Three Grams of Gold
“Yeong-ju! Seo Yeong-ju!”
I screamed her name like a madman as I sprinted toward the collapsing remains of the barn.
“What.”
The voice that answered was so casually calm it made my desperate cry feel ridiculous. It came from right beside me.
I whipped my head around in shock. There stood Yeong-ju in her Foundation Suit, completely unharmed.
“You… weren’t the one buried under that?”
I asked blankly. She looked at me like I was an idiot.
“(Buried? What the hell are you talking about? The second I cut the last support beam I got the hell out of there. You think I’m that stupid?)”
I just stared at her, speechless.
Seeing my expression, Yeong-ju’s voice came through the suit comms with a mischievous laugh that was impossible to miss.
“(You little shit… were you worried? Don’t tell me you cried.)”
I nodded honestly at her teasing.
“…If neither of us was wearing this armor right now, I would’ve pulled you into a hug on the spot.”
My sincere confession made her stammer for a second. “Huh? Wha—”
“(…For real?)”
Instead of answering, I said, “First let’s make damn sure that thing is dead,” and started walking toward the ruined barn.
“(…Hey, Yeong-chan? Seo Yeong-chan?)”
When we reached the pile of debris, something was still twitching in the dust.
It was the Spider Mutant, still alive.
The creature was crushed under the massive building wreckage, every bone in its body seemingly shattered, yet it clung to life. Its one remaining intact right arm flailed desperately, letting out threatening hisses in our direction.
“Kieeek…! Kiek…!”
Watching its pitiful final struggle, I muttered as I approached.
“You were so quiet earlier. So you can scream, you bastard.”
That thrashing single arm was far more dangerous than it looked. Every time the long limb brushed against my suit, the HUD flashed warnings that could not be ignored.
Side Impact. Power Damage: 0.9%
Power Damage: 0.8%
I seized the thrashing arm with the Walker Suit’s raw strength and pinned it down hard.
“Kieeek!”
“Yeong-ju, finish it.”
At my words she drew the energy saw from her Foundation Suit.
Vrrrmmm—!
A blade of blue light slammed down mercilessly onto the arm I was holding.
Slash—! Slash—!
She began carving the limb into pieces as if she were chopping a giant radish. When the creature finally had no arm left to swing and could no longer resist, her blade turned toward its head.
That was the end of everything.
Slash—!
With one last hideous sound the Spider Mutant’s head split in two. Its massive corpse went limp and collapsed, kicking up a cloud of dust.
“Haa… damn, that was rough.”
All the tension drained out of me at once and I sank to the ground right there. With the adrenaline gone my body felt as heavy and limp as wet cotton.
Beside me, Yeong-ju in her heavy Foundation Suit approached with heavy thud, thud footsteps. Then, with movements far too delicate and careful for that massive steel armor, she quietly sat down next to me.
For a while we simply stared in silence at the quiet ruins as the dust slowly settled.
“…Did you really cry earlier?”
She asked in a very small voice.
“…I almost did.”
I answered, trying to sound casual despite the embarrassment.
“Because… you were worried about me?”
A faint note of hope colored her voice.
I turned my head and spoke toward the cold metal of her suit, toward the face I knew was behind it.
“Of course. In this goddamn world, if it’s not you, what else would make me cry?”
My honest confession left her silent for a long moment.
“…Thanks.”
Only much later did a tiny, shy reply slip from her lips.
We dragged our exhausted bodies along, leaning on each other, and finally headed back toward our home—the Shelter.
When we returned, Yang Jin-ju, Nam Jin-ju, and Kang Po-gyeong welcomed us warmly. Nam Jin-ju celebrated like a child, Yang Jin-ju let out a sigh of relief and told us we’d done well, and Kang Po-gyeong handed us warm towels and drinks with genuine respect in her eyes.
The next morning we gathered again around the large table in the support room. Yesterday’s joy was set aside; we needed to discuss countermeasures against the new threat of mutants that might only grow more numerous from now on.
