The Finale (2)

Guaaaaak…!

Bang! Kwa-kwa-kwa…! Whirrr! Pa-ang…! Pa-ang…!

Amidst the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠deafening roar of countless zombies running and sprinting, the buzzing of a drone could be heard intermittently. Jun-ho, hiding behind the rear entrance of the underground parking lot, watched the tablet screen while listening to the noise. The mini-drone had been continuously tailing the convenience store clerk Alpha, the first one to turn into a zombie in Gahyeon-ri. The enraged creature, for the sake of its own safety, had left only about ten zombies behind and focused all other entities on the A1 drone. The three A1 drones continued to fire while luring the zombies toward the underground parking lot entrance.

As soon as he heard Akina’s dry report, Jun-ho initiated his move. Tak-tak-tak-tak… Jun-ho immediately entered the rear passage, holding his KP9 in a "Low Ready" position, ready for immediate response fire. The parking lot was a complex terrain with vehicles and pillars placed in a disorderly fashion—a typical CQB environment. Although he had already confirmed via the mini-drone that there were no zombies on his current route, Jun-ho did not let his guard down, thoroughly checking the area as he moved toward where the Alpha was located. Then, the moment he turned around a parking pillar, he could see the Alpha about 30 meters away. However, because about ten slave zombies were covering it in a semi-circle, a clear headshot angle was not available.

"Tsk."

Jun-ho, who had stopped to catch his breath while leaning against the back of a sedan, turned on the IR laser pointer mounted on his KP9. The red dot, set to the non-visible light spectrum, was clearly visible even through the thermal imaging.

Click.

Switching the KP9 to semi-automatic mode, Jun-ho held his breath and fixed the laser dot on the back of the first target's head.

Ta-tak!

A double-tap that reached the realm of godhood pierced the target's cervical spine and brain. The moment the creature was about to collapse, Jun-ho performed a side-sweep, quickly shifting his view horizontally to accurately embed subsonic rounds into the temporal regions of the second and third zombies. As three zombies fell in just two seconds, the Alpha snapped its head around. In that instant, Jun-ho felt intuitively that the creature was looking exactly at where he was through the darkness. But in that fleeting moment, a shooting angle opened up, and the laser dot was fixed precisely on the creature's glabella.

Ta-tak!

As the short, suppressed gunshots, sounding like light clapping, rang out in succession, the red dot in the thermal imaging disappeared as if it had been suddenly turned off. The Alpha, struck by subsonic rounds in the glabella and the left side of its forehead, had its head jerked back by the velocity and fell backward just like that.

Thud!

The remaining zombies, who hadn't realized what had happened even though the Alpha and their kin had fallen, soon began to twist their bodies grotesquely. And knowing that zombies are at their most powerless when they act like that after losing their master, the Alpha, Jun-ho ran quickly and struck their heads with his machete.

Thwack! Thwack! Crunch!

Having disposed of the zombies in an instant, Jun-ho looked down at the Alpha, whose skin was slowly shriveling up. Although he had performed a sort of "level up" by killing a powerful Alpha, there was no immediate physical change like in movies or dramas. However, Jun-ho knew that every time he personally killed an Alpha, his physical abilities improved minutely over a period of about three days to a week. Battle Royale? Or survival of the fittest? Whatever it was, just as Alphas seemed to compete with each other over territory, perhaps he, who had regressed after choosing death just before being bitten and turning, was being affected in the same way. But he was a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠human, not a zombie, and he was the natural predator of those who ate people.

Jun-ho, who had taken his eyes off the completely shriveled corpse of the Alpha, said in a low voice.

"The Alpha has been eliminated. Now, wipe out all the ones remaining."

At Jun-ho's instruction, Jun-hyeok and the shelter's attack drones began a full-scale slaughter.

Once the Alpha was gone, dealing with the zombies that came out of the underground parking lot was not difficult. Jun-hyeok, who had been waiting on the rooftop, along with the A1 and G1 drones, were able to easily dispose of the subjugated zombies, often called "house slaves," whose connection to the Alpha had been severed as soon as they left the parking lot. Zombies not under the control of an Alpha did not show continuous interest in the small drones. Also, when using suppressed firearms and air guns, the possibility of exposing their firing positions was low. In the end, the zombies were nothing more than slow-moving targets. They were shot dead while moving stubbornly toward the places they had been before being dominated by the Alpha, not caring even as their kin fell beside them with their heads pierced.

