The Apocalypse Regressor's All-Purpose Shelter

“Guns? You’re only taking the airgun and the Glock?”

Junhyeok asked, worried even though his brother was the proverbial ox-slaughtering knife.

“Yeah. This is enough.”

The opponents had no firearms, so honestly, Junho thought even a knife would be enough, but he packed guns for the time being.

No, in truth, even if they did have firearms, he was confident he could take them out if he launched a night ambush.

But reckless arrogance was forbidden, so he was taking them.

“Hmm.”

Junhyeok stared quietly at his brother as Junho loaded light gear onto the multipurpose electric vehicle.

Junho had put a pistol and magazines into the pouches of his ballistic tactical vest, and two air tanks for the modified airgun were attached to the right side of his tactical belt.

That was the “standard armament” established through the experience they had built up during the apocalypse, meant for when combat team members went out into nearby areas such as their shelter’s safe zone, Gahyeon-ri, and Yeongho-ri.

The secondary weapon differed by person, with some choosing a pistol and others choosing a dagger, but when they patrolled within their territory, they generally went out with armament nearly identical to Junho’s current setup.

It might seem as though the number of air tanks was a little low, but the new modified airgun Baek Hail had recently made could adjust its air pressure across three stages.

Stage 1 had an effective range of about one hundred meters, Stage 2 reached one hundred fifty meters, and the final Stage 3 boasted a range of a full two hundred fifty meters.

Of course, it was possible to push beyond that, but the risk of problems developing in the barrel was high, so they set two hundred fifty meters as the limit.

In any case, the reason they had bothered to make it possible to adjust the air pressure and increase or decrease the effective range was simple.

It was to control how many rounds could be fired per air tank depending on the situation.

So when firing at Stage 1, it had become possible to shoot roughly fifty tungsten rounds from a single air tank.

Stage 3 could only fire around ten rounds, but the significance lay in the fact that medium-range sniping had become possible.

“But bro. Do we still have enough tungsten?”

In order to reliably kill zombies, Junho had chosen tungsten rounds as the shelter’s airgun ammunition instead of ordinary hunting pellets.

So, in order to manufacture ammunition directly in the shelter workshop, they had purchased a considerable amount of metal raw materials, including tungsten, and stacked them in storage.

But the amount of tungsten was still finite, and because they had been firing the airguns freely in order to conserve subsonic rounds, Junhyeok was a little worried.

“Tungsten? Well, we should still have over 1.5 tons left.”

“Oh, really? But won’t that be a little short? We have to use it for years from now on.”

At his younger brother’s concern, Junho gave a faint laugh and said,

“You don’t know how much one tungsten round weighs?”

“Uh...?”

“Two grams. Two grams. Exactly speaking, 1.7 grams. Then how many rounds do you think 1.5 tons of tungsten can make?”

“Whoa....”

“Even including everything we’ve used so far, it isn’t even tens of thousands of rounds. And that includes the rounds issued to the Gahyeon-ri search-and-extermination team and the ones we sent to Kangho Resort.”

The reason he had originally bought about two tons of tungsten and stocked it in storage was because he had assumed they would make roughly one million rounds.

Of course, Baek Hail had nearly fainted when he heard it, but in the apocalypse, tungsten was in as much demand as steel, so even he had accepted it.

“And besides.”

Junho took out his tablet and showed him the footage of the area near Cheondo Reservoir that had been scouted by drone earlier.

“See this?”

“Where? This factory? Is it a warehouse?”

“Yeah. Look closely at the sign.”

“Uh... Seongsin Metal? Ah! Don’t tell me?”

Junho grinned at Junhyeok, who had realized something.

“Exactly. Whatever it is, there’ll be metal raw materials piled up there.”

Moreover, judging from the fairly large scale of the warehouse, there was no doubt there would be a lot of both variety and quantity.

On top of that, about five hundred meters away from Cheondo Reservoir, “Seongsin Metal” was not the only thing there.

Around twenty other small and medium-sized company factories and warehouses had been built in a long line of prefabricated structures.

“Whether the Alpha moved somewhere with more prey, or everyone evacuated, there were no zombies and no people.”

“T-then....”

“Yeah. Everything there is ours.”

Unless people with the relevant technical knowledge gathered and formed a large group, ordinary survivors did not even glance at things like factories, warehouses, raw materials, and machinery.

Because of that, the small factory zone he had discovered while scouting around Cheondo Reservoir only showed signs that someone had rummaged through it looking for food, and most of what was inside remained intact.

And there were businesses with names like electronics, home tech, high-tech, construction, heating and cooling, ENG, and so on.

For Junho and their shelter, that place where companies handling metal, machinery, streetlights, digital door locks, and even CCTV had gathered was—

“Not quite gold... but it’s at least a silver goblin.”

