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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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Sung Kyu-hyuk must have been feeling the same way as me. “Animals… eat those monsters?”
The big man’s face contorted as he looked up at Sung Kyu-hyuk. “I see you call those inhuman things monsters. We just call them zombies.”
I called them human beasts. Everyone had a different name for them, it seemed.
The big man continued, “And yes, animals eat zombies. Not just zombies, they seem to eat each other too.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk looked at me. He must have been feeling the same way. No, all the special forces members must have been. Animals. We knew they had disappeared somewhere. Birds, rats, dogs, and cats had vanished from the streets. We hadn’t seen or heard a single one since the apocalypse. My earlier guess was right. The animals had been gathering, forming a wave of their own. And eating each other.
I looked at Sung Kyu-hyuk. There was more to find out. Ask him.
As if he had read my mind, Sung Kyu-hyuk turned and looked down at the big man. “I have a few more questions. If there’s an animal infestation here, what is the US military doing? What preparations are they making?”
The big man shook his head. “I already answered that. They know what they’re doing, not us. We just came here to get weapons.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk nodded and asked again, “One last question. Why guns?”
The big man looked at Sung Kyu-hyuk, tilting his head. I couldn’t tell if he was a farmer or a construction worker, but his dark, tanned skin and furrowed brow made him look quite fierce. “Why guns? What do you mean?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk replied in a calm voice, “Guns are loud. They’ll attract the monsters. Are the animals different?”
“No. They’re not different. The animals are attracted to the sound too.”
“Then why guns? You have shovels in your hands. Wouldn’t it be better to deal with them quietly if possible?”
The big man’s expression changed strangely. It was a mix of a smile and a bitter grimace. “…You guys really haven’t seen those animals, have you?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk waited silently for his answer.
The man said, “Hey, government man. Have you ever seen a bat flying at dusk? They’re quite small and cute, right? About the size of a palm. The big ones are maybe the size of two palms put together.” The smile gradually faded from the man’s face. “The bats here are on a completely different level. Bats with bodies the size of a person, and wingspans of several meters, fly through the sky. And the dogs? The cats? They’re the size of trucks. The cats aren’t cats anymore. A tiger would be smaller. The only ones that have maintained their original size are the birds and the rats. But even that is starting to change.”
As he listened, Sung Kyu-hyuk’s expression became more and more serious. The other special forces members, Sung Ga-yeon, and I all felt the same. A cat bigger than a tiger? A dog the size of a car? What was that?
Sung Kyu-hyuk asked, “What do you mean, starting to change?”
The big man sighed and answered, “I’m talking about what they eat. They get bigger the more they eat. The first to grow were the four-legged carnivores. Then the bats. The birds and rats have maintained their original form so far, but it’s only a matter of time. They’re getting bigger day by day.”
The faces of the kneeling people grew darker. Shadows fell across their brows.
Sung Kyu-hyuk asked, “…They get bigger the more they eat… You mean they’re eating the people in the city… no, the monsters, and growing?”
“Yes. They also grow by eating each other. The more they eat, the more they become, as you said, monsters. What do you think would happen if a truck-sized dog stuck its head in your window?” The big man bared his teeth in anger. “Iron bars on the windows are no better than toothpicks. The whole wall gets smashed. So tell me. How else can we protect ourselves if not with guns and bombs?”
Sung Kyu-hyuk couldn’t answer. He just looked down at the middle-aged man. A truck-sized dog smashing through a window. That was… definitely not an ordinary situation.
Sung Ga-yeon, who had been listening, stepped forward and asked, “You said the animals eat the monsters. Are the survivors alright? Has anyone been eaten?”
The big man looked at Sung Ga-yeon. “No. No living person has been eaten yet. But it’s only a matter of time. The number of zombies in the city is decreasing.”
The old man behind him spoke up. “No. The helicopter brought a lot of zombies earlier. The ones in the city were probably provoked and swarmed. The buildings might be full again.”
The big man glared back at him and snapped, “Shut up. We don’t know that. What if the helicopter dragged away all the zombies that were left and now the buildings are empty?”
The old man fell silent.
The big man sighed. “If that happens, it’s all over. The creatures will have nothing to eat, and they’ll definitely attack the houses of the living.” The man looked up at Sung Kyu-hyuk and bared his teeth. “We need weapons. Guns! We need guns to live!”
