episode_0274

There’s a limit to unexpected trouble [a proverb about how even sudden problems should have a reasonable cause or limit].

It hadn’t been long since the uncommonly rare event of an earthquake had ended.

Before their surprise could fully subside, the sight of Heize and me startled the family once again.

Amidst it all, the first person to move was Shia.

Shia, moving quickly, brought large towels to hand out, wiping Heize’s soaked body and unable to hide her worry.

“I’m, I’m fine…”

Was it because she had been completely drenched in the rain in this weather?

Her pale face and shivering body were pathetic to behold.

And seeing her smile, saying she was fine despite her trembling lips, left the family speechless.

“This won’t do. Unnie, let’s warm you up first.”

“Hoo, hooo…”

Shia and Bomi gently clung to Heize, suggesting they go to the bathroom.

Lawrence, suppressing her surprise, followed, covering Heize’s head with the blanket she had been wearing.

As I watched Heize slowly move, a towel was thrust out in front of me.

“We were worried because you didn’t come back… What on earth happened?”

“It took a while to look around.”

As I casually wiped the water from my face and spoke calmly, Hyung lowered his voice.

“We heard faint gunshots. I barely managed to stop everyone from getting up and saying we had to go help.”

At his words, I looked around and saw that everyone was ready to head outside.

Seeing the rifles neatly propped up on one side, I felt a small sense of relief.

Hyung truly did a good job with this.

If someone among the family had approached and drawn attention, I might have been in trouble.

I gave Hyung a thumbs-up, telling him it was a really good decision.

At that, all the men stepped closer.

“Seonghan. I was wondering, perhaps.”

Choi Dae-pyo waited for an answer with a stern expression.

Knowing what the question was…

*A nod.*

“Hooo…”

“Oh dear…”

As I assented with a gesture of my chin, gasps escaped.

“Hyung-nim.”

Dong-woo handed me a cup of soup, steam gently rising from it.

“Oh, thank you. For now, I’m fine. So, Hyunwoo, relax.”

“Yes.”

*Slurp.*

As I tilted the cup, the feeling of it melting instantly in my mouth made my lips tingle slightly.

“Don’t stand here like this; why don’t you warm yourself up too?”

The Old Man expressed concern that I might get sick, but I shook my head.

“I need to check a bit more.”

“No, why? You said you were fine?”

“Then I’ll go with you.”

Hyung quietly stepped forward, but I stopped him too.

“No. I’ll go alone for now. I’m sorry, everyone, but please keep watch.”

“…Did something happen?”

At the mention of keeping watch, Hyung’s expression stiffened slightly.

“…One of the creatures I encountered outside was a variant.”

“A variant, all the way here?”

At the word ‘variant,’ everyone’s expressions hardened.

Only Hyunwoo had an expression that seemed to ask, ‘Huh? What’s that?’

“I’ll just quickly sweep the area near where it appeared and be right back. If a zombie appears in the meantime, fire your gun into the air to signal me.”

“…Understood.”

Seeing Hyung, who wouldn’t act recklessly and kept his mind firm, I didn’t have to worry.

“You two follow Hyung’s instructions.”

“Understood.”

The two youngest also seemed fine.

“And you two, please calm the others down.”

“Understood.”

“Seonghan. I’m not overly worried, but… please be careful.”

“Yes. I’ll be back soon. Nothing unusual will happen, so don’t be too tense.”

I finished the warm soup and headed back outside.

First, I returned to the spot where I had fought the variant.

As soon as I arrived at the scene of the fight, I boosted the flashlight’s brightness and scanned the surroundings.

‘……’

The variant’s corpse, which I had left behind, remained untouched.

The spent casings and links scattered on the ground, along with the signs of the struggle, were also just as I had left them.

The footprints left in the mud were only mine and Heize’s.

There was no trace of anything else appearing in the interim.

All that remained were the marks where the variant had rolled and numerous trees scarred by gunfire.

Confirming nothing was amiss, I approached the variant’s corpse lying on the ground.

*Tap.*

I nudged its head lightly with my foot and examined its torn face.

‘Ugh, damn it…’

The face, with its distorted expression perfectly preserved, made me want to gag.

Up close, it was definitely closer to a female face.

Its long, flowing hair had the texture of a cheap wig.

