episode_0029

Maybe it was because I wasn’t used to having someone else in the bedroom. I ended up waking up early.

Today was a day when Hyejido was taking a break from maintenance, so I could sleep soundly and peacefully… What a pity.

“Ugh…”

I looked down to see what was going on, and it was the sound of an old man on the ground, tossing and turning while he was wandering around in his dreamland.

“No… I’ll do it…”

The old man’s condition has improved to the point where he can now take off the brace on his arm, and recently he has been eating well on his own without me having to feed him.

As the number of military personnel increased, I was a little worried about the food we had stored up, but if I had the courage to go out and catch something like a cow or pig, that would be it.

Since the winter is so cold, the meat won’t rot, so there’s no need to worry about storing it.

“Commander, this is not…”

Yeah, yeah. This guy. Who doesn’t know that he used to be a soldier?

I looked at the old man with pitying eyes.

I don’t know what he did in the military, but it must not have been something to be ashamed of, considering he still has nightmares today, a long time after he was discharged.

“Mister, wake up. Don’t kick the blanket.”

I kicked the old man with my foot. I was still half asleep, and it was too much of a hassle to wake him up by shaking him.

“Die…!”

The sleeping man opened his eyes wide and sat up in one breath.

Our eyes met. As if the word “brutal” had been used in its entirety, his fierce eyes, with their veins bulging, were directed at me.

It’s embarrassing to say, but I was momentarily overwhelmed. My heart pounded and I felt like the floor was sinking down.

Unfortunately, the old man’s gaze wasn’t only directed at me. His hand grabbed my ankle and applied great force.

The pressure was so strong that I felt like it was an industrial vise rather than a human hand tightening my ankle.

The world spun around halfway. All I could see was the lower half of the man’s body, and when I slightly tilted my head forward, I could see his chest pumping.

I ended up hanging on to the old man’s hand, and he was squeezing my ankles as if they were the windpipe of someone he wanted to kill.

I’m sick.

Instead of using my leg, which was caught in the old man’s hand, I used my arm to hit the old man’s leg.

Knock. Knock. Kong. Honestly, it didn’t seem like it did much damage for a punch that was thrown with all my might.

It wasn’t because my fists were weak. It was because the old man was putting so much strength into his legs. It was so hard that I thought I was hitting a concrete wall.

“Wake up! Are you trying to kill someone?”

“Huh…?”

The old man’s gaze returned in an instant. A sense of relief came over me, but at the same time, a sense of defeat came over me.

This was because the pressure I had been feeling on my ankles disappeared as if it had never existed in the first place.

“Hands, don’t let go!”

My body fell to the floor with a thud. I was able to prevent myself from falling headfirst by hitting the floor with my hands, but that didn’t make the pain go away.

“Ugh… This idiot…”

As I was lying on the floor groaning, an old man came to his senses, hugged me, and laid me on the bed.

It seemed like he didn’t even listen to the words telling him not to do it because he could get up on his own. Damn it.

“Sorry, Danhwa.”

The old man looked down at me with a face filled with despair.

I looked up at the old man with annoyance. It’s pointless to grow taller… It’ll just make my head hurt.

“Ha…okay. It’s okay now.”

Since I hadn’t been under that much force for that long and hadn’t fallen from a height of 2-3 meters, the pain subsided quickly just by lying down.

“Do you think your ankles can move a little?”

“It’s okay.”

The old man’s handprint was still there on my ankle. How could it not be on my neck?

Of course, it seemed to be swelling up a little, but it didn’t feel any tingling at all, so it didn’t seem to be a big problem.

I was afraid that if someone saw me, they might misunderstand me for no reason, so I took out a pair of black tights that I had stocked up on at the mall from a drawer.

“If you’re going to worry about it, why don’t you prevent it from happening in the first place?”

I pushed the thought to the back of my mind that maybe this wouldn’t have happened if I hadn’t woken him up by kicking him. This was the man’s fault.

“That’s true. Sorry.”

I didn’t want to ask what on earth happened. It was obviously a bad memory, so there was no need to bring it up again.

Whether it’s the person listening or the person speaking, if telling the story helps to loosen up, it’s best to keep quiet rather than letting both of you feel uneasy or depressed.

Judging from the fact that the old man didn’t say anything, it seemed like he had similar thoughts to me.

“Someone came looking for me.”

