Chapter 104: A Living New Year
After breakfast, once the dishes were finished, Eun Ji gathered the girls together.
“What’s up?”
“Eun Ji unnie, what is it?”
“Just a second, let me finish this!”
At Eun Ji’s call, everyone assembled in the living room.
Kim Jun sat on the sofa, watching from a distance as Eun Ji gathered the girls.
“Try these on, one at a time. The situation didn’t let me make more than two for now.”
“Oh my, what are these?”
“Wow, sweaters!”
They were the garments Eun Ji had finished knitting over the past days.
Seeing them reminded Kim Jun of the clothes In Ah had knitted for him—the ones that had been torn apart by a knife during his last outing.
“Ugh, shit! What the hell? Why is this so heavy?”
Emily went first. She peeled off her top and slipped the sweater on, then yanked at the collar, surprised by how heavy it felt for something so deceptively fluffy.
“Of course it’s heavy,” Eun Ji said.
She picked up the second sweater and tossed it into the air. It hit the floor with a loud thud.
“…That sound came from a sweater?”
Gaya, who had been about to try one next, hesitated before carefully pulling it over her head. The unexpected thickness made her swing her arms experimentally.
“It really is heavy, huh?”
“How does it move?” Kim Jun asked.
“Not bad… Feels like wearing two padded jackets.”
Gaya and Emily immediately shed the sweaters and passed them along. Do Kyung, Rana, Nanika, Mari, and the rest of the girls each took a turn, every one of them commenting on the weight.
Kim Jun’s interest was piqued.
“What is this? Did you make stab-proof armor?”
“Yes.”
He accepted the sweater Eun Ji offered and pulled it on. It definitely had noticeable weight, but for him it was manageable.
“Whistle~ Hold on a moment.”
Still wearing it, he walked quietly to the TV stand, dropped into push-ups, then twisted and stretched in every direction. Aside from a slight itchiness, it felt fine.
“What did you use to make these?”
When he took the sweater off and handed it back, Eun Ji explained.
“While knitting the sweater, I inserted various materials inside.”
“Like what?”
“I glued plastic plates and leather together with adhesive, covered the lumps with fabric, then knitted yarn around the whole thing.”
“It’s basically armor, then?”
Kim Jun marveled at Eun Ji’s creation before turning to the other girls.
“Hey, this is perfect. I’ve been thinking about protective gear for all of you—aside from my own armor. These will work great.”
“No kidding. Eun Ji, you’re incredible!”
Gaya kept praising her, remembering how Eun Ji had been quietly knitting every night in the room they shared.
“I was wondering why Eun Ji unnie kept cutting up perfectly good clothes and stuffing things inside…”
“Ah~ So when you were putting stuff inside while knitting, it wasn’t just to make them warmer for the cold?”
The others had seen Eun Ji knitting every day, but none of them had realized the garments were actually protective armor until now.
They still had the stab-proof vests from Sinreung-myeon, but those were far too thick and sized for adult men. On the idols they turned them into bulky monstrosities that made moving their arms nearly impossible. That was why Eun Ji had taken the trouble to create a women’s version.
“Anyway, you did an amazing job.”
When a pleased Kim Jun raised his hand, Eun Ji instinctively flinched away.
“…”
“…Ah, sorry!”
“It’s fine.”
He had been about to pat her head out of habit, but realized who she was and apologized. In the awkward silence that followed, Eun Ji slipped quietly into the kitchen, fingers fidgeting, and handed In Ah one of the armor sweaters to try on.
Using the plywood left in the storage shed, Kim Jun built a wooden box and began sorting the survival gear that could be taken from the camping car.
“First-aid supplies, soap, batteries, flashlight, saw, walkie-talkie, monkey wrench, multi-tool, lighter, candles, kitchen knife, blowtorch.”
He was preparing a box of items that would allow them to survive for the medium-to-long term inside the vehicle if the worst happened.
That was when Emily approached from behind.
“Jun! I brought the varnish.”
It sounded funny hearing the blonde girl use the industrial term “varnish” instead of its proper name, but she had learned it from him.
“Ah, right. Varnish.”
After putting on a mask and hair cap, he sprayed the varnish and waited for it to dry. Emily leaned softly against his shoulder.
“I saw what happened earlier.”
“Saw what?”
“You tried to pat Eun Ji’s head and she dodged you.”
