Please Take It
Three days had passed.
In that time, I'd hunted an average of fifty zombies a day.
My arrows were running low, so I'd emptied out the entire cabinet back in Deoksu-ri village. Even repairing and reusing them, these would all be spent eventually. When that day came, I'd have to source more from outside.
I wasn't yet strong enough to take on zombies with the knife alone, and even if I got there, the bow was a ranged weapon that opened up all kinds of tactics — arrows would always be essential.
Current Amplification Coefficient: 3.0
Every coin I'd earned so far had gone into raising the amplification coefficient.
I stepped out onto the terrace and started my calisthenics. I could now do a one-fingered handstand. That was only possible because my strength had tripled while my sense of balance and my body's durability had improved right along with it — my bones and ligaments had toughened to the point that I wouldn't suffer a fracture from anything short of serious abuse.
My strength had grown, but I hadn't bulked up. I was still lean, which somehow made my body feel even lighter.
After finishing my morning workout, I drank some water and gazed out at the Blessed Farmland. The rice was growing lush and green. Sure enough, rice flourished here even outside a proper paddy.
With the field's fertility raised, it took eighteen hours from sowing to harvest. A single stretch of modern paddy, farmed with today's techniques, yielded 350 to 400 kilograms of rice — roughly two kilograms per pyeong. A single pyeong of the Blessed Farmland, on the other hand, yielded over five.
I'd hauled the village's small rice polisher out here, so lately I'd been eating fresh-harvested rice and loving every bite. Rice grown in the Blessed Farmland had a flavor on a completely different dimension from ordinary rice — and freshly milled, it was even better.
Man, I could go for rice and some gim.
Fresh rice wrapped around savory seasoned seaweed sheets — that would be perfect.
Hummmm—
My phone buzzed. A call from Jin-beom. Ever since the internet went down, he'd been making calls over the 3G network — the government had ordered the carriers to make 3G calls free regardless of plan, though voice and text were the only options, with limits on call time and message count.
"Hey, Jin-beom."
—Kim Hyeong-woo! Everything okay over there?
"All quiet. How about you?"
—Same here. But a few people left.
"Left? For where?"
—You know that recruiting drive your company's running? People applied.
Those who'd applied to Hyunsung Group's recruitment had departed the base. Most of the Deoksu-ri natives were elderly, so none of them qualified. It was the out-of-towners — a handful of them — who'd left the military base. Kang Min-chae, the so-called archery prodigy, had been among them.
Since it was a government-partnered project, they'd been given military transport to an intermediate staging point.
I asked Jin-beom, half joking.
"Why didn't you go?"
—Pfft, I'm not going abroad. No thanks.
We traded a bit more small talk and hung up.
I browsed the internet to see if there was any new information about the zombies. Hyunsung Group's recruitment ads grew flashier by the day — they'd even mobilized the exclusive advertising models from their subsidiaries. Film actors, singers, athletes. Everyone who'd survived this far appeared in the ads.
In the ad footage, they battled zombies, mowing them all down with bows and blades, and then the most famous face among them — a football star — stared straight into the camera and declared:
"Crisis is opportunity!"
I checked the breaking news. The government had added a new feature to the infection-tracking app: an entry called [Please Take It]. It let evacuees grant permission for others to use the belongings they'd left behind in their homes and shops. A fierce debate was raging online about whether it was really okay to use someone else's property in the name of survival.
I tapped on the [Please Take It] board. Quite a lot of posts had gone up.
Most of the posts said the same thing. Just in case, I searched for ones from this area.
There it is!
My toilet paper was nearly out, and I needed more shampoo and body wash too. All of those things were surely stacked to the ceiling in the Nonghyup Mart warehouse in Inje-eup, but entering town was still beyond my abilities. A remote highway rest stop out in the middle of nowhere, though? That was worth a try.
If I hunted zombies there and grabbed supplies, it'd be killing two birds with one stone.
I pulled up the map app and pinned down the rest stop's exact location. Roughly ten kilometers from here, and close to the base where Jin-beom was staying. Cut through the mountain paths, it wasn't far at all.
Better get there before everyone else does!
I threw on my coat and grabbed my weapons.
.
.
.
Traveling the mountain trail with Chuk-bok at my side, I reached the destination. I'd bagged more than ten zombies along the way. A dozen or so more were scattered across the rest stop parking lot. It seemed no one else had come here for the same reason I had.
I came down the slope from the trail toward the lot.
Kekehek—
The zombies spotted me and charged.
Patatat—
I sprinted full-tilt for the rest stop building. They couldn't catch up. The amplification coefficient had boosted my running speed as well — I didn't know the exact figure since I hadn't measured it, but peak-era Usain Bolt wouldn't have stood a chance.
The rest stop was a single-story building with one sedan parked against the wall. I vaulted off the car's roof and leapt onto the building's rooftop, then turned and started firing down at the zombies.
