- G-Golden Heights itself is a luxury apartment complex. The smallest units are 135 square meters, starting in the forty-pyeong range. There are over a hundred units above fifty pyeong, and even the eighty-pyeong royal-floor units number twelve.
- One of those royal units was bought by Yoo Youngjae, the CEO of Celenix. Y-you know Celenix, right? That biotech company researching anti-aging and cell regeneration or whatever. It was all over the news when they went public and their market cap shot past one trillion won.
- A-anyway, Yoo Youngjae was originally really close with the VIP room, and he knew our boss well too. That’s how he got one of the Golden Heights royal-floor units cheap. But after the world turned into this, Yoo Youngjae said he needed Alpha zombies. Said maybe we could even control zombies ourselves... said if things went well, we might even gain immortality without turning into zombies.
Junho recalled what he had heard from An Juntae, the intelligence chief of the Daeseong syndicate, whom he had captured at Cheongsan Building in Moku-ri.
- Yoo Youngjae! What the hell would Yoo Youngjae do himself! Boss told us to go catch zombies because of what that bastard said. P-please spare me.
Lee Ujung, the field commander he had captured today, didn’t know anything that specialized.
But he did know about Yoo Youngjae, the CEO of Celenix, and that he was doing something somewhere inside Golden Heights with support from the Daeseong syndicate.
Which meant that it was true: Yoo Youngjae was plotting something using Alphas.
Junho had summarized that much for Kang Baekho, and he had, of course, been stunned.
“I’ve never met him, but I know of Celenix too... Is he insane?”
“He is.”
Research Alphas and achieve evolution and immortality?
If that were actually possible, giant pharmaceutical companies—the so-called Big Pharma—would have succeeded at it in the United States first.
Even if Celenix was a biotech company with a market capitalization of over one trillion won, compared to overseas Big Pharma firms worth hundreds of billions of dollars, it wasn’t even at the level of a child.
In performance, research standards, and technology—everything.
“The world turned into this, and he just went crazy. Fear combined with baseless confidence. Even if I bend over backward and give him every benefit of the doubt, maybe it’d be one thing if Yoo Youngjae were at his company headquarters or one of his labs. But in that apartment complex? He’s completely lost his mind.”
“Yeah. And those ignorant gangster bastards probably heard some expert like Yoo Youngjae talking about cells and biotech and got dazzled by it.”
“Nine times out of ten, that’s exactly what happened.”
Junho concluded that Yoo Youngjae and the Daeseong syndicate leadership were just the latest in a long line of lunatics the apocalypse produced.
Even before the regression, there had been others like them.
The cult that had been surrounding Baek Hail was a perfect example.
Those lunatics claimed the zombie apocalypse was divine punishment, that Alphas were God’s Apostles, and that sinful humans therefore ought to serve them and offer up sacrifices.
Compared to that, the Daeseong syndicate’s pathetic pipe dream was hardly anything new.
“The problem is that those psychos are stirring things up while hunting Alphas in rural areas. In the cities, it’s harder to fire guns carelessly, and the Alphas are stronger there too, which makes it much more dangerous.”
“Ha! So that’s why those sons of bitches came all the way down here?”
“Yes. Of course, after what happened this time, they won’t be coming back for a while. Survival is still their first priority, and hunting Alphas is more like preparation—a side business, really. But given time, they’ll definitely come again.”
“They would. Garbage gangster bastards don’t change their nature. Tch.”
Clicking his tongue, Kang Baekho soon tilted his head.
“But hold on. No matter what, those gangster bastards are killing zombies while they hunt Alphas, aren’t they? In places like villages and townships, wouldn’t things get safer if the Alpha disappears? So wouldn’t that make it not entirely bad?”
At first glance, it was a fair point.
But it was also the kind of thought someone could have only because they didn’t really understand Alphas.
“That’s true. But Alphas communicate with each other, Brother.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yes. I don’t know the mechanism, but just like they command zombies like slaves, they also communicate among themselves. So sometimes they fight each other, but sometimes they cooperate. Now then—do you really think the Daeseong syndicate gangsters have managed to catch every single Alpha they ever targeted?”
“No way.”
“Right. No way. Quite a few of them must have escaped. And they would’ve passed along what was happening to other Alphas. So then—how do you think the other Alphas would react once they learned that?”
