Cold as Ice
September 20, 2024, 19:40. Gangho Resort, Gwangju, Gyeonggi Province.
"Manager Park Cheol-woo says he's finished clearing out the Spa Land, Representative."
"Oh, really? Wow, he really worked hard. Tell Manager Cheol-woo to come back quickly. Oh, and did he say anyone got hurt?"
"Yes. He said everyone is fine, except for the youngest who tripped and scraped his knee."
"Aigoo, tell them to be careful... Anyway, tell them all they worked hard. No, wait. I'll tell them myself when they get here. Oh, by the way..."
Kang Baek-ho, whose chin was covered in the rough stubble of a man who hadn't shaved in days, stood up and walked over to the map of the entire resort.
"So, is everything cleared now? No, wait. We still have parking lots 6 and 7, and the futsal field, right?"
"Yes. Manager Kim and I will take the KW Cops staff and clear those out tomorrow."
"Haa..."
Kang Baek-ho let out a long sigh. After a little over a month, he had finally succeeded in almost completely 'clearing' the entire resort. Countless people had died. Since they had killed everyone who turned into zombies, how many was that? A few hundred? No, maybe even over a thousand. And that was just the death toll. It was because so many guests had flocked to the resort for the long holiday weekend, including Liberation Day and the substitute holiday. Still, Kang Baek-ho had survived, and in the end, he had succeeded. Of course, it was the result of the devoted efforts of his six secretaries and bodyguards, led by Park Cheol-woo and Yoon Seol-hee, along with the other staff.
"It would feel incomplete if we left the futsal field, so it's right to clear it, right? Anyway, how are the Cops guys? Do they listen well?"
"They've been obedient ever since Manager Kim beat up their team leader and manager. They're clean people in that regard, so you don't have to worry, Representative."
"Yeah. But tell me if they act up. What kind of times are these for them to be acting like that?"
"Yes, I understand."
Kang Baek-ho spoke to Yoon Seol-hee, whose face was haggard but whose eyes were more alive than before, as if it were a new realization.
"By the way, Manager Seol-hee, did you eat? How many hours did you sleep last night?"
"I ate this morning. I slept for four hours last night."
"No, a person should sleep at least five or six hours. Aren't you tired? Go and get some rest."
"I'm fine. Compared to when I was on active duty, this is nothing."
"Aigoo, really... Hey, Yeong-mi."
"Yeah?"
Kim Young-mi, a former member of a famous 2nd-generation girl group and Kang Baek-ho's girlfriend, looked up.
"When you go to see the singers, go with Manager Seol-hee. If there are any kids whining, Manager Seol-hee will handle it. And Manager, while you're there, get some rest with Yeong-mi."
"No, I..."
"Great! If I go with Manager Seol-hee, those rude brats will all shut up. Manager, there's a junior named LD who talks too much and is a bit weird. I'll tell you who he is, so please make him shut his mouth."
"I know him too, Lab Dragon."
I don't know why a rapper who does rap chose 'Lab' (Laboratory) as his stage name.
"Oh, right, he blew up on YouTube. Anyway, you'll do it, right?"
"Yes."
"Yes!"
Kim Young-mi giggled. Even though it was an apocalypse and she was bare-faced, her beauty hadn't faded much. She was managing the singers, idol groups, and their staff who had been staying in the resort's special suites for a vacation and survived after coming to perform at Gangho Resort's garden party on Liberation Day, just before the apocalypse hit. No, rather than managing, it was a job of soothing and coaxing the celebrity survivors so they wouldn't do anything foolish, on behalf of her boyfriend, Kang Baek-ho, the 'owner' of this resort.
"Alright, let's go. Let's have the Cops staff use this place from now on, and we'll use the main building's management office."
"Yes, that's right in the middle where E-dong, W-dong, and S-dong meet, so it should be good."
"Yeah. By the way, wow... what would we have done if we hadn't installed solar panels on the resort roof? We would've been screwed, right?"
"Yes. We wouldn't have lasted more than a month or two with emergency generators, even if we saved fuel."
"It's such a relief. And that was all..."
