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Translator: penny
Chapter: 001
Chapter Title: Perished
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Shwaaa— Shwaaaa—
The raindrops began pouring down as if to pierce straight through the asphalt.
Puff-puff—! Puff-puff—!
The steady rhythm echoed eerily, like the playing of a requiem.
On the rooftop of a seven-story building along Teheran Road in Gangnam.
I stood there with my teammate Cheong Kang, gasping for breath.
"Hoo. You okay?"
"Can we even survive this?"
I couldn't give Cheong Kang an optimistic reply.
Even when we'd ridden a boat through a typhoon to infiltrate North Korea, or when we'd been right in the middle of the Donbas war, we'd never faced death this squarely.
"We've done well enough up to now."
"It was an honor knowing you."
"That's some touching last words. Helicopters might still come, so don't lose hope."
"I can't even win the lottery fifth prize."
The rain pouring from the ashen sky drenched the ruined streets in bloody water.
A hell paved with the blood of the dead.
The street before us was crawling with corpses swarming with flies and maggots.
The first defensive line at Suseo Station had been breached, and the second line on Suroon Road—reinforced with fresh troops—had crumbled just as helplessly.
Even the final defensive line on Teheran Road was being overrun by zombies flooding in from Yeoksam-dong and Gangnam Boulevard.
This building had an armory, but up on the seventh floor, all we had left were two K2 rifles and two grenades.
Cheong Kang asked,
"You really think Junko Ganetchi created these monsters?"
Lieutenant General Junko Ganetchi of Unit 731.
The central figure in biological experiments during World War II.
He'd experimented on thousands by injecting bacteria and chemicals into their bodies to observe the changes.
After Japan's defeat, even under a week of torture by the Chinese army, Ganetchi never revealed what he'd gained from his experiments.
Later, while being extradited by the U.S. military, he escaped to Laos.
There were only rumors that he'd died in the Laotian jungle, mauled by a tiger—no one ever found his body.
"Thinking back now, I have to agree with Heuk Kang's report. The idea that Ganetchi, who'd be over 130 years old by now, developed super zombies sounds like something out of a novel."
No one had believed Heuk Kang.
Even now, it still sounded absurd.
"Cheong Kang, how many rounds left in the pistol?"
"Two. For emergencies."
That meant suicide.
The rain hammered against the twisted rebar, creating a deafening racket.
"Still, we've done all we could."
"Yeah."
Facing death, all we could do was look back on our past with beauty and value. That was the only way to end it honorably.
Me, Heuk Kang, Cheong Kang, Jeok Kang, Ju Kang.
We were the Black Agents known as the Five Great Rivers.
After Ju Kang retired due to injury, we'd been called the Four Great Rivers.
We'd obtained intelligence about a lethal virus circulating in Asia and gathered information accordingly.
I covered Japan, Cheong Kang Korea, Heuk Kang China, Jeok Kang Laos.
If we'd believed the intel from Heuk Kang and Jeok Kang, things might have turned out differently.
But all those were empty what-ifs.
Cheong Kang's voice trembled ever so slightly.
"Think Ju Kang's still alive?"
"A meteor that size would've shattered even his shelter to pieces."
Two weeks ago, a meteor had crashed in Gyeongju.
Ju Kang's shelter housed people from all walks of life, set up to ensure humanity's survival: doctors, builders, farmers, engineers, soldiers, professors, lawyers, young women, and more.
With an impact that big, they were surely all gone too.
Cheong Kang gave a bitter smile.
"So this is how humanity ends. Where did it all go wrong?"
"First was failing to find any immunes. Second, not locating that research facility in Laos."
I'd met two potential immunes myself.
What if they really had been immune?
What if I'd saved them?
And what if I'd eliminated that incompetent Martial Law Commander? Or killed Oh Gwang-seong? Or saved that father and daughter?
More pointless hypotheticals.
Time couldn't be turned back, and natural disasters and meteor strikes were beyond human control.
The Super Ebola from Congo with its 95% fatality rate, the freak heat over 50 degrees in Europe, meteors crashing worldwide.
Korea had dodged the Super Ebola, and the natural disasters and meteors hadn't hit us too hard. If we'd stopped the zombies from China, we might not have ended up like this.
"Baek Kang."
"Yeah."
"Think Jeok Kang made it? That guy's so selfish, he might've survived."
Jeok Kang's specialty was silent kills using any tools at hand. He was wired for survival, but even he couldn't manage this.
"With zombies pouring in from China like that, no chance. Same for Heuk Kang."
"Just... he was such a weirdo, you know? How many survivors do you think are left around here?"
"Everyone trying to escape got wiped out. Probably not even five soldiers left."
Bang! Rat-a-tat-tat!
Gunfire erupted from somewhere in the building across the way.
Zombies were closing in.
"Coming up Gangnam Boulevard, looks like."
"They'll be in sight soon."
Through the shattered windows of the opposite building, two rifle barrels poked out.
It was only a matter of time before they all died.
These evolved zombies were on another level.
Not just driven by instinct, but predators that had mastered the art of the hunt.
Their joints weren't as twisted as regular zombies', so they could wield tools.
The upside was their poor accuracy.
Even so, the odds were overwhelmingly against us.
They had intelligence, speed, heightened senses of smell, and worst of all, one bite meant infection without exception within a minute.
Thud— Clang! Clang—!
I turned to check the zombies advancing from Yeoksam-dong.
