“This place is a living hell.”
After scolding Choi Hyunwoo appropriately, Lee Myeongseon immediately began her story with those heavy words.
“For the first two or three weeks after everything started, I tried to do something too. Martial law had been declared nationwide from the beginning, after all. But....”
She had not been able to step even a single foot outside the apartment complex.
Normally, she was healthy enough that nobody would believe she was in her fifties, and she was even a martial arts practitioner.
But all of that meant absolutely nothing in front of hordes of zombies that charged madly at the mere sight of a human figure.
Especially after one by one her colleagues heading toward the police station in downtown Bucheon lost contact, she too eventually gave up on the idea of going outside.
“You know what’s funny? The final order we received before communications died was autonomous survival protocol. Police officers were told to protect communities and maintain local order. Even though we had nothing, and couldn’t even reach the station.”
“.......”
“But by then, the government had already fled to Jeju. Less than a week after the outbreak started. The moment I heard that, I submitted my resignation. Of course, there was nobody left to accept it.”
Now effectively a “former” police executive, Lee Myeongseon gave a hollow smile and continued.
“The entrance is blocked, so you came through the main road and climbed in through the window, right? Then you probably don’t know the situation inside the complex very well.”
“No.”
“Every apartment building here became its own island. Starting early this year, we blocked off everything above the fifth floor and used ropes hanging from the fifth-floor balconies to climb up and down. Though even that’s impossible now....”
Even though she had mentally thrown away her resignation letter, the sense of responsibility ingrained into her over thirty years was not something she could easily discard.
In other words, as a police executive who took pride in her profession, trying to secure safety and protect the people in at least the building she lived in was not meddling—it was duty rooted in professional ethics.
“But back then, I didn’t realize it. In a world where law, order, and social infrastructure had all collapsed, my status and sense of mission as a police officer meant absolutely nothing.”
“.......”
“The moment people learned the government had abandoned them, I stopped being Director Lee Myeongseon of the Women and Juvenile Division. I was just an ordinary middle-aged woman living in Unit 1203.”
“Mom....”
After smiling gently at Hyunwoo, Lee Myeongseon continued.
“First, we blocked the building entrance. Then we gathered the men in our building, mainly the reservists, and killed the zombies. After that, we collected food and supplies from each household and established a ration system.”
At first, the survivors followed her well because the instructions came from an active police executive with a rank equivalent to a lieutenant colonel in the military—and because her decisions were extremely rational.
But the situation soon reversed.
Before communications collapsed, several media outlets exposed just how catastrophically incompetent the government’s response had been.
The president and government officials had abandoned public safety entirely and disgraced themselves trying only to save themselves first.
As a result, people’s anger and ridicule turned toward Lee Myeongseon—the only person in the apartment complex who symbolized “the government.”
And the suspicion and resentment directed at her quickly escalated into hostility among the survivors themselves.
It did not take long before it spread into violence and murder.
“...So since February, everyone’s been surviving on their own. I don’t even know how the other households that survived on our floor are living now.”
“You mean you can’t even confirm whether they’re alive or dead?”
Junho asked while looking at the refrigerators and furniture blocking the entrance—things he could hardly believe a woman living alone had managed to move herself.
Lee Myeongseon sighed and shook her head.
“No, they’re alive. Because they’ve been trying to break into our apartment continuously since last month. Just yesterday, someone tried climbing in through the window... and fell to his death.”
“R-Really? Which fucking bast—”
Junho grabbed Hyunwoo’s shoulder as he trembled with rage.
“It must be because of the supplies I gave you.”
“Yes. Of course, they don’t know exactly what or how much we have. At first, I just contributed a little more rice and canned food than everyone else. But when injured or sick people appeared, I handed out emergency medicine and antibiotics. That was the problem.”
“Hmm....”
As the person holding this building together, it had been the natural thing to do in order to save people.
But even if emergency medicine was one thing, possessing antibiotics—something difficult to obtain without a doctor’s prescription—was more than enough to arouse suspicion.
Even if not outright suspicion, it would certainly convince people that Lee Myeongseon possessed “a lot of things” inside the apartment.
“And on top of that, they discovered the solar panels installed outside the utility room window.”
