Bible, Quran, and Heart Sutra
CRASH!
A heavy-duty MMA punching bag weighing over a hundred kilograms burst with a deafening roar and went flying.
"Holy shit...!"
"What the..."
Jun-hyeok and Park Deok-cheol stared, their eyes wide and jaws slack at the sight.
*Beep.*
The camera and sensor-equipped device in Jun-hyeok's hand chimed. He hurriedly checked the screen, his eyes widening even further.
"One thousand three hundred kilograms-force? Are you for real?"
Jun-hyeok couldn't believe his eyes. He knew his older brother Jun-ho's physical abilities had long since surpassed those of elite athletes, but he never imagined a single kick could pack the power of a heavyweight Taekwondo champion.
And that wasn't even the end of it.
"What did his grip strength measure earlier?"
"One hundred and twelve kilograms. It went up by sixteen kilograms since yesterday."
That was on par with professional strongman competitors. On top of that, his straight punch registered at eight hundred kilograms-force, with an instantaneous speed of seventy kilometers per hour. These were absurd numbers that rivaled active heavyweight boxing world champions or UFC champions.
"Does this even make sense?"
"No way. It's impossible."
The two of them looked back and forth between Jun-ho, who was wiping away his sweat, and the tablet screen displaying his physical stats, their faces filled with sheer disbelief. Considering Jun-ho's height and weight, these physical capabilities were utterly unrealistic.
Of course, looking at each stat individually, they weren't entirely impossible. There were people who could lift a total of over seven hundred kilograms in the big three powerlifts. Though rare, there were boxers and MMA fighters who could punch as hard as Jun-ho. A heavyweight Taekwondo athlete might be able to match his kicking power, and his grip strength was around the average of a professional strongman competitor. But for a single person to possess the peak, championship-level abilities of every single one of those disciplines was absurd.
What's more, Jun-ho had run a hundred-meter sprint in 9.2 seconds while wearing Gore-Tex work clothes and outdoor shoes. When the AI Akina converted this to a scenario where he wore professional sprinter gear on a proper track, it calculated an unbelievable time of 8.6 to 8.8 seconds—though only Jun-ho and Akina knew that. Regardless.
"A guy who can run a hundred meters in the nine-second range can also run ten kilometers in twenty-seven minutes..."
"And on top of that, he can throw punches and kicks with the power of a UFC heavyweight champion."
He wasn't just strong; he was, in the most literal sense of the term, a "human weapon."
"What are you two whispering about over there? Ah, we'll have to throw that bag away. Maybe we can have Jo Yu-na use the outer leather to make some armor."
"Huh? Oh, right, I'll let her know. B-but Hyung...?"
"Yeah?"
Jun-hyeok swallowed hard as he looked at Jun-ho, whose body was steaming in the cold outdoor air.
"Hyung... if you wore brass knuckles and combat boots with metal studs... couldn't you kill zombies with your bare hands?"
"What? No way..."
"No, seriously, I think you could! Remember when we were watching the UFC back in the day, and you said if a heavyweight boxing or UFC world champion threw a full-power punch or kick, a regular person would just die? You said if they got hit in the face or temple, a fractured skull was guaranteed, and their brain tissue would be damaged."
"...I did say that."
"See? Then wouldn't it be possible for you too?"
"Hmm..."
Aside from firearms, the most reliable way to deal with zombies was stabbing them with an awl or a knife. Having never considered fighting zombies bare-handed, Jun-ho remained silent, tilting his head in thought.
"Um... why don't we ask the AI?"
At Park Deok-cheol's suggestion, the brothers looked at him, then exchanged glances. And then.
"Yeong-su Hyung, can you ask Akina to run a simulation? Based on Hyung's physical test results, what would happen if he fought zombies bare-handed? Oh, assuming he's wearing knuckle gloves and combat boots with metal studs."
"Huh? What's that? That sounds fun as hell! Hold on. Drumroll, please..."
Yun Yeong-su's cheerful voice crackled through the comms. A moment later, as Jun-hyeok and Park Deok-cheol waited with expectant faces, Akina's synthesized voice rang out.
