The Payoff of Plan C
Crunch! Stab! (4)
"No!"
When the one-armed kid first suggested drawing up a Plan C, Master Sergeant Hong had shut it down immediately.
"We don't have time to waste on that! Our mission is to swing around the flank and clear out any zombies that might still be inside the Gunja Shelter! Without our support, Plan B won't work properly! And don't you dare interfere with the operation!"
That had been his reason for refusing. The duty to carry out Cho Cheol-woong's orders weighed heavily on him, but in truth he simply hated the idea of this little rookie daring to command special forces troops.
Yet even after Hong had coldly voiced his refusal, Yubin kept at it, pleading earnestly again and again without tiring.
"It won't take long at all! Before you head around the flank, we just need to secure one viable escape route! Ten minutes! Ten minutes of your time is all it takes!"
"Why are you being so damn stubborn? You agreed to the plan when we drew it up earlier!"
Even when Master Sergeant Hong raised his voice in a snarl, Yubin refused to yield.
"It's preparation for the worst case. We have no idea how or when the zombies in this area might start moving!"
As they argued back and forth aboard the rubber boat drifting down the Jungnangcheon, Master Sergeant Hong remembered the praise Cho Cheol-woong had given.
"They're clever bastards. They even arranged it so not a single zombie was visible at the negotiation site."
So in the end Hong had swallowed his pride and cooperated with the one-armed kid's Plan C. Just as the kid had promised, it was an incredibly simple operation that required almost no preparation.
All they had done was locate the shortest stretch from Jungnangcheon to Gwangnaru on the map, visit the spot, and identify a route that wouldn't require excessive running.
What possible help could something so half-assed provide?
Even while securing a building for the snipers and lashing vehicles together to block the road, Master Sergeant Hong had harbored serious doubts.
"Aren't we just breaking a sweat for nothing? From what I hear the operation is proceeding smoothly, so we probably won't need to come this way anyway."
Listening to the radio chatter between Cho Cheol-woong and the Sheriff, Hong had scolded Yubin. At the time Yubin had simply flashed a bright smile and answered.
"That would be ideal. It means everything is going according to plan."
That was the entire process from the creation of Plan C to its execution. He had grumbled the whole time, but there had been nothing particularly difficult about it. Eight special forces operators had simply cleared out the zombies loitering in a single block, taken up proper positions, and waited.
Yet now... that flimsy, skeptical plan had saved the lives of nearly twenty soldiers. As simply and easily as if it were a lie.
In Master Sergeant Hong's eyes the one-armed kid had begun to look entirely different. At this point, despite the kid's sloppy and unimpressive appearance, he had no choice but to acknowledge that Yubin packed a real punch. He had assumed the kid was nothing more than a smooth-talking con man brought along for negotiations.
"Jinwoo! Zombies incoming from the rear!"
While Master Sergeant Hong narrowed his eyes and studied the kid, Yubin—who had been diligently watching their backs—pointed behind them. Roughly twenty zombies were pouring into the parking lot entrance of the Seongdong Tax Office that the group had just sprinted past. Tenacious bastards that had broken through the crossroads sniper cordon and chased them all the way here.
Thud—!
Jinwoo swiftly raised his K-2 and swung the muzzle toward the direction Yubin had indicated. Then, one by one in the order the under-barrel flashlight illuminated them, he blew their heads apart.
Bang bang—! Bang—! Bang bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang bang, bang—! Ratatat—! Ratatat—! Ratatat—!
While the marksman's rifle dropped ten, the 9mm subsonic rounds sprayed by Master Sergeant Hong and the special forces guide accounted for a similar number.
Bang—! Bang bang—! Bang—!
Jinwoo, who had punched neat holes through the remaining zombies' foreheads with impossible speed, asked without lifting his eye from the scope.
"Yubin, what the hell is that thing strapped to your body?"
"Right. I was wondering the same thing. What is that shiny shit? That guide earlier had one too. Made you easy to spot, at least."
The Sheriff swept his headlamp across Yubin's arm once more. Every time the beam hit the object wrapped tightly in blue tape, silver and red flashed brilliantly. It was clearly useful for catching the eye, but the Sheriff was dying to know where they had suddenly dug up something like that.