I had set up the alarm light in my room and mine to flash red when I pressed the buzzer at the entrance. That’s exactly what happened right now.

“I’ll be back soon.”

“Doesn’t the fact that you’re coming back mean you’re going out of the shelter? Just take care of it for a while and then send it back.”

“I will do that.”

The old man nodded obediently to my words. It would be important to act in accordance with the answer I gave you when I go out to the scene. But I have accumulated a lot of karma recently, so I will do well.

*

Do-hoon went down the stairs with a complicated mind. He said it was because he had a nightmare, but he felt very sorry for Dan-hwa.

Although Danhwa tried to say that she was okay and even changed her clothes, Dohoon could see that Danhwa was shaking, even if it was just a little.

The moment I started making a fuss about whether that was okay, I pretended not to know because I thought it would backfire.

Well, Do-Hoon thought that he would be really surprised if someone suddenly grabbed his ankle and yelled at him while he was hanging upside down.

Moreover, he weighed 110kg. How big would that person have to be to lift him… Do-Hoon spread his wings of imagination for a moment. He trembled at the vicious image that came to mind.

This is… a change of genre.

Do-hoon guessed that Dan-hwa might have felt the same way as he did just now.

You must have been very surprised.

After Do-Hoon finished dealing with the guest, he decided to stay by Dan-Hwa’s side until his anger calmed down a bit.

“Let’s see… Hmm? Looks like someone from Hanmaum Church.”

Beyond the entrance, on the screen, there was a man wearing clothes with a crude cross on them. I remembered the letter I had received a while ago.

The letter brought back memories of the excited wiping of Danhwa. Do-hoon’s shoulders felt numb for a moment.

I didn’t have a good feeling about it. Unless it was really urgent, they wouldn’t have sent someone twice.

“Ah! Brother Do-Hoon…!”

“Yes, who…?”

“The brother who was originally in charge took on a different job. I took over his job.”

“Ah… I see. Please take care of it.”

“Oh, I have to ask you. There is no one we rely on more than Brother Do-hoon at our Hanmaum Church. Pastor, you have a lot of worries these days too… Did you receive the letter from Pastor last time?”

Do-Hoon was able to recall, through memory, that there was a strange noise coming from the orchard and that he would come up with all sorts of examples if he just came to the church.

“Yes, you need my help…”

“These days, the orchard is not in chaos. It is not a ghost town, and it is natural for there to be an eerie atmosphere at night, and even during the day, there are occasional strange sounds.”

“That’s a strange sound…?”

“Yes. It sounds like zombies crying… But there is no sign of zombies anywhere in the orchard, so it’s crazy. After all, the orchard is a source of income for our Hanmaum Church. But because of that strange noise, the brothers and sisters are reluctant to do farming next year…”

Do-Hoon had a more detailed conversation with the person who came from Hanmaum Church.

*

“So what’s the problem?”

I got dressed in advance and looked at the old man and asked.

Even if there were people who would come, they would only be from Purunda Apartment or Hanmaum Church.

“They said there was a strange sound in the orchard.”

If it’s an orchard, it’s Hanmaum Church. Well, it seems like there was no reason for them to come to the Pureundle Apartments since the generator repairs had already been completed.

“Aren’t there some zombies in the mountain? It could be that the sound echoes back and forth, making it sound like it’s coming from the orchard.”

The old man responded to my words indifferently.

“I wondered if that was the case on their side too, so I checked among myself, but it seems like they said no.”

“Mr…. It’s cold.”

Although I packed my clothes, they were only to withstand the cold; it wasn’t like I wasn’t cold.

At first glance, the temperature outside was at least minus 15 degrees Celsius. It was a temperature comparable to that of an average cold storage warehouse.

So I took off the pants I was wearing. The old man was watching, but it didn’t really matter since I was wearing tights and my bare skin wasn’t going to show anyway.

I put another pair on over the tights that were already wrapped around my legs. The cool feeling disappeared and I could feel the thick material of the tights rubbing against each other and generating static electricity.

After tapping it with my hand a few times, the static electricity disappeared and only pure warmth remained.

When I glanced at the mirror, I felt like my lower body had gotten a bit dull, but compared to Hyeji, I could call myself slender.

Well, I guess it’s okay. It’s better than being cold.

“When are you going?”

“Shorts, when you want?”

“Then, let’s eat and go right away.”

If I’m going anyway, I’d better get everything done quickly.