episode_0276

The fiercely falling rain gradually lost its intensity.

The dwindling raindrops ceased as morning arrived.

Even though the rain stopped, the sky was still heavily overcast with dark clouds.

Thanks to this, despite it being morning, it was as dark as evening.

The plummeting temperature due to the ground’s saturation and the wind slapping my face were an added nuisance.

‘This weather, really…’

In many ways, it was a day that made outdoor activities undesirable.

On such days, it was common for work to be canceled, leading to a wasted trip, but not now.

If I used to work to make a living, now I literally had to work to survive.

Each day’s labor was like an extension of a safe day.

I put out the cigarette I was smoking, grumbling needlessly about the uncooperative bad weather.

When I quietly entered, Grandmother was setting out a grand breakfast table.

Grandmother spoke in a bright voice to me, whose gaze was fixed on the dining table.

“Koreans thrive on the power of rice. You need to eat heartily, especially at times like this.”

“Of course. Absolutely.”

Grandmother maintained a spirited attitude, and Grandfather busily agreed with her.

It seemed they were conscious of the slightly subdued atmosphere, keeping yesterday’s events in mind.

Though it was something older people typically said, it made sense.

Even I, with my returning appetite, had no other thoughts but to eat.

“Go wake up your wives.”

“……”

I, who had been savoring the thought of food, blinked.

“If you slept under the same blanket, then they’re your wives.”

“Grandmother, that’s not it…”

Grinning—

…I immediately understood who Dong-woo’s sly grin resembled.

Grandmother’s playful demeanor, which I was experiencing for the first time, was incredibly fresh, but I had to clear up the misunderstanding—

“They must have been so exhausted yesterday that they can’t wake up yet. Heh heh~”

“It’s a misunderstanding.”

“Seonghan, you…”

Startled, I explained that it wasn’t like that, but the two of them, instead, couldn’t hide their disappointment that nothing had happened.

Bomi’s shoulders were shaking as she tried to hold back her laughter, but thankfully, no one else was around.

I escaped the dining room as if fleeing, avoiding the two ladies’ teasing and Grandfather’s sharp gaze.

‘……’

I was just a body pillow, so why am I the one who’s embarrassed…?

Rubbing my flushed face, I entered the room to find the two beauties still sound asleep.

Until now, Shia had usually come to wake me, but today it was the other way around.

It was a strange situation, and I felt a strange sensation as I gently shook their shoulders.

“Wake up.”

“Mmm…”

“……”

Perhaps they were in a deep sleep, as they curled up instead of opening their eyes.

Flap—

Whack— Whack—

“Gah?!”

“Wake up. Time to eat.”

I pulled back the blanket and lightly slapped their smooth thighs, and they reacted immediately.

They shot up but, still groggy from sleep, they looked around disoriented.

“…Ah?”

“…Ah?”

As if their minds caught up a beat late, Shia and Heize quickly touched their hair and straightened their clothes, then bowed their heads deeply.

“What’s wrong with you two?”

“D-Don’t look…”

“Our faces are swollen…”

Snicker~

I laughed at the two of them, who were shyly speaking in husky voices, and their faces turned crimson as they scurried out of the room.

‘It’s not *that* bad to run away.’

Especially their slightly messy but flowing long black and blonde hair was very alluring.

Yet, their maiden-like reaction made me chuckle to myself as I headed to the dining room.

The ensuing breakfast was pleasantly enjoyable.

First, thanks to the generous breakfast spread, the slightly drooping atmosphere returned to normal.

Except for Shia and Heize, who were still flustered by the awkwardness.

Miri, whom I had expected to be quite shocked, was surprisingly calm.

Perhaps she had slept soundly and forgotten.

‘She seems fine.’

Miri, who was heartily emptying her rice bowl, had brightened up since getting her father back.

Her aphasia remained, but her eyes were sparkling, and her face was full of vitality.

Recently, perhaps her childlike curiosity was rekindled, as she showed deep interest in Lawrence and Heize.

I heard she often approached Lawrence, whose belly was significantly swollen, and the two had become quite close.

Lawrence, too, seemed to have regained her normal condition and put on some weight…

…Up to this point, things were relatively smooth.

Now, what we needed to do was clear.

To maintain the current state.

‘Shall we begin?’

Immediately after finishing the meal, I took action.

First, I planned to explore the surroundings alone, which I couldn’t finish yesterday.

My family members, especially Heize and my brother, naturally wanted to come with me, but I gently refused.

It was a mountain path, neither in the city nor flatland.

Even if I just roughly checked, it was a rugged terrain where I didn’t know how long it would take, so this time I’d traverse it alone.

Instead, the remaining members decided to thoroughly inspect and organize the building’s interior and surroundings.

And I handed Dong-woo and Hyun-woo burlap sacks, asking them to collect the spent casings and links.

Having divided our roles, we began to move with enthusiasm.

After preparing, I went outside, returned to yesterday’s location, and moved along the paved path.

It was dark due to the heavy overcast, but it didn’t hinder my movement or inspection.

Since the rain wasn’t hindering me either, I diligently scanned my eyes, trying to find even the slightest trace.

Perhaps because of the rain that fell all night, there was a strong smell of damp earth and a musty odor.

The cold, humid air seeped into my clothes, adding to the dampness.

Perhaps because it was early morning, the thick, settled fog added an eerie touch to the landscape.

I ran around and searched through the mountains, but there was nothing immediately noticeable.

On the surface, it looked like an ordinary mountain with dense trees.

‘Where on earth did it appear from?’

It was like searching for a 10-won coin on a sandy beach [an idiom for a needle in a haystack], but I kept running, searching for traces that might or might not exist.

And then, a little while later.

“…It was a chaotic one, alright.”

Corpses sprawled on the road.

