Ally (3)
That bridge must be referring to Jangpyeong Bridge. So, meet again at 18:00?
Cho Cheol-woong narrowed his eyes and checked his watch.
It was currently 15:56. There were 120 minutes left until 18:00.
-Sssssshhh...! Is that not enough time? From where you are to the ammo depot is 1.5 kilometers, so round trip is 3 kilometers. Adding the distance to Jangpyeong Bridge... sssshh! Even taking all that into account, two hours should be more than enough, right? Oh, and since the zombies might be moving at the same time, I can give you an extra thirty minutes if needed. Sssshhh...!
Yubin replied with brazen confidence. Of course there was enough time. But... something about this bastard gave off a strong whiff of scheming.
“So when you say meet again in 120 minutes, you’re telling me to send these guys on ahead first?”
-Sssshhht! You’re phrasing that so strangely. They’re not prisoners—what do you mean, “send them”? Right now it looks more like you’re the one being held, Lieutenant... We’re the ones letting you go. Hurry up and go get the bullets. Sssshhh...!
As usual, the bastard refused to yield even an inch. Cho Cheol-woong’s eyes widened after being outmaneuvered in the war of words.
“Then what are you people going to do? Are you at least bringing a pack of immune blood or something by then?”
-Sssshh...! You said it didn’t matter whether we had blood or not, we could still take the ammo. But now that we’re actually starting the deal, your attitude toward me is completely different? How am I supposed to interpret this discrepancy? Sssshhh...!
“That was when Private Park was supposed to come in person to pick it up. This situation is obviously different. If you want to make South Korea’s Special Mission Group soldiers run errands delivering ammunition, the deal has to be rock solid. I won’t tolerate any half-assed games!”
-Sssshhht! If that was the case, I would have offered much more favorable terms. I don’t play games during important negotiations. But we won’t be bringing any blood... sssshh! Just bring 50,000 rounds to that bridge by six o’clock. That’s the prerequisite. I need to see those bullets with my own eyes before we can even begin talking about a deal. ...Ratatatata! Ratatat-! You can have as many people waiting nearby as you want, but the number of personnel allowed at the negotiation site remains five, just like before... You may come armed, but from the moment you meet me, any hand on a firearm will be considered a hostile act... sssshh!
Yubin rattled off the conditions rapidly. Gunshots crackled through the transmission in between, but Cho Cheol-woong paid them little mind. In a zombie-infested world, that level of gunfire was everyday background noise for stationed soldiers.
“Five men can’t carry 50,000 rounds of ammunition. Don’t you even know that much?”
-Sssshh! Figure that part out yourself. Load them onto two boats or whatever. Sssshhh...!
“Huu...!”
Cho Cheol-woong ground his teeth and let out a heavy sigh. That big bastard’s rudeness was one thing, but this one-armed prick... his one-sided arrogance irritated people on a completely different level.
“So you’re saying you’ll do whatever the hell you want. But... do you even have the authority to make that call?”
Cho Cheol-woong swallowed his emotions and asked a fundamental question. From their previous encounter, the kid didn’t seem like anything more than a sergeant or second lieutenant at best, no matter how generously you judged his rank. Yet here he was, casually and boldly deciding on such a critical matter. What kind of command structure allowed these punks to arbitrarily handle major issues without even reporting to their superiors?
-Sssshhh...! We’ve met once before, so why are you suddenly asking that? I was the one who made all the decisions back then too... sssshh... Remember? See you later then... sssshh!
He stayed insolent until the very end, even signing off as if the conversation was over. The appointment was set either way, and pushing for more negotiation would only make his side look pathetic. Cho Cheol-woong handed the radio back to the Sheriff.
“Let’s go now, old man. We’ll be cutting it close if we want to reach there by six.”
The Sheriff attached the radio to his backpack strap and checked the time. Jinwoo wore a similar expression.
“While you head back to where your men are, I’ll provide cover.”
Jinwoo tapped his K-2 rifle and spoke in a flat tone.
“Haa... These bastards really...”
Cho Cheol-woong let out another sigh, his chest feeling tight. They were a hard-won connection, a golden opportunity... yet these guys refused to open their hearts. At this rate, there was no guarantee they would ever meet again. If the one-armed bastard broke his promise and didn’t show up, that would be the end of it. The only leverage he had right now was the fact that these people desperately needed ammunition too.
Yeah. If he’s the type to run away here, then that’s all he ever was to begin with...
After a brief moment of hesitation, Cho Cheol-woong finally convinced himself. He knew all too well the truth that not everything in the world went according to one’s wishes. He had poured his sincerity into persuasion as much as he could; as far as he was concerned, he had done his best. Besides, he couldn’t force someone he had dragged along to wear a Special Mission Group uniform. That would be disrespectful to the elite soldiers who had been carefully selected from countless applicants, and it wouldn’t contribute anything to their combat strength anyway.
