Antisocial Chapter 31

Chapter 31. Waves

The sun had changed.

Seven months had passed since the zombie outbreak.

Seoul remained infested with the undead, and the number of survivors dwindled by the day.

As the survivors disappeared, so did the mutants—creatures that had developed unnatural strength and abilities. Do-kyung’s relentless hunting, day and night, seemed to play a role in their decline.

Expanding his range, Do-kyung took to long-distance hunting. He scoured the city, tracking down powerful mutants and eliminating them one by one.

Meanwhile, Bo-yeon’s drone played a crucial role in locating threats. If an area was eerily quiet—completely devoid of zombies—it was likely a mutant’s domain.

Zombies instinctively avoided the presence of powerful mutants. And so, using her drone, Bo-yeon searched for those ominous voids, marking the places where the real monsters lurked.

“Heuk!”

Bo-yeon stared at the remote control screen and took a deep breath. Noticing her reaction, Do-kyung brought the car to a stop and turned to look at her.

“Ah, there’s a moon bear up ahead…!”

“…….”

Do-kyung’s face became pale. He started the car again.

“This isn’t Jirisan¹, so how can there be a Moon Bear²? Did it escape from a farm that illegally raised bears?”

A moment later, the bear Bo-yeon had been talking about appeared.

“It’s crossing the road…!”

What should I do?

“I think we should just wait a moment until it crosses the road…”

The moon bear was classified as Natural Monument No. 329, a level 1 endangered species. If someone spotted one on the street, they were required to call 119.

But with nowhere to report it, they could only watch.

The massive black bear glanced at the parked car before leisurely crossing the road.

“Wow, it’s really big….”

Bo-yeon watched as the black bear disappeared into the mountain.

“There aren’t many zombies around here. Wild animals still roam these roads… There might be mutants nearby.”

She scanned her surroundings carefully, but the drone’s battery had died, forcing her to retrieve it.

They parked the car in an open area to recharge the drone and have lunch. The large SUV that had been trailing them at a careful distance pulled up and parked beside them.

“Okay, okay! Move quickly!”

Three slaves stepped out of the SUV, moving in perfect sync under the sharp-eyed command of Ji-won, who watched them like a hawk.

It had been two months since they’d begun long-distance hunting. The routine was second nature by now. Without hesitation, they unloaded camping gear from the trunk and set up camp with practiced efficiency.

They spread out a tarp and insulation on the ground, pitched a tent, and unfolded camping chairs.

They also set up a solar panel to charge the power bank. Along with kerosene, they lit a fire in the fireplace—supplies they had scavenged from department stores and camping supply shops.

The pot of fish cake skewers on the kerosene stove began to boil, blurring the line between survival and a casual camping trip.

The car frequently stopped and started, forced to maneuver around obstacles and zombies blocking the road. Since Bo-yeon had to keep her eyes on the remote control screen, motion sickness was inevitable.

Besides, 1 to 3 p.m. was the best time to charge their solar panels, so they always took a break around this time to have lunch.

With the three of them handling all the work, Bo-yeon felt uneasy. It wasn’t that she didn’t consider helping—she did.

‘Are slaves useless?’

‘…..’

‘Should I get rid of them and find new ones?’

‘Oh, no….’

However, she knew it wasn’t the right choice, so she simply watched.

As she observed, they resembled prisoners sentenced to reeducation through labor—yet, it didn’t seem entirely bad. By following Do-kyung on his hunts, they at least had protection and a steady supply of food.

“What’s that?”

Bo-yeon asked, eyeing an iron box she hadn’t seen before. It was tightly sealed, resembling a toolbox.

“Huh! Don’t touch it. That box contains a mutant!”

Hyun-seop immediately glanced at Do-kyung’s expression.

Among the three, Hyun-seop was the only one without immunity. Naturally distrustful, he constantly felt a sense of unease, always aware of the danger surrounding them.

From past experience, she knew what that iron box contained—a mutant, no larger than a child, with its limbs severed and its jaw muscles cut to prevent it from biting.

Hyun-seop was such a skilled fighter that Bo-yeon was confident he could hold his own against anyone except Do-kyung.

He was also excellent at capturing zombies. He had caught a weak mutant wandering around Seoul; while its range of deterrence wasn’t wide, he still kept it as a form of insurance.

Hyun-seop carefully managed the mutant—nothing more than a hunk of flesh—ensuring it couldn’t regenerate.

He tied it up securely to prevent any escape, but if Bo-yeon were to be harmed, Hyun-seop knew he would be as good as dead.

“Moon Bo-yeon. Come here.”

Do-kyung called her over with a gesture, as though summoning a dog.

“……”

Bo-yeon sat down beside Do-kyung.

It was early February and bitterly cold, but the tent’s roof was down, and the stove was running. The long camping chair had a carbon mat powered by a spare battery, keeping her seat warm.

“I heated it at a 45-degree angle for 8 minutes! You can eat it right away!”

Ji-won offered two combat rations, warmed with a heat pack, to Do-kyung. He handed one of them to Bo-yeon.

What she didn’t know was that the trio considered physical contact with her a kind of taboo.

Each person was also handed a paper cup with hot fish cake skewers, topped with green onions.

There hadn’t been much of a harvest from the farm yet. However, green onions were common and easy to grow, making them a popular choice. They had even found green onion roots buried in the flower beds around Seoul.

Green onions were a plant that grew easily if you simply planted the roots, so they had managed to grow them successfully.

Bo-yeon asked Hyun-seop as she slurped down the fish cake soup,
“How did you come up with the idea of carrying around a mutant’s body?”

“That’s something we used back in the refugee camp where I stayed.”

“…They were bringing mutants into the refugee housing area?”

Bo-yeon was startled, having never heard of such a thing. Hyun-seop nodded nonchalantly and explained in a polite tone.

“Refugees who lost their homes and belongings are ostracized by those who suffered less. They’re poor, dirty, and violent. People look at them like they’re thieves.”

The penniless refugees were pushed into the housing area near the defense line, a place known as the refugee camp.

“The refugee camps set up in buildings that can act as defensive walls, like large stadiums or auditoriums, are relatively better. There are others where they just pitch a bunch of large tents in the open air, cramming dozens of people into each one. They’ll starve, get beaten to death, and now they’ll freeze. But the soldiers don’t care.”

It was nothing more than the bare minimum of management.

“They’re too lazy to waste their defense resources on refugees, so they caught a few mutants and locked them in the center. That way, they can block zombies much more easily. But if the stronger ones come, the mutants won’t be enough to stop them.”

“But if the mutants are released, the damage will be even worse…”

“Then they’ll just be happy that the number of refugees has decreased. There’s even a conspiracy theory that the government is deliberately releasing mutants to reduce the refugee population.”

“…….”

It wasn’t easy to keep all those people fed—it felt like pouring water into a bottomless pit. The situation was so dire that it was hard to describe.

“If you go a little further from here, you’ll come across a refugee camp. The closer you get to the zombie defense line, the more the slums spread. Once you see them, you’ll understand the situation completely.”

They had been hunting lower and lower, now nearing the defense line. Bo-yeon’s heart raced as she thought about the possibility of stopping by the refugee camp to search for her uncle.

Would he still be alive and well?

The fish cake soup, with green leeks floating in it, and the warmth that filled her even in the middle of winter, felt like an undeserved luxury.

Bo-yeon felt a wave of nausea, but she forced herself to finish her meal, leaving nothing behind.