The Mental Virus
The incident happened on only one broadcasting station. But the fallout was enormous. The public service announcements the government had prepared were properly aired on other channels, yet the muddy water one madman had splashed everywhere covered it all. No—ruined it completely.
“The internet’s going crazy….” Jeon Dohyeong muttered, tapping at his phone.
The self-diagnostic kit developed at miraculous speed, the military and government agencies being reorganized with only the uninfected, the infection-suspicion management system using automated answering machines, the quarantine measures that deployed soldiers in hazmat suits. All those hopeful messages had been stained with distrust.
“They already blocked visits to the quarantine centers, but after that video, families and all sorts of groups are basically ready to storm the place.”
It was understandable. People hadn’t even been allowed to see their family members’ faces after they turned into zombies, yet if they heard those loved ones were locked up in pigsty-like facilities, of course they’d want to go find them. Of course, the result would only accelerate the apocalypse….
I suddenly felt my fingers itching.
‘Ah, no. I can’t lose to bastards like that.’
I couldn’t fall behind the lunatics of the apocalypse. The moment I did, I’d be swept away by someone else’s wave and left behind. Wasn’t the whole world already being swept up by the virus our chairman had released, scrambling just to respond? I couldn’t just sit still. I had to create the current myself.
I tapped away on my phone. Using a handset I’d stolen from a café long ago, piggybacking on someone else’s Wi-Fi, and even turning on a VPN, I wrote a post.
Cops are treasure goblins
The era where you can only trust your own strength has arrived….
The core message of the posts I uploaded under slightly different titles and content was simple. Attack police officers who travel in pairs or groups of four. You can acquire tasers, handguns, and body armor. Traffic police are armed these days too. Just ram them with a car and take it….
“Done.”
Fortunately, several of the posts gained popularity. Of course there were comments cursing the author, but I didn’t care. I simply pictured the police collapse scenario I’d been thinking about for a long time.
‘Just me and Jeon Dohyeong can’t even touch a single police box. I need to create the right atmosphere with the benefits and justification of attacking the police so that people start moving on their own.’
Thanks to one PD, the perfect mood had formed. I glanced sideways at Jeon Dohyeong’s phone. The aftermath of that insane public service announcement. The government hurriedly explained that it was only a temporary quarantine center, that the illegal acts were limited to some temporary facilities, and that official centers were different—but no one believed them. And that fundamental distrust would wreck every single quarantine measure.
I smiled faintly and welcomed the apocalypse.
Day 30 since the zombie outbreak began. Rolling blackouts had started, many people had poured into the streets, and the number of infected was exploding. And I sensed danger.
No matter how much the world flipped upside down, if you just stayed holed up at home there was no problem. When you watched apocalypse movies, the people who did nothing and held out at home surprisingly lasted a long time, didn’t they? Plenty of food, working water, electricity supplied more or less—it was practically paradise.
But I was seriously considering going outside.
‘Those people are dangerous.’
Standing by the window, I watched the cultists who had rapidly expanded their forces lately. The people who used to shout alone had now gathered in twos and threes, yelling at the top of their lungs and grabbing passersby. Believe in our pastor, they said. He is chosen by God. Salvation lies beneath him.
One citizen who had been grabbed shook them off.
“Ugh, just leave me alone!”
“You! Unbelievers turn into zombies!”
“No, seriously!”
Even when the citizen raised a baseball bat, the cultists didn’t back down. They just glared with mad eyes. In the end the citizen turned and fled as if running away.
That contagious power. That blind faith.
“Are they really idiots? Why would anyone believe that crap?” Jeon Dohyeong clicked his tongue.
I glanced at him. To me, this electricity thief looked the most vulnerable to proselytizing. He was the type who got swayed by other people’s opinions. Above all, that confidence of his that he wouldn’t fall for it was dangerous in itself.
I decided to warn him that those people were an extremely threatening force.
“It’s possible to believe. That’s why they’re dangerous.”
“Do you have a religion or something? Like Revelation? You seem like you’d believe in eschatology.”
“I don’t.”
I didn’t. I didn’t believe in any of that. I simply judged religion as one of society’s components. If I had to find something similar to an object of faith, it would be the chairman. But I didn’t fail to understand it either.
“In my opinion, cults like that are mental viruses.”
“…Huh?”
Jeon Dohyeong looked at me with wide, dumbfounded eyes, as if wondering what nonsense this guy was spouting again.
“Like a cold or the I-Virus. They infiltrate and infect when mental health weakens. Some viruses even break through immunity.”
I turned my head and looked down at the cultists as if they were enemies. They were mental zombies. That was why they were dangerous.
“Give them enough time and those church people will take over this whole neighborhood.”
They would spread like a virus. The I-Virus disaster, a government whose trust had plummeted after the recent broadcast incident, blackouts every three hours, a society where crime was exploding. If the mind had any health at all, this was a season when it was easy to fall ill—so that cult virus would penetrate vigorously.
If I stayed holed up at home, one day the entire area might be filled with those church people. I would be the only one isolated. The villa might get looted. This was not good.
‘Pull up the roots. The sooner I deal with them, the better…’
Tap tap tap—I drummed on the windowsill, lost in thought. Scenarios for dealing with the church and the pastor.
‘Report to the police? No. Even if I report illegal activity, they won’t have the manpower to handle this kind of thing.’
