Chapter 1874 – 1874. Eternal Eden
I found a corpse while walking down the street.
It was a middle-aged man. His chest was red. Whether it was a knife or a spear, something had pierced his chest.
Just by looking at the corpse, it was hard to tell if it was a zombie or a human. I glanced at the corpse and passed by. Yang Subin flinched at the sight of the corpse but remained calm.
“You’re not used to corpses?”
“…I’m not. I’m used to patients, though.”
Not long after, we found another corpse. It was an older woman. Her skull was caved in.
“This is a human corpse.”
“…What makes you so sure?”
“Zombies don’t die just because their heads are caved in. They’re already brain-dead, so do you think they’d die from brain damage?”
“…You’re referring to zombies as living beings.”
“They’re not the undead from fantasy novels. These guys are just infected and turned into zombies. Their brains are dead, but their hearts are still beating, and they instinctively try to attack and devour humans… no, living things. Even if you somehow survive these guys, if you get bitten by a zombie, you’ll just become one yourself. There are no exceptions.”
Players and Awakened are no exception either. If they get bitten by a zombie, they’ll become a zombie without fail. However, it was possible to prevent zombification with a special vaccine.
“I’ve been wondering for the past few hours… how did you know this was going to happen?”
“I’m getting bored, so should I tell you? It’ll be known eventually anyway.”
I told her about Players and Awakened. She didn’t believe me easily. But she couldn’t completely ignore it either. I didn’t try to convince her. She’d eventually understand that I was right.
“If zombies are living beings… that’s a relief.”
“What is?”
“Living things eventually die if they don’t eat. If people just hide in buildings and wait… the zombies will eventually starve to death.”
“You’re wrong. If these guys get extremely hungry, they’ll eat other zombies. And it doesn’t end with just eating. If they eat enough living things, they evolve. The tricky part is that we don’t know how they’ll evolve.”
“Evolve. There’s no way they can do that so easily…”
“A virus from outer space makes it possible. If you’re lucky, you might evolve too.”
Clang!
We heard the sound of glass breaking. The zombies that had been wandering nearby heard the sound and started running like crazy. I looked in the direction of the sound. It was a large supermarket, the kind you’d find in any neighborhood. People were gathered there. There’s no smoke without fire. It seemed like a fight had broken out among people inside the supermarket.
“Help me!! Aaaaaaah!”
“Shut up! If you’re going to die, die alone! Damn it!! The zombies are coming!!”
The supermarket was in chaos. I stopped and watched the scene. Zombies were nothing to me, but they weren’t for ordinary people. People were attacking the zombies with whatever weapons they could find, but the zombies were physically superior. If you were going to fight zombies, you had to use your head, but the situation was too chaotic for that.
The screams of the people only increased.
“…Aren’t you going to help them?”
“Why would I?”
“……”
Na Chaeyoung told me to bring people, but I didn’t feel the need to bring the guys who caused trouble at the supermarket to Seongak Elementary School.
‘If I bring them, they’ll just get cocky, won’t they? They need to suffer a bit to realize how great the prepared shelter is.’
Kyaaaaaaah!
A young woman in the supermarket screamed. I reflexively checked the woman’s appearance. She was a pig with a decent voice.
“Heh heh. Idiots.”
“…It’s only chaotic now. There are many reservists in Korea. It’ll be sorted out after some time.”
“We’ll see.”
The supermarket eventually turned into a zombie’s feast. Blood splattered, but no organs were scattered. All the organs and flesh went into the monsters’ mouths.
I was about to pass by the supermarket with Yang Subin. Until I saw a zombie with a snout sticking out like an animal.
“I have to take care of that before we go.”
“…Huh? Suddenly?”
“Look at that snout-faced bastard over there.”
“…What is that?”
“A variant. It’s starting to evolve. It’ll be a pain in the ass if we leave it alone, so I have to get rid of it before we go.”
Root out the evil. If I didn’t know, I wouldn’t have known. But since it’s right in front of me, I have to get rid of it. I pulled out my sword from my waist and walked towards the supermarket.
•••
I looked at the building that was separated. It was a building with a parking lot, and zombies were wandering around.
“Contact Park Haegil.”
“Yes.”
Park Haegil answered the phone before the first ring even ended. I snatched her smartphone.
“I’m here. What floor did you say it was?”
-It’s the 3rd floor. There are five zombies wandering around in the hallway. After various experiments, it seems like we can distract them for a short time. The problem is the parking lot. There are way too many zombies. We have to go through the parking lot to get out of here… it’s impossible right now. It would have been possible if the zombies were as weak as the ones in dramas… But where are you?
“Parking lot entrance. Can’t you see me from there?”
-Please wait a moment. We’re on the far left of the building, so the viewing angle… Ah, I see you. Two people?! Did only two people come?!
