The Head-Smasher and the Blonde Reader
I ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. Honestly, it wasn’t all that shocking. Even though I was a bounty hunter, my fighting style was pretty similar to a hunter’s anyway. Plus, we weren’t out in the open—this was inside a building. With the ceiling sealed off, I could easily take down hunters here. If I just smashed their heads in one by one, the fight would end eventually.
“What the hell are you doing?”
“Examining the corpse.”
“Ugh.”
Noh Changhun flipped over one of the bounty hunters. Then he shoved his fingers deep into the wounds, searching for something. I knew it was necessary, but it was still disgusting. So I kept my distance and just shone the flashlight for him.
Noh Changhun quickly pieced together the situation.
“It’s that woman from earlier.”
“What about her?”
“She was holding something in each hand. And these bounty hunters have two different types of wounds.”
Noh Changhun spread both hands toward me. One palm was sticky with blood all over, while the other was stained up to the wrist.
“I forced the wounds open to measure the length. Looks like she used a kitchen knife.”
“A… kitchen knife?”
“Yeah. And look around.”
“Whoa.”
Sticky bloody footprints were scattered all over the floor. It was obvious they didn’t belong to the bounty hunters. Bounty hunters didn’t wear shoes so they could use their feet properly. So these had to be from a survivor.
Noh Changhun quickly wiped his hands with a wet wipe and began explaining.
“Looks like a hit-and-run style focused on speed. Probably using a kitchen knife and a cleaver at the same time.”
“Isn’t that a bit lacking? She was jumping around pretty flashy, though.”
“And looking at how these footprints are crushed here, she used taekwondo too.”
“Ah, taekwondo can’t be helped.”
“…The part you’re agreeing with is weird, you know?”
“So what do we do now?”
“We head back. Leave this for now and bring the soldiers during the day for a proper investigation.”
“…Wipe it properly, damn it!”
No matter how close we were, I couldn’t stand filth. Noh Changhun tossed the blood-soaked wipe aside and started meticulously cleaning his hands. While he did that, I scanned the area more carefully. That’s when an uneasy feeling hit me.
No matter how confined the space was, this survivor had taken down bounty hunters with ease. We couldn’t just leave someone like that without knowing if they were friendly or not.
“Hey, Changhun.”
“What?”
“Yeji’s dad is pretty fast, right?”
“Yeah. Insanely fast. Even I can’t keep up.”
“…If he’s that fast, he must patrol and scout a lot, huh?”
“Probably?”
“What if the survivor who took these guys out is hostile toward the military…?”
Noh Changhun opened his mouth, then closed it. It was entirely possible. Whether they’d been inside from the start or came from outside, we had no idea what a survivor with unknown identity might be after. The risk was too high to assume they’d be a good person.
“…We’ll have to patrol more thoroughly.”
“Hey, Noh Changhun.”
I gripped Beopbong more firmly. I held the flashlight steady so it wouldn’t shake.
“You said you and Seon-yak are together at night, right? Yeah, forget watching horror movies. Let’s film one ourselves, dude.”
“Crazy bitch.”
“So, you in or not?”
“No. I’m in.”
Noh Changhun grinned as he slowly stood up. Knowing his personality, there was no way he’d just ignore something suspicious. We still had plenty of time, so wandering around wouldn’t be a problem.
Noh Changhun moved around without hesitation, closing every window and curtain in the area. Once he was done, he started pulling things out of his bag.
“What? I thought it was empty?”
“I brought some snacks just in case. Energy bars, chocolate bars… and finally, bottled water.”
“Ooh…”
“And this.”
“…Dude.”
What Noh Changhun pulled out last was a headlamp. The kind people usually use in caves. I could see why he carried it—holding a regular flashlight made it hard to use your hands. He even took out a crudely modified headset, which looked even more ridiculous. The headset had a rig attached so you could mount the headlamp on it. It seemed like he’d used cable ties and glue to hang the headset around the neck and fix the lamp beside it.
Of course, I got a little pissed.
“If you had something like this, you should’ve taken it out earlier, you bastard.”
“Obviously I brought it to mess with you. Why would I take it out right away?”
“So what’s the plan? Should we split up and search?”
“You remember the way we came, right?”
“Yeah.”
I couldn’t say I remembered it perfectly, but I had a rough idea. We’d gone straight through the high school, after all. Noh Changhun nodded and laid out the plan.
“I’ll do a big loop around the area. While I’m doing that, you go back the way we came and patrol.”
