Thousands! Maybe More!
"Aaaah!"
Jun-ho moved forward, his ears filled with the terrified wails of children who looked to be no older than six to eight years old.
"Ghh... ugh..."
Even as tears streamed down his face in agony, Yoo Young-jae desperately pushed his hips backward, trying to crawl away from Jun-ho.
"Ghh, gh-gh..."
But with his right thigh pierced by a blade and his left ankle crushed, there was no way he could escape. Jun-ho looked down at Yoo Young-jae, who was trembling like a leaf, backed against a desk.
"Did you want to know how big a child has to be before a zombie considers them prey and eats them?"
"Kuhk...!?"
"How developed the brain needs to be. Whether it's related to intelligence. How tall they have to be. If body weight is a factor. Whether they distinguish between individuals even among children... Is that what you were trying to find out?"
Yoo Young-jae was horrified. How could this soldier, whom he had seen for the first time today, possibly know all that? But soon, he reached the most rational conclusion for a businessman.
"Ghh... I-is the government doing the same experiments? I knew it. I know what kind of bastards they are. Hehehe..."
Yoo Young-jae, his face twisted into a grotesque grin, continued urgently.
"L-look. I've almost finished the experiments, you know? I've saved the data securely. I'll give you everything if you want. S-so..."
CRACK!
"Ghh-aaaaah...!"
Yoo Young-jae screamed as his other ankle was crushed. Jun-ho, having averted his gaze from the man rolling on the floor with his eyes rolled back, turned to look at Jeon Yo-han.
"......!"
Jeon Yo-han, who had been staring at Jun-ho with a pale face, flinched and couldn't help but let out a hollow laugh.
"Heh. Damn it..."
There was no anger or disgust in Jun-ho's expression as he stared back in silence. Jeon Yo-han had seen a look like that before. It was the eyes of a butcher staring at the cows and pigs that had already been slaughtered and delivered from the livestock market.
"Huh? It's open?"
"What the? Damn it, did they already run away?"
As the men who had climbed up to the 501-dong penthouse whispered, Kim Sun-woo put a finger to his lips and stepped forward. For some reason, the penthouse entrance was propped open with a fire extinguisher wedged between the door and the frame.
Ugh... Mmph, mph.
Faint groans and signs of life drifted from inside. And, if no one else could, Kim Sun-woo, a former Police Special Forces operator, immediately recognized the scent that hit his nose.
"...A flashbang?"
Kim Sun-woo furrowed his brow at the lingering scent of burnt metal mixed with chemical agents. The Daeseonghoe syndicate did not possess flashbangs. In other words, someone other than the gangsters had already been here.
"Don't tell me...?"
Naturally, Jun-ho's face came to mind. Kim Sun-woo pressed his HK416 against his shoulder, finger on the trigger, and cautiously entered.
"Oh...?"
The men who had come with him were surprised by the sudden breach. However, knowing exactly what kind of man Kim Sun-woo was, and remembering the feats he had shown on the way here, they exchanged glances and followed him.
Kmph...! Mmph! Kmph!
As they moved down the hallway, the groans mixed with the lingering scent of the flashbang grew louder. Listening closely, it wasn't just one person, but several people struggling.
"Hoo..."
Kim Sun-woo stopped in front of the living room, steadying his breath and listening. After confirming the movement inside, he aligned his muzzle with the corner of the frame and quickly pivoted his body to the right.
"......!?"
Kim Sun-woo's eyes widened, and he slowly lowered his muzzle.
"What is it?"
"...Huh?"
The men, who had been peeking their heads toward the living room in high tension, also widened their eyes and began walking into the living room one by one.
"Mmph! Mmph!"
"Kmph! K-kmmph!"
Between two corpses with their heads and upper bodies severed, lying in a pool of blood, were old men in their underwear, their hands and feet bound with cable ties. And those old men were people Kim Sun-woo and his men knew all too well.
RIIIP!
"H-hurk...!"
"Huff, huff..."
