Chapter 34
Chapter 34
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: The Day of the End - 1
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The morning of the 20th was peaceful, just like any other day.
People ventured outside cautiously, glancing around, and occasionally vehicles passed by.
Groups of people gathered here and there on the streets.
They seemed curious about the sudden disappearance of the soldiers.
"They have families to see to too..."
After all the hardship over the past few days, they deserved to spend the final hours with their families.
I turned the faucet, but no water came out.
The city was now in complete paralysis.
"Dingo, come here for food."
I split a raw chicken I'd buried in half and fed it to Dingo.
Over the past two weeks, he'd grown tremendously, now about the size of a decent beagle.
But he still hadn't shed that round, puppy-like fluffiness.
"You eat this and wait inside."
I wanted to take him along, but in this chaotic situation, Dingo wouldn't be much help.
The environment would completely seal off his strengths: his sense of smell and tracking ability.
Crunch crunch.
Dingo mindlessly chomped away at the chicken.
I should eat too.
Need to fill up solid before moving.
But not too much, or it'll be tough.
As I heated combat rations in a pot on the burner, suddenly the electricity flickered on.
Huh?
The TV switched on, displaying the haggard face of President Grandpa.
"His face in just a few days..."
It's true what they say: extreme hardship can age someone overnight.
The president in his crisp suit was gone; now an old man in shirtsleeves sat there.
He spoke.
—Dear fellow citizens. This is President Jang Won-taek of the Republic of Korea. Before you listen to this broadcast, I have one request: please make sure everyone around you watches the TV. I repeat...
Shouts erupted from outside.
"Watch the TV!"
"Everyone, let's watch TV!"
"Power's back on!"
I joined in with my own voice.
A few minutes passed, and the president bowed his head.
—Dear fellow citizens. President Jang Won-taek speaking. I know you're heartbroken by the inexplicable restrictions that began a few days ago. I will explain everything.
Finally, the truth of the situation.
The streets emptied out, and I scooped bibimbap with a plastic spoon.
"Tasty, but kinda salty."
Probably made assuming heavy sweating.
Eating this would bring serious thirst.
With the forest nearby, I wasn't too worried.
—A few days ago, I declared martial law. The ROK Army seized media outlets and key facilities, and major roads were sealed off. The reason for all this is...
The president lit a cigarette and took a drag.
Whoa.
Smoking during a national address.
With the end right around the corner, he probably didn't care anymore.
"Well, only 4 hours left anyway."
He exhaled a long puff.
—Haha... The opposition would have chewed me out for maintaining the president's dignity. In any case, the reason I declared martial law was to welcome an orderly apocalypse.
There was the word.
As president, he had no choice.
Had to stave off chaos until D-Day.
—I ordered communications cut, power lines severed, nuclear plants shut down. City gas halted, residents near chemical industrial complexes evacuated. An orderly end—that's what I wanted. So why go this far?
The president exhaled a long stream of smoke, then said something unexpected.
—According to dawn reports, the U.S. failed to intercept the Silver Spore meteor swarm. It crashed near Okinawa, confirmed to have inflicted devastating damage on Okinawa.
Right now, Japanese people are turning into zombies. Yes, those eye-rolling, living-being-attacking zombies. The Japanese archipelago is being devoured by zombie spores. Kagoshima's plunged into chaos. Japan is undoubtedly heading to the end.
We'll be next soon enough.
Noise started building outside.
People panicking that the zombie outbreak was today.
The president took a sip of water and continued.
—The deadline is July 20th, 1 PM today. The zombie spores that infected the Japanese islands will reach Korea... Just in: even people in air-filtered shelters are infected.
"You fucking bastards!"
Some uncle bellowed curses thunderously.
Others followed suit, spewing profanity.
They felt totally screwed over.
But a moment's thought would show this was the best option.
They got a few days with their families, after all.
The people who made and enforced that call probably ran themselves ragged until dawn.
