Chapter 94

“If you think they should die, then it’s okay to kill them. I’ll give you the time. Who did they sell out?”

“Me and…” Seo Jun stopped talking as Yohan reached into his pocket to pull out a pistol and handed it to him. He was telling Seo Jun to do the deed himself. Seo Jun looked over to Ji Hye, but Ji Hye shook her head with a disgusted look on her face.

Seo Jun was surprised because he thought Yohan was going to kill them himself. He wondered for a moment and then recalled what Yohan had said back when the camps were established.

‘All my decisions will result in three possibilities: forgiveness, execution, or expulsion. Oh, and when I say forgiveness, I don’t mean forgiving someone’s actions. That’s up to the victim to decide. I’m talking about pardoning someone for breaking the rules of our camp.’

Yohan had decided to exile them instead of executing them. However, he wasn’t forgiving them on behalf of the victims. Since Seo Jun was one of the victims, Yohan was giving him the opportunity to execute his own judgement. This was Yohan’s way of doing things.

Seo Jun raised his pistol at Marco and Soo Hee. He was especially resentful of Soo Hee, who had wished for his death. It was only right for her to die. If Yohan was the victim, he probably would have pulled the trigger on the spot. However, Seo Jun couldn’t pull the trigger so easily. Even though they had betrayed their fellow camp members, it wasn’t easy to kill people that he had formed bonds with. His finger was shaking as it caressed the trigger.

“Seo Jun, don’t overdo it.” Hyuk spoke up before Seo Jun pulled the trigger. He looked into Seo Jun’s eyes with a pitiful expression. “There’s no reason to be like them.”

“…Yeah, you’re right.” Seo Jun dropped his arms to his side and lowered his head. With Seo Jun resigned to doing nothing, Yohan glanced at the old man once again.

“Great, are you done? We’re all done with the deal, right?”

“Yes.”

“You two, do you have anything you want to say?” The old man asked Soo Hee and Marco.

The pair rolled their eyes and mumbled to themselves. They wanted to say something, but hesitated because they knew what they did was bad. They were relieved that Seo Jun didn’t kill them. Marco glanced at Soo Hee and Soo Hee spoke for both of them.

“We had no choice either. I’m sure anyone would’ve done the same. They were going to kill everyone with a machine gun. I wanted to save at least one person…”

“You want those to be your last words?”

“Excuse me?” Soo Hee’s eyes widened as a bullet hole appeared on her forehead. Everyone watching seemed to register the sound of the gunshot a split second later. By then, the old man had moved his gun to aim at Marco. Marco covered his face with hands, but the bullet went through his hands and into his head as well.

Marco and Soo Hee’s blood soaked into the asphalt. The pair had survived with tenacity and they had caused a lot of trouble within the camp. Now their corpses were lying lifeless on the ground, quickly losing body heat. The old man blew the smoke away from the barrel of his gun and laughed. Aside from the mercenaries and a few recon team members, everyone looked at him with a dumbfounded expression. The old man addressed the crowd.

“Let this be a lesson to you all. Look here, losers. We don’t live with people who sell out their comrades. If you get caught selling out someone, it’s immediate execution. Remember this well. Oh, and even though the kid said that you can leave if you want to leave, I don’t plan on sending any of you off. If you run away, I’ll kill you. Kid, no complaints, right?”

“That was amazing,” Yohan replied, looking as if he was expecting things to go this way the entire time. The old man smiled.

“Great, move quickly. If anyone resists or bares their teeth at us, I’ll pull them all out. Consider this a warning. Treat it like you’re back in military service. Hey kid, come over here. I’ll show you how to use this.” The old man stood by a box of dynamite and a construction drill.

While they were waiting for the fire at the recon team building to die down, the mercenaries had obtained some dynamite from the ruins of a construction site that was spotted due to the giant crane in the middle of the site. They said that they found the explosives in a warehouse on the site that also contained welding fuel and other explosive materials. The old man walked Yohan through the process of installing and using the explosive and Yohan took detailed notes. Yohan knew that explosives were important for setting up a safe shelter.

With the exiled survivors moved, explosives and instructions acquired, and zombie information delivered to the old man, Yohan immediately prepared to move. They’d had too many people gathered in one area for a long time. If they delayed any more and a zombie wave occurred, it would be extremely detrimental to his already battered group of survivors.

All the survivors that Yohan had surgically removed from his group were taken by the mercenaries to a single camp for ‘mental training.’ The remaining survivors in Yohan’s group packed their belongings and prepared for the long journey ahead. The recon team had prepared a truck and a water tank from a fire station. Yohan left Ha Jin and Sweeper in charge as he went back to the family association camp. There was still something he had to take care of.

Since they got rid of the head of the Seoul Survival Union, Yohan also needed to get rid of the neck that supported the head. Yohan opened the steel door in the grey building near the family association where he had kept Kim Seol Hwa locked up.

“Grrrrr…” The growl of the undead filled the room. Even though it was a familiar sound, Yohan would never get used to it.

