Operation Perseus (2)
They dodged and dispatched zombies while covering one kilometer along the surface roads. After reaching Myeonmok Station, they attached the second mirror, then descended underground again and traveled one stop along the subway tracks to Sangbong Station.
By the time they finally arrived at Sangbong Station, it was well past eleven-thirty. Yet the day's real work—the task of starting the generator at Costco and powering the refrigerators—hadn't even begun.
“Time really flies, doesn’t it? We burned half the damn day on this…”
Sheriff checked his watch while heading toward the Jungang Line platform and clicked his tongue. They’d grabbed a quick breakfast and chewed on chocolate and instant noodles whenever they had the chance, but hunger was already creeping back in. Jinwoo rinsed the dust from his eyes and nose with bottled water scavenged from the Sangbong Station convenience store.
“Phew…! If we hadn’t come today, we would’ve been in trouble later when we tried to meet Grandpa Paul. We’d have been even more pressed for time.”
“Yeah… you’re right. Consider it a practice run.”
Sheriff nodded in agreement. If he and Jinwoo had stayed behind with the Witch at the theater while only Mingu and Yubin moved to catch the helicopter, the breakthrough wouldn’t have gone nearly this smoothly.
“Aah…! Fresh air feels amazing, damn it! I can’t live underground anymore!”
Sheriff stretched his arms wide as he stepped onto the Jungang Line platform connected to the surface. Bloodstains and signs of chaos still marked the area, but the long, open stretch of track allowed a breeze to sweep through, keeping months of accumulated black dust at bay.
Whsssh—!
Samsuk-i, apparently celebrating their return to the surface, lifted his leg against the first pillar under the platform roof and relieved himself with gusto.
“Doesn’t sound like there’s any propeller noise.”
Jinwoo spoke while staying hidden in the shade of the platform roof, listening carefully. During the twenty minutes they’d spent moving underground from Myeonmok Station, something unexpected could have happened, so he wasn’t about to step into the sunlight just yet.
“Scouts wouldn’t come this far anyway. They’d have to sweep around Ttukseom Park first, and that alone would take them two days.”
Sheriff remained his usual optimistic self, but Jinwoo only relaxed after radioing Yubin and receiving confirmation that no helicopters were coming or going.
—Chik! So you guys made it to Sangbong Station… right? Chiiik…!
Yubin’s voice carried more relief than Jinwoo’s. Jinwoo looked around and nodded.
“Yeah, we’re here safe. We’ve got the mirrors set up, so the way back should be a lot easier. Don’t worry.”
—Chiiik…! Still, be careful! Chzzzt…!
True to his worrier nature, Yubin reminded them once more before cutting the transmission.
“He was really worried, huh.”
Sheriff shrugged at Jinwoo’s remark.
“Of course he was. But having you here probably eased his mind a bit. If it was just me and Samsik heading out, he’d have been screaming for us to turn back right away.”
Thunk—!
Jinwoo tossed his empty water bottle into a moldy platform trash can and started walking. Following the outdoor tracks north for another ten minutes brought them to the pre-cut passage right in front of Costco—the exact spot where they had gunned down over fifty zombies on the day they first reunited with their friends.
“Whoa, what the hell happened here? Anyone seeing this would think a war went down.”
Sheriff let out a surprised sigh as he took in the view beyond the barrier for the first time in ages.
“Yeah…”
Jinwoo blinked as he surveyed the ruined street. A lot had changed.
The most striking thing was how the unmanaged roadside trees had grown wildly in every direction. Power lines, snapped by the branches, now hung low across the road. Weeds had already pushed up thickly through cracks in the broken asphalt, and the sidewalk blocks were pitted as though some massive creature had trampled over them. Even the paint on the Costco building itself was peeling in places.
They hadn’t noticed any of this when they’d only glanced down from the helicopter last month. In truth, the street didn’t look all that different from the areas around the other stations they’d passed. But what lay before them now was a far cry from the Costco surroundings they remembered from three months ago.
It felt… alien. And it left both of them with a faint sense of loss—like returning to a beloved hometown only to find every house abandoned and falling apart. Maybe they’d been more excited than they realized about visiting Costco again after so long.
“Cities really go to hell fast when no one’s taking care of them.”
Jinwoo muttered as he looked up at a large motel sign whose upper mounting had broken, leaving it dangling at an angle. A half-rotted tree lay toppled right beside it, making the cause obvious. A massive roadside tree had snapped and struck the sign, and the impact had done the rest.
Creak—! Creak—!
Whenever the wind picked up, the sign swayed with an unpleasant metallic groan.
“Why’d that perfectly fine tree just snap like that? It’s not like it got hit by lightning.”
Sheriff asked while fetching a ladder and propping it against the passage. Jinwoo scratched his forehead before answering.
