Chapter 99: Dealing with the Contaminated Goods
Kim Jun dragged every last rice sack out of the warehouse and set them outside.
He placed the undamaged sacks near the car. The ones the rats had chewed open, spilling grains everywhere, he spread across the plastic sheet Mari had laid out.
“Sweep up everything that’s scattered on the floor.”
“Yes!”
Gaya, who had been supervising the younger idols cleaning outside, came in and personally scooped the unhusked rice into a dustpan before dumping it onto the sheet.
“Someone go get a bunch of buckets from the oil storage.”
“I’ll go!”
Rana, who had taken on most of the tool-running errands during outdoor work, scampered off.
A moment later she returned with several buckets complete with lids. Kim Jun pulled on gloves, grabbed a sieve that had been in the rice warehouse, and began scooping the spilled grains from the sheet.
He shook them vigorously like he was sifting, then poured them into the buckets and sealed the lids tight.
“What are you going to do with that rice?”
“Humans can’t eat it.”
“It’s such a waste…”
Eun Ji and Gaya looked heartbroken. Just a few months ago they had been sensitive about every single piece of ham or pack of ramen, and now they had to throw away over a hundred kilograms of rice.
But there was no way to decontaminate rice tainted by sewer rats, and as Mari had said, they needed to disinfect the warehouse immediately to prepare for any viral infection.
“Well, we’re not just going to throw it away.”
“Huh?”
Kim Jun explained his plan for the rice he had carefully packed into the buckets.
“We’ve got those chickens and ducks we trade with, right?”
“Ah! Myeong Guk’s place.”
Mari and Rana, who had visited there before, immediately caught on. Kim Jun nodded.
“Humans can’t eat it, but chickens or quails should be fine. For now, we’ll give all of this to them as feed.”
“If we can trade it like that, it’s better than nothing…”
“You saw their house last time. They’re raising dozens of birds and still can’t keep up with the feed costs.”
Last time they had gone over, the family had been out of rice for themselves and served somen noodles instead. Kim Jun had traded several dozen kilograms of rice for chicken and potatoes.
“And we’ll keep these.”
He picked out the unpolished grains and set them aside to dry on the third floor.
“What will you use these for?”
“Rice seed.”
“Rice seed… Oh!”
Since they hadn’t been processed, they could be planted directly to produce more seed.
The problem was that even though the idols didn’t know much about farming, they could still imagine the vast fields and flooded paddies required to grow rice. Their faces clearly asked whether that was even possible.
“Even if we store them as seed, we don’t have anywhere to plant them, do we?”
“In the worst-case scenario, we can grow them in pots.”
“That won’t yield much…”
“That’s why it’s the worst-case scenario. We don’t know what might happen, so we should keep them just in case.”
And if that didn’t work, they could ask the monks at Jeongto Temple or leave them with Myeong Guk’s family to scatter in the surrounding fields. Weeding would be a hassle, but they still needed to make use of any available land.
“If it’s possible…”
Jun gazed at the house next door where he had spotted zombies from the roof and muttered.
“It would be nice if we could tear that whole place down, spread soil, and turn it into a field.”
“You want to demolish that big house?”
“If we could…”
Of course they had no way to get heavy equipment like that, and there were future considerations as well, so it was just something he said in passing.
In any case, by lunchtime all the rice that had survived the rat attack had been moved to the third-floor penthouse.
The delicate idols grunted and groaned as they carried it. The remaining sacks were also sealed tight inside buckets with lids firmly fixed so rats couldn’t get in, ready for trading.
Now the only things left in the food warehouse were cases of soju and the generators.
“Those damn rats chewed through all the wiring. We’ll have to fix it again…”
“If there aren’t any rats inside… I can…”
Handling electricity had been one of the first tasks Kim Jun assigned to In Ah and Do Kyung when he brought them here.
At the very least, connecting severed wires or running lines inside was something he had taught them. They should be able to manage with him giving advice from behind.
“Before we start on the electrical work, let’s go in, pull out all the soju boxes, spray everything with bleach, and clean.”
At Kim Jun’s words, In Ah, Gaya, and Eun Ji quietly entered the warehouse, trembling slightly.
