Chapter 138: Comfort
Chapter 138: Comfort
32. Comfort
"Waaaaah. Kyaaah~"
"Keukeuk. Is it really that enjoyable?"
"Yes. The bicycle breeze feels wonderful. Why did we not see a single bike until now?"
"Perhaps the surviving people took them all."
"That seems likely. Koreans certainly love bicycles."
Delighted, Hye-ji raced along the road.
What we'd found beside Cheongpyeong Station was a bicycle parking area.
More than ten bicycles stood there in a neat row.
We selected the three in the best condition.
"Would you like to ride too, Eun-ah?"
"Yeah..."
"All right. I'll definitely teach you next time."
Eun-ah, who had discovered the bicycles, was walking because she had never learned to ride on two wheels.
Her steps looked heavy as she guided two bicycles, one in each hand.
Watching her grow dejected while Hye-ji rode excitedly made me feel sorry for her.
"Eun-ah, would you rather ride the handcart again? Let's move a little faster."
"Okay. Carry me on your back."
We stopped briefly and secured bicycles along both sides of the handcart.
After tying them upright with rope, I lifted Eun-ah onto my back.
Then I began jogging slowly.
"Oh? This works well. The cart actually feels more stable."
"Whoa... Mister, how can you run so quickly?"
Once I began running, I quickly caught Hye-ji, who had been slightly ahead.
In that formation, we left Cheongpyeong Station and joined the main road.
From there, we only needed to follow the national highway and turn onto the side road leading toward Chogulbong.
As I ran, restaurants and various other businesses appeared intermittently beside the road.
I marked useful places such as a turf shop, lumberyard, hardware store, and scrapyard on the map.
"Turn left at the three-way intersection ahead."
"Okay~"
Thinking about it, Jin-su’s father lived closer to Sangcheon Station than Cheongpyeong Station.
That meant the campground was some distance away, but jogging along the empty roads allowed us to turn onto Choguljae Road before noon.
"Wow, mountains rise on both sides here."
"Yeah. The terrain resembles a bottle. This is the neck, and Choguljae lies deep inside near the bottom."
"But there's only one road? Hm? Look at that banner—'Doenjang for sale. Call 010...'"
"Let's visit that house another time. There's only one main road, but we still need to travel more than a kilometer inward."
"Oh... It's deeper than I expected. Then I'll ride a little way ahead."
"There are side lanes, so stay on the main road. Don't turn off."
Hye-ji pressed harder on the pedals and accelerated.
Choguljae Road branched away from the broad national highway.
Small paddies, fields, and orchards lined both sides of the narrow two-lane road.
Mountain ridges enclosed the land, while the flat valley floor widened the farther we traveled.
We occasionally passed guesthouses, homes, and restaurants, but our destination was close enough that I ignored them.
Tall cornstalks became increasingly common, and frogs croaked from the fields.
Deeper in the mountain valley, the asphalt ended and gave way to a pale concrete farm road.
We crossed a bone-dry paddy where no rice had been planted and continued inward.
Soon, a garlic field and small farm shed came into view.
Four households clustered beneath the surrounding mountains.
We had finally reached Choguljae.
#
"Is anyone here?"
All the way from Seoul to this place...
It had been a long journey.
At last, we stood before the home of Jin-su’s parents.
"It's Tae-sik. Is anyone here?"
Only silence filled the property.
We crossed a carefully maintained driveway and yard and entered the two-story house.
There was no true fence; flower beds marked the property boundaries.
"Don't relax yet. Stay careful."
"All right." "Okay."
The warning was directed at myself as much as the others.
We'd seen almost no zombies since entering Cheongpyeong, and reaching the elder’s home had caused my tension to loosen unexpectedly.
"Is anyone here? You can come out safely. It's Tae-sik."
Dust blanketed the interior.
I searched the entire first floor but found no sign that anyone had lived there recently.
Then I climbed the wooden staircase to the second floor.
"Over here."
"Ah... All right."
The second floor consisted of a narrow sitting area with one small window and two bedrooms.
A wooden table stood directly before the staircase.
A single notebook rested upon it.
— I don't know whether you'll read this, Tae-sik. If you do, there's something I want to say first. Thank you for surviving. And I'm sorry. I wanted to support you until the very end, but instead I must ask something difficult of you. If someone else happens to find this...
The notebook served as both a letter and a will that Jin-su’s father had left for me.
He had apparently been unable to endure any longer.
— As for Jin-su... I expect he received your help. I was relieved that you were beside him. Someone should have remained beside you as well, so resent me for failing you. I always told you that you were my son too. Please forgive this pathetic old man for choosing this path. I sincerely hope it doesn't wound you...
The letter was strange.
Perhaps my memory loss was responsible for that impression too.
Referring to messages we had exchanged, he wrote as though he already knew that his only child was dead.
But that did not matter.
Until the end, he had felt guilty toward me.
He'd told me to regard him as a father, yet now asked me to resent him for failing to wait for a child who might still be alive.
He begged forgiveness for choosing to go ahead to his wife and biological son.
The thought that I might not arrive before his strength failed had apparently become unbearable.
The letter began with an apology and continued in a rambling, disordered fashion.
"Mister... If this is too difficult, Eun-ah and I can..."
"No. Both of you, go downstairs."
"Okay..."
After finishing the letter, I sent Hye-ji and Eun-ah to the first floor.
The elder had been my benefactor and truly like a father, yet I accepted the situation more calmly than expected.
No—I forced myself to remain calm.
I couldn't show weakness before Eun-ah, who depended on me.
At a much younger age, she had already endured suffering far worse than mine.
