Free Web Novel“Haa....”
Junho, who had woken early at dawn, looked out toward the Han River from the apartment rooftop.
The riverside, spread with water fog, looked no different from peaceful times.
It felt as though, if he went there right now, diligent people would be out for their dawn jogs.
But when he turned his gaze toward the complex and the main gate, reality unfolded before him.
The thousands of zombie corpses had all been cleared away, but traces of blood, flesh, and other remains were still everywhere.
Especially in front of the main gate and near the outer wall surrounding the complex, the zombies’ blood and bodily fluids had formed thick, blackish bands across the ground.
“Looks like they’re all burned.”
In an empty lot about a hundred meters away from the Golden Heights apartment complex, with about ten soldiers standing guard with rifles slung over their backs, thousands of burned corpses had been piled up like a low hill, only embers remaining.
Once the sun rose, the apartment survivors were scheduled to clean it up.
Grrrk.
“Again? Seriously....”
At the sound of his stomach demanding food, Junho took a high-calorie energy bar from inside his clothes and chewed it down.
After finishing last night’s battle, he had consumed a full three thousand kilocalories, yet apparently waking up had reset everything.
“Is °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° this right?”
Junho, who had swallowed down the one-thousand-kilocalorie energy bar in the blink of an eye, smacked his lips.
It was good that his physical abilities rose little by little every time he killed an Alpha, but his body was demanding more and more calories.
When the apocalypse had first broken out, he had eaten about three thousand kilocalories a day, but at some point, five thousand kilocalories a day had become the bare minimum.
On days like yesterday, when he used his body intensely, he had to eat at least another two thousand kilocalories on top of that.
In peaceful times, that meant Junho alone was eating three times what an ordinary adult man would. In the current world, it meant he was consuming enough food for four or five survivors every single day.
“Well, the mileage is good enough.”
It was obvious that even five ordinary survivors—no, even ten—could not do what he did, so Junho merely shrugged.
“Oh? Boss, you’re awake.”
Just then, Park Deokcheol, who had come up to the rooftop while yawning, hurried over.
“Sleep well, boss?”
“Yeah. Did you sleep properly too?”
“Yes, sir. I don’t even know how long it’s been since I slept that comfortably.”
Fair enough. After leaving the shelter, they had practically been sleeping rough, and on top of that, they had only managed five or six hours of sleep each day at most.
Not to mention, yesterday he had experienced an enormous battle that pushed both his body and mind to their limits, so for Park Deokcheol, who had grown accustomed to the shelter’s biological rhythm of seven to eight hours of sleep, he must have been fairly exhausted.
“You’re taking the vitamins and supplements we brought from the shelter every day, right?”
“Yes. I drank a glass of water as soon as I woke up and took them all.”
“Good.”
When Junho left on the expedition, he had packed a full month’s worth of multivitamins and various supplements.
Since they would have to rely mainly on combat rations and energy bars for meals for a while, getting essential minerals and missing vitamins was necessary.
“Um, but boss.”
“Yeah?”
With his hair sticking up like a bird’s nest, Park Deokcheol asked cautiously.
“I thought about it carefully before I went to sleep. About those zombies yesterday. I was wondering if you really had to kill all of them yourself. I mean... if you just killed the Alphas and didn’t respond, wouldn’t they just return to where they originally were?”
It was a valid point.
In fact, at first, Junho had also considered sniping only the Alphas with pinpoint shots and leaving the rest alone.
But there was a reason he had changed his mind and killed them all, even if it meant pushing himself a little.
“Do you know where yesterday’s zombies came from?”
“I heard they came from the nearest apartment complexes. About eight hundred meters away?”
“Yeah. From there and two other apartment complexes across the road. All three are within one kilometer of here. One complex has more than fifteen hundred households, and the other two have about seven hundred each.”
“......?”
“If you add those three complexes and the nearby officetel together, you should assume there are more than three thousand households. And maybe officetels are different, but large apartment complexes built in areas like this don’t have many single-person households. In other words, if you add up all the apartment complexes where the zombies were, the population was around ten thousand. So how many zombies did we kill yesterday?”
“Uh... I heard it was a little over three thousand.”
