episode_0019

In Korea, there are places classified as high-crime areas due to public safety issues or other reasons.

I haven’t lived here long, but this was the first time I’d ever seen a place with a blatant sign indicating a high-crime area.

Yeongdeungpo’s red-light district.

The street, once illuminated by the heat of desires at night, completely lacked vitality.

Both the atmosphere and appearance of the street contrasted sharply with the area just five minutes away.

But likewise, there were no zombies to be seen.

Funnily enough, we were benefiting from the abandoned street.

We were currently behind the Times Square building.

We had come here by following a path that was likely less frequented by people compared to the main entrance.

More precisely, the rooftop of the building where we had landed was here.

“Hyung-nim, have you been here before?”

“I came here for about ten days a few years ago for demolition work.”

“No, not that.”

“?? Ah. You rascal, hehe.”

I understood Dong-woo’s meaning and chuckled.

I took out water and jerky from my bag, and we each opened a pack.

It was jerky that had once faced a supply shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Let’s eat it now. We don’t know what it’ll be like once we go inside.”

Seeing him nod and eat the jerky, he seemed to have relaxed appropriately. I was worried he might freeze up when we went inside soon and started seeing bloody scenes live.

Chewing the chewy and delicious jerky, I cautioned Dong-woo.

“Once we go inside, you’ll face zombies. Don’t freeze up in surprise. Grit your teeth.”

“……Yes.”

Lastly, I picked up my smartphone and checked the text message.

Judging by the content, it seemed to be a storage room somewhere in the staff passage on the first floor.

‘If our luck is bad, we might have to search for a long time.’

It would be difficult to find it immediately with just a rough description. I braced myself for the near future, when we would have to face quite a few zombies.

‘We’ve come this far smoothly. We just need to not let our guard down.’

Thinking any more would only waste time.

It was time to move.

“Let’s go when you’re done eating.”

I patted my backside and surveyed the street below.

There were bloodstains here too, but not many.

No zombies were visible up to the back entrance within my sight.

I picked Dong-woo up on my back again and jumped down from the rooftop.

“As I said before, it’s a secret, okay? You know that?”

“I understand, Hyung-nim. I’ll keep my promise.”

He still seemed to have questions, but he didn’t voice them.

With that final instruction, we walked toward the back entrance.

“Oh, right!”

I stopped briefly and pulled out the crowbar tied to the side of my bag.

I couldn’t go through with this important task without my partner.

“Wow, Hyung-nim, that looks heavier than I thought. It suddenly feels light.”

Well, it easily weighs over 10kg, so that makes sense.

Anyway, it’s inconvenient in many ways since I can’t show my inventory.

I’ll have to think a bit for the future.

Seeing my beloved weapon, Misuru, Dong-woo asked worriedly.

“But Hyung-nim. Can you swing that? It looks too heavy…”

“Just watch.”

I chuckled and replied, then said no more.

In front of the back entrance, which we quickly reached, a sight unfolded that made me frown.

“Ugh!”

I didn’t blame Dong-woo for being unable to suppress his retching.

On the floor lay dried bloodstains, chunks of flesh, pieces of organs, and torn limbs scattered about. I was used to such sights, having experienced worse, but Dong-woo wasn’t.

The zombies we encountered at the supermarket were relatively well-preserved because I only smashed their heads.

I suspected the sight before us now was the real deal.

“Breathe slowly and deeply. You need to get used to it.”

Dong-woo, who had been dry-heaving for a moment, fortunately straightened up and was able to stand.

He certainly hadn’t gotten used to it in that brief moment.

It was clear he was just suppressing it.

I might seem strange standing there perfectly fine, but I would have to face countless gruesome sights in the future. If he couldn’t overcome it, survival would be difficult. Whether he overcomes it or not is his own problem.

“Let’s go. Follow me one step behind.”

I looked at the information board next to the building entrance to gauge our location.

‘They said they fled inwards from the central hall. And…’

The approximate location contained in the text message that sent the coordinates. I started moving based on the information.

First, I headed towards the central hall. I planned to follow the traces from there.

We passed through a wide, open corridor that wasn’t quite a corridor.

Upon reaching the central hall, the smell of blood wafted strongly.

The sight before our eyes starkly showed just how horrific it had been.

The floor and walls were literally painted with blood.

