Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Gold (2)
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Thanks to Kyle_Dos first off.
Without the massive haul of medicine I'd taken from his bunker, I wouldn't have even dreamed of treating this beast.
It wasn't any fancy medical procedure.
I just sprinkled powdered antiseptic on the spots where his ribs were showing and covered them with gauze.
True to form as a mutation, Gold only let out a brief growl of pain during the treatment—he didn't show any hostility toward me.
Once the wounds were treated, I fed him.
I'd made his food myself: meat from the freezer that had thawed during the Yoon Colonel incident and started smelling bad, so I'd set it aside. I boiled it up and mixed in some nutritional supplements and oral antibiotics.
Gold wrinkled his nose at the smell.
"Grrr!"
"Hey now."
Dogs are picky eaters too.
Then again, he'd always feasted on deer or wild boar—fat, tasty stuff—so of course half-rotten frozen slop wouldn't appeal.
Still, he seemed to know he needed it to heal. He forced the food into his mouth, chewed it up, and swallowed it down into his gut.
Watching him wolf down the chow I'd prepared like that, I started to get why people keep pets.
What was it...?
Like every time the bowl emptied, something in my heart filled up a little.
I could kinda understand Cat Mom's feelings now, so I kept monitoring his progress.
True to his wild beast nature, Gold recovered at an astonishing speed.
In less than three days, he could walk again, albeit slowly. I took him up to a secluded spot in the hilly area above the main bunker.
Smart as he was, he followed my lead while constantly scanning the surroundings.
He especially seemed wary of other people.
"No one's here. Just me."
"Grrrrr."
"You've only ever known betrayal, huh."
He nodded at my words.
"......"
This guy... how much of human speech does he actually understand?
A chill ran down my spine as I built him a shelter.
I pieced together slate panels scavenged from the village below to patch together a roof, then lined the inside with blankets and mats from abandoned houses, plus plenty of industrial packing material for bedding.
"There you go. Your house."
The moment it was done, Gold slipped right inside like he'd been waiting, curled up into a ball, and gazed at me while letting out a soft rumble.
His eyes held a measure of trust toward me now.
I felt a twinge of satisfaction—and more than that, the thrill of achieving something no one else had. Taming a mutation. It stirred my long-cooled blood just a bit.
But as his wounds healed and his strength returned, my pride slowly turned to unease.
I knew all too well how terrifying mutation dogs could be.
In close quarters, they're far more dangerous than most monsters.
Whenever he buried his head low and stared up at me, I felt the urge to raise my gun and pull the trigger right then.
Images flashed of him suddenly lunging, crunching me bones and all.
But every time the impulse hit, I'd remember how he'd followed me, how he'd mimicked that human song. It calmed me down.
The biggest inspiration came from that woman Baek Seung-hyeon had blown away.
Her calm faith in front of a cat several times her size—maybe that was the real secret to taming mutations.
But no matter how much I reined in my impulses and tried to show trust, I'm Park Gyu—a defensive guy at heart.
The fear that Gold might turn on me grew day by day in my mind.
Then one day, another visitor showed up in my territory.
A single bus.
My K-walkie-talkie crackled as it picked up the public channel.
"Any survivors in the area? We're neither raiders nor military. Just ordinary civilians here with a purpose."
This voice...
I'd heard it before.
"If anyone's out there, please respond. We're not enemies. We just want some information. You can reply by radio, but we've prepared a little gift. Fuel. Fuel."
I remembered.
Ji Chang-su.
A bit older and thinner, but it was definitely him—the loyal retainer who'd followed Je Phong-ho to the death.
Through my binoculars, I saw he wasn't alone.
Standing demurely beside him was the woman who'd tried to stop her father's suicide.
Younghee, was it?
She stood awkwardly behind her father, her face etched with displeasure.
"......"
What to do.
Showing myself for a barrel of fuel wasn't exactly tempting, but these were people I had history with.
He'd brought five armed men, but they didn't seem to have business with me specifically.
I wasn't anyone special enough to draw them all this way from afar, especially if they were just passing through to the southeast.
"Stay hidden. Quietly."
I murmured to Gold.
"Gonna handle some business real quick."
He stared at me for a moment, then retreated deep into the slate-roofed shelter.
"Survivor here."
I pulled out the K-walkie-talkie and responded.
They didn't recognize my voice.
"This is Park Gyu."
