The Fatal Shot
Alone now, Lee Beom-sik gripped his gun, staring down the infected as they swarmed to fill the construction site.
If he couldn't aim properly, he'd just have to spray bullets like in the movies, holding it loose and wild.
Miss a single headshot at this range?
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Holes began punching through the heads of those crowding the fence, one after another.
While Beom-sik held the ground floor solo, things weren't much better up top.
Hyun-soo had vanished from sight, leaving Jaejeong to support Chaemin alone at some point.
Infected were popping up from everywhere—places they'd thought were clear.
Minyoung was holding Jaejeong's gun, but she couldn't bring herself to fire at them.
Just facing the bastards was agony enough.
Bang! Bang!
Every shot made Minyoung scream and collapse, clutching her ears.
With walls closing in on both sides, the gunfire tore at her eardrums.
She'd never heard a gunshot in her life.
Any guy who's been through basic training gets it, but that first blast? The shock hits harder than you can imagine.
Hearing them fire right in front of her face, one after another—no wonder she screamed.
At least Hyun-soo had been handling the infected well up till now. Small mercy.
The real problem? They'd barely reached the second floor.
Minyoung peeked out cautiously.
The infected's ranks still stretched out beyond the site—an insane number.
Inside the building, surprise attacks from unexpected corners had nearly gotten them killed a few times, but with Youngman and Anna joining up, things were stabilizing bit by bit.
Just as they hit the third floor.
Footsteps echoed from below.
Youngman and Anna's faces darkened.
Beom-sik was climbing faster than expected.
If he was coming up, the fence was done for.
The infected were probably stacking into human ladders from the first floor.
It was audible.
Roars.
The sickening crunch of bodies crumpling and trampling grew closer.
And as if that wasn't bad enough, the moment they reached the third-floor landing, infected charged from both sides at once.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
A few shots rang out, bodies tumbling down.
Beom-sik headed back down to the lower landing.
To check how far up they'd climbed.
But he barely made it halfway before retreating again.
The infected had already reached the second floor.
If the gunfire stopped, they could hole up on a floor and hide—but damn it, with the bastards keep pouring in, they had to keep shooting.
Beom-sik went down again.
Holding his rifle backward, he smashed the rifle butt into the heads of infected trampling over their comrades' corpses.
One, two, three, four.
Skulls shattered, but nothing changed.
It was pure hell.
At this rate, they'd all die.
They wouldn't last another minute.
Jaejeong, soaked in sweat, was hitting his physical limit too.
Three flights short of the fourth floor.
Someone blocked the path ahead of Jaejeong, who was supporting Chaemin.
And then...
A black gun barrel loomed in front of Jaejeong as he looked up.
In that instant, time seemed to freeze for him.
Like tape unraveling long and slow, his eyes locked only on the muzzle.
The barrel spat fire.
Bang!
A sharp crack of gunfire, followed by ear-splitting tinnitus.
At the same time, he felt the strength drain from Chaemin's body against him.
His gaze snapped upward fully.
"Hyung! No!"
Hyun-soo's voice.
On the fourth-floor landing above stood Minyoung.
Her eyes bulged wide, fixed on Chaemin collapsing with a hole in his forehead, still staring blankly.
The arm around his neck slipped away.
Jaejeong reflexively reached for it, but it was gone too fast—his hand grasped only air.
He whipped around.
Chaemin was tumbling down the stairs.
Beom-sik, mid-climb, twisted aside to dodge the falling body.
And then the onrushing infected.
The ones leaping wildly halted at the sight of Chaemin and tore in.
Through the ringing, agonized screams pierced.
"Run!"
Minyoung shrieked, her face flushed red.
Beom-sik yanked the stunned Jaejeong with all his might.
This was their shot—no second chances.
From there, they bolted up the stairs like mad.
Whether by cruel fate or luck, no infected appeared from the fifth floor on.
The group climbed to some dizzying height, floors blurring together.
Finally, they collapsed in a wide-open space, gasping for breath.
The infected's noise had faded away.
Too busy swarming Chaemin's body on the landing to chase.
Was this Chaemin's sacrifice?
Or Minyoung's murder?
Jaejeong pounded his ears against the ringing, then gave up.
A long while later.
The sun dipped behind the building, ushering in a cool breeze.
A lone egret from the Han River glided across Jaejeong's view against the blue sky.
By the time the tinnitus fully cleared, a rustling sound came from somewhere.
He sat up and turned.
Minyoung knelt with her face buried in her lap, fiddling with the trigger.
Youngman sat beside her.
No words passed between father and daughter.
Then Hyun-soo, who'd been lying silent, sat up.
His glare at Minyoung brimmed with resentment.
"Why'd you kill him? I saw it all. You shot him, noona."
Minyoung didn't respond.
Her face stayed buried.
"There were other ways. We were almost there, just one more floor..."
"Enough."
