Chapter 129
“This is the engine scooter charging station.”
The makeshift charging station Yohan’s group was led to on the first floor was powered by a portable generator and car batteries.
Inside, a variety of engine scooters—clearly gathered from different sources—were neatly lined up.
Though the blood had been wiped down, faint stains still clung to them, giving the whole area the ominous air of warhorses that had charged through life-and-death battles.
Before departure, the group took a few laps around the schoolyard to practice riding.
It wasn’t difficult, but some survivors with poor balance slipped and fell multiple times before climbing onto bicycles with sulky faces.
“Sorry, hyung.”
“Don’t worry about it. We were planning on using bikes at first anyway.”
Aside from requiring more effort, bicycles weren’t a bad alternative. Better to exert more energy than to risk moving unsteadily.
“Jung-eun, you’ll be better off on a bike.”
“Ugh…”
Yohan forcefully placed Jung-eun on a bike, ignoring her whimper. Anyone who wobbled or looked unstable while riding was immediately reassigned to a bicycle.
“Using unfamiliar transportation can end up slowing us down.”
He consoled the disheartened members before turning his gaze in the direction they had to go.
From the direction of Seoul, he imagined the thick scent of blood clinging to the wind.
Bang!
A moment later, a gunshot rang out from far off in the east. The wandering zombies nearby snapped their heads around and began shambling toward the noise.
A guide turned to Yohan.
“That was the signal. You may depart now.”
“Understood. Thank you.”
“Miss Yeon-hee wanted me to tell you to stay safe and that she hopes you achieve your goal.”
“Please thank her for me.”
“Yes.”
The consideration was more than he deserved—uncomfortable generosity when he’d given nothing in return.
Yohan gave a respectful nod to the guide from Camp Chunhyang and reformed the formation.
“Unit 1 will lead. Unit 2 on the left flank, Unit 3 on the right, Unit 4 takes the rear. Eliminate visible zombies as we move. If you spot a large horde, report it immediately.”
With Yohan’s command, the search units began their advance. Like being swallowed by the city itself, the scooters and bicycles slipped into the urban sprawl. Behind them, uneasy eyes followed their departure.
* * *
“Three zombies ahead.”
At Yohan’s clipped signal, Pio and Berda darted forward on their scooters, swiftly killing two of them with a single-handed strike before returning.
Thunk! Sergeant Ong’s arrow flew true, piercing the last zombie’s forehead.
Having eliminated the threat, the trio returned to the roadside where Yohan stood.
Quick kill, swift retreat.
It was the standard procedure the moment they left Sindo—always ready to smash a window and dive inside to hide. Every movement was made with ambushes in mind.
There were no signs of other survivors yet, but compared to the Sinwol Interchange, the density of zombie appearances was clearly higher here.
Most of the time, one or two zombies would appear. Occasionally, they’d show up in groups of over ten.
Whenever that happened, Yohan would halt the group and make sure they were eliminated before moving on.
“One zombie ahead.”
Another zombie appeared, and Pio weaved through traffic on his scooter and decapitated it instantly. His combat reflexes were matched only by his driving skills.
‘That’s impressive.’
Yohan murmured under his breath as the cold wind brushed past. These engine scooters were something else.
In his previous life, bicycles were the norm for moving around cities. They had drawbacks, but they were quiet—ideal for travel in dangerous areas.
But aside from needing electricity to charge, the scooter’s specs were superior.
They required virtually no physical effort, were easy to mount and dismount, and—once mastered—allowed one-handed zombie kills while moving. That was the real game-changer.
“Yohan, there’s a horde in the right alley. A lot of them.”
Berda, scouting ahead, called out. Yohan edged close to the corner and peeked his head around to count.
Roughly several hundred zombies stretched from the street to the subway station.
“Hug the far side and pass as quietly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
They had no reason to provoke them. Just passing through.
Vrrrm—
Yohan’s scooter sped up again. A few zombies followed them from the alley, but only a small number.
Until they reached the ramp to Nodeul-ro at Yeoui 1 Bridge, they encountered no major threats.
“Yeouido bridge up ahead.”
Yohan relayed the update through the radio in a calm but clear voice. Nodeul-ro was right in front of them—another key checkpoint.
But the peaceful advance shattered the moment they entered Nodeul-ro, like glass breaking from a thrown rock.
“Horde up ahead.”
This time, Yohan ordered a full stop.
Even from here, they could see at least five or six hundred zombies. And those were only the visible ones.
The geography was also bad. The area was wide open, surrounded by buildings. Any commotion could quickly multiply the number of zombies.
Not even the four lead combatants could break through this many. Even the entire search party together would struggle.
“Regroup.”
Yohan led everyone into a nearby motel lobby, gathering the squad. The trailing members quickly caught up.
“Let’s observe the road conditions and move when it’s safe.”
First, they had to assess the full situation. Yohan instructed the team to secure a safe zone, then raced up the building’s staircase.
After climbing about ten floors, he reached the rooftop and found, just beyond the shattered doorknob, a corpse with a gunshot wound lying in the center.
Yohan crushed the corpse’s skull cleanly and slowly stepped toward the rooftop railing, raising his binoculars.
The entire road came into view at once.
‘…This won’t be easy.’
Zombies were writhing grotesquely all over the place—from the expressway entrance to the underpass, even the flat ground. There wasn’t a single spot untouched.
They were clawing at closed car windows, or scrambling desperately to climb up embankments and overpasses.
Yohan lowered the binoculars.
His naked eyes absorbed a wider panorama.
