Chapter 11
Thick smog lay heavily among the old tents of the Yellow Zone.
The market alley would normally at least have felt inhabited, with merchants shouting over mana-stone trades and ragpickers bargaining over the scrap they had collected.
But today's air was different.
The atmosphere was as desperate as the hazy smoke.
In front of the trading post run by the Oasis Guild.
“Ah, no! 150 mana stones? It was only 50 yesterday!”
A rookie Stalker wearing a crude leather patch held together with industrial tape and a safety helmet shouted.
In his hand were the 50 mana stones he had earned by selling items he had farmed in the unexplored zone the previous night and killing Walkers.
“Yesterday was yesterday. From today on, it's 150.”
“What...? Are you kidding me? You want 150 mana stones for purifying this muddy water?!”
“Kidding? Hey, you little bastard. Do we look like we're kidding?”
A Stalker belonging to the Oasis Guild, seated behind the trading post's iron bars, snickered.
“Our water source ran into trouble, so supplies are short. If you don't like it, go find water you can drink yourself.”
“Ah, no, but still...”
The Stalker's face went pale at the seller's sneer.
The Oda Water sold by the shop had certainly brought vitality back to the market, but there was nowhere near enough of it to solve the problem for the entire Yellow Zone.
Even so, things had been bearable until now.
People had hoped the shop would shake Oasis's monopoly, and the price of the water already in circulation had remained somewhat stable.
But when the Oasis Guild used the shop's appearance as an excuse to slash its distribution volume altogether, the situation changed in an instant.
“Do you think we want to sell at this price? The Oasis bastards threatened to kill us all if we didn't match their price, so what were we supposed to do...!”
“We had no choice but to raise it too!”
Aggrieved excuses burst from the small water sellers scattered throughout the alleys, but they went unheard by the survivors.
“No, how can something that cost 50 mana stones yesterday suddenly cost 150?!”
“What?”
“We thought 50 mana stones was expensive, but we put up with it. But 150? This is blatant profiteering!”
A man wearing old armor in front of the trading post politely protested to a member of the Oasis Guild.
“Oh? Listen to this bastard's big voice.”
“The Gallery Shop is selling refreshing bottled water—the kind people could only drink before the apocalypse—for 20 mana stones. If you keep this up, all you'll do is build up more resentment. How about a compromise—”
“What? The Gallery Shooop? Wait a minute... You little bastard! You're one of those invited bastards too, aren't you?”
“What? Ah, no, I—urk!”
Thud—! Crack—!!
The guild member struck the man's face with the butt of his rifle.
When the man went rolling across the ground, the gang nearby rushed in and began stomping him.
“Urk! Ghurk!”
“You filthy troublemakers are the reason water prices are going up! Drag him away! Add one more to the list of people we'll hang as an example tomorrow!”
“Heh heh, one more!!!”
“Dad!! Daaaad!!”
The man's young daughter, who had been hiding behind him, wailed and clung to him, but one of the gang kicked her away as if she were a nuisance.
“Daaaad... Waaahhh!!”
“Get out of the way!”
*
*
*
Someone was watching the scene from hiding in the alley.
“These fucking lunatics….”
It was Baek Eunwol, the Head Mod.
She wanted to capture and kill every one of them right then and there.
It was by no means impossible for her.
But she couldn't.
- Even if you kill us all, starting tomorrow, you'll have to supply water to the entire Yellow Zone by yourself, righteous Head Mod. Can you handle that?
“...”
Ironically, without them, the Yellow Zone's drinking-water supply would be cut off entirely in practical terms.
Of course, Eunwol hadn't simply stood by doing nothing.
She had visited the major guilds that dominated not only the Yellow Zone but also the Orange Zone, asking them to sign new contracts with her.
‘We'd like to help too, but there's nothing we can do. If the people backing this are truly those figures from the Green Zone...’
‘Even for us, it's difficult to go against the Hunters...’
But all she got in return was evasion.
‘They raised the price of water? That's actually great.’
‘We're thinking of taking advantage of the atmosphere and raising the price of byproducts too...’
Some even agreed with Oasis.
In this ruined world, trying to save the weak was an extravagant luxury.
“Am I really unable to protect or change anything in the end, all by myself?”
Ah. Complete isolation.
