«This is Patissier Four. Is anyone alive?»
The broadcast was coming from a shortwave radio in a nearby department store—the exact location designated in the mission briefing as the rescue target’s last known position.
«The department store has been completely overrun by zombies. Everyone else who was with me… they’re all gone.»
The young man’s voice choked with tears as he continued.
«I’m hiding in a storeroom on the top floor, but they already know I’m here. A few more hours… if I’m unlucky, a few more minutes, and they’ll break down this door and get in.»
His next words were his last before the transmission died.
«To everyone in Daejeon… I’ll never forget our time together. Well, I pray that all of you manage to—»
Click. The radio went silent.
“Tsk.” Ghost’s expression soured.
Jae-hee Han cautiously ventured a question. “We’re… going, right?”
“…”
“It doesn’t seem that far from here…”
As Jae-hee mumbled, gesturing with his eyes, Ghost let out a reluctant sigh.
“Fine. It’s close. And it would be better to successfully complete the mission, I suppose.”
“Oooh…!”
“But get this straight, kid.” Ghost jabbed a finger at him. “I’m not your babysitter. If things go south, I’m ditching you, too. You’ll have to survive on your own. Got it?”
“Yep! Don’t you worry! If there’s one thing I’m good at, it’s staying alive!”
Jae-hee nodded emphatically, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Ghost exhaled a short, sharp sigh.
“Right. Let’s go.” She grabbed her sword and spat out the words in a voice thick with exhaustion. “Since I’m clocking in, might as well make it worth my while.”
***
Daejeon City. Department store, top floor storeroom.
THUD! THUD-THUD-THUD-THUD!
Groooaaaar—!
The zombies clawing at the storeroom door shrieked, their limbs flailing. The steel door was thick, but the ceaseless impacts were gradually taking their toll.
“Ughhh…”
Inside, a man in a chef’s uniform trembled as he stared at the door. He was chubby, with a spray of freckles across his young face.
He winced at the groaning metal, which looked ready to buckle at any moment, but he didn’t stop what he was doing.
“I don’t know if anyone will ever make it here… but still, I have to pass this on to the future.”
He was frantically scribbling notes on a sheet of paper laid out on a table.
“The research we’ve been conducting in this city…!”
With a look of grim determination, he steeled himself to finish his final testament.
Just then—
CRACK!
The storeroom door shattered.
“No, I wasn’t finished writing!” he yelped.
At that exact moment, dozens of zombies burst into the storeroom—arms outstretched, jaws gaping, lunging for living flesh.
GROOOOAAAAR!
“Aaaahhhh! Goddammit!”
The man snatched a weapon from the table—a baker’s rolling pin—and prepared to make his last stand. And in that instant…
“Found you!”
A boy’s voice echoed from the far end of the hallway outside the storeroom.
Flash—!
One moment.
Truly, it was just a moment, the time it took to blink.
The dozens of zombies that had been reaching for him were suddenly sent flying in all directions like bowling pins.
“Huh?”
As a dazed sound escaped the man’s lips…
CRASH! CRACK! SQUELCH! THUMP…!
The scattered zombies were pulped against the ceiling and walls, accompanied by a medley of sickening sounds.
Before the man could even process what had just happened, a boy was standing before him.
It was the human bowling ball himself: Jae-hee Han, who had just slammed into the zombies (or more accurately, nudged them aside) during a burst of super-speed.
“Are you okay? We’re here to rescue you!” Jae-hee flashed a bright smile to reassure him.
The very next second, however, his face twisted in a grimace. He clamped a hand over his mouth and staggered toward a corner of the storeroom.
“Urp, just a second… I moved too fast, my stomach’s…”
“Pardon?”
“Plus, that’s the first time I’ve ever shoved anything while using my ability, so I’m feeling a little… ugh, bleeech—”
Jae-hee finally braced himself against the wall and dry-heaved.
The man stared, unsure of what to do, before extending a chubby hand to pat Jae-hee’s back. Jae-hee kept retching, mumbling a string of half-formed apologies and thank-yous.
“Unbelievable.”
Ghost, who had entered the storeroom a beat later, clicked her tongue in disapproval.
“One little sprint and you’re completely drained? Are you really out of gas?”
“Urp, not all of it, just… most of it. But if I rest a bit, it’ll recharge…”
“Fucking hell, you’re a real premature ejaculator.”
