The Real Purpose

If there's a mountain in my path, I climb it and conquer it.

If there's a woman I want, I take her.

One of the ways to claim those sisters was by helping Lee Junhee and forging a close bond with him. Ahyeon was one thing, but Yejin wanted her husband to succeed — and she wanted the same from me. She endured everything solely for his sake. To break a woman like that, you had to make her husband your ally. The closer I got to him, the more indispensable I became, the less room she had to move. She would be trapped.

This operation was no different. If I slipped past those sentries, delivered zombies, and dealt the enemy a real blow, Junhee would trust me more and like me better. Become the man who helps. The man you absolutely need in a crisis. The moment I became that, Cha Yejin would have nowhere left to run.

The risk on my end was high, sure — but for a woman? Who cares. I push as far as I can within my limits.

"Time to move."

I hadn't expected Cha Ahyeon to get tangled up in this, but it was a perfect chance to take them both. The reason I'd kept chatting with the sentries all this time wasn't idle conversation. I wanted to learn how far the enemy's watch posts stretched, and why they were stationed here in the first place.

At first I offered free goods from our side, deliberately keeping things quiet for a few days so they wouldn't report anything. Once both sides got comfortable, the real trading began.

"You don't have to spill any internal intel. Just talk about whatever."

I sat there shooting the breeze, listening to them complain about their lot in life. That was intelligence. From those talks I learned they were little more than cannon fodder, and that a guy named Jongwoo — the one with the gun in the middle — was overseeing the sentries to keep them from goofing off.

The day after I heard that, I went to Lee Junhee and asked for a piece of equipment.

"A suppressor?"

"I hear the occupied Konkuk University side isn't properly arming their people with rifles. If we play this right, we could hit them from behind, don't you think?"

"What's your plan?"

"There's a guy named Jongwoo who manages the sentries. He's dug in about halfway to Konkuk University, taking radio reports around the clock. Take him out and every sentry goes blind."

I'd watched the sentries leave at set times to check in with Jongwoo even while they were bantering with me. That was why I'd befriended them — to map out their system while claiming I had no interest in internal information. And once you get friendly, people start talking whether they mean to or not.

"The sentries are Konkuk University people under occupation. They're full of grievances. So we recruit them — and kill the man who keeps them in line. I don't have a suppressor, but a military unit like yours should."

"...And then you lure zombies in to finish them off?"

"That's the method. Don't call it cruel, Captain Lee Junhee. You've got people to protect ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠too."

Junhee hesitated. Fair enough — even a counterattack was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠different from letting zombies slaughter them one-sidedly.

"Just guide things the way I said. I'll handle the enemy's eyes."

That was how I got the suppressor. And a baffle stack on top of it.

Mount a baffle stack on the suppressor. Do that, and the sound drops below even what you see in the movies. With a handgun, the effect is even better.

That was how I got close enough to the sentries to walk right in. The entire operation was about eliminating the enemy's surveillance. Recruit the Konkuk University people who already resented Ttukseom.

"Recruitment doesn't always mean asking them to openly switch sides."

Looking the other way was its own kind of leverage. Using that leverage, I scouted the building they were holed up in.

"Ten stories?"

They'd said they were in a ten-story reconstructed apartment building — the highest point geographically, best for surveying the area. Something felt off.

"Why aren't they running perimeter watch?"

I was deliberately circling wide around the enemy apartment, infiltrating from the side. Even so, if anyone was on perimeter duty, someone should have spotted me. Especially from a ten-story building. But as I worked my way around, not a single pair of eyes found me.

"Don't tell me they're somewhere else."

My mind spun, sensing the anomaly, hunting for a way through. What if they were somewhere else entirely? What if they'd double-crossed me? Then the plan had to change — play along like I'd been caught, then hit them with a surprise attack.

Just in case, I checked my pistol again, ready to fire at any moment, and kept closing in. Then a voice drifted out.

"Ah, I lost!"

I flinched at the sound, then heard noisy chatter spilling from the reconstructed apartment.

"These bastards — time for another patrol!"

"Why are you getting worked up over losing a game?"

"We're barely keeping the radios running on solar power as it is! Just admit it and go run ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the errand."

What? They were still in the reconstructed apartment. So why no perimeter watch?

Don't tell me they were just goofing off among themselves.

"Idiots."

I could understand it, sure. They had sentries front and back. All they needed to do was take reports. But they'd gotten far too soft. What if someone exploited that gap for an ambush?

And that gap was exactly what I was about to exploit.

I moved carefully, drawing the Desert Eagle. Checked the magazine, fitted the suppressor and baffle stack — the length and weight were considerable.

Fine. Point-blank range, then. If they were this careless, it was my chance. One moment of negligence. That was why the military drilled you to stay sharp — so you wouldn't die. They'd broken that rule, so they had no right to complain about what came next.

Like something out of a movie, I gripped the pistol in both hands and pressed myself against the wall. I climbed the stairs one at a time — then suddenly, footsteps from above. Someone was coming down.

!

I calmly adjusted my grip on the pistol and tried the doors on either side of the elevator and stairwell. In a reconstructed apartment, each floor had residential units left and right of a narrow central staircase. If a door was unlocked, I could hide.

