The Compound Bow
"Hic!"
A cute little hiccup popped behind me. I turned, and there stood the cafeteria duo.
"Hic!"
Both of them were staring at me with terror written all over their faces. The hiccups belonged to Lee Jia.
"S-sorry, hyung! W-we weren't trying to interrupt...!"
Lee Jaemin, standing beside the hiccuping Jia, blurted the excuse with his face gone white.
Fair enough. From where they stood, they'd only been coming over to say hello while I trained in the yard, and the moment I started swearing they'd assumed it was meant for them and spooked themselves.
"Ah, it's fine. I wasn't cursing because of you."
"Hic!"
The second I softened my voice, the tension slid off both their shoulders. Jia still couldn't get the hiccups to stop.
"Sorry. Did I scare you that badly?"
"Hic! I'm okay, Oppa."
She looked more startled than I'd expected, so I apologized, but the hiccups refused to quit.
"So what's going on?"
"Um, if it's all right with you, I wanted to make breakfast. I feel bad just eating and not doing anything."
Only then did Jaemin get around to why they'd come looking for me.
"You?"
I frowned, of course. How good could a high school kid's cooking possibly be? I'd count it a win if he didn't waste the ingredients.
"Jaemin wants to be a chef, so he was going to a cooking academy. Hic...!"
Jia, catching the displeasure on my face, hurried to add that.
"Y-yeah! That's right. My mom runs a restaurant, so I learned from her too. Taste is guaranteed, so don't worry!"
Backed by Jia, Jaemin said it like he meant it.
"All right. Want to give it a try?"
His face lit up at once. Jia was still hiccuping, but a smile spread across her lips too.
"Got it, hyung! I won't let you down!"
"The others aren't up yet, so we'll do it in a bit. In the meantime, uh..."
Looking at the two of them, I had the nagging sense there was something I was supposed to do, and I couldn't for the life of me remember what.
"Ah...! Right. Jia, hang on a second."
After a brief moment of thinking, it came back to me. I went up to my room and brought something down.
What I'd fetched was the compound bow I'd pulled just that morning on a weapon draw ticket, still warm out of the box.
"Want to try this? It's a bit different from the recurve gear you used to shoot."
I held it out to Lee Jia as I said it.
"Whoa...!"
Jia's eyes sparkled. She took the bow and started going over it inch by inch, flicked the string with a finger, and nodded as if satisfied.
The change in her eyes was like running into an old friend after years apart. Her fingers traveled the bow's curve, soft and careful, the way someone might stroke a lover's face.
"This is... a compound bow!"
Somewhere in there the hiccups had stopped. Jia's voice came out bright with excitement, so unlike the cold front she'd shown until now that a ripple of surprise passed through everyone nearby.
"It's a little different from the recurve bows we use in archery. The structure's more complicated, but the cams make it easier to draw, and the accuracy is higher."
Jaemin leaned in from beside her, eyes full of curiosity.
"Whoa, that is seriously cool. Jia, can you actually shoot that?"
Jia seemed to think it over for a moment.
"Mm... I think I can try. But I'll need some practice."
"Then want to take a shot?"
"I'll set up something you can aim at."
I glanced around for anything that might serve as a target, spotted an empty cola can on the table, scooped it up, and set it on a rock about fifty meters out.
"How's that? This distance work?"
"Yes. That should be fine."
Excitement colored her voice.
"Yaaawn... what are you guys doing?"
Kang Hanna came wandering out just then, yawning like she'd only now clawed her way out of sleep.
"Dohyun-hyung gave Jia a bow, so she's gonna test it!"
Jaemin chattered, plainly thrilled.
"The hell is that bow? I've never seen it before."
"Must've been stuck in a corner. You just didn't notice."
Hanna, who'd spent the night in my room, eyed the unfamiliar weapon with open suspicion, but I brushed it off.
While the rest of us talked, Jia's fingers moved slowly along the bow's curve, as natural as if she'd found an old friend.
"Hoo..."
She drew a deep breath. As her fingers eased the string back, the tension in the muscle spread through her whole body. The noise around her dropped away until nothing remained but the sound of her own heartbeat in her ears.
"Hmm... fifty meters... it's not that hard..."
Her eyes went sharp, as if her years as a competitive archer were waking up inside her. She settled her breathing, locked onto the target, and at last let the string go.
Whssht—!
The arrow split the air. Every gaze snapped after it.
Thwack!
"Whoa..."
Unbelievably, the arrow punched the cola can dead center. Can and arrow leapt into the air together.
"Holy—! Jia, you're incredi—"
Jaemin's cheer never got to finish. Before all of our eyes, something none of us could quite believe unfolded.
Jia's hands moved like lightning. A second arrow was on the string, drawn, and gone in the same instant.
Shwit!
Thwack!
The arrow cut through empty air and drilled clean through the can still hanging up there. The crumpled can spun once and dropped.
"Th... no way. Is that even possible?"
I muttered it before I could stop myself.
"I... I don't know either, Oppa. My hands just... moved on their own. It was never like this before..."
Even Jia, the one who'd just pulled the trick, was flushed with shock, and her hands were trembling faintly.
Only after I saw that reaction did I understand what had happened.
Must be her ability.
Jia's special ability, Archery. The power that had come with the zombie apocalypse had driven her skill forward in a single leap — and Lee Jia herself had no idea.
Just then Jang Sangcheol came out of the house, rubbing his eyes.
"What's all this? Something happen? Awful noisy for morning."
I was about to explain, but Jaemin got there first.
"Mr. Jang! Jia just hit the can twice! A can that was in the air!"
Sangcheol's eyes went wide.
"What? That the truth?"
"I... I didn't know I could do that either."
Jia's voice came out shy, and color rose in her face.
"Think you could put one through a zombie's head that clean, too?"
Jia lifted her head and looked at me. Resolve had settled in her eyes.
"I can."
"Zombies are bigger than a can."
A short laugh escaped me. I liked that answer.
"Good. Looks like we've picked up a solid sniper."
Kang Hanna came over at an easy pace and patted Jia's shoulder.
"Jia, you're seriously something. Skill like that, you'll be a real asset."
Old Man Jang nodded and put his own word in.
"Aye. Talent like this is gonna do us a world of good staying alive."
Jia broke into a bright smile and nodded.
Then Jaemin suddenly yelped.
"Ah! Right! I still have to make breakfast!"
Only then did I remember the talk of food.
"Oh, right. You said you were cooking?"
Jaemin grinned and nodded.
"Yes! I'll cook. Just wait a little!"
While he headed for the kitchen, I felt Hanna come up beside me. A faint unease sat on her face.
"Hey. Park Dohyun."
She dropped her voice to a whisper.
"You sure it's okay dumping the cooking on Jaemin? He can actually make something we're able to eat, right?"
I looked at those worried eyes and let out a short laugh.
"Relax. He wants to be a chef, so he went to a cooking academy. And his mom ran a restaurant, so he ought to have the skills."
"Yeah? I'm still nervous..."
Hanna tilted her head and cocked an eyebrow.
"Um..."
Jia, having caught our whispering, spoke up carefully.
"Jaemin's cooking really is amazing. He even won a cooking contest at the school festival once."
I looked at her, surprised.
"Oh, yeah? That happened?"
Jia smiled wide and nodded.
"Yes. The kimchi stew he made then was really good. Even the teachers were impressed."
"That good? Now I'm actually looking forward to Jaemin's cooking."
Whatever unease had been left seemed to drain out of her at Jia's words. Now she was waiting on breakfast with her mouth watering.
"Yeah."
I was waiting too. I had something to tell the group over the meal — we needed to put a farming party together.