Reference Point
Snow looks nice enough from a distance, but once it actually falls, it's nothing but a pain in the ass.
I learned that the hard way in the military. At least for now, though, it didn't look like anyone needed to break out the brooms.
Yujin and Sujin were racing around the athletic field in high spirits, their tiny footprints stamped every which way, briefly covering up the devastation left by the apocalypse. For kids who'd lost everything worth enjoying—and any will to enjoy it—the first snow seemed to hold just enough value to paint smiles on their faces.
Well. Survivors anywhere else wouldn't have that luxury.
Haejun and Hyeonmin, who'd been sweeping the front of the main building of their own accord as the snowfall grew heavier, cracked smiles at the pure joy of the middle schoolers.
But that's that.
I sat on a sofa inside the book café, sipping cocoa for dessert and glaring out the window at the ominous sky. Hours had passed since that uncharacteristically sentimental kiss from Na Sehee that morning, and even after finishing my workout, the snow showed no sign of letting up.
I was supposed to head out for today's scavenging run soon, and taking the others out in weather like this left a bad taste in my mouth.
Slurp—
Thinking maybe I should just go alone today, I was scraping the last of the cocoa powder from the bottom of the cup when Chaeyeon appeared beside me, looking at me with a sulky expression.
That face, though—no matter how I looked at it, she was copying mine.
"Can't Oppa just rest today? One day should be fine, right?"
What a carefree thing to say. I shook my head and opened my mouth.
"No matter how abundant this city's resources look, they'll run out eventually. We have to stockpile ahead of time if we want to last longer."
"But right now we have plenty of food and daily supplies, don't we? There's still tons of tiger meat left, and a few boxes of ramen to spare. Oppa needs to rest for a day too."
"You stockpile more when you already have enough. That's how you stay comfortable later."
I lifted the cup, drained the last of the cocoa, set it down, and spoke to Chaeyeon.
"You're not about to throw a tantrum just because I'm not taking you, are you? All those times we went out just the two of us weren't dates or anything. It was to build up your experience."
"...I know that much."
"And that's exactly why I'm not taking you today. The snow looks nice from here, but once you're outside it's lethal in all kinds of ways. I can't cover you through every single variable."
"....."
Reduced visibility, slipping, even corpses getting buried under snow so you can't tell them apart—it all gets seriously annoying. I could chew through every one of those situations. Im Chaeyeon? Not so sure.
No matter how talented she was, ambiguous was still ambiguous.
Chaeyeon fell silent under my explanation, unable to say a word. I stood up from the sofa, loosened up a little, and flicked her forehead once.
She flinched and stumbled back. I gave her one more line.
"I'll be back. Keep training hard while I'm gone."
"...Okay."
I threw on the high-end leather jacket we'd brought back from the department store last time and stepped out of the main building.
"Heading out, hyung-nim?"
"Yeah. Want to come with?"
"...M-me, sir?"
Haejun's eyes shook violently with agitation. I clapped him once on the shoulder.
"Just kidding. I'm going. Keep the place clean."
Unlike with someone else, I didn't bother controlling my strength, so he staggered and nearly fell, then scrambled up and bowed at a perfect ninety degrees. I waved him off casually.
After that I looked up, made eye contact with Na Sehee watching me strangely from the second floor, then greeted Yejin and Soeun, who were taping boxes over the windows for the heating work, and crossed the snow-covered athletic field alone.
The crunch under my boots with every step wasn't bad, but military trauma rose unbidden and left me uneasy.
I waved at the two middle schoolers who'd been building a snowman in a corner and were now watching me warily, then turned my head as I was about to pass and added one more thing.
"Don't go far. Play nearby."
"...Y-yes!"
Still, having Yujin around was somewhat reassuring. She had that same exceptional potential as Chaeyeon or Soeun, you could say.
I stopped briefly, yawned, and was debating where to go first when a crow's voice suddenly rang inside my head.
