episode_0045

I thought I got out of the building I was in pretty quickly, but I guess I was wrong, because the zombies were chasing me closely.

Even if you run hard in the snow, will you be faster than a zombie that jumps in without sparing a single bit of its body?

“Keee!!”

“Oh, be quiet.”

The Screamer was shouting loudly and briefing me on my location. Even the zombies that weren’t part of his group seemed to understand what the screaming meant, and they began to close the encirclement by the second.

I smiled faintly. It meant that everything was going according to plan. The more guys gathered around me, the easier it would be for the old man to move around, and it would be easier to rescue Hyeji.

-Danhwa, how are things going now? Do you think things are okay?

Um, that’s an urgent voice. Take this, stop it.

There was no other reason for my worries. I thought it was a chance to give back a little of what I had been treated for, and added a sense of resentment.

Asking how things are is synonymous with saying I’m not good enough. How long have we been together, and why are you worried about this?

-Shorts! Are they okay? I’m looking for Hyeji at the electronics store. If not, what? Do you know what I mean?

There was no particular reason why the old man’s words were annoying. He usually only worried and bothered others, but now that he was in the opposite position, he seemed to have come to his senses a bit.

Let’s play a prank.

I felt that way. It was unfair that I was the only one who suffered. The old man also needed to feel his heart swell a few times and experience what anxiety was like.

-Short story! Why aren’t you answering? Stop fooling around!

Since I didn’t answer, the old man’s mouth was twitching as if a scenario of his own was going on in his head.

-Ji, I’m going now! Just hold on a little longer!

A determined voice came over the walkie-talkie. The old man seemed to think I was in trouble.

But since it’s difficult to come, let’s stop here.

“Ahaha! Alright. Since you’re fine, let’s save Hyejina quickly, right?”

Laughter blossomed with a sense of relief.

While I was doing this, the zombies kept coming at me diligently, so I had to restrain myself, but I couldn’t help but laugh so hard that I decided to just laugh it off.

Anyway, if a guy gets close, all I have to do is shoot an arrow in the head.

-… you…!

“Don’t you think it’s a little fatal? I’ve been hit by your no-shows every day, but you’re shaking your voice after being hit once? Were you that worried? Yes?”

I said sarcastically and teasingly to the old man who sounded angry.

-You’re not even going to answer! And you can say that back at the shelter! It’s not like I’m not listening to you…!

“You’re not listening. Where is this guy making up stories when he asks you to look at him?”

-When did I… do that! Anyway, let’s save Hyeji first and then go back to the shelter. You must be tired too, so you should get some rest on the soft bed, right?

The old man practically surrendered to my criticism. Well, if you have a conscience, you shouldn’t refute this. Just thinking about how much the old man has made me suffer…

“Don’t beat around the bush. What I’m saying is, try to answer properly on a regular basis. Is it that hard to stick to that?”

-Ugh…

“Don’t worry about saving Hyeji, I’ll take care of it. I’m hanging up!”

I quickly left the place, stopping talking into the walkie-talkie strapped to my chest.

puck!

A person fell where I was, blood spurting everywhere and his limbs were out of their original path, forming strange shapes.

I narrowed my eyes and glanced up at the sky instead of the zombies approaching from all directions. Perhaps because it was an alley, the view wasn’t very clear, but the zombies standing here and there on the rooftop ruined the already unpleasant view even more.

How did those guys who don’t even use their heads get up there?

A sense of crisis that I had never felt before came over me. I had a gut feeling that if things continued this way, things might get messed up.

“Keeek!!!”

And it didn’t take long for that intuition to become reality.

The moment I decided to stop luring and leave, the screamers’ cries filled the alleyway, and at the same time, zombies began pouring down from the rooftop.

“Ah, this is a bit…”

*

Do-hoon roughly stuffed the walkie-talkie into his butt. Then he chewed on the shoe that he was evaluating as not listening to him.

“Is it puberty? Why do I feel like the violence has gotten worse lately? Adults can go without saying anything because of work.”

If he had been angry, he would have expressed his anger in words, but when the person concerned was not present, Do-Hoon was able to confidently express his dissatisfaction as if he could chew out even the king and his parents.

“It wasn’t like that when I was in middle and high school. Maybe it’s because kids these days wear shorts.”

This time too, Do-hoon, who had boldly blurted out words that would make not only Danhwa but anyone in the shelter laugh out loud, began to stride through the electronics shopping mall in search of Hye-ji, the mastermind behind this incident.

“Hey Hyeji, where are you now?”

Do-Hoon felt something subtle as he called Hye-Ji on the walkie-talkie.

This is because I remember teasing the user who was carrying others around and causing trouble to others in the game I enjoyed with my classmates when I was studying hard in school by calling him “Hyeji.”

From Do-hoon’s perspective, it was unfortunate for Hye-ji, but it was inevitable that the events of that time overlapped when he called Hye-ji just now.

-Oh, I’m alive! Why is it so noisy outside? As expected, it’s Do-Hoon! Did you come alone?

“I came with a pair of shorts. I think you got a lot of shorts because of me.”

-Ahaha, really…? Oh no. It would hurt if you got hit by Danhwa…

Do-hoon was a little taken aback by Hye-ji’s worry about going back to the shelter and getting scolded by Dan-hwa, rather than worrying about getting out of there right away.

And the little bit of regret I had towards Hyeji disappeared like melting snow.

‘Well, as expected, Hyeji is Hyeji.’

“First of all, where are you? I need to know where you are before I can join you.”

-Is this a store called Halifax Technics on the second floor of the electronics mall?

