Our Love Church (1)
Our Love Church sat in the affluent neighborhood of Northdong, Seoul. True to its upscale status, the walls around each house loomed high, security airtight. The straight-shot location impossible to bypass, those towering barriers paired with CCTV had made it a natural fortress before the apocalypse—and nothing had changed since.
"This the place?"
"Yeah, head up this road and it'll come into view."
"Let's check for zombies nice and slow."
"Yep."
But that very airtight security was why I'd avoided claiming this spot as a base after the fall. Strip away the nearby Rocket Mart, and you had total isolation—no easy access to the outside world. Those near-one-way roads flanked by sheer walls turned into perfect zombie ambush alleys post-apocalypse, flipping a defensive stronghold into a foraging nightmare for food and water.
"Weird."
"Yeah. Zombie corpses everywhere, but nothing moving."
That's why I'd pegged the place as empty. The mart had been swallowed by the seventh remnant monster ages ago, and any survivors from there had zero reason to hole up here.
"Up top? That's it, right?"
"Yes... uh... Junyoung-ssi."
"Yeah, saw it. Pull back for now. No upside to getting spotted, whatever it is."
"Got it."
Yet at Our Love Church along the Rocket Mart road, some bastards had planted their flag—against all my expectations. Way off in the distance, two silhouettes stood inside the guard post out front.
"...The hell are they?"
"Beats me."
We ducked into a blind spot outside their line of sight. No wonder zombies had been scarce on the approach to the rich district—something in that church had swept the area clean. Closer look revealed fresh bloodstains and stacked corpses right at the main gate.
I kept eyes on the upper levels.
"People? Or zombies?"
"Dunno. Sigh... this way. See that two-story cafe? Up there."
"Yes."
We scanned the area, then slipped into a nearby commercial two-story cafe. Better vantage from afar than craning up from street level.
No humidity.
Confirming the same dry air as the mart, I drew my pry bar.
Scraaaape.
I raked the cafe's iron stairs right away—no alerting the outside, just needling any lurkers within.
"Clear."
"Opening it."
"Go ahead."
Bang.
We climbed the emergency stairs to the second floor.
Click.
Door was unlocked, so we breezed into the cafe's upper level.
"Whew."
Suhyun and I cleared the floor, stashed our gear back from the windows, dragged over chairs, and sat.
"...Tough to make out."
Suhyun muttered, peering out.
"Doesn't look like the mart crew, at least."
Church windows were pristine, as he said. No trace of that telltale moisture in the stained glass or regular panes.
"People, then?"
"Who knows."
Too soon to call it. Big plot or not, a church was still a church. Any survivors inside had water at best—no real food sources.
Unless they relocated from the mart...
Suhyun's escapees. Northdong Liberation Army holdouts taking root? Possible, but...
No bullet-riddled bodies.
From our perch, no gunshot corpses ringed the church. Dead ones aplenty, sure, but no bullet wounds.
If Suhyun's intel held, they'd packed rifles—odd no shots in the pile.
Dismemberment? Nah, looks ripped clean off.
I squinted at the zombies. Heads lopped, limbs gone. Every corpse mangled in exactly one spot.
Fucking weird.
"Suhyun-ssi. Any reserves packing blades or swords?"
"Nah. Office drones and layabouts, mostly."
"Tch..."
I scowled at the mystery stacking up after the mart. Unknown behemoth there, now this? I'd banked on Northdong being a ghost town—hitting a snag sucked.
Shit keeps tangling.
I sighed, slumping into the chair.
"Plan?"
"Wait it out. Gotta ID if that's people or monsters inside."
"Ah, right."
And so we killed time up there. Rations to fill the gut, sprawled on the hard table for a solid hour.
"...Junyoung-ssi!"
"Yeah."
I bolted up at Suhyun's yell. The guard post dwellers had finally shown their faces.
"Humans. That's... irezumi? Tattoos? Suhyun-ssi, any reserves like that?"
"Nope. New faces. No jacked meatheads."
People, alright. Two guys gripping tools emerged, sparked smokes.
"—!!!!!"
"—@@!"
They puffed outside, yapping away, then tagged out with two more tattooed types.
The kicker: the replacements dragged along a guy trussed head to toe.
I grimaced at the sight.
"The fuck's that about?"
"......"
Suhyun asked, but I'd clocked it already. Bound dude didn't scream "one of us." The way he thrashed, the tattoo crew snickering—telegraphed the play.
"...No fucking way."
"!!!!!!"
Spot on. Suhyun's eyes bugged.
Tattoo guy yanked a knife from god-knows-where and plunged it into the captive's throat.
Pu-shaaaak.
Blood fountained from the gash.
"..Urk..."
Suhyun gagged.
Brutal as hell. He'd popped folks with a gun, cleaved human-like zombies, but throat-carving? Fresh hell.
...What was that.
My focus locked elsewhere. The blade in the stabber's grip—machete-sized.
Didn't pull it from anywhere obvious.
The pair booted the spurting corpse to the zombie heap, then torched it like old pros.
Smoke billowed. Flesh sizzled.
What the—
"...How the fuck... those bastards..."
Suhyun's babble faded to background noise as my eyes widened.
Machete. Fire. Their moves clicked something into place.
Skills. Abilities. Someone else packing a status window.
Tattoo 1 had conjured the machete mid-air for the kill. Tattoo 2 sparked flames from his fingertips to roast the pile.
Makes sense, then.
They eyed the pyre, cackled, and vanished inside.
"Suhyun-ssi."
"Ah... yeah?"
I snapped him out of his daze. No time for shock.
"You see that?"
"Yeah. Absolute trash. How do you slaughter someone like that?"
No. I sighed.
"Not that. The knife and fire summon."
"...Summon?"
Missed it, then. Too fixated on the gore.
"Yeah. Looks like they've got powers like mine."
"...Didn't catch that. For real?"
"Dead serious. Superpowers? Skills? Status windows, same as me."
Suhyun scowled. He knew my Ice Spear's punch.
"...We're screwed."
Screwed. Sure, if everyone packed Ice Spear heat. But nah.
"Not that strong. Machete summon, fingertip flames—that level. Bet they muscled in with those tricks."
"So what now? Can't reason with baby-killers."
Fair point, him squirming. We had to pass through. They reeked trouble—wouldn't wave us by.
Still.
"Powers don't stop bullets."
Rifles. Ours sniped from hundreds of meters, one-sided.
"My Ice Spear works the same."
No range cap. Unlimited barrage from outside.
Unless detection skills or powerhouses... but.
"And we have to go through. No alternatives."
No church, no leaving Northdong. Bypass the ritzy one-ways? Clear zombie swarms. Even at 10k pop, that's no joke.
"......."
"......."
Silence hung. We blinked at each other.
Then Suhyun piped up.
"Huh, true... and those scumbags kill without batting an eye. Charge in now?"
He clocked the inevitable, eyeing his M16. Killer's glint returned—like when he'd offed before. Trigger-happy.
But.
"One more day of watching."
Numbers, gear, watch rotations—vital intel. Safety first, always.
Plus.
"Could be good folks under the ink."
Can't judge a book by its tats. The chopped guy might've been the criminal.