As expected, they didn't have business with me specifically.
We exchanged brief greetings and I invited them in.
Gold growled a bit, but I had something I wanted to test.
*
"......You're living in a place like this?"
Ji Chang-su stared at my camouflaged house in shock.
It wasn't an unreasonable reaction.
The rusted container house looked like it could collapse any second—not exactly fit for human habitation.
"No one's looking if there's nothing worth taking. Call it non-attachment?"
I recited some half-remembered line while gauging their reactions.
The experiment was a success.
To outsiders, the camo house blended in from afar and up close, it gave off a vibe that screamed "do not enter."
They balked at going inside, so we talked out front.
Bringing Ji Chang-su—someone I'd never expected to see again—to this place was thanks to old shadows from the past.
He showed me a photo printed from a printer.
"Take a look at this."
I'd seen it on the community boards before.
A photo of Chairman Je Phong-ho.
The corporate titan who still led thousands of followers even as a zombie, crudely printed on A4 paper.
"I can't stand by while the chairman—who gave me everything—wanders this world like that. I want to give him a proper funeral."
That was the situation.
Beyond the territory ruled by the Gold Pack lay an abandoned city, where a zombie horde presumed to be led by Chairman Je Phong-ho lurked.
Getting into the city wasn't easy.
Around it swarmed sedentary monster lairs, raider bases, remnants of Chinese forces who'd barely made landfall—threats deadlier than the zombies.
The Chinese remnants were news to me, so I asked about them.
"A battalion managed to land near Asan, but they're all light infantry. Our subs sank their ships with all the heavy gear aboard. And with their homeland gone, what could they do? They just hunkered down."
I'd been fixated on Seoul, but apparently interesting things were brewing down south too.
Excluding those danger zones, the only viable route into the city was southwest—straight through Gold Pack territory.
Gold was far more infamous in Seoul than I was.
There'd been bounties on him for ages.
Subjugation teams went in multiple times, came back empty-handed, and some even got wiped out as dog food.
Of course Ji Chang-su knew this, but when he actually got near Gold's turf, cold feet set in. He started searching for local survivors to boost his odds even a little.
He'd been heading toward the famous sniper mom-and-daughter duo next—hoping to at least glean some info via radio contact.
"I didn't even expect to find anyone, but Hunter Park Gyu—you—hiding out here? It's like a sign from heaven."
Ji Chang-su kept praying and thanking the skies.
"Hunter Park Gyu, stationed here just to help us like this."
"Pardon?"
This guy's drinking the kimchi soup a bit too fast.
I hadn't offered help, and I had no intention of it.
"I'm terribly sorry, but I've been out of the game for a long time and I'm in no shape to fight properly. If I still had my old skills, would I be down here living like a bum?"
I gave him the basics—just enough info—and called it aid.
As Ji Chang-su left, his daughter Younghee approached me.
Like I'd sensed before, she seemed easier to talk to than her father.
"It's fine. Even I think it's insane, so we can't drag Hunter Park Gyu into it."
Younghee glared at her father heading back to the bus, cigarette dangling from her lips, eyes full of resentment.
"How long is he gonna obsess over Je Phong-ho this and Je Phong-ho that? I just don't get it. This isn't the Joseon era."
A shiny ring gleamed on her ring finger.
It hadn't been there before.
"This?"
She caught my gaze and took a deep drag.
"Ended up marrying someone from Parpung Group after all, but......"
A brief silence, then thick cigarette smoke billowed out with a heavy sigh toward the sky.
"He's dead."
"That's a shame."
"He was a decent guy, but too soft. Not cut out for this world......"
For someone talking about her husband's death, her face showed no real grief.
Probably hadn't even loved him a little.
She glanced at me sideways.
"You single?"
"Yes."
"Divorced?"
"Never married."
"I heard hunters marry young."
"Exceptions exist."
"Not lonely?"
This woman never pried into personal stuff before.
Back when Parpung Group was somewhat holding together and futures looked bleak, she'd asked me for help but showed zero interest in me as a man.
But now the world's changed—her gaze, her tone, both felt stickier, more intimate.
Not unwelcome, but we were still strangers.
I sighed, glancing at the camo house.
"Felt lonely at first. But once I let go of desires, everything seemed abundant."
"Sounds like a monk."
"You heading out right away? Mutations aren't pushovers."
"We're well-armed."
She turned back.
