“One hour. No matter what, we have to finish every part of the job and get back within one hour.”

“One hour...?”

“Is that long, or short?”

The people gathered in the Gahyeon-ri village hall murmured quietly at Junho’s sudden briefing.

“It’s short if you call it short, and long if you call it long. Then let me explain why it’s one hour.”

Click.

The room darkened slightly, and the beam projector turned on.

“Huh?”

Everyone’s eyes widened.

On the screen were aerial maps filmed by drone, photographs of D-Mart taken from multiple angles, and neatly organized graphs.

“As you all know, the area around D-Mart is the most densely populated district in Moku-ri. According to my estimate, before the world became like this, there were around thirty thousand people within three hundred meters of the mart. Now, I estimate there are fewer than five thousand.”

“......!!!”

Everyone was shocked by the fact that not even twenty percent of the people were still alive, even though it had not yet been a full year since the world became like this.

They had vaguely guessed as much, but the outside really was hell.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean everyone except the survivors became zombies. They’re probably only two or three times the number of survivors.”

“T-then did all the rest die?”

At someone’s question, Junho nodded.

“Yes. The causes of death are mostly starvation and disease... and the thing you’re all imagining.”

“Ah....”

By “that,” he meant they had been eaten by zombies.

“Anyway, the survivors range from people alone, to groups of several, to groups of over a hundred. And one of those groups is currently occupying the mart.”

“You mean it has owners?”

Song Gijun asked, somewhat surprised. This was something he had not heard yet.

“Yes. The mart probably always had owners. They only changed again four days ago.”

“......!”

The startled people soon looked convinced.

In an apocalypse, it made no sense to leave a large discount store packed with food untouched.

“The group that occupied the mart four days ago has around thirty people. All of them are young, in their twenties or thirties. Their leader is this man.”

A zoomed-in image of a man’s face appeared, taken from high altitude.

“A man in his early to mid-thirties. I don’t know what he used to do, but....”

When the man’s photo disappeared, a video appeared instead, and after watching the thirty-second clip, everyone’s mouths fell open.

“I suspect he’s former military or police. Special forces, at that.”

***

The man in black in the video was truly good at fighting.

Using only a kitchen knife and a hatchet, he easily carved through the people who had originally occupied D-Mart.

Considering that his opponents were long-term survivors—and not easy opponents either, since they had fought and seized a large discount store—it showed just how strong the man in black was.

“Still, they don’t have guns, so we don’t need to worry too much about them. On top of that, that group has quite a few women.”

“Really? That’s strange. Is there some special reason... ah.”

When Song Gijun seemed to realize something mid-sentence, Junho nodded.

“Yes. Whether voluntarily or not, they seem to be serving that kind of role.”

“Mm!”

“Ahem, ahem.”

Awkward coughs came from here and there. There was only one “kind of role” young women would have in a place like that.

But Gahyeon-ri was the unusual case. Most other places were in situations similar to that group.

In a lawless world where tomorrow could not be guaranteed, the lives of young women had no choice but to become extreme.

“Anyway, that group is currently occupying the mart. Other survivors are hiding around the mart too, but they’re unlikely to target it for the time being. Zombies, however, are different.”

At that moment, dozens of small red dots appeared around the mart.

“The dots you see now are buildings with at least ten zombies inside. And this—”

About ten of those dots grew larger.

“—means numbers in the hundreds. Lastly... these are places with over five hundred.”

Pointing one by one with a thin pointer at the three largest and darkest red dots, Junho continued.

“All three of these places are controlled by Alphas. Anyway, this one here. The ones in the apartment complex about three hundred meters from the mart aren’t something we need to worry about much. It’s a complex with over a thousand households, so there’s still a lot of prey there. Unless something unusual happens, they won’t come toward the mart.”

The pointer passed over the large apartment complex closer to Moku-ri Station than D-Mart, then tapped a red dot by the roadside connected to the mart.

“We need to be careful of the ones here. This road is our entry and escape route. There’s a high chance we’ll encounter the ones in this area. And right here.”

The pointer stopped on a cluster of commercial buildings directly behind the mart.

“Some of you probably know where this is, right?”

“.......”

The people silently nodded.

The last place Junho pointed to was Moku-ri’s busiest central district and entertainment area.

