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"Mmph! Mmmph!" Son Je-guk struggled, his limbs bound tight with zip ties and his mouth wrapped in layers of duct tape.
Jun-ho forced An Jun-tae, who was still dazed, onto his stomach. He wrenched the man's arms behind his back and secured them with another zip tie.
"My, my arms. Argh! Ugh... who the hell are you? You son of a bitch, do you have any idea who I... urgh!"
Jun-ho, who had been pinning An Jun-tae’s back with his knee, grabbed the man by his hair and yanked his head back. "Of course I know who you are. You’re an executive of the Daeseonghoe, right? The headquarters in the new city sent you here."
"Urgh!?" Even through the agony of having his hair nearly ripped from his scalp, An Jun-tae’s eyes widened. Even with his ears ringing, the words "Daeseonghoe" and "headquarters" had come through crystal clear.
"Anyway, I’m busy, so let’s talk more later."
Riiip. Rip.
"Mmph! Kugh!"
Jun-ho mercilessly wrapped duct tape around An Jun-tae’s face. He hoisted the well-built man onto his shoulder, grabbed the ladder installed in the elevator shaft, braced his legs against the sides, and slid down in one smooth motion.
Thud!
After dumping An Jun-tae in front of the elevator on the second basement level, Jun-ho retrieved Son Je-guk using the same method. He dragged both men to a corner of the parking garage, sat them down, and lashed their arms to a pipe.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
"Kugh!"
Jun-ho looked down at the two men, who were writhing on the floor like insects, trying desperately to speak. He spoke in a cold, clear voice.
"There are no zombies here, right? So just wait a little. I’ll be back once I’ve finished cleaning up."
"......!!!"
Leaving An Jun-tae and Son Je-guk with their eyes bulging in terror, Jun-ho climbed back up the ladder.
Gwaaaargh! Kyaaaack!
"Dammit! Block it! Block the door!"
Bang! Bang-bang! Bang!
It seemed all the zombies in the Jaeseong Building had swarmed to the scene. Outside the elevator doors on every floor, roars, shouts, and gunfire erupted in a chaotic symphony.
"What’s the estimated time for the zombies to breach each floor?"
- Floors 1 and 2 are impossible; all entrances and windows are blocked with obstacles. From the 3rd floor up, it will take 1 minute 30 seconds to 2 minutes per floor. I estimate 6 to 8 minutes to reach the 6th floor.
- It is unlikely they will reach the 7th and 8th floors given the number of 'B' entities currently surrounding the building.
"Understood. Send one work drone to the 7th floor."
> Confirmed.
Communicating with Akina, Jun-ho climbed the ladder quickly, emerged at the 8th-floor elevator entrance, and peered down.
"They really thought this through."
This shaft connected only the top floor, the 8th, and the 2nd basement level, where he suspected a secret exit to the outside existed. The elevator doors on all other floors had been completely sealed from the inside of the shaft, making them impossible to open. The ladder he had installed was meant solely as an access route and emergency escape for the top floor. He had discovered this while scouting the building with a mini-drone sent through a large ventilation shaft on the roof.
Click.
Jun-ho opened the 8th-floor steel door he had passed before capturing An Jun-tae and Son Je-guk. A thick stench of gunpowder and blood hit him, prompting him to pull his bulletproof mask back up over his face.
Seven men lay in a pool of blood in the hallway, surrounded by scattered firearms and casings. They were the gangsters Jun-ho had executed minutes ago. This was exactly why he had armed himself with the Dragon Scale. To break through a narrow hallway against armed enemies as quickly as possible, he had to be willing to take a few hits.
Though he had taken three or four rounds to his armor, Jun-ho had dispatched them with ease. His marksmanship was in a different league compared to these thugs, who likely hadn't fired a live round more than a handful of times in their lives.
"Stupid bastards..."
They had no idea what would happen if they fired live rounds in an indoor space, let alone a narrow hallway, without ear protection. Three of them had fallen right where they stood, either stunned by the deafening roar of their own or their comrades' gunfire, or suffering from critical hearing damage that caused them to drop their weapons.
Jun-ho sent a silent, sarcastic "thanks" to the countless movies and dramas where characters fired live rounds indoors without ear protection and remained perfectly fine.
"Time to collect what's mine."
He quickly stuffed their firearms into his backpack and searched their bodies, collecting all spare magazines. With the backpack now significantly heavier, he tightened the straps to the max and opened the emergency exit door at the end of the hallway.
Creeeak.
Gwaaaargh...!
The roar of zombies rose from deep within the stairwell.
- Large number of B-rank entities entering the 4th floor. Expected to reach the 5th floor in approximately 1 minute.
Listening to Akina’s voice, Jun-ho checked his tablet as he descended the emergency stairs. The drone, now on the 7th floor, was positioned under a water cooler, providing a clear view of the hallway. In the midst of the unprecedented crisis of thousands of zombies swarming the building, no one had the luxury of paying attention to a water cooler.
Just then, four men armed with what looked like iron pipes wrapped in knives, and two men armed with firearms, came sprinting toward the emergency exit.
"That is..."
Jun-ho’s eyes narrowed as he spotted the two men with guns. One had a Chinese-made pistol, but the other was carrying a heavy, matte-black shotgun.
"A Benelli M4..."
A masterpiece of reliability and performance, it could be called the "shotgun" personified. But like any other firearm, in an apocalypse—especially in an indoor setting—it was a weapon that should never be fired without hearing protection. He wasn't joking; his eardrums could actually rupture.
The man with the Benelli M4 was frantically punching the keypad on the emergency exit door. Installing a keypad on an emergency exit, no matter how important security was—these guys were truly insane. And for thugs like them, a "luxury shotgun" was a pipe dream.
