Auntie Min-jung's Maternal Instinct to Protect Me... This Is a True MILF [Zombie Virus Outbreak][2]
"I've been working out hard right up until recently...!! So I'll help you too, Auntie...!!"
"There are four zombies we have to take down — making you handle all of them alone is just too cruel...!"
Auntie Min-jung's will to help me burned like an active volcano. Honestly, I was impressed. The speed I'd used to get here hadn't been a full sprint, but it had still been pretty fast. And yet Auntie Min-jung — dressed in that new-town missy look with sandals on her feet — had kept up with that tempo perfectly. She hadn't stopped to rest even once, except for the detour to the hardware store.
Ahem... Park A-young's the same way... Both mother and daughter of the landlord family basically have physical conditions that put ordinary people to shame...
Looking at Auntie Min-jung's body, soaked through with sweat, I found myself convinced all over again. Auntie Min-jung was even taller than Park A-young, who stood at 176 centimeters. She was a full 179. She'd originally entered the entertainment industry as a model, then switched to acting once her figure became almost absurdly voluptuous. On top of that, her natural muscle mass was so impressive that back in her school days people had even urged her to become an athlete. Auntie Min-jung herself had a genuine fondness for sports and a considerable interest in them. But her family's opposition had been fierce, and she'd turned down the athlete's path during high school. From what I'd heard, the reason she'd entered the entertainment industry around age twenty — right as she started university — had been pure defiance against that opposition.
"I completely understand how you feel, Auntie. But fighting zombies bare-handed is tough."
"Against those things, one bite or one scratch and you're done — so you absolutely have to take them down with a weapon."
"And right now, the only weapon we have is this one steel pipe."
The problem was that the enemy was zombies. Because of that, I simply couldn't grant Auntie's wish. Putting Auntie Min-jung into combat against those vicious creatures was something I had no desire to risk. Better for me to tank everything and send Auntie back alone. But her determination was so intense that if I said what I was really thinking, she'd be hurt. So I constructed the most logical justification I could.
"Wouldn't there be more weapons if we looked around somewhere else???"
She looked left. She looked right. She looked every which way.
Auntie Min-jung's enthusiasm was the real deal. The moment I said we couldn't do it because we only had one weapon, she started scanning the surroundings for anything else she could use.
"And another thing, Auntie — when two or more people fight together, their teamwork has to be solid. So I think it's better if I handle this one alone."
I spun my brain again and this time used the complexity of team play as my reason to hold her back.
"Alright... I'll do it your way, Tae-yang..."
Hearing my second reason, Auntie Min-jung looked slightly downward and accepted my words in a quiet voice. She seemed deflated. In the end, she'd felt it too — that everything I was saying was just a pretext, and that I was unilaterally trying to protect her by keeping her out of the fight.
Ahem... Auntie really looks disappointed... And it doesn't seem like simple hurt feelings toward me so much as disappointment in herself...
How to put it... The Auntie Min-jung who had just insisted on fighting the zombies alongside me had felt like a tangle of many different kinds of drive. Auntie Min-jung had lived in isolation for roughly twenty years — a life spent catering to that restless bastard Park Do-chul. You could argue that life had its own value, but it certainly hadn't been the self-directed life that twenty-year-old Kim Min-jung had wanted. Even if she'd never expressed it directly, it was hard to deny that a great deal of that sorrow and longing had piled up in her heart. That was probably why, whenever she got drunk, her affectionate teasing took on an especially bitter edge.
And then the chaos of a zombie virus outbreak had crashed down on her. The urge to finally release all that long-suppressed pressure seemed to have surged up, using this extraordinary situation as its excuse. But in the end, I was the one who had crushed that enthusiasm — so she was disappointed. More than any resentment toward me, it seemed she was feeling that Kim Min-jung's life was simply doomed to remain passive no matter what.
"But the truth is, I desperately need your help right now, Auntie. When I'm fighting three of them, I won't have any bandwidth left to check the surroundings."
Once I could read that psychology, I couldn't just leave it alone. I genuinely wanted to treat Auntie Min-jung well. Not just well in one area — I wanted to treat her well in every single way. I wanted to protect her and, at the same time, fulfill her needs. With that in mind, I immediately threw her a carrot.
"What is it? What can Auntie do for you, Tae-yang?"
The moment I offered that carrot, the deflated Auntie Min-jung came right back to life. Looking up at me with bright, sparkling eyes, fists clenched, she asked what her mission would be — as if she were about to charge straight at me.
"When I charge in at those zombies, Auntie, you go past this corner and stick close to the wall. From there, keep watching the surroundings the whole time."
"If any more zombies show up, or if something happens on my end that I didn't account for, you tell me right away."
It wasn't something I'd forced into existence — it was a role that was genuinely needed. A team play approach where I left perimeter watch to Auntie and focused entirely on hunting zombies. Especially after watching how Auntie Min-jung had stayed even calmer than I had while running all the way here, I figured she could handle it without any trouble.
"Leave it to Auntie. I will not let you down!"
Auntie Min-jung showed tremendous drive. It wasn't just a casual "don't worry" — it was an active declaration of will, asking me to entrust it to her. And the nuance in "I won't let you down" felt like a projection of her desire to show me her full capability, without holding anything back.
