The Regressor's Know-How
"...Anyway, I understand. We need to discuss this among ourselves for a moment, so please wait a short while."
"Sure, go ahead. But aren't you going to return my air rifle? Without that, my elders and I will literally starve to death. We barely get by catching beasts in the mountains..."
"We'll talk about that later."
"Yes. Please, I'm counting on you."
Jun-ho, who had disguised himself as a survivor who barely escaped a gang of thugs and was living in a small village populated mostly by the elderly, bowed politely until the end and followed the soldiers away from the truck.
"But what unit are you from? I did my military service in Yeoncheon. Did your base go to hell, too, which is why you ended up here?"
"I cannot disclose that. Let's get moving."
Major Lee Seok-jin watched Jun-ho carefully as he walked away, chatting casually with the soldier.
"Battalion Commander, isn't that guy a bit strange?"
"What do you mean?" Major Lee Seok-jin asked in return, and the Lieutenant glared at the retreating Jun-ho.
"It's been half a year since the world turned into this mess, yet he looks so healthy. Isn't his body way too fit, like some kind of gym rat?"
"He said he caught a lot of water deer with his air rifle and ate nothing but meat. Plus, he's been climbing mountains to hunt every single day to provide for the elderly, and working in the greenhouses, too. You might not know this, but if you eat well and do hard farm work in the countryside, your body is bound to get strong."
Major Lee Seok-jin, who had helped out at his grandfather's rural home every summer until he finished high school, answered, and the Lieutenant smacked his lips.
"Is that so? Well, I guess we’re the same, and the guys under us too... everyone’s body has become quite sturdy."
"True. Anyway, how much food do we have left?" At Major Lee Seok-jin's question, the Lieutenant's expression darkened.
"I think we'll hit rock bottom in about a week. Wouldn't it be better to pull out toward Sangmyeon now?"
"No. There are too many units there. We’ll definitely run into them and have problems. We have to think about the men."
"...Yes."
As Jun-ho had expected, the soldiers led by Major Lee Seok-jin were all from units in Pocheon, including Ildong-myeon. Some had barely survived the initial battles, while others were non-combat personnel or platoon members who had been on long-term dispatch to ammunition depots, and thus were lucky enough not to be caught up in the initial large-scale infection. They all shared the commonality of having lost contact with or being abandoned by their superiors or the high command.
"The guys in Jojong-myeon and Sangmyeon are definitely going to head toward Gapyeong. If we get swept up in that, we're screwed."
Major Lee Seok-jin was a soldier. And a soldier had to fight for the country and its people. However, as far as he could tell, the remaining units around Jojong-myeon had degenerated into groups far removed from the values of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces. Joining such scum and tarnishing the values of the ROK military was something Major Lee Seok-jin could never accept. Above all, to the units that had seized Jojong-myeon and Sangmyeon, Major Lee Seok-jin and his subordinates were nothing more than uninvited guests. Even if they joined, it was obvious they would be used as shields or cannon fodder if anything went wrong.
"But Lieutenant Jeong. Why were you so surprised earlier when that man said there was an area in Deokso—or was it Deoksim?—controlled by gangsters?"
"That’s... my parents live there. They moved to a Deokso apartment complex two years ago."
"Hmm."
"When we last spoke, they said they were hiding well in the apartment and told me not to worry. But hearing that, I couldn't help but get excited... I apologize."
"No. I understand completely. But... what do you think? About what that man said."
When Major Lee Seok-jin looked at both of them, the Lieutenant whose parents lived in Deokso replied.
"I think it's entirely possible. There’s a massive new apartment complex being built near the entrance to the Misa Bridge next to Deokso Station. It’s about 2,000 households, and I heard they were putting in everything from parks to weekend farms inside the complex."
"Really? Then it’s not just nonsense..."
"Yes. And I heard this directly from my father before the project started. I heard that city council members and some prosecutor or chief prosecutor from the Namyangju District Prosecutors' Office—anyway, some quite high-ranking people—were involved with the gangsters."
"Really? There are people like that? Does that make sense?"
"I thought it was nonsense too, but it doesn't seem that way. Didn't it even appear on the news before the world turned like this? The incident where gangsters were caught smuggling drugs from China at Incheon Port, and a customs officer personally escorted them. But that was all swept under the rug, wasn't it?"
"Ah, I think I saw that. So, Lieutenant Jeong, you’re saying they are the ones involved in that apartment complex project?"