Applying Master Lee Jun-ho's physical performance metrics. The following is the projected outcome if Master Lee Jun-ho, equipped with knuckle gloves and metal-studded combat boots, engages Subject B.
A straight punch or hook landing on the face or temple of Subject B has a 95% probability of causing ocular rupture, zygomatic and cranial fractures, and bone fragments penetrating the brain.
A rotational kick landing on the head of Subject B has a 99% probability of penetrating the skull, exposing brain tissue, or completely destroying the cervical spine.
In both scenarios, the result is instant death due to complete cessation of brain function.
"Whoa!"
"Holy crap!"
Jun-hyeok and Park Deok-cheol cheered wildly. Even Jun-ho, the subject of the test, was quite surprised. However, after a brief moment of thought, he spoke into his headset again.
"What is my estimated combat endurance while wearing the shelter combat suit? Calculate for both winter and summer conditions. Assume I am equipped with a bulletproof vest, a machete, and a dagger."
The shelter combat suit, reinforced with hardened plastic armor plates on various parts of the body, was highly effective. When paired with a bulletproof or stab-proof vest, it provided exceptional protection not only against zombies but also against hostile humans armed with weapons. A moment later.
Based on the data, under winter conditions, you can engage in continuous combat against humans or zombies for 80 to 100 minutes without any water or energy replenishment. With water and energy replenishment, continuous combat duration extends to 140 to 160 minutes.
Under summer conditions with an average temperature of 20 degrees Celsius or higher, the duration is expected to decrease by approximately 20 minutes compared to winter.
"That's insane..."
Jun-hyeok, who had trained in martial arts alongside his brother, stood with his mouth agape. A single round of boxing lasted three minutes, and MMA rounds were five minutes. Only professional boxers or MMA fighters could maintain their footwork and throw punches past the fifteen or twenty-minute mark. For regular people, let alone average amateurs, their legs would turn to jelly and their speed would drop drastically by the third or fourth round. There was a reason amateur boxing matches were limited to three rounds of three minutes.
Yet Jun-ho could go for at least an hour, and up to over two hours. Most people would be gasping for breath if they were told to just jog lightly for that long, but Jun-ho could engage in high-intensity combat the entire time.
"W-wait a second. Then even if Jun-ho Hyung-nim only takes down ten guys a minute... *one hour for six hundred*!?"
Why he had to use his fingers to do such simple math was a mystery, but Park Deok-cheol's jaw hit the floor as well. Looking at the two of them staring at him as if he were some kind of monster, Jun-ho chuckled and shrugged.
"I just asked out of curiosity, just in case. It's not like I'm actually going to go around beating up zombies with my bare hands. How could I realistically pop every single head? If I get surrounded by hundreds of them or tripped and pinned down, I'm dead anyway."
"..."
"..."
But Jun-hyeok and Park Deok-cheol didn't buy it. As if on cue, their eyes slowly drifted toward the shredded punching bag Jun-ho had just obliterated. They highly doubted the zombies would be fine even if they weren't hit directly in the head by those kicks and punches. If it were a human, their bones would shatter and their organs would rupture, sending them flying. It would likely be no different for a zombie.
"Hyung... I don't think you even need to break their skulls. You could just break their jaws. If they lose all their teeth, they won't be able to bite anyway."
"..."
Jun-ho was left speechless by this remarkably creative method of zombie containment.
December 29, 2024, 07:20 AM. Bucheon, Gyeonggi Province.
"In...! Out...! In...! Out...!"
Han Ah-reum maintained a steady breathing rhythm, inhaling as much oxygen as possible through her nose and exhaling sharply.
Two hundred and ten, two hundred and fifteen, two hundred and twenty...
Estimating the distance they had run in her head, Han Ah-reum raised her deeply hunched upper body by about fifteen degrees and consciously tried to relax her tense shoulders. At the same time, she let go of the tension in her arms, transitioning into a rhythmic stride.
Grrraaaah...!
The bone-chilling shrieks of the zombies still echoed from behind, but Han Ah-reum exercised superhuman patience, refusing to look back. She kept her eyes locked dead ahead, scanning the path. This wasn't just for her own survival.
