Chapter 185
I took a red dry-erase marker from the lobby of Hotel O and went through every room in the hotel.
I marked a circle on the doors to the rooms that were clean and safe, while I drew a cross on the doors to the rooms that had shattered glass or were stained with zombie blood. It took me around three hours to check every pantry, bathroom, supply room, parking lot, and all the nearby buildings.
I gathered all the dead zombie bodies in front of Hotel O afterward and counted all of them. There were about two hundred and forty of them. In order to protect myself and my family from the black creature, I had to recruit more underlings. I couldn’t help but look back on the four heads I’d given to Do Han-Sol earlier. Perhaps I should have given out the enemy leaders’ heads only after the meeting was over.
At the moment, I could control up to twenty-three hundred underlings. With the eleven stage-one mutants and Ji-Eun, I had the equivalent of six hundred underlings. I knew that I had no time to sit around and relax, and had to replenish my remaining seventeen hundred underlings.
I tried to recruit the zombies in the hotel as my underlings, but there weren’t any decent ones there. Most of them were either missing an arm or leg. If they had all their limbs, bits of their flesh had been torn off. I needed underlings that were fit for battle; I wasn’t looking for weaklings to make up the numbers.
I slicked back my bangs and sighed. Even if I recruited one hundred underlings a day, it would still take me more than fifteen days. It seemed to me that the fastest way to get more underlings was to get rid of the enemy leader.
I breathed in the sea breeze and reminded myself of what I needed to do. I cracked my knuckles.
'Let’s have some fun.’
From the current moment, everything was a race against time. There were a limited number of red-eyed zombies on Jeju Island. Either I would secure more of them, or the black creature would. I knew I had to get to them first and sweep away these enemies before the black creature’s eye color changed.
After making up my mind, I telepathically called in two of my stage-one mutants. After giving them orders to block the front and back entrances of Hotel O so that street zombies couldn’t get close, I moved off to scout out the location of the Northeast Gang. Since they hadn’t made any moves so far, I knew they had to be up to something.
I had no clue what they were up to, but if they weren’t willing to make the first move, I was willing to get to them first. Since it seemed like none of their officers were blue-eyed zombies, it was probably okay to face them on my own.
Having made up my mind, I headed toward the northeast part of Jeju City, hoping that I wouldn’t meet the black creature along the way.
* * *
Kim Hyeong-Jun let out a yawn as he sat back in a chair on the roof of the rental car company. He hadn’t seen any enemies for the past couple of hours.
“Arnol… d…”
Mood-Swinger, who was sitting on the ground next to him, had been staring at Kim Hyeong-Jun blankly for some time. Realizing that he probably felt the same way as him, Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled.
“Are you bored too?” he asked Mood-Swinger.
“Arnol…d…”
“I hope something appears soon. I don’t care if it’s a human or a zombie. Sitting around like this isn’t my thing.”
Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his neck and squinted. All he could see was total darkness. Darkness to his right and left, and in front and behind him. He couldn’t see a single thing. Waiting alone in the darkness for hours and hours on end for something to appear in this empty world wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
Kim Hyeong-Jun got up and stretched his body, beginning with his stiff shoulders. Just as he was doing his neck exercises, he suddenly heard a rustle next to him. When he turned to the left, he saw Mood-Swinger with his eyes wide open, focusing on where the sound had come from. As Kim Hyeong-Jun looked in the direction where Mood-Swinger was looking, he saw a bunch of red zombies getting closer.
Kim Hyeong-Jun quickly crouched behind the railing that ran around the roof of the building, and gave Mood-Swinger an order.
“Sit down, Mood-Swinger.”
Mood-Swinger crouched, hunkering his big body close to the ground, and stared blankly at Kim Hyeong-Jun. The killing intent that had been in his eyes had disappeared instantly; he was looking at Kim Hyeong-Jun with the eyes of a puppy begging its owner to play with it. Kim Hyeong-Jun chuckled but kept his eyes on the approaching zombies.
There were about a thousand zombies approaching, with a red-eyed zombie in the lead. However, they were tiptoeing their way over to where Kim Hyeong-Jun was.
‘Wait, why are they moving like that?’
If they were planning to attack this place, they should’ve come running and letting out their throat-rending cries. However, they were moving stealthily, as if they were trying to assassinate someone. Kim Hyeong-Jun tilted his head.
'Did I get caught?’ he thought to himself.
He wondered if the red-eyed zombie was moving stealthily because it was wary of him. After examining this thought, though, he realized that it didn’t make any sense, because, in a normal situation, the zombie would have run straight for him, or at least tried to talk.
