Chapter 85
Chapter 85
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 85
Chapter Title: Yuseong Group
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‘What the hell’s with this guy? No way… is he just zombie bait?’
No matter how much I racked my brain, nothing else made sense. Maybe the bastard had chased after me, gotten lost, and ended up swarmed by a passing horde of zombies.
Or the soldiers at the checkpoint could’ve taken him out.
‘Whatever it was, pure gold. Now I can use Time Warp without a care.’
With my biggest worry off the table, I finally relaxed and leaned back against the dump truck’s frame. Carlson, who’d been gripping the steering wheel, glanced at me in the rearview mirror and radioed over.
“Situation clear?”
“Yeah. We’re good now.”
“You really trust that ‘sense’ of yours?”
There was still a hint of doubt in Carlson’s voice. I chuckled softly.
“If I didn’t, you wouldn’t be behind the wheel right now, squad leader.”
“Heh, fair enough.”
Carlson dropped it and focused on driving.
The road to Seoul was anything but smooth. Highways were jammed with abandoned cars, and crises cropped up everywhere. Toll gates were clogged with dozens of zombies piled up, and blind corners brought sudden horde ambushes.
But every time, my Threat Detection trait picked up on the dangers before anyone else, letting us respond just in time and slip through unscathed.
“Joo-hyuk! Three o’clock!”
Before Sera’s shout even crackled over the radio, I’d already yanked the pin from a grenade tucked in my tactical vest and chucked it out with force.
A massive explosion ripped through, shredding the zombies blocking our path into chunks.
“Whoa!”
Even on the rattling truck bed, my shots hit dead center every time. Truth was, I couldn’t miss. Just raising my gun brought targeting lines right over the enemies’ heads.
Tactical Marksmanship in action.
The team couldn’t stop marveling at my performance. After it happened a few more times, they stopped questioning my instincts altogether. Hell, they started relying on them completely.
Like that, we carved through countless zombies and finally crossed into Seoul’s outskirts.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Seoul’s first impression was hell on earth.
The massive bridge spanning the Han River was buried under hundreds—no, thousands—of tangled vehicles forming a gigantic graveyard. Acrid black smoke billowed from spots here and there, with zombies shambling aimlessly nearby.
“Tch. We knew it’d be bad, but this?”
Sera’s queasy voice came over the radio.
And no wonder. Seoul’s population density was beyond imagination. On average, it rivaled Tokyo; the Gangnam core felt like New York’s Manhattan or Paris.
Gangwon had held onto enough military remnants from the old North Korean border to maintain some control.
But Seoul? Its defenses boiled down to the Capital Defense Command and a handful of anti-air guns perched on skyscrapers.
Now that the initial suppression had failed, the worst-case scenario stared us down: all ten million residents turned zombie.
‘Ugh… how long to clear this shit?’
But the real hell was just beginning.
The moment we rolled into a wide downtown intersection, hundreds of zombies surged from every alley like crashing waves.
We couldn’t push forward while fighting anymore. Clear one group, and the noise drew two or three more. Our muzzles blazed nonstop, but the horde numbers refused to thin.
“Damn it! Ammo’s gonna run dry first!”
Sera’s frantic shout echoed from the lead truck over the radio. She wasn’t wrong.
We’d resupplied at the checkpoint, but raw bullets weren’t field-ready. They needed magazines first.
With zombies pouring in endlessly, though, we had zero time to reload mags.
‘Plenty of ammo, but can’t fire freely… what is this, some modern-day Mercenary Kim Cheomji?’
On top of that, sustained fire had overheated our suppressors, dropping accuracy and forcing multi-shot kills more often.
“Joo-hyuk! Keep pushing?”
Carlson radioed, anxiety creeping into his tone.
He was still leading the merc unit, but smack in the heart of Seoul—and with me being a Korean-American merc who’d proven his chops—he paid close attention to my input.
I paused to think. Pressing on like this was suicide. I could bail if things got dicey, but I didn’t want to ditch these proven teammates.
“Pull back to the outskirts for now.”
A few grenades later, the path cleared.
“Leah, right alley fifty meters ahead.”
“Got it!”
The alley was just barely wide enough for the dump truck. With both trucks nose-to-tail blocking the entrance, we bought ourselves a breather from the zombie threat.
“Hoo…”
A single bead of sweat trickled down my forehead as the tension eased.
I took a sip of water, then poured some cold bottled water onto a towel from the gas station to soak it.
“What’re you doing?”
Sera eyed me curiously.
Without a word, I pressed the wet towel against the glowing-red suppressor on my assault rifle.
Sizzle—
Steam billowed up like searing meat. Grimacing, I unscrewed the scorching suppressor from the barrel.
“Suppressors are pointless now.”
I said quietly.
“Meaning?”
“Seoul’s a zombie farm everywhere. No guarantee they hide our noise, and overheating barrels slow our fire rate. Better ditch ‘em and go all-in on firepower.”
“…Yeah, that tracks.”
Luckily, these guys weren’t rigid soldiers. Mercs adapted fast.
“Alright. Suppressors off, Joo-hyuk’s call. Fretting over mystery snipers like before will kill us first.”
During the break, we scarfed light rations and used our speed loaders to quickly top off empty mags from our gear.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ ▶▶▶ 30 Minutes Later ▶▶▶ Grenades made short work of the blocking zombies. Threat Detection even showed shrapnel spread post-throw, so distance was a breeze.
We climbed back aboard the dump trucks and rolled out.
This time with a new plan. We’d lucked into that narrow alley before, but no guarantee of repeats.
Our original route hugging the outskirts to Yuseong Group’s building had been arrogant—made without knowing Seoul’s reality.
We agreed: straight shortest path to Yuseong Group, zombies be damned.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Boom!
Grenades detonated.
Rat-a-tat-tat!
Muzzles spat fire without pause.
Truth be told, shooting was kinda fun.
Every trigger pull exploded zombie heads like watermelons, stirring a weird thrill.
I half-felt like I was gaming, mowing them down.
Bullets flew like guided missiles, piercing skulls dead-on.
Godlike marksmanship from the bucking truck bed drew cheers from Sera and Carlson over the radio every time.
“Joo-hyuk! You’re nuts! How do you shoot like that? Teach me!”
“Get us back safe, and I’ll buy drinks till your gut bursts!”
I shrugged off the praise at first. But that wore thin quick.
After smashing a few endless waves, the initial buzz vanished, replaced by crushing fatigue.
Arms throbbed from endless recoil, shoulders felt ready to pop.
‘Fuck… this is exhausting.’
Biggest issue: this world’s body couldn’t fully tap my traits.
‘Damn, ‘reality-based stats’ my ass—total garbage.’
In the Tower, my body was forged through endless fights, level-ups, and the busted Sex Emperor job perks.
There, I could swing a sword all day without tiring, even confident hoisting an M2 machine gun one-handed.
Here? Rookie profile perk gave 10% of Tower stats: Strength 24, Agility 17. Better than average joe, but infant-level next to Tower me.
‘With that power, I’d just punch these zombie fucks’ heads to paste.’
Thankfully, before I tapped out completely.
After twists and turns, we reached our PDA hologram map’s final mark: the Yuseong Group building where VIP client Yuina waited.