Plus
"So the bottom line is, no matter how long you wait, the government is not going to come save you."
"But isn't there at least some hope left? No matter how bad things get, still…"
"Hope? Please, Jihye. I already told you. Korea's proud K-Army has been finished for a long time. If the military — the ones who handle the actual force — are gone, what exactly is the government supposed to do?"
"…You're saying our entire military collapsed in a single night. I'm sure you have solid grounds for a claim like that. And you know how the people listening to this radio are going to take it."
"Of course I do. It's a hard thing for the listeners to hear, but from where I'm standing, telling you the bitter truth is a hell of a lot more useful than feeding you sweet little lies."
The man's voice on the radio paused for a moment. A plastic water bottle rustled as he took a drink.
"Yesterday, in that nightmare that felt like a dream, I saw it with my own eyes. Armed soldiers, torn apart and eaten by the corpses — then walking the streets as corpses themselves."
"…How is that even possible? Unless the guns were just for show…"
"And I saw something even more shocking. A soldier, face white as a sheet, aimed his rifle at a corpse and pulled the trigger…"
He imitated the sound with his mouth — bang bang! — then continued in a grave tone.
"Except the gunshot that should have ripped through the air never came."
"…Maybe the round jammed. Or he was so tense he never chambered one in the first place."
"Sure, that's possible. The problem is it wasn't just that one young soldier. Every single soldier I saw after that was the same."
We had been sitting clustered together in the living room, listening in silence — until that bombshell made Yejin suck in a sharp breath.
"After that, every last soldier ditched their weapons and scattered. Absolute chaos. I nearly died more times than I can count just getting here."
"…"
A heavy silence settled over the broadcast. The host, Jihye, was so shaken she couldn't speak for a while. When she finally found her voice, it came out thin.
"Last night… the captain who came in with Minjun didn't say a word about any of this. Why would he…"
"Isn't it obvious? The company commander watched every single one of his men get torn apart right in front of him because of those goddamn broken guns. He'll need to pull himself together before he can even talk about that night."
It was heavy information. Crushing, even.
I'd been half-hoping I was wrong. Now that the prediction had landed dead-on, all I could do was let out a long breath.
"…To every survivor listening to this radio. That's all the time we have. I don't know when we'll be able to broadcast again, but we'll be back as soon as we can."
"Jihye. At least tell them where we are, right? Even just…"
"No. The teacher already warned us — no information about this place. Nothing at all…"
Their voices faded, and the radio dissolved back into static.
Jonghun, who had been listening with a death-grip on his greasy hair and a face carved from stone, slowly lowered his hands and looked at me.
"So… what do we do now? If what they said on the radio is real…"
"What do you mean, what do we do. We live like this for the rest of our lives. In a world with no civilization and no government."
"…Jesus Christ."
My cynical answer finally broke him. Jonghun covered his face with both palms and slumped in defeat.
Jiyun watched him, chewing hard on her lower lip.
"…What the hell did we ever do to deserve this."
She muttered it under her breath, took a deep pull from her respirator, then mirrored her brother — leaning limp against the wall and burying her face in her knees.
I looked away from the siblings and studied Yejin's profile.
She was staring blankly into empty air, pretending nothing was wrong, until she felt my eyes on her and slowly met my gaze.
"You okay?"
"…Huh? Oh — yeah. Of course. I'm with you, oppa. Why would I be worried?"
She said it, but there was no hiding the violent tremor in her eyes.
I sat expressionless for a beat, then spoke.
"Your little sisters. You said they were at school."
That single line made her vision start to blur.
She gave a tiny nod, then wiped at the tears with her hand — but once they started, they wouldn't stop.
I just sat there beside her.
I could have offered some comfort. But when someone's family is on the line, empty words don't mean a damn thing. So I didn't bother.
"Yujin… Sujin…"
In a room full of bowed heads, I was the only one looking up at the ceiling — and that was when it hit me.
Do I go, or don't I.
I had to pick one.
Another day in the apocalypse came and went.
She must have barely slept for worrying — the dark circles under Yejin's puffy eyes completely wrecked a face that used to be easy on the eyes as she picked at her breakfast.
