Who Do You Think I Am?
Eun Ji had barely stepped out of the bathroom when she heard a scream rip through the warehouse.
Her first thought was that a zombie had broken in. She tightened her grip on the electric-shock spear and rushed out, only to freeze at the sight of an absolutely massive black wild boar.
Mari was screaming and scrambling, rolling across the floor to escape. Kim Jun stood right in front of the beast, emptying his pistol into its skull, but the bullets might as well have been pebbles. The boar’s mane bristled like a lion’s as it charged.
When Kim Jun got knocked aside and rolled across the creature’s back, Eun Ji shouted on pure reflex.
The boar whipped its head toward the sound. Eun Ji hurled the plastic bottle filled with thinner from her pocket. It shattered against the beast’s skull.
Crack—
The smell of thinner soaking into its mane sent the boar into a frenzy. It lowered its head and barreled straight at her.
“Ugh!”
She barely twisted out of the way of its first charge, but the beast was already turning, eyes burning with rage. Blood and thinner dripped from its jaws as it opened its mouth wide enough to swallow a man’s head.
Eun Ji flipped the switch on her shock spear for what might be her final strike and jammed it straight into the boar’s face.
Bzzzzzzzzzt—
WHOOSH—
The thinner-soaked hide ignited instantly. The blast was strong enough to drop a grown man in one hit.
Flames roared upward.
SQUEEEEEEEE! SQUEAL! SQUEEEEEEEE!!!
The iron-hard snout, razor tusks, and bristling mane were all engulfed in fire. The boar went completely berserk.
“Got it!”
Eun Ji had successfully recreated the trick Kim Jun used on zombies—dousing them in accelerant and hitting them with the taser spear to set them ablaze. But she had forgotten one crucial detail: this wasn’t a rotting human corpse. This was a wild boar with several times the muscle mass and raw power.
SQUEEEEEEEE!!!
Even while burning alive, the boar charged her again. Its sharp tusks sank into Eun Ji’s torso as she lay on the ground.
“Wha—?!”
Pinned beneath the monster, Eun Ji thrashed, trying to bring the shock spear back into position. Kim Jun saw it and rushed forward.
“Huff… huff…”
He didn’t have time to reload the useless pistol. His eyes swept the warehouse and locked onto a massive two-handed axe. He snatched it up.
Limping, gripping the axe with both hands, Kim Jun charged and roared at the flaming boar mauling Eun Ji.
SQUEAL— SQUEEEEEEEE!!
The burning boar ignored him, tusks still buried in Eun Ji. Kim Jun brought the axe down with everything he had.
Shiiiick— THWACK!
SQUEEEEEEEE!!!!
Kim Jun spun around. Myeong Guk stood there, bow drawn, face pale but steady. He had fired in a panic. Now he calmly nocked another arrow, swearing this one would pierce the heart.
GROWL— SQUEEEEK!!!
The arrow struck. The boar snorted, abandoned Eun Ji, and charged again. Its mane was still burning, flames licking across its hide, yet it showed no sign of slowing down.
SQUEEEEK!!
“Hyungnim, dodge!” Myeong Guk shouted, drawing his bow.
Kim Jun planted his feet, gripped the axe with both hands, and waited. As the flaming monster barreled toward him, he slipped sideways at the last second and brought the axe down in a full-power swing aimed at its neck.
CRACK—!!!
The blade bit into the burning hide, but the boar shook its head violently and threw the axe off. Kim Jun didn’t hesitate. He raised the weapon again and slammed it down on the beast’s skull.
Crunch.
This time the sound of bone shattering was unmistakable. The boar staggered, lost its balance, and slipped in the pool of its own blood.
It crashed into the stacked plywood and cut lumber, thrashing wildly and scattering everything.
SQUEAL— SQUEEEEEEEE!!!
“You bastard!”
Kim Jun chased it down, teeth clenched, and delivered one final overhead strike.
CRACK!!!!
The third axe blow finally ended it. The giant boar staggered, then collapsed in a heap of burning flesh and blood.
Without wasting a second, Kim Jun pulled out his canteen and doused the flames still licking across the carcass. Only then could they breathe.
“Hyungnim! We got it!”
Myeong Guk ran over to deliver the finishing blow, arrow ready to slit the throat.
“Are you okay? You got hit earlier—”
“Hold on! Guard this spot!”