The men on the bus were mounting a massive machine gun on the roof.
A 12.7mm heavy MG.
I nodded involuntarily.
"Yeah, that should do it."
"We'll leave the fuel barrel as promised. Synthetic, but usable enough."
"Work in diesel engines?"
"Our bus runs fine on it. Not sure about long-term wear, but—hey!"
Suddenly Younghee's face drained of color.
I knew why even before turning.
Rough breathing sounded, and a huge shadow fell between us.
Next to the main bunker stood a massive hound rivaling a lion in size, glaring our way.
Gold.
"Gold."
Click.
I called his name and raised my gun.
"Back off."
Gold bared his teeth at Younghee.
Her face ashen, she backed away and asked me,
"D-Don't tell me you're raising it?"
"Not raising."
"Then?!"
"Kinda happened."
I warned Gold again.
"She's not an enemy. She'll be gone soon. Won't hurt you."
Gold showed no hostility toward me, at least.
His clear aggression was aimed at Younghee.
"Gold."
I said his name with feeling this time, and murmurs rose from the bus.
"What's going on? Younghee!"
Ji Chang-su's voice called out.
Gold glared at Younghee, then whipped around and bolted from my territory at top speed.
"Gold......"
No doubt about it.
Gold was leaving.
Over the hills where I'd built his house, down the steep slope, across a deep stream, vanishing into the open fields beyond.
Heading southwest.
His old stomping grounds.
Click.
Younghee aimed her gun at Gold.
I forced her barrel down.
She glared at me in protest.
I shook my head, eyes on the receding Gold.
"......Let him go. Waste of bullets."
"You seriously tried to tame that monster? A hunter, no less?"
"Not tame. Just nursed him a bit. He was badly hurt. Don't they say even beasts know kindness?"
"Doesn't look like it'll repay yours, Park."
Younghee safed her gun and slung it over her shoulder.
"Wasn't doing it for payback."
At the edge of those distant fields, dark specks began appearing one by one.
No binoculars needed.
Mutation dogs.
They must've heard Gold's howl.
One was new to me.
I checked with binoculars.
Yeah, first time seeing him.
Black, short-haired like a pit bull terrier, devilish distorted head, size rivaling a bull.
That one, huh.
The one who'd wounded Gold, driven him from the pack, and taken the alpha spot.
His build and looks put him in a league above regular mutations.
I'd seen plenty, but this guy was one of a kind.
Younghee muttered beside me.
"......Makes me really not wanna go now."
Wonder why Gold went back to the black one.
Rematch, maybe?
To reclaim his pack and turf?
No way.
His body was well enough to run, sure, but not for scrapping with that giant.
Even at full strength, the black one's size and vibe screamed mismatch.
It'd be a shame to see my weeks of effort end with him dying pointlessly, but he was out of my hands now.
Gold planted himself in front of the black one.
The other dogs—his old subordinates—stood with the new pack behind the black one, watching Gold.
Baring teeth in threat, they clearly didn't see him as pack anymore.
The black one bared his teeth at Gold.
"Grrrrr!"
His growl carried vividly across kilometers.
Even in the face of that shockwave bark, Gold calmly stepped forward toward the one who'd stolen everything.
"......Gold."
Regret tugged at me.
If he'd come back to me, I'd have treated him right.
Even given him fresh meat.
But contrary to hopes, things escalated fast.
The black one opened his jaws, revealing sawblade teeth.
"......"
Is this how it ends?
Gold looked back.
Like he'd forgotten something.
For some reason, I felt like he was looking at me.
Then the unexpected happened.
Gold tucked his tail, flinched... and suddenly rolled over in front of the black one, exposing his belly?
Even I know that pose.
Submission.
Gold, once pack leader, acknowledging the bigger, stronger one's rank—begging to rejoin the group.
"......Hoo."
A deep sigh escaped from my lungs.
Disappointment in Gold, and my feverish curiosity, both deflated.
Mutations can't be tamed after all, huh.
Maybe failure was inevitable.
The essence of what we call dogs is the gray wolf.
I'd seen his true nature when he devoured that subjugation team that killed his comrade.
Not all gray wolves wanted to become dogs.
Some were tamed. Others died as wolves.
"......"
He'd chosen the wolf's path.
That was all.
"Even dogs know to change attitudes with the situation."
Younghee's snide remark came from beside me.
"Guess my dad's less than that mutt."