Junho and Yoon Seolhee neatly stacked the RTX-series GPUs, SSDs, power supplies, and console game systems they had collected in the parking lot behind the Techno Mart building.
Then, using a portable folding carrier made from aluminum and reinforced plastic, they hauled everything back to the boat.
An ordinary person would have needed to make over ten trips, but thanks to Junho’s monstrous strength, the two of them managed to move all the parts and consoles in just three round trips.
“They’re waterproofed to begin with, but cover them well with the tarp.”
“Yes. But what else are you planning to bring back, Boss?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s more?”
Yoon Seolhee looked at Junho in confusion.
They had already moved everything they collected together, so what else could possibly still be left?
“There is. Anyway, I’ll go by myself this time, so Assistant Manager Kim can stay here and wait.”
Since the twelve-passenger inflatable boat still had plenty of remaining capacity, Junho decided to get a little greedier.
“Will you be okay?”
“Yeah. They’re small anyway.”
Junho grinned and nodded before crossing Gangbyeonbuk-ro again like some oversized stray cat and heading back toward Techno Mart.
But this time, instead of going to the seventh and eighth floors where the computer stores were located, he entered the sixth floor.
His target was smartphones that had still been considered “latest-generation” right before the world collapsed.
“Let’s see....”
Almost nobody looted electronics in the apocalypse, so the sixth floor was completely empty too—not a single person, let alone a zombie.
Junho swept up the newest smartphones, tablets, and pads alike without caring whether they were from S Company or A Company.
Before regression, he had not realized it, but smartphones and tablets turned out to be far more useful in the apocalypse than expected.
Back then, once the power grid failed, there had barely been any opportunity to use electronic devices properly in the first place, so he never got the chance to truly understand their value.
But in an environment like their shelter, where electricity and wireless communications remained stable, smartphones performed their original role as “communication devices” exceptionally well.
The cameras on modern smartphones especially were far better than most people imagined. Whenever shelter members working in the safe zones outside the perimeter spotted something suspicious during the day, they immediately recorded it and sent it to the control room.
Park Deokcheol and Park Sunhee, who patrolled the outermost areas most often, even used smartphone cameras to check blind spots beyond the PTZ cameras from mountaintops several kilometers away before reporting back.
“And now we’re planning to start using the chat program too....”
The shelter would soon introduce a simple chat program developed by Yoon Youngsu.
It could function like text messaging and also support group chat rooms, making it an extremely useful tool for shelter members.
Of course, for security reasons, Junho, Yoon Youngsu, and the AI Akina would all be able to monitor every message.
And in case a device was lost or stolen, they planned to implement a forced-lock function so Akina could instantly brick the device if necessary.
After stuffing smartphones and tablets into the large-capacity duffel bag he brought instead of the folding carrier, Junho quickly descended the emergency staircase and retraced his path through the outdoor parking lot.
***
With new people added to the group and the boat now loaded down with “gift bundles,” Junho’s party traveled upriver past Cheonho Bridge and all the way to Gangdong Bridge without incident.
Then, with Misa Bridge ahead of them, Junho recovered the drones that had continued scouting and decided to dock at Namyangju Hangang Park.
Because—
“Can you hear me?”
“Yeah. It’s me.”
Junho unconsciously smiled when the unidentified signalman called him Boss.
“Is your battalion commander there?”
- Yup! Want me to put him on?
“No. I’m just stopping by briefly. Anyway, I brought gifts, so send a few men to the Hangang Park dock.”
- Gifts?
“Yeah. Something like that. We’ll be there soon, so hurry up and send them.”
- Roger! I’ll send nearby personnel immediately!
Major Lee Seokjin’s unit had already secured almost the entire area from Misa Bridge to Deokso Station and Yangjeong Station along the Gyeongui-Jungang Line.
And in the process, they had rescued small groups of survivors who had stubbornly managed to stay alive in villages around Wabu-eup and Sampae-dong.
Furthermore, since the region contained a fair number of small farms and factories, the unit had been able to scavenge quite a decent amount of useful survival supplies.
But that did not mean they had everything they needed.
Especially not certain equipment essential for a “military.”
***
“Holy shit... what is all this?”
“What else? Phones. Here, around twenty should be enough.”
The soldiers stared blankly after receiving the latest smartphones, tablets, and compact laptops—devices so expensive that even before the apocalypse, most people could not easily afford them.
If it had been food or ammunition, they would have understood immediately, but they clearly had no idea what they were supposed to do with these.
“You guys are short on scopes and binoculars, aren’t you?”
“...Ah!”
Only then did realization dawn on them, and Junho smirked.
“If you zoom in with those from an apartment rooftop, you can see all the way to Deokso Station clearly. Rotate about ten of them between yourselves and keep the rest as backups. As for the tablets and laptops....”
After handing over some of the electronic equipment scavenged from Techno Mart for reconnaissance and surveillance use, Junho spoke to the now-excited soldiers.
“Anyway, nothing unusual around here, right? You haven’t made contact with the government or other military units or anything?”
“Ah! Come to think of it, some guys from White Skull and Cheongseong passed through recently.”
“White Skull and Cheongseong?”
Junho narrowed his eyes.
The White Skull Division and Cheongseong Division—the 3rd and 6th Infantry Divisions—were both so-called “maker divisions,” frontline units responsible for GP and GOP border security duty.
