The Road to Daejeon
Three zombies were detected while they were on the move.
"Dohun, you take the left. I'll handle the right."
At his older brother's hand signal, Dohun nodded, and the two advanced cautiously forward.
"Grrr..."
The zombies standing ahead of them spotted the brothers and lunged.
"Kuh!"
Dohyun hurled the sling he'd been preparing.
"Thwack!"
The stone struck one zombie's shoulder, slowing its charge.
"Ha!"
Dohun stepped forward first, swinging his axe at the head of the zombie on the left. With a sickening crunch, the skull caved in.
Dohyun drew the axe from his waist, dodging the approaching zombie's grasping hand as he swung.
"Swish—thwack!"
The first zombie's head was obliterated, and it collapsed. The second one, its shoulder already shattered, staggered closer.
"Dohun."
"Got it!"
Dohun stepped in and swung his axe, ending the fight.
It had taken them two minutes to kill three zombies.
"Sure is easier to hunt when you can take them down one hit at a time."
Dohyun wiped the blood off his axe on the zombie's clothing.
"Can't most people kill them in one hit?"
"Most people either can't hit the head accurately enough, or their damage isn't high enough to kill in one strike."
Both brothers had been chosen by the god of athletics, granting them exceptional physical senses. They could strike the zombies' heads with pinpoint accuracy, and their damage was sufficient to kill in a single blow—something ordinary people simply couldn't do.
"Normally, when ambushing a single zombie, you aim straight for the head. But when hunting multiple zombies like this, the standard approach is to hit the legs or torso first."
"But we can just go for the head."
"That's right."
Having superior stats made hunting genuinely easier.
"Let's keep moving. We'll reach Osan soon enough."
The brothers resumed their journey.
The trip from Suwon to Osan went remarkably smoothly for Kang Dohyun and Kang Dohun. Dohyun's Presence Detection trait let him identify areas with few zombies and avoid lawless bands with ease. On top of that, the gas station explosion had drawn a large number of Suwon's zombies toward that area, clearing their path.
They left Suwon quickly and arrived in the Osan region without incident.
As they entered Osan's main street, a checkpoint stood at the entrance as expected. But they had no intention of going through it.
"Hyung, where are we going?"
"Just follow me quietly."
Between them, the brothers carried two new crossbows and nearly a thousand bolts. They couldn't risk having those weapons confiscated at a checkpoint. Their bags were also packed with food, and there were several items that would be taken without question if discovered. Dohyun had absolutely no intention of passing through the checkpoint.
The soldiers who had occupied Osan had hastily constructed barricades to keep zombies from entering, but covering such a wide area inevitably left many gaps.
Dohyun headed for a hole he already knew about.
"As expected, this hole is still here."
There was an opening large enough for a person to squeeze through.
"Dohun, let's go in quietly."
"Got it."
The brothers slipped into Osan through the hole.
It had been thirteen days since they'd last been in Osan, and in just two weeks, the city had taken on a considerably more bleak atmosphere. The people on the streets looked even more despondent and drained of energy.
"No wonder."
The military governing Osan had been distributing progressively smaller rations of food. They weren't even distributing to those who didn't participate in combat.
Under this military system, with each passing day, hope of returning to the old world faded. Everyone was coming to understand that the era of plenty was over—that the age of the strong devouring the weak, where only the powerful survived, had arrived.
To survive, people had to leave the relative safety of Osan and venture outside, hunting zombies, evading lawless bands, and farming for food.
After taking a quick look around Osan's streets, the brothers naturally made their way to the motel where they'd stayed before.
"Welcome."
The motel owner greeted Dohyun, looking more exhausted than before.
"We'd like a room with running water."
"No rooms with water left. Even the regular rooms are up two food tickets."
At the mention of two food tickets, Dohyun was about to turn and leave—
"Ah! You're a regular, so just one!"
"Then we'll stay for one night."
Dohyun handed over one food ticket, and the owner handed him the key to room 302.
Inside room 302, the brothers finally let themselves relax.
"Wow, what a long day."
"Yeah, it was a long one."
They'd started the morning by destroying the Terminal Group, then blown up the gas station. After that, they'd traveled nonstop from Suwon to Osan, hunting zombies through alleyways the whole way. They'd managed to reach Osan safely before sunset.
"Let's eat first."
"Right."
Since they hadn't eaten since breakfast, the brothers tore open their combat rations. Dohun began heating the MRE with a heat pack while Dohyun pulled a map out of his bag.