“Got it.”
“If you see anything suspicious, set this off.”
“Oh?”
It was a small firework and a lighter. I immediately understood how to use it. Just light the fuse, hold it with the hole facing up, and wait. It was originally for signaling, but given the situation, we’d use it now, Noh Changhun added.
“You even carry stuff like this?”
“I just keep it in the side pocket of the bag and don’t take it out. Never know when we’ll have to leave again.”
“So you packed it in case we had to rush out?”
“Let’s go with that.”
“The headset…”
“You’re already wearing one.”
“Huh?”
I touched the back of my neck. He was right. I didn’t remember putting on a headset, but somehow one was already around my neck. I took it off, stuffed it into Noh Changhun’s bag, then put on the one he handed me. Finally, I tied the flashlight to the side with a cable tie. It actually looked pretty decent.
Noh Changhun strapped the headlamp to his forehead and urged me to hurry down. Leaving the church building wasn’t difficult. Soon after, Noh Changhun ran off in the opposite direction. I watched his back for a moment, then started running back the way we’d come.
It hadn’t been that long, so the survivor was probably still nearby. If they’d gone inside a building to rest, that couldn’t be helped… but my gut—some unknown instinct—told me the survivor was still outside.
“…This is creepy as hell.”
Even walking together it felt like a horror movie. Walking alone made goosebumps rise all over my skin. Still, it wasn’t completely terrifying, so I kept moving quickly while scanning the surroundings.
The streets were deathly quiet. Unless someone was hiding deep in an alley, there was no sign of life. Naturally, that only made me more worried.
“We still need to find them before the night’s over.”
Since Noh Changhun had spotted the survivor earlier, we had to locate them tonight at least. Otherwise the chance of losing them would only grow. I searched with sharp eyes, but there was no meaningful progress.
“Ugh, damn it.”
They were probably hiding inside a building or somewhere like that. Like the woman who helped me before, they might not trust survivor groups. If I could just get some proof that they didn’t attack other people, it would be easier. Not knowing anything made it exhausting.
I don’t know how long I wandered the streets. I’d already gone back and forth several times when something suspicious finally caught my eye.
“Those are footprints.”
I felt lucky. I might be able to identify the survivor before it was too late. I pulled out the lighter and firework without hesitation, then put them back. Making noise seemed like a worse idea than staying quiet. So I carefully turned off the flashlight and waited a moment. A light source would make it easier for me to spot the survivor, but it would also make it easier for them to spot me.
“Okay.”
After waiting what felt like long enough, I slowly entered the alley. The alley where the footprints led was incredibly dark. It made me paranoid that something might jump out from the side, and the atmosphere was ominous. It was bad enough that I actually considered going back to get Noh Changhun. But I couldn’t back down. I needed to figure out what this survivor was planning, at the very least.
“…!?”
I heard a rustling sound from a parking lot near the alley. Normally I would’ve dismissed it as a stray cat, but this was a zombie apocalypse. There was no way a stray cat would still be around. It had to be either a survivor or a zombie.
I softened my footsteps and carefully moved closer. Then something suddenly glinted.
I immediately shouted and got into position.
“There you are!”
I didn’t need to see it to know what had glinted. That stupid survivor had pulled out a kitchen knife without even bothering to dull the reflection. And even after I made a loud noise, they didn’t put it away. Instead, the survivor got into a fighting stance too. They held the kitchen knife forward while the hand with the cleaver hung low. I could roughly guess their plan. Use the kitchen knife to defend and the cleaver to deliver fatal strikes.
I hesitated a little. I hadn’t come to fight—just to check them out. Plus, bladed weapons were a bit concerning. But on second thought, something like that probably wouldn’t hurt much. I’d gone toe-to-toe with Kang Siwoo before, after all.
“Drop your weapons!”
“…And if I don’t?”
“Then you get hit!”
There was no need to hide anymore, so I quickly raised my hand and turned on the flashlight. The survivor stayed perfectly still in their stance.
“…Huh?”
“Surprised?”
“…”
Of course they were surprised. The survivor in front of me had blonde hair. And those fierce red eyes were glaring right at me. I immediately understood what it meant.
“You damn chamdokchung…!”
“Hey, who are you calling…?”
“You. What the hell are you scheming?”
The chamdokchung stood there with their mouth open for a second, then immediately lowered their stance. They thrust forward with the kitchen knife in their left hand. I deflected it with Beopbong, and the fight began.