Echoes of the Past
The sharp crack of gunfire rang out—bang bang bang bang—!
My face… he still remembers it. Damn it…
Jinwoo, who had never once lowered his guard, frowned lightly. It would have been so much easier if the man had simply forgotten. Now he had no idea what to say.
“You might not believe me, but I tried to pull you into my unit. The timing just didn’t work out because we were in the middle of a top-secret emergency operation. When I checked later, I heard your entire battalion had been wiped out. What a waste. I always thought you were a sharp kid with real potential. I was genuinely disappointed.”
Cho Cheol-woong said many things, but the only words that truly pierced Jinwoo’s ears were your entire battalion had been wiped out. This man knew exactly how his unit had met its end!
Step. Step.
As he listened to Cho Cheol-woong’s approaching footsteps, Jinwoo pressed his lips tightly together and agonized over what to do.
What should I say? If he asks why I’m the only survivor when the rest of my unit was annihilated…?
Meeting someone who knew his past was never pleasant. And if that someone was a prickly bastard like this 707 Special Mission Group major, it became even more uncomfortable. While Jinwoo wrestled with his thoughts, Cho Cheol-woong had already closed the distance and stood right in front of him.
“…You son of a bitch.”
Cho Cheol-woong ground his teeth and spat out a low curse. Then, without warning, he lunged forward and wrapped Jinwoo in a fierce bear hug, like a takedown from a martial arts match.
“You did good! You survived! Well done!”
“Sir! The rifle! The rifle!”
Startled, Jinwoo shouted in alarm. He hadn’t even engaged the safety on his K-2 yet. Having the major grind against him like this was dangerous. If an accidental discharge happened, they’d be plunged into a pointless war with the special forces from that moment on.
Even as Jinwoo frantically flipped the safety on and lowered the muzzle, Cho Cheol-woong kept their bodies pressed together, thumping him heartily on the back. To any outsider, it would have looked exactly like a father joyfully welcoming home a son who had returned safely from deployment.
“Outstanding work, Private Park Jinwoo! Exactly what I expected from the kid I had my eye on!”
Cho Cheol-woong gave Jinwoo’s back one more powerful whack before speaking again.
“…Huh?”
A chill raced across Jinwoo’s entire body. The goosebumps that rose were thicker and colder than when thousands of zombies had swarmed toward him…
…Did he just call me Park Jinwoo? I… I didn’t mishear that, right?
Still trapped in the major’s tight embrace, Jinwoo blinked rapidly. He had never imagined that hearing his own full name could feel so utterly terrifying.
Rat-tat-tat-tat! Rat-tat-tat!
From the southern street below, the suppressed cracks of MP5 fire continued to mix with the howls of zombies. Yet the eerie dread this special forces major inspired was far greater than any of that.
How does this man know my name?
Jinwoo’s mind began running rapid calculations. The Sheriff had called out his name earlier, sure. But… he had never mentioned the family name Park. So how could this 707 major know his full name?
No matter how he thought about it, the only time that made sense was back in Samcheok. His name tag had been clearly visible on his uniform then. But that was four months ago. Could the man really have remembered it all this time?
…So it really was true that he tried to recruit me.
The moment that realization hit, Jinwoo’s already icy body temperature dropped even further. Was this what it felt like to run into a creditor in an unfamiliar place?
“That beer can you launched last time—that was you too, wasn’t it?”
Only then did Cho Cheol-woong finally release the hug. He placed both hands on Jinwoo’s shoulders and asked the question.
I have to lie here!
Jinwoo’s brain screamed at him. Only by lying could he sow confusion and prevent the major from accurately gauging their fighting strength. He slowly shook his head.
“…No, sir. That was our team’s sniper—”
“Pfft. This guy… shoots like a ghost but lies like absolute garbage. No talent for it at all.”
Before Jinwoo could even finish, Cho Cheol-woong burst into a snort of laughter. Jinwoo’s face flushed bright red. So… he really was terrible at lying.
“Anyway, this worked out well. Meeting you like this. I have a lot of questions.”
Cho Cheol-woong wore a satisfied expression. The friendlier he acted, the more worry swelled inside Jinwoo’s chest. This man clearly had many things he wanted to ask, but Jinwoo had mountains of secrets he needed to protect.
“Hey, old man! Stop bothering that kid and do something about your own subordinates. They’re losing their minds over there.”
The Sheriff walked over and gave Cho Cheol-woong’s arm a couple of light smacks. In the distance near the intersection, a pale-faced Master Sergeant Hong and the other special forces operators were frantically gunning down zombies while screaming at the top of their lungs.
“Majorrrrr! Are you all right?! Majorrrrr! We’re coming right nowwww!”
The gunfire from the rooftop had suddenly gone silent moments earlier, which only intensified their panic. The two operators who had circled around to flank Jinwoo had now joined the fray, spraying bullets wildly. But no matter how desperate they were, they couldn’t reach this position until every last zombie was eliminated.
“Looks like those guys think I might’ve been bitten by a zombie.”
Cho Cheol-woong covered his forehead and let out a bitter laugh. From a distance it looked like pure black comedy, but considering the catastrophic losses the 707 Special Mission Group had suffered over the past several months, their irrational reaction was understandable. Especially after the trauma of losing General Chae.
