Noisy Neighbors (1)
“One location? If that’s the case, you could just report it to the military.”
“There might be someone like Lopez there. According to intel, there are definitely ghouls.”
Ghoul. A zombie with intelligence. For now, it referred to zombies that obeyed the commands of immortals.
Ju Kang-rim had never properly fought ghouls yet. The fake Lopez had only served as bait before exploding.
“But we probably don’t need to worry about something like the fake Lopez. So far, it’s just slow-moving ghouls acting like basic laborers hauling cargo.”
“……Using zombies as free labor, huh.”
Ju Kang-rim muttered with a bitter smile. There was no better workforce than obedient zombies like good little soldiers. No rest needed, no pay, not even any rebellion.
But Yoo Wol-ryeong remained impassive.
The origin of zombies began in Haiti. A sorcerer would drug a man into a coma. Then dig him up from the grave, revive him, and feed him more drugs to cloud his judgment, turning him into a slave.
That was the true origin of zombies.
“Maybe they’re using zombies exactly as the original meaning intended—efficiently. There are zombies everywhere, after all.”
“You think so?”
“No. If that were the case, it’d be better to use ghouls as combat troops. Even with hordes of zombies, if you could just make them fight each other, humanity wouldn’t have to worry about extinction.”
That was the unforgivable part. If they’d known about necromancy sooner, humanity wouldn’t have been pushed this far into a corner.
“Anyway, fine. Let’s go send those zombies to the afterlife.”
He needed to test what he’d learned in real combat. More importantly, his official identity was a zombie hunter, so building a track record as one would keep Clint from getting suspicious.
But Yoo Wol-ryeong shook her head.
“I won’t be going.”
“Ah, got something to do?”
Yoo Wol-ryeong had taught him all sorts of things, but she didn’t stick around constantly. She periodically—and quite frequently—took off to handle business. It was only natural; she wasn’t his babysitter.
“Yes. It seems I need to make a quick trip to Busan this time.”
“Got it. Then I’ll handle it solo. No big deal.”
Ju Kang-rim wasn’t too worried. To him, zombie hunting and grim reaper work weren’t that different, and back in his hunter days, he’d done countless solo missions. A few ghouls would be a cakewalk.
“Tell me the address.”
Ding.
No sooner had the words left his mouth than his Biman chimed.
Mission: Pluck the Elder's Beard
Target: Destroy the ‘SAMZ’ warehouse at 19 Daun-ro 19-gil, Hapjeong-dong, Mapo-gu, Seoul
Reward: Soul Wage 500 nyang
“……You could’ve just messaged me the address.”
At Ju Kang-rim’s mutter, Yoo Wol-ryeong checked her Biman and spoke.
“There’ll be a knight waiting outside. They can at least escort you to Yanghwa Bridge.”
***
Ju Kang-rim rode in the car to Yanghwa Bridge. Most bridges heading north of the river were now closed, but Yanghwa Bridge was one of the few still open for soldiers and hunters to cross.
As they neared the bridge, he saw soldiers standing guard sternly and workers installing explosives on the structure. It was to blow the bridge if a dangerous abomination appeared.
If it’s really that dangerous, dropping it in the water wouldn’t help anyway.
Ju Kang-rim thought it but didn’t say it aloud. They wouldn’t listen anyway, and those guys were just following orders from above.
Abominations tended to stick around the Bukhansan Gate area for a while regardless. No need to worry unless you went looking for them.
Most of the hunters from Bukhansan have probably retreated by now…… Seoul’s fully turned into a dungeon.
Areas with constant gates opening gradually became known as dungeons. Strange abominations and inexplicable phenomena started occurring, turning them into uninhabitable land.
Even so, Seoul wouldn’t reach that point for a few more years.
Ju Kang-rim showed his hunter registration to the soldiers guarding the bridge. They scanned the ID, then eyed him up and down.
He wore tactical combat gear for efficient movement without needing to maintain his appearance. Tough fabric zombies couldn’t easily bite through, shin guards that could shatter bones with a kick, and a neck protector. All the gear from his active days.
Confirming his outfit, the soldiers let him pass without issue. They might stop bites coming south, but no reason to block someone heading north—especially a zombie hunter.
“Lots of people crossing today.”
Ju Kang-rim paused at the soldier’s comment as he moved to pass.
“Lots?”
“A group of hunters just went by on a bus. Not dressed like you, though.”
Hunters not in proper gear. Probably fresh recruits from north-side refugees.
Ju Kang-rim felt a pang of bitterness. If they hunted zombies honestly and sold black cores, fine—but the odds were low. Most would be more interested in looting abandoned property up north. Safer that way.
It tanked the already poor reputation of zombie hunters even further.
Can’t be helped.
Ju Kang-rim grabbed his Saingeom and started crossing Yanghwa Bridge. The sun was setting. Time for grim reapers to prowl the streets.
***
Ju Kang-rim headed to the address on his Biman. Soon, he spotted a plain building with a large red sign reading ‘SAMZ’.
As he approached the warehouse, he doubted his ears.
Singing?
