episode_0008

As I came out of the manhole, I saw an old man running somewhere in the distance. Behind him, zombies that were probably occupying this area were chasing after him.

I had a feeling that it wouldn’t be like that, but when I saw it actually happening, I sighed.

It’s not safe outside. It’s just made temporarily safe.

I wondered if, in the mind of the old man who was full of stupidity, safety was inputted as someone else being safe except for me.

No, according to the stupid old man’s way of thinking, it’s obvious that he thinks that the zombies won’t catch him.

“Gasp, ugh…!”

Seriously, what are we going to do with this balance patch?

I turned my eyes to follow the sound of heavy breathing and saw Hyeji struggling to get out of the manhole. It was quite a sight to see her heart thumping with each rapid gasp of breath.

Thank goodness, if the old man was here I would have turned a blind eye.

I thought that the old man who was so bright-eyed about women might be acting foolishly when he saw this sight, so I went straight to Hye-ji and held out my hand.

“Either you catch them. Or you keep scurrying around and advertising to the zombies. I trust you’ll figure out which one to choose.”

“Thank you, little brother!”

The thank you note came back with unnecessary words attached.

“Should I have just let it go?”

“D, listen up!”

“That’s what I told you to hear.”

Hyeji was heavier than I thought.

Well, since there’s so much useless fat stuck to your body, it’s hard to even get that much fat up there.

If Hyeji’s busty chest and butt were half as small as they are now, she wouldn’t have been panting this much.

“Thank you! Was it a little heavy?”

But since he knows that he is heavy, he might have more room for reform than the old man who doesn’t know that he is stupid or reckless.

“Yeah, I guess it’s better to eat moderately. Unless your future dream is to open a zombie-only infinite samgyeopsal restaurant.”

I gave Hyeji some advice. Honestly, it was such a masterpiece of advice that I thought it was worth receiving private tutoring fees.

“That’s because I have a body type where I gain weight strangely only in my chest and butt even though I don’t eat much…”

“Shut up, follow me.”

It was so annoying that you responded to my advice with a lie that didn’t even make sense. Come to think of it, wasn’t there a time when you weren’t even talking?

“Hey, is Mr. Do-Hoon okay?”

“If you keep being like that, won’t things get worse?”

I pointed to the old man in the distance who was filming ‘1: 300, AV where you get caught and get punished until you become a family member’ and said.

Of course, we didn’t forget to press the button on the walkie-talkie to let the man know that we were safely out of the manhole.

“Ah! Oh, that’s right! I’m ready. Let’s go, little brother!!”

When talking about generators, the person who seemed so smart is now out in the field and there is no need for a separate advisor.

“I didn’t say anything about taking the lead.”

I grabbed Hyeji by the back of her neck, who was carelessly trying to step forward, and knocked her down, then shot an arrow. The arrow I shot pierced the head of the zombie hiding in the grass.

“Ugh.”

“Do you understand the situation now? Just go where I go, where I step, where I tell you to go.”

After neatly explaining the rules of conduct, I began to walk forward while keeping an eye on the road ahead.

“Yeah, yeah! I’ll just do what my little brother says so I won’t be bothered!”

“I say again, not your brother.”

“Okay! Got it, little brother!”

“…”

Let’s not talk.

*

The asphalt, which had not been maintained for a long time, was cracked and dented in places, and the greenery covering the city could not have missed such a spot.

At first glance, it may seem quiet and safe, but if you are fooled into placing your hands and feet anywhere without any protection, there is a high probability that you will suffer a disaster.

“Stop.”

“Hic!”

The skull of the zombie that was crawling on the floor with its lower body cleanly eaten away was shattered by my arrow.

When I pulled out the arrow, a dark red piece of flesh came out on the arrowhead. When I shook my hand hard, the flesh fell off and the sharp arrowhead was revealed once again.

“There’s more than I thought…”

“Because it’s a hospital, not somewhere else.”

“Is there a correlation between being in a hospital and having a lot of zombies?”

I sighed. The saying that people with extensive expertise are surprisingly often lacking in common sense came to mind.

Well, it’s not surprising that even university professors fall victim to voice phishing.

“In the early stages of the situation, the hospital was where the most infected people gathered. Of course, not voluntarily, but involuntarily. As you explained, Gunma Hospital is also a metropolitan hospital. All emergency patients would have come here.”

“Ah!”