Zombie-attracting terrorism? Or did the church have sprinklers? If I put a few zombies in the fire-water tank and set a fire during service, it might cause a mass infection. Arson during a blackout wouldn’t be bad either….
“It’s ambiguous.”
Every scenario started well and then stopped. They remained unfinished. The lack of data was the problem. The church building’s structure, emergency power, personnel numbers, security systems—every missing piece of information punched holes in the scenarios.
“This won’t do. I’ll have to go out once.”
“To attack the church?”
Jeon Dohyeong had quickly caught on to my intention. But it was still lacking. Too hasty. I carefully observed the face of one of the cultists. The habit I’d built of observing people around me to incorporate into future scenarios shone through. Even though his face was covered by a mask, I could tell. He lived in this villa. I even remembered his voice.
I pointed at him.
“That guy. Looks like he lives on the first floor. Let’s go in tonight and get information about the church first.”
Deep night had come. Rolling blackout. The power cuts that lasted one hour after every three hours made the night even darker. That darkness was the looter’s friend.
I put on a mask, pulled a cap down low to cover my eyes, and even wore gloves to hide my skin before glancing at Jeon Dohyeong. Relying on his phone’s flashlight, he too was dressed in looter’s uniform.
“Let’s go.”
Our weapons were a hammer and a hand axe. A taser with almost no battery left. Jeon Dohyeong nodded silently, and we crept down to the first floor.
It was deep night, so there were few signs of life. A human shadow passed by the main entrance for a moment, but we paid it no mind. The city was shrouded in silence and darkness from the blackout. The only people out at this hour were zombies, future zombies, or thieves like us.
….
I took a deep breath and nudged Jeon Dohyeong. Open the door.
Crackle—the blue electric spark jumped in the darkness. The pale flash disappeared, and with a soft click, the door lock opened.
Clunk—
“…?”
The door wouldn’t budge. Even when I pulled harder, it only rattled slightly.
“It’s locked?”
Jeon Dohyeong whispered, shifting his feet anxiously. Just as he said. In addition to the electronic lock, there was a key lock engaged. I felt a deep sense of disappointment.
A thief. A thief who could open doors, open electronic locks, and even steal the remaining gas from cars. I really wanted to recruit him as a core member, but our connection still hadn’t formed. Still, if I didn’t have one, I had to improvise. Wasn’t that what the apocalypse was all about?
“Through the window.”
If the door was locked, we just had to enter through the window. We carefully exited the main entrance. The moonlight was so faint that visibility was extremely limited. The streetlights that should have illuminated the road were all off. A zombie’s growl came from somewhere. We crept along the villa and found a window at a slightly higher position. The one the juvenile delinquent gang had broken.
“Lift me up. I’ll go in and open the door for you.”
“…Okay.”
That was how we succeeded in breaking in. We slowly opened the insect screen, climbed over the windowsill, avoided the sleeping residents, opened the front door, and stood over the resident’s head holding our weapons.
I prodded his head with the hammer. At the cold touch of metal, the man woke up.
“Wh-what? Huh?”
The sleepiness vanished from his voice quickly. Before he could scream, I spoke fast.
“Is your pastor the real deal? If he is, I want to repent and join you.”
From now on I was no longer a robber. I was someone who needed the pastor’s teachings, or a target to be drawn in and converted. That change in position worked well on this cultist. The man rose slowly. Faint moonlight fell on his eyes, making them seem to shine. He opened his mouth.
“He showed us a miracle.”
The story of the Hope Church began. After the zombie outbreak, the pastor and other clergy turned one by one, and the collectively infected believers also became zombies. The Hope Church, emptied of people, seemed destined to perish, but a miraculous thing happened. There were those who survived both collective infection and symptom onset. One evangelist and a handful of believers. While the clergy and most of the congregation had turned, these few remained uninfected.
I spoke in a bright voice.
“Then that evangelist…?”
“No, he is now the pastor—no, a saint. He showed the miracle of defeating the virus just as he defeats Satan’s demons. If we believe only in him, we can be saved!”
Miracle my ass. He just got lucky and didn’t get infected. The evangelist seized the opportunity, declared himself pastor, and took over the church. I looked at this fanatic with cold eyes.
“If you pray to him, the virus will pass you by, and you can even save family members who have already become zombies.”
“Really?”
My head snapped around. It was Jeon Dohyeong. He already looked half-taken in by this nonsense. He grabbed my sleeve as if something felt off.
“Since there’s this ridiculous virus, maybe a miracle like that is possible… At least we should check—”
“Yes! You should meet him in person! There’s a service in the evening!”
“What time in the evening?”
“When the power goes out!”
I had heard all the information I needed. It was time to go back to being robbers. I couldn’t let Jeon Dohyeong get any more swayed. I gripped the hammer tightly.
“Unfortunately, you’re seriously infected.”
“I’m not infected?”
“No. With a mental virus.”
Physical therapy was the answer. I brought the hammer down. Crunch. The same sensation as when I had smashed a zombie at the mart. Since one blow didn’t kill him, I worked mechanically like labor, swinging my hand several more times.
“Y-you’re killing him like this?”
“Obviously. He lives in this villa. If we’re going to take it over anyway, he was someone we’d have to kill. …Let’s clean up the body.”
The couple’s house had already been stripped of supplies and moved to my place. Leaving the corpse in that emptied storage room would be fine. Finally, I searched the dead man’s wallet and checked his ID. When we went to the service, if anyone asked, I would say we had been recommended by this person.