There was a movie theater there, and many franchise restaurants, so even the residents of Gahyeon-ri had used it often.

“There are ten buildings in total, each eight stories or taller. They’re arranged in a squared-off U-shape. There are thousands of zombies in this area alone. This is the most dangerous place in the entire operation.”

“Hah....”

Everyone was startled enough that someone exhaled without realizing it.

“There are definitely more than one thousand zombies, and I estimate fewer than two thousand. They’re spread across each building. This building right here, in the center, has over five hundred.”

“An Alpha....”

“Yes. The Alpha lives in this building. Then are only the zombies in this building its slaves? No.”

Lines were drawn to the other buildings surrounding the central building where the Alpha was located.

“This bastard has dispersed its slaves. It placed the largest number in the building where it stays, and a smaller number in the other buildings. Then why did it do this?”

At that moment, another video appeared on the right side of the screen.

“This is footage the drone is filming live right now.”

At the word “live,” the people focused even harder.

“Compare it with the aerial map beside it.”

The split-screen live footage slowly moved across the area in question.

“It’s using the other buildings around the center like guard posts or forward bases. But from the roads outside this area, obviously, and even from the two-lane road inside, you can’t see the zombies inside the buildings at all.”

Sure enough, even on the live feed, that large area with ten buildings stood silent as a ghost town.

On top of that, because there had been no maintenance at all, roadside trees and all kinds of weeds had grown wild. Vines had crawled not only over the sidewalks, but up the walls as well.

It looked almost like a ruined city in the middle of a forest.

“In other words, because the situation is like this, survivors near this area might know, but people staying even a little farther away have no idea that thousands of Alpha-controlled zombies are hiding here.”

“Ah....”

“So the Alpha controlling this place is... hm?”

Junho narrowed his eyes mid-sentence.

Because two SUVs that looked like electric vehicles were slowly entering the area.

***

“Huh...!?”

“Th-that....”

The people stared at the screen with wide eyes.

Meanwhile, the vehicles fully entered the area and soon stopped. People began getting out.

Five survivors armed with crude protective gear and simple cold weapons.

Except for one person who stayed to guard the cars, they quickly spread out and began carrying items back to load into the vehicles.

“......?”

Several people watching tilted their heads.

According to what Junho had just said, that place was no different from a den of monsters.

But nothing was happening.

Had Junho possibly made a mistake...?

“Hah! L-look at that.”

The moment someone cried out urgently—

Dozens of zombies poured out of one building in an instant like a swarm of cockroaches.

“......!!!”

In front of everyone’s gaping eyes, the survivor guarding the cars shouted in panic.

Then the companions who had scattered to scavenge quickly ran back to the vehicles.

The five survivors succeeded in getting into the cars before the zombie horde came too close.

“Haa....”

“Thank god, thank god.”

Just as relieved voices flowed out, Junho said,

“Keep watching. You’ll understand why I said that place, and the thing controlling it, is the most dangerous.” 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

“......?”

Several people looked at him in confusion.

The two SUVs on the screen sped away, not toward the path they had entered from, but toward the opposite passage they had clearly identified in advance.

Judging by how bold and quick they were, without panicking at all, they seemed like people who had done the same thing many times before.

But—

“Hah?”

“Th-there!”

Only a few seconds after everyone had relaxed, pained exclamations burst out.

Because the opposite passage, which had been open when the survivors began scavenging, was now occupied by hundreds of zombies.

And they had not simply blocked it stupidly with their bodies.

The cars along the roadside had looked abandoned in disorder, but with enough space left for two or three vehicles to pass through.

The zombies had pushed those cars into place to block the road.

The survivors’ SUVs hurriedly tried to turn back, but it was useless.

Because the zombies had blocked the passage they had entered from in the same way.

Even then, the survivors did not give up.

They drove back and forth like mad through the narrow, short road, ramming zombies with the cars and trying desperately to find a way out.

But as the zombies kept pushing vehicles from both sides and narrowing the gap, they were eventually trapped like rats in a jar by several cars and hundreds of zombies.

Soon, every window of the SUVs shattered.

“Ah....”

The five survivors were dragged out by the zombies, their limbs seized, and carried toward the central building.

“Ugh....”