“…”
“You can touch me as much as you want, you know?”
At those words Kim Jun removed his gloves and stroked her hair. She purred like a contented cat.
“You still haven’t done it with Eun Ji, right?”
“Why are you asking about that?”
“Mmm~ Is she the only virgin left?”
He couldn’t be bothered to correct her with “the second,” nor did he want to discuss it.
After finishing the wooden box and filling it with survival supplies, Kim Jun announced their New Year looting plan that evening.
“We’re heading to the rural house for barter.”
“We should bring the rice the mice have been into, right?”
“Yeah. Even though they have meat and vegetables, they seem short on daily necessities. Let’s stock up for them. And this time, even if it breaks the usual rotation, Mari is coming with me.”
“Me?”
Mari looked surprised when Kim Jun personally chose her, but her face quickly turned red.
“I have to go with you, Oppa?”
“There’s a pregnant woman there, remember?”
“Ah, that’s right.”
Myeong Guk had asked about his wife’s condition last time, so Kim Jun had decided to bring Mari along. She would pack her basic medical tools separately.
“Now, who else should go?”
Gaya and In Ah had already gone through a lot with Hwang Yeosa’s group last time, so they would rest. Emily, Nanika, and Rana had visited Myeong Guk’s house before. Since Mari and Rana had met the couple together on the first visit, keeping the same lineup seemed logical—until…
“I’ll go.”
“Hm?”
Eun Ji quietly raised her hand.
“It’s been a while since I’ve met other people.”
“Oh my, really!”
“That’s true~ Eun Ji unnie is the only one who hasn’t met anyone yet, right?”
“I’m… not sure how it’ll go.”
Thinking back, whenever they had encountered survivors—at Jeongto Temple, with Myeong Guk’s couple, or in Sinreung-myeon—Eun Ji had never been present. There had been survivors before that as well, but Mari had promised to keep that incident buried, so no one mentioned it.
“Hmm.”
“The house where we get the eggs has a mother and children, and the others have visited many times. It should be safe, right?”
“That’s true, but…”
Since Eun Ji had spoken up so directly, the roster for this looting run seemed decided.
“All right. Then tomorrow Eun Ji and Mari will come with me.”
“Okay! Sounds good.”
“Please take care of me.”
When Eun Ji extended her hand, Mari smiled and shook it. They brought out a map to explain the route for tomorrow.
“First, the places we’ve already looted on the way are the jewelry store, the mart, the clothing shop, and the stationery store. Since Myeong Guk’s family travels by motorcycle and does their own looting, they’ve probably cleaned out most of the useful stuff.”
“That makes sense.”
“There are two options from here. One is to just take the usual road. Even if everything’s been looted, the main point is the barter.”
“And the second?”
“The other route.”
Kim Jun nodded at Eun Ji’s words and pointed to the side path along the stream.
“This is the path Gaya, Eun Ji, and I took together last time.”
“Ah~ Where we hunted the ducks.”
“That’s the one.”
It was an overgrown side path on land that had been cleared for apartment construction. They had gone there once to hunt pheasants and ducks, hoping meat would cheer up the girls who had fallen into depression while missing their families.
“There used to be a construction cafeteria and a few small shops. Should we check those?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“But the zombies might be dangerous…”
Eun Ji had stepped forward confidently, yet Mari—who would be her partner—looked uneasy at the thought of her responsibilities doubling.
“Let’s decide positions first. Who wants the passenger seat and who wants rear support?”
“I’ll handle the weapons.”
Once again Eun Ji raised her hand without hesitation. Mari nodded and naturally took the rear support role.
“If the others need anything, speak up now!”
“Ah, then… that… magic…”
“What?”
When Nanika hesitated, mumbling about “magic,” Emily cut in impatiently.
“Tampons and pads! We need a ton of them.”
No matter how many boxes of sanitary products they gathered, they were never enough.
With eight women in their twenties living together, the amount they used was no joke. Disposing of them by burning in a pit every time was exhausting work.
“Sanitary products are already on the list. What else?”
“It would be good to have some vitamins. We have fresh vegetables, but powder forms or glucose candies would still be useful.”
“Okay. I don’t know if we’ll find any, but I’ll look.”
Emily and Nanika had asked for sanitary products, Mari for vitamins. Kim Jun asked if anyone else needed anything.
