Ch.3939. Stories from the Outside (2)

Fortunately, the heavenly gods seemed to be equal to all, as the zombie apocalypse wasn’t a catastrophe that occurred only in South Korea.

The entire East Asian region, including South Korea, was suffering from the same zombie apocalypse disaster.

This meant that Japan, an island nation, as well as North Korea which shares a border with South Korea, were both suffering from the zombie apocalypse. China, which borders North Korea, was also struggling with the zombie apocalypse.

And the situation in other countries bordering China wasn’t much different.

In fact, virtually all of Asia was generally swept up in the zombie apocalypse disaster.

“Long live the Great Leader!”

In the case of North Korea, which was geographically closest to South Korea, they were surprisingly holding up better than South Korea.

Their political system being a one-man dictatorship meant that if the dictator didn’t misjudge the situation and accurately assessed the crisis, he could mobilize the military—his personal army—to resolve the situation.

“Sweep away all the zombies inside Pyongyang, and shoot dead any vermin trying to enter!”

Kim Jeong-man, who ruled North Korea, knew better than anyone how to protect his power. When the zombie disaster struck, he mobilized the entire military to control Pyongyang in order to preserve his authority.

Although his methods weren’t gentle, he hunted and controlled zombies more thoroughly than anyone else, allowing the Kim Jeong-man regime to defend at least Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea.

Yes, they could only defend the capital Pyongyang. To be frank, the remaining regions and provinces had fallen into an uncontrollable state beyond government control.

However, Kim Jeong-man didn’t view the situation pessimistically.

“This is nothing unusual. Deploy the military. Regain control of the provinces.”

Originally, all the power and resources of the North Korean regime were concentrated in Pyongyang. Even if they lost control of the provinces, as long as they could defend Pyongyang, Kim Jeong-man’s power and the North Korean regime could continue.

Kim Jeong-man’s dictatorship was possible precisely because Pyongyang’s power overwhelmingly dominated other provinces. Therefore, he judged that as long as they could defend Pyongyang, they could regain control of the other regions.

Until the apocalypse, Pyongyang had dominated the provinces, and while he might not control the military deployed to the provinces, he definitely had a firm grip on the central army in Pyongyang and his own personal guard, which gave him confidence.

However, there was a variable Kim Jeong-man hadn’t anticipated.

“From today, we declare independence from Pyongyang! We will no longer be slaves to Kim Jeong-man and Pyongyang!”

“You damned peasant!”

Awakened who had emerged in the uncontrolled provinces had grown in power and declared independence in defiance of Pyongyang.

Provinces outside Pyongyang, one after another, declared independence or autonomy as if to vent their resentment at being exploited by Pyongyang all this time. Quite naturally, Pyongyang had no ability whatsoever to suppress them.

One might wonder how an army that had been virtually invincible against its own citizens could lack the ability to suppress rebels, but truly, Pyongyang had no way to stop the rebels’ challenge.

“I’m concerned about the Leader’s leadership abilities?”

“You bastard. You’re a puppet!”

“No, no. I was just worried about our Leader.”

The reason was simple: just as there were Awakened in the provinces declaring independence from Pyongyang, there were also those within Pyongyang who were dissatisfied with Kim Jeong-man’s regime and challenging his authority.

Naturally, to stop them, Kim Jeong-man had no choice but to use his personal guard’s force to forcibly silence the dissatisfied Awakened. While he focused on internal cleanup, provincial uprisings against Pyongyang’s exploitation were gradually emerging.

To make matters worse…

“Grrraaaah.”

“Damn that Chinese bastard!”

Chinese zombies crossing the Yalu River Bridge were pushing the North Korean regime into a corner.

Seal the border in this situation?

With provincial rebellions making proper control impossible, there was no way the Pyongyang regime could control the borders.

Moreover…

“Woohoo! It’s a fun experience point event!”

“Wipe them all out!”

“If we catch that one, our abilities will get stronger! Workers of all countries, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!”

From the perspective of provincial Awakened, Chinese zombies coming from China were like a double—no, a tenfold—experience point event to train their awakened abilities.

Additionally, as more Chinese zombies arrived through the Yalu River, provincial control deteriorated, and Awakened in the provinces had more opportunities to challenge Pyongyang. So even if civilians suffered, Awakened had no reason to control the borders.

Rather, these warlords naturally appeared to interfere with the government’s border control efforts and waited for a massive experience point event—no, zombies—to come from China.

The next country to mention would naturally be China, which shares a border with North Korea.

