- No abnormalities within a two-hundred-meter radius.
- Entering Sector A shortly. Multiple zombies in Sector A, one hundred meters ahead.
- They have not detected the vehicles.
With the sun down and their vision limited, the zombies did not notice the line of electric vehicles moving at low speed with their lights off, making almost no noise.
Before long, Junho passed through Sector A, a relatively quiet area containing two apartment complexes and several commercial buildings.
Then, after entering Sector B, where Cheongsan Building and Jaeseong Building were located, he changed communication channels.
“Can you hear me?”
- Oh! Yes, yes. I hear you loud and clear.
“You’re ready, right? Once the signal goes out, you can begin immediately. I trust you’ll do well.”
- Of course. It’s not even that hard. We’ll be waiting right on the roof!
“Yes, thank you. Once this is over, I’ll give you a nice gift.”
- Oh, come on, you don’t need to do all that. Anyway, don’t worry, Mr. Junho. Me and all my people are fully prepared.
His tone was, as always, somewhat light.
But that was actually proof that he was not tense, and that he could handle the job assigned to him more reliably.
So Junho ended the communication with Lee Wonoh, owner of Welcome Karaoke Bar.
If he had not met Lee Wonoh and the people from the karaoke bar, and if he had not maintained a good relationship with them, this D-Mart operation would have been quite difficult.
- Entering Sector C. Reduce speed.
“Reducing speed.”
At Junho’s words, starting with the electric truck driving almost close enough to touch three or four meters behind the armored car, every vehicle slowly reduced speed.
It was as slow as a turtle, but there was no helping it.
From here on, they were entering the territory of the second most dangerous Alpha, so they had to be as careful as possible.
- Estimated arrival in three minutes.
- Boss. From now on, Akina will only control the attack drones and provide combat support. I’ll handle reconnaissance surveillance reports.
“Yeah, got it.”
Because of battery capacity, the G1 attack drones and A1 attack drones could not depart from the shelter together, and had to be brought loaded in the truck cargo beds for now.
Also, since six G1s and six A1s were being deployed, Akina had to focus only on drone control and operating the shelter’s essential facilities again this time.
Her performance was not enough to handle every other task on top of that.
'I really need to upgrade her soon.'
He had poured more than ten billion won into the AI computing system, and yet it was still like this.
Well, the fact that an AI system built with “only” ten billion won could perform this well at all was a miracle.
If not for Yoon Youngsu, a computing specialist who called himself an ordinary engineer but looked like a genius to Junho, it would never have been possible.
- There’s no movement at the mart. Let’s see. There is an area lit on the second floor. I can see it faintly through the curtains. I’ll zoom in, so check it yourselves.
“Yes.”
Yoon Seolhee, in the passenger seat, answered and focused on the dashboard screen in Junho’s place.
For this operation, the most difficult one yet among those carried out only by shelter personnel, a professional like her was absolutely necessary.
“For now, I can see four men and two women. Hm? No, that’s... tsk.”
Yoon Seolhee clicked her tongue quietly.
“What is it? Ah....”
Junho glanced at the monitor while driving and let out a small laugh.
The young survivors drinking on D-Mart’s second floor were creating a very heated atmosphere.
“They really want to do that in a world like this?”
“Wouldn’t they do it more because it’s a world like this? They say a person’s reproductive drive increases when they’re in danger.”
At Junho’s words, Yoon Seolhee nodded.
“That is true. Children are born even during wars. More importantly, where are the rest?”
Out of nearly thirty people, only six had been confirmed.
“They probably aren’t on the first floor. It looks like they only set traps and booby traps there. Most of them usually gather on the second floor, and only the boss stays on the third floor with the women.”
“You said the basement hasn’t been confirmed, correct?”
“Yes. The mart is so large that I considered sending a drone down, but then those guys got noticed by the Alpha.”
If the Alpha had not noticed the survivors occupying D-Mart, that would have been one thing.
But now that it had realized there was a lot of “prey” there, sending a noisy drone close to the ground had to be avoided.
Moreover, that Alpha was constantly sending slave zombies behind the mart to continue surveillance.
