Winter Preparations
A Western-style residential neighborhood densely packed with villas and two-story houses.
Three men and one woman walked carefully down an alleyway, maintaining a formation of two in front and two behind, spaced about a meter apart.
They all carried rifles, but kept them slung over their shoulders without using them. Instead, through a megaphone, they continuously shouted the same words.
"Food and water, and a safe place! Survivors, come this way!"
To anyone who had survived in this world, it was an act of pure insanity—dangerously reckless beyond measure.
And then, as if to prove the point, two zombies appeared from the alley they had just passed through and began staggering toward them at a run.
The moment they turned at the sound, a soft pong rang out, and the zombies' heads burst open with a wet thud before they collapsed to the ground.
"Whoa, it never gets old seeing that. Thanks!"
The woman called out toward the two SP-1 security robots escorting them from the rooftops on either side.
> Confirmed.
"Looks like there's no one left around here?"
The man in front, who appeared to be the most senior of the four, sniffled against the cold and spoke.
"This area emptied out early after the outbreak. Most people fled to the nearby shelters."
The man beside him answered, then glanced over with a worried look.
"Squad leader, you catching a cold?"
The woman, overhearing the exchange between the two ahead, turned to the man next to her.
"Hey, how many shower coupons you got left?"
"Me? Four, I think. Why?"
"Hmm… feel like donating one?"
"To who? You?"
"If it was me, would you even give it? Look, the squad leader seems like he's coming down with something. If we each chip in one, that's three shower coupons—enough to trade for a bath coupon. Then he can use that brand-new steaming hot bath facility they just built at the base today."
The man considered it for a moment, then pulled a thin plastic square stamped with the word "Shower" from his inner pocket and handed it over.
"Knew you'd see reason."
She grinned and approached the two men ahead.
"Squad leader! We each put one in, so make sure you use the bath facility today! You sound like you're getting sick!"
Seeing that, the other man beside the squad leader muttered, "Everyone else is giving one… feels weird if I don't," and held out his own shower coupon.
Looking moved, the man they called squad leader started to take the coupons, saying, "Thanks, kids…"
Right then—
"Um… excuse me…"
A sudden unfamiliar voice. Every gaze snapped toward it at once.
Standing in front of the four were a man who looked to be in his fifties, a man in his twenties, and two women, all wearing uneasy expressions.
"Is there… really food and water?"
The man and woman who had been about to hand over the coupons quietly slipped them back into their pockets as if by prior agreement and whispered to the squad leader.
"Squad leader, with four of them, new bath coupons will just get issued today anyway. This never happened!"
Then they approached the four newcomers and spoke.
"Wherever your hideout is, grab everything you need and bring it with you. You'll have to leave this place and go where we guide you."
"Uh, well… if we just go a little this way…"
At the fifty-year-old man's words, the woman said, "Ah, we won't be going ourselves. Number Six!" and looked up, calling toward the sky.
A moment later, with a heavy thud, a security robot dropped between the fifty-year-old man and the other survivors.
It looked at the man and spoke.
> You may depart.
> I will take responsibility for your perimeter security and safety.
"W-what the hell is this?!"
The fifty-year-old man looked back and forth between the woman and the squad leader in panic, but they only waved him off with "Just go and come back," gesturing for him to hurry.
"Wait, weren't you all going to come with us?"
"Yes. We'll accompany you all the way to our 'safe zone' where the food and water are. But going to your hideout ourselves could be dangerous in all sorts of ways, don't you think? So hurry back."
After a brief moment of thought, the fifty-year-old man, along with the woman and man he had brought, slowly entered the alley under the security robot's protection.
"…This time, jackpot or dud?"
The four, now gathered again, began whispering among themselves.
"If it's a dud, you still gonna give me those shower coupons you were about to hand over?"
The squad leader sniffled as he asked, and the other three answered.
"If it's a dud, of course we will! But those people look pretty skinny—odds of a jackpot seem high, don't they?"
While they talked, the people who had vanished into the alley reappeared with the security robot. In their hands were various odds and ends, plus what looked like emergency rations: a single pack of expired instant noodles and one can of fruit. That was everything.
The four who had stayed behind took one look and spoke in unison.
"Squad leader! Congratulations! Today's a bath day!"