“This is a bit embarrassing, but we’re running low on toilet paper. We still have kitchen towels and wet wipes, but we can’t flush those down the toilet.”
“Right. We’ll grab toilet paper too.”
“We’ve used up all the fabric softener.”
No matter how many marts and convenience stores they raided, consumables disappeared quickly.
It might seem like they were living too luxuriously, but vitamins, toilet paper, and sanitary products were absolute necessities.
“I’ll try to get everything.”
“Thank you, Oppa!”
Kim Jun ended the meeting and prepared the tools they would need tomorrow.
The air rifle damaged in the fight against the Jeil-pa men had been completely disassembled and was unusable. Still, he had stored the broken parts from the gun shop earlier. He would need to pick a day soon to reassemble it using the remaining components.
Instead, this time he focused on handguns. He cleaned two revolvers for his hips, an air pistol to replace the rifle, and the shotgun.
“Huu…”
Having finished all preparations for tomorrow, Kim Jun quietly fell asleep.
Clack!
The air pistol dropped a distant zombie.
“Kyaaaaah!!!”
“Running zombies!”
At Mari’s shout from behind, Kim Jun checked the rearview mirror. Sure enough, two of them were sprinting toward the vehicle.
He quickly pulled his arm inside and closed the power window.
“Kyaaaaah!”
“Kraaah! Kraaaaaah!!!”
“Oh no, what do we do!?”
Bang! Bang! Bang!!
The two zombies pounded on the rear door where Mari sat, spraying bloody foam everywhere.
In that moment Kim Jun spoke calmly to the two women.
“Hold on tight!”
Vroooom!!
He shifted into reverse and slammed the accelerator, shoving the charging zombies backward.
Crunch—
The feet of the two frenzied zombies were crushed. As he kept pushing, both were sucked under the vehicle.
Vrrrrrr—
Grind—
“Kyaaah! Krrrrrr…”
Kim Jun rolled over the zombies, rocking the vehicle back and forth two or three times. Black blood burst across the ground.
It looked like the interior would need a thorough cleaning once they returned.
The moment Kim Jun pulled the vehicle forward, Mari collected herself and checked the two zombies through the rear door.
“Oppa! They’re still moving!!!”
The zombies twitched like roadkill, legs and upper bodies crushed, guts spilling out, sharp bones gleaming.
“It’s fine. We keep going.”
“I’ll check ahead!”
Eun Ji pulled out binoculars from the dashboard. A single bead of sweat rolled down her cheek from beneath her braided hair.
“Ah…”
“What is it? What’s wrong?”
“There are too many. I count ten.”
“What?!”
When Kim Jun checked through the shotgun scope, he saw zombies in construction clothes swarming around an abandoned bulldozer and cement truck.
“Oppa! Behind us too!!!”
“?!”
In the rearview mirror, even after dealing with the two runners, several more zombies were slowly shambling forward.
“…We’re surrounded.”
Just as Eun Ji said, zombies were slowly closing in from both ends of the narrow one-lane side path.
The zombies let out different moans as they closed in, as if ready to devour the camping car whole.
They were all walking corpses, yet their sheer numbers created a suffocating sense of dread.
“Huu… We have to take them down starting now. Everyone get ready!”
Click—
As Kim Jun loaded the shotgun, Eun Ji drew her slingshot and spoke.
“Oppa, should I turn the car sideways?”
“Hold on.”
Eun Ji quietly nodded and waited for his decision.
After hearing Gaya repeatedly warn her not to act alone in front of Kim Jun, she had resolved to act a half-beat slower and follow his lead.
Kim Jun measured the distance and numbers of the zombies in front and behind, then made his choice. He turned the wheel to the right.
The group ahead was larger and more dangerous!
“I’ll take the front. Eun Ji and Mari, handle the ones behind!”
“Yes!”
“Yes, Oppa!!”
“If anything happens, don’t ask me—just close the doors immediately!”
At Kim Jun’s order, Mari lay flat on the camping car’s bed, quietly opened the window, and aimed her crossbow.
The place that had been a love nest only days ago had now become a trench for killing zombies.
Matching her, Eun Ji scooped up a few nuts rolling around the dashboard, loaded her slingshot, and pulled back with all her strength.
The distinct sounds of shotgun, crossbow, and slingshot rang out, and three zombies collapsed. The battle inside the vehicle had begun.