episode_0034

“Sigh…”

It had already been 15 days since the zombie outbreak began.

Four days ago, the student who went out for reconnaissance, Jo, did not return, leaving only the three of us in this academy.

If it weren’t for my boyfriend Minhyuk and Sooyoon trying to brighten the mood, I might have given up easily, feeling down.

As usual, Minhyuk was busy making something early in the morning, while Sooyoon was endlessly staring out the window.

Even though there was nothing to see outside in the bustling city filled with zombies, she always looked outside.

Perhaps, just observing the two of them without doing anything was more helpful than just watching.

“Huh?!”

At that moment, Sooyoon raised her voice.

With a long sigh, she gave an unclear warning.

“Zombies react to sound, so don’t yell…”

“Sua! Come here quickly and see! Minhyuk, you too!”

“Huh? Me too?”

Minhyuk was taken aback, asking if he should go too.

It was understandable.

Sooyoon usually left Minhyuk alone when he was making something, so this was the first time she called him.

But this time, she called Minhyuk urgently.

Unlike usual.

Wondering what was happening, I exchanged glances with Minhyuk, and we slowly approached Sooyoon by the window.

It was good that we made it to the window, but I froze in front of it.

Thinking of the zombies filling the area outside the window, especially in front of the academy building—

Just thinking about it made my legs weak.

It was a despairing sight, imagining being trapped here for the rest of my life.

Although the two of them looked out the window more calmly than expected, it wasn’t easy for me.

Just watching seemed to drain my mental strength.

“Sooyoon is really strong.”

So I couldn’t understand Sooyoon.

Even though we were both women, Sooyoon always showed a strong front in such situations.

Looking outside every day, comforting herself, and always taking the lead with Minhyuk.

Perhaps.

Minhyuk relied more on Sooyoon than on me.

In fact, before the zombie outbreak, Sooyoon confessed to Minhyuk, but it didn’t work out, and on the contrary, Minhyuk confessed to me.

I accepted it because I had some feelings for Minhyuk, but right after that, the zombie outbreak happened.

And just like that, the three of us with this strange relationship ended up trapped in the academy together.

“Sigh.”

Summoning courage, I followed Sooyoon’s finger to look outside.

Outside the window, we could see the bustling city and the zombies filling it, especially the horde in front of our academy building.

And behind them, a man appeared.

“…Police?”

The man in a black riot gear and helmet reminded me of the police facing protesters occasionally seen on the news.

The difference was that they were holding transparent shields, while the man in front of us was holding a huge sword.

“Jungle…”

Minhyuk muttered “jungle” as he looked at the large sword.

Around the man, several zombies were already lying on the ground with their heads smashed or torn off.

Then, the man stumbled as his foot got caught in a torn zombie’s clothing, but he managed to stabilize himself by stomping the ground hard with his other foot to keep his balance.

It was impressive agility.

However.

At the thud sound, the zombies around slowly turned towards the man.

“Ugh!”

“Damn it…”

I almost screamed at that moment.

Minhyuk also muttered softly, seeming to pity the situation.

It was a desperate situation.

Even a cursory glance revealed that there were over 30 of them.

Having hunted zombies before, I knew how violent that number could be.

We hunted zombies periodically.

Otherwise, we couldn’t get food in this school building filled with only books and stationery.

By chance, we discovered the presence of a store after taking down a zombie, so we had to hunt zombies for food.

We always faced one or two zombies with three of us.

Minhyuk made noise, holding off with a shield made of chairs, while luring them, and Sooyoon and I used a spear made of an umbrella to pierce the zombies’ foreheads.

Even with three people hunting together, it wasn’t easy to deal with the zombies.

The zombies’ skulls were tough, and there were limits to the hastily made weapons.

To take down a zombie, we had to stab the spear towards the head at least 3-4 times.

Even then, it was possible due to the positional advantage of the stairs.

If a situation like a man surrounded by 30 zombies in the middle of the street approached—

I didn’t even want to imagine it.

Since a terrible situation was expected, I turned my head away.

I felt like I would become more depressed if I saw that sight for no reason.

Minhyuk was also looking at the man with a slightly sad expression.

And then Sooyoon shouted.

“Look!”

Minhyuk was the same.

“How…”

With a surprised expression, he stared blankly at the scene outside the window.

