Chapter 42: Carelessness
Chapter 42: Carelessness
#
After we finished lunch and cleaned up, we gathered in the living room.
Ga-yeong was making coffee, and Seon-yeong was taking her medicine.
"So, Tae-sik, did you get a chance to talk to Min-su?"
"No, we barely talked. He asked whether I had a moment, and when I said I was busy, he simply went back inside. It almost felt as though he was sulking—not that we're close enough for that..."
During lunch, Ga-yeong said Min-su kept stealing glances at her, so it was really uncomfortable.
At first she just stared back at him deadpan, but later she said she pretended to keep watch and hid behind me to avoid his gaze.
She described how uncomfortable she had felt, asked whether Seon-yeong had felt the same, and then speculated about why he behaved that way. We concluded that we had no idea, and the subject of Min-su passed relatively quickly.
I was not sure "quickly" was the right word, but compared with her account of the bungeoppang cart, it had been brief.
"Seon-yeong, the way I saw it, he came off as kind of rude."
Ga-yeong brought over three cups of coffee and chimed in as she listened.
"You said you and that guy from the convenience store building cleaned everything up and even gave them supplies, right? Shouldn't he be at least a little grateful or something? When we met him earlier, he came out asking why we were there, said he was low on food and asked if we had time, and when you said you were busy, he didn't even wait for the next sentence and just went right back inside."
"Oh, he did?"
"Yeah. He just said his piece—'be careful on your way back'—and went straight inside."
"That must've rubbed you the wrong way. Looks like he didn't even give a proper greeting."
"Right. When you meet an elder, you should greet him first instead of blurting out what you want!"
"Hahaha. Ga-yeong, you sounded like a real old fogey just now."
"Hehe, I tried saying what you might say. How was it?"
"Oh, it was hilarious. Pfft. But honestly, Min-su didn't really get under my skin. If I let every little thing like that stress me out, I never would've made it in sales. Believe it or not, there are a lot of people like that."
Ga-yeong's imitation made me burst into hearty laughter for the first time in a while.
After hearing about the conversation, Seon-yeong became more annoyed than I was. She and Ga-yeong began criticizing Min-su and saying we had wasted supplies on him.
"Seon-yeong, Ga-yeong, but listen."
"Yeah, Tae-sik. What is it?"
"Okay. I asked Min-su casually if anything had happened on their end. If you were Min-su, what's the first thing you would've said to me?"
"Obviously, I think I would've started with the other survivors showing up. Wouldn't that be the biggest event?"
"Unless our business contacts lied or Director Kim's scan was wrong, their group really has grown."
"But I can't see why our business contacts would lie to us, and I doubt Director Kim's scan is wrong... right, Tae-sik?"
"That's what I figure too. So if we assume there's at least one or two survivors who drifted in and are staying with them, I think that's the first thing he would've brought up."
"Could it be that he's hiding something?"
"That's how it feels. When I casually asked whether anything had happened, he brought up food. Food is important, of course, but it didn't really answer my question. I wasn't able to probe any further."
I had wanted to keep the conversation going a little longer, but Min-su just turned and went inside, so it was tricky to hold him back.
Because if he got the sense that I was interrogating him, he might get even more guarded.
"Min-su doesn't know that our business contacts have a scanning ability, or that we stay in contact with them. That keeps making me think he's hiding something. And if he is, there must be a reason. I hate to suspect him, but several things about him are suspicious now."
From that short conversation, the three of us put our heads together and considered all kinds of possibilities.
All kinds of ideas came up.
The theories ranged from Min-su trying to exploit us to Min-su and our business contacts conspiring to deceive us.
With so little information, each theory began with an assumption and ended in speculation. We found no clear answer.
Some assumptions didn't have a plausible motive, and others felt like too much of a leap with no grounding in reality.
"All right, then. Whenever we visit or pass that building, we remain ready for a fight and stay cautious. Understood?"
"Yep!" "Yeah, I will."
"People always said there was no one in the world you could trust. That was still true, and a starving person could do anything. Other survivors may also have abilities we know nothing about. This isn't a matter of losing money anymore; our lives are at stake. Never let your guard down. Meeting adjourned!"