The fact that it was night and there was no sound was so advantageous to humans. Of course, they had to be equipped with suppressed firearms and thermal imaging equipment like Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok were now. Anyway, about 90 percent of the zombies were killed by the joint fire of the brothers and the drones for about 10 minutes. The rest returned to the apartments they had originally been in, but Jun-ho decided to wipe out all the zombies in the Edutown apartments while he was at it. And to do that, he had to lure the zombies inside the apartments to the outside. This was too dangerous for Jun-ho or Jun-hyeok to do themselves, and there was no need for a human to do it either.

Jun-ho quietly gathered the corpses of a few zombies in the middle of the playground, which was most visible from each building, and poured gasoline on them to set them on fire. Then, he tied wooden sticks in a '十' shape and hung clothes and a hat on them appropriately to make it look like a person. And he fixed the scarecrow thus completed firmly onto Ferdy's bulletproof vest.

"Bark loudly and lure them. Just do as you were trained. Go."

Woof!

Ferdy, who barked once, ran like the wind to the playground where the zombies' corpses were burning. The moment the dog almost reached the playground, Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok fired at the low-rise windows of the apartments where the zombies were, breaking the glass.

Clang! Crash!

Woof! Woof-woof! Woof!

With that as a signal, Ferdy barked loudly and ran quickly around the burning corpses. With the loud noise, the blazing flames, and the sight of what looked like a person running hard there, the zombies' attention was bound to be focused, and eventually, every entity that could come out of the Edutown apartments rushed toward the playground.

Woof! Woof-woof!

Ferdy ran to the point where Jun-ho, Jun-hyeok, and the G1 drone had formed a kill zone, just as he had been educated and trained. Because their eyesight was poor to begin with and it was night, the zombies, who mistook the scarecrow set up on Ferdy's back for a real person, followed along as easily as if they were being lured in an absurd way. Thus, a few more minutes of shooting continued, and about 200 zombies fell, scattering blood and brains on the cold floor.

"Whew…."

At the reports from Yun Yeong-su and Akina, Jun-ho finally pushed his night-vision goggles up and let out a sigh of relief. Beside him, more than 10 used compressed air tanks were scattered about. "Tell Song Ki-jun and the Slayer Squad to come here. Jun-hyeok, suffer a little more on the rooftop until the Slayer Squad arrives. Withdraw all drones except for the reconnaissance drone and the G1."

- Boss, is it all over now?

"No, not yet. I have to clean up here."

- Huh? You're going to do that too?

"I have to finish it all at once. It'll be too late by tomorrow morning. And it's not like I'm the one who's going to do it anyway."

- What? Then who is?

"The humans living here."

Jun-ho looked around the Edutown apartments. He could guarantee that quite a few residents had watched this entire scene. And among them, there must be the families of those who died while going to attack The First Apartments today. There must also be those who lived like slaves, dominated by them. However, they all had one thing in common. They had witnessed this apartment being occupied today as all the men who had gone to loot the 'convenience store Alpha' and the zombies it controlled died. Because of that, they were engulfed in fear and despair.

"Let's go, Ferdy."

Woof!

Jun-ho, who patted the head of Ferdy, who had completed his mission 100 percent, removed the scarecrow and led the dog as he began to walk. The destination was the Edutown Apartment Management Office.

Just like the low floors of each building, the zombies that had been here had all come out and been shot dead, so the management office was empty. Jun-ho, who entered the senior welfare center that shared the same building, used his knife to dispose of the entities that were moving slowly, with only bones and skin left like the ones in famous American zombie dramas, as they had poor physical abilities to begin with and hadn't been able to eat for several months.

- Ah, can you hear me? Mr. Jun-ho, we have arrived.

"Yes. Please come to the management office."

- Understood.

A little while later, the Slayer Squad, who had won today's battle and rested to replenish their stamina, poured into the management office building.

"Mr. Jun-ho!" Song Ki-jun ran toward Jun-ho, unable to hide his emotion. "I heard the story. They said you completely flipped Mok-u-ri upside down? And finished off the Gukje Gang too."

"Yes. Now there's no one there who will target Gahyeon-ri. I've gotten to know the survivors there, so if anything happens, they'll let us know right away."

"Ah… you really went through a lot of trouble. And thank you."

