episode_0075

Second Coming (2) – Safety zone in Guro-gu, Seoul

Jiho Kim rolled over in an unfamiliar bed.

I couldn’t sleep, perhaps because I had taken a nap earlier, or because I had witnessed something shocking.

‘Did you enjoy the safety I gave you?’

Only the man’s words continued to echo in my turbulent mind.

The man’s eyes were clear in my mind.

Not the light from a flashlight, but a bright glow in itself.

He uttered only one meaningful word and stared at the zombies beyond the window again.

And so on, until we backed away and went upstairs again.

Doo doo doo doo-

“kkieeek―”

The stomping and roaring that continues as if to indicate that this situation is not a dream.

Kim Ji-ho stared at the dark ceiling, under the illusion that the building itself was shaking.

As he slowly settled into the darkness, he gave up trying to fall asleep.

No, I couldn’t fall asleep.

He was scared and lonely now.

‘… ‘I’m lonely.’

Until yesterday, he wasn’t that desperate for a relationship or a girlfriend.

I felt that the occasional phone calls from my parents were somewhat annoying.

A can of beer to drink after work and a movie to play until the beer runs out.

He was a person who thought that getting old like this wasn’t such a bad thing.

Kim Ji-ho prided himself on being a man strong against loneliness.

However, that loneliness was a complaint that was only possible in a busy, breathing society.

Truly, in the void where everything disappeared, an unbearable loneliness came.

Even though less than a day had passed, I felt that clarity tightening around me.

It was a moment when I understood why the volleyball in Cast Away was thought of as ‘Wilson’ for no reason.

“I also have that Wilson… .”

It’s a crazy pseudo-Wilson, but… .

Jiho Kim shook his head with a small smile and took the blanket and pillow.

He needed someone to share his anxiety with.

He left the house and walked slowly down the dark hallway, unlike before.

I didn’t notice it as I was running to catch up with Lee Ji-woo for a while, but the candlelight that was slightly dispelling the darkness of the emergency staircase caught my eye.

Did the man install this too?

It’s a profit –

Kim Ji-ho, who arrived on the first floor, first looked around.

The man he was looking for was sitting on a bench, looking through the glass window.

Trap – plod –

At the sound of footsteps echoing in the lobby, the man turned his head and looked at him.

Neither of them said anything.

Until Kim Ji-ho laid down on the floor with a blanket and a pillow, only the roar of zombies sounded like a background sound in the lobby.

“Kkisss—!”

A much clearer sound than when I was inside the house struck my ears, but I felt less scared and less lonely.

Still, because I’m with someone.

Grumble-

Only then did the body, having resolved the important issue, express its next demand.

“Ah… … .”

What, what is it? I haven’t felt that hungry yet… .

Jiho Kim raised his upper body while rubbing his growling stomach as if it were strange.

“Eat.”

A small can was thrown at him as he lowered his head in shame.

He simply held the can as if playing catch and then read the label with his eyes.

‘tuna… .’

If I eat it without rice, it will be salty.

Kim Ji-ho swallowed a small wave of dissatisfaction, opened the lid, and inserted his finger.

The moment you take a large piece of food into your mouth.

He found that he was hungrier than he thought.

A savory and salty flavor that cannot be compared to anything else.

As the old saying goes, hunger was the best side dish.

It was only after I finished the can and sucked my greasy fingers that I came to my senses.

Feeling a surge of shame, I secretly wiped my hands on the blanket and looked at the bench where the man was.

He was just staring out the window.

Flashlights floating above his head.

You can feel it just by looking at it.

Something that is neither the realm of science nor the realm of magic.

Naturally, curiosity came out of my throat.

“I… mister… ”

It’s a profit –

The man who turned his head in response to his question and his gaze turned towards the emergency door at the same time.

Lee Ji-woo, shocked to see the passengers already there, slowly joined the lobby.

Take “.”

A tuna can also flew to Lee Ji-woo, who was spread out on a blanket a little away from us.

Lee Ji-woo, who was fiddling around with a tuna can and trying to say something to the man, was seen continuing to choke out his demands.

The man was just looking out the window again without wavering.

