Chapter 166
Sweeper hurried to a nearby hospital. The sounds of screams and the sight of people running away flashed past him. It all felt unreal.
It was as if he’d run nonstop for nearly ten minutes. Sweeper caught his breath and entered the hospital.
The moment he arrived inside, he couldn’t help but grimace.
The hospital was already overrun by zombies.
He had no idea what it looked like deeper inside, but from the lobby to the hallways and stairs, pale zombies filled every space.
This was real.
The surreal scene quickly became reality right before his eyes.
As soon as he moved deeper inside, a group of zombies twisted their bodies with a cracking sound. Their vacant gazes landed on him. They looked like monsters from a haunted house.
Saliva mixed with flesh and blood dripped from their mouths, and their hands and bodies were stained everywhere with red.
Some zombies still looked intact, but most of them were oozing dark red blood where they’d been bitten. One zombie was even approaching with its abdomen open, intestines dangling.
“God damn…”
He prided himself on being pretty tough, but this was genuinely a terrifying sight.
“Kyaaah!”
A zombie approached Sweeper and bared its yellow teeth. Sweeper reflexively struck its lower jaw with a jab. He pulled his hand back quickly. While it paused, Sweeper kicked the creature with the sole of his foot, sending it flying.
He didn’t know what these things were or where they came from. But the word zombie was familiar. If you were scratched or bitten, the virus would turn you into one of them.
Honestly, just letting such grotesque creatures get close made him feel sick.
Seriously, there was no time to even be surprised.
Zombie.
He’d heard the term plenty, but not once did he imagine something like this would happen. It was common sense that it was scientifically impossible. But for now…
‘I need to survive the crisis in front of me.’
His heart felt icy cold. His body felt lighter than ever, and his stomach was full—he had plenty of strength.
He was thoroughly trained to handle any emergency. There was no way he’d let himself be taken down by creatures without weapons or guns.
Ordinary people might freeze at their grotesque appearance, but not him.
Blood. And flesh.
Scenes like this were as familiar to him as a phone wallpaper.
Sweeper spun and landed a spinning heel kick to the zombie’s temple.
With a whoosh, his foot slammed the zombie’s head to the ground. The zombie squirmed and got back up.
Persistent, aren’t you.
Sweeper grabbed a fire extinguisher, smashed a glass case, and pulled out a small Helco fire axe.
He had small knives on him, but the axe seemed better for both looks and self-defense.
He strapped the axe securely to his belt and ran back outside the hospital.
The hunter woman had already turned into a zombie.
His earlier theory was now certain. These really were zombies.
With that confirmation, Sweeper reviewed everything he knew about zombies.
If you were bitten or wounded, you got infected.
They never got tired.
Destroying the head (brain) killed them.
He ignored other details, like reacting to smell, or only reacting to sight or sound, or being able to walk among them covered in zombie blood and guts.
What mattered was the basics that applied everywhere. Regardless,
‘Am I allowed to kill these things, or not?’
As the hunter woman zombie kept coming at him, Sweeper scratched his head.
Judging by their appearance, this would be over soon, but he worried about the aftermath. What if the families came after him for killing their loved ones?
Sweeper glanced at the security cameras hanging all around.
Still, it made him uneasy.
He had no choice but to focus on pushing away and knocking down the attacking zombies. Now there were two, and more were coming from the street.
He started to feel a bit anxious.
The zombies couldn’t actually hurt him, but he couldn’t keep pushing them away forever.
He needed to move to a safe place, then report to headquarters.
‘But first… food.’
If this dragged on for days, he’d need to prepare. He’d come to the country alone, planning to finish his mission and go home, so he had nowhere to sleep or eat.
Sweeper headed to a nearby convenience store. At the entrance, people rushed in and then bolted out in horror.
And inside, just as expected, there were zombies—feeding.
“P-please, help me…”
Inside the cramped store, there were three zombies and two unfortunate zombie meals. One had apparently fainted, foaming at the mouth and trembling, while the other was pinned down by two zombies, struggling as they tore into his flesh.
Sweeper grimaced and locked the store door.
The zombies following him threw themselves against the glass.
‘Three.’
“Help me…”
‘Two people caught.’
They’d both been bitten badly. Without a doubt, they’d be infected soon. Including them, there would be five zombies.
“Brutal.”
One of the zombies turned at the sound of Sweeper’s voice.
