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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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Damn. I’d forgotten to charge my phone again. Not that I had a charger, anyway. The thought lingered as a ringtone pierced the quiet. Ugh, my eyes. Even after showering, I was still half-asleep. I rubbed my eyes as Soo-hyun answered.
“Mmm, Oppa…” Still sleepy, I see.
I chuckled. “Hey, it’s me. Everything okay?”
“Mmm…” A grunt. A mumble. I wasn’t sure. If she was sleeping soundly, things must be alright. I smiled. “Okay, go back to sleep. I’ll call you when I’m on my way back.”
“Mmm…”
I hung up. Cute. I sat there, chuckling to myself, then got up. Two Ingram MAC-10s holstered on my thighs. A bow and sixteen arrows. And two swords. Not exactly the most fitting accessories for a tracksuit. I needed to raid a clothing store for some jeans and a t-shirt. I looked at myself in the mirror for a moment, then left the room.
The motel was quiet. Everyone must have stuffed themselves and gone to sleep, happy to have had a decent meal for once. Outside, the team members were gathered. A few looked a little puffy-faced, but their eyes were clear.
I spoke to Sung Kyu-hyuk. “Lead the way to the nearest clothing store and mid-sized market.”
He smiled and nodded. “Let’s go, Sung-hoon.”
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“Phew…” I took a deep breath, hiding behind a truck parked in an alley behind the mid-sized market.
“Roarrr!”
Crash! The sound of shattering glass. A rush of footsteps. Growls and howls. I peered around the truck towards the market. No shadows approaching from that direction. The team members knelt in a line beside me, their gazes alternating between me and the alley. I chuckled. “There are a lot of them. This will take a while. Let’s clear out the clothing store we swept earlier and come back here later.”
One of the team members raised his rifle. “Sung-hoon, we’ll help.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk shook his head. “No. We can’t risk firing our guns unnecessarily. And the ammo we have now is for the Pyeongtaek base. We need to conserve it. Don’t fire unless absolutely necessary.” He glanced at me. “I’ll leave this to you, Sung-hoon.”
I nodded. Sung Kyu-hyuk and the others nodded back. The team leader was right. The Pyeongtaek base. There would be no cover there. They didn’t know how many creatures there were, and there might not be any place to hide. If they needed to unleash their firepower, that would be the time.
We agreed to raid the clothing store, return to the motel, and regroup at lunchtime. I rested in my room. The mid-sized market we’d just scouted. Because of the constant small zombie waves in the area, the entire market had become a nest of creatures. Four or five hundred, by my estimate. Every nook and cranny was overflowing with them.
The bow was good for silent sniping, but arrow regeneration was slow. I’d only managed to accumulate about twenty. The Ingram MAC-10s were great for taking out multiple targets quickly, but the noise was a problem. To maximize my kill count in an area like this, I needed my swords. The previous raid had earned me a level up, bringing my Strength to 61. …Thirty-nine more to go. The Sense 100 perk had doubled my efficiency. Strength would likely be the same. Once I reached Strength 100, I’d be operating at peak efficiency in both melee and ranged combat.
“Phew…” But leveling up was so slow. Fifty kills per level. I had reached level 16 a few days after acquiring the new specialization, so it wasn’t exactly slow, but I still felt impatient.
Bzzzz
Crackle, bzzzz
A familiar sound. Not loud, but definitely audible. Welding. Sergeant Song Kyu-tae had been quite pleased to receive the hardware supplies. He must be reinforcing the motel. Good. They needed to fortify this place first and then gradually rebuild.
I took a short nap, woke up, ate a cup of ramen for lunch, and left the room. The Chief Secretary, the President, and Sung Kyu-hyuk were gathered in the first-floor lobby.
“Ah, Sung-hoon. Are you heading out now? I’ll get the team ready,” Sung Kyu-hyuk said, smiling. I don’t think I’d ever seen him smile like that before. A relaxed, genuine smile. The abundance of supplies must have eased his mind.
I shook my head. “No. As I said earlier, clearing the market will take some time. Probably be done by tomorrow.”
“That long?” he asked, surprised.
Hmm… I couldn’t exactly tell him I needed to recharge my stats.