"This? It's a reflector panel from a parking barrier."
Yubin answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world and fluttered the silver-foil cape hood secured by the drawstring of his hoodie.
"I wore this and stuck those on so you'd see us clearly."
The silver-foil hood reflecting Yubin's headlamp was almost blinding. The Sheriff peeled it off him and asked again.
"What the hell is a parking barrier reflector?"
"You don't know the barriers? Those poles that rise when you enter a parking lot. They stick reflective strips on them so drivers don't smash into them at night. I ripped a bunch off, cut them into pieces, and taped them on with blue tape."
"Ah! Those! You used those? Wow... Damn, this kid's head really does spin fast."
The Sheriff nodded in genuine admiration. The fact that parking barriers had reflectors and that those reflectors helped a lot in the dark wasn't exactly groundbreaking knowledge, but coming up with the idea on the fly using whatever was lying around in this desperate situation was impressive as hell.
"As you said, we've finished loading the soldiers onto the boats. Now what's your plan? Is there some kind of position prepared around here?"
Master Sergeant Hong asked Yubin. Saving the men who had been about to die on the road and getting them onto the rubber boats was all well and good, but floating on the Jungnangcheon didn't exactly equal safety. They couldn't spend the whole night drifting back and forth on the river. And after going so far as to tape over their special forces insignia to hide their identities, taking the soldiers to the Taereung light rail station where the unit was based and revealing information was completely out of the question.
"We can't use our current base right now."
Yubin drew a firm line there first. It was also the truth. Reaching Gunja Station from here would require killing thousands of zombies.
"Couldn't we take them over there? It's a high-rise, so it's relatively safe, and there are surveillance troops stationed there who can provide cover fire. It would also shorten the distance when the Major arrives."
Yubin pointed toward the silhouettes of high-rise apartments that cast an even deeper shadow across the southwestern night sky.
"...How did you know we had a surveillance team there?"
Master Sergeant Hong asked, visibly taken aback. Seongsu-dong was large. Even if these guys had eavesdropped on radio traffic and learned a surveillance team was in the area, specifically singling out that apartment was another matter entirely.
"Well, there aren't many options. When the special forces moved toward the Jungnangcheon, the only place high enough to observe both Ttukseom Park and the Children's Grand Park would be those high-rise apartments."
Yubin answered as if it were nothing special. Of course the fact that their own theater residence wasn't visible had been an important clue, but he left that part out.
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense!"
The Sheriff exclaimed, pursing his lips in admiration. But the one more surprised than him was Master Sergeant Hong. To have made that calculation amid all the chaos, this one-armed kid had gone far beyond merely cautious or quick-witted.
"It's true we placed a surveillance team in that apartment. But it's over four hundred meters from the Jungnangcheon. It would be better to set up a new shelter on the western side of Seongsu-dong."
Master Sergeant Hong honestly offered an alternative. The difficulty gap was enormous between multiple special forces operators moving tactically in broad daylight while killing zombies and a small night team relying on night-vision goggles to escort nearly twenty unarmed personnel. Especially having to fight through several narrow alleys.
"Then you should pick a building with five floors or higher. That way the zombies won't react even if they pass nearby."
Yubin advised. Normally four floors would suffice, but with nearly twenty people he had added one more level for safety. Master Sergeant Hong nodded readily.
"Fine. We'll do that. ...Seongsu-dong!"
Master Sergeant Hong radioed the surveillance team left behind during the day and, searching his memory, asked.
"Report the situation near the fire station!"
Beside the fire station was a building that almost perfectly matched Yubin's conditions—five floors or higher and close enough to reach immediately by descending the promenade hill.
-Sssss...! Road in front of the fire station, currently no zombies passing... sss... None. Crackle...!
The surveillance team's report came in shortly after. This was the optimal window for the escort. Master Sergeant Hong radioed Cho Cheol-woong.
"Major! We've completed the rescue! Escorting them to Seongsu-dong now! You should shake off the zombies and link up with us! We're waiting at the Hwayang Intersection! Come up along Dongil-ro and you'll see a truck with its lights on!"
When Master Sergeant Hong shouted into the radio, Cho Cheol-woong's reply came back.