***

Cheondo Reservoir was just barely within drone control range from the shelter.

To be exact, the middle of the reservoir was the limit of wireless and drone control range, and if one went about two hundred meters farther west or north, the signal cut off.

Because of that, for this job, the recon drone was supposed to hover over the middle of the reservoir, observe the overall situation, and relay it to Junho.

—Of all things, it’s raining. The wind’s pretty strong too.

“Tell me about it.”

The rainy season was still a long way off, yet once it passed five in the afternoon, a steady drizzle had begun to fall.

Of course, their shelter’s recon drone was a medium industrial model, so it could withstand most bad weather just fine.

—You’ve farmed a lot of other stuff from here and there, boss, but when it comes to drones, we only have ordinary leisure models.

But if they flew a modular assembly drone instead, its camera performance was inferior, and its flight time was less than thirty minutes.

Considering the trip from the shelter to there and back, they had to think of it as roughly twenty minutes.

As expected, the highest-grade industrial drone that could reliably hold the sky for almost fifty minutes was the best.

But because they had run it hard day and night for almost a year, except for the few they had left as emergency backups, it was starting to show signs of wearing down a little.

—Looks like we need to conserve them a bit.

“Yeah. I’m taking night vision goggles, so I don’t think we need a thermal camera on the drone too. Besides, we can’t risk it crashing. Just send the modular drone.”

If it crashed anywhere else, that would be one thing, but if it crashed into the reservoir, that would be the end of it.

It was somewhat disappointing, but since the wireless signal itself was already unstable in that area, there was no need to deploy their most expensive industrial drone while taking that risk.

—Yes, sir.

Two modular drones that could be used roughly without worrying too much flew out to replace the industrial drone that had been continuously watching Cheondo Reservoir.

Wiiiiiiing.

Junho drove the multipurpose electric vehicle to the border of the shelter’s safe zone, then got out of the vehicle and descended the mountain with Purdy.

The mountain was a nature preserve designated by Namyangju City, so even long before the world had become like this, almost no one had come in or out.

In other words, there was no path.

But whether there was a path or not was not much of a problem for either Purdy or Junho.

Although rain was falling, the highest-grade outdoor mid-tops he had bought from the specialized footwear outlet he had visited first during his month-long large-scale shopping spree in the past gave him firm traction.

And Junho, whose physical ability and reflexes alike had reached a point beyond human, could move down the mountain quickly and nimbly, like a wild animal.

In the end, Junho succeeded in breaking through four kilometers of rough mountain terrain in about two hours.

And from the dark forest, after the sun had fully set, he could look down over Cheondo Reservoir.

***

“Hey, are the shields done?”

“Roughly. But they’re kind of heavy. Will that be okay?”

“It’s fine. We’re not carrying them and running. We only need them when we’re in the boats. As long as they block arrows, that’s enough.”

“That much, they’ll do.”

Because none of them had washed properly, it was hard to tell their exact ages, but around ten men who looked to be roughly in their late twenties to forties turned on flashlights and swarmed toward the boats.

The appearances of the men installing improvised wooden shields on the bows and sides of the two boats were a little unusual.

Ordinary raiders wore protection over their stomachs and chests, and over areas like their arms and shoulders where zombies could easily bite them.

These men were each holding weapons, but they were wearing only light clothing.

Even considering that they might be keeping themselves light in case they fell into the reservoir, their clothing was too light.

Creeeak. Creak. Creeeak....

The men divided themselves into groups of five or six and climbed into the boats, then rowed toward the wavering light in the middle of the reservoir while murmuring to one another in low voices.

“You said there were five of them, right?”

“Yes. Three male brats and two girls. They all looked like high schoolers.”

“Keu, we’re going to get some nourishment tonight. They crawled in at exactly the right time.”

“Keke. Seriously. Things were getting kind of tight, but somehow they knew our situation and came right to us.”

On top of everything else, the rain had started falling at just the right time, making it perfect for a surprise attack.

And so the boats carrying the men, whose eyes gleamed with scorching desire, slowly advanced across the reservoir under the thin rain.

***

After arriving on the mountain surrounding Cheondo Reservoir, Junho first personally scouted several pensions, restaurants, and cafés located here and there along the road surrounding the reservoir in order to secure an entry route and a retreat route.

“This is strange....”

Junho muttered lowly as he came out of a café whose walls and signboard were covered all over with vines and moss.

This place was the same, but nearly every location he had scouted after arriving at the reservoir should have been operating right up until the infection incident began.

And yet there were strangely few traces of people having stayed there.

Considering how many people must have been in this area during the golden holiday in August, it was not just strange, but almost bizarre.

On top of that, the fact that not even a grain of rice had been left behind in the restaurants and cafés, without distinction, was also strange.

Of course, in the apocalypse, the fact that food had been looted was not strange at all.

