Chapter 59 - Siege Defense
Kim Jun immediately grabbed the gasoline can he had just secured and sprinted back toward the house the moment he learned what was happening.
“Those fucking bastards!”
“Oppa! What about the unnies?!”
Do Kyung, sitting in the passenger seat, looked like she was about to burst into tears after hearing the full story. Her eyes were already glistening.
In Ah was in the back seat, anxiously chewing the tip of her thumbnail the entire time.
Kim Jun drove at full speed, but unlike the trip there, zombies were now appearing one or two at a time on the way back.
“Oppa!”
“I see them too!”
He swerved wildly across the narrow road. Normally he would have turned them into paste, but right now his priorities were different.
As he drove, Kim Jun called out to In Ah in the back seat.
“In Ah! Keep checking the situation! What’s it like over there right now?”
“Just a second!”
In Ah hurriedly asked for an update over the walkie-talkie.
“Unnie! Can you still hear me?”
[Static— Uuuuugh! I can’t do this anymore!]
“Hello? Rana?!”
The walkie-talkie had been with Eun Ji just moments ago, but now it had suddenly switched to Rana. In Ah was about to ask again when another voice quickly cut in.
[Static— Hello? It’s me, Mari unnie!]
“Unnie, what’s the situation over there right now?”
The relatively calm Mari took over the walkie-talkie. In Ah held it out so both Kim Jun and Do Kyung in the back could hear.
“Mari? What’s going on?!”
In the midst of all the chaos, Mari calmly reported the situation.
[Static— Down below… Eun Ji unnie and Gaya unnie are using flaming sticks to hold back the zombies trying to climb over the wall.]
“What? That’s seriously dangerous!”
[Static— But that’s why the ones trying to climb can’t get over! We’re up top sniping them with slingshots!]
“How many are there?”
[Static— I can’t even count them. There’s way too many!]
“Just hold on for ten minutes! I’m coming right now!!!”
Kim Jun slammed the accelerator without wasting another second.
At that moment Do Kyung screamed.
“Kyaaaaah! Oppa, in front!”
“!”
Right in the middle of the radio call, a pack of runner zombies came charging straight at them, foaming at the mouth.
If he swerved now, they’d go off the road and that would be the end.
It wasn’t a deer—this was a pack of zombies rushing them head-on. Both Do Kyung and In Ah screamed at the same time.
“Kyaaaaaaaaaah!”
“Mom!!!!”
“Hold on tight!”
Kim Jun floored the accelerator once again.
Crunch—Crash! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The camper, loaded with fuel cans, slammed straight into the horde of zombies.
Meanwhile, inside Kim Jun’s house, the top stars were desperately fighting off the endless wave of zombies trying to scale the walls.
“Huff… huff…”
Seeing Gaya breathing raggedly, Eun Ji grabbed the flaming club from her hands.
“Unnie, that’s enough! Go up top and take command of the kids! I’ll handle this.”
“Are you crazy? You’re going to block all those things climbing over by yourself?”
“If you keep going, you’ll collapse from exhaustion first.”
Even though Gaya had the charisma to lead the younger girls as the eldest, her own physical stamina had clear limits.
Just like when she’d been using the slingshot earlier, swinging a steel pipe longer than she was tall with a flaming tip across the wall was draining her fast. Her breathing had grown labored.
Eun Ji took over exactly as she had at the beginning, forcing Gaya to retreat. Then she burned the next zombie trying to climb the wall.
Sizzle—
“Grrrrr— GRRRRRAAAAH!!!”
Even as the zombie screamed, Eun Ji was willing to endure it if it meant creating distance. She accepted the burden without hesitation.
Then a shout came from above.
“Eun Ji unnie! Fall back!”
“We might hit the back of your head if you stay there!”
It was too dangerous to keep firing from the roof. At the warning to retreat, Eun Ji raised her hand and took several steps back.
Meanwhile on the rooftop, the girls were taking turns firing the slingshots.
When Emily and Mari looked back after shooting, they saw Rana completely broken—curled up, clutching both ears, trembling.
Nanika was trying to massage her own arms and legs to get moving again. She bit down hard on her lip and forced herself to stand.
“S-shift!”
“Just stay down, babies!”
Emily flicked her fingers, picked up a rolling nut from the floor, and loaded the slingshot.
She took aim at one of the zombies piled against the wall outside and fired straight at the one whose eyes met hers.
Crack!
With a tremendous sound, the 22mm nut flew at terrifying speed and smashed into the zombie’s head, completely shredding its jaw.
Emily kept firing like a madwoman, as if all her training for this day had led to this moment. Beside her, Mari continued launching nuts while also keeping an eye on the two mentally shattered girls, making sure they were okay.
At that moment, Gaya staggered up to the third floor.
“Ah, unnie!”
“Let’s… switch.”
“Are you okay?”
