'This bastard...has he been playing with me this whole time?' In-ho was infuriated but he calmed himself down, because if he pushes it here he might get on the bad side of the crowd who were agreeing with Haru. There were a few reasons behind their agreement.
First, The need for food wasn't that great at the moment. They got some food while some others who came here before In-ho's group took the food items from the small shops and hid them. So they could survive off that for some time.
Second, If they go with setting a price on the food they can get a supply whenever they want, and looking at Haru's confidence he would be getting more food which meant that they only needed to pay with coins to have it.
This would give them a proper result since they get more if they want more, which is the complete opposite of In-ho's group who are only giving out food equally while monopolizing it for themselves. Everyone was only getting two biscuit packets for the day, how are they supposed to live like that?
The only reason In-ho's group was able to take control of the food and pull off all this bullshit was that people were divided, everyone in the station is wary of the person next to them since they all knew what the other has done in order to survive. This became a roadblock and prevented them from working as a group.
Third, Haru's words had credibility; this guy went out and got food which showed he was capable in contrast to In-ho who only spoke big till now. And if In-ho tells Haru to go give the food away for free it will most likely cause a conflict between the two.
So if they had to choose one it was obvious who they'll choose.
Everyone on the platform had 400 coins at the minimum, which meant that they can easily choose up to 40 food items, that is more than enough for them to live till someone figured out how to complete the scenario.
Even though the coins were important to increase their stats but high means nothing if you have nothing to eat, hunger was the problem they needed to tackle first.
The fourth reason and the important one was that In-ho's skill was useless, although he didn't know it his skill had no effect when he was using it in Haru's presence.
In-ho looked around and he could hear people agreeing with Haru which pushed him to make a decision on the spot.
"No I wouldn't do that, I'll surely contact you if I ever need your help," In-ho said as Haru nodded saying no problem.
"By the way, I haven't asked but what is your name?" In-ho asked with a polite smile, he needed to get out of there before things get worse and think of new ways to get the crowd under his control right now.
"Tsugikuni Haru, I'll 'help' you in 'helping' others to the best I can," Haru said with a smile but that smile surely didn't reach his eyes this time.
"...Thank you for your generosity," In-ho smiled widely as he heard Haru's full name, he already had things in his head now.
With that In-ho turned around and left with his group.
'Just you wait, soon I'll have you under my foot,' In-ho thought as he grinned maliciously. All he needed to do was put a target on Haru's back which was as easy as taking candy from a toddler.
The people are going to be on his side because he holds an important lifeline: Food. Even though Haru had it he was charging for it and In-ho was certain that Haru was lucky to get food this time which is why he went and placed a price on it to prevent it from being taken away.
'There is no way he could get past monsters like those,' In-ho thought since he had heard it from some of the survivors before and Haru talking about also confirmed it, there were dangerous monsters outside he didn't know if the Giant mantis was real but the wolves were definitely there. But now he can be cautious about it as well.
"Cheol-soo get in touch with that guy with glasses when he is alone," In-ho said and Cheol-soo nodded turning back to look at Myung-oh once.
'I'll show you how to play this game, I'll have you under my feet soon,' In-ho thought as he walked away.
But in his conceit, he seemed to have overlooked that he was already in a compromising position because of Haru's actions and words.
The seeds of distrust against In-ho that was already inside the people's hearts sprouted earlier and it will only grow if he doesn't do something against it, but he was too busy with the things Haru prepared for him.
In reality, such things wouldn't have happened if Haru wasn't around and it would've been easier for In-ho to take control of the masses because of their inability to band together.
But it was also easy to topple him if someone was able to gather the people together. So to outdo Haru In-ho would need to come up with better strategies.
'But he won't really focus on that and try to take me down as I am the only one in his way right now, well who he'll aim for is obvious,' Haru thought while looking at in-ho.
[Many Constellations are happy that you used your brain for once.]
[500 coins have been sponsored.]
'I guess you'll know soon enough if I use my brain or not,' Haru shrugged as he went back to the group and sat down, he didn't pay mind to the people looking at him as it didn't bother him. It was uncomfortable for Sang-ah, Hyun-sung, and the old lady but the others couldn't care less.
Haru sat down and started to eat again since he was feeling hungry. While the others in his group also ate trying to ignore the stares they were getting.
The people wanted to come over and trade but they were still wary. So they started to scatter finding their own places around to sit down and eat.
It was silent for a bit before a voice disrupted it.
"Um, Can I buy a lunchbox?" Haru looked up seeing a beautiful woman with gentle features; she had free-flowing long black hair and large eyes wearing a white shirt and black pants. She was only 2 inches shorter than Queresha at 5 ft 8 in with long limbs looking like a model.
Haru's group was looking at him since only he can make that decision. They have no say in this because they didn't do anything. The only reason they can eat right now was because of him or they would only get about a packet or two of biscuits for a day to survive on.
"Of course," Haru nodded as he took out a lunchbox from the bag and he suddenly stopped.
"Is it no good?" The woman asked, she was a little skeptical at first but hunger got the best of her and she thought it was worth a try. She was thinking if Haru changed his mind about what he said earlier as the food was an important asset at the moment.
"Oh, I don't know how to trade coins," Haru said while rubbing the back of his head.
The woman was shocked since it was the first thing people learned when they came to the station and this guy somehow didn't know how to do that.
"For real?" The woman asked.
"For real, I went out after a little while to get some food for the group," Haru nodded.
'Looks like I was overthinking it, this guy is surprisingly easygoing,' The woman thought since the impression she got when she saw Haru talking with In-ho earlier made him seem like a smart person he wasn't cunning but he had a way with words. She even had thought that Haru might increase the price or something along the lines when she saw him pause but it didn't seem that way.
"You touch the index finger of the person you want to trade coins with your own and think of the number of coins you want to give," The woman said as she pushed forward her index finger and Haru followed her receiving 10 coins.
"Also if you want to check the number of coins you have to touch your index finger with your thumb making an 'ok' sign," The woman said as she took the lunchbox Haru gave her.
"Thank you," Haru said with a smile.
'I knew that,' Queresha thought but didn't interrupt.
"It wasn't a big deal, But do you mind if I eat together with you all?"