The Last Choice
“But……”
The pilot, who had nodded first out of reflex, spoke up cautiously.
“We don’t actually know that much. In fact… we have no idea what Captain Lee is even talking about. We received standby orders for a sortie last night, and……”
“We only learned this morning that Seoul was our destination. All we were told was that it was for a photography mission……”
The co-pilot chimed in with a look that said he agreed completely. Yubin understood exactly what they were worried about. He raised a hand to calm the two men.
“I’m not asking you to spill any major secrets. I simply wanted to explain the current situation. Captain Lee feels zero camaraderie toward any of you. If anything, he only sees you as sacrificial pawns. So I’m telling you not to do anything for his sake. And……”
Yubin listed off the names that had come up in Captain Lee’s statement.
“From what I’ve heard, both this Major Oh and Lieutenant Colonel Jeong seem to know quite a lot about this operation. Yet they still only authorized a single helicopter for a mission like this. That tells me they had no objections to simply throwing the entire Third Platoon away.”
Gulp!
The pilots and soldiers swallowed dryly, their faces hardening as they listened to Yubin’s explanation. It made them angry—furious, even—that people like that could sit in positions of command and issue orders so carelessly. The ones who had nearly been sacrificed this time were the Third Platoon, but the target could change to them at any moment.
“We are not like Captain Lee. If you cooperate with us, we will never harm you. So I ask that you actively assist our side.”
“Yes, of course……”
Both the pilot and co-pilot nodded at the same time, expressions showing they understood perfectly. They had zero desire to fight or resist on behalf of a man who was little better than scum. To think the reason they had flown all this way, burning through precious fuel and supplies, was simply to let a civilian woman get bitten to death by zombies… Even after hearing it, it was hard to believe. And how could anyone crack jokes and laugh so shamelessly in front of the very woman they planned to kill? It wasn’t as if they were mortal enemies from a past life… They had almost unknowingly become accomplices in that bastard’s filthy scheme. The thought alone made them nauseous.
“Good. It seems we’re all on the same page. First, please answer a few questions from these gentlemen behind me.”
Yubin gestured toward the two Special Forces operatives who had been waiting in the back. Even knowing only where today’s sortie had originated and whose orders it had been carried out under would be enormously helpful when cross-referencing it against Captain Lee’s answers to determine the truth.
“Um… we can answer as many questions as you like, but… when we were in the air, we saw zombies heading this way. They’ll reach the area very soon.”
The pilot checked his watch with an anxious expression. Roughly seventeen minutes had passed since they had landed the Black Hawk in the clearing beside the Children’s Center. In a few minutes, thousands of zombies would begin streaming past from the direction of Jungnang Stream, then from the north in several successive waves. In other words, they needed to take off within two minutes to escape the danger.
“You should call the people over there and evacuate this location together……”
The pilot suggested this while looking out the window toward the main building of the Children’s Center, which sat diagonally across the parking lot. If they started running now, they could still reach the helicopter in time. Since the performance hall building they were in sat right against the road, the pilots’ anxiety was even greater. In the southern region where they had been stationed, encountering zombies within a few hundred meters was an extremely rare experience, which only made it more terrifying.
“Don’t worry about that. We have plenty of experts on our side. They’ll take care of it.”
Yubin answered in a genuinely bright, carefree voice. A moment later, a heavy boom echoed from far away—the sound of the C-4 that the Special Forces operatives had planted at the gas station in Seongsu Intersection that morning.
“Wh-what was that?”
The pilot turned his head fearfully toward the direction of the explosion. Soon after, a thick column of black smoke shot high into the sky, fueled by burning gasoline and paint. At that scale, it meant the flames would soon spread to the cars that had been pushed against the roadside nearby.
“Don’t be alarmed. We set the fire on purpose to lure the zombies.”
Yubin reassured the pilots and soldiers.
“With a fire that big, most of the zombies that were heading this way will head toward the smoke instead.”
The goal was to draw them several blocks away so they could use this road freely today, but there was also the need to gather and reorganize the scattered zombie hordes that Jenny and Porter had carelessly left wandering everywhere yesterday. With small groups roaming nonstop through the area like this, movement would remain difficult.
“Can you really control the zombies that well?”
The co-pilot asked, sounding impressed. Of course, claiming they could control all of them would be a lie. When thousands of zombies swarmed toward the flames, dozens would inevitably break away from the main group and wander off in the wrong direction—following their original path, just like the ones now approaching the road ahead…
“Z-zombies! Over there!”
A soldier who had been nervously peering out the south-facing window pointed with a trembling hand. From their disarmed position, the sight of dozens of zombies marching steadily up the road at the base of the hill was nothing short of overwhelming terror. But then—
Bang!