Only then did I cautiously look outside the window as well.

“What…”

“Isn’t he like a special forces soldier?!”

The man outside was showing an overwhelming figure against the zombies.

It was to the extent that it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call it a massacre.

He smashed and chopped off the heads of the approaching zombies in a single blow.

Without exception.

All the zombies that entered his range lost their heads and fell like dolls with cut strings.

Sometimes when zombies rushed at him from both sides, he would blow off one head and kick the other one far away.

As Sooyoon said, he must be at the level of a special forces soldier to fight like that.

However, due to the noise generated during the fight, the zombies kept gathering.

Every time a zombie was taken down, it seemed like their numbers increased.

He was still fighting well, but it would be physically exhausting to continue fighting in such thick clothes and a helmet.

Perhaps the man also judged that, as he started to move towards the school building while fighting.

There were many zombies in front of the school building, but due to the noise, they were crowding around the man and staying away from the entrance.

However, since we had locked the school building’s door, the man wouldn’t be able to open it even if he went to the entrance.

“I need to go down and open the door!”

“Yeah, I’ll go.”

When Sooyoon shouted, Minhyuk naturally grabbed the shield made of chairs and went downstairs.

“No, wait—”

I tried to stop Minhyuk, but he was already quickly going down the stairs as if he didn’t hear me.

Instead, Sooyoon responded to my words.

“Suah, what’s wrong?”

“…It’s nothing.”

Since Sooyoon and Minhyuk were always kind, they probably wouldn’t understand my thoughts even if I told them.

Even though opening the door right now could mean the man’s death, I was worried about whether that man was safe.

Sometimes, when I was with the two of them, I felt like I was being overly selfish.

And sometimes, I thought the two of them were overly naive.

‘What’s the point of having bad intentions…’

A faint sense of unease crept in.

Then, a loud noise echoed from downstairs.

The sound of something crashing and rough footsteps sounded consecutively.

And suddenly, silence fell.

Only the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs echoed.

“Please…”

Jasin and Soyun looked towards the stairs as if praying, their hands clasped together.

Then, the man and Minhyuk came up together from outside.

“Wow!”

“Phew…”

Luckily, Minhyuk seemed to be uninjured.

And the man seemed to be fine as well.

I glared at the man and raised the window made of an umbrella stand against the wall.

“Sua?!”

“Why, what’s wrong? Suddenly.”

Minhyuk and Soyun shouted in surprise towards me.

The kind two did not suspect the man.

That’s why I had to do it.

“Take off your helmet and bag, and put your weapon on the ground.”

The man didn’t hesitate and dropped his jungle knife to the ground like throwing it.

And he took off his helmet and bag.

…It was just as expected.

He looked like a special forces member.

“Step back.”

“…”

There was no response.

However, he slowly stepped back as I instructed.

Seeing the man move away from the jungle knife, I aimed the spear and slowly approached, kicking the knife away.

And the jungle knife stopped right under Soyun’s foot.

“S-Sua…”

“Soyun, take the jungle knife. I’m sorry. We were also anxious.”

“It’s okay. You’ll return it later, right?”

“…Seeing you do it.”

“That’s right.”

Despite losing his weapon and helmet, he remained calm.

That appearance was somewhat eerie.

“Why are you here?”

“I saw a white flag on the rooftop and came to help.”

“Sua! You came to help us!”

“…”

Soyun and Minhyuk were glowing as if a savior had arrived, but I didn’t trust it at all.

Risking their lives for nothing, coming to help?

Such people existed.

If Minhyuk had that level of physical ability and equipment, and found a white flag, he would have definitely come to help.

But I didn’t think there would be such a person.

“How do you plan to help?”

“I have my house in the apartment complex ahead, let’s go there.”

“What do you want from us?”

“…Nothing in particular? Just survive together.”

“I can’t believe you.”

Doubt turned into certainty at the mention of not wanting anything.

“Sua…”

“You came after seeing the flag…”

Minhyuk and Soyun said in confusion.

I know.

To the two, I must seem strange.

But it was a necessary role.

For the two, I portrayed myself as the villain.

“Let’s do this, help us escape to the apartment complex. After that, we’ll part ways cleanly.”

“…Alright. Let’s do that.”

And so, the unfamiliar man joined us for a while.