"Haha! Alright, Auntie! I'll fight hard with my back trusted to you, too."
I took Auntie Min-jung's hand firmly once more. It felt good — my request for help seemed to have filled her needs quite thoroughly.
Still, she must be really nervous... Her hand is soaked with sweat...
That only steeled my resolve further. She was burning with enthusiasm, but Auntie Min-jung was extremely tense right now.
"I'm going, Auntie. There's no point in dragging this out any longer!!"
I, Geum Tae-yang, gripped the steel pipe properly — and burst out from around the corner.
As I sprinted forward, I could hear the slap of Auntie Min-jung's sandals following behind me.
Okay... Keep your heads buried in that corpse, you bastards...
There were two reasons I'd decided there was nothing to gain by stalling. For the moment, there didn't seem to be any other zombies nearby — but this was already the point where the zombie population would start multiplying exponentially. A whole swarm could pour into this area at any time. And the same logic applied to taking on these three. Landing the first strike before they'd finished eating the corpse and reorganized their formation was the advantageous play.
You're first, you bastard!!!!!!
My intention landed perfectly. The four zombies, busy gorging themselves on the corpse, never registered my approach. The timing for the first strike came out clean. The primary targets I'd locked onto were the two zombies right in front of me, both showing me the backs of their heads.
I raised the steel pipe high, put my full weight behind it, and smashed it down onto the upper back of the first zombie's skull on the right.
At the point of impact, dark crimson blood sprayed upward. A perfectly clean hit.
"Ah, fuck..."
A thick curse slipped out of me before I could stop it. The hand-feel had been disgustingly, spectacularly foul. Ever since my school days I'd been into training, and I'd spent time at both MMA and boxing gyms. I'd sparred plenty. But even so, I'd never had occasion to drive a steel pipe into a human skull. The sensation of living tissue tearing and bursting, combined with the solid resistance of bone, traveled straight into my hands. It was a truly savage hand-feel.
Take another one, you bastard...
But I was a man who had to protect Auntie Min-jung. Suppressing that spine-chilling sensation and the filthy feeling that came with it, I immediately drove a follow-up strike into the thing's head. Even with a steel pipe, the target was a zombie — I figured one hit alone wouldn't put enough damage in to neutralize it.
In the end, the first zombie collapsed sprawled across the corpse it had been so diligently devouring.
You're next, you bastard!!!
The follow-up target was the zombie beside it. I hammered two consecutive vertical steel-pipe strikes into that one as well.
The moment my preemptive attacks connected on the first two, the third zombie up ahead was the first to register my presence. It snapped upright, jaws gaping wide.
"And what are you gonna do if you get up? What the hell can you even do?!"
I spat a mocking mutter and drove a diagonal steel-pipe strike into its skull. I'd talked to myself on purpose. Seeing the back of a zombie's head and seeing its face head-on were worlds apart. There were bite marks on the neck and face, sure — but aside from the purple veins standing out under the skin, it was still unnervingly firm and full. Up close, it still carried a strong sense of being human. The feeling of launching a murderous attack on an actual person was so strong that I'd started running my mouth just to push through the revulsion.
The effect was excellent. A fully powered strike landed, and a stream of dark crimson blood burst from above the third zombie's temple. Its head even turned slightly to the side.
You just stay down over there for now...
Rather than follow up with another pipe strike on the third zombie, I chose a front kick to shove it far away. It wasn't that large, so it flew roughly three meters and tumbled across the ground.
The reason I'd simply launched the third one was that the fourth zombie looked anything but easy. I hadn't noticed while it was hunched over eating the corpse, but once it stood up, its bulk was considerable — roughly 186 centimeters and well over a hundred kilograms. The big one poured out a roar that made the previous one's look like nothing and charged straight at me.
I brought the steel pipe down aimed at the fourth zombie's forehead. For the follow-up, I'd prepared a body tackle meant to break its center of gravity. Having shoved the third zombie clear, I had plenty of space to execute the technique. Inside that space, I bent my waist and lower body properly and generated forward drive.
The explosive kinetic energy I'd built up — my body tackle — slammed into the fourth zombie while it was still reeling from the first strike. The thing was driven back roughly four meters, smashed into the concrete wall, and cracked the back of its head against it at the same time.
Looks like I need to finish you off first, big guy.
I tightened my grip on the steel pipe and walked forward. After landing that body tackle, it was clear the fourth zombie's physicality was the most formidable of the lot. So I intended to snuff out its life first.
Huh??
Then my gaze dropped to the ground. The second zombie — the one that had been face-down after two consecutive hits to the back of the head — was pushing its upper body up. Compared to the first one, less of my weight had gone into those strikes, and it had recovered some of the damage in the meantime.
Then I'll kill you first, you bastard!!!
I had no choice but to switch targets immediately. I completely shattered the second zombie's head first.
With the back of its skull reduced to absolute pulp, the second zombie went limp all over like a dried radish strip. It was finished. My first zombie kill was complete.
The apocalypse hit... And I just killed a zombie...
The moment I succeeded in my first zombie hunt, something flashed through my mind.
Then it has to be the Status Window...
The Status Window.
"Status Window!!!!!!"
So I shouted it with absolute conviction in my eyes.