“What on earth is the central government doing!”

“Well, there’s been no contact from the Party…”

“Damn it!”

To be honest, considering that uncontrolled Chinese zombies were crossing the Yalu River into North Korea, China wasn’t in a good situation either.

For China, a population giant, the zombie apocalypse was as devastating as a civilization collapse.

Moreover, the fact that Beijing, China’s political center, was the first to fall to the zombie apocalypse was like a divine prank for provinces waiting for central directives.

With the central government in Beijing collapsing and the Party chairman going missing, each Chinese province had to deal with this disaster on its own. Naturally, ambitious warlords began to emerge across China…

“There are too many enemies!”

“This is hopeless!”

“Why are zombies using human wave tactics!”

…Well, self-proclaimed heroes and warlords were emerging, but…

Conversely, countless self-proclaimed warlords and heroes were vanishing just as quickly against zombie hordes.

With such a large population, China had produced over a hundred million zombies, and the self-proclaimed heroes who had awakened couldn’t withstand the human wave tactics of the zombie hordes.

Of course, as many disappeared, new self-proclaimed heroes, warlords, and Awakened emerged to show off their ambitions, but no warlord had yet conquered even a single province.

However, with its enormous population making it East Asia’s largest source of Awakened, someday a talented hero would emerge to clean up the disaster in China and unify the continent.

Next to mention would be Japan, the island nation.

“This is the Prime Minister’s curse! The revenge of the assassinated Prime Minister! Ahahahaha!”

To be frank, at this time, Japan was facing multiple crises, including the assassination of the Prime Minister by a citizen and various ominous rumors circulating.

Naturally, when the zombie apocalypse occurred before a new Prime Minister could be elected, the central government collapsed without being able to respond properly. Each region had to somehow deal with the disaster in place of the central government.

Of course, being an unprecedented disaster, they couldn’t follow proper protocols, let alone contain the situation. However, Fukuoka City managed to somewhat stabilize thanks to the emergence of an exceptional Awakened.

There was one minor flaw—the exceptional Awakened happened to be not Japanese but a Korean tourist—but regardless, this Korean group became heroes who saved Fukuoka.

The mayor of Fukuoka sent many invitations trying to recruit them, but…

“I will return to Korea.”

“That’s… unfortunate.”

Unfortunately, they politely declined.

The female Awakened, Jin A-yeon, expressed her strong desire to return to her homeland, South Korea, and the mayor couldn’t force an administrative order despite his disappointment.

The mayor believed that in the current era, fists were much closer than laws, and he knew that the Awakened before him, despite her delicate appearance, had beaten countless zombies.

Not wanting to die by those Godzilla-like fists, the mayor smiled kindly and decided to offer one favor to gain Jin A-yeon’s goodwill.

“Then will you go to Gyeongju?”

“Huh? Why Gyeongju?”

“Isn’t it the only city in South Korea that has overcome the disaster?”

Just as Fukuoka was the only city in Japan to overcome the zombie disaster and reclaim the city, in South Korea, only Gyeongju had reclaimed itself from zombies and established a proper local government.

Naturally, the mayor assumed she would use Gyeongju as a base to reclaim her homeland, but…

“Huh?”

Jin A-yeon just responded with a puzzled expression.

Rather, seeing Jin A-yeon’s reaction, the mayor couldn’t hide his bewilderment.

“Um… Aren’t you going to the Balhut Cult in Gyeongju?”

“What the heck is the Balhut Cult?! I’ve never heard of such an organization!”

Jin A-yeon was shocked.

It seemed she was quite out of touch with world news, as she didn’t know about the most famous ruler of Gyeongju in South Korea.

The mayor deeply regretted sharing this information, but he couldn’t take back his words.

‘The world news is truly dark.’

If he had been more careful, there would have been plenty of room for persuasion.

The mayor sighed, looking at Jin A-yeon’s bewildered expression.

He thought that with prior knowledge, he could have easily persuaded Jin A-yeon.

And the last country to mention was none other than the United States.

America also faced an apocalyptic disaster.

However, what they faced wasn’t the zombie apocalypse that East Asia encountered.

“What the hell is that creature?!”

It might have been easier if America had also faced a zombie apocalypse.

With many firearms in civilian hands and almost every household having at least one gun, Americans could have put bullets into approaching zombies.

Taking down one zombie could awaken someone as an Awakened, making subsequent disaster management much easier.