“One thing became crystal clear from this incident.”
Yeong-ju spoke first.
“Two suits alone have clear limits. Yesterday, if Yeong-chan hadn’t played bait properly, I never could’ve brought that barn down by myself.”
“Exactly. And if stronger mutants—or larger numbers of them—show up later…”
Yang Jin-ju picked up the thread.
“Then wouldn’t building security drones be the best option? Oppa said those drones even have artificial intelligence installed, right?”
Nam Jin-ju asked hopefully.
“The problem is… nobody knows if the drones can actually take down mutants.”
I said.
“And building them requires resources. I checked the Mechanic Light Lab list. One drone needs fifteen kilos of high-purity iron, one kilo of plastic, eight hundred grams of copper, a hundred fifty grams of rubber… and three grams of pure gold. What we’ve gathered so far is short by one or two of those.”
“…Gold? Where the hell are we supposed to get gold?”
Nam Jin-ju asked, looking utterly dumbfounded.
“No kidding. In this shitty world, do we have to go raid a jewelry store?”
Yeong-ju muttered bluntly.
“Steel, plastic, copper, rubber… like Kang Po-gyeong said, we can probably scavenge those if we comb the nearby areas. But three grams of pure gold… that’s a real wall.”
Our discussion slammed into the unexpected barrier of “three grams of pure gold.”
In this hellish world, the yellow metal that once seemed the most useless thing of all had suddenly become the most critical key to our survival.
“Honestly… back in the early days before anyone even knew it was a zombie outbreak, the news said jewelry stores got completely cleaned out.”
Nam Jin-ju said.
“Thinking about it now it’s kind of hilarious. Gold… you can’t eat it, you can’t use it as a weapon. Why did people grab so much of it?”
Her innocent question made Yeong-ju frown, as if recalling every human piece of trash she had ever met, and answer with cold sarcasm.
“People are just ridiculously greedy animals. The bastards who stole that stuff probably kept thinking about their gold bars right up until the moment zombies tore them apart. No regrets.”
Her words left a heavy silence hanging over the room again.
“In the end… we can’t do this with just our own strength.”
Yang Jin-ju said quietly, staring at the truck parked at the Shelter entrance on the support room screen.
“The only people who can move around freely are the two of us in suits. Collecting every resource ourselves is basically impossible. That means we need other people who can supply us with resources steadily.”
“Haa…”
Yeong-ju let out a small sigh.
“When you went to that bitch Sim Geum-a before, did you tell her to start stockpiling scrap for trade?”
I nodded at her question. She fell into deep thought for a moment, then finally spoke as if she had made up her mind.
“…For now, let’s somehow build at least one drone.”
Her sudden declaration made all of us stare at her in confusion. Where exactly was she planning to get three grams of pure gold?
“What are you staring at?”
Yeong-ju said, looking at me as I gawked at her.
“That bitch Sim Geum-a has a ton of underlings, right? You’re telling me not a single one of those bastards is wearing even one gold ring?”
She said it, then crossed her arms with her usual sulky expression.
Faced with her idea I could only lower my tail and look away with a weak little laugh.
“This time, if there’s anything gold—rings, whatever—scrape every last bit of it together and bring it back. In this world, if you’ve got food or water, there’ll definitely be people willing to hand over wedding rings or couple rings… And make it crystal clear that the main resources we need from now on are iron, plastic, copper, and rubber. Those four.”
She spoke, then uncrossed her arms as if her emotions had settled a little.
“…Honestly, I don’t like the woman you’re mixed up with… but.”
She continued after a deep sigh.
“…Since you are mixed up with her, right now she’s still the most reliable survivor group we can deal with. We’ll source the drone materials from them for now. Somehow, let’s build at least one unit first.”
Her final words carried both the bitter resolve of someone forced to shake hands with an unwelcome power in this harsh world, and the stubborn will to keep moving forward no matter what.
“And try not to do anything stupid while you’re there. Just go and come back quick…”
There was also a little extra anxiety and suspicion aimed at me mixed in.