No Room Left in Hell (4)

When we slid down the rope into Unit 808, the zombie whose skull we’d split open with a cleaver yesterday was still lying there, dead. Yet the zombies on the veranda of Unit 706 had revived and were stretching their hands toward us. How? The middle-aged man in 808 was likewise still dead. I didn’t bother checking, but the parents in 807 were probably still corpses too. Had we failed to kill them properly? I wasn’t an expert on zombie biology, so I couldn’t be sure, but I knew something was wrong. Even my usually unshakable sister looked rattled. Aside from the times I’d been injured, she rarely showed any emotional disturbance. Still, no matter how bad things got, people had to eat if they wanted to live.

I climbed back down to Unit 708, pulled a few Choco Pies from my backpack, and split them with her.

“Kang Ahyeon, water.”

“Mhm~”

While we boiled water in the kettle and drank, I kept stealing glances at my sister. The events of yesterday kept replaying in my head. The status window she clearly possessed but was hiding from me. She didn’t seem to harbor any ill will toward me, yet no matter how much I pressed, she refused to answer. For the first time, I realized I didn’t truly know Kang Ahyeon at all.

But I couldn’t afford to focus solely on her. The situation was growing increasingly bizarre. Zombies we had definitely killed were coming back to life. It wasn’t a matter of sloppy work—every single one of the six had revived. The one I’d crushed in the head with the cleaver, the ones my sister had precisely stabbed or pierced through the skull with her knife. All of them.

“What the fuck is this…?”

They had been dead. Yet not every zombie was resurrecting. That meant there was something special about these particular ones.

“…For now, want to check the other side?”

After all, in Sion Mountain Fortress Building 2, the verandas only connected from Unit 10 to Unit 6, with the elevator and stairs situated between Units 6 and 5. To inspect Units 5 through 1, we’d eventually have to step into the hallway. In that case, it made more sense to check the remaining Units 709 and 710 first.

That was what I thought, but—

“Still, wouldn’t it be better to get a closer look at least once?” my sister insisted. “There has to be a reason only those ones came back while the others stayed dead.”

My sister, Kang Ahyeon, rarely voiced her own opinions. I could have easily brushed hers aside, but… this was coming from the same sister who clearly had a status window like mine, who had been caught hiding it, and who kept feeding me obvious lies. I sensed there was a reason behind her words. It almost felt like coercion. And in that moment, I couldn’t refuse her. So we headed for Unit 707.

The apartment we had already cleared was safe.

“…How the hell are these things still alive?”

Even from the safety of the cleared apartment and at a safe distance, the zombies were clearly not in a normal state. The ones we had killed remained exactly as we had left them—skulls cracked open, cleaver wounds splitting their heads, faces pierced through by kitchen knives. The evidence of their first death was unmistakable. If you counted the death that turned them into zombies in the first place, they had died twice, yet they were still standing.

“Oppa, that… something’s coming out of it.”

“What?”

“Like… strings…?”

It wasn’t just that. Something was protruding from the zombies’ bodies. Just as Ahyeon said, they really did look like strings. The strands were tangled together and stretched downward. When I leaned out to look, they appeared to be feeding into one particular apartment. The strings writhed and twisted as they ran ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠down the exterior wall of the building, looking exactly like living parasites.

“…What the hell is this?”

I had no idea. But I could make a guess. We already had giant monsters crawling up the apartment and status windows appearing out of nowhere. At this point, nothing else would surprise me. I was certain. These had to be the variant, mutant, or evolved types you saw in other games. The feeling that dead zombies connected by these strings would revive. In a way, it was almost a relief. It meant they wouldn’t come back unless we completely smashed them, butchered them, or burned them. If that hadn’t been the case, it would have taken far too much time, and we could have been ambushed.

I was just about to head back to Unit 708 with that small comfort when—

“Is this the place?”

An unfamiliar voice rang out. My sister and I pressed ourselves against the wall at the same ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠time. Shadows slowly stretched across the floor from Unit 708. One, two, three, four… A large group of people was pouring into the apartment.

Fuck.

I swallowed the curse and stayed glued to the wall, listening.

“This is it. That bastard’s house is right above here.”

That bastard. I didn’t need to ask who they meant. It was the man from Unit 808. I held my breath, unsure of their relationship. Friends? Colleagues? The answer came quickly.

“They haven’t eaten it all already, right?”

“No way, you idiot. He’s alone. His wife turned into a zombie, didn’t she?”