However, the disaster they faced was an invasion of alien creatures… commonly called an alien apocalypse—an invasion by creatures they had never seen before.

“I’ve seen this in hunter story prologues!”

Of course, Koreans living in America compared this situation to hunter novels.

Indeed, dozens of gates appeared in every state across America, and through these gates, America was invaded.

America had to fight against powerful monsters that didn’t even flinch at citizens’ bullets.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Mr. President!”

Unfortunately, monster hordes appeared in the capital Washington and its center, the White House, resulting in the death of the President—a truly threatening situation.

With the central government essentially brain-dead, there was an unprecedented situation where there was no central government to guide America, but…

“I am still alive!”

“Vice President Arthur!”

America seemed to have divine luck, as Vice President Arthur, who had fortunately escaped the disaster, succeeded the deceased President and issued executive orders across America as the new President.

Thanks to this, he quickly recalled troops deployed to other countries back to American soil and used the remaining forces in the US to declare overwhelming retaliation against the monsters invading North America.

This was primarily to secure the safety of the American homeland, but…

“I’ll send drones to wipe them all out.”

“Are you crazy? If we purify cities with drones, we’ll destroy our own infrastructure! Civilization will regress!”

“Then what do you suggest! Those creatures are skilled guerrillas! Should we use poison gas in the cities?”

“We have Awakened!”

The invaders had occupied American cities and towns and started fortifying them.

Naturally, the military needed to be deployed to eliminate the monsters occupying the cities, but the monsters skillfully conducted guerrilla warfare while waiting for reinforcements from the gates. At that time, most of the American military consisted of non-Awakened soldiers.

Non-Awakened soldiers couldn’t respond to monsters without numerical superiority, but they couldn’t fire missiles or nuclear weapons—humanity’s strongest weapons—at cities.

If city infrastructure collapsed by mistake, American civilization could regress by decades.

“I will appeal to the patriotism of American citizens.”

However, the central government wasn’t idle.

Realizing that Awakened were effective against monsters, the White House appealed to patriotism, calling on Awakened across America to protect the country.

Taking inspiration from popular superhero movies, they called Awakened “heroes,” promising high treatment and honor. They even created new hero-related agencies in the government and implemented various policies to appeal to the patriotism of unknown Awakened across America.

“Damn it!”

However, they couldn’t easily achieve the scenario often depicted in superhero movies where evil is defeated and justice prevails.

Many citizens responded to the White House’s appeal, but fundamentally, the disaster had occurred less than six months ago, and the level of Awakened in America was mediocre at best.

The worst part was…

“A… declaration of independence?”

“That’s right. If the central government doesn’t protect us, we’ll declare our own sovereignty.”

“But, don’t you all know? Not just other regions, but the central government is struggling too.”

“That’s not our concern.”

As the disaster was predicted to last a long time, states with different ideas began to emerge.

This disaster, named the Gate Apocalypse, had cut America’s railways and physically severed the exchange between the central government and each state.

Naturally, the White House administration wanted to re-establish connections with other states and control them, but by this point, other states had developed their own ideas.

Those who put their demands on the negotiation table like this were among the better ones. Many states had already declared independence and were acting separately, ignoring the central government’s directives.

“We must unite to fight this disaster! No independence!”

“Nonsense! Let’s make our voices heard! Long live freedom! Death to the oppressive central government!”

America was divided into various states, with the central government calling for a united America while independent states demanded to have their own voice.

It was a miracle that the US dollar still maintained some value.

Of course, hyperinflation was inevitable, so America was currently facing a crisis with material shortages in each city. However, the central government was still alive, and there was an army that had survived the disaster.

This meant there were still means to solve this disaster, and the White House was showing strong determination to resolve it.

“Sir, if the states ignore us, how about seeking a powerful alliance that can restore the central government’s authority?”

“But is there such an alliance on this Earth?”

“There are several forces that have reclaimed cities and established proper governments: the Lord Protector’s cabinet in England, the Bonapartist faction and the Saint of Orleans in France, and the Balhut Cult in Korea.”

Therefore, the White House wanted a powerful alliance that could restore the central government’s authority.

“…This is the 21st century, right?”

“Yes, sir, it is the 21st century.”

“Yet we’re looking at forces that seem like they belong in the 3rd to 6th centuries?”

“…I don’t know, sir.”

However, it was lamentable that the powerful allies mentioned by the aide seemed like forces that would be more at home in a museum than in the 21st century.

Vice President Arthur seriously wondered if he was actually having a cruel dream.