After the Zombie Outbreak, everyone had lost parents or people who filled that role.
My grief wasn't some unique ordeal that belonged only to me.
It hurt, but I refused to make a spectacle of it.
Having restrained my emotions with those thoughts, I stood before the right-hand bedroom.
Grrrrrrr
Click. Creeeeak.
Zombie growls had reached me from the moment I climbed to the second floor.
I opened the door toward the sound I had deliberately ignored.
Kwaaaaah!
Clatter. Clatter.
Inside, a middle-aged zombie couple reached toward me while still retaining their appearance from life.
Jin-su’s parents were bound to chairs.
His father wore a suit, while his mother wore comfortable indoor clothing.
"No... They were no longer the elder and his wife."
The female zombie remained almost pristine, but one of the male zombie’s wrists hung in tatters.
The sight made my heart ache even more.
I didn't deliberate for long.
I opened the door fully and took in the sight of both zombies...
Step. Step.
Whooosh. Thwack. Whooosh. Thwack.
Then I entered and swung my baseball bat twice.
I acted as I always had.
Unlike usual, though, I didn't mutilate the bodies.
I repeated that they were merely zombies, yet unconsciously restrained my strength.
The blows to their heads broke the two zombies’ momentum, and both slumped limply.
Their necks had broken, but aside from the depressions in the backs of their skulls, their bodies remained intact.
"They were zombies..."
These were the people who had reached out to me when I wandered after losing my parents in an accident.
I stood dazed before their bodies for a long moment.
"I'm sorry I came so late... I couldn't save Jin-su. Please rest peacefully..."
I tried to convince myself that the zombie corpses were no longer the people they had been, but I couldn't.
Instead, I found myself rambling before them.
"You should have waited a little longer. If you truly thought of me as your son, you should have waited."
"Sir... No, Mister. You must have suffered so much alone. Please rest peacefully with your wife and Jin-su."
My words carried a little resentment and overwhelming regret.
Even so, I believed he had suffered far more than the pain and grief I felt now.
I continued praying for their peace until Eun-ah came upstairs.
#
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah. I'm okay."
I carried the two zombie corpses outside together with the chairs.
At the foot of the mountain beyond the yard, I stacked firewood and laid them upon it.
"You don't need to help. It's hot, so wait inside."
"No..."
"Hye-ji! Take Eun-ah inside and give her something to eat."
"I want to stay with you."
"Alright..."
Eun-ah looked at me with clear eyes.
I sent Hye-ji, who had emerged while cleaning the house, back inside.
Then I cremated the two bodies.
Holding Eun-ah’s hand beneath a tree’s shade, I sat silently for a long time.
At some point, Hye-ji came outside and sat beside us.
While watching to ensure the fire didn't spread, I read the remainder of the notebook.
It was a guidebook the elder had prepared for me.
It explained the house, the groundwater supply, the many tools he'd gathered, and even an underground bunker beneath the building.
He had made extensive preparations while waiting for my arrival.
His notes filled the entire book.
Eventually, all the stacked firewood burned away and the wind scattered the ash.
The cremation hadn't been simple.
I had imagined the bones turning completely to powder, but many fragments remained.
I gathered them and buried them with the ashes at the foot of the mountain.
With that, our farewell ended.
"You both must be hungry. Let's eat."
"Are you truly all right?"
"Yes. I really am. I'd already considered this possibility."
Of course, expecting it didn't make the reality easy.
I'd simply planned what needed to be done and then carried it out.
Still... I now felt completely alone.
#
We ate a late meal that served as both lunch and dinner.
Feeling stifled afterward, I went outside and found the cat—missing since around Cheongpyeong Station—sitting before the house.
A young plane tree grew close to the building.
The cat rested beneath it in a perfect loaf.
"Where did you go? I waited for you."
"Nyaaong."
After a brief reply, it abruptly rose and darted away when I approached.
"Were you busy, but stopped by just to see me...?"
The sun was setting.
The black cat headed into the mountains and quickly disappeared among the shadows.
"Big Brother Tae-sik."
"Oh, Eun-ah. Why did you come outside?"
"It's cool out here."
"It's. The mountain breeze has begun."
As evening settled, wind descended from the mountains.
It soothed the pressure in my chest slightly.
"Where's Hye-ji?"
"She lay down on the sofa and fell asleep."
She had spent the morning pedaling a bicycle and the entire afternoon cleaning.
Furthermore, she'd followed my sleep schedule for several days, so fatigue must have accumulated.
"Are you not tired, Eun-ah?"
"I'm fine. Here."
Eun-ah handed me a cup of coffee.
"May I smoke?"
"Yeah."
I fixed my gaze on a distant break between the mountain ridges and lit a cigarette.
The smoke seemed unusually harsh, and the coffee tasted bitter.
"This is very difficult for you, isn't it?"
"Hm?"
"You're hurting badly today."
"No. I'm all right."
Eun-ah crossed the single step between us and raised her hand.
Her small, pale palm touched my cheek.
Once more, she gazed at me with clear eyes.
"What kind of person was he?"
"The elder who lived here?"
"Yes. Tell me about him, if you can."
This time, Eun-ah didn't draw out the ends of her words.
Nor did she speak in isolated fragments. Her voice was clear, measured, and affectionate.
The woman who usually seemed childlike suddenly felt like an adult.
"Men sometimes call someone a friend from childhood, right? I had a friend named Jin-su whom I'd known since we were very young."
"Keukeuk. Yes."
Eun-ah continued gazing at me and listened intently.
She moved closer again, closing the distance I'd created to smoke.
What she offered was one cup of coffee, an affectionate voice, and quiet comfort.