Chapter 67 - Another Group of Survivors
Kim Jun left the area for good after loading the last of the gold bars and various pieces of jewelry into the vehicle.
“I told you that wasn’t the original plan!”
“Yes, that’s right. We need to prioritize medicine.”
“Cosmetics too!”
“….”
Hearing what Mari and Rana were saying, Kim Jun realized the girls had grown completely used to looting while dealing with zombies outside.
“A little farther and there’s a hardware store and a cosmetics shop.”
“They’re right next to each other?”
“Those places have been there since way back.”
At Kim Jun’s words, both Rana and Mari looked excited.
This was an area he knew with his eyes closed. Kim Jun drove the car toward the spots the girls wanted.
Soon enough, two stores appeared before everyone’s eyes.
[True Frog Zone]
[Sosa-beol Hardware Store]
“Uh…”
“The cosmetics store is here.”
“Wait, that’s a cosmetics shop?”
It was indeed a cosmetics shop.
A True Frog brand cosmetics shop that had lost its former prestige compared to overseas luxury brands or domestic conglomerates.
Mari marveled that the brand still existed, while Rana—who had never even heard the name—asked what it was.
“It’s a pretty well-known spot.”
“Looks like a cosmetics shop only grandmas would use?”
“So are you not going in?”
“….”
Rana sighed from the back seat and looked around.
No zombies had appeared on the way here. While Kim Jun got out to check the perimeter, Mari looked at the store and spoke.
“It’s been a really long time.”
“Sis, you know this place? I’ve never even heard the name. It really does look like grandma cosmetics.”
“Ah, it was a brand I used to buy through door-to-door sales back when I was in school.”
“…Really?”
“My mom always put on their lotion and lipstick before heading to church. Those were famous.”
“If it’s from Mari unnie’s mother’s time…”
Rana counted on her fingers, confirmed it was a cosmetics brand from before she was even born, and turned her head away.
“It won’t smell like aunties, right?”
“We’ll have to see.”
At that moment, Kim Jun gestured for the two of them to come out.
Mari stepped out immediately, but Rana grumbled that this wasn’t the kind of cosmetics she had imagined and opened the back door.
“Here, carry this.”
“Whoa!?”
When Kim Jun casually tossed over a roll of barbed wire wound up like a pillar, Mari staggered the moment she caught it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t that heavy.
With shaky legs, Mari somehow loaded the bundle of barbed wire into the car. Afterward, Kim Jun approached carrying a backpack stuffed full of nails, and Rana walked over.
“Give it to me. I’ll carry some too.”
“You can’t lift this.”
“Hng?!”
When Kim Jun playfully handed her the backpack full of nails that he had been holding with one arm, Rana—who tried to take it like Mari—lost her balance and plopped down on the spot.
Kim Jun carried the heavy backpack himself and tossed it into the warehouse. When Mari climbed down, he told her,
“We’re done here, so go get your cosmetics now.”
“Really?”
“It’s safe. I already cleared the place.”
“Ah… okay.”
Hearing that, Mari took Rana with her toward the cosmetics store with the frog emblem.
She muttered that if they were going to raid a place like this, student cosmetics from a stationery store would have been better, but once inside, Rana began meticulously examining the products.
“Hmm, the tint shades are actually decent? The mascara looks fine too, and they have both cool-tone and warm-tone powders…”
She had called it a brand she’d never seen or heard of and said it was outdated, yet the moment she started looting, Rana was grabbing everything in sight.
“Ah~ If only we had time, I’d try them on myself.”
“We don’t have time for that.”
At Kim Jun’s words, Rana began gathering items into boxes and taking them wholesale.
She swept up skin toners, lotion for dry skin, soothing gel, nail polish, and many other things—enough cosmetics for all eight of them to last several months—then loaded everything into the car.
Before they knew it, after grabbing this and that, half the camper van was packed full.
After the cosmetics the girls had gathered, Kim Jun decided to push a little deeper.
“Looting’s going to run long today.”
“I already told them earlier.”
Rana picked up the walkie-talkie from the back seat and relayed the message exactly as Kim Jun had said: ‘Depending on the situation, we may continue gathering supplies until tomorrow.’
With Eun Ji and Gaya back at the house, they would follow the manual and training they had created. There shouldn’t be any major danger.
In the worst case, they could always activate the electric barbed wire.
Trusting the kids left at home, Kim Jun moved farther out.
The last place they headed was where the medicine would be.
“What is this place?”
“Not a pharmacy… it’s a medical supply store.”
Kim Jun searched the surroundings and scratched his head.
Mari got out of the car, looked around carefully, then picked up one of the tools.
“This is a blood glucose meter and test strips for diabetes. Next to it is a blood pressure monitor, and this is a sheet for preventing bedsores?”
Mari identified their uses at a glance. Rana stared at the large cushion above them.
“What’s that? Why are there so many diapers?”
“They’re for patients. The one beside it is a sheet for collecting urine and feces.”