Instead of answering, Gaya handed out bottles of water she had brought.
Rana and Nanika, who had been trembling. Emily, who had been firing nonstop. Even Mari, who had been moving around taking care of everything. They all drank the cool water Gaya offered and finally caught their breath.
Meanwhile, Eun Ji was still fighting alone like a one-woman army. She shoved another zombie that tried to climb over, sending it tumbling back down.
She should have been exhausted, but she kept breathing through her nose, eyes burning with killing intent as she clenched her teeth and held the line.
The zombie horde kept growing. No matter how many she knocked down, they stepped on the corpses of the fallen and kept climbing.
“Kyaaah!”
In that instant, one zombie stepped on the others and hauled its upper body over the wall.
Eun Ji gripped the flaming club tightly and charged forward to shove it back before it could fully cross.
Right then—
Crack!
The zombie’s head exploded. It staggered backward and collapsed with a heavy thud.
If it had tilted forward into the yard, she had been ready to set it on fire.
Eun Ji saw the spray of zombie blood that had splattered all the way to her feet. She touched her hands and face, then realized not a single drop had hit her. She froze in place.
Then gunshots rang out from beyond the wall.
Bang— Bang— Bang—
“Kyaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
There had never been a sound in their lives more welcome than those gunshots.
“That’s Kim Jun oppa’s car!”
“He’s finally here! Jun!!!”
At the sound of Gaya and Emily’s voices from the rooftop, Eun Ji decided it was finally over. She quietly leaned the flaming pipe against the wall and stepped back.
She spotted the lukewarm water bottle Gaya had given her earlier, collapsed onto the ground, opened it, and gulped it down. Then she squeezed her eyes shut.
“You sons of bitches! What the hell were you aiming for?!”
Today, Kim Jun was truly furious as he unleashed a storm of gunfire.
Click— Bang!
After firing the air gun, he didn’t even bother reloading the single-shot weapon. He switched to the shotgun for the zombies swarming in front of the house and fired immediately.
There was no need for precision shots. Anything he hit exploded in a spray of blood and collapsed.
“Uwaaah! Why are there so many?!”
Do Kyung recoiled in horror from the window. In Ah kept asking for updates over the walkie-talkie from more than twenty meters away.
“Unnies! What’s the situation now?”
[Static— We’ve all pulled back into the rooftop room! Just get Eun Ji inside!]
Kim Jun shouted back.
“Get Eun Ji inside right now! I’ll take care of the rest of the zombies!”
Upon hearing that Eun Ji was still outside, he immediately told them to bring her in, then continued dropping zombies one after another.
These undead had dared to invade the safe haven they had built and protected so carefully.
There were so many that they had formed an actual wall of corpses in one section, allowing others to climb over them.
In that situation, Kim Jun blasted the horn like a madman to draw every zombie’s attention toward himself.
Thanks to that, the zombies now rushing at him were no longer trying to enter the house. Only five or six were now charging toward his vehicle.
Kim Jun decided to end it here and now. He raised the shotgun.
There were only two shells left, but he wasn’t worried.
Click— Bang!Click— Baaang!
Sitting in the driver’s seat, he dropped two zombies with just two shots.
He had aimed perfectly at their snouts. Even if they got back up, they wouldn’t be able to bite anyone.
Seeing more zombies rushing from behind, Kim Jun calmly set the shotgun aside and drew the revolver from his waist.
Bang— Bang— Bang— Bang—
He moved with mechanical precision, completely unlike the man who had been swearing and grumbling just moments ago. One by one, the zombies fell.
After they were all down, he quietly reloaded the air gun and shotgun just in case any of them got back up.
Both Do Kyung and In Ah were completely frozen. Neither could speak a word.
After finishing off the remaining zombies, Kim Jun quietly shifted gears.
The metal bumper was now covered in zombie blood and flesh fragments from the ones he had hit on the way here.
He couldn’t go straight through anymore. He decided to circle around from the opposite direction to enter the house.
After circling one block, he came face to face with another pile of zombie corpses in front of the house.
Kim Jun smoked a cigarette while watching for ten minutes. Once he confirmed nothing else was going to jump out, he got out of the car.
“In Ah, bring me one of the fuel cans from the back.”
“Ah, yes!”
In Ah hurriedly handed him one of the cans they had filled earlier. Kim Jun took it and began pouring the contents all over the mountain of corpses.
There was a faint smell of bleach mixed with the blood. It seemed the girls inside had already tried something.
He emptied an entire precious can of fuel, took one last drag of his cigarette, and tossed it onto the pile.
Whoosh—
There was slight movement within the corpse pile, but he paid it no mind.
Kim Jun quietly opened the car door. Once the camper, finished with today’s looting, was safely inside, Do Kyung and In Ah immediately jumped out and ran into the house in tears to check on their companions.
Even though they had gathered plenty of supplies, Kim Jun gave a bitter smile and first sprayed bleach all over the blood and flesh stuck to the vehicle.
