episode_0159

The rattling cargo truck stopped somewhere in Sagajeong.

We decided to meet Dr. Jang first.

Although it was quite early morning, we wanted to quickly empty the cargo hold.

I and the three others each carried an armful of luggage and climbed the stairs.

“Gasp! Gasp!” “Pant! Pant!” “Wheeze! Wheeze~”

With the sudden start of labor, the three people quickly began to pant.

Climbing five stories of stairs empty-handed is difficult.

Moreover, it was no wonder, since they were carrying heavy canned goods in boxes.

Shia panted and slowly, somehow, made her way up.

Sohee-ssi was gasping for breath, but seemed to have some strength left.

Hyung barely managed to preserve his male pride.

I stacked three boxes to a point where they wouldn’t spill.

Of course, this much wasn’t even exercise for me.

After leisurely arriving on the fifth floor, I looked around at my companions, who were bent over, regulating their breathing.

“Are you tired?”

“Gasp! Gasp! Huff! Huff!”

“Uh, yeah. Just breathe.”

Leaving Shia, who couldn’t even reply, I went inside.

The traces of the previous shooting incident remained intact.

The door was torn off, and bullet marks were left on the walls.

The interior of the hospital remained unrepaired and unrenovated.

Where the large windows used to be, cardboard boxes and weather stripping had been hastily used to block them instead of glass. Thanks to this, it wasn’t too cold, but it was aesthetically very unappealing.

Only the cleaning had been done neatly; the aftermath of the fight remained.

‘…….’

As I reflected on that time and surveyed the interior, I heard signs of movement from inside.

I slowly began to move inside.

Behind me, my companions followed, groaning.

Inside, lantern-like objects, procured from who knew where, were casting light.

And within, Dr. Jang and her family were busily moving about.

“Oh my! Seonghan-ssi. What brings you here at this hour?”

“Delivery.”

Dr. Jang Heeyeon, who recognized me instantly, widened her eyes at the word “delivery.”

And everyone in the examination room turned their gaze to me.

More precisely, to the boxes I was carrying.

Dr. Jang, who had been momentarily dumbfounded, soon burst into a hearty laugh.

“I said I was looking forward to it, but isn’t this a bit too fast? Haha~”

“Because swift delivery is key.”

“What? Hehehe~”

Dr. Jang, who laughed pleasantly even at my nonsensical banter instead of a proper greeting, was quite pleased when she confirmed the contents of the boxes.

The other people inside the examination room had similar reactions.

Seeing them rejoice over mere beans, I could tell.

Noticing my expression, Dr. Jang looked a bit awkward.

“I apologize for complaining so early in the morning, but things haven’t been good lately. Everyone has been struggling…”

“Doctor-nim. Is it really bad?”

Hyung, who had put down his boxes and was waiting, asked cautiously.

In response, Dr. Jang made a gloomy expression.

It wasn’t a misconception that her face seemed shadowed.

“The market residents are trying their best, but things are getting harder day by day. Food is one thing, but the immediate lack of water is a major problem.”

“Ah…”

“To prepare such good-to-eat and nutritious items at a time like this…”

I interjected, as if cutting off Dr. Jang, who was about to overflow with emotion.

“Is this enough as a return?”

“Is this enough? It’s truly more than I could ask for!”

Delighted at the news that there was a bit more in the cargo truck below, Dr. Jang, without concern for her dignity, came down with us and began moving the luggage.

After everyone made several round trips, we were able to empty the cargo hold.

It was simple luggage moving, but it took more effort than expected.

We had worked up a sweat since morning, but no one complained.

The people, deeply relieved upon seeing the boxes full of food and bottled water.

Our companions, feeling the sense of accomplishment from doing a good deed.

The mood was not bad from the morning.

“With this, it will be good for the patients to eat too.”

Dr. Jang, holding canned beans and canned porridge in both hands and rejoicing, was thinking of the sick first. Seeing her like this, I thought she was a truly devoted doctor.

The fact that I had handed over beans, luncheon meat, and porridge to such a person secretly weighed on my mind.

‘…I can give her something better later.’

