Ch.1111. Gathering Survivors (3)

# Ordinary Daily Life!

Kim Tae-hyun felt his heart sink at Choi Yu-na’s question.

Her statement would be the greatest wish of any ordinary person in this zombie apocalypse world.

“Ordinary daily life… Of course I want it back.”

Naturally, Kim Tae-hyun also wanted to get back to an ordinary life.

In the past, he had thought that “ordinary daily life” was too boring and had sought thrilling stimulation like something out of a novel.

However, when that ordinary life he had taken for granted collapsed and was replaced by the zombie apocalypse disaster, it brought Tae-hyun immense stress. If not for the lifeline of family he needed to protect, Kim Tae-hyun’s mind might have gone mad long ago.

To him, Choi Yu-na’s question about wanting to return to ordinary life was… an incredibly sweet proposal.

But…!

“If the Yu-na at the survivor camp had said that, I would have gladly followed… But the current Yu-na isn’t much different from a cult preaching doomsday…”

“Hmm. So I’m no different from a cult, you say.”

However, the thread of patience and intellect that remained allowed him to detect something strange about the current Yu-na.

After all, the current Yu-na had a completely different aura from the Yu-na he had seen at the survivor camp.

The Yu-na from the camp was a kind girl who worked hard to treat injured survivors, but the current Yu-na… carried an aura of arrogance not much different from cult followers who risked their lives to spread their teachings throughout the city.

‘I want to think this is just my imagination…’

But Tae-hyun desperately wanted to believe his current thoughts were a misjudgment.

After all, Choi Yu-na was the benefactor who had saved the lives of Kim Tae-hyun and his family.

If even Yu-na, his life’s benefactor, was no different from a cult preaching doomsday… he felt like he might go crazy right now.

“Hehe. Tae-hyun, do you believe in God?”

“Huh? Why are you suddenly asking that?”

“It’s simple. Before the apocalypse, did you believe in God or religion?”

“…Yes, I did.”

Before the apocalypse, he naturally believed.

His entire family was devoutly Christian, and Tae-hyun also attended church services every weekend.

However, after the zombie apocalypse occurred, his faith in religion and God disappeared.

At first, he prayed several times to the God he believed in, but despite crying out and praying repeatedly, God gave no response.

“Hehe. Some people believe in money. Others believe in power. But in this moment when all of that is meaningless… what do you believe in that would let you close your eyes willingly?”

“That… I don’t know. I prayed to the God of my religion, but God didn’t answer me at all.”

Feeling uneasy at Yu-na’s incomprehensible statements, Tae-hyun replied that he didn’t know.

He had already prayed to God, but God had not responded to him.

The only things Tae-hyun could believe in now were himself and his family.

Yu-na smiled brightly as if agreeing with his words and spoke.

“That’s only natural. Because God doesn’t see us.”

She said God doesn’t see humans.

That was a completely different claim from the doomsday cults outside that preached about the end brought by God.

“So we haven’t been abandoned by anyone. The reason our lives are so painful despite not having committed any sins… it’s not God’s trial. We were just unlucky.”

“Unlucky?”

Yes, the reason we became so unhappy was… simply because we were unlucky.

The reason life is so painful… it’s not because we committed any special sin, but because we became unhappy due to bad luck.

“What’s that supposed to mean? We’re experiencing the zombie apocalypse because we were unlucky?”

“Yes. We experienced the zombie apocalypse because we were unlucky. We lost close friends because we were unlucky. And because we’re unlucky… our lives are gradually being threatened by zombies.”

He really wanted to cry.

Kim Tae-hyun wanted to strongly criticize and refute Yu-na’s statement, but deep down he was agreeing with her words.

After all, to frame this current misfortune as God’s trial… had Kim Tae-hyun and his family really committed sins deserving of such a trial?

Had Tae-hyun and his family accumulated enough sins to fall into this hellish pit?

‘No, that can’t be right.’

That wasn’t it.

Kim Tae-hyun and his family were ordinary, model citizens living in Gyeongju.

He could swear to heaven that this family had never committed sins deserving of hell.

“But now that divine indifference ends. Now is the time for us to rebuild the collapsed order with a new order.”

“So what are you saying we should do? Is that possible with our power? Even if it’s just a thread of hope, waiting for the government’s rescue…”

Tae-hyun sympathized with Yu-na’s claim that they should save themselves with their own power, but he objected that it was an unrealistic proposition.

Could they really rebuild a new order with just their own strength?

Wasn’t that too exaggerated?

“Clinging to such false hope only lasts a month or two. If there’s no response beyond that, isn’t believing and waiting for false hope just a shortcut to misery? What could change if we wait another month here?”

But Yu-na spoke firmly.

Even now, there was no response from the government.

What would remain if they waited another month or two?

At Yu-na’s words, Tae-hyun unconsciously recognized the truth he had been turning away from.

“…Ugh.”

Under the false hope that the government would save them, Tae-hyun and his family were struggling with limited resources.

Even now, while being pessimistic about his own actions, he continued to wait with the feeling of grasping a broken rope.