"Hmm."
As he studied the map, Dohun handed his older brother the warmed combat ration.
"Hyung, eat."
"Thanks."
The brothers ate while talking.
Today's combat ration was a US military MRE—pasta was the main course.
"Hyung, I didn't realize combat rations came in so many varieties until now."
"I put a lot of thought into it."
Dohyun had stockpiled a wide variety of combat rations before the apocalypse, so Dohun had been able to eat something different every day for a whole month.
Thinking about having eaten nothing but combat rations for a month, Dohun asked:
"Suwon... we won't be able to go back to our house, right?"
Suwon, the Sarang Apartments—that was the hometown where the brothers had been born and raised. But it was too dangerous, so they'd had to leave behind their stockpiled supplies and food.
"Let's go back once we've grown strong enough."
It would take time. But if Dohyun grew as much as he planned, the two brothers would become among the strongest forces on the Korean Peninsula.
It wouldn't be too late to return to Suwon by then.
"Right. So now we go to Dongwoo, then?"
Dohyun studied the map for a moment before answering.
"Hey, do you want to go straight to the uninhabited island base, or go somewhere else first?"
It was a crossroads. If they went to the island, they'd repair and resupply before heading south. But if they went somewhere else first—
"Somewhere else? Where?"
Dohyun tapped a spot on the map.
"Daejeon?"
"Yeah, Daejeon. There's a good spot there."
At the mention of a good spot in Daejeon, Dohun asked while eating:
"What about you, hyung? Where would you rather go?"
"Me? I..."
Dohyun was honest.
"Going to Daejeon will be tough. Especially for you."
Daejeon would mean frequent combat. Fighting zombies was a given, but there would also be plenty of fights with humans.
"You'll have to kill a lot of people."
"Kill... people..."
His younger brother still had reservations about taking human lives, so Dohyun reminded him of reality as an older brother should.
"This is the apocalypse, a new era. If we don't kill our enemies, they'll kill us."
At those words, Dohun nodded.
"It's probably better to adapt while enemies are still weak in the early stages."
Dohun agreed with his brother's reasoning.
"Right. Better to suffer now. Let's go to Daejeon."
And so the brothers' next destination was decided: Daejeon.
The plan was set, and they finished an early dinner.
"Let's just relax today."
Dohun nodded at his brother's suggestion. But—
"Relax how?"
"I'm going to sleep with a woman. I need to check out the new trait effect too."
At Dohyun's words, Dohun said with a look of still not being used to it:
"Wow, hyung, you say stuff like that so easily since you regressed, you know that?"
"What can I do? Both me and the world have changed. Besides, there's nothing else to do but women."
In the apocalypse, most of the things people used to enjoy disappeared all at once. Sex inevitably became the ultimate entertainment for adult men and women.
Dohun chewed over his brother's words for a moment, then said:
"I'll just work out in the room."
The atmosphere he'd felt walking through Osan's streets on the way to the motel had been so unpleasant that he'd rather exercise alone in the motel.
"Alright. I'll leave the luggage with you then."
After entrusting his luggage to his brother, Dohyun took a small hatchet and five food tickets and stepped outside.
Dohyun's expression was subtle as he emerged onto Osan's streets.
"Does Dohun still need time?"
In the apocalypse, adapting quickly was the most important thing. The old concepts of human rights, consideration, and order had to be discarded fast—strength and survival had to come first.
It was important to relieve as much stress as possible during any break, but it seemed his brother still needed time.
As Dohyun walked while thinking, he arrived at a street where women gathered to sell their bodies.
"Oh?"
In just two weeks, the number of people in the back alley where women gathered had increased. Now, women who could no longer endure hunger were coming out to the streets to sell their bodies.
The women spotted Dohyun the moment he stepped onto the street.
"Oppa! Play with me."
"One food ticket and I'll give you proper service."
"I'm so hungry. Please, be with me."
The women actively seduced him, but Dohyun simply looked at the women soliciting him and said:
"Let's see who's pretty."
He began choosing women freely.
The apocalypse had begun an era where women sold their bodies for a single food ticket.
After spending the night, morning came, and the brothers woke up early.
After a light breakfast and packing their things, they left the motel and exited through the same hole they'd used to enter Osan.
"From here, we'll move carefully."
With Dohyun leading, the brothers began moving toward Daejeon along the national highway.