episode_0011

– One day before Seonghan began his journey

Patter patter patter-

The urgent sound of many footsteps echoed through the hallway.

The loud thudding of what sounded like five or six people running suggested they were in a desperate situation.

A woman running alongside them urgently called out to another woman who was falling behind.

“Unnie! Throw all that away! Quickly!”

“Huh? Oh, alright!”

The petite woman boldly tossed away the few clothes and large bag she was carrying, and her running speed seemed to quicken as she felt a little lighter.

A man running ahead opened the door to a room and urgently shouted.

“This way! This way! Quickly! Hurry!”

The people hurried into the room. Among them, one person.

The tall, handsome man didn’t immediately enter, but stood at the entrance.

Cold sweat streamed down his pale face, as if he had been greatly startled by something.

Despite this, the man, who exuded charm, urgently cried out.

“Isia! Over here! Come quickly! Hurry!”

Standing to prevent the door from closing, he waved his hand, urging the women.

Two women and one man followed behind them.

Their desperate running was nothing short of frantic.

“Screeech-!”

A group about 10 meters behind them was chasing them, letting out grotesque screams.

The bizarre cries, enough to make anyone faint, seemed to be coming from more than just one or two.

Thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-thump-!!

Heavy, irregular footsteps filled the hallway, instilling fear.

Before being consumed by the emotion of fear, the three managed to safely enter the room and…

Once everyone was inside, the handsome man pushed the door with his back and shouted.

“Something to block it! Th-that! The sofa! The table! Quickly! Hurry!”

Without a moment to catch their breath, the people hastily moved items and stacked them in front of the door.

Everyone worked together, frantically moving and stacking things.

Anything bulky or within reach.

“Groooowl-!!”

Thud! Thud! Rattle rattle-

The door shook precariously with a heavy sound, as if something was slamming its body against it.

In response, people’s gazes wavered greatly.

Though thoroughly terrified, they couldn’t tear their eyes away from the door.

As if they had to.

The stout-bodied man who had entered first cried out nervously, his face a ghastly pale.

“Goddamn it!! What the hell is that…”

“!!!!!!”

The handsome man blocking the door widened his eyes, gesturing for silence.

It was as if his gaze said, ‘Shut up and stay still!’

Perhaps flustered by that look, he hastily clamped his mouth shut, even holding his breath.

The others who saw this also closed their mouths and quietly held their breath.

For a long time, they remained motionless, as if dead.

After a while, the bizarre things chasing them eventually quieted down.

Judging by the fading footsteps, they seemed to have dispersed.

However, they didn’t go far, seeming to loiter nearby.

As the hallway fell silent, the people finally felt relieved.

Their bodies, taut with tension, collapsed as they all sank to the floor.

“It seems they’ve passed for now. Is everyone alright?”

The tall, handsome man checked on everyone, a hint of unease still lingering about him.

Perhaps due to their great shock, no one could answer properly.

Among them, only the woman called Isia managed to speak.

“I, I think I’m alright. What about you, Jihyeok Seonbae-nim? Are you okay?”

The man called Seonbae replied to Isia, who was worried about him.

“I’m fine. Phew… That’s a relief. What a relief….”

It was unclear whether he was speaking to the people or to himself, but everyone who had entered the room seemed safe. Only those who had entered, that is.

Everyone knew it, though they didn’t say it aloud.

They knew because they had seen it with their own eyes.

The other companions who hadn’t made it into the room had all been attacked and fallen.

The peaceful day of the people was ruined.

Too easily, and too futilely.

Due to an abnormal outbreak of violence, people attacked people.

To be precise, they ambushed, bit, and killed.

Faced with the unrealistic scene, people could only stare as if frozen.

Soon, another victim’s shattering scream echoed, and only then did people scatter in panic, beginning to run to escape the scene.

Chaos erupted in an instant.

Times Square, once bustling with people gathered for a fun weekend, became filled with the desperate screams of those people and the roars of monsters.

In that pandemonium, Kim Jihyeok and Isia’s group barely managed to reach this place, leaving behind their other companions who had fallen and couldn’t keep up.

