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The professor I respected said this: To prevent destruction, you must use equally ruthless methods. Of course, to survive the apocalypse, people must become ruthless.

I decided to follow that teaching.

To survive in an apocalypse where hope is hard to find, you need exceptional talent, luck, and willpower.

Since I was an aspiring scenario writer, I had no survival skills, and from the first day, I had such bad luck that I got caught by the police, so I had to force myself to develop a ruthless mindset.

‘It’s time to secure a temporary base somehow.’

I lifted my head after studying while wandering in a camping car. The camping car was becoming less efficient due to the traffic jams caused by continuous accidents.

Moreover, the roads and movement were becoming dangerous as more zombies started appearing.

It was time to find a temporary base. Nomads move to find grazing land for their livestock, right? It’s better to minimize outings and hold out in a safe building until resources run low.

Of course, that safe building was someone else’s house.

“Jeondohyeong, let’s raid a house.”

“…Which house?”

Jeondohyeong answered with a determined voice. After meeting the professor, he also seemed to be pondering something alone and had fully embraced the pillager’s spirit. No hesitation, no faltering.

“An old house. One with an old-style door lock.”

I quietly picked up the taser. A taser that can be used as an electric shocker if you remove the cartridge. When I pulled the trigger, a blue spark flashed.

“I heard that old-style door locks open if you shock them with electricity.”

“So where is such a house? Most door locks are probably new models these days.”

I closed my eyes. A building came to mind. The villa I used to live in, an old building without an elevator, worn-out stairs, and an old door lock.

It’s time to return to the place where I first killed someone.

“I’ll give you the address.”

Day 20 of the zombie outbreak.

With over 100,000 zombies and over 700,000 infected, I headed to the place where my life took a turn.

***

Of course, it wasn’t my house. If I went straight there, the skilled whistleblower next door would immediately report me to the police. It would be like the soapy murderer had returned.

I would return to my house after dealing with the whistleblower.

Instead, I chose the definitely empty house on the 3rd floor first. The house of the young couple I accidentally killed. The house right below mine.

Zzzzt-

The taser flashed. The old door lock couldn’t withstand the power of the great lightning. It simply opened the door quietly.

“….”

“….”

In the silence, the door creaked open.

The house where the young couple used to live now had a desolate atmosphere. It had been three weeks since anyone had touched it, so it was understandable.

The house was covered in dust like a carpet, as if the apocalypse had passed through once, with the newlywed couple’s photos covered in a layer of dust.

As we cautiously looked around the house, Jeondohyeong pointed at a photo and whispered softly.

“Are these people coming back? Although it seems empty….”

“Yeah. They can’t come back.”

How can dead people come back? If they did, I might have cried. A zombie apocalypse where corpses come back isn’t real, right?

“How do you know?”

“I killed them.”

“…What?”

Jeondohyeong, who had been quiet in someone else’s house, raised his voice. He took a few steps back from me and opened his eyes wide as if he had realized something.

“Don’t tell me… that time in the mountains, you killed someone…?”

“Sort of. It was a zombie.”

I dodged the question. Let’s just say it was a zombie. Since they died from the soapy water I sprayed to kill zombies, they must have been zombies, right? Like failing a test that only humans can pass means you’re not human?

Anyway, killing a few people is trivial in this world. Jeondohyeong, who had been fiddling with his mask like washing his face, sighed deeply.

“You’ve been going full throttle since the beginning of this crisis…”

“You have to do that to survive. Let’s check the resources first.”

A house where a couple lived. I don’t know how much food or other things there would be.

We searched the rooms and balcony, checking the resources step by step. A sack of rice, plenty of kimchi and side dishes in the fridge, some ramen, tuna, and spam canned food. There were also masks, probably prepared for yellow dust or pollen.

“Ugh!”

While searching, we also saw a rice cooker and soup pot covered in mold since they had been left unattended, but overall, it was okay. If we rationed, we could last half a month.

There was also a usable leather jacket.

At that point, we put down our heavy bags. The bags filled with various equipment clanged as they hit the floor. The first thing we took out was something that looked like a sprayer.

“Disinfect first.”

Splash, we sprayed disinfectant almost soaking the house. Then, we acted as if preparing for a disaster.

We stored as much water as possible, turned on the news, and made the items we had thought of during that time.

We cut the leather jacket we got from the house and nailed it to make something like a spiked dog collar. Using the zombie’s habit of biting necks, if they bite, they’ll bite the nails.

Next, we cut PET bottles and shaped them to make a hydroponic system for growing lettuce.

The news played in the background of our tedious work.

– I-virus detected in all 64 national sewage treatment plants….

“Did the diagnostic kit come out? Is the stock market rising?!”

Jeondohyeong, who had been cutting PET bottles with kitchen scissors, looked up, but no. The news said they used a detection method to culture the virus instead of a kit.

The world in chaos from an unimaginable disaster like the zombie outbreak continued to appear on the screen. Zombies, zombies, zombies….

Some elementary school student or internet broadcaster filmed a short video looking for zombies, human rights groups still active, citizen groups starting to feel the danger clashing, chaotic politics, diplomacy, and economic news.

Suddenly, the screen changed to a funeral home with screams.

People who died from various accidents, people killed by zombies, people who became zombies and died. With no place to store the bodies, they were scattered like trash in body bags.

