An Acquaintance (1)
“Just as I thought… So that’s how it is. We can’t all go at once.”
Jinwoo nodded as if he’d expected it, then asked,
“But what are the ones staying behind supposed to do?”
His expression made it clear he assumed he would be among those staying. Yubin gave a small shake of his head.
“There’s nothing in particular to do except hide. We just wait a few more days. Until the team that flies out with Grandpa Paul meets up with the people from Chungju and returns.”
“Chungju? You’re telling Captain Mun?”
“Yeah. We have to meet them at some point anyway. We need to let them know the deal fell through. They’ll fly back in the helicopter, then head to Chungju.”
Yubin gestured vaguely toward the south and continued.
“Since we’re holding Chairman Hwang’s daughter hostage, we’ll contact his side and demand they exchange her for the people trapped in Busan. We might even be able to squeeze some extra ammunition out of the deal.”
“So what you’re saying is we hand the entire negotiation over to the Chungju soldiers and wash our hands of this?”
“It’s the most convenient and rational option. Honestly, they have far more… No, ‘far more’ doesn’t even cover it. They have thousands of times more manpower than we do. They have way more helicopters too.”
Yubin answered as if it were obvious. This was the conclusion he had reached after turning the problem over and over in his mind ever since the excitement had died down.
Negotiating with Taeyang Group over a hostage would be incomparably more complicated and time-consuming than trading blood with the generals. Even in the best case it would take at least two weeks; in the worst, several months. There was no reason for him and his friends to shoulder that long, burdensome fight alone. That was Yubin’s judgment.
Once this blood trade was finished, he had promised Alex he wouldn’t drag Terra into anything dangerous that might cause her stress. The current situation had already far exceeded that safety threshold. And honestly, he himself wanted to avoid another extreme gamble like today’s, where everyone’s lives were on the line.
Machine-gun fire pouring down from a helicopter… How horrifying and precarious that moment had been. Of course Jinwoo’s marksmanship had played a huge part, but the fact that they had all escaped unharmed was still largely thanks to luck. Therefore, the coming fight surrounding the Witch should be left to those with firepower on par with the enemy.
It was true that their experience had greatly improved their skills against both zombies and humans, but they were not superheroes. They were ordinary people who bled, had only one life, and whose judgment grew clouded under excessive stress.
“Wait, hold on. I’m not quite following…”
Jinwoo, who had been carefully retracing Yubin’s words, tilted his head and asked,
“If that’s the case, then when that woman asked if you were one of General Kim’s subordinates, why did you deny it so vehemently? You’re going to end up tangled with General Kim anyway.”
Yubin pursed his lips.
“That depends on how they phrase it. We can hide it if we want to. For example, if we station some troops in Seoul and keep her with us like we’ve been doing, how would she know they’re General Kim’s people? We just play dumb and she’ll never figure it out. Or we could simply say we sold her to General Kim.”
“Oh… I guess that could work.”
Jinwoo mulled it over for a moment before nodding in agreement.
“Well, our firepower really is lacking on our own. I want to just sit around with Jenny and Terra, chatting away. Feel the year-end and Christmas atmosphere, relax and rest…”
Of course, after eating cake he’d probably end up doing shooting practice with Jenny anyway, but that leisurely feeling was still something he missed dearly. And how luxurious it would be to share a pleasant drink with friends and then sleep as much as he wanted in a soft, warm bed.
“Helicopters will definitely come again tomorrow, right?”
Jinwoo, who had been stroking Samsuk-i’s head, looked up at the rain-cleared night sky and asked. Yubin wore that familiar worried expression as he nodded.
“Yeah. Ninety-nine percent chance. Whether it’s a rescue team or the faction that tried to kill her sending a search party to confirm the body. They’ll probably keep circling for days.”
“Then right at first light tomorrow, I’ll grab the cooler and head to Costco.”
“To run the generator?”
“Yeah. They’ve got refrigerators there too. I’ll freeze some ice and swap it out.”
