(Side Story) Zombie.
(Side Story) Zombie.
Ga-in realized she was in Kim Ji-seong's arms and scrambled down, flailing.
"....."
Kim Ji-seong stared at Ga-in, whose face had turned bright red.
"Get lost."
"...I can't."
Ga-in looked at Kim Ji-seong's face once, then headed for the emergency exit on the outside of the building where Yoo Min-seong was.
Kim Ji-seong, seeing the situation outside for the first time, was stunned by the overwhelming sight.
"Oh my god..."
And a voice came from above.
"Ji-seong!"
Yoo Min-seong, who had been on an upper floor, spotted Kim Ji-seong and waved as he came down.
"Oh my god... I did think I was hearing way too many explosions... but this is insane..."
The surrounding area was filled with fallen zombies blanketing the buildings, and among the mountain-like corpses, crippled zombies were crawling around.
The structures connecting the department store right next door to the train station had all collapsed.
"There aren't any more zombies capable of climbing up this far."
Kim Ji-seong looked down and saw zombies piled up the wall, the height of the pile exceeding six floors.
"....."
But Yoo Min-seong was seriously troubled.
"Here... I can't see them, but I know from the radio that there are still an enormous number of them."
"What?"
"They said zombies have already come more than halfway up the other side of the building."
"Oh my god... Then shouldn't we be moving over there?"
"We can't abandon this position."
Kim Ji-seong looked at Ga-in and nodded.
"Then at least let me..."
Perhaps hoping to cross over to the other side as well, Ga-in followed Kim Ji-seong as he headed up to the rooftop, and they ran into two soldiers.
The soldiers who greeted Kim Ji-seong looked at Ga-in, their eyes flashing with murderous intent.
Seeing that, Ga-in's hands trembled as she grabbed Kim Ji-seong's pants, and Kim Ji-seong and Yoo Min-seong both checked her condition.
Kim Ji-seong picked Ga-in up.
"I want to apologize on her behalf... but I know I can't. I'm sorry."
"".....""
The two soldiers let out a sigh and stepped aside.
Spent shell casings piled on the floor.
Kim Ji-seong carried Ga-in so she wouldn't slip and carefully made his way upward.
Once they had passed the soldiers, Ga-in tried to get down from Kim Ji-seong's arms, and Kim Ji-seong set her down and sat on the floor.
"...?"
Yoo Min-seong and Ga-in watched him.
Kim Ji-seong looked at Ga-in and spoke.
"Aren't you being far too cowardly?"
"....."
"I get that you're young, and you're scared and terrified because of feelings you've never felt before... but you're still in the wrong, and the people you killed felt the exact same emotions. Even if they took revenge on you, you'd have nothing to say."
Yoo Min-seong flinched and stood still down below, and Ga-in stood motionless at Kim Ji-seong's words, like a child being disciplined.
"Have you ever thought about how many of the Trees you killed? No—do you even remember?"
"....."
Kim Ji-seong drew a deep breath and looked at Ga-in.
"If you feel no guilt for killing their families either, and you don't have the guts to face the Trees—let's go back down. It's not too late yet."
Ga-in was staring at the ground and said nothing.
"....."
"...You're a burden right now. If you're going to act like that, I'll take you all the way to the bomb shelter."
Kim Ji-seong took Ga-in's small hand and tried to go down, but Ga-in, as if refusing to leave, turned red in the face and grabbed the stair railing.
"...Let go."
"I'm not going down..."
"Kid, I said you're being a burden."
Tears welled up in Ga-in's big eyes.
"No..."
"Because of you, just now I nearly died twice trying to save you, and I don't know how much more danger I'll end up in. Let's go down."
Ga-in, her eyes brimming with tears, silently let go of the stair railing.
Yoo Min-seong watched them.
"Let's all... go together."
"Min-seong too... haah... let's all go together."
As they came back down, the soldiers who had been firing looked puzzled and stepped aside for them.
First floor.
The staff sergeant firing the minigun shouted.
"This is the last belt."
At the news that the minigun's firepower would run dry in five minutes, Kwak In-gu's face crumpled.
Then Captain Kim's voice rang out.
"Teams 1 and 2, hands up!"
Twelve people raised their hands.
"Staff Sergeant Jeong! Lead them to the defensive line where the children are!"
"Yes, sir!!!"
Staff Sergeant Jeong headed underground with the twelve others, all laden with ammunition, to wait for the order and then break through from below.
Kwak In-gu reloaded and stood beside Captain Kim.
"What about us?"
"They should have built defensive lines one at a time on the upper floors, starting from the two emergency exits! If we go up slowly, we'll make it!"
As the minigun's ammo started running out, Captain Kim, who had taken up position behind it, shouted.
"Staff Sergeant Kang! Run!!"
