episode_0005

“Run!”

Ian grabbed Chadoa’s hand and dashed out. Almost simultaneously, Hajiyu grabbed my hand and ran.

“Uh, uh?”

Confused, I almost stumbled along with Hajiyu, matching her stride. Ian and Chadoa seemed accustomed to running in such a manner, as the distance between them gradually widened.

As expected, zombies were approaching from afar after hearing the bus call. Some of them spotted us and their red eyes gleamed.

One zombie rushed towards us as if to collide head-on with Ian. Without slowing down, just before the impact, Ian, holding Chadoa in his arms, lightly pushed his body and swung a bat with his free hand.

-Thud!

“Crunch!”

The zombie, spinning half a circle in the air, crashed to the ground. A monstrous movement. And despite the attack, the zombie, with a monstrous vitality, was still writhing on the ground.

They don’t die unless their brains are completely destroyed or their spinal cords are severed.

With its face buried, the zombie slowly rose to its feet. This time, as it spotted me and Hajiyu running towards it, about to scream, a flash passed by, and its head separated from its body.

“Tsk.”

It looked clean to me. Hajiyu, running with me and attacking, clicked her tongue awkwardly. I gently pulled my arm to ask her to let go.

“Ha… I… can run… alone. Let go of this… Ha…”

“Don’t be stubborn!”

Although I was really okay, Hajiyu, instead of letting go of my hand, held it tightly to prevent me from pulling away. With determination, she bit her lip and ran.

Well, watching the two of them, it seems like they could easily carry one more load each.

Thus, we arrived at the building on the right, admiring Ian and Hajiyu’s skillful movements. There, a small employee entrance with an iron gate was located.

-Thump, thump, thump!

Ian knocked on the door and shouted, “We heard the radio and came to find you.”

…

No response for a while. Just as Ian was about to knock on the door again, a square hole in the middle of the door swiftly opened. A small hole big enough to see only one pair of eyes from the other side.

The pupils flickered as they scanned up and down one by one.

“Um, we heard the radio and came…”

Before Ian could finish his sentence, the hole quickly closed shut.

Sounds of radio communication could be heard from inside, but the content was incomprehensible.

Soon, the screeching sound ceased, and the monstrous screams of the zombies, which seemed to tear one’s ears apart, gradually subsided. Everyone looked around anxiously.

With no way to escape the alley, if zombies swarmed in from both sides, even Ian and Hajiyu wouldn’t be able to handle it.

…

Still no response.

Unconcerned about our anxiety, the iron gate showed no sign of budging.

Finally, the feared incident occurred. A zombie at the end of the alley turned towards us.

“Eeeek!”

As a signal, a wave of zombies that had been gathered around the building surged towards us in an instant.

“Damn it!”

Despite being immune, curses involuntarily escaped my lips at the overwhelming sight.

Ian urgently knocked on the door.

-Thump, thump, thump!

“Please open quickly! We heard the radio and came to find you!”

At that moment, the door suddenly opened, and we rushed inside like a flood.

The thick iron gate closed with a thud, reinforced with several layers of steel plates to defend against zombies. Above it, the sounds of zombies banging and screaming echoed loudly.

It was a close call.

Ian, always calm, glared at the man in front of him.

“Weren’t we in danger?”

A man with tattoos covering his arms, typical of a gangster. Despite being quite big, he flinched at Ian’s demeanor.

Body inflated with flesh. Large skeletal structure contrasting with tightly held muscles. Although their sizes were similar, it was clear to anyone who was superior.

“Uh, well, I need permission from my boss…”

As Moon Dae seemed to be making excuses, he suddenly put on a stern expression.

“But this young punk here. I saved him, and he can’t even show gratitude?”

Although there wasn’t much difference in appearance, all he had to boast about was eating a little more rice, he raised his finger, indicating his age.

“Sorry. I’m sure you had your reasons too.”

Ian apologized to avoid unnecessary conflict. The man who thought he had gained the upper hand with that seemed to grow even louder.

“Yeah, you little bastard. We all have to get permission systematically, huh!? You have to receive it by looking at the person, damn it!”

Whether he was upset that he had been intimidated by Ian, who looked younger than him, he continued to bluster and ramble on.

“You, damn it! You son of a bitch! If I wasn’t outside, a piece of shit like you would…”

Seeing Ian bowing his head without responding, the swearing became even more aggressive. Unable to bear it, I grabbed Hajiyu’s wrist as he tried to step forward.

Pointing ahead with a gesture as if asking why he was stopping him, I indicated the front.

A group of people was walking towards us from there. There were six of them. Some had elaborate tattoos on their exposed arms like Moon Dae.

The man in front with a dinosaur-like stature. With a cigarette hanging from his mouth, he approached, tapping a shotgun on his shoulder.

Sweat formed in my hands due to tension. If it were zombies we were facing, it would be different, but in front of a gun, we were all equally vulnerable.

“Stop.”

As Moon Dae, who was enthusiastically swearing at Ian, turned around abruptly.

“Are you here, sir!”

The man who approached with a bowed head stopped in front of his group, tapping their heads lightly. He scanned each of them from top to bottom. His gaze lingered on Hajiyu’s katana for a moment, but he didn’t seem to care much. Instead, he ogled his large chest with a sticky gaze.