“Ah, like the potty pads you use when raising a puppy?”
“….”
It wasn’t any different, but the way she phrased it made both Kim Jun and Mari give her strange looks.
“Anyway, we should take everything we can use.”
Like most rural roadside shops, this was a place that brought goods in bulk to a shabby warehouse and sold them.
The reason such a store existed here was because a nursing home or care facility lay just ten kilometers farther down the road. Thinking the supplies would be useful someday even if not right now, the three began gathering everything one by one.
“Back support pads, hot packs, inhalers. They really do have everything, huh?”
Everything here was something Mari could use. If they took it all, they would be able to provide treatment at the level of a public health center.
“Oh, these?”
At that moment, Rana shouted after discovering a large stash inside.
When Kim Jun, who had been standing guard, came over, Rana pulled out a kit.
[OneCheck]
“….”
“Should we take them?”
“Rana!”
What was packed generously in a box was none other than pregnancy test kits.
Living in close quarters with eight beautiful women, Kim Jun watched Rana pull them out with a strange smile, then gave a bitter laugh and rubbed his head.
“That won’t happen.”
“Who knows~”
“Ah, there are over-the-counter medicines here too.”
Mari found generic Tylenol, antidiarrheals, and even birth control pills. She took them by the box.
No matter how much they gathered, they always needed more. It was a shame there were no condoms, but with plenty of oral contraceptives, this would do for now.
After gathering everything and stepping outside, the vehicle’s interior felt comfortably full.
“Whew~ With this much, we should be fine for a while, right?”
“Definitely!”
It was the first time Mari and Rana had teamed up, but both were in high spirits after collecting every item on their lists.
They figured they could just drive around the area, secure some fuel, and head back.
But that was when it happened.
Shiiiiing—
Bang!
“!?”
“Get down!”
At the sudden projectile flying in from somewhere, Kim Jun urgently hid the two top stars behind the car.
He loaded his gun and scanned the direction through the scope.
He definitely felt movement—someone was there.
Survivors? Or looters preparing an ambush? Whichever it was, he stayed tense. If a head popped out again, he planned to fire a warning shot to suppress them.
Meanwhile, Mari, still lying low, spotted an arrow that had fallen among the zombie remains on the ground.
It seemed to have been shot at the car, but something felt off.
“Oppa!”
“What?”
“That arrow… it doesn’t have a tip!”
“?”
When Kim Jun cautiously raised his head to check, he saw that the arrow really was blunt, wrapped in cotton instead of a metal head.
Something was tied to its fletching.
“Should I go get it?”
“Don’t move!”
Kim Jun ran over himself and hastily retrieved the arrow.
As Mari had said, something was tied to the end. When he untied and unfolded it, there was a letter inside.
I saw you gathering supplies earlier.
This is the first time we’ve seen other survivors in this situation. There is a patient lying sick at home right now. If you can provide medicine, I would like to exchange it for food.
“!?”
Having confirmed they had been followed, Kim Jun frowned. Mari and Rana read the rest of the message behind him.
“It says this is the first time seeing other survivors in this situation. There’s a patient lying sick at home. They want to trade food for medicine if we can provide it.”
“…That’s what it says?”
Kim Jun pondered the situation.
Shooting the arrow had been rude, but he acknowledged there had been no hostile intent—just a sincere attempt to communicate.
Still, he had no idea how many people were on the other side. The fact that they had been watching them was a problem.
At that moment, Mari recalled past events and nodded as if she had made up her mind.
“I’ll leave it to your judgment, oppa.”
“Same here. Even if there is danger, I believe Jun oppa will protect us!”
Rana clenched both fists and nodded firmly as well.
After thinking it over, Kim Jun made his decision.
“Step back for a moment, and both of you cover your ears.”
“!?”
The two top stars stepped back a few paces and covered their ears as instructed.
Kim Jun immediately drew the pistol from his waistband and fired it into the sky.
Bang—
He then loaded the shotgun and fired it into the air as well.
Boom!
Finally, he took out the air gun from the opposite side, aimed at a distant sign, and fired.
Thwack—
Crack—
After firing the three different weapons, Kim Jun told the girls,
“From now on, act like you’re armed even if you aren’t.”
“!?”
“Can you do it? Or not?”
“Ah, yes!”
Mari caught on quickly, and Rana, after thinking about his actions a little longer, finally understood.
They needed to clearly show that this side was well-armed.
He put the two in the car, climbed into the driver’s seat, honked the horn, and turned on the emergency flashers.
The five minutes that followed felt like five hours.
At the end of the standoff, someone slowly emerged from the surroundings.
Vrrrrooom—
A single scooter approached, loaded with all sorts of goods the rider must have gathered while surviving.
“!?”
The rider’s build was smaller than Kim Jun’s—actually smaller than Do Kyung back home—around the early 170s in height.
The only visible weapons were a composite bow commonly seen at archery ranges and a quiver of arrows at his waist.
When the scooter drew close, Kim Jun slightly opened the window while keeping the pistol in his hand.
