episode_0014

Now I understood the bewilderment of the raccoon whose large cotton candy melted away instantly in the water. I empathized deeply.

It happened right after an all-time jackpot slipped through my fingers.

I decided to speed things up a little.

At most, I was just stepping up the pace, moving a bit faster and picking things up quickly.

However, I also didn’t neglect to be just as careful.

For example, I passed on unpackaged or unwrapped foods for now. I judged that there was no harm in being careful since I didn’t know what kind of effect they might have. Of course, I couldn’t help but feel it was a waste.

If the zombie virus truly existed, I was very worried that it might cause infection through food exposed to open air. It might not be, and nothing was certain, but I wasn’t playing a game right now.

『Seonghan ate a sweet potato and was infected with the zombie virus!』

That message, followed by a game over, and no retrying was possible.

I just hoped that at least the supplies I’d gathered so far were fine.

Back in the food court now.

I packed items, checking for zombie fluids and packaging status.

The freezer incident was heartbreaking, but the mountainous pile of supplies brought me comfort.

Especially at the fresh fish corner, my mood recovered quite a bit.

“This is salmon, alright. *This* is real salmon.”

Not the 10,000 to 20,000 won salmon per pack, but the special-sized salmon, which I thought might be as big as a human torso, made me realize how little I knew about the world. As soon as I admired it and thankfully packed it away, the large-capacity seafood and processed meat products were truly humbling.

Various kinds of bacon and prosciutto that I only knew by name. Hams bigger than bricks brought great comfort to me, who had no expiration date restrictions. In the dairy section, for me, who only knew slice cheese, it was a kind of culture shock. I really didn’t know there were so many types of cheese. I simply admired them and picked them up.

But not everything went smoothly.

Things people would look for as emergency food.

In the canned goods or dried food sections, I didn’t have much luck.

Of course, I got a considerable amount, but it was quite regrettable.

There wasn’t much stock of food supplies here, probably because a lot of people had gathered there.

Moreover, they were scattered and damaged on the floor, or heavily stained with blood.

Seeing that a lot of zombies were also gathered here, I could tell there had been significant damage. Also, following the traces on the floor, I saw they led towards the parking lot.

‘Whether they took food or not, they must have fled towards where the cars were.’

The floor was crisscrossed with footprints, smeared with red blood, dark red blood, and bodily fluids.

I could somewhat guess how many people screamed at the time and fled from the zombies.

I thought I knew the reason why there were fewer zombies than expected (?).

‘Let’s skip the parking lot.’

I decisively gave up on it.

Usually, parking lots have loading docks, and there’s a possibility of quite a few goods there.

But since I was already picking up more food than I could possibly need, I discarded my greed.

Just the zombies I caught after entering the Holy Sale were in the hundreds.

Considering the size of the store, it wouldn’t be strange if more zombies were hidden.

Especially if it’s the parking lot where people gathered, that goes without saying.

‘There’s no need to gamble out of greed.’

I looked at the parking lot entrance, then turned away as if letting go of regret.

I also took the rice and other grains, which I personally considered important…

When I was packing spices to add flavor to my future diet, I discovered something interesting purely by chance.

To be precise, salt.

When I went to the spice corner, a zombie was thrashing wildly on the floor.

Three or four of them, though already corpses, were twitching violently.

‘They’re already dead, so they shouldn’t feel pain. Why are they doing that?’

It was truly strange, so when I observed closely, they had something covering them.

Because the floor was dirty, mixed with bodily fluids, I didn’t recognize it at first.

“This… isn’t this salt?”

I don’t know the circumstances of these guys, but they were covered in salt and foaming at the mouth.

Honestly, I thought it was a precious sight.

Where else would I see a zombie thrashing so violently?

Just in case, I brought a 5kg bag of salt and poured a little at a time.

I sprinkled it evenly on their arms and legs, body, and head.

As a result, the zombie that took a salt ‘bomb’ to the face slowly reduced its movements and soon returned to its original corpse-like state. As if it had been a docile corpse all along.

Only one died like that, and the others kept struggling, so there was some reaction, but I wondered if the effect itself was weak.

There are records from the Middle Ages that holy water was effective for wounds or diseases.

The funny thing is that holy water was actually saltwater.

“Holy water consecrated by the grace of God by priests!” The bluff was an added extra.

There’s also a rumor that when fighting zombies, they were defeated by the sacred power of salt.

“It would be great if it were really possible.”

To use it as a weapon, the effect was too weak. And it consumed a lot.

It would become difficult to find salt in the future.

Salt is as important as water. In that sense…

“Damn it. What a waste of salt I poured out.”

For the brief interest it sparked, it was too high a price.

Reflecting deeply, I also took the remaining large quantity of salt.

At the same time, I discovered a large quantity of bottled water piled up nearby.

Perhaps it was meant for display; an enormous amount was stacked there.

I couldn’t have been happier to see the 2L bottled water.

Considering the amount of water that would be consumed in the future, no matter how much there was, it wasn’t enough.

Fortunately, it was stacked abundantly even in the employee passage, and what else was there…

“Sparkling water? I’m not sure what it tastes like, but well, for now…?”

It suddenly occurred to me that if I got the chance, I wanted to try bathing in sparkling water.

I wonder what it would feel like. I’m excited to find out.

…And it might be even better with a beauty.

While packing the bottled water, the last place I reached was the alcohol.

The liquor section.

Once again, I was impressed by America’s grand, powerful style.

