episode_0131

A barrage of gunfire began, hammering against the iron door.

An expression of intent to pulverize the steel plate and anything else.

I hadn’t even shown myself, just slightly opened the door, but the reaction was intense.

It seems I gave them too much fear…

“Aaaah! Come in! Come in!”

“Bring it on! I said, bring it on!”

“Damn it! How do the bullets taste?! Huh!! How do they feel?!”

…It seems I stimulated them too much.

Judging by their reaction, fear and excitement were mixed.

A state of frenzy on the verge of losing reason.

If they intended to scare off an invisible opponent with threats, it was the wrong choice.

Zombies would instead rampage and charge, pleased.

And the same applied to me.

As someone being subjected to two consecutive shooting rampages in one day, my mood wasn’t just sinking; it was almost refreshed.

A light smile spread across my face at the unpleasant feeling lightly scratching at my chest.

‘Bastards. They’re excited.’

The emotions of the people firing guns were fully conveyed.

The curses screamed out to avoid being consumed by fear and the ceaselessly howling muzzles of the guns proved that fact.

I willingly enjoyed their pitiful reactions.

And I calmly stood firm until the rampage ceased.

The firepower of the guns was indeed intense, as the impact transferred through my hand was fierce.

If not for this sturdy iron door, a hole might have been pierced.

The sound of several magazines being reloaded was heard, and the firing continued.

“Cease! Cease fire!”

Only after the cease-fire order from what appeared to be a commander was shouted multiple times did the rampage stop.

A pungent smell of gunpowder wafted through the slightly opened gap in the door.

The rough breathing of highly tense humans also flowed out with it.

“Di-did we get them?”

A phrase that should never be uttered on a battlefield also came out.

Now it was my turn.

I slowly got into position.

With a deep smile, I unleashed a body blow against the iron door.

*Thud—!!*

“Aaaargh!”

As the door tore off and flew inward, I thrust my left hand forward.

*Whoosh—!*

“Ugh! My, my eyes!”

Dropping the flashlight, with its luminosity maximized, at the entrance to illuminate the interior, I bent my knees. The inside was instantly lit by the powerful beam.

It was the Superbright’s booster mode, which worked well even against zombies.

It was demonstrating excellent effects on living humans.

At the same time, I quickly scanned, taking in all the people inside at once.

‘Four Daehan, two soldiers, many civilians.’

The civilians were huddled in a corner.

The armed individuals were hiding behind a desk in the center of the room, using it as cover.

With a large opening now created, I leaped inside without hesitation.

The blinded humans panicked greatly and sprayed bullets forward.

*Whizz—!!*

Dodging the guns’ firing range, I lowered my stance and rapidly charged in.

Thanks to that, stray bullets didn’t reach me.

Maintaining my speed, I moved my feet to penetrate to the right of the desk.

‘Careful! Gently!’

I reminded myself to avoid repeating the same mistake.

Still running, I kicked the side of the guy who was shooting in the wrong direction.

*Thwack!*

“Gah—”

Making a sound like an animal choking, he knocked down his nearby comrades as if they were bowling pins.

“W-what?!”

Unable to see and now even buried under their comrades’ bodies, they were flustered by the sudden situation.

*Smack! Thwack—!*

A chopping right double strike.

I gently struck the faces of the two struggling, unbalanced men.

Among the men whose eyes rolled back as they dropped their heads, a gun barrel was aimed at me.

Had their vision recovered?

I precisely grabbed the gun barrel aimed at my chest, pulling it upwards.

*Hiss—*

*Rat-a-tat!*

“Ugh!”

Bullets fired towards the ceiling.

Even with leather gloves on, significant heat was transmitted to the hand holding the gun barrel.

The man whose gun I’d snatched was startled and brought his hand to his side.

*Crack—*

Still in the snatching posture, I brought the gun stock down.

The man, struck on the temple, jolted his head and lost consciousness in his awkward posture.

Taking advantage of the gap, a chilling sensation formed into a point and touched my head.

*Rat-a-tat—!*

The moment I twisted my body and snapped my head back, the whistling sound of bullets cutting through the air struck my eardrums.

Still in my evasive posture, I charged at the guy who had fired the gun.

As I burrowed into his space, he instinctively swung his gun to push me away.

*Bang!*

“Gasp!”

A downward strike from above the shoulder.

Using the recoil of his twisted body returning to its original position, I slammed my fist into his face as if driving it down.

Unable to withstand the impact, the man fell headfirst as if thrown, not moving at all.

I roughly kicked the fallen man upwards as he was.

“Ughh!!”

A comrade attempting to clumsily stand nearby couldn’t support the weight of the limp person and was crushed, falling backward together.

Just as I was about to rush in.

*Click! Clank—*

I had never used a gun, but the sound was incredibly familiar.

The moment I heard the sound of a magazine being reloaded from behind, I drastically lowered my stance. Immediately after, as I turned around, I shot forward as if sliding.

*Swish swish!*

“?!!”

The opponent seemed greatly surprised by my movement, and their gun barrel wavered.

Just three low-center-of-gravity movements.

It felt similar to the step-in mixed martial artists use when tackling, but I lunged in at an incomparable speed.

