Chapter 94: Promises Must Be Kept
The scream exploded from the master bedroom the instant they opened their eyes.
“Ugh… ugh… Aaaaaaaaah!”
Mari and Rana bolted toward the sound, hearts hammering.
The door flew open with a bang.
“Oppa, what’s wrong?!”
“Are you hurt again?”
The two women stared at Kim Jun, who was simply stretching, and frantically checked him over for injuries.
Still in the middle of his stretch, he quietly extended his left arm.
“Oof—”
“Can you even move it?” Mari asked, voice tight with worry.
Kim Jun gripped his throbbing left shoulder and answered, “Today’s the two-week mark we agreed on.”
“You’re really going out there?”
“Yeah. A promise is a promise.”
Only two weeks ago he had been stabbed repeatedly and turned into a pincushion of glass shards across his entire left side. Yet here he was, already on his feet. He had stretched hard to test his body, and the sudden spike of pain had ripped that scream out of him.
“Hoo… you still need at least another two weeks of rest,” Mari muttered, brow furrowed.
A wound like that demanded a full four weeks of absolute immobility. In a world where proper medical care was almost nonexistent, the fact that he was already rushing out to save more survivors filled her eyes with worry.
Rana glanced at his shoulder. “Shouldn’t we at least treat the wound before you leave?”
“Yeah. Change the dressing at least.”
Kim Jun unwrapped the bandages himself and showed them the injury. Fresh pink skin was just beginning to knit together, but the muscles underneath still burned with every movement.
He downed the day’s antibiotics and painkillers, ate a heavy breakfast, and began preparing to head out.
“Um… oppa.”
“Hm?”
Before they left to rescue the survivors, In Ah shyly held out a gift she had prepared for him.
“What’s this?”
“It’s from the knitting session last time.”
“…Oh!”
They had brought back a box of yarn from the temple, and Eun Ji had taught the girls how to knit. In Ah had been the first to finish an entire garment.
“Whoa~”
Inside the bag was a thick, carefully knitted sweater. The material felt far sturdier than anything you could buy in stores.
“Thanks. I’ll wear it every day.”
“It’s nothing. I’ll make you more later.”
There was plenty of yarn left, and if they weren’t out looting, the only things to do at home were cook or knit. She clearly planned to keep producing clothes for everyone.
“All right, everyone get ready. I’ll grab my gear too.”
“Yes!”
Kim Jun stepped into his room, folded the new sweater neatly on the bed, and let out a small chuckle. Then he wrapped a compression bandage tightly around his left arm, added arm guards and wrist supports—anything to protect his weakest point.
The door opened again with a clack.
“Ah, oppa!”
Gaya and In Ah stood fully equipped in their defensive gear. Staff, crossbow, stun gun—every weapon they could carry. They were ready.
“Let’s move.”
“…Yes.”
They were returning to Sinreung Township—the place that had been pure terror.
Kim Jun loaded the camper van with every piece of equipment he might need and drove toward the location where the additional survivors were waiting.
Gaya sat in the passenger seat, anxiously chewing her thumbnail and praying nothing would go wrong. In the back, In Ah kept making the sign of the cross, silently begging that they wouldn’t see the same sea of blood as last time.
Kim Jun noticed both girls’ tension but said nothing, driving in silence.
“Oppa! Up ahead.”
“I see them.”
Zombies appeared on the road to Sinreung Township. Kim Jun immediately turned the wheel, cracked the window, and raised his air gun.
His first zombie hunt in two weeks.
The motion was familiar now. He calmly squeezed the trigger. One zombie dropped. The others reacted and began shambling toward the van.
He was picking off the slow ones methodically when In Ah suddenly started pounding on the wall behind him like she’d lost her mind.
Bang bang bang—
“Oppa! Behind us! Those are runners!!!”
“Goddamn it!”
A glance in the rearview mirror showed a pack of zombies sprinting toward the camper, mouths foaming.
Kim Jun threw the van into reverse with a roar.
Vrrrrroooooom!
The heavy vehicle shot backward and slammed straight into the charging pack.
[Kyyyyyaaaaaaa—]
Crunch. Craaaaaack.
He had barely finished repairing the damage from the last fight—baseball bats, iron pipes, and zombie impacts—and now the bumper was collecting fresh kill marks.
“Hoo…”
Saving Madam Hwang was important, but he reminded himself that the real reason he had to clear this area was because of these things. The outside world was now ruled by creatures that wanted nothing more than to tear them apart. Everyone except the three of them in this van was an enemy.