Jinwoo said. Three packs of immune blood were worth at least ninety thousand rounds of ammunition. Naturally, he couldn’t help but be on edge. Now that they had secured a safe place to breathe and food and water, preserving Terra’s blood had become the top priority.
No matter how tightly they packed the cooler with ice and sealed it, expecting it to last four whole days was unrealistic. Besides, they had to leave the cooler at Costco anyway so it could be easily loaded onto the helicopter returning to Big Island.
“Then go with Sheriff. I’ll change the watch schedule.”
Yubin checked his watch and answered carefully. From Gunja Station to Sangbong Station where Costco was located, it was five subway stops. If they left at first light and hurried, they could finish and return before any helicopters departing from Busan reached Seoul. Even if things took longer, they could be back by evening. Helicopters or search parties would have a hard time operating at night anyway.
“Wouldn’t it be better if I went too? The big guy must be pretty tired after entertaining all day.”
At Mingu’s suggestion, Yubin smiled awkwardly and replied,
“No, Hyung. The thing is… to move the refrigerator all the way up to the roof, we need Sheriff. That thing is incredibly heavy. Just getting it onto a cart is no small task.”
“Couldn’t he just carry it on his back without a cart?”
Jinwoo nodded in agreement. The display refrigerator was on the first floor, and the generator was on the roof. The generator also had to be run from the roof. The only person who could single-handedly meet all those conditions and connect the refrigerator to the generator was Sheriff.
“Besides, Hyung has something you need to do tomorrow.”
Yubin added with a meaningful glance downward. Mingu understood immediately and nodded. As expected… If this kid had lived that life, he would have done pretty well.
“Hold on, then maybe I should take the MP5? We have to conserve ammo, but honestly I feel uneasy without the K-2.”
Jinwoo muttered, rubbing his chin. He seemed anxious about leaving his other self, the K-2, behind.
“The way you’re talking, it sounds like we’re running low on bullets. How many rounds do we have left?”
Yubin asked. They had brought what seemed like a generous amount, but after four days of unexpected situations, he could guess they had used up quite a lot.
“There are twenty-four rounds in this magazine. Including these, I’ve got twelve magazines of 5.56mm left from what I originally brought.”
Jinwoo patted his K-2 and pointed downward with his thumb.
“And I found the five hundred rounds you hid in that office closet and brought them up.”
That meant they had 854 rounds left in total. It meant they had expended over six hundred rounds in four days. Of course, they still had about four hundred rounds of 9mm Parabellum, but the MP5 wasn’t Jinwoo’s primary weapon, and it wasn’t suitable for firefights against enemies over two hundred meters away. In that case, the fifty rounds of Lapua Magnum would be far more useful.
“Eight hundred and fifty rounds… Is that enough? I’m not sure…”
When Yubin asked worriedly, Jinwoo shrugged.
“Depends on the situation. If we stay hidden and just take out zombies, it’s more than enough. But if we get spotted by those soldiers and a firefight breaks out, it could all be gone in a few hours.”
A firefight was a completely different kind of battle from headshotting zombies. If the enemy laid down suppressive fire without restraint, Sheriff or Yubin would have to fire over their heads to buy time. After just a few exchanges of aimed fire, hundreds of rounds could vanish in an instant.
“A firefight… Ugh, I really hate that.”
Yubin rubbed his mouth and shook his head. Fighting zombies was bad enough, but a battle where bullets rained down from above was even more terrifying. At least you could see a zombie’s teeth and try to block them, but bullets… there was no trick that worked against those. Your heart could be pierced at any moment.
Besides, their opponents this time were regular soldiers. Unlike the Shadow Shield bastards who had only been armed with MP5s, regular troops would come at them with overwhelmingly superior firepower. Yubin had learned exactly how devastating a tank’s main gun could be during the raid on the Taeyang Group headquarters in Yongsan.
“Don’t worry too much. We’ll prepare, but it’s unlikely we’ll have to fight. For one thing…”
Jinwoo pointed down at the road where the zombies’ cries were drawing closer.
