(Side Story) Zombie.
(Side Story) Zombie.
Kwak In-gu finished his business, left Myeong-cheol behind, and headed to the mess hall first.
Ga-in drew while chewing mouthfuls of food.
"Ga-in."
"Mm?"
Ga-in, her mouth full of food, whipped her head around.
"The other night..."
As if Kwak In-gu's slow speech was frustrating her, Ga-in swallowed her food and cut him off.
"What about him?"
"Did you happen to find anything like a case?"
"No. Didn't see one. Why?"
"Hmm... I heard they think there was a vaccine inside the case."
Ga-in could not stop thinking about the healing bite wound on the man's right arm, but she said nothing and kept eating.
Kwak In-gu sat down beside her, stroked Ga-in's hair, and began to mull things over.
"Hmm... I'd better look into it. Myeong-cheol, round up the people first."
"Yep."
The elderly began gathering in one place, and there were only a handful of younger people among them.
"I'm busy. Why'd you call me?"
"Sit down."
Those who sat down numbered twenty-seven in total.
Kwak In-gu looked around at them and slowly began to speak.
"The Trees are coming."
The old man who had been working while seated in his chair, Mister Ji, spoke.
"War?"
"No. They're probably coming to check."
"Then it's nothing to worry about, isn't it?"
To explain the reason the Trees were coming, Kwak In-gu looked at Ga-in as he spoke.
"Last time an outsider came, Ga-in took care of him."
At Kwak In-gu's words, a few people nodded, as if they already knew.
"The intruder we just dealt with said the case he was carrying contained a vaccine."
The crowd buzzed at the word 'vaccine.'
"There almost certainly isn't one... but outsiders won't believe us."
"So..."
"Before the Trees arrive, I figured we should check first, so I called you here."
People nodded at Kwak In-gu's words.
"To find it faster than those intruders, I'm proposing we move out, excluding the women and the elderly."
Everyone around nodded in agreement.
Now that the Eagles had marked them, their options were to leave the territory, become a plaything, or live like the dead — but in the end, they decided to go to the Field Mice.
"Is this the right move...?"
"Just follow me."
"Sigh... good thing we don't have brands. At least they won't kill us immediately."
Yoo Min-seong was slowly scanning his surroundings as if carrying out a critical mission, creeping along and concealing himself with moves straight out of a spy movie.
Ji-seong and Min-ji watched him do it while walking right down the middle of the street.
"What's he doing?"
"Guess he doesn't know the whole area around here's been cleaned."
"He was practically flying before... What the hell is he doing now?"
Yoo Min-seong suddenly threw himself prone with an elaborate maneuver, making the two flinch.
One zombie was directly ahead, facing away from them.
"Wow... so he really was just an idiot..."
"Is he missing a screw or something...?"
Min-seong crept up on the eyeless zombie and drove a spike into the back of its skull.
"His technique's good, so why is he acting like that?"
"He must really want to avoid any mistakes."
Yoo Min-seong marveled at his own flawless technique, then practiced the move again.
Min-ji watched him with the look one gives a bug.
"He looks normal, but this isn't just some middle-school edgelord phase. It's seriously creepy..."
But thanks to Min-seong's extreme caution, they quickly spotted three people in military uniforms approaching from afar.
Min-seong took cover and quickly approached the other two.
Kim Ji-seong waved him over as if to say he should just run across.
"...Why are those guys headed into Field Mice territory?"
"Yeah..."
Yoo Min-seong came up and asked cautiously.
"Are those the Trees?"
"Yeah."
"Haah... this changes things..."
Just as everyone was focusing on the Trees, Yoo Min-seong, who had been looking elsewhere, spoke.
"Who are those people?"
"..."
In the distance, figures could be seen walking along the light-rail tracks.
The moment Kim Ji-seong spotted them, he shoved Yoo Min-seong's head down and ducked behind a car.
Anyone walking on the light rail was an Eagle ninety-eight times out of a hundred.
One was an outsider who'd come not knowing any better and thought he was safe; the other one was one of the Trees.
"Do not come out, no matter what."
