Chapter 139
Not exactly a problem?
Noah hesitated mid-sentence.
“Don’t stall. Just say it.”
Yohan urged him on. Noah’s face showed that he genuinely didn’t know how to explain it.
“It’s been a little over a month. We entered the Joint Command once to secure supplies, and something really strange happened there.”
“What do you mean, strange?”
Noah’s face turned serious as he began recounting the events, his tone subdued.
“It was right after Gae Baekjong went missing and I’d just started expanding the camp. It was the incident that made me the scapegoat, getting politically torn apart by the other camp leaders.”
He recalled the memory with a grim expression.
Yohan’s group gradually became immersed in his calmly delivered account.
—
It wasn’t raining, and there was no reason for fog, but a faint haze hung in the air that day—enough to put everyone on edge.
Noah and the ten-person supply expedition stood atop the Yongsan Gamdong Church, overlooking the Joint Chiefs of Staff compound from the upper floor.
It was an expedition they had been preparing for over several days.
The danger was obvious, and that danger had delayed them again and again—but this time, they had no choice.
All the other scavenge points nearby had already been picked clean. Their plan was to confirm this last one, then widen the search range toward Seoul Station.
‘Still swarming, huh.’
One of the group muttered, and everyone nodded grimly in agreement.
Even though the team was made up of seasoned members from the Allied Camp, something about that place felt especially ominous.
‘Noah, why don’t we just head farther north instead?’
‘No. Whatever else we skip, we have to check the ammo and weapons storage.’
Honestly, it was a very tempting location. But they’d avoided it until now for one simple reason: it felt cursed.
First, there were far too many zombies. Second, even Gae Baekjong—who had previously secured the area—had avoided clearing out the zombies here. That alone raised red flags.
It didn’t make sense.
This was the highest-level military command structure that coordinated all branches—Army, Navy, and Air Force. If it had fallen to zombies, surely it had been fiercely defended. At the very least, it should have had as many troops as the Blue House or the National Assembly.
But the many zombies they saw inside the facility bore military insignias from various divisions.
Clearly, many units had been sent in… and now it was a zombie nest. Without knowing how it had happened, Noah couldn’t make sense of it—but one thing was clear: the place reeked of death.
Still, the hope that it held untouched supplies loomed large. With resources tightening, the temptation was too strong for Noah’s people to ignore.
It was dangerous, but they had to try.
‘Let’s go. Whether we starve to death or get ripped apart—what’s the difference?’
Noah chuckled lightly. The other nine reluctantly nodded. They were a responsible bunch.
‘Something’s wrong…’
The compound was surrounded by fences topped with razor wire, and zombies inside the barriers paced restlessly, drawn by the scent of the living just beyond reach.
Noah felt a deepening sense of wrongness.
The zombies here were off.
They were too intact. Typically, zombies became that way through bites and injuries—meaning they should have mangled or rotting flesh. But these ones? Not even a scratch.
Most were in uniform. And yet, even though countless troops had clearly tried to reclaim this place, it had still fallen to slow-moving zombies?
‘What are you doing? We going in or not?’
Jae-won nudged him. Standing around outside for too long was dangerous.
‘Yeah. We’re skipping the main building. We only need to check the welfare center, cafeteria, supply warehouse. Armory and ammo depot too.’
One concern remained—this wasn’t some rural garrison. They didn’t know what kind of security systems might still be active.
Noah circled the perimeter. The front gate was overrun with zombies—no way through. The barrier’s razor wire made climbing impossible.
He thought about luring the zombies with noise but worried it would bring in every nearby horde and trap them.
‘We go through the rear hill.’
In the end, they hiked the mountain trail and entered via the back checkpoint.
‘Advance team, go.’
Two scouts climbed over the wall. Fortunately, there were fewer zombies there. As the scouts drew their attention, the rest slipped in and got into position. Noah swung his fire axe, crushing zombie skulls with practiced ease.
They moved cautiously, minimizing sound. It took longer than expected, but they finally made it to the welfare center. At the front of the first-floor PX, they caught their breath.
‘Haa, god… this is nerve-wracking.’
Someone muttered. A glance outside showed zombies in full military gear and firearms waiting in groups of thirty. If they engaged, the noise would bring even more. This was a razor’s edge mission.
Crash!
Glass shattered at the PX door, and ten men slipped inside. A uniformed zombie lunged the moment they entered—Jae-won drove an awl into its face.
‘Was he hiding in here alone, with the doors locked?’