Do-Hoon briefly recalled his memories. If it was Halifax, it was definitely a famous company whose name had been frequently mentioned in the news before this incident.

“It’s the second floor, right? Is that Halifax… over there?”

Even among the shops that had collapsed into a mess, Do-Hoon was able to find one that was worthy of ranking.

Many of the letters that said “Halifax Technique” were written in a fancy handwriting and had moved from their original positions.

‘ a fax ‘

“Ugh…”

Kwajik!

While Do-Hoon was inspecting the exterior of the store, a zombie that had been sneaking up behind him ended up having its head cut off.

Do-Hoon knew in advance that the zombies were coming towards him, so it didn’t make sense that they were coming secretly.

Do-Hoon roughly kicked the head rolling on the floor and entered the store through the shattered display window.

Every time Do-Hoon walked, the broken pieces of glass would crash against each other, making a rattling sound.

“Over there.”

Do-Hoon’s eyes caught a glimpse of an iron door that was clearly being enthusiastically courted by zombies just moments before. The door was painted ivory, and there were dark red scabs all over it.

“Is that right there?”

“Yes! Can you take it out quickly?”

Do-Hoon put his hand on the doorknob just in case, but the door didn’t budge.

“I don’t think it will work with just force.”

“Of course! I welded it solidly while going around. To be honest, it wasn’t heavy enough for me to carry around, so I left it behind, but it was miraculously in the toolbox in the storage room along with the welding rod. If it weren’t for that, I would have become a zombie by now. Ugh, I hate it.”

Do-hoon’s head hurt for a moment. He thought that he should do something while thinking about the time when he would come out later. Do-hoon himself does things spontaneously, but Hye-ji thought that it was even worse than that.

“So what should I do?”

“Well, I thought there would be something like a cutter, but there wasn’t. If there was something like a welder, that would be there too, right? ”

“Would you mind telling me what I can do for you?”

“Ah! That’s right! First of all, I have some things I’ve packed, so I have to take those with me, right? Hehehe, if we just have this, even the standard of living at Ajusshi Shelter will go up a few levels.”

Do-Hoon felt his chest tightening. He didn’t think he would feel this suffocated even if he ate three boiled eggs and potatoes alternately.

“Hyeji, Danhwa is currently dragging zombies around. You have to come out quickly to ensure safety so Danhwa can escape… It’s really urgent. Can’t you think about that first?”

“Yes! It’s a warehouse and the walls are solid, but you know the ceiling? There’s a little space there because we need to install wiring and such. If you look around, you’ll probably see the place I used.”

Do-hoon looked around at Hye-ji’s words and was able to find a hole in the ceiling, but it was too small for Do-hoon to enter.

“There’s no other side? This is too small for me to get in…”

“This is a warehouse, so it’s a bit high! I can’t reach there, hehe. If it’s too short, you can rip off the panel on the side and make the hole bigger.”

“…Yeah.”

Then, Do-Hoon, who had given up and decided to do so, forcibly pulled the panel apart to increase the size of the hole in the ceiling. And the moment he was about to put his body inside, a loud explosion was heard.

*

-Danhwa, I got Hyeji. That sound just now wasn’t you? Where are you? Is everything okay?

It’s so fucking slow… When did you finally get the time?

“It’s not like I’m okay. My body… I think it’s somewhere between ‘not okay’ and ‘okay’.”

-You…! Where are you?

“A former fast food restaurant that has now changed its business to a charcoal grill burger place?”

-What is that…

“Is that a place called HG Burger? I think I should come a little earlier.”

At a critical moment when zombies were falling from the sky, I had to choose between the left and right side and dodge through the side window.

And just because I avoided it didn’t mean the situation was over, and it was obvious that they would follow me in, so I had to think about how to deal with the next situation.

So I chose a building that had two LPG gas cylinders hanging from it. I broke the side window and went in, and it was the kitchen. Without thinking, I fired Hyeji’s special bolt toward the wall where the gas cylinders were, and bang!

The problem was that I wanted enough firepower to keep the zombies out, but since it was a house that wasn’t doing well, the explosion was quite large.

How badly did it sell? Well, considering there wasn’t a single zombie in the store when I came in, it may have been closed down three years ago.

Anyway, I quickly dodged so I didn’t get hit directly by the explosion, but I was pushed by the force of the explosion and ended up hitting my body against the table, which hurt a bit.

It’s a wooden table, but is it okay for it to be this painful? In the original movies and cartoons, it was always broken…

“Ugh…”

As I was groaning while rubbing my aching waist, I felt a presence. It was coming from the kitchen, where the smell of a burning corpse was thick.

“Kiruruk…Kiriririk?”

The crackling sound of oil splattering was getting closer. I could sense that there was something out of the ordinary in the kitchen filled with soot and flames.

“Ah, shit…”

I forced myself to get up and started to move away. Should I go to the second floor? Should I go out the front door?

Since the gas had already exploded, there was no chance of a secondary explosion. Considering the condition of his back, it was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to run properly even if he went out.

Losing your mobility in an outdoor setting full of zombies means you have a near 100% chance of turning into a severe meat addict, so reject.

Maybe it was because of my injured back, but I forced my trembling hands to fire a bolt into my bow. Since explosive bolts were useless indoors, I thought this would be fine.

“Kkirik! Kkieeeek!”

The head on the Screamer’s body screamed at me. And it didn’t just scream, it ran hard.

It must have been quite heavy, because the limbs made a constant thumping sound as they hit the floor.

“You little monster, who gave it to you?”

The arrow left the bow. Lightning flashed.

The smell of smoke began to fill my nostrils along with the roar.