Reference Point

Clatter— clatter-clatter—

Thud—

I rolled the bike to a stop in front of the pharmacy, tires grinding over asphalt grit, and took a moment to scan the surroundings.

The place was near my old house, and I'd ridden over purely because walking every time was a pain — but I'd arrived a lot sooner than expected.

I'd long since cleaned out every corpse in the area that I could see with my own eyes, so compared to the rest of the city, the zombies wandering around here were noticeably fewer. Not that all that effort amounted to anything more than wasted labor now.

Still, thanks to it, I'd at least been able to get here fast without any real interference.

"We're here?"

"Yeah. So get off already."

Chaeyeon giggled at my flat tone, finally let go of my waist, and hopped down from the rear seat.

She rubbed her cheeks, flushed red from the winter wind, and muttered,

"It got seriously cold overnight. Up until yesterday it was still bearable."

"That's the headwind from the bike."

"Is that it…?"

I left her trailing behind me with a puzzled tilt of her head and pushed open the tightly shut pharmacy door.

The mess from my last visit was still there, but a few spots on the shelves were empty — someone had clearly helped themselves to the medicine.

So that's why it feels empty enough that you barely see any corpses.

Whoever the brave soul was, they'd risked their life grabbing the meds and run for it, and the undead had all gone chasing after them. Which meant they were piled up somewhere else entirely…

I turned that over in my head while watching Chaeyeon sweep medicine into the bag she'd brought.

Asthma meds, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠cold medicine, every kind of disinfectant and antibiotic, ointment, plus painkillers and digestive aids.

She packed every type of drug I'd failed to grab last time, zipped the bag shut, and looked at me.

"Let's go, Oppa. We've got everything we need."

"Hold on."

I checked the floor around the smashed fridge in the corner of the counter.

Then I scooped up a few unbroken bottles of vitamin drinks that had rolled free, along with some kids' snack jellies, handed them to Chaeyeon, and said,

"Food always matters more than medicine."

"I really can't compete with Oppa's gluttony… I mean, his eye for this stuff."

I gave her a long look as she covered her mouth, pretending it was a slip of the tongue, then opened the pharmacy door and stepped out first.

With still nothing moving in sight, I lifted my gaze toward the residential streets.

A few pairs of eyes that had been peeking out met mine and hurriedly pulled away from the windows.

Those people were the lucky ones.

Whether it was their own house or someone else's, they'd stockpiled enough food to hold out this long — but even that was running thin now.

Unless you had infinite supplies, sooner or later you had no choice but to come out.

Out into the streets where the corpses walked.

Rustle—

I lowered my ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠head again and checked the side where the sound had come from.

I'd fully expected a zombie looking for its final rest, but the eyes that met mine were surprisingly clear — ordinary black pupils.

Someone had been hiding around the alley corner, staring at us in a daze, and the moment they made a noise by accident and got caught, they bolted upright in pure panic.

"Is that a person?"

"Just because I haven't washed in over a week doesn't mean you get to treat me like something non-human."

"…That's not what I meant. I couldn't see them properly, so I asked."

"I know. I was kidding."

This time, whether Chaeyeon was giving me a long look or not, I watched the guy scramble over a wall and flee, then said,

"He was so out of it that the second our eyes met he took off like that. Am I that scary?"

"You might be, sure — but more than that, he probably has no idea what either of us might do."

"For that, he looked pretty thoroughly smitten. How hard do you have to fall for someone to forget you're hiding and make a sound?"

"…Smitten? With who?"

"Who else? You."

Chaeyeon blinked in confusion for a second, then let out a short laugh and looked toward the wall he'd escaped over.

Beside her, I toyed with a freshly drawn iron rod, then unlocked the bike stand.

"Let's go. One more stop."

"Yeees~"

Chaeyeon vaulted nimbly onto the rear seat and wrapped her arms around my waist — and the soft, full pressure against my back was extremely distracting.

"…I'm asking nicely. Pull your upper body back."

"Aww, why~ If I fall off I'll freeze."

"Weren't you just complaining that my body was cold…"

"The wind is colder than Oppa's body, okay? So I can hide behind your back and block it a little, right?"