Before dealing with the First Faction in Sinreung Township, he would wipe out every last one of these charging zombies first. Kim Jun grabbed his shotgun with that grim resolve.
“Gaya! Stay inside and keep the doors locked! In Ah, watch our rear—tell me if more are coming!”
“Yes, oppa!”
“Nothing else behind us!”
After confirming their reports, Kim Jun aimed at the slow-moving zombies in front and fired.
Click—BOOM!
The slug round tore through a head. Another zombie staggered forward.
Click—BOOM!
Pump-action slugs ripped apart heads and necks. One by one the monsters collapsed.
Once the immediate threat was cleared, Kim Jun let out a long breath and irritably lit a cigarette.
“Hoo…”
His injured left arm screamed every time he braced the long gun, but the painkillers kept him functional. From now on he would probably stick to the revolver and his right hand only.
They continued cautiously toward Sinreung Township. Zombies appeared in every alley and field.
“Oppa! Should we ignore that one?”
“Only call them out if they’re runners! Don’t bother with the ones in the grass!”
“Got it!”
Gaya studied the figures shuffling through the rice paddies. Some reacted to the van’s engine, but no matter how hard they ran they could never catch up.
“Oppa! More behind us!”
“Runners?”
“Yes! They’re pouring out of that burned bus!”
“A bus?!”
In the mirror Kim Jun saw zombies crawling from the charred wreckage of a bus and sprinting after them like Olympic athletes. Even at sixty kilometers per hour they were closing in. He floored the accelerator to create distance, then drew his revolver.
These had to die now.
“Gaya! In Ah! Watch our six!”
“Yes!!”
They checked the blind spots. Kim Jun lowered the window, leaned out despite the pain, and aimed the revolver with his right hand.
Three zombies charged, mouths foaming. He pulled the trigger in rapid succession.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The revolver roared. Two zombies dropped after four shots.
The last one kept coming even after a bullet punched through its skull, blood spraying. It closed to within ten meters.
Kim Jun remained ice-cold. He fired the fifth round.
Bang!
The bullet drilled straight through the creature’s forehead. It collapsed. Kim Jun shifted gears again.
“Hoo… let’s go.”
The longer they wasted time, the greater the chance Madam Hwang’s group would miss their window to move. They had received a fortune in gold bars and many lives were depending on him. This had to be done right.
After clearing the zombies and weaving around burned-out vehicles, they returned to the two-lane road. That was when Kim Jun saw the remnants of their previous battle.
“Oh my…”
The field was still blackened from the fire. A half-charred motorcycle lay twisted on the ground. A horribly burned zombie with peeling, grotesque skin slowly turned toward their vehicle.
Through the cracked helmet, blood-red eyes gleamed. It was clearly one of the First Faction thugs who had attacked them before—now zombified.
“Ha, those gangster bastards really…”
Kim Jun opened the revolver’s cylinder and began reloading to face the three approaching zombies.
“Oppa, should I shoot?” Gaya asked.
“Count to ten!”
Beeeeeeeeeeep—!
He slammed on the horn. The deafening blast made both Gaya and In Ah instinctively cover their ears.
Even with the noise, the zombies kept coming at their slow, relentless pace.
“Count to ten and fire!” he told Gaya.
“Yes!”
She steadied her racing heart, clenched her teeth, and loaded a bolt into the crossbow.
“Eight… nine… ten!”
Gaya threw open the window, leaned out, and took aim. She chose the closest one on the right and fired.
Thwack!
The specially sharpened harpoon-style bolt punched straight through the zombie’s neck.
Without panicking, she opened the dashboard compartment, grabbed another bolt, and reloaded. At the same time Kim Jun gripped the revolver with both hands and fired.
Bang!
The recoil sent a spike of pain through his left shoulder, but the frontal angle left him no choice.
Swoosh—Thud!
The second crossbow bolt buried itself in a zombie’s eye. It crumpled.
They alternated shots—revolver and crossbow—until all three monsters were down.
Kim Jun muttered that they were annoying whether alive or undead, then drove straight over their bodies as he turned onto the narrow country road.
Two weeks later, they had returned to the auto shop and dabang.
Though slightly late, Kim Jun honked the horn on the promised day.
Beeep—Beep beep beep!!!
No response came from inside the building.
He kept honking.
Beeeeeeeeep—!!!
Still nothing. Kim Jun finished one cigarette, then another. When Madam Hwang’s group still failed to appear, a dark premonition settled over him.
“Oppa… why aren’t they coming out?”
“Hmm…”
He scratched his cheek, lit one final cigarette, and began checking his personal firearms. It was time to go inside.