Meanwhile, Kim Jun clutched his aching left shoulder and slowly climbed the wall using the ladder that was lying on the ground.
He wanted to see exactly where the rats were coming from. When he looked over the wall into the neighboring property, he saw something he wished he hadn’t.
…
The trees, neglected and twisted into skeletal shapes, had been gnawed everywhere and looked ready to collapse at any moment.
Not only the trees, but the various plants the villa owners had cultivated were completely torn up by rats. Holes dotted the ground. The entire unoccupied residential area had become a massive rat nest.
Kim Jun let out a long sigh at the sight and hurled the drink bottle from his pocket with force.
Crash—!
The glass shattered against a tree, and gasoline soaked into the ground.
Shhhk— Shhhk!
Kim Jun sat on the ladder in a precarious position, blowing out cigarette smoke, then tossed the lit cigarette onto the gasoline-soaked wood.
Fwoosh— Rooooar!
“Oh my! Oppa, what are you doing?”
Gaya jumped back in shock, asking why he was setting the neighbor’s garden on fire.
Mari, Rana, and the others also stepped back from the wall as thick smoke rose, preparing to flee from the sudden blaze.
While many of the idols were panicking, Eun Ji quietly brought out some equipment.
One was a sprayer originally used with the electric stun baton to spray gasoline. She had filled it with water instead, turning it into an improvised fire extinguisher.
She also soaked the zombie-extermination staff—the long pole wrapped with cloth that they usually set on fire—with plenty of water to prevent flames from spreading over the wall.
With those preparations in place, the effect soon showed.
Screeeeech!!! Screeech!!!!
“Eek?!”
Squeak— Squeeeak!!!
As the garden and trees burned beyond the wall, rats that could no longer endure their buried holes came pouring out, scurrying wildly in every direction.
“Hah, look at them go!”
Despite his uncomfortable physical condition, Kim Jun drew the air pistol with his right hand and aimed at the rats darting around the neighboring houses like a skilled marksman.
They were incredibly fast, disappearing in the blink of an eye. He picked one that was hesitating and immediately pulled the trigger.
Twang—
Thwack!
A clean hit.
Screeech— Squeeeak!!!
Twang!
He kept shooting every rat he could see. They were harder to catch than pheasants or magpies, but he still managed to kill several and burn them all in the fire.
“Huu…”
When Kim Jun came down from the ladder, Eun Ji—without being told—carefully sprayed water on the sections of the wall topped with sharp glass shards and metal spikes, thoroughly wetting the concrete.
At the very least, this should stop the fire from spreading to their own house.
“Nice work, Eun Ji.”
He had scolded her plenty of times before for making independent decisions, but this was genuinely necessary, so he decided to praise her.
The first phase of the operation was complete. With lunch approaching, they needed to prepare for the second phase.
“Let’s do the rest after lunch.”
“Yes, I’ll head up right away and get ready.”
Even though they had worn gloves and masks while disinfecting against rats, the ones cooking still needed to wash.
In Ah and Eun Ji decided to rinse lightly with the water they had stored in the bathroom yesterday, while the others would wash after replacing the chewed-up wiring.
“We’re using bottled water to cook rice.”
“Next time I’ll stock up on more bottled water.”
After the morning ramen, In Ah and Eun Ji quickly prepared a meal. Everyone gathered for a peaceful lunch.
They had lost four precious sacks of rice that morning, but there was still a decent amount left.
The main dish was the bean sprout soup that In Ah often made.
Alongside it were enoki mushrooms, soybeans, and spinach from the indoor cultivation on the first floor and in the penthouse, plus perilla leaf salad, spinach namul, tuna kimchi stir-fry, and sausage pancakes.
“At least among the survivors, we’re probably eating the best.”
“Well, there are a lot of vegetable sides… but since we grew them all ourselves, we should enjoy them.”
Emily complained about the “weeds” while singing about how much she craved meat.
These days the only meat they had was the ducks and live chickens they traded from Myeong Guk’s couple, the occasional tuna or mackerel, canned ham, dried seafood for drinking snacks, and hunting when it was truly necessary.
“I’m craving samgyeopsal…”
“Stop it, unnie.”