“Why is all the alcohol so big? A 1.8L bottle of vodka?”

It looked perfect for drinking until you passed out.

I almost just chuckled and passed on it, but I changed my mind.

If I absolutely needed alcohol, yes, I did, but…

“As food, its importance is a bit lower, though?”

In movies, they spray strong alcohol on wounds to disinfect them.

Sometimes, they also make Molotov cocktails from liquor bottles.

After hesitating for a moment, I ended up packing the large bottles of alcohol too.

It’s not like I don’t drink at all, and in American dramas, alcohol sometimes establishes itself as a valuable commodity, so it seemed there would be no harm in taking it.

After packing all this, I had mostly cleared out the food court.

When I checked the time, I had spent almost 48 hours in this one place alone.

A kind of arduous labor, but not really, combined with zombie hunting.

It was almost as if I had cleared out a medium-sized construction site all by myself.

I had eliminated hundreds of zombies and experienced some unpleasant things.

I had struggled a bit, but the gains were immense.

Just the food I had gathered so far would probably last me over 10 years if I ate alone.

Even if not, I could buy myself some time until some countermeasures or methods emerged in the future. It was certain that soon enough, people would pour out looking for food. In that respect, I was one step ahead and had bought myself time.

“Or maybe more than one step. Hehehe.”

I briefly looked at the path leading to the underground parking lot, but let go of my lingering attachments.

I looked at the deserted food court, where I had toiled for almost two days.

I regretted not being able to eat anything from the deli corner.

I heard it was salty and greasy but delicious, so I wanted to try it.

I probably wouldn’t get another chance.

After gazing at the empty food court for a moment, I headed for the first floor.

I carefully folded away my feelings of regret.

***

I came up to the first floor, but didn’t leave immediately, and spent a little time.

A big part of it was curiosity about what might be there.

It was highly likely that it would be difficult to visit such an intact place again in the future.

I moved as if it were my last look around.

There were zombies, but not as many as in the food court.

In the end, inevitably, I got some more zombie blood and fluids on me.

Still, there were gains.

First, perhaps for a seasonal event, camping gear was on display.

Seemingly high-quality products from well-known brands.

“Ah. They prepared this because it’s fall now.”

After summer, I heard autumn was perfect for camping.

I’d never been, but it seemed I’d have to prepare the equipment this time.

“Wow, damn, this axe…? Is it even okay to sell this at a mart?”

Although it was camping gear, it was clearly a bladed weapon.

From hand axes to large ones for splitting firewood, there were so many.

“They look sturdy and would be good for throwing.”

So far, my main weapon was my trusty crowbar.

Axes don’t seem bad either…

In a situation like this, the more weapons, the better.

Without hesitation, I took all the weapons.

In addition, portable gas stoves and fuel. Cooking utensils or tents.

Anything that looked useful at a glance, I grabbed it all.

Especially, along with cooking utensils, I also took bladed items like kitchen knives and paring knives.

These also weren’t bad for throwing.

As a bonus, I also picked up a few vegetable peelers.

If I ever meet an unruly enemy in the future, I’ll have to try skinning them with this.

“…This much is enough.”

By myself, I achieved the feat of clearing out a super-large mart.

The world was going to hell in real-time, but I felt secure without worry.

As time passed, the country might deal with the problem.

To last until then, I considered it a sufficient quantity of supplies.

To gather this much supplies, I would have had to clear out several marts, but I finished it in one go.

The sense of accomplishment that I had done something big wasn’t bad.

Now, all I needed to do was find a safe place where I could relax a bit.

Feeling proud, as I was about to go outside…

“…First, let’s get clean….”

Although I had tried to be as careful as possible, I had gotten a fair amount of blood and filth on me.

Rising from below my neck, the stale, rotten, sickening smell was truly unbearable.

In the end, I went looking for a bathroom.

“Aaaargh-!!”

“Argh! Damn it!”

Just as my happy thoughts were spinning, I was startled by a zombie that appeared.

In the recoil, I accidentally burst its head with my bare hands.

Splat-!

The zombie’s bodily fluids splashed squarely all over me.

A momentary lapse of caution brought about a big problem.

The hat, from which blood was dripping, I took it off and discarded it.

“I was forcing myself to wear it so I wouldn’t go bald….”

Just in case the zombie’s bodily fluids weren’t good for hair, I had been wearing the hat.

I clicked my tongue and shook my head.

I kicked the zombie corpse fallen on the floor away and entered the bathroom.

Calming my irritated mind, after checking the inside, it was safe.

There was one thing that slightly bothered me, though.

I took off all my clothes and discarded them, and connected a hose from the cleaning supplies compartment.

Anyway, I had already cleared out the nearby zombies…

I took various things out of my inventory and sprayed water.

Only after shampooing and soaping several times could I get rid of the smell.

They said fecal odor was strong, but the smell of blood was no less potent.

After thoroughly cleaning my body, I changed into new clothes.

People really need to maintain cleanliness.

The feeling alone was this different.

Moreover, the necessity of the inventory was emphasized once again.

It was so convenient and useful.

Now, if I just went out, ate something, and rested…

“I’m leaving now. If you’re alive, come down.”

The presence of a living person I had felt since entering the bathroom.

I said towards the broken, open corner of the ceiling.

“If you’re dead, stay where you are.”

Without hesitation, I turned around and began to leave.

“Please save me….”

A voice completely drained of strength, a weakened voice.

After coming out, for the first time, I met an intact survivor.