Chapter 141
The advance team moved through the building, wiping out zombies to the point where it seemed like the four of them might actually clear out all the zombies in headquarters. Only when they were sure there were no Mutants or other threats near the government office did they finally head to the entrance.
Checking the time, about three hours had passed since they entered. Even in the dead of winter, sweat soaked through their clothes, and shimmering waves of heat rose from their bodies.
The new government office was a fairly large L-shaped building, a clean, modern structure. Above the main entrance, a banner with the words “Establishing a Perfect All-Round Military Readiness” caught their eye.
At the front door, Yohan hesitated for a moment, staring at the firmly shut doors of the building.
Normally, he would have just broken in, but since this was a military facility, he was worried about triggering any potential alarms.
If any loud noises went off here, it would be a major headache.
Yohan knocked on the glass door.
“Is this bulletproof glass?”
At Yohan’s question, the other three just shrugged. The lack of information was frustrating.
A look around revealed no obvious way to break in.
Even if they decided to break the glass, this wide-open area was the last place they’d want to do it.
Yohan’s gaze shifted to the protruding garden area on the third or fourth floor. If they could get up there, it seemed like a safer entry point. Once inside, opening the door from within would be easier.
The only problem was figuring out how to get up there.
“Are you going up?”
“Yeah. If we can get into that sky garden-looking area, there’s probably a door we can use to move around inside. Even if there isn’t, it’d be safer to break the glass there than on the ground.”
“Should I try climbing up?”
“You think you can?”
“It shouldn’t be impossible.”
Climbing the exterior of a building barehanded was entirely possible. Not only had he trained for it, but he’d done it several times as a personal challenge.
The lack of handholds and safety equipment was a concern, but even if he fell, it wasn’t high enough to be fatal. The walls seemed to have plenty of places to put his feet.
“Don’t overdo it.”
Yohan knew his skills well and didn’t stop him. He’d seen him climb walls like this in a past life and had been impressed by his ability then, too.
Noah scanned the exterior wall with him eyes, then began climbing up, using window ledges and air vents for footholds.
The three below watched with a mix of concern and anticipation.
Despite their worries, Noah quickly scaled the surprisingly high wall. Watching him cling to the wall like a spider, Hajin let out a sound of admiration.
“That guy’s pretty skilled.”
“Versatile, too.”
Noah stepped onto the floor of the sky garden and looked around for something to secure a rope for the others. Unfortunately, all he saw were zombies approaching.
Two, three…
About thirty. It was a bit much to take on alone, but with plenty of space to move around, he could manage.
Noah tightened his grip on the fire axe strapped to his back and moved lightly on his feet.
Maybe he’d picked up some habits from fighting alongside the others, but his body felt light. His well-loosened muscles flexed, and the swarm of familiar zombies coming at him didn’t seem threatening at all.
Noah grabbed his fire axe and swung it. Two zombies approaching him disintegrated instantly.
Next, four or five zombies charged at once. Noah quickly shoved one aside and slipped out of the encirclement, swinging his axe downward.
The zombies tripped over the one with severed legs and collapsed in a heap.
He brought the axe down on a fallen zombie, making rotten blood splatter everywhere.
Any zombie that got close was shoved aside with a shoulder or a kick, while he nimbly moved around, targeting the ones at the edge of the group first. After repeating this a few times, all the zombies that had been after him were now corpses.
‘Whew…’
Noah let out a deep breath, the heat in his body leaving with his exhale.
Just as Yohan predicted, the door connecting the garden and the building was open. Noah walked through the entrance, and just then, a creature bounced toward him—almost like a newborn, its body about the size of two basketballs stuck together.
“Hup!”
It was fast, but Noah dodged it reflexively.
It looked like a brand new kind of Mutant, or maybe an underdeveloped one. Noah dodged the rubber-ball-like Mutant and pinned it against the wall with the handle of his axe.
Squeal!