He did not know how exactly it communicated with its slaves, or how the Alpha knew what the slaves had seen.
But the very fact that it sent slaves meant they were clearly communicating somehow.
“What is this, a damn Culler....”
Junho muttered as he suddenly thought of the alien race from an old game that had once been called a folk game in Korea.
“Yes?”
“No. Nothing. We’re almost there. Get ready.”
“Understood.”
Yoon Seolhee lowered the night-vision goggles attached to her ballistic helmet.
She had brought plenty of spare batteries in case of emergencies, and with her KP9 submachine gun and the rest of her full kit equipped for the first time in a while, she was as indifferent and composed as ever.
Since coming to their shelter, she had eaten a balanced diet every day and had not neglected physical conditioning or training for a single day. She gave off a cold, blade-sharp air.
And that made Junho even more satisfied.
Honestly, she felt more reliable than his own younger brother, Junhyeok.
No matter how much Junhyeok had crossed the Pacific with him and trained at Redrock Academy, it was hard to compare him to a former Special Forces NCO.
“Manager. The mart is large, but if someone is determined to scream, the sound may leak out. So as I said....”
“I’ll kill them without exception.”
Yoon Seolhee mentioned killing civilians without hesitation.
“They’ve either murdered several times themselves or participated in it anyway. And right now, my first priorities are the CEO, you, Mr. Lee Junho, and our shelter.”
“Thank you.”
Once, she had fought for the nation. After her discharge, she had fought for her employer.
And at this moment, saying she would fight for “our shelter” made Junho deeply glad.
***
“Whew, good work. You can go.”
“Okay, babe.”
“Oh, tell Dongjae to bring some tissues. We already used them all.”
“Really? What did we do to use them all?”
“Why? Want me to show you?”
“No thanks. Hmph.”
The woman gave him a light glare, gathered her clothes, put them on, and walked toward the door.
Watching her firm calves below her hot pants, Lee Minjae smacked his lips, then gulped down bottled water.
“Khah! Nice! This is the life.”
Lee Minjae, thirty-three years old this year, did not think the world becoming like this was entirely bad.
The hundreds of millions of won in debt he had racked up by throwing money into crypto and gambling had disappeared, and so had the people called his parents and older sister, who had called him every day and made a damn fuss.
After he had been dishonorably discharged for “instilling discipline” in his juniors in the military, people had constantly called him a loser and a piece of trash, but now no one said that anymore.
No.
Someone had, when the world had just become like this.
The old bastard landlord who had come and thrown every kind of fit just because he was a few months behind on rent.
And the first people Lee Minjae killed after the world changed were that old bastard landlord and his daughter.
“Fuck, that old man was over seventy. How much longer was he even going to live? A young man with his whole future ahead of him needs to eat well. All he did was curse. He should’ve understood when I asked nicely.”
They had not turned into zombies.
He had killed them because they refused to share food.
“Fuck, should I call Eunju? No. That bitch needs to starve more. Fucking cunt. Let’s see how long she keeps acting so proud.”
Thinking of the former model who had joined his “pleasure squad” over two months ago and still refused to serve with genuine devotion, only giving mechanical reactions when they did “that,” Lee Minjae grinned.
It had now been three days since he had locked her in the storage room without giving her food.
She must be hungry, and there would be the issue of relieving herself too, so in another day or two, she would probably repent sincerely.
Then, with his generous heart, he would forgive her.
Knock, knock!
The door opened with a knock, and a man who looked to be in his late thirties came inside.
“Boss, I brought a box of tissues.”
The man, who looked several years older than Lee Minjae, called him boss and spoke respectfully.
In the apocalypse, the stronger guy was simply the boss.
“Yeah, leave them there and get out. Oh, nothing special happening, right? What about the guys on the roof? Those bastards aren’t sleeping, are they?”
“Come on, after what happened a few days ago? No way. They’ll be watching with their eyes wide open.”
“Good. Anyway, you guys go easy on the booze too. Tell the bastards on night watch to be really careful. And make sure they patrol the first floor properly.”
“Yes, yes. But, boss.”
