Return to the Fortress
When we arrived back at Sim Geum-a's territory, the white man who spoke Korean so well—the same one we'd seen standing guard on the wall last time—recognized us and waved.
"Just wait a minute! I'll report up top and open the gate right away!"
With that, he vanished behind the wall.
While we waited, Nam Jin-ju gazed up at the massive ramparts in open wonder.
"Wow… No matter how many times I see it, it's incredible. To think people built all of this…"
A moment later, with a grinding screeeech, the gate opened and the woman who had previously coordinated the trade with Yang Jin-ju and Kang Po-gyeong walked out.
"It's been almost two weeks since you last came! Did everything work out with the vehicle you needed?"
She greeted us warmly.
"We never properly introduced ourselves last time. I'm Choi Eun-ji."
"Seo Yeong-chan."
As we exchanged the greetings we'd missed before, several more men emerged from inside, gesturing to Nam Jin-ju.
"Come this way and follow us to park."
They guided the truck's path. Beside them, the white man from earlier reappeared with a rifle, scanning the surroundings as if escorting us.
And right as Nam Jin-ju was about to drive the truck inside—
"Kyaaaaah—!"
From far off came the bizarre, piercing cry of that very Four-legged Mutant we had witnessed before.
At once Sim Geum-a's people seemed to transform, moving in a sudden rush. The moment we got the truck inside, they hurriedly slammed the massive gate shut.
Only after the gate was fully closed did they relax and speak to us.
"Sorry about that. Those things have been showing up a lot more often lately. Please, go on ahead.
Once she's parked, we'll take you to the boss."
They guided Nam Jin-ju to the parking area and led me to the same conference room as before.
"If you'll wait here a moment, the boss will be right with you."
The words were barely out before the conference room door burst open and Sim Geum-a strode in.
"Oh, hey, younger man! You're back again? I missed you."
She must have hurried over; she was slightly out of breath, yet she never lost that easy smile as she slowly approached me.
"Still wearing that thick armor, huh? Doesn't it feel stuffy? I want to see your face."
As she spoke she casually lit a cigarette.
I let out a deep sigh and deactivated the suit.
"I came today for a trade and for some information I need. No time for games."
The moment I got to the point she said, "Okay, okay, so impatient," then leaned in close to my ear, her hot breath brushing my skin as she whispered,
"Before that… no fun sex today?"
I stared at her in blank confusion. She found that so hilarious she burst out laughing.
"Just kidding, just kidding.
But if you really get horny, just say the word anytime. I'll be your woman again. Last time was pretty good, you know—with you."
She said it lightly and then sat across from me, crossing her legs.
This woman really was dangerous—someone you couldn't let your guard down around for even a second.
Right then the conference room door opened and Nam Jin-ju walked in.
She saw me without the suit and made a little "Huh?" sound, then casually came over and sat in the chair beside me.
Sim Geum-a looked Nam Jin-ju up and down from head to toe and said,
"Who's this? Not that sharp-looking bitch from last time, and not the maid-like one who kept calling everyone '-nim' either."
Then Nam Jin-ju—who was always so pure and bright—answered in a voice that was suddenly ice-cold and razor-sharp.
"Then are you that bitch named Sim Geum-a?"
At her unexpected provocation, not only Sim Geum-a but also Choi Eun-ji standing behind her—and even I—could only stare at her in stunned silence for a moment.
"…What did this young lady just say?"
Sim Geum-a recovered enough to force the words out and asked Nam Jin-ju,
"You do realize this is my territory first, right?"
Nam Jin-ju didn't back down an inch.
"So what? If things go south, we just put on the suits and bolt. Right, Oppa?"
At those words Sim Geum-a's eyes lit up.
"Suits… you mean those armor things? There are… two of them?"
When she asked again, Nam Jin-ju finally seemed to realize she had made a massive mistake. An "Oh crap!" expression crossed her face; she shrank dramatically, glued herself to my side, and clamped her mouth shut.
Watching that cute reaction, Sim Geum-a let out a snort of laughter.
"Okay, okay. Sorry. I apologize for calling them bitches earlier."
She dipped her head slightly toward Nam Jin-ju. Seeing that, Nam Jin-ju also bowed her head and mumbled,
"I… I'm sorry too…"
"Hey, what the hell was that about?"
I whispered to her. She whispered back into my ear,
"(Yeong-ju Unni told me… in front of that Sim Geum-a person, I have to come on strong no matter what. Never show fear…)"
Seo Yeong-ju, you crazy bitch… If you're going to teach her, at least teach her properly…
While I was cursing Yeong-ju in my head for creating this entire mess, Sim Geum-a threw another jab at Nam Jin-ju.
