Give a Doe, Receive a Mal
Jeong-hwan's wounds weren't zombie bites at all — every last one was a cut or a stab from a blade.
And he was the best off among them. The others who'd gone out on the search with him were in far worse shape.
"I was up front the whole time. Those bastards hit us from behind. We barely managed to fall back and keep our lives."
Jeong-hwan added that while looking at one of the men — a guy whose upper body had been practically carved to pieces, groaning through clenched teeth.
While Jeong-ah disinfected his wounds and wrapped them in bandages, he kept chewing on his words through the pain, somehow forcing them out to me anyway.
"Sijun hyung-nim. How about staying at our apartment for tonight? It's getting dark, and if just the two of you head out of the complex now… kh — you could get tailed. Or attacked."
Whether Jeong-hwan was staring at me with that desperate look or not, I kept nibbling on the butter cookies set out for dinner and thought it over.
No idea if he's actually worried about me. But having me stick around would definitely be best for them. Still — I've got the kids at school to think about.
Whether those cannibals knew where the school was or not didn't matter. Ruling out the possibility entirely was more my style. I wasn't exactly lucky to begin with.
With Im Chaeyeon and me both gone, if the school kids and the cannibals happened to cross paths by pure chance — that wouldn't just be a disaster. It'd be the disaster to end all disasters.
We were going back. Right now.
I tossed the last of the cookie into my mouth, stood up from the sofa, and said,
"I appreciate the concern, but this apartment can defend itself just fine without me. I'm heading back."
"No, hyung-nim! You say that because you haven't actually met those bastards. They're not just crazy — they're completely off the rails. There's no telling what they'll—"
"Even people who look like they've got nothing between their ears know how to judge a path that keeps them alive. That's survival instinct. Attacking us after the sun's fully down, relying on nothing but moonlight? Doesn't make sense. Same goes for this apartment complex."
I cut off Jeong-hwan's frantic pleading, grabbed my backpack, and added flatly,
"And don't call me hyung-nim. You're older than me. Makes me feel like I'm aging faster."
"…Ha. But still—"
"Yoo Jeong-hwan. That's enough."
Jeong-ah reined him in as he kept clinging to the idea, siding with me.
"I'm sorry. We kept trying to hold you here. You must be just as worried about your people as we are about ours. Please go before it gets fully dark."
This noona's judgment was genuinely sharp. She saw right away that pushing wouldn't work, and she even considered how I felt about it.
I nodded, opened the front door with Chaeyeon, and stepped out into the hallway.
"We'll come by again later. Didn't get much out of today, but at least we built some rapport. Not a total loss."
It was a total loss, honestly. No talent recruited, and the haul was one potato and a few packets of coffee grounds. But there was no point advertising that.
Jeong-ah bowed deeply at my words, looking genuinely grateful.
"I won't forget what you've done for us, Sijun-ssi. Clearing out Building 107, and this Cube as well…"
"Ah, don't worry about that toy. Toss it if you want."
"No. Absolutely not. I'll figure out how to use it somehow and make sure it helps you."
I stared for a moment at the Cube glowing with a soft blue light across the living room, then looked away.
I could've just called the crow right then and asked, but conversations outside the school cost resources, so I didn't bother.
Besides, I wanted to see what this smart woman could do on her own. Let her dig into it herself.
Before I shut the front door for good, I left Jeong-hwan with one last warning.
"Until those wounds heal, skip the searches as much as you can, and stretch the food. If you don't want to throw away the life you barely managed to keep."
"…Understood."
I frowned, hesitated a beat, then finally sighed and motioned Jeong-ah over.
When she carefully stepped closer, I leaned in and whispered low enough that only she could hear.
"If things go completely to hell before I get back and you have to run — come to Chowon Middle School. You know where that is?"
"…Yes. I know."
"At the very least, I'll take responsibility for you and your brother."
Bang—
I watched Jeong-ah's complicated expression for a second, closed the front door, adjusted my bag, and gave the iron pipe in my hand a quick check.
The way the middle section wobbled a little every time I touched it — yeah, it was about time for a replacement.
Not that it matters. The school gym's overflowing with iron pipes.
The real question was whether we'd run into those lunatics on the way back. If I'd been alone, I wouldn't have felt this uneasy at all.
But if I actually started wandering around solo, the whole plan of raising the kids so I could kick back later would go straight out the window — and then there'd be no reason to look after them in the first place.
