Contact with a Woman
My life was already ruined. So what was wrong with craving a woman in a ruined world? If anything, it was perfect.
It gave me a goal. Something to chase.
The only problem was that I was no veteran. The thing thrashing inside the car could break free at any moment, and I still had to put down those four before I could claim the woman for myself.
"Well. Nothing worth having comes without a little suffering."
Take out the four, then go after what I wanted. I took a step back and reassessed the situation.
First: the one screeching in the car beside me. Then one more down below near the newly built villa, and another in the parking lot of the building next door. And those howls coming from the direction I was headed — proof enough that more zombies were waiting that way.
I drew a slow breath. The worst-case scenario I could picture was getting caught in a pincer while trying to push through them. Stab-proof vest or not, getting bitten was not an option. Absolutely not.
"When in a hurry, take the long way around. Time to put that old saying into practice."
The wisdom of the ancients never failed. Better to clear the surroundings first than charge into the unknown.
As for the one in the car — I'd leave it alone until it decided to smash its own way out.
First stop: that house.
I slipped past the vehicles and made for the residential home. It was a typical two-story house of the kind you saw in any housing complex, with a basement level attached.
"Huh?"
As I circled toward the entrance, I found corpses with their skulls caved in.
A zombie's weak point was the head. Someone had known that — and aimed for it.
Don't tell me my junior from the semi-basement cleaned this place out ahead of time?
He'd left materials behind before he went. Clearing the area would have been well within his capabilities.
But then why leave the landlord upstairs as a zombie? Was there a reason for that?
No. No point dwelling on it. Maybe the landlord had held out longer than the rest.
Either way, someone had already done the dirty work. There were no other threats here.
I followed the sound. Beyond the living room window, the stench of rot hung thick in the air. Corpses would do that — but the smell was still ungodly.
A staircase led up to the first floor, with another set of stairs to the second right beside it. The noise seemed to be coming from the first-floor side. I tried the door. Locked, of course.
"…"
My eyes settled on the living room window.
They only reacted to sounds above a certain volume — and only locked on once they had a visual. People were their top priority.
Which meant I had options. Think. Use their nature against them.
I raised the bat in my hand.
"I've always wanted to try this."
I wound up the way my grandfather used to during the old presidential impeachment protests, and hurled it.
The shattering glass cracked through the silence, the sound rolling out across the still air.
I planted myself deliberately in front of the living room window. Something came scrambling out in a frantic scramble of limbs.
A zombie with half its face caved in fixed both eyes on me. One arm hung loose and rattling. It took maybe a second for it to lock on.
"Gyaaaaah! Gyaah!"
With a raw howl, it charged at me like a hunting dog.
Fast. Faster than I'd expected.
My heart lurched — but the zombie was so fixated on the kill that it had no sense of the terrain. There was a height difference between where I stood and the living room veranda.
It dove straight into the withered flower bed. I put a crossbow bolt through it before it could recover.
The body went still in an instant. I let out a breath of relief over the silent corpse.
One down.
In a normal apocalypse, this would have been the time to scavenge. But it meant nothing to me. I already had a stable supply base. As long as I didn't die, that was enough.
I headed back toward the cars. The zombie inside was still thrashing away with everything it had.
Same as before. No matter how hard it threw itself around, the windows weren't about to give.
Not that I was eager to smash them open from this side either.
Leave this one for now?
From what I'd seen, their movements were on the level of a wild beast — faster and more vicious than I'd given them credit for. Better to wait for it to break free on its own than force the issue and get blindsided.
Next target: the parking lot of the villa across from the new construction. I couldn't afford to be spotted from both sides, so I climbed the wall on the far side of the new villa and went over.
"Ha. Doing things that were never in my stars…"
Thud.
The moment I opened my mouth, another unpleasant sound drifted down from somewhere in the building.
Careful. The streets might be mostly empty, but there would be people who'd turned inside.
I cleared the wall, circled around, and began a slow approach from the opposite side. All that remained was to slip past that parking lot.
That was all that remained — until a body dropped from directly above my head.
"…"
A beat of silence. Then the thing, both legs crushed flat, began thrashing like a madman.
"Uwaaah—! You son of a—!"
"You motherfucker!"
I should have put a bolt through it. Instead, pure reflex took over and I swung the bat.
One hit to the head. Two. On the third, it seized my leg.
"Get off!"
I wrenched free in a panic — and the thing toppled over on its own.
"Shit. They really come at you like that."
I was just getting back to my feet when a heavy thud sounded from beyond the wall.
"Don't tell me—"
"Graw… graw…"
The parking lot zombie had been drawn by the noise. If it so much as laid eyes on me…
It would turn savage and come after me without hesitation.
I smashed the remaining one with the iron pipe and bolted — only to run straight into the one thrashing beneath the new villa.
"…"
Nothing was going right.
"Kraaaah! Kuack!"
It rolled its shoulders and broke into a full sprint, completely unhinged.
Stay calm. It's one-on-one. If I play this right—
"Kaaaah!"
And then, with perfect timing, came the sharp crash of shattering glass.
No.
Of all moments — the zombie in the car had finally broken free.
I was caught in a pincer.