The crisp crack of a single K-2 shot rang out like a signal, and all around them, a grand orchestral symphony of gunfire erupted in unison.
Ratatatatata—! Ratatat—! Tututututu—! Bang! Bang! Ratata—!
K-2s, MP5s, K-3s, full-metal-jacket rounds and subsonic ammunition all poured out at once, filling the road with a chaotic chorus of gunfire. And at a speed that matched the frantic noise, zombies dropped to the ground with holes punched clean through their skulls. It took roughly two minutes. When it was over, not a single moving zombie remained visible outside the windows.
“Whoa……”
A collective gasp escaped from the pilot crew, who were witnessing the Special Forces team and Jinwoo’s collaboration for the first time. It left them with a fundamental question: had fighting zombies always been this easy and safe? Some of the creatures had detected the noise and sprinted forward… yet even they had collapsed before reaching even halfway up the hill.
“What did I tell you? We have experts.”
Once their shock had subsided a little, Yubin gestured modestly toward the Special Forces operatives.
“More zombies will come this way, but they will never make it over that hill. So please relax and answer their questions.”
“I’ll ask again.”
When the gunfire on the road finally ceased, Cho Cheol-woong resumed his questioning.
“Who was the first person to propose this plan to eliminate Hwang Nayeon?”
“Major, sir! Please don’t misunderstand! Eliminate? That’s not—”
Captain Lee, his face streaked with tears, raised both hands in desperate appeal.
“That’s not true at all! I swear… I never had even the slightest intention of harming her! If you ask Chairman Hwang himself, he’ll confirm it! Although… well… two days ago I did receive orders to hand over Chairman Hwang’s hostage, but… even then, I had already made up my mind! I resolved that I must not allow any harm to come to Chairman Hwang! My plan was to protect her at all costs and safely escort her back to Busan! That’s why I never fired aimed shots at her! If I had, how could she possibly still be alive? After all that pursuit by so many troops and helicopters! Every single round was just suppressive fire!”
“Hmm. I was actually there, you know……”
Mingu twisted his lips into an amused smirk.
“Eep!”
Captain Lee flinched and clamped his mouth shut. Come to think of it, one of the men in civilian clothes that day had looked a bit like this guy… But he couldn’t be sure. All he had seen from the helicopter were shadows hiding behind thick concrete pillars.
“If you were there, then you must know! That not all the bullets we fired were meant to be threatening!”
Captain Lee stubbornly clung to his shameless tactic of tearful lies. At this point, he had no other card to play.
“I’ll change the question, Captain.”
Cho Cheol-woong’s voice remained ice-cold, completely unmoved by the man’s desperate performance.
“Who were you supposed to submit that Polaroid photo of the body double to?”
The implication was clear: you faked proof of the kill, so what kind of nonsense excuse is this? Captain Lee seemed to understand, because he readily offered up a name.
“That… was something Major Oh demanded.”
“Why did Major Oh need it?”
“Well……”
Captain Lee hesitated for a moment, his mind racing. Should he throw Lieutenant Colonel Jeong under the bus? Or name Brigadier General Park directly and try to act like he was dealing with bigger players? Or maybe just lie and say it was someone from Taeyang Group? He decided the third option was safest… that way, even if word got out later, Brigadier General Park might still protect him.
“I’m not entirely sure, but I heard a Taeyang Group executive demanded it. I was simply carrying out orders! They told me to find a woman who looked as much like Hwang Nayeon as possible, disguise her, take her to Seoul, let the zombies bite her, then bring back Polaroid photos as proof! That was the entirety of the order I received from Major Oh, sir!”
“Which executive?”
“Haa… That’s……”
Captain Lee glanced nervously at Cho Cheol-woong before speaking carefully.
“Information that sensitive… I can only provide it if you guarantee my safety, Major. I need some kind of assurance or reward before I can fully cooperate, don’t I? So if you would swear on your honor as a soldier to guarantee my safety……”
“Captain.”
Cho Cheol-woong raised a finger to cut him off, then slowly shook his head.
“You may not have realized it, but you’ve already lost your final chance.”
“What? Lost my final chance…?”
“When you were in radio contact with Second Lieutenant Seong, if you had shown even a shred of soldierly honor by turning your aircraft toward Janghanpyeong to support him, I was prepared to give you one more opportunity. Of course, the person who planned this operation told me you’d never make that choice, but I still held out a sliver of hope.”
“I already explained, Major! I had no choice but to complete my primary mission first, even if it meant swallowing my tears—”
Captain Lee tried to offer more excuses, but Cho Cheol-woong continued in a low, authoritative voice.
