Change of Heart
I returned to the present for a moment, feeling the need to restock supplies.
“I need to build bases in every region.”
I had to make full use of my predecessor’s reports. I went back over the places he’d flagged as suspicious.
Yongsan, northern Gyeonggi Province, Daejeon Metropolitan City, and Busan.
I would set up bases there in advance.
That way, even on expeditions, I could find a sanctuary the way you open a treasure vault.
Except for Yongsan, the rest were based on rumors, so the locations weren’t clear.
“One near the entrance, one in the downtown area. That should do for starters.”
Since I didn’t know the exact spots, I would pick places arbitrarily for now.
“Hello? Yes, is this Areum Real Estate in Daejeon? I’d like to buy a house for a relative.”
Over the next three days I bought food and daily necessities, then even went down to Busan to look at real estate.
Time is money. In three days I toured four regions and, as long as a place was roughly spacious enough, I gave the OK and signed the contracts.
For now, just the contracts—the rest would come after I returned safely from the expedition.
“I really can’t rest easy even here.”
I hadn’t come to rest in the first place, but there was so much to do with contracting bases and setting them up from scratch.
And above all, the toilet problem.
During this last expedition lasting over ten days, I had felt the sheer inconvenience of defecation and the inability to dispose of waste down to my bones.
At least my women’s houses were prepared, but the farther I went into other regions, the more miserable it became.
Lucky I had toilet paper on the cart.
The people living here might not care much about such things, but for someone used to modern life like me, it was a pretty important issue.
Moreover, the toilets I had first introduced would eventually become useless with high probability.
A pour-flush toilet generates foam below that sends the waste downward.
The problem is that unless you empty it separately, the waste container inside will eventually fill up. For two people to fill it completely would take at least a year and several months.
So no big worry for now, but eventually a limit would come.
To prepare for that, I expanded to two methods.
One was something I had mentioned before: among camping gear, there are portable toilets. Use those with waste decomposer and empty them frequently.
The other was to buy a house outright and do major renovations.
The reason I had bought a house with a solar generator and moved Seol-hwa there was the same logic.
Because the zero-discharge circulating toilet I had installed earlier was nearby.
Of course, going out there was too dangerous, but at least during the day it was possible.
At night, use the pour-flush in the yard or just the camping toilet.
What I was doing now was installing a zero-discharge circulating toilet in the house yard.
No need for the hassle of changing it out.
Money was rotting and overflowing. Leaving the chaotic coin market alone, just with stocks I could easily manage hundreds of billions of won.
I checked the situation with the predecessor’s data.
“Hmm… starting tomorrow, the aftereffects of the US interest rate hike make things dangerous, right?”
I quickly took profits on the stocks I held and even bet on the decline.
That way I would make a fortune again.
Knowing the future made dealing with it too easy.
Tearful posts from retail investors who had no idea about tomorrow’s massive crash were filling the board.
“Well, damn…”
Thinking about the future, I really wanted a proper front-row seat. There’s a reason they say “watching a fire from across the river.”
Of course, even among them, a few wise ones existed.
“They never believe the one who speaks first.”
I closed my phone with a smile. Rest of this length was about right.
In these four days I had contracted bases in each region, and I had even bought a house near Konkuk University.
“I really just signed as long as the basement or yard was big enough, and it still ended up like this.”
I was exhausted, but at least I wouldn’t be putting on weight.
With no time, I hadn’t even gotten to the toilet installation work—just stocking food and generators for staying there—and I was already wiped out.
But this effort would become my critical assets in the future.
The food I had brought would let me make important deals.
“So now only my choices remain.”
With the situation starting to settle, I also needed to cut a deal with the Grand Park side.
Above all, I had to verify the truth of the Yongmasan information and figure out how to handle the Ttukseom faction that had seized Konkuk University—whatever would benefit me most.
Once that was resolved, I could push past Gwangjin-gu straight into Seocho-gu or Yongsan-gu.
Well, a direct route was faster than detouring.
Most important of all was that the military units had cleared the surrounding zombies.
If I just suppressed them properly, it would become a place I could move through with peace of mind.
So today was truly an important day.
The cargo loaded onto the carts… there was enough for three more loads.
Was I going to haul all of that myself? I would move just one cart’s worth first. Half of that would go to An Suhyeon’s side, and with the remaining half I planned to make contact with Grand Park…
“Hmm. Still feels a bit suspicious.”
Honestly, I had been keeping Woohee under continuous observation. Unlike Seol-hwa or Soyeon, she didn’t seem to rely on me completely—something about her felt off.
Personalities differ from person to person, sure, but a girl who had been rebellious and proud suddenly throwing herself into desperate cooperation?
Swallowing your pride and following is one thing. Suddenly changing is another.
The other two had shown me genuine affection, but Woohee was different.
Yet the last time I went, her attitude had completely flipped.
Ordinarily I might have just let it slide, but the words of my first wife kept circling in my head.
“There’s something there.”
Something was tightening around my heart like the sticky, unpleasant rain of midsummer monsoon.
On top of that, An Suhyeon’s movements—which I would normally have ignored—were also strange.
Why had he been near Woohee?
Suspicion bred suspicion, linking into a chain.
“Ha. At this rate I’m going to develop full-blown paranoia.”
I set the stab-proof vest and the bulletproof vest side by side and deliberated. I could only wear one.