At first, they probably looked like nothing more than covered boards or cloth, but eventually someone realized they were portable solar panels.
“To be honest, if Hyunwoo and all of you hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have lasted another month. They bang on the door day and night and try to break in not just through the neighboring apartment, but even through the units above and below us... I couldn’t sleep properly. It was driving me insane.”
“.......”
Junho understood completely.
Knowing that another human being could kill you at any moment created anxiety and fear just as terrible as zombies.
And when that became a real, ongoing threat—especially one that continued nonstop day and night like in Lee Myeongseon’s case—a person might lose their mind in less than a week, let alone a month.
“Well then....”
Just as Junho was about to speak—
Bang bang. Bang bang. Bang bang bang. Bang. Bang bang.
Someone started pounding on the front door.
“...Here we go again.”
Everyone stared toward the entrance blocked by refrigerators and furniture.
Bang bang. Bang. Bang bang. Bangbangbangbangbang.
“That motherfucking—”
“Hold it.”
Stopping Hyunwoo as he glared and tried to stand, Junho turned toward the visibly exhausted Lee Myeongseon.
“Then you don’t have any attachment left toward the people in this apartment complex anymore, correct?”
***
“Careful, careful. Slowly....”
The transfer of supplies remaining in Unit 1203 began.
Almost all the supplies had originally been stored in specially custom-made sealed containers, so lowering them down into the flowerbeds by rope was not particularly difficult, just time-consuming.
While Yoon Seolhee and Shin Hocheol, who had gone down first, kept watch through night-vision goggles and drones, the others continued lowering and loading the sealed containers.
Meanwhile, Junho handled another “task.”
Specifically, he crossed over into the neighboring apartment where someone had attempted to invade Unit 1203 the previous night.
Bzzzzzz.
Using a mini drone, Junho confirmed that Unit 1204 was empty before installing something inside.
Then he did the same thing in Unit 1202, before climbing up and down through the balconies into Units 1103 and 1303 and repeating similar work.
'They were openly planning to swallow the place whole.'
Leaving aside the apartments on the same floor, the fact that even the units above and below had been emptied out proved the survivors intended to somehow kill Lee Myeongseon and seize Unit 1203.
And if that was the case, Junho had absolutely no reason to show mercy.
'This wasn’t how I originally planned to use these....'
After spending around thirty minutes moving through all four apartments, Junho finally returned to Unit 1203.
“Mr. Junho, honestly, no matter how I look at this, I don’t think we can move all of this.”
Shin Hocheol looked down at the dozens of sealed containers piled in the flowerbeds as he spoke.
Just as Junho and Hyunwoo had said, the food and supplies inside Unit 1203 were enough for the reservist group to survive at least half a year.
At first, they had been delighted.
But the problem was that not only this apartment building but the entire apartment complex had become a place where survivors were desperate to devour each other.
On top of that, one of the apartment buildings had already been occupied by an Alpha that came hunting survivors two or three times every month.
Exactly as Junho had said, war between humans and zombies—and between humans themselves—was raging throughout this apartment complex, no, throughout all of Bucheon.
Which was why Shin Hocheol and the reservists agreed that no matter how much food and supplies they had, surviving in a place like this would be impossible in the long run, and ultimately decided to follow Junho’s proposal.
“You don’t need to move everything. And I can make a few trips myself, so don’t worry.”
“No, still... it just feels like you’re the only one suffering for this.”
Junho smiled at the deeply apologetic Shin Hocheol.
“It’s fine. The fact that you agreed to my proposal and are willing to continue helping is more than enough.”
Through his conversations with Shin Hocheol and the reservists, Junho had realized something extremely important.
Namely—
'So these were the soldiers who attacked the cultists in Oryu-dong....'
Before regression, there had been around ten soldiers who assaulted the Saekkeut Grace Church cult—the group calling itself the Final Judgment Society.
Meaning there were more people beyond just these reservists, but through his conversations with Shin Hocheol, Junho became certain these men had formed the core of that incident.
The reason was simple.
That incident Choi Hyunwoo had witnessed through the PTZ cameras installed at the house.
At the time, when these reservists rescued survivors hiding inside a flower-farm greenhouse, one of them had shown detailed knowledge about the Final Judgment Society.