“Fire one round into the air. Calm them down.”
Cho Cheol-woong gave Jinwoo’s shoulder a light tap, then casually sat on the rooftop railing.
Boom!
The instant Jinwoo swung his muzzle skyward and pulled the trigger, a thunderous gunshot far louder than the suppressed subsonic rounds used by the special forces operators split the air. Having drawn their attention, Cho Cheol-woong bellowed at the top of his lungs before the echo even faded.
“Everyone stand down! I’m fine! I’m in the middle of a conversation with these people!”
“Are you really okay?!”
Master Sergeant Hong’s voice still carried a trace of anxiety. Cho Cheol-woong leaped up onto the railing, revealing himself fully.
“Yes! Negotiations have begun. Maintain your current positions and await further orders!”
After reassuring his men, Cho Cheol-woong turned back to Jinwoo and continued.
“There. They’re calm now. Let’s take our time and talk properly. We both have plenty to say, don’t we? First, tell me your story, Private Park Jinwoo. How did a guard from the Samcheok Nuclear Power Plant end up serving under Brigadier General Kim?”
After asking the question, Cho Cheol-woong rummaged through the upper pocket of his uniform, pulled out a cigarette, and stuck it between his lips. It was as if he was settling in for a long story…
“Old man, just smoke that thing and leave once your men finish off the zombies. We’re not soldiers, so stop asking weird questions. Let’s part on good terms while we can still smile at each other.”
The Sheriff grabbed Cho Cheol-woong’s hand as the major tried to light his cigarette and spoke with complete confidence. But that was a lie.
…You crazy bastard. You might not be, but I AM a soldier! I’m way—way the hell—below him in rank, and more importantly… I’m a deserter! That’s why I told you not to bring me here!
Jinwoo stared at the Sheriff’s bold profile and screamed internally. Of course, he could proudly say he had done everything possible for the country while defending the Samcheok Nuclear Power Plant. Still, legally speaking, he had a long time left on his mandatory service. Then again, in this zombie-infested world, service periods had become meaningless. Even sergeants whose discharge dates had long passed were being thrown into combat.
“The more I look at this kid, the stranger he gets. I can’t tell if he’s good at lying or if he really isn’t a soldier. I can’t get a read on him at all.”
Cho Cheol-woong stared at the Sheriff while exhaling a plume of smoke. The fact that this hulking man showed zero intimidation despite clearly knowing his rank as a 707 major made him wonder if the guy truly was a civilian. But… it made no sense for a civilian to be involved in an operation alongside soldiers—especially not alongside an elite sniper like this one, operating as a two-man team…
“What lie? I don’t know what you’re talking about. We’re just people who want to live in peace, so leave the kid alone. You said you wanted to see him, right? You were upset thinking he was dead, weren’t you? Well, now you’ve confirmed he’s alive. Just be glad and leave it at that.”
In place of the tongue-tied Jinwoo, the Sheriff did his best to defend him. But Cho Cheol-woong wasn’t satisfied.
“Answer me yourself, Private Park.”
Looking past the Sheriff’s shoulder, Cho Cheol-woong spoke directly to Jinwoo.
“Haa…”
Jinwoo let out a small sigh and opened his mouth.
“There are too many secrets I must keep. I cannot give you an honest answer.”
Since he was terrible at lying, he figured this indirect yet truthful approach was better. He didn’t know how desperately this man had wanted to meet him, but right now Jinwoo truly could not reveal anything.
What his actual relationship with Brigadier General Kim was, how he had met Terra and where she was now… He especially could not mention that they were holding the Witch hostage. Revealing any of that would only create headaches for everyone involved.
“…I see.”
Surprisingly, Cho Cheol-woong accepted it without resistance and blinked his one remaining eye.
“Well, you must have been given your own mission… so of course you’d have to keep secrets. Fine… Then I’ll change the question, Private Park. Who do the troops that infiltrated Children’s Grand Park belong to? Who were you supposed to make a deal with?”
He’s talking about troops infiltrating Children’s Grand Park again…
Jinwoo pressed his lips together tightly and fell into thought. Ever since before his fight with the Sheriff, this 707 major had kept insisting that someone had sneaked into the park. Did he actually have evidence? Or was this psychological warfare meant to rattle them?
Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I last radioed Yubin.
Another worry piled onto Jinwoo’s already cluttered mind. He wanted to check on Yubin immediately, but with this man standing right beside him, sending a transmission freely felt too risky.
Even if troops really had reached the vicinity of Children’s Grand Park, the chance of them making it all the way to the theater was extremely low. They didn’t know how to survive in a zombie-infested urban area, nor did they possess the ability to sense zombies in advance. If they carelessly stepped out onto the streets, they would become zombie food long before advancing even two hundred meters.
“What do you think this situation means? Answer me, Private Park.”
Cho Cheol-woong asked again. When Jinwoo remained silent, lost in deep thought, the major answered his own question.