First, I shoved the head into my inventory, then examined the torso.

The areas hit by the minigun’s hail of bullets were torn and mangled.

Some appeared to have penetrated the body, causing internal damage.

*Press, press.*

‘…Rigor mortis? Already?’

When I pressed it with my fingertips, it was hard as a stone.

Considering its state and movements when I first encountered it, I wondered if this was even possible.

The cold, hard sensation insisted that this thing had been a corpse.

But could this truly be considered a corpse, a zombie?

I had felt this before, but perhaps variants could be considered entirely different creatures.

And this one I encountered today.

A corpse that thinks?

While not comparable to full intelligence, it was capable of at least minimal judgment.

On top of that, it was persistent and cunning.

Though today was the first time I had encountered just one such creature.

‘There probably aren’t many of these things.’

It was a complacency that someone might scold me for, telling me not to burn through my ‘happiness circuit’ [a common Korean idiom for wishful thinking].

Still, I wanted to believe that.

If not, there would be far fewer living humans left on Earth by now.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it remained an undeniable fact that they posed a significant threat to us.

‘For now…’

Once random thoughts began to bite at my heels, they wouldn’t easily let go.

For the moment, I pushed those thoughts aside and continued to gather the corpse.

‘Should I take this too?’

The cold, stiff corpse of the water deer.

Normally, I would have disposed of it without a second thought.

But thanks to this creature, I had encountered the variant, so I even considered burying it…

…That wouldn’t work.

Right now, it was thoroughly soaked with the variant’s blood.

‘……’

I decided to toss this to Director Jang and Dr. Eom.

Since they confidently stepped forward asking to research something, they’d surely find something useful.

Standing at the scene where there was nothing more to see, I lifted my gaze along the cliff.

*Rumble, rumble.*

*Thump!*

The moment I pushed off with my legs to leap up, a considerable amount of muddy water splashed up.

*Swish! Swish!*

I stepped on protruding parts, gripped with my hands, and performed a series of leaps.

In an instant, I reached the top and landed in a spot where I could stand.

At the edge of the cliff, I raised my flashlight and slowly scanned the surroundings.

The first thing I saw was a sagging safety guard and a barbed wire fence.

The long fence, right in front of the cliff, was installed in a place that made you instinctively not want to approach it.

And directly behind the barbed wire fence stood thick trees.

I slowly scanned left and right, but found nothing particular.

It was simply an installation blocking a dangerous cliff.

Since I was up here, I crossed the barbed wire fence.

Soon after passing through the dense trees, a walking path appeared beyond the slope.

After slipping multiple times on the muddy slope and fallen leaves, a short while later I was able to stand on a roughly paved cement road.

‘Damn it… it’s cold.’

The mountainside in the pitch-black night was truly cold.

Standing there with a wet body, I felt like my skin was turning inside out.

I moved the light along the road, wide enough for cars, and looked around, but again, nothing immediately stood out.

No suspicious presence was felt.

The familiar screams were also absent.

All that remained were the rain streaks reflecting light uncomfortably in my vision, and the sounds of the rain.

I considered walking a bit further but immediately changed my mind.

…The mountains at midnight are dangerous.

And it was extremely cold right now.

Just then, the wind began to blow, making the cold feel like it was gnawing at my skin.

The rain showed no signs of stopping, so I retreated for now.

Even if I lingered a bit longer, I probably wouldn’t be able to properly survey the area.

Perhaps the reconnaissance for security could wait until after the rain clouds passed.

With a slightly more relaxed thought, I turned around and crossed the barbed wire fence.

The moment I carefully stood at the very edge of the cliff.

‘…Fire?’

A faint light was visible.

It wasn’t flickering, so it wasn’t a fire.

A different kind of light, not typical electric illumination.

Red with a small halo of light spreading… it was a campfire.

Campfires dotted the city in various places like red specks.

Now that it was pitch-black and without light, they stood out clearly.

Only humans could build a fire.

Choosing to light a fire, even knowing the risk of such an action attracting zombies, was also something only living humans could do.

Was it because they were afraid of the night, or to overcome the cold?

Either way, it wasn’t a good choice.

For now, the sporadic small lights merely made me realize that there were still living humans.

If it were broad daylight, I might have been able to pinpoint their approximate locations, but it was impossible now, unable to gauge their positions.

