Zombie Pulling Service

I rang the gathering team and ordered them back. Two people were assigned to carry the injured woman to headquarters, and Sangcheol was to be dropped off near the spot where the zombies would spawn.

A little later, I switched on the old man's vision.

"Aigo... my head. Hey, easy, would you!"

The men propping him up let go of his arms. He staggered and grabbed the tree beside him.

"Wait here."

"Wait for what? Weren't we heading for the building?"

Instead of answering, the man turned to the other squad member.

"Let's go."

The two of them started back the way they had come. Still clinging to the tree, the old man stared after them.

"Hey! Where are you going!"

"We were told to return, sir."

"Then you ought to be taking me with you! Hey!"

They kept walking. He let go of the tree and followed.

"Hey, hold on a second! We're supposed to go together!"

I called him. The instant he pulled out his phone, he hit accept.

"You little shit! Right now, people are—"

"Shut up and listen. Zombies are about to pour out of there. And if you come back to our base, you're getting executed."

He stopped.

"What...?"

"If you want to live, run down the path on your right. Keep going and there's another base. Go there and beg them to spare you."

"No, wait. You're telling me to—"

He looked toward where the men had gone. Between the trees, the two of them were barely visible now.

"W-wait. Commander! I was wrong. Just spare me this once—"

I hung up.

Look who's calling me Commander.

He called right back. I blocked him and kept watching through the shared vision.

"Hey! Pick up! Answer the damn phone!"

He clutched the phone in both hands and mashed the call button again and again.

"You son of a bitch... you think you can do this to me and walk away? The second I get back—"

The notice hit, and zombies began spawning right in front of him.

"...Huh?"

He sounded like he couldn't believe it.

"Uuuuurgh—"

One of them came at him with its arms stretched out. While he backed away, more appeared behind that one, one after another. He looked back the way he had come, then at the zombies again.

"N-no. Fuck... what is this..."

The one in front closed in with its mouth hanging open.

"Aaaagh! Somebody help me!"

He spun and ran down the path I had told him about.

"Save me! Please! Somebody!"

Even as he ran, he looked back. They were still coming.

"Stay back! I said stay back, you fucking bastards!"

"Grab that end! I can't lift it alone!"

Two men hoisted a desk and carried it toward the entrance.

BANG—!

Before they could even set it down, zombies slammed into the door from outside.

"Fuck! Can this thing actually hold? For real?"

"Yes! Their numbers are still dropping!"

The man at the window shouted as he watched the outside. Turret fire was dropping the zombies from the front rank back, but dozens were still swarming the entrance. The men stacked chairs on top of the desk. The dead kept pounding, and still they couldn't break the reinforced door.

"Drama queens."

Kang Jinsu sat farther inside, eyes on his phone.

"Pfft. Fuck, 'plus-one.'"

He shoved the screen into the face of the woman kneeling in front of him, his cock in her mouth.

"What do you think? Wanna try being a throwaway fuck?"

"..."

She didn't answer. He scowled at her, and only then did her eyes flick to the phone.

"Ah... ahaha. I'll... try even harder..."

Kang Jinsu snorted and read the next comment. At the entrance the men were stacking furniture, and now and then the woman glanced at one of them—the man in the blue shirt. He looked from her to Kang Jinsu and back again, eyes desperate.

"Hmm... you two got something going on?"

He asked it like a man who had already caught the scent.

"...He's my boyfriend."

"Pfft... oh, is he?"

Kang Jinsu stared at the man.

"So how's it feel, watching your girlfriend get fucked stupid by me—and then watching this shit go on for hours? You're a man, aren't you? Shouldn't you at least try to stop it?"

The man took his hands off the desk. Kang Jinsu drew the pistol from his waist and laid it across his knee.

"Come here. Be a man. Put your life on the line for once."

The man stood there, glaring.

"What are you doing! Lift with me!"

The one holding the other end of the desk screamed.

BANG—!

The zombies hit the door again. The man clenched his teeth, looked at the woman one more time, and in the end bent down and grabbed the desk.

Kang Jinsu snorted at the sight.

Yeah. What the hell are you gonna do about it.

Even with the door barricaded in furniture, the men were too uneasy to leave it. Kang Jinsu snorted at them too.

"I told you it won't break. I reinforced headquarters. Zombies like that are nothing."

"Yes... it's all thanks to you, Commander..."

He nodded and picked the phone up again. The man at the window watched the outside for a while, then turned and shouted.

"Commander! Only a few left now!"

The men at the door finally looked at one another. The one in the blue shirt leaned on the desk, gasping. Kang Jinsu hit the post button.

"Please, help me! There's people in there, right? Open the door! I'm dying out here!"

Halfway through the post, Kang Jinsu frowned.

"The hell? What's all this bullshit all of a sudden?"

"C-Commander."

The man at the window turned toward him.

"What?"

"The zombies... over there, the zombies..."

"Didn't you say there were only a few left?"

Kang Jinsu got up and went to the window. Some old man was pounding on the door. And behind him, zombies packed the forest path solid, still pouring in. Hundreds of them, easy.

Kang Jinsu's mouth fell open.

"Fuck... what the hell is that?"

"Please! Hurry! Open the door! Somebody save me!"

"Hey, you piece of shit. Where'd you come from? Why the fuck are you dragging zombies here, you insane trash-tier garbage bastard?"