“W-what in the world is happening? Is this some kind of random assault?”

Among the people who had entered earlier, an elderly couple asked, unable to hide their trembling.

The old man, who held his terrified wife, comforting her as she trembled like an aspen leaf, seemed relatively calm, but he too couldn’t hide his fear-stricken expression.

“You know, it seems just like those incidents the YouTubers were talking about?”

A sturdy young man with a bag slung over his shoulder, who had been following Kim Jihyeok, spoke. He was probably referring to the noisy, so-called ‘zombie apocalypse’ clickbait videos that had been circulating for days.

Ordinarily, no one would have paid attention to such videos, with their sensational content that would usually be scoffed at and quickly deleted or organized.

It felt like a typical exaggeration that would blow over.

Until the current situation struck.

To dismiss it as nonsense, the content aligned too perfectly with the videos.

Though it wasn’t a question posed for an answer, no one could open their mouth.

“Damn it! If this were real, the country would’ve warned us already! I’m leaving!”

The man, who seemed to be an employee here, wearing a uniform and having been the first to enter the room, began to get agitated again and walked towards the door. It was as if he intended to ignore everything and go his own way.

“Calm down! If you do that, everyone will just be in danger!”

“Shut up!! I-”

The moment Kim Jihyeok, who had been sitting by the door, sprang up to calm the man.

Bzzzzzzzt-

Everyone’s smartphones in the room simultaneously let out a buzzing sound.

A disaster warning text message.

Normally, it would have been a message warning about missing persons, heatwaves, or heavy rain, but.

“……”

The content was not like usual. It was a message telling them not to leave their homes or safe places in preparation for indiscriminate acts of violence. For those who had just experienced an unbelievable situation, it was anything but light content.

The highly agitated man simply collapsed and slowly began to sob.

They saw his state, but no one could console him.

Everyone in the room felt the same way.

Outside, the cries of zombies. Inside the room, a heavy silence.

Overwhelmed by the events that had unfolded in an instant, the people in the confined room could only tremble with fear that squeezed their bodies.

***

“It’s big…?”

He had finally arrived in front of Holly Sale.

It had taken some time one way or another, but it didn’t matter.

His heart simply fluttered at the thought of the delicacies and countless supplies he would be “booking” inside. There were other reasons besides that, though.

“I always wanted to come here someday, but I never imagined it would be like this.”

He had always wanted to visit this place at least once.

His so-called “things I want to try.” His wish list!

A typical American-style warehouse store.

Large and beautiful American-style products filling the store!

The magical allure of insane value for money that made one unconsciously open their wallet!

However, in the goshiwon he stayed in, there was no large refrigerator or a car to transport goods, so in the past, he had to be content with simply watching YouTube videos for vicarious satisfaction.

Thanks to that, this event had become one of his wish list items.

Going a step further, there were other items like shopping at Holly Sale with a girlfriend, going on a date, etc., but in the current situation, these should be on his bucket list rather than his wish list.

But! Today is a little different!

“I’ll sweep it all up! Hehehehehe.”

He might not have a lover to accompany him, but…

He could enjoy shopping(?) without worrying about money or delivery.

Before that, he suppressed his excitement for a moment and surveyed his surroundings.

J-Park and J-Park Mall were attached, and since it was a weekend, he expected many zombies, but surprisingly, the nearby streets were quiet.

He had never been to this street before, so he didn’t know if there was usually a lot of foot traffic.

“Hmph- It was like this when I went into Zip Plus too….”

Still, he couldn’t back down. Any other time, he would have been more cautious for his safety.

But there are times when a man has to make a choice, even when he knows it’s not ideal.

This was that moment of choice.

“Wait for me, my provisions-! I’m going in now.”

With steps as light as his excited and fluttering heart, fulfilling a long-held wish, he began to enter without hesitation.

As soon as he stepped inside the entrance, bloodstains and crushed flesh, as if chewed and spit out, marred what would have been a clean floor. The air felt strangely subdued, heavy and cold.

There was no particular sign of movement; everything was quiet around him.