A quick check confirmed both sides were open. Then the left door — better for hitting him from behind relative to the stairs. I cracked it open and waited. A grumbling voice drifted down.

"Man, if the elevator worked this would be easy. Gotta go all the way down from the tenth floor and back up."

I didn't know who he was — just the sound of footsteps passing by. The instant he went past, I burst through the door.

"Huh?"

That was his last word. A soft, deflated phiew sounded, and he crumpled on the stairs.

"Whew. Good."

Headshot. No chance of him coming back as a zombie. I climbed carefully and finally reached the tenth floor, where noise spilled through a half-open door.

"So I'm telling you, that bitch is good for a first round. I'll pass her to you guys next."

"Grand Park's got some pretty ones too, right?"

"Hope we hit them soon. We've given them enough chances."

"Hey, bathroom. My stomach's killing me."

"You crazy bastard. What the hell did you eat? You've been like this since earlier."

"Shut your mouth. Look at Jongwoo throwing his weight around just because the senior guys like him. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠He came in three months after me."

"If you're jealous, go get yourself some favor."

They were chatting away, perfectly at ease. Comfortable, were they?

I waited boldly just beyond the open door. Before long, someone stepped out into the living room — and I lunged.

"Huh?"

A blank face turned toward me at point-blank range. I pulled the trigger.

Phiew.

A small sound, but loud enough to hear nearby. Commotion erupted inside the room.

"What was that just now—"

The door opened and we locked eyes. Another shot, immediately.

"Gah!"

Damn it. That one missed clean. I sprinted forward and kicked the bedroom door open. A man scrambling for a rifle came into view — I didn't aim, just put a Desert Eagle round into him wherever it landed.

"Aaagh!"

Caught him in the leg; he went down. In that opening I put one through the remaining man's skull. Fragments sprayed. An ugly smell filled the air. The last one tried to grab a rifle — I kicked it away.

"Hey!"

"Ah... p-p-please, spare me."

He trembled, clutching a bleeding arm.

"Want to live?"

"Y-yes... yes! Uh..."

"Good enough. There are sentries behind you, right? Call them in staggered. Unless you want to die."

Time to put out the enemy's eyes. I had him summon the sentries and gave them a binary choice — no, not a choice. An order.

"Obey and live. Refuse and die."

Most of them were cannon fodder. A half-threat was enough to make them fall in line. Only a few turned defiant and refused. I put a crossbow bolt through one of those heads on the spot, quieted the rest of the grumbling, and then—

"Well done. We're luring the zombies now."

I called Lee Junhee in to take custody of them.

"Even at best, though, about a dozen at a time is the limit."

"That's enough. That's a number they can't handle without guns. A real swarm is honestly impossible without actual control."

"...So you were aiming for this scale from the start?"

I nodded at Junhee's question, of course. Overwhelm them with hundreds? Not impossible, but beyond what we could manage right now. Better to hit them with groups of ten or so — just enough that they had no choice but to open fire — and bleed their ammunition dry.

"The enemy won't be able to push easily with zombies around, and once the bullets run out, they'll collapse on their own. Clean way to finish it without a real fight, right?"

"Impressive."

"And on the flip side, the enemy gets pushed onto the defensive, so the risk of them raiding us drops. Just keep tracking their movements with drones."

That was how our operation began. In the end, the Konkuk University side stayed purely defensive the whole time, while Grand Park kept feeding them the zombies I'd carefully gathered and lured. And with the sentries gone, Konkuk University could only sit there and take it with their eyes open.

So what happened?

After about two days of burning through the enemy's ammunition, I was treated like a hero back at Grand Park.

"How do you even come up with ideas like that?"

"Ten lives wouldn't be enough for what you did."

People's trust in the man who'd personally infiltrated and planned the whole thing solidified into something rock-solid.

"Please, don't overdo the praise. I still need to get through to the other side, and I'm in a hurry. Better to wrap this up with minimal casualties."

The real reason was purely the women. A man's fantasy of having both sisters at once — that was my goal. I wasn't exactly normal either.

So Grand Park treated me to beer for joining the operation after so long.

"Come on, drink up. Thanks to this, we can finally breathe."

"We help each other to survive. When I cross over to Seocho-gu, I'd appreciate some support. And..."

I started laying the groundwork. Time to achieve the real objective.

"Captain Lee Junhee. Your family must be worried by now. Shouldn't you stop by home?"

"Hmm. Still, this place..."

"And while you're at it, invite me to dinner too."

"Ah..."

He knew exactly what I meant.

"Though that girl might not be interested, you know."

"That's fine. If it doesn't work out, so be it — but I have to take the chance."

Using Cha Ahyeon as the pretext, I'd head back with this man once more. And with that, my status would change. I would become the man who had done her husband a genuine, enormous favor — a man she could never expose the affair to. The man her own husband trusted and believed in. The man essential to bringing down Konkuk University.

That was the title I'd wanted.

On top of that, I'd get a clearer read on how Cha Ahyeon reacted to her brother-in-law and her older sister. If things went well, the odds of playing with both sisters this time were high.

With a satisfied face, I began my triumphant return toward the Ecological Park.