Chapter 56: Oh Yoon-seop's Choice
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 56: Oh Yoon-seop's Choice
Oh Yoon-seop was a fifty-year-old lieutenant colonel in the army.
Having attained the rank of lieutenant colonel in his mid-thirties and now on the verge of promoting to colonel, he was on a fast track to the top.
His military career had been a series of uninterrupted successes.
A former special forces operative who also knew how to play his political cards right, he was the elite of the elite, with a bright future practically guaranteed.
The outbreak occurred while he was out on leave.
Although he commanded a rear-area battalion and was supposed to return to his unit when the crisis hit, he couldn't bring himself to abandon his family in the midst of the chaos. He resolved to stay by their side, delaying his return only until they were safe.
At first, he thought things would settle down quickly.
After all, no matter how they spun it, the infected were still human, and he believed the military would easily suppress them once deployed.
He only needed to secure the area around his home before heading back.
But as the days passed, the situation grew increasingly dire.
The virus spread even within the military, leading to soldiers attacking soldiers, which crippled their containment efforts.
With the police also forced to fight the zombies, Oh Yoon-seop realized instinctively:
I must not return.
To him, his family was far more precious than the military.
It was an act unacceptable for a soldier, but he viewed this as a different matter entirely.
If war broke out and he had to fight North Korea, he would have left his family behind without hesitation.
Because only by going out to fight and win could he ensure their safety.
But in this zombie virus outbreak, his going out to fight did not guarantee his family's safety.
What was the point of risking his life on the front lines if his family died behind his back?
He was a failure as a commander, but his choice was not wrong.
Every single day was fraught with danger, and the world had become far too hostile for two women to survive on their own.
Fortunately, the abilities granted to him were more than enough to protect his family.
They held out at home for a few days.
They had plenty of food stockpiled.
But by the end of the first week, the zombie rush that began was hell itself.
He needed a faction to align with.
"Dad, is it really okay if you don't report back?"
His daughter, who had been commissioned as a sergeant just a few weeks prior, asked with concern, but he reassured her that it was fine.
The silver lining was that she hadn't been assigned to a unit yet, allowing them to stay together.
Once the zombie activity quieted down, Oh Yoon-seop set out to find a faction.
Fortunately, someone recognized his abilities.
Surprisingly, this group of dozens of people had occupied a massive multiplex.
How had they managed to hold out in such a building?
It was reasonably well-fortified, and since the interior was packed with everything needed for survival, there was no better place to be.
Since their own food supplies had run dry, they joined immediately.
Joining them was fine.
The problem lay in what came after.
No matter how resourceful a group occupying a multiplex was, the reckless expansion of their numbers meant their food reserves were stretched thin.
To make matters worse, the leadership ate as much as they pleased.
Meanwhile, those below them often went hungry if they failed to bring back coins.
Right and wrong.
Having abandoned his duty as a soldier, Oh Yoon-seop felt he had no right to preach about morality, but he couldn't help the growing discontent in his heart.
In the end, he held onto his principles solely to protect his family.
That was why he had joined this place, risked his life in the hunting squad, and ultimately accepted a position among the leadership.
If things continued like this, this faction wouldn't last long.
While the leader's power seemed sufficient to keep the multiplex from falling, Oh Yoon-seop knew that, regardless of strength, a leader who bred anxiety among his subordinates never lasted long.
Then, he saw a certain man.
An incredibly rude, self-centered man.
After the scouting squad confirmed reports that this man was hoarding food and selling it for coins, the leader and a few high-ranking members went to negotiate.
Instead of negotiating, the man had made him an offer.
To defect to his side.
He had even given him free meat.
Although the leader had returned spewing curses about the "insolent bastard," Oh Yoon-seop was honestly shaken.
His family's safety was his absolute priority.
He would do anything for them, which was the only reason he remained here.
Had the leader, Seo Se-hu, noticed his hesitation?
Ever since that visit, the pressure on him had intensified.
"What's wrong, Ahjussi? Thinking of betraying us and crossing over?"
"It's nothing like that."
"Ahjussi, you get special treatment, we give you all the food you ask for, and we do everything you want. If you take all the benefits and just slip away, that's betrayal, you know?"
He had no intention of defecting.
Though he had wavered momentarily, he preferred stability.
He had yet to see a place as secure as the multiplex, or anyone whose abilities could protect his family as well as Seo Se-hu's.
Even if that man from earlier possessed such power, if their capabilities were equal, there was no reason to abandon his current situation and defect.
Yet, perhaps driven by an inferiority complex, Seo Se-hu continued to needle him.
No.
That wasn't the only reason.
Seo Se-hu wanted to break Oh Yoon-seop, who constantly raised objections to the methods used to absorb neighboring factions.
Though he acted for his family, he was still a soldier at heart.