Telling her no was clearly going to be pointless.

I sighed and stomped hard on the pedals. For a bicycle, it accelerated almost like a motorcycle in an instant.

"Ahahahaha! This is actually so fun!"

Caught up in a thrill on a completely different level from any bike she'd ever known, Chaeyeon burst into clear laughter and hugged me even tighter.

Thinking that was an awfully happy sound to hear in the middle of the apocalypse, I kept pedaling, swerving around the zombies crawling out of the storefronts.

"It was short but sweet. Farewell, little bike. Your noble sacrifice will not be forgotten…"

Once we left the residential streets and tore down the highway, the aggro we pulled sent every zombie in range into a frenzy, and the bike finally gave up the ghost shaking them all off.

While Chaeyeon mourned the wrecked bicycle with her palms coated in black corpse blood, I hurled the last zombie into a utility pole hard enough to snap its neck, dusted off my hands, and looked up.

"Yeah. Filthy gloomy, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠just like I remembered."

"The reason we came here after the pharmacy is so you can stock up on enough medicine to last a lifetime, right?"

"That, and there's something else I need to check."

I watched Chaeyeon take in the hospital grounds with narrowed eyes.

Maybe I really should've just dropped her at school and come alone.

But it'd been too much of a hassle. And treating a kid who could already pull her own weight like dead weight again didn't sit right either.

Still — if it hadn't been for what the crow said, I would've come alone no matter what.

You said it was fine, right?

That's individual combat power, though. Doesn't mean we can let our guard down.

There would be those who would ignore even death itself for her sake, the crow had said.

But to me and Im Chaeyeon, they were nothing more than walking cash.

The real wild card, if anything, was still the animal zombies…

Chaeyeon had her own finishing move now, though. At worst, she could run.

I passed the withered flower beds and stopped at the hospital's front entrance.

That bastard had definitely been sitting right here before — but he was nowhere in sight now. Which only made it more unsettling.

I raised my furrowed brow and read the peeling, faded lettering.

"'Pureum,' my ass… more like Gloom."

"It really feels like we walked into a theme-park haunted house, Oppa."

"Whatever jumps out in there isn't a part-timer, so don't hold back — just hit them."

At that, Chaeyeon giggled with zero tension whatsoever.

I told her to stick close behind me, then slowly pushed the door open.

With a creak, the interior of the hospital came into view.

From the outside alone, you'd expect cobwebs hanging in a few corners — but of course there weren't any. The place had been running fine before the end of the world.

The atmosphere, though, was still unreasonably oppressive.

…Same as back then.

I couldn't help muttering it to myself.

That same foul stillness and air from before I'd first met the Beta.

There ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was one difference, though.

Creeeak—

Clunk—

Chaeyeon and I carefully stepped forward, hopping over the corpses lying on the floor.

Relying on the thin sunlight filtering through the windows, I swept my eyes once over the countless bodies strewn around us.

An elderly corpse slumped in a wheelchair. A nurse's body sprawled across a sofa torn to shreds. A doctor's corpse with its neck broken, jammed in a doorway.

Back with the Beta, every corpse had been bizarrely absent. Now the place was papered over with a bizarrely huge number of them.

There were honestly far too many. I glanced at Chaeyeon, and she shook her head hard.

Even my signal for her to wait outside got casually ignored — that attitude alone was enough to make me sigh.

Then Chaeyeon jabbed her sword at the bodies in a gesture that clearly meant let's hit them first, but I turned it down. There were simply too many.

And if they were going to get up, they should have gotten up already. Seeing them lie there with no reaction at all, truly dead-looking, I saw no reason to poke a quiet ember into a fire.

Find the Alpha fast, then bolt through an emergency exit or a back door — that was the best play.

But it is actually here, right?

I acknowledged that, cut the link in my head again, and focused on every sound around us.

I walked with even my breathing held down, just in case a corpse got up in secret and attacked — then, wondering if Chaeyeon was still following properly, I turned my head and met her eyes.

The moment I saw her what? expression and started to look forward again—

Rustle—

A sound came from the floor directly above.