Chapter 163
Pity for the object of their fear came in an instant.
As soon as the explosion ended, the three who had turned their backs on the mutant immediately spun around again and each swung their weapons at it with all their might. When Noah joined in, the spectacle became something else.
It was like kneading dough,
Or threshing barley.
There was no elegance or skill—just rough, simple, repeated blows. They beat the writhing mutant as if kneading it, again and again.
After catching his breath, Yohan jammed a machete into the mutant’s tightly clenched mouth.
As the mutant’s jaws parted slightly, he twisted his arm with all his strength to pry its mouth open. At the same time, Noah shoved another anti-mutant grenade inside, and Hajin swung the hammer Noah had set down.
Bang!
The mutant’s body convulsed violently.
It was almost pitiful now.
And the four of them, with precise coordination, repeated this three more times.
‘…Damn. Ruthless kids.’
As if that weren’t enough, they draped the trembling mutant zombie in multiple overlapping nets and wound chains around it several times.
Finally, when it couldn’t even move a finger, all that could be heard from inside the cocooned mass was a pitiful scream.
The four dusted off their hands. As their gazes turned to the squad members, the others instinctively shrank back. Yohan narrowed his brow and spoke bluntly.
“What are you doing, finish off the rest of the zombies. Are you going to let that collapse as it is? Back up the vehicles. Squad leaders, move.”
The surviving squad leaders hurriedly ran to the vehicles.
A few hours later, as the mutant’s rampage ended, so did the zombie wave.
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t that the wave ended—the surrounding area was simply picked clean of zombies.
Around the public parking lot, mountains of corpses piled up. Literally, a sea of blood and corpses.
The bodies kept piling up, and as new ones climbed the heap, they’d die and be added to the pile. Zombies clinging to the barbed wire were shot down by bullets as they tried to squeeze through. After Ironfist was subdued, the outcome was effectively decided.
All that was left was the decimated Search Squad 4, the helicopter reinforcements, and the stench of decay thick in the air.
Fsshh—
One by one, cigarettes were lit.
Yohan called over Chul-gu and Gaeul, who were smoking on the other side.
“You called, boss.”
“Get me a casualty report for Squad 4. Gaeul, escort the elder to the helicopter.”
“Yes.”
Yohan’s voice was emotionless. Chul-gu and Gaeul answered just as calmly.
There was no joy at surviving, no fear of death, no sadness for the dead. It was as natural as night following day, as the earth turning every twenty-four hours—a thing that simply happened.
Olivia slumped against a vehicle. Every new recruit who’d trained with her for over a hundred days was dead. The squad leaders who’d guided them were also gone in an instant. So pointless, so horrific.
She couldn’t grasp that they were dead, or that she had survived. It all felt like a dream.
<Olivia.>
A deep voice made Olivia look up. Before her stood the one who brought her here, her savior who led her into hell.
<Are you hurt?>
Olivia shook her head.
<Are you all right?>
She nodded. There was nothing else to say.
…Huh?
A strange sensation traced down her cheek. It was an unfamiliar feeling she hadn’t felt in a long time. Hajin slowly reached out and wiped under her eye.
As her face got messier, Hajin paused, then pretended not to notice.
<It was just bad luck.>
<…….>
<You did well. Now go to your mother and rest with her.>
As his hand patted her, she collapsed into his arms. Only then did she realize she had survived.
For the first time today, Olivia faced the apocalypse and saw the people who fought and survived it.
She didn’t fight alongside them—she simply witnessed their desperate struggle.
While she survived in hiding, they had been fighting this desperately.
Olivia looked at Yohan. He remained impossibly calm, like a cornerstone that would never budge no matter how fierce the wind.
“Total casualties, twenty-four!”
“Bites?”
“Two.”
“Bind and quarantine them completely. If they’re immune, report and send them to me.”
“Yes.”
He spoke each word as if simply doing his duty.
“Let’s go home.”
She realized how arrogant she’d been to judge him. At the same time, she thought, maybe… this place really was humanity’s last hope.
It was a vague certainty.
And finally, they—
* * *
12/18
Auckland, New Zealand.
Three years and one day since the apocalypse.
It was noisy.
“Fire! Fire!”
“Mister, my coin!”
And Yohan found all this noise disagreeable.
“Sigh…”
Yohan poked at the two men and women gaming in his living room.
But these two ignored him, completely absorbed in their game.
“What’s all this mess, it’s my rare vacation.”
“It’s because it’s rare that we came to hang out!”
“Why my place?”
“Because we wanted to hang with you, hyung!”
“For two hours, all you’ve done is raid my fridge and play games.”
The two turned around and grinned, then winked. Yohan silently grabbed the rifle hanging on the wall.
They immediately sat up, all proper.
“Seri, never mind you, but Sweeper, what are you doing here? Where’s everyone else?”
“Are you saying I can keep coming? Then I will!”
“Quiet.”
