episode_0108

They say that repeatedly practiced movements are etched into the body.

The same goes for habits or postures that have become ingrained.

The body remembers the sequence, sensations, and experiences from the beginning to the end of a movement.

Movements performed naturally even after a long time of not doing them.

In that sense, Incheol had cultivated good habits.

‘There was a reason he survived.’

He had naturally equipped his gun from the moment he prepared to leave the shelter.

Even now, as he got out of the car, he very naturally held his gun and scanned his surroundings.

His vigilance, heightened from the moment his feet touched the ground, was incredibly sharp.

And that sight made me want to engrave it upon our companions as well.

After watching his sharp, alert posture for a moment, I quietly said.

“It’s safe for now, so you don’t need to be tense.”

“Is it alright, with it being so dark?”

“It’s fine for now. If there’s anything, I’ll give you a signal.”

Although it was bright, clear daylight, the inside of the parking lot was still dark.

While inside the car, they hadn’t realized, but now that they were out, the feeling of facing the darkness bare was enough to naturally heighten their tension.

I calmed the two highly tense individuals and turned on my flashlight, illuminating the area.

It looked the same as when we left last time.

There were no traces of anyone having come or gone.

As I walked in without hesitation, I gave them one instruction.

“Just in case, never even think about going to the first floor.”

“…Understood.”

“Hyung-nim. But why can’t we go?”

“There are a lot of unpleasant things to see there.”

“Ah, okay.”

Dong-woo, who seemed genuinely curious, immediately understood.

Stepping onto the still-working elevator, I said to Incheol.

“We’re not soldiers. If you have something to say, speak comfortably. Don’t worry about reading the mood.”

“Ah. Was it obvious?”

“It’s very obvious you’re a soldier too.”

“Heh heh… Understood.”

Military culture where absolute obedience to orders is a virtue.

Incheol, who was probably still full of military discipline, seemed to need time to become a civilian.

‘They said military habits would disappear in a day.’

Looking at Incheol, it didn’t seem to be the case.

Ding-

The moment we arrived on the 3rd floor and the door opened.

I naturally stepped forward.

Dong-woo followed closely behind, and Incheol stood at the rear, maintaining a distance.

Their formation, as if they had practiced it, wasn’t bad.

They had to do at least this much to avoid being easily knocked down somewhere.

But there was no need to be tense now.

“It’s fine, so relax. This way, for now.”

I led the two of them towards the end of the hallway.

A hospital room, not a prison, where four zombies were confined.

The scene beyond the small window remained unchanged.

Zombies writhing while bound.

I deliberately showed them that sight.

Fortunately, the two who looked inside the window weren’t particularly surprised.

They seemed merely surprised that the zombies were tied up and brutally mutilated.

“Dong-woo would have seen them while with me. Incheol would also know well, having experienced it.”

At my words, both slowly turned their eyes to me.

“You have to smash their heads. You can tell by how they’re still moving even in that state, right?”

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s go.”

“Uh, Hyung-nim. Is it okay to just leave them like that?”

“There’s no need to needlessly splash blood.”

They were merely growling, firmly bound.

There was no need to waste calories dealing with them.

I simply wanted to make them clearly recognize the zombies’ weakness.

I took the two, who kept glancing back, to where our real business lay.

The room piled high with supplies remained exactly as it was.

There were no traces of anyone having touched them in the past day or two.

At the delightful sight, my heart felt warm.

And it seemed the same for the two beside me.

“Whoa…”

“Wow…”

The supplies, though stacked haphazardly, looked beautiful.

The sight of the two young bachelors, unable to close their mouths at the piles of food, made laughter escape.

When I showed them the alcohol in the next room, the two literally jumped for joy.

“…Do you like alcohol?”

“Ah, Hyung-nim! We just can’t get any to drink!”

“Grandma nags us, so we can’t drink it. Hehehe~”

“Hmm…”

Their sparkling eyes, bright enough to shoot lasers, showed truly overflowing expressions. It felt as if we should have a drinking party.

