Antisocial Chapter 2

Chapter 2. Threat

In just a few days, a lawless zone emerged where zombies and survivors mixed together. Various social media platforms were filled with warnings about the extreme changes survivors had made, as well as images of the city turning into a lawless zone. However, soon after, even the internet was completely cut off.

 

 

All means of contact with the outside world had disappeared. 

‘It’s very dangerous outside right now! Never come out! You must not come out!’ 

Bo-yeon clung to her aunt’s last voice. She had lost her parents at an early age, and her aunt had been like a mother to her. Her aunt also treated Bo-yeon, who had just become an adult, as if she were still a child.

Bo-yeon herself did not see herself as a responsible adult. She thought she had to wait because her aunt had told her to wait.

One month, two months, three months…

She waited quietly for three whole months.

But the bunker door never opened.

Aunt, Uncle, Hae-in, Do-yoon, Soo-bin…

What happened to them all?

Are they alive…?

“……”

Bo-yeon looked as weak as a puppy that had been waiting for its owner in front of the door for a long time. Even her breathing was faint, and the sound of the air purifier running was the only noise in the bunker. As she listened to the whirring mechanical sound, the surroundings seemed to grow colder.

“Nhn, urk…! Hic, ha-uh…!”

She felt short of breath. Bo-yeon had suffered from childhood asthma, and although it had improved as she grew up, the symptoms sometimes resurfaced when she was stressed or going through emotional changes. Recently, it had gotten worse again.

Bo-yeon suddenly had an asthma attack and couldn’t breathe properly. She gasped for air, feeling her vision blur, and soon her eyes turned white. Eventually, she fainted.

“Haa….”

After a while, she regained consciousness. However, she worried that she might die from respiratory distress rather than becoming a zombie.

Suddenly, a powdered inhaler containing bronchodilators came to mind. There must have been a new one left at home.

Bo-yeon decided to go outside before her symptoms worsened. Fortunately, there were quite a few useful items in the bunker.

“Can I use this?”

Among the items in the bunker, the one Bo-yeon could handle the best and found easiest to use was a drone. She had been handling drones since she was young, thanks to her grandfather, a former research director at the Defense Acquisition Program Administration. He had been very interested in drone development.

She was skilled enough at piloting them that she had even been recommended to try out as a drone pilot.

The problem was that her grandfather had secretly kept a personal PCD (Portable Combat Drone) in the bunker.

“It’s a military drone…”

There was more than one. She was shocked when she found them.

The PCD didn’t have the typical drone shape but instead had a cylindrical form. Normally, the wings were hidden, so if someone didn’t know better, they might mistake it for something else.

The bottom of the cylinder could be equipped with various functional modules. It could carry explosives, or be used for combat support tasks such as surveillance, lighting, and smoke deployment.

Anyway, she wasn’t in a position to be picky. Bo-yeon approached the door with the drone.

She quickly devised a simple plan. It wasn’t anything elaborate—just quietly opening the door slightly and pushing the drone through the gap in the bookshelf.

The plan went surprisingly smoothly. Despite the mistake of hitting the door and making a sound, the house remained quiet.

“I-It’s done…”

Bo-yeon piloted the drone right in front of the first door. The screen of the controller connected to the drone showed the scenery inside the house.

There was nothing in the study, which had been her biggest concern. The other rooms were the same.

“……”

In the meantime, a lot of information about zombies had been posted on the internet. It was said that zombies had low intelligence and were sensitive to loud noises.

Bo-yeon’s house was in the city. Other sounds must have been heard everywhere, so it was unlikely that zombies had remained in her house for more than three months.

“There are no zombies left, so why aren’t they coming…”

Bo-yeon held back tears and looked around the house a little longer.

The house was damaged, as if zombies had caused a ruckus. There were also old bloodstains. However, the open drawers and cupboards were signs of human activity. Someone had stolen the food and items in the house.

And in this disaster situation, medicine was as precious as food. The portable inhaler and the living room drawer containing the medicine were also open.

“Ah…”

There was no inhaler. That meant she had to go to the nearest pharmacy to get one.

Feeling disheartened, Bo-yeon decided to look outside a little more. The combat drone, which had been developed to make almost no noise with the wings rotating, soared quietly into the sky.