He kept his eyes glued to the approaching zombies in confusion, not knowing what their intentions were. After a moment, the one thousand zombies behind the leader began to behave in an unexpected manner. Completely out of the blue, they began to dig. They dug for about thirty minutes, then proceeded to hide themselves in the ground.
He was surprised by the speed at which they dug. It was almost as if the soil in the area was pretty soft. However, they weren’t completely hidden; they had to crouch down to hide themselves completely. Interestingly enough, the area they had chosen to dig themselves into was precisely the area where the zombies from earlier had lost their chain of command, when their scout leaders had been killed.
After observing them for more than half an hour, Kim Hyeong-Jun’s eyebrows climbed up in disbelief.
'Are they thinking about ambushing us when we come back for the zombies?’
Even though it seemed like they were trying to take advantage of the zombies’ ability to survive in places with very little air to breathe, their method was too crude; in fact, it merely seemed stupid to Kim Hyeong-Jun.
‘What an idiot.’
In addition to all of this, they’d left traces of their digging everywhere. Kim Hyeong-Jun couldn’t possibly think that anyone would fall for something like this. He chuckled at their absurdity and started looking around just in case this silly plan was to trick him into another trap. But no matter how hard he looked, all he saw was the pitch-black darkness and the red-eyed zombie coming his way with their one thousand underlings.
Kim Hyeong-Jun rubbed his chin gently, then a smirk widened across his face, as if he’d come up with something funny. He couldn’t keep his prankster mind in check as he looked at them.
“Mood-Swinger, do you want to play whack-a-mole?”
"Ar… no… ld?”
“You just need to hammer the zombies that poke their heads out of the ground. Doesn’t it seem like fun?”
Mood-Swinger beamed at his suggestion and nodded continuously. In an instant, Kim Hyeong-Jun leaped off the roof, his blue eyes flashing. He ran over to where the enemy leader was hiding and waited for him to make a move. The earth underneath him wriggled slightly, but the enemy leader didn’t reveal himself right away.
Kim Hyeong-Jun almost burst into laughter when he saw the enemy leader trying his best. But he managed to keep himself in check.
“Ugh, ahjussi, how could you ask me to move all these zombies here at night?” he muttered to himself instead. “Ahjussi, you sometimes ask for way too much…”
“...”
Kim Hyeong-Jun continued to speak, his voice full of disappointment toward Lee Hyun-Deok, as he tried to bait the enemy leader.
“Does he think he’s the shit or something? How am I supposed to move all of these by myself?”
At that moment, just as if it was scripted, the enemy leader popped out from the ground. As soon as his upper body broke through the soil, he hurled a fist at Kim Hyeong-Jun. However, the enemy leader was surprised by his quarry’s reaction. Kim Hyeong-Jun didn’t seem to be surprised. He didn’t even flinch a little.
Instead, Kim Hyeong-Jun was smirking, his blue eyes fixed on the enemy leader like a bear eyeing salmon in the river. He had the face of a predator-seeking prey. A chill went down the enemy leader’s spine. His eyes widened, and he yelled at his underlings.
“Everyone out right now!!” he cried desperately.
All his underlings came out of the ground at once. However, something started smashing them back down at the speed of light, accompanied by the thud of footsteps that shook the ground.
“Arnold! Arnold! Arnold!”
Mood-Swinger smiled brightly as he crushed and trampled the zombies popping out of the ground with his hands. He wasn’t just whacking them. He was crushing them to death.
The enemy leader’s eyes bulged as he saw his underlings being mercilessly trampled. His eyes flickered from side to side, utterly confused at what was happening in front of him. A pair of blue eyes appeared in front of him.
“What took you so long?” someone whispered in a low voice, and he gasped.
“I almost died waiting for you.”
Kim Hyeong-Jun grabbed the enemy leader’s face in his hands and slammed it against the ground. However, his head didn’t burst right away, probably because the ground was soft. Instead of slamming it down once more, Kim Hyeong-Jun broke both of the leader’s arms instead.
“Where is the Northeast Gang based?” he asked.
The enemy leader already looked like they were knocked out. They were so shocked that it seemed like they were going through a panic disorder. From the enemy leader’s perspective, Kim Hyeong-Jun was already a demon that happened to be on Earth. As the enemy leader stayed silent, Kim Hyeong-Jun smacked the enemy leader and asked again.
“The headquarters. Where is it!”
“Hwa… Hwabuk. Hwabuk! Hwabuk.”
“Huh? Hwabuk?”
“Hwabuk-dong, Hwabuk Industrial Complex… Hwabuk Industrial Complex, sir.”
“Can you lead me there?”
The enemy leader was trembling violently, like a tree in a vicious rainstorm. His body was all tensed up, as though overcome with fear. Kim Hyeong-Jun had a unique and rather reckless way of handling situations, which often made his allies nervous, but stirred absolute confusion and terror in his enemies.