Watching that pretty face turn into a mess left me with nothing to say. I just stared. Then our eyes met, and she looked like she was about to cry all over again, ducking her head fast.
The sight of her desperately swallowing sobs, making those little choked sounds, slowly killed whatever appetite I'd had left.
Or maybe I'd just stuffed myself stupid first thing in the morning.
I'd finally hit three thousand pull-ups overnight, so the second I opened my eyes I'd gone full binge mode. Comparing that to Yejin's plate was enough to make anyone notice.
Out of the mountain of bread on the table, she'd deliberately picked the driest plain loaf and was only nibbling the crust. Impossible to ignore.
And even that was only happening because I'd forced her to sit down and eat. She'd been planning to skip the meal entirely.
I finally sighed and set down my fork.
"There's a limit to self-torture. At least drink some milk with it."
"…I'm fine. Doing it this way makes me feel a little better."
While I'm eating even this much, the kids might be starving at school.
She said it while chewing the bread crust like a squirrel, and I sighed again.
"Starving? Those two? That middle school is famous for its cafeteria food. Even I know that."
"…If they're hiding in a classroom instead of the cafeteria, that doesn't help them at all."
Her completely reasonable point shut me up. Then I watched her sniffle and start tearing off nothing but the crust edges, and I finally said it.
"Quit the pity party. I'll go find your sisters."
"…"
She glanced up at me, then dropped her head again.
"It's fine. You don't have to do that for me, oppa…"
"I'm not going for you or your sisters, so just sit still."
"…What do you mean?"
I stood, took her hand, pulled her up, and walked her out to the kitchen balcony.
Then I pointed toward the school.
"That building over there, right?"
"…Yes. That's it."
"Last night I saw something weird. Weird enough that I can't just let it go."
She only stared at me, not following. I kept going.
"I got up for water in the middle of the night. Something was glittering out there. So I opened this balcony window to check…"
I couldn't pin the exact time, but it had to have been right around midnight.
That was when I saw the light punching down through the night sky.
"…Are you talking about a shooting star or something?"
"No. Definitely not a meteor. Meteors don't come down that gently."
"What? It landed?"
I reached out and shoved the window open.
Cold winter air rushed in. Yejin flinched and shrank into herself.
I stretched my arm out and pointed at the school again.
"It wasn't a hallucination or a dream. I saw it clear as day. That light dropped straight onto the roof of that school."
"…That's impossible."
Of course she didn't believe me. She looked at me like I was messing with her. I gave her a crooked smile.
"I'm not asking you to believe it. I saw it myself and I still barely believe it — how the hell are you supposed to take it at face value just from hearing about it?"
"So… you're going to go check on that light? For real?"
"Yeah. And for the record, this isn't some story I cooked up as an excuse to look for your sisters. It's not a lie, either. I have to confirm it."
She hesitated, looking back and forth between me and the school, then spoke.
"E-even if what you're saying is true… it might not be anything. Going all that way on purpose…"
"No. There's every reason to go."
The radio broadcast we'd all heard yesterday was the reason.
Every scrap of electricity should have been dead. The fact that someone could still broadcast meant there was an exception.
What that bandage bastard intended by creating an exception — whether it was even deliberate or just a screw-up — there was no way to know right now.
But for me, the mere fact that an exception existed was enough.
"I have to dig through every possibility for how that exception can exist. Whether the building itself got carved out of the bandage bastard's scheme… or whether some object made it happen."
And if it was an object — what it was made of, what shape it took, even whose hands it needed to be in.
Whatever it took, I had to find those answers and make sure Yejin and I got the benefit of that exception too.
Electricity was more than worth it.
"You miss electricity too, don't you?"
It had only been three days, but that was more than enough for Yejin to feel the crushing inconvenience. She had no choice but to nod.
"So we go. That light might be the answer to the exception."
"…And if it isn't?"
"If it isn't?"
I shut the window again, gave her shoulder a light clap, and answered.
"Then you just get a free win out of it."
"…"
Yejin fought hard to hold back the tears welling up all over again.