Fwish—
Fwish— fwish—
My accuracy and rate of fire were beyond anything I'd managed before. Once I'd planted an arrow in each of their skulls, I dropped down and finished the job, taking their heads one by one with the kukri.
Spent 21 coins to raise your Amplification Coefficient to 3.1.
Inside the convenience store, the shelves were bare. What remained was stuff like toilet bowl cleaner.
Well, I need that too.
I dropped a bottle of bowl cleaner into my pack, went to the counter, and pulled open the third drawer. There was the key, taped to the underside of the second drawer's floor. I peeled it off and headed for the outbuilding where the warehouse stood.
The warehouse door was slightly dented — someone had tried to force it and failed. I opened it with the key. Inside, the shelves were piled high with groceries and daily necessities.
They've got gim too!
The seasoned seaweed I'd been craving so badly was right there. I packed my backpack full of everything I needed.
"Chuk-bok, come here, boy."
Chuk-bok trotted over, tail wagging. He had packs of his own. When he'd first wandered into the Blessed Farmland, he'd been wearing a belt rigged with blood bags. Now two small packs hung on either side of that same belt in place of them. I stuffed those full of supplies as well.
Just as I was about to head back, a sound came from outside.
Vroom—
An engine.
Grrrrr—
Chuk-bok growled. Zombies nearby. I cracked the warehouse door open and peered out. A car had pulled into the parking lot — and two zombies were attacking it.
Was someone inside? More people who'd come for the supplies, like me? I held still and watched.
Thud! Thud!
The zombies slammed their skulls into the car windows like things possessed. The glass looked ready to shatter at any moment.
AAAH!
A woman's scream leaked from inside the car. It was clear they couldn't deal with the zombies themselves. I stepped out of the warehouse and loosed arrows at the pair — both struck their skulls dead-on. One sweep of the kukri took their heads.
Then I looked inside the car. Two women sat in the driver's and passenger's seats, both frozen stiff with fear, shaking head to toe.
I waited until they'd steadied themselves. A little later, the woman in the driver's seat got out, in tears, and thanked me.
"Thank you! You saved our lives!"
They hadn't come for the rest stop's supplies. Their car had simply run completely dry of fuel. There was a fuel can in the trunk, but the zombies had chased them the whole way, leaving no chance to refill — so it might as well have been an empty box.
"Fill up right now, and you should be able to get moving again."
At my words, she shook her head, tears streaming down her face.
"I... I don't think I can."
Her legs were trembling violently. She was in full panic — driving looked impossible.
Hmm.
I couldn't just leave them here, but I couldn't exactly bring them back to the Blessed Farmland either. Then it occurred to me — the military base was close by.
Maybe I'll go see Jin-beom's face for the first time in a while?
Choi Jin-beom finished his shift and headed back to the barracks. The village residents were standing guard duty alongside the soldiers.
Pee first.
He walked into the restroom to find a private standing at the urinal, and lined up beside him. As he relieved himself, he asked, "So how's it feel, missing your leave?"
"There's an official notice, sir. Once the zombie situation ends, they'll compensate us for every day we couldn't take."
"Really? Well, that's something."
Just then, someone was calling for him.
"Jin-beom!"
It was the Youth Association President's voice.
"Yeah! I'm in the restroom!"
The president came running in. "Hyeong-woo's here!"
"What? Hyeong-woo? Really?"
"Yep! He's at the guard post right now!"
Jin-beom cut himself off mid-stream in his haste and bolted for the guard post. And there he was — the friend he'd been missing so desperately, standing there with a smile on his face.
"Hyeong-woo!"
"Long time no see."
Jin-beom very nearly burst into tears on the spot, but he barely held it in and answered with a grin.
"Zombie Hunter Kim Hyeong-woo, in the flesh! Welcome!"
Jin-beom had assumed Hyeong-woo meant to move his home here for good, but as they talked, it turned out that wasn't it at all — he'd stopped by briefly to drop off some evacuees he'd met on the road somewhere safe.
"I've got to head back. I need to arrive before sundown."
"Why go? Just stay here!"
"Home is comfortable."
"Unbelievable. You really are something!"
Jin-beom looked at the Siberian husky beside him. "And who's this?"
"Chuk-bok."
"Chuk-bok? Where'd he come from?"
"Found him on the road."
They'd talked on the phone every day, so there wasn't much catching up to do. Hyeong-woo said his goodbyes, slipped out through the side gate the soldiers opened for him, then turned and waved. Jin-beom waved back and shouted:
"Stay safe! Let's meet again in spring, no matter what!"
Hyeong-woo smiled and gave a nod, then turned and started walking, the Siberian husky trailing at his heels.
Someone approached Jin-beom — the women Hyeong-woo had brought here.
"Is he a friend of yours?"
"Yeah, he is."
"That man is incredible — truly!"
They told Jin-beom all about Hyeong-woo's exploits on the road from the rest stop to the base.
"It was like a warrior straight out of an action movie!"
Jin-beom watched Hyeong-woo's receding back and murmured to himself.
That guy... he fits this world way too well.