The voices were young and familiar. They belonged to the youth group believers—faces I’d seen many times since childhood.

“That fucking bastard, seriously…”

They didn’t like the man from 808. In fact, they hated him. Their tone suggested they would kill him on sight.

“Hey, there’s a rope here.”

“Looks like he used this to go up and down.”

“Should we head up?”

“Fuck, I’m scared shitless. That guy has a knife, remember?”

“Is it just him? We’ve got weapons too. Hey, you two go up.”

After some bickering, two of them started climbing. Were they brain-dead? If someone was still alive up there, both of them could get stabbed and die. The person giving orders must have held significant authority.

Outnumbered, we held our breath and waited. I needed to figure out their intentions. I pulled my sister close and met her eyes. Seeing how strangely calm she was, I swallowed hard. If those bastards crossed over to this side, we were screwed. Yet she showed no sign of that fear. As expected, my sister really had gone insane. The world had gone mad, our parents had lost their minds long ago, so it made sense. While guilt gnawed at me and I kept perfectly still—

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

“Uwaah?!”

“What is it!”

“Fuck… Hyung-nim! Jeong-ho, this bastard’s dead!”

They had found the corpse. The two youth group members who climbed up to Unit 808 saw the body and screamed in shock.

“His head’s completely split open!”

“Is that so? Serves the fucker right. But where’s the bag?!”

“Bag? The bag…”

They were looking for the supplies. Of course. The amount was far too much for one man to eat alone. It still wasn’t enough to sustain an entire group, but they couldn’t just abandon whatever food they had. I held my breath and considered our options.

The man in 808 had regularly fed people to his wife. The cleaver had been his preparation tool. In other words, this group had also killed people. The way they were kicking the corpse and cursing proved it. Their search was pointless. The food was right behind me and my sister. But traces were another matter. If they checked Unit 807…

I pulled my sister tighter against me, drew the cleaver, and weighed our choices. Run? Pointless. They sounded desperate for supplies, and in this cramped apartment complex there weren’t many places to flee. Persuade them? Return the supplies, claim we never meant to take them, say we had already avenged them? At first the idea seemed plausible, but the moment I looked at Kang Ahyeon, the thought vanished. I realized immediately how naïve it was.

My sister and I were beautiful. Our parents had been good-looking, so it was only natural. We were like purebred cats—pretty kittens born from two beautiful parents. My sister stood out even more. Kang Ahyeon had been the face of the New Heaven Rapture Mission Church. If anyone was asked to name the prettiest child in the entire denomination, Kang Ahyeon would be the answer. Her gentle, obedient demeanor and lovely features made her perfect. When she was little she sang well, performed cute acts, and during Christmas she would go into the city to dance or give interviews, drawing in new believers. Only when she grew older and started rebelling like me did that stop.

If I had been a failed male concubine, my sister was the brightest example of exactly how pretty female believers were used in this cult. I couldn’t count how many boys her age had tried to approach her. Every time, she would act shy, embarrassed, and awkwardly avoid them. If she hadn’t, she would have received “punishment” and died long ago. In the New Heaven Rapture Mission Church, dating without the leader’s permission was strictly forbidden. Of course, the rule existed only to stop other women from claiming handsome men the leader himself favored.

But would that taboo still hold now? After the world had ended and the leader had essentially ordered everyone to die?

If we went to them obediently, returned the food, and suggested we get along, would they happily accept it? I knew they wouldn’t. There was another reason. Not just Ahyeon—our own problem. We had killed people. We had done it to survive, but ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠we had still committed murder. To them, we were dangerous elements who had killed. Uncontrollable risks.

I was certain. There was no way for that group and us siblings to coexist. We had to kill them first.

But was that really okay? A wave of reluctance hit me. The man in 808 had left us no choice—he had come at us with a knife, intending to kill us and feed us to his wife. We had killed him out of necessity. But these people? So far everything was just my speculation. I still didn’t know what they actually intended to do.

My trembling hand was suddenly caught by Kang Ahyeon. Her firm grip slowly stilled the shaking. She didn’t speak. She wasn’t stupid enough to talk loudly when the enemies were right next door. But when our eyes met, I could roughly read what she wanted to say. The trembling in my hand gradually stopped.

It had always been this way. Ever since Kang Ahyeon was born, since she first spoke, since she learned to walk. In that shitty cult, there had only ever been one person on my side. And that one person had been enough. Even after the world ended and my little sister killed our parents.

But still, I—my sister—