…So that’s why they had aimed at the helicopter. If a zombie wave occurred, the city might become empty. And they thought they would all die.
Sung Kyu-hyuk was biting his lip. So was I. These people had aimed at Sung Kyu-hyuk’s comrades, at me, and pulled the trigger. Normally, now that we had the information, the right thing to do would be to kill them. Ah… A bitter taste filled my mouth. I took out a cigarette, lit it, and sighed, looking at the ground. A long plume of smoke escaped my lips. I felt eyes on me. I looked up. Sung Kyu-hyuk and the special forces members were looking at me. …I knew what they were thinking. I was the one who had been shot at, and I was the one who had subdued them. They were silently entrusting their fate to me.
I took a drag of my cigarette and looked at Sung Kyu-hyuk. Inhale. Exhale. …Tsk. I spat on the ground and said, “From now on, when I tell you to drop your guns, just drop them. Don’t go shooting at people just because I tell you to. Next time, I’ll cut your throat. Got it?”
I turned and walked past the special forces members. The team leader nodded at me. Then he gestured for his men to return the guns. Click, click. I glanced back. The special forces members were unloading the magazines and clearing the chambers before returning the weapons. A few of them were still pointing their guns at the survivors. A warning. If they tried to load their magazines, they would be shot. The people took their guns and trudged away. The ones without guns just trudged away.
Sung Ga-yeon followed me. “Are you just letting them go? They could be dangerous.”
“Just let them go.” I chuckled. “What can I do? I’m an icon of benevolence and love, overflowing with compassion.”
At that, Sung Ga-yeon’s face twisted into a truly bizarre expression. I shrugged. “I’ve warned them. They probably won’t do anything stupid again.”
“What if they come back?”
“Then what…” Someone came to mind. I chuckled. “I’ll just have to cut off both of their arms and gouge out their eyes.”
Sung Ga-yeon furrowed her brow. “…If you’re going to do that, just kill them.”
“Is it better to just kill them?”
“Than cutting off their arms and gouging out their eyes, yes. It would be better to just kill them.”
Really? Hmm. I had a different opinion. I thought that those who ignored warnings and acted like assholes deserved a punishment worse than death. I shrugged. “I’ll think about it.”
I heard footsteps behind me. The survivors were walking away in the distance. And watching them, the special forces members were walking towards me.
“Where are we going now?”
“To the US military base. I need to find out why they’re not giving people guns and what they’re doing inside.” Even if they were the US military and this was a foreign country, from what the survivors had said, the situation was pretty bad, and they were handing out weapons like charity. What were the US military doing? If they were being selfish and holding onto their weapons, saying, “This is mine, you can’t have it!” then I’d just have to wipe them all out and call the helicopter.
As I was thinking that, walking down the runway, Sung Kyu-hyuk came up beside me. “Sung-hoon. By any chance, do you speak English?”
…Uh. I stopped walking. Sung Ga-yeon must have read my expression. She sighed and patted my shoulder. “I’ll translate for you. Let’s go.”
Oh. I started walking again and looked at Sung Ga-yeon. “Are you good at English?”
“My brother and I lived in Canada when we were young.”
Oh. “Your father was a ‘goose father’?”
Sung Ga-yeon chuckled and shook her head. “No, we immigrated. My father was in the Air Force. He was scouted as a pilot for a Canadian airline, so our whole family went. I thought we would just live there. But my brother went crazy and insisted on becoming a soldier. But he couldn’t in Canada. So he gave up his Canadian citizenship and came to Korea.”
“…And you, Ga-yeon? Why did you come back?”
Sung Ga-yeon shook her head and shrugged. “I just went crazy too. I should have just stayed there.”
Sung Kyu-hyuk, who had been listening, smiled. “You would have lost contact with us if you had stayed there.”
Sung Ga-yeon fell silent. I asked cautiously, “Did you lose contact with your parents?”
Sung Ga-yeon nodded. Then she said, “We’re not the only ones.”
…She was right. I had also lost contact with my parents and sister since the apocalypse. Suddenly, there was nothing to say. We walked down the runway in silence. And so, we walked to the end of the runway. The US military base was revealed.
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