Chapter 67
The survivors lost their wits, behaving like headless chickens.
“Who, who do we have to shoot?”
“Those aren’t colored blue!”
“Then are they ene… enemies?”
In their minds, the newly appeared zombies were enemies. The survivors pointed their guns at Kim Hyeong-Jun and his underlings. Park Gi-Cheol, seeing all of this, yelled at the top of his lungs,
“Don’t shoot!”
All the survivors were taken aback by Park Gi-Cheol’s yell. They still had their guns pointed toward the zombies, still nervous and not knowing what to do.
Once the enemy leader noticed that no more bullets were flying his way, he threw away the steel door he had been using as his shield and yelled toward Kim Hyeong-Jun, “Stop!!!”
Kim Hyeong-Jun hesitated for a second after hearing the enemy leader’s voice, but a frown appeared on his face and he increased the speed of his charge.
A zombie that was capable of talking. To Kim Hyeong-Jun, that meant he was part of the gang, and Kim Hyeong-Jun had been hunting down gang members for a long time. He hated gang members with a burning passion. As long as Kim Hyeong-Jun knew what he was, there was no way he was going to leave the enemy leader alone.
Kim Hyeong-Jun was enraged. Fearlessly, he charged straight for the enemy leader. The enemy leader desperately fell into a defensive stance, preparing to deal with Kim Hyeong-Jun’s attack.
The remaining red zombies and Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings crashed together.
Pshhh—
As the battlefield turned into chaos, steam began to emerge from my flapping flesh. My blood started circulating more quickly, and my entire body began to heat up like a bonfire.
My body started to regenerate.
“HAAA—”
As steam gushed out from me, Park Gi-Cheol’s eyes went wide. He was next to me, and placed his hands on my shoulders.
“Are you all… Oh, Jesus!”
Park Gi-Cheol sprung upwards, his hand flying off my shoulder. He looked utterly surprised. After a moment, he stammered, “Are, are you okay? You have steam coming… Out… Oh wait…”
Park Gi-Cheol examined me from top to bottom, and his mouth fell open as he watched my legs begin to grow again. He’d lost his ability to form words.
I let out more steam than usual, since my injury was far beyond normal.
The steam rose in a thick cloud, which wrapped around me and blocked my enemy’s view. I peered with my red glowing eyes through the darkness and assessed the entire situation. Carrying Park Gi-Cheol, I regrouped with the other survivors.
I whipped out my notepad and wrote a message.
- Go back to the shelter.
I tossed my notepad at Park Gi-Cheol, then threw myself back into the battlefield. The remaining red zombies were being relentlessly pushed back by Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings.
‘Where is he? Where is he!’
As my glowing red eyes flashed, my pupils contracted, and all my senses were heightened. In between zombies’ cries, I heard quick, sharp, staccato thuds.
This sound wasn’t coming from the fight between underlings. It has to be from a fight between leaders. It was a sound that only colliding leaders could make.
I traced the source of the sound and saw the enemy leader and Kim Hyeong-Jun locked in a fierce battle.
Kim Hyeong-Jun was a wild animal, punching and kicking away like there was no tomorrow. He was a beast that had lost its mind, and was trying his best to beat the living hell out of the enemy leader.
As the fight went on, he took a few hits from the enemy leader, who hurled counterattacks. I channeled all my strength into my thighs and calves and sprung toward them, kicking the enemy leader in the back of the head.
Thud!
“GAAAR!”
The enemy leader’s neck twisted and he let out a despairing cry. He was knocked to the ground, but swiftly picked himself up again.
Kim Hyeong-Jun didn’t miss his chance and was on him like lightning, aiming a punch at its solar plexus. The enemy leader was blown off the ground, and his ribs cracked audibly.
A stream of red blood spewed from his mouth as he hung in midair. I seized the opportunity and grabbed his body, slamming him down.
Crack!
The enemy leader’s shoulder blades and backbone shattered, his bones and joints snapping loudly.