“Right. Then do the math. How many zombies do you think are left there now?”
“......!”
Watching Park Deokcheol finally realize something and widen his eyes, Junho nodded.
“Exactly. Except for a very small number still trapped inside their homes, all three apartment complexes are basically empty. There probably aren’t that many living people left either.”
“Ah! Then you’re going to take them over?”
“Yeah. That’s good for the soldiers, and it’s good for me too. Now the area around this apartment complex is genuinely safe.”
The Golden Heights apartment complex stood alone, sticking up like an isolated island, and everything within a radius of three or four hundred meters was either mountain or wasteland.
That was because it had originally been rural village land, all bought up and completely cleared.
Also, the areas from the complex toward Guri and Seoul were small villages with populations of only a few hundred, and the Daeseong syndicate gangsters had already cleaned those places out long ago.
In other words, if one expanded the radius around Golden Heights to one kilometer, the only densely populated areas were the apartment complexes near Deokso upstream along the Han River, built along the Gyeongui-Jungang Line.
And since they had dealt with the zombies that came from there yesterday, this place had effectively become completely safe for the time being.
“Wow! But boss. I get why that’s good for the soldiers and the people here, but why us? What’s good about it for us?”
“It is good. We can install relays and amplifiers here, at the Deokso apartment complexes, and along the Han River and the Gyeongui-Jungang Line.”
“Huh? Then, boss, does that mean we can communicate from home all the way here and fly drones too?”
“Probably.”
Junho gave a faint smile and nodded at Park Deokcheol, who had started calling their shelter “home” at some point.
If they installed relays and amplifiers every two or three kilometers along the Bukhan River, Han River, and Gyeongui-Jungang Line, it was fully possible.
Of course, the work would be extremely difficult, and there were many issues to consider, such as power supply, link separation, relay-point design accounting for latency, frequency hopping, encryption, and so on.
But those problems were trivial compared to risking their lives to secure a route back and forth from the shelter to this place.
“If we install them from Paldang Lake along Gyeongan Stream, communication will reach not just here, but Kangho Resort too. And on top of that.”
“......?”
“Along the communication-line route, people and supplies will be able to move back and forth somewhat freely now. In the world as it is, we’re probably the only ones who can make something like that possible over such a wide area.”
“Ohh, shhhh... I-I mean, wow!”
Park Deokcheol, despite having been born and raised in Texas, hurriedly corrected himself after nearly letting out an expletive-laced exclamation like someone from the hood.
***
Morning, after sunrise.
While the Golden Heights survivors sweated heavily cleaning and organizing the inside and outside of the complex together with the soldiers, Junho went with Park Cheolwoo to the central management center, which Lee Seokjin had turned into both a situation room and living quarters.
“Just requisition them! Duck boats, whatever, if it can carry people and supplies up here, drag every single one over. If they keep throwing a fit, subdue them and detain them. Understood?”
After giving an icy order over the radio, Lee Seokjin turned toward Junho and Park Cheolwoo.
“Whew. Sorry. I’d rather fight zombies. Dealing with civilians is truly miserable work.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Your boat is good, Mr. Junho, but there’s the issue of charging the electric motor, so we were trying to use other boats too, and it seems there’s some trouble with the owners. Lieutenant Jeong will handle it. Please, sit.”
As the highest commanding officer here, Lee Seokjin looked extremely tired after barely sleeping.
But his eyes were still bright with his distinctive firmness and sense of responsibility.
“So you said you’re going to open a movement route and communication route from Namyangju to here? Of course we’d welcome that. It means we can contact the boys left in Yeongho-ri whenever we need to.”
“Yes. We’ll provide the relays. I just need a little troop support for installation. One squad should be enough.”
“Understood. That much is no problem at all. For you, Mr. Junho, I could even support you with a whole platoon.”
“Save the platoon for when we raid the reserve-force unit later. Oh, right. You’re almost out of ammunition now, aren’t you?”
“Yes. We only have about three thousand rounds of 5.56 millimeter left. About one magazine per person. The light machine guns will be finished after one more fight too.”
“Mmm.”
Junho’s and Park Cheolwoo’s faces darkened slightly.
