Chapter 11: Doomsday Believer

Accidents, accidents, accidents. The world was nothing but accidents.

Sitting in the passenger seat, I quietly took in the passing scenery. The opposite lane was blocked, a fire burned in the neighboring residential complex, and a zombie lay handcuffed after being hit by a taser on the sidewalk.

The scene looked almost like a movie set, but it was reality.

“Apocalypse…”

Even watching firefighters, police, and civil servants work with exhausted expressions to contain the situation felt bleak.

Signs showed government agencies were becoming overwhelmed. Though these were ordinary incidents, civil servants rushed around like it was a disaster response, having been called in for emergency duty.

They already looked short-staffed.

If anything had improved from before, it was that citizens seemed adapted to zombies. Maybe because it had been nearly two weeks since zombies first appeared, people quietly cleared the area without fuss or commotion.

Just then, Do-hyung spoke skeptically.

“Seems like we’re almost there. This Professor Kim? Are they really an expert? Not just some attention seeker trying to get views?”

“No. They’re actually a professor at a famous university. Seems they’ve even consulted on policy.”

I looked down at my phone showing Professor Kim’s reply. Telling us to come to an apartment in this city.

The meeting approached.

It was a decent-looking apartment complex. The cars lined up in the parking lot looked expensive, and the facilities seemed clean and high-end.

Running late for our appointment due to blocked roads, we hurried toward Building 102 when a security guard grabbed our clothes at the entrance.

“Hey, wait!”

Were they stopping us as outsiders? Or because we had a hatchet and hammer? This level of armament was common now.

I calmly began speaking.

“We’re here to see-“

“No, no. That’s not it. The elevator’s out of service right now.”

“…What?”

Do-hyung and I froze. I glanced at my phone. The address said 12th floor. Were we supposed to walk up there?

“Is it elevator maintenance? When will it be done?”

We were already late for our appointment. Maybe we should ask the professor’s understanding and meet much later. As I thought this, the guard sighed deeply.

“Not that either. There was an incident in the elevator. There’s both a dead zombie and a dead person in there. We reported it but neither police nor decontamination crews have come.”

“Ah.”

Nothing we could do then. Couldn’t take an elevator full of virus.

So we painfully climbed twelve flights of stairs. Carefully watching for traps that someone like me might have set.

Almost dying and gasping for breath, we reached Professor Kim’s apartment.

Ding dong-

“Professor? I’m Kim Da-in who contacted you by email.”

When I pressed the bell with trembling hands, the electronic lock beeped open. The door didn’t open. Just a quiet voice came after a few seconds.

“Come in.”

Carefully opening the door, Professor Kim greeted us from far back wearing a mask.

A middle-aged man wrapped in depression and despair. Graying hair showed through, and eyes behind glasses were deeply sunken. Their scholarly and gentle appearance felt neurotic due to their gaunt, gloomy atmosphere.

A true doomsayer’s appearance.

They nodded slightly and went inside.

Do-hyung and I briefly looked at each other before striding in after them. To the living room Professor Kim led us to.

Professor Kim sat at the far end of the living room and pointed to the opposite end with thin fingers. Just bare floor, no chairs or cushions.

“Sit there. Far away. Keep your masks on.”

Their voice was deeply hoarse like they’d been crying all night.

“Um, could we have some water?”

Do-hyung asked hesitantly, tired from climbing the stairs. I also looked hopefully at the professor. My throat was dry.

Professor Kim’s eyes crinkled as if smiling bitterly and shook their head.

“I’m sorry. I should at least offer tea. But I can’t even give you water.”

“No, we understand.”

Though it could have soured the mood, I quickly waved my hands and nodded.

Excellent caution. If we were infected during incubation, we could spread virus, so this was natural.

Do-hyung also plopped down after I roughly sat on the floor. We caught our breath leaning against the wall. As I wondered how to start the conversation, Do-hyung immediately asked as if they’d never doubted the professor.

“Professor, is the world really ending? Can’t we stop the virus?”

“The I-virus…”

I glanced at Do-hyung.

Ask a doomsayer if the end is coming and of course they’ll say yes. No, was this a natural way to open conversation?

Around then Professor Kim stared blankly into space before answering in a low voice.

“Immortal Company’s chairman was truly a genius. How did they create such a virus? Why did they use that brilliant mind to make a virus to extinct humanity? Why…”

That was closer to a mutter filled with subtle anger.

Professor Kim, who seemed lost in thought, suddenly snapped back and stared straight at us. Dark conviction filled their eyes.

“Yes, destruction is coming. The test kits are being developed far too late. We can’t respond properly in the early stages.”

“No. That makes no sense. It’s just a virus. This much. It hasn’t even been a month.”

I quickly cut off Do-hyung’s emotional words. I was more curious about Professor Kim’s predictions. They must see the Chairman’s big picture better than me.

“How will destruction come?”

“…”

Professor Kim seemed to hesitate whether to say this. But after briefly glancing toward the bedroom, they continued as if resigned.

It was a dark prophecy like from the apocalypse.

“The documents seized from Immortal Company said this: We have created an immortal virus.”

An immortal virus.

