Chapter 104 – Great Escape (1)

The middle-aged man who had been shouting turned out to be the Yeongdo District Mayor.

Unlike other civil servants who fled to Jeju Island, he was a public official with position who remained here until the end.

However, he was a mayor in name only after the zombie outbreak.

With the last mainland government office settling here and the military staying here, there was nothing he could do as mayor.

He ended up becoming a channel for collecting and delivering people’s complaints to civil servants.

“Even if the U.S. soldiers are just stragglers, and even if talk of coming from another world isn’t nonsense, that armor and long ears won’t be able to save people…”

Having continued such work, the mayor seemed to genuinely worry about the remaining people.

Therefore, when he learned the U.S. military couldn’t help, he was genuinely disappointed.

The mayor looked back and forth between us and the lieutenant colonel before leaving the conference room with his head down.

“Must find another ship. Must save even one person.”

Fortunately, he hadn’t given up yet.

After he left the room, the silent lieutenant colonel spoke.

“Fortunately, Mayor Yang still had his reason. He gave us space.”

The lieutenant colonel saluted us then introduced himself.

“I am Lieutenant Colonel Han Chan-gyu. My original unit is already scattered, and now I’m in charge of cleanup.”

Self-deprecation at a time like this.

Was it because the world had fallen? The Korean military officers I saw again seemed very different from those I saw in my previous life.

Lowering his hand, he looked us over and continued.

“Forces from another world to help U.S. military catch zombie leaders… Whether it’s all true or not, this clearly needs reporting up.”

Even if it needed reporting, was there a way to contact in this situation?

They probably didn’t have newly developed satellite phones like the U.S. military.

“Fortunately reporting is possible. Though we didn’t tell the mayor, the communication network laid in the sea is still operating. We can contact headquarters in Jeju.”

The undersea cables were still alive it seemed.

“We’ll contact them before zombies flood in… But if your helicopter crashed, you didn’t come to contact the government… Do you need a ship?”

This officer hadn’t remained until the end for nothing. He immediately guessed what we – no, what the U.S. military needed.

David nodded.

“Correct. Rescue ships arrive tomorrow. It seems difficult to hold off incoming zombies on land until then… We need a ship to get to sea.”

“Your Korean is more fluent than expected.”

At the lieutenant colonel’s words, David glanced at Zahina.

The lieutenant colonel thought David was speaking Korean, but actually everything he said was in English.

“Unfortunately, you won’t be able to get a ship. The last ship should be leaving about now.”

David immediately questioned the lieutenant colonel’s words.

“But the ship you’ll take…”

The lieutenant colonel shook his head with a slight smile.

“There weren’t many ships remaining in Yeongdo to begin with. Not enough even for evacuating soldiers. The port is probably chaos now with people who couldn’t get on ships.”

Was that the commotion we could hear from the port in the distance?

“That’s why I’m in charge of cleanup. Originally I should surrender to the enemy with remaining soldiers… Unfortunately it seems the enemy won’t accept surrender.”

Could it be that ‘cleanup’ meant being the officer to surrender?

“As you all know, destroying bridges won’t stop zombies from crossing, so I’ll have to gather remaining soldiers and people for a final resistance. Would you join me after contacting Jeju?”

Now I saw that the lieutenant colonel hadn’t been listening to the mayor’s words because of a good personality.

He had already let go of life, so he could listen to him comfortably.

At the lieutenant colonel’s words, both David and the U.S. unit commander’s faces grew serious.

If they couldn’t get a ship here, there was no reason to have come to this district office.

Perhaps they should have run to the coast to look for remaining ships instead.

“Really, not a single ship remains?”

Though the U.S. commander asked again, the lieutenant colonel shook his head.

“News of the front line collapsing would have spread, so not just Yeongdo but even fishing boats along Busan’s coast would have all left for Jeju.”

At the lieutenant colonel’s words, not just the Americans but even the Korean platoon leader who came with us looked troubled.

However, among our party members, only Yerim’s expression changed after hearing the story.

Though Zahina had become more expressive than before, even now her expression was unreadable,

And Hoffman just started checking his arrowheads again.

Unlike other party members, Yerim who heard the lieutenant colonel’s story wore a worried expression.

Rather than worrying about herself or us, she seemed concerned about the Korean soldiers who came with the U.S. forces and the people remaining on this island.

‘Should we leave the island immediately to find a ship…’

There was no reason to stay on this island if we couldn’t get a ship.

No reason to remain here and get crushed by incoming undead.

