episode_0083

“Stop mumbling and get up quickly”

I pinched the old man’s arm. It was possible because no matter how muscular a person was, he wasn’t like a boulder even when he wasn’t exerting any force.

Even though I was pinching and practically tearing at him, the old man didn’t move and was busy sleeping like he was dead.

Still, he doesn’t wake up. Are people like bears? If it were me, I would have woken up a long time ago.

I sighed inwardly and decided to increase the intensity of my efforts to wake the old man up. It seemed that pinching him wasn’t enough.

“Wake up. Wake up! ”

I climbed on top of the old man’s stomach, pulled his face here and there, and shook his body wildly.

‘Squeak squeak’

Oh…

There was a noise coming from the bed. It was a noise that had not been heard until last night. It was as if the frame was screaming, and it made a ‘creak, creak’ sound every time the old man’s body shook.

Even though the old man is big, my presence is enough to offset it. This thing is made to fit two people, and it’s supposed to provide a comfortable sleep, but it’s making noise?

It was obvious that he had placed a guy who had defects from the beginning. He must have felt that I and the old man were a thorn in his side. He was trying to do such a thing while pretending to be kind to me.

I couldn’t help but tremble at Hayura’s wickedness.

“Ugh… I’m dying…”

Finally, the old man started to react with a joke. He looked at me with a face that looked tired.

I stayed up late and felt like I had something on my mind.

“Stop joking. I was up two hours before you woke up?”

“No, you don’t get tired even after doing that all night…?”

“Huh?”

All night? It was a statement that would be misunderstood if heard by anyone. Strictly speaking, it was only about 5 hours, so what the old man said was no different from a blatant lie.

“What’s there to be tired of? It’s nothing compared to being chased by zombies because of you, old man…?”

Wouldn’t that be better than running around unfamiliar streets, feeling like your life is in danger?

And you sound like you’re full.

Even though being chased by zombies isn’t fun at all, this feels good and is fun.

“Stop lying. Stop joking. Aren’t you embarrassed when a grown man does that?”

Although I was a slightly younger adult than the old man, I was mentally capable of functioning as a full-fledged human being, so I was fully qualified to say harsh words to the old man.

Also, it wasn’t just a judgment based on my one-sided guess.

That would be the case, because unlike the old man’s mouth, which was busy spitting out weak sounds, his body was expressing his feelings quite honestly.

“You set them all up like this. What, you want me to move again this time?”

I’m telling you, I’m going crazy because I’m afraid someone might say I’m not your uncle.

Well, since he was saying that I was that attractive, there was no reason not to be happy. I took my hand off the old man’s body and moved my body downwards while smiling with my eyes.

“No! It’s not.”

“Ugh!”

The man suddenly got up and I fell onto the bed. I glared at the man, feeling a sense of betrayal rising slightly.

“Lee…”

“I need to eat. Food. Ah! I’m hungry! Danhwa, aren’t you thirsty too? I’ll bring you some food and water right away!”

The old man stormed out of the room without even listening to my answer. I wondered what he was doing when he wasn’t even properly dressed and couldn’t go out anywhere.

“Where are you going looking like that!”

When I followed the old man out of the room, he was already nowhere to be found, and the only thing that proved that he had already gone out was the clothes that had been hanging there until last night.

“Ah…”

Since I finished too early last night, I wanted to do something light once or twice in the morning…

“It’s annoying.”

There’s nothing I can do… I just have to endure it.

The mood was already broken, and seeing the old man running away made me feel cold as well.

“Just bring me the bad stuff. I won’t let that go. Seriously.”

It was no different from the old man who was supposed to spend time with me running away unilaterally and telling me that he would decide on breakfast on his own rather than discussing it with me. So, if he couldn’t satisfy me, I had to be prepared to pay the appropriate price.

*

“How is it? I got it from this lieutenant.”

“Well…um…not bad.”

