Welcome to Zombie World (7)
The next morning at 6 a.m., as everyone gathered to eat breakfast, Yubin held up three fingers.
“There are three major things we need to do today.”
Folding down one finger, Yubin began to explain.
“First, we need to thin out the zombie hordes a bit…”
After observing the area for a full day, the biggest problem he had identified was the sheer number of zombie groups roaming nearby. Several of them also returned far too frequently. For a location they intended to use as a negotiation site, both factors were highly undesirable.
“…Next, we need to manage our timing. While we can’t go outside, we’ll build the table we’ll use for the negotiations here.”
Constructing the negotiation table was just as critical a preparation as clearing out the zombies. In an emergency, they would need to flip it over to block incoming bullets, so its weight, durability, and size all had to be taken into account. They had only met twice so far, but the aides accompanying the General had clearly wanted to threaten them with firearms.
“The table on the second floor looked decent. It’s pretty thick and the right size. If we stack three of them and sandwich beach towels or something between each layer, it should be enough to stop 9mm rounds.”
Jinwoo suggested. Since they wouldn’t be able to carry rifles anyway, they only needed to worry about handguns. Sheriff, who had been pouring leftover cold rice into the ramen broth from yesterday, suddenly let out a dry chuckle as if something had just occurred to him.
“Heh. Why the hell does my life never change? Even after the whole damn world flipped upside down, we’re still talking about work first thing in the morning. Unbelievable.”
When he used to get dispatched from the manpower office to do manual labor, he would eat seolleongtang or bean sprout soup at dawn almost every day and discuss the day’s tasks just like this. Of course, back then it was usually the foreman doing all the talking, not Yubin.
“…Well, it’s thanks to that we survived, isn’t it?”
Yubin replied. If on that day in July they hadn’t been at the welfare center, and if they hadn’t had enough tools and skills… they would likely be wandering outside right now, no different from the zombies.
“By ‘clear them out,’ you mean those slippery little bastards, right…”
Jinwoo said while chewing his rice.
“How are we supposed to handle them?”
The “slippery little bastards” was the nickname for a small group of roughly three hundred zombies. They entered from the eastern parking lot, crossed the campground, and looped back from the north end of the swimming pool. The problem was how often they came through.
Their activity radius was so short that they passed by every thirty-seven or thirty-eight minutes. That was why they had two different balloons attached—gold number 6 and the Winnie-the-Pooh one. The Pooh balloon had originally been meant for another group, but the slippery bastards had returned so quickly that the time and effort had been wasted.
“Speak of the devil,” Sheriff said, pointing his chopsticks toward the campground. Just as he said, a zombie horde was slowly moving southward.
Whiiiish—!
The occasional gold balloons shaped like the number 6 floating above their heads, along with the ones featuring Winnie-the-Pooh faces, confirmed they were indeed the slippery bastards. Yubin opened his notebook and jotted down the time. Once again, the interval was thirty-seven minutes.
If a group came and went this frequently, the military helicopters bringing people for negotiations wouldn’t even be able to land properly. Of course, they could always pour out support troops and turn the area into a full-blown firefight, but Yubin had no desire for things to get that loud. Negotiations had to be conducted quietly, with as few people as possible, if they wanted to avoid any accidents.
“I’m thinking of merging them with the Yellows. That seems like the easiest option.”
The Yellows were the largest horde they had seen from the helicopter on the first day. They now traveled with yellow balloons attached. Their numbers were at least 2,500. Based on their roughly one-hour-and-forty-four-minute cycle, their activity range was estimated to be around nine to ten kilometers. Yubin didn’t know exactly which paths they took or how far they went, but they entered from Seoul Forest along the walking trail, then turned toward Jayang-dong right before the Han River Park swimming pool.
They had already learned through experience that when two or more zombie groups met, the smaller one would be absorbed into the larger one and begin following its route. The real issue, of course, was how to make that happen.
“How do we merge them? Their paths don’t even overlap in the first place,” Sheriff asked.
The boundary between the two groups was the iron fence surrounding the Han River Park swimming pool. The Yellows brushed past to the south, while the slippery bastards turned at the northern boundary. In a straight line it was less than two hundred meters, but that was still a considerable distance to overcome in reality. Forcing hundreds of zombies to move against their will would be extremely difficult.
“First we’ll trap the slippery bastards inside the swimming pool fence, then release them when the Yellows arrive so they can mix together naturally,” Yubin answered.
Sheriff looked at the swimming pool fence and blew air through his nose, as if the mere thought gave him a headache.
“Will that even work? That fence is so low they’ll jump right over it.”
The fence was only about two meters high—hardly enough to contain zombies. They weren’t smart enough to jump, grab the top, and climb, but if they leapt high enough for their upper bodies to catch on the edge, they would simply shift their weight and drop to the other side.
“We’ll time it so they’re only locked in for a few minutes right before the Yellows show up, then let them out. The really aggressive ones that try to climb over can’t be helped,” Yubin replied.