Stuck against the wall, the Mutant let out a small, annoying shriek. Noah pressed his boot against its belly. The feeling was like stepping on a frog.
He aimed the pump-action double-barrel shotgun slung across his back at its head. One shot would blow its head to pieces.
But he decided against firing—if a gunshot rang out, it might put his friends below at risk.
Instead, Noah held the Mutant down with his boot and brought his axe down diagonally on its head.
Splatter!
Golden-green blood burst out. The Mutant was dispatched almost too easily.
‘What is this thing now?’
Noah frowned, staring at the unidentifiable corpse.
—
From the first-floor entrance, the rest of the group caught a glimpse of Noah, dripping with sweat after his ordeal.
“He’s dropping something, heads up.”
Noah, who’d vanished from sight for a moment, tied the portable cable’s cord several times around a tree in the garden, then tossed the cable reel down.
The line unspooled and Hajin caught it just before it hit the ground.
After that, everything went smoothly. Using the cable for support, the four of them climbed up the building, quickly cleared out the remaining zombies inside, and took care of a few more rubber-ball Mutants like the one Noah had fought. After that, there were no more threats to worry about.
Once the zombie cleanup was finally complete and Yohan confirmed it was safe, he called in the main group to begin a thorough search of the interior.
“Let’s enter in this order: Operations Headquarters, Strategic Planning Headquarters, Military Support Headquarters, then the Analysis Room. There should be a place where documents are kept somewhere. Just bring any information related to the Navy to the garden.”
Everyone split up to search for materials. In one corner of the sky garden, mountains of books piled up.
It looked like they had gathered more than enough.
Once there was nothing left to find, Yohan turned to call for Jae-ho.
But Jae-ho was nowhere in sight.
“Where’s Jae-ho?”
“Huh? Jae-ho? He was here a minute ago.”
With a slight sense of unease, Yohan picked up the radio to look for him.
No way, it couldn’t be.
He pushed the thought aside. Considering Jae-ho’s diligence and cooperation, he wouldn’t leave the group without saying anything.
“Jae-ho, where are you?”
There was no response. Yohan frowned and was about to go down to the first floor to look for him when he spotted Jae-ho by a window on an upper floor, staring outside. Yohan walked over.
“What are you doing here? Why aren’t you answering your radio?”
Yohan’s slightly sharp voice startled Jae-ho, who waved his hands.
“Oh, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment…”
“Focus. Let’s go. This is your job.”
“Uh, leader…”
“No.”
“I haven’t even said anything yet!”
It was obvious what he’d ask—to go to the National Library of Korea.
“It’s right there. Just across the bridge.”
“Why are you so hung up on it? There’s no guarantee there’s anything useful there, and for all you know, it could just be trash. Even if there is a book related to all this, so what? Will anything change just because you read it?”
“That’s not it. But, leader, this is the last chance. The last clue we can check before leaving Korea.”
“…”
“William Wirt said that if you want to satisfy your curiosity, grab hold of whatever sparks your interest right away. If you let that moment pass, you might never get that urge or chance back, and you’ll be left ignorant.”
“You’re risking your life. I can’t help or wait for you. Leaving the group is no different than going off to die.”
“I know.”
“Is it worth it? Is your curiosity or whatever worth your life?”
“Yes.”
Jae-ho’s answer grew more resolute as the conversation went on. He must have agonized over it for days, finally making up his mind now.
“I don’t get people like you.”
“Leader.”
“But I’ll respect your choice. We’ll need time to prepare for departure anyway. I don’t know how long it’ll take, but be back before then. If you’re not here before we leave, we’ll go without you.”
“Thank you.”
“Do your job before you go.”
“…What?”
“Sort those documents and make sure we only take what we need.”
“…Okay.”
“If you’ve got a problem, don’t go.”
“No, that’s fine!”
“If you come back with a tail behind you, you might as well be dead.”
“Yes…”
Yohan realized there really are all kinds of people in this world.
And he didn’t have the right to stop someone who was willing to risk their life for their beliefs.
