episode_0038

“I feel better than I thought.”

“Really?”

I was in the director’s office in the corner of the math academy.

Although I had roughly looked around the building, I was quite surprised as I hadn’t examined each corner like this before.

I had been worried about where I would sleep, but perhaps because it was a place where academies gathered, I could sleep on the sofas in the academy counseling room or director’s office.

Contrary to my worries, a fairly comfortable sleeping place had been prepared.

In addition to the sofa where Minhyuk and I would sleep, there were several more sofas.

“These sofas…”

“…were originally used by other people besides us.”

With a sad look in his eyes, Minhyuk stroked the sofa.

In such a large building, it wouldn’t have been just the three of us suddenly facing a zombie apocalypse.

There didn’t seem to be a suitable atmosphere to ask further questions, and feeling tired, we turned off the lights and lay down.

It was a somewhat uncomfortable sleeping place compared to usual, but today, as we had been busy moving around, it was a much better sleeping place than expected, and I lay down and fell asleep before long.

“Mmm…”

I woke up from my drowsy state.

Minhyuk had already moved first, and the Minhyuk who had been sleeping next to me was gone.

Thinking of sleeping a bit more, I tossed and turned, but I heard a faint voice in the hallway.

Curious about what was happening, I slowly approached the door, opened it slightly, and peeked into the hallway through the small gap.

Suah and Minhyuk were standing side by side in the hallway.

Very close to each other.

It was the first time I had seen the distance between two people who seemed like lovers.

“Can I really do this?”

“Don’t make me say it twice.”

“Uh, okay.”

As the two of them spoke like that, it felt like watching a drama.

If we were to categorize it, it would be a youth romance drama.

As their faces got closer and their lips touched, they lightly kissed.

And then they pulled away.

Suah seemed to follow Minhyuk’s face as if regretful, but stopped.

Minhyuk’s face was blushing as if indicating that the light kiss was the limit.

“…”

I retracted my previous thoughts.

I had thought that this novel might be an adult novel, but looking at the main characters, it didn’t seem to be the case.

“My heart is pounding too much.”

“Huh? Uh…”

“Thank you, Suah. Let’s definitely escape from this place.”

“Yes, let’s… let’s do that.”

Minhyuk thanked Suah once again and, diligently as always, left to check the ladder.

He was too kind and diligent, but that also became a downside.

Perhaps Suah had suggested the light kiss first.

Looking at Minhyuk just now, he didn’t seem like the type to initiate skinship first.

After Minhyuk left, Suah let out a small sigh.

It was a sigh mixed with regret, a bit of dissatisfaction, and various emotions that couldn’t be explained.

I straightened my clothes, pretending not to have seen anything, and came out of the room.

And I called out to Suah in surprise.

“What are you doing here?”

“…It doesn’t matter.”

Naturally, the response I received was a sharp one.

Then, after hesitating for a moment, she asked me a question.

“Did you happen to see it?”

“See what?”

“Well… did you know, women who suggest skinship first are a bit…?”

“Are there men who don’t like that?”

I laughed and replied.

“If they’re men, wouldn’t they all like women like that?”

“…I picked the wrong person to ask.”

I approached her gently and brought my face close to hers.

Suah turned her face to the side and replied.

Although she spoke the truth, Suah didn’t seem to believe it.

Seeing her up close, Suah definitely had a different charm.

I don’t know.

Like the heroine in a zombie apocalypse story, she had a natural beauty that seemed like she had light makeup on even though she didn’t.

Especially her thick eyebrows and crimson lips made me wonder if she really didn’t wear makeup.

I hesitantly brushed my lips with my finger.

Naturally, there was no smudging or residue on my hand.

I only felt the soft texture of the lips.

“W-what are you doing…”

“Should I kiss you too?”

“…You saw it coming, huh?”

Soyoon’s eyes sharpened like a snake.

I chuckled and gracefully backed away, “I’ll come back later and do it.”

“If you don’t want to, I won’t do it?”

“Then, you should do it with Soyoon.”

“…Trash.”

With implicit agreement, I headed towards where Minhyuk and Soyoon were.

The two of them stood with a sense of unease.

As I approached them, all eyes turned to me.

“Hyung, are you really okay?”

“Isn’t it too dangerous, oppa? Should we come with you?”

“No, I’m more comfortable alone. Don’t worry.”