-Crackle...! Difficult right now! South of Dongil-ro is crawling with zombies on all sides! Bang bang bang—! Bang bang—! Sss... Looks like it'll take a major detour to shake them. Crackle...!
Just from the gunshots cutting in and out, the dire situation was obvious. The original plan had been to lure the zombies south of the Seongsu Intersection on Dongil-ro, so the road was now swarming with thousands of zombies that had lost their purpose. Add in the ones coming up from the Han River and those moving south along Neungdong-ro from Gunja Station, and there was nowhere easy to go.
"Mister! If the road's completely blocked, head inside Konkuk University! The shelter was there so most of the internal roads are cleared! Go in, circle around, and shake the zombies off! If I'd topped off the truck's gas I would've done the same!"
The Sheriff, listening to Cho Cheol-woong's transmission, pressed his own transmit button and shouted helpfully. Cho Cheol-woong gave a short, disbelieving laugh before issuing orders to Master Sergeant Hong.
-Sssss...! Heh, I can take care of myself, so tell that big bastard to stop yelling and get the rescued kids to safety first, Master Sergeant Hong! Waiting for me will take too long. Crackle...!
"Yes, Major! We'll evacuate the kids! And... stay safe!"
After ending the transmission with a careful warning, Master Sergeant Hong turned to Jinwoo.
"It'll take the advance team about ten minutes to drop off some troops and return. Can you hold out until then?"
The distance to the destination was roughly seven hundred meters. Piloting the boat there, clearing the riverbank, and handling all the miscellaneous tasks meant they couldn't return in under ten minutes even if they rushed.
"Aren't we... all going together?"
Jinwoo asked, surprised. Master Sergeant Hong shook his head slightly.
"The boat can't carry everyone. I'd love to take you, but then these two would be left in danger. The three from the advance team will disembark on the riverbank with the soldiers and wait. The rest will bring the boat back for you."
It had become a situation like the classic puzzle of ferrying a wolf, a goat, and cabbages across a river. The boat could take three more people. Five people currently stood on the promenade hill.
Two would have to stay behind. Rather than split the group awkwardly, it was safer to leave a full team of three. These guys had been operating as a trio from the start.
"Are you planning to issue them live ammunition and fight alongside them?"
At Jinwoo's question Master Sergeant Hong shook his head again.
"No. Although we rescued them, strictly speaking they're closer to prisoners. They belong to a different unit, so we can't do that."
"Will you be all right? That leaves very few combat personnel..."
Jinwoo looked worried. Two on the boat, two here. With four snipers already positioned at the crossroads, only four special forces operators—including Master Sergeant Hong—were available to secure the new shelter.
"You three came all the way here by yourselves and you're worried about numbers? See you in ten minutes."
Master Sergeant Hong flashed the confident, arrogant smile typical of elite soldiers and laid out the plan. Since he put it that way it was hard to argue further, so Jinwoo simply watched the two special forces men run down the hill.
Vroom—!
Soon the second rubber boat carrying them began moving southwest. The first boat that had been waiting ahead matched its speed.
"I wonder how much those soldiers actually know..."
Yubin muttered, watching the receding boat lights. Jinwoo, still guarding the front, answered calmly.
"What would low-ranking soldiers know?"
"I hope you're right..."
Yubin trailed off and bit his lip. He hadn't been able to ignore people dying right in front of him and had saved them... but he worried it might complicate everything.
Especially if those soldiers knew the Witch's name. From that point on he couldn't predict how Cho Cheol-woong would react. Based on their experience working together so far, the chance of a favorable response seemed over eighty-five percent, but that remaining uneasy fifteen percent still lingered.
"Hey! Save that worry for later and think about whether we should be standing here like idiots. No matter how you look at it this is fucking... way too exposed on all sides."
The Sheriff, scanning their surroundings, shook his head in displeasure. The promenade stretched long to both left and right, with the Dongbu Expressway directly behind them. There was nowhere to hide.
Groooar—! Kwaaak—!
As if to prove the Sheriff's point, a handful of zombies came running from the right side of the promenade, letting out blood-curdling shrieks.
Bang bang—! Bang—! Bang bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang—! Bang, bang bang—! Bang—! Bang—!
Before they could finish their roars, Jinwoo's lightning-fast shots tore through them. The zombies collapsed limply, heads pierced. The Sheriff illuminated their rotten faces with his headlamp and made a dumbfounded expression.