“Humans…?”

The roads and buildings were damaged here and there. The figures she thought were people were standing stiffly like pieces of wood, not moving.

Bo-yeon, who had been cut off from outside information for a long time, had no idea what that phenomenon meant. She could only guess they were not moving to conserve energy.

However, she was greatly shocked to realize that all those countless people filling the roads were zombies. There were no humans left in Seoul. She wanted to believe they were all hiding.

As the combat drone approached, the zombies raised their heads and looked up at the sky after hearing the slight sound. Hundreds of pairs of red eyes with burst blood vessels stared at the screen. A commotion like waves arose.

The zombies stretched out their arms, groaning. If there was hell, it would look like that. Bo-yeon, who was watching the screen, got goosebumps.

Beepbeep!

 

 

After a while, Bo-yeon went outside to retrieve the drone. Squeak. Perhaps because she had just confirmed the dire situation outside, the sound of the bookshelf being pushed was particularly terrifying. It felt like opening the door and going out alone in the dark of dawn. Bo-yeon quickly reached out her hand.

“Huh…?”

The black combat boots next to the drone. She couldn’t even process what they meant.

Clang!

The cold sensation on her temple gave her goosebumps. It was a gun.

***

It was a coincidence that the man, who had been living in a nearby house, discovered Bo-yeon’s drone. However, he had seen the drone flying out of Bo-yeon’s house exactly, and he had enough knowledge to know that it was a combat drone.

He came into the house while Bo-yeon was checking the situation outside and traced the drone back to the study. He was able to avoid the drone’s surveillance by hiding behind the door for a moment.

It was good that he came looking because he was curious about who was using the military drone, but it was unexpected that it was a young woman.

He aimed his gun at Bo-yeon as soon as he saw her.

“I-I’ll do whatever you tell me to do… Please spare me…”

Bo-yeon was frightened and begged as if his gun would fire at any moment.

Fortunately or unfortunately, he soon realized Bo-yeon’s usefulness.

“If you’re not a woman… I don’t need you.”

“I-I’m of age… hic, I’m an adult, please…”

He didn’t kill Bo-yeon. In exchange for Bo-yeon being his ‘woman’.

The man became calm, as if he had never threatened people cruelly while holding a gun to them before. Bo-yeon, who had been trembling, unsure of when he would make a move, regained her composure as time passed.

It didn’t seem like anything would happen right away. So, it was time to think about how to get out of this situation.

The puppy-like, gentle eyes gradually shed their fear and became alert. Her eyes, which seemed to have the word ‘warning’ written on them, followed the man as he looked around the bunker.

It was clearly Bo-yeon’s house, but he walked around without any hesitation, as if it were his own.

The man was silent, and Bo-yeon had no intention of speaking first. The silence stretched on for a long time.

Time passed, and soon it was dinnertime.

When she was alone, she never thought she would get hungry even if she didn’t eat. But today, she felt hungry, having been exhausted all day. Also, food was very precious in a disaster situation. If she treated the man well, he might be useful in other ways.

“Hey… let’s… eat…?”

Bo-yeon mustered up her courage and spoke.

“I’ll… start… cooking…?”

“Are you a foreigner?”

The cold eyes stared at Bo-yeon. Since his expression didn’t change, she wasn’t sure if he was joking.

“No. I’m shocked…”

Bo-yeon quickly made excuses and brought out whatever food she could find. There were no fresh products, but there was plenty of convenience food. With a freezer and electricity, she could prepare something pretty decent just by heating it up.

The man sat down in front of Bo-yeon without saying a word. Then he took a spoonful of the frozen fried rice that Bo-yeon had stir-fried.

“……”

Bo-yeon suddenly felt strange. It was the first time she had eaten with another person since coming down to the bunker. It had been so long since she had met, talked to, and shared a meal with anyone.

He was a bad, scary person. However, he was still a person.

Bo-yeon kept glancing at him, her lips twitching as if she wanted to speak.

On the other hand, the man was just amazed by her innocence. Bo-yeon was definitely different from the other survivors in Seoul. It couldn’t just be because she had been hiding in the safe bunker for three months.