The corridors and various stores were smeared with blood and chunks of flesh.

The exit leading outside was already smashed, and the traces beyond it suggested how dangerous it had been at the time.

It was difficult to even look at, let alone pass through.

I glanced back at Dong-woo and saw his face was already pale, his lips trembling.

I gestured for Dong-woo, then scanned the internal directory board standing next to us.

‘They definitely said they saw a clothing store, Malti or Malt… Found it.’

Whether Kim Jihyuk had a good eye or good instant recall, it was certainly helpful. Searching this vast space would involve too much risk and time.

I pinpointed the location and direction, then slowly began to walk.

“Dong-woo. Grit your teeth and bear it. That sound will draw the zombies.”

I spoke quietly to Dong-woo, who was trembling, his teeth chattering, clearly frightened, but he only nodded, unable to give any other reply.

Still, for him, that was a considerable display of courage.

That courage. I wished he had a little more.

“…Tsk.”

In front of me, as I clicked my tongue, zombies were milling about.

I could see a sign with the name “Malt” on it, and beyond that, a curving passage.

It was presumably a staff passage, but unfortunately, there were zombies there.

If we had gone a little further, we could have passed quietly.

Fortunately, perhaps because they were far away, they hadn’t seen us yet.

I was about to turn around and instruct him to wait for a moment, but I saw Dong-woo’s eyes widen.

“!!!!”

As I turned around, a zombie appeared from somewhere and was charging towards us.

“Screeeeeeech!!”

With that unnecessarily loud shriek, the other creatures nearby also began to rush towards us.

Graaaahh-!!

Raaawwr-!!

The distinct sound of their footsteps. The irritating, ear-scraping shrieks.

‘Thirty… no, more than that.’

I immediately pushed Dong-woo behind the checkout counter of the open store that caught my eye.

“Don’t come out until I tell you it’s okay.”

“H-hyung-nim!!”

“Don’t make a sound, and cover yourself with your bag.”

As I finished speaking and turned, a zombie was already very close.

Reflexively, I folded my right leg up and kicked it forcefully.

*Thwack!*

With a heavy impact sound, the zombie flew cleanly, knocking down the zombies running behind it as if it were a bowling ball.

Beyond them, more zombies were seen charging, screaming.

There were so many that it seemed better to just swing the crowbar once more rather than try to count them.

“Ah…”

I was about to dart forward, but Dong-woo’s presence held me back.

Still, as long as he stayed hidden, I just needed to not stray too far.

I subtly pulled up my neck warmer to cover my face.

I took out my work sunglasses and put them on.

Skin and vision protection complete.

*Whoosh-!!*

Instead of bringing the crowbar down, I swung it horizontally. Since the zombies were pushing in with sheer numbers, I needed to hit multiple targets at once. Not forgetting Dong-woo’s presence, I maintained my position without straying far from the store entrance.

The crowbar, swung with a menacing wind-slicing sound, was threatening.

But zombies are not human.

They simply forget fear and rush in, abandoning themselves to instinct.

‘For me, it just means less effort to find them!’

Wherever the crowbar struck, it was undeniably shattered.

When it hit a head, it burst open like a watermelon.

When it hit a torso, the zombie folded like a book and flew to smash against the wall.

As for limbs, they were twisted at angles difficult to describe, rendering them useless.

Nevertheless, the zombies continued to pour in like a flood.

I began to be pushed back little by little.

More and more zombies came within striking distance.

The growing pile of zombie corpses underfoot began to annoy me.

“…These damn things, seriously.”

A deep irritation rose from within me at the unending zombie onslaught.

It felt like I was facing all the zombies I had carefully avoided so far, all at once.

The infuriating feeling slowly grated on my nerves, causing my temper to flare.

A feeling of my body heating up.

In response, I gradually increased my tempo.

The crowbar, which had been making menacing sounds, began to make even more dangerous ones.

The rapidly swinging body of the crowbar became increasingly difficult for the eye to follow.

I began to conversely use the openings created by the crowbar’s recoil.

Maintaining the momentum from the swing, I launched my left arm and a kick.

The parts hit by my hands and feet burst with dull thuds.

Where the crowbar struck, it left behind marks as if roughly torn.

