The Schemer's Gambit
Yubin let out a hollow laugh and rubbed his forehead.
“Haha… What kind of reaction is that?”
“You seem surprised by the strangest things…”
He had met a superhuman whose bullets punched clean holes through zombie skulls with every trigger pull. He had watched a monster swing a single sledgehammer and wade straight into close-quarters combat with hordes of the undead. Yet the moment he heard that Yubin was close to Terra, the man looked more shocked than ever.
Of course… Yubin had never once in his life considered himself handsome enough to be associated with Pink Punch. Still, this felt absurd. The man didn’t even look a hundred percent convinced.
“No, that’s not… I didn’t mean to dismiss you or anything…”
Cho Cheol-woong waved his hands hurriedly and continued.
“Isn’t Terra under Brigadier General Kim’s protection? That’s what I was told. Not just me—every warlord in the south believes it. So when someone like you—who clearly isn’t under General Kim’s command and doesn’t look like a high-ranking officer at all—claims to be close to her…”
“Lieutenant General Shin made similar comments before. But who exactly spread such inaccurate information and turned it into common knowledge?”
“President Hwang Nayeon of Taeyang Group explained it that way. She showed us footage of Terra sitting among the zombies… said Taeyang had injected her with the Final Level Evolution immunity factor, but that General Kim attacked the Yongsan headquarters, killed everyone, and kidnapped the girl… Yeah, that was the story.”
Cho Cheol-woong recounted it while searching his memory. As expected… the Witch really had been the culprit behind it all.
“That story was nonsense from the start. Do you actually believe the ridiculous claim that General Kim suddenly attacked Taeyang Group? And… you already know where Terra was originally, don’t you? Weren’t you the one who told me that Master Sergeant Hong rescued her and sent her to Jamsil? So how exactly does it make sense that she was kidnapped from Taeyang Group’s headquarters when she was in Jamsil?”
Yubin shook his head lightly and lowered his voice.
“It was actually Taeyang Group that kidnapped her. I don’t know how they found out, but the night everyone was scrambling to get to Chungju after learning she was an immune…”
“But Taeyang Group already had someone called Mister Bae… an immune who didn’t turn even after being bitten. They said they manipulated the genes from that man’s serum to create the final-stage immunity factor and injected it into Terra…”
“If that’s true, why haven’t they been able to recreate that final immunity factor? It’s already been three months. Honestly… you’d be better off assuming everything that woman Hwang Nayeon says is a lie.”
“You claim you’ve never even met General Kim, yet you know the events of that day in such detail… Does that mean it was your group that extracted Terra from Taeyang Group?”
Cho Cheol-woong, who had been listening with a serious expression, asked a rather sharp question. Yubin nodded.
“Yes. It has nothing to do with General Kim. In fact, he… didn’t even know such an incident had occurred. He still doesn’t.”
“Hoo…”
Cho Cheol-woong rubbed the corner of his eye and let out a small sigh. For him, this was an utterly unexpected and bizarre turn of events.
Other than General Kim, who had been in Jamsil at the time, there had been no other military units stationed in Seoul. So who on earth had taken care of all those private security guards protecting Taeyang Group’s headquarters…? Could one of the five warlords have secretly dispatched troops? But that theory didn’t hold up from the beginning.
“Then whose command are you people under? And… how did you obtain the information that Terra was there that day? No, wait… more importantly, that guy over there…”
Cho Cheol-woong, who had been firing off questions one after another, pointed at Jinwoo.
“How exactly is that kid with you people? The vibe I’m getting… is that you’ve all known each other for a very long time…”
If he said that friends had all enlisted together but one had been assigned to a different battalion and was later transferred back to reunite, it could technically make sense… but that kind of explanation would be hard to swallow. Yubin answered calmly.
“You’re asking so many things at once that I don’t even know where to start. To summarize as simply as possible—after the defense unit at the Samcheok nuclear power plant collapsed, Jinwoo came to Seoul alone. During that time…”
“Pfft! You little shit!”
Cho Cheol-woong snorted and lightly punched Yubin in the stomach.
“You were doing so well and then you start spouting nonsense? This isn’t the time for jokes! Where the hell is Seoul from there! The roads are almost all blocked—there’s no way you could drive a car like we did today. Right, Private Park…?”
Cho Cheol-woong turned to Jinwoo with a smile, but his face gradually hardened. The expression on this private—who had never been any good at lying—told him everything. This impossible story was apparently true…
“You really came all that way alone… You crazy bastard…”
Cho Cheol-woong’s eyes widened as if he had seen a ghost. Actually, the existence of ghosts seemed more plausible. From Samcheok to Seoul… even walking it in peacetime was no small feat. To think he had broken through those rugged mountains and roads crawling with zombies all by himself—Cho couldn’t believe it even after saying it out loud.
It was completely outside the realm of common sense. Even if you dropped an eight-man special forces team in Samcheok and told them to work together to return, he doubted they would succeed.
