10. Gathering of Survivors (2)
Kim Tae-hyeon, teaching assistant in the Culinary Arts and Food Service department at Sera University, let out a sigh as he surