Chapter 155 - A Story Where Winning is Everything
Even though it was his own fault, the boy felt firsthand how painful it was not to be believed by someone. If he had won Aki's trust, she might have lent him a hand in escaping from here. Of course, if he were trusted by Aki, he wouldn't be in a place like this in the first place, so it was useless to think about it.
Even so, why are they keeping me alive? The boy looked up at the ceiling.
It was clear from the guards' attitudes that The Brotherhood recognized the boy as an enemy. Moreover, they must have understood well from the interrogation when he was caught that the boy didn't have any useful information. Considering the risks of escape or rebellion, it would be better to just kill him quickly.
They themselves said, "There is no value in living for a useless person." Despite that, the fact that they were still keeping the boy alive meant he must have some use. The boy could guess that the use wouldn't be anything sane.
While thinking about such things, the boy, who was lying on a plastic sheet spread on the floor looking at the ceiling, came to his senses at the rasping metallic sound of the iron door opening. Raising only his face while still lying on the floor, the usual guard entered the room with a handgun drawn.
"Sit."
Told that in a single word, the boy obediently sat in the chair. Was it his imagination that the guards seemed tense? That speculation was immediately proven correct by the guard's voice saying, "Leader, it's this one."
"You guys can step back. I'm enough alone."
"But..."
"Do you not trust me? I said I'm enough alone."
After such an exchange, a man entered the room where the boy was detained. His age would be in his late 20s? The boy felt like he had seen the handsome face of that man somewhere before, but he couldn't remember where.
That young man—judging from the conversation with the guards, the Leader of The Brotherhood—entered the boy's room alone and closed the entrance door. An automatic handgun was housed in a holster hanging from his waist. Since The Brotherhood's motto was "There is no value in a person who can't fight," the handgun wouldn't be just for show.
The Leader of The Brotherhood, an armed organization with dozens of members, looked down at the boy sitting in the chair and said.
"To think a kid like you would give us so much trouble. Thanks to you, we've suffered a great loss."
But the boy was more concerned with the man's face and was in no state to answer. He had seen the Leader's handsome face somewhere. And many times at that. Surely on TV or something—.
"Ah, I remembered! You're the son of the former Prime Minister! I forgot your name, but..."
The son of the charismatic politician who served as the Prime Minister of this country several years ago was right in front of him. Surely that son also became a Diet member and was featured on TV many times. The reason the boy recognized the Leader's face was that he had been a hot topic on TV as a young but future candidate for Prime Minister. Of course, like most other high school students, the boy wasn't very interested in politics, so he didn't remember the name.
"That's right, you know well for a high schooler."
"If you're featured on TV many times, you'll at least remember the face even if you don't know the name. Even so, for a Diet member to be the boss of such crazy people. The world is truly ending."
"Well, that's because the world is ending right now."
The Leader coolly brushed off the boy's sarcasm. As expected of the son of a charismatic politician, the boy thought his mind worked fast.
"So, what business does the former Diet member and current Leader of an armed group have with me? Has the execution schedule been decided?"
"I wanted to talk a bit. I'm interested in an outsider who has survived this hell."
"I was just lucky. Even so, why is a Diet member in a place like this? I heard back when the news was still on that politicians evacuated to JMSDF destroyers at sea."
In the early stages, the news reported that all major cabinet members forming the cabinet had evacuated to JMSDF destroyers, and other important politicians had also evacuated to destroyers using helicopters and the like. As a Diet member, and the son of a former Prime Minister and a big-name young politician at that, he would naturally have been on the list of those to be rescued.
"I stayed by my own will."
"Huh? Are you an idiot? Even though it was a chance to escape safely."
"I wanted to test my own strength. A chance like this doesn't come often, right?"
The boy couldn't understand what the Leader in front of him was saying. A chance? Testing strength? He couldn't keep up at all.
"You're a politician, right? A famous one at that. You should have plenty of power."
"Certainly, I had authority. I could use as much money as I wanted, and with just a word from me, I could move bureaucrats, local governments, and even the mass media as I pleased."
"But," the Leader continued, "that was all inherited from my father."
"From the time I was born until now, I lived according to my father's words. The schools and club activities I entered were all recommended by my father. It was my father's recommendation that I served as a politician's secretary for a while after graduating from university. And I became a politician just as my father wished. I inherited my father's constituency as told, spoke in the Diet imitating my father from the old days, and uttered words that would please my father in front of the media. There was no freedom for me there."
The boy, who wasn't interested in politics, knew almost nothing about what kind of politician the Leader was. But as the son of a former Prime Minister hailed as charismatic, the pressure must have been immense, and he probably couldn't enjoy much freedom.
"I was saved by my father's authority many times in the past. When I caused a traffic accident during my university days, thanks to my father putting pressure on the police, I was acquitted, and the result became different from the fact that the other party was at fault. Even if I caused a near-fatal injury to an opponent in a fight, thanks to the police and lawyers, it was made into a form of self-defense. Authority, power is everything. If you have power, you can do anything. I learned that."
"That's a problematic statement that would be perfect bait if the media heard it."
"The media has already vanished. It's fine no matter what I say."
Saying so, the Leader continued.
"Now that the world has become like this, I've understood once again that my thinking was correct. Power is everything. Only those with power have the right to live; those without power have no qualification to live."
"Are you still a politician even so?"
"Precisely because I'm a politician, I'm just trying to achieve my ideals in any situation. Besides, to save even one more person now, we can't save everyone. We must let only those worthy of surviving live, and have the weak, those with no talent, die. Helping each other is nonsense that can only be said in a peaceful and prosperous world. Now, if we do such things, everyone will die. The weak are a burden and nothing but useless eaters. We can't afford to be wiped out by protecting the weak, nor can we tolerate everyone starving by sharing scarce resources among everyone."
"So you kill the weak, or make them work until they die?"
"That's right. Otherwise, humans cannot survive."
There, the Leader looked up at the ceiling. As if seeing something invisible, his eyes were looking somewhere far away.
"The infected will eventually die. Either from hunger, or we will exterminate them with wisdom and effort. After that happens, I will build a new world. A world where those with power are favored and can demonstrate their true abilities."
"A new world, huh..."
"The world before the infected appeared was stagnant, even if it was peaceful. Why? It's because the weak were boldly claiming 'I am weak,' and society also recognized that the weak should be protected unconditionally. No, that's not it. In truth, even if they thought they shouldn't do so, nonsense words like 'human rights' or 'equality' dominated society, so everyone just couldn't say the truth. If anyone were to say that the weak shouldn't be protected, they would be attacked in no time."
Certainly, he had heard stories about a politician making a careless remark about welfare and getting flamed. Besides, what he learned at school was only words like "helping each other" or "equality," and he had no memory of being taught a philosophy like "survival of the fittest" at all.
"That's not all. With the development of the Internet, cowards who can't say anything in real society boldly use anonymity as a weapon to easily criticize others in the online world. Excellent people have their talents crushed by the heartless words of those who aren't even qualified to criticize.
And the weak use their weakness as a weapon to loudly claim their rights. Don't you think it's strange that it had become natural to demand that resources, which shouldn't originally be distributed to them, be spent by boldly using the fact that 'they are weak' as a weapon? How much do you think we could have grown those with talent or strength and increased national power if the money and time allocated to those without value had been assigned to them?"
"I don't really understand difficult stories."
"In the world before the infected appeared, transformation couldn't be hoped for. The consciousness of nonsense like 'human rights' or 'equality' had already covered the world, regardless of whether people wanted it or not. Even if someone felt that it might be wrong, the moment they spoke it out, they were criticized regardless of the content and could be socially eliminated.
But now it's different. Now power and talent decide everything. Those without power, those without talent, those who can't fight, and those who don't fight have no choice but to die. Only the truly strong, those who fight, have the right to live. It's a perfect situation to build the world I desire."
"But the infected will eventually die out. Whether it's starvation or a counterattack from humans, I don't know, but as long as they are living things, they will die. It would be different if they had reproductive abilities, but eventually, they will die of old age. If humans have survived until then, they will surely start moving to return the world to normal. Will your ideology still be needed in the reconstructed world?"
While saying that, the boy felt doubtful whether humans could win this fight and rebuild the former world. But humans have already greatly reduced their population. The infected eat living things other than humans, but so far he hadn't seen any infected creatures other than humans. If the humans themselves to be infected become fewer and the food also decreases, eventually the infected will either die of hunger or have their numbers gradually reduced by humans.
If humans win this battle, they will undoubtedly think of restoring the world. Even then, will the philosophy of survival of the fittest be needed? If supplies reach the people and there is no fear of being killed by the infected or rioters, people's thinking will naturally become calm. The philosophy used then will undoubtedly be the "equality" and "human rights" that the Leader hates.
"That's why I built The Brotherhood. After the infected die out, the survivors will build a new world. However, a world with an ideology following deceptive nonsense like human rights or equality, as it was before, will soon reach a deadlock, and the built society cannot hope for growth. Therefore, I will build a new society following my ideology. A society where those with power build the world and those with talent can demonstrate their abilities to the maximum. I will build a new world that my father could not achieve. And I will show that I have surpassed my father."
I look forward to your opinions and impressions.