Chapter 167: Defective Trash from the Design Stage

There were twelve abandoned transport trucks in total, including the overturned vehicle.

Immediately after the apocalypse broke out and the mobilization order was issued, when Gu Junseok—the man in charge of the logistics support unit and the lead passenger—arrived at the base, only four deuce-and-a-half trucks had made it in with him.

That was why he had been so desperate to secure the remaining transport vehicles.

But all he had done was force innocent reserve-force troops and civilians to sacrifice themselves, and in the end he had failed.

And now, the countless supplies from the logistics support unit that no one had managed to secure until this day had fallen into the hands of Junho and the shelter.

“Boss, boss! Holy shit, there are a ton of K1s and K2s in here! There are K3s and K201 grenade launchers too!”

“There are 60mm and 81mm mortars too. Huh? LAW and 90mm recoilless rifles? How old are these things?”

Not only that, there were also several boxes of K413 fragmentation grenades, of which they had only had around ten left, and a large number of directional fragmentation mines—in other words, Claymores—had been loaded as well.

And more than anything else, something unexpected turned up that made even Junho, never mind the others, a little excited.

“K4 automatic grenade launchers? Wait, they issue these to reserve forces too?”

Kim Jimin’s eyes went wide.

If you asked Korea’s countless reservists and civil-defense men what the most powerful and terrifying weapon among the weapons operated by ordinary “ground-pounders” was, there was one mighty heavy weapon they would all name in perfect agreement.

And there were four of them.

“There are roughly eight hundred high-explosive rounds. That means each one can fire two hundred rounds. But these things are insanely heavy, so we’ll have to mount them somewhere or put them on vehicles.”

“I’ll use one.”

“What? Something this heavy? No, wait... ah.”

Kim Jimin was horrified, but then the absurd performances Junho had occasionally shown flashed through his mind, and he had no choice but to nod.

“R-right. You should.”

If it was Junho, he would probably be able to use that heavy K4 the way an ordinary soldier handled a machine gun.

In any case, the items from the logistics support unit’s vehicles included more than just firearms and ammunition.

They were old models, but the communications equipment, night-vision devices, and thermal-imaging equipment seemed quite useful.

The personal gear such as ballistic helmets, tactical vests, gas masks, entrenching tools, tents, and blankets were also mostly older models, but they would still be fairly handy.

Of course, Junho had no intention of monopolizing everything.

“Take firearms, ammunition, and personal gear according to your headcount. And let’s split the combat rations half and half. Even if you only take half, once you add that to what remains at the reserve-force base, shouldn’t you be able to last about a year?”

“O-of course! That’s plenty. Thank you, seriously.”

If they searched the villages near the base, they would probably find rice as well, and then they would not have to worry about food for at least a year. Kim Sangmin kept thanking him over and over.

“Drain the fuel from the vehicles too. You’ll need heating in winter. And only take two or three deuce-and-a-halfs. Those things have garbage fuel economy and make a hell of a lot of noise, so I recommend not driving them anywhere except near the base.”

“Of course.”

Junho also gave them tents, first-aid pouches, and similar supplies with roughly thirty percent extra added on top of their total headcount.

Kim Sangmin, who had not only survived thanks to Junho and secured safety but also obtained more than enough food and supplies, looked ready to bow to him on the spot.

***

Even though the situation was one where no one could have complained if Junho had monopolized everything, he provided a considerable portion of the food and supplies.

Because of that, Park Yonggi and the reserve-force battalion troops were also extremely grateful to him.

They also reconciled with Ha Younghyeon, who had remained at the base while Junho secured the supply vehicles, and agreed to live together at the reserve-force base from now on.

“Let’s forget the past and do our best. When you think about it, aren’t we all reservists and civil defense of the same country?”

“Yeah, well. If that bastard Captain Gu hadn’t threatened us and lied about giving us half the supplies, there would’ve been no reason to fight here. I heard that bastard ordered the kids to come find us, point guns at us, and threaten us.”

