Chapter 124: Traveling Together
Chapter 124: Traveling Together
30. Companions
"Why should I spare someone who came here to kill me?"
"Please... I've never tried to kill anyone, not even once. I haven't actually killed anyone either. I've barely even taken down a few zombies."
Hye-ji seemed to find the entire situation deeply unfair.
She begged as tears the size of chicken droppings streamed down her face.
"All I wanted was to live. I know the New Humanity Ark's messiah is nothing more than some pathetic cult leader, but... I just wanted to survive, even if that meant cooperating with them."
"Suppose a murderer holds a knife to your throat and demands the location of someone he's chasing. If you cooperate because you don't want to die, does that make you innocent?"
"Well..."
"I want revenge on the person who gave away our location—you. What do you think?"
"Please, I'm begging you to forgive me... I was wrong. Please forgive me."
What was the point of discussing any of this with her now?
I signaled Eun-ah with my eyes and took hold of the doorknob.
"Wait!"
Hye-ji cried out from behind us.
"Think about the long term. Are the two of you really going to travel alone until you die? Haven't you considered building a group? Even if it's only because you need to find something someday... Sooner or later, there will be a moment when you desperately need my ability."
"..."
"I barely cost anything to keep around. I can survive by chewing roadside leaves or whatever else I find. Please, just let me live... Sniff..."
Creeeak. Thud.
Leaving Hye-ji's desperate cries behind, I stepped out of the storage room.
I'd spoken coldly, but that didn't mean I couldn't understand her circumstances.
Eun-ah still showed no change in expression, leaving me unable to tell what she was thinking.
"Eun-ah."
"Yes."
"What should we do with that woman?"
"..."
"We can't simply let her go. Even if it doesn't have to be blood... Well, you know. Hair, for example. She might be able to track us by eating something like that. We've two choices: kill her or take her with us."
"Whatever you want, Big Brother..."
I didn't deliberate for long.
Dragging the decision out would be cruel to the woman trembling in fear inside the storage room.
Creeeak.
"Spare me... Please spare me. Sniff... Please let me live. I'll do anything."
When Eun-ah and I returned so quickly, she must have assumed the worst.
The crotch of her pants gradually darkened with moisture.
"Calm down. We've decided not to kill you."
"Huaaahng... Thank you. Thank you so much."
"There are a few conditions. They'll be a little... No, extremely inconvenient."
"Yes, yes. I don't care. Whatever they are, thank you."
What changed my mind was Hye-ji's final, desperate appeal.
Her insistence that I think about the long term.
Her warning that a day would come when I needed her ability.
Besides the low cost of keeping her alive, the fact that she lacked a combat ability—and so posed less danger if we took her along—also helped save her life.
"First, I can't give you complete freedom."
"Yes."
"From now on, you'll travel with us, and you won't have any say in our decisions."
"Yes. Of course."
After laying out several restrictions, I untied her ropes.
Beyond those practical considerations, her simple, guileless appearance had probably influenced me on an emotional level as well.
That was how Hye-ji became our traveling companion.
#
Early the next morning.
The moment I woke, I felt a weight pressing down on me.
Eun-ah had climbed on top of me in her sleep.
'When did she get up here...?'
I'd locked Hye-ji in the storage room with handcuffs. Eun-ah and I had spread two sleeping bags across the office floor for extra padding and gone to sleep side by side.
Despite the heat, Eun-ah had stubbornly insisted on sleeping pressed against me.
As a result, one of her legs now pressed against my fully erect alter ego.
'We did agree to sleep in before leaving...'
Hye-ji had assured us that no further pursuit would come.
Accordingly, we'd decided to sleep off all our accumulated fatigue and depart late in the afternoon.
For some reason, though, I woke up quickly.
Apparently, the previous three days hadn't been particularly exhausting for me.
I carefully shifted Eun-ah aside without waking her and got up.
After stretching briefly, I went to the bathroom to relieve myself.
The toilet wouldn't flush, but it still felt wrong to piss just anywhere.
Fsss. Fsss. Clink.
I lit a cigarette in the hallway and studied the road atlas.
I really had taken the wrong road at the start.
Continuing along National Route 6 would take us into Gangwon Province.
'I should've turned off earlier...'
A little farther ahead was the Deokso Interchange.
I marked the corrected route, tore the page from the atlas, and slipped it into my pocket.
Clank. Clank. Creeeak.
Using the master key Eun-ah had made, I opened the storage-room door.
I'd only intended to check on Hye-ji, but she was unexpectedly awake.
"Huh? Why are you awake so early?"
"Ah... Good morning. Sorry, but could you let me use the bathroom?"
"Sure. Come out."
Wearing the expression of a puppy desperate to relieve itself, Hye-ji staggered out.
I escorted her to the bathroom as she struggled to walk with shackles around both wrists and ankles.
For the record, Eun-ah had created those shackles with her ability, so they were solid cuffs without locks.
"Here."
"Thank you."
Outside a stall in the women's restroom, I handed her a small amount of toilet paper.
Hye-ji accepted it but remained standing there.
"What are you doing? Aren't you going in?"
"Ah... yes."
I had no intention of following her into the stall.
Still, I couldn't leave Hye-ji alone in a restroom with a small window and simply walk away.
Although cuffs restrained her wrists and ankles, the connecting chains were fairly long.
So she retained some freedom of movement.
'If she were determined enough, she could probably escape...'
Pfwooong. Blurrrrrt.
Before long, an impressive eruption of noise carried a rich, earthy odor toward me.