Kim Seol Hwa, the sole occupant of Yohan’s secret room, had already turned into a zombie. She looked like a rabid dog as she frothed at the mouth and growled at him. Yohan wondered how she turned into a zombie and examined her body carefully. Her handcuffed hand was injured. Most likely she had struggled so hard to break free that she opened a gash on her wrist.

‘How foolish.’

They had taken the handcuff off of a corpse and it had zombie blood all over it. Naturally, she would get infected if she injured her wrist. However, she probably believed that Yohan was going to lose and she was going to die anyway since no one else knew that she was locked up in here. Yohan could understand that line of thinking. Regardless, she was as good as dead either way since he had never intended to let her live. Yohan glared at her. He could kill the zombified Kim Seol Hwa and give her rest, but Yohan decided to leave instead, slowly closing the door behind him. Kim Seol Hwa would spend eternity alone as a zombie in this room. This would be Yohan’s revenge and punishment. He locked the door and tossed the key into a storm drain as he left the building. His heart felt heavy.

10. The End of the Prepared Scenarios

It was their last night at the camp. Once this night passed, Yohan and his selected survivors would start their new life at a new location. The remaining 60 people had been split into three groups. The recon team was drinking beer on the roof of the tallest building.

Rest and stress relief were the most important thing for combatants, but no one wanted to head to bed yet, despite being told that they could take it easy. Instead, it was a mild drinking party where those who wanted to socialize could socialize. Some simply enjoyed the scenery while others drank as much as they wanted. However, since they just came out of a difficult fight, no one was fully relaxed.

Ha Jin stood up from his seat, causing everyone to look at him. He raised a can of beer into the air. Yohan, who was on guard duty, watching the border line, also looked at him.

“I’m not sure if I even have the right to say this, but…I’ll speak on behalf of our reserved leader.” Ha Jin started. Just as people thought he was going to say something grandiose, Ha Jin simply continued with “Good job with the fight. We’re able to live today because of your efforts.”

Unfortunately, his words ruined the mood of the gathering. Six months ago, they were threatened by other people and sometimes they got into life or death situations. Life was not what they had expected. They had killed and killed and killed. Just so that they could live. Just to save their own people. However, in spite of all their efforts, people still died. And in the future, more would probably die. Ha Jin walked over to the railing at the edge of the roof and poured some of his beer down to the street below.

“Dong Seok, Aeri, and Jae Hee. A toast to those that left before us.”

The beer shimmered in the air as it sprayed downward. One by one, the other recon team members added some of their beer to the air. There were only a few female recon team members. Jung Eun cried for her best friend, Aeri, as she poured out her beer. Yohan watched them and dribbled a bit of his beer over the edge. He knew that this wouldn’t let the dead drink with them, but the weight of the alcohol helped ease the weight of guilt.

As the mood died down, Yohan’s heart felt heavy. They shouldn’t keep these weak feelings. This was a world where they should be thankful for being alive rather than be sad for the dead. Yohan had been thankful simply for the fact that more people were alive than dead.

‘But, doing this for one day is okay.’

Still, everyone was so down that they might as well have drilled a hole through the earth. So, Yohan spoke up.

“Listen up everyone.”

As promised, it was time for him to share everything. Telling them everything wouldn’t be beneficial or detrimental to him. Those that experienced everything so far would understand the truth and believe it. Yohan probably wouldn’t have confessed anything if they hadn’t completely killed off the Seoul Survival Union. He wouldn’t have been able to sleep comfortably no matter where they went if the Union was still around. However, since Gae Baek Jung had ended his own life, there was no longer anything from the past holding Yohan back now.

Once they reached the second shelter that he had set up during the six months of preparation time before the apocalypse started, then all the scenarios that he had prepared for would have ended. From now on, everyone, including Yohan, would have to live in a world that they knew nothing about. This wasn’t something that he could share while everyone was laughing. Since the mood was heavy now, it was the right time to confess everything.

Yohan paused. He took a sip from his beer can under the light of the moon. His can was nearly empty.

“Right now I…what I’m saying is…the world that we’re living in…before the zombies appeared, I had already experienced all this chaos.”

Just like his personality, Yohan shared everything in a straightforward manner. He didn’t care if they believed him or not. Everyone suppressed their urge to ask questions and waited for him to continue.

“I don’t remember how many years…but since the seasons cycled three times…it was probably around three years. Just like now, zombies appeared in the world. While they roamed around, I lived every day in hell. First, the company building, then a military base, this mall camp, the Incheon shelter, Seoul, and then later Yeouido and the Nanji Hangang Park.” Yohan took another sip. Aside from the sound of him drinking, everything was quiet.

“I had near-death experiences every day. Hunger, thirst, fear, betrayal, mutants, human greed…there were so many times where the comrades that I laughed with and talked to became cold corpses the next day. Hyuk and Jung Hwan…who are alive right now…in my past life…you were with me and I even witnessed your deaths.”

“That’s…”

“The ending is boring. In the end, we were beaten horribly by the Seoul Survival Union and, after all my comrades turned into zombies, I got bitten by them and died. And then, when I opened my eyes again, I was in my room. That was 10 months ago.” Yohan recalled the moment vividly. He then took out a max loan, quit his job, and prepared for the end of the world. Thinking back now, it was ridiculous.

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