“......!”
“If an Alpha learns that there are humans hunting its own kind—and that those humans specifically target the weaker members of their kind... what choice do you think it would make?”
Kang Baekho’s face froze in an instant, then darkened sharply.
There was no need to think long about it.
“It’d try to get stronger. By eating more people.”
“Yes. In the end, territorial fighting between Alphas will intensify. And not all of them will secure territory and food by fighting their own kind. Some will move to new regions. And even the ones that do defeat their own kind will keep trying to grow stronger. By eating more.”
“So in the end, they’ll head for new places where lots of people are gathered, no matter what?”
“Yes. Places like this resort, for example.”
“Ha....”
Only then did Kang Baekho fully grasp what kind of disaster the Daeseong syndicate’s actions would bring about.
With their idiotic delusions and greed, they were shoving a world already turned into hell even faster down the road to ruin.
“Now that I’ve heard you out, I’m sure of it. We can’t leave those bastard punks alone. Fine. I’ll cooperate too. Ah, but listen.”
As if something had just occurred to him, Kang Baekho smacked his lips and went on.
“Even if I’m the representative here, I can’t just do whatever I want. I’ll have to talk it over with Manager Cheolwoo, Manager Seolhee, and the head of KW Cops. I’ll also need to speak with the representatives of the people living here at the resort.”
“Yes.”
“Well, most of the time if I announce something, they follow along anyway... Ah, whatever! I’ll handle that part. You just show up and explain things when the time comes. Anyway, putting that aside. Juno, Juno—you don’t look like you came all the way here just because of those Daeseong syndicate gangsters. Am I right?”
“That’s right, Brother. I have other business too.”
There was a reason he had not tried to pull Kang Baekho into his camp from the start, and had only come looking for him now, after a fair amount of time had passed.
“You’re short on a lot of things here, aren’t you? I can help with that. In return, I want your help too.”
“Oh? So you’re proposing a deal? A [N O V E L I G H T] win-win?”
As expected of a third-generation chaebol who had spent years in management, Kang Baekho grasped Junho’s meaning immediately.
“Yes. Naturally, it’s a win-win. I heard from Manager Yoon Seolhee and Manager Park Cheolwoo on the way here that you’re a little short on firearms. I can supply you with extremely good air rifles. Much more powerful than the ones your employees are using now. Effective range is around a hundred and fifty meters.”
“Holy shit. Really?”
“Yes. Manager Yoon Seolhee said for now even thirty would be enough. I’ll also give you tungsten and other metal materials to use for ammunition.”
“Tungsten?”
“Yes. Tungsten rounds are far more powerful than lead pellets. Human or zombie, if it gets hit in the head within effective range, it just dies. And because the report is so quiet, there are a lot of times they’re better than an ordinary rifle, which draws a ton of attention the second you fire it.”
“Damn! Then yeah, I’d really appreciate that. But Juno, Juno—other than guns, you got anything else?”
On the off chance, Kang Baekho asked the question, and Junho gave him a broad grin.
“Of course I do. What do you need?”
“Hm?”
“Machinery, equipment, medicine. And I heard you’re also short on seeds here. I can provide those too. In return, there’s something I absolutely need as well. Would that be alright?”
“.......”
When Junho casually said he could provide just about everything they needed, Kang Baekho found himself getting a little worried about what he would have to hand over in return.
But what he had just heard was too important—things this place desperately needed—to refuse out of hand.
More than anything—
'My gut doesn’t hate it.'
In the end, Kang Baekho nodded briskly.
“Can’t say I’m ready to double down on it on the spot... but let’s hear it first. What do you want?”
***
“Here?”
“Yes. The entertainers usually stay on this floor. No one can come up here without permission from the boss or Ms. Somi.”
The KW Cops employee guided Park Deokcheol with remarkable politeness.
Junho had played the biggest role, of course, but it was also true that thanks to Park Deokcheol’s rooftop sniper fire, they had been able to hit the remnants of the gangsters from behind with ease.
In other words, he was both a lifesaver and a comrade-in-arms who had fought alongside them.
On top of that, he had Kang Baekho’s permission, so the employee personally escorted Park Deokcheol all the way to the lodging at the top floor of the resort.
“The Blossom members stay in this room. There are a few other girl idols in there too. You probably know this already... but a lot of people died or turned into zombies that day, so there aren’t really any groups left with all their members intact.”
