The Only Woman in a Zombie Apocalypse Vol. 2 Chapter 61 - Battle with Humans (1) 

The cooking and management teams came out to see off the scouting team, who were wearing ear mics. 

 

Since the cooking and management teams had also learned how to shoot guns, they decided to scout the shopping mall today.  

 

“Everyone, check your radios.”  

 

“Can you hear me?”  

 

“One-two, one-two.”  

 

“Alpha Team, this is Alpha Team. Do you copy, Beta Team?”  

 

“Are you Alpha Team and we’re Beta Team?”  

 

“No, not exactly. I just tried saying what the leader said when we were on a mission.”  

 

At Dodam’s words, Minho thought it might not be a bad idea to have team names. 

 

Unless it was a special circumstance, the management team didn’t leave the shopping mall.  

 

“I like it. The scouting team going outside is Alpha Team. The management team planning operations or waiting at headquarters is Beta Team. Not bad. Let’s do that when communicating by radio. Cool.”  

 

“Understood!”  

 

After Minho finished checking the radios, the group took two large carts. 

 

One was loaded with smaller carts, while the other was prepared with boxes, shopping baskets, and straps to secure the boxes on the carts.  

 

“Check if your headlamps are working. Bring extra magazines, and make sure the silencers are properly attached to the front of your rifles.”  

 

At Dayoung’s words, the group checked the silencer parts of their guns and the headlamps they were wearing.  

 

“Ian.”  

 

“Yeah?”  

 

“At this point, shouldn’t we just hand over the leader position to Dayoung noona?”

 

Dohun went over to Ian, who was checking his gun, and whispered quietly. 

 

After Dayoung regained her memory, most tasks were being led by Dayoung. 

 

Of course, when Dayoung was unable to leave the bed due to post-sex fatigue, Ian gave instructions as usual.  

 

“I’ve been thinking the same thing. Let’s have a meeting soon.”  

 

“Sure.”  

 

Dohun patted Ian’s shoulder. Ian watched Dayoung closely as she gave instructions. Her directions were straightforward, and she handled management well too. 

 

Ian thought it might be better to hand over the leadership to Dayoung and support her instead.  

 

If it were a situation where he had to step forward in front of others, he would do it, but otherwise, it didn’t seem like a bad idea for Dayoung to lead the group. 

 

Especially since Ian was one of the younger members of the group, leading sometimes felt burdensome to him.  

 

Of course, if Dayoung disliked it or found it difficult, he would continue leading the group as he had been, but if she was willing, it seemed like a good arrangement. 

 

And having a female leader—wasn’t that pretty cool? 

 

Since the group followed Dayoung well, it didn’t seem like a bad choice.  

 

“Hayun oppa, Minshik oppa, and Sion, go from the first to the third floor and gather thin clothing and daily necessities if you find any. Dodam, Jiseok oppa, Ian, and Seojun, go to the fourth floor to gather ingredients. Jiwoo, Joohan, and Jihu, come with me to the basement to gather ingredients and household supplies. Understood?”

  

“Yes!”  

 

“Okay.”  

 

“There’s a lot to gather at the department store, but there will also be many zombies, so everyone stay alert.”  

 

“Okay!”

 

Having exited the shopping mall, they began walking along the barricade. 

 

While they could move relatively comfortably inside the barricade, they proceeded with tension, knowing it could be dangerous once the barricade ended.

 

When the barricade ended, Jihu and Joohan, who were less skilled with guns, pulled the cart while the rest walked on high alert. 

 

Dayoung and Hayun stood at the front, taking down nearby zombies, while Dohun and Jiseok followed from the rear, keeping watch.

 

After walking for about 40 minutes, a huge department store came into Dayoung’s view. The group carefully opened the main entrance and went inside. 

 

Zombies roamed the first floor, and a musty, unpleasant smell hung in the air inside the building.

 

“We need gas masks… we have to get gas masks.”

 

“Let’s go get them next week.”

 

The group that had moved further inside parked the cart in a corner of the department store, shouldered their own shopping baskets, and began to scatter.

 

Dayoung fired her gun at the zombies near the entrance to the basement. 

 

Pwing— Pwing—

 

The suppressed gun began quietly taking down the zombies. As Dayoung descended the escalator, she spoke.

 

“Turn on the headlamps.”

 

The upper floors of the department store, though without power, were bright from the sunlight coming through the windows, but the basement grew darker the further down they went. 

 

Upon arriving underground, everything was shrouded in darkness. 

 

Dayoung turned her head, scanning the basement. 

 

Fortunately, there weren’t many zombies downstairs, so she decided to deal with them first.

 

The items to gather were things like packet ramen, canned goods, and instant meals, and gathering them made more noise than one might expect. 

