Chapter 40. The Last Survivor at the Uljin Plant.
Chapter 40. The Last Survivor at the Uljin Plant.
We'd gone out with only the Awakened among us, and by the time we returned, the rest of the group was already waiting. Everyone had gathered, curious about the conversation we'd had. So the whole group headed to the village assembly hall together.
"Son-in-law, what on earth did you talk about with the President?"
"Oh, don't worry, he'll explain it all. Just wait a moment."
"You're all probably more or less aware of the power plant situation. We went and..."
One of the four plants was in danger right now. If we could secure it, and then do the same for the rest, restoring electricity would be possible. The plan was to start with Uljin in three days and move on to the remaining plants after that.
"Hmm... son-in-law, won't a radiation leak be dangerous?"
"Don't worry. It hasn't leaked yet. We're going to stop it before it does."
"I know you're plenty strong, son-in-law... but radiation's a tricky thing. You never know how it'll go..."
"It'll be fine. All four plants are near the coast, so if we get the chance, I'll even catch some fish to bring back. Haha."
Three days passed like that, eating and drinking with the others. Then, with everyone seeing us off, we headed for Yongsan. When we arrived, I could see a huge number of people even before we landed.
The President was standing at the front with his Chief of Staff beside him. Behind them stood what looked to be senior officials.
"We will all wait for your safe return."
"Special Forces Commander Sergeant First Class Park Chung-won and seven others, reporting as ordered for the power plant operation. Unity!"
The President touched his hand to his forehead in return, then reached out to shake my hand.
"Please take good care of our precious soldiers."
As everyone taking part in the operation walked toward the helicopter, all the people—civilian and soldier alike—who had come out to see us cheered us on with words of support and encouragement. On the way, I spotted Warrant Officer Lee Geun-cheol.
"It's an honor to be flying with you again as co-pilot."
Finally, when everyone was aboard the helicopter and we were about to depart, the President, his Chief of Staff, and his aides all bowed at a perfect ninety degrees. Just like that, we lifted off, heading for Uljin.
* * * * * * * *
"Are these all fuel?"
"Yes. It's too far for a round trip on one tank."
We flew for just under an hour, each of us looking outside and lost in our own thoughts as we passed over cities, rice paddies, and fields.
Then, Warrant Officer Lee Geun-cheol's voice came through the headset in my helmet.
"We've arrived at the Uljin Nuclear Power Plant. We'll be landing in a clearing near the beach."
Everyone must have felt the operation was finally starting, because they prepared for landing. After we touched down, we moved outside, securing the perimeter and checking our weapons.
"I will remain on standby here. I'll continue to wait until you've secured the plant. If any emergency or unusual situation occurs, I will radio in."
We walked past the clearing where we'd landed and eventually reached a spot where the power plant came into view.
The road was eerily silent. Dried blood, corpses, and unrecognizable scraps of meat lay scattered here and there along the pavement.
The glass windows of the convenience stores, clothing shops, and restaurants were already smashed, and among them, the long-dead bodies gave off a sickening stench.
Passing them by, we finally arrived at the plant's entrance. Here, too, there were many corpses and people who hadn't been able to escape and had turned into zombies. Chaeyeon and Jia quietly dealt with them as we entered.
As we moved into the building, Sergeant First Class Park Chung-won skillfully led his men, advancing while watching all sides. We soon entered a room that appeared to be the plant's control room.
The wide room was filled with all sorts of machines, their lights blinking as they operated, and a large monitor flickered with fluctuating numbers and graphs. Bodies were visible here and there, but none of them showed signs of a zombie attack.
"Commander... it looks like most of these people starved to death..."
Scattered around them were food supplies and clothing strewn about. Just then, another soldier called the Special Forces Commander over.
"Commander! Over here! There's a notebook—looks like a diary."
We all gathered around and began reading from the first page.
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Month X, Day XX
At first, I didn't believe it. Zombies? This isn't some movie...
Every time a video came up on YouTube, I laughed it off, saying it was editing or CGI.
But when a coworker came in looking pale as a ghost and said someone outside was eating people—and he'd tried calling 112 and 119, all he got was a busy signal—no one picked up.