“The zombies will act as a barricade. Even if they send a search party, they won’t be able to reach us with ordinary numbers.”
Grrrrraaaah—! Grooooan—!
As if in answer to his words, zombie howls began approaching from the distant east. Though they couldn’t see clearly through the darkness, another horde was clearly advancing along Cheonho-daero past Gunja Station. Mingu quickly stubbed out his cigarette and muttered,
“Those things really do travel in huge packs.”
There had been just as many near the Han River, and even here, four kilometers away, the place was overrun with zombies. Every thirty minutes or so, new hordes of hundreds would swarm in, tear up the roads, and then vanish somewhere else. Each time, a cold sweat ran down everyone’s spine. If they made even the slightest mistake and got caught up in something like that… it would be over. And that applied even to heavily armed soldiers.
“I guess we should hope the zombies keep moving around as much as possible…”
Yubin, standing by the railing and silently staring downward, muttered in a tone of disbelief. The current group of passing zombies numbered roughly five hundred or more. They had already moved past the section the group had burned earlier and were now heading toward the Gunja Teacher’s Intersection area.
“Well, even if you don’t pray for it, the zombies will keep moving on their own. So we just need to stay quietly hidden. No matter how hard they search, they’ll probably give up after about three days. Even if they send a few hundred soldiers, they won’t be able to hold out.”
Jinwoo patted Yubin’s shoulder and spoke with conviction. Considering the memory of Samcheok, where they had grown exhausted just dealing with zombies pressing against the iron fence, it was clear how reckless it would be to send only infantry with no prior information to search the roads.
Moreover, Busan was currently locked in a tense standoff between various warlords. No matter how unhinged Lieutenant General Park had become, it would be nearly impossible for him to pull large numbers of troops this far while accepting the resulting loss of combat strength.
Given the distance, immediately deploying tanks or armored vehicles was unrealistic, and even if one or two were sent via Chinook, they still wouldn’t be able to conduct a thorough search of the area. Therefore, unless airplanes came and carpet-bombed the place, Jinwoo was confident they wouldn’t be in danger.
“Yeah. Let’s think positively.”
Yubin let out a big sigh as if shaking off his worries and nodded.
“It’s gotten complicated and annoying, but I think we can endure this much. Especially when you compare it to the value of that hostage, Hwang Nayeon.”
The date they could return to Big Island would be pushed back a few days, but that was something they could tolerate. Yubin thought it would be nice if someday they could look back on this as an incredible coincidence and stroke of luck.
“Freeing the people is one thing, but I hope the Chungju side throws in plenty of extra ammunition.”
Jinwoo replied in a sincere tone. It was such a quintessential ammunition-lover statement that Yubin let out a small laugh and lightly punched the man’s stomach.
“Well, let’s leave that for Captain Mun to negotiate. We shouldn’t try to solve everything with just our own strength. Alright, go get some sleep now. We’ll be up early tomorrow. You too, Hyung. I’ll switch with you at midnight…”
Just as Yubin was informing them of the changed watch schedule and trying to send the two down, Samsuk-i looked toward the west and let out a low bark.
“Eol-!”
At the same time, Yubin, Jinwoo, and Mingu all froze and looked at one another.
“…Did you hear that? I didn’t imagine it, right?”
When Yubin asked a moment later, the other two, eyes wide, nodded once. He hadn’t imagined it.
Booom—!
It was a low, rather heavy explosion echoing from far away. If Samsuk-i hadn’t barked to confirm it, they might have dismissed it as a gust of wind. It had been that faint. But it was definitely an explosion.
“A bomb went off. Pretty far away…”
Jinwoo was the first to identify the sound. They couldn’t pinpoint the exact direction, but it was clear it had come from at least a kilometer away. They could also be reasonably certain that soldiers had detonated the explosive.
“…Yeah, it sounded like a bomb.”
Yubin quickly pulled up the night-vision goggles hanging around his neck and scanned the area. Mingu, assuming there would be flames somewhere after an explosion, pressed close to the railing, narrowed his eyes, and searched for the source of the sound.