And those frontline units had come all the way down here?
“Yeah. We didn’t make contact, just monitored them with drones. They moved toward Paldang.”
“...I see. Got it. Anyway, we’re leaving, so tell your battalion commander to contact me immediately if anything happens.”
“Yes, sir.”
After sending the soldiers off, Junho immediately started the boat again.
Then Yoon Seolhee spoke quietly.
“White Skull and Cheongseong came all the way down here? Then maybe....”
“Yeah. Maybe not all of them, but I think some units abandoned the DMZ.”
And Junho suspected it had happened not recently, but at least sometime around the beginning of the year or even the end of last year.
Because unlike in countless zombie apocalypse stories, in reality, northern refugees had not flooded southward, nor had the Demilitarized Zone and armistice line collapsed.
To begin with, it was not easy for massive groups of refugees to flee south while avoiding countless zombies.
And the idea that starving North Koreans could sustain a long-term evacuation across mountains and rivers was absurd from the start.
Besides, the prevailing theory was that most North Korean military forces north of the DMZ had fragmented and collapsed once the outbreak began.
Of course, a tiny number might have crossed south, but unlike them, the frontline South Korean units had strong equipment and food reserves and likely annihilated them.
Nobody in this ruined world would accept defectors—especially people who might secretly already be infected.
“If they went toward Paldang, do you think they crossed into Gwangju?”
Worry for Kang Baekho and the people at Kangho Resort darkened Yoon Seolhee’s expression.
“Maybe. But I don’t think so. And we can just ask.”
“Huh? Ask... Ah.”
Yoon Seolhee immediately realized what he meant.
That was right.
If they could communicate with Lee Seokjin’s unit, then it also meant they could now communicate with their shelter.
Before leaving for Bucheon, Junho had spent endless time traveling around the Bukhan River and nearby regions installing relays, amplifiers, and PTZ cameras everywhere.
Beep.
For the first time in a long while, Junho connected to the shelter radio channel.
“Shelter. You hearing this?”
A few seconds after he spoke quietly—
- Booooossssss!
Yoon Youngsu’s wildly overexcited voice made Junho snort with laughter.
“Yeah, it’s me.”
- You’re not hurt anywhere, right!? Everyone else okay too? And the people you went to rescue...!
“Everyone’s fine, and the operation succeeded. But that’s not the important part right now. I just stopped by Deokso for a bit, and I heard something there....”
The moment Junho relayed what the soldiers told him, Yoon Youngsu immediately answered.
- Ah, that. As soon as the Deokso side reported it, we used the PTZ cameras you installed and launched drones to monitor them.
- Some of them headed down toward Gwangju along the riverside highway, but most moved toward Yangsu-ri and Yangpyeong.
“So they headed toward Gangwon Province?”
- Yeah. And those soldiers? They weren’t looting or anything. It looked like they definitely had a destination. They strictly followed riverside roads and mountain routes.
- But there weren’t that many of them, so I don’t think you need to worry too much. We already warned the resort side too. But more importantly, we’ve got a problem on [N O V E L I G H T] our end.
“On our end?”
- Yeah. Past the tunnel, around Jinjeop-eup and the new town area. An Alpha showed up there controlling at least four or five thousand slave zombies.
“...!”
- Because of that, survivors living around there fled en masse. A lot of them headed east—toward us. And the bigger problem is—
- Whether it’s Cheongpyeong or Gapyeong, people from the Gangwon side are also coming down along the Bukhan River.
***
After giving some of the scavenged supplies to Lee Wonoh, the people from the karaoke bar, and the dispatched soldiers stationed at the water leisure center, Junho returned to the shelter aboard the multipurpose electric transport vehicle waiting there.
“Woooow....”
Choi Hyunwoo and Han Areum were completely fascinated by the AI-controlled surveillance systems, drones, and turrets.
And they finally understood why Junho had wanted to bring them here.
As well as just how safe the area Junho “managed” truly was.
During the entire ride on the transport vehicle, they had not seen a single zombie, while the AI Akina continuously reported the current situation in its emotionless administrative voice.
But once the two of them passed through Gahyeon-ri and entered the shelter’s safe zone, their feelings shifted beyond simple amazement into outright shock.
While Junho had been away in Bucheon, the newly completed greenhouse complex and cattle farm had reached a scale capable of feeding not just the shelter residents, but perhaps twice that number.
And beyond that, in the container housing area up the hill, there were Elder Go Jeongnam, the KJM Brothers, and the Blossom members.
“Ugh!?”
Unlike Junho or Junhyeok, Choi Hyunwoo genuinely liked and followed girl groups, so the sudden appearance of top-tier idols nearly short-circuited his brain.
But then—
BARK! BARK!
“Yooooou son of a bitchhhh!”
“...!?”
A man came charging toward them like a lunatic alongside a German Shepherd the size of a calf.
“Ju-Junhyeok!”
In this ruined world, Choi Hyunwoo was finally seeing his closest friend again.
Girl groups instantly ceased to matter.
“This bastard...!”
Tears streamed down Choi Hyunwoo’s face as he ran forward grinning brightly, just like when he reunited with his mother, Lee Myeongseon.
A man to whom friends mattered more than beautiful women.
That was Choi Hyunwoo.
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