In this unavoidable apocalypse, he could turn a blind eye to cold-blooded killing or looting as a necessary evil. That was the limit of his compromise.
But murdering for sport, kidnapping women to rape them, and treating people like slaves...
...these were things he simply could not tolerate, and he had spoken up about them.
He had argued that they had grown large enough to expand through other means, so why resort to such depravity?
If Seo Se-hu had simply kicked him out, he might have left.
But knowing his value, Seo Se-hu refused to let him go.
He simply wanted him to submit.
A soldier would not break so easily.
When he held his ground, Seo Se-hu targeted his family.
At some point, his daughter began to be assigned to the hunting squads.
Since she was also a soldier and had received decent skills, he knew she was capable of hunting zombies, so he hadn't stopped her when she volunteered.
But starting a few days ago, her injuries began to pile up.
He discovered she was being sent to highly dangerous areas teeming with zombies.
He confronted them, but the response was always the same.
They wanted him to submit.
Oh Yoon-seop fell into deep conflict.
Was enduring this truly the right thing for his family?
Honestly, it was hypocrisy.
He should have stopped it from the very beginning.
Turning a blind eye to everything else only to draw a line at the very end was nothing but the hypocrisy of wanting to remain a "good person" while wallowing in a cesspool.
Reaching that conclusion, he was about to go see Seo Se-hu to protect his daughter.
"Lieutenant Colonel!"
A member of his hunting squad, who had grown close to him and respected him, rushed over with urgent news.
"Se-i... she's been bitten."
Oh Se-i.
His daughter.
The apple of his eye, who at twenty-six had followed in his footsteps to become a soldier, starting a bit late as a sergeant.
She was carried back by others, a bite mark clearly visible on her neck.
"What happened?!"
The situation was obvious.
While fighting zombies in a high-risk zone, she had been ambushed by a Level 2 Zombie.
Fury boiled within him.
Oh Se-i was more than capable of defeating a Level 2 Zombie on her own.
It would have been a tough fight, but Oh Yoon-seop knew instinctively that her abilities were up to the task.
But her squadmates were not.
They had intentionally paired her with weak squadmates and sent them into a dangerous area. It was a disaster waiting to happen.
Seo Se-hu sneered, feigning a look of pity.
"It's a shame, but anyone who gets bitten has a fifty percent chance of infection. She can't stay here."
This was the rule of the multiplex.
Anyone who had played a zombie apocalypse game knew that even a scratch carried a five percent chance of infection.
Scratches could be monitored in isolation, and the person could return once the incubation period passed. But bites had a fifty percent infection rate, a short incubation period, and could turn at any moment, so the policy was immediate exile.
With a near fifty-fifty chance of infection, keeping them isolated was deemed too great a risk.
That was how they had always done it, and in the short time they'd been here, everyone who returned with a bite had been cast out.
Oh Yoon-seop's daughter would be no exception.
Oh Yoon-seop was speechless.
He clenched his fists tightly.
If only he had swallowed his pride and submitted a little sooner for the sake of his family, would this have been avoided?
The world had changed.
He had abandoned the military for his family, so why couldn't he bow his head to a mere brat, leading to this tragedy?
He was furious.
But he didn't direct his anger at the mocking Seo Se-hu.
Doing so wouldn't save his bitten daughter.
The fifty percent chance hadn't triggered yet.
But fifty percent was far too high a risk to leave to prayer.
"Ah, what a shame. If only we had a vaccine, she could live. Hey, is there no Vaccine Mode here?"
"Pfft. Boss, you think this is a game? Well, it is a game, but... it's not like we have a ZA Pharmaceutical Company around."
Why did Oh Yoon-seop think of him at that moment?
The man who was selling food a few days ago.
Back then, he had gotten the distinct impression that the man could do anything.
A sliver of hope sparked.
Even though he knew it was absurd.
This had to be what it felt like to grasp at straws.
He knew the location.
After suffering that humiliation, Seo Se-hu had ordered someone to tail the man and find out where he went.
Late at night, he went there alone.
The door of a building—smaller than the multiplex but secure-looking—opened, and the man stepped out, shoveling a rice bowl into his mouth.
Comfortable clothes.
A relaxed expression.
His appearance, completely out of place in this zombie apocalypse, inspired a strange sense of trust.
When Oh Yoon-seop explained his situation, the man smiled brightly.
"You came to the right place. How did you know I had a vaccine?"
"Does a vaccine really exist?!"
The man shook his head.
"Of course not. I mean, maybe one exists somewhere, but I don't have it."
"...Ah."
"But I can replicate the vaccine's effect."
"...Is that true?!"
"Bring your daughter. Bring the rest of your family too, if you have any. If you agree to join my faction, I'll save her."
Once again, the man extended his hand.
Oh Yoon-seop had no choice but to take it.