『B1 – Food Court B2~B3 Parking Lot』

Following the helpful sign he found while surveying his surroundings, he headed underground.

It was strange that he couldn’t see any zombies in a building of this size.

The moment he quietly arrived on the first basement floor.

“Whoa…”

His mouth hung open foolishly at the sight before his eyes for the first time.

A ceiling so high it made him wonder if it was even allowed.

An enormously vast space, so wide its end was out of sight.

Iron racks lined up at regular intervals, like something one would see in a factory.

All sorts of products organized on those racks, piled up by the pallet.

The sight before his eyes was nothing short of a paradise.

His admiration for the scale and method, which he was encountering for the first time, was brief.

He found himself falling for the typical large and beautiful American style.

American guys… He liked them.

“It must be… 5,000? 6,000 pyeong? I didn’t know a supermarket could be this huge.”

He was so happy that a smile formed on his face, and his body grew hot with excitement.

However, he postponed indulging in that feeling for a moment.

The feeling he had at the entrance didn’t seem to be an exaggeration; as soon as he descended to the food section, a sense of alarm raised its head and warned him.

It was a slightly stronger feeling than at Zip Plus.

In addition, he felt a subtle chill.

Given how famous and spacious the place was, it seemed there were quite a few zombies.

Thinking he probably needed to clear them out to some extent before shopping, he slowly heightened his slackened tension and senses.

Not too much. Not too little.

To avoid being vainly caught off guard.

His beloved weapon, the crowbar, Miseuru. He took it out and moved quietly, yet not timidly, towards the unwelcome guests hidden among his supplies.

As he passed the deli counter and went further in, the chill intensified.

It wasn’t just his imagination; the ambient temperature was actually low.

He didn’t know why, but it was just enough to keep him alert.

Before long, groaning sounds, like someone scratching their throat, could be heard from all directions.

Thinking it wouldn’t be bad to clear them out from the start, he headed straight towards the source of the sounds without hesitation. The aisles between the product displays were wide enough for a fight.

“Grrrk. Groooan.”

Bizarre cries that sounded as if they were coming from punctured lungs.

Eight zombies were immediately visible.

As soon as the first target was confirmed, he lowered his center of gravity slightly and dashed forward quickly.

Swoosh-!

Maintaining his running speed, he took down the first two in quick succession.

At the dull tearing sound, the remaining zombies finally recognized their enemy.

“Kyaaaah-!”

He slowly approached the group of zombies rushing towards him, raising his crowbar in a gesture that clearly meant they wanted to grab him and tear him apart.

“Alright. Come… on?”

He paused, slightly bewildered.

“What? Why are they like this?”

Their charging figures, filled with a ravenous hunger to tear him apart and an inexplicable hostility, were no different from before. The repulsive smell was a bonus. However…

“Why are they so slow? Are they broken somewhere?”

They were very slow.

Compared to the zombies outside that had charged at him before, these were slugs.

Furthermore, they moved with a severe rattling.

It was a sight perfectly befitting their moniker as ‘reanimated corpses’.

He didn’t let his guard down, wondering if it was a trick, but they truly were slow.

Feeling dumbfounded, he slowly approached and kindly smashed the heads of the sluggishly advancing zombies.

“……?”

It was extremely baffling.

It had been different even when he encountered the child zombie on the rooftop earlier.

Those zombies had practically lunged, and the child zombie had moved in an extraordinary way. But now, it was completely different. With movements like these, he felt foolish for having been so tense.

“No. Complacency is forbidden. But why did the difficulty suddenly drop so much?”

He tilted his head, trying to analyze the cause, but it was pointless.

“…It’s not because it’s cold… Hmm….”

If it were due to temperature? He could understand it if it were the dead of winter.

But now, it was just slightly cool.

While he rummaged through the zombie corpses, pondering, more zombies approached.

Slowly, slowly-

‘I’ll leave the thinking to future me.’

He approached the zombies, who were coming with movements so ludicrous they would make anyone laugh at their foolishness on a variety show. Whatever the reason, a zombie was a zombie.

There was no reason to leave them behind.

For the sake of enjoyable shopping.

It’s cleanup time.