“But you didn’t. You abandoned your own subordinates—your comrades—to the very end. Because of that decision, you are going to die here.”
“What? No… Major, please don’t—”
“At this point, you only have the right to choose between two options.”
Cho Cheol-woong held up two fingers in front of Captain Lee’s face, then folded down his middle finger first.
“The first option is to tell us everything you know about who dragged you into this mess, then die cleanly with one shot. We’ll take revenge on those who deserve punishment for you. The second option……”
Cho Cheol-woong lowered his index finger as well and continued.
“…is to keep lying and making excuses in order to protect your superiors, only to die after suffering long, agonizing pain. The choice is entirely yours.”
CHOOSE YOUR DEATH
‘Both options end with me dead, you son of a bitch!’
Captain Lee’s face twisted violently at the despairing verdict. To think he would be forced into such an absurd choice! The best reward he could hope for now was a quick, relatively painless death. There was no way he could accept that. He immediately began shaking his head in refusal.
“Major! What do you mean by agonizing pain? Are you threatening me with torture? As fellow officers—as fellow soldiers of the Republic of Korea Army—how can you even suggest such a thing? And yet you accuse me of having no camaraderie? How… how can you even entertain the idea of torturing a fellow Korean soldier, Major? Hmm?”
Captain Lee frothed at the mouth as he poured out his passionate, bloodshot rebuttal. His intention was to exploit the logical weakness in Cho Cheol-woong’s argument and earn even a shred of sympathy. Surprisingly, Cho Cheol-woong nodded readily.
“A fair point, Captain. Fellow soldiers of the same nation should never do such things. However……”
Having given the man a brief flicker of hope, Cho Cheol-woong jerked his thumb toward Mingu sitting beside him.
“This friend here is not a soldier. And I hear he is exceptionally skilled at extracting information through pain.”
“Well then, I think that’s enough of an introduction……”
Mingu stood up, kukri bag in hand, and slowly approached Captain Lee.
“I don’t know how strong your loyalty is, but I’d bet my entire fortune that my skills rank far higher. You’ll talk in the end.”
It was the first time the word “skills” had ever sounded so terrifying. Captain Lee looked at Cho Cheol-woong with eyes full of terror, pleading desperately while simultaneously screaming at Mingu.
“Aaaagh! This is dirty! Don’t be so fucking dirty! Cornering a helpless man like this and torturing him to death! Is that… is that even something a human being would do? Compared to what you’re about to do, I’m not the coward here!”
“You’re right. That would be dirty. I hate dirty tricks too. So choose. I’ll even let you pick first.”
“…Huh?”
While Captain Lee was still reeling from the completely unexpected reply, Mingu reached into his bag and pulled out two more blades, laying them on the table alongside his machete.
Thud. Thud.
One was a large, boomerang-shaped kukri. The other was a familiar tactical knife—Captain Lee’s own bayonet, taken from his vest.
“The major left out one detail. If you fight and win, you go free. I promise.”
“Mm.”
Cho Cheol-woong gave a slight nod, confirming the statement.
“So you still have a chance. One-on-one. Fair enough?”
Mingu jerked his chin toward the blades as if telling him to choose comfortably. Captain Lee’s eyes darted back and forth between the three knives and Mingu’s face, sweat dripping from his brow.
“What the hell is……”
“Sigh. Can’t you understand something this simple? It’s a miracle a guy this slow on the uptake has survived this long.”
Mingu shrugged and spat coldly.
“Pick up a knife! If you kill me, you win.”
“I-I can’t! I don’t even know how to use a knife……!”
Captain Lee’s face turned deathly pale. This was no joke. But a knife fight? In the twenty-first century? What kind of insane nonsense was that? It was terrifying!
“What are you talking about? This is your knife.”
Mingu picked up the captain’s bayonet with a completely relaxed attitude, then set it down again.
“You wouldn’t have carried something you didn’t know how to use all this time. Stop acting and pick one already. I’ll wait until you grab it first… Oh, and just so you know, the longer blade gives a pretty big advantage.”
Whispering as if he were sharing top-secret information, Mingu even winked with one eye.
“Haa… Haa……”
Cornered, Captain Lee’s breathing grew ragged. He had to reject this proposal somehow. A knife fight… getting cut, stabbed, bleeding… He had absolutely no confidence he could endure something so horrific and painful.
“Looks like this won’t work. I can’t wait forever, so I’ll start a countdown.”
When the captain kept stalling, Mingu let out a light sigh and began counting.
“Five, four, three……”