Ignoring the pain flaring in his ankle, Kim Jun tossed the blood-drenched axe aside.
“Eun Ji! Eun Ji!!”
“Eun Ji unnie!”
Kim Jun sprinted to her. Mari followed right behind. Her own face and hands were scraped raw from her earlier falls, but right now Eun Ji’s injuries took priority.
“Eun Ji!”
“Unnie!”
“Mmm… ugh…”
Her jacket was shredded. The boar had bitten her across the stomach. Kim Jun carefully lifted her into his arms. Eun Ji’s eyes fluttered open. When she saw his face, she let out a long, shaky breath.
“Haa… I’m alive.”
“You… you crazy woman.”
Eun Ji quietly ran her fingers over the sweater beneath the torn jacket. She had made the reinforced layer specifically to stop blades. This was its first real test. The boar’s tusks had punched holes through it and the protective plates were poking out, but not a single drop of her blood had been spilled. She owed her life to it.
The only real injuries she had were scrapes from being slammed and dragged across the ground.
“It worked pretty well… mmph?!”
“I thought you were going to die!”
Kim Jun yanked her into a crushing hug. Eun Ji instinctively tried to push him away like always, but she felt him trembling. For today, she let him hold her.
“Unnie, let me check you.”
“Mari, look at your own face! That cut on your cheek—”
“Ah…”
Mari touched her cheek and saw blood on her fingers. She and Eun Ji headed into the camper to fetch the first-aid kit.
“Oppa, you’re hurt too! Let me treat you.”
“Later. First we deal with this thing…”
Kim Jun grabbed rope and a butcher knife from the camper and stepped back into the wooden warehouse.
“Haa… Hyungnim. You worked hard.”
“It’s fine. Let’s wash this and call it a day.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Bring every kitchen knife and whetstone you have at the house.”
“You know how to butcher a wild boar?”
“Yeah. Done it before.”
Kim Jun laid a sheet of plywood down and approached the enormous carcass. He tied the front and rear legs securely with rope.
Squeal— Squeal!
“Crazy… Is this thing still alive?”
Myeong Guk stared in disbelief. The boar was still twitching despite losing massive amounts of blood and taking bullets, arrows, and axe blows. Its vitality was terrifying.
“It’s fine! I’ll finish it properly at your place. For now, help me lift it!”
“Ugh! Damn, this thing has to be over four hundred pounds!”
The two men tied the two-meter-long, two-hundred-kilogram monster with ropes, dragged it onto the plywood, then hooked a towing chain from the back of the vehicle. They hauled it like a sled.
It had been genuinely life-threatening. One mistake and a human would have died to a beast instead of a zombie. But they had all survived, and the reward was enormous.
“Hey, Su Yeong? You absolutely cannot come outside.”
“Oppa, what’s going on? Did someone—”
“No, it’s not that. We were hauling lumber from the mill and spotted a wild boar. We killed it, but the yard is a complete bloodbath right now while we butcher it. It’s pretty gruesome, so it’s better if you don’t look.”
“…Is it that bad?”
“Sorry. Once we clean everything up, we’ll be able to eat pork tonight.”
Myeong Guk stayed inside trying to keep his pregnant wife calm. Meanwhile, Kim Jun finished washing his wounds and administering first aid inside the camper. The group prepared to process the boar.
“Hyungnim, this is the knife we use to cut chicken necks at home.”
Myeong Guk handed over a large, well-honed blade. Kim Jun inspected it and nodded.
“If this one gets ruined, I’ll give you another.”
With those words, Kim Jun began the butchering.
The zombie apocalypse had come and gone, but his original profession had been hunter. Whenever wild boars caused problems, the road maintenance office would call him. He had learned proper field dressing from the licensed hunters there.
“Bring me a basin.”
“Here.”
They flipped a large rubber tub upside down and angled the boar’s hind legs onto it. The creature was still twitching.
Kim Jun wrapped its head in cloth, then drove the sharpened knife straight into its throat.
Shunk—
He twisted the blade to sever the windpipe completely. Mari closed her eyes and turned away. Eun Ji watched quietly for a moment, then asked.
“Oppa, is there anything I can do to help…”
“Soju! Bring the soju!”
“Yes.”
Eun Ji fetched one of the bottles they had looted earlier. Kim Jun cracked it open and poured the liquor over the throat wound where thick black blood was gushing out.