Beom-sik warned.
But Hyun-soo wasn't done.
"One floor. Just one more, and we'd have made it."
"I said shut it, you little shit."
As Beom-sik glared murderously, Minyoung lifted her head.
Her face pale as a corpse's.
"Other ways? What other ways?"
"If we'd all fired together, the falling bodies could've bought us time."
"Was there ever a moment we could all shoot? Dad, you, Anna—zombies popping up every floor, no one could even glance back."
Hyun-soo's agitation contrasted with Minyoung's calm, quiet tone, making it sink deeper.
"From the fifth floor, there were none."
"That's the problem—we only knew that after reaching it. If I'd known sooner, I wouldn't have pulled the trigger."
"No, you're just a murderer, noona."
"Think whatever suits you. You're alive because of that 'murderer.'"
Minyoung spoke coldly, but her face was half-dead already.
Her fingers trembled on the gun.
Youngman grasped the shaking hand.
But she pulled away from her father's warmth, clutching the cold rifle instead.
Tears welled, her nose reddening.
"You... wouldn't get it."
Her voice shook as she continued.
"You have no idea the hell you endure to become a doctor. Think I did it for status or glory? I became one to save lives. You can't imagine how agonizing it was for me to kill with these hands."
Tears quivered precariously in her eyes.
"I watched the big picture you couldn't see. In the end, to save everyone, I had no choice. So I did it myself. The blood's on my hands, the guilt's mine. But you curse me? What right do you have? Instead of yapping about better ways, what could you have done? You're a hypocrite. Know that? If you had such genius ideas, why didn't you act then? Huh?"
Hyun-soo fell silent under her torrent.
No, he couldn't retort.
He regretted not holding back his surging emotions.
Hyun-soo knew too.
It had been unavoidable.
But he couldn't help it.
Someone died.
It wasn't about closeness.
Killing one to save the many—that truth alone tormented.
Minyoung shoved away Youngman's arm reaching to wipe her tears.
She wasn't finished.
Her face twisted slowly, but she pressed on.
"That man's eyes, staring up at me as I shoved the barrel in his face—they're burned in, vivid as this moment. They'll haunt me every day till I die. This chest pain, this agony—it's all mine. So please, just leave me alone. I know. I know I did wrong."
She finally broke into sobs.
Silence enveloped them. No infected sounds.
The panoramic view felt hollow against the heavy air.
Suddenly Anna shot to her feet.
She strode down what passed for a hallway.
Truth be told, with everything wide open, it was hard to call it that.
But technically, it was the commercial building's corridor.
Far from the group, Anna stopped at the edge.
A winding hillside sloped below.
She flicked her lighter.
Lit a firework arrow.
Aimed at a spot on the hill.
Drawing the string bent the bow with a creak.
Twang!
The arrow streaked into the trees.
Seconds later, fireworks exploded.
This batch was intense.
Unlike the one-shots before, these chained off in bursts.
Colorful sparks danced across the hillside.
Anna pulled something from her pocket.
Papers fluttered down on the wind.
Ten-thousand-won bills.
A hefty sum.
Turning, she thought.
No bond with you.
But thanks—for letting us live.
No funeral rites to spare.
Instead, a fat wad for the afterlife road.
If you see my parents...
Tell 'em I said hi.
That was her eulogy.
The blasts drew every infected from the site and surroundings toward the hill.
From up high, it looked like a tidal wave crashing the mountain.
"Said you were saving the big ones."
Jaejeong said to Anna as she returned.
She was tying back her wind-tossed hair.
"Hate looking at those fuckers. Wanna see something clean for once, who knows when we'll die."
"Fair. Clears the view nicely."
Jaejeong muttered at the now-empty site and riverside.
"Ha, damn. Should've hiked more. All that gym time, never knew the world's this stunning from up high."
"Not the cheeriest compliment mid-apocalypse."
"Don't get snippy—burn it in your eyes. Might not get another look."
"Hey, to your oppa, you're—"
"Wait."
Anna cut off Jaejeong's huff, standing.
She walked forward, entranced.
One more step and she'd plummet—dizzying.
Jaejeong yanked her arm.
"Crazy?"
"Nah, not crazy. But that is. Never thought it'd be this close."
Anna pointed.
Jaejeong's eyes couldn't quite make it out.
Looked like a small building floating on the river.
"Everyone, check that out!"
All followed her gaze.
"Boat dock."
Youngman's eyes widened briefly.
He hadn't expected it so near either.
A triumphant smile bloomed on Anna's face.
Just like Jaejeong said.
Get there, and Yeouido was a cakewalk.
Cross the river by boat.
One regret trailed the hope.
If they'd known it was this close, another way...
No one had to die.
But...
No time for what-ifs.
Youngman eyed Jaejeong, boats bobbing at the dock.
"Just as you said."
Relief lit the group's faces.
All but one—Minyoung.
Infected People