Chapter 81: They Need to Suffer More

After the snakehead, Park Deokcheol’s fishing session ended with him catching around ten more fish, mostly crucian carp and gibel carp.

The carp were made into spicy fish stew, and since the snakehead had been a monster over eighty centimeters long, they steamed it whole, which turned out to be enough to feed not only the shelter members, but also the Park siblings and Jo Yuna.

Still, maybe because it was the first time he had ever seen a real snakehead in person and the shock had hit him hard, Park Deokcheol did not eat any of the steamed fish even though he had caught it himself.

So Jo Yuna, who took food very seriously, and Park Sunhee, who also had a healthy appetite, finished off his share too.

***

“At this point, can’t we move those kids up into the shelter already?”

Baek Hail said it after getting to eat precious wild-caught snakehead thanks to Park Deokcheol, but Junho shook his head.

“It’s only been about a week. We need to stick to the original plan and watch them for the full month.”

Because while it varied from case to case, it usually took a person three to four weeks to adapt to a new environment.

That had been true, in Junho’s experience, both in the military and at work. By then, people had usually finished adapting and their real selves started to show.

“Once they get used to living in the container housing, they’ll show what they’re really like. As long as they don’t cause any problems before then, that’s enough.”

“R-right... well, if that’s what you think, then that must be right.”

Baek Hail barely held back the urge to ask whether anyone could really get used to Junho in the container housing.

Even he could not imagine getting used to living around someone who had smashed, hacked, and butchered people to death right in front of him only a few weeks earlier.

“But what about their families? Even if they’re overseas, not knowing whether they’re dead or alive has to be the biggest issue.”

“Ah, well, about that.”

Jo Yuna’s parents lived in one of the most affluent neighborhoods in Japan, and one of the neighbors they had been close with for years was a high-ranking police official.

So Jo Yuna’s parents, who had received protection from the Japanese police, were safe for the time being.

“And the Park siblings’ family is in an even safer situation.”

Every year in mid-August, before the kids went back to school, the family spent a vacation together while doing farm work for the next season—servicing the farm equipment, tending the fields, repairing fences.

That family workation had apparently been a tradition since their grandfather’s time.

Their grandfather had passed away a few years ago, but their grandmother was still in good health, and more than anything, the Park family was extremely close-knit.

So when the apocalypse broke out, just as they did every year, they were all gathered at the family farm.

And thankfully, no Alpha had appeared among them.

More importantly, the United States had been one of the last places hit, after people already had at least some idea of what was happening in other countries.

So the Park siblings’ father and uncles—victims of the LA riots, rooftop Koreans themselves—had worked together through the night and turned the farm into something like a fortress.

And the fact that over twenty family members, including the siblings’ cousins and even younger children, were all living on a farm overflowing with food and capable of producing more—

“...that was the situation the last time they made contact. And on top of that, one of their uncles is former U.S. Army, and one of the cousins is a Marine who happened to be home on leave.”

What was more, their grandfather, traumatized by what he had gone through during the LA riots, had apparently started teaching his grandkids early, which meant he had owned a huge amount of firearms and ammunition. No, not just a lot. An absurd amount.

The nearest neighboring house was over ten kilometers away, and the area around them was nothing but forest and open plains, so even firing without suppressors would not bring zombies running from the sound of gunfire.

In some ways, the farm where the Park siblings’ parents and extended family were staying was even safer than their shelter.

“The U.S. might actually have been okay if it hadn’t fallen into civil war. The cities were all wiped out, sure, but the land’s so huge that a lot of people survived.”

And on top of that, the fact that there were so many guns floating around in America it was impossible to count them was the decisive reason the country had collapsed.

State National Guard? So what? Bang.

That had basically been the standard reaction from survivor groups in areas outside American cities.

“Anyway, we finish the wire work by tomorrow. Then we build just four more greenhouses, watch them a few more days, and after that I’m planning to bring them into the shelter. Anyone opposed?”

Of course not.

To begin with, Junho was the one making the decisions, and the shelter members were all in the middle of feeling the manpower shortage themselves while finishing the setup for their assigned work.

It was not serious, of course. Just the kind of thing where having two or three more people would make life a lot easier.

So if the three idols from the container housing joined them, that would make things about perfect.

