The Longest Looting Run
The head monk slowly guided the critically wounded woman into the temple, supporting her with care.
Kim Jun, Do Kyung, and Emily followed at a measured pace behind them.
Emily in particular wore a complicated expression as she gazed down at the baby squirming in her arms.
In this hellish world, the child had somehow survived. The once chubby cheeks she remembered were now hollow, yet the infant continued sucking innocently on a pacifier, completely unaware of the nightmare surrounding him.
After walking for ten minutes, they reached the main temple building.
By then there were still no signs of infection. Since the usual incubation window had already passed, it was clear the baby’s mother ahead of them was genuinely on the verge of death from her injuries.
Inside, the only illumination came from oil lamps instead of electric lights.
The other monks who had been waiting for the head monk approached, only to freeze in shock at the sight of the injured woman and the group trailing after her.
“Head monk! Who are these people?”
“Say nothing. Bring the bodhisattva at once. This patient looks like she could stop breathing any second.”
The two monks carried the wounded woman to a separate quarters while brushing the blood from their robes. They also prepared a resting place for Kim Jun’s group.
A short while later, a middle-aged woman in her early fifties wearing monastic robes hurried in. The moment she saw the baby’s mother, she immediately began preparing the first-aid kit and hot water for treatment.
While carefully removing the woman’s clothing and cleaning the pus and blood from her wounds, the nurse exclaimed in surprise.
“My God! Her shoulder is dislocated!”
Upon hearing that the woman had been running in that condition for a long time, she warned that the arm might never function properly again. She first reset the bone, then treated the other injuries.
Kim Jun quietly asked from the side.
“You seem pretty experienced at this.”
“I worked as a nurse before the world ended.”
“!”
Just like Mari back home, it turned out this temple also had trained medical personnel.
After somehow stabilizing the baby’s mother, they laid her on the warmest part of the heated floor, covered her with a thick blanket, and placed a moist gauze against her lips to keep her hydrated.
While watching the treatment, Kim Jun headed toward the separate room where Emily and Do Kyung had been given space to rest.
“Good thing we brought supplies.”
“Oh! Eat this! Come on, eat!”
The monks had washed the baby—who had miraculously survived for months—with warm water and fashioned a makeshift diaper from clean cloth. When they brought him over, Emily and Do Kyung mixed the full-fat and skim milk powder they had grabbed from the mart. Using well water from the temple, they carefully stirred it with a spoon and fed the infant.
Fortunately the baby smiled brightly while drinking, and both women began caring for him with soft, maternal expressions.
“How old do you think he is?”
“No idea. Never had a kid myself.”
“Ugh, no shit. Who here has?”
Even while bickering, both women stayed completely focused on the baby as he crawled across the floor after finishing his formula.
Kim Jun watched them with visible relief.
“Let’s stay here for the night and move out again tomorrow.”
“Way better than the camper. It’s actually warm in here.”
The two idols, now staying in a real temple instead of a drama set, exchanged greetings with the monks and settled comfortably into the warm ondol room.
Kim Jun, shotgun slung over his shoulder, volunteered to stand watch around the perimeter.
It had already been the longest looting run of his life, yet the day still wasn’t over.
While standing guard alone until dawn, Kim Jun took the opportunity to study the temple’s layout.
The complex was more than twice the size of his own fortified house. Large dormitories capable of housing many people bore an old sign that read Summer Buddhist School. It seemed the temple had been training large groups of children in Buddhism right up until the outbreak.
Summer Buddhist School
Vinyl greenhouses and cultivated fields surrounded the buildings. Though there was no electricity, a manual pump drew water from a deep well.
Click.
Kim Jun readied his shotgun and swept the area with the night-vision goggles he had lent Do Kyung earlier. He refused to sleep, staying alert in case any zombies appeared.
Deep in the night, long after everyone else had fallen asleep, a figure quietly approached him.
The sturdy monk was the same man he had encountered with the old monk at the greenhouse before.
“Ah!”
“I am called Seongjeong.”
After introducing himself with his Buddhist name, Seongjeong offered Kim Jun a cup of hot tea.
“I’m fine. I brought my own.”
Instead of accepting the monk’s offering, Kim Jun drank from his canteen filled with barley tea.
“I prepared two cups on purpose.”
“Then you should drink both, monk.”
“As you wish.”
Seongjeong sat down beside him without hesitation and quietly savored his tea.
He then engaged in a short conversation with Kim Jun, who continued his night vigil.
“There used to be around twenty monks here.”
“I see.”
“When those demons appeared, many monks died trying to protect the believers… Now only the few of us remain.”
“Hmm.”
