The traces remain where the waves have passed.

The floor soaked with the blood of zombies, the zombie corpses left behind on the floor unable to return, the virus that the zombie waves brought, the people swept away by the waves.

This is not a situation to immediately hold a looting meeting. I and the other elders rushed to clean up.

"The hospital seems to be bursting with patients now. People with broken bricks, anyone who knows first aid?"

"I don't know much, but won't disinfecting and bandaging work?"

"Good. You are the medic."

"No, I really don't know-"

Just like the army dragging people to mural work because they can draw, they hastily made a medic.

"Let's gather the bodies outside first! We can't live with the virus."

"Let's sweep away all the blood and thoroughly disinfect."

Quickly clearing away the zombie corpses and blood.

"Thank you so much for coming to help."

The elder and I bowed our heads to the neighbors who came to help in this difficult situation. Expressing gratitude was a must.

Of course, my inner thoughts were different. I looked at the suit of the knight who stepped forward as the representative. The large letters "ZERO" were embedded. I became suspicious.

'Could this person be Rider Zero, who rejected my request and blocked me?'

As I looked at the helmet with a bit of resentment, the Rider took off the helmet. Unexpectedly, a woman's face appeared.

Short hair. A masked face. Skin damp with sweat. She smiled cheerfully.

"They are all potential customers, so we have to help them and live. We are people who work on requests, after all. If the customers decrease, we'll starve."

"But there is no one to help you. It is only you who are kind."

An exchange of courtesies.

I was still stained with resentment and suspicion, and my eyes met the Rider's. She tilted her head slightly, seeming a bit puzzled.

"Who is this person?"

"This is Deacon Kwon. He's in charge of the safety of the Hope Community, no, the Hope Church. Thanks to Deacon Kwon's good planning, we were able to overcome this wave as well."

"Wow, so you're the one who planned all this?"

The Rider looked around at the debris of the barricades, the paving blocks scattered on the floor, and the traps visible from the entrance.

She smiled and held out her hand.

"Nice to meet you. This is something we can learn from as well."

"No, I also learned a lot from you. Like the nomadic style and protective gear."

The gloved hands grasped and shook each other. There was no need to explicitly express the suspicion.

The Rider who withdrew her hand briefly revealed a worried look in her eyes. She looked around at the people and zombie corpses, then lowered her voice.

"This seems like a really good place... Was this wave somehow artificial?"

"It's more like an accident than artificial. Why do you ask?"

The elder deacon blinked his eyes. I felt a foreboding sense. Could it be, could he really be Rider Zero? Is he trying to expose the request?

And indeed, that was the case.

Rider Zero said,

"The thing is, an anonymous request came in a while ago. They asked us to bring zombies to the Hope Church."

"...The security elder is dead, and there are more people targeting us."

The elder deacon's eyes widened.

I calmly swallowed my anxiety. After all, I don't know who made the request. Of course, I don't know that I'm the one who placed the request.

I slowly opened my mouth, putting on an exhausted expression and speaking in a hoarse voice.

"It's always people who are the problem."

Yes, people are the problem. Receiving requests without permission, not keeping secrets. How dare they think of exposing the request? Maintaining confidentiality is basic, isn't it?

Even though I've been gradually stealing church resources and waiting for a chance to escape, this will only make them more vigilant. A little resentment grew and grew.

'You, I'll confirm.'

I firmly imprinted the face and suit of Rider Zero in my mind. Scenarios of getting revenge without revealing my face came to mind one after another.

The request. Set an alarm clock to go off at the time Rider Zero arrives, to lure a zombie attack, or remove the motorcycle brakes, or contaminate the gift they'll give as a reward with zombie saliva.

I'll make the number of Riders zero, just like the name Rider Zero.

Around this point, the conversation between the elder deacon and Rider Zero ended.

"Then I'll be on my way!"

"At least take a gift with you. Hey, Supply Elder! Give these people some food or masks!"

"You really don't have to."

"You risked your life to help us, just take it."

Rider Zero, who had been stretching, chuckled and showed her anticipation.

The Supply Elder, who didn't want to move the bodies, rushed to the warehouse. I watched his back with regret.

'Putting zombie saliva in the water bottle wouldn't work in this situation.'

If the situation was better, I would have collected zombie bodily fluids and injected them into the water bottles.

But it's fine. I don't need to take revenge right away like a whistleblower. I'll just remember the resentment and give it a little nudge when the opportunity arises.

And so, where the waves had receded, the Riders left with a bundle of gifts, and the people who had been soaked by the waves wearily returned to their daily lives, and the deep night came.