Step—!
Before descending the stairs packed with zombie corpses, Cho Cheol-woong turned to Jinwoo with a meaningful gaze and offered a farewell.
“Alright. Let’s meet at six.”
He offered no lingering words of advice or requests. He had judged that ending things coolly like this would be better for maintaining any future connection.
But the moment his foot touched the blood-soaked pavement covered in zombie bodies, his mind changed. He wanted to leave at least one small thread of connection between them.
Thud—!
Cho Cheol-woong picked up his tactical vest from among the zombie corpses and pulled out the radio.
“Hey!”
He jerked his chin at Jinwoo, who was watching from the rooftop, then tossed the radio to him. As Jinwoo caught it with a dazed expression, Cho Cheol-woong said,
“If you ever have something you want to say to me, just press the transmit button anytime.”
“...Understood.”
Jinwoo replied. He clearly understood the words, but his face said he would never be the one to make first contact.
When the clock struck four in the afternoon, a man wearing only underwear was dragged into Laboratory 5 of the Busan Taeyang SNC research building. He was a gaunt, emaciated man with dark bruises under his sunken eyes.
“Haa...! Haa...!”
The moment he entered the lab, a terrified gasp burst from the man’s mouth. Ever since being taken by the Taeyang Group, nothing good had ever happened to him, but this... this was too strange. The fact that they had suddenly singled him out and dragged him here was ominous enough, but what frightened him more was the atmosphere and smell inside the laboratory.
The air was thick with the scent of disinfectant, beneath which lay a heavy, faint metallic tang of blood. Just those two olfactory stimuli were enough to choke his breath, and the room’s structure—with its stainless steel grate floor—only intensified his dread. He was starting to miss the pigsty-like detention camp. And what were those eyes watching him from beyond the high second-floor railing?
Thud—!
Two Shadow Shield operatives roughly dragged the skinny man over and shoved him onto a metal chair in the corner.
“Ugh!”
The emaciated man couldn’t even scream properly. Out of habit, he immediately covered his head with both arms.
“Stop resisting! Relax and put this on!”
The Shadow Shield operatives forcibly straightened the man’s legs and began pulling something over him from the feet up.
“Huuu...!”
When the terrified man instinctively curled up, a barrage of brutal punches rained down on him.
“You son of a bitch! Why don’t you listen? I said relax!”
The Shadow Shield operatives mercilessly beat his arms and head while shouting. In less than a minute, the man, unable to endure the pain, gave up on everything and went limp.
“Scared of dying, huh? You pathetic fuck. Hey, this is some seriously good shit, you clueless dumbass...”
The Shadow Shield operatives mocked him as they finished dressing him in the garment. It was a full-body wetsuit-like outfit that covered him from toes to hood, but the material felt strangely stiff and unfamiliar.
Ziiiip—! Riiiip—!
After pulling the chest zipper all the way up and securing every Velcro strap perfectly, the operatives layered another piece of equipment over the man’s upper body.
“Haa...! Haa...!”
The man could only blink rapidly, unable to speak as he panted for breath. Meanwhile, the operatives fitted him with tight gloves that reached up to his forearms and boots that looked like something a motorcycle racer would wear.
Click—!
After securing the gloves and boots with clip belts, they placed a smooth, fishbowl-like round helmet over the man’s head.
Huuu...! Huuu...!
The breath fogging from the man’s mouth briefly clouded the helmet’s surface before vanishing. It was thanks to the tiny ventilation holes subtly drilled into the chest pad connection area.
“That polycarbonate helmet is designed to seal completely against the chest pad, so it will never come off until pressure is released by connecting a separate nozzle.”
A researcher who had been silently observing from the second-floor railing explained to Yang Jaeyeol.
“I see.”
Yang Jaeyeol nodded as if he understood. In truth, he had no idea about the structure or principle behind it, but that didn’t matter. All that mattered was whether this scrawny, frail-looking man could endure while wearing it.
“And simulation results have confirmed that this helmet shape is the most ideal. Since there are no grab points, the risk of the neck being twisted or broken is significantly reduced. Even if something strikes from above, the pressure is distributed across the chest and spine. Additionally, because the entire 360 degrees is transparent, there are no blind spots. The slight visual distortion caused by the curved surface was the biggest issue, but this new model has dramatically improved that limitation.”
The researcher continued speaking while tracing the helmet’s shape in the air with his hands. Yang Jaeyeol’s reaction remained the same.
“I see.”