Chief Secretary Ahn Jun-gyu smiled. “What’s the rush? As long as we secure the supplies, it doesn’t matter if it takes a little longer.”
President Min Jeong-woo spoke. “Everyone is grateful for your efforts, Sung-hoon. Don’t push yourself too hard. Your well-being is our top priority.”
“Yes, thank you.” I turned to Sung Kyu-hyuk. “How is your sister?”
He nodded. “She’s a little better. No broken bones, thankfully. Just a severe sprain. She won’t be able to walk properly for a while, but the painkillers and bandages we got from the pharmacy seem to be helping with the pain, so she’s been able to sleep. That’s a relief.”
“Good. I’m glad to hear it.” I started to bow my head when Sung Kyu-hyuk spoke. “So, we’re off duty today then? Correct?”
President Min Jeong-woo and Chief Secretary Ahn Jun-gyu looked at me. I shrugged.
President Min Jeong-woo spoke. “Indeed. Would you like to rest?”
“No. I can’t. I had a full lunch, so it’s time for me to start my mission.”
Chief Secretary Ahn Jun-gyu said, “Ah,” then asked, “Are there any survivors left out there?”
“I don’t know. We’ll have to search. The 3rd, 4th, and 5th teams will conduct search operations after they complete their refueling mission.”
Chief Secretary Ahn Jun-gyu nodded. “Alright. Do you need anything?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk thought for a moment, then smiled faintly. “We have weapons… Walkie-talkies would be nice, but since we don’t, we’ll have to use our phones.”
“Right. Of course.” The Chief Secretary smiled, clapping Sung Kyu-hyuk on the shoulder. The president, his face etched with concern, said, “Please be careful. Don’t get hurt. And come back immediately if anything happens. We’ve already lost three fine men. I don’t want to lose any more.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded firmly. “I’ll keep that in mind. Then…” He bowed to me and headed up the stairs.
“I should get going too.” I nodded and left the motel, seen off by their farewells.
The sun felt good. A little hot, but good. This wasn’t bad at all. At this rate, they’d have a sustainable community in no time. Except for a few civilians, everyone seemed competent. And decent people, too.
I was on my way back from the mid-sized market, exhausted and covered in blood, after clearing it out. I met members of the 2nd team, supporting and carrying other people. …Survivors.
They stopped when they saw me. I hurried over. “There were still people alive?” I asked.
Sung Kyu-hyuk and the other team members wore grim expressions. “More people have starved to death,” Sung Kyu-hyuk said. “These people aren’t in good condition either. We need to search the area thoroughly.”
He was right. The people being helped and carried were young men and women. They’d survived this long because they were healthy. The elderly and children had likely starved to death by now. Or turned into human beasts. I examined the survivors, barely conscious and on the verge of death, and nodded at Sung Kyu-hyuk. The team members all looked distressed. One murmured, “I’m sorry.”
…Guilt? Why? I watched them walk away, puzzled. Then, it hit me. …The constant small zombie waves. In my neighborhood, there were still survivors scattered around, even aside from the Cockroaches. Most met their end with a scream, but the constant sounds meant that someone, somewhere, was still scavenging. But not here. I had barely heard any screams. Just once last night. And that was it. As the zombie waves dispersed and reformed, almost every store had become infested.
Ordinary people couldn’t possibly scavenge in this area. The very actions they’d taken – flying the helicopter and the light aircraft – had inadvertently starved the survivors in this area. That’s what I saw in the special forces members’ expressions. The fact that their attempts to rescue people had led to the opposite outcome must have been devastating for them.
They had needed weapons to rescue people. They had needed me to acquire weapons, and to find and recruit me, they had needed to fly the helicopter and the light aircraft. And because they had flown, people had starved.
How many people had lived in this area? The special forces members would likely find only emaciated corpses in most of the houses they searched.
I put my hands on my hips and sighed. Good people, good intentions. But good intentions didn’t always lead to good outcomes. This wasn’t anyone’s fault. It was just… the apocalypse. I tasted blood in my mouth. I spat it onto the ground, then placed my hand on the hilt of my sword and started walking. …Time to rest. Rescuing as many people as possible was their mission. Securing supplies for those they rescued was mine. Time to recover.
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