"I'm the kind of person who's already had sex with that young lady's Oppa over there, so how about we all get along now?"
Nam Jin-ju flared up again and shouted,
"Th-that much… we've all done it too, you know!"
At that pure yet explosive declaration, Sim Geum-a stared at her with wide eyes for a second, then clutched her stomach and started laughing so hard she could barely breathe.
"'We've all'? So… every single one of you has done it with that Oppa? Don't tell me—except for Oppa over there, the rest of you are all women, and you've set up some kind of harem?"
At her blunt question Nam Jin-ju finally seemed to grasp that every word out of her mouth was a mistake. She grabbed my arm and looked ready to cry.
Thinking about it, though, the other women were the strange ones; this was pretty much exactly how a socially inexperienced twenty-one-year-old college student would act.
I let out a long sigh and spoke to the sniffling Nam Jin-ju.
"Jin-ju, you see Choi Eun-ji behind her? Go show her the note we got from the Shelter and start checking the quantities of the goods we brought. That's the most important job right now, isn't it?"
At my words Sim Geum-a also gave a chin-jerk signal to Choi Eun-ji standing behind her.
Choi Eun-ji approached Nam Jin-ju without a word.
"This way, please. We can verify everything over here."
She led her to a small table nearby and began talking about something.
Watching them, Sim Geum-a smiled.
"Cute, that young lady."
I cleared my throat, trying to drag the runaway atmosphere back under control.
"Alright, enough side talk. Let's get down to business."
"Sure, sure. So what is our young husband so curious about?"
Young husband? What's with that now?
I wanted to say it out loud, but if I picked another fight here the conversation would wander off forever, so I forced myself to ignore it and got to the point.
"The zombies with abnormally long arms and legs—do you know them? Kang Po-gyeong said the stories about them first started circulating here."
At my question, the previously unflappable Sim Geum-a—and even Choi Eun-ji, who had been checking documents with Nam Jin-ju at the side table—froze completely for a moment.
"…Yeah. That's right."
Only after a long pause did Sim Geum-a answer, her voice now low and heavy, completely different from before.
"Probably… they were first sighted here."
"'Probably'? You didn't see them yourself?"
"Haa…"
She let out a deep sigh and stuck another cigarette between her lips.
"When we first found that bastard's 'nest,' there were leftover bones piled up like mountains everywhere.
There were zombie bones mixed in, sure… but among them there were definitely human bones too. So we weren't the first ones to spot it…"
She frowned as if the memory left a bad taste. I asked,
"Can you tell me about that thing? We barely know anything."
At my words Sim Geum-a fixed me with a very sharp look.
"I don't care about the rest… but this I need to know. Why the hell are you so curious about that thing?"
I thought for a second. To get the information, I figured I should at least state the purpose.
"…We're deciding whether to wipe it out, or—since there's some distance—just ignore it and keep watching for now."
"…Do what?"
Sim Geum-a repeated my words as if she couldn't believe them.
"Wipe it out… or ignore it?"
She let out a hollow laugh.
"…I didn't mishear you after all."
"We've got that thing's 'territory' not far from our side either… so we came looking for you first to get information on exactly what kind of monster it is before we decide anything."
"Haa…"
Hearing that, she seemed to burn with frustration; she grabbed the water on the table and downed it in one go.
"That thing… builds its nest in places with ceilings, like buildings, and eats every living thing that comes inside.
But when the food runs out, it sneaks out at night to hunt."
Her voice was trembling ever so slightly.
"On our side… we only figured that out after four people got taken.
It doesn't climb the walls. It just approaches the base of the wall without a sound, then uses those long arms to snatch our people who were doing night patrol on top of the wall and drags them over the other side. Then it hauls the ones who fell… back to its nest and…"
She couldn't continue right away and bit her lip.
"It barely makes any sound when it moves, and it doesn't howl like the other mutants either.
Unlike normal zombies that can't see well in the dark, its eyes are abnormally good—so if you're in a dark place, that thing is hunting us while we can't even spot it.
Bullets do work on it, but its durability is completely insane… and even though it looks like some bug bastard, it can take a certain amount of fire too."
"…But you still killed it?"
I asked. She nodded.
"We did. We dragged every bomb we had and rigged the entire building that was its nest, then just buried the whole thing.
Because of that son of a bitch, the number of people we could send out for resources kept dropping for a while. Our whole zone almost went under."
Then she muttered, "Ah, talking about this shitty story dried out my cigarette," and lit a fresh one.