Chapter 50: Preparation
Chapter 50: Preparation
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I belatedly remembered that Ga-yeong was preparing dinner alone and hurried through my shower.
I washed Seon-yeong first and sent her out, then finished up at top speed and headed for the kitchen.
Bubble-bubble.
In the kitchen, Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong stood side by side, tending a simmering pot and preparing vegetables.
Standing beside each other like that, they looked almost like sisters.
They didn't look alike at all, but their names were similar.
"Oh, you're out, honey? Sit down for a minute. We're almost done."
At Seon-yeong's urging, I sat at the table. Ga-yeong glanced at me, flushed, and quickly looked away.
What was with her now? Had she heard us?
The bathroom and master-bedroom doors should have muffled the sound twice over, but Seon-yeong had cried out so loudly that I couldn't be sure.
While I wondered whether Ga-yeong had heard us, the two women bustled around and soon covered the table with a full dinner spread.
"Wow. Looks amazing. Thank you for the meal."
"Thank you for the meal!"
At the center of the table sat a pot of thinly sliced pork simmering in vegetable broth.
There were five simple side dishes, including napa-cabbage kimchi, braised soybeans, and seasoned soybean sprouts that seemed to appear from nowhere.
Ga-yeong must have kept making side dishes whenever she stayed home.
These days, there were probably very few people eating this well.
"Mister, could we bring a fridge from another apartment too? If we can freeze things, they last way longer. We're really short on freezer space."
"Yeah, let's get one after dinner. If we want the food to last this long, we'll have to haul one over somehow."
"Honey, I think we should have a meeting before bed too. We must've gotten too careless. The house got breached way too easily."
"I've been thinking the same thing. I kept warning us not to let our guard down, but I guess we assumed the apartment was safe and relaxed too much. Let's patrol after dinner, then sit down for a meeting."
How on earth had Min-su's group figured out the front door code?
The apartment building's entrance was always open, so getting inside was easy. How they had learned our unit code remained a mystery.
Our own complacency was another problem.
Apart from the digital lock, the front door had a separate safety chain.
But because whoever went out always entered the code on the way back, we never latched the chain when Ga-yeong was home alone.
There was no one left to ask how they had learned the code, but all three of us had made the same mistake of assuming the apartment was safe.
We needed several layers of countermeasures.
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"All right, I call our first emergency meeting to order. I have two agenda items. First, security measures for the apartment. Second, how we should deal with other survivors. Ga-yeong, please take the minutes, and speak up if either of you has anything else to add."
After dinner, the three of us did a patrol around the apartment complex together.
On the way back, I carried a refrigerator down from a sixth-floor apartment by myself and placed it in Unit 501.
We left organizing it for later and began the emergency meeting.
Seon-yeong moderated and presented the two agenda items.
I'd vaguely thought we needed countermeasures, but nothing concrete was coming to mind.
Why did my mind always go blank the moment I consciously tried to think?
"This is just a thought, but what about moving our base somewhere safer?"
"Moving immediately would be difficult. We don't know where a safer place is, and we've stockpiled a lot of supplies here. That would have to be a long-term plan."
"After being raided once, I started wondering whether an apartment was a bad place to live. What do you think, Ga-yeong?"
"If there's a safer place, I'd want to stay there too, but I can't really think of one."
Feeling as though I'd said something useless, I sank into the sofa in embarrassment.
I sipped warm tea and looked at Seon-yeong.
Our clever moderator could handle the problems that needed immediate attention.
"Then let's start with security for the apartment. Both of you, throw out whatever ideas come to mind."
"I think we should install a security camera at the front door. Then I could monitor it even when I'm home alone."
"Okay, 1. CCTV. Anything else?"
"Seon-yeong, I'm out there looting other apartments through the windows all the time. I think we need to put something on our windows too."
"Right, 2. Security grilles."
The three of us looked at one another, but no one came up with anything else.
In the end, Seon-yeong spoke up again.
"As for security cameras, there's nothing we can do immediately. We don't own one, and even if we found one, I have no idea how to install it. Can either of you set one up? I was a humanities major."
"I was a humanities major too... What about you, Mister?"
"I only graduated high school. I guess that puts me in arts and athletics?"
A strangely solemn silence fell after I said I had only graduated high school.
