Regrouping (1)
Regrouping (1) — Off the coast of Yeongjong Island, Incheon
Kieeeeeeek—!
The zombies' howling rang out like a victory fanfare.
And the ones delivering that fanfare were probably…
"Uuuugh! It got me! It bit me, goddamn it! A zombie bastard bit me! Qu—quick, get the cure! Any awakener out there who can buy a cure?! Ugh, guuuhk!"
Us. It was us.
Kang San stared at the carnage with trembling eyes and thought:
Just when.
Just when did everything start going wrong?
Until yesterday, we had been riding a string of victories. Fierce and brutal as the fighting was, the word we'd been writing with every drop of our blood and sweat had been victory. We were steadily taking back the zombies' territory—no, reclaiming the land they had stolen from us.
But the longer the bloodbath dragged on, the more anxious we became. We needed food; they needed nothing. We had to sleep; they only raged harder in the deepening dark. On the countless nights of Yeongjong Island, when nothing but the sound of waves filled the air, he remembered the thrown projectiles of the Steroids silently zeroing in on the rocking boats—zombies dropping down upon those who had only just fallen asleep. We never once got to rest with our guard down. And now even the ammunition for the firearms used by the non-awakened was running dry.
By the time they'd stripped every nearby department store, mart, and convenience store of whatever food remained, they realized it. A Pyrrhic victory. A hollow triumph that would win them nothing was closing in.
"Oppaaa—!"
The voice calling his name. Kang San hurriedly shook himself and looked around.
Gunshots rang out. "Fuuuuck!"
"Grenades! Doesn't anybody have a spare grenade left?!"
The gunshots of his comrades who still couldn't escape the international airport were still ringing in his ears.
"Kieeeeeeek—!"
Waves of zombies surged toward them like they meant to swallow them whole. Kang San forced his fogging mind awake again. He shook his head hard, again and again, and chased after the voice that had called him.
"Oppaaa—! Where are youuu—!"
"Ba—Badaaaa!"
He spotted Kang Bada calling for him desperately from a fishing boat not far away, and sprinted toward her across the planks bridging the boats.
Seeing him, Kang Bada's face finally flooded with relief, tears streaming down as she flung her arms open.
"Bada! Are you okay?!"
"Yeah! You're not hurt anywhere, not bitten anywhere, right? Hm? Nothing hurts?"
Kang Bada mumbled into the shoulder of the brother who had crushed her into a fierce embrace. Kang San gently stroked her head to tell her he was fine. She closed her eyes for a moment, savoring the warmth of his hand—then hurriedly snapped them open. Gripping both his shoulders, she spoke with urgent eyes.
"We—we have to run, now! The operation failed!"
The operation. A last-ditch assault staked on their powerful awakened ones. Not another grinding, indecisive siege, but a bold plan to punch straight through, seize Incheon Airport's infrastructure and the stockpiled supplies sleeping inside it, and turn the tables into a defensive stand instead. It had failed.
"Jinwoo says the Frogs are coming! And there are tons of them!"
Only then did Kang San look down at the little boy gingerly clutching Kang Bada's pant leg.
Kang Jinwoo. As if by coincidence—or fate—an awakened boy who shared the same surname as their family. The MVP who had turned their string of victories and that insane assault into something resembling a viable plan. A child who could understand the speech of zombies. For a group whose strength leaned so heavily on raw muscle, he was nothing short of a treasure. And now that boy was watching Kang San with wary eyes.
"Jinwoo. You made it through safe too. Thank goodness."
"……"
It stung that the boy wouldn't even answer him even in a situation like this, but Kang San just smiled a little more gently. These days, merely pretending to listen was about all he could expect. Probably a special privilege he only got for being Bada's older brother.
Suddenly, Kang Jinwoo's face hardened. He urgently shook Kang Bada's sleeve, and as she bent down slowly, he whispered something frantic into her ear. That was how Jinwoo was—he never said a single word to anyone but Kang Bada. As she listened, nodding along to the boy's words, Kang Bada's expression hardened further and further.
She straightened up, whipping her head around in a panic.
"O—Oppa! Where's Yeonggam-nim?!"
"…I haven't been able to find him yet either."
"This is no time for that! Th—the Steroids are coming too!"
At her words, Kang San's face froze like a mirror image of hers. From that one short sentence, everything that would follow painted itself in his mind. The ones who had held the defense in the interior would burst out at last. Having seized the momentum, were they going to end this today, once and for all?
From the fishing boat Kang San had run from, a screaming man was shouting. He was crossing the planks along the very same path Kang San had taken, coming toward the siblings—blood spurting through the arm he clutched like a syringe, squirt, squirt.
Infection.
Kang San quickly glanced at Kang Jinwoo. The boy slowly shook his head. The awakened were probably all occupied right now, evacuating those left behind at the front line.