She had held on with the paltry sense of duty that she would rebuild the world, but in reality, she was merely an incompetent fool who couldn't even save one person dying before her eyes.
Yet despair did not cloud Eunwol's red eyes.
‘Then I'll go to the Red Zone myself. I'll enter every day and farm as much water as possible.’
The Red Zone.
A place containing incomparably more supplies than other areas, but with an equal measure of danger.
A land of death where even ten veteran Stalkers in the best equipment would be lucky if one or two of them crawled back out alive after sacrificing an arm or a leg.
Entering such a place alone was a gamble that would put her life on the line every moment, even for Eunwol.
Eunwol knew its dangers better than anyone.
But it would still be better than continuing to put the survivors' lives in the hands of those parasitic bastards.
“All right...”
Just as Eunwol was about to hurry toward the Red Zone.
“T-The shop announcement is uuuup!!!”
“An announcement! The announcement's up!!!!”
The people gathered in front of the trading post began shouting all at once.
“A shop announcement...?”
Eunwol hid herself in the alley again and opened the gallery.
Title : [★Starplex★] Inventory Expansion Announcement
Thank you to all members who use our shop.
Thanks to our members' enthusiastic support and purchases,
our shop's inventory-management system has been successfully upgraded.
Product : Oda Water 500ML
Price : 20 mana stones
[Current stock: 700 / 700](UP!!!)
The stock has been replenished along with this announcement, and payment is available immediately.
Starplex will continue providing a pleasant shopping experience.
We hope all our members will make frequent use of our shop.
!!!
ㄴ 700...?
ㄴ Holy shit...
ㄴ No way...
Wait a second...?
ㄴ If that's true...?
Eunwol froze in place too.
“700...?”
That was twice the total amount released over the past week.
An enormous quantity of bottled water had begun pouring into the market in a single day.
*****
Title : Fuuuuuck!!!!!!! It's really 700!!
Fuuuuuck, it really is 700?????
I just bought 5 bottles!!!!
Even with my shitty reflexes, I bought 5 bottles!!!!
I bought 3!!!
ㄴ I bought 4!!!
ㄴ I bought 6!!!
ㄴ Aha ha ha ha!!
Fuck the Open Run and all that lol.
ㄴ You just click and the payment goes through!!!
ㄴ No, did 700 really pour out all at once?
ㄴ Yeah, the stock is overflowing right now!!!
How are those guys reacting?
ㄴ The trading-post guys are freaking out right now lololol
ㄴ For real?
ㄴ People who came to buy water are murmuring, so
ㄴ they started firing into the air and going fucking nuts lol
Title : Oasis Trading-Post Bastards' Expressions in Real Time <<<< Idiots lol
(Roughly, a dazed and bewildered expression. JPG)
Lol, feeling dizzy, huh????
They suddenly made a call and said extra supplies had come in from the water source, so they were urgently dropping the price to 100 mana stones lol
It's probably Guild Leader Choi Tae-su, yeah.
100 mana stones for shit water? Me, a Stalker? No way lol
I immediately bought 5 bottles from the shop!!!!!
Ah lol
ㄴ Dropping it to 100 mana stones in a panic is so pathetic lol
ㄴ Your reaction speed is pretty good~~~
ㄴ Yeah, I'm not buying from you guys~~~
Ah lol, back when you were throwing a fit about selling shit water for 150 lol
ㄴ We buy fresh bottled water at the shop for 20, ah lol
The quality isn't even comparable lol
ㄴ Why would we buy your water lol
ㄴ There's no reason to lol
The mood in the gallery, which had been sunk in despair, reversed in an instant.
“Now that's what I'm talking about.”
It was quite an entertaining sight.
This wasn't even a fight between equals from the start.
Their water was merely crudely purified water, while mine was bottled water from a refrigerator—the kind people could only drink before the apocalypse.
And my ability regenerated and delivered it for free, so I suffered no loss at all.
“And what? You urgently dropped it to 100 mana stones?”
Even selling it for 10 mana stones wouldn't have been enough, let alone 100.
When I hit refresh, a post appeared showing the situation changing in real time.