“Haa…!”
With his gaze fixed on Jinwoo, Cho Cheol-woong let out a long sigh and fumbled through the pocket of his uniform for a cigarette. He had grown thoroughly sick of cigarettes after suffering from their extreme smoke for so long, but at this moment he desperately needed one. He had known the kid was no ordinary person, but still… to this extent…
“…What about ammunition?”
After blowing out a long plume of smoke, Cho Cheol-woong skipped several steps ahead with his question. It was astonishing that he had walked over three hundred kilometers of harsh mountain paths. The fact that he had somehow procured food the entire time was impressive. Avoiding soldiers caught up in the civil war, not getting overrun by zombies, and enduring that unimaginable stress alone without going insane—all of it was an unbelievable feat. But the most incomprehensible part was how he had managed to keep himself supplied with ammunition.
No matter how good a marksman you were, you couldn’t kill more than one zombie per bullet. So exactly how much ammunition would you need to carry from the start to maintain firepower all the way to Seoul?
“I used it sparingly… Whenever I encountered soldiers who had turned, I killed them and took their spare magazines… I also scavenged a lot from crashed helicopters when I found them… That’s how I held out.”
Jinwoo answered honestly with an expressionless face. Even so, it sounded as vague as a perfect-score student saying, “I just paid attention in class and studied mainly from the textbook.”
“Does a K-2 even last that long in such extreme conditions?”
Cho Cheol-woong had been about to ask another question about Jinwoo’s one-man rampage through Gangwon Province, but he quickly came to his senses and shook his head.
“No, no… This isn’t the time. I’ve gotten too caught up…”
Cho Cheol-woong patted Jinwoo’s shoulder with a dumbfounded yet delighted chuckle.
“Let’s save that story for later, Private Park. We’ll have a drink together with the rest of the unit… It’ll be a tremendous source of motivation for the men. For now, let’s go back to the time when Taeyang Group was filming that video of Terra. Whose command are you under, and how did you learn about her?”
Cho Cheol-woong’s gaze returned to Yubin. Yubin shrugged and spoke again.
“The story of how we learned about Terra is also incredibly long. To put it as briefly as possible, Mingu—ah, you know him, right? The one who was with us during that negotiation a month ago…”
“Yeah, that guy.”
Cho Cheol-woong drew a line across the bridge of his nose with his finger to indicate Mingu’s scar. Yubin gave a thumbs-up to confirm and continued.
“Yes, that’s him. He told us that Terra had been captured by Taeyang Group, so we went to rescue her. And… well, you already know what happened after that, Lieutenant. We killed the bad guys there, rescued Terra, freed the people who had been locked up, and sent them all to Chungju together. So the only thing General Kim knows is that they were holding people there and conducting human experiments. He has no idea about Terra.”
“Why won’t you tell me whose unit you belong to? If you’re not under General Kim’s command, why did you send ammunition to Chungju of all places?”
“We asked for the ammunition to be sent to Chungju partly because we wanted to help those people who were struggling to survive. Also… it was a way of repaying the favor for protecting Terra at the Jamsil shelter. As for why I haven’t told you our affiliation… well…”
Yubin pondered for a moment what would be the wisest answer, then simply told the truth.
“Because we don’t have one. We just live by ourselves. We’re not soldiers… and we don’t take orders from anyone.”
“When you say ‘by yourselves,’ exactly how large a group are we talking about? If you’re capable of producing serum, it must involve a major corporation. Do you have at least a company-sized combat force? And where exactly are you currently stationed?”
Cho Cheol-woong’s questions poured out again. Every answer only increased his astonishment and doubled his curiosity. But Yubin had already given him the maximum he was willing to reveal.
“Everything you just asked falls into the category of things I cannot answer. Think of it like the location where you hid that nuclear warhead, Lieutenant. Revealing any more would only create burdens for both sides.”
Jinwoo looked at him with an impressed expression after hearing Yubin’s reply. It was the face of someone realizing that with answers like these, there was no need to bother crafting lies.
“Haa… Well, fine. There’s no need to try to learn everything from the beginning. It seems like quite the long story. But while I’m not doubting your capabilities, aren’t you worried about Terra falling into danger?”
Cho Cheol-woong expressed his genuine concern. No matter how outstanding they were, a force the size of a company wouldn’t make holding a long-term defensive position easy. There would undoubtedly be numerous difficulties with food, ammunition, and fuel supplies.
Even if she possessed the miraculous ability to move freely among zombies, that hardship wouldn’t change much. If there was anything he could do to help, he wanted to provide support—for these boys, and for Terra, who was Master Sergeant Hong’s benefactor and perhaps humanity’s only hope…
“As for worrying about Terra being in danger…”
As Yubin opened his mouth to answer, the image of Big Island flashed through his mind.