“Haa…!”
Everyone’s breathing grew rapid. They had been certain the Witch’s search party wouldn’t have arrived yet, but now this sudden explosion had rung out… What on earth was going on?
It couldn’t be that the helicopters from earlier had immediately returned with troops… If they had, they definitely would have heard the rotor blades. The straight-line distance from the Han River to here was only about 3.5 kilometers.
If not, had they left behind all the troops that had remained before the helicopters returned? If so, how many were there? It couldn’t be a large number, so how had they gotten this close? Had the Witch miscounted the number of helicopters or lied?
The three men’s heads filled with various questions and concerns. At the same time, a heavy sense of crisis pressed down on their shoulders. The fact that the enemy had approached close enough for an explosion to be heard without them noticing at all was a serious problem. It was proof that the opponent was highly capable.
“Can you see anything? I can’t find it.”
Jinwoo asked, eyes pressed tightly to the K-2’s scope as he scanned between the western buildings.
“No, I don’t see it either.”
Yubin answered. Since Mingu remained silent, it seemed he hadn’t found any light yet either. As they continued frantically scanning their surroundings, hearts pounding with excitement and fear, Jinwoo spoke.
“…There.”
He tapped Yubin’s arm and pointed northwest. It was the direction of the Gunja Teacher’s Intersection, Jungnangcheon, and beyond the bridge, Janghanpyeong Station.
“Where… I’m not sure what you’re pointing at?”
Yubin frowned, repeatedly putting on and taking off the night-vision goggles. Mingu wore the same confused expression. It was only natural they couldn’t see it. Even Jinwoo had only spotted it after cranking the scope’s magnification to maximum; there was no way the naked eye could catch it.
“Here, use this. Don’t touch the angle of the barrel. Just look quietly between those buildings.”
Jinwoo gestured for him to come closer and offered his scope’s view. Even after pressing his eye to it, Yubin couldn’t find what Jinwoo was talking about for a while. The magnification was turned up so high that the resolution was completely crushed and everything was pitch black.
“I don’t see anything. Between the buildings? Where are you— Ah!”
Yubin, who had been about to give up, finally let out a small exclamation. Far away—truly very far away—between low buildings, he could see faint streaks of light darting quickly back and forth. Someone was firing guns over there. And quite a few people at that…
“What is that? Where are those people shooting from? Who are they?”
Yubin asked, his voice clearly flustered. He could only see the faint glow of bullets; nothing else was clear. He couldn’t tell what building it was, how many people there were, or who they were shooting at. The fact that it looked this blurry even through Jinwoo’s Nightforce military scope meant the targets were extremely far away.
“No, more importantly, why don’t we hear any gunshots? They’re firing like that.”
Only then did Yubin come to his senses enough to ask the fundamental question.
“They must be using suppressors! And if they’re firing heavy bullets, it barely makes any sound! Wait here! I’ll bring the PGM!”
Jinwoo handed his K-2 to Yubin and ran toward the stairs. The PGM338 sniper rifle was equipped with a brand-new Mach Optics scope capable of 80x zoom. With that, they should be able to at least faintly make out the outlines of objects even two kilometers away.
As he was about to open the stairwell door, Mingu tossed him a Zippo lighter.
“Hey, little brother! You’ll need a light so you don’t trip on the stairs.”
“Ah… Right.”
Jinwoo caught the lighter and smiled awkwardly. Only then did he realize that the only light he had on him was the flashlight attached to his K-2.
Rat-tat-tat—!
With the Zippo lighter’s flame held out in front, Jinwoo ran down the stairs with Samsuk-i. Worried that the muzzle flashes might disappear if he took too long, his steps grew even faster.
Bang—!
The moment he noisily flung open the door to the 14th-floor waiting room, Sheriff’s angry shout rang out.
“…Hey, enough with that nonsense and just give me your father’s phone number! Why do you keep spouting useless crap? You’re driving me insane! I said I don’t need to ride a Ferrari! Who the hell wants that junk?”
