Chapter 3: I'll Save You All, With Humanism.
The blonde beauty whose voluptuous figure remained unchanged despite going without food for over ten days was Emily, the visual of the girl group Spinel.
She was a quarter-Korean beauty with twenty-five percent Korean blood, born to a white American father and a mixed-race mother whose father had been stationed with the U.S. military in Korea.
With her bold, sexually charged comments on variety shows and enthusiastic fan service during performances, she had earned absolute support from Spinel fans as their ace.
“Wow~ Is it over?”
“Yeah, that’s it for you. You can put your clothes back on now.”
“Ah, but my panties are outside…”
“…Just put on whatever you have.”
After tossing her bra and panties out to where Kim Jun waited, Emily picked up the rest of her clothes and dressed.
“Those are gonna smell really, really bad.”
“…Next.”
“Huuung?”
Even in this hellish situation surrounded by zombies, she didn’t hesitate to make slightly unhinged comments. It was honestly a wonder how someone like her had survived this long.
“Next.”
The next girl to emerge had matted hair twisted into a messy bun and a sticky body that had only been rinsed with water. The moment she peeled off her leggings, her plump, alluring hips were revealed.
Standing naked before Kim Jun, she spoke quietly.
“U-um… I have something I need to tell you…”
“Hm?”
“This isn’t a zombie bite. It’s just a scratch from when I was piercing my ears.”
The girl who showed him the wound with a bit of dried blood on her ear was Rana, the solo idol who had debuted as a singer. Her real name was Cha Nara. She had come from an audition program, once hailed as the nation’s little sister in the 21st century, and even aimed for the title of “Overlord Queen” with her sexy concept. Unfortunately, she had also been plagued by ugly rumors about her private life online.
“Teenager~ Oppa, she’s still a minor.”
“I-I’m twenty!”
“Your birthday hasn’t passed yet, so you’re still nineteen.”
Kim Jun snapped irritably.
“Blondie! Shut the hell up!”
He managed to silence Emily, but as he swept the HID light over Rana’s body, a faint sense of guilt began to creep in.
“N-next.”
Only two remained.
One was a naked woman like the others. The other… for some reason, had refused to remove even her outer layer and simply waited.
Anyway, the naked woman spread her arms and said,
“The things outside are probably a new kind of virus. It must have leaked from a lab. And none of us have any external injuries.”
“?”
“I checked. None of the girls have any wounds. And I… am a doctor.”
“A doctor?”
“Just a general practitioner, though.”
The woman who introduced herself as a doctor had a slender figure and a ponytail. Kim Jun didn’t recognize her at all.
He had heard Girl’s Fighting was getting a new member. Was this her? Not an idol, but a doctor?
When Kim Jun tilted his head in clear confusion, she blushed and explained.
“W-well, I’m an actress who used to be a doctor.”
“There was someone like that?”
“No, I mean… I was in Genius Surgeon! I appeared in that…”
“Never watched it.”
Kim Jun brushed off her self-introduction coolly. From behind her, Do Kyung of the group Crush spoke up.
“Mari unnie is from the same agency as us.”
“Oh, really? Anyway, you pass.”
She too was cleared—her body bore only sweat stains, with no wounds at all.
That brought the total to seven idols whose naked bodies Kim Jun had now thoroughly inspected.
And now, the last one remained.
A cold beauty with long hair neatly braided, every button of her clothes fastened tightly without a single strand out of place.
She was an idol Kim Jun personally liked quite a bit.
The girl group Eighteen.
Their leader, Eun Ji.
She had been part of the group he was obsessed with during his active duty days. From the time he was a sergeant to a staff sergeant, their songs had always been his phone ringtone.
Although she was the leader, she had relatively the least popularity. Still, Kim Jun liked her the most.
As a fan, he felt some personal affection, but he spoke to her politely.
“I have to inspect you the same way as the other ladies if I’m going to take you with me.”
“…No. I’m fine.”
Eun Ji glared at him with sharp eyes and refused to undress.
“Stripping naked and showing my body in front of you… I’d rather just stay here.”
“What? Stay here?”
Kim Jun asked again, but she was firm.
She wrapped her arms around herself, curled up, and stubbornly refused.
“Look, Eun Ji. I’m a huge fan of yours, you know? I’m even a member of the official fan club, Support Eight.”
