Walker Suit 4
As Yang Jin-ju left the commercial building, she turned back one last time to look at the structure that held so many memories—good and bad—for her and Nam Jin-ju.
The shattered glass windows, the weathered signboard, and the short but intense days she had spent with Uncle Park. Everything flashed through her mind like a hazy panorama.
...This is goodbye.
And just as she finally shook off her lingering attachment and turned forward again—
Bang!
A sharp gunshot cracked through the air, and something hard slammed into the side of her helmet with a dull, unpleasant jolt. The suit absorbed the impact, but her head still jerked slightly from the recoil. Her vision flickered with static for a moment before snapping back to normal.
Yang Jin-ju froze in place, dazed. Her brain could not immediately process what had just happened. Then she noticed the red warning message floating in the corner of her HUD.
Power Damage: 1.6%
Seo Yeong-ju’s urgent, razor-sharp voice cut through the comms into her ear. It carried a raw mix of terror, worry, and rage that Yang Jin-ju had never heard from her before.
“Yang Jin-ju, take cover! Hide right now!”
Snapping back to her senses, Yang Jin-ju swung the duffel bag from her back around to her chest and clutched it tight. Without a second’s hesitation she slammed her shoulder into the old plywood door of the building right beside her, shattering it, and rolled inside. In the dust-choked darkness she scrambled up and pressed herself under the window for cover.
Seo Yeong-chan’s worried voice burst over the channel next.
“Status! What’s your status? Where did the shot come from? Do you have a location?”
“I’m inside the building next door and under cover,” Yang Jin-ju reported calmly. “I took a hit to the head. From the sound it was a K-2 rifle—probably from the rooftop of that five-story building across the street.”
Over the comms she clearly heard Seo Yeong-ju suck in a sharp breath of pure shock. Then Yeong-ju’s voice returned, almost unhinged.
“The head? Those fucking bastards—I’m going to find them and—”
Yang Jin-ju spoke as casually as she could, trying to calm them both down.
“I’m fine. The suit took the hit—only 1.6 percent power damage. I’m completely unhurt. Not even a scratch on the helmet. It just felt like a hat getting blown off by the wind.”
That unexpected answer pulled a completely different reaction from Seo Yeong-ju.
“…Huh? What did you just say?”
All the earlier panic was gone; her voice was pure disbelief.
“1.6 percent? You mean actual 1.6 percent? You’re really not hurt at all? No ringing in your ears, no dizziness, nothing?”
“Yes, Unni. Really. It just felt like something went ‘thud’ against me.”
Seo Yeong-ju was silent for a long moment. Then a faint, incredulous snort of laughter came over the channel.
“Hey. Just walk back. If they shoot, take a few more hits on the way. That suit’s way tougher than I thought. I was worried for nothing.”
She must have handed the mic to Yeong-chan, because his awkward voice came next after a short exchange of “Huh? Uh… okay.”
“Uh… Yang Jin-ju. Yeong-ju says don’t bother staying under cover—just walk back like you own the place.”
He cleared his throat and added, sounding embarrassed,
“And before you come, she wants you to yell at them once: ‘I don’t know if it’s one of you or all of you, but if you show yourselves again I’ll hunt you down and grind you into paste to drink.’”
Nam Jin-ju’s voice cut in right after.
“Wow… Yeong-ju Unni was so furious when she first heard Jin-ju got shot—I thought she was about to charge out there herself. But the second she heard ‘1.6 percent’ all the anger just vanished. That’s so weird!”
That innocent remark made everything click for Yang Jin-ju. Yeong-ju’s first reaction had been genuine fear for her and murderous rage at whoever had pulled the trigger. But once she learned how absurdly tough the suit really was, she got embarrassed by how over-the-top she’d been and was now deliberately playing it cool and snarky.
A small smile tugged at Yang Jin-ju’s lips without her noticing.
She stepped back outside, already deciding, When I get back, the best pair of boots I brought today is going straight to Unni. Then, following Yeong-ju’s orders, she turned toward the rooftop where the sniper was probably still watching and blasted her voice through the suit’s external speakers.
“I don’t know who you are out there, but listen carefully! If you ever show yourselves in front of us again, I’ll hunt you down and grind you into paste to drink!”
Her voice, amplified by the steel armor, rolled powerfully across the ruined city. Then, like a general returning in triumph, she began walking back toward the Shelter with her head held high.
Yang Jin-ju really did just walk home. On the support-room monitors she strolled through the streets as casually as if she were out for a neighborhood errand, calmly parting the zombies in her path and heading straight for the Shelter. The extra shots we had all been dreading never came. Either her not-quite-a-warning had scared them off, or the suit’s defense had simply broken their will to fight.
The moment the Shelter door opened and she stepped safely inside, every one of us let out a long breath of relief. Nam Jin-ju was the first to rush over and throw her arms around her.