At least battalion strength, and more kept piling in from behind.
And that wasn't all.
"Baek Kang, they're coming from the sniper range too."
We were surrounded.
Rat-a-tat! Bang-bang!
The gunfire from the building across grew more frantic.
Rainwater trickled down my back, chilling me to the bone.
The lead zombies were armed with hammers, axes, and steel pipes.
Cheong Kang chuckled dryly.
"Creepy bastards."
"You've still got some slack in you."
"Gotta show 'em why Homo sapiens rules."
His sharp jawline hardened with resolve.
"Ten minutes, and they'll be in this building."
Zombies kept coming, shrugging off gunfire without thinning their numbers.
"One minute to infection means infinite respawns."
"We could take 'em all."
Cheong Kang smirked at his own joke.
Thirty or forty per building.
Someone was directing them.
Rat-a-tat-tat-a-tat!
One zombie opened up with automatic fire.
Its twisted wrist made the muzzle dance wildly, but the fact it could shoot at all was terrifying.
"That's Ganetchi's second creation, huh?"
"Smarter ones. If their joints were fixed too, Earth would've ended sooner."
"Lucky us?"
"Let's do what we can."
-Kraaaagh!
"Aaaagh!"
Zombie roars and human screams slid across the asphalt.
The gunfire from that building tapered off.
They'd be coming here next.
Despite countless trainings stripping away synapses for emotion and pain, feelings flooded me now.
At just thirty-three.
"Baek Kang, they're coming in."
Zombies had entered our building.
Their sense of smell could detect humans from at least a kilometer away, far beyond the zombies from Mount Fuji's eruption.
"Let's go."
I shared a quick embrace with Cheong Kang.
No words needed after over ten years together since our military days.
This might be the last warmth we'd ever feel.
I glanced at the sky.
With the military and even the civilian militias wiped out, no chopper was coming.
I moved to the door leading inside from the rooftop.
Locking it wouldn't stop evolved zombies, but fighting in the narrow space would favor us.
Not that it'd buy more than a few dozen minutes.
Clang— Tap-tap— Chaaang!
Zombies were climbing, banging weapons against the floor and railings.
I positioned myself at the top of the stairs.
Two grenades in hand.
-Kraaaagh!
Zombies rounded the corner.
Steel pipes, hammers, axes in their grips.
No guns was a small mercy, but it wouldn't change the outcome.
Unlike regular zombies, these had clear pupils, pinpointing positions accurately.
One step, one step, one step.
When they closed to about three meters.
I hurled the two grenades—one near, one far.
Bang— Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat!
Cheong Kang fired at the closest ones.
-Kweeeek!
-Gag-gag
Head and neck shots sent them tumbling back, roaring and spewing blood.
Then.
Whoosh! KABOOM! Boom— KABOOOM—!
The grenades detonated, shredding the zombies' squishy flesh.
As the dust cleared, dark red blood streamed down the stairs. Face-holed zombies roared one last time.
-Grraaaargh!
More climbed over the fallen ones, an endless procession.
We couldn't kill them all with the ammo left.
Even if we did, the noise and smell would draw others.
The zombie approaching, eyes burst and oozing white pus, looked grimly determined.
-Grrraaarr. Chiiieeeek—!
A different screech.
With that cry, zombies surged up the stairs even faster.
The screech was a command.
"Light 'em up!"
Rat-a-tat! Rat-a-tat-tat!
Rat-a-tat-tat! Puta-tat-tat!
Our rifles spat fire.
Bullets pulverized zombie skulls, dropping them, but their numbers didn't dwindle.
"Fall back outside!"
I emptied my mag and slammed the iron door shut.
"Baek Kang..."
Cheong Kang's voice was laced with despair.
I turned.
Long claws gripped the rooftop railing.
Bang— Bang! Bang!
Hammers pounded the iron door from behind.
We'd be sandwiched soon.
"Fuck!"
Cheong Kang dashed to the railing.
I followed.
An arm hauled a head over the rail.
Bloodshot eyes, skin webbed with black veins.
-Kraaaagh!
Splat!
Cheong Kang smashed the zombie's forehead with his fist.
It plummeted, but arms rose from both sides.
I shifted right, crushing an oncoming zombie's head with my rifle butt.
Its crown burst, spilling yellow pus and dark blood onto the roof.
Looking down, I lost all hope.
Zombies formed a human ladder, climbing endlessly.
KABOOM—!
The iron door flew open, zombies pouring through.
More vaulted the railing.
Nowhere to run.
Zero chance of winning against a horde in tight quarters.
Cheong Kang grinned at me.
"Happy birthday, Baek Kang. See you in hell."
He pressed the pistol to his temple and pulled the trigger.
Bang!
The single shot trapped time in a vacuum.
My mind went white, operations with him flashing by like a panorama.
-Kraaaagh!
Zombie roars snapped me back.
Spinning heel kick to the jaw, rifle butt to the skull, muzzle stab to the throat, fist to the heart.
Outmatched.
Eventually, the swarm overwhelmed me, and I hit the deck.
-Kruuuuaaaagh!
Blood from a zombie's maw splashed my mouth.
Leg bitten, side torn.
I jammed my fist into the jaws lunging for my throat.
Yanking it out through the windpipe, mucus clung like phlegm.
Bitten. I'd turn soon.
I didn't want to linger like that.
Grabbed the fallen pistol, pressed it under my chin.
"See you in hell."
Bang!
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