Kim Hyeong-Jun forced the enemy leader upright.
“Guide me to the complex. I’ll spare you if you do.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll spare you. I’ll let you go.”
“Ah, ah, ah.”
The enemy leader couldn’t even formulate a proper reply, merely nodding over and over. Kim Hyeong-Jun slapped him on the back and told him to get going. The enemy leader’s underlings stood still, staring blankly at Mood-Swinger and Kim Hyeong-Jun. It seemed like the enemy leader had ordered them to stop moving after recognizing that any resistance was futile and would only get on his adversary’s nerves.
Mood-Swinger sucked his finger as he stared at the motionless zombies. It seemed like he was contemplating on whether or not he should continue ‘whacking the moles’ or not. Kim Hyeong-Jun flashed him a hearty smile.
“Mood-Swinger, keep an eye on them. Catch the ones that move. Those are the moles.”
“Arnold!”
Mood-Swinger replied happily, flashing a hearty smile.
The enemy leader headed east, and Kim Hyeong-Jun followed. After a moment, he heard the sound of something collapsing about five hundred meters ahead of them. Feeling suspicious, Kim Hyeong-Jun grabbed the enemy leader by the collar.
“Are we near the industrial complex?” he asked.
“Oh, no, no. We still have a long way to go.”
“Then what was that sound?”
“I-I don’t know. I really don't know...”
Kim Hyeong-Jun frowned and glared at him, but the enemy leader merely shrugged, looking as though he were about to burst into tears at any moment. Kim Hyeong-Jun recognized that the enemy leader was clueless as to what that sound had been. He spat on the floor as if unhappy with the unexpected situation, and peered carefully toward where the sound had come from.
After a moment, he was able to spot a purple figure slashing through the darkness. Feeling relieved, Kim Hyeong-Jun finally relaxed.
“Ahjussi!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.
The figure that was making its way through the zombies stopped.
It was Lee Hyun-Deok.
* * *
I tilted my head and arched my eyebrows as I noticed Kim Hyeong-Jun. I was pretty sure that I had told him to conceal himself at the rental car company. I had no clue why he was all the way out here.
Grrr…
A zombie with only its upper body crawled over, letting out a throat-rending cry. After I smashed its skull, I went over to Kim Hyeong-Jun.
“Why are you here? What about the rental car company?” I asked.
“I’ll explain in a moment. But just like you said, ahjussi, the Hounds are planning something against us.”
I looked at him, waiting for him to explain further, and he filled me in on what had happened a little while ago. After hearing the whole story, I smacked my lips and looked at the red-eyed zombie next to Kim Hyeong-Jun.
“So you’re saying that this fellow is leading you to the Northeast Gang?” I asked with a sigh.
“That’s right, ahjussi. The question is, what are you doing here, ahjussi?”
“I was going through the hotel and the surrounding buildings, and I thought I might as well replenish some of my underlings while clearing up some more zombies.”
“And you’re creating all this ruckus just to do that?”
“Well, I have to be loud in order to draw the Northeast Gang out. But it’s been quiet so far.”
Kim Hyeong-Jun smiled and slapped my forearm.
"Ahjussi, you’re quite the macho man sometimes, you know?” he said with a smirk.
“Huh?”
“I bet you’ve been wanting to kill zombies for so long. I can tell.”
I shook my head and let out a sigh. Noting my resigned expression, Kim Hyeong-Jun cleared his throat.
“Anyway, how many underlings have you recruited?” he asked.
“Eighty.”
“And you’re recruiting underlings… Because of the black creature, right?”
“It’d be good for you to get more underlings as well. You know, just in case.”
Kim Hyeong-Jun didn’t really take what I’d said seriously and continued to speak.
“Well, if we take care of the Northeast Gang’s headquarters, we’ll get their officers as well as their lieutenants. It’ll be a piece of cake to recruit new underlings then.”
The enemy leader next to Kim Hyeong-Jun howled at the top of his lungs, his eyes bulging out of his head.
“I-I thought you were going to spare me!” he yelled.
“Oh! What the hell! You surprised me! Why’d you scream?” asked Kim Hyeong-Jun in annoyance. The enemy leader burst into tears.
“You, you said you were going to spare me earlier!” he cried, sobbing. “Why did you just say that you’re going to kill everyone?!”
“No, I only said that I’d spare you. When did I ever say that I’d spare the officers there as well?”
"Well, I-I'm one of the lieutenants."
Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his head and frowned in annoyance, then looked over at me. I sighed and addressed the enemy leader.
“Okay. Just shut up and take the lead so we can get going.”
New n𝙤vel chapters are published on fre(e)webnov(l).com