Kim Hyeong-Jun flew over the top of me and stabbed a foot into the enemy leader’s stomach like a sharpened spear. As I raised my right hand to land the finishing blow, the enemy leader spewed out a mouthful of blood and yelled, “STOPPP!!!”
I saw the enemy leader’s hands trembling. It was making desperate gestures for us to stop.
I couldn’t help but frown as I looked at him waving his hands.
His audacity drove me mad. When I was begging for my life, he’d smirked and toyed with me. But now, he wanted me to spare his life?
And he wanted us to stop right now?
I couldn’t hold in my anger. I ripped off the enemy leader’s left leg and asked while looking him in the eyes.
‘Why? Can’t you do anything?’
“Hey, hey!”
I tore off his right leg this time, shooting him a question as I did so.
‘Is that all you got? Is begging for your life the only thing you can do now? Huh?’
I quoted what it had said to me earlier as my sweet revenge.
The enemy leader’s eyes were wide with fear, now that he was facing this insane version of me. He waved his hand violently and yelled, “I’m, I’m on the same side as you!”
My hands, which were just about to rip off his arms, stopped in midair. The enemy leader didn’t let his chance for redemption pass by. Words tumbled out of his mouth.
“The only reason Shelter Seoul Forest remained safe until this day was all thanks to me!”
I gritted my teeth and looked at Kim Hyeong-Jun. He met my gaze and frowned. I grabbed the enemy leader’s collar and smashed him to the ground again.
‘What kind of bullshit are you trying to come up with!’
“God damn! It’s true! My daughter is in Shelter Seoul Forest as well.”
‘Bullshit! You told me to kill another person, and this is what you come up with?’
“I did it to keep my daughter alive! I needed to come up with an excuse, or perhaps a reason, to trick the officers!”
‘An excuse. A reason.’
After hearing what he’d said, I slowly let him down and unclenched my fists. Kim Hyeong-Jun looked at me incredulously. I looked back at him, and he frowned.
‘Ahjussi, are you really going to fall for this bullshit? You know it's not even worth listening to.’
‘...’
When I remained silent, Kim Hyeong-Jun clicked his tongue and lifted his right leg high. As his foot plunged toward the enemy leader’s head, I stopped him.
‘Wait up.’
‘What do you mean, ‘wait’? Are you actually falling for his bullshit?’
‘I’m going to kill him after I hear all of the nonsense he’s gonna utter.’
‘What?’
I got up and broke the enemy leader’s arm. The enemy leader’s elbow and shoulder joints shattered, and the flesh on his arms were twisted strangely. Putting pressure on the enemy leader’s shoulders, I pulled both of its arms free. The enemy leader was finally in the same state I’d been in earlier, a torso without any arms and legs.
I squatted in front of the enemy leader.
‘You’re dead meat if you try anything funny.’
“What am I going to do, now that you’ve got rid of my arms and legs?”
‘I’m not in the mood for jokes.’
As I grabbed his hair and pulled, the enemy leader spat on the floor.
“You, mister… You ate a black creature’s brain, didn’t you?”
“...”
“That unbelievable healing ability of yours… I know for sure that you ate a black creature’s brain.”
‘How do you know that? Did you also eat a black creature’s brain?’
“Only the officers in the gang can eat black creatures’ brains. Because the boss controls them.”
What he said made sense, since the gang was throwing zombies with glowing red eyes as bait toward Haengdang-dong. I was well aware that they were keeping the rest under control.
I frowned.
‘Then how do you know about the healing abilities?’
“You think you’re a special snowflake or something?”
The enemy leader chuckled as he looked at me. I sighed and punched the enemy leader in the face. His lips burst, and red blood trickled down.
I grabbed his hair and looked him straight in the eyes.
‘Okay then, how many? How many of the gang members have eaten a black creature’s brain? Tell me!’
“The officers and the boss.”
‘How many officers are there?’
“There used to be eight officers, but now, there’s only seven. If I die here, someone else will be the eighth officer.”
‘So you’re saying that you’re going to be the eighth officer?’
“Yes, because I gained their trust. Why don't you believe me?”
The enemy leader coughed out blood, but his smile remained. I wondered why he seemed so relaxed.