The stench was revolting, but it was necessary for proper butchering.
“We have to drain every drop of blood and remove the intestines.”
“Ugh… it’s really awful.”
“It’s a male. The musk is too strong. You can’t make blood sausage or sundae from wild boar.”
The smell was so foul it barely seemed like it came from anything natural, but Kim Jun kept working. He drained the blood into the basin, rinsed the area with soju, then began cutting from the throat down the belly.
The hide was incredibly tough. Every slice was accompanied by the cracking of bone and the snapping of tendons.
When the belly finally opened, the stench that poured out was so much worse that everyone instinctively backed away.
“Bring another basin.”
“Yes, hyungnim.”
Myeong Guk ran to fetch one. Kim Jun used his axe and knife to cut out the organs, discarding the inedible intestines, stomach, and reproductive parts.
“Bury these far away. If you don’t, other animals will smell it and come.”
“Yeah… that makes sense.”
Since they had found a boar in this area, it meant other wild animals were probably nearby too.
Kim Jun washed the liver with soju, drained it, and sprinkled salt over it.
“Salt it well and boil it thoroughly.”
“You’re giving some to us?”
“We caught it together, didn’t we?”
Next, Kim Jun grabbed the membrane between the hide and the meat and began peeling the skin back slowly.
“Haa… Eun Ji. Pass me our knife.”
“Yes. Here.”
She handed him a fresh blade. Kim Jun took it and gave Myeong Guk’s bloodied, dulled knife back to him.
While Myeong Guk washed and sharpened the old blade on the whetstone, Kim Jun used the new one to finish removing the hide. White fat and beautiful pink meat were revealed underneath.
Mari, who had turned away during the throat-cutting, now watched the anatomical process with professional interest. From a boar that weighed over two hundred kilograms, they harvested roughly half its weight in usable meat.
Thud. Thud. Crunch!
Kim Jun chopped off the legs with the axe. The enormous thighs were handed to Myeong Guk.
“You want these too?”
“Ah, no, it’s okay!”
“We caught it together. Half belongs to your family.”
“If you’re really offering… the legs are fine, but maybe some of the meat as well…”
“Hold on.”
Kim Jun carefully sliced the lean cuts, wrapped them, and passed them over.
“Wash the blood off and freeze it immediately. Eat it soon.”
“Yes, hyungnim. Thank you so much.”
It took several hours, but Kim Jun completely butchered the boar. He layered ice inside the icebox Myeong Guk provided and packed the meat neatly. In the end, they took what looked like over a hundred geun of pork plus all four legs.
Kim Jun stared at the severed head and pile of organs for a moment, washed his hands, and climbed into the vehicle.
That day, Myeong Guk’s family received the lumber they had gathered, the rice meant for feed, daily necessities, and ramen. In return, they gave bundles of straw containing eggs, quail eggs, and quail meat.
On the drive back, the adrenaline finally wore off. Kim Jun’s twisted ankle, his back, every part of his body ached.
“Ugh… I need a shower the second we get home.”
The inside of the vehicle still reeked of blood and wild boar musk.
“When we arrive, I’ll clean the car,” Eun Ji offered.
Kim Jun waved her off immediately.
“Forget it. Rest. Both of you, just rest today. Take care of your bodies.”
“…”
“She’s right. Unnie, it was really dangerous.”
Mari finished disinfecting the cut on her cheek and applying gauze. She planned to treat the rest of her scrapes once they returned.
“Today was too close. Let’s make sure nothing like this happens again.”
“I’m sorry…”
When Mari apologized first, Kim Jun pulled out a cigarette.
“Finding the boar isn’t something to apologize for… but Eun Ji.”
“…Yes. I was too reckless. I’m sorry.”
She bowed her head from the passenger seat. Kim Jun lit his cigarette.
“I’m asking you all—please value your lives. If you get broken bones out here, there’s nothing we can do.”
“Understood.”
Even as he spoke, Kim Jun glanced at the generous amount of boar meat in the back and smiled faintly.
“Tonight we eat meat. I’ll show you how to grill samgyeopsal with wild boar.”
“Yes!”
“Meat…”
It had been months since they last tasted pork. Kim Jun decided this would be the perfect way to lift everyone’s spirits after the terrifying day.