My movements, now more destructive and faster, left no gaps in the zombies’ assault. The high-speed movements created a semicircular range, and any zombie caught within it was never left intact.

A barrier of a semicircle, over 1 meter in size.

Anyone else watching would have felt the illusion of a barrier being cast, spanning the combined length of my arm and the crowbar.

I was no longer pushed back by the zombies’ onslaught.

Instead, I began to slowly push forward.

With each step forward, zombies to my left and right lost their heads and toppled over.

Around the time the dangerous sound of the crowbar began to slowly drown out the zombies’ shrieks, the number of charging zombies decreased.

In front, only one zombie charged forward, its face horribly contorted.

*Splat!*

The crowbar’s trajectory, striking down with perfect timing, split the charging zombie in half.

It would be more accurate to say it crushed and tore it apart rather than simply split it.

I regulated my breathing and scanned ahead, but nothing was moving.

It was a wide corridor that had, at some point, regained its silence.

“Hmph… hmph… cough cough.”

It had been a short time, but I had moved quite intensely.

I had increased my tempo to avoid being overwhelmed by the zombie assault, but there was no physical or stamina burden on me.

My body’s durability wasn’t bad at this level either.

*Whoosh-*

I swung the crowbar widely to shake off the filth.

Still, it glimmered slightly, as if it had absorbed a bit of blood.

“…It hasn’t been long since I cleaned it. I’ll have to wash again.”

I had taken a blood shower along with the dangerously glistening crowbar.

Shaking my head at the sickening smell of blood, I turned around.

“Oh, damn it…”

Though it was only a few meters, the scenery was quite something.

Corpses were strewn abundantly along both sides of the path we had cleared.

They were laid out like boundary stones marking the edges of a sidewalk.

On the walls to the left and right, bloodstains and organ pieces from exploded zombies were stuck.

Those splattered bits looked like grotesque graffiti.

‘If it’s like this… I’m still not dead yet.’

The thought that came to mind upon seeing that sight was a sense of relief that I wouldn’t die easily no matter where I went.

I brushed off the things stuck to my body, making a sudden self-assessment…

“Ugh! Aahhh!!”

A groan automatically escaped me at the unpleasant sensation felt through my gloves.

I was quite lucky.

Even with the loud noise of them charging as a group, none came from behind.

Perhaps thanks to that, the pressure of having to fight while protecting Dong-woo was lessened, which made it easier.

“Dong-woo, come out. Let’s go.”

A rustling sound came from under the checkout counter, and Dong-woo poked his head out.

Needless to say, he was safe.

“I-is it over?”

“Yeah. It’s safe, come out.”

He seemed quite surprised by my blood-soaked appearance.

His face was ghostly pale, but seeing that he hadn’t lost his mind was commendable.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t help… *Gasp!*”

He stopped mid-sentence and gasped as he saw the horrific scene I had created in the corridor.

Normally, not being surprised by such a sight might be stranger.

Fortunately, he didn’t retch, but it took him a while to recover from the shock.

“I told you I’d do the fighting.”

“……”

“We just have a little further to go, so hang in there.”

Leading Dong-woo, I headed for the passage I had noted earlier.

It was probably the staff passage.

I glanced back and saw Dong-woo frowning as he walked through the corpses, yet looking around left and right as if on a safari.

“Is he brave or just very fearful…?”

“Huh? Huh? What did you say?”

“Nothing. Let’s go if you’re done looking.”

I stood before a door painted with bloodstains.

“We’re almost there, but stay alert since we don’t know where they might pop out.”

“Uh. Yes, sir!”

“In case of an emergency, do as I taught you.”

“Yes, sir!”

Seeing Dong-woo nod and reply briefly, it seemed he would be okay. His eyes were clear.

Pushing the door open, a zombie greeted us brightly.

“Ugh-”

*Thud!*

With a powerful downward strike, its head was shattered, and it slammed into the floor.

Dong-woo, seeing a zombie burst for the first time, jumped in surprise.

“You weren’t hit, so stop being so surprised. You’re going to startle me too.”

“…Uh… yes…”

Perhaps some people had fled here, as a few zombies were milling about.

It wasn’t a wide corridor. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be many zombies.

Leading the trembling Dong-woo from behind, I began searching for the owner and his wife.

Not much left.

I hoped our hurried rush would prove worthwhile.