---

We wandered around for quite a while but couldn’t find any traces of survivors. Whether it was because the hot day made people invisible, or they had adapted so well to the apocalypse that they were camouflaged, or everyone had just become harder to kill—I couldn’t tell.

Instead, we occasionally saw signs of zombies.

In one shopping district, Park Yang-gun frowned deeply and pointed at the ground.

“That looks like zombie poop. Seems like zombies live around here.”

There were traces of feces on the ground. It was disgusting.

People seemed to gag and instinctively stepped back. I did the same. No matter how armed we were with firearms, I still hated filth.

I adjusted my mask to block the smell as much as possible and looked around.

“Is there no chance it’s from a human?”

The sewer system had stopped functioning properly. There was no water to begin with. That meant no toilets.

Could a survivor have left their waste on the street?

“Hard to say. A human would probably use a plastic bag for hygiene reasons.”

“Maybe it’s a zombie pretending to be human.”

I wasn’t sure, but it seemed like when humans track animals, they check for feces. Maybe they were using that in reverse? To make it look like a zombie territory.

If it was a lone survivor, they might go that far to camouflage. And if they could pull that off, it meant they were living well.

Just as I was voicing my suspicions, Sajihyeok suddenly jumped and let out a scream, pointing his gun at a building.

“Someone’s watching us!”

Without waiting, he pulled the trigger. The gunshot echoed loudly, flames burst from the muzzle, and bullets sprayed out.

“What the hell! Why are you shooting like that?”

“Take cover!”

We quickly ducked and ran behind Sajihyeok, afraid of getting hit by his stray bullets.

Sajihyeok hadn’t even properly shouldered his gun. He held it awkwardly, and the recoil made it shake wildly.

Bullets scattered everywhere, leaving marks all over the building. The windows, which were still intact, shattered. Bullets grazed the rooftop and flew into the sky, sometimes hitting nearby utility poles.

If this were a shooting range, he’d have easily hit ten targets. His spread was wider than a shotgun.

‘What the hell is he doing?’

I thought about stopping him, but I might get shot, so I hid behind a nearby car and scanned the building.

Then, I saw the shadow of the person Sajihyeok had spotted.

“…A zombie?”

There was a shadow of a person peeking out from a window.

I couldn’t tell if it was a zombie or a human. Their eyes were wide open, bloodshot, but no drool was dripping from their unmasked mouth.

The mysterious figure stared down at Sajihyeok, let out a short scream, and ducked.

“Keeek!”

“Look, look! It’s a zombie! Shoot it!”

Sajihyeok kept pulling the trigger and shouting. By then, his magazine was empty.

“Why isn’t it firing? Did I run out?”

“Please stop.”

I facepalmed. I had no idea what he was doing. He didn’t even manage to kill it and just wasted a precious magazine.

‘Ammo is hard to come by.’

In a world where a single bullet is worth more than gold, this kind of waste is unacceptable.

Click, click. The sound of Sajihyeok fumbling with his gun reached us. We peeked out from our hiding spots.

“Is it over?”

“Did you shoot it all?”

No one scolded Sajihyeok. They just stared at him with tired eyes.

Instead, they turned to me and pointed at the window where the shadow had been.

“Should we go in?”

“Let’s go.”

I reluctantly slung the heavy machine gun over my shoulder and stepped forward. If it’s a zombie, it’s a variant that doesn’t drool. If it’s a human, they’re a master of disguise. Either way, it’s worth checking out.

***

We moved along the less dirty road, avoiding the feces. We formed a formation, keeping an eye on our surroundings, and Park Yang-gun led the way, breaking open doors.

We reached the upper floor of a building.

Below the window, the creature we had seen earlier was crouched, baring its teeth at us.

“Keeek!”

A rough but weak scream.

And its broken legs. I quietly looked down at its lower body. The wounds on both legs were severe. There were scabs, decay, and maggots crawling around.

Jeondohyeong quietly pulled out a hand axe from his belt but then put it back.

“It’s a zombie, right? Did it get abandoned because of its injured legs?”

“Probably.”

