“This is Guard Post One. It’s also the very first guard post my brother built.”
“The position really is excellent. You can see the road and the whole village from here. Is that Gahyeon-ri?”
Guided by Junhyeok, Yoon Seolhee had arrived at the guard post adjoining the secret passage on the industrial road side. She asked while looking down at the village visible in the distance.
“No. That’s Samjeong-ri. Maybe about a hundred households? Gahyeon-ri is that way. The lower village.”
“Ah....”
There were certainly quite a few villas and mansions three stories or higher, along with buildings that looked like factories or warehouses, so it felt more developed.
“My brother built it here because it lets us properly watch the industrial road and the lower village of Gahyeon-ri.”
“He has an incredible eye for terrain.”
“You can’t really see this place from the road, right?”
When Kim Jimin, who had co with them, asked, Junhyeok nodded.
“No. We camouflaged it properly too, so unless soone looks extrely closely with binoculars, they won’t spot it.”
“But from here, you can see clearly even with the naked eye, and using that makes it even more certain?”
“That’s right.”
When Yoon Seolhee pointed at the screen of the high-performance PTZ cara installed in the guard post, Junhyeok nodded.
Kim Jimin, who had been looking over the monitor screen, asked a question.
“The other monitor looks like regular CCTV. Where are these installed?”
There were two monitors in the guard post. One was dedicated to the PTZ cara, and the other showed a four-way CCTV split.
“There’s the secret passage toward the industrial road, and there’s a closed tunnel down at that corner, right? In front of those. The other two show the routes people can use to approach this guard post.”
“Whoa....”
“That’s perfect. And you said the turrets are linked to the caras?”
“Yes. There are three of them, with an effective range of about two hundred ters. One is for defending this guard post, and the other two are installed with firing angles on the tunnel and the industrial road side.”
“Wow! That’s seriously insane.”
“I see.”
Kim Jimin was openly shocked, while Yoon Seolhee only nodded calmly.
But she, too, was genuinely stunned.
At this level, it was military base standard—no, beyond that. Only the front-line fences had started actively introducing drones linked to CCTV over the past few years.
'All of this....'
Thinking of Junho, who had planned and executed all this, Yoon Seolhee inwardly clicked her tongue all over again.
She had already heard about his “precognitive dreams.”
But how many people could earn tens of billions of won in less than three years, then pour every last bit of it into building a shelter and preparing all these things without wasting a single coin?
And on top of that, he had personally gone all the way to Arica for tactical training and honed his combat skills.
“Then that’s....”
Just then, Kim Jimin pointed toward a corner of the guard post with eyes full of curiosity.
'Right. There were those too.'
Looking that way, Yoon Seolhee had no choice but to nod again in admiration.
“Yep. Those are our shelter’s pride and joy, the attack drones.”
Looking at the two drones standing by in one part of the guard post, Junhyeok proudly squared his shoulders.
The other guard posts had only turrets installed, but Guard Post One was the farthest from the shelter and the only one adjoining the road, so they had brought one G1 and one A1 drone here.
If anything happened nearby, the turrets and drones would buy ti until combat personnel arrived.
“But in my opinion, unless a few hundred people launch a surprise attack, I don’t think they could get through the drones and turrets.”
“Mm....”
Yoon Seolhee thought back to her Special Forces days and imagined a situation where she and her team back then had to seize this guard post.
Then she soon said to Junhyeok,
“It’s true. Even if one Special Forces team attacked this place, they would take fairly heavy losses. First, identifying the turret positions would be difficult, and those flying drones would be extrely troubleso.”
“And you can’t even hear them, can you? You’d have to know where the shots are coming from before you could do anything. This really is insane.”
“See? I knew it.”
Junhyeok’s shoulders rose even higher. Then he pointed at a building on the PTZ cara screen and continued.
“But the effective range of the turret installed above the tunnel reaches exactly this far. So today, we need to install a turret in this building.”
It was the villa that contained one of the safe houses Junho had made in the past.
Yoon Seolhee alternated between looking at the villa, the aerial map of the area, and the real-ti feed being sent by the reconnaissance drone currently in the sky, then said,
“We should install it so it can provide crossfire with the turret above the tunnel. Then, if a situation breaks out and we leave through the secret passage toward the industrial road and move like this....”