Staff Sergeant Kang abandoned the minigun and started running, but in his haste he stepped on a spent casing and slipped.
"Staff Sergeant Kang!!"
Staff Sergeant Kang scrambled to get up, saw the zombies charging from behind, and gave a bitter chuckle.
"Well, I'm fucked..."
"Kang Ju-hwan!!!!!"
Staff Sergeant Kang had already vanished from view, and an explosion boomed right after.
KWA-BOOM!
The soldiers hauled the despairing Captain Kim to his feet and dragged him up.
"You have to go up, sir!!!"
After climbing to the next floor, Captain Kim sat down behind the defensive line.
"Captain Kim, sir—you need to get a hold of yourself."
"Yeah..."
Kwak In-gu gave a short laugh at the sight.
"Let's focus so we don't end up the same way."
He had said it to lighten the mood, but the others went stone-faced.
One of the soldiers looked at Kwak In-gu and said,
"You'll have to take responsibility for those words."
There was no time even for an argument—zombies were pouring in.
To cut down the number of zombies as much as possible while moving upward, they had built a defense system on every floor at one of the two emergency exit positions, set up temporary ammo caches, dug in across the wide-open spaces, and concentrated their firepower there.
A man with an eagle tattoo was pacing on the stairs.
"A-hah!? Everything fucking sucks! Why is everyone picking on me?! Ee-heek?! I wanted a gun too!"
Rummaging through the area as he headed downstairs, the eagle-tattooed man spotted a gun.
"Oh... sick... is it mine? Gotta show this off~"
The eagle-tattooed man picked up the gun.
A long time passed, and the eagle-tattooed man was humming as he walked down the stairs.
A door was thudding.
"Who is it~~ A-heek?"
The eagle-tattooed man put his ear to the door, and the sound of a mass of zombies came through.
The eagle-tattooed man picked up his rifle, struck a few different poses, and said,
"Ee-heek? This is totally badass! Oh! Fucking awesome!"
Thud... thud...
"Why is it so damn loud?! You're all dead!"
The eagle-tattooed man loaded the gun and opened the door, and a flood of zombies poured out.
"Huh...? Huh?!"
A massive volume of zombies spilled out, and the soldiers opened fire in unison before the zombies could reach the open area.
They repeated the process over and over: creating obstacles to buy time, expending the magazines they had stashed there, then climbing to the next floor.
Then Captain Kim, who had been leading the way up, let out a scream.
"Gaaarrrggh!"
Those who climbed up discovered Master Sergeant Kim turned into a zombie, biting Captain Kim.
Kwak In-gu, who was at the front, smashed Master Sergeant Kim in the head with the butt of his rifle, then stomped down hard on the head of the fallen master sergeant on the steps.
Crunch!
Captain Kim had been bitten on the arm.
"Hah... hah... fuck..."
Looking up the stairs, it appeared Master Sergeant Kim had shot himself under the chin toward the head before he turned, but the bullet hadn't passed through the brain, and he had become a zombie anyway.
Captain Kim had no time to fall into despair as he spoke.
"The 8th floor... I heard it was already so full of zombies that they locked the door... Push through the 7th floor, abandon the 8th, and climb fast."
"Captain Kim, sir!"
"Hurry!!!"
Kwak In-gu opened the door to the 7th floor and spotted several zombies charging at him head-on.
"Hey, you punks. We don't have time for that."
Drawing his combat knife, Kwak In-gu drove it straight through the head of a zombie leaping at him from the front.
Dozens of soldiers were still dazed and unfocused; Kwak In-gu shouted at them.
"Block the entrance and haul ass!!!!"
The men, startled by Kwak In-gu's bellowing, scrambled up quickly and took in the zombies swarming the 7th floor.
When the others failed to close the door, Captain Kim walked back to the entrance and shut it himself.
"Captain Kim, sir!!!"
Captain Kim switched on his radio.
"Major Im Jeong-hyeok, sir..."
-"...Yeah."
"I... No, we... will never forgive the Field Mice..."
-"I'm sorry..."
"No, sir. Please—protect our families."
-"Don't worry."
"Yes, sir. Thank you for everything, and it has been an honor."
Captain Kim tightly gripped the pin of a grenade strapped to his body.
Captain Kim's face, filled with tears...
And then the surging zombies obscured Captain Kim from view.
KABOOM!...
To conserve ammo, Kwak In-gu gripped his combat knife and began swiftly taking out zombies one by one.
KWA-BOOM!
The vibration of Captain Kim's final act was felt, and the soldiers squeezed their eyes shut.
The area had descended into chaos, but Kwak In-gu did not even try to stop it.
"We'll be cut off at this rate! Break through!!!"
Kwak In-gu, who had naturally assumed command, began directing them.
"This is my last magazine!!!"