I had no intention of finding them or doing anything.

As long as they didn’t bother me, whatever they did was none of my business.

I pulled my attention away from the light that had momentarily captivated me and descended the cliff.

Finally, I completed my patrol by circling the shelter building one last time.

Only after receiving the welcoming reception from the family, who had been maintaining strict vigilance until then, could I finally relax.

After briefly explaining the situation and looking forward to tomorrow, everyone pushed me, telling me to leave the rest to them and rest.

Having moved in the cold during the night, I didn’t refuse their warm (?) hospitality.

So I went into my room and warmed my body, which had suffered from the cold, with hot water. It felt incredibly good.

‘Oh, this is good…’

Then, when I lay down my relaxed body, it was pure bliss.

As weariness washed over me and my eyes slowly closed.

*Knock-knock.*

“Haa…”

At the sound of knocking on the door, I awkwardly got up.

Wondering what was going on, I opened the door to find Shia and Heize standing there.

Hugging their pillows tightly.

Seeing them like that, I couldn’t help but ask.

“Why aren’t you sleeping? What are you doing here?”

“……”

“……”

Hesitating at my question, the two of them…

“Um, um, um…”

“…What is it?”

The two, who had been squirming, squeezed their eyes shut.

“Can we sleep together?”

“We can’t sleep together?”

“Would that even work?”

At the sharp refusal, they made faces as if they’d been hit on the forehead with a hammer.

Everyone else had agreed to take turns on night watch, so what would people say if they saw this?

I sighed softly at the two of them saying something that could cause big trouble.

“Go to sleep.”

The moment I closed the door like that.

*Thump! Thud!*

“Wait!”

“Just a moment!”

The two of them shoved their arms and legs into the door gap, blocking it from closing.

“Hey, what are you two doing?”

“I, I, I’m too scared to sleep.”

“Me too…”

“What?”

Scared?

The two didn’t miss my hesitation.

“I’m surprised because it’s my first time experiencing an earthquake…”

“It was scary earlier too. It’ll appear in my dreams. Then I’ll scream.”

“Me too.”

“……”

…It was quite plausible.

I had personally seen Heize suffer from sleep paralysis due to nightmares, so I couldn’t just laugh it off.

Shia’s face had also completely lost its color earlier.

“Then you can sleep with Bomi, and you can sleep with Lawrence.”

“…Unnie shared a room with Byeongsu Oppa?”

“…Really?”

“Yes. It’s been a while. You didn’t know.”

I didn’t know that.

“Lawrence is with Ms. Jang.”

“Um…”

“Won’t… it work?”

“Are you really saying no?”

Seeing the two of them look up at me with round, pleading eyes, my resolve weakened.

‘It doesn’t matter. It doesn’t, but…’

I think it would be hard for me.

In many ways.

In any case, I was swayed by the two of them, who were full of persuasion.

*A choke.*

“??”

I subtly moved aside and opened the door fully.

“Come in.”

“!”

Shia and Heize crossed the threshold with bright expressions, as if nothing had happened.

Then they rushed to the bed and began to settle in.

“Won’t it be cramped?”

“Just stick close together.”

“……”

The two who had invaded a man’s room had no sense of crisis.

But if you were to ask if any dark intentions arose upon seeing the two beauties, the answer would be no.

That was because…

‘…Are they children?’

“Come on in here~”

There was no such situation.

Watching the two of them squeal on my bed, it was just like children getting ready for a nap at a daycare.

*Pat-pat.*

“Hurry and turn off the light and come.”

“Hurry up. It’s cold.”

“……”

I was speechless seeing the two women gently patting the bed and beckoning, but…

*Click.*

I obediently followed their instructions.

No matter how I looked at it, the bed was too small for three people to lie down.

As I squeezed and wriggled my way between the two and lay down, soft skin touched mine.

Added to that, a subtle, pleasant scent wafted into my nose from both sides.

Because we were so close in the cramped space, the clearly felt sensations made my eyes wide open and alert.

“……”

“……”

“……”

My heart relaxed with the soft, warm sensation felt from both sides, but…

‘Ah… this…’

A premonition that the rest of the night would be long flashed through my mind.

And that premonition was not wrong.

We had to spend a long time wide awake in that uncomfortable position.

For quite a long time.