Changing Classes (1)
December 9, 2024, 19:20. Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.
Bang! Bang-bang! Rat-tat-tat-tat...! Boom! Kwoong...!
Choi Hyun-woo and Kim Tae-young lay prone, pressed into the tall, yellowed weeds growing along the roadside, listening to the distant sounds of gunfire and explosions. In the past, hiding in a place like this would have been unthinkable, but due to the long period of neglect, the weeds had grown nearly a meter high.
"Sounds like mechanized infantry."
"I did my service as a public service worker, so I wouldn't know."
"The kind that rides around in armored vehicles. Grunts."
"Is that so? Do they even have fuel left?"
"They've got a decent stockpile. Though, since crude oil imports have completely stopped, they'll run dry soon enough. Anyway, those guys are all going to end up dead or turned into zombies soon. Or they'll run away."
"Is the military weak? Or are the zombies just that strong?"
To the question from Kim Tae-young, a former public service worker, Choi Hyun-woo sighed while continuously scanning the surroundings from within the weeds.
"In my opinion, it's neither."
"Huh? Then what?"
"It's a bad matchup, and the people in command don't seem to have a clue how to fight this."
"Matchup?"
"Yeah. Look at that."
Kim Tae-young poked his head out in the direction Choi Hyun-woo was pointing. Hundreds, no, likely over a thousand zombies were pouring out of the alleys along the main road, sprinting toward the source of the gunfire.
"It's not just happening here. They're swarming from all four cardinal directions. I don't know where those soldiers came from, but their rear is definitely in danger."
"So they're getting surrounded?"
Even by a rough estimate, tens of thousands of zombies were currently encircling the area where that unidentified unit was fighting, charging in with mindless aggression.
"Yeah. Even if the guys fighting right now are a battalion-sized unit, how much ammo could they possibly have? Plus, they don't even die unless you get a headshot."
"...Fuck."
Although he was a former public service worker, Kim Tae-young had learned a thing or two over the past few months of watching and experiencing the zombie apocalypse.
"From what I've seen, defending against zombies isn't actually that hard. But attacking and capturing territory? That's several times harder."
That was Choi Hyun-woo, a former Marine, speaking.
"Coach, you saw that Alpha bastard sending the ones he controls into buildings to keep watch outside, right? How they let the military pass through the road, and then once the rear guard is completely past, they strike from behind?"
"I saw it. Those crazy monster bastards..."
It was a truly terrifying and chilling sight. Just like a pack of predators watching their prey without immediately striking, waiting for the perfect opportunity to pounce. The Alpha and the zombies it controlled behaved in a similar fashion.
The bigger problem was that the Alphas communicated with each other. Was it instinct rather than language? If one group struck the rear, another group of Alphas watching the same target from nearby would immediately attack the flank. And when yet another group of Alphas joined the attack almost simultaneously, before they knew it, other monsters from the vicinity would swarm in.
The two of them believed—no, it was written in 'Lee Jun-ho's Golden Rule' notebook—that there were hundreds of such Alphas in Bucheon alone. That was why, with thousands upon thousands of zombies jumping out simultaneously from every direction—some even demonstrating tactical movement to avoid heavy weaponry—the military was bound to be "annihilated." Because once even one point was breached, it was over, and those who had been in the direction of the breach were no longer comrades, but part of the enemy.
"According to Jun-ho Hyung-nim's notes, the only way is for troops armed with suppressed firearms to cut their way in from the outskirts. It would take a hell of a long time, though."
No matter how heavily armed they were with heavy weaponry, it was useless if the zombies didn't come out of the concrete buildings. And it wasn't just one specific building; zombies were in almost every building they could see. Target a building and start an attack? Then the monsters would jump out from every other building surrounding the attacking unit. There was no way they could hold out.
The only way was for a special unit with suppressed weapons to cut in one by one, slowly but surely, like playing a game of Go. Or, they could just give up on the city's survivors and dump bombs on everything.
"But you said suppressors aren't that common, right? And they have to use different ammo than what regular soldiers use."
"Yeah. That's the problem. The military probably knows by now that it's the most efficient method. They just can't do it, or they won't."
The realistic issue of supplying suppressors and subsonic ammunition, combined with the fact that it didn't yield flashy, quick results, likely forced the commanders to continue with the current, meaningless operations that only led to troop losses.
"Still, it's not like the commanders are all incompetent. Who could have imagined we'd be fighting a war like this?"
"...That's true."
It was a fight beyond common sense against an enemy beyond common sense. For the military, a rigid and conservative organization, they had no choice but to keep doing what they had always done.
"If Jun-ho Hyung-nim is right, they'll try to do something next spring by having special forces parachute onto building rooftops. Things will probably change one way or another then."
Rat-tat-tat...! Tat...! Tat-tat...! Kwoooo...! Kwoong!
The intense gunfire and explosions gradually died down. Despite only hearing the sounds without seeing, the two men had a rough grasp of the situation.
"Let's get going. Before the ones that swarmed to Sang-dong come back."
"Let's."
After exchanging heavy words, they rose from the weeds. Keeping their bodies as low as possible, they tore through the brush and crossed the intersection at the Sports Complex Station.
Constantly scanning their surroundings, the two passed through the ruined woods and a dozen vinyl greenhouses filled with waist-high yellow reeds, finally entering a residential neighborhood. Only after entering the alley did they finally relax, straightening their backs and chatting as they moved toward the house.
"But seriously, today makes three times already that military units have come this way to fight. Is there something in Bucheon?"
"I don't know. Maybe they want to get toward Gimpo Airport, or maybe it's just because it's the gateway to Guro or Yeongdeungpo."
"It's strange. Anyway, we found out there aren't many zombies on the roads near Wonmi Mountain and the library, so that's a gain, I guess."