Loud music blared from inside. He hadn’t noticed until close, but they were cranking it up pretty high. Hip-hop or metal—he didn’t care—but playing music in the middle of zombie-infested streets? Hard to call that normal.
Zombies…… yeah, a decent crowd.
Zombies drawn by the noise clung to the surrounding chain-link fence, howling. No easy way in.
Ju Kang-rim suddenly wondered if it was intentional.
Lure zombies to block outsiders? Solid strategy.
If you solved the zombie threat, they made a perfect moat and shield.
As Yoo Wol-ryeong said, there were likely ghouls here.
And someone controlling those ghouls.
Which meant plenty of surveillance too.
Ju Kang-rim melted into the shadows, scouting entry paths. Luckily, he found an alley tough for zombies to navigate. Blocked by a high fence, but no big deal.
As he prepared to scale the wall and vault over, he spotted a man standing at the base and froze.
He thought he’d been made for a second, but the man didn’t move.
Was it his stealth? Then he realized.
A ghoul.
A human might not spot him but would sense something off in the dark. This ghoul couldn’t judge that far. Probably just programmed to attack anything approaching the fence.
Ju Kang-rim leaped down in one motion.
Thud, crunch.
The ghoul’s head split by his hand axe crumpled to the ground.
Ju Kang-rim roughly hid the body and scanned around. Patrol ghouls circled the fence, but darkness concealed him well.
Hm, makes sense. Can’t have humans or immortals on watch—they’d overstimulate the zombies.
He moved toward the warehouse. The music grew deafening the closer he got.
He split the head of the ghoul guarding the back door, cracked it open, and peeked inside.
Amid the blaring tunes, masked and hatted figures bustled about. The warehouse brimmed with guns, grenades, explosives.
Ju Kang-rim realized all the cargo haulers were ghouls.
So the rest are immortals?
Besides the haulers, others supervised and watched the ghouls. Eight heavily armed people. Not soldiers or hunters—organized crime thugs at best.
Civilians?
If necromancy was knowledge, not an immortal exclusive, anyone could use it. Maybe one or some were necromancers.
No—definitely. A necromancer and their support crew.
Still, charging in head-on won’t be easy.
Ju Kang-rim pondered how to take them down. Not because he lacked options—too many targets.
Even without grim reaper powers, guys at that training level are easy pickings.
Good thing none seemed worth sparing.
After brief thought, he picked a way to deliver hell.
***
“This the last truck?”
“Yeah, seems like. But why suddenly ship everything out?”
The gangster muttered, eyeing the packed truck. Guns, ammo, even C-rations stuffed full.
Sudden orders to move weapons smuggled bit by bit from Yongsan to another outpost.
“Didn’t you hear? The guy skimming weapons from Yongsan got caught and killed.”
“What? Hold up. These are US military guns, right? We’re screwed too?”
“World’s ending—who cares? Think the Americans can do shit? They’d have done it already. We just follow the Elder.”
“Sure, but if US troops roll up armed, we’re fucked.”
“We don’t have guns?”
“Guns don’t beat everything. You see movies? DEVGRU types crack skulls on purpose to leave their mark.”
“What kinda psycho…… Ah, fuck. Shut up. I’m stressed enough.”
They’d grown up hearing about America’s might. They followed orders, but holding the world’s top superpower’s stolen gear felt off.
The uneasy silence broke with a gangster’s irritated mutter.
“Fuck, can’t they turn the music down? My ears hurt.”
Thud.
Then—the music cut out, lights died. The pounding club beats stopped; their ears rang in the sudden quiet.
They drew guns in unison, barrels trained on the ghouls hauling cargo.
Obedient zombies or not, unease gnawed deep.
But the ghouls didn’t twitch.
A voice echoed from the second-floor hallway.
“Hey, you. Go check outside.”
The crew boss in charge of the warehouse.
The pointed gangster looked anxious but stepped forward.
He peered through the door’s glass.
“Nothing……”
Bang!
Something slammed the door; he stumbled back, ass-planting.
“Fuh, fuuuck……”
“Shit! Zombies got in!”
“What? How……”
Another on lookout upstairs peeked out the window, face twisting in disbelief.
The main gate—needing a key—stood wide open. Zombies swarmed through, encircling the warehouse.
“What the hell were you doing till now?!”
“Music was too loud……”
Thud thud, bang. Thud.
Zombies pounded walls from all sides. Cold sweat beaded on their backs.
The warehouse was fully surrounded.
The boss ground his teeth.
“Shut up and stay quiet. No enhanced zombies, so they can’t break in. Music’s off—no reaction from us, they’ll scatter. Then we bail in the trucks.”
“Y-yeah.”
“No one moves alone—stick in pairs. And check the breaker room. What’s with the power?”
“Hiiiiaaak!”
A scream erupted right after “quiet”; the boss clenched his jaw.
“Don’t scream over zombies……”
But his words halted.
Flashlight beam hit the source: a crew member’s head split in two, slumped dead—didn’t even know what hit him.
Another screamed.
“US military! The US military’s here!”