A remote island. Protection by eight heavily armed former Delta Force rescue team members. World-class specialized medical staff. A comfortable research facility built to satisfy Jenkins’ luxurious tastes, warehouses packed with frozen food, and good friends like Jenny… In Yubin’s mental checklist, he couldn’t find a single element that could pose a threat to Terra. He shook his head with confidence.
“…I don’t think there is any. She’s safe right now.”
“I see. Good. I’ll choose to believe you. Whew…!”
Cho Cheol-woong flicked his cigarette butt to the floor and looked back and forth between Yubin and Jinwoo for a moment.
“At this point, I suppose we’ve finished sizing each other up. Now let’s discuss what we’re going to do today and tomorrow to put out the immediate fire. For that, I at least need to know what you did yesterday. Answer me. …Who the hell is Major Yoo So-jin?”
The unavoidable moment had arrived. And from the probing he had done so far, he was now convinced that telling the truth wouldn’t cause any major conflict. If this man’s talk of patriotic loyalty was genuine, he wasn’t the type to side with the Witch against them. Yubin took a deep breath and answered in a low voice.
“She’s someone you know too, Lieutenant. A big shot.”
“I don’t know any woman with that name among the big shots I’m acquainted with. To begin with, I don’t know that many women at all.”
Cho Cheol-woong replied in a puzzled tone, but Yubin calmly unraveled the story.
“November 28th. Yesterday. It was originally supposed to be the day we conducted a blood trade with Major Park. We had set the negotiation site near Ttukseom and were waiting when… among the five people in their party, there was a young woman who introduced herself as Major Yoo So-jin. The person claiming to be Major Park was obviously a body double, and whenever they had to make any decision, they all looked to that woman. But her way of speaking was strange. She mixed English and Korean half and half…”
“Hmm…?”
Cho Cheol-woong, who had been listening quietly, narrowed his eyes. A young woman. A big shot influential enough to insert herself into a blood deal with Major Park. A verbal tic of compulsively mixing in English… A person he knew naturally came to mind.
“Don’t tell me… the true identity of Major Yoo So-jin was that Taeyang Group chairman’s daughter, Hwang Nayeon?”
Even as he asked, a part of his mind doubted it with a ‘No way…’ Even for a reckless person, coming all the way out here herself when she knew nothing about field operations… that was nothing short of insanity. But…
“That’s right. It was her.”
Yubin immediately confirmed it was correct and continued his explanation.
“We didn’t recognize her at first. We just thought she was a woman with a really weird way of talking. But then Mingu said… that she was Chairman Hwang’s daughter…”
Yubin went into detail about everything that had happened after they took her hostage. Of course, he cleverly avoided mentioning where she was currently hiding or that Jinwoo and Sheriff had gone to Costco today.
“So… you missed the woman you tried to kill yesterday, and today you came looking for her again?”
After listening to the entire story, Cho Cheol-woong slowly nodded. From the events at Ttukseom during the day to the Children’s Grand Park in the evening… he had thought they were a series of bizarre incidents he couldn’t possibly understand, but now all the blank spaces were being filled in.
“Seeing that they deployed that many Black Hawks two days in a row, it was clearly beyond the capacity of a mere major… In the end, it means Major Park and someone inside Taeyang colluded to orchestrate this…”
Cho Cheol-woong pressed his fingertips against his forehead as he pondered the true nature of this conspiracy. Almost all his questions had been answered, but one thing still eluded him. The fact that they had made such a fuss about needing to find the body suggested they had a responsibility to present concrete evidence to someone. So why… had they hurried to withdraw without even completing their mission?
‘Did they judge that a company-sized force lacked sufficient firepower… and withdraw first to return with a larger unit?’
But that didn’t make sense either. Even if they planned to mobilize a large force tomorrow, it would be far more efficient to simply have the soldiers they had already brought stay here.
‘It seems they decided to look for some kind of loophole…’
That was the tentative conclusion Cho Cheol-woong had reached. But if asked what that loophole was, he had no idea. He couldn’t even get a feel for it. From beginning to end, every decision made by the commanders involved in this incident had completely deviated from his tactical common sense.
“You boys have gotten yourselves tangled up in quite the headache of a situation. Same goes for those soldiers up on the roof.”
After thinking in silence for a while, Cho Cheol-woong spoke to Yubin and Jinwoo. Yubin looked a bit embarrassed but honestly shared his thoughts.
“That’s true, but… I still think it’s a good opportunity. If we use that woman well, we might be able to free all the people trapped in Taeyang Group in the south at once.”
“It won’t be that simple, will it? Even if we attempt negotiations, there are too many uncertain variables. There’s a mountain of things we need to find out. How deeply Taeyang Group is involved, what promises Major Park received to make him do something like this… We don’t know any of it, do we? The only thing that’s certain right now is…”
When he slightly lowered his head, Cho Cheol-woong’s single remaining eye gleamed fiercely.
“…that bastard Captain Lee can never be forgiven.”