—
After finishing their business, Yohan’s group withdrew from Seoul like the receding tide. There was no hesitation, no obstacles.
All they focused on was getting out of there as quickly as possible.
Some people wondered about Jae-ho’s disappearance, but since Yohan stayed silent, no one pressed the issue.
They returned to Bupyeong District Office.
And just as he expected, Bupyeong District Office had been attacked by Camp Chunhyang.
The mercenary sentries and camp survivors left behind as a precaution were all dead. All that awaited them was corpses and empty storage rooms.
None of them had turned into zombies. The people from Camp Chunhyang had shown mercy. There was no brutality—just a clear intent to take supplies. The deaths were clean, with as little pain as possible. They made sure no one turned into a zombie.
“Damn it.”
The mercenaries had vanished somewhere, and the old man, left alone, just smoked cigarette after cigarette in front of the recovered bodies. Right in front of him lay Jung-mi’s corpse.
Yohan didn’t offer comfort or feel guilty.
Instead, he laid out the consequences of the deal plainly—how they ended up going to Yongsan, and the risks from the nuclear power plant and radiation exposure.
After hearing the details, the old man just muttered, “Yeah, we’re screwed,” and nothing more.
He sat dazed in front of Jung-mi’s corpse for a long time. Maybe he’d thought of her as an adopted daughter, Yohan could only guess.
“Old man.”
The next day, while the funerals were in full swing, Chul-gu, who’d been missing, returned.
“You’re back.”
“Yes, old man.”
“The others?”
“As you said, I made an example of them… and let the rest go.”
Chul-gu held a bloodstained cloth in one hand. Inside was the severed head of a man.
It was the same man who’d guided Yohan’s group when they arrived at Camp Chunhyang.
As soon as he confirmed the main group had been attacked, the old man sent Chul-gu out in pursuit. He tracked down and killed all of the enemy’s rearguard.
But that was all. The old man only killed the stragglers as a warning, not the entire group.
That, too, was an act of mercy.
Camp Chunhyang had done what it did to survive. It was a camp united around a single child. The old man let it go, understanding they’d only done what they had to do to live.
Yohan could understand him. It was his own fault for not being prepared and leaving them exposed. He’d lost Jung-soo, someone he cherished, but he wouldn’t seek revenge. Bloody vengeance for past wrongs was pointless.
Yohan simply stood before the graves and mourned those who were gone.
The old man, looking drained, muttered to Yohan as he mourned.
“Kid.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Chunhyang’s mother probably just wanted to protect her daughter.”
“Yes.”
“She must’ve been cornered. I know what she’s survived, and what she’s facing now. I want to go after her and kill her, but more than that, I wonder if I really have to. If I had a daughter like that, would I be any different?”
“…”
“Damn it, what a screwed-up world.”
Yohan didn’t offer him comfort.
Comforting someone who’d made a far better decision than himself would have been arrogant and presumptuous. Yohan simply continued with what he’d wanted to say.
“Sir. Do you remember what I told you?”
“What, about the nuclear explosion or whatever?”
“Yes.”
“Yeah, I remember. But so what? It’s not like we can stop it. Damn, maybe I should’ve just stayed put. Following you got a lot of good people killed for nothing.”
“I went to Yongsan to board a warship and reach a radiation-safe zone.”
“I figured.”
“Thanks to that, everything is ready now, sir.”
“Congratulations, kid. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
Yohan slowly shook his head.
Then he spoke the words he’d prepared, putting strength into each syllable.
“I regret the ones we lost. But… you’re not the kind of man to be shaken by someone’s death. Come with me. You’ll have to follow my instructions and orders, but you won’t regret it.”
The old man looked at Yohan with surprise. Yohan met his gaze.
“Stay with me until the end. Fight with me against our final enemy—against the very end itself.”
The old man’s face twitched,
“Become my comrade.”
And finally, a laugh burst from the face that had been shrouded in gloom.