“All right, then. Break it up.”

“Sounds good. Jeongwoo, come with me. Let’s go look at the solar panels ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) and the power room.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Hayoon, Suho. You two come help me peel chestnuts. We’re having chestnut rice tomorrow morning. You two like chestnut rice?”

“I love chestnut rice.”

“Me too.”

“Doctor, Head Nurse. About the medicines in the medical room refrigerators and freezers. For the general-use medication...”

“Mm. That’s a good idea. Then for that...”

“I’ll draw up the list for you later, Miss Sua.”

“Thank you, Head Nurse.”

“I told you to just call me Auntie. Ho ho...”

Watching the members head off to their respective “workplaces,” Junho nodded to himself.

This was exactly what he had wanted the shelter’s everyday life to look like.

Not just sitting back in a safe shelter and taking it easy, but everyone living while working hard at the things each of them could do.

And because of that, Junho also had to do what he could do.

“Junhyeok. Youngsu.”

With the two of them silently nodding, Junho headed for the control room on the second floor of the shelter.

***

“As of yesterday, the Hanchang Development gang took over the whole townhouse complex.”

Looking at the red zone marked on the map displayed on the main monitor, Yoon Youngsu continued his explanation.

“And the local guys from Jung-dong in Gahyeon-ri have secured Gahyeon Elementary and the surrounding area too. Sounds like the center’s too hard for them because there are just so many zombies there.”

“That makes sense. It was the most populated part of Gahyeon-ri before the apartment complexes went up. Hell, it still is.”

Even before the two apartment complexes were built, around five thousand residents had lived there.

A decently large grocery market, five convenience stores, restaurants, beer joints, pharmacies, laundromats—pretty much every kind of shop worth mentioning was in Jung-dong, Gahyeon-ri.

And now, with the apocalypse approaching the two-month mark, nearly half the residents were either dead or had turned into zombies.

Junho and Junhyeok had killed a fair number of zombies through one incident after another, but even that probably did not amount to ten percent of all the zombies in Gahyeon-ri.

Which meant that thousands of zombies were still swarming throughout the whole village.

And nearly half of them were concentrated in Jung-dong, where the local residents lived.

“So what? Are you planning to kill the zombies there too, boss?”

“No. Even for me, that’s too much. And those zombies are the reason the Hanchang Development gang and the locals still haven’t clashed head-on. No need for us to step in first. Besides...”

It was a mistake to think that only the Hanchang Development gang led by Han Changsik and Han Changoh were bad and that the Jung-dong locals were good.

He was not certain, but by now it was probably just about time for friction and conflict to start bubbling up inside their group too.

And once that happened, one way or another, something was bound to blow up.

“They need to suffer more. If we help them now, or drive off the Hanchang Development gang for them now, later they’ll just demand we hand over our whole bundle.”

Junho was certain because he had seen and lived through this kind of thing again and again before regression.

Even the Peach Valley youth association they had met recently would never have ended up in the kind of relationship they had now if they had not desperately needed meat, or if Junho had looked even a little weak.

There was no reason to think the people of Gahyeon-ri would be any different.

“We intervene when the Jung-dong locals and the Hanchang Development gang really start clashing. And...”

Before that, the gang would push forward as far as the market located exactly between the Edutown and The First apartment complexes.

And then the man they would capture—

the one person Junho had tried to identify in every possible way before the apocalypse, trying to determine which of the two apartment complexes he lived in and whether he was even a resident there at all, only to find absolutely no trace of him—

would finally surface.

Song Gijun...

Rescuing him, the man who would have to unite and lead Gahyeon-ri after the Hanchang Development gang disappeared, and bringing him under the influence of himself and the shelter.

That was the reason Junho intended to keep watching Gahyeon-ri until the end of November.

***

5:10 p.m., November 20, 2024. Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.

“Areum. It’s about to start getting dark. Switch the PTZ camera to thermal.”

“Okay.”

At Choi Hyunwoo’s words, Han Areum worked the PC and changed the camera’s surveillance mode.

“Come eat.”

Kim Taeyoung, his hair loss even worse after months of not being able to take or apply any medication, brought over the table he had set, his head wrapped in a towel.

The city gas had been cut off long ago, but with the gas burner and butane canisters Junho had left behind, the three of them were still able to make themselves one proper meal a day.