What he saw was a gray city overflowing with zombies—once a radiant metropolis that had risen as the center of East Asia through decades of growth.
Now, a faded Seoul.
* * *
“What the fuc—”
Members who had followed Yohan to the rooftop, having finished organizing downstairs, stared at the view with their jaws agape. Sweeper let out a raw curse without hesitation.
Nodeul-ro, the urban neighborhoods flanking it—everywhere was jam-packed with zombies. Not a single open space.
How many were there? Five hundred? A thousand?
“This is… way too dangerous no matter how you look at it.”
“Hyung, why’s it all packed back here?”
“They said there were lots of fights near Yeouido. The zombies probably got funneled this way.”
Indeed, all the zombies were heading north. Sweeper nodded.
“There’s gotta be another route. Gae Baekjong must’ve taken one through here.”
“Back then, he probably lured the zombies elsewhere. And since he was riding a bike, losing them wouldn’t have been hard.”
“Yeah, that guy never gave a damn about noise. Probably leaned on his horn just to flush survivors out.”
Sweeper let out a faint snort and added, “So what now? Should we go in guns blazing?”
“No. Even aside from the danger, fighting here would draw too much attention. We should push through the side alley.”
The alley didn’t look much safer. But at least they were less likely to be ambushed by survivors while fighting zombies.
After Yohan finished, Jae-ho offered a suggestion.
“Ugh, honestly, wherever we go it’ll be the same… but how about heading into the subway now? There’s Yeongdeungpo Market Station two blocks down. We can transfer to Line 1 at Singil.”
Yohan stroked his chin, then nodded. It wasn’t a bad idea.
“Right. That alley had around three to four hundred zombies. Let’s stash the scooters and go on foot. It’s not far—six stops or so.”
Yohan grabbed a master key from the motel front desk, opened a random room, and stored all the engine scooters inside. He muttered the room number repeatedly like he was memorizing a formula.
“Room 207. Room 207.”
Jae-ho, thinking the same thing, repeated the number aloud. Yohan gave a small smile.
It really helped having someone who used their brain.
He quickly relayed the route change to the mercenary group behind them and stepped out of the motel, retracing their path for five minutes—back to the street blocked by a zombie horde.
“Combat formation. Prepare to breach.”
At Yohan’s command, sixteen people moved in sync, shifting positions into formation.
Up front, a near-curved line of eight close-combat fighters. In the middle, four ranged combatants. In the rear, four watching for zombies approaching from behind.
A formation for pushing through by concentrating force on a single path.
‘Ready.’
Yohan raised his hand in signal.
Fewer than two hundred zombies were visible. Once the fighting started, the noise would attract more, but the subway wasn’t far. It was doable.
‘Begin ranged attack.’
At his signal, four arrows were loosed simultaneously. The moment they flew, zombies spotted the group and began growling as they closed in.
Dozens of pallid, deathly stares converging at once made several survivors shiver involuntarily.
One or two zombies were nothing—but dozens charging together, that was a whole different level of pressure.
It was still disgusting. Still grotesque enough to raise goosebumps.
Their decaying bodies dropped limbs as they approached. A scene too unreal to process.
Some limped. Some snapped their teeth at the air. Some dragged their guts. The smell of rotting mold clung so heavily it made you want to vomit.
Especially the maggots and flies wriggling in the rot—just the thought of touching them made your skin crawl with fear of infection.
These had once been people. Only a few months ago, they were alive. No matter how many times you saw them, you could never get used to it.
‘Begin close combat.’
Yohan signaled.
At once, the eight frontline fighters gripped their weapons and began smashing the zombies before them.
Smack! Slash!
No shouting. No dying screams. Only the sound of stabbing, slicing, and smashing shattered the silence.
It was one-sided—but for those pushing forward, it was a grueling drain of stamina and willpower.
In the heart of the city, only the zombies’ moans and the hacking of blades echoed thinly through the air.
A fight with no end in sight.
A battle not just against the undead—but against themselves.
The zombies kept coming from somewhere. The longer they fought, the more familiar the movements became. Threat and revulsion dulled. The only thing left was clinging to their tiring minds and bodies.
“Hold formation. Sweeper, Hajin—slow down. Eddy—speed up.”
“Urgh… yes.”
Sometimes when the formation started to break, Yohan’s short, sharp voice cut through the fog of fatigue and brought them back.
He realigned the slightly warped arc formation.
When stamina runs low, people get careless. Carelessness leads to death.
Midway through reloading his crossbow, Yohan called out to Eddy.
“Eddy, move to center. If anyone’s losing strength, swap them out.”
“Y-yes!”
The frontline was a war of endurance and grit. As soon as someone hit their limit, they needed to be replaced, and the midline had to back them up instantly if danger struck.
Sohee’s presence was a huge help. Unlike others who hesitated to fire for fear of hitting allies, she confidently fired arrows whenever someone was in danger.
She was far more reliable than expected.
“Ji-won, Jung-soo—switch out.”
Survivors like Ji-won, Jung-soo, and Eddy weren’t used to being on the front line. They fought bravely, but overexerted themselves. It was like watching tightrope walkers on the verge of falling.
Yohan felt the absence of Jung-hwan all the more. (T/N: I miss him too!)
He, Sweeper, Hajin, Seri, Hyuk, and Jung-hwan—just six of them could have held a line meant for eight.
With just one quasi-A-rank survivor missing, the gap was painfully clear.
He tried not to think about it. But like a flash of light behind closed eyes, the regret kept lingering.
Yohan forced himself to snap back to focus.
“Eddy, switch out again!”