No matter how much of a veteran unit they had become through repeated real combat, without ammunition, everything came to nothing.
But Lee Seokjin, the actual commander, merely looked tired and did not seem especially worried.
Realizing the reason at once, Junho quickly said, “Did the gangsters leave behind a lot of ammunition?”
At that, Lee Seokjin grinned.
“Yes. Those bastards had more than eighty thousand rounds of 5.56 millimeter alone. More than five thousand rounds of 9 millimeter too, and a few hundred 2.5-inch shells for 12-gauge shotguns. Most of the guns are Chinese-made, but there are about seventy more of those as well.”
“Ah...!”
As Junho and Park Cheolwoo showed their surprise, Lee Seokjin continued.
“We need a lot of the 5.56 too, so we’ll take sixty thousand rounds. The two of you can take the rest. We don’t have much use for 9 millimeter or shotgun shells, so you can take most of those.”
“Thank you.”
“No need. If we’re being honest, this is all thanks to you and the manager’s people. I’m actually sorry we can’t give you more.”
“No, no. A few thousand rounds is plenty for us. Mr. Junho said he’d support us with air rifles and tungsten rounds anyway, so we don’t have many people using rifles. Mr. Junho, you should take more.”
“Then, shameless as it is, I’ll take the 5.56 and 9 millimeter, each—” freewebnσvel.cѳm
At that moment, Lee Seokjin cut Junho off.
“There’s another separate gift for you, Mr. Lee Junho.”
“...Pardon?”
When Junho looked puzzled, Lee Seokjin gave him a mischievous smile Junho had never seen from him before and continued.
“Here. There were subsonic rounds too. Both 5.56 and 9 millimeter.”
“......!!!”
***
Lee Seokjin handed over all the subsonic ammunition obtained from the Daeseong syndicate’s armory to Junho.
There were nearly eight thousand rounds of 5.56 millimeter subsonic ammunition, and more than five thousand rounds of 9 millimeter subsonic ammunition.
It was not an enormous amount, but it was more than enough for Junho, Yoon Seolhee, and the three resort combat personnel who would soon be joining the shelter to use for the time being.
“Boss, these guys’ equipment is incredible. They have more than thirty drones of different kinds too. And fuel—hell, I don’t know if they cleaned out several gas stations or what, but they have tens of thousands of liters of diesel and gasoline.”
The maintenance sergeant who had moved the ammunition boxes for him—the same one who had gone farming with Junho back in Yeongho-ri—was extremely excited.
The Daeseong syndicate had mountain-high piles of things aside from firearms and equipment as well.
They had more daily necessities than they could use, and in particular, they had stored enough rice and various side foods to let several hundred people last more than a year.
As for drinking water, the Han River was right in front of them, and as expected of a luxury apartment complex, the internal water-purification facilities were perfect, so there was no issue at all.
“The divided lots they set aside for schools and commercial districts would be perfect for farming. The gangster bastards already cleared out all the nearby villages, so fertilizer and farming tools should be easy to get too.”
“Not short on manpower?”
“Come on, boss. There are more than seven hundred people with ID cards in this complex alone. And in those apartment complexes over there that you personally! cleared out! there are still some living people too.”
Junho gave a small laugh at the sergeant emphasizing certain words.
“Right. Anyway, think of this place as home now and do your best. If you hold out and live well here, something will work out somehow.”
“Of course. Honestly, me and the boys... we all have families, so we wanted to go meet them somehow. But after seeing you fight, boss, I changed my mind.”
“...What do you mean?”
To Junho, who looked puzzled, the sergeant wiped the bridge of his nose and said, “You risked your life to save people you had no connection to, boss. And we’re soldiers.”
“......”
“Besides, a man’s got pride. After seeing something that incredible, whining like some little brat would make no sense. Heh-heh. And like you said, if we think of this place as home and hold out here as best we can, won’t a path open eventually?”
“Yeah. It definitely will.”
He had fought more for his own interests and the shelter’s benefit than to save anyone, but Junho did not bother correcting him.
Just as he himself had, these men were now ready to live as apocalypse survivors and proud warriors, and for now, that was enough.
In any case.
Now, together with countless spoils of war, it was time for Junho to return home.