To calm them down for a bit, I took them to the room Yeom Seongjin used.

This hospital room, which used to be the VIP room, remained unchanged.

I searched thoroughly, wondering if anything useful would come out of it.

Back then, I had only quickly scanned it and moved on, but even in games, rummaging through houses was a universal rule.

I had hoped something valuable would turn up, but there was nothing like that.

“Uh… Hyung-nim.”

“Why?”

“That gangster boss really has peculiar tastes.”

“?”

Turning at Dong-woo’s words from behind me, I could only laugh.

Inside the closet, a shelf was visible.

And on that shelf were numerous adult toys.

My eyes spun at the sight of them, varied in type, size, and color.

Seeing the monstrously sized female comfort items, it seemed he lacked confidence in his own equipment.

Otherwise, would there have been any need to use such things?

He had somewhat qualified as a villain, but perhaps not so much as a man.

A regrettable sense of pity began to surface.

“Alright. Doesn’t seem like there’s anything, so let’s start working.”

“Seonghan Hyung-nim. Please take a look here.”

“…Hmm?”

Incheol, who was rummaging through the built-in closet right next to me, seemed to have found something.

I quietly stepped closer to check, and…

“…It’s a safe, isn’t it?”

A medium-sized black safe, prominently located at the bottom.

It looked incredibly sturdy from the outside.

Next to the safe, apple boxes were neatly arranged.

Gangster and apple boxes.

A cliché, but an inseparable combination.

“Don’t they usually hide them behind large picture frames?”

“Or in places that can’t be easily found.”

“…That’s just how those gangster bastards do things, I guess.”

Chuckling at Mr. Yeom’s sloppiness, I pulled out the boxes to check them.

“Woah…. Hyung-nim, this…”

“How much is all of this…”

“Hmm…”

I had a suspicion, and indeed.

The five apple boxes were filled with 50,000 won banknotes.

It was a large sum of cash, but I felt no particular emotion.

“If things were normal, this would be a huge jackpot.”

“It’s a bit of a waste.”

Dong-woo and Incheol seemed to think the same.

As did I.

It went without saying, banknotes were useless now.

At best, they’d be good kindling, if that.

Without hesitation, I pushed the apple boxes aside and reached for the safe.

“Since there’s no password, I’ll just—”

CRUNCH! SNAP- CRACK-!!

I gripped the handle and simply ripped it off with force.

The metal door crumpled and tore off in an instant.

The handle I had gripped tightly was crushed into the shape of my hand.

“……”

Incheol, seeing the door shattered like a rag, was speechless.

He seemed quite surprised, but if he stayed with me, there would be many more surprises in the future.

Getting surprised by every little thing like this wouldn’t be good for his blood pressure.

Dong-woo, who at least knew a little about my strength, merely alternated his gaze between me and the door with curious eyes.

And I was looking at the items inside the ripped-open safe.

“……”

“……”

“…He really collected them diligently. This bastard.”

The safe, its contents revealed, tantalized the eyes with a glittering golden light.

Beautiful gold bars filling the medium-sized safe.

The cold touch and light weight felt in my hand as I picked one up.

Dong-woo and Incheol were captivated, marveling at a sight they had never encountered before.

I, in a different sense, admired Mr. Yeom’s foresight.

Gold was a symbol of wealth and possessed unchanging value.

There might be a possibility that it would become even more valuable in the future.

What was certain was that it was more valuable than meaningless banknotes.

In that sense, Mr. Yeom had, in effect, provided me with a minimum compensation.

I chuckled and began to neatly transfer the gold bars into my backpack.

“Huh? Hyung-nim?”

“Let’s take the gold. It might be useful.”

“Yep!”

Anyone would like touching valuable precious metals.

Even the two, who didn’t seem particularly greedy for money, enthusiastically packed the gold bars.

With cheerful movements, the three of us divided them into our backpacks, completely emptying the safe.

I had wondered if there would be any traces of connection with Taesong, but there were none.

There were no ledgers that would typically pop up in dramas, either.