Hyeji slammed her fist into her palm as if she understood my explanation. As a daily tutor, I was not pleased with the silly gesture of the silly student.

“Ha…”

Just sigh.

“Why are there so many zombies without lower bodies?”

“Well, I guess zombies like leg meat. Just like chicken legs are popular.”

‘How would I know that? Think about it yourself.’

I gave a vague answer with that kind of feeling. Hyeji’s reaction was really not easy.

“I see…!”

I believe this.

“Kiek…”

The head of the zombie that had been crawling towards us exploded and a small scream came out.

“Brother, you’re really good at shooting…!”

It was such an ordinary compliment to something so obvious that I didn’t even have to shrug my shoulders.

“Well, this is basic.”

As I said that, I skillfully retrieved the arrow from the zombie’s head like a skilled farmer harvesting grain.

Hyeji was a torturer with no real combat experience and many quirky sides, but strictly speaking, she was on the good side.

I wasn’t scared at all when I saw the zombies appearing and the exploding heads.

If you were shaking that useless lump of fat around and saying things like ‘Kyaak.’ or ‘Hyeok.’ or ‘Ugh.’, my arrow would have been in your head by now.

I left my regret behind and nodded to Hyeji. The meaning of the gesture was simple. It was a confirmation that I was doing well.

At my glance, Hyeji looked at the design drawings and maps she was holding in her arms.

“Almost there! That thing you see up ahead is the engine room’s ventilation. The TRX-6900 is particularly prone to generating a lot of heat, so the principle is to install large ventilation holes for air cooling, so you can see them with your own eyes from afar.”

“Noisy.”

“Ugh…”

One of the zombies that had been lying down under Hyeji’s necromancy showed a reaction. My arrow had to do its job again.

*

Even though it was a hospital, which would have been the most crowded and most horrific place when the zombie outbreak broke out, I saw a gloomy sight, with only traces of blood left from long ago remaining.

Of course, I had no intention of believing what I saw and stupidly going into the hospital to find a passage leading down to the basement.

In this beggarly world, it was common sense that the very word ‘hospital’ was a warm winter-level linguistic absurdity.

As soon as I entered the hospital, it was obvious that the zombies that had been lying around and enjoying their sleep would greet the outpatient who had come for the first time in a while with a bang.

I took my eyes off the hospital and looked around again. For now, I couldn’t see any zombies walking around.

“You really dragged me along.”

For a moment, I wondered if the reason the hospital had become so shabby was because of the old man’s provocation.

“But you won’t go in?”

As I continued to loiter near the vent, Hyeji asked me a question, perhaps out of curiosity.

“Where?”

“Annex 2 Building.”

“Why me?”

“Huh…? Mr. Do-Hoon and I were supposed to meet in the underground engine room, right?”

“I was supposed to see it in the engine room, but why did I go into the annex?”

I lifted the steel grating that was covering the ventilation shaft. Hyeji saw my actions and then began to exclaim, “Ah, ah!”

That’s why it’s important to foster creativity. What good is being smart? You’re stuck in a rut and doing stupid things. Didn’t you say that you have to make the vents really big?

A ventilation shaft is something that can be built and installed, but unlike a ventilation shaft, the fan installed for ventilation and the motor that runs the fan require maintenance.

Yes, there is.

My eyes caught sight of an endless ladder stretching out along one side of the wall.

“Do you have acrophobia?”

“Uh… I don’t think there are any…”

“Okay, then, it doesn’t matter. Follow me.”

I held onto the ladder I had made for maintenance and began to slowly descend towards the engine room.

“Really…? Isn’t it a little dangerous?”

At Hyeji’s words, I stopped going down and smiled brightly, pointing to the entrance to the annex.

“Then come over there? I’ll go over here first and wait.”

I thought I was fearless, but I was surprisingly weak in this area. Well, I guess I wasn’t in great physical shape, so was it right for me to be scared when facing this long ladder?

Anyway, I introduced a beginner-only light-level hunting ground for Hyeji, a beginner who was very scared and had lost confidence.

By the time Hyeji made it through there and reached the engine room, I was confident that she would become an excellent worker who could easily handle one person’s share, although she would not be comparable to Uncle Nana.

Hyeji followed my hand and turned her head toward the entrance of the annex. There was a gulping sound.

I waited for Hyeji’s choice, hanging askew on the ladder.

“I’ll follow you down soon…!”

That’s too bad.

Well… I knew this would happen.