They hid Yoo Min-seong behind the car, spattered red dye on their own bodies, and leaned motionlessly against the vehicle.
The Eagles moving along the light rail were walking slowly, checking their surroundings.
"Why come all the way here? I understand the Trees, but the Eagles too...? What gives them the confidence to enter Field Mice territory...?"
Then came the clatter.
Fearing the worst, Kim Ji-seong and Lee Min-ji raised their heads to look.
"...You've gotta be kidding me... the Rhinos."
The noise drew zombies, but the newcomers drove longswords into their heads one by one.
True to form, they made no effort to move quietly and shouted at the tops of their lungs.
"Whoa~! They've done a thorough cleaning job."
"Must be the Kangaroo Rat's work..."
"If I see that monster bitch, I'll split her skull in half."
"Pfft. You?"
Heavy machinery brought up the rear.
The pair watched while slumped against the car, pretending to be dead.
"What the hell is happening? Is this war? Why's everyone converging here?"
"Yeah... you don't think they're here to clean out the Field Mice...?"
"Didn't the Trees say we should avoid a fight with the Field Mice no matter what..."
"..."
While they were talking in low voices, Yoo Min-seong spoke.
"Um... zombies are coming from ahead."
"...How many?"
"Seven..."
"Shit..."
Drawn by the sound of the heavy machinery, zombies had begun to mass even from a distance.
If it were one or two, they could handle it quietly, but with seven, they had to leave before the zombies caught their scent.
"You... get inside a building. Move as carefully as possible."
"Okay."
After telling Min-seong, the pair began inching away.
But one of the approaching zombies must have had working eyes; it screamed.
"SCREEEECH!!!"
Min-ji sighed at the sight.
"Haah... we're fucked... Hey, run."
Kim Ji-seong was already bolting, while Min-seong, still assessing the situation, crawled toward the alley with his rear in the air before springing up to run.
In the distance, the people of the Grasslands spotted them running.
"Hey! It's the outsider!!!"
""Get him!!!""
Suddenly a man burst out from the crowd on a motorcycle.
"The Eagles were with them too?! What is this, a fucking reunion?!"
Running with every ounce of strength he had, Ji-seong shouted.
"Split up!!!"
At those words, Min-ji ducked into an alley and vaulted over a wall.
Ji-seong, who had followed Yoo Min-seong for a moment, spoke rapidly.
"Did you see those Eagles on the light rail earlier?! Stay out of their line of sight unless you want to see them use your intestines as a jump rope."
They ran, dodging the gaze of the Eagles watching from the light rail line above.
After fleeing for a long while, Yoo Min-seong shoved the case at his side into the nearby undergrowth.
The sound of a motorcycle came from nearby, but it passed right by Min-seong's position,
and Min-seong, hidden in the alley, caught his breath while scanning the area.
At the sound of sniffing, he turned and found a zombie right in front of him.
Panicked, Yoo Min-seong quickly pulled the dagger from his pocket and thrust it upward from beneath its jaw.
The collapsing zombie struck an outdoor air-conditioning unit with a faint clang.
Thud!
"Huff... huff..."
Sensing a presence, Yoo Min-seong looked up and saw two people above him, smiling brightly.
"Hello there~"
"!!!"
The men in military uniforms stood in front of a building that looked like a studio apartment block.
The young man wearing a staff sergeant's insignia spoke.
"Master Sergeant Kim... is this really the Field Mice's... stronghold?"
The master sergeant's face was visibly livid, but he slowly nodded at the staff sergeant's question.
The staff sergeant, watching his superior's mood, knocked on the door.
"Hellooo, anyone home?"
And the door opened; Myeong-cheol came out.
"What."
Because his superior despised the Field Mice, the staff sergeant tried to be as polite as possible.
But Myeong-cheol's tone rubbed him the wrong way, and he scowled.
"We came to check on the outsider who died a while back."
"What's it to you?"
The staff sergeant, apparently at the end of his patience, spoke bluntly.
"Hmph... let's get to the point. The person our government sent was carrying a critical item, so we're here to retrieve it."