As he watched the flames continue to burn beyond the wall, he was forced to endure the sickening smell of burning corpses until he was thoroughly sick of it.
While Kim Jun was cleaning up alone, Eun Ji and Emily quietly came out to join him.
“Ah, Jun!”
“Sorry we couldn’t come greet you properly.”
It was easier for the two of them to help carry things than the mentally shattered younger girls.
But before they could start moving the cargo, Kim Jun looked at them, let out a long sigh, and said,
“You’ve all been through hell. Seriously, good work.”
“We protected the shelter we all live in together, so— ahem!”
He quietly hugged the proud-looking Emily. When his eyes met Eun Ji’s—the one who had done the most today—she quietly lowered her head, opened the back door of the camper, and began checking the supplies one by one to prepare to carry them inside.
From inside came the sound of loud sobbing. Kim Jun thought the two who had just gone in had every right to cry like that.
Then Do Kyung came back out with puffy, swollen eyes and tried to help move the supplies they had gathered today.
“Sniff… I’m so glad. Everyone’s still alive.”
“Hey, hey, you’re going to drop that. Just go back inside.”
“No! I can carry this inside…”
Even then, Do Kyung carried the microwave and rice cooker up the stairs. In Ah came out a little later and helped receive the supplies being brought up from below.
Kim Jun finished moving the remaining luggage. The generator test he had planned for tonight was postponed until tomorrow.
Thus, everyone—including the girls who had been hiding in the rooftop room—gathered together on the second floor of the house.
They were all in a daze. Some still couldn’t stop their tears from falling.
Kim Jun gathered all the girls and quietly brought extra blankets from the warehouse.
“I never expected something like this to happen. We’ve never had an incident like this before.”
“…Sniff.”
“Still, you all held on so well. I can’t thank you enough.”
Kim Jun took each of their hands one by one—the ones who had miraculously defended the house from a massive zombie ambush in his absence. Some burst into tears and hugged him. Others simply nodded with calm, steady eyes.
“Tonight, let’s all sleep together in the living room. We have plenty of blankets and pillows, so just stay here.”
“Yes… that sounds better.”
Gaya and Eun Ji began taking care of the younger girls. In Ah, who would normally be cooking something by now, couldn’t move after seeing the situation outside following the radio call.
Once all the top stars had fallen asleep huddled together in the second-floor living room, Kim Jun stood alone with his shotgun, keeping watch outside.
This wasn’t the first time something like this had happened, and just like back at Jeongto Temple, he was preparing for the possibility of additional intruders.
The flames outside were still burning fiercely. The acrid smell of smoke forced him to wear two masks layered tightly. He continued circling the area, moving between the third floor and the first floor to monitor the situation.
He had more than enough stamina to stay up until sunrise. Since the situation was still unpredictable, Kim Jun remained fully alert.
Click.
He swept the area with an HID light. Other than the moon and stars in the night sky, nothing else was reflected. It created an eerily quiet atmosphere.
Kim Jun continued his watch. When hunger began to creep in around dawn, he decided to head up to the third-floor rooftop room since all the girls were on the second floor. He wanted to grab something to eat.
Click— Creeeeak—
“?!”
The moment the second-floor door suddenly opened, Kim Jun, who had been on the stairs, immediately came back down.
When he shone the HID light, he saw someone carrying something steaming.
It was Eun Ji.
“You didn’t sleep?”
“How could I sleep comfortably when you’re out here working so hard?”
Eun Ji handed him the tray of food.
“Let’s eat inside.”
“Ah… thank you.”
She had brought a thermos full of tea and a cup of ramen she had boiled from the large stock they had taken from the convenience store. Next to it was some of In Ah’s kimchi.
Kim Jun entered the third-floor rooftop room, turned on the light in the cozy space, and Eun Ji quickly set up the meal.
The moment he ate a fresh bowl of cup ramen, all the tension in his body seemed to melt away.
“After you eat, rest for a bit. I’ll take over for the remaining time.”
“It’s fine. Go back to sleep.”
“I don’t sleep much at night.”
Eun Ji took the HID light and swept the outside area from the third floor.
Kim Jun finished every last drop of the ramen broth, slowly stood up, and asked for the light from Eun Ji, who was doing things he hadn’t asked her to do.
“Give it here.”
“…Here.”
“And go get some sleep. I’ll switch with you when the sun comes up.”
“…Yes, I will.”
“The ramen was delicious. Thank you.”
Eun Ji glanced at the empty bowl, quietly took it inside to clean, and returned to the second floor without another word.
Still, it was touching that she had thought of him and prepared all this. Having filled his stomach with a solid late-night snack, Kim Jun quietly lit a cigarette and gazed at the moon.
“Haa…”
It had been a long time since he’d had a day this exhausting. Not since the incident at the temple.