“Sweetie! Don’t yell at me! I’m freaking out! It’s scary! I told you I’d give you Daddy’s number! If you go with me to the South Area…”
“Even if I go, you’re not going anywhere, you idiot! This frustrating woman, seriously! Do you even know what a hostage is? No matter how nice I try to be, you still have to know your limits, got it?”
Both the Witch and Sheriff were incredibly stubborn; they were still fighting over Chairman Hwang’s phone number. It seemed they never got tired of it. Jinwoo didn’t spare the two fools even a glance and rushed to his duffel bag, pulling out the Newcon Optics thermal scope.
“Oh, right… I’m not trying to kill them.”
Jinwoo paused as he was about to attach the thermal scope and shook his head.
“With this, I won’t be able to tell who they are.”
A thermal scope that displayed people entirely in yellow and red was useless for anything other than sniping. He wouldn’t be able to see what they looked like or what markings they wore.
“Night vision…”
Changing his mind, Jinwoo put the thermal scope back and took out the Armasight Nemesis night-vision scope. This one would let him recognize shapes even with very faint light, making it far more useful in this situation.
Click—!
After attaching the night-vision scope in front of the 8-80×56 scope already mounted on the PGM338’s Picatinny rail, the combined length of the two scopes was as long as a decent rifle barrel. This should allow him to identify the enemy’s exact position and identity.
“Hey, Jinwoo! What’s with you? Did something happen?”
Sheriff, who had been arguing with the Witch, turned and asked. Jinwoo’s sudden rush downstairs and frantic fiddling with a huge rifle looked far from normal.
“It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it and keep doing what you were doing!”
Jinwoo answered briefly and quickly ran back to the stairs. He didn’t have time to explain in detail right now.
“Can you still see the lights?”
When Jinwoo asked while opening the roof door, Yubin raised his right hand.
“Yeah, but there are fewer bullets flying around than before.”
“Same location?”
While asking, Jinwoo quickly set up the PGM338’s bipod and adjusted the scope to maximum magnification.
“…I thought it was some kind of building, but it’s an apartment complex.”
Jinwoo muttered with his eye pressed to the scope. The distant objects that had only appeared as blurry outlines through the K-2’s scope now stood out clearly within the green field of view. The horizontal alignment was slightly off because he had zoomed in too quickly, casting a faint shadow, but he could still see far more.
Judging by the size of the cars visible through the scope, the distance was approximately 1.7 kilometers. Beneath a bridge visible between two apartment buildings, someone was engaged in a firefight against zombies. And doing so with considerable skill.
“They’re under the Jungnangcheon bridge. What are they doing? I don’t understand why they’re struggling so hard to take a place like that…”
Jinwoo wore a puzzled expression as he slowly swept the muzzle sideways. Even then, bright streaks of bullets continued to pierce through the zombies.
“Ah…”
A small exclamation escaped Jinwoo’s lips. The more he slowly moved the scope and gathered information, the clearer the situation became. On the Jungnangcheon right next to where the special forces–equipped troops were suppressing the zombies, two rubber boats were floating. They had probably traveled here by boat.
Swish—!
A man who appeared to be the commander slowly walked into the green field of Jinwoo’s scope. When the man, who had been raising his hand to give orders, lifted his night-vision goggles and revealed his face, Jinwoo clenched his teeth tightly.
“Damn it…”
That distinctive confident gait, the attitude that was both strong and arrogant, and the sharp glint in his one remaining eye. At such a great distance the face was no bigger than a fingernail, but Jinwoo recognized him instantly.
The commander of the 707 Special Mission Group…
“Hey, why are you suddenly so tense? Weren’t you saying the soldiers would never hold out because of the zombies?”
Yubin asked, his voice growing worried as well.
“No…”
Jinwoo shook his head as he looked at the man’s scar that started on his left forehead, cut across his eye, and ran all the way down his cheek.
“That guy’s a different story…”