"According to my father, that’s the case. Rumors were rampant that they were guys with backers in the VIP rooms in Seoul."
"Hah!"
Major Lee Seok-jin was dumbfounded. If the world hadn't turned out this way, he never would have believed it. But he knew. He knew how the ROK military had been 'sacrificed' after the infection broke out, following orders from the Commander-in-Chief. He had even heard from a peer at Army Headquarters the absurd claim that those orders hadn't come from the Commander-in-Chief, but from someone else. That was why Major Lee Seok-jin thought Lieutenant Jeong's words were likely true. Furthermore, he thought the story told by the survivor named Lee Jun-ho also had some credibility.
"I see. So that’s how it is..."
As Major Lee Seok-jin stroked his stubbly chin, lost in thought, the two lieutenants watched him with eyes full of tension and expectation. At one moment, Major Lee Seok-jin lifted his head and spoke with a face full of indifferent but firm resolve.
"We’re going to Deokso first. Either way, we were planning to head to Gwangju or Yangpyeong. Let’s go to Deokso first and verify whether that story is true or not."
"Yes. But... what will you do if it’s true?"
"What do you mean, what will I do?"
Major Lee Seok-jin's expression turned cold in an instant as he said in a low voice.
"You said those gangster bastards are working people like slaves, right? We’ll have to wipe them all out."
While the fact that they had plenty of food and could farm was more important, Major Lee Seok-jin had not forgotten his sense of duty as an officer of the ROK Armed Forces.
* * *
"Oh, really? You're going to Deokso?"
"That's right. Normally, we shouldn't disclose military movement routes to civilians, but the truth is..."
Jun-ho grinned and cut off Major Lee Seok-jin.
"You need a guide, right? Since you don't know the way there well."
"...That's right. Could you guide us, at least to the places you know?"
The words were asking for his opinion, but in reality, it was a command. However, compared to the soldiers he had seen and experienced before his regression, Major Lee Seok-jin was practically an angel, so Jun-ho nodded.
"Yes. I’m not from Namyangju, but I came to the valleys of Gapyeong and Namyangju every summer, so I know the roads like the back of my hand. Oh, but before that. Do you happen to need rice?"
"Rice...?"
Major Lee Seok-jin tilted his head at the out-of-the-blue remark. Jun-ho thought that if things went well, he could kill two birds with one stone, and spoke.
"Yes. I know some people who survived in Yeongho-ri over there. They told me that a large Nonghyup Warehouse was built in Yeongho 2-ri last year. But since it was newly built, people don't really know it's a Nonghyup Warehouse, and there are tens of tons of rice piled up there."
"......!"
They were moving while carrying combat rations and instant meals in their trucks, but they only had enough left for about a week. Fortunately, they weren't completely without cooking utensils, and if they could secure a large quantity of rice, they could carry it in the trucks, cook it, and make rice balls to supply the soldiers.
"If you’re short on food, how about we stop by there first? As I mentioned earlier, we have some meat, but we’re almost out of rice. We can raid the Nonghyup Warehouse, you guys can load a few tons into your trucks, and the rest can be for me and the villagers. Wouldn't that be great?"
At Jun-ho's words, Major Lee Seok-jin exchanged glances with the two officers and soon turned his head.
"Where did you say the Nonghyup Warehouse is? How many infected are there in the vicinity?"
* * *
Jun-ho traveled in Major Lee Seok-jin's electric vehicle. The soldiers, who had been indifferent when they heard they were going to Yeongho-ri, burned with motivation at the news that there might be a large quantity of rice in the Nonghyup Warehouse there. They, too, knew that their combat rations were running low.
"So, are you going to use your guns?"
"We have to. The population there isn't very large, is it?"
"Yes. I heard it’s around 2,000. Even if roughly half have become zombies, we should be able to suppress them at this scale. Oh, but do you have enough ammunition?"
"We haven't engaged in combat even once on the way here. Still, if we engage two or three times, we'll run out."
Since each soldier would have about 4 or 5 magazines, that meant roughly 20,000 rounds. Of course, it was impossible to hit all of them on zombies. Even if they aimed and fired as carefully as possible, the maximum would be taking down five or six zombies per magazine.
"Hmm. Then, how about this? I haven't just been catching water deer with this air rifle, you know? So..."
Jun-ho decided to specially pass on the know-how of a regressor—which would be flesh and blood to them—to these soldiers who would raid the Nonghyup Warehouse and perhaps even take care of the Alpha for him.
