Chapter 46
After a fierce battle against countless mutant zombies, the vanguard led by Jung Dong-gun managed to secure a location along the route to Pohang.
“We somehow made it to the crossroads, but… it’s worse than I expected.”
They succeeded in securing the area near Yeongilman-daero, the most crucial intersection for conquering Pohang. If they could secure this intersection completely, they would have cleared a safe path for the expedition team to reach Pohang.
If they secured the intersection ahead, going straight down Gunpo Industrial Road would lead directly to Pohang Steelworks. Crossing Yeongilman-daero would lead towards Hyeongsan River and Pohang Airport.
Thinking this through, Jung Dong-gun raised his binoculars and began scouting the area around the intersection himself.
“Is this… really Pohang? Wasn’t this city supposed to be bigger than ours?”
“This has to be Pohang. Even the map app indicates that Gunpo Industrial Road here leads towards Pohang.”
Although Jung Dong-gun shared his subordinate’s disbelief, the application on his smartphone confirmed that this place was indeed Pohang, leaving him no choice but to believe it.
However, as if troubled, his eyes began to tremble slightly, unable to pull away from the binoculars.
For at the intersection at Gunpo Industrial Road, the gateway to Pohang…
“What are those webs?”
All the routes leading to Pohang were blocked by countless webs.
To prepare for any unforeseen threats, Jung Dong-gun and his subordinates refrained from approaching. But upon seeing those webs, Jung Dong-gun sensed a deep foreboding.
‘Could it be… a new mutant has appeared?’
As if aligning with the fears of Bahamut, he couldn’t suppress the growing unease that perhaps a new mutant had emerged in Pohang.
However, as their commander, he couldn’t show signs of unease, as it might instill fear in the soldiers following him. He feigned composure and spoke calmly, as though there was no issue at hand.
“I don’t know. But right now, we have a job to do. Let’s scout a base where the expedition team can stay.”
“Yes, sir.”
Though he wanted to investigate those webs and gather news from inside Pohang immediately, Jung Dong-gun held back his troubled thoughts and resolved to carry out his duty as the vanguard.
As the vanguard, it was their responsibility to secure a safe area where the future expedition team could rest, so Jung Dong-gun instructed his men to secure a safe base.
With practiced ease, they began scouting the area or scanning with binoculars simultaneously.
“…By the way, the Pohang community posted that there’s a survivor camp in one of the buildings near Gunpo Industrial Road. Did you find any camps?”
“We’re still searching. But given the suspicious webs around here, isn’t it possible that the survivors around here already fell victim to whatever made those webs?”
“Perhaps.”
While searching for a safe area, they also started looking for any local collaborators within Pohang.
Mentioning the survivor camp he’d learned about on the internet, Jung Dong-gun asked his subordinate, who responded, noting the possibility of complete annihilation.
The subordinate based his suspicion on the strange webs they’d never seen in Gyeongju, hinting ominously that perhaps a new mutant had emerged in Pohang.
Jung Dong-gun nodded heavily, as though he couldn’t deny his subordinate’s words.
He himself couldn’t shake the feeling that those unknown webs were signs of a new mutant’s emergence.
“In the worst-case scenario… it’s possible all survivors around here were wiped out.”
“That’s… really the worst outcome.”
While bracing for the worst, they continued their search.
“We found them! Captain! Survivors! They’re alive! They’re really alive!”
“Understood.”
Fortunately, they managed to find survivors.
At the shout of a soldier proclaiming their survival, Jung Dong-gun gathered the scouts and headed towards the location where the survivors were.
“They’re truly alive.”
Though most of the survivors were in a weakened state, they were still alive.
Jung Dong-gun found one survivor who could speak and approached a woman who seemed to have some strength left, then spoke to her.
“Are you alright?”
“W-Who are you?”
“We are…”
However, when Jung Dong-gun approached and asked, the woman looked at him and his men with a fearful expression.
The woman, voice trembling, asked Jung Dong-gun who he was.
‘This isn’t Gyeongju. And publicly, the reputation of the Balhut Cult isn’t that great.’
If this were Gyeongju, he would have introduced himself proudly as a member of the Balhut Cult.
But this was Pohang, and outside of Gyeongju, the Balhut Cult didn’t hold a favorable reputation.
Most of the South Korean community viewed the Balhut Cult as a doomsday cult exploiting the apocalypse to amass power, and even if they claimed not to be a cult, no one believed them.
Thus, Jung Dong-gun momentarily pondered how to introduce himself.
“We’re soldiers from Gyeongju.”
“S-Soldiers!?”
He introduced themselves as soldiers from Gyeongju.
It wasn’t entirely a lie.
Jung Dong-gun and his subordinates were elite soldiers selected by the Balhut Cult, and they operated under strict military structure.
On top of that, they were dressed uniformly in impressive attire, wearing protective gear, and carrying standard-issue firearms, looking every bit like soldiers.
The woman couldn’t help but mistake them for soldiers sent to save Pohang.
“Well… did you come to save Pohang?”
“Yes. We’re here to subdue it and rescue the people living there.”
Seeing Jung Dong-gun and his troops, the woman was too overwhelmed to doubt his words. She mistook Jung Dong-gun and his men as a military force sent by the South Korean government to save Pohang.
Of course, her assumption wasn’t entirely incorrect.
It was indeed true that Jung Dong-gun and his subordinates had come to subdue Pohang and save the citizens there. They were also technically Gyeongju’s military. If the fact that their allegiance was not to South Korea but to the Balhut Cult was set aside, everything Jung Dong-gun had said was true.
“Oh, dear God! There must still be a deity in the heavens! Finally! Finally, the army we have been waiting for has arrived!”
“…….”
Jung Dong-gun could not respond to the woman survivor’s desperate exclamation.