“This negotiation was doomed before it even began. The other side is waiting for you. Not to negotiate—to kill you… I was also ordered by Lieutenant General Shin to capture you and have been waiting here, but those bastards seem far worse. How do I know? They removed their unit patches. That alone explains everything.”
Cho Cheol-woong tapped his left upper arm as he spoke. The moment the five warlords seized their respective territories south of the Nakdong River, the very first thing they did was not additional rescue operations, but ordering all soldiers to rip off their existing division insignias and sew on new unit patches. New designs symbolizing each warlord…
Thanks to that, every shoe factory and garment factory south of the Nakdong with embroidery machines had been forced to run twenty-four hours a day for quite some time. The official reason given was to foster unity among unit members, but anyone with half a brain knew the real reason behind the madness. The five warlords each wanted to declare themselves the king of a new era.
The fact that they would deliberately remove those precious unit patches before deploying troops meant this operation was a shameful secret. Therefore, their objective could only lead to one conclusion.
“Those bastards plan to eliminate all of you. Even if corpses are left behind from combat, they can claim it has nothing to do with them.”
Cho Cheol-woong’s single eye gleamed meaningfully. But neither Jinwoo nor the Sheriff looked surprised. They had already known the other side wanted them dead and had taken appropriate measures. The far more troublesome issue was the sudden involvement of this 707 major standing before them. Facing him and having a conversation… had never been part of the plan.
“You don’t look surprised at all. Did you already know?”
Cho Cheol-woong flicked cigarette ash onto the floor and asked with genuine curiosity. Jinwoo gave a small nod.
“Yes… to some extent.”
“Even the fact that I was waiting here to capture you?”
“We saw you moving by boat last night.”
That much seemed safe to reveal. Even so, the search radius these men would need to cover to locate their hideout was a full ten kilometers. In a zombie apocalypse, a circle that large might as well be infinite.
“Hoh…!”
Cho Cheol-woong narrowed his eyes with interest at Jinwoo’s answer.
“Your words just now carry the implication that you spared me once already last night. This kid…”
Cho Cheol-woong gave a wide grin, as if he rather liked Jinwoo’s guts and spirit, then placed the shortened cigarette back between his lips.
“Last night and those four-legged beasts today. You had two perfect opportunities to kill me but didn’t pull the trigger. There must have been a reason. It’s not like Brigadier General Kim would have given a special order not to touch us… Does that mean you felt some kind of pull toward our 707 unit? A sense of camaraderie from fighting together in Samcheok, perhaps?”
In truth, the main and most honest reason he hadn’t killed them was that he hadn’t known the size of the force this 707 major commanded. But Jinwoo chose not to respond. No one would be happy to hear that. Taking Jinwoo’s silence as agreement, Cho Cheol-woong exhaled smoke and continued.
“Good. Then the conditions are perfect for a deal in many ways. How about it? Why don’t you join hands with me?”
“I’m not sure what you mean.”
Jinwoo answered cautiously. Just moments ago the man had said he came to capture them, and now he suddenly wanted to join hands? What kind of nonsense was this?
“It’s simple.”
Cho Cheol-woong tossed his cigarette to the ground and went on.
“I received orders from Lieutenant General Shin to capture you. Your deal has fallen through. Both sides were in an awkward position, but now that we’ve met like this, we can resolve everything amicably.”
“I don’t see anything amicable about this right now,” the Sheriff said bluntly. He stood leaning on his sledgehammer, glaring at Cho Cheol-woong.
Arf!
Samsuk-i added her own opinion. Yet Cho Cheol-woong continued his explanation calmly, showing no emotional disturbance.
“Sell me the blood you were supposed to trade this time. That way I can earn Lieutenant General Shin’s trust, and you will secure the ammunition you need. A win-win. We can work out the bigger issues that come after, step by step.”
“Wait, hold on. Old man, I don’t really get it…”
The Sheriff raised his hand and cut Cho Cheol-woong off.
“Lieutenant General Shin wasn’t supposed to buy that… blood from us, right? You said he ordered you to capture us. So obviously he meant for you to just take it for free. There’s no way he’d happily hand over bullets just because he received some blood. But you’re saying sell it to you? What kind of ridiculous nonsense is this? Do you think we’re naive idiots?”
The Sheriff spoke with genuine heat.
Jinwoo’s thoughts were not much different. Looking only at the 707 major’s proposal itself, it wasn’t a bad offer. Since things had gone this badly with Chairman Park’s side, new blood transactions were clearly off the table for the time being. Receiving ammunition on top of releasing people in exchange for the Witch’s ransom had only been possible because Chairman Hwang wasn’t pulling the strings behind the scenes.
So handing over three packs of blood in exchange for one hundred thousand rounds right now was definitely a good deal. Both for the people of Chungju who had to survive the winter on a razor’s edge, and for Terra, who had willingly given her blood despite her fragile body.
The problem was that it didn’t seem like they would actually receive payment. In an open transaction, the general’s pride and reputation would ensure deferred payment was honored. But in a backroom deal like this… there was no guarantee of payment whatsoever.
“You’re right. Of course Lieutenant General Shin has no intention of paying in ammunition. However…”
Cho Cheol-woong nodded as if he understood perfectly and tapped his own chest.
“I am different.”