Title : Breaking News lol The Small Back-Alley Merchants Are Lowering Their Water Prices Again ㅇㅋㅋ
The middle-aged guy who had been watching Oasis and called out 100 mana stones earlier
just urgently dropped it to 40 mana stones lol
Regardless of whether Oasis throws a fit, it's obvious that if they don't sell it right now, all their shit water will become dead stock, so it looks like they're dumping it lol
This is market economics, yeah lol
ㄴ The price of shit water really was ridiculous, yeah
ㄴ Let's go for a crashhhh!!
ㄴ Dump it even faster lol
ㄹㅇ The timing of the system update is insanely good lol
ㄴ Simply... the light of Starplex
ㄴ God-tier shop
You have to admit, its instincts are still sharp...
Shouldn't the Oasis guys start taking the hint and lowering their prices too?
ㄴ They should, right??
ㄴ Ah lol, even 40 mana stones is expensive lol
Hey, do you think Oasis can run a water business for nothing?
ㄴ There's such a thing as a cost ratio. They have every right to charge 100, you idiots
ㄴ Caught an Oasis stan at the trading post lol
ㄴ Caught Choi Tae-su lurking in his room and watching public sentiment lololol
ㄴ Lol yep
The small merchants who had been selling water at high prices in dribs and drabs were the first to take the hint and follow the trend.
“Why would they make that decision? Stupid, stupid.”
Of course, they had made that decision because they couldn't know my identity from their perspective.
But it was impossible to say they hadn't been stupid.
It seemed that water prices would soon normalize, but...
Title : But honestly, putting the hype aside...
Can 700 bottles really cover the Yellow Zone??
Hmm...
ㄴ That's a little worrying, honestly
ㄴ Actually, people invited from other regions are all buying it too
ㄴ If all 700 sell out, won't Oasis go back to gouging?
It is a little worrying.
ㄴ Should I buy some from the small shops while they're still at 40 mana stones?
ㄴ They could go back to 100 tomorrow;;
The public mood had not yet decisively shifted.
“Oh, look at these guys.”
As expected, the sense of crisis wasn't going away easily.
Although 700 was a relatively large number, it was still insufficient in absolute terms, which was why opinions like these had begun to emerge.
At this rate, shit-water prices could stop falling and start climbing again.
But.
Title : Hey, don't buy shit water, bastards lololol I'm going to give some away
Reselling isn't allowed, but giving it away is, right?
I just bought 6 through sheer reflexes.
I'm keeping 2 for my party and giving the other 4 to a refugee camp.
The shop will open again in 3 days and release another 700, so why hoard them?? lol
Until those Oasis bastards are ruined, I'm starting a bottled-water giveaway relay, yeah
What a hero;;
ㄴ Your form is insane!!!
ㄴ I'm joining too!! I'll give away 2 of my 4!
ㄴ Me too
Come to Exit 3 of Sunae Station later.
ㄴ Come to the courtyard in front of Mahamiredo.
ㄴ I'm giving away what I had hoarded.
I'll give away the 2-liter bottled water I got lucky farming.
ㄴ Let's mix it with purified rainwater and drink it, yeah
ㄴ Now that's what I'm talking about!!
Because of the resentment Oasis had built up through its actions, users began voluntarily offering to share their excess stock, and this act was soon changing the users' perception itself.
Oasis <<< These bastards need to see three generations of their family ruined, yeah
ㄴ Agreed
ㄴ They've stacked up way too much bad will lol
Ah lol, another 700 will be released in 3 days anyway lol
ㄴ Right, and we can buy it for 20 mana stones lol
Hold out, hold out
ㄴ Three days is totally doable now lololol
Ah lol, if we hold out, the heroes will give us bottled water lol
ㄴ Let's start a shit-water boycott~
ㄴ They're giving away bottled water...?
ㄴ The heroes' generosity runs deep...
“A boycott movement too???”
The users said they would boycott the shit water Oasis sold.
Then they went a step further and began chanting for everyone to hold out.
“Hey, don't overdo it, guys...!”
I hadn't wanted anything that extreme. I just wanted them to buy water outside when they needed it.
They couldn't rely solely on my shop.
So I was a little concerned that the users seemed to be pushing themselves too hard.
But when I saw the next post go up.
“Ahh...”
- Live update lol Oasis shit-water price >>> 60 mana stones incoming lol [6673]
“Oh, this is fun.”
I couldn't stop laughing.