If That Had Happened...
"...So, it’s been two months since I started cooperating with those bastards. And, I swear on my life, I’ve never killed anyone. I just lured people in, like I did earlier."
"Is that so? Does that mean you’re innocent? How many of the people you lured are still alive?"
"......."
Kim Tae-su, who had been shedding tears, hung his head low. Jun-ho stared at him in silence with icy eyes. Assuming Kim Tae-su was telling the truth, he was a man who had a family and ran a pension in Yangpyeong. When the apocalypse broke out, he hid in the pension for a couple of months, and after experiencing various hardships, he brought his family to this farm, which he had known well. Although there were a few houses nearby, they were all people he had known for a long time, and luckily, no zombies had appeared in this area, so the twenty or so people had survived by helping each other.
However, a group that had come to the Namhan River for a holiday and turned into raiders after the apocalypse broke out attacked the place in the middle of the night. The elderly couple who owned the farm and a few residents were killed, and Kim Tae-su’s wife and son were taken hostage. It was a very common story in the apocalypse—he had no choice but to follow the raiders' orders.
"Where are the people who originally lived here?"
At Jun-ho’s question, Kim Tae-su hurriedly raised his head and pointed to one side.
"Th-that blue-roofed building over there. It was originally used as a warehouse. When they aren't making us work, they herd us all in there and lock us up. Those dog-like bastards only give us water and food twice a day, so everyone is struggling."
"Dog-like bastards? Are there women too?"
"Yes, yes. There’s a real bitch named Oh Hui-ju. That woman, every single day, she... ugh."
Kim Tae-su gritted his teeth with bloodshot eyes, as if his wife had suffered something terrible. But Jun-ho wasn't particularly interested in that, so he scanned the entire farm and said,
"You said there are six of them left there?"
"Yes. Three women and three men."
That made 12, including the ones he had just killed. Considering the characteristics of the area, it was a fairly large group of raiders.
"U-usually, two of them are out at that tunnel earlier, and the rest are here. The ones who were there reported that they found you and your group, so they hurriedly started their operation. They said you guys seemed to have guns, so five more went out."
No wonder they seemed a bit clumsy. Compared to the raiders who had survived in the middle of cities or residential areas, these guys were no different from amateurs. Well, even vicious raider groups in the city would get dull if they spent months grilling beef in a place like this with no zombies and no other raiders.
"So the others are just lounging around the owner's house and the other buildings?"
"Yes. But if they don't come back even though it's time for them to return from the tunnel, maybe one or two of them might come out."
The raiders who occupied the farm didn't have walkie-talkies, so to find their comrades from here, they had to walk nearly 2 kilometers, passing through the tunnel to the bridge.
"But I don't know exactly how many people are inside where right now..."
"Don't worry about that."
Jun-ho said quietly, looking down at the farm from behind a tree.
"The wireless signal reaches here, right?"
"That’s enough. Anyway, zoom in and scout this farm properly. Since they said the two-story house is the owner's, keep a close eye on that side."
As Jun-ho took a tablet out of his backpack to check the footage transmitted by the drone, Kim Tae-su, who was nearby, opened his eyes wide and kept glancing at Jun-ho. Seeing him handle such high-tech equipment after the terrifying marksmanship and massacre he had shown on the bridge earlier, he realized anew that Jun-ho was no ordinary person.
That was when it happened.
"......!?"
At Gu Jeong-mok’s words, Jun-ho turned his gaze toward the warehouse building where the people were said to be trapped. Two young men and women were forcibly dragging out a boy who looked to be about twelve or thirteen years old. In the process, a woman who appeared to be the child's mother tried to rush out of the warehouse, but was kicked by a man and fell back inside.
"Se-jin...? Se-jin's mom...!"
Kim Tae-su, who saw his son and wife, tried to raise his voice without realizing it, but shut his mouth at Jun-ho’s gaze. However, he was trembling, clutching his two fists while staring at the warehouse with bloodshot eyes. Soon, the two men and women who had closed the warehouse door shoved the boy, knocking him down, and then the woman slapped the child’s cheek several times.
"You little bastard! You stole and ate it, didn't you? A young brat already stealing? Did your mom and dad tell you to? You little bastard!"
"You fucking... fucking bitch... ugh!"
Kim Tae-su, who witnessed his child being beaten mercilessly, gritted his teeth until they made a sound.
At Yun Yeong-su’s voice, Jun-ho said quietly,
"Got it. Gu, keep watching the owner's house."
"Understood. You'll handle those two yourself, right?"
"Yes."
Jun-ho answered indifferently and immediately aimed his air rifle toward the warehouse. And the moment the woman, who had been grabbing the fallen boy by the collar and hitting his face, stood up,
Thwip!
The woman, hit in the abdomen by the tungsten pellet that had flown over 70 meters, fell straight backward. At the same time, the bullet fired hit the startled man in the head, and he died instantly.
"......!!!"
"You stay here for a moment. Come when I give the signal."
Jun-ho said coldly to Kim Tae-su, who was looking at him with eyes mixed with shock, relief, and gratitude. He slung the air rifle over his back and walked toward the farm, holding his commando dagger.
*
*
*
Kim Se-jin, who should have been entering middle school this year, sat on the ground, trembling and looking around.
"Ugh... ugh..."
The witch-like woman who had beaten and tormented his mother and him every day was pouring tears while blood flowed from her stomach. The witch's younger brother was lying next to her, limbs spread out, not moving at all.
"Ah, ahh. Blo... blood... It hurts. It hurts..."