He didn’t want to waste time arguing. He offered to save her in this situation, so they should just get it over with quickly.
“I said no! I’d rather die than show my body…”
“Goddamn it! You think I’m doing this because I want to see you naked? If it weren’t for the fan club connection, I would’ve left you behind already—”
“Then just leave me! I’ll stay here by myself!”
Watching Joo Eun-ji shout angrily, Kim Jun felt utterly drained by the absurdity of the situation and prepared to leave.
At that moment, Gaya came running over in a hurry to mediate.
“Mister! I mean, Oppa! I’ll take her to the bathroom and check myself.”
“What? How am I supposed to trust that…”
“None of us have any wounds, right? I’ll examine her thoroughly, so please. Just… okay?”
Kim Jun looked at the other members with a troubled expression.
They all begged him to let it happen that way. With no other choice, he handed the HID light to Gaya, and the two women went into the bathroom inside to perform the body search themselves.
In the meantime, the women who had already dressed hovered nervously around Kim Jun.
Fortunately, aside from the two zombies that had appeared in the distance, no more showed up.
A short while later, the door opened and Gaya handed the flashlight back to Kim Jun.
“She’s clean.”
“…”
Behind her, Eun Ji was adjusting her clothes, still meticulously buttoning every button even after days without washing.
“Whew, I’m exhausted. Let’s get going.”
Kim Jun took the lead, keeping his distance, while the eight celebrities followed him, anxiously scanning their surroundings.
After being trapped for over ten days in a hellish nightmare, they had finally escaped. They had no idea what would happen next, but for now, they desperately wanted to eat and bathe.
Kim Jun knew that. If he took them back, the first thing would be to let them wash with the water he had already drawn in the tub.
The moment they left the corridor of the stadium, Kim Jun looked outside and immediately stopped the women behind him.
He loaded his weapon right away.
Click.
“Everyone get down and cover your ears.”
“!”
At that instant, Gaya, acting as the big sister, made all the girls lower their heads. Kim Jun spotted the zombie outside the door and took aim.
It had the shape of a human, but he treated it like a pheasant on the mountain or a magpie on a transmission tower. Calmly aiming, he pulled the trigger.
Bang—
The slug bullet flew and blew the head off the zombie near the car.
The sound drew more zombies from the surroundings.
They were all walking zombies. But one of them was different.
[Uwooooooo!!! Uwoeruoeruo!!!!]
Letting out an incomprehensible roar, one of the zombies suddenly began sprinting.
“Fuck!”
Seeing it move far faster than the others, Kim Jun calmly aimed his scope at its head.
It might look human, but he had hunted prey like this more than once or twice.
He had taken down a raccoon darting madly in front of him by aiming for the back of its neck, and brought down a wild boar charging straight at him with a single pellet to the eye using his air gun.
Bang!
The zombie that had closed to within twenty meters collapsed with one shot. Kim Jun immediately loaded another slug into the shotgun at his waist.
That was when it happened.
[Uwooooooo!]
The zombie whose head had been shattered by the slug bullet stood back up and charged again.
“Ugh!?”
One of the idols nearly screamed, but Gaya and the athletic Do Kyung quickly covered her mouth.
Everyone’s hearts felt like they were about to drop, but Kim Jun set down the shotgun he had been reloading, drew the M-10 revolver from his waist, and fired.
Bang!
After taking a shotgun blast and then a pistol round, the zombie finally stopped moving.
Brains splattered everywhere. The sticky blood and flesh sliding down the wall made it clear no confirmation kill was needed.
Seeing the rest of the zombies slowly approaching, Kim Jun finished loading the shotgun and pointed at the camper van outside.
“Open the back door and get in! I’ll drive right away, so run!”
“Yes! Everyone, hurry!”
Gaya guided the girls. Nanika, Do Kyung, In Ah, Emily, and the rest of the idols—who had been starving for over ten days—ran desperately for their lives, opened the camper’s rear door, and piled inside.
At that moment, Kim Jun grabbed Eun Ji’s hand beside him.
“!?”
“You ride separately.”
She tried to shake him off immediately, but she couldn’t break free from his grip and was dragged along.
Unlike the other seven idols, Kim Jun put Eun Ji in the passenger seat.
Once in the driver’s seat, he started the engine right away.
The driver’s seat had already been heavily modified by Kim Jun after the zombie outbreak began.
