Hope Bought and Sold

Fighting corpses inside a pitch-black club with nothing but a single shaft of sunlight from the entrance to go by, getting bitten a few times was inevitable.

Still, I smashed their jaws the instant they clamped down, so no flesh got torn away—but blood seeping into their mouths and onto the floor was unavoidable.

Ssssss—

As always, that crimson liquid froze solid in an instant, crystallizing into every kind of jagged shape.

"Aaaagh! My shoulder, my shouldeeeer!"

Right then, while someone at the entrance was putting on a full theatrical performance, I finished pulverizing every blood-soaked maw.

After that I casually crushed the unnatural frost that had sprouted across the club floor under my shoes, and only once the wounds had completely regenerated did I casually head for the entrance.

Honestly, whether those two noticed or not barely mattered—but the Crow learning about the abnormality in my body was a different story entirely.

I had no idea how it would react, so for now I had no choice but to hide it as best I could.

At that exact moment a voice spoke inside my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head as if it had read my thoughts, and I frowned.

"...Tch. Nothing much. I ran into someone. Looks like he got bitten by one of the corpses, though."

A man was thrashing on the floor, clutching a shoulder that looked half-torn off, while Haejun stared at him in open ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠panic.

Before the guy could scream any louder and draw every corpse in the area, I dragged him inside the entrance and shut the door.

Even so, a few that had already locked onto the noise started clawing and pounding at the entrance; I ignored them and spoke to the Crow.

"Let's clear something up right now. If you get bitten by those corpse bastards, is there any kind of side effect?"

"Anything. But what I really want to know for sure is whether you turn into the same kind of zombie."

"Then there's no reason to keep watching this overacting."

I waved a hand in front of the man who was now even shedding tears, fretting over the zombie transformation he'd seen a hundred times in movies.

"Hey. That's enough of the meltdown. You're not turning into a zombie or anything."

"...W-What did you say?"

"A few bites from corpses won't kill you, so get up already. You look pathetic."

He must have been terrified out of his mind; with tears and snot smeared all over his face he just stared blankly back and forth between me and Haejun before finally collecting himself enough to speak.

"But who are you people?"

Then he started peering around the nearly pitch-black club as if searching for someone.

"...R-Right. Where's hyung? Hyung! Hyuuung!"

What? There was someone else?

From the kitchen area, a figure that had been hiding the whole time cautiously emerged.

"...Gyeongseok. You okay?"

"H-Hyung! I'm sorry. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I was so scared I just ran without thinking."

"It's fine, just lie still. The one who almost died wasn't me—it was you."

I didn't know the full story, but I could roughly piece it together. Haejun and I just stood there blankly watching the two of them.

The man Gyeongseok had called hyung—clearly someone who worked out, judging by his build—slowly turned his gaze toward us.

After a moment of heavy wariness he hesitated, then raised a hand and offered a handshake.

"Thank you for helping us. I'm Yoo Jeong-hwan."

In a space so dark I could barely make out his face, I simply nodded and took the offered hand without a word. Instantly I felt his entire body flinch hard through the contact.

So he watched me fight earlier.

Then did he also see me bleeding?

I narrowed my eyes in the gloom and stared hard at Yoo Jeong-hwan's face. The eyes he was trying so hard to keep calm wavered.

"By the way, is there any food left in this club?"

"...We did find one bag of snacks."

I looked where Jeong-hwan pointed and saw a bag of puffed... no, macaroni snacks. My mouth watered instantly.

Might as well tear this whole club apart.

I rustled the bag open, shoved a fistful into my mouth, then tied it shut again before Haejun—who had been watching carefully—could sidle any closer, and crooked a finger at him.

"Follow me, Kang Haejun. If we find food, I'll let you have a bite too."

"...That's a promise!"

"But if we don't find any, you don't get dinner either."

"...Hyung-nim, did I do something wrong?"

Whatever he said next, it boiled down to "It's all my fault."

Watching him turn endlessly servile the second food was mentioned, I snorted a laugh and headed deeper into the club. Jeong-hwan and Gyeongseok just stared blankly after me.