Bang! Bang!
Kang San shot a glance toward the international airport, where gunfire still echoed. The Island of Boats sat a good long distance from there. The only ones capable of crossing that stretch were awakened.
"Uuugh—! F—fuck, my head's going fuzzy! S—San! Help me! Don't k—kill me, please just help meee!"
The infected man staggered toward them, the boat groaning under him. Kang San snatched up a long pole lying across the deck and hid Kang Bada and Kang Jinwoo behind his back.
Not a kill. Subdue him. I have to subdue him.
"Sir! Please stop, get a hold of yourself! One of the awakened will be here soon!"
Shut his mouth. Block the mouth with the pole, hold him down, and wait.
Kang San kept repeating the words to himself as he ran through the scenario.
"Ugh, guuuhk—!"
The man dragged his legs closer, and his body began to twist. The all-too-familiar prelude of infection. His frame warped at angles no sane human body could ever imitate, then slowly sagged to a stop. Wriggling in agony, the man slowly lifted the head he'd been thrashing about.
"Kieeeeeeek—!"
In an astonishingly short span of time, yesterday's comrade became today's enemy.
Gulp.
Kang San wet his parched throat with spit and flexed his grip on the pole.
Not yet. Not yet. Not yet…
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Heavy footsteps boomed across the fishing boat as the zombie charged. He fixed his eyes on it.
"Kieeee—"
SLAM!
Light came crashing down on the zombie lunging for the siblings. Someone had arrived fast enough to leave an afterimage, and was pinning the zombie's back beneath them.
Only then did Kang San's tension-wrung face break into a wide grin.
"Yeonggam-nim!"
"Yes, yes. Just give me a moment, would you? I think I just cracked a few of this Kim fellow's ribs."
"Kieeeeeeek—!"
"Mm. So you say. Isn't that right, Jinwoo? I did hear something go pop rather nastily."
The dignified old face smiled wryly at the siblings and the boy. At last, an awakener who could treat their comrade had arrived. Grabbing the zombie's glowing hair, Yeonggam-nim wrenched its head back, and into his outstretched hand appeared a vial brimming with light.
"Ki—kieeeeek—!"
"Heheheh. Looking at you like this, you're just like one of those eunuchs force-feeding poison wine to a mad queen in a historical drama."
"Kieeeeeeek—!"
"Come now, Your Majesty! Drink your poison and be born human again!"
The Zombie Cure poured roughly down the pried-open maw of the zombie.
"Ki—kieeee—"
As the howling lost its strength, the zombie's body began to glow white.
"Uu, uuuuugh—!"
"Up you get, Kim my boy. We're in deep shit—hurry!"
"Uuugh—Y, Yeonggam-nim?"
"Heheheh. There he is. Back with us. Lie down a moment, son."
Kim, restored to human form, clutched his head. Yeonggam-nim, who had never once dropped his smile as he calmed the man, hurried over to the siblings.
"Bada, could you ask Jinwoo what in the world happened?"
"Ah, Yeonggam-nim! It was a trap! Jinwoo says the zombies dug the trap on purpose, using him! And right now the Frogs and the Steroids—"
"Heheheh—so we really are in deep shit."
He said it lightly, but Yeonggam-nim's eyes had already gone cold. That silver hair, always kept neat no matter the occasion, was now hopelessly mussed from the brutal fighting.
"We have to retreat! We have to run, anywhere!"
"Bada, do you really want to stay here? We barely have the fuel to move the boats."
Their heads turned toward the ship at the center of the Island of Boats. A 500-ton coast guard patrol vessel where the Mother and her officers had gathered—the flagship they'd cleared of zombies and made the heart of their community.
Shaaaaat—!
A wave of light pulsed out from the vessel's sharp prow. Everyone raised their heads at the beautiful, graceful radiance spreading overhead, familiar as an old friend. A wave of healing that breathed fresh vitality into their worn bodies and hearts. The Mother's grace.
"Do not let your hearts break, everyone!"
A voice as lovely as song spread in every direction. The Mother spoke to them all in a voice brimming with mana.
"We cannot win every battle! Today is but one of the many defeats we are yet to suffer. Bitter as it is, today we will lose—better."
Her encouragement steadied the group, shaken by their first taste of defeat.
"Do not lose hope over one small failure! Resist! Endure! We do not abandon our family! In the end, every one of them will rise again as human beings, and we will take back our land!"
"In other words, you're telling the awakened to work harder."
Yeonggam-nim shrugged with a hearty chuckle and spread his arms wide. The siblings walked to him with practiced ease. Kang Bada, holding Kang Jinwoo, leaned into Yeonggam-nim's arms, and Kang San, with an awkward expression, took the other side.
"Time to see the Mother, then?"
"Yes, Yeonggam-nim. Quickly!"
"Heh. Hold on tight."
Creeeak—!
