
It depended on the case, but there was a decent chance they actually had the ability to lead people.
If someone had held a high position before the collapse, then in the early days of the collapse, they could also serve as a good focal point for gathering people.
‘Unless the collapse had dragged on long enough for massive casualties to pile up. In the early stage, when a lot of people were still alive, the old rules of society would still remain to some extent.’
Plenty of people would have believed this collapse was only temporary, and that we could return to a normal society.
Those people wouldn’t find it easy to dismiss figures of high status.
And after some time passed, it was likely that their position as the head of their group had already solidified.
The problem was that it was hard for such figures to survive at all.
But if they did survive, it was more than enough of an advantage for leading a group.
‘Yeah, but only.’
On the premise that a far more advantageous condition didn’t exist.
That there were no Awakeners.
*****
“I’m from Gyeonggi. I’m an old man named Jo Beomseok.”
After the introductions of the Seoul figures ended.
Next began the introductions of the people who came from regions outside Seoul.
“......Jo Beomseok, you say. Don’t tell me.”
When Jo Beomseok—Chair of the Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association—gave his name.
“Are you Colonel Jo Beomseok?”
“That face...... Kim Myeonghwan?”
Among the Seoul people.
Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan, seated as the military representative, widened his eyes and spoke.
“Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan. You know him?”
“Mm. He used to be the brigade commander at a unit where I served. Colonel Jo Beomseok...... no, he was a brigadier general when he retired.”
The Seoul people’s interested gazes focused on Jo Beomseok.
“You were an excellent soldier even on active duty. I didn’t know you would survive and endure this collapse, Colonel.”
“......That’s all in the past.”
Jo Beomseok formed a faint smile at the word colonel.
Then he shrugged.
“I’m not a soldier anymore. I’m a civilian now. I’m serving as the second head of the guild formed by the survivors of Gyeonggi who united together, the [Gyeonggi Province Survivors’ Association]. I am Jo Beomseok.”
When Jo Beomseok finished his introduction without fuss.
The Seoul people looked at him with faces that said they found it interesting.
Voices murmuring quietly.
Jo Beomseok had a background where, if he’d lived in Seoul, it wouldn’t have been strange for him to be seated over there with them.
The moment it was revealed he was that kind of figure, the very way they looked at Jo Beomseok changed.
“Then...... could we hear where the next person is from?”
When Jo Beomseok’s introduction ended.
People’s gazes moved to the person seated beside him.
Jo Beomseok had held high status before the collapse, and even now, his demeanor as Chair was confident and exemplary.
Most of the people here would think he was more than fit to lead a faction.
“Gang Shincheol.”
......On the other hand.
“I came from Daejeon.”
The next person to introduce themself after Jo Beomseok was.
A middle-aged man covered in scars.
Hoo.......
Just like when we first entered this room.
He kept his feet up on the table, smoked without caring about anyone’s eyes on him.
Then he blew out smoke in a long stream and spoke.
“Unlike that Association or whatever over there, I don’t have any particular affiliation. That’s it.”
“.......”
At that absurdly short introduction.
A slight silence drifted through the meeting room.
“How rude.”
And a moment later.
Several of the Seoul people frowned as they spoke.
“That man...... does he not understand that this is a place where the government and the regional survivor representatives hold a dialogue?”
“You should show a little courtesy, Mr. Gang Shincheol.”
Some even clicked their tongues openly.
And.
I looked at their faces.
A former National Assembly member.
A current vice minister of something-or-other.
They looked down on Gang Shincheol and criticized his behavior.
Sure.
Even to me, his attitude wasn’t exactly desirable.
But.
For a different reason, my brow tightened.
‘They’re grilling him like he’s beneath them.’
Whether you came from Seoul, Gyeonggi, or Daejeon.
The people gathered here are each representatives of a region.
I assumed that in this meeting, all of them were, fundamentally, equals.
But.
‘Even the seating arrangement...... and even them calling themselves the government.’
A place where the government and the regional survivor representatives hold a dialogue.
It gave me a slightly unpleasant feeling.
“Kuh kuh. Courtesy, my f***ing ass.”
Gang Shincheol just snickered as if the reaction was funny.
Seeing that, Lieutenant General Kim Myeonghwan carefully asked.
“May I ask one question?”
“Go on.”
“We believe the message we sent was delivered to the representative factions of each region. You came after receiving that message as well. But what do you mean you have no affiliation?”
Hoo.......
“Exactly what I said. I don’t have any particular affiliation.”
“So what does that.......”
“That old guy over there said he belongs to some Association, right?”
He said it while looking toward Jo Beomseok.
“Ah, should I call you Chair instead of old guy, then?”
“As long as it’s understandable, I don’t care what you call me.”
“Kuh kuh, sure. Anyway. That Association-whatever is probably talking about a [Guild]. Simple story.”
He smirked.
Then, exhaling the cigarette smoke, he said.
“Looks like a group only gets a name starting at [Guild]. If there are too few survivors, you don’t even get a name...... something like that.”
“.......”
At those words, not only us.
Even the faces of the so-called government figures hardened.
And.
Hearing it, I thought.
‘The factions gathered here add up to only six.’
The Republic of Korea had seventeen administrative divisions.
Out of those, only six had gathered.
Some might be too far away.
Or, even after receiving this invitation, some might have chosen not to come.
Even so, six out of seventeen was too few.
And the ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) reason...... was obvious without even having to think hard.
After the day the world fell.
The worst case that I’d thought might happen.
No, the worst case I’d thought was extremely likely to happen.
“All the people in my town are dead.”
......That most of humanity in a small region.
“Only the twenty-something of us who survived are me and my buddies.”
Had already been completely wiped out.