Simultaneously, I swung my left hand wide from inside to out.

Using my core strength, I struck the opponent’s standing knee from the side as if lifting it.

“Kyaa!”

Her two legs shot up in the direction my arm swung, and her body lifted into the air. Rising with the flow, I immediately assumed a brick-breaking stance.

‘A woman?’

The shrill scream and the face illuminated by the flashlight, confirmed in a flash, belonged to a woman.

But it didn’t matter.

If she had fired guns, she must have been prepared for the consequences.

I drove my fist down towards the face clouded with horror.

“Uwaaaaah!!”

*Grab!*

The moment my fist was about to strike her face, a tackle came in with a shout of spirit.

A sturdy man in civilian clothes, neither a uniform nor military attire.

I hadn’t paid him attention because he was a civilian, but he truly appeared out of nowhere.

‘Quite something….’

His courage in throwing himself forward with all his might was commendable, but it was meaningless to me.

This much wouldn’t bring my body down.

*Thud— Whizz—*

Rather, the woman who fell from the air was threatening.

The movements of the woman who fell to the floor were swift.

Despite her eyes wide with bewilderment, she aimed her gun at me.

These guys, whether male or female, had no hesitation in pointing a gun.

*Grab— Whoosh!*

“Ugh?”

I snatched the tackling man by the nape of his neck and spun him around as he was.

The direction I spun him towards was the gun barrel aimed at me.

Using the man as a shield, I blocked the woman’s gun.

This was what they called a meat shield, procured locally.

No gunshot rang out due to my drastic action.

Someone might call it cowardly, but I didn’t care.

This was also a tactic.

It was a fitting response to those who sprayed bullets at civilians.

The man, who had grasped the situation, struggled and gurgled while still caught by my nape.

As I was about to attack the woman who still had her gun aimed…

*Whoosh—*

I heard something swinging towards the back of my head.

*Grab! Snap!*

“Ughaaah!”

With my free hand, I snatched the wrist swinging the weapon and squeezed it tight.

With a thick scream, the weapon tumbled to the floor.

*Flash!*

Perhaps taking advantage of the opening, the woman quickly got into position.

Her wide eyes were filled with bewilderment.

Yet, her gaze was directly fixed on me, along with her trembling gun barrel.

“W-what are you doing! Shoot quickly!”

Instead of answering, the woman exhaled roughly.

And she hesitated, conflicted between me and the struggling man.

As her eyes trembled severely, the man shouted again.

“We’ll all die to this zombie— Aaaah!”

“Want to die? Who are you calling a zombie?”

…Being repeatedly treated as a zombie didn’t make my words gentle.

The two men and women, frozen by my sharp words, each uttered bewildered sounds.

“Huh…?”

“A-a person?”

“Yes, a person. You bitch.”

*Thwack—!*

“Keugh?!”

Taking advantage of her distracted moment, the woman, kicked in the abdomen, instantly fainted.

Her head and knees were driven into the ground, her buttocks raised in a strange posture.

Her buttock line was decent to look at, but there was no time for appreciation.

Releasing the man I had by the nape, I swung my elbow backward.

*Crack—*

The guy who had swung a weapon at the back of my head took an elbow spin to the face and instantly went limp.

With that, the emergency control room fell silent.

‘Did they run away…?’

It seemed the civilians huddled in the corner had escaped amidst the chaos.

There was no reason to say anything if they chose to go their own way.

It was, in fact, better for me.

The civilian man who had been caught by the nape sat slumped, rubbing the back of his neck.

‘…He’s not dead, right?’

This time, I truly put less power and hit carefully.

Controlling my strength was harder and took more time.

Leaving the only man still conscious, I looked around the interior.

Monitors and electronic devices that weren’t working because the power was cut.

It was no different from what one would typically expect of an emergency control room.

However, sturdy and sleek-looking boxes were neatly stacked.

Roughly, they seemed to be the Daehan group’s belongings.

Aside from that, the emergency control room showed no other special features.

I briefly glanced at the six fallen individuals.

Seeing them quietly breathing, none of them were dead.

“W-what kind of person are you?”

“……”

A cautious question flew towards me as I silently looked around.

Regardless, I approached the fallen men.

Then the man stumbled to his feet and bellowed.

“What are you doing right now?!”

“That’s none of your business. What about you?”

“Huh? What?”

“I said, what kind of person are you?”

To my indifferent words, the man immediately replied.

“I-I am a public official.”

Good heavens… A public official in this situation.

A profession that didn’t quite fit the current state of affairs appeared.

With the country in this state, I wonder if they’d even accept a civil complaint if I filed one.

The man, unaware of my sarcastic thoughts, continued to speak.

“Park Gyunam, from the Infectious Disease Crisis Response Bureau of the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.”

At the man’s answer, I stopped moving.

And I turned my body to look at the man who was standing a little distance away.

“…Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency?”

“That’s right.”

“…Ohh.”

At his unhesitating reply, I nodded slightly.

Besides the Daehan folks, another conversation partner was added.

And a rather significant one at that.

I began to feel curious, looking at the man who bravely stepped forward.

The man merely looked at me with anxious eyes.