A perfect night to hatch a plot.

***

On this night when the people were tired from the battle and labor, snoring in their sleep. Even the people on night watch in the church were struggling to stay awake, overcome by fatigue.

The three thieves secretly gathered in the pastor's office. Without even turning on the lights, we scattered and sat down in the dark office.

Finally, the thieves' meeting was opening up in a plausible way.

"Let's start the church escape meeting. The agenda is to divert church resources and find the right timing to escape."

"...Suddenly? Do we really have to?"

"I wondered why you called us at this night. What's the problem exactly?"

The tired thief elder and the evangelist grumbled. Of course, they spoke in whispers and did not righteously oppose the agenda.

It was the typical attitude of a thief, with survival and profit as the top priorities.

The thief elder let out a big yawn and tapped the floor.

"Rather than that, let's properly introduce ourselves. We don't even know each other's real names, and we don't know what kind of people we've gathered here."

"Then let's start with the elder who brought it up."

Looking in the direction of the elder, he let out a deep sigh.

"I'm Park Yang-gun. I used to do some thievery back in the day."

How could the thief's name be Park Yang-gun? It's not even a shortened version of a scholar's name. Did this person also change his name with the ambition of becoming a thief?

Well, even if it's a lie, it's fine. I introduced myself as Jeon Do-hyeong first.

"This guy is Jeon Do-hyeong, an evil electricity thief who steals national electricity. I'm-"

"This person is Kim Da-in, a crazy murderer. Be careful."

We eagerly put each other down while introducing each other, and Elder Park Yang-gun chuckled.

"Murderer, electricity thief, former thief. Only criminals gathered here, huh."

"In this world, crime is a necessity, isn't it?"

"I'm not quite that bad..."

The grumbling of Jeon Do-hyeong, who felt unfairly lumped together, was naturally ignored. As fellow thieves, they were similar people.

Naturally, there was only one common goal that could be called a shared objective.

"Surviving the apocalypse by any means necessary. This is the only purpose."

"That's right. But do we really need to leave the church for that?"

"Yeah, it's better to have more people gathered."

That's also a valid point, but it's only a temporary matter. To survive the apocalypse, you have to be ahead of others.

While others are building strongholds and defending the current situation, we need to become post-apocalyptic scavengers and thieves to get ahead. By abandoning our conscience just a little earlier than others, we can adapt faster.

I explained slowly.

"If you look at this wave, you'll see-"

The danger of zombies, the learned zombie siege tactics, the inevitable risks and losses, the dangers of strongholds as breakwaters.

Avoidance and escape are the best options.

The two thieves who were grumbling listened attentively.

"Ultimately, the best thing is to crouch down as inconspicuously as possible and minimize the need to fight zombies. In that sense, the church is not an ideal stronghold."

"...That's true. But if we leave the church, where do we go? What about the food?"

"Aren't houses scattered everywhere? I had doubted Elder Park Yang-gun's remarks for a moment, thinking he was testing me.

Whether I was really planning the future properly.

I spoke confidently, like a pastor.

"It's the apocalypse. It's a world where destruction has come, where law and morality are meaningless. Just break into any house, kill the owner, and take it over."

There's no need to buy and sell houses like normal, right? No need to buy food with money either.

And I shared my plan a little.

"Of course, there's Jeon Do-hyeong's camper van, and the villa building I prepared. It's a bit dirty, but..."

"The dirt is fine. As long as there's no virus, it doesn't matter how dirty it is."

That's when Jeon Do-hyeong let out a deep sigh.

"The 'cleaning' he's talking about, it's not that kind of cleaning. It's 'human' cleaning. He hasn't killed all the villa residents yet."

"Is that so?"

Elder Park Yang-gun raised his voice a little, seemingly surprised, and asked curiously,

"How did you break in?"

That's what he's more curious about. I silently took out a taser gun and pulled the trigger. A blue electric spark flashed. The battery must be almost dead, as the power was weak.

"Ah, an old door lock?"

"Let's just move on with the meeting."

In the darkness, the thieves huddled together and discussed ways to plunder the church's resources.

The key point is to take things without anyone knowing. If their existence is revealed, they will become enemies, so hiding their existence is the top priority.

After various ideas were thrown around, a plan was established.

Do nothing.

I talked about my plan to infect the entire community with the virus and then collapse it before taking the resources, and Elder Park Yang-gun planned to divert supplies by using the position of the supply elder, but surprisingly, Jeon Do-hyeong hit the core.