When Hye-ji emerged from the stall, her face was remarkably red for someone who had just enjoyed such a satisfying bowel movement.
"Even if you're hungry, wait a little longer. Eun-ah is still asleep."
"Yes... um."
"Mm?"
"Could I have a little water?"
"Ah, water... Wait here. I'll bring you some."
Even after such a short time, looking after her already felt troublesome.
Traveling with someone I couldn't trust was uncomfortable for both of us.
After bringing Hye-ji water, I settled beside Eun-ah, who was still sleeping soundly.
I took a notebook from my bag, sat at a desk, and made myself comfortable.
I'd considered keeping a diary but had continued putting it off.
'I think I lost consciousness and woke up later. I came to on top of some strange animal's corpse, and...'
Until Eun-ah woke up,
I searched through my memories and wrote down whatever came to mind.
Scavenging tips and the methods I'd used against zombies.
The abilities possessed by the people I'd met so far.
The mysterious black cat whose identity still intrigued me, among other things.
I'd always thought my memory was terrible, yet I found far more to record than expected.
'The title... Tae-sik's Diary?'
I hesitated just before writing my name on the cover.
It would be mortifying if anyone ever saw it.
'Right, leave out my name... Hmm... What should I call it?'
「Apocalypse Survival Diary」
Everyone was struggling to survive.
I was no exception.
As I settled on the diary's title, I renewed my promise to myself:
I'd survive another day and continue the record.
#
The morning passed that way before Eun-ah finally woke.
Propping herself up, she glanced around as though searching for something.
I watched without revealing my presence.
Her tousled hair had a slight natural wave that made her look even cuter.
As she supported her upper body on one arm, a massive, heavily swaying presence seized my gaze.
Her large breasts pressed together at the center and stretched her thin-strapped camisole taut.
Then she spotted me sitting at the desk beside her head and hurried over.
"Sleep well?"
"Yes..."
The first thing Eun-ah did after opening her eyes was look for me.
When she climbed onto the cramped chair, I gathered her into my arms.
"You really love being held, huh?"
"Yes... I like it."
Did she suffer from some kind of affection deprivation?
Considering her past, she had every reason to.
I stroked her back for a while before rising.
"Hungry? Should we eat?"
"Bathroom first."
"Me too? Do we really have to go together?"
"..."
"Fine, let's go."
Feeling like someone caring for a dog with separation anxiety, I accompanied her to the restroom.
Eun-ah held wet wipes in one hand.
When we reached the restroom, she took something from her pocket and handed it to me.
"What's this... Earplugs?"
Nod, nod.
"No, if you're going this far, wouldn't it be easier to go alone...?"
When I started to complain, she looked as though her country had just fallen, so I silently inserted the earplugs.
Perhaps she'd reinforced them with her ability, because I genuinely couldn't hear a thing.
Eun-ah emerged again in less than three minutes.
'At least your digestive system is healthy too.'
"So, shall we eat now?"
"Yes..."
There was nothing suitable for burning inside the building.
With no alternative, I took out the portable burner and started cooking rice.
While waiting for the pot of rice to finish, I reorganized the duffel bag.
'All we have left are canned goods, combat rations, and the energy bars those Ark bastards carried.'
We also had a few miscellaneous snacks.
"This one too..."
"Yeah, empty it out."
The backpack Eun-ah had scavenged contained similar supplies.
It held little besides easy-to-eat energy bars, chocolate, candy, and gum.
"Oh? There's jerky and some kind of powder too."
Smack.
"This looks like soybean powder, right?"
The soybean powder made me crave a cool bowl of kongguksu.
With flour, I could mix the powder with water and make some.
A cold lunch like that would be perfect on such a hot day.
'We don't have any ice, though...'
I suddenly remembered eating kongguksu for lunch not long ago.
In a kitchen with Assistant Manager Choi...
'Huh? Not long ago? And... Who was that?'
Something was wrong with the memory.
I'd never been inside a house like that with Assistant Manager Choi.
A girl who appeared to be a college student had been there with us as well.
Her face was blurred.
Throb.
"Big Brother Tae-sik."
"Huh?"
"The rice is ready."
"Oh, right... Let's eat. We should bring her out too."
The memory felt almost within reach, but trying to grasp it made my head ache.
Taking the perfectly timed distraction, I opened several cans over the finished rice and went to fetch Hye-ji.
"Doesn't this make it feel like we're the ones serving her?"
"Yeah... I hate it."
"Heh heh. From now on, we can make Hye-ji handle the chores."
"Don't call her by her first name alone."
"Uh... All right."
Was she jealous?
I could never tell what Eun-ah was thinking.
Clank. Creeeak.
"Im Hye-ji. It's time to eat."
"Yes!"
Hye-ji, who had been sitting blankly, came outside.
She must have been terribly bored as well.
"Huh? I get to eat with you?"
"Yeah, sit down. I can't actually make you live on leaves."
"Thank you..."
Smack!
When Hye-ji attempted to sit beside me, Eun-ah slapped her backside.
Then Eun-ah pressed herself tightly against my side and sat down.
Looking awkward, Hye-ji sat across from us on the far side of the burner.
"Thank you for the food."
"Yeah. Enjoy your meal, Eun-ah."
"Yes... You too, Big Brother."
Hunger truly was the best seasoning; even the canned beans I had disliked before tasted delicious now.
Was my palate turning into that of a village mutt willing to eat anything?
It was the sort of concern only someone with a full stomach could afford.