The house was so isolated there was no real worry about food smells spreading.

“Whoa! Kimchi stew! Thanks for the food!”

“Damn, this broth is insane. You could’ve opened a restaurant, Coach. Where’d you learn to cook?”

At Choi Hyunwoo’s admiration, Kim Taeyoung’s expression darkened a little.

“Try living alone till you’re almost forty. Whether you want to or not, your cooking gets better.”

“Ah...”

That brief solemn mood did not last long.

The three of them devoured the steaming instant rice and the kimchi stew made with the oldest kimchi, Spam, and frozen meat in the blink of an eye.

Afterward, they drank instant coffee and green tea for dessert and talked.

“You two know it too, but it’s gotten pretty cold now. Yesterday before dawn it dropped below freezing. So...”

“You mean it’s about time for us to head outside?”

“Yeah. If we dress thick enough, we can take a few bites from zombies and still be okay. And Junho even left stuff like that behind.”

When Kim Taeyoung turned his head, Choi Hyunwoo and Han Areum’s gazes naturally followed.

There, together with five helmets that had an extremely wide field of view, sat several full-body leather racing suits, the kind motorcycle racers wore.

“I tried biting through one myself and couldn’t do it. If we wear those, plus the helmets and leather gloves, we should be able to hold out for a while even if zombies surround us. Of course... that doesn’t make it any less scary.”

Even for a former pro MMA fighter, being surrounded by monsters that tore people apart and ate them alive was terrifying.

Especially because one bite on bare skin and it was over.

This was not a game where you had multiple lives. This was reality, and there were no retries.

“So what Brother Taeyoung means is, we put those on, stick night vision on the helmets, and head out? Armed?”

“Yeah. According to Junho’s notes, zombies start going indoors too when the temperature drops hard, right? And besides... he wrote that from here on out, those things called Alphas start becoming active in earnest.”

“Alpha...”

Choi Hyunwoo and Han Areum’s expressions both stiffened a little.

If it had not been for Junho’s notes, they would have thought Alpha just meant the people who had turned into zombies first.

But that was not all Alpha meant.

“What kind of zombie controls other zombies?”

“How would I know? But that’s what Junho’s notes say. That Alphas aren’t just the first ones to change. They control and command the other zombies.”

That was right.

An Alpha was exactly that—an alpha in the ethological sense.

They could form packs, establish territory, and control or issue simple commands to the “same kind” within it.

“Well, at least we don’t have movie or comic-book zombies with arms stretching out, sprinting like crazy, or crawling on ceilings.”

“That’s true. And even the Alphas aren’t actually stronger or anything. They’re basically just the top dogs among the zombies.”

“Even so, the fact that they can give orders is dangerous. According to the notes, when they’re in danger, these bastards throw the zombies under them out as shields and run.”

That was the biggest difference between zombie Alphas and animal Alphas.

If it was for their own survival, they would sacrifice their whole pack at any time and do whatever it took.

“Anyway, right now they can only control a few dozen, maybe a hundred at most. Let’s move around quietly at night and check places where there might be an Alpha. Also, there are probably survivor groups in Bucheon too, so we should figure that out while we’re at it.”

“Yes. Staying safe is nice, but unless we at least know how things are working around here, we can’t make any plans. Besides... maybe the gym owner will come this way too, so we should scout out a route.”

With that, the three of them put on black motorcycle suits with reinforced plastic protectors on the arms, shoulders, and back, and pulled stab-proof vests over them.

Then they put on helmets fitted with night vision and slipped on leather gloves.

For weapons, they strapped machetes to their backs for use against people, and at their waists they carried Bowie knives and long awls for anti-zombie use.

Finally, they firmly mounted 2500-lumen tactical flashlights at the center of their vests to use as eye-searing dazzlers if they ran into hostile looters.

“Let’s go. If it’s zombies, no more than ten at once. If it’s people, if they outnumber us by even one, we run first.”

“Right.”

“Got it.”

Since they all trained hard in normal times, moving around with that much gear was not all that difficult for them.

And so the former track prospect, the former professional fighter, and the Marine reservist trained in Krav Maga and parkour

stepped out through the back door of the house with extraordinary caution, following the golden rule of Lee Junho.