episode_0146

I always thought that buildings should have public restrooms that can be accessed at any time.

That way, people will be able to do their business comfortably.

Well, even if we skip over other secondary issues and civility.

“… A, C.”

If that were the case, I wouldn’t have had to go into the store like this.

There were public restrooms in the building, but they were all locked with iron doors and door locks.

So, I had no choice but to choose a store relatively close to the center of the building as the restroom.

The reason for this gibberish nonsense was simple.

I closed my eyes tightly and calmed my pounding heart.

Well, it’s been about four months since the incident broke out, right?

Moreover, when the apocalypse occurred, it seemed like the people inside this store also ran away.

So the inside of the store was very messy and dirty, almost like an abandoned house.

No, although the abandoned house is accurate.

Also, because I was foolish enough not to bring a flashlight, the atmosphere was even more gloomy.

I put my hands on my face for a moment and sighed deeply.

If I had known this would happen, I would have brought a flashlight.

The hallway was less scary, but it wasn’t the store.

However, as time passed, I adapted to the cancer and it was relatively bearable.

So, it was the moment when I quickly ran errands, finished cleaning up, and tried to run away.

“… ?”

Just as I was about to pull up my pants, I suddenly heard something rustling.

But it was not Noh Chang-hoon or Kang Si-woo.

It was obvious that the two of them would come down with flashlights.

Even if that’s not the case, I’ll verbally ask who is there.

I felt goosebumps rising and held my breath.

The rustling sound continued.

The sound of stepping on a piece of glass that fell on the floor.

The sound of kicking a piece of wood and gently pushing chopsticks or a spoon.

Now I can see what it is.

Something that looked like a giant cat was moving.

He was slowly crawling on all fours, walking towards the place where I had done his business a little while ago.

Then, he slowly looked at me.

His cat-like eyes twisted as if he had taken an opportunity.

The eerie pupils were glaring at me, their eyes flashing brightly.

And in an instant, it rushed toward me like fog.

I couldn’t stand it.

“Aaaa!!!!!”

First, I roughly threw something I could grab somewhere, then hid in a corner and trembled.

I was really scared. There has never been a horror movie like this.

I thought my heart was dropping.

“Mr. Yeji!”

Fortunately, Kang Si-woo appeared just in time with a flashlight.

Without even thinking about speaking, I trembled and pointed somewhere with my finger.

Kang Si-woo looked at it and said.

“That’s a leopard. It’s a nocturnal variety. Now, it’s dead.”

“… Hmm.”

“Oh, calm down. You were very surprised, right?”

“Yes… ”

I was really surprised.

My heart was still pounding like crazy.

I was fortunate that I handled it well the first time I ran into it.

I hugged Kang Si-woo for a moment and soothed my shocked heart as I sniffled.

Meanwhile, Noh Chang-hoon didn’t even come down.

After a while, I regained my courage enough to look at the leopard’s corpse.

The leopard’s body seemed to be at least 1.5 meters long.

As the name suggests, it was a color close to that of a black leopard, and its claws were also black.

However, unlike a leopard, it looked very disgusting.

It was as if a human had been forced to look like a leopard.

Kang Si-woo said, touching the leopard’s body with his foot.

“When Yeji threw it, it looks like her organs exploded and she died.”

“… Ah?”

“You seem quite surprised. Yeji will definitely win.”

“That’s because scary things are scary… ”

I stepped on the leopard’s head with my foot.

My head couldn’t hold on for long and fell apart.

Kang Si-woo looked at Leopard’s body for a moment and then said.

“Variants are named in English. You know that, right?”

“You know. Because you should know that this is the kind of guy you are when you hear it.”

“When you think of leopard, everyone usually thinks of a leopard. But, this guy has one more nickname.”

“… What is it?”

“Jang Sanbeom.”

Kang Si-woo said calmly.

I could read a lot from that expression.

It seems like he lost a lot of his comrades to this guy.

Since the last 10 years are not mentioned in the novel, detailed reasoning was impossible…

The faint expression on its own provided a lot of information.

Kang Si-woo opened his mouth for a moment, then closed it. And said.

“Well, it’s better if you don’t know. Nocturnal variants usually leave us with a terrible experience.”

“Well, that went really well.”

“So, you must be careful even when you fall asleep. Just because the building is closed doesn’t mean you can feel safe.”

“That’s right.”

I definitely blocked all possible entrances with Noh Chang-hoon.

This means that all barricades were tightly erected except for the entrance, which was left open for escape in case of emergency.