“Like how COVID mutated into Omicron, viruses usually mutate toward lower lethality and higher transmission. But this I-virus was already nearly perfected in that direction. So how will it mutate?”

Mutation. Evolution.

My mouth went dry at a sudden thought. I muttered without realizing:

“Transmission routes…”

Professor Kim nodded like looking at a good student and continued speaking.

“That’s what Immortal Company predicted. The immortal virus will evolve to increase hosts. It will evolve to survive in more diverse environments.”

A horrific future flashed before my eyes like a vision.

A future where all animals were infected. Birds flying in the sky and beasts walking the earth. Their blood and waste contaminating the ground and groundwater, sweeping through the world along waterways backing up from broken water systems.

Animals, water, air. A future where the world itself became virus threatening life.

Suddenly the Chairman’s smile came to mind. That smile changed. Into a vile and hideous demon’s smile.

‘Chairman… This is going too far.’

Wasn’t this extinction and annihilation? They should have left room for human survival in a post-apocalyptic world.

At this rate prison in a normal world would be better than facing destruction.

My fists clenched as my heart pounded. I became a fervent government believer and looked desperately at Professor Kim.

“Response. What if we respond even now?”

“It’s too late. By the time test kits are distributed, infected will easily pass a million, rising steeply every day.”

Do-hyung suddenly jumped up.

“If we respond properly, even now – submit petitions, report to news, convince people!”

“Do you know about foot-and-mouth disease?”

Professor Kim asked.

That brought up certain scenes. When they culled pigs due to foot-and-mouth disease, huh?

Silence fell. Professor Kim suddenly looked like a different person. Not an intellectual professor but a murderer with a mustache.

Professor Kim seemed to smile bitterly.

“To stop destruction we’d need measures that harsh. Force virus testing, kill and incinerate all infected. That’s what it would take to stop this.”

“Ah.”

That seemed… impossible.

Symptomatic zombies were one thing, but incubating infected were normal people. Over a million of them by the time test kits were distributed.

And if such extreme measures were taken…

“I proposed the most certain response plan but was immediately dismissed. Everyone looked at me like you are now.”

“But. That’s impossible.”

It wasn’t a virus test kit. It was a death lottery ticket. Would people get tested? And would people just accept it? What about the soldiers carrying out the slaughter?

Resistance, escape, gatherings, protests. It would create better conditions for the virus to spread.

And eventually the virus would mutate and destruction-

‘No!’

No, no. I couldn’t believe this doomsayer. Even if not just a doomsayer’s delusion, it was just speculation assuming the worst case.

I desperately argued back searching for hope.

“Couldn’t it mutate differently? Toward maintaining rationality?”

“It could. Toward weaker symptoms. But then…”

Professor Kim suddenly reached out their hand. A gesture like gripping and turning something. Like pushing open a window. Or professionally using some tool.

“…Partially lost intelligence would only make the world more dangerous.”

Professor Kim spoke self-mockingly.

“Zombies are already quite smart. Cold and heat won’t kill them either. When it gets hot or cold, they’ll head for subways or underground parking lots.”

“No. They rush at stimuli. If we lure them with trucks or armored vehicles and push them-“

As Do-hyung, who had witnessed zombies, said what I wanted to say, Professor Kim shook their head.

“The zombies would die. But the virus they spread during incubation remains. Everything is too late. This can’t be stopped.”

Destruction…

I deeply understood that. My racing heart seemed to slow. Peace came.

Whether I wanted apocalypse or prison life in a normal world, the world gave no choice.

But did that mean giving up and dying? No. Whether looting or twisting our bodies, we had to survive somehow.

‘This is better.’

No need to worry at an ambiguous crossroads. Just run straight down the one path ahead.

I clenched my fist and looked at Professor Kim. We needed this expert.

“Professor. People will survive even in apocalypse. Will you join us? Lend us your knowledge.”

“A good offer but… I can’t.”

A firm voice.

“If you help us, more people could-“

“Broadcasting is enough help-“

Though I tried my best to persuade them, the conversation went nowhere. Had they already lost hope? The offer to survive together didn’t get through at all.

Around then a sound came. Krreek, a zombie’s rough cry. From the direction of the bedroom.

Professor Kim stood up.

“My wife must be hungry. I’ll go feed her quickly.”

They scooped white rice porridge into a bowl from the kitchen and entered the bedroom. Their gentle voice drifted faintly from inside. The professor’s kind voice telling her to eat.

That door was slightly open.

Do-hyung and I crept forward simultaneously. And looked through the door gap.

Professor Kim’s wife tied to the bed. Someone who’d become a zombie.

We realized at the same time. Professor Kim wasn’t qualified to join my marauder group. They must be certainly infected.

Above all.

‘They’re someone I can’t understand.’

Spooning watery porridge one spoonful at a time into the zombie’s mouth. Though the zombie twisted its body, it eagerly ate.

Not killing it, not thinking of using zombies as biological weapons like me. Though more certain of the end than anyone, they couldn’t make decisions or take action.

They weren’t a doomsayer. Just an ordinary person swept up in disaster, a good person warning others through broadcasts even in this situation.

‘Marauder, rejected.’