You Must Fight Among Yourselves
It was the end of January, and the bone-chilling, skin-piercing cold was at its peak. With the Lunar New Year only a few days away, Gahyeon-ri remained a hive of activity.
“The lower village is clear, brother.”
“Understood. Good work.”
The Search and Destroy Squad of the Gahyeon-ri community, led by Jun-hyeok and Song Gi-jun, had fully cleared the zombies from the central district with the support of the G1 Drone. They had then pushed into the lower village, an area dense with old, dilapidated houses and factories bearing names like Tech, EnC, and Metal. While the lower village had been bustling with workers on weekdays, the apocalypse had struck during a holiday season, meaning the population was significantly lower than usual. Still, it wasn't empty; the squad had to dispatch hundreds of zombies to rescue a fair number of survivors.
Though there were dozens of small-scale factories, not a single one was food-related. The survivors in the lower village were literally on the brink of starvation. They had to focus on recovering their health under the support of our shelter and the Gahyeon-ri community.
“Doctor, Madam. Thank you so much for your hard work.”
The ones who played the biggest role were none other than the couple, Baek Su-ah and Choi Ui-soo. The three of them had arrived laden with pharmaceuticals and portable medical equipment. With Kang Su-ah, a nursing assistant from the Hanalreum Nursing Home, acting as their assistant, they juggled medical exams, treatments, and medication. They had also looked after the health of the elderly and the sick in the Gahyeon-ri community, keeping them busier than they had ever been.
“Oh my, this is nothing compared to a general hospital.”
“My job is to treat and heal people, so it’s fine. Jun-ho, you’re the one who really suffered.”
Thanks to the efforts of the couple—the true Tier 1 talents of the apocalypse—most of the rescued survivors who had been on the verge of death were pulled back from the brink. Those who had suffered minor or major injuries or fallen ill also showed significant improvement thanks to accurate diagnosis and prescriptions.
“Oh, and our Su-ahs, you both worked very hard, too.”
“Yes.”
“Yes, sir.”
Perhaps because they had been working closely together for a while, Baek Su-ah and Kang Su-ah, who shared the same name, smiled at each other.
In any case, while the Search and Destroy Squad was killing zombies to save people and the shelter’s medical staff were treating those rescued, the Hanalreum Nursing Home and its surroundings were also completely cleared, thanks to the active efforts of Jun-ho, Park Deok-cheol, and Go Seok-jin, who had finally stopped causing trouble.
“We must cremate all the bodies.”
“The shelter’s incinerator is already overflowing, so let’s build a few here. I heard there are technicians and workers from the local factories, right?”
“Yes. You can handle that part, brother.”
“Alright.”
At Jun-ho’s words, Baek Ha-il nodded and checked his tablet. “But looking at the survey, there’s an insane amount of materials in these factories. Most of the machines look like they’d work with just a little maintenance. The problem is power. Since we collected all the usable solar panels in this neighborhood, we’re looking at about 1.5 megawatts.”
Unlike the city, two out of every three households in this area used solar power as a backup. Most factories were the same. Since RE100 had become a hot topic years ago, almost every decent factory had installed solar power systems with financial support and subsidies from the government and local municipalities.
“Gahyeon-ri only needs 1 megawatt, so that’s more than enough. We only need to take 300 kilowatts.”
“Is that enough to cover the power our shelter uses during the day?”
“Exactly. We’ll bring it over and start by using 100 kilowatts to charge the workshop, general warehouses, vehicles, drones, and anything else that runs on electricity. The AI says that alone will reduce our power burden by about 20 percent.”
There was no need to hesitate. The solar panels and power systems stripped from the abandoned factories in the lower village were moved to the shelter. Of course, Yun Yeong-su had mentioned that integrating them into the shelter’s power system would be quite tricky and time-consuming, but for now, simply charging electric vehicles and various drones was more than enough.
Furthermore.
“We also grabbed a lot of metal, construction materials, and other equipment. We’ll use what we can, and the folks in places like Beoksagol will be happy if we bring them some.”
Scavenging was the foundation of the apocalypse. While we had more than enough for our own shelter, we had secured a significant amount of supplies that might have run out in a few years if we were supporting other places. In other words, Jun-ho had gone beyond restructuring Gahyeon-ri into a community of fate for the apocalypse; he had also secured practical benefits for our shelter.