"Thanks to Mr. Lee Jun-ho."
That was true. It was Lee Jun-ho who had actively recommended the large-scale solar power system for Gangho Resort since last year. It was also Lee Jun-ho who suggested installing an indoor archery range and air rifle range, saying that compound bow and crossbow training experiences were popular these days. And it was Lee Jun-ho who had suddenly suggested they do a 'bulk purchase' of long-term preservation foods like canned goods and pasta noodles a few months before the world turned into this. If they hadn't listened to him then, Gangho Resort would surely have faced significant difficulties. Of course, since it was a large resort with 300 rooms, they had always kept a certain amount of various foods and fuel on hand, but they wouldn't have lasted even two months if they had to take care of all the hundred or so survivors. However, thanks to Lee Jun-ho, that period had been extended to nearly half a year. And they were able to deal with zombies much more easily with the bows and guns from the archery and air rifle ranges. So, not only Kang Baek-ho but even Yoon Seol-hee and Park Cheol-woo were half-convinced that Jun-ho had helped them 'on purpose'. It was still a mystery how he had known about this situation in advance and prepared for it, but the important thing was that, whatever the reason, Lee Jun-ho had directly or indirectly helped them 'survive'.
"Kuh! My rude brother Juno-Juno. Where and what could he be doing while his brother is struggling like this? He's probably living well, having prepared much better than us, right?"
"Yes, if it's Mr. Lee Jun-ho, I think he probably is. He was a truly unique... no, special person. He's definitely doing well."
"He better be. His brother is struggling like this, huh? Even if it's my younger brother, he should be living well, warm and full. Anyway, Juno-Juno, just wait until I see you later. I'm really going to... love you so much."
Kang Baek-ho grinned and sincerely wished that Jun-ho, the best choice among the many 'gut feelings' he had had that had turned out to be correct, was living comfortably and peacefully.
* * *
Sseug-eok.
"......!"
The thug, whose neck was wrapped in a forearm as thick as an average woman's calf, couldn't even make a sound as the blade pierced his heart. Having quietly taken out all three guys smoking behind the mansion and the one guarding the entrance, Jun-ho said:
"Moving in. Free fire from now on. Kill everyone who pops out."
- Roger.
- Surroundings are still clear. I can't tell about the 1st and 2nd floors because the lights are off, but light is leaking from the curtains of the house on the right on the 3rd floor. The thug boss is probably there.
"......"
That would be the case. In a group of bully thugs like this, the only ones enjoying the benefits of civilization would obviously be the top dogs. Jun-ho quietly entered the 1st floor of the mansion. It was an old-fashioned mansion with two households per floor, six households in total. If you count three rooms, there would probably be at least five or six people per house, maybe up to 10. Then, including the personnel who joined today...
'40 to 50. Maybe 60...'
The household on the 3rd floor where the top bully dogs lived probably didn't have that many people. They were the ones playing at the top of the alliance, so they wouldn't be living 10 to a house like that, losing face. Jun-ho turned the round doorknob of the house on the left on the 1st floor, where faint music was leaking out. As expected, it wasn't locked. Jun-ho, who turned the doorknob without a sound and pulled the door open...
"Uh...?"
The moment he made eye contact with a guy who had just come out of the room right next to the entrance, perhaps having used the bathroom.
Puck!
He split the guy's head in half with his machete.
Thud!
The thug, whose one eyeball had even burst, collapsed, but there was no particular reaction from inside the house, buried by the music. Jun-ho began his hunt, starting from the bathroom, then the small room, then the middle room.
* * *
"Are they doing it right? It's too quiet..."
Jun-hyeok, who was aiming a modified air rifle equipped with a 6x thermal imaging scope with laser distance measurement, muttered while staring at the mansion. Next to the air rifle with a tripod, the fluorescent backlight of the HUD, which was linked to the shelter AI to grasp distance, wind, temperature, humidity, and altitude, was glowing faintly.
- Please adjust the shooter's camera by 5 degrees. In the current state, the accuracy cannot exceed 90 percent.
"Alright, alright."