Perhaps he didn’t know that I was ready to end his life.
I frowned.
‘You said earlier on that you needed a reason to trick the officers, right?’
“Why, what are you curious about?”
‘Tell me everything you know if you want to make it out alive.’
“Well, do you even have any intention of sparing me if I tell you everything?”
‘If you’re cooperative enough.’
The enemy leader raised his eyebrows and stared at Kim Hyeong-Jun, who was still behind me.
“I don’t think the one behind you thinks the same way.”
Kim Hyeong-Jun was looking at the enemy leader with anger. I smacked my lips.
‘Hyeong-Jun, leave this to me. I’ll tell you everything once I settle this.’
‘What? No. I want to be here too.’
‘Why? Don’t you trust me?’
As I looked Kim Hyeong-Jun in the eyes, his expression turned to one of disgust, and he looked away.
After a moment, he let out a deep breath.
‘Don’t let him get away alive. If you do, I’m going to think that you fell for whatever bullshit he made up.’
‘Don’t worry.’
Kim Hyeong-Jun scratched his head and looked around, then smacked his lips.
‘I’ll go check on Gi-Cheol ahjussi and the survivors. Wrap up quickly, ahjussi.’
The red zombies were already just cold, dead bodies sprawled all across Gangbyeonbuk-ro. Kim Hyeong-Jun walked toward the survivors, kicking aside the red zombie bodies that got in his way. He met up with Park Gi-Cheol, who started briefing him on what had happened.
After I saw Kim Hyeong-Jun and Park Gi-Cheol together, I directed my gaze back at the enemy leader.
‘Tell me everything you had planned out, and the secrets you know about the gang members.’
“...”
The enemy leader looked at me silently, then let out a sigh.
“How much do you know about the gang members?”
“Do you think I don’t know anything about the gang members?”
“Then did you know that the gang members were initially a group for survivors? Did you know that?”
“...?”
I frowned at the enemy leader.
I wasn’t sure if I’d heard that right. A group of survivors?
My face betrayed my confusion. Seeing this, the enemy leader chuckled and continued.
“I knew it. You don’t know anything.”
I frowned and grabbed his collar.
‘If you’re thinking about getting away by lying, I’ll give you a piece of advice. Don’t even try to play such tricks on me.’
He sighed and shook his head.
“What good would it be for me to talk when you’re not even ready to listen? Just kill me already.”
“...”
I bit my lower lip and started thinking. To be honest, I didn’t know much about the gang members. First of all, I hadn’t tried to get to know more about them, and the only impression I had of them was that they were a group full of monsters trying to eat survivors. The enemy leader noticed me deep in thought. He looked at me coolly.
“Didn’t you ask me earlier to tell you everything I knew about the gang?”
“...”
“I’ll tell you just once. So you’d better listen up.”
The enemy leader looked up at the night sky and breathed in deeply. He smacked his lips and continued to speak.
“The gang was founded by three zombies. The three of them were best friends, and all of them were zombies with glowing red eyes. They call themselves ‘the Family’. The name ‘Family’ comes from their desire to get along with other survivors.”
‘So what?’
“Their main staging area was Jongno. Their group grew bigger as they continued to protect people from zombies. But then, at one point, the survivors began to quarrel amongst themselves.”
As I listened to the enemy leader, I couldn’t help but feel sad.
Kim Hyeong-Seok, Kim Hyeong-Jun’s younger brother, had also fought for the sake of survivors, but had eventually turned into a black creature after feeling betrayed. I could tell what kind of trouble the enemy leader was talking about. Just a little bit.
The enemy leader took a quick breath before continuing.
“Greed, the desire to have more than others, to stand above others, broke the system.”
“...”
“And eventually, the survivors messed around with someone they shouldn’t have.”
‘A person they shouldn’t have messed with?’
I tilted my head as I asked the question, and the enemy leader let out a sigh.
“A person whose life these red-eyed zombies considered more precious than their own. The son of one of the zombies with glowing red eyes was beaten to death by the survivors.”
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