“Could be a few reasons. Maybe pests got inside and rotted it from the core, or… a typhoon came through and the unpruned branches couldn’t handle the weight of the leaves, so it just gave out…”
One thing was certain: the area had grown desolate. Ivy crawled over building walls, moss coated the cars—exactly the image of a world left to ruin that they’d seen so many times before.
The one silver lining was that there were no signs anyone had passed through recently. And for now, at least, no large zombie hordes were moving through either. That was a relief for the two men who needed to get the refrigerators running, secure Terra’s blood samples, and return to Gunja Station as quickly as possible.
“Samsuk-i, you remember this, right? We’ve done it a few times before.”
After Sheriff climbed down, Jinwoo pointed at the ladder and carefully explained the technique to Samsuk-i. The last thing they needed was the dog making a clumsy jump and falling.
Grrng—!
Samsuk-i let out a troubled whine and backed away. Four meters to the ground was a long way down, even for him.
“It’s okay. Don’t worry, Samsik. You just… step on here and go down slowly. Like this, one rung at a time…”
Jinwoo was demonstrating on all fours when Samsuk-i suddenly sprang forward.
Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap!
The dog descended the ladder with the graceful speed of a show dog, then glanced up at Jinwoo with mischievous eyes. The look seemed to say, “I was just messing with you. Did you really think I wouldn’t know how?”
“Ha, that little bastard… showing off like crazy.”
Jinwoo let out a dry laugh and placed his foot on the ladder.
Huff—! Huff—!
Once Jinwoo was on the ground, Samsuk-i circled excitedly around both men’s legs.
“Yeah, that’s right. We’re going to the place where you used to play with those pretty noonas.”
Jinwoo stroked the dog’s back. Samsuk-i seemed just as thrilled to smell Costco again after so long.
“But the noonas aren’t here, kid.”
Sheriff grabbed Samsuk-i’s cheeks and shook them, delivering the harsh reality. Even so, his own heart was beating a little faster at the thought of revisiting old memories.
“I’m not even sure if it’s been a few months.”
Jinwoo silently counted the days as they walked along the road where nameless weeds and wildflowers had sprouted through the asphalt cracks.
“Right. Back when we first came in after clearing out all the zombies, I thought there was nothing more I could ask for…”
Sheriff gave a small shake of his head as he looked up at the sprawling Costco building that took up an entire block.
“…Never thought we’d end up leaving it like this.”
“Well, this place is fine, but Big Island is still way better. Safer, too…”
Jinwoo answered Sheriff while casually pulling the trigger at two distant zombies.
Thud—! Thwack—!
The zombies wandering the motel alley collapsed without a sound. Before their shattered heads even hit the pavement, Jinwoo swung his rifle toward three more sprinting between the cars.
Tat-tat—! Thwack—! Thud—! Thwack—! Thud—!
Jinwoo emptied an entire magazine, adjusting his angle with each shot. Every zombie within a fifty-meter radius dropped with a fresh hole in its skull.
“Alright, no more surprises from sudden runners…”
Jinwoo reloaded with practiced ease and walked toward the shuttered main entrance.
“Time to check if the cable ties are still holding.”
“Can’t you tell just by looking? The shutter’s covered in thick black dust. Nobody’s touched it.”
Sheriff spoke with complete confidence, yet he walked past the main entrance and headed into the side alley to check the shutter blocking the parking lot entrance.
“They’re all still here.”
Sheriff shook the cable ties securing the parking lot shutter, then gave Jinwoo a thumbs-up. He pulled a fresh cable tie from his backpack’s side pocket, added a new binding, and returned. He must have been worried the old ties, weathered by months of sun and rain, would snap too easily.
“Let’s go in.”
Sheriff rested a hand on Jinwoo’s shoulder after finishing the task. Jinwoo drew his combat knife from his tactical vest and sliced through the cable tie holding the main entrance shutter.
Rattle-rattle—!
When they raised the shutter and stepped inside, a painfully familiar sight greeted them. The left wall was still lined with swimming gear—tubes, goggles, flippers, rubber boats, and inflatable pools—while outdoor tables, chairs, and parasols stood directly ahead.
“Nothing’s changed.”
A faint smile crossed Sheriff’s face as he secured the shutter again with a cable tie. It was only natural—no one had come or gone in all this time—but it was still comforting to know something had waited for them unchanged.
Rattle—!
When Sheriff reached for a shopping cart from the stack, Jinwoo waved him off.
“No, Sheriff. I’ll take the small cart. You grab one of the big ones—the pallet movers.”
“Heh, greedy bastard. What are you planning to haul that needs that much space?”
Sheriff chuckled but followed the instruction without argument. He probably assumed they’d only be loading bottled water to make ice.
Rattle-rattle-rattle—! Roll-roll-roll—!
Pushing a regular shopping cart and a pallet jack respectively, Jinwoo and Sheriff headed deeper into the store.
“I’ll grab this one…”
After passing the clothing section stocked with short-sleeve shirts, shorts, swimsuits, and sunglasses, they reached the outdoor goods area. Jinwoo picked up a 36-liter cooler and dropped it into his cart.