“Oh? A three-sided encirclent?”
“Yes. Whoever cos in front of the tunnel will be attacked from three directions.”
“Damn. You really are different, ma’am.”
“Not ma’am... whew. Anyway, let’s hurry.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
The three soon left the guard post and headed down to where they had left the utility cart waiting.
“I’m telling you, it’s true! When I was in high school, I skipped academy and went all the way to Gwangalli just to see Blossom....”
Junhyeok clicked his tongue at Baek Suho, who was practically spitting as he talked to the Blossom mbers.
“Suho. Suho. Man, quit talking nonsense and get ready to go. Want to tell Seulgi?”
“Gah!”
Baek Suho flinched in alarm, then soon grinned and said,
“Co on, man, you liked Blossom too. My sister probably knows that.”
“What man in the Republic of Korea didn’t like Blossom? Ah, wait. There is one. My brother.”
At Junhyeok’s words, the Blossom mbers, who had been giggling, opened their eyes wide.
“Really? Junho didn’t like us?”
“It’s not that he didn’t like you. He just wasn’t especially interested. And not only in Blossom. Weirdly enough, ever since school, he was never interested in celebrities.”
“Ah....”
Among the Blossom mbers, Yoo Jihye, who was still a minor because her birthday had not passed yet, nodded as if relieved and asked,
“But where did Junho go? When is he coming back?”
“He went pretty far away to work on sothing, but he’ll probably be back in a few days. Maybe even tomorrow.”
“Ah, so he must be doing sothing difficult again.”
“I’m worried....”
Rembering what Junho had done when he ca to the resort and what they had heard he had done in Deokso, the Blossom mbers looked pained, assuming he had gone off to risk his life in another fight.
But Junhyeok, sitting in the driver’s seat of the utility cart, gave a faint laugh.
“Not this ti, I don’t think. It’s not really a hard job, so he’s probably taking it easy. All right, we’re moving.”
The route leading down the lower Bukhan River and to Paldang Lake had already mostly been cleared.
So Junhyeok started the engine without worrying about his brother at all.
***
“Boss! Here! Look at this!”
Park Deokcheol, who had been repeatedly checking the surveillance drone feed while maintaining a guard posture, raised his voice.
“Hm?”
Junho, who had been helping with the cleanup after installing a relay on a streetlight on Bukhan River Bridge and setting a turret box beneath it, hurried over.
“...!?”
The mont Junho narrowed his eyes at the tablet screen, Akina’s voice ca through his earphones as if she had been waiting.
— Anomaly detected. Personnel presud to be human are approaching from the direction of Yangseo Tunnel Four on Bukhan River Bridge.
Sure enough, the screen showed a person just erging from the tunnel and running toward Bukhan River Bridge.
But.
“...Huh? What is this now?”
Gu Jeongmok, who had been looking at the tablet with him, widened his eyes and said to Junho,
“It looks like he’s being chased, doesn’t it?”
“It does.”
With his gaze sunken low, Junho examined the screen showing the pursuit.
About fifty ters behind the person who had co out of the tunnel first, five n were chasing him.
— All are ard. No firearms. Distance approximately four hundred thirty ters.
“What should we do?”
At Gu Jeongmok’s question, Junho looked at the bridge.
On the far side of the bridge, about twenty vehicles were standing in disarray, either crashed into one another or ramd into the railing or dian strip.
Because of that, the people on that side would not be able to see Junho’s group imdiately.
“Deokcheol. Mr. Song Gijun. Take the workers and head back the way we ca. Assistant Manager Gu, stand by to fire from behind that SUV.”
“Yes, sir!”
“Will you be all right? Wouldn’t it be better if I stayed with you too?”
Song Gijun, who was also responsible for the Gahyeon-ri search-and-elimination team, asked. Junho shook his head.
“No. Assistant Manager Gu and I are enough. And this... might be a little dangerous.”
“Ah... understood. Everyone, let’s go.”
Junho’s word “dangerous” clearly ant danger to them, not to him. Song Gijun imdiately accepted it and hurried back with the others in the direction they had co from.
“I’m ready.”