The master sergeant beside him directed a murderous glare at Myeong-cheol, but...
Myeong-cheol just let out a chuckle.
"Government? Heh. Bullshit—are you even still in contact?"
"Of course we're still in contact. Isn't that why we're protecting you?"
"What nonsense. Who? You? You protect us?"
Myeong-cheol reached out to hold the door; his left hand was missing two fingers.
"Heh-heh..."
"Oh yeah? So when was this ‘government man’ sent?"
"We don't know exactly because of the margin of error."
"Then tell me the margin. When did he leave your base?"
The master sergeant, who had been listening, looked coldly at Myeong-cheol's missing fingers.
"If you don't want the rest of those fingers cut off, watch your tone..."
Just as Myeong-cheol was about to say something, a middle-aged man came out and smacked Myeong-cheol on the head with a slipper.
"You brat! No matter how shitty the situation is, you don't let it show right in front of those mannerless bastards like that."
""...""
The two flinched the moment they saw the overwhelming bulk and rugged frame of Kwak In-gu.
Kwak In-gu looked at them and grinned.
"Kids, what brings you here?"
The master sergeant, even larger than the burly Kwak In-gu, met his gaze and answered.
"Return the item the government sent."
"The government sent what?"
Kwak In-gu was the leader of the Field Mice.
They knew the legend of his special forces past, and they hadn't expected to meet him right at the entrance.
With Kwak In-gu before them, no one but the larger master sergeant could manage a word.
"We'd like you to return our property."
"...What?"
The master sergeant did not flinch under Kwak In-gu's pressure, but the two behind him were badly cowed by Kwak In-gu's scowl.
They knew that if their own Master Sergeant Kim fought Kwak In-gu, Master Sergeant Kim would lose every time...
""...""
"'Hand over everything you've got'... is that what this is?"
Still wanting to avoid a fight with Kwak In-gu, the master sergeant sighed, relaxed his expression, and spoke.
"No. We only need the case returned."
"What case?"
"The case that the man who died in this zone was carrying."
Kwak In-gu stepped aside from the entrance as if to say, come in and check for yourself, and spoke.
"Come on in."
""...""
The invitation to enter the Field Mice's den froze the two subordinates in place, but the master sergeant walked in slowly.
"Pardon the intrusion."
Kwak In-gu looked at the two who'd frozen in fear and spoke.
"No manners...? When a person tells you to come in..."
The two flinched and answered in a loud voice.
""PARDON THE INTRUSION!!""
The master sergeant's expression crumpled at his thoroughly terrified subordinates.
Kwak In-gu led the soldiers and opened the door labeled 'Interrogation Room.'
A corpse had been laid on the table.
"I was about to burn the body, but I figured you people would want to check it, so I left it."
When Kwak In-gu pulled back the cloth, they — already desensitized to the sight of corpses — examined the body without a reaction.
The master sergeant carefully studied the corpse's forehead and right arm.
"The item..."
"Some of it we used for modifications; the rest is over there."
They examined the stab-resistant vest and dagger.
"Don't go touching anything. We've got to make a living too."
"Of course."
As they looked around, their eyes fixed on a swaying rope.
Noticing their gaze, Kwak In-gu asked with a chilling grin,
"Curious...?"
"Ah... no."
"Why? Aren't you curious?"
The master sergeant stepped between Kwak In-gu and his soldiers.
"That's enough. I understand the situation perfectly."
"..."
"Are you sure you didn't see it?"
When the master sergeant asked again, Kwak In-gu shrugged and said,
"Must've been something important. What is it?"
"...No."
"Yeah? If I find it, I'm keeping it~ Now where was it he died~?"
"...Let's go."
""Yes.""
Just as the two soldiers were about to walk out the door, several groups of people could be seen approaching in the distance.
""...""
A man whose face was covered in feather-shaped tattoos was revving the engine of his motorcycle.
"Kyahahaha!!!"
Kwak In-gu draped his arms over the shoulders of the two soldiers, who—unlike the master sergeant—were about his height.
"What's the situation?"
""...""
"You didn't set this up, did you? You'd better not have."