Besides the head monk, three others remained—monks who handled cooking and chores. There was also a bodhisattva who had been a public health center nurse and had fled here in a panic, along with her father, an elderly retired dentist.
In total, six people were surviving at the temple by combining their skills.
“Last time I saw you seemed self-sufficient. Sorry for adding more mouths to feed.”
“Do not worry. Whatever we cannot eat will simply become fertilizer for next year.”
“The baby and his mother—we only met them today.”
At Kim Jun’s words, Seongjeong quietly pressed his palms together.
“The head monk has already decided to accept both the mother and child. We will treat her here and raise the boy ourselves.”
“He truly is compassionate. Your head monk.”
“We strive without laziness to become like him.”
As the weariness of dawn crept over him, Kim Jun put a cigarette between his lips.
“I know monks can’t drink or eat meat, but is smoking also forbidden?”
“No one smokes inside the dharma hall.”
Kim Jun nodded and quietly lit up.
Exhaling smoke while never lowering his guard, he asked, “Do you have any defenses prepared in case zombies reach this place?”
“We are building a wooden palisade. We avoid direct killing when possible. Of course, we do have a shaman who can drive them away…”
Kim Jun nodded. He had learned a great deal about the temple tonight.
“I gathered quite a few supplies while moving around today. If you need anything, I’ll leave some behind.”
“We still have enough after the rice and fuel from last time.”
“You never know what tomorrow brings.”
Seongjeong smiled quietly at Kim Jun’s words, bowed, and departed.
Kim Jun remained on guard until dawn, recalling his old days standing night watch as a soldier. When the first light of morning finally broke, he slowly stood up.
“Thank you for the meal.”
During the morning balwoo gongyang at the temple, Emily and Do Kyung began eating the noodles the monks had boiled with vegetables since dawn.
Even with two beautiful idols adding to the number of mouths, the head monk and the other Buddhists willingly shared their food.
After the meal, the head monk asked Emily, “Where is the believer who came with you?”
“He stood guard around the temple last night and is resting now.”
“He didn’t have to do that.”
Kim Jun was dozing off in the warm room, shotgun still in his hands.
Emily and Do Kyung remained behind. Like participants in a temple stay program, they learned how to perform one hundred prostrations before the Buddha statue and quietly calmed their hearts.
In between, the two idols played with the baby and wished they had their phones so they could capture the scenic beauty of the temple.
Meanwhile, the baby’s mother, who had been receiving treatment, slowly opened her eyes.
“Mmm… ugh…”
The female bodhisattva had spent the entire night gently wiping the sweat from the woman’s fevered body and changing the wet towels repeatedly.
“Ha… Ha Jun-ah… Ha Jun-ah…”
The moment she woke, the mother called for her child. The bodhisattva greeted her with a kind smile.
“Please don’t worry. Your child is safe.”
Thud.
“Oh? You’re awake?”
When the mother saw Emily holding the baby, she tried to rise quickly to take him. Emily gently set the infant down beside her.
“Baa~”
The baby crawled toward his mother. In the midst of their emotional reunion, Emily scratched her cheek awkwardly.
“Um… If you had explained the situation when we first met, things would’ve gone a lot smoother.”
“!”
The mother recognized Emily as the woman she had threatened before being counterattacked. Surprise flashed across her face, but seeing her baby safe eased her mind.
“How old is he? We gave him skim milk powder and he ate really well.”
“Thirteen months…”
“Can I keep holding him for a while?”
“Yes. Our Ha Jun is very well-behaved.”
“So his name is Ha Jun. It suits him. He’s a boy, right?”
Emily, who had nearly struck the child with her staff earlier, continued holding him and stroked his head apologetically.
An hour later, Do Kyung quietly approached Kim Jun as he woke and lit his first cigarette of the morning.
“Hoo… Thinking back on yesterday, there were so many moments that scared the hell out of me.”
“You saw some pretty nasty shit.”
Kim Jun exhaled smoke, tapped his still-stiff body, and took a long drink from his canteen.
“Have you been fighting like that this whole time?”
“Pretty much.”
“There really is a superhero here. Thanks to you, we all survived.”
Seeing the genuine respect shining in Do Kyung’s eyes, Kim Jun let out a small laugh.
“We’re all just trying to live, right?”
“Honestly, when I realized it really was the baby’s mom and you ran in to save her… I was really moved.”
“I was only fifty-fifty sure.”
If the woman had truly been infected, Kim Jun would have followed the plan and put her down immediately with the shotgun pressed against the acrylic shield. But it would have created a lifelong trauma right before his eyes.