“Yeah, what?”
The man, a former Namyangju nightclub waiter who had met Lee Minjae half a year ago and become his right-hand man, spoke in a sly voice.
“Yeonju, the one who just left. When are you going to grant her to me?”
“Why? You want her? You little shit, you know what’s good. Don’t worry. I’ll play with her a few more days, then pass her over. When have I ever treated you guys poorly?”
“Never, of course. I was just asking. But... huh? What’s that....”
The moment he saw a small red dot through the narrow gap in the curtains drawn over the window—
Crack! Crack!
“Augh!”
Bullets punched through the double-paned window, and the former nightclub waiter staggered hard before collapsing on the spot.
“Ahh, ah, aaah....”
Shot once each in the stomach and chest with tungsten rounds, the man could only groan as he touched the gunshot wounds where blood was gushing out.
“Wh-what the fuck...!?”
At the sudden gunfire, Lee Minjae was so startled that his lower belly went cold, and he hurriedly threw himself flat.
***
- Hit. Target down. A1 02. Moving to next target.
The A1 attack drone had poor accuracy, but against a stationary target within fifty meters, it showed a hit rate of over ninety percent.
The thermal imaging camera on the reconnaissance drone could not identify targets behind blackout curtains, but it could see enough movement in their silhouettes.
So the A1 drone had approached the identified target at close range and killed him.
Pang... pang... pang....
The A1 drones used in today’s operation had been equipped with modified air rifles with reduced power, eliminating targets with much quieter gunshots than usual.
The drone flight noise could not be avoided, but it was an unavoidable choice to reduce the report from modified air rifles several times more powerful than ordinary ones.
Besides, there were no zombies outside within fifty meters of the mart, so it should be fine.
- All rooftop targets eliminated.
- G1 01, 02, 03, 04. Beginning movement to assigned points.
- Team Two. Begin rooftop entry.
As Akina’s orders and reports continued, Junho took out a mini drone and flew it through the gaps in the obstacles piled up in the underground parking lot.
Meanwhile, the work personnel got down from the trucks lined up in front of the parking garage entrance and began diligently moving furniture and supplies away, a little slowly but making almost no sound.
After confirming with the mini drone that there were no people on the first basement parking level, Junho turned his head.
“It’ll take at least ten minutes to clear the mart entrance, so don’t rush. Take it slow. Just don’t make loud noise while you clear it.”
“Understood.”
Song Gijun, carrying an air rifle in preparation for unexpected situations, answered quietly, then resumed the work with the others.
Before long, they created a passage wide enough for one or two people to pass through, and Junho quickly slipped through the gap.
- Rooftop entry complete. Two guards already dead.
If someone was still alive after taking three or four tungsten rounds to the torso, that would not be a person. It would be a zombie.
“We’ve also completed parking lot entry. Moving to the emergency stairs.”
- Confirmed.
Yoon Seolhee, who had infiltrated the rooftop with the three KJM Brothers using the grappling hooks installed by the drones, answered dryly.
Junho and Yoon Seolhee’s two teams reached the second and third floors respectively at almost the same time.
As expected of a large-scale mart, there were two emergency exits, but this was possible because they had already identified that much through long-term drone reconnaissance.
- No abnormalities at the emergency door.
“Yes. Confirm with the drone, then enter.”
- Confirmed.
They were on different emergency stairways, but Junho and Yoon Seolhee opened the emergency exits simultaneously and deployed mini drones into the second and third floors.
- Unable to confirm.
“Same here.”
But the men inside had turned off the lights in the meantime, and with only ultra-small normal cameras mounted on them, the tiny mini drones could not confirm the situation inside.
“Then we enter in ten seconds. Don’t get hurt.”
- You too, Mr. Junho.
After ending communication with Yoon Seolhee, Junho lowered his body and took a shooting stance.
Then he quietly entered the wide, complex mart where a former special forces leader and more than twenty looters were holding position.
After he had taken a few steps—
Tang!
A small noise came from an area where dozens of carts had been scattered messily.
In that instant, Junho recognized the sound he had heard once before.
It was the sound of a crossbow being fired.