Since the slippery bastards came through so frequently, a well-timed calculation would allow them to finish the job after trapping them for just a few minutes. Of course, enduring and controlling those few minutes would require overwhelming combat power like that of Jinwoo, Sheriff, and Mingu.
“But the zombies around here aren’t just the Yellows and the slippery bastards,” Jinwoo pointed out—the obvious yet potentially most fatal flaw in the plan. So far they had identified eight different hordes roaming around Ttukseom Han River Park. Combined, their numbers exceeded at least five thousand.
Their cycles and activity radii were also a complete mess, which meant the safe window for going outside never exceeded thirty-five minutes. If they carelessly went out to start working, they could easily end up trapped inside the swimming pool and torn to shreds.
“That’s why I’m also planning to merge the Greens and the Blues. That should give us a much more comfortable window to work outside. Luckily, there’s a section of the walking trail they both share. Their cycles are about forty minutes apart, so if we calculate the narrow overlap time…”
Yubin continued explaining while scribbling numbers in his notebook with a ballpoint pen. Mingu, who had been chewing on spam, watched Yubin’s face closely. He had known this about him, but he really was a strange guy.
The very idea of classifying hundreds of freely roaming monster packs so they could be identified and merged when necessary was already unusual. Most people would simply feel overwhelmed and only think about avoiding them… And even if someone imagined it, actually making it happen was an entirely different matter. Yet this guy pulled it off without a hitch.
“So are we heading out now?” Sheriff asked after finishing his meal first. He stretched his arms wide. The area was currently in a lull with no zombie hordes nearby, so if they took care of the dozen or so stragglers wandering around, they could start working right away. It was the perfect environment for the job.
“No, let’s observe a little longer. I haven’t finished my calculations yet.”
Yubin answered while frowning, staring intently at his notebook with a serious expression. Sheriff looked puzzled.
“What more is there to calculate? We’ve already tagged them all, and we roughly know how often they come through, don’t we?”
“You’re right. We know the rough details. But the fact that it’s only ‘rough’ and not ‘certain’… that’s what’s bothering me. There’s something that feels off, but I can’t quite put my finger on what it is.”
Yubin scratched the back of his head with the ballpoint pen and voiced his usual worrier’s concerns. The notebook contained the zombies’ movement routes, group sizes, and appearance times, all marked in different colors. It was a record of constant observation from noon yesterday until this morning.
Yet something… some vague feeling kept making Yubin uneasy. Was this enough data? Could they really move based on this alone? He couldn’t answer those questions with confidence. Sheriff leaned back in his chair and shrugged.
“Then let’s keep watching. We still have three days left.”
“Yeah. In that case, let’s start with the table.”
Jinwoo also set down his plastic spoon and nodded. There were still plenty of tasks that needed to be handled. Simply gathering and hiding the corpses of all the zombies they had killed since yesterday would take at least half a day.
The reason they had to go through the trouble of moving over a hundred bodies was because the other side could use them to figure out this group’s movements. The negotiation location had to remain secret until the helicopter landed.
“Then I’ll go get the power tools and materials for the table. Wouldn’t it be easier to just remove the table legs and carry them?”
Sheriff looked ready to rely on brute strength again, just like when he had built the windbreak wall last night. Jinwoo calmed him down.
“No, we should test it with gunfire first before building anything.”
Jinwoo opened his duffel bag and took out the Glock and his goggles. There was no point spending time disassembling and reassembling the table only for it to get punched through by bullets. Before that, they needed to confirm exactly how much stopping power these tables had.
“You’re really going to use that thing?”
Sheriff laughed in amusement as he watched Jinwoo put on his goggles and then his helmet. Jinwoo tapped his helmet a couple of times.
“Yeah. It’s become a habit now. I feel weird without it.”
Huff, huff—!
The moment Jinwoo started walking toward the stairs with Sheriff, Samsuk-i reflexively tried to follow. Jinwoo grabbed the dog’s face and shook his head.
“No, we’ll be right back. Stay here. It’s dangerous because we’ll be shooting.”
Of course the dog was smart enough not to run in front of the gun, but the risk of ricocheting fragments at close range couldn’t be ignored.
Whine—!
Understanding Jinwoo’s words, Samsuk-i let out a disappointed sound and returned to the rooftop. Yubin, who wanted to cheer the dog up, gently waved his hand and held up the bubble gun.
“Come here. I’ll play with you, Samsuk-i. You like this, don’t you?”
Burrrr—!
When he pulled the trigger, dozens of soap bubbles shot into the sky, but Samsuk-i didn’t seem very interested. The dog simply returned to the spot where he had been lying down. Right before lying down, he even snorted in disdain. It was the complete opposite of the enthusiastic reaction he had shown while playing with Sheriff yesterday evening.
“I was trying to cheer you up because I thought you might feel left out, you little shit!”
Even when the ignored Yubin scolded him in disbelief, Samsuk-i only gave him a single dismissive sideways glance. The look seemed to ask, You think I’d actually play with the likes of you?