“Understood. Then, as for coordinating with us regarding the reconstruction of Gahyeon-ri… it would be best if Choi Jung-woo handled that.”
“Yes! Leave it to me!”
Having finally been able to recover his wife’s body thanks to the clearing of the lower village, Choi Jung-woo was relieved of his sorrow. He had known his wife had turned into a zombie and died, and his only remaining hope was to recover her remains and place them in the shelter’s charnel house. Now that one of those hopes had been fulfilled, all that remained was to raise his daughter, Choi Ji-woo, safely. Since that would happen naturally as long as he remained in our shelter, Choi Jung-woo threw himself into his work with great enthusiasm.
Time flowed on while everyone was busy, and after the Lunar New Year passed, it was early February. Jun-ho gathered three people: Song Gi-jun, the former village head of Gahyeon-ri, Kim Seok-hwan, and Go Jeong-nam, the elderly man who had led the Hanalreum Nursing Home so well.
* * *
“As you all know, the reconstruction work is going smoothly. It will likely be finished within this month, and then all the survivors of Gahyeon-ri will be able to live safely, centered around the central district. However, that doesn’t mean there are no problems, and there are things we lack. For instance, rice.”
“Hoo…”
At Jun-ho’s words, Kim Seok-hwan spoke with a dark expression. “Rice is certainly a problem. Honestly, I thought we could live for a year on the rice we had. Every house had a few dozen kilograms, and those with low-temperature warehouses had stored 200 or 300 kilograms each. Plus, there was the rice from the Nonghyup warehouse. But…”
“There were far more survivors rescued than expected.”
At the words of Song Gi-jun, who had led the Search and Destroy Squad and rescued people directly, Kim Seok-hwan, who hadn’t been able to say it himself, nodded.
“Yes. That’s it. Of course, I shouldn’t complain about saving lives, but I never dreamed the number of people we’d have to look after would reach nearly 2,000. Anyway, if we include the people from the lower village and the apartment complexes later, it might exceed 3,000. No matter how I think about it, I don’t think our current food supply will last even half a year.”
“We can raid the Nonghyup warehouse in Yeongho-ri for rice, so don’t show that you’re lacking for the time being and distribute rations normally.”
“I understand. But is there really a Nonghyup warehouse? With plenty of rice?”
“Yes. It’s information from residents who lived there for a long time, so it’s certain. You know those 800-kilogram sacks of government-reserved rice? They say there are hundreds of them piled up. That’s at least 100 tons.”
“A, a hundred tons…”
“Hoo, that’s enough to not worry for two or three years.”
At the words of Go Jeong-nam, who had farmed rice for a long time, Jun-ho nodded.
“Yes. And we can farm in greenhouses in the meantime. And about the elderly.”
Kim Seok-hwan had said there were more survivors than expected, but that was a smaller number than Jun-ho had anticipated. Furthermore, a quarter of them were elderly. There was a reason why the number of survivors was low and the proportion of elderly survivors was lower than the original population ratio. In the case of the elderly, there were many cases where their children had already moved away, leaving them to live alone or as a couple. They were extremely vulnerable to attacks from zombies and looters, and when they lost contact with their children due to the apocalypse, many of them took their own lives or died after refusing to eat or drink.
“If the elderly wish, let them live in the nursing home. If they live together in a place like the Hanalreum Nursing Home without worrying about what others think, talking to each other and working together, they will find hope to live.”
Even if the world had become like this, as long as they were human, we shouldn’t pressure or hint at them to die quickly instead of wasting food. It wasn’t just for moral reasons. This was the era of the apocalypse, where the ability to engage in agriculture, livestock farming, or even just identifying wild herbs in the mountains had become extremely important. The knowledge and experience of the elderly, who had continued farming as a pastime even before their strength faded or their backs bent, were invaluable assets.
“That’s true. I’ve farmed my whole life, and the old folks who have lived here for a long time won’t be much different. Once we set up vinyl greenhouses and install solar power, we can farm rice even in winter. We can just draw water from the stream and groundwater here. Besides.”