Though I felt sorry for the people left behind and worried about the U.S. forces moving with us, our party was just a reconnaissance team anyway.

Reconnaissance teams needed to return alive with information.

“Then let’s move again. Since undead follow crowds, we should quickly leave the island.”

The lieutenant colonel reacted first to my words.

He said to me with a surprised face:

“But zombie hordes must have already reached Busan!”

I shrugged at his words.

“Well, not our first time breaking through zombie hordes.”

Not just our party but the U.S. forces and Korean platoon leader nodded at my words.

They all had experience breaking through undead hordes with me.

“Then, since time is short, please handle the contact. We’ll depart right away.”

“But…”

As people started moving again at my words and the lieutenant colonel tried to stop us.

*Bang!*

The door flew open and the middle-aged man, the mayor, burst in.

“There are ships! Not in Yeongdo, but there are ships in Busan. Container ships are still floating in front of New Port!”

Though I knew he hadn’t left and was eavesdropping on our conversation, I hadn’t expected him to burst in at such a crucial moment.

He continued speaking like a waterfall to us who were looking at him.

“There are crew members too. Sailors who evacuated to Yeongdo when the zombie outbreak occurred are still here.”

David stepped forward to ask him about the changed situation.

“Didn’t everyone leave by ship just now?”

“No! The ships that just left were small ones with captains. The container ship crews definitely couldn’t have gotten on!”

I sighed at the mayor’s words.

“So we take the crews to New Port and board a container ship?”

The mayor shook his head at my words.

“But if we do that, the crews won’t cooperate. Some crews have family in Yeongdo, others in Haeundae. For them to sail the ships…”

“We need to save their families too. And save others while we’re at it.”

The mayor nodded with a stern face at my words.

I internally admired this noisy middle-aged man.

As soon as he overheard that we could break through zombie hordes, he came up with this idea.

Though it was an annoying plan with various conditions from my perspective, it was an excellent plan in terms of saving people.

I looked around at everyone.

All their expressions had brightened.

Even the lieutenant colonel who had seemed to give up on life had life return to his eyes.

“I’ll gather remaining forces and hold out with the people until you bring the ships.”

“That’s great. A container ship can save many people, right?”

Yerim also spoke to me with a bright face.

I could only smile bitterly at her words.

As she said, to save many people we would have to overcome numerous obstacles.

We needed to confirm if all crew members were present, check if the container ships were intact, and we didn’t know if the people at New Port would let us through.

Even if we successfully brought back the ships, obstacles remained.

If we returned too late, not just Haeundae but everyone remaining in Yeongdo would be dead.

Even if we were lucky enough to take many people aboard, there was no guarantee the ship would safely reach Jeju and be able to unload people there.

In fact, if the government in Jeju had wanted to save people in Busan, they wouldn’t have lacked ways to relocate them until now.

But the Korean government had left them here in Busan.

Though they said it was to process industrial facilities here, it might also have been to reduce Jeju’s population.

Despite these numerous obstacles, I decided to follow the mayor’s plan.

After all, my party and I only needed to overcome some of those many obstacles.

Though sorry for the crews and others, we only needed to be able to move a container ship, whatever happened after didn’t matter.

We were planning to get a ship anyway, and after spending one night on the container ship, the ships sent by U.S. forces would arrive.

Though others probably knew this too, no one could let go of that thread of hope.

People moved immediately.

“I’ll contact Jeju right away. When I tell them about you all, Jeju won’t be able to think lightly of us.”

The lieutenant colonel seemed to be thinking of using our information to negotiate with the Jeju government later.

Though uncertain if it would work, since we weren’t going to Jeju anyway, I just hoped he would succeed.

We headed to the communications room with the lieutenant colonel.

Communication with Jeju was a mess as expected.

People didn’t believe the lieutenant colonel’s words, and even the U.S. forces and David had to step in to convince them.

Going up the chain that way, we finally managed to talk with a vice minister of foreign affairs who knew David.

[Hard to believe.]

“Our navy will arrive at Jeju soon. You can confirm with home country then.”

[Hmm, when you say it like that, I can’t disbelieve. But Yeongdo now? Can you escape from there?]

“Don’t worry. We’ll handle that ourselves.”

[Well, since you have the navy. Must have a way. Alright. I’ll inform the VIP.]

“Then, see you later.”

For the sake of others, David glossed over the escape method.

I became very curious how they would react when they learned we escaped by container ship later.

And to find that out, we first needed to move a container ship.

We immediately followed the mayor to the residential area where the crews were said to be.

Thus began the unexpected great escape from Busan that day.