Jae-hee bristled. “Hey, how can you say that in front of an innocent kid?! A-a-a premature ejaculator?!”
“Innocent? Hilarious. You’re a thief who ended up in the slammer. And what else do you call a guy who blows his load in one second and then collapses?”
“There are plenty of cooler ways to say it! Like… a quick-draw!”
Ignoring Jae-hee’s protest, Ghost jutted her chin toward the other man. “So, are you the one with the callsign Patissier?”
“Y-yes? Ah, that’s right. I’m Patissier Four.”
Having finally caught his breath, Jae-hee piped up, curious. “Number Four? Does that mean there are others?”
“There were four of us—well, used to be. We were here in the department store, researching the ‘recipe’ together, but we got caught up in this mess, and… well.”
The Patissier glanced sadly at the zombie pulp splattered across the room. Come to think of it, a few of them were wearing the same chef’s uniform as him.
Jae-hee broke into a cold sweat and hurriedly changed the subject.
“S-so, that ‘recipe’ you were researching… is it, by any chance, some kind of zombie cure?”
“A cure? No, not at all.” The Patissier shook his head. “A recipe. A literal recipe. For cooking.”
“…?”
“My callsign is Patissier, isn’t it? Just like the name says, I’m a baker.”
Jae-hee blinked blankly and pointed a finger at him. “Wait, so… you’re an actual baker? A guy who bakes bread?”
“Yes indeed.”
“Not a researcher developing a zombie cure, not the mayor of Daejeon or some congressman’s kid, or anything like that?”
“How many times do I have to say it? I’m just a baker.”
The Patissier held up the notes he’d been scribbling on the table just moments before.
It was a genuine recipe, densely packed with ratios for flour, sugar, butter, eggs, yeast, and more.
Jae-hee’s eyes glazed over. “Then the research you were conducting here in Daejeon was…?”
“Yes!” The Patissier puffed out his chest, his face beaming with pride. “I was researching the legendary recipe—Fried Soboro Bread!”
Jae-hee and Ghost exchanged a look of utter disbelief.
What’d he just say?
Fried Soboro?
***
“Thirty years ago, before the world went to hell… Shimcheong-dang Bakery, here in Daejeon, was the most famous bakery in the entire country.”
The Patissier chattered nonstop as he furiously stuffed his research materials into a bag.
“I came here to find the recipe for their signature creation, the legendary Fried Soboro! And to pick up any other recipes I could find along the way, of course!”
Jae-hee listened with his mouth slightly agape. Then he asked carefully, “Is that… bread recipe really something worth coming into a zombie-infested city to find?”
“Retro is huge right now! Anything that was popular thirty years ago sells like crazy! People can’t get enough of it!”
The Patissier continued his lecture even as he packed his belongings.
“My parents were from Daejeon, and whenever they talked about the time before the war, they always mentioned the bread from Shimcheong-dang. The Fried Soboro they shared on their first date. They always said how much they wanted to taste it again.”
“Huh…”
“They’re gone now, but that’s where I got the idea! If I could restore the recipes from the legendary Shimcheong-dang and declare myself its successor, it would be a massive hit! Everyone is nostalgic for the pre-war era!”
“…”
“The Shimcheong-dang legacy was cut off when Daejeon fell, which means whoever strikes first gets to claim the prize!”
Like pirates searching for mythical treasure, they were bakers who had ventured into Daejeon in search of a phantom recipe: Fried Soboro.
They were the Patissiers.
Though, with the others all turned to zombies, only one remained.
“…Hey, Grandma Ghost.” Jae-hee whispered to her. “Are we… in the right place? Maybe there was some kinda mistake…”
Would the government really launch a secret operation just to rescue someone researching a bread recipe?
Did that make any sense?
“Yeah, so what? Nothing wrong with that. We found a Patissier in Daejeon. Doesn’t matter if he was researching a zombie cure or a bread recipe. We bring this guy back? The mission’s a success.”
Ghost looked like she couldn’t care less.
Her gaze fell on the Patissier, who was now cramming ingredients into a massive backpack, and she tilted her head.
“But still… Fried Soboro was good, but I don’t reckon it was so amazing to be worth risking your neck for it.”
“Sweet Jesus! You’ve tried it?”
“How old do you think I am? I had it back when I was young.”
Ghost had lived through the peaceful days of the Republic of Korea, before the Gate War.