"Don't mention it. I did it because I needed to. By the way, no one got hurt, right?"

"Yes. We're fine too. We really benefited from the drones."

At Song Ki-jun's words, the members of the Slayer Squad added their own comments one after another.

"That drone is really a magical thing. It tells us exactly where the gangsters and those Edutown bastards are coming from. It's like we just have to wait and shoot."

"The woman who keeps communicating with us while controlling the drone is really amazing. Please be sure to thank them for us."

Those 'two people' were not human but the same AI, but Jun-ho answered that he would, and then said.

"There is work for you all to do. As you know, we've dealt with all the zombies in Edutown now, except for the ones trapped inside their homes. Only the survivors are left. So…."

At Jun-ho's words, Song Ki-jun and the Slayer Squad members nodded repeatedly.

"…Anyway, we have to start off on the right foot."

"I understand what you mean. That certainly seems like the best way. Don't you all agree?"

As Song Ki-jun agreed and looked back, everyone else also concurred. Seeing that, Jun-ho smiled inwardly. Because the method he had just informed them of and proposed was one that Song Ki-jun had devised before his regression.

"Then let's begin."

"Yes. We'll go out and prepare in advance."

As Song Ki-jun and the Slayer Squad left, Jun-ho went to the broadcasting equipment in the management office. Since the management office building and the security office used electricity from solar power, most of the equipment was working normally, and Jun-ho opened all the channels for each building and pressed the yellow button with a bell-shaped sticker on it.

Ding-dong-dang-dong!

Then, the bell sound announcing a general notice, which was certain to have been the first to ring since the apocalypse broke out, rang throughout the entire Edutown apartment complex. Survivors hiding and holding their breath in every room and hallway of each building, the playground, parking lot, daycare center, library, cafe, community lounge, etc., and all the zombies trapped inside, all went to where the bell sound was heard.

Tuk-tuk.

They could hear Jun-ho's low, dry voice as he tapped the microphone slightly.

"This is a notice to the residents of Edutown. All zombies in the apartments have been killed. The remaining zombies are those trapped inside their homes and unable to come out. I will inform you once again."

Jun-ho, who delivered the same content one more time, then said in a tone of command that was nothing if not firm.

"Living residents, please come to the senior welfare center inside the management office building within 10 minutes. Residents who do not come will be considered zombies and shot dead. Come to the senior ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠welfare center in the management office building within 10 minutes. If you don't want to get shot and die later."

Since the Edutown apartments were a medium-to-large complex with nearly 700 households, the senior welfare center, which used to be called the senior citizen center in the past, was also quite large in scale. And right there, about 200 residents poured in and took their seats. Because they hadn't been able to wash properly for a long time, a foul smell vibrated, so the Slayer Squad opened the windows to ventilate. Everyone was wearing helmets and masks, so they couldn't see them in detail, but the Edutown residents seemed quite surprised by their appearance, which was neat compared to their own. In addition, since they were all armed with air guns, the residents glanced at the Slayer Squad and Song Ki-jun with eyes containing a subtle fear.

"Nice to meet you. I am Song Ki-jun, the representative of the Gahyeon-ri community. Until recently, I was the representative of The First Apartments, which you all know well."

"Ah…."

"Hmm!"

Some residents glared, and Jun-ho, who was watching the residents with hawk-like eyes from the corner, checked those who showed surprised reactions. And among them, there was someone ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠who, although currently on hold, was the only one registered as a 'target for elimination' among the Edutown apartment residents.

"As some of you may know, some residents of Edutown here colluded with gangsters called the Gukje Gang today and invaded The First Apartments."

"……."

Song Ki-jun, who was looking around at the residents who were staring at him while holding their breath, fixed his gaze on one person and continued speaking.

"Mr. Park Il-ho. You were the one who ordered that, weren't you?"

"……!!!"

Park Il-ho, the owner of the Cheongsan Building and the representative of the Edutown apartment residents, who had been rolling his eyes while hiding among other people to avoid being noticed, seemed startled, and then he was seen sliding his hand into the inside of his thick padding.

At that moment.

Pa-pa-pak!

Jun-ho, who had been watching him continuously, ran out like lightning and threw a drawing knife.

Thwack!

"Aaaak!"

Park Il-ho, with a knife stuck in his forearm, let out a scream as he dropped a Chinese-made pistol to the floor.