“But that pessimism ends now. The foolishness of being pessimistic about myself also ends now! He told me this: Build your strength. And with that strength, raise a new city from the ruins. That will be the new world we want.”

“……”

If the government couldn’t save Gyeongju, she was saying they should save themselves.

At her ambition to rebuild the ruined Gyeongju anew, Tae-hyun’s hands trembled with excitement, but…

“Is that even possible? As you know, the survivor camps in Gyeongju are all hostile to outsiders.”

“I know. ‘I’ve met with all of them except one.’ Most sympathized with me but said they couldn’t believe it. Some even laughed at my opinion, calling it a delusion.”

“If you’ve already met them, why…”

He responded skeptically with a pessimistic voice.

The words sounded good, but how would they eliminate all the zombies in Gyeongju, and how would they rebuild the city?

Gyeongju was already divided into various factions surviving separately, and Yu-na smiled bitterly as if she had contacted those factions.

“So I will prove it to the Gyeongju survivors. As I just said, I met many people before meeting you, Tae-hyun. They all doubted me. It’s truly sad, but from the perspective of survivor camps focused on survival, it’s natural. On the surface, I was just a girl who only knew how to heal.”

“Are you saying you’re not that anymore?”

“Yes. Those powerless days are over now. Let me declare to you, as I did to the others.”

She proclaims with an expression full of joy.

“In a few days, I will prepare a stage where all survivors in Gyeongju can see the power of the god I serve.”

An overwhelming power to show the survivor camps and survivors who remain in Gyeongju.

“I will demonstrate our power—a power that even the survivor camps here cannot ignore.”

“Oh, okay…”

The power to achieve what she had claimed.

At her confident appearance, Tae-hyun unconsciously nodded.

* * *

After returning to Gyeongju, Yu-na contacted the remaining survivor camps and declared to them that she would normalize Gyeongju and restore order.

At first, no one believed Choi Yu-na’s declaration.

Some thought it was just nonsense, while others said she was crazy.

However, since Choi Yu-na was a girl known as a healer in Gyeongju, news about her spread widely in the Gyeongju community.

There’s a saying that even words without legs can travel a thousand miles.

Although electricity was cut off, satellite internet was still working fine, so people were still exchanging local information, survival information, or external information through internet communities.

Naturally, there was an internet site called the Gyeongju community specifically for Gyeongju City, and through this community, news about Choi Yu-na was transmitted to other regional communities.

-A show-off has appeared.

-Lord, another one goes up today.

-Sorry, I was trolling to show you this.

-Realistically, there’s no way Choi Yu-na’s statement will work. Both Gyeongju and our city have no room to spare.

-I heard Seoul and other major cities are doing okay though?

-No, it’s not much different here. The strong are exploiting the weak. Of course, I’m one of the strong lol

-The fact is Gyeongju is going to get healthy.

-Satan: Did someone call me?

-No one called you!

-LOL for real, call me.

-LOL for real

Of course, the community’s reaction wasn’t good.

Most declared Choi Yu-na’s death as certain, either mocking her or using her as black humor.

-But isn’t this what everyone wants?

-Even if it’s impossible, isn’t dreaming of normalization not a bad thing?

Or there were those who sympathized with Choi Yu-na’s cause while lamenting the sad reality.

-But can she win?

-They say she’s a healing artist?

-Choi Yu-na’s defeat is already confirmed.

The common consensus was that Choi Yu-na would be miserably defeated and die.

This wasn’t much different in the Gyeongju community.

-Choi Yu-na is committing suicide.

-What a waste. Yes, really a waste.

-Gyeongju’s only healing artist has gone crazy like that. How lamentable.

-Should we just kidnap her to our survivor camp?

-Do. It. All!

-She has a pretty face. Her body looks delicious. Such a waste, should have taken her when the camp collapsed.

ㄴYou’re that bastard Jo Sun-do.

ㄴWho are you? Could it be Jeong Dong-geon?

Most people just said it was a waste of Choi Yu-na’s abilities, but no one offered to help her.

No one had any room to spare, and just surviving was overwhelming.

Of course, to be fair, the fact that they could write meaningless posts on internet communities was evidence that their survivor camps had some leeway.

They just weren’t using that leeway to help others, only for themselves.

“That’s not to say it’s bad. Life is precious, so people can act selfishly to save their own lives. I can understand that.”

[I see.]

But that wasn’t to say it was bad.

Life was precious, and they had simply thrown away all the morality and consideration they had until now to survive.

But Yu-na thought such nightmares would end here.

“When the promised day comes for these people, a new history will be engraved in the world.”

[History?]

A new history would begin.

“Yes. You could say a new beginning chapter is starting. The name engraved in that history is Dragon God Bahamut, my brave and benevolent god.”

That history’s name was Bahamut.

[…What’s that? I don’t know, it’s scary.]

“Huh? What did you say?”

[Nothing. Nothing at all. …I really seem to have drawn the short straw.]

The foolish dragon felt fear at Yu-na who spoke so sincerely without any shame.

‘It might already be too late…’

But seeing the cult followers prostrating around Yu-na, he gave up, thinking it was already too late.