“Two people are enough.”
I deliberately didn’t contact Park Haegil on the way here. She would have definitely nagged me unnecessarily. I took out a grenade from my bag and handed it to Yang Subin.
“It doesn’t seem like the zombies will come all the way here… but if it gets dangerous, use the grenade. See that wall over there? Go up there. Zombies are stupid, so they’re safe if they’re out of reach.”
“P-Please be careful.”
-What are you going to do alone?!
“Shut up and answer my question. You said there were two injured people?”
-…There are a total of 8 of us. One has fractures in both legs, and the other is unconscious after hitting his head on the wall while fighting a zombie.
“So it’s not so urgent that you need a doctor right away. Get ready to leave. I’ll clear the parking lot first.”
-Did you really come alone? Even so, it’s impossible alone.
I hung up the phone and headed to the parking lot. The zombies heard my footsteps and rushed at me. I also ran forward and swung my galchi sword. The silver blade smoothly cut through the zombies’ upper bodies.
Thud.
Blood splattered on my body. It didn’t matter. The dangerous thing was if the zombies’ fluids got into my body.
‘I do have regeneration, but there’s no guarantee it’ll prevent zombification. I have to be as careful as possible.’
I relied on my senses to swing my sword, trying to avoid getting blood on my body as much as possible. It was a skill I had naturally acquired from killing so many people.
Swish!
A zombie’s head flew off. I realized my mistake. I was going to cut the upper body, but I unconsciously cut the head out of habit. A zombie’s hand grabbed my shoulder tightly. Its fingers tried to dig in but stopped. The clothes I was wearing were special clothes that were hard to penetrate even with bullets.
“That’s skill.”
I kicked the headless zombie’s abdomen. The zombie flew backward and fell with a thud. Another zombie popped out as if it had been waiting.
Swoosh!
Red blood splattered coolly in the direction I swung my sword. I cleared all the zombies in the parking lot in 5 minutes and entered the building. I sliced through zombies from the 1st floor to the 3rd floor.
On the 3rd floor, dark men were waiting for me. In the center of them was a man who had the aura of a leader. It was Park Haegil. He was a man with a short buzz cut. He had broad shoulders and looked like a soldier.
“Mr. Seong Yujin. I’m Park Haegil, the president of PS Security. I saw you clearing the zombies in the parking lot. Have you trained in kendo? No, before that, where did you get that sword?”
“Why? You want it?”
“To be honest, I do. If I had that sword, I could have taken down the zombies more easily. But I don’t have the confidence to wield the sword like you, so I’ll give up.”
“Are you ready? Let’s go.”
“There might still be survivors in the building. Wouldn’t you like to take a look around?”
“Are you sure there are survivors?”
“…I don’t know.”
“I don’t think there are any survivors.”
It was the moment I was about to turn around. I saw a lump falling from above through the window.
Thud!
I quickly approached the window and looked down at the parking lot.
It was a muscle monster over 2 meters tall. The Hulk-like creature had fallen into the parking lot and was eating the zombies I had killed. It was a variant. The guy who was randomly tearing apart zombie corpses suddenly raised his head and looked at Yang Subin. The muscle monster grinned. It had recognized Yang Subin as prey.
‘Damn it.’
I ran towards the window. I broke the window with my body and fell while tightly gripping my galchi sword. Was it because of the sound of the window breaking? The monster raised its head and looked at me. The muscle monster held up its large arm and prepared to swing at me. Then, as the distance closed, the monster threw a punch.
Crack.
Electricity sparked all over my body.
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) Flying Thunder God (飛雷神).
As if something was pulling me, my body moved sideways in the air. The muscle monster’s huge fist barely missed me. I didn’t miss the opportunity. I slashed the monster from its head to its toes.
“Ggrrrrrrrrrrr!!”
The monster roared and swung its arm at me. I quickly retreated.
‘It doesn’t have a heart? Is it on the right side instead of the left?’
It wasn’t strange since there were people whose hearts were on the right side. I adjusted my sword and was about to dash forward when the monster grabbed a nearby car and threw it at me.
I didn’t stop running. I lowered my upper body and lowered my sword.
Crack crack crack crack!
The sword scraped against the asphalt, creating sparks. The car flew over my head. The muscle monster reached out both hands towards me.
I dodged the large hands and passed by the monster’s side. I ignored friction and inertia with Flying Thunder God and sharply changed direction, taking the monster’s rear. The monster tried to turn around quickly. It was too late. Before its body could fully turn, my sword was falling on its shoulder.
Thunder Sky Style (雷天流) Thunder Light (雷光).
The silver sword became a blue thunder light and slashed the monster’s upper body diagonally. The monster’s severed upper body slid down and fell to the ground. As expected, its heart was on the right side of its chest.
