Chapter 7
Shin Hae-jun, whom I saw for the first time in four years, was surprisingly the same.
As always, he was impeccably dressed, with his shirt buttoned up to the neck, a neat tie, a leather coat without a speck of dust, smooth leather gloves, a bulletproof vest covering his tight chest, and well-maintained combat boots.
He looked too neat for a soldier constantly running around in a post-apocalyptic world. It was a clear display of his obsessive-compulsive nature.
“Min Ahyeon.”
He spoke without lowering the hand extended towards me.
“You don’t even treat your boss because you’re a deserter now? I’m disappointed.”
His deep, baritone voice was clear and intense. Brimming with an authoritative tone, it cut sharply like leaves rustling in the wind. I let out a brief sigh and saluted him.
“Deserter Min Ahyeon, reporting to General Shin Hae-jun.”
“Hahaha!”
Shin Hae-jun laughed, narrowing one eye. He brushed his dark eye bags, heavy with fatigue, with his index finger and raised his smooth lips in a smirk.
“You’re still the same. Nothing’s changed.”
“I could say the same to you, General. You’re just as before. In an unpleasant way.”
“No need to add that last part.”
Shin Hae-jun tapped my shoulder and glanced at Yongcheol.
“How about getting in the car for now? The kids might wake up.”
“Y-Yes! Yes, of course!”
Poor Yongcheol. Under Shin Hae-jun’s command, he must have truly suffered to be trembling like a leaf years later. A truly pitiful man.
“Shall we get in the car too? It is night after all.”
Watching Shin Hae-jun nonchalantly try to lie, I let out a derisive laugh.
“What kind of remark is that from the person who just mowed down all the infected?”
“Ah, so you noticed my doing?”
The gunfire we heard while coming down the mountain.
It had a familiar pattern, but seeing Shin Hae-jun made me certain it was his handiwork. It’s extremely rare for someone to shoot so recklessly like a madman, after all.
“For you to still remember me after all this time since we parted ways, I’m honored.”
“Of course, I’d remember, as you were the one who trained me, General.”
Shin Hae-jun shrugged nonchalantly. I looked up at him once I confirmed Yongcheol and the kids were in the car.
“So, why did the great Brigadier General come to see me, a petty deserter?”
Shin Hae-jun didn’t reply. Instead, he tilted his head slightly to gaze at me intently. It was already twilight, and amidst the serene darkness, he refused to blend in with the shadows, unabashedly asserting his presence.
His weary skin, devoid of color, was pallid, with only the dark shadows under his eyes offering any semblance of hue. Yet, despite his tightly clenched jawline, his strength was evident, and the wide grin and chaotic gaze that pervaded his entire face didn’t make him appear pitiful.
“Anyway, there’s no need to be so guarded. I just came to see my dear subordinate after a long time.”
“Cut the crap, General. Since when did the General care about me?”
“Your language has gotten harsher. Is something wrong?”
Shin Hae-jun chuckled as he took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. As I thought about how many bullets that carton could buy… I glanced at him, as he offered me a cigarette.
“In case you’ve forgotten, I don’t smoke.”
“Ah.”
Withdrawing his hand, Shin Hae-jun let out a wry laugh and muttered.
“Was it Kim Yiwon who smoked?”
“…..”
The Kim Yiwon he mentioned was a sergeant under my command. Also, a comrade who died during border patrol in Paju four years ago.
The vivid memory of him being torn apart by a horde of infected still haunts me. I furrowed my brow deeply.
“General, if you don’t have a particular reason for seeking me out, I’ll take my leave. I have plenty to do.”
At my words, Shin Hae-jun stared at me intently, cigarette hanging from his lips. The shadows under his eyes and his pitch-black pupils bore into me relentlessly.
“Fine.”
“Now, I’m Min Ahyeon.”
“Sure, Ahyeon-ah.”
Shin Hae-jun flicked away the cigarette with a tap, exhaling a hazy plume of smoke. Through the dissipating haze, his face appeared closer, sharp and calculating eyes scanning me.
“Found your little brother yet?”
He smiled brightly and extended his hand once more.
“Isn’t it about time you did?”
Ah.
I really despise this bastard.
🕂
“They say the virus emerged as the glaciers melted.”
Those were the words spoken by Captain Kim Changgeon, my superior, four years ago.
“The Arctic explorers got infected first, and well, it spread worldwide after that. As you know, it’s not like you immediately show symptoms once infected. The infected people were walking around not realizing they had it, then suddenly turned and bit, tore, and tasted people. Fuck.”
As he said, the ‘zombie virus’ wasn’t the kind that immediately turned people into zombies, roaming around and eating others as portrayed in movies or books.
This damn virus lurked in the human body and manifested irregularly over time. So, the initial response was a mess. What kind of response can you make when you don’t even know who’s infected?
People who didn’t even know they were infected turned into carriers, losing their sanity and becoming hosts to bite, kill, and… Those who died would turn into carriers again. That’s how the world plunged into the path of destruction.
“In our position, we thought it would be okay since no Koreans were in the Arctic exploration team. But those damn Chinese bastards had to pull that shit… Ah, if only they hadn’t dropped those nukes!”
China’s population had swelled to 2 billion, and being the most populous nation, they produced the largest number of infected. Eventually, unable to cope with the infected, the Chinese government devised and executed a colossal plan to gather them in one place and drop a nuclear bomb on them.
When the mushroom cloud first soared into the sky, there seemed to be some hope. The majority of people believed it was fortunate that humanity could utilize the worst weapon ever created in time. That is, until the surviving infected emerged, soaked in radiation.
The infected only die if their head, meaning their brain, is destroyed. If their brains remain intact, they continue to crawl and move. The Chinese government knew this fact, but they naively believed that if they detonated a nuclear bomb, the radiation would dissolve their brains along with their bodies. That was their fatal mistake.
Some surviving infected wandered across the Chinese mainland, soaked in radiation. Eventually, the Chinese government decided to seal off all areas except for major cities. Can you believe all of this happened in less than a week?
While nuclear bombs exploded overhead, the number of infected skyrocketed, people died, and refugees streamed down… Amid this chaos, the South Korean government attempted to reach out to North Korea, but failed. Most of the refugees who tore down North Korea’s border fences were infected.
And so, North Korea collapsed. Next in line was us.
“Lieutenant Min! Take your unit and go to Paju immediately! Paju!”
“You, head to Cheorwon! Go! If we can’t stop this, we’re all dead!”
That’s how I headed to Paju. Thinking that if we could just guard the Paju borderline, if we could just stop the infected from pushing further south, then the peninsula-shaped South Korea would be safe.
But how arrogant and impudent it was to make such claims of “defending” without truly knowing the horror to come… I tried once more to erase the vivid atrocities of that day from my mind as I looked back at Shin Hae-jun.
“Why suddenly ask about my brother? You never showed any interest before.”
Shin Hae-jun, relighting his cigarette with a flick of his lighter, slightly raised an eyebrow. The flickering orange glow cast an eerie chill over half his face.
“I’ll help you find your brother.”
“Pardon?”
Taking a drag from his cigarette, Shin Hae-jun smirked and bent his knees to meet me at eye level.
“I’ll help you find him. Your brother.”
He placed a hand on my shoulder.
“So work with me again, just this once.”
🕂
Thank you for reading! ♡