“…Fine. I’m beneath you, you bastard.”
Yubin gave up on trying to tempt him and accepted reality. To Samsuk-i, he was clearly the lowest rank in the group—some existence beneath even the dog. If he had to put it in concrete terms, he was basically the dog’s underling… That status wouldn’t change no matter how many bubble guns he had. And honestly… in a real one-on-one fight, he probably wouldn’t win anyway, so it wasn’t entirely inaccurate.
While Yubin and Samsuk-i were engaged in a subtle battle of nerves over hierarchy on the rooftop, Jinwoo and Sheriff were downstairs, backs to the entrance, fully focused on preparing to test the table’s stopping power.
“This feels… not very sturdy, does it?”
Jinwoo tilted his head after stacking three tables on their sides and tapping them with his hand. They felt far too light for their thickness and size, making him worry they might be completely useless.
“Step back, Sheriff. Just in case the bullets ricochet.”
Jinwoo disengaged the Glock’s safety and pointed behind him with his thumb.
“No way! It’s not like it’s a steel plate. You really think the bullets will bounce back this way?”
Sheriff muttered in disbelief but still followed Jinwoo’s instructions. Once he confirmed Sheriff was behind him, Jinwoo raised the muzzle and pulled the trigger.
Bang—! Bang, bang—!
Jinwoo fired at three different spots for the test. Even if the plywood tables looked identical, some parts might be weaker or stronger than others. But… crash!
The moment the gunshots rang out, the sound of glass shattering violently from the opposite wall announced that these tables were completely unsuitable as bulletproof barriers. The bullets had punched straight through the plywood and shattered the windows.
“Nice going… It’s already freezing, and now we’ve got another hole letting in the wind…”
Sheriff clicked his tongue and shook his head. But that wasn’t the real problem.
“This thing’s way too weak. Ah, it’s particle board.”
Jinwoo bit his lip as he touched the bullet holes that had pierced the table far too easily. The material had a loose, porous structure completely different from the dense, multi-layered wooden tables in the Taeyang Group headquarters building. Simply adding a few layers of beach towels in between clearly wasn’t going to solve this.
“Should we try reinforcing it with steel plates like last time? Then layer towels on top?” Sheriff suggested.
During the first negotiation at the welfare center, they had sandwiched thick steel plates between heavy wooden tables, and the method had worked well. Jinwoo turned to him.
“Where are we supposed to find steel plates here?”
“Who knows? We’ll have to look. This place is huge—there’s got to be something. As long as the size and thickness are close, we can just hammer them flat.”
“All the doors here are either plywood or glass.”
“Then just flatten some frying pans and line them up. This used to be a restaurant, so there must be tons of frying pans lying around.”
Sheriff looked around casually as he answered. Jinwoo’s mouth fell open at the sight.
This guy… just how massively does he want to escalate things…
The pointless effort from last night when he built the windbreak wall overlapped in Jinwoo’s mind. This would cause dozens of times more commotion. Sure, the guy was a monster who could crush or flatten frying pans with pure strength without any tools, but… they would need a steel plate the exact size of the table. He really didn’t want to expend that much energy first thing in the morning.
“Hey, don’t go crazy. Let’s ask Yubin first and then—”
While Jinwoo tried to stop him, Sheriff had already opened the kitchen door and gone inside.
“Nice! Here! These are all metal! Should we rip this out? If we take this apart and tweak it a bit, it’ll work! Oh, this should do it too!”
Every time the guy shouted excitedly, Jinwoo’s anxiety only grew. What exactly was he looking at and calling “fine”? He wasn’t seriously suggesting they rip out the refrigerator, was he…? That thing was so heavy that just lifting it up to the third-floor rooftop would be a massive undertaking.
“This is it! This one!”
When Jinwoo entered the kitchen, Sheriff was pressing down hard on a large stainless steel table with a bright smile. It was a long prep station commonly seen in Western-style restaurants, easily 180 centimeters long. It even had three tiers. However, despite its size and weight, the steel plate itself wasn’t particularly thick.
“Come out here and watch.”
Jinwoo pulled the prep station forward until it toppled, then stepped back outside the kitchen and pulled the trigger.
Bang, bang, bang—! Ting—! Ting! Ting—!
The moment he fired three shots while hiding behind the door, the sound of bullets ricocheting off the tiled floor on the other side rang out. The rounds had punched through all three layers of stainless steel and shattered the tiles.
“Hey, Sheriff. This won’t work either… It’s too thin.”
Jinwoo shook his head after examining the bullet holes. If 9mm could do this, .40 caliber would punch through it like paper. Of course, if they overlapped multiple layers and clamped them tightly together it would be better than now, but the mere thought of cutting, fitting, and attaching them all to the right size made him sigh. Wasn’t there an easier way…?
“Then maybe we could rip off the refrigerator doors…”
Sheriff was about to make another absurd suggestion while looking at the large commercial refrigerator when he suddenly clapped his massive hands together.
“Ah, I just thought of something! …We’ve got it! Bulletproof plates!”