It was, quite literally, a safe used solely for storing valuables.

It was practically a terrifyingly sturdy piggy bank.

“I feel like I’ve become rich, Hyung-nim.”

“We really have become rich. Heh heh.”

“…You like it?”

At my words, given with a chuckle, the two simply kept laughing.

It was as if they had gone on an outing and struck gold, so it was understandable they were excited.

With the two of them wearing bright expressions, I headed towards the supply storage room.

Before truly getting to work, a little preparation was needed.

“Hyung-nim. What are you doing?”

“Just watch for now.”

I took the large handcart left by the gangsters and did a bit of work on it.

First, the front part of a common handcart has grooves.

Workers usually tie ropes to those grooves and pull them from the front.

‘…Good thing I picked up all those binding lines from the supermarket.’

A bundle of binding lines, taken from my inventory as if pulling them from a backpack.

I used them to connect two handcarts.

They looked as if their fronts were attached to each other.

Making one more of the same, the preparations for transportation were complete.

If they were firmly connected, even furniture could be moved without difficulty.

It was a useful trick for moving many items when the floor was flat, like now.

When work had to be done entirely by hand, if one used their head to reduce even a little effort, it was a gain.

…It seemed the gangsters had at least some intelligence left.

It was truly fortunate that they had prepared things like handcarts.

“Just because it’s manual labor doesn’t mean you do it purely with strength.”

“Ohh…”

“That’s good. Then I’ll start right away.”

“No, wait a moment.”

I stopped the two who were eagerly about to dive into the work.

And then I took out a cigarette from my pocket.

“It’s the rule in this line of work to smoke one before starting.”

“Hyung-nim, have you ever done manual labor?”

“Ah, did I not mention it? This was my original line of work.”

“Oh… I thought you looked familiar with it. Ah, Hyung-nim, may I have one too?”

Incheol and I naturally lit our cigarettes.

Dong-woo seemed to be a non-smoker, as he sat down on a box a little distance away.

And then he said something to me as I leisurely smoked.

“Hyung-nim. Shouldn’t you quit smoking?”

“Well… I suppose so.”

“Why don’t you quit while you have the chance? You need to take care of your health too.”

I smiled bitterly at Dong-woo’s words.

Health management was something I had emphasized to my companions.

With me smoking, my words about taking care of one’s health seemed to lack persuasiveness.

“I saw on the internet before, Hyung-nim. It said that the probability of getting lung cancer from smoking is lower than the probability of getting cancer from stress after quitting.”

“Woah. Really?”

“I wouldn’t know. Heh heh.”

“Ah~ What’s that! Hehe.”

Although slightly different, Dong-woo and Incheol, being of similar age, soon exchanged words comfortably.

Even now, they were playfully exchanging light jokes.

It was quite a pleasant sight.

It was a good thing to have friends of similar age with whom they could open their hearts.

“Still, I think I should quit. It’s also hard to get cigarettes now…”

“That’s right. Seonghan Hyung-nim, you quit too.”

Dong-woo, who had suddenly become a smoking cessation evangelist, kept advocating for quitting.

“I’ll quit when I get a girlfriend.”

“…Woah?”

“Can’t exactly smell like stale cigarettes when kissing, can you?”

“Oh~ That’s a plausible reason.”

“Hyung-nim, then you’ll be quitting soon, won’t you?”

“Hmm?”

I was puzzled by the unexpected remark, but Dong-woo merely smiled.

With that notably slick expression of his.

“…I told you not to smile like that.”

“No~ well~”

“You look really old-mannish.”

“Gah?!”

“Try smiling like that in front of a mirror. Hehe~”

“That’s impossible…”

Dong-woo, wilting as if shocked by being called old-mannish.

Watching him, a pleasant laugh escaped me.

Even without a particular comedic flair, it was a talent if he could provoke laughter.

Being easygoing, he had the ability to soften the atmosphere.

That’s why I couldn’t hate him.

We finished our short smoke break and immediately began working.

The work itself wasn’t difficult.

We stacked items, starting with bulky ones and then those of similar size.