“That is what happened. Anyway, I’m truly sorry. I should have stopped him more firmly. Whatever the case, let’s help each other from now on.”

Although much of it really had been Gu Junseok’s fault, Park Yonggi and Ha Younghyeon seemed to reach a silent agreement to simply blame everything on the man who was already dead, and they shook hands awkwardly.

Of course, that did not mean all resentment had disappeared. Conflict could flare up again at any time, and they might end up fighting each other.

“But that’s none of our business now.”

“Still, wouldn’t it be good to coax those people over and make them our allies too, boss?”

At Junho’s cold words, Baek Suho tilted his head from the back seat of the armored vehicle.

Then Junhyeok, not Junho, gave a small laugh and said,

“Suho, can you trust those people?”

“What? Of course not, man.”

“Right? Then can those people keep trusting us?”

“Uh... I dunno? But with Boss Junho around, won’t they trust us? And if they don’t, what are they gonna do about it?”

“That’s the problem.”

“What?”

“Now that my brother killed Gu Junseok, those people have no choice but to be afraid of him and bow their heads in front of him no matter what. But how long do you think that’ll last? And if you were one of the people there, what do you think you’d feel every time you saw Junho?”

“...He’d be scary as hell. Might get seriously stressful too?”

“Right? Then eventually, someone who can’t endure it is bound to come out. So it’s better to keep our distance from those people from the beginning.”

“Ah, I get it.”

When Baek Suho nodded, Junho, who was holding the steering wheel, spoke.

“Junhyeok’s right. With that side, it’s best to trade once and end it there. The places we check in on and look after to some degree are already enough with Gahyeon-ri, Peach Valley, and Yeongho-ri, the ones attached to the shelter.”

Of course, he did plan to install a relay and PTZ camera on the hill where they had first parked the armored vehicle so they could keep monitoring the place.

It was a fairly isolated area, but because there was a reserve-force base there, some other military unit might pass through at some point.

“But, hyung. Are we going to eat these combat rations ourselves? What about the combat uniforms and personal gear?”

Military combat rations were fairly edible, but the shelter’s ultra-low-temperature freezer warehouse was already loaded with enough MREs for the shelter family to eat nothing else for three meals a day and still last more than three years.

They also had more than enough other supplies of far higher quality.

“We’ll take some to the shelter and distribute the rest to our allies.”

“Right? The men in Gahyeon-ri, Yeongho-ri, and Peach Valley will love it.”

“Why are you leaving one out?”

“Huh?”

When Junhyeok tilted his head, Junho pointed to one location on the map near the shelter displayed on the armored vehicle’s monitor and said,

“We should give some to the Moku-ri karaoke bar family too. We’ll need their help soon.”

“Ah....”

That was right.

Junho and the Gahyeon-ri people would soon have to secure the large supermarket in Moku-ri, and to handle the job perfectly, they still needed help from the members of Welcome Karaoke Bar, who were holding out reasonably well in Jaeseong Building.

“Anyway, I’ll handle that part myself. First, we distribute the weapons and ammunition we secured with the Deokso side. They must have a lot of damaged combat uniforms and combat boots over there too, so give them two or so per person... Tch, this is another whole job.”

“Heh-heh. Boss?”

At the sudden sound of Yoon Youngsu’s laughter from the armored vehicle speaker, Junho frowned.

Then Yoon Youngsu spoke in an arrogant voice.

“Just send me the list of secured items. What did you keep Akina around for? It’ll calculate everything perfectly and distribute it precisely in a few minutes. Ah! Or have you been getting so much help with fighting lately that you forgot what Akina’s original function was? Is that it, booooss?”

“.......”

Faced with the sudden, direct fact-bomb, Junho had no choice but to shut his mouth.

***

Just as Yoon Youngsu had boasted, Akina used Junho’s intent as reference and accurately calculated the supplies secured from the logistics support unit’s transport trucks, then drafted a proposal.

First, even after handing over six thousand rounds of 5.56mm ammunition to the reserve-force base, they secured roughly one hundred twenty thousand rounds.