Then I watched my colleagues change, one by one. That's when I knew for sure. This isn't a movie.
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We kept flipping the pages, skimming through. Most of it was a record of what had happened and how they'd survived.
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Month X, Day XX
Thankfully, we managed to contact the government using the plant's emergency communication system.
To my despair, they told us they were too busy trying to survive themselves to send a rescue team right now.
Still, everyone kept doing whatever they could, holding onto the will to live.
And to prepare for the future, we decided to pool our knowledge and write a manual for the plant.
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It seemed this person, now dead, had clung to hope and a sense of responsibility right up until this point.
And on the next page, far more time had passed than I'd expected.
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Month X, Day XX
The emergency rations were still enough, but just in case, some people went to a convenience store a little way from the research building to look for more food.
But the people who went out for supplies never came back. And the people who said they'd go help them didn't come back either.
I thought nothing could be more hopeless than this. But that moment came for us all the same.
A colleague who couldn't hang on any longer hung himself with his necktie while we were asleep.
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Our group was watching the process of a human being falling apart. And this part of the paper was bone-dry and warped, as if he'd been crying while he wrote it. From the next page onward, the handwriting was a complete mess, like he couldn't keep his mind together anymore.
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Month X, Day XX
In the end, all of my colleagues and subordinates are dead.
I'm a coward, too afraid to even kill myself.
And I've learned that a human can eat anything.
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The group must have understood from that last line. Imagining what this final survivor had eaten, a few soldiers who couldn't stomach it started dry-heaving.
Then we turned to the next page. Here, too, a good amount of time had passed.
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Month X, Day XX
I think I vomited dozens of times from the guilt that rushed over me after eating my colleagues.
I think I remember seeing a documentary once about some native tribe that eats the dead as a funeral rite...
I see the colleagues who went before me. Why are they looking at me with such resentment? I have to survive too!!!!
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"It seems the hallucinations started in earnest around this point..."
"Yes. I don't know the details myself, but I've heard that eating other humans can cause a prion disease in the brain that leads to abnormal symptoms. That might be what happened here..."
Then we turned another page.
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Month X, Day XX
I'm losing my mind. No matter how much I deny them, they keep appearing before my eyes. Have I already gone crazy?
And I can feel the spark of life slowly going out.
I hope someone, anyone, will make good use of the manual my colleagues and I wrote. It's simple enough that even a middle or high schooler could understand it.
My family is probably in the employee housing apartments... When I die and go to the next world, I hope my family isn't there. I hope they've survived somewhere in this goddamn awful world...
I don't wanna die... no... I just want to rest now.
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That was the end. There were no more pages. The handwriting looked steady again, which made me think he'd briefly regained his sanity to write those last words. No one could say a thing.
"..."
"..."
The Special Forces Commander unclipped the man's ID badge and showed it to us.
"He was the director of this plant... He held on until the very end... Mr. Sihu, if you don't mind, may I gather his personal effects?"
"Yes... if that's enough for you..."
I could sympathize—at least a little—with what he must have felt, surviving day by day, enduring hallucinations and phantom sounds, somehow hanging on.
After that, we started thoroughly cleaning the inside of the plant. And as we cleaned, we reactivated the safety systems. Finally, when the cleaning was done, we tried to contact Yongsan using the plant's internal communication system.
"Unity! This is Special Forces Commander Sergeant First Class Park Chung-won. The operation to secure the Uljin Power Plant has been successfully completed."
He said this and briefed them on the operation's progress. But he didn't mention the director's story over the radio—maybe he intended to tell them in person when he got back.
"Oh! Excellent work. Then I'll relay this news to the other plants."
"Yes, we'll refuel with the fuel we brought and return immediately."
We cut the communication and walked back to the clearing where the helicopter had landed. Warrant Officer Lee Geun-cheol, who'd seen us approaching, greeted us.
"It looks like the operation was a success."
"Yes, it was completed smoothly, no casualties."
"Then everyone, climb aboard. We'll depart at once."
As everyone shook off the lingering unease in their hearts, the helicopter began its flight back toward Yongsan.