Making them as stable and unshakable as possible.

Once a cart was fully loaded, I pulled one alone, and the other two pulled the rest towards the parking lot. Then we rearranged and loaded them onto the truck.

This was repeated until all the supplies were loaded.

“They say it’s called manual labor because you repeat the same work.”

“Pant pant!”

“Just do it slowly, as much as you can.”

“Huff huff. E-Even so, we’ll load one truck quickly.”

“We’re loading three trucks.”

“?!?!”

“When we leave, each of us will drive one. Let’s work hard.”

“……”

Soon after starting work, Dong-woo and Incheol were already out of breath.

Although Incheol, who used to be a soldier, was a bit less winded, he didn’t seem much different from Dong-woo.

They hadn’t even made many round trips, but they were already dripping with sweat.

It was because they were suddenly doing strenuous work, but it seemed they really needed to train their physical fitness.

Didn’t every zombie movie emphasize the importance of endurance?

I thought I should act as their instructor for those two I cared for.

Even so, they weren’t complaining and were working diligently.

Usually, at a worksite, people would often run away from such difficult tasks.

Compared to that, their attitude and perseverance were excellent.

Even now, their arms and legs were trembling, but they only looked admirable.

So, I proceeded slowly, without overworking them.

Anyway, there was plenty of time.

If we couldn’t finish today, we could do it tomorrow.

There was no reason for us to rush.

Even amidst the hardship, they seemed to get used to it little by little, coordinating better and picking up speed.

What was remarkable about Incheol was that he hadn’t taken his rifle off his body even amidst all this.

Whether it was habit or compulsion, I didn’t know…

It was simply impressive how skillfully he worked with the rifle strapped on, without it getting in the way.

Dong-woo, who had initially relied solely on strength, also started moving quite efficiently as he gained a knack for it.

Indeed, one tends to improve by doing it oneself.

And as I thought, Incheol didn’t seem to have any idle thoughts.

It was fortunate that he seemed to be concentrating on the work without any distractions.

When your body is tired, you don’t have time for other thoughts.

That’s just how the human body is structured.

And I was properly benefiting from that.

“Gasp! Gasp!”

“Huff~ Huff~”

“…You’ve all worked hard.”

Thanks to our diligent movement, by the time we had completely filled three trucks, the sun had begun to set. And the two were literally bathed in sweat.

I let the two, who had collapsed onto the floor, panting, rest.

Perhaps they were items the gangsters had used, but in the cargo compartments of the other trucks, there were ropes and a net. These were basic items for a delivery truck.

I put the net over and firmly secured the cargo with ropes.

Just doing this well would lower the chance of the cargo falling onto the road from the truck bed.

The finishing touches didn’t take long.

Now, all that was left was to get in the car and depart…

“Ah. Both of you wait here.”

“Huh? What are you going to do?”

“I’ll be right back.”

I pulled one handcart and went back upstairs.

‘Almost forgot.’

Once back up, I loaded a few more crates of alcohol and boxes.

They had brightened up so much, it would be a shame to leave without some.

…I couldn’t deny that I also craved some alcohol.

When I came down with a bit of alcohol, as expected, the two cheered loudly.

Only after filling the passenger seats of each vehicle with alcohol could we depart.

The vehicle’s body sagged slightly due to the heavy load.

But to that extent, my heart felt rich and at ease.

Three delivery trucks heavily loaded with food and alcohol.

We cheerfully began our journey back to the shelter.

At perfect timing, as the sun set, dusk began to settle over the streets.

‘…It feels just like finishing work and going home….’

It was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a very long time.

The work we finished today was, coincidentally, similar to what I used to do.

A strange feeling washed over me, a sensation I had forgotten for a while.

And to that extent, I wanted to hurry back.

‘…Home… is it….’

A feeling I had always lived with in the past.

The feeling of wanting to quickly return home, wash, and lie down.

Savoring the long-lost feeling, we safely arrived at the shelter.

And we received a fervent welcome from the companions who were waiting for us.