And right before they encountered Choi Hyunwoo and Kim Taeyoung, the reservists had actually been planning to head toward Oryu-dong.
Which was why Junho intended to exterminate the cultists together with them just like in the pre-regression timeline—
Though he planned to change the “details” somewhat.
“You all misunderstand something. Most people think surviving becomes harder when you have more people with you in a world like [N O V E L I G H T] this.”
“Tch. Honestly, I’m still not fully convinced. It’s only because you said so, Mr. Junho, that I’m trying to believe it.”
They had only known him a few days, but because of Junho’s unbelievable abilities and equipment, Shin Hocheol and the reservists all trusted him.
Of course, there were still countless mysteries and unanswered questions surrounding him.
But until now, Junho had always stood at the front taking on the hardest tasks himself, and he honored every promise made through negotiation thoroughly.
Which was why, even if what Junho said still felt questionable, Shin Hocheol and the reservists decided to trust him for now.
“When you’re unprepared and don’t have a plan, then yes—having more people makes survival harder. But when you’re prepared and have a plan, having more people is far better.”
As time passed, the number of ordinary zombies decreased while Alphas and slaves increased.
And Alphas, which were excellent at preserving themselves, always hunted smaller isolated survivor groups first instead of large, heavily prepared communities.
Just like wild predators prioritized prey that had fallen away from the herd, or those that were weak and injured.
“Well, anyway, understood. By the way, you didn’t explain the detailed plan to Hyunwoo’s mother, right?”
“No. It’s better if she doesn’t know. You should all respond as if you didn’t know either. Everything was handled solely by me acting independently.”
“Man... alright then. Let’s hurry.”
Shaking his head, Shin Hocheol used the rope to lower the final sealed container containing only the absolutely essential supplies the group would need moving forward.
There were still quite a few sealed containers left inside Unit 1203, but Junho simply left them behind.
Realistically, moving everything would have been impossible even for him.
“Mom, can you really do this?”
“Up until twenty years ago, your mother worked violent crimes. If I’d been born with a dick, I would’ve joined the Special Operations Unit.”
Grinning, Lee Myeongseon skillfully grabbed the rope and descended downward.
There were safety measures in place, of course, but true to being both a police executive and the wife of an active-duty naval officer, she reached the ground with unbelievable composure for a woman in her fifties.
“Let’s go.”
“Yes, Boss.”
As the last two remaining inside Unit 1203, Hyunwoo suddenly looked around his room.
For nearly ten years, this had been the apartment where he lived with his mother and his father—a naval officer who had struggled to provide this home for the family.
Hyunwoo swept his gaze across it with mixed emotions before suddenly speaking.
“Boss, wait a second.”
“......?”
He hurried over to the desk, quickly wrote something with a pen, then slipped the note into one of the few books on the shelf.
“In case... if Dad ever comes home somehow, I wanted him to see it. At least Dad should know Mom and I survived....”
“...Yeah.”
The fate of Choi Hyunwoo’s father, Choi Gilheon—a naval officer and captain of a frigate—remained unknown.
The last time Lee Myeongseon contacted him, he was still alive despite an Alpha appearing aboard his ship.
But after that, nobody knew what happened.
Even so, just as they had safely rescued his mother, Hyunwoo believed his father was still alive too, and that one day they would meet again.
“Let’s go.”
“Yep.”
At last, after Hyunwoo descended, Junho also climbed down from Unit 1203.
And exactly as he had planned ever since deciding to leave the shelter and come to Bucheon, he carried out another task around the apartment complex entrance and several appropriate locations along the wide roads.
A few zombies wandered nearby, but because the overgrown trees, weeds, and tangled vines severely limited visibility—and because the streets were submerged in total darkness—they could not detect Junho moving stealthily through the night.
And then, about an hour later.
Just as the group was carrying supplies into the building they had crossed over from for the third time—
KWA-AAAAANG...!!!
Someone triggered the grenade booby trap Junho had installed in Unit 1202, causing a massive explosion.
Kwooooooar...!
Not only the Alpha occupying the apartment complex, but zombies within a radius of several hundred meters all awakened at once.
