New Weapon Project
* * *
Kim Jun woke up early and stepped outside.
Tick. Tick.
While enjoying a cigarette in the crisp morning air, he checked the water level in the Jeongjeong motor, inspected the inside of the rainwater tank, and made sure the cluster of camping generators and solar panels were all running smoothly.
Both water and electricity were holding up decently with nine people being careful about usage.
Kim Jun stubbed out his cigarette, went back inside, and stared at Warehouse 2.
They had pulled out about two sacks of rice from the massive stockpile, and when added to what they had already looted, it was more than enough.
Soju was practically overflowing too.
“This shit never runs out,” he muttered.
With all the frequent group dinners, they kept bringing in more from somewhere, so the stockpile in one corner had grown massive.
Other survivors might have called it the complaint of the well-fed, but given their group size, Kim Jun was simply stockpiling resources with plenty of margin.
He then entered Warehouse 1, which was packed with materials for crafting all sorts of items.
Whenever Kim Jun tinkered with something in here, he would produce surprisingly functional items. The girls had even started calling it the workshop among themselves.
Kim Jun examined everything he needed one by one, then nodded.
“Time to give this a real shot starting today.”
He clenched his fist with determination.
***
After breakfast, Kim Jun holed up in his room. When he finally came out at lunchtime, he asked the girls while they were eating.
“Anyone here think they have a talent for art?”
“?”
“Huh?”
“Wait, do we need to draw something?”
The eight top stars looked puzzled at the mention of artistic talent.
But none of them had any real background in design or anything similar.
Eun Ji was trained in beauty, Gaya in composition, Mari in medicine, Emily in dance, Do Kyung in athletic training, In Ah in cooking, Rana in makeup, and Nanika in management.
When they thought about it, each of them had originally specialized in one field. Aside from Mari and In Ah, they shared their skills among themselves and had no real inconveniences living together.
Kim Jun explained what he was envisioning.
“I’m working on making a new weapon.”
“Oh!”
Emily’s eyes sparkled at the news, but the three older girls hesitated, still remembering yesterday’s experimental firearm test.
“Is it a gunpowder weapon?” Eun Ji asked quietly.
Kim Jun shook his head.
“Firearms seem to have too many problems in a lot of ways.”
“Then it’s a spear! Like, a thrusting spear!”
“Uh, Emily… that’s even more dangerous.”
Kim Jun had to explain in detail what happened if a bladed weapon got stuck in a zombie’s flesh and couldn’t be pulled out.
“Anyway, that’s the plan. I’m going to make this new weapon and properly arm all of you.”
“Ah, then…”
Rana seemed to remember something and spoke up.
“What about a bow? Like the one we saw when Mari unnie and I visited that farming couple.”
“I was thinking something similar.”
Kim Jun nodded at Rana’s suggestion.
Everyone grew excited at the idea of a new weapon that could reliably take down zombies without relying on guns.
And so, Kim Jun’s efforts to develop a new weapon began in earnest inside the house.
***
Kim Jun carved wood exactly according to the blueprints he had designed, shaped a suitable stock, and began assembling the parts one by one.
Snap.
“Ugh… this one’s way too weak.”
He had cut up a rubber mat used for preventing valve leaks, but it snapped before he could even draw it properly.
Kim Jun experimented with various other materials.
He tried the elastic bands from training pants, the twisted synthetic cord he had used for the slingshot before, and after testing everything, he realized a single material wouldn’t work. He called for Eun Ji.
“If you have any leftover yarn, give me a whole spool.”
“Any color is fine?”
“Doesn’t matter.”
He lacked the chemical knowledge to create synthetic fibers on the spot, and even if he could, there was no way to run a factory. So he synthesized it himself through trial and error.
He twisted different combinations, tested their elasticity, and carefully selected the material pairings that offered the best tension.
What he eventually created using wooden beams and silicone adhesive was a crossbow with a trigger shaped like a crucifix.
“Wow~ A crossbow!”
Emily clapped when she saw the new weapon Kim Jun had made. Mari and Gaya also breathed sighs of relief, saying that while they were wary of pistols, this seemed much safer to use.
Everyone glanced around to see who would test it first until Do Kyung stepped forward.
“I’ll shoot it.”
“No.”
“?!”
Kim Jun stopped them, tore apart an umbrella to make aluminum arrows from the ribs, and aimed at the slingshot target.
“Alright, here goes.”
While everyone watched with bated breath, Kim Jun pressed down on the limbs to load it, took aim through his handmade sight, and pulled the trigger.
Crack!
The limb suddenly shattered, and the fragments flew straight at Kim Jun, smashing into his face.
“Kyaaaaa?!”
“Oppa!!!”
As everyone screamed, blood poured between Kim Jun’s fingers as he clutched his face, dripping all the way to the floor.
The first test was a catastrophic failure that left him with a massive wound and heavy bleeding.
***
“Fuck… ow, that stings!”
“Hold still. The dressing isn’t finished yet.”
Mari was desperately trying to stop the bleeding that kept pouring down his face and disinfecting the jagged wounds left by the flying wood fragments.
Kim Jun’s face—his cheekbone and the area around his eye torn open—had turned into a gruesome scarface in an instant.
“Good thing I tested it first.”