When Rana spoke up from beside her, Kim Jun, who was also thinking about meat, muttered without thinking.
“Should I go out and hunt a deer or something?”
“There are… deer?”
“At least roe deer.”
“Aren’t those inedible?”
At the word “roe deer,” the girls wondered if he meant the one from documentaries—the one that looked like a deer with huge teeth.
Kim Jun nodded.
“You can eat them. When I was in the military, there was an old man in the village who was good at butchering. I tried the meat.”
“Ugh… roe deer?”
“We could hunt something else too.”
“Like what?”
“Rabbits.”
“Rabbit meat…”
In their minds they pictured small, cute, hopping bunnies, but to Kim Jun they were an excellent protein source.
After all, even in this zombie-infested world, they had caught a pheasant and a wild mallard last time, drained the blood, and grilled them without any problems. It was worth trying.
“Well, I’ll think about it once my body’s better. For now, let’s eat and then split into teams.”
“Okay~ We’re dividing into teams again.”
Kim Jun first pointed at Gaya.
“Gaya, take the kids to the first floor, bring some tarps, and wrap up all the rice we stacked in the penthouse. Tie them tight with rope, lay bricks underneath so nothing can get in.”
“Yes! We’ll take care of it.”
Next he looked at Do Kyung, who had shown the strongest disgust toward the rats.
“Connecting the electrical wires will need both Do Kyung and In Ah. Since we emptied the warehouse, go together and repair it.”
“Ugh… okay.”
She was still scared from seeing the rats, but there was no other choice.
“As for Eun Ji, Emily, and Nanika, while you were cleaning outside earlier, check every corner for gaps in the walls, supports, or anywhere rats could enter. Block them immediately when you find them!”
“Us?”
“Just stuff the gaps with cloth and seal them with metal plates and silicone.”
And so the battle against the wild animals targeting their food supply was organized into Gaya’s team, In Ah’s team, and Eun Ji’s team.
They had to finish quickly. If they failed to seal everything here, another wave of rats might devour their supplies and completely destroy their current life.
In that moment Kim Jun tried to loosen the tight bandage on his left arm, but Mari desperately stopped him.
They were already doing rat extermination. She couldn’t guarantee what would happen if rat droppings or fur got into the wound.
While everyone took turns watching the work, Kim Jun assisted.
“Use this for the wiring.”
“Wow, there’s so much?”
“I brought it back when I went out with Eun Ji before.”
“…Oh!”
They had raided a beauty salon for tools, torn out the boiler, and cut out all the wiring. It was proving useful now.
Just a few months ago, staff members had handled all the stage wiring while the girls waited in the dressing room getting their makeup done for performances.
Now they were the ones installing new wiring, wrapping tape, and repairing things themselves like those staff members.
Watching them, Kim Jun quietly handed over the auxiliary tools.
“Secure it with this so they can’t chew through it again.”
He told them to put all the wires inside PVC pipes, then wrapped the exposed ends with duct tape so the rats could never gnaw on them again.
“Huu…”
“Everyone step back. I’ll turn it on.”
The moment he flipped the switch to test how well the girls had done, the generator—which had been silent—roared to life.
Whiiiir— Whiiiiiiir—
“It’s working!”
“We did it! It’s fixed!”
Do Kyung and In Ah hugged each other and jumped with joy at the generator they had repaired themselves.
Kim Jun gave them a thumbs-up, closed the soundproof box, and started the well pump connected to the repaired wiring.
Whiiiiiiiiir—
Water began flowing as the pump spun again.
Kim Jun praised everyone for their hard work, then took out a bottle of soju and sprinkled it around the cleaned area near the warehouse for a final disinfection.
“Done!”
“Phew~ Now we can finally wash up.”
The girls prioritized bathing over eating much. They immediately headed up to the second and third floors to shower.
Kim Jun stayed behind, letting out a small chuckle before stepping outside to light a cigarette.
“We need to gather a lot more wood. We should look for a rice mill too.”
Kim Jun added lumber, a rice polisher, rice containers, and wire mesh to build rat traps to his next scavenging list.
As long as they had the materials, they could make most things themselves.