There was no one else inside. Bloody handprints smeared across the glass walls of the entrance stood out starkly.
They wolfed down tuna crackers, mayo tuna cans, and drinks from the PX, rubbing their stiff hands and feet to relieve tension.
‘Where to next?’
‘Supply warehouse.’
While the welfare center had a huge sign saying [Welfare Center], the supply depot and armory weren’t labeled—they’d have to search every building one by one.
Even if they didn’t find much today, mapping out the interior alone would be a major success.
After a good rest, they stood to leave the welfare center. That’s when it happened—a scream of pure agony.
‘Aaaagh!’
‘What the— I said no noise—!’
The moment Noah turned around with a scowl, his eyes widened in disbelief.
Three comrades who’d been completely fine moments ago had suddenly turned into zombies and were tearing into the throats of other teammates.
Crunch! Rip!
These freshly-turned zombies were still in peak condition, chewing through nose bones and ripping flesh like rabid beasts. The air was filled with horrific screams.
Noah immediately swung his axe and caved in one of their skulls, while Jae-won slammed the other two into the wall with all his strength.
‘A-ah…’
What just happened?
The bitten survivors stared at Noah, stunned. Noah himself could only gape in shock.
‘Why?’
No one had been bitten or wounded before. Nothing had happened. And yet, they had turned. Just like that.
‘I’m sorry.’
There was no time to think. Following the camp’s rules, Noah personally ended the lives of the bitten. The last one resisted, swinging their weapon in fear, but his grip was unshakable.
In a heartbeat, they lost six people without knowing why. Only four remained.
‘Noah, what the hell is going on?’
‘I have no idea.’
All their previous understanding of infection was shattered. They stood there, frozen, with no answers.
Then—
‘Hyung…’
Someone standing near the mirror by the register called out softly. His eyes were bloodshot. The comrade beside him, too.
‘Wait.’
Noah rushed over and touched their foreheads.
‘You’re not… infected, right…?’
They were burning up.
It was a symptom of infection.
‘Why?!’
Noah screamed without realizing it, overwhelmed by panic—and watched as his precious comrades transformed before his very eyes.
With tears of blood, he killed them too. When it was over, only he and Jae-won remained. Grinding his teeth, Noah turned away.
‘This place is wrong.’
They hadn’t been bitten or wounded—and yet they were infected.
Only then did Noah understand why the military’s core command had fallen so fast. Why all those soldiers, sent to retake and secure the facility, hadn’t even managed a proper defense before becoming the undead.
They had to get out. Now.
‘Let’s go.’
There was no time for guilt. The dead were dead. He and Jae-won bolted out of the welfare center, heading back toward the rear gate.
But the zombies had noticed them—maybe from noise or movement—and were flooding the path they came through.
They turned sharply.
Huff, huff…
Zombies poured in from every direction. The two of them ran desperately, darting between the undead, dodging grasping, ice-cold hands.
Their lungs burned. Any second now, they’d feel a hand grabbing their ankle and yanking them down.
The zombies were slow, but they surged like a tidal wave.
Just as despair blurred their vision, they spotted a wide, elevated lawn ahead.
Noah vaulted up like a parkour runner. And when he lifted his head—they both froze.
In front of them stood a grotesque mutant too strange for words, staring directly at them.
‘What… is that…?’
Its head was like a snake. Its body swollen like Cell from Dragon Ball right before self-destruction. A bloated frame that looked like it couldn’t even take a step.
Noah had seen many mutants before—but never one that made his whole body crawl and his stomach lurch just from a glance.
A mutant in front. Zombies surging behind. Death felt inevitable.
Both of them tightened their grips on their weapons.
—
“It was terrifying.”
Noah hugged himself, trembling as if the memory alone sent chills down his spine.
“What happened after that?”
Yohan pressed for more, unable to wait. Everyone nearby was dead silent, riveted by the nightmare he’d just described. It was impossible to imagine how they’d survived.
“We were prepared to die. I figured I’d stab it once at least before going down. So I went straight for it… but weirdly, it didn’t fight back.”
“It didn’t fight back?”
“Yeah. Just screamed and thrashed, but didn’t know how to attack properly. Every time I slashed it or hacked it with the axe, it just puked up some weird, squirming slime. It was disgusting. Before the zombies caught up to us, I hacked off its limbs and head, crushed its brain, and we ran. I can’t tell you how many times I almost died that day.”
As Noah recounted it quietly, Yohan’s eyes suddenly lit up—his gaze sharp, as if a cold blue flame had ignited behind them.