—One thing's certain: we can't escape the zombie outbreak. But a few will survive. Awakeners, and certain others... I've prepared for them. Remember the locations I'm about to list.
The president rattled off places in Seoul and major cities.
Probably the underground parking shelters Su-yeon mentioned.
—These sites are sealed tight with concrete and composite plastic. Time capsules, you could say. The seals unlock automatically in one year. If any survivors make it, useful items await: food, drinking water, clothes, gasoline, diesel, basic necessities, books...
Better jot this down.
The president also listed places to avoid.
Mainly nuclear plants and chemical complexes.
—Do not approach within 20km of these points. Nuclear plants are especially dangerous. Shut down days ago and in emergency cooldown, but residual core heat lingers for a while. Meltdown possible. We've taken measures, but nothing's perfect.
Avoid at your own peril.
The Gijang plant was a fair distance away, but no room for complacency.
Radiation exposure makes your mouth taste like blood, right?
"Die feeling it in your body?"
Pity—no Geiger counter to snag.
The president's speech continued.
—Dear fellow citizens. It was my honor to stand with you. Though imperfect, I believe I did everything required in these final moments. All that's left is to pray the survivors thrive. My thanks to whoever informed us of the exact D-Day timing. Without them, we'd be in total chaos by now.
"No need for that much thanks..."
If anything, I owed him gratitude.
Even with the end looming, he'd dutifully carried out his presidential duties.
Definitely not like a guy like me.
Then the chief of staff whispered in his ear.
—All thermal power plants will shut down soon. The operators need family time too. They won't see this broadcast, but... sorry for the threats. My regrets to the generals imprisoned for noncompliance. The old man's rambling too long. Finally, a summary of early monster strategies. Let's meet again if we survive.
With that, the screen froze.
Features, weaknesses, and countermeasures for zombies, goblins, kobolds, bone creepers, and more.
"Written by a vet."
Probably handed their know-how to the government.
As I admired their guts, the screen warped and the power cut out.
The Republic of Korea had fully met its apocalypse.
.
.
.
The reactions were immediate and simultaneous.
A few bolted outside, screaming.
Screams and curses filled the neighborhood.
One uncle stripped off his shirt and started running around.
"You fucking bastards!"
"Fuck it all!"
Crash!
Glass shattering everywhere.
Madness ruled the streets, with screams echoing from somewhere.
The patience that had restrained people for days had finally evaporated.
"Death sentence delivered."
I calmly boarded up the windows with layers of planks and started stacking the bricks I'd prepped.
A two-story house was mostly camouflage, but minimal defense was still needed.
"Block the stairs too..."
Then how to get in and out.
The back of the building.
The bathroom had a decent-sized window, and outside was a fence.
It was such a narrow, dark space that no one could enter.
Just step over the fence to reach the street.
Pretty high—zombies wouldn't climb it easily.
"Humans could, but they'd have no reason to."
I shoved all the furniture and junk down to the first-floor stairs.
Amid the racket, a crude barricade formed.
As I stacked bricks to fully seal the stairs, I heard cars crashing outside.
"Total pandemonium."
How many hours until the noise died down?
Fighting sounds came from here and there too.
No law, no public authority left.
Nothing to rein in people's primal violence.
Even trivial spats sparked fights.
Just like now.
"Can't we keep it down? The world's not ended!"
"It has, you dumb fuck! It's all over!"
"Uncle, watch your mouth."
"What're you gonna do? Hit me! Hit me!"
"You little shit."
"Urk!"
"Die, you fucker. Die!"
Thuds of someone getting pummeled.
A petty argument exploding days of pent-up rage.
"Someone stop them!"
Won't help.
I finished stacking the bricks and slathered thick mortar into every crevice.
Slow drying was fine.
I'd use this after the tutorial.
"Entrance is solid."
I dragged out the motorcycle and strapped on the sledgehammer and oxy-cutter.