Feeling apologetic, I handed over an additional box each of canned coffee and canned beer, then fled the hospital as if escaping.

Dr. Jang, who had followed me as if chasing, smiled faintly and said,

“The people you rescued will be fine. There are no major problems or issues, so you can rest assured.”

“…I’m sure they’ll manage just fine on their own.”

The fifteen people now had to decide their own whereabouts.

I had kept my word, so it was no longer my concern.

Dr. Jang, unaware of my thoughts, gazed steadily at me.

I subtly avoided Dr. Jang’s gaze, which was silently watching me with kind and deep eyes.

It seemed the canned goods I gave her had really earned me some goodwill.

We quickly greeted Dr. Jang, who was sending us a burdensome gaze, and got into the car.

“It seems Dr. Jang has been through a lot.”

“Indeed. Seeing her in bright light, she seems a bit thinner…”

“The others didn’t show it, but their exhaustion was visible. Still, it seems they’re holding up well.”

I quietly kept my mouth shut.

Each of the three spoke a word, expressing half concern for the people and half concern for the future.

However, the more they spoke, the more somber the reality became, and they soon fell silent.

From the passenger seat, I had been looking out the window, but I turned my head and spoke to Shia.

“Chin up.”

“Huh?”

“Shoulders back.”

“…?”

“Those people will manage just fine on their own. We only need to worry about ourselves.”

“Uh, well…”

“Just like them, we too will find a way if we keep doing what we can, one thing at a time. Our worrying won’t change anything. So, don’t let yourselves get down.”

I spoke calmly to everyone, then added a word to Shia.

“So Shia, you, steel your heart.”

“…Yes!”

She replied well, but I wasn’t sure if she truly understood.

While I was wondering, Hyung abruptly blurted out a remark.

“Seonghan. You’re subtly discriminating?”

“What do you mean?”

“You didn’t say things like that to us. But you said it to Shia.”

“No, Hyung, she just came out for the first time today.”

“What was it like when we first came out?”

“He only said things like, ‘Move only looking at the person in front of you,’ ‘You must be quiet,’ ‘Tighten your core,’ ‘Are you tired?’”

“…Seriously…”

Following Hyung, even Sohee-ssi, who was quietly sitting in the back seat, sided with him.

I don’t think I was like that… People’s memories must have been distorted.

Hyung didn’t stop chattering even while driving.

…He must have been holding a subtle grudge.

I had nothing much to say to the two people who were teasing and chatting.

Shia, who was joining in the banter, also seemed to have caught the mood.

While they were in high spirits, Shia asked,

“By the way, where are we going now?”

“…The place that used to be the gangsters’ hideout.”

“What? Why there?”

“I have something to do in the basement there.”

At my words, Hyung smoothly drove the car towards the location I remembered.

The hospital building that the gangsters had used as their hideout.

It was a place we could reach quickly and safely by car, and I distinctly remembered there being more cars in the underground parking lot.

Thinking of items that had been neglected but at least protected from the rain and wind, this place came to mind.

Hyung also seemed to remember it, as he found the building without hesitation and drove in.

“Uh… haven’t you been smelling something since a while ago?”

“Indeed? What is this…”

“The smell of corpses.”

“…….”

At my words, the three people closed their mouths and dropped their curiosity.

Come to think of it, corpses must be piled up like mountains on the first floor, so the smell of decay would be no joke.

In a hurry, I took out masks and distributed them to the three people.

I told my companions, who were hastily putting on their masks, my thoughts.

“Let’s find it quickly and get out.”

“Okay. What kind of car?”

“Let’s go with a car that has a large cargo capacity.”

“Cargo capacity?”

“A car that’s spacious enough to carry a lot of things or people.”

“Aha!”

“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything around here, but be careful.”

“Okay. Let’s do as Seonghan says… Let’s see…”

We soon began to search the dark parking lot.

Excluding flashy foreign cars, we sought out cars that were faithful to their function.

“Found it! Here it is!”

We soon each found a white and blue cargo truck.

The thick layer of dust accumulated on the car bodies and windows showed that no human hand had touched them since that day.