They said they were liberal arts, so I answered without giving it much thought. What was with the reaction?
"Um, Seon-yeong. There are easy-to-install home cameras, the kind people use to check on pets or babies while they're away. Couldn't we use one of those?"
"Oh, I've heard of those. When you said CCTV, I only thought of the closed-circuit systems companies use. Okay, we'll look for an easy-to-install home camera. The second idea was security grilles, right?"
"Yeah. It's not exactly easy for someone to climb into a fifth-floor apartment window, but I do it myself. So I think it's a possibility."
Once the first suggestion was out, more ideas began to flow.
Seon-yeong and Ga-yeong did most of the talking, and I played my part by chiming in with "That's a great idea" to boost their morale.
A truly crucial role.
"Then let's stop here for today. Ga-yeong, could you organize the minutes and print out a report? I can do it if that's too much."
"No, Seon-yeong. I'll try it. I slept for a while during the day, so I'm not very tired yet."
"All right. I'll send you a report template. Just organize the notes into it and do what you can."
"Okay! Good night, you two! We're going out as usual again tomorrow, right?"
Ga-yeong spoke brightly, as though she'd noticed Seon-yeong's concern.
She didn't have to force it, though...
Seon-yeong seemed to be trying to keep Ga-yeong from dwelling on things, too.
"That's right. Ga-yeong, you don't have to finish it all tonight, so if you get tired, go to bed early and take your time. Seon-yeong's a whiz at that kind of thing. Ask her if it gets too hard."
"Hehe, no, I can do it too. If I'm struggling, I'll tell Mister!"
"Count me out. I don't have the experience for that."
We exchanged goodnights and wrapped up the meeting that had stretched late into the night.
I stepped out for a cigarette before bed. When I returned, Seon-yeong was searching for something on her phone with intense focus.
"Honey, look at this map. How long would it take to reach Home Square, the big supermarket here?"
"Let's see... About ten minutes by car. On foot, assuming there were no zombies, maybe thirty or forty minutes?"
"At that distance, it could take all day now, couldn't it? We might not make it there at all."
"Right. There's no way to know. The supermarket could already be picked clean or overrun with zombies."
"A big supermarket would be an obvious target... Still, I'd like to check it if we can."
"First, we have to clear Zone C. We have to pass through there anyway."
I scooped up Seon-yeong, who kept mulling things over, and laid her down on the bed.
She'd produced one countermeasure after another during the meeting. The day's events must have worried her badly.
I reassured her that this was all the more reason to rest well and stay active, then let her use my arm as a pillow.
#
Flash.
My eyes snapped open at a faint sound.
Normally I slept so deeply that someone could carry me away without waking me, but the soft footsteps of someone creeping through the master bedroom pulled me awake.
I focused and gauged the distance.
I sensed a figure moving in the dark room, coming toward me.
I prepared to strike and waited for the right moment.
"Seon-yeong? Mister?"
Ga-yeong whispered into the darkness.
Hah... The tension drained from me at once, replaced by confusion over why she was there.
Mindful of the exhausted Seon-yeong sleeping soundly beside me, I was about to rise and lead Ga-yeong back out of the room.
"Are you both asleep?"
Ga-yeong whispered again. Something told me I should pretend to be asleep, so I kept my mouth shut.
A moment later, the mattress dipped as someone climbed onto the bed, and the blanket lifted behind me.
Ga-yeong must have lain down against my back. I could feel the warmth of her body pressed to mine.
"I'm sorry... I'll sleep here just for tonight."
Had she stayed awake until now, only to become frightened when she tried to sleep alone?
Earlier, she had indeed been forcing herself to act bright.
Ga-yeong must have noticed how closely Seon-yeong and I had been watching over her.
There was no room beside Seon-yeong, so Ga-yeong had lain down behind me while I slept on my side.
If she was that frightened and anxious, she was allowed to rely on us a little.
At first, she had leaned heavily on Seon-yeong and me, but lately, she was trying to stand on her own two feet.
So I simply closed my eyes again.
How frightened must she have been to come here despite trying so hard to sleep alone?
'You're doing well, Ga-yeong. Hang in there.'
Ga-yeong was making progress, step by step.
I silently cheered on each determined step she took, then sank back into a deep sleep.