“Yeah....”
Park Deokcheol nodded with a complicated expression.
That was true of his own group too, and of his younger sister Park Sunhee’s group as well.
“Then—”
“W-wait a second.”
When the employee reached for the doorbell, Park Deokcheol hurriedly stopped him.
“Um... do I look alright? I mean, do I look okay?”
“Sorry?”
“No, I mean... do I look alright?”
“Ah, yeah. Well... you look fine.”
After sleeping rough and fighting all the way from Namyangju to here, Park Deokcheol wasn’t exactly in great condition.
Still, the employee looked him up and down and gave an awkward smile. No matter what had happened, the idol aura hadn’t gone anywhere.
“Hoo... thank God. Th-then please.”
“Sure.”
All he had to do was ring the bell and help him meet the people inside. It wasn’t exactly difficult.
And yet, seeing Park Deokcheol creaking with expectation and nerves, the employee found himself getting tense too. He swallowed dryly and rang the bell.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
“.......”
But there was no answer.
Ding-dong. Ding-dong.
The employee had no choice but to ring again.
When there was still no particular response from inside, he was just about to press it a third time—
Bang!
“Who is it? This place is off-limits to anyone but authorized personnel... Huh? What’s the combat team doing here?”
The person who opened the door halfway and stepped out from the dormitory where, supposedly, only female idols including the Blossom members were staying—
was a man.
And not just any man, either, but the kind of punk-looking guy still dripping with earrings and necklaces in a world like this, even wearing sunglasses on top of that.
“...Why are you here, Mr. LD?”
“Me? What, I came because the girls said they were scared, so I was here cheering them up. I’m their senior in the industry.”
“Is that so? Then I assume you got permission from the boss or Ms. Somi?”
Since no one was allowed in here freely without permission from Kang Baekho or his girlfriend, the singer-actress Somi—whose real name was Kim Youngmi and who was in charge of the entertainers—the employee’s tone turned noticeably sharp.
“Come on, what permission do we need between us? And anyway, Somi noona—uh, Somi—what was it? Right, she left security on this floor to me. Entertainers should be protected by entertainers. There are already a truckload of guys creeping on our juniors as it is—”
“Stop... please stop...!”
At that moment, a woman’s voice, sounding close to tears, came from deeper inside the dormitory.
Rapper LD—Lab Dragon, who loved bragging about having a master’s degree in engineering—visibly flustered.
“We’re playing a game, that’s all. Games are the best way to ease tension and lighten the mood, right? They’re just arguing a little during the game.”
“Please. If you keep doing this....”
“Hey, don’t you know how I feel? You know, so why are you acting like this?”
“S-senior, please stop. She said she doesn’t want this.”
But even during that exchange, the voices coming from inside were nothing like the tone or atmosphere of people just playing a game.
“I’m going to check for myself.”
The KW Cops employee had heard it clearly too, and when he tried to push the door open, LD frowned and blocked the gap.
“Are you insane? You know damn well no random person can come in here. Did you get permission from the resort boss and Somi?”
“What? No, right now—”
“I did.”
“Huh?”
Park Deokcheol, who had been standing outside the half-open door and thus hadn’t been seen yet, stepped forward abruptly.
“I got permission from the boss himself. So, I will enter.”
“W-what? Who the hell are you? You little—!”
As Park Deokcheol shoved forward, LD cursed and tried to block him.
But Park Deokcheol had always been tall and physically strong, and for this expedition he had trained himself even harder than usual. There was no way a skinny little guy like LD could hold him back.
And once the employee joined in as well, the door opened easily, and the two of them got inside the entryway.
And right that instant—
“Senior, please stop. If you keep this up, I’m going to tell Senior Somi....”
“You fucking bitch. Are you threatening me right now? You wanna die?”
A man who looked a lot like LD in both style and face jerked his hand high into the air toward a girl with huge eyes shining with tears.
“Cherry!?”
The instant Park Deokcheol saw the girl he had wanted so badly to see about to be hit, his eyes rolled back with rage.
“You motherfucker! You fucking piece of shit!”
Papapak! Pow!
“Uh...? Guhk!”
He charged like a bull and launched a dropkick straight into the man, who had still been standing there in a half-crouched posture with his eyes wide, hand raised.