“How do we open this door…”

Click-

“…?”

“They didn’t lock the doors before either, it seems.”

Hyung, who had only been blinking, laughed emptily and got into the car.

Then, he skillfully found the key and tried to start the engine.

But the engine wouldn’t start.

It had been neglected for a long time, so it was bound to be dead.

I’d never owned a car, but I knew this much.

“This won’t work, will it?”

At Hyung’s negative remark, I fell into thought.

There were many abandoned cars.

Cars were strewn everywhere, whether on roads or inside buildings.

But the situation was the same, and being inside a building carried risks.

‘Even if we look for another car outside, it’ll be the same. …Should we give up?’

It was then that I was about to decide to give up on the car.

“Seonghan, what are you doing? Take this.”

“What is this?”

While I was thinking, Hyung, who had been rummaging through the car, handed over an electric cable with thick clamps.

“What do you mean, what is it? It’s jumper cables.”

“This?”

“…You don’t know?”

“How would I know if I’ve never owned a car?”

“Wow. There’s something you don’t know.”

“Hyung. I’m not a jack-of-all-trades. My specialty is digging, you know.”

“Pfft. Anyway, good. Pay close attention this time.”

Hyung pulled our broken car over, parked it next to the truck, and connected the jumper cables between the two vehicles.

“Hyung. Don’t you usually open the hood to do it?”

“…You really don’t know, do you?”

“I’m not very interested in cars.”

“No… usually people your age are very interested in cars, aren’t they? All men like cars.”

“Let’s make an exception for me. So, how do you do it?”

As I vaguely brushed it off and drew closer, Hyung began to explain step by step.

“Alright, look. This is the battery. Shia, you pay attention too.”

“Oh! Yes.”

“You do this, and then this, and the other side the same way.”

“Hyung… that’s it?”

“Yep. Easy, right?”

“It’s nothing much.”

“The thing to be careful about is always connecting the red one to the positive terminal.”

“What if you do it the other way around?”

“It’ll probably explode?”

“…Explode?”

At my disbelieving words, Hyung insisted it was true and earnestly urged me to be careful.

He said cars were very delicate or something.

Watching Hyung skillfully handle the car, I found it unexpected.

He looked like he only knew how to drive, not how to maintain a car, so it was a surprise.

Anyway, after spending a short while, Hyung got back into the car and tried starting the engine again.

Vroom-

“Oh~”

“Kid. A man should know how to do at least this much.”

“Huh…”

There was nothing I could say in response to Hyung’s triumphant smile.

“Seonghan-ssi. That’s very unexpected.”

“Oppa has things he can’t do too.”

“…Shut up.”

At a loss for words, I avoided their playful gazes.

And for the next car, I tried it myself.

It didn’t work at first, but after waiting a bit and trying again, the car successfully came to life.

“Wow~ That was lucky. I was ready to tear things apart and make a fuss.”

“That’s a relief. Let’s drive the car out for now.”

“Plenty of gas too… What do you think? Go back right away?”

“Hmm… Let’s do that.”

The car was the original objective, and the three people weren’t particularly armed.

Only Sohee-ssi had brought a gun.

We split into two and each got into a car.

As Sohee-ssi got into Hyung’s car, Shia naturally followed me.

“Oppa. Should I drive?”

“…I know how to drive, you know?”

“Oh?”

“…….”

“Heh~”

Her lightly sticking out her tongue looked cute, so I decided to let it slide.

“You should know you’re really lucky.”

“Huh? Why?”

“If you were just a little uglier, I would’ve killed you right there.”

“Oh my! How could you~ Are you going to hit me?”

“If you get any uglier than that, then sure.”

I smoothly followed Hyung’s departing car.

“Oh~ You drive well?”

“You’re messing around.”

“No, really~”

“Ha…”

It seemed the child had exerted some strength and her mood had lightened, raising her spirits.

She wasn’t chattering like before, but she began to radiate vitality.

Even now, she was idly feigning indifference and smiling faintly.

While the car was slowly driving, Shia was preoccupied with looking out the window.