"Yessir! But that really felt like a family meeting or a tactical briefing. I think it'd be great if we kept having meetings like this whenever we have something to discuss as a group."
"Yeah, regular meetings sound good, and emergency meetings seem necessary too. Tae-sik, Ga-yeong, if you ever have concerns or problems, don't hold back—speak up right away."
Although the discussion had been serious, both women looked pleased to have had this kind of meeting.
We cleared the area, and Ga-yeong went and got a whiteboard from her room and wrote, 'Watch out for Min-su!'
It felt like Min-su had suddenly become some kind of major supervillain.
Carrying the board, she went to the short hallway between the living room and the inner entry door.
She removed a framed picture and hung the whiteboard there so we would see it every time we left.
#
"Ga-yeong, there were two of them in front of the third-floor elevator. Want to try taking one out?"
"Yes, I'll give it a try."
Ga-yeong put on a determined expression and answered. After the lunch meeting ended, we each took a two-hour rest.
Seon-yeong, drowsy from the medicine, went to sleep. Ga-yeong also went to her room, saying she'd lie down and rest.
I used the free time to log into Lost Stone for the first time in a long while.
Even amid the chaos, the game servers were still online, and to my surprise quite a few people were logged in.
The disappointing part was that none of my clanmates were online.
I hoped they hadn't all become zombies and were somewhere fighting to survive, then watched the other players' chat.
People weren't enjoying the game's content—they were trading information with each other.
The trade channel and world channel were flooded with all kinds of chat: people sharing tips for dealing with zombies, bragging about their abilities, discussing where to get food and the most efficient ways to store it, and posting their locations to recruit people.
"All right, go up and approach them first. We'll start by attacking from behind. When both zombies are facing away, move quietly toward the nearer one and strike the back of its skull with the head of the driver. Ignore the other one. Understood?"
"Yes. I've run through it in my head plenty of times."
I watched the messages scroll by for a while, then logged out, checked MeTube, and prepared to go outside again.
It was time to start clearing out Building 302, the building right next to ours.
Ga-yeong had already said during her break that she'd go with me, so we went out together and climbed the stairs of Building 302.
Using a hand mirror, I spotted two zombies on the third floor. I quietly went back down and asked whether Ga-yeong still wanted to try.
It was time for Ga-yeong's first real fight.
Holding her own hand mirror, Ga-yeong extended it around the corner to inspect the third-floor hallway.
She held up two fingers to signal that there were two zombies, then signaled for me to wait.
A moment later, Ga-yeong signaled that she was going in first, then began to move in slowly.
Whoosh—thwack.
The golf club sounded entirely different from a baseball bat as she swung hard and struck the back of the zombie's skull cleanly.
At almost the same instant, I rushed forward and jammed my baseball bat into the other zombie's mouth as it turned to scream.
Thud. Thud.
A split second apart, both zombies collapsed to the floor.
Ga-yeong stared up the staircase, listening intently and remaining alert.
Relieved by how well she had done, I noticed her hand trembling slightly and gave it a firm squeeze before we started climbing again.
I'd always taken point and moved forward, but this time, being at the back felt different.
The person in the rear has to watch out not just for zombies but also for the movements of the person ahead.
I realized how quickly and appropriately Seon-yeong had always responded.
"Just like last time, they're all bunched up at the top here, too. Ga-yeong, there are at least five of them on the 20th floor. I couldn't check the stairs leading to the rooftop, so there might be more. What do you want to do?"
As we kept climbing, I confirmed that the zombies were gathered on the top floor, just like in Building 301.
So we came down a few floors to talk it over with Ga-yeong.
"I haven't used Shield once, so I still have plenty left. What do you think?"
"I can handle five on my own. If you can fight without freezing up, this would be a good chance to use your shield against a group."
"Okay. The situation Seon-yeong and I practised most was several zombies rushing you at once, so I think I can do it."
"Alright. I'm counting on you, then. Let's go."
In truth, trusting her with my back made me uneasy.
But I decided to push forward, judging that even if Ga-yeong froze up, I'd still be able to manage the situation.
If we continued fighting together and learning each other's rhythm, the day would come when I could trust Ga-yeong with my back. Trust wasn't built all at once.