Sweeper grabbed a cleaning tool and leapt onto the counter, smashing the CCTV. The sound of breaking glass rang out. He jabbed a couple more times to destroy the camera.
Screeech!—
A zombie lunged at him, but Sweeper jabbed the cleaning pole into its solar plexus.
It was more of a thrust than a swing. The zombie lost its balance and toppled over.
Sweeper pressed down on the creature’s solar plexus with the pole, then tore open a mask package hanging by the counter and put one on.
After that, he pulled out his axe and gripped it tightly.
Smack!
Smack, smack!
Blood splattered. Flesh and brain matter flew.
The noise brought two more zombies at him, but Sweeper toppled a display and smashed the back of their heads.
“…!”
The young man who’d been bitten gasped for breath. The other was already dead. Sweeper only lowered his mask after smashing the dead one’s head. When he turned with the axe, the bitten young man flinched.
“Hey, just stay there. Move and you’ll get hurt.”
The young man nodded, sobbing and sniffling.
“It… it hurts… please help me…”
“If it hurts, go to a hospital. Are there more zombies in the back?”
“Yes, yes.”
He would’ve let him go if he could, but it wasn’t possible. Sweeper sighed and pulled a can of Isul Toktok from the fridge, tossing it to him.
“…?”
“I’ll be leaving soon. Have a drink on your way out. It’ll give you something to remember in the afterlife.”
“P-please… please save me.”
“Sorry, but there’s nothing I can do. Don’t move. Want your head smashed in?”
Sob, sob—
The sharp sound of crying pricked at his ears. Man, even a grown man’s bawling.
It was sad, but it was his own fault.
It’s not like in the movies where zombies move insanely fast or have superhuman strength. If you can’t deal with this, you’ve only got yourself to blame.
“If you want to live a minute longer, don’t move.”
Sweeper pointed the axe at the young man, then pulled out a 100-liter garbage bag and filled it with food.
The most important things were water and high-calorie foods like canned goods.
But for now, Sweeper packed things he personally wanted to eat.
If things dragged on, he could always get more. He could steal it, or just… kindly borrow it from someone else.
With his bag full of food and water, Sweeper sensed something nearby. He spun around and swung his axe in a flash. The blade slammed into a temple and struck the wall with a heavy thud. It was the young man, now a zombie.
“About seven minutes, huh.”
Time to turn into a zombie—seven minutes. It could vary, but he made a note of it.
Sweeper sealed up two bags and tied them securely to his back, then gripped his axe, ready for battle.
A few zombies pressed their faces against the glass door, licking up the blood.
Ugh, disgusting.
Sweeper grimaced.
—
After shaking off the zombies, Sweeper entered a nearby motel. Since it was a weekday afternoon, there weren’t many guests. The place was empty.
He rummaged through the counter, grabbed a random key, and entered a room.
After checking that no other guests were inside, he picked up the call device.
Code name: ‘Blinddate’—nickname, the dating app manager. He needed to report to Blinddate. When he pressed the call button, a string of encrypted numbers appeared and the phone started ringing.
–Hey, Sweeper!
The voice on the other end sounded a bit more excited than usual.
“It’s me. How’ve you been?”
–You… in this situation…?
This situation?
Sweeper frowned. Wasn’t this just happening here?
“It’s weird here. You might think I’m joking, but… you know how funny I am, right?”
–Yeah. It’s chaos here, too.
“Zombies showed up at the phone company?”
–No, not exactly. But it seems like zombies showed up at headquarters. We haven’t been able to reach them. Other branches are in chaos. Europe, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia—everywhere!
“Oh, my goodness… Unbelievable!”
Sweeper grimaced. The security at headquarters rivaled military facilities. There were plenty of combat agents there. And yet these lowly zombies took over?
“What about the other branches?”
–Most are just waiting for contact. They’re probably all busy talking to their agents. How’s Korea?
“It’s crazy here, man. Total apocalypse!”
Sweeper looked down through the window at the crowds outside, answering excitedly. At first, most were running, but now there were more and more zombies shambling around.
If he’d evacuated a little later, he would’ve been caught in that.
–Why, what happened?
“There are so many zombies. I want to get to the phone company, but can you send me a boat?”
–Not right now. I’ll make an escape route once I hear from HQ. Keep your boat call handy. I’ll send your location. Your signal’s working, right?
Sweeper took out a circular receiver. It was a signal transceiver with GPS. He pressed the button on top and a signal played.
“All good.”
–I’ll contact you soon. Hang in there.
“Roger.”