Hajiyu stared openly at the man, while Ian hid further behind him.

In the background, the zombie horde continued to scream and bang on the iron gate. A strange tension hung in the air.

Finally, the man turned his gaze to Ian, flicking his cigarette to the ground.

“Ah, I’m Sangye-dong Shin Na-pa. No, that’s not it anymore. I’m Kim Moon-hyuk, the boss of this community.”

“I’m Ian. The broadcast… was it sent out by Kim Moon-hyuk?”

“Of course, I’m the one who gives the orders and sends it out every day.”

“Is the person who recorded it also you?”

It was doubtful. The man in front of him didn’t look like someone who would do such a broadcast at all.

“Oh, that’s not me.”

“Where is that person now?”

Kim Moon-hyuk, who raised his eyebrows slightly, tapped his shoulder with the shotgun.

“He was like a captain before I left him, but he’s dead now.”

Kim Moon-hyuk smirked as if he had taken care of it himself. His smile seemed to warn everyone to be careful. The tense atmosphere was palpable, as if a collision could happen at any moment.

“Oh, don’t misunderstand. I didn’t kill him. He was too reckless. He went out to bring people and got killed. I’m not someone who does that kind of thing. I’m a democrat. In this world, we have to unite our strength to survive, right?”

A democrat, huh…

After finishing his words, Kim Moon-hyuk turned around and walked away.

“Follow me this way.”

Apart from Kim Moon-hyuk, there were six men surrounding us. Each of them was holding a pipe or a baseball bat.

There was no choice. We followed Kim Moon-hyuk’s lead.

“Um, the electricity…”

Cha Do-ah quietly marveled at the wonder of electricity coming back on amidst the chaos.

As expected, the sparsely lit lights were dim but still illuminated the interior.

All the power plants in the metropolitan area were destroyed by bombings. Transmission towers and power lines had all collapsed. It was a welcome sight.

“In large supermarkets like this, there are emergency generators for power outages. They must be running them.”

“Oh? Oh….”

Cha Do-ah, who seemed surprised by my response, shivered slightly. I hadn’t expected the conversation to continue, but to my surprise, a question came back.

“U-uh, the, the fuel…. for the generator, it must need a lot of fuel….”

“Oh, that? It can run on cooking oil too. There’s plenty of cooking oil in the food section and warehouse.”

With wide eyes and a nodding head, Cha Do-ah hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“S-Shi-woo knows a lot.”

Caught off guard by the unexpected reaction, I awkwardly chuckled.

“Oh, haha, it’s just random knowledge I’ve picked up.”

Of course, all from what I’ve read in the original.

But even that had its limits. Running the diesel generator on cooking oil would have caused damage to various parts.

Just then, the flickering lights anxiously went out.

“Oh, for f**k’s sake. Not again. Did that brat mess up again? Can’t even properly maintain one generator?”

Kim Moon-hyuk expressed his irritation at the frequent occurrence. His subordinates, familiar with the situation, took out flashlights one by one.

After walking for a while, the lights suddenly came back on. The place they arrived at was the center of the first-floor store. Shelves and items were all cleared out, creating a space like a plaza. Tents were scattered around.

Among them, people were staring into space or reading books. Some were fiddling with smartphones here and there.

There were about 50 people in total. Most were women or elderly, and young men were few. Even those were mostly small individuals with bandages or those who seemed unable to use their strength.

In the midst of it all, a woman with tanned skin and bleached blonde hair came running out, flaunting her well-rounded body in a bra top and shorts that accentuated her curves.

“Hehehe, oppa, you’re here?”

The only woman lying on the sofa here. She had been playing with her smartphone as if bored just a moment ago. It was clear she was receiving the best treatment.

Kim Yeo-rum, Kim Moon-hyuk’s younger sister. She clung to Kim Moon-hyuk’s arm and playfully tapped her plump chest. Each time, her suppressed chest was revealed to a precarious extent.

Following her, a middle-aged man with receding hairline awkwardly approached.

“Haha, you’re here?”

He grinned sheepishly at Kim Moon-hyuk, who looked younger than him by more than ten years.

Most of them seemed malnourished, with protruding bones, while only the two had oily faces and extra fat.

“Who are these people…?”

The bald man scanned us up and down. Kim Moon-hyuk finally remembered and let go of Kim Yeo-rum from his arm as if to say, “Pay attention!”

All eyes turned towards us. Dozens of empty eyes that were no different from zombies.

“Come on, it’s been a while since new people came. Since that brat ran out to save people and got bitten, it’s the first time, right?”

It was originally the leader’s story here. It was a traumatic event for these people. Some were trembling.

“Since then, as the boss elected through democratic voting, I ask you all. Are these people here to plunder our food, evil bastards, or zombie collaborators trying to throw everyone to the zombies while we sleep? We don’t know if they’re good guys. We should confiscate all dangerous items, right?”

No response came. Hajiyu tightly gripped the handle of the sword. After a brief pause, Kim Munhyuk spoke.

“Those who oppose, please raise your hands.”

“….”

Of course, there was no one raising their hand.

“Well then, unanimously, we will proceed to confiscate the weapons according to democratic procedures.”