Even though he didn't know if his own brother was dead or alive, the witch was just flailing about, looking at the blood covering her stomach and hands.
Thump! Thump-thump!
"Se-jin...! Se-jin! Open this! Open this!"
"Mo... Mom."
At the sound of his mother’s voice from inside the warehouse, Kim Se-jin tried to get up with difficulty and go toward the warehouse. But.
"Ah...!?"
The moment he saw the big man walking from over there, young Kim Se-jin’s body froze. It was a very cloudy day, but for some reason, the knife the man was holding seemed to flash, catching his eye.
Thump-thump! Thump-thump!
"Se-jin! Se-jin!"
His mother’s desperate voice continued to be heard, but because he felt the man’s eyes behind the translucent goggles over his mask looking at him, Kim Se-jin couldn't move an inch.
"Ugh? Ah...?"
The witch, who had been writhing in pain, also discovered the big man, but she could only let out groans and couldn't scream. Just then, the man who had approached within a few meters of Kim Se-jin glanced at the witch and said to Kim Se-jin,
"I came with your dad, so just stay there for a second, kid."
"...Ye-yes."
Just as Jun-ho was about to pass by Kim Se-jin, who was stiff and only nodding, a man came out of the front door of the owner's house, a little away from the warehouse.
"Yawn! Why aren't they coming? Is there even a woman? Fu... huh?"
The man, who had been muttering while stretching, made eye contact with Jun-ho.
"Fu, fucking who are you..."
Thwip...!
The drawing knife that left Jun-ho’s left hand pierced the man's glabella, and at the same time, the guy whose chest was pierced by a tungsten pellet fired by Gu Jeong-mok fell forward without even finishing his last words.
Thump.
"What is it? Did you fall?"
"That's why I told you to stop drinking so much."
The sound of the fall was a bit loud, so the voices of a man and a woman were heard from inside the house. Pitter-patter... As the spring rain began to fall, Jun-ho passed the dead body with eyes wide open and entered the front door.
*
*
*
Whoosh...!
A few minutes after the rain began to fall refreshingly, Jun-ho, holding a commando dagger that had turned red, came out of the front door again. Jun-ho, who had cleanly washed the blood and flesh off the blade with the rain and put it away, washed his hands and face with the rainwater dripping from the eaves.
"It's over. Come this way."
"Yeong-su, how much drone battery is left?"
"Send a new drone, and tell Deok-cheol and Song Ki-jun to come this way. Tell them there are no zombies on the way, but to be careful."
Jun-ho, who finished the communication, confirmed that Gu Jeong-mok was walking out of the forest behind the farm, and then walked back to the warehouse. The child named Kim Se-jin was just standing there, looking at him without opening the warehouse door, even though it was raining.
"You listen well. Your mom and the others are in there, right? You can open it now."
"Ye-yes."
Perhaps realizing it at Jun-ho’s voice, Kim Se-jin hurriedly opened the locked warehouse door.
"Se-jin!"
"Mom!"
Then, a woman in her 40s with a shabby appearance came out limping and hugged her son. Following her, people who all looked to be in their 60s or older came out of the warehouse one by one.
"Ah..."
"Ugh?"
With their clothes torn and tattered, and everyone, regardless of gender, so emaciated and disheveled, it was hard to distinguish whether they were zombies or humans.
"Gu, please take care of these people. You can use all the emergency food and medical kits if you need to."
"...Ah, understood. Come on, everyone, come this way."
Gu Jeong-mok, who had forgotten what to say for a moment at the miserable sight, soon gathered the people. Just then, someone came limping through the rain from far away.
"Se-jin! Honey!"
"Da-dad? Da-dad...!"
"Oh, Se-jin’s dad! Waaaaah!"
The three families, hugging each other, wailed in the pouring spring rain. They were a very lucky family, never common in the apocalypse.
*
*
*
Moo... moo...
"They're all in good condition."
Jun-ho looked at the cows that had returned to the barn as soon as it rained, without anyone telling them to, with a satisfied expression. As Kim Tae-su said, there seemed to be about 100 cows in total.
"Are you going to take them all?"
"No. I don't have the space to raise them."
At Gu Jeong-mok’s words, Jun-ho shook his head. It wasn't just the space; it was impossible for the elderly Go Jeong-nam, who would be 80 in a few years, to raise them all by himself. Above all, it was obvious that small and large problems would arise if they took all the cows that had lived here their whole lives.
"We're only going to take the calves. We'll send some to Gahyeon-ri too."
Jun-ho only intended to take about 10 calves that hadn't fully grown yet to the shelter.
"Yes? Then what about the rest?"
As Gu Jeong-mok tilted his head, Jun-ho turned his body. Then, he looked at Kim Tae-su, his family, and the other residents who were eating high-calorie emergency food and combat rations in a hurry, sitting on the dry straw in one of the barns, and said,
"Those people should raise them. Collect more cows too. This place will become our shelter's cattle farm from now on."
In addition, it would also take on the role of an 'advance base' in the east, detecting those who might come to Namyangju from Yangpyeong, Yeoju, Wonju, etc., first. And.
"News about the east coast will probably come up to the metropolitan area in the summer. If that happens..."
Although his fate had changed from before the regression. If, just if, the Volcano Group had formed a power base in Ulsan and Pohang like before the regression. And if Viktor Volk Choi had intended to come to Korea himself from Sakhalin and Vladivostok. Jun-ho might be able to continuously receive 'oil and ammunition' in the apocalyptic world.