The old man who had disappeared suddenly appeared with a full armful of food. Most of it was meat, and it wasn’t the canned ham I’d been eating, but real meat.

Most of them were smoked and wrapped in something like paper wrappers, so my uncle and I simply cut them up and grilled them.

With every bite, the meat juice burst and a rich, oily flavor spread through my mouth. It was a little salty, but it was nothing compared to canned ham, which was just a lump of salt, and honestly, it was really delicious.

The reason I enjoyed fruit was because I disliked processed meats that were made for preservation purposes because they were overly salty or had a meaty taste, but this one made up for all of those shortcomings, so I had no reason to dislike it.

“It’s the same here, and the soldiers at the dam are also like that. Everyone seems to be living better than expected.”

I don’t think that comparing yourself to others is a desirable way of living, but comparing yourself to others is an unavoidable reality.

“Well, if we can’t live better than this with this amount of manpower and resources, there must be a problem with the higher-ups or the group.”

“That’s true, but.”

The old man brought up a fundamental topic, and honestly, I couldn’t help but nod because I agreed with his point.

“Shorts.”

“Huh?”

As I was putting aside my distracting thoughts at the old man’s words and tugging at the sausage on my plate with my fork, the old man’s voice suddenly called out to me.

I raised my head slightly and saw the old man looking at me with a serious expression. There was no reason to avoid his gaze, so I looked back.

“If you want that kind of environment, I can make it happen.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dam or here. Just sit there.”

“…”

I had mixed feelings about what the old man said. Even though neither place held any good memories for him, he implied that he would gladly give in to my wishes if I wanted to.

A life where there was no shortage of food, clothing, or shelter. It was certainly attractive.

Compared to before the world became a mess, it was an absurd story, but now that it has become a mess, it is no different from the life of the bourgeoisie, to put it in an exaggerated way.

I let out a snicker. Because I could see that I held a fairly important position in the world of old men.

And because the old man was having a strange delusion.

“Okay. I like living with you. It’s not good to live with nice clothes and nice food.”

“You…”

The old man stared at me with an expression I couldn’t understand. It was fine before, but the old man now seemed a little burdensome, so I averted my gaze.

“Hey, don’t look at me like that.”

“I’m embarrassed.”

‘Druk’

The old man got up from his seat and immediately grabbed me from behind. Then he hugged me from behind.

“Thank you.”

“What, is that something you can thank me for…”

Every time the old man said something, his breath would hitch against the back of my neck, and I felt like I was going to feel a little like that.

It’s ticklish, but also somehow sweet…

“That…”

Without realizing it, my body started to twitch and my face got hot. I thought that this kind of physical condition had been happening too often recently, but I couldn’t help it. This time too, it was clearly the old man who made me like this.

“Danhwa, please forgive me. I’m having a hard time…”

The old man spoke in an awkward voice, and I couldn’t help but keep my mouth shut because I thought I was being too revealing when he spoke in that voice for no reason.

It’s lethal.

Just as I was starting to feel that way, the old man’s lips touched the nape of my neck.

“Please be satisfied with this much for now. I have to work today.”

“Ugh…uh…”

Yeah, work. I had decided to work today. I tried to calm my mind.

*

“So you want to help?”

“Yeah, it might be a little annoying, but you’ll get something for it.”

I quickly organized in my head the things the old man had said I would gain.

Things like the favors of our former colleagues or even practical help, improving relations with the survivor group led by Hayura, and meaningful material or human exchanges between the survivor group in our city and this group.

First of all, it was clear that the network of Hayura’s group in this land where my uncle and I were living was incomparably extensive compared to ours.

We were simply concerned with making a living, but here, we were definitely looking further and broader.

Just as water and people stagnate in one place and rot, and become weeded out if they remain complacent, if we were not going to simply survive in this zombie world forever, we needed to make an effort to take a step forward.

I was a little upset that my uncle and I had to decide and take the lead on that, but that’s how he lives, so I had to accommodate him.

We headed straight to the office where we had met Hayura.