Nothing seemed to be moving anymore; it was a dead street.

The scenery, having lost its color and turned gray, was nothing but desolate, yet Shia’s eyes didn’t rest for a moment.

“…It feels like the streets have turned gray.”

She must have been thinking the same thing.

I worried that she shouldn’t become as desolate as I was.

“Can we go back to how things used to be?”

Shia, who asked the question quietly, almost to herself, seemed calm.

“Not immediately.”

“…Right.”

“But there’s plenty of possibility. If survivors like us somehow persevere, won’t things naturally return to how they were?”

“…….”

“Though it will take a long time.”

Since the situation couldn’t be entirely positive, I only said that much.

Shia also seemed to be getting confused, as she spoke less.

“I only stayed inside, so I didn’t really know. I didn’t realize other survivors were struggling so much.”

It seemed the sight of Dr. Jang and her group, whom she had seen at the hospital earlier, weighed on her mind.

“The survivors gathered at Konkuk University must also be struggling, right?”

“Even worse, probably.”

“Hmm…”

“Dr. Jang’s group is frankly on the better side.”

“Really?”

“Well… there are many people suffering even more.”

Even the people who were captured suffered greatly.

But there were countless worse cases.

Though I don’t know for sure, there could be people who starved to death.

There could also be people who went outside to find food and met their end.

Zombies weren’t overflowing outside for no reason.

Even in Myeonmok-dong, where I thought I had cleared them out, there were still scattered zombies.

All those zombies were once living people, someone’s precious person.

But I couldn’t know their circumstances, nor did I need to consider them.

If I dwelled on such things, I wouldn’t live out my natural lifespan [a proverb meaning to die prematurely due to worry or complication].

I am alive, and they are dead beings.

Anything that moves even after dying is an enemy.

This simple dichotomy simplifies complex matters.

If I don’t forget this, I’ve established the minimum passive [skill] for survival.

Thanks to not forgetting this, my resolve doesn’t waver against zombies.

Though I don’t know about my companions.

I glanced at the silent Shia…

“Oppa.”

Our eyes met.

“Why?”

I quickly turned my eyes forward and replied nonchalantly.

“I have something to ask you.”

“What is it?”

“Was what you said earlier true?”

“Earlier? What did I say?”

“That I’m pretty.”

“…….”

“Hmm? Tell me.”

“I never said you were pretty. I said, ‘If you get any uglier,’ didn’t I?”

“So, isn’t that what it means, that I’m pretty?”

‘Why is she doing this…’

When I turned my head to look, Shia was gazing intently at me, her eyes slightly upturned, moist like a puppy’s.

‘Ah, this…’

It was the same look I had seen from Hyung when we walked along the promenade before.

That melodramatic gaze that had stared at the calmly flowing river.

Only, it was Shia, not Hyung, and it was directed at me, not the river.

I kept my mouth shut.

After a short while passed in that state, Shia sighed lightly and sank into her seat.

“Hmph…”

“…….”

‘What do you want me to do…’

Men all over the world would probably sympathize with me.

I don’t know what the right answer is in situations like this.

It felt subtly like she was testing the waters, in a soft, sly way.

The feeling that she might be interested in me.

But what if I actually went for it and she wasn’t?

The embarrassment and discomfort that would follow would be entirely my own burden.

As for what I thought…

The words didn’t easily come out.

Even the schools I attended for compulsory education didn’t teach things like this.

Both Shia and I remained silent as we headed to the shelter, and the car soon arrived.

“We’re here. You worked hard, Oppa!”

Shia, smiling brightly as if nothing had happened, put her hand on the door handle.

I spoke to Shia, who had turned to get out.

“…Pretty.”

“Huh?”

“…I said, pretty.”

“Oh…”

I quickly got out of the car while Shia was dumbfounded.

And without looking back, I walked into the shelter.

‘What did I just say?’

I moved my mouth as if possessed.

I did it.

As I realized that fact, my heart pounded.

It felt like it was beating 17 times faster than when I faced a zombie wave head-on.

Thump-thump-!

At the strange feeling of my heartbeat, I tightly closed my eyes.