Thanks to my thorough search on foot, I was able to find traces.

I stopped running and slowly approached the corpses.

The surroundings were silent, with only the sound of the wind.

“……”

The corpses I approached and examined all bore marks of slaughter.

These weren’t bite marks or injuries inflicted by zombies.

Seeing the kind of injuries that a wild beast would inflict—crushing, clawing, tearing—I surmised it was the work of a Variant.

As soon as the thought occurred to me, I found evidence on a corpse that was relatively intact.

Long claw marks stretched across the back of the prone corpse.

Judging by the size of the wounds, they undoubtedly belonged to that creature from yesterday.

I slowly stood up and widened my view.

Besides the corpses before my eyes, fragments of flesh were scattered everywhere.

Detached arms or legs, pieces of flesh or organs, or torsos and lower bodies torn apart.

On the cement road, pieces of flesh that hadn’t been completely washed away by the rainwater were plentiful.

Corpses also lay scattered on the dirt path below.

A significant number of flesh pieces were stuck in trees, not yet fallen.

By observing the continuous line of corpses stretching in one direction, I could roughly determine the path.

I slowly traced my steps backward along the path.

It felt like a child following a trail of breadcrumbs.

Following the continuing traces, I stepped on logs half-buried in the ground, forming makeshift steps.

Walking a little further, I discovered a spring.

And there, I found the scene of slaughter where the Variant had rampaged.

‘It’s truly a relief that I dealt with it yesterday.’

My immediate impression upon seeing the scene was a small sense of relief regarding the Variant I had exterminated yesterday.

The spring, where people were presumed to have stayed, was filled with torn and shredded corpses.

Just like what I saw above, it was the work of the Variant.

They were so fragmented that it was difficult to discern them precisely, but it seemed there had been approximately twenty people.

Trickle—

Bloody water was draining from a part of a torso impaled at the water collection point of the spring.

Next to the spring, from which a faint metallic smell of blood emanated, a fence made of barbed wire had been installed.

【Yongmasan Sports Field • Tennis Court】

Upon closer inspection, it was a small tennis court with exercise equipment installed.

The equipment seemed to have been cleared away, and several tents with tarps had been set up.

Now, however, they were all torn and collapsed.

On one side, everyday items like plastic lockers and cooking utensils lay scattered on the ground.

This was a crude and hastily constructed refuge.

The traces of the survivors who had taken refuge in the mountains were broken and nearly erased, leaving only faint signs of habitation.

Only a few cans of what appeared to be food remained.

From that, I could infer the dire circumstances.

There were no further traces, but I could roughly piece together the picture.

People who had sought refuge in the winter mountains to escape the zombies.

For unknown reasons, they were discovered by the Variant.

And they met their deaths.

Not a single one remained.

As the startled people fled, the Variant pursued them, cruelly slaughtering them one by one.

As if enjoying the hunt, or just for fun.

As evidence, there were no bite marks among the many fatal injuries. And most of the wounds were inflicted from behind.

Both the corpses on the road and the corpses here.

Their struggle to escape the fear of death had, ironically, provoked the Variant.

This was the result.

‘I should have completely shredded it…’

…It was a more vicious creature than I thought.

I didn’t like the sight of an undead corpse mimicking a cunning beast.

Separately, the fact that I eliminated such a creature on the spot brought me relief.

I surveyed the tragic scene a little longer, but there were no significant clues.

I left the refuge, which was permeated with the smell of blood, and returned to the road.

“……”

Just in case, I started moving again in the direction I was going.

After passing through the field of corpses, scattered bodies once again dotted the ground.

I tried to ignore them and pass by, but my back felt uneasy.

The thought that came to mind as I ran lightly was of the people’s regrettable choices.

It might have been an unavoidable choice due to the swarming zombies, but an unprepared mountain journey was akin to suicide.

Especially so in winter, like now.

Thinking of how they must have suffered from hunger and cold, it was truly lamentable.

Furthermore, it seemed they had chosen a sparsely populated area, but judging by the number of corpses, many people must have had similar ideas.

Perhaps they encountered the Variant in that process.

I cleared my mind, heavy with questions, and ran until I found a signpost at a fork in the road.

‘…I came the right way.’

The fork in the road led to a route that also served as a circular walking trail around the mountain.

Literally, a mountain climbing course.

The direction I came from led to the mountain’s entrance.

In other words, I luckily came the right way.

Since I was here, I started running again to check the vicinity.

And not far away, I found a small temporary building.

【Yongmasan Management Office】

I checked the nameplate and approached, but there was nothing inside.

Only a few pieces of trash, like packaging containers, were near the sole desk.

After passing the solitary remaining office, a downhill path began, and I soon reached the mountain’s entrance.

And on the wide road that followed, a familiar sight unfolded.

A dense array of abandoned wrecked cars.

Corpses rolling on the ground.

The corpses included both human remains and those of zombies that had died again, all mixed together.

“So it was this way…”

Corpses with the same injuries as those I had seen at the spring earlier were also strewn about here.

And the corpses were sparsely scattered down the sloping road.

【⇧Mangwoo Intersection】

Looking at the road sign, I could roughly figure out where I was standing.

Following the corpses down the hillside, the city unfolded, and a building with memories caught my eye in the distance.

D-Mart Sangbong Branch.

Although it meant going all the way around the mountain to descend, it wasn’t bad as I was able to grasp the general geography.

Yes. It wasn’t bad.

And that was as far as it went.

Before, this street was relatively quiet.

But not anymore.

Groooowl—

Groaaaan—

“……”

I saw the sight of them swaying and rippling and closed my mouth.

Was it nostalgia filtering my memories?

Unlike my last memory, the empty street was now filled with zombies.

And a lot of them.

“Ah, damn it.”

I couldn’t help but utter a single word.