* * *
The electric vehicle and electric trucks moved along the concrete road toward the Yeongho 2-ri Nonghyup Warehouse with almost no noise. Since it was still cold and Jun-ho had already confirmed the safety of the concrete road through multiple drone reconnaissance flights, there wasn't a single zombie. It had been impossible to use vehicles to take this road from Gahyeon-ri, but it was possible to enter Yeongho 2-ri via this path from the location where he had encountered Major Lee Seok-jin and his soldiers.
"It’s a bit slow, but if you move like this, the zombies don't really notice you. Of course, the Alpha is different."
"The Alpha?"
"Don't you know? There's someone else who gives orders to the zombies."
"Ah... you mean the Alpha. Do you call it the Alpha?"
Since the term 'Alpha' had originated from the government and the military and was not yet known to civilians, Jun-ho tilted his head, pretending not to know.
"Oh, is that so? I just thought that guy looked like the boss. So it's called an Alpha. Anyway, if that guy is there, he'll be watching this place carefully."
"But you're saying he won't attack?"
"Yes. He’s a truly cunning bastard. If he thinks it's worth a shot, he sends his subordinates, but otherwise, he just hunkers down and waits for an opportunity."
"You know quite a lot for a civilian."
At the voice of the Lieutenant, who had been suspicious of Jun-ho from the start, Jun-ho turned his head toward him.
"Hah! How do you think I’ve survived this long with just an air rifle?"
"......"
The Lieutenant fell silent at the words of Jun-ho, who was older than him and had survived alone for a long time.
"Anyway, as soon as we enter the warehouse, we have to build a barricade immediately. We’ll block the entrance with the trucks and build something like a guard post with rice sacks. They’ll probably swarm here after hearing the gunshots."
"So you're saying it's hard to break into a building with zombies and kill them, but it's not hard to defend it?"
"Correct. I’ve even seen people defending with air rifles, bows, and spears. They all got wiped out because they were so short on numbers... but guns are different."
Before his regression, Jun-ho had seen military units with firearms block zombie waves. Moreover, it was only in large cities that tens of thousands of zombies would swarm at once. In a rural area like this, it was at most a few hundred, or a thousand at most. But what if there were over 200 soldiers with rifles using 5.56mm ammunition? If they were in a situation where they were only 'defending' inside a specific building, they could hold them off. That was why, after the apocalypse had progressed to a certain point, groups of soldiers—units that had lost contact with their superiors or straggler units—had occupied one or two rural villages and lived as warlords.
So, even if it took some time from the beginning, they could have just occupied the rural villages of the metropolitan area one by one in that manner, and then later chipped away at the cities from the outskirts. But because the military leadership and high-ranking commanders, whose mentalities had collapsed when a situation they had never even experienced, let alone planned for in an operation, occurred, they had launched reckless operations to recapture major cities where infrastructure was concentrated, and thus failed.
"That’s it."
At Jun-ho's words, the eyes of Major Lee Seok-jin and the officers narrowed.
"It really doesn't look like a Nonghyup Warehouse."
"Yes. They said they packed it with all the latest equipment. It maintains a temperature of 20 or 15 degrees even without electricity, so the rice stays in good condition for over 5 years."
Relaying what he had heard from the Boksa-gol Youth Association president, Jun-ho pointed his finger at one spot again.
"Let’s go in behind the warehouse closest to the main gate. The back door will be locked, but if you shoot it with a gun, you can open it. But before that..."
"Understood."
When Jun-ho sent a glance, the Sergeant who was holding the steering wheel nodded heavily, swallowed hard, and gripped the wheel tightly.
"Hold on tight."
At his signal, all four people in the electric vehicle grabbed the seats and handles. Vroom! In an instant, the electric motor rotated powerfully, and the electric vehicle, which had metal structures welded to its bumper and doors, shot forward quickly.
CRASH! The electric vehicle smashed through the stainless steel gate and entered, and two electric trucks followed behind it.
SCREECH! Screech! Major Lee Seok-jin, Jun-ho, and the two lieutenants quickly disembarked from the electric vehicle that had turned behind the warehouse building in an instant. As soon as they saw the back door with a door lock attached, Major Lee Seok-jin, who had run toward it, fired his K2C1 at the door.
RAT-TAT-TAT!!! The sound of gunfire rang out like thunder, shattering the doorknob and the door lock. And... at the sound of the main gate breaking and the powerful gunfire that rang throughout all of Yeongho 2-ri, the zombies that had been huddled inside all the buildings in the village came rushing out.