Yeonggam-nim crouched low with the siblings in his arms, then leapt high. BOOM! The fishing boat rocked violently, wind whipping the siblings' faces without mercy. Drawing closer, he could see the Mother standing on the patrol vessel's deck—and her two most powerful, most loyal retainers as well.
THUD!
They paid no attention to the siblings and the old man landing on deck, too busy shouting.
"Kieeeeeeek—!"
One of them, the man with the jovial face, ground the zombie beneath his boot harder and roared.
"Mother! There's no reason to waste a cure on this bastard! He abandoned the ranks and left his comrades behind!"
"Kang, calm your breathing just a moment."
"That's right, little brother. What indecorous display is this before the Mother?"
The man with the jovial face—Yoon Kang—shouted at his elder brother in black training robes. Yoon Hyun, whose face was far calmer and far more upright than his rather hot-headed younger brother's, gave a small nod of agreement.
"Mother. We are not in a position to be handing out cures to men like him."
"I know it. But this child did what he could to do his part. Not everyone can be as brave as the two of you."
The Mother didn't seem the least bit afraid of the zombie pinned below, slowly stroking the man's head. Then, sighing at the hand she held out firmly, Yoon Hyun purchased a Zombie Cure. Watching the light-filled liquid flow toward the deserter, the traitor, Yoon Hyun added, "The family we lost today matters far more than tomorrow's crisis. You would do well to remember that too, Hyun."
"No, Mother! That son of a—"
"Kang!"
"…Aghhhh!"
The Mother restrained the lunging Yoon Kang, then gently patted the cheek of the man who had returned to being human. Seeing him unable to meet her eyes out of guilt, she spoke softly.
"Go inside and rest. It has been a hard day."
"Hk, hkk. I'm, I'm sorry, Mother… I—I couldn't… overcome it."
"It's all right. We'll talk about what didn't get done tomorrow. Now, go inside and rest."
The man bowed his head over and over, then slowly rose. The Mother watched him stagger below deck until he was gone, and only then turned to the siblings and the old man who had been waiting their turn. She smiled on them benevolently, and her eyes gleamed as she looked at Kang Jinwoo.
"It seems there's something urgent I must be told."
"Yes, Mother! It's dangerous for you to stay here any longer! The Frogs and the Steroids—!"
SKREEEEEEEEE—!
Before Kang Bada could even finish, the monsters' roars tore across the water. The Steroids that had been eyeing the Island of Boats from the far end of Yeongjong Island drew their arms back. In their grip, another mutation writhed—the Frog.
Catching the faint silhouettes from far away, Kang San whipped his head around in alarm. Countless boats lay at anchor within short range—boats still carrying the stragglers and comrades they'd been forced to leave behind. However potent the Mother's Healing was, no one could beat mutants alone. Cold terror crawled over his skin as he imagined the nightmarish guerrilla war that would begin once the Frogs seized those boats.
SKREEEEEE—!
The Steroids began hurling in unison. Light left their hands and streaked toward them like arrows.
Then—black training robes whipped in the wind as a figure burst from the flagship. THUD!
Yoon Hyun leapt high enough to take every single projectile into his view, and drew a smooth, clean line through the air. His right hand already held an antique blade. Neither fast nor slow—a single straight thrust. Along that line, azure sword aura shot forth.
Every Frog the Steroids had thrown was caught in Yoon Hyun's released aura.
SPLAAAT—!
In the middle of the sea, the Frogs erupted in fountains of blood as their bodies came apart. Rotten gore followed the limbless chunks down, and a stain of foul blood slowly spread across the water.
Thwip—!
"Whewww—"
Yoon Hyun, having performed a silent and devastating miracle, slowly shook his head at the crowd staring at him. The sweat beading on his face shattered into glitter in the sunlight. It was his trump card—the kind of move he couldn't afford to show often.
"DIE, you bastards!"
Right behind him, his brother Yoon Kang flung an arm out from the edge of the deck. The iron rebar that left his hand slammed into a Steroid on Yeongjong Island at terrifying speed. CRUNCH! The Steroid's massive frame toppled backward from the impact, and where the rebar had passed, a huge hole remained behind like a scar.
"Aw… missed the head. And that was my last rebar."
Tsk.
Yoon Kang smacked his lips and looked at Yeonggam-nim. "Hey, old man—got anything throwable left in your inventory?"
"Heheheh. I've lived long enough that you and I could trade places with Kang San there, boy, heheheh."
"Then what are you good for? You're weaker than me."
"…Kang."
"……You are weaker."
SKREEEEEEEEE—!
There was no time even for light banter. The Steroids, seeing the gaping hole torn through their comrade, raged harder, dragging in every large object within reach. Their bloodshot, crimson eyes burned as they fixed on the flagship.
"…Hm."
Tsk.
