Chapter 34
I headed to Wangsimni Station after coming to some agreements with my crew. As I got near to Wangsimni Station, I saw the big supermarket from afar.
Before going inside, I ordered the underlings I’d brought with me to be on the lookout. I had brought a total of three underlings with me; all of them had vision.
I ordered one of my underlings to go east, west, and south. I ordered them to find the highest building in their respective directions and settle down on the rooftops. After that, I gave them only one order.
‘Send signals if you see any red or black creatures.’
Since my underlings had experience with both red and black creatures, they followed my orders without question. I took a look at where my underlings were, then headed north. I made my way to the supermarket and scouted out the surroundings.
I saw a total of twenty-four zombies roaming around the streets. Most of them had vision. As time passed, it seemed like more zombies would develop vision. They were like adolescents going through puberty and entering adulthood. Their senses were getting better by the day. The speed at which they developed was out of this world. It was way beyond what humans were capable of.
On my way, I noticed that the barricades that were set up to defend against the ones who only had their sense of hearing became useless, and the decoys used to fight off the ones with a sense of smell also became useless.
In order to fight off the ones with vision, people needed a safer and more effective weapon. It was obvious that there was a limit to what one could do with a monkey wrench or kitchen knife.
‘I guess the best weapon is a gun, isn’t it? Actually, no. It might be more dangerous because of the noise.’
I shook my head with a frown.
‘Is there a weapon that isn’t as loud as a gun that can still attack enemies from a distance?’
A catapult or bow would be the best weapons in this situation. However, getting a catapult or bow in Korea was akin to asking for the moon. I sighed deeply and looked up into the night sky.
Perhaps the best weapon in the current situation was a zombie that acted for the humans’ sake, like me. It was the most guaranteed and low-risk option. The problem was figuring out how many more creatures like me existed.
I shook my head violently at this conundrum, and looked at the nearby zombies. Every one of them froze when they saw me. They moved like animals stuck in a swamp, not even thinking about getting away. All they did was sway their bodies side by side, not knowing what to do.
I ran toward them before they had the chance to flee. I pushed every single one I could lay my hands on. I knew that leaving the ones with vision alive would be a big threat to the survivors, whereas the more zombies with vision I had as underlings, the better it was for me.
I frowned, pressing my thumbs against my temples. My eardrums were already ringing only after pushing five zombies. But at the same time, I knew it would be a waste to let the zombies who could see and whose bodies were whole just roam around.
I kept on making more underlings on my way to the supermarket. Once I got to the entrance of the supermarket, I realized that I had made a total of twenty new underlings.
‘Be on the lookout, like how your seniors are doing.’
Grr! Gar!
The twenty fresh recruits went their separate ways immediately after getting my orders. Only after that did I enter the supermarket.
This was my actual objective from the beginning.
* * *
I walked into the first floor of the supermarket and was greeted by a rather gloomy atmosphere. I didn’t feel the presence of any living creatures. Instead, I saw half-torn advertisements along with a bunch of hangers strewn across the floor. There were branded items that I couldn’t even imagine owning when I’d been a human just lying on the floor. However, all of it didn’t matter, since they were basically trash now.
I made my way quietly around the first floor. I didn’t sense the presence of anyone or anything, dead or alive.
I found the travelator that led to the second floor, and noticed that there was a barricade. It was poorly built, serving almost no purpose. It was just a random stack of chairs, desks, and boxes that seemed about to collapse with the slightest touch.
‘I can’t imagine there being any survivors here.’
At least for the first floor, I didn’t see any traces of people staying here. But it was too early to give up. I made my way over the barricade and headed toward the second floor just in case.
When I got to the second floor, I saw a bunch of tents with holes in them. There were all sorts of utensils, duvets, and clothes lying inside. They were covered in a layer of dust, so I assumed that it had been at least a week since they’d last been used.
Judging by the number of tents and the amount of rotten food, it seemed like there had been more than twenty survivors camping out here at least.
‘Where did they all go?’
Considering the food they’d left behind, a zombie ambush was a possibility. I rubbed my chin as I looked around the deserted floor.
At that moment, I remembered the shield mark on top of Haengdang-dong on the map of Seoul. Unlike the other areas, the shield marker on this location was tiny and misshapen. I had assumed that it was because that portion of the map had gotten wet, but now that I thought about it, it could have been done intentionally, in an attempt to erase the shield marking.
That opened up the possibility that the survivors here had all been annihilated. I let out a deep sigh and headed toward the travelator that led to the third floor.
With each step, the same thought kept running through my mind. If, hypothetically, the survivors had been annihilated, there should have been some zombies inside the building. But I hadn’t seen a single zombie since I’d entered the first floor. At this point, it seemed like the supermarket did not allow any creature inside, no matter if that being was a survivor or zombie.
These questions made me doubt my earlier reasoning. It was possible that something else could have happened besides a massacre.
Swish.
Just then, a noise tickled my ears. I stopped midway on the travelator leading toward the third floor. As with the travelator that connected the first and second floors, there was a barricade.
Unlike the first-floor barricade, though, this one was a lot sturdier. However, that didn’t matter to me. They were a minor annoyance that I could easily jump over. The barricade itself wasn’t bothering me—it was the noise I heard beyond the barricade.
I stopped moving and crouched down, focusing on the sound coming from behind the barricade. I wondered who the noise was being made by—survivors or zombies. However, I could no longer feel their presence, as though they somehow knew that I was there.
‘Are they aware of my presence too?’
The beings on the underside were acting just like me, hiding their presence. This meant that they weren’t merely ordinary zombies from the streets. This probably meant that whatever was on the other side were beings that could think and feel.