The shelter would take thirty thousand rounds, while the remaining ninety thousand would be handed over to Major Lee Seokjin’s unit.

As for firearms, since the old K2 and K2C1 shared many compatible parts—barrels, bolts, bolt carriers, triggers, magazines, and so on—more than half were sent to Lee Seokjin’s side, where firearm attrition was severe.

They also handed over around two-thirds of gear such as ballistic helmets, ballistic vests, gas masks, and personal first-aid pouches, along with military communications equipment and thermal-imaging equipment.

The mortars, recoilless rifles, LAWs, K4 automatic grenade launchers, and various high-explosive rounds were split exactly in half.

And the K4s Junho obtained—

“What? You want me to make it so you can mount them on the electric trucks and armored vehicles?”

“Yes. I think mounting them on vehicles would be better.”

—were decided for mobile use, rather than being fixed in specific locations.

No matter how he thought about it, it seemed likely that from now on, there would be many situations where they traveled by vehicle rather than on foot.

That meant the likelihood of encountering large zombie hordes or groups of looters would inevitably rise as well.

“Well, I don’t think it’ll be that hard... All right. I’ll give it a try.”

“Yes. Make it so we can aim and fire from inside the vehicle. In areas within signal range, the AI will control it.”

“...Ho, are you trying to become some kind of bombing maniac? Good grief... Hey, Youngsu, is that possible?”

When the bewildered Baek Hail asked, Yoon Youngsu grinned.

“That sounds crazy fun. But there’ll probably be some power consumption. The weight will shorten the cruising range a bit too.”

“For the power, couldn’t we just assign a power tank specifically for the K4?”

“Urk....”

When Junho suggested something he had failed to think of first, Yoon Youngsu put on a theatrically shocked expression.

“I think that’ll work. It’s not like we’ll be firing it for an entire hour nonstop. So at most, maybe one or two kilowatts at a time? If we hook up one six-kilowatt power tank, that should do it.”

“Good. And the shelter turrets. Let’s mount the K2s we got this time on those.”

“Yep. Huh? But didn’t you secure K3s this time too? Aren’t machine guns better?”

When Yoon Youngsu, who had been a computer administration soldier, tilted his head—

the brothers, both discharged from tough combat units, spoke in unison.

“You don’t know the K3 is trash? It malfunctions if you so much as look at it wrong.”

“Youngsu, the K3 was defective from the design stage.”

“Yes, yep. The K3 is defective trash from the design stage. Noted.”

And that was how it was decided that old K2s would be mounted on the shelter turrets.

***

Reserve-force gear and K2s were issued to the Gahyeon-ri search-and-kill team.

Of course, for safety, they would continue using air rifles under normal circumstances, and the K2 storage boxes would be fitted with cameras so they could only be opened after the shelter confirmed the situation.

Junho also sent part of the firearms and ammunition to Kangho Resort.

Because the place had so many people and such a broad area, it desperately needed heavy weapons. So he sent all of the K3s, two each of the 81mm and 60mm mortars, and two 90mm recoilless rifles.

Aside from the K3s, it was a little wasteful, but Kangho Resort would encounter or clash with many forces starting this year, so that was the best choice.

Only if that place, established in Gwangju in Gyeonggi, grew stronger could it firmly suppress forces south of the Han River.

And that directly connected to the safety of Namyangju—and the shelter.

In that way, with the help of the AI, Junho made optimal decisions about the unexpected lottery he had hit and distributed it among the shelter’s friendly forces.

Meanwhile, from Yangpyeong County beyond the tunnel, something just as important as the supplies they had acquired this time arrived at the shelter.

Thirty or so cattle.

After chickens and rabbits, the shelter had finally become capable of self-sufficiency in cattle as well.

And then—

“Junho, now that the cows are here too, let’s have a proper meat party. I’ll prepare everything.”

At Choi Haneul’s suggestion, a barbecue party with every shelter member attending was held for the first time in a very long while.