“Fuck... you fucking bastards....”

Heavy groans and curses filled with rage flowed out together.

It was silent footage without sound, but watching the five men and women thrash in terror made it feel as though their desperate screams were audible.

Mindless zombies had no reason to carry humans gently, so the survivors’ arms and legs were bent and twisted as they were moved. In the end, one woman’s neck bent at a grotesque angle, and she went limp.

“......!”

At the horrific sight, everyone’s faces hardened completely, and they fell silent.

A short while later, the zombies that had occupied the roads in that area like hundreds of insects returned to their original buildings.

A few dozen seconds later, the place regained the same ghost-town appearance it had when they first saw it.

***

“...Now do you understand?”

Junho’s low voice broke the heavy silence that had continued for some time.

Receiving everyone’s gazes, filled with fear, anger, pity, sorrow, and countless other emotions, Junho continued.

“The Alpha controlling that area has turned the whole place into a massive trap. It kept the largest number of slaves in the building where it lives for its own safety, but dispersed the rest so it could respond no matter what situation occurred. This is the first time I’ve seen one this smart.”

Of course, it was the first time since the regression.

Before the regression, there had even been an Alpha that hunted survivors using a similar method and went on to annihilate a military unit.

“But that thing has noticed the survivors who occupied D-Mart this time. The previous owners never went outside the mart, but the current owners went around the area after sunset, saying they were scouting. Eventually, they reached this area behind the mart. This is footage taken last night with a thermal camera.”

A video played of three people snooping around as they examined the buildings, then fleeing like mad when zombies burst out.

But unlike the SUV footage they had just seen, this time the zombies did not block the passage.

They pursued as if mindlessly chasing prey, and when the survivors safely escaped back to D-Mart, the zombies lingered in front for a while before returning to their original area.

“Cars are fast, so it was hard to chase them. That’s why it handled them immediately. But humans who came on foot? It let them go for now and only identified their location. Why? Because there might be more prey.”

“Ah....”

“Anyway, because of that... I originally planned to observe for a few more days, but we’ll execute the operation tonight.”

“......!”

“Because in my view, that Alpha won’t be satisfied with taking only the people inside the mart. It will absolutely turn D-Mart into an antlion pit just like the area where it lives. Because it knows survivors go there.”

Since the horrific scene they had just watched had not yet left their minds, the people’s expressions were completely stiff.

But they exchanged glances and nodded.

They were all heads of households, and heads of households had to protect and feed their families.

More than anything, the heads of Gahyeon-ri trusted the man standing before them.

They trusted that he would never attempt something impossible.

And even if it looked impossible, he would succeed, just as he had until now.

“One hour. Within that time, we’ll strip D-Mart of everything useful, including daily necessities, and return here.”

“Understood. But wouldn’t we need quite a few people for that? Both for fighting and moving supplies.”

When Song Gijun offered his opinion, Junho shook his head.

“No. Five or six in the combat team, and about twelve in the transport team, will be enough.”

“What? No, how are we supposed to move that many goods in one hour with that number of people...?”

Instead of answering immediately, Junho turned the lights back on, walked to the window, and drew the curtains.

“What the hell...?”

The people naturally looked outside, and their eyes widened.

In the village hall yard stood no fewer than six electric trucks.

Four of them were vehicles used by Gahyeon-ri, all with empty cargo beds.

But in the cargo beds of the two trucks used by the shelter—

“We prepared electric forklifts. They’re small, but each can move one ton at a time.”

There were four adorable mini forklifts loaded there, two per truck.

The shelter had more than ten other electric forklifts besides these.

And having people stupidly carry all that cargo by hand was not our shelter style.

***

Evening, when the sun had nearly set.

Whiiirr.

Seven vehicles quietly climbed the Gahyeon-ri national highway pass at low speed.

They had already been contacted, so the movable barriers blocking the national highway had been opened.

With the Bionic5 armored car Junho was driving at the front, the six electric trucks passed through in order.

The armored car had infrared and thermal cameras, but the electric trucks did not.

So Junho, considering the vehicles behind him that were driving without headlights, moved at the slow speed of twenty kilometers per hour.

Down the pass road, toward the center of Moku-ri, where tens of thousands of zombies swarmed.