Jae-hee muttered, his voice hollow. “You’ve even tried the legendary bread? Must be nice. I’ve never even had a piece of cake in my life…”
Ghost shot him a cool glance but said nothing more.
“I’m ready!”
Having finished packing, the Patissier scurried over, carrying a bag that looked bigger than he was.
Ghost checked the watch on her wrist and nodded.
“Good. This mission ended up being easier than I thought. Now we just need to find a decent place to hide and wait.”
But it was not to be.
Beep-beep-beep—
Just as they were about to leave the storeroom, a signal came through the communications device on the table.
“Oh?” the Patissier exclaimed, rushing to answer the call. A weary, middle-aged woman’s voice cut through the static.
«Patissier Four, are you still alive?»
“Director?!”
The Patissier’s face lit up.
“My god, you’re alive! Thank goodness, I thought everyone was dead…”
«Yes. I barely made it. The other survivors and I have evacuated to the basement of Daejeon Station.»
The woman on the other end let out a mirthless laugh.
«But we’re too close to the new Gate that just opened… The zombie attacks are relentless, and the Realm Erosion is getting worse. Heh. It looks like this is the end of the line for us.»
“What?”
«Patissier, you’re our last hope. You have to…»
The static intensified, and the connection began to break up.
«The Fried Soboro…let the outside world know…that Daejeon existed…»
Kssshhhk—click.
“…”
The Patissier stared blankly at the now-silent device before whirling around, his body trembling.
“P-please…”
“No can do.” Ghost shut him down before he could even finish his sentence.
As the Patissier sputtered, at a loss for words, she cut him off, her tone as sharp as a knife.
“Our mission is to rescue you, not protect every survivor in this city. We’re taking you and leaving.”
“I’m not asking you to protect all the survivors!” the Patissier yelled, flinging his arm out in the direction of Daejeon Station. “The Gate that opened next to the station is brand new—it only appeared yesterday! It’s what’s making the zombies go berserk!”
“…”
“If you just close that Gate, the zombies will calm down, and the survivors will be able to hold out!”
Ghost dug a finger into her ear, looking bored. “And why, exactly, would we do that?”
“What…? Aren’t you two… Hunters? The heroes of justice who kill monsters and close Gates?”
“You’ve got the wrong people.” Ghost tapped the explosive collar—the Guillotine—fastened around her neck. “We’re no heroes of justice. We’re a bunch of goddamn convicts, forced to work under threat of death.”
“What does that…”
“We don’t care about anything outside the mission. It doesn’t matter how many innocent people die or if the world ends. If it’s not part of the objective, it means nothing to us.”
And the Black Parade’s current mission was to rescue the Patissier.
There was absolutely no reason to risk their lives for survivors who weren’t the target.
“Hngh…!”
The Patissier gritted his teeth and then, with all the dramatic weight his chubby body could muster, flopped onto the floor.
“Then I’m not leaving! I’ll lie right here and won’t move an inch!”
“Suit yourself. It’ll be easier for me if you’re tied up anyway.”
Ghost scanned the storeroom, her eyes landing on a length of rope. She picked it up.
Horrified, Jae-hee frantically grabbed her arm. “Grandma, c’mon! You’re being too cold! At least try to talk him around…”
“How many times do I have to tell you, kid? My life comes before this mission’s success.”
Ghost snorted and tested the rope’s tension.
“Give them an inch, and they’ll take a mile. He wants us to close the Gate? After that, he’ll want us to rescue the other survivors. After that, he’ll want us to escort them out of Daejeon. And after that? What, is he going to ask us to feed and clothe them, too? Demands like this never end.”
“Uh, umm…”
“And you think closing a Gate is easy? It’s an operation that requires dozens of highly trained Hunters, and even then, success isn’t guaranteed. What are the two of us supposed to do?”
“…”
“It’s not even worth discussing. We’re leaving.”
It was then that—
CRASH!
The wreckage of the storeroom door was violently knocked aside.
Ghost, Jae-hee, and even the Patissier—who had been trying his best to melt into the floor—all whipped their heads toward the entrance in alarm.
“What, did more zombies show… huh?” Jae-hee’s mouth fell open as he registered who it was.
It was a zombie, all right. But…
Ghost, who had also recognized the figure, muttered in disbelief. “Holy shit… what the hell is this now?”
Something staggered into the storeroom.
“…Gruhh.”
Blood covered him from head to toe. One hand was gone. A ragged hole gaped in his stomach.
It was Model Student—or what was left of him.