'I wonder if I could make a suppressor for a shotgun, too.'
Maybe not for me, though.
Bang.
The 7th-floor emergency exit opened with a loud noise, and the gangsters scrambled up the stairs.
"B-boss. There was gunfire on the 8th floor, and Manager An is up there..."
"Dammit, you idiot! Is that the problem right now? If the zombies get up here, we're all dead! Would you rather fight one or two guys with guns, or the zombies outside? Think, you son of a bitch... huh?"
As something resembling a soda can flew past his face, the gangster, who had been cursing as he climbed the stairs, looked up.
Ting! Flash!
As soon as the flashbang landed in the middle of the stairwell, a deafening explosion and blinding light erupted simultaneously.
"Argh!"
"Agh! My, my eyes!"
As the gangsters climbing the stairs covered their eyes and stumbled, Jun-ho picked them off one by one with his suppressed AR-15. After collecting all their weapons and ammunition, he descended to the 7th floor and entered through the emergency exit.
The 7th floor was a disaster. Amidst the screams and shouts, gunfire rang out repeatedly. They seemed to be shooting at the zombies clinging to the building walls.
- Multiple entities within a 500-meter radius of this building are approaching.
- Because they are firing wildly outside the building in terror, it seems far more zombies have been drawn to the gunfire than the ones I lured here.
- Error values are being added to the operation simulation.
- Immediate plan revision required.
- I recommend an immediate withdrawal.
"Tsk."
Without a moment to marvel at Akina’s incredible calculation and inference abilities, Jun-ho kicked open the door right in front of him.
Bang!
"Kyaaaaack!"
"Argh! Aaaargh!"
Young women, either in their underwear or completely naked, huddled together and screamed. It was obvious they were women the gangsters had captured to satisfy their lust.
Jun-ho walked straight toward the women, who were trembling at the sight of him.
"Please, save us! Please, save us!"
"Please. I'll do anything you say. Please, just save us."
Jun-ho spoke to a woman kneeling naked on the floor, wringing her hands.
"Does anyone know where the gangsters are keeping the zombies?"
"Sa, save... what?"
"Somewhere in this building, the gangsters must have captured and locked up zombies. Does anyone know where?"
"......!?"
The women, still not in their right minds from the shock and terror, could only tremble and remain silent. Then, one woman, who was at least wearing underwear, raised her hand.
"I, I know! I heard they locked up a few zombies in the karaoke room on the second basement level."
"The karaoke room on the second basement level. Understood."
Jun-ho went straight outside. He returned with clothes taken from the dead gangsters and tossed them to the women.
"Put these on and follow me. If you go out like that, you'll freeze to death. You have 30 seconds."
"Ah! Yes, yes!"
"Ugh! Ughhh...!"
Even as they burst into tears, the four women hurriedly put on the clothes, watching Jun-ho nervously in case he changed his mind.
Jun-ho led the women back to the emergency exit and climbed up to the 8th floor. The women were horrified at the sight of the gangsters' corpses strewn across the stairs, but as survivors who had made it this far, they didn't fall into a panic.
"I'll go down first, so follow me one by one."
"H, here?"
The women, looking down into the bottomless elevator shaft, began to tremble again.
"If you don't want to, you can stay here. Then."
Without waiting for an answer, Jun-ho grabbed the ladder and slid down in one go.
"Huh?"
As Jun-ho’s figure vanished into the darkness in an instant, the women’s eyes widened. But a moment later—
"Ah!?"
A tactical flashlight lit up the shaft from below. Only then, slightly relieved of their fear, did the women grab the ladder one by one and descend.
"Mmph..."
An Jun-tae, tied to the parking garage pipe alongside Son Je-guk, felt like he was going insane. 'Who the hell is that guy? Ah, dammit...'
Several minutes had passed, but he still felt nauseous and his head throbbed. Furthermore, while he could hear a bit better now, the ringing in his ears persisted.
'A flashbang? Is he a soldier? Did the government send him?'
But as he recalled the appearance of the mysterious man—a monster, really—An Jun-tae shook his head internally. Even as a former police officer who had served in the Marine Corps, he had never heard of or seen a special forces unit with that kind of equipment.
'He knew about our organization. He knew about the headquarters manager. Dammit, how?'
It was truly baffling. It would have been shocking even before the world ended, but now that the world had collapsed due to the rampant spread of man-eating zombies, it seemed impossible.
Thud!
That was when it happened. A loud noise came from the elevator door, and the monster who had done this to him walked over.
"Mmph!"
Unlike An Jun-tae, who just flinched, Son Je-guk struggled, trying to say something. Jun-ho peeled off the duct tape that had been tightly wrapped around Son Je-guk’s lower face.
Riiip! Rip!
"Urgh! Argh."
"Shut your mouth. If you don't want to die."
At the emotionless gaze and voice, Son Je-guk immediately clamped his mouth shut.
"I know you've locked up a special zombie in the basement karaoke room. Lead the way."
Because the term "Alpha" hadn't yet spread to all survivors, Jun-ho phrased it that way.
"Huh...!"
"......!!!"
When Jun-ho, whom they had met for the first time today, mentioned something they thought only they knew, Son Je-guk and An Jun-tae’s eyes widened.
However, they couldn't even dream that Jun-ho intended to kill the Alpha—which had grown powerful and dominant by consuming many people in a bustling area like Mokuri—to further upgrade his own physical abilities.
In other words, Jun-ho was achieving three things at once: eliminating the most dangerous threat to his shelter and Gahyeon-ri, acquiring firearms and ammunition, and becoming even stronger. It was the realization of killing three birds with one stone.