But.

“If they cleaned everything out to this extent, there should still be a fair number of survivors here.”

That was precisely the problem.

Because he had already experienced the apocalypse once, and because he had even belonged to survivor groups ranging from five or six people to groups of dozens and hundreds, Junho was extremely sharp when it came to calculating the number of survivors in relation to food volume.

In other words, if the other pensions and restaurants he had not yet scouted personally were in the same state—

There should normally be at least one hundred survivors left around Cheondo Reservoir.

But from what they had observed by drone today, the only living survivors here were the high school students who had taken position on the floating platform, and the roughly twenty raiders who had targeted them.

“Did they all evacuate? No, that can’t be....”

There should have been at least four or five hundred tourists alone, and if the employees of the businesses operating near the reservoir and the residents of nearby villages were included, it probably would have exceeded one thousand people.

All those people either evacuated or were taken by zombies?

If that were the case, there should at least be traces of an Alpha.

No, normally, the Alpha should still be staying here with its slaves, driving survivors into its hunting ground and hunting three or four of them every month, as if opening a packed lunch.

But here at Cheondo Reservoir, as though it had become a ghost village, there were no traces of people having lived here for a long time.

Then, at a certain moment, “something” Junho had personally seen only once in the apocalypse before his regression surfaced in his mind.

“Don’t tell me....”

Just as his face was about to stiffen despite himself—

—Hostile targets beginning movement.

—Boss, there are eleven of them total. They’re heading toward the boats now.

At Akina and Yoon Youngsu’s reports, which came just then, Junho sharply lifted his head.

Because they were modular drones, they could not use thermal imaging, but ordinary low-light black-and-white night vision was available, so they could grasp the general situation.

“Got it. Keep watching and tell me what’s happening.”

—Confirmed.

—Yes, sir.

“Let’s go, Purdy.”

Woof.

Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap!

'I hope I’m wrong.'

Praying that the thought that had suddenly surfaced in his mind was mistaken, Junho cut through the pouring rain with Purdy and ran down the narrow road.

***

After arriving at the three-story pension he had scouted first, Junho went to the semicircular wooden deck laid out by the water so guests could enjoy the view of the reservoir, and set down the backpack he had been carrying.

Then he quickly took something out of it.

It was the underwater scooter that had proved extremely useful during the previous Nami Island operation.

“Purdy, put this on.”

After putting a dog life jacket on Purdy, Junho covered the backpack with a waterproof cover and slowly entered the reservoir.

—They just launched their boats and started rowing too!

Wiiiiiiing...!

Following Yoon Youngsu’s report, the underwater scooter operated beneath the water with a strong vibration.

Soon, thanks to the sound of rain pouring down on the water’s surface, Junho and Purdy were able to move quickly and stealthily toward the floating platform.

The distance from the waterside with the circular deck to the floating platform was only one hundred fifty meters.

Because of that, Junho and Purdy were able to reach the area directly beneath the floating platform in less than thirty seconds.

“How far have those bastards come?”

—About one hundred sixty meters. They’ve still got a ways to go before they arrive... huh!? Someone’s coming out?

Right after Yoon Youngsu’s surprised voice came through—

Kiiiiiiing...!

A loud, sharp noise rang out, and it was a sound Junho knew extremely well.

—Drone flight beginning at the target point.

—Boss! Looks like those kids noticed them?

Perhaps they were not simply kind and foolish after all, because the high school students on the floating platform had launched a drone.

“Hey, can you see?”

“Ah, hold on, I’m going now. Uh, I can see them. I can see them.”

At the same time, the voices of a young boy and girl could be heard, and the door of the one-room-style residence opened wide as the other kids came outside too.

“See? I told you those people would definitely come at night, didn’t I? Shit, what would we have done if we hadn’t been zooming all the way in on the phone and keeping watch?”

“Seungmin, Seunga. Are you ready?”

“Yeah. But it’s raining and dark, so we’ll only be able to shoot once they come a little closer.”

“Ah, seriously? Then this might get a little dangerous....”

“We don’t have many arrows left, thanks to someone with such a kind heart, so there’s nothing we can do. Honestly, you’re Jesus and Buddha reborn, aren’t you?”

“Oh Seunga, is that any way to talk to your own older brother....”

“Hey, hey, they’re almost here. Looks like less than one hundred meters.”

From the five high school students’ short and urgent conversation, Junho was able to learn many things.

First, the two boys and girls with considerable archery skill were siblings.

And.

'So there was a reason they survived this long on their own after all.'

They were smart enough that, after the raiders had come and gone by boat during the day, they had continued monitoring the direction they had come from using a phone camera without letting up.

That was right.

These teenage students from “Yeondeok High School” had not survived for ten months, just the five of them, and made it all the way here safely by mere luck.

They were outstanding survivors.