Click―

In the end, Lee Ji-woo let out a small sigh, opened the tuna can, and stuck his finger in.

After eating tuna once, she greedily inserts the next finger.

Did he eat that ugly food too?

Kim Ji-ho, who was experiencing the embarrassment of being driven into a second car, also turned his head out the window.

I felt like I knew why that man was looking out the window.

Doo doo doo doo doo-

It was a long journey of a group, something you only see in wildlife documentaries.

The procession, which felt quite majestic and mysterious, was no different from the movement of African buffaloes when seen from a distance.

However, the man called those nuts zombies.

Jiho Kim also didn’t know about zombies.

No, rather, the problem was that I knew it too well.

Because they are also the beings we have seen so many times in movies and novels.

Those zombies that only existed in those fantasies.

Now it was our predator, a very real nightmare.

“Clog—! Cough—!”

Jiwoo Lee swallowed hastily and slapped his chest as if the tuna got stuck in his throat.

Kim Ji-ho naturally frowned at the grease glistening on her mouth.

Unlike him, the man pulled out a bottle of water out of the air as if he was used to it.

Two bottles of water were thrown at him and Lee Ji-woo, respectively.

“… … .”

The bottle of water that suddenly appeared floating in front of him was a magic on a different level from that of a flashlight.

Unlike himself, who just opened his mouth and was quietly shocked, Lee Ji-woo quickly opened the cap and took a sip of the bottled water.

I also held a bottle of water in my hand, but I couldn’t help but feel more anxious.

Safety, food, and even drinking water.

The continued favor for no reason was now scary.

“… Are you going to rape me?”

He wasn’t the only one experiencing good-natured fear.

The man stared at Lee Ji-woo as the question echoed desperately in the lobby.

“House, rice, and water… Why are you so kind to me?”

Her question was similar to his own curiosity.

Lee Ji-woo’s eyes, unwavering, were asking the man.

However, I could see her arms hiding under the blanket trembling.

Kim Ji-ho could tell that she was asking the man with some kind of ‘resolution’.

Rolling people up into balls and slitting their throats.

Crazy cult leader.

A madman who was strangely friendly to them said to her:

“Nothing.”

He solemnly declared.

“I don’t expect anything from you.”

The question Ji-Woo Lee asked with courage to the limit fell into a labyrinth again.

He spoke again to those who could not escape the confusion.

“Parents do not love their children under special conditions.”

Here we go again.

Jiho Kim grabbed his throbbing head and slowly laid his head on the pillow.

“… If I don’t believe in that religion, will I be kicked out?”

“Not at all.”

As my eyes softly closed, I could hear the question and answer between Lee Ji-woo and the man.

“I just prove it. The fact that I am your father.”

“… … .”

Upstairs, sleep, which had not come despite efforts, was coming in like a tide.

In my blinking mind, I heard the man’s words quietly.

“Sleep well. I’ve solved my hunger today, so I’ll solve my loneliness tomorrow.”

***

[Rescue Day 2]

“Keuuuch―!”

Jiho Kim stretched his arms upward.

My whole body was sore, probably due to the aftereffects of sleeping on the hard floor.

The morning of the second day of rescue dawned with bright sunlight.

Outside the window, there wasn’t even a shadow of a zombie, as if yesterday’s zombie wave had been a nightmare.

Looking around, I saw Lee Ji-woo, who was still sleeping with his back turned to me, and the man looking out the window in the same position as yesterday.

‘Isn’t that some kind of stone statue?’

Kim Ji-ho quietly clicked his tongue and slowly walked to the bench where he was sitting.

I saw two tuna cans and a bottle of water lying side by side on an empty spot on the bench.

Probably their own breakfast.

“Thank you.”

Kim Ji-ho, who held a can of tuna and a bottle of water in his arms with extreme caution, looked at him.

Just like yesterday’s declaration, he really didn’t make any condescension or demands.

That’s why Kim Ji-ho was able to muster courage like yesterday’s Lee Ji-woo.

The question that had been hidden deep in my heart naturally came out of my mouth.

“I… Uncle.”

He quietly made eye contact with me as if to let me know that he was listening.