As the topic turned to his area of expertise, Go Jeong-nam, whose complexion seemed to improve, pointed out the window and continued.
“I saw quite a few roe deer and wild boars on the mountain behind our nursing home. But they say there are even more on Cheonma Mountain over there?”
“There are. There were many even before the world became like this, and now they’ve probably increased significantly.”
Go Jeong-nam nodded at the words of Kim Seok-hwan, who was about 10 years younger than him, even though they were both elderly.
“Then if we catch about 20 of them every week, the people here can eat meat soup at least once a day. Oh, and it’s good to plant soybeans in about 10 greenhouses. We can eat the leaves, make soy sauce with the beans, and there’s nothing better for protein supplementation than making tofu.”
Kim Seok-hwan brightened at the words of Go Jeong-nam, who had lived his whole life as a farmer.
“Oh my, then I’ll send some women and young friends, so please pass on your knowledge, Brother Jeong-nam.”
“Of course. Just send them. Oh, and the high school students that Jun-ho brought in earlier have become real farmers now. The kids are very kind and diligent.”
“Yes. I saw them working hard on the CCTV.”
Jun-ho, who nodded satisfactorily at the news that the academy instructor and high school students he had rescued were doing well, turned his head to Song Gi-jun.
“For hunting, Song Gi-jun, please select some people appropriately. People you can trust with air rifles.”
“Yes.”
Of course, he didn’t intend to give them the same modified air rifles that our shelter members used. Jun-ho planned to replicate the ones the late Han Chang-oh had used and give them to the Gahyeon-ri community. That would be enough to catch roe deer, and even wild boars at close range.
“It might be a bit difficult right now, but the foundation will be set before spring comes. Then we can survive somehow. But before that…”
Jun-ho continued, looking at the tablet screen with the Gahyeon-ri map with cold eyes.
“We’re clearing out Edu Town before the weather warms up. Song Gi-jun.”
Song Gi-jun spoke with a stiff face, pointing at the tablet.
“A few days ago, the people in Edu Town Buildings 1 and 2 suppressed the residents of the remaining buildings. In the process, over 20 people were killed or injured.”
“Ha! No, they live in the same apartment complex, why?”
“They’re starving to death right now, so that doesn’t matter. Anyway, about 30 men with some strength from Edu Town Buildings 1 and 2 are in charge of force there. And this human right here.”
The face of a middle-aged man, captured by the drone and PTZ Camera, appeared on the tablet, and Jun-ho spoke after Song Gi-jun.
“This is Park Il-ho, the tenant representative. He’s the owner of the Cheongsan Building in Mok-uri. He’s the son of the president of Cheongsan Construction or whatever it is. This human is in contact with the Mok-uri side.”
“Mok-uri? With whom there?” asked Kim Seok-hwan, who had lived in Gahyeon-ri for a long time and had many connections in Mok-uri as the former village head.
Jun-ho manipulated the tablet and played a video. It was footage from a safe house CCTV camera of men who had crossed the mountain through the cold in the middle of the night a few days ago to enter the Edu Town apartment complex.
“A total of twelve men. At least four are armed with air rifles, and the rest are all carrying weapons. I consider them to be members of the Gukje Gang.”
“Gukje Gang? The Gukje Nightclub Gukje Gang in the old downtown of Mok-uri?”
“Yes.”
Even if they were back-alley thugs, the Gukje Gang was a real organized crime syndicate with their pedigree proudly registered at the National Police Agency. Before the regression, Jun-ho had come to Gahyeon-ri after the Edu Town apartment survivors had already been ruined by the Gukje Gang, and therefore, he hadn’t known their circumstances before then. However, thanks to this video taken a few days ago, he realized how the Edu Town survivors had been able to subdue the survivors of The First Apartments, who still had hundreds of people left even if their main force, including Song Gi-jun, had been dismantled.
In the apocalypse, especially in areas like this, the difference between having guns and not having them when survivors fought each other was huge. If Edu Town had the help of the Gukje Gang, who possessed air rifles, The First Apartments side was bound to be wiped out.
“Then what do you intend to do? Are you going to go yourself, Jun-ho?”
“No. This time, you must fight among yourselves.”
“What?”
Kim Seok-hwan’s eyes widened to their limit.