‘But what if I’m speculating wildly? What if it’s another living being like a cat or dog in this building?’
For some reason, though, I was certain that the noise I’d heard was something or someone dragging their shoes.
‘Can wild animals make that kind of noise?’
If the noise had been the sound of something dropping, or some sort of loud cry, it would have been possible that it indicated the presence of a wild animal. But if it was something or someone dragging their shoes, it came down to two possibilities.
Either they were a survivor, or they were a being like me.
I walked as quietly as I could toward the window, thinking of escaping the supermarket through there. If the beings on the other side of the barricade were survivors, they would most definitely attack me.
And if the being was similar to me, it would result in a nasty situation. It was best to get out of this situation, regardless if they were survivors or not.
I went to the broken window on the second floor and hurled myself outside. I landed as quietly as I could on the first floor. As soon as I landed, I hid myself in the darkness.
The halo of the moon was brighter than usual, and an unusually eerie atmosphere pervaded the lonely city.
Unless the beings on the third floor were glowing creatures with red eyes like me, they would never be able to find me.
I went around the supermarket and hid in the building behind it. It was facing the supermarket, and thanks to its many floors, I would be able to see the entire supermarket in one go.
I quietly went up the stairs to the third floor. I examined the interior of the supermarket through a broken window. The first and second floor of the supermarket were absolutely silent and blanketed with a dreary atmosphere, just like it had been earlier on.
But what I saw through the third floor window made me nervous, causing my body to stiffen. There were survivors. I saw four survivors moving around like cockroaches, their backs hunched. It seemed like they hadn't seen me. They were quietly surveilling their surroundings. I wondered if they were trying to locate the presence of whoever it was that they had sensed earlier on.
Or were they getting ready to hunt me down? No, they weren’t getting ready to hunt. They seemed to be gathering to protect themselves from potential danger.
Among the hastily-moving survivors, I saw a man in his twenties, quivering with fear. Even from this distance, I could see him trembling on the floor. He had a forged steel pole in his hands. The poles seemed to ripple as the moonlight reflected off of it.
A moment later, a man in his late forties came up to the young man and patted him on the shoulder. It seemed like he was trying to calm him down. The younger man got a hold of himself, nodded and straightened his back.
Then, he began to move. I had my eyes locked on him. He eventually reached a large tent. At first, I thought it was a big piece of cloth used to cover items, but it was in fact a large tent for survivors to hide in.
It seemed like the survivors there had connected several large pieces of cloth together to make a big shelter, using several items in the supermarket as supports.
The man in his twenties slid into the tent. After a few moments, he came out with five other people. There were young women and men, along with an old woman. Each of them moved to separate, specific locations, as if their movements were pre-planned.
They were moving in unison. They seemed to have a rather stable system going on. They weren’t kicking out or ignoring those that were scared or weak, but rather looking after each other and watching each other’s backs.
‘I need to bring Lee Jeong-Uk here.’
I sighed with relief, flushing away the nervousness that had engulfed my body. I had finally found real people. I sat down on the dusty floor.
‘Thank goodness. What a relief.’
Just seeing survivors who hadn’t lost their humanity brought a smile to my face. Even though we were living in a world full of zombies, I felt a glimmer of hope that the world was still an okay place to live.
I crawled toward the emergency exit so that the survivors wouldn’t notice me. I wanted to get back to the apartment and tell everyone the good news. I wanted to let them know at this very instant that there were survivors at the supermarket who still clung to their humanity.
“Waa, waaah!”
‘What’s that noise?’
I stopped in my tracks and quickly turned around. It was coming from the building across from me. The building across from me was obviously the supermarket. I lost my train of thought, and immediately rushed back to the window.
The survivors on the third floor were totally caught off-guard. Every one of them was staring at the same thing, their faces a mixture of clueless anxiety. Their eyes were all locked on the big tent. A baby inside was crying. It was wailing at the top of its lungs.
It was a sad, mournful wail. The baby had no intention of stopping.
Someone covered the baby’s mouth, and I ceased hearing it crying. This all happened in the span of five seconds. Just five. However, those five seconds of crying had been enough to wake up the sleeping city. I looked around, my eyes wide open.
GRR, GRR.
I heard the zombies howling. As soon as one howled, others took up the call. Their howling spread out like wildfire, even into alleyways and roads that I couldn’t see. Chills ran down my spine.
In moments, I saw a black wave heading in my direction. The black wave roiled into a deadly tsunami that was preparing to crash into a lighthouse. It made its way over swiftly, clearly intending to extinguish any light that dared to shine in the darkness. In this case, the lighthouse was the supermarket.
The waves were coming in from all directions. I couldn’t even count how many zombies there were.
‘Maybe fifty? Seventy? Or even a hundred?’
I couldn’t fathom their numbers. The zombie with the glowing red eyes at the high school had more than three hundred underlings. Right now, though, that number seemed insufficient. A larger and wilder tidal wave was making its way to the supermarket.
Zombies that were acting on their instincts, not under orders, were charging toward the supermarket. I glanced at the survivors and gritted my teeth. None of them dared to move. The man in his twenties, who had been trembling violently just a couple of minutes ago, was no longer shaking. I wondered if he had overcome his fears.
‘No, there’s no way.’
Instead, I saw the hope of survival drain out of his eyes. They slowly turned into soulless orbs. He was sinking ever deeper into a swamp of despair. All the other survivors seemed to be caught in the same swamp. With death staring them in the face, they had lost the will to resist.
I closed my eyes to maintain my composure as much as possible. I took a couple of deep breaths and sent out an order to the underlings around me.
‘Everyone, gather at the first floor of the supermarket.’
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