Originally I was supposed to put on the bulletproof vest and head to Grand Park. But…
As things stood, I had no choice but to step outside wearing the stab-proof vest.
The pitch-black night sky showed that not much time had passed since I left.
“Shall we go?”
I pulled the cart and headed toward Woohee’s place.
No particular intention. Normally I went straight toward the school; now I was just stopping by the middle point on the way.
I was only going because I couldn’t feel at ease. Feeling the speed of the electric bicycle, I suddenly heard a strange sound.
“Where the hell did you pop out from this time. Zombie.”
Naturally assuming it was a zombie, I turned in that direction—and then something shocking came into view.
The night before Jin Dohyuk arrived. An Suhyeon could no longer stay in this place.
He simply ran blindly toward Yongmasan.
“Hah… hah…!”
His hands still held the madness of a man who had lost his reason.
I killed her… with these hands…!
He recalled what had happened earlier. Woohee. The object of his love and hate—he had killed her with his own hands.
If this fact gets out…
What would happen then? Woohee might have harbored thoughts of betrayal, but the only person who had noticed was himself.
In other words, from Jin Dohyuk’s perspective, all he would know was that his woman was dead.
And who was the only one near her?
Only himself, who had met her near Woohee. Suspicion would fall on him first, and he might receive the punishment.
I don’t want to die. I finally became a king…
So he was running toward Yongmasan now. Even though he had cleaned up the area, zombies could still be anywhere.
He’s going to kill me. Me…
He gasped for breath and climbed Yongmasan on pure survival instinct alone.
There he ran into Yun Hosu, who was standing watch on the Yongmasan side.
“What’s going on?”
“Th-that… that…”
An Suhyeon didn’t even know what he was trying to say. What was he going to do now that he was here?
I’m not that loser anymore!
He steadied his breathing and swallowed hard. He was about to tell the lie of his life.
“Our leader is planning to kill all of you.”
“?”
Yun Hosu’s expression changed.
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know either. Suddenly he’s telling us to stab you in the back. To hit Yongmasan!”
He insisted desperately.
If they attacked with superior numbers, he could cover up his own crime and raise the odds of killing Jin Dohyuk.
That was why he had come.
At that, Yun Hosu made a puzzled face.
“He’s going to hit us? Why on earth?”
“I don’t know. He suddenly said he was going to attack, and I told him no, but… anyway, we can’t just sit here.”
“Hold on. This is suddenly too weird. Us, out of nowhere?”
“Yes. That’s… that’s…”
In that moment his old loser self seemed to surface, and he panicked.
Speak. There is something to say.
Yes. There was definitely a “justification” that could lure them.
“Our leader is planning to use the end of the Konkuk University fight to clean you up and move on. He thinks you’ll stab him in the back.”
“What?”
“I tried to stop him, but he said he’d kill me if I didn’t follow his orders, so I had no choice but to come. Our leader is acting strange right now.”
Yes. In this apocalypse, what mattered more than looking out for yourself?
If he provoked them like this, they would naturally grow wary and help him.
…Or so he thought, far too simply.
“I can’t believe that.”
“Huh?”
“He finished the Konkuk University fight and now he’s going to hit us? Cleaning us up is going a bit far, isn’t it?”
Yun Hosu did not fall for it easily.
“I know your leader is the cautious type. Konkuk University had firearms to begin with, so a cautious leader like yours is suddenly going to hit us? He should have intel on us too.”
“….That’s…”
“On top of that, he’s already wasted too much food to suddenly stab us in the back. If he was going to betray us, he would’ve hit us when our forces were split. It’s inefficient.”
At Yun Hosu’s words, An Suhyeon’s face grew heavy.
The carefully crafted line he had barely managed to think up had been dismantled far too easily.
“I don’t know what you’re up to, but until we can verify things, you’ll have to stay put quietly.”
“Wh-why are you doing this?”
“If your words are true, we’ll let you go. But if it’s a lie? If it’s sowing discord, we’ll have to hand you over.”
An Suhyeon was horrified. He had tried to use his head, yet he had been seen through so helplessly.
When Yun Hosu approached, he reflexively tried to flee.
“Eek!”
He scrambled down the mountain, and a midnight chase unfolded.
Rough underbrush sliced his skin; both legs wobbled dangerously.
Fuck. Why did it turn out like this! Why! Why! Why!
As he fled down Yongmasan in a frenzy, his body suddenly crashed to the ground.
“Aaaagh!”
As he tumbled wildly, a bell-like ringing filled his ears.
The roar that shattered the quiet mountain also shook his heart.
“Get over here!”
Yun Hosu’s hands seized An Suhyeon’s body, and he resisted desperately.
“Let go! Let go!”
But soon merciless violence crashed down on him, and the resistance ended easily.
Am I… just like this? Is this all I am?
Dragged away under Yun Hosu’s control, An Suhyeon trembled with helplessness and rage.
“I don’t want this… fuck! Let go!”
What came back was a powerful kick that nearly took his head off. He was filled with resentment and fury.
“…Fuck. Fuck…!”
“When we get back, we’ll talk to that man. It looks like an obvious lie, but still.”
Jin Dohyuk was coming. He would learn the price of killing his woman and the betrayal.
No. I’m scared. Scared. Scared. Scare…scarescarescarescaredscared…!
As his emotions climbed higher and higher, An Suhyeon’s heart pounded violently and the blood vessels in his eyes began to stand out.