"Yeah. If we can just get access to Sosa Station, we can get to Bucheon Station and Jung-dong Station quickly via the tracks. The problem is that 500-meter stretch to Sosa Station..."
Sosa-ro, which runs along Wonmi Mountain from the Bucheon Sports Complex intersection, had relatively few zombies because the surroundings were mostly mountains, fields, or public parking lots. However, the problem started from Sosa-dong, where the Administrative Welfare Center was located after passing Wonmi Mountain. A population of 6,000 lived in a narrow area of about 0.3 square kilometers—900 meters wide and 400 meters long, excluding the mountain. They had to follow the narrow road passing through the middle of that to reach Sosa Station.
"We can't use the boxes anymore, right?"
"No. Other people tried that and got caught by an Alpha pack."
It was pure luck that Kim Tae-young and Han Ah-reum had managed to reach the subway station hiding in large boxes during the early stages of the outbreak. It was only possible because the Alpha hadn't fully awakened yet; that method was out of the question now.
The roads and alleys were littered with all sorts of obstacles, and moving secretly like that at night was now nearly impossible. Furthermore, the three of them had witnessed through the house's PTZ camera a group of survivors who had realized too late that zombies had poor eyesight, only to be horribly killed after one of them accidentally made a noise while moving under boxes.
In other words, the only thing they could trust at night now was night-vision goggles with thermal imaging.
"Ah, fuck... Why did I live in a cramped, crowded place like Bucheon?"
"Same here. My mom happened to be assigned to the Bucheon Police Station, so I had no choice... but at least it's a relief that both my place and the gym director's place are in Jung-dong."
"That's true. Plus, the apartments are right next to each other. It's a huge relief that once we get to Jung-dong, I can see your mom and Director Yu-chan's family all at once."
Choi Hyun-woo had to go to Jung-dong to meet his mother, and Kim Tae-young, who had lost his parents early, had to go to find the gym director and his family, who were like blood brothers to him.
"What do you think Jun-ho will say when he sees us?"
At Kim Tae-young's words, Choi Hyun-woo chuckled and nodded.
"He'll probably give us hell. But in my opinion, even if Jun-ho Hyung-nim complains, he'd help us out somehow."
He had stood guard at the funeral with a calm expression until the very end, but Choi Hyun-woo thought that if it were Jun-ho—the man he recognized as a true 'man's man'—he would surely, absolutely do that.
"Anyway, let's think slowly about how to get to Sosa Station. And Bucheon Station is..."
"We have to pass through as quickly as possible. They say those gangster bastards, the Bucheon MZ Family or whatever, have taken over the station and the D-Mart."
In the notebook Jun-ho had left behind, the most dangerous and vicious group in Bucheon, centered around the 'MZ Family,' was circled in red pen multiple times. They were survivors—no, a group of looters.
* * *
"Hahaha!"
"Kkamsuni! Over here! Here!"
Woof! Woof-woof!
Choi Ji-woo, wearing earmuffs that looked like rabbit ears, and Kim Jun-seo, with his hood pulled up, were running around the shelter's yard with Kkamsuni. The winter clothes Jo Yu-na had made fit them as well as store-bought items, and the surroundings of the two children and the dog, playing excitedly in their new clothes, were completely white. The first snow had fallen.
"Aigoo... When am I supposed to clear all that white shit? I'm going crazy, seriously. I thought I'd never have to hold a snow shovel again after being discharged, hah..."
As Baek Su-ho, who still had memories of snow removal from his active-duty days, lamented, Jun-hyeok, who was drinking coffee nearby, said,
"What are you talking about? Why would you use a shovel?"
"Huh? Hyung-nim, don't we have to clear it when the snow piles up? Then we need shovels."
"Good grief. Why would you use a shovel when we have that?"
"Huh...?"
Baek Su-ho's gaze turned to where Jun-hyeok was pointing.
"Ah!"
There, a multi-purpose electric vehicle draped in a winter-gray waterproof camouflage tarp was waiting.
"Just attach the snowplow equipment to the front and push. Our shelter is huge; how long would it take to clear all that snow with shovels?"
"As expected, the cutting edge of technology... Oh, but what about the solar power? I heard electricity production drops off a cliff when it snows."
"I knew that, so I installed this."
The solar panels, which had been installed on one side of the yard because the power supply seemed a bit insufficient, were equipped with automatic cleaning robots.
"They break down once or twice, but it's better than nothing. If they break, Mr. Baek and Jeong-woo Hyung-nim can fix them in a jiffy. Anyway, you don't have to worry about electricity even if it snows. Actually, we haven't run the emergency generator in so long that we're going to use it for power tomorrow. They say you have to run the generator hard every once in a while so it doesn't have problems and lasts a long time."
"C-crazy, cutting-edge..."
"Hey, but Su-ho."
"Yes, Hyung-nim."
Jun-hyeok, who had finished the rest of his coffee, looked at Baek Su-ho with a somewhat serious face and said,
"Are you really... going to learn how to shoot guns and fight?"
"...Yes. Helping out and learning skills and doing chores isn't bad, but I really want to be of help to our shelter. I don't know about going outside and fighting like you, Hyung-nim... but I can do a good job patrolling the guard post behind the mountain or the road in front here, catching wild animals and zombies."
That was it. Baek Su-ho had made up his mind to become the shelter's third 'combatant,' following Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok. And his father, shelter second-in-command Baek Ha-il, was of the stance that he should just do as he pleased. Since he was from a front-line mechanized infantry division and, excluding the Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok brothers, was a reservist who had handled 'firearms' until most recently, Jun-ho was also quite seriously considering Baek Su-ho's 'transfer' to a shelter combatant—or more accurately, a 'Shelter Guard.'