Yang Jaeyeol let out a short grunt and pushed up his gold-rimmed glasses. He had no interest in this dogshit explanation; he just wanted to see the actual experiment. In front of them, a Shadow Shield operative was tapping on the man’s helmet and explaining his mission.
“Hey! This suit is insanely expensive top-of-the-line gear! It’s the new Kevlar Suit that Taeyang Group just developed! You get that?”
“...Eh? Ah, yes. Yes!”
The terrified man could only nod frantically. The Shadow Shield operative demonstrated by clenching and opening both fists.
“Raise your arms and try this! Can you do it? No numbness or circulation problems, right?”
“Yes! Yes!”
“Lift your legs too! The boots aren’t that heavy, are they? Right? You can walk just fine, yeah?”
“Yes!”
The man followed the operative’s instructions and answered in a trembling voice. The Shadow Shield operative pointed at the toe of the man’s boot.
“Both the knuckle parts on your gloves and the boots have metal plates! So if you use taekwondo with them, it’ll actually work pretty well! You got a black belt in the military, right?”
“Yes!”
“And this outfit... it’s...”
The Shadow Shield operative drew a combat knife from his tactical vest and held it up in front of the man’s eyes.
“Not only is it stab-proof, zombies can’t bite through it either!”
Swoosh—!
Before he even finished speaking, the operative slashed the blade across the man’s arm.
“Huuuh...! Ah...!”
The man let out a startled gasp that turned into one of wonder as he felt his own arm. The combat knife’s edge had clearly sliced across it with force just moments ago, yet there was no pain at all and not a single mark on the fabric.
“See? It’s fine, you idiot! This suit is ridiculously expensive and high-quality equipment, so stop being scared and just fight back with your instincts. Got it?”
The Shadow Shield operative thumped the man’s transparent helmet and grinned wickedly. Another operative approached while shaking a spray can.
“Just in case, we’ll spray this on too. Stand with your arms out! Like this!”
As the dazed man spread his arms as instructed, the Shadow Shield operative sprayed the lubricant heavily across his upper body.
Sssssss—! Sssssss—!
While the spray coated him from arms to shoulders, pelvis, chest, and back, the researcher continued explaining to Yang Jaeyeol.
“It’s a vegetable oil compound with maximized lubricity. Simply spraying this onto the suit’s surface to make it slippery can multiply the survival probability within a zombie horde by several times for over ten minutes.”
“Ah.”
Yang Jaeyeol gave the same response again. His philosophy was that there was no point in having long conversations with underlings. A superior should always maintain dignity and a touch of fear. He had zero desire to chatter away and break down that wall of intimidation.
“Hey, I didn’t spray the palms of the gloves! So don’t touch your body with your palms or anything! Otherwise it’ll be too slippery to hold a weapon properly!”
The Shadow Shield operative who had emptied the spray can tossed it aside and shouted at the man. Just hearing the word “weapon” drained all color from the man’s face.
“A weapon? What kind of weapon...”
“Yeah, dumbass! You need to grab something if you’re gonna fight the zombies, don’t you? We’re not that heartless!”
The Shadow Shield operative smacked the back of the man’s helmet with a loud smack, then pointed at the metal cabinet right next to the chair.
“We put a few weapons in there, so pick whichever one you like and fight! Do your best! We’re rooting for you to win too! Understand?”
“Eh? F-fight who exactly? Huh?”
The terrified man clung to the Shadow Shield operatives, sobbing. But the operatives gave no answer, brutally shoving him away before leaving the laboratory entirely.
Clang—!
The thick steel door slammed shut. Left alone, the man lifted his head and looked up at the second-floor railing.
“Pick up a weapon first! Why don’t you ever listen to advice?”
The researcher who had been explaining the whole time raised his voice. The man, who had recognized the luxurious and expensive clothing on Yang Jaeyeol, immediately dropped to his knees and clasped his hands together.
“Sir! Please spare me! Please! I’ll do anything you ask, just please get me... get me out of here...”
He wanted to beg to be released from this hellish detention camp, but months of constant fear had made even saying those words difficult. He was terrified that such words might offend the giant in the expensive suit and lead to even more horrific treatment than what he was already enduring.
“Just last ten minutes! Ten minutes! If you do that, we won’t lock you up anymore! Actually, not only that—you could even become an official instructor!”
The researcher shouted while spreading all ten fingers wide. Then he issued a command toward the control room.
“Begin recording! File name: ABHT Kevlar Suit Version 11! Experiment 37!”
“...Ten minutes? Last ten minutes against what?”
The man remained on his knees, tears dripping steadily inside his helmet. The sense of foreboding and terror was so overwhelming that his legs refused to obey him. At that moment, the wall opposite the door he had entered through opened with a heavy mechanical groan.
Grrrrrrrrng—!