Gulp-

Kim Ji-ho, who moistened his throat with saliva, asked carefully.

“Have you become the superhero you see in movies? If that were the case, it would explain everything that happened yesterday… .”

He tilted his head slightly and smiled at himself.

Kim Ji-ho, who thought this was a signal to talk more, confidently raised his voice.

“In that case, how did you become a hero? If you teach me, I can help too… ”

“Jiho Kim.”

He interrupted himself and opened his mouth.

His eyes, as he looked at himself, sparkled like it was yesterday.

“You really want to go back a long way. Kim Ji-ho of Pressian Apartment, who longs more than anything for the world he lived in before.”

He spoke again to Kim Ji-ho, who did not dare to respond to the glow of their reunion.

“Do you believe in God?”

“Yes? Oh, no.”

“Why don’t you believe it?”

“No, because it’s clear that there won’t be. Scientifically too… ”

“You ask for evidence.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Because facts are important in everything.”

An unexpected forum for discussion opened up.

Kim Ji-ho’s mind naturally recalled the words the man would ask back.

‘Then what kind of scientific phenomenon did zombies arise from?’

‘What law does it follow that the city is surrounded by a membrane and that I control the objects?’

… … I had nothing to say in response.

However, the man did not ask that question.

The man, smiling, gave an unexpected answer.

“I think so too.”

“… … Yes?”

He said, pointing to himself with a very kind face.

“I will throw a topic at you. It’s a story about a deeply religious man and God.”

He began his story in a relaxed tone, like a grandfather telling an old story.

A deeply religious man fell into a swamp.

The man said when he saw that the rescue team had arrived when he was already sinking to his waist.

‘I am okay! ‘I have deep faith and God will save me!’

When he fell to his shoulders, the rescue worker said they would come back and throw him a rope.

Then the man spoke again.

‘You don’t have to help! ‘I have deep faith, so God will save me.’

After a while, only the man’s head was sticking out of the mud.

As the rescue team came running again, the man shouted confidently.

‘It’s okay! I am deeply religious, so God will save me!’

The rescue worker left without offering any more advice.

He died and faced God.

The man asked God.

‘God, why have you abandoned me, a man of great faith?’

What do you think God answered?

God.

“God answers that he has already sent rescue teams three times. What did you realize here?”

Kim Ji-ho couldn’t find the words to answer.

The man didn’t seem to be expecting an answer from Jiho Kim, so he calmly waved three fingers.

Kim Ji-ho’s pupils shook along with his waving finger.

“One person will shout triumphantly. ‘Look! ‘God doesn’t exist!’ But, you were wrong.”

He folded one finger.

He spoke again, waving his remaining two fingers.

“The other person will say a prayer with great emotion. ‘Ah, after all, God works through people!’ However, you are wrong.”

He folded his second finger as well.

There was only one finger left.

The only one standing alone.

“There is only one thing to know here. Salvation is not that special, Jiho Kim.”

Light coming down and waves breaking up is not salvation.

The man was saved three times by a rescue worker.

And it was the same for Kim Ji-ho.

“You really want to go back a long way. What are you trying to achieve by gaining strength? A comfortable home? Food to fill your hungry stomach?”

He pointed at himself and laughed.

“You already have them all.”

So, it is salvation.

The man lightly passed by Kim Ji-ho, who was completely frozen.

He opened the door and suddenly disappeared somewhere.

A few hours later, he brought people similar to them.

They repeated the same actions that Lee Ji-woo and himself did,

We went upstairs, screamed at the suddenly appearing horde of zombies, and went to sleep together in the lobby.

And I filled my hungry stomach with the food the man gave me.

[Rescue Day 2]

[Rescue Day 3]

[Rescue Day 4]

The number of people gradually increased.

Jiho Kim looked at the man as if he had just woken up, looking at the people filling the lobby half way.

At that moment, they ran into each other with the man who had been watching them.

He smiled brightly at himself.

The heart that is constantly shaking with that bright smile represents just one word.

Salvation.

What he was doing now did not cause light to fall or split the waves.

However.

It’s not special, but it’s definitely there.

It was salvation.