After spending two days drawing up a work plan with AI Akina’s assistance, Junho loaded people and equipment onto the multipurpose electric cart and the electric truck, then left Gahyeon-ri.
For Junho, Park Deokcheol, and Gu Jeongmok, there was nothing especially moving about it. They had gone back and forth along this same route only a short while ago.
But Choi Jeongwoo, Song Gijun, and the three lucky men who had won the draw were leaving Gahyeon-ri for the first time since the apocalypse began, and they were more than a little excited.
However, once they left the winding mountain road and entered the national highway, the “reality” they witnessed made all their expressions harden and shut their mouths.
Only about eight months had passed since the situation began, yet not only the area around the road, but the villages and bridge piers visible in the distance looked desolate, as though no human being had lived there for years.
On top of that, the dozens of zombies they could occasionally see far away were more than enough to send chills down the spines of people who had not even seen a zombie in Gahyeon-ri for the past several months.
At the same time, they were able to confirm that Junho had been telling the truth when he said zombies had poor eyesight and could not distinguish a moving person if the distance was roughly more than 150 meters.
“Whew. This is only possible because it’s the countryside and things are spaced this far apart. The cities really must be done for.”
Watching the zombies wandering near several half-wrecked vehicles in the middle of the bridge through a digital monocular, Song Gijun shook his head.
“Yes. In most cities, it’s almost impossible to find a place with no houses within a 150-meter radius. Especially in our country’s cities, there are usually thousands of people living within that kind of distance. If you go outside your home, there will inevitably be people or zombies within fifteen meters, let alone 150.”
That was why, when he had faced the apocalypse in Bucheon before his regression, he had only learned late that zombies could not see people well at long distances. By now, most urban survivors probably knew it too, though.
'Come to think of it....'
Suddenly, he thought of the people living in one of the most densely populated areas among Korea’s major cities.
'You’re doing all right, aren’t you? Hold out until the end, Hyunwoo.'
Now that the government on Jeju had sent large-scale forces to Busan, Ulsan, and Incheon, a time would soon come when he could check on the Bucheon side.
***
“...Hey, are we really okay living like this?”
At Han Areum’s words, as she ate white rice sloppily topped with Spam and kimchi, Choi Hyunwoo froze just as he was about to take a spoonful of rice.
“Whew.”
With a sigh, Choi Hyunwoo set down his spoon, then looked south from the top floor of the city integrated control center, where they had been living while going back and forth from the house for several months now.
“You think I want to keep doing this? But what the hell are we supposed to do? Those punk-ass bastards calling themselves the Bucheon MZ Family faction or whatever let people loose near Sosa Station. Because of that, even all the zombies from Sosa South Station got drawn in. Those fucking bastards....”
Choi Hyunwoo stared toward Sosa Station, where black smoke was rising, and cursed.
He had no choice but to react that way, because compared to when the three of them had tried to enter Sosa Station to get to Jung-dong, at least three or four times more zombies had gathered there now.
Everything was because of the punks called the Bucheon MZ Family faction.
That group, made up of trashy streamers and half-gangsters who had done internet broadcasts centered around Bucheon Station, was so vicious they did not deserve to be called human.
They did not directly kill the people they captured while roaming around the area near Bucheon Station.
Then what did they do?
They broke those people’s legs or cut their tendons, then left them shortly before sunrise a little distance away from the area they planned to raid.
When those people screamed in agony or sobbed and begged to be saved, what came was not people, but zombies.
And at that exact moment, the Bucheon MZ Family faction attacked other people while the zombies were leaving their positions to devour the bait.
Through the high-powered telescope Junho had left behind, on the mountain overlooking Sosa Station, Choi Hyunwoo had already witnessed similar situations three times.
That was why Choi Hyunwoo, Han Areum, and Kim Taeyoung did not dare go that way.
“Haah! I know that too. I’m just frustrated. It’s even worse because we can’t help them.”
“Same here. Ah, seriously, if it weren’t for Junho’s golden rule....”
That was precisely what was making Choi Hyunwoo exercise patience.
Of course, it was not because he had some great sense of justice and wanted to save people.
If he could not go directly to Jung-dong, where his mother was, then he at least wanted news.
And Choi Hyunwoo was certain that most of the people captured by the Bucheon MZ Family faction had been taken from residential areas along Line 1.
Because no matter how wild those punks had become in a world like this, they would not think of entering the downtown area, where hundreds of zombies swarmed every block less than a hundred meters apart.
In the end, that meant the survivors they captured were people who had lived near the subway tracks.
And since Jung-dong Station and Bucheon Station were only one stop apart, there had to be Jung-dong residents among them.
“Still, these bastards seem like they’re crossing more and more lines. I think we’ll get a chance soon. Besides, it looks like the owner of Kimbap Heaven is targeting those bastards too.”
“Ah, that thing? Ugh, that one seriously scares me....”
Han Areum shuddered.
The “owner of Kimbap Heaven” Choi Hyunwoo had just mentioned was the Alpha that had settled in the Kimbap Heaven building at Sosa Station Intersection.
Among the Alphas who had been warring with one another for the past few months, that one had achieved the greatest results. By their estimate, it already had roughly a thousand slave zombies under its command.
However, it did not usually move toward the city integrated control center where the three of them were, or toward Bucheon Station. It mainly moved toward Yeokgok Station, the direction leading to Seoul.
The bastards of the Bucheon MZ Family faction had noticed that too, and lately they had been appearing near Sosa Station more often.