So what choice did I have? I'd just have to live with it.
"What's wrong, Oppa?"
"…Nothing. Let's go."
I gave Chaeyeon's puzzled shoulder a light tap and headed down the stairs.
I needed to get back fast and take her tattoo shopping. The sooner she got stronger, the better.
By the time we left the complex and entered the commercial strip, the sky was holding an ambiguous color — half red sunset, half black night, bleeding into each other.
"We'll be arriving in full dark."
"Honestly, as long as we don't get surrounded, darkness isn't much of a problem against zombies. I've got good night vision."
"Say that after you've walked into an alley so dark the moonlight's blocked by buildings and you can't see an inch in front of your face. And right now, rotting corpses aren't what we need to worry about."
"…Do you really think the cannibals are nearby?"
Chaeyeon dropped her voice a little further and glanced around as she asked.
She understood it too. Depending on the situation, people could be far more dangerous than zombies.
At least they probably didn't have guns — that was something. Or maybe I shouldn't assume even that.
Only option was to get back to the school as fast as possible.
We cut through the shops and were walking down the open road when a zombie came sprinting at us like an actual person, which startled me a bit.
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud—!
Arms pumping front to back, charging full tilt with absurd confidence — I reflexively wondered if it had a ranged weapon and flung my iron pipe. It took the hit clean and went down in a noisy heap.
"…First time I've seen one like this. Almost thought it was a real person for a second."
"Whew. Same here. Is this another mutant, like that bald one?"
"Doesn't seem like it. Just died recently, so the body's still intact — and it ate well enough to stay lively."
From experience, the ones overflowing with energy like this would somehow claw their way back up no matter how wrecked their bodies got.
"Grrgh-gh-gh! Grrgh-gh-gh-gh!"
Sure enough. Even with the iron pipe planted square near its jaw and its upper body half-collapsed, it somehow found its balance, twisted itself upright, and came charging again.
Most of the zombies you ran into on the street just shuffled around and only sped up once they spotted you. But every so often, one of these pests mixed in, and that was the problem.
To me they were all more or less the same as long as they weren't animals — but for Im Chaeyeon, it was a completely different story.
Grab—
Crrrk-k-k—!
I seized its skull and jammed my thumbs into its temples with everything I had, locking it in place.
"This is why you can't let your guard down. Even if you've gotten good, Im Chaeyeon — what are you supposed to do if a pack of these things jumps you out of nowhere?"
"Hmm… just duck behind you real fast?"
I gave her a look so flat it could've curdled milk. The zombie thrashed wildly in my grip, flailing its arms and legs every which way — but with its joints bent the wrong way, nothing connected.
"The point is you need to be ready to bolt at any time. How long are you planning to lean on me for everything?"
Crk— Snap—!
"Grrgh! Grr-grrgh!"
I tried squeezing with everything my hands had, but crushing a skull on pure grip strength alone was still beyond me.
The harder I pressed, the harder it fought back. So I kept hold of its head and drove a full-power front kick into its body.
BWOOOM—!
The body flew one way under the opposing force while the fixed head stayed put — the neck bones tore free and the skull just dangled there.
Swing, swing—
"…That looks like something straight out of a cartoon."
"You into gore flicks in your free time or what?"
"I don't really discriminate. Hehe."
A high school girl with talent and a personality to match — no surprise there.
I snorted at her shameless little laugh, flung the zombie head aside, and was about to start walking again when—
Fwoosh—
Thuk—
"…?"
An arrow suddenly slammed into the back of my neck.
Chaeyeon clapped a hand over her mouth in my place, eyes wide with horror. My nerves were shot for a second and my body wouldn't move right, so I just rolled my eyes toward the direction it came from.
"…Holy shit. She's actually gorgeous. Jackpot doesn't even cover it."
"Pffheheh. Ah, I'm losing it. My dreams were weirdly good today — and now we hit the lottery."
See? Being a good person or whatever doesn't matter. Luck is what really counts.
Three men in prison uniforms slipped out from behind a car, licking their lips as they eyed Chaeyeon.
The way they weren't even glancing my way — they already had me written off as dead.
I raised my arm, grabbed the arrow, and ripped it out hard.
"…Huh?"
"What the—"
Blood erupted like a fountain, red mist scattering through the air like snow, and I rolled my neck as I muttered low,
"These motherfuckers?"