Junho nodded to Gu Jeongmok, who had rested his modified air rifle on the hood of the SUV, then said quietly,
“Akina. Lower the drone altitude a little and check the vehicles up ahead again with thermal imaging this ti.”
— Confird.
Junho opened the chest portion of his tactical vest and activated his tablet.
Soon, the surveillance drone feed played in real ti, showing the vehicles the man—so exhausted he was practically walking—was passing.
— Heat signatures confird. Two people are standing by inside a 2015 Orens van. Normal body temperature. Human.
“...I knew it.”
Junho muttered the line without realizing it.
There were around twenty vehicles on Bukhan River Bridge, but not a single zombie.
Of course, there was a high chance there were zombies inside the vehicles, but even the nearest car was more than two hundred ters from the spot where their group had been installing the relay, cara, and turret, so he had deliberately left them alone.
Unless they made a loud noise, the chances of the zombies noticing this side were low. And zombies inside cars on the opposite side of the bridge were more useful left alone as a “biological alarm.”
If soone ca running like that, the zombies inside the cars were certain to burst out.
But that had not happened.
Because.
“Classic thod. Been a long ti.”
Junho muttered under his breath, then passed the SUV where Gu Jeongmok was waiting to fire and said to him,
“Assistant Manager Gu. Keep the radio channel open. When I give the signal, fire imdiately. The code phrase will be... ‘There you are.’”
“What? Ah, yes.”
Gu Jeongmok wondered what he ant, but nodded for the mont.
Junho, holding his modified air rifle, headed toward the direction where the man and his pursuers were running from.
— Entering three hundred ters. High probability they have spotted Master Lee Junho.
“Yeah. I see them too.”
Seeing the man approaching from afar, Junho stopped in place as if surprised by him.
Then he looked back as if he did not know what to do, staged the appearance of soone flustered, and soon raised the air rifle in a point-shooting posture as if he had made up his mind, slowly moving forward.
— Entering two hundred ters. The pursuers have also confird Master Lee Junho.
“Please save ...! Help ...!”
Hearing the desperate cry of the fleeing man, Junho approached with his weapon raised and shouted,
“Don’t move! Co any closer and I’ll shoot!”
“D-don’t shoot! Please save ! Those bastards behind ... please!”
The man had already co within a hundred ters. The five pursuers behind him seed startled when they saw the air rifle in Junho’s hands and stopped in place.
The distance between them was roughly one hundred ten ters.
They were well within the modified air rifle’s effective range, and at this distance, Junho could hit them every ti.
Pang! Pang!
Junho deliberately missed.
He aid so the rounds struck the ground between the fleeing man and the pursuers.
“Aaagh!”
“A g-gun...!”
The scream belonged to the fleeing man, and the latter was the shout of one of the pursuers.
Then the n scurried back the way they had co, as if genuinely startled and frightened.
anwhile, the fugitive ca running in a panic until he was almost right in front of Junho.
“D-don’t shoot! Please save ! Please!”
“Co any closer and I’ll shoot! Stop!”
“Yes, yes! J-just don’t shoot!”
The man looked to be in his mid-to-late thirties, and his state was terrible.
He was soaked in sweat, and the clothes he wore were ragged.
He was carrying a short spear about a ter long with a kitchen knife attached to it, but to anyone’s eyes, he looked like a survivor who had barely managed to stay alive through all kinds of suffering in the apocalypse.
However.
“Put down the weapon and co this way slowly!”
“O-okay. Thank you so, so much for helping .”
As a regressor living through his second apocalypse, Junho could tell at a glance that the man approaching him with a frightened expression was not an “ordinary” survivor.
'No bag, and no backup weapon. And the dirt on those clothes and shoes.'
If soone had been wearing the sa clothes and shoes for a long ti, dirt and dust would never stick to them in that pattern.
Those were clearly marks that had been put there just now.
As if soone had wanted to make him look like a pitiful survivor who had suffered all kinds of hardship and run away from looters.
Why would they do that?
— The pursuing personnel have moved behind vehicles at the end of the bridge. They are in cover.
— The people inside the van have begun moving. Both are ard. One has a firearm.
Because they were all in the sa group, and their plan was probably to lure other survivors in this way, kill them, and strip them of everything.
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