First, there was a reinforced acrylic panel he had installed between the driver’s and passenger seats.
He then locked the passenger door from the inside, effectively trapping her inside.
In that state, Kim Jun pulled the revolver from his waist and aimed it at Eun Ji.
“I didn’t get to check you myself, so I’m still a little suspicious. You understand, right?”
“…Haa, do as you like.”
Even with a gun pointed at her through the acrylic panel, Eun Ji let out a resigned sigh and closed her eyes.
At least the kids in the back wouldn’t get bitten. And if she turned into a zombie in the passenger seat, both the shotgun and revolver were ready—her head would be blown off at point-blank range with one pull of the trigger.
“Hold on tight, everyone! I’m gonna smash through some zombies on the way!”
Kim Jun shouted to the back and slammed on the accelerator.
The distance from Sosa-beol Stadium to his house was about ten minutes.
The tank was full.
The only question was how many zombies he would run over on the way.
He hadn’t prepared for this exact situation, but when he went camping he had installed a heavy metal bumper—like the ones used on safari vehicles at zoos—to protect the car from roadkill on mountain roads.
Luckily, it turned out to be an excellent battering ram. The vehicle had become a tank that could simply plow through zombies without issue.
Vroooooom—
[Uwooooooo—]
Crunch!
The two or three zombies in front were sent flying helplessly the moment he rammed them.
He had no interest in bumper cars, so he either crushed them outright or swerved the wheel to make sure they didn’t fly toward the windows.
Crash! Thud!
The idols in the back screamed at the rough driving, but thanks to it, they arrived much faster.
Today alone, Kim Jun had killed over ten zombies. He parked the car in front of the house and opened the rear gear case.
Click!
Inside were soju bottles.
Of course, they weren’t for drinking.
He had drunk half of each, filled the rest with thinner, stuffed them with cloth wicks, and soaked them.
Hiss— Hssss—
He hurled the makeshift soju Molotov cocktails at the zombies slowly approaching from the front.
Crash!
Whoosh—
A wall of fire erupted ten meters ahead where the bottle shattered.
Kim Jun threw another to the opposite side, creating walls of flame both in front and behind so zombies couldn’t approach while they entered the house.
There were no more flammable materials nearby. Once the fire burned out, the path would open again on its own.
Then, aiming the shotgun from outside the door, he slowly opened it.
“It’s clear! Everyone out!”
“Ugh… Yes.”
Kim Jun guided the idols, who were staggering from motion sickness, into the house. Last was Eun Ji, who had been left alone in the passenger seat.
Before looking at her, Kim Jun drew his pistol and asked,
“Are you really going to keep refusing the body search?”
“…I’d rather wait inside the car.”
“As soon as we go in, I’m sending the kids to shower. Eventually you’ll have to take your clothes off at some point, won’t you?”
“It’s fine. Wouldn’t it be better to just watch and see if I turn into a zombie or not from in here?”
“You’re really stubborn. I was a fan, but you’re killing my affection…”
With that, Kim Jun opened the door and handed her the pistol.
Handing a weapon to someone he had just met, he taught her how to use it and closed the door.
“Once the kids finish bathing, if you’re still fine, I’ll come get you. Just wait.”
As Kim Jun turned to leave, Eun Ji raised the pistol she had been given and pulled the trigger.
Click—
“…Pfft!”
Kim Jun let out a small laugh at the sound of the empty gun.
When he had looted the gun shop, there had only been one bullet. She hadn’t known that and had pulled the trigger anyway.
“At this rate, I have no reason to save you…”
But when he turned around, Kim Jun saw something completely unexpected.
Eun Ji hadn’t pointed the gun at him.
Instead, she had aimed it under her own chin, trying to end her life. She had pulled the trigger and survived only because there were no bullets.
“…”
“Where the hell did you learn to aim under your chin like that?”
“Ha… haha…”
Eun Ji dropped the pistol weakly, lowered her head, and let a single tear fall.
She knew she shouldn’t cry, but somehow her tearful face looked more pitiful than when she smiled in front of fans during performances. Her beauty moved Kim Jun’s heart once again.
“I don’t know what’s going on, but since Gaya said you’re clean, I won’t do a body search.”
“…”
“Instead, wait until the kids finish showering. We’ll go in together then.”
Telling her to calm down for now, Kim Jun passed some water and a few candies through the window and went inside the house.