Assuring the two more anxious than me, I conveyed the route I had planned by observing the layout of the buildings yesterday.

“With these three buildings, it should be fine. It’s a bit far, with corners to lure mutants, and once they come, they won’t see us.”

“…Sounds good, right?”

Minhyuk pondered over my words and nodded.

That alone satisfied me.

The reassurance from the protagonist surviving until the end of the novel was more comforting than any other words.

Moreover, this route was perfect for farming, not just for luring.

With various commercial buildings like restaurants and clothing stores, if we organize the interiors and secure safety, we could obtain good items.

“Wow.”

As I hoisted the ladder against my side, Soyoon suddenly exclaimed in admiration.

“Even the two of us found it heavy.”

“Yeah.”

“Really?”

Honestly, I’m not sure if it’s that heavy.

Perhaps it’s because my strength level has increased.

After moving the ladder to the rooftop, I connected it to the adjacent building as planned.

“I’ll be back.”

“Oppa! Come back immediately if it’s dangerous!”

“Hyung, I’ll run over if you call me.”

“…Take care.”

Suah handed me a jungle knife as she spoke for the last time.

I almost didn’t accept it because of the weapons in my inventory.

With the farewell of the three, I crossed the ladder and entered the adjacent building.

Fortunately, the rooftop door was not locked.

Creak.

The unlubricated iron door made a loud noise.

I wet my dry lips with saliva due to tension and took cautious steps into the building.

Holding the jungle knife, I remained vigilant inside the building, but it was eerily quiet.

In the midst of a bustling area, the silence in this building, which would have been crowded with people, was even more frightening.

Honestly, the silence now was more terrifying than zombies.

So, I deliberately made loud noises.

Just kicking the iron door was enough.

“Oppa! Are you okay?!”

“Yeah! I’m fine!”

It seemed to have startled not only zombies but also other beings.

But thanks to that, the fear and tension melted away like snow.

I should buy meat from the store later.

Thud, thump.

Grrrr.

Irregular footsteps and gurgling sounds echoed from the lower floor of the building.

That unpleasant sound was anything but welcoming.

“I should have brought Minhyuk if I knew an empty building would be this creepy.”

The protagonist Minhyuk would have survived somehow even if I didn’t protect him.

But I corrected my thoughts.

If Minhyuk was over there, he would protect Soyoon and Suah no matter what happened there.

I swung the jungle knife towards the zombies slowly crawling up the stairs.

Having reached level 2 in strength and wielding the jungle knife for the first time, I mercilessly turned the approaching zombies into points.

Swinging the heavy jungle knife as if it were a stick or a branch, the sound of wind cutting through the air could be heard.

Thanks to that, it didn’t even take 20 minutes to take down all the zombies rushing towards me.

A zombie staircase that I didn’t really want to step on was created.

“Ugh…”

I grimaced as I stepped on the corpses of the zombies and had to pass through.

All that was left was farming and luring.

First, in order to secure safe farming and luring, I had to block the entrance to the first floor.

It seemed like the commotion on the stairs had reached outside the building, as some zombies were lurking near the entrance.

I could have cleaned up, but three people from the neighboring building were looking at me with worried expressions, so I waved my hand at them, closed and locked the iron gate at the entrance.

Unlike the academy building, there was a clothing store on the first floor, so I had to lock this side as well since it had its own entrance.

I went into the clothing store and closed the entrance here too.

“…Is this a famous brand?”

I muttered under my breath as I glanced at the price range of the clothes, which seemed quite expensive.

I usually only shopped for clothes online, so coming to a store like this in person was rare. And it was also the first time the clothing store was this quiet.

“I won’t have to wear the same clothes after washing anymore.”

There was also a store selling cosmetics and underwear inside the building.

Just the fact that I could change clothes made me feel happy for no reason.

After checking for any hidden zombies inside the building and securing safety, I started luring.

But it wasn’t much of a lure.

As I climbed to the second floor, I vigorously pounded the outer wall of the building with the jungle knife.

One of the most reported noise complaints in apartments was the sound of children running and immediately followed by hammering.

Pounding the outer wall of the building with an iron blade created a tremendous amount of noise, causing the zombies outside the academy building to rush towards me angrily.

“If I repeat this twice, it should be enough, right?”

It seemed like I could finish this sooner than I thought.