However, the fact that the leopard entered this place clearly seemed to have found something vulnerable.

Maybe it came in through a window or on the roof. I guess it means there was a problem.

I slowly stroked my chest.

“I thought I was falling.”

“… !?”

“What, why are you so surprised?”

“Oh, no. I think I heard it wrong.”

“… ???”

“Close your eyes.”

Kang Si-woo pushed me towards his back.

I was pushed away without knowing what was going on, and then I saw something.

Through the window, I saw something that looked like a withered arm.

For reference, this store was on the second floor.

“Ghost, ghost… !”

“… It is a nocturnal variety.”

“What is that again!”

“Slender Man is a variant similar to Leopard. They sneak in and take some of the survivors.”

“… Some?”

“Well, arms or legs. hands or feet. You know something like that.”

“Ah.”

Kang Si-woo searched his pockets for a moment.

Then I picked up a bearing of the appropriate size.

What happened next was an instant. The bearing that Kang Si-woo threw broke the window and flew away.

Then, I faintly heard the sound of something breaking.

“It was a hit. It’s been a while since I’ve done this, so I was a little nervous… what. It went well.”

“… Killed him with one hit on the head?”

“Yes. It’s not that difficult. Yeji could do it if she had time.”

“Ah, well. huh… ”

It didn’t seem possible at all, but I nodded.

Let’s think about the last time I broke a window on the other side of the road.

Looking at it positively, I might be able to do something like that someday.

Who knows why, like a girl somewhere, she can unleash the power of a railgun by snapping her fingers.

But now I just wanted to sleep. Preferably in a crowded place.

I looked at Kang Si-woo for a moment.

Kang Si-woo didn’t seem surprised at all even though he woke up in the middle of the night.

And he didn’t seem to be tired at all.

Well, Kang Si-woo always had some stamina left over. They say I always have some stamina to spare.

I thought for a moment and then said.

“Can we sleep together?”

“Yes?”

“I want you to come to Changhoon’s place and rest together.”

“It looks like you were quite scared. I thought you would usually go up without any problems.”

“Ugh… ”

“Or rather, you were shouting loudly. Yeji tends to do that to avoid being looked down upon.”

“Me, me?!”

“You know why. It feels like a praying mantis spreading its wings.”

“… ”

“I felt the need to be on guard anyway. Even if we don’t all sleep together, I’ll stay in the same store until you fall asleep.”

That alone was enough to impress me, so I nodded.

Anyway, I never wanted to experience this type of experience again.

An ominous thought crossed my mind, but I kept my mouth shut.

It was terrifying to think that these nocturnal mutants would come looking for me in the future.

Then, after I calmed down, I became a little angry at Noh Chang-hoon.

I started stamping my foot slightly to spread the groundbait.

Originally, I was thinking of saying that gossiping is most fun when that person is not around, and that I would say this while Noh Chang-hoon was sleeping.

Since Kang Si-woo would never have said that out loud anyway, he could blame him however he wanted.

“Anyway, isn’t it a problem that it hasn’t happened even though it has gotten to this point?”

“Who? Oh, Mr. Changhoon?”

“Yes.”

Fortunately, it seemed like the foundation had been laid properly.

I was thinking of getting rid of everything that had accumulated over the years.

First of all, he deceived himself into thinking that he was the recipient of the returnee’s knowledge without consulting him.

I was planning to get really angry at him for lying to me about getting married without consulting him.

But I had no choice but to keep my mouth shut.

“You must be tired. It seemed like you kept working hard until dawn.”

“Oh? Huh?”

“Rustling and moving sounds were heard for hours. It wasn’t that big.”

“… ”

“Are you feeling okay?”

“It’s okay… ?”

I bowed my head.

My face turned red because I was embarrassed.

I probably fell asleep first and it was clear that I was showing symptoms of sleepwalking.

So I probably started wandering around.

There are many obstacles inside the store, so it would be dangerous to walk around without thinking.

It was clear that Noh Chang-hoon had cleaned them up after dealing with me for several hours.

Honestly, I was very grateful.

Now I don’t get seriously hurt whether I fall or not.

But why did he sacrifice his sleep time to take care of me?

But without even knowing that, I was using this opportunity to gossip.

No matter how much we messed up, I wasn’t that shameless.

In the end, I went up the stairs, hiding my red face.

And even if sleepwalking symptoms occurred, there was no problem and he crawled into the sleeping Noh Chang-hoon’s arms.

Fortunately, seeing as I was still lying down when I woke up, it seemed like I wasn’t sleepwalking this time.