As the tape was ripped from their mouths, the old men gasped for air, then immediately began shouting at Kim Sun-woo and the men.
"Hey, you bastard! If a person is like this, you should untie them quickly! What are you doing?!"
"Fire Captain Choi, what are you doing!?"
"Hey Kim Sun-woo, untie this quickly."
City council members, high-ranking officials, prosecutors, and police executives—these old men were all big shots in Guri and Namyangju, and they demanded to be untied as if it were a matter of course to the men who were former or current civil servants, police officers, and firefighters.
"......"
But Kim Sun-woo and the other men didn't even think of untying them; they just stared at the old men in silence. Only then did the old men realize the atmosphere was strange. They swallowed hard, exchanged glances, and then, with awkward smiles, spoke in a deliberately soft tone.
"Inspector Kim Sun-woo. Is this because of that thing from before? B-but you know, right? If you're with me, your nieces can stay much safer. G-granddaughters, yes, I thought of them as my own granddaughters, so I was trying to protect them."
"Manager Oh, Manager Oh. You know, right? I'm in a position where I'm being held by the gangsters too, man. My family is also having a really hard time, you know? So..."
That was when it happened.
"Ghh, k-kuhk! You dog-like bastards..."
One of the men who had been searching the rooms of the penthouse came out into the living room, supporting someone, and spat out a curse mixed with sobs. As he knew, the person he was supporting was a young woman with disheveled hair, and she, barely covering her body with a thin blanket, was the man's youngest sister who had just turned 20.
"You beastly bastards..."
"What? You're being held and having a hard time? Is this what you call having a hard time? You filthy bastard."
SHING.
Seeing that, the men, without a word, twisted their faces and pulled out knives and axes instead of guns.
"Hup...!"
The old men froze at the sight of the blades gleaming blue under the moonlight.
Thud, thud, thud.
The old men who were once their superiors or high-ranking officials they dared not even look up to. The men, who had lost precious people or lived slave-like lives because of these old men and the gangsters they colluded with, approached them with faces like demons.
"N-no...!"
"Fire Captain Choi! I, I, I..."
SLASH! THUD! THWACK! SPLATTER!
As the blue blades danced, red blood splattered across the living room. Kim Sun-woo also swung his knife at the police superintendent who had retired and was trying to get a nomination for city council.
"Ghh-aaack!"
He plunged the knife into the eyes of the old monster, who was more of a beast than a zombie, the man who had licked his lips every time he saw his young niece.
"Die, you son of a bitch!"
Kim Sun-woo was sincerely grateful to Jun-ho for creating such an opportunity.
Ghh-aaack! Aack! Kuhk!
With the screams of the old men who had lived by devouring people in a different sense than zombies, the time of slaughter that took place in the middle of the night came to an end.
The fierce yet one-sided night battle was almost over. The main force of the Daeseonghoe was wiped out in the crossfire, but a small number of members who did not participate in the battle scattered to each building to flee or hide. However, it was not difficult to mop up those who were trapped like rats in a cage without even firearms.
Lee Seok-jin ordered Lieutenant Jeong to lead a search team to find and kill the remaining gangsters. At the same time, he instructed another lieutenant and non-commissioned officers to deploy troops to the front and back gates of the apartment complex to prepare for a possible zombie horde attack, then headed to the cultural center with only one squad.
Park Cheol-woo, who had perfectly carried out the difficult mission of crossing the apartment complex with the combat team to sow confusion among the gangsters and quickly occupying the front gate, also joined the cultural center, leaving the combat team at the scene.
"......!"
Upon arriving at the cultural center, they were startled to see the corpses of Yoo Young-jae and Jeon Yo-han, who had died in horrific states. However, after seeing the children who had been locked in a room in the office and hearing from Jun-ho what purpose the two dead men had used these children for, their faces flushed with rage.
"There, there, don't cry. Can you walk? Do you want to be carried by this uncle?"
"Kim, give me some water if there's any left!"
While the soldiers were taking care of the children and evacuating them, Jun-ho sat in an office with Lee Seok-jin and Park Cheol-woo, whose anger had not yet subsided.