"But how the hell did those bastards know we were hiding here? They're like goddamn homing missiles."
If the zombies had simply continued running past the crossroads due to momentum, that would have been understandable. They had no minds. But the group was now on the elevated Jungnangcheon promenade, not Gwangnaru-ro. How had the zombies known like ghosts and come running from so far away?
"Right now you guys are reeking of cigarettes. Especially you, Sheriff."
Yubin answered in a tone that suggested it should have been obvious.
"Really?"
The Sheriff roughly rubbed his hair, then brought his palm to his nose and sniffed.
"Ah... it's the real deal! Smells pretty damn strong."
The cigarette stench soaked into his hair was sharp enough to sting his nostrils.
Huff—!
When he playfully held his palm to Samsik's nose, the dog snorted in disgust and turned away. While driving the truck and dispersing zombies they had lit cigarettes multiple times and been constantly enveloped in smoke, so it wasn't surprising.
"This is bad. Should I wash my hair in the river at least?"
The Sheriff hesitated, looking at the black water of the Jungnangcheon submerged in darkness. If anyone else had said it, it would have sounded like a joke, but this guy was perfectly capable of doing something that insane.
"Don't even think about it. It's the end of November."
Having finished shooting, Jinwoo pulled a live-ammunition clip and adapter from his pouch and handed them to the Sheriff along with an empty magazine.
"If you're nervous, at least keep these loaded. You're good at it, Sheriff."
"Hey! This bastard's treating me like his damn errand boy?"
Even while grumbling, the Sheriff immediately fitted the adapter to the magazine and shoved the rounds in one after another. His touch and strength were so good that ten rounds stacked neatly on both sides with barely any effort.
"Here, you bastard!"
The Sheriff quickly filled three magazines and tossed them back to Jinwoo. Having been solely responsible for loading Jenny's practice magazines on Big Island, he had become a professional.
"I've been thinking about it, but this really is the safest spot."
Yubin spoke while continuing to scan the area, paying no attention to his friends' bickering. Being on a hill gave them a slight elevation advantage, and the straight promenade offered a long field of view. Even if a massive number of zombies came from one or two directions, two escape routes would remain. Yubin judged they could hold out for ten minutes without major issues. However...
"...Why aren't they back yet?"
The Sheriff, checking his watch, frowned. The rubber boat that was supposed to return in about ten minutes showed no sign of appearing even after twenty minutes.
"Hey! Master Sergeant Hong! What are you doing? Why aren't you coming?"
Even when the Sheriff shouted into the radio there was no response.
-Sssss...! What about Master Sergeant Hong? What's going... sss... on? Respond! Master Sergeant Hong! Crackle...!
Only Cho Cheol-woong's urgent voice came through, sounding confused. The poor signal suggested he was also running at high speed between buildings. The Sheriff first tried to calm him.
"Take care of yourself first! You're the one in the most danger right now!"
"What is this? Did something go wrong?"
Yubin rubbed his mouth. Since they were using suppressors, no gunfire could be heard, and at over seven hundred meters screams wouldn't carry either. With no clues to piece together the situation, he could only feel frustrated and anxious.
"If we follow this path, isn't it the place those people mentioned? Should we head that way?"
The Sheriff pointed to the right side of the elevated promenade. Jinwoo turned his head in that direction as well. Now that he thought about it, following the promenade along the Jungnangcheon would allow them to link up with the troops who had moved by boat.
But... advancing seven hundred meters through unfamiliar terrain in this darkness was extremely dangerous. It was an entirely different level of risk from walking along subway tracks that had few zombies and were weakened by the lack of light. The zombies hiding in that darkness were proven by the corpses he had just killed.
Moreover, approaching without first making radio contact risked friendly fire and serious injury. It was while everyone was hesitating for that brief moment.
BOOM—!
A tremendous explosion thundered from the west. Yubin, the Sheriff, and Jinwoo looked at one another.
"...That was a grenade?"
Jinwoo said. Even as he spoke the explosions continued.
Boom—! Boom boom—! Boom—!
Four loud detonations that had nothing to do with the special forces' suppressors rang out in succession. This... meant something had gone very wrong.