The crouched zombie waved its arms at us but then gave up, panting heavily. It seemed dehydrated. Its mouth was dry, and there was no drool.

I stared at the zombie for a moment, then slowly turned my head to look around the building, which must have once been a zombie den.

A restaurant. The fridge in the kitchen was wide open, and so was the one for drinks. There was nothing inside.

Instead, the floor was littered with food wrappers, bones, and cans.

‘There are no corpses.’

This meant the zombies weren’t dead. They had moved somewhere. And the place they moved to… A thought I had overlooked crossed my mind.

Power outage. Water cut off.

Humans can’t survive without water for three days. Maybe the zombies that stayed in the shopping district moved to find water. Buildings with functioning water systems, water tanks with remaining water, or areas near flowing rivers.

‘If this goes wrong, could a plague spread through the water?’

Just as that thought crossed my mind, the mercenaries who had been skillfully searching the building returned.

“There’s nothing left. They cleaned it out completely.”

“We might be able to sell the TVs and some equipment to the Alliance.”

The mercenaries, returning empty-handed, turned their attention to the zombie. The zombie with injured legs was weakly panting. If it regained some strength, it would try to attack us again with its hands.

“Keeek.”

“How should we handle this? It’s a waste of bullets.”

Well, do we really need to kill it ourselves? If we leave it alone, it’ll die.

Then, Jeondohyeok sighed and approached Sajihyeok.

“Let’s do some shooting practice now.”

“Now? Oh, with that zombie?”

There were a few magazines left. Sajihyeok awkwardly pulled out a new magazine and froze.

“Isn’t this too hard for a beginner? It’s still alive. Wouldn’t it be better to practice on targets?”

“That’s why we’re doing it now. Before you accidentally shoot someone else. First, learn to shoulder the gun properly, no, reload first.”

“Ah, you mean reloading.”

I stepped back. There was no reason to stop him or stay here.

The mercenaries also quickly ran away. They went outside the restaurant, pretending to search other stores.

I also went outside the restaurant. The sound of Jeondohyeok and Sajihyeok talking and fumbling with the gun came from behind. Changing magazines, shouldering the gun, checking the bolt…

Finally, a few short gunshots rang out.

***

After Sajihyeok finished his shooting practice and came out of the building, I led them somewhere.

“Let’s head to the water. The answer is in the water.”

It sounded random, but the companions quickly grasped the essence. Park Yang-gun was the first to widen his eyes and nod.

“Right. We can’t live without water. We were going to the river to get water anyway.”

Exactly. There was no need to wander around looking for survivors. We could just wait where survivors would come and pillage them. Like setting a trap to catch fish.

Sajihyeok, excitedly shouldering his rifle and looking around through the sights, said, “The scavengers manage the area upstream of the general hospital, so we should go above or below their territory.”

“Map.”

At my word, a mercenary quickly pulled out a map and unfolded it. Then, he took the lead.

“There’s a river nearby.”

“Then let’s head to the river and wait there. And, let’s assess the situation.”

The river. Water. A necessary resource for survival.

Perhaps an unknown ecosystem had formed along the water. Zombies, and maybe even survivors.

If the humans gathered around the river were easy targets, we could pillage them regularly. This is the real efficient way to pillage. Instead of aimlessly wandering and hunting, setting up ambushes or traps in good locations is less exhausting.

“Mr. Sajihyeok. Stop fiddling with the gun and use your head.”

“My head? There’s nothing to scam, is there?”

Sajihyeok let the gun hang and looked at me curiously. I nodded.

“Water. The river. Can’t we plan a business to exploit people with this? My idea is to periodically patrol the river and pillage. Please refine it a bit more.”

“Wow. Thinking of doing business with water. …In a world like this, water is indeed precious.”

Sajihyeok’s eyes sparkled as he slung the rifle strap over his body. He wiggled his fingers as if calculating something.

A muttering close to a soliloquy flowed out.

“Water… fish? No. Land? Multi-level? No. In a world like this, more blatantly? Business?”

He seemed deep in thought. I looked at Sajihyeok with trust and grinned. Honestly, even if he’s not good with his body, isn’t Sajihyeok an expert in this field?

 

---