My gait made it clear I didn't give a single shit about however many zombies might still be hiding, so of course they looked like that.

A short while later Haejun ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and I had scraped every last strip of jerky out of the wrecked refrigerator in one of the club's VIP rooms, slung the now-bulging bag over our shoulders, and stepped back outside.

Whether it was purely because our food stock had grown or because he no longer had to skip dinner, Haejun looked thoroughly pleased. I left him to it and spoke to Jeong-hwan.

"You said you came from the Apartment Complex, right?"

"...Yes. That's correct."

"Hmm."

I rolled my eyes up at the sky past noon, roughly gauged the distance between the school and the Apartment Complex, and finished thinking.

"I've got a pile of things to do today, so it'll have to wait—but I'll drop by tomorrow. Anything else you need?"

"Uh, well... if I had to pick, a few daily necessities."

"I'll grab those too. Wet wipes and stuff are optional, so don't worry about it."

"B-But is there really bread left?"

"The expiration dates are cutting it close, but don't sweat that. I'll come around this time tomorrow, so don't forget the coffee pot."

"...Yes."

In winter, if you left it outside, something like white bread kept pretty well.

The thought of trading that for a coffee pot and brewing real bean coffee made the corner of my mouth curl up. I gave Haejun the signal to move out.

While Haejun and I had been ransacking the club rooms, Gyeongseok had apparently heard something from Jeong-hwan and was now moving with extreme caution. I tossed him a bag of jerky.

"This one's free. By the way, that shoulder of yours is going to get nasty if you don't treat it properly. Got any gauze at home?"

"...We have the basics, more or less."

Shame. I'd been planning to loot a pharmacy and use those for barter too.

"Still, the more medicine the better. If it's possible, I'm willing to trade for those as well."

"Hmm... is that so?"

The wariness he'd shown me earlier vanished the moment I mentioned barter; the way he jumped on the offer wasn't bad at all. It meant their situation was that desperate—but it also meant he was quick to grasp the new reality.

At Jeong-hwan's final words I turned toward Haejun, who was silently scanning the surroundings while waiting for me, and added one more thing.

"Then I'll bring all of that too. So by tomorrow, make a list of any useful goods you've got on your end."

"Yes. I... understand. We'll wait until tomorrow."

He looked like he still had something to say, but I ignored it. Like I'd said earlier, there were still things I needed to finish today.

And so I handed a single strand of straw to people who, no matter how hard they scrubbed their eyes, couldn't find a scrap of hope—then headed back to the school.

Before climbing over the firmly shut barricade, I brought two zombies over and ordered Haejun to actually fight them. He was flat on his back in less than ten seconds. He still had a long way to go.

At minimum you need to handle three at once before you count as one full person.

Was the standard too harsh?

I was keeping him alive, feeding him, and giving him a place to sleep for free. Even just for the sake of showing some sincerity, I figured that much was the bare minimum.

And Haejun had just gotten a firsthand look at what the end of the world looked like without the lucky break that was me, so instead of whining like the first time, he gritted his teeth and somehow forced himself up off the asphalt.

I watched him carefully, then grabbed one zombie jaw in each hand, locked them in place, and casually asked,

"First try's dead. Want to go again?"

If you went down against two zombies, it was basically over.

Haejun couldn't answer for a second. He just stared blankly at the man-eating monsters held completely still by my grip, then slapped his own cheek hard and nodded vigorously.

"Yes, Hyung-nim. I'll somehow take down two of them this time!"

"Good."

I released the jaws and shoved them far away; the two corpses tumbled across the ground.

As they rose with those grotesque movements, I walked behind the roughly breathing Haejun and said one more thing.

"I'm not expecting Im Chaeyeon-level from you. So just keep working hard."

Then someday he'd at least be able to cover three.

After that I watched Haejun swing his blunt weapon with everything he had and smash one of their skulls, and suddenly thought of Im Chaeyeon.

Tomorrow I'll just take her along. Need to check her limits too.

But even she would probably struggle starting from four, right?

I yawned and waited for Haejun's fight to finish.