Yoon Hyun sighed with a short click of his tongue; Yoon Kang kept smacking his lips in frustration. Then the Mother, standing between them, slowly raised both arms. Everyone who knew what that gesture meant groaned. This was the skill she had been saving—reserved, without question, for use inside Incheon International Airport. The moment she activated it meant that, for the foreseeable future, any will to retake the airport was gone.
Shaaaaat—!
Light sprayed from her arms. The scattered particles of light drifted out evenly, then slowly settled into the shape of a sphere. A yellow barrier enveloping the Island of Boats was complete.
CLANG! CLANG!
The objects the Steroids hurled struck the barrier and bounced off. Watching the projectiles sink beneath the waves with a small spray of foam, the Steroids let out roars brimming with fury.
SKREEEEEE—!
"Haa— haa— haa—"
"…Mother."
"I'm fine. I'm all right."
Even her ragged breathing sounded melodic. She steadied herself with one hand against her head for a moment, then smiled at her worried officers.
We still have tomorrow. And only those who endure today will live to see it.
She repeated the words to herself, steadying her heart. She had wanted this operation to succeed more than anyone, and she was hiding her own disappointment and grief behind that refrain. She gazed at Yeongjong Island with shimmering eyes—at the Steroids pounding the ground in frustration, at the zombies howling their disappointment into the air—and at her precious children watching them all with hollow faces. As she bit her lip, ever so secretly, a familiar chime burst to life.
[Announcement to all awakened beings across the world! The first city is about to be born in Seoul, South Korea!]
…Seoul?
Startled, she turned her head toward where Seoul lay. While she and her family fought and struggled for every inch, someone had accomplished something in Seoul. After the strange message, a cascade of messages she had never seen before began to print themselves one after another.
[All surviving awakened beings worldwide are granted the opportunity to travel to the capital of the nearest nation!]
[Asked for the first and last time: Do you wish to relocate?]
[Awakened beings of South Korea may not select Guro-gu.]
[YES / NO]
"…M, Mother!"
"Yes, Hyun."
So there really is no law that says we simply have to die. She knew instinctively that a miracle of a chance had come for them too. The siblings, not being awakened, had received no messages and were blinking up at her in wide-eyed confusion. The Mother smiled at them, then nodded to Yoon Hyun, Yoon Kang, and Yeonggam-nim. They understood her meaning instantly through her gaze alone and reached out their hands.
The Mother gave a gentle gesture to Kang Jinwoo, who clung to Kang Bada's leg, refusing to let go. Biting his lip in agonized deliberation, Jinwoo squeezed his eyes shut and stepped toward her. Then the Mother spoke to the bewildered siblings.
"The loveliest siblings I have ever known, more human than anyone. Our San and our Bada."
"…Yes, Mother."
"A new road has just opened before us. And we have resolved to stake everything on that road, once."
"…A new road?"
"Yes."
She turned her head toward Seoul and smiled. But for all the softness of her mouth, her eyes brimmed with a resolve firmer than they had ever held. She gently touched the siblings' shoulders.
"Could the two of you lead the people for a while, in our place?"
"…Wh, whatt?!"
She steadied the startled siblings and continued. "You have the barrier and ample food supplies—all you need to do is keep the people calm. You've always done that well, haven't you?"
"B—but…"
"No. You two are more than capable. Among those who remain, this is something only you can do. Will you do it?"
"……Yes."
"Oh, my brave children. Come here—let me hold you once."
She wrapped the siblings in a tight embrace, then slowly loosened her arms and stepped back. Standing before the awakened who had gathered to await her, she touched YES on the message.
FLASH—!
At once, a map of Seoul unfolded across her vision. Twenty-five districts shimmered, waiting for her choice.
"…Mother, where shall we go?"
Even at a moment like this, Yoon Hyun was calm. She tapped her lips thoughtfully, then broke into a mischievous smile. Sending a meaningful glance at Kang San, who was watching her intently, she murmured:
"Mangwon Hangang Park should be the closest, I suppose."
With those words, the Mother touched somewhere on the map. FLASH!
By the time Kang San, squinting against the brilliant light, looked back at that spot, no one remained. The Mother, the awakened officers, even Kang Jinwoo—all of them had vanished. He looked at the supplies loaded aboard the flagship and at the only person left to him, his younger sister, and let out a long breath. Then he lifted his head and gazed up at the sun, still blazing high in the sky.
He understood the Mother's will.
"…Oppa."
"Hm?"
"What if the barrier runs out and the food runs dry, and Mother still doesn't come back?"
To his sister's question, Kang San fixed his gaze on a single point, just as the Mother had. Mapo District, where Mangwon Hangang Park lay.
"Then we go to Seoul ourselves."
He murmured it quietly, his eyes still locked on the capital. And perhaps, in that moment, the one who would have to lead those left behind—the one who would have to get them there—would be…
"…With our own hands."