 

Wanting to prevent trouble in advance, Dayoung raised her gun and pulled the trigger.

 

Dayoung and the group made a lap around the basement, firing their guns, and only when all the roaming zombies had disappeared did they begin their search.

 

While Dayoung was killing zombies on the first basement level, Hayun and his group were checking the stores, eliminating zombies starting from the first floor. 

 

True to its reputation as a high-end department store, only luxury brands were lined up.

 

“Look at those expensive wallets just lying abandoned on the floor over there. I bet you guys have never used wallets like those either, right?”

 

“Nope. A soldier’s salary isn’t exactly much.”

 

“Me neither. As a student who took a break and is now working part-time to pay tuition, I’ve never even been to a department store like this.”

 

Sion sighed at Hayun and Minshik’s words. 

 

The luxury wallet lying right before his eyes—it would be a lie to say he wasn’t tempted, but he had no friends or acquaintances to show it off to anyway.

 

“Do you think we’ll actually be rescued? Even if this is the outskirts, how can they just leave us like this? Surely… not all of Korea is like this, right?”

 

“No. I definitely heard there are bunkers and shelters. Of course, that’s assuming the zombies haven’t attacked them. There must be safe zones somewhere.”

 

Hayun reassured Sion as they moved. In his late twenties, he had experienced a lot as a professional soldier, but even for Hayun, this disaster was a first. 

 

If he felt this overwhelmed, how much worse must it be for those in their early twenties?

 

“Hey, look at that dress over there. Wouldn’t it be perfect for Dayoung noona? We have to take that.”

 

It was an autumn dress that might never have an occasion to be worn. 

 

Minshik, who had never seen Dayoung wear a skirt, considered stopping them, but thinking she would look pretty in it, he quietly held out a shopping basket.

 

The Dodam group, having made their way up to the fourth floor, instinctively grimaced at the smell of rotting food.

 

“Wow. The smell is insane. It feels like my nose is going to rot.”

 

“Right. It’s worse here than anywhere else.”

 

At Dayoung’s words, Ian pinched his nose and spoke. 

 

Until now, while searching, they had also looted small restaurants, but the smell wasn’t this bad. 

 

Perhaps because the entire fourth floor was a dining area, the smell was particularly strong.

 

“Shall we loot one store at a time? Or should we move together?”

 

“There aren’t many zombies here. It should be fine to move separately.”

 

“Okay. Then let’s loot from the front, one by one.”

 

Dodam said while shooting a zombie loitering near the restroom. Dodam, Jiseok, Ian, and Seojun each entered a store, shooting the wandering zombies as they advanced. 

 

True to stores that made food with fresh ingredients daily, there weren’t as many items to gather as expected.

 

The four sighed as they put unopened seasonings into their shopping carts. 

 

Then, Dodam brought out a whole box of instant food that was piled up in a corner of the kitchen.

 

“This is totally scammy. They were cooking and selling instant food.”

 

“Awesome. Samgyetang???”

 

“Let’s give our bodies a little boost. I’ll move this to the cart first.”

 

Jiseok picked up the box and headed to the first floor, while the rest of the group searched every corner of the restaurant.

 

Dayoung, Jihu, and Joohan began putting the remaining ingredients into shopping carts as they moved through the mart.

 

 There were more types of instant food than expected, so the shopping carts filled up quickly. Joohan and Jiwoo started moving the shopping carts next to the cart on the first floor.

 

“How’s the fourth floor?”

 

—The dining area has less to gather than expected.

 

“Then, would you two like to come down to the first basement? There’s quite a bit to gather here.”

 

—We’ll be down soon.

 

Dayoung was grateful that it was an outskirts area with not many people living there. 

 

During a disaster, marts are the first to be looted. But this place was on the outskirts and, like the starting point of the zombie virus, didn’t have many living people. 

 

That’s why looting the mart was possible.

 

Dayoung looked at the display shelves. 

 

There were still plenty of canned goods and preserved foods left. Instant noodles, ready-made rice, and even snacks. Dayoung decided to take all the edible products she could. 

 

They had brought ten carts. Two of them were large-sized. 

 

The department store supermarket, untouched by human hands, made her feel like even that many carts might not be enough.

 

Soon after, Ian and Seojun came down to the first basement level, and the group busily filled their shopping baskets with food ingredients. Jihu, on the first floor, started making boxes and organizing the food supplies the others brought over, stacking them into the carts.

 

“It’s a good thing there are so many instant meals these days. If we didn’t have this stuff, even surviving wouldn’t be any fun.”

 

Joohan smiled as he looked at the display full of instant stews. 

 

Dayoung agreed with his words. 

 

‘Just imagine eating only tuna and ham every day. You’d get sick of it much faster than you think.’