At the AI Akina's businesslike voice, Jun-hyeok lowered the camera attached to his tactical helmet ever so slightly.
- Good. I will continue fire control.
"Yeah... huh?"
The moment the AI's voice ended, a bright light burst out from one of the windows of the house on the left on the 2nd floor, and Jun-hyeok quickly stared at the mansion through the scope. The window brightened for a few seconds and then went dark again. Had it been about 10 seconds? The window right next to it flashed with bright light like a club, six or seven times in an instant. Judging by the size of the window, it seemed to be the living room.
'Even from here, it's that much, so the guys in there...'
Sure enough, thanks to the light of the tactical flashlight blinking 5 times per second, Jun-hyeok was able to see the situation of his brother Jun-ho and the guys in the living room through the scope, and in the short time of just over 10 seconds, he witnessed four people being decapitated or having their heads smashed in real-time.
"......"
Jun-hyeok swallowed hard, watching the massacre that was fast, cold, and even cruel, hard to believe even while seeing it. Because the flashlight was blinking without rest, Jun-ho's attacks and the thugs' deaths seemed to unfold like continuous still images, like photos being flipped through quickly, making it even more bizarre and terrifying.
- Kids just popped out from another household on the 2nd floor. It seems like room 301 on the 3rd floor has noticed something too.
At the voice of Yoon Young-su, who was watching the situation with the thermal imaging camera of a drone hovering about 100 meters above the mansion.
- Roger.
- Yeah.
The brothers' voices came out almost simultaneously, and Jun-hyeok aimed at the thugs who had just jumped down from the 3rd floor to the 2nd floor through the stairs, over the stairwell window.
- Windage and drop correction. 1 click left. Aim 3 clicks up. Firing is possible.
As soon as the AI Akina's voice ended, Jun-hyeok pulled the trigger toward the brown perm hair that was just turning the middle of the stairs.
Pang...!
With a loud noise that was distinctly different from the air rifle he had used before, loud enough for anyone within 100 meters to notice, it flew to the mansion in about 0.7 seconds, passed through the half-open window, and shattered the back of the brown perm hair's head.
Pang! Pang! Pang!
Jun-hyeok pulled the trigger in succession. One of the shots missed slightly and hit some guy's shoulder, but the other two who were hit in the face and below the neck were probably killed instantly. Only then did the thugs on the 3rd floor, realizing that bullets were flying through the window, panic and hide their bodies, regardless of gender. However.
In the meantime, the black reaper who had cleared the entire 2nd floor had come up the stairs, and the guys who were hiding under the stairwell window were dying one by one to the machete and commando dagger that the black reaper was swinging and stabbing.
- There are five left in room 301, but they seem to have locked the door from the inside. Ignore them and go to room 302.
The black reaper, who had finally killed all three who had jumped out of room 301 and avoided Jun-hyeok's sniping, stood in front of the door to room 302.
- The guys in 302 are just now running in the living room trying to lock it! Go, go! Move it!
As soon as Yoon Young-su's urgent voice ended, the reaper, covered in blood in his pitch-black tactical combat suit, half-opened the front door of room 302, and the moment he faced the four top leaders armed with kitchen knives, hand axes, and chains, the reaper casually threw the flashbang he was holding in his left hand under their feet.
Pang! Pang! Pang!
He couldn't hear the sound, but Jun-hyeok could see the light mixed with sparks and smoke bursting three times in a row through the gap in the half-open front door through the scope. And 1 second later, firing the tactical flashlight mounted in the middle of his tactical vest like a beam of light, Jun-ho, the black reaper himself, rushed into room 302.
- Jun-hyeok, other guys are trying to come out.
- Roger that.
Confident that the top leaders had been perfectly neutralized by the flashbang followed by the tactical flashlight light attack, and that even if they hadn't been, his brother, armed with stab-proof vests and reinforced protective gear, could instantly kill such thugs, Jun-hyeok stared through the thermal imaging scope and coldly pulled the trigger, as cold as ice, at the waste of the apocalypse, who were terrified and jumping out of the mansion one by one, not even worth calling human.