“Hey, do we really need one that big? And we already have a cooler. Why get a new one…?”
Sheriff tapped the cooler strapped to his back. Jinwoo shook his head.
“That one’s leaking somewhere. I saw it sloshing around after just half a day. We need a new one. Besides, this isn’t for carrying around—it’s staying here, so the more ice it holds, the better.”
“Fair enough…”
Sheriff nodded, convinced. After all the impacts and running they’d done since yesterday, it wasn’t surprising the old cooler had failed. If anything, they should be grateful the exterior still looked intact.
“Bottled water…”
After circling once around the very back of the store, they found the section piled high with water and drinks. Jinwoo loaded four six-packs of two-liter bottles into his cart.
“Hey, put them here. My cart’s got plenty of room—why cram everything into that tiny one?”
Sheriff pointed at his pallet jack. Jinwoo quickly shook his head.
“No, no. I’ll take these. We need to save our strength for now.”
“Man, you’re stubborn in the weirdest ways. Where do you even get that strength from?”
Sheriff muttered in confusion and tore open a bag of dog treats from the next aisle.
Woof—!
Samsuk-i instantly recognized the scent of a gift and trotted over, tail wagging furiously as drool dripped from his mouth. Sheriff tossed a small bone-shaped biscuit into the air.
Chomp—! Chomp—!
Samsuk-i caught both biscuits without missing a single one. He swallowed them whole before anyone could even see him chew.
“Everything’s one-shot with you, huh. Heh-heh, this kid. He’ll never go hungry anywhere.”
Sheriff patted Samsuk-i’s head approvingly and tossed another biscuit.
Chomp—! Chomp—!
Samsuk-i kept pace beside Sheriff, catching every treat without fail. Both the thrower and the catcher had such good reflexes that they could have put on a circus act right there.
“Alright, now… this one…”
Jinwoo stopped in front of the appliance display after circling the store in a D-shape. He placed a hand on a refrigerator, his tone slightly apologetic.
“Put this in your cart, Sheriff.”
“Huh? Wait, that’s a fridge. Not an ice maker. Did the army mess with your head so bad you can’t even tell the difference?”
Sheriff’s eyes widened in disbelief. Jinwoo nodded.
“I know. We’re going to run the fridge.”
“Instead of making ice for the cooler, you want to just stick Terra’s blood in the fridge and store it there?”
“No, that’s not it. The generator won’t last that long anyway.”
Even filled to the brim, the generator’s fuel would only last seven hours. Without someone constantly refueling and monitoring it, storing blood in a refrigerator was impossible.
“This thing can make more ice than a small ice maker, so we’ll put it on the roof. We’ll keep the blood bags in the remaining ice and the fridge for now.”
“Augh— this is such a pain in the ass! This thing’s insanely heavy! You dragged me along saying we had to go together, and this is what you wanted me for?”
Sheriff scratched his head in irritation. Hauling a 150-kilogram refrigerator up four flights to the rooftop—pushing, pulling, and basically carrying it—was understandably annoying. They could use a cart if they went around to the parking lot, but the speed bumps made it hardly different from just shouldering the load.
“I’ll help you, Sheriff!”
Sheriff snorted at Jinwoo’s offer.
“Bullshit! Help with what? A weakling like you will just get hurt! …Wait a second! Hold on! There’s an ice maker right here!”
Sheriff moved to the next aisle and lifted a boxed home ice maker off the display. After reading the specs printed on the box, he let out a disappointed sigh.
“Ah, damn. This thing… isn’t very good. Way worse than the one we used at the Han River. It says it can make 500 grams of ice per hour. Uh… that’s the max, so minus about 100 grams… Hey, Jinwoo. How much volume is 400 grams of ice?”
“Hmm…”
Jinwoo thought hard for a moment, then tilted his head.
“I’m not sure. Remember those bags of cubed ice we bought at the convenience store? Do you remember how many kilograms they were?”
“How would I know? Who weighs ice in kilograms? You just grab whatever looks decent and cheap based on the bag size.”
“Yeah, that’s true. I don’t remember exactly either, but maybe around this size?”
Jinwoo formed a small circle in the air with both hands. Since ice was less dense than water, and 400 milliliters of water would be more once frozen, he guessed roughly one and a half times that volume.
“Assuming you’re right, then…”
Sheriff looked at the 36-liter cooler and frowned in resignation.
“Damn, we’d have to make ice for three straight days just to fill it? Grandpa Paul will show up before we even finish.”
“No, we don’t need to fill it completely. If we aim for two-thirds, that’s 24 liters. And since the generator has two outlets, we divide by two.”
Once numbers entered the conversation, Jinwoo grew oddly strict and serious again.
“Still, that’s twenty hours, you idiot. Heh-heh-heh.”
Sheriff laughed self-deprecatingly and wiped his face.
“Hey, move. I’m taking the fridge.”