Fortunately, they had rescued two survivors and found another shelter where they could rest for a full day.
“Are we heading home now?”
“Before that, let’s leave some supplies here.”
“Huh?”
“We can just restock at that mart we hit yesterday.”
“Ah… yeah, that makes sense!”
Remembering the route from the night before, Kim Jun and Do Kyung returned to the well-parked camper van.
They opened the rear door and pulled out rice along with various starches from the mountain of supplies.
“We should leave the formula here since there’s a baby.”
“Sounds good.”
“Canned food… they probably won’t eat meat.”
“There are non-meat options too.”
Looking at the canned whelks and mackerel, Do Kyung listened to Kim Jun and instead gathered cans of perilla leaves, corn, pineapple, and similar items.
Seeing the head monk’s blood-soaked robe yesterday had also prompted them to grab detergent, fabric softener, various soaps, alcohol cleaners, and over-the-counter medicine from the mart.
Even while loading up supplies to share with other survivors, Kim Jun felt no regret whatsoever.
“Goodness, what is all this?”
The head monk and the three other monks stared in astonishment at the goods Kim Jun and Do Kyung had brought.
Emily’s eyes widened too, surprised they were giving away so much of what they had worked hard to collect the day before.
“Think of it as payment for letting us stay the night.”
“But isn’t this far too much?”
“We’ll probably be in your debt again someday.”
Not only the monks but all the Buddhists bowed deeply in thanks to Kim Jun.
“Aigoo, thank you so much.”
“You’re the dentist, correct?”
“It’s been five years since I retired. This is my daughter, a former public health center nurse. We’ve survived this long by heaven’s grace.”
“If anyone gets sick later, come find me.”
“Hehe, we only have manual tools. It might hurt quite a bit.”
“Still better than letting it rot completely.”
Kim Jun was about to say his farewells and leave when a door in the dharma hall slowly opened.
The mother, her body wrapped in bandages and holding her son, saw Kim Jun and immediately burst into tears.
“Th-there…”
“!”
“Th-thank… you. Really… thank you.”
Watching the woman tremble as she cried and thanked him repeatedly, Kim Jun gave a small smile and raised his thumb.
“Make sure you thank the Buddha every day. Ah, I’m not actually Buddhist though.”
The monks laughed heartily at his words, and everyone was able to part on warm terms.
“We can’t possibly send you away empty-handed after receiving such generous gifts. Seongjeong, please bring those things.”
“Yes!”
The sturdy Seongjeong hurried off and soon returned pulling a cart loaded with enormous boxes.
“What are these?”
“I thought your group might need clothing at your shelter.”
“Monk robes are a little…”
“Hehe, then make your own.”
“?”
The boxes were filled with cotton yarn.
“Oh my, isn’t this knitting yarn? Wow, there’s fabric and buttons too?”
Emily’s eyes sparkled like a cat’s as she picked up a skein and began rolling it around in her hands.
Seeing the sheer quantity of needles and yarn—enough to make clothes for more than ten people with plenty left over—Kim Jun asked quietly.
“Did you loot a textile factory or something?”
“Hehehe, these were originally prepared for winter experiential learning for children from nearby schools. They ended up just taking up space in storage.”
“Ah…”
“They will be far more useful to you believers than to us monks.”
“Well then… we’ll gratefully accept them.”
After loading the boxes, Kim Jun looked back at the temple one last time as they prepared to leave. He nodded, feeling the visit had been deeply meaningful.
As the group climbed back into the vehicle, Do Kyung—once again in the passenger seat—stared at Kim Jun for a long moment before speaking.
“You really are an incredible person, you know?”
“The monks?”
“No. You, oppa.”
“…Out of nowhere.”
Her eyes held more than respect now—they were filled with love.
Looking at the chic yet deeply humanist Kim Jun, they once again realized that their ability to keep living after the zombie outbreak was entirely thanks to him.
“Ah~ When we get home I want to shower and sleep for days.”
Everyone wholeheartedly agreed with Emily’s words.
But before that, one more looting run remained at yesterday’s mart.
“By the way, about that yarn. Does anyone in our group know how to knit?”
“Hmm… Maybe In Ah or Eun Ji unnie?”
“What if no one does?”
Kim Jun chuckled.
“Why worry? We’ll just use it to make a barricade.”
“A yarn barrier? That sounds hilarious.”
“At the very least, zombies will trip over it and fall on their faces.”
“Oh, that’s actually a great idea!”
With brighter expressions than before, Kim Jun, Do Kyung, and Emily set off to secure their second batch of supplies.
The longest two-day, one-night looting run had left them with more goods and more precious memories than any run before it.