And that was certain to provoke the strongest Alpha in this area, the “owner of Kimbap Heaven.”
Because no Alpha zombie would tolerate anyone else taking its “food.”
“The world’s gone to shit, and now we have to put our hopes in a zombie instead of another human being... those garbage streamer bastards.”
“But didn’t you watch female streamers before, Hyunwoo? Maybe one of them is a streamer you liked?”
At Han Areum’s words, Choi Hyunwoo bristled.
“Hey! Say something that makes sense. Our Soft Yeoni is completely different from punks like that, okay? And she doesn’t live here. She lives in Seoul.”
“Ugh, what kind of name is Soft Yeoni anyway? Anyway, Hyunwoo, let’s watch for exactly one more week and then just go back to the house. I swear, every time I look at that apartment complex next door, I feel like I’m going to lose my mind.”
“.......”
When Han Areum shuddered, Choi Hyunwoo silently agreed.
Right next to the city integrated control center was a Jugong apartment complex, and amazingly, there were still quite a few people surviving there.
But every week, one or two of them were hunted by the Alpha that had taken over the nearby apartment complex.
The screams of people being eaten alive rose all the way up here and tormented them.
“Hyunwoo. Seriously, can’t we try shooting it with the air rifle just once? Junho said it too. When an Alpha dies, the zombies all go back to where they used to live. Then the people surviving over there might be safe too. Ah, you were a Marine, weren’t you? Aren’t you good with guns?”
“No. This is different from the rifles we used in the military, so once it’s over a hundred meters, the accuracy drops a lot. Missing would be a problem, but what if the Alpha notices our position? Then we’re really screwed.”
They had blocked the entrances well enough that only they could come and go, but if an Alpha commanding hundreds of slaves realized they were here, escape would become hopeless.
Even if they got lucky and made it out of the control center, there was no guarantee they could cross the wide-open eight-lane road with no buildings nearby except the stadium and safely reach the house.
Then it happened.
Uaaah... kyaaa....
“Ah.”
As if the timing had been arranged, a horrible scream came from the direction of the apartment complex, and Han Areum’s expression instantly darkened.
Choi Hyunwoo hurried to the window directly overlooking the apartment complex.
“...Fuck.”
On the road near the rear gate of the Jugong Apartments, a man and woman were surrounded by dozens of zombies.
And the fact that they did not pounce even with living people right in front of them meant those individuals were under an Alpha’s control.
“That son of a bitch. That fucking zombie bastard.”
Looking down through the telescope, Choi Hyunwoo clenched his teeth.
A middle-aged zombie standing some distance away from the others was baring its teeth and smiling.
That was right. The Alpha controlling the zombies trying to hunt the two people right now was “playing.”
It was savoring and enjoying the fear of humans with death right before their eyes.
G-Get away...!
Aaaah! Ahhh...!
While a scrawny young man swung a crude blade made by attaching kitchen knives together at the zombies, the woman pressed close against his back screamed.
But even in the middle of that, the woman was clutching something to her chest as if she would never let it go.
It was a bag of rice and two bottles of water.
For things that did not even cost a few tens of thousands of won, they had come outside, and even now, in a situation where they were about to die or become zombies, they were desperately trying to protect them.
“How frustrating. They should’ve come out wearing backpacks, damn it. What are they doing carrying that in their arms? Why are they so stupid? No, how the hell did they even survive this long?”
“Hyunwoo....”
He said it like that, but Choi Hyunwoo was biting down so hard blood ran from his lip.
Because he was more heartsick over that situation than anyone, Han Areum bit her own lip as well.
Just then, perhaps because the game had gotten a little boring, the Alpha gave its slaves an order.
Though zombies could not perform complex actions even when receiving an Alpha’s orders, they could carry out simple movements. Whether they were stabbed by the spear or not, they dragged the man and woman over to it.
And the moment he saw that sight—
“Fuck! I can’t do this anymore.”
Choi Hyunwoo put down the telescope, strode away quickly, and brought back a long box.
Han Areum’s eyes flew wide open.
“Hyunwoo? For real? You’re really going to do it?”
“Yeah. I’m absolutely sending that bastard to hell today, no matter what.”
Click!
Choi Hyunwoo attached an air tank to the air rifle Junho had left at the house, aimed at the back of the Alpha’s head, and adjusted the scope.
Click.
Soon, after loading a round into the single-shot air rifle, Choi Hyunwoo lightly steadied his breathing and pulled the trigger.
Pffft...!
Immediately after the suppressed report unique to an air rifle sounded, the Alpha’s body lurched hard.
“Huh?”
Choi Hyunwoo was shocked.
Because.
Not only had the round he had just fired struck the back of the Alpha’s head far too easily, but the bastard, whose skull now had a hole punched into it from a single shot, slowly collapsed forward.
“Waaaaah! Y-You hit it! You hit it, Hyunwoo! You’re insane! Seriously insane, this guy!”
As Han Areum cheered, beside herself—
“Y-Yeah?”
Choi Hyunwoo blinked, looking back and forth between the fallen Alpha far below and the air rifle in his hands.
Having used this air rifle for the first time since the apocalypse began, Choi Hyunwoo had no idea.
No idea that this was not an ordinary air rifle, but a modified air rifle Baek Hail had made at the shelter.
No idea that its rounds were not soft lead pellets, but special tungsten rounds.
No idea that, inside 150 meters, it was an “apocalypse-dedicated firearm” capable of silently inflicting fatal wounds on zombies and humans alike.