Jeon Do-hyeong spoke with a voice that seemed to have some good intentions.

"If the wave is going to destroy everything anyway, why don't we just come back after it's destroyed and take the resources?"

"...Is that so?"

I tilted my head and refuted.

"But then the church will become a zombie den. How are we going to deal with the zombies? Ah, I see. We don't need to go there."

Rider Zero.

Is it okay to ask the Delivery Squad to retrieve the supplies for us? In return, we can share the warehouse resources.

Of course, the Delivery Squad might greedily take it all, but then we can attack and loot the Delivery Squad. People are easier to kill than zombies.

The important thing is that the resources exist. It doesn't matter whose hands they're in.

And so the first looting meeting was concluded.

"Then let's just escape on our own. Jeon Do-hyeong and I can leave easily, so just try to escape well, Elder Park Yang-gun."

"What do you mean 'escape well'? This isn't the military."

The looters returned to the bedrooms like cockroaches to fill their lack of sleep. Gathered in several people, lying in the bedrooms.

The person snoring, the person crying under the blanket, the person moaning as if having a nightmare.

Despite all the disturbances, I diligently drew the future and fell asleep.

***

The morning had dawned. People scattered hurriedly, preparing instant ramen cooked on gas burners or microwaved instant rice, and I approached the evangelism elder and the administrative elder wearing a mask.

"Deacon Kwon! Aren't you eating breakfast?"

"You need to eat to have strength. Eat a little. There's a lot of work today, like handling the bodies."

I shook my head. And I said lightly as usual,

"Jeon Do-hyeong and I are about to leave the community."

The two elders who were busily using their chopsticks and spoons were startled. They stared at me with wide eyes.

"What? Why?"

"Deacon Kwon, was there any inconvenience?"

A deep sense of doubt, as if they didn't understand the reason at all.

I slowly explained a plausible reason.

"Seeing that you've held off the wave, I don't have much more to help. I'd rather go to another self-defense squad and help them. It seems better to save more people that way."

The two elders opened their mouths and let out a faint exclamation. Their gaze, reminiscent of a pastor, was directed at me.

"Really.... Thanks to Deacon Kwon, many people have survived. Thank you very much, and I hope you will convey hope to other people as well."

"You're not planning to leave empty-handed, are you? Take something! Where's the supply elder? Is he here?"

There's no reason to refuse when they offer. It's just a matter of time whether I get it now or later.

I decided to take some disinfection supplies. Also the list of self-defense squads that the evangelism elder had.

"I'll just take a little disinfectant."

"Okay, take it."

"And, Evangelism Elder, can I get the contact information of the other self-defense squads? I'll try to find out on my own and then contact them and go visit."

"Of course. Let me see."

The evangelism elder quickly took out his phone, and I briefly said,

"After you finish your meal, just send it to Jeon Do-hyeong by message."

"No, I'll send it now. Deacon Kwon, come back anytime if it's difficult."

"Okay. It was Deacon Kwon's proposal that set up the church's entire defense plan."

I silently bowed my head and smiled.

Why would I return to this damned community? I'll just outsource the resource gathering.

Anyway, the chance encounter with the church ends here. Whether a few of them die or not, it has nothing to do with me. It would even be inconvenient if they don't die. I need to take action myself.

I gathered the disinfectant and finally found Jeon Do-hyeong. Jeon Do-hyeong was conversing with Na Ye-ji.

"If it seems dangerous, just run away. Escape or hide in the room at the end of the 3rd floor-"

"Jeon Do-hyeong! Let's go!"

"Ah, yes!"

Jeon Do-hyeong hurried over. And Na Ye-ji also followed. She looked up at me with a pale face.

"Can I come along too?"

"No, you can't. We don't have any food."

Na Ye-ji pouted, seeming disappointed.

The scavenger is out. There's no way they would accept a person who doesn't fit the elite group. Unless they're an electricity, mechanical, or medical expert, a person with no practical value other than as zombie bait is just...

Jeon Do-hyeong said his final goodbyes.

"I'll come visit sometimes! See you next time!"

"Come visit often! I'll see you later too, Mr. Kwon."

No need to see them again. Maybe if I see their corpses later.

And so I left the community life that I never fit in with, and returned as a carefree scavenger. It's better to move around without anything to protect.

The shackles and brakes of the community have been removed. I smiled refreshingly as I passed by the piles of zombies.

'Zombies. Destroy the community with all your might.'

I'll attack the former church members on the sign-in sheet. A world where people and zombies each do their own thing, the Apocalypse.