“Yes…”
Sweeper laughed at Seri’s sulking, earning a smack. Yohan shook his head.
“One-armed hyung’s on a date. Pretty boy’s babysitting.”
“You should go on a date yourself. Or have a kid.”
“How do you do the latter without the former? Right, mister?”
“Right, hyung. Gotta reach for the stars if you want one. Honestly, life’s so dull now. No zombies, no mutants, no new people.”
Sweeper sprawled out in the living room.
Just as he said, mutants and zombies hadn’t appeared for some time. Their numbers hadn’t just dwindled—they’d vanished. Not even a single case of infection from wounds. And a couple had given birth safely.
Both mother and child were healthy.
After the attack by the mutant Ironfist that had dealt such a blow to Camp Yohan, the steady rescue of survivors plateaued.
The number of survivors neither rose nor fell.
Yohan’s efforts to boost the survival rates of people worldwide and ruin someone’s game faded away.
Australia, Southeast Asia, the Pacific islands…
At some point, survivors just vanished. As if zombies and mutants had disappeared without a trace.
Except for an incident six months ago, life had been monotonously peaceful.
As time passed, even anger and sense of purpose faded. What completely doused Yohan’s emotions was a death six months ago.
Old Man Park’s death.
Park, who’d kept the camp steady alongside Seri and Hyuk for the longest, had passed away.
Cause: respiratory illness and immune system complications.
Not the zombie virus, nor mutant attack—just natural disease.
Old Man Park was simply gone.
Yohan spent days out of sorts for the first time in ages.
He broke down more than once, then pulled himself together again. He realized he’d relied on him more than he’d thought.
Old Man Park was enshrined with his last harvest. He became one of the few survivors whose ashes were laid to rest.
‘A good death. At least he died peacefully, what a relief.’
Elder Yong was silent at the late loss of his old friend. Seo-jun quietly managed the mourning.
That day, the whole camp was steeped in grief.
And as if his last gift, not a single zombie appeared after Old Man Park’s death.
Yohan shook off his thoughts, then stroked Heukgu, curled up beside Seri. The dog had grown brave, but these days, even he was unemployed.
“Go outside and play tennis, you two.”
“No thanks. It’s no fun playing with mister.”
“Haha, 67 wins out of 67.”
…Still, challenging him sixty-seven times was something.
As Yohan ate some cookies and tea, joking aimlessly, a sudden visitor knocked at the door. It was Jae-ho.
“Boss, sorry to bother you during vacation.”
“Oh, Jae-ho. What is it?”
“Someone’s here to see you.”
“To see me? Who?”
“A new survivor, I think…”
Yohan frowned.
‘If they’re a survivor, just register them and send them to basic training, why are they here for me? And during my vacation.’
“Well…”
Yohan frowned again.
“Jae-ho, things are easy these days, huh?”
“That’s not it…”
“It’s started. Picky Yohan.”
“Mister, it’s your fault. You’re not a kindergarten principal. Camp leaders can’t just be summoned any time, can they?”
Jae-ho looked like he was about to cry, and Yohan smirked.
“Just kidding. Who is it?”
“A girl I’ve never seen before… She just suddenly appeared in camp.”
The mood instantly turned cold. Not just Yohan—Sweeper and Seri’s expressions hardened.
“When?”
“This morning.”
“Who’s on security detail today?”
“Squad 1.”
“Sweeper.”
“Ah, we’re screwed…”
Sweeper stood up, rubbing his head.
Letting an intruder in during patrol was a serious offense. No one involved, from squad leader to team leader, could escape responsibility.
“Boss, wait. I checked with every guard—there’s no way in. Last night’s guard leader was Eddy.”
“That’s strange.”
Sweeper tilted his head, and so did Yohan. Eddy, at least when it came to the field manual, was one of the strictest squad leaders.
He kept his subordinates in line so tightly, even glancing aside got you in trouble. There couldn’t be a gap.
“What’s stranger is, it’s a girl.”
“A girl? A kid?”
“Yeah. Looks like a middle schooler. We kept asking how she got in, but all she said was, ‘Let me meet my Yohan.’”
What on earth.
Survivors were supposed to be all but gone, and now a girl appears? And what’s with that weird possessive phrasing?
“What’s she doing now?”
“In solitary…”
“Fine. Bring her here.”
A moment later, Jae-ho left and came back with two search team members, leading a girl before them.
The moment she saw Yohan, the girl suddenly ran at him. Instantly, Sweeper sprang up and pointed a gun at her face.
“Hey, kid, don’t move carelessly. Otherwise, that pretty head’ll go flying.”
Despite the threat, the girl just stood still, her eyes fixed only on Yohan.
Yohan held up his palm. She’d already been disarmed.
Once the threat was lifted, the girl walked up slowly. Then she threw her arms around Yohan.
As if holding onto the most precious treasure.
“……?”
Shock and silence came at once.