“You’re survivors, right?”
“Yes. I’m in a hurry, but do you happen to have any antibiotics or cold medicine inside?”
“We do, but…”
“Our house isn’t far. Please! Come with me and help save my wife!”
At the word “wife,” Kim Jun realized the young-looking man was married. He gave the man credit for approaching after disarming himself first in order to survive together with everyone.
“Hmm.”
“Let’s go.”
Mari, in the passenger seat, gave her approval. Kim Jun felt that if there were only two of them, he could subdue them easily, so he told the man to lead the way.
When the scooter sped ahead, Kim Jun followed slowly behind.
“Stay alert from now on. We don’t know what might happen.”
“Just in case, I’ll get ready.”
Remembering the previous incident, Mari had prepared something besides the slingshot.
Wrapped at her waist was a sharply honed scalpel and a spray bottle mixed with bleach.
Rana was startled when she saw it, but Kim Jun told her to prepare a self-defense item too. He pulled a knife handle from the dashboard and handed it to her.
Before long, the group arrived at a small house in the mountains.
When the motorcycle stopped and Kim Jun got out first with his gun raised in front of the rural house, the man immediately raised both hands.
“Let’s not do this to each other. There really is a critically ill patient. She’s my wife.”
“I understand what you’re saying… but in this situation, it’s hard to trust someone you just met.”
“I understand.”
At that moment the door opened, and a haggard-looking woman stepped out.
She appeared to be around Rana’s age. Her long hair was tied back roughly, and cold sweat ran down her face behind large glasses.
“Ah, you’re… here?”
“Why did you come out?”
The man, who had been watching Kim Jun warily, rushed over and supported her.
They had come because he said there was a critically ill patient. It seemed the patient was his wife.
In that situation, Kim Jun quietly called Mari over.
The man sighed and set down his weapon—the bow—first.
The two women entered the house. Mari first examined the condition of the patient lying down.
“Let me take a quick look.”
Mari, who had come out with a stethoscope and various over-the-counter medicines, slowly checked the woman’s condition.
Rana looked around and noticed the humming sound of a generator running, confirming that these people were also surviving this way.
Aside from the zombies she had seen for the first time, these were the first survivors she had encountered.
Meanwhile, the men had come outside. Kim Jun lit a cigarette.
It was time for belated introductions.
“My name is Myeong Guk.”
“I’m Kim Jun. I’m twenty-nine this year.”
“You’re quite a bit older than me. I’m twenty-three.”
“Twenty-three and already married?”
Well, in a situation like this, what did marriage age matter for survival?
Myeong Guk gave a bitter smile at the words and turned his head.
“It wasn’t an official marriage. We just happened to survive together and ended up here.”
As he spoke, he pointed at the rural house. Like Kim Jun’s own home, it had a slate roof with solar panels on top. He gestured toward the spacious yard where minimal electricity powered their life.
“We’re raising some chickens and ducks. There’s a quail breeding pen too.”
“Oh~”
It had been so long since he had seen live livestock.
“My father was with us at first, but…”
Myeong Guk’s voice choked, unable to continue. Kim Jun spotted the roughly piled burial mound near the breeding pen and let out a sigh.
It seemed the three of them had been living together until one passed away first.
“It’ll be okay. The girl inside is a doctor.”
“I see. And the people who came with you… I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere. They look like celebrities…”
“That’s right. You probably saw them on TV.”
“What?!”
Kim Jun chuckled. Myeong Guk had recognized Rana’s identity when other survivors had failed to do so. Kim Jun nodded.
Myeong Guk made one more request to Kim Jun.
“Please take a look at my wife’s condition. I also need to repair the breeding pen. If you help me, I’ll give you chickens and eggs. We have quite a few stored.”
“Eggs… it really has been a long time since I’ve seen any.”
Even as he spoke, Kim Jun never let his guard down.
With a sick wife inside, Mari and Rana were there with self-defense weapons just in case. Out here, it was just him and Myeong Guk.
Even if an ambush occurred, considering the armed women inside, Kim Jun was confident he could subdue the man.
Having set the board that way, he moved slowly.
Time passed. Then suddenly, an attack came.
“Uuuuurgh! Uuuuurghhh!”
“!?”
“What is that?”
“It’s zombie sounds!”
Myeong Guk hurriedly ran to grab his weapon. Kim Jun loaded his gun and followed right behind him.
They climbed a ladder to the roof of one part of the house. A large searchlight was installed there.
“This is…”
“We use this to find where the zombies are.”
Click— Ziiiiiiing—
The powerful light swept across the area. As Myeong Guk shone it in every direction, slow-moving zombies gradually appeared from the darkness, shuffling toward them.
“Kim Jun— I mean, hyung! Please help me!”
At Myeong Guk’s earnest plea, Kim Jun loaded his gun.
“No reason to refuse.”
And so, the archer and the hunter who had met for the first time immediately joined forces, preparing a defense to stop the incoming zombies.