Adjusted the oxy-cutter nozzle and lit the lighter—flames roared out satisfyingly.
This would slice through damn near anything.
Hid the bike and climbed to the roof. The street was a warzone.
Violence, chaos, madness everywhere.
But on closer look, only a handful were actually rampaging.
Most people were hunkered down at home.
Delinquents in a tow truck floored it then slammed the brakes repeatedly, terrorizing folks.
They even plowed into someone who wasn't dodging.
The victim flew like a puppet with cut strings.
The punks didn't even get out—sped off immediately.
"No cops or anything left."
You'll end up the same soon enough. Wait your turn.
Scoped the gym: serious faces in a meeting.
Hyung-jun would handle it...
Clock said 11 AM.
Two hours of looting sounded good, but better avoid prying eyes.
"People are scarier."
At 1 PM, zombies would steal all attention.
Weighed myself: 92kg.
Forest rolling slimmed me down.
"Only this much?"
Needed to drop at least 5kg more.
I climbed to the roof and awaited the apocalypse.
A plane flew by, dumping paper fluttering down.
Grabbed one: shelters and no-go zones from the president, plus monster strategies.
"Impressive folks."
With people like that, apocalypse might be bearable.
Reality's packed with guys like me and all sorts of trolls, though.
I crumpled the paper.
.
.
.
12:59.
I opened my eyes.
A harsh wind whipped my hair fiercely.
An ominous unease swept the streets.
A guy sprinting wildly down the road collapsed in exhaustion.
He gasped for breath, then suddenly clutched his head with a "Hurk!"
"Kraaaargh!"
A scream like flesh tearing.
He convulsed all over, then went still.
Blue blotches slowly spread across his facial skin.
Starting with him, people sprawled on the asphalt turned into zombies all at once.
It had begun.
I headed downstairs, unlocked the chain, and fired up the motorcycle.
Five hours until Metal Plague.
Had to loot fast and relocate the dimension gate elsewhere.
Needed to check if Metal Plague reached the forest.
Vroom!
I revved it, but the zombies didn't notice.
Twisted the throttle and released the clutch—the bike lurched forward.
Almost simultaneously, the street zombies whipped around to face me.
Their sclera gleamed, drool dripping from their mouths.
But they couldn't move yet.
"Let's go."
First target: the pharmacy.
I gunned it past the zombies, ignoring them.
Still manageable for now.
Five to ten minutes before the spores fully hijacked the brain and body.
Had to get inside the pharmacy before then.
"Any living people..."
I scanned roughly while accelerating, but only downed zombies everywhere.
No uninfected in sight?
I gritted my teeth and headed for the pharmacy.
Clear shot ahead—no one, and the shutter was up.
Smashed the glass door with the sledgehammer.
Crash!
Pulled the motorcycle inside and lowered the shutter.
"Open dimension gate."
Next up: haul everything from the shelves to the shelter.
Unusually sweltering summer, shutter down—inside was a steam bath.
Moving so frantically, my breath hitched quick and sweat poured.
Dying to ditch the stab suit, but no can do.
"So damn much stuff?"
Pharmacy wasn't big, but ransacking the storeroom yielded a ton.
I just tipped the shelves and swept it all in.
Nearly emptied it out when someone—or something—banged on the shutter.
Human or zombie? Didn't need to look.
Last bundle of syringes tossed in, I tapped back on the shutter.
Grrraaawr!
"Not exactly thrilled to see you."
More than one or two—what to do...
"First, turn the bike around."
Bolting out when opening the shutter risked getting swarmed.
Better handle them methodically here.
I shifted the dimension gate to another storeroom, grabbed mace and shield, and stepped out.
Raised the shutter while thrusting the shield forward.
Four zombies spotted me but flailed against the shield.
Caaaaw!
Familiar sight, familiar response.
I pulled back the shield and slammed the mace into the front zombie's skull.
"Come on, you bastards."
The Day of the End - 1 End