"Once we punch through to just up ahead, there'll be magazines waiting! You know that better than I do!!! Break through, fast!"
Kwak In-gu carved through a massive number of zombies with his knife, as if demonstrating with his own body why people feared him.
He tossed his rifle to one of the soldiers beside him.
Once they reached the fortified position, the soldiers quickly replenished their ammo.
BOOM!
Having smashed through the door weakened by Captain Kim's self-detonation, a zombie with a swollen neck burst out.
The Screamer's eyes rolled back, and it slowly locked eyes with Kwak In-gu before its throat began to inflate.
"Shit."
"KRRREEEEEEEEEK!!!!"
The Screamer's shriek filled the building, and the zombies began to roar.
Kwak In-gu looked back toward the other side and saw zombies surging in like a tidal wave.
"We are fucked..."
Ga-in was silently following Yoo Min-seong and Kim Ji-seong.
Then the radio crackled.
-"Can Ga-in hear me?"
"".....""
Im Jeong-hyeok's urgent voice came through.
Yoo Min-seong quickly answered the radio.
"This is Yoo Min-seong."
-"Where are you right now?"
"We are descending from the 10th floor."
-"....."
"What's the matter?"
-"Kwak In-gu has been cut off."
Ga-in flinched violently at the voice coming through the radio.
-"We've already committed non-combat personnel... but there isn't enough time."
Im Jeong-hyeok spoke rapidly through the radio.
-"It's confirmed that someone unlocked the door to the 8th floor that had been secured. If zombies are descending through an open emergency exit... can you block the entrance?"
"We'll try."
-"If it's impossible... abandon it and come up."
"We won't give up."
Yoo Min-seong and Kim Ji-seong began to move quickly, but Ga-in stood frozen.
"Ga-in, you go up."
Ga-in suddenly started muttering to herself.
"Mister... is going to die...?"
"Ga-in...?"
Ga-in sprinted forward at high speed, and the startled pair chased after her.
9th floor.
Yoo Min-seong and Kim Ji-seong were at a loss for words.
Compared to the zombies around her, Ga-in's movements had already gone beyond human capability, as if she alone were moving at one-and-a-half times speed.
Dozens of zombies were shredded in rapid succession, toppling with Ga-in's throwing knives buried between their eyebrows.
Yoo Min-seong and Kim Ji-seong were running to follow her, but the gap between them and Ga-in wasn't closing.
"Fucking insane..."
While they dealt with the few zombies left in the wake of Ga-in's passing, she had long since vanished from their sight.
Dozens of the people they were traveling with had died, and zombies were leaping at the barricades.
Then one of the soldiers shouted.
"We're out of ammo!"
A zombie tumbled over the barricade and fell flat in front of Kwak In-gu.
Kwak In-gu stomped on its head, bursting it, and yelled.
"Anyone who still has bullets, shoot toward the entrance!!! Block their path with corpses so they can't get through!!!"
No matter how high they stacked the wall of the dead, the zombies kept shoving through...
Several people who had already been bitten were swinging guns and knives, intent on killing at least one more before they turned.
Two zombies charged at Kwak In-gu; he shoved one's head aside, toppling it over, and drove his knife into the other's head.
After quickly yanking out the embedded knife, he pierced the head of the one that got back up and shouted.
"If they break through us, everyone above is finished! We cannot be wiped out!"
Kwak In-gu handed his small pack and pistol to the soldier who was at least a decent shot.
"You—there's ammo in the bag, so stay in the back and shoot, bastard."
"Yes, sir!"
Kwak In-gu switched his knife to his left hand and gripped a short sword like Ga-in's in his right.
He was slower than Ga-in, but his seasoned movements were precise and powerful.
Making full use of his physical abilities, Kwak In-gu moved with a flashiness that belied his massive frame.
When Kwak In-gu drove the short sword into a zombie, its head flew into the air.
He was dispatching zombies faster than the soldier who was taking aim and firing with his pistol one by one.
The sight of Kwak In-gu stabbing a zombie's arm with the knife in his left hand, yanking it aside, then striking its head with the short sword was enough to raise their morale.
But zombies kept endlessly climbing from the front and descending from the other side, and soldiers close to the zombies began dying one by one.
With the endless tide of zombies, Kwak In-gu judged that retreating any further would be too dangerous and blocked the entrance himself.
"Kwak In-gu, fall back!"
A zombie approaching from the front bit Kwak In-gu's arm.
"Stop flapping your gums and block the rear, you little bastard."
Thanks to his protective gear, Kwak In-gu's arm was unharmed, but he glanced at the soldier for a moment.
Crunch!
Kwak In-gu felt an ominous chill and his gaze slowly dropped.
A crawling zombie had bitten into Kwak In-gu's ankle.
"Ah... fuck..."