And people afraid that the bereaved might suddenly turn into zombies.

“….”

“….”

We stopped cutting the PET bottles and just watched the screen.

It seemed like fear, distrust, and conflict were starting to spread through society. Of course, it was still insufficient.

‘Only 100,000 zombies have been counted. If each person has 10 family members, friends, and acquaintances, that’s 1 million people involved.’

1 million people opposed to killing zombies. Plus, people were afraid they might already be infected.

If I might become a zombie tomorrow, it’s hard to advocate for extreme measures. Maybe if more people start believing in the doomsday theory, the military will move.

Of course, the military is also in chaos….

– If 20% of the troops are lost, it’s considered annihilation. But there are already units where over 20% of the troops have become symptomatic.

The military being eroded by the virus. The military, living in a closed environment with collective living, feels especially severe.

“We’re really doomed….”

Jeondohyeong said in despair. I roughly said while fitting the cut PET bottles.

“The world has been said to end so many times.”

“I still can’t believe it. Is this possible? In this day and age?”

As if to deny Jeondohyeong’s doubts, a zombie’s cry was heard outside the window. Curious, I approached the window and saw a zombie wandering.

A passerby walking on the road saw the zombie from afar and naturally turned away.

‘…Can I use that zombie?’

I was lost in thought for a moment. It was an extension of the thoughts that started when I returned to this villa.

A villa building with 4 floors above ground, 1 basement floor, and 2 households on the 1st floor. Should I go in at night, kill all the residents, and take over the villa? Should I use the zombie?

Or should I somehow unite the villa residents into a group? Use them as farm workers at home?

Of course, the answer was one.

‘What group? They might be infected.’

Safety comes first. Just cleanly secure the resources. They’re not talents worth risking danger to recruit.

I put down the scissors and PET bottles and picked up my phone. I was choosing a noise to attract the zombie’s attention.

“Jeondohyeong, let’s use that zombie.”

“How?”

“We need to take over this villa. Let’s clear one more house first.”

I explained briefly, and so we left the house.

***

‘A man, around 30 years old?’

We observed the zombie from inside the wide-open building entrance. The zombie, wandering aimlessly, happened to pass by the entrance, and without any stimulation, it was like a dog wandering the streets.

I found a loud alarm sound and placed my finger on the play button.

“Ready?”

“I’m ready, but we only have one cartridge. Are we really using it here?”

Jeondohyeong, who had inserted the cartridge, shook the taser. The cartridge with the electrode needle is disposable. If we use it now, we’ll have to use it as just an electric shocker.

But I brushed it off.

“What’s there to save? If we run out, we can just raid the police again later.”

It’s enough to use as a master key.

I pressed the play button in one go and put on the leather gloves I stole from the couple’s house. Beep beep beep, an unpleasant alarm sound blared loudly.

“Grrr.”

The zombie passing by the entrance turned its head towards us. Its expression gradually distorted, and it crouched slightly as if about to pounce.

“Kyaaak!”

The zombie charged with its mouth wide open. And the moment it stepped on the stairs, Jeondohyeong fired the taser. Bang, the sound of a balloon popping, and zzzzt, the sound of electricity flowing.

That was it. The zombie fell with a thud.

“I’ll drag it, so you keep pulling the trigger.”

“Okay.”

I turned off the alarm sound with the volume control button and worried if the zombie’s teeth might have broken as I dragged it upstairs.

To the 4th floor where the college student who reported me lived. To the culprit who lived next door and reported me to the police, twisting my life from day one of the outbreak.

I held the zombie from behind and motioned to Jeondohyeong with my chin. Open the door now.

Jeondohyeong, though trembling, gritted his teeth and moved. He removed the electrode needle and retrieved the cartridge, then shocked the door lock.

Srrrt-

The door lock opened.

“Grruh, kkeek!”

I pushed the struggling zombie inside without even checking and immediately slammed the door shut. My heart was pounding. In the building where I accidentally killed someone, I finally killed someone by choice.

Not as an ordinary person caught up in an accident, dealing with moments as they came, but as an active pillager in the apocalypse.

I leaned my head against the entrance, just like the day I overheard my neighbor reporting me to the police.

I heard sounds.

Thud, the angry zombie smashing something. Aah, the woman’s scream, faint sounds of a lecture, probably from an online class. Thud thud, footsteps approaching the entrance.

“….”

I signaled to Jeondohyeong. Block the door. Use your weight to keep the door from opening.

Jeondohyeong, drenched in cold sweat, moved like a doll and leaned against the door next to me.

Bang! The door shook.

“Help! Someone call the police! Zombie! Aaah!”

I put all my strength into blocking the door, my joints stiffening. I bit my tongue to keep from laughing.

The past situation was reversed. Back then, I begged not to call the police, begged to open the door.

The door shook a few times, then silence fell.

Srrrt, the sound of someone falling. Crunch, the sound of chewing meat. I slowly moved away from the door. My body temperature, which had dropped from the cold entrance door, seemed to rise.

‘One cleared. Seven houses left?’

My house, the college student’s house, the couple’s house are now mine. If I handle the rest, one villa, the resources of 10 houses, will be in my hands.

I suddenly felt a sense of relief.

Day 20 of the zombie outbreak.

I had transformed from a passive human swept up in disaster to an active survivor, succeeded in revenge, and made progress in securing a base. Everything was going well.

 

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