“If Do Kyung had done it… ugh…”
Even Mari, who had witnessed it up close, had been horrified when the crossbow’s limb snapped in two and the full tension of the string whipped back, smashing into his face.
It was a miracle his eyes weren’t damaged and no bones were broken. If he had been even slightly off, it could have been disastrous.
“How long will it take to heal?”
“It’s a deep puncture wound. The flesh needs to grow back, and we have to keep disinfecting it. There will definitely be scarring.”
“The eye area is fine, but a scar on my cheek is kinda annoying.”
“Once this life is over, I’ll introduce you to a good plastic surgery clinic. One that specializes in scar removal.”
After the treatment, Kim Jun walked around with large dressing bandages over his eye and cheek.
Every time he chewed food it throbbed painfully, and when he woke up each morning his face would be horribly swollen. Only after icing it did his normal appearance somewhat return.
But even with the injury, his eyes and hands were still fine, so he dove back into planning.
While recovering, he also made another weapon besides the crossbow.
Clang. Clang.
Whirrrrrr.
“Whew… done.”
He dismantled an old fire extinguisher, released the compressed air inside, emptied it out, and crammed it full of various chemical compounds instead of powder.
From bleach to thinner—anything that would cause a nasty reaction if sprayed in someone’s face.
He modified it with an air compressor so that pulling the lever would shoot the mixture out, added a backpack-style carrying method for convenience, extended the hose, and attached the lever at the end to create a pump.
“How is it?”
Among Do Kyung, Mari, and Emily who had helped him build it, Mari spoke first.
“This looks like those things.”
“Those things?”
“You know, the ones they carry around at baseball stadiums selling beer, pouring it straight into cups…”
“Pretty much the same idea.”
Kim Jun had been thinking the same thing. He slung it on and prepared to test it himself.
This time, for safety, he wore a raincoat like protective gear, added a mask and motorcycle helmet, then aimed the lever at the door and pulled.
Swoooooosh—!
A blast of bleach-based chemical shot out like a water cannon, soaking the door. The acrid smoke and stench made the three top stars stumble backward.
After confirming its power, Kim Jun immediately shut off the lever and removed his helmet.
“Whew~ This one’s a success.”
“You worked hard.”
The three of them discussed the new anti-zombie pump Kim Jun had created for close-range defense.
“So when two people go out, one of us carries this?”
“Yeah. Two backpacks would be too much.”
“The one with the staff could take a regular backpack, and the one with the slingshot and this could focus entirely on weapons, right?”
“Do Kyung, try carrying it.”
“It’s… not even that heavy.”
Kim Jun, who had been listening to their conversation, decided that since this was also a prototype, he would gather the necessary parts on the next looting run to mass-produce them.
“Alright, everyone wash your hands. This one’s done. Next, we need to go back to the previous project.”
His wounds hadn’t fully healed yet, but he refused to let a minor injury stop him from focusing on the new weapon.
It took several days of reselecting materials. The string passed the test, but he needed a powerful frame that could withstand its tension.
“Oppa, what about that?” Rana asked, pointing at the wheel left over from when they had turned a punctured tire into a planter.
It was made of solid steel alloy and seemed sturdy enough, but there was a problem.
“If you pull on it that hard, it’ll bend too easily.”
“Ah, really?”
“It’ll hold for a second and then snap right in half.”
“Oh no… then that won’t work.”
Rana looked dejected after her idea was rejected, but when Kim Jun stroked her hair from behind, she immediately beamed.
Do Kyung also offered another suggestion.
“Oppa, remember that tree stump we brought back from the temple?”
“Yeah, the one I was going to turn into a chair?”
“What if we carve that?”
Kim Jun thought about it for a moment but shook his head.
“No. I have other plans for that. If we cut it up and used it, we could make a great bow, but it feels like a waste.”
“Hmm…”
Do Kyung also looked disappointed when her idea wasn’t chosen. It seemed like she wanted to be petted too, so Kim Jun reached out and stroked her head.
“By the way, where’s Mari?”
“I don’t know. She said she was looking for something and went to the warehouse.”
“The warehouse? I didn’t ask her to run any errands.”
Mari had gone to the warehouse alone to find something.
While Kim Jun waited and smoked a cigarette, quite some time passed before Mari finally returned.
She was carrying some kind of tool.
“What is that? Why did you bring it?”
“Wouldn’t this work as the limb for the crossbow?”
It was shaped like a ‘ㄷ’ or an ‘n’.
Between the two sides, the blade—already heavily rusted and non-functional—had been removed.
“Isn’t that a hacksaw?”
“Yes~ It’s a hacksaw. But if we unscrew and remove the saw blade part?”
What remained was the hacksaw frame.
It was made of alloy, but it had the flexibility needed to handle the tension of replacing and bending the blade.
“Oh… this…”
“What if we use this as the frame?”
Compared to wood, it was incredibly sturdy, not too heavy, and if they cut off the handle portion, it would form a perfect bow-shaped frame.
Kim Jun looked at it, then at Mari who had brought the idea, and nodded while watching her smile.
“Yeah… let’s try making it with this.”
And so, the development of the crossbow as the new weapon gained sudden momentum thanks to an unexpected material.
* * *