"The base next door! I came from the neighboring base! Just open the door first! No—please open the door! I'm begging you...!"

"You had a base. Why come here?"

"That bastard told me to come here! Said if I took this path there'd be a base! He said he'd kill me if I went back—what was I supposed to do!"

Sangcheol looked behind him and pounded the door again.

"Please! Just open it, quick!"

Kang Jinsu looked out at the forest path again. The zombies were still coming, with no end to them.

So what—the neighboring base drove this bastard out and the zombies with him?

He thought it over, and it didn't hold. It wasn't as if anyone could control zombies.

"Talk straight. Where did the zombies start following you?"

"People left me in the woods! ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Then that commander called and said zombies were about to come out of there... and if I wanted to live, I should run this way!"

Kang Jinsu clenched his teeth. It was a hard story to believe. Strange enough that anyone would know where the zombies would come from. Stranger still that they'd think to lure them onto another base and let that base stop them.

One thing, though, was certain.

I don't know what kind of bastard that commander is. But he's one hell of a piece of shit. That much is sure.

He sucked in a breath.

"Please! Just open the door now! Hurry!"

Sangcheol pounded, then looked back. The zombies were only a few steps away.

"Don't open it! Nobody opens that door!"

At that, Sangcheol looked up at the window again.

"Why... I'm telling you I'm going to die! Commander! Please!"

He seized the handle in both hands and shook it.

"Open it! Just once! If you save me I'll do anything... aaagh!"

A zombie grabbed his shoulder. Still hanging off the handle, he twisted.

"Please! I'm begging you! The door... gyaaaah!"

Teeth sank into the nape of his neck. He lost the handle and went down, and the rest of them piled onto him.

Kang Jinsu backed away from the window.

"What are you doing! Barricade it again!"

The men threw themselves at the desk. Outside, Sangcheol staggered back to his feet. Together with the other zombies, he started pounding on the door.

THUD!

THUD!

"Fuck! Push together!"

They set their shoulders to the desk and shoved. Even so, the zombies slowly forced one side of the door open, and at last an arm came through the gap.

"A hand! A hand's coming in!"

One man recoiled in terror. On the side he abandoned, a zombie shoved its head through.

"Aaaagh!"

Kang Jinsu jammed the pistol into its face.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He dropped it, and more of them kept forcing their way in from behind. Pistol still in hand, he put his other shoulder to the desk.

"Push from inside! Push, goddammit!"

The men rushed ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in and shoved with him. He gritted his teeth, held, and looked back.

"Bring more desks! That one over there too!"

"Th-this one?"

"Anything! Hurry!"

He jammed whatever they brought into the gap. Turrets kept dropping zombies, but the ones still at the door were enough to push the people back, little by little.

"Don't let go! Hold on till the end!"

A little later, the man at the window looked outside and shouted.

"Th-they're all dead!"

Still gripping the desk, Kang Jinsu yelled back.

"Look properly! Nothing else coming?"

"Nothing! There's really nothing now!"

Only then did he take his shoulder off the desk. He stared at the chair wedged into the torn door, then leaned there and gasped for breath.

I need to kill more of them before they ever reach the door.

Kang Jinsu chose Turret Expansion on the spot.

He glared at the corpses outside the window.

I saw exactly what you did, you bastard.

Next time, he would pay it back double.

"Barricade the door again first. And you two."

He pointed at the man by the window and the man in the blue shirt.

"Go the way that old man came. Find out where the neighboring base is."

"Haa..."

I let out a long breath and leaned back in the chair.

Alive. And without a scratch, at that.

I stepped outside headquarters. The people gathered near the door turned to look at me.

"It's over. Rest a little, then you can head out to gather."

"...Really?"

"Yes. I know you're all hungry and worn out. Bear with it a little longer. I'll figure something out."

"Haaa... thank you, Commander."

One man sank to the ground. The person beside him sat as well, then dragged both hands down his face.

Our base was intact. The only thing lost this wave was the old bastard we had driven out.

Whew. That old bastard. Still, he was pretty useful at the end.

I went back to the commander's office and opened the achievement notice from earlier.

I opened the perk window at once.

Huh? I can give zombies attack orders?

I read the third option again. The targets weren't wave zombies. They were the naturally spawning ones wandering the area, and the range was three miles out from the base. This wasn't quietly broken, the way squad vision was. It was just blatantly broken.

That puts the base next door inside the range, doesn't it?

I thought back to what the old man had been ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shouting outside that door. He had spilled everything—where I had dropped him, and exactly what I had said. Which meant the commander over there knew what I had done.

Then of course he'll want revenge.

I would have, in his place. He had even seen a way to dump his zombies onto someone else's base, so next time he might try the same thing. The next wave would be bigger. Add their zombies on top of that, and our base would be finished on the spot.

But there was one variable.

And that variable is the fact that I'm a veteran of this game.

I selected the third option.

Then I called Kim Minsu.

"Ah... Mr. Kim Minsu? Sorry, but once you've rested a bit, could I ask you to scout again?"

"Yes. Of course. Where should I go?"

"That base from earlier. Check how things turned out, and find a spot where you can see anyone coming our way from there. Don't get spotted."

"Yes. Understood."

"And if there are zombies left nearby, note where they are and how many."