“Jin-ju! Are you really okay? You’re not hurt anywhere? You got sniped!”
“Of course I’m fine. This suit is completely invincible. Felt like a mosquito bite.”
Yang Jin-ju flipped the helmet section back with pride. Fatigue showed on her face, but so did the deep satisfaction of having completed her first mission successfully.
“Wow, you’re really fine. Not even a scratch.”
Nam Jin-ju turned the helmet this way and that, marveling. Where the bullet had glanced off, only the faintest scuff remained.
“No kidding. That round hit pretty hard—might not even have been a regular rifle. Could’ve been an anti-materiel sniper. And it still only did this much.”
I ran my hand over the surface of the suit, impressed. Yeong-ju approached without a word and carefully examined the impact point with her fingers, analyzing the damage.
“Any internal shock? Energy consumption?”
“Nope. HUD said everything was normal. Only 1.6 percent power used.”
Together we carried the heavy duffel bags she had brought and talked through everything that had happened that day. The moment Yang Jin-ju opened a bag she pulled out the sturdiest, best-looking pair of combat boots and held them out to Yeong-ju.
“These are the best ones I found today, Unni.
You’re the one who moves around the most, so your boots wear out the fastest out of all of us. You were worried about me, so I made sure to grab these for you.”
Yeong-ju’s face flushed faintly at the sudden gift. She hesitated for a second, cleared her throat once, then took the boots.
“What’s all this for. Thanks. I’ll wear them well. Perfect size, too.”
She spoke gruffly, but she couldn’t hide the smile tugging at her lips. Turning the boots over in her hands and pressing the thick soles with her fingers, she looked exactly like a girl who had just received a brand-new pair of shoes.
We sorted the loot Yang Jin-ju had brought—clothes that could be recycled went to the laundry, boots and other gear to the storage rooms. At dinner the four of us gathered again in the cafeteria and talked over the day’s events.
“So who the hell was that sniper? Besides that Uncle Park guy, are there more military survivors around here?”
When I asked, Yang Jin-ju shook her head.
“I don’t know. It happened so fast I couldn’t get a proper look. But it didn’t feel like they were trying to kill us. More like a warning shot… or a test. Like they were probing what we actually are.”
“A test?”
Yeong-ju’s voice turned sharp.
“A test that aims for the head? That’s way over the line no matter how you look at it. Normal warning shots go into the air or the ground. Aiming for the head means they at least intended to kill.
Either they didn’t know how strong the suit was, or they did know and were testing it anyway. Either way, it’s not a good sign.”
Her words cast a brief heavy silence over the table. Everyone tried to laugh and keep talking, but Yeong-ju herself never smiled again.
After dinner, early in the night, the suit Yang Jin-ju had worn was returned to the cylindrical storage container in the corner of the support room. With a soft hiss of air pressure the translucent door sealed, and a gentle blue light began to glow from within, wrapping around the suit. Power recharging and self-repair had begun.
Yeong-ju stood with her arms crossed, silently watching. Her eyes were fixed on the helmet—on the tiny scuff where Yang Jin-ju had been shot. In the blue light that small wound was slowly, almost like living skin, knitting itself back together.
She watched for a long time, then spoke without turning around.
“Seo Yeong-chan.”
Her voice was low and heavy. The anger she had forced down all day was beginning to burn again, cold and quiet.
“If I put this suit on tonight, sneak outside, and hunt down every last one of those bastards who pulled the trigger… what are you going to do about it?”
It wasn’t really a question. It was a clear declaration of what she intended to do.
I answered without a second’s hesitation.
“I’m for it. What other opinion could there be?”
At my immediate reply she finally turned to look at me. A faint smile that said I knew you’d say that touched her eyes.
“Right? That’s how we’ve always done it.”
In the short time it had taken us to get this far we had met a lot of people. Most of them had been worse trash than the zombies.
We had trusted their goodwill once, then twice, and each time we had been betrayed and driven to the edge of death. After that, an unspoken rule had formed between the two of us.
Anyone who shows clear hostility or harms us gets paid back in full—no matter what it takes.
And somewhere along the way, the circle of “us” had quietly expanded to include Yang Jin-ju and Nam Jin-ju as well.
“During the day Jin-ju wasn’t hurt and you two were right there watching, so I calmed down a little,” Yeong-ju said, eyes still on the suit.
“But when she handed me those boots earlier… that’s when it really hit me. You, Yang Jin-ju, and Nam Jin-ju—you’re my people now. And someone dared to put a bullet in one of my people’s heads? If the suit hadn’t been there she would’ve died. They aimed for the head. Just thinking about it… I don’t think I’m going to sleep tonight.”
She looked at me again and gave a short, dry laugh. Then she tapped my shoulder and headed out of the support room.
“Late tonight. Drop the shield for me.”