Could he tell this woman, who had waited solely with faith in the government’s military despite her weakened state, that this army belonged to the Balhut Cult and the god she sought was actually the Dragon God?
Jung Dong-gun was not so tactless, nor was he so heartless as to shatter her hope.
“Ugh!”
The subordinate listening quietly from behind felt the same way.
With a helpless expression, he couldn’t bring himself to reveal the name of their organization or the god they served to the female survivor, who was praising the now-defunct South Korean government and the god in heaven.
After she had passionately praised the deity and government for quite a while, Jung Dong-gun steeled himself.
“Being able to save you all might also be due to divine guidance.”
“Yes! Truly, it is divine guidance!”
He responded appropriately.
Since their journey to Pohang was indeed on the command of the Dragon God Bahamut, it wasn’t far from the truth, was it?
Given her weakened mental state, she would likely calm down soon if they took her to a safe place and let her clear her mind.
What mattered more to Jung Dong-gun right now was the reason behind establishing a survivor camp here.
“So, what happened that left you in such a weakened state?”
“Well, it… it was the spiders! Yes, spiders!”
“Spiders? Please calm down. You’re safe here. Explain to us slowly.”
At Jung Dong-gun’s question, the woman exclaimed, almost delirious, about spiders. Thinking further explanation was needed, Jung Dong-gun helped calm her.
Taking out an emergency chocolate from his bulletproof vest pocket, he handed it to the female survivor. After unwrapping and eating it, she finally appeared to calm down.
Then, in a steady voice, she began to explain what had happened in Pohang.
“There were three survivor camps in Pohang. One was led by Seo Un-jae on the Hyeongsan River, another by Professor Ha Jin-woo on the Pohang University campus, and finally, the Marines. We used to be part of a large camp centered around Baek Seol-hwa at Pohang Airport, but we fled after that camp failed.”
‘This is similar to how we’re divided into Northern and Southern Gyeongju. Three forces… or perhaps four if what she said had come to pass.’
Pohang was currently divided into three major camps.
There was a camp established across the Hyeongsan River, another on the university campus, and lastly, the Marines.
Initially, they had tried to set up a large camp at Pohang Airport, but it had failed, suggesting there were more survivors within Pohang than expected.
The separation of the large camps reminded Jung Dong-gun of Northern and Southern Gyeongju.
“But despite belonging to different groups, we cooperated. We awakened those who could fight and fought bravely to reclaim Pohang. Whenever we attacked, the other camps or the Marines would respond.”
“So, you’re saying that Pohang as a whole has been waging war against the zombies?”
“Yes. We all joined forces to reclaim Pohang, and we truly believed we could achieve that.”
The difference here was that Pohang still had a common enemy in the zombies.
The presence of zombies united Pohang, allowing them to continue the war without the kind of division seen between Northern and Southern Gyeongju.
The people of Pohang had vowed to reclaim their city from the zombies, regardless of faction, and were even seeing some success.
“But given your current state… it seems Pohang hasn’t been fully reclaimed yet.”
“Yes. It’s embarrassing, but we, like the other major camps, tried to form a large camp centered around Pohang Airport. Using it as a base, we planned to reclaim Pohang alongside the three major camps. Unfortunately, the camp failed before it could even be established.”
“What do you mean by failed?”
“A zombie stronger than any mutant zombie appeared. No… can we even call that thing a zombie? It turned Seol-hwa, the strongest awakened in Pohang, to a bloody mess in an instant.”
Their presence here was proof of the failure to reclaim Pohang.
The female survivor explained that they had attempted to establish a large camp at Pohang Airport under the command of an awakened individual, similar to the other groups, but the attempt had failed before the camp could even form.
When Jung Dong-gun asked why, sensing her trauma, she trembled in fear whenever she recalled that being.
She recounted how it had effortlessly taken down Seol-hwa, the strongest awakened in Pohang.
“A powerful zombie… Could it be related to those webs?”
At Jung Dong-gun’s question, the female survivor nodded silently, confirming his suspicion.
“When Seol-hwa’s camp at Pohang Airport fell, we thought everything was doomed. So we abandoned our previous camp and came here, hoping to escape Pohang. But soon after, children and the elderly began dying, followed by young adults and, eventually, even the awakened ones. We managed to reach the intersection, but the tunnel ahead was blocked by zombies, so we couldn’t go any further.”
They had managed to escape to the intersection, evading the spiders, but found their path blocked by the zombie horde that Jung Dong-gun now encountered, preventing further escape.
“How have you managed to survive up until now?”
It was remarkable that they had lasted this long.
At Jung Dong-gun’s words, the female survivor shook her head sadly.
“We didn’t survive. Whenever we managed to scavenge supplies, we were taken. One by one, captured by the new type of zombie.”
“Wait a minute. Captured? Are you saying that zombie took people as prisoners instead of turning them into zombies?”
Apparently, they had been taken as prisoners.
At the female survivor’s mention that zombies had taken survivors as prisoners, Jung Dong-gun looked at her with a stunned expression.
With genuine fear, her voice trembling, the woman began to explain.
“Yes. When we tried to rescue them, that creature had wrapped the captured people in webs, turning them into cocoons. We couldn’t even bring ourselves to touch those cocoons, so we abandoned the rescue and fled.”
“Good grief… at this point, that’s not even a zombie. It’s an alien.”
“Indeed.”
Jung Dong-gun agreed with his subordinate’s lament.
At this point, that wasn’t a zombie anymore; it might as well be an alien. He thought so, too, as it behaved entirely differently from typical zombies.
Could it even be called a zombie anymore?
Jung Dong-gun now understood the survivor’s words.
Even from her description, it was hard to consider that thing a zombie.
—
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