Jesus Christ. You scared the shit out of me. I told you to use a turn signal if you're going to telepath me.
At least lower your voice. Anyway, what is it?
And? Get to the point.
Survivors, not corpses?
As I raised an eyebrow at that unignorable news—
"That's actually useful info for once. Though you seem more wary of humans than corpses."
I snorted and walked out through the school front gate.
"Hope, my ass."
I barely had time to loaf around and freeload as it was. I sure as hell didn't have time to play savior.
Barely one night. Just a few hours, even.
So this is self-defense, got it? We clearly offered a trade. You guys are the ones who refused, right?
This is what happens when people get too greedy. When everyone's struggling, you need to know how to share. Otherwise this is what you get. Isn't that obvious?
Even as Jeonghwan gripped Jeong-ah's wrist and fled at full speed, those mocking words kept circling his ears, and he ground his teeth again. He clenched so hard blood seeped from the inside of his cheek, but he paid it no mind, focused only on checking his sister's condition.
"...N-noona. Are you okay?"
His voice trembled without him meaning to. Of course it did—Jeong-ah, barely keeping up, was in terrible shape. Blood streamed from her head, and the gash across her back and the sword cut splitting her thigh had shredded her jeans to rags.
"Yeah. I'm fine."
Even so, she showed nothing, instead urging him on.
"We're almost there. Don't worry about me—just go."
"But... okay."
Even though Jeonghwan kept catching sight of her limping ankle, he forced himself to move again. They'd managed to escape thanks to the miracle Jeong-ah had created, but he couldn't guarantee no one was still chasing them. Getting to the place he'd been told about as fast as possible was the best option...
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—
A vicious sound of air being torn from behind made Jeonghwan's hair stand on end. He wrapped himself around Jeong-ah and rolled across the ground.
An oddly shaped hand axe sliced through his hair, struck the hood of a dust-covered car on the road, and bounced away.
Startled, Jeonghwan scrambled up, but before he could even set his stance, a rough hand seized him by the throat.
"Well look at these fucking bastards?"
Then, just as he instinctively grabbed the wrist and tried to apply a judo technique, a knife plunged into his side with a wet thunk.
"Ghk...!"
"Running away and thrashing around only look cute in moderation, yeah? Go too far and we can't go easy on you either."
Crack—
The man smashed Jeonghwan's jaw without mercy as he muttered, then ignored him writhing on the ground and turned his head.
"Ptoo. That shit earlier. How'd you do it? First time I've seen that old bastard's eyes bug out like that."
Well. Thinking about it, it made sense. The man roughly wiped the sweat and snow from his bangs and glared at Jeong-ah.
"So it was that toy after all? Whatever that phenomenon was just now?"
"....."
"Answer nicely, yeah? Before I dig out those pretty eyes and fry them."
The wild dog tattoo on the growling man's hand looked ready to bite Jeong-ah any second. She calmly checked behind him.
...No one else followed. For now, this guy is the only one who managed to catch up to us.
Having reached that conclusion, she decided it was worth a shot.
Jeong-ah bit her lip hard and slowly gripped the Cube she'd been holding in one hand with both hands. Looking at Jeonghwan thrashing uselessly as he tried to get up, she steeled herself, took a deep breath, and called back the sensation from before.
"You fucking bitch—!"
And in that instant, the Cube flared with a brilliant blue light. The startled man charged—
Construction Ability — Yoo Jeong-ah
Right after that, the scene entered my field of vision as I stepped out of the school.
FWOOOOSH—!
And what I saw was this:
Snow exploding up from the ground. Asphalt bursting outward. Using the ground beneath Jeong-ah's feet as the origin, a straight line of sharp asphalt spikes shot up and punched clean through the man's gut, staining the pure white snow red with his blood.
As I stared wide-eyed at the sight, my eyes met Jeong-ah's.
"...Hello, Sijun."
I might have been fine, but she definitely didn't look like she was doing well.