"Major, you should keep this data."
"Me? Why this?"
As Jun-ho held out an SSD well-packaged in a zipper bag, Lee Seok-jin looked down at it with eyes filled with strong disgust. Jun-ho could fully understand his feelings, but he nodded calmly.
"Yes. You might need it if you ever make contact with the government or a higher-level unit later. You'll need an excuse."
"......"
Even though they were gangsters, a large number of civilians had been killed, and even high-ranking figures from all walks of life in Guri and Namyangju had been slaughtered. In a world where law and order had collapsed, that wouldn't exactly be a big problem. But if government officials or commanders of higher units were to question them and hold them accountable, it would be quite difficult for Lee Seok-jin, who had not lost his sense of responsibility and identity as an ROK Army officer. This data that Yoo Young-jae had created was insurance for that time.
"It's just my guess, but he probably recorded a bunch of useless nonsense. Even if it has some value, by then, the government will likely already know all the facts."
He spoke in the subjunctive, but Jun-ho was certain that the data contained here would have no particular value. If Yoo Young-jae's research had achieved even the slightest result, the Daeseonghoe before the regression wouldn't have stayed in the same place as now, nor would they have desperately tried to capture survivors.
"...Hoo, I understand. I'll keep it for now."
As Lee Seok-jin sighed and tucked the SSD into his chest, Park Cheol-woo stepped forward.
"By the way, isn't there an Alpha in the basement here? What about those guys..."
"I killed them all."
"......!"
Park Cheol-woo, who had widened his eyes, clicked his tongue.
"Tsk. Jun-ho, you ended up doing the hardest work again. You could have just ordered our guys or the soldiers to do it."
But Jun-ho shook his head, thinking of the cultural center basement he had just visited.
"They were extremely ferocious, so it would have been dangerous. And the scene itself... no matter how much combat experience one has, it wasn't a level that an ordinary person could handle."
The number of people the gangsters had provided as 'food' to the 12 Alphas in the basement had long exceeded 500. Furthermore, among the victims were not only minors but also many children the same age as those being rescued now. If they saw hundreds of horrific corpses torn and ripped apart beyond recognition, any combat team member or soldier would have lost their mind. Therefore, it was right for Jun-ho himself to handle the work in that place, which was a hell on earth that no human could watch with open eyes.
Above all, he could not yield to anyone else the act of killing the Alphas, which slightly increased his physical abilities every time he killed one.
"Hoo. Then it's mostly finished. First, let's gather the survivors from the buildings the search team has finished checking, finish cleaning up the battlefield, and then..."
Just as Lee Seok-jin was explaining the next plan, the radios of both him and Jun-ho rang simultaneously.
- Battalion Commander! Z-zombies! Zombies are swarming in huge numbers!
- Brother Jun-ho! Across the highway! The hill where the apartment complex is! Zombies are pouring over the guardrails!
"What? How many?"
Lee Seok-jin, surprised by the drone operator's report, asked, and a desperate answer came back.
- I-I don't know! I can't count them! I think there are well over a thousand! S-some are showing signs of trying to bypass us!
- Thousands! Maybe More!
"......!"
Surprised by the news that thousands of zombies were swarming, Lee Seok-jin gritted his teeth and raised his voice.
"Front gate! And tell them to deploy heavy machine guns on the rooftops of the buildings closest to the front gate! Leave only the minimum number of personnel at the back gate and deploy everyone else to the front gate! Pass this on to the officers immediately!"
- Yes, understood!
Lee Seok-jin, who had quickly issued the orders, said to Jun-ho and Park Cheol-woo.
"Let's join up immediately. Manager Park Cheol-woo, how much live ammunition do you have left?"
"We have about three or four magazines each. You'd be better off moving all the personnel from the back gate to the front. We'll handle the ones trying to bypass."
"That would be best. Then, Lee Jun-ho..."
"I'll go outside and fight."
"W-what!?"
At Jun-ho's unexpected words, the two men widened their eyes.