Then they approached the four new arrivals and said,
"This way, please. The road's a bit long, but we'll protect you safely the whole way, so don't worry about a thing."
The area in front of Sim Geum-a's wall bustled like a marketplace with the new people the search teams had brought in.
At a makeshift desk set up before the massive iron gate sat Choi Eun-ji, carefully recording the personal details of each newcomer one by one.
"Food, whatever you've got—you can bring it all inside. But anything that could be used as a weapon is absolutely not allowed. We'll take responsibility for your safety once you're in."
Right in front of her, a man clutching a vicious iron pipe wrapped in jagged nails shouted,
"Why the hell should I trust you and walk in there without a single weapon?! Who knows if you'll eat us or turn us into slaves?!"
Choi Eun-ji pressed her fingers hard between her eyes as if exhausted by his words.
"Then don't come in. Turn around and go back where you came from."
The man, furious, raised the iron pipe and prepared to swing as he yelled,
"You fucking bitch! You people dragged us all the way here! And now you're telling us to leave?! Don't make me laugh! I'm not taking a single step back until you hand over the food and water!"
At that exact moment, Dima, who had been standing quietly behind Choi Eun-ji, and the other men who had been lining people up nearby, chambered rounds with a cold click-clack and began closing in on him.
"Hey, you fucking bastard. Nice talk. But why the hell should we trust you enough to let you into our zone carrying that ugly weapon?"
Dima aimed the muzzle straight at the man's forehead as he spoke.
The man just snorted a laugh and shot back,
"There's a whole crowd of people who came for the same reason I did, all watching. You gonna shoot me right in front of them? Don't make me laugh! Go on, try it!"
Then he lifted the iron pipe high and brought it down toward the desk where Choi Eun-ji sat.
Bang! Bang!
But before the pipe could reach the desk, bullets from somewhere struck it with a sharp ting, sending it flying to the ground.
The man clutched both thighs and began rolling on the floor.
"A-aaagh! You sons of bitches! You actually shot me! You really fucking shot me!"
Seeing him writhe in pain, the people waiting in line began edging backward in fear.
Choi Eun-ji grabbed the megaphone and shouted at them.
"Anyone who tries to come in armed like that can just turn around and leave! We're protecting not only our own safety, but the safety of all of you who would have to enter alongside dangerous people like him!"
She continued.
"Food, water, and safety. We guarantee all of it. If you still can't bring yourself to let go of that one weapon, then just turn around and go back where you came from."
She jerked her chin at the men nearby. They dragged the man who was still rolling on the ground, blood pouring from his thighs, over to a security robot standing guard nearby.
"Same as always—dump him somewhere around the perimeter and come back."
The security robot answered in its mechanical voice,
> Confirmed.
It casually hoisted the man over one arm and began moving away. As his pained groans and curses gradually faded into the distance, the people finally, bone-deep, understood the "rules" of this place. And they began following Dima's and the other men's orders for maintaining order far more obediently than before.
When night fell and the world sank into darkness, Choi Eun-ji rose from the desk. She turned to the people still outside the wall, watching her with anxious eyes, and said,
"That's all for today."
Anxiety and fear settled over their faces at her words.
"Just because you couldn't get in today doesn't mean you need to worry too much. We've prepared temporary lodging for you right there beside that building. Spend the night there, and tomorrow morning after another inspection, we'll let you inside."
Even as she pointed to a recently repaired-looking building next to the wall, the people's unease did not easily fade.
"Ah, right."
She added,
"Those of you remaining here will receive dinner and water shortly, so eat it right where you are. Don't save it—just eat it all. Eating under our watch means no one can unfairly snatch it away from you."
She organized the papers on the desk, said "I'm counting on you" to Dima, and disappeared through the massive iron gate.
"Alright! Family units first—gather up! Parents, kids, siblings! And lovers or fiancés… sorry, but for tonight you'll have to sleep separated by gender!"
Dima bellowed in a booming voice.
From inside the iron gate where Choi Eun-ji had vanished, large steaming pots and containers of clean water began to emerge.
"Hurry, hurry! Line up according to instructions if you want food and water fast! It's cold out—let's move it!"
Together with the other sentries standing nearby, Dima skillfully sorted the people and had them sit on the ground.
And so, their first night in the new community began.