"Huff! Gasp! Huff...!"
Hearing the ragged breathing of the two men running for their lives just a few meters behind her—men who were nearly as fast as she was, a former high school track athlete—she called out, "Left turn ahead!" As the lead runner, she had to spot any threats first and act as their human GPS.
Patter-patter-patter-patter!
Despite the freezing cold, the three of them wore only their bike suits reinforced with hardened plastic plates, precisely for moments like this. Running in a tight line at roughly twenty-seven kilometers per hour, they veered off to the left side of the road.
"Inhale! Safe cover spotted!"
At Han Ah-reum's shout, Choi Hyun-woo and Kim Tae-young, who were running flat out, spotted a wall marked with blue duct tape.
Patter-patter... leap! Thud!
After sprinting another ten meters, the three of them vaulted almost simultaneously over the parking lot wall. It was originally about a meter high, but they had piled various obstacles on top of it.
"Haa... haa... haa..."
As if by unspoken agreement, they collapsed onto their backs, staring up at the sky. They caught their breath for about ten seconds, but as the groans and shrieks of the zombies drew closer, they held their breath.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud!
A few seconds later, the thunderous sound of hundreds of feet sprinting erupted from the path they had just traveled. Judging by the noise, the zombies at the front and middle of the pack had turned into the alley where the three were hiding, but the ones at the back had bypassed it, continuing straight down the main road. This meant only one thing.
An Alpha...!
Shit, it really is an Alpha.
Still lying down, they turned their heads and exchanged tense glances.
Over the past few months, the three of them had been chased by Alpha-controlled hordes multiple times. The circumstances were always different. Once, they had gone out at night and accidentally made a sound, drawing out an Alpha and its "in-house slaves" from a nearby building. Another time, they had walked past a building with heavily tinted, one-way mirror windows, unaware that an Alpha and its horde were watching them from inside, forcing them to flee in sheer panic.
And every single time, thanks to their athletic backgrounds, they managed to escape safely. Each time, they always had the same thoughts.
"We would've been dead without Jun-ho Oppa's notebook."
"If it weren't for Jun-ho Hyung-nim's Golden Rule, we would've been totally GG'd this time."
"Jun-ho, buddy, thank you..."
They knew they were alive because of the detailed information on zombie behavior, and especially on Alphas and their hordes. Even the clothing and gear he had left behind had been an immense help. Just like right now.
Whir...!
Their single, precious mini-drone rose into the air with a high-pitched hum. Choi Hyun-woo, who was operating it, and the two beside him could hear it, but anyone more than four or five meters away would hear almost nothing. *Whirrr.* Aside from its extremely limited battery life, the mini-drone was perfect in every way. It spent about a minute thoroughly scouting the area from fifty meters in the air before descending back to them.
"Most of the ones that followed us have veered off toward the Catholic University of Korea Hospital. The ones that kept running down the road headed toward Somyeong Girls' High School."
"Fucking bastards. If we hadn't hidden here and kept running, we would've been completely surrounded and eaten alive."
"Seriously. Phew... on that note, how about we make braised kimchi with canned mackerel for dinner tonight and wrap it in lettuce? I harvested some lettuce yesterday."
"Hey, how can you talk about food in a situation like—actually, that sounds fucking delicious."
"Right?"
"Ah-reum, you really love kimchi stew and braised kimchi, don't you?"
"Yes! They're both delicious. I never get tired of them."
"Alright. But I don't know if we have any sour kimchi left."
"Fresh kimchi tastes great too!"
"Okay, okay. I'll make it for you."
"Yay!"
Lying side by side, Choi Hyun-woo, Han Ah-reum, and Kim Tae-young grinned. It was a somewhat surreal sight, but having gone through this several times already, the three of them had developed enough composure as apocalypse survival experts to afford this level of leisure. Above all, they had guidance.
Maintain a positive mindset under any circumstances. Never forget that pessimistic thoughts will erode not only your own mental state but also that of your companions.
Jun-ho's Golden Rule was still their Bible, their Quran, and their Heart Sutra.