I raised the crossbow, backed away, and fired. It should have gone down. But—
The bolt that should have punched through its skull buried itself in the shoulder instead.
Nothing was going right today.
Still, the force of the shot knocked it off its feet. The crossbow packed a serious punch, at least.
No time to retrieve the bolt. I sprinted past the fallen one, slapped away the hand that clawed at my vest, and made straight for the new villa.
The entrance was already smashed open. The elevator was dead, of course. I fled up the stairs in a blind rush.
But charging all the way to the rooftop would only draw them after me. I took the second floor in a single push, then the third, and ducked into the first open door I found.
I shut it behind me and stood there, breathing hard in the quiet.
"Figures. Nothing ever goes according to plan."
Things like this just happened.
Zombies were simple. If they came up and found nothing, they'd turn around and leave.
"Safe for now, at least."
Just to be sure, I checked the interior. Villas all shared roughly the same layout. Three rooms, two bathrooms, a veranda lined with withered flowerpots. Ah — weeds were growing, at least.
Fortunately, the place was empty. More than that, it looked like someone had fled. Almost no clothes left, just bare furniture sitting around.
"So the woman upstairs never ran — and she's still alive?"
With the floors below in this state?
Is she even human? Not a zombie?
A jolt of unease hit me. The hunger for a woman was strong, sure — but had it clouded my judgment? What if she was just a zombie that had died looking pretty?
"No. No way."
If she was a zombie, I'd just kill her. One-on-one, I would win without question.
A real man challenged what he wanted and took it.
I was going up.
If there was a person up there, the front door wouldn't be unlocked. Smashing through it was worse than going over the veranda. So the veranda it was.
The woman was on the fourth floor. I was on the third. One floor up, and I'd be at her door.
"Feels like a dress rehearsal."
In a way, this was practice for the real revenge still ahead. Unfortunate for the target — but in this world, I did whatever I wanted.
I stepped out onto the veranda and carefully looked up. Jumping wouldn't get my hands anywhere near the railing above.
I checked whether any chairs were left inside, found one, and set it out on the veranda. Climbing onto it, I stretched my arms up. Still a little short of the floor above.
"Hoo."
The fear of falling hit me hard — but if I couldn't even claim this, what the hell could I claim? I took a breath, jumped, and caught the bottom of the railing. Drawing on every bit of strength my training had built, I hauled myself up in one surge.
"…"
Silence.
At last, a veranda that actually smelled of people. The one below had been dried out and overgrown with weeds. This one was relatively clean. More than that — plants, herbs, something green was actually growing properly up here.
"…"
If she came out here regularly…
The door would be unlocked. No zombie would have climbed the way I just had.
I reached out carefully and eased the veranda door open. It slid smoothly.
My heart was hammering. The rush was worse than anything I'd felt killing zombies — raw enough that I wanted to charge straight in.
I forced myself to stay calm.
Moving like a thief — which, to be fair, I was — I slipped inside. The first things I saw were a TV and a stand in the living room. Cosmetics and notebooks sat neatly arranged on top of it, along with vitamins and packets of medicine.
She kept things tidy.
Not that her personality mattered. All I wanted was to claim my target, and fast.
I'd still have to keep clearing zombies from this whole area afterward. This place would be my forward base. Everything here — on my terms. My decisions.
I steeled myself and pressed my ear to a bedroom door.
If there had been any sign of life inside, I might have hesitated. There was nothing. Just an uneasy, piercing silence.
I had no choice but to open it, little by little. Starting with the door directly ahead.
I set my hand on it carefully, then pushed it open with a slow, smooth motion and peered inside.
The first thing that met my eyes was a bright pastel wallpaper. A wardrobe stood against one wall. A desk. I eased the door wider, the way you'd slowly undress a woman, and at last a bed came into view — and with it, a slender ankle.
"!"
Here. I'd lucked into the right room on the first try.
I wanted to take what I needed right then and there. Doing something that stupid would be a mistake.
Confirm. Always confirm first.
I slipped through the other rooms just in case someone else was here. There wasn't. Empty.
Then it was time for the main event.
Every dungeon ended the same way — after every trial, a treasure chest waiting at the end. That was only natural.
I opened the door fully and stepped carefully inside.
All that noise outside, and she was still asleep? Impressive.
I marveled at the steel nerves and leaned in to check her face. Her skin was strikingly pale and soft. The looks matched what I'd imagined — beautiful. Fine skin, the refined features of a well-bred young woman, and full, soft lips.
Almost like a celebrity… wait. I'd seen this face on TV.
My mind, wound tight with tension, pulled a name free from memory.
"?"
I nearly shouted out loud. That was Lee Soyeon.
The person sleeping soundly right in front of me was none other than the actress famous for divorcee roles — and a working TV host on top of that.
Not the explosive kind of star. A steadily working actress in her late thirties. Almost no scandals. Known for keeping her head down and staying quiet.
And she was here? In this new villa?
What the hell had happened over the past two years?
No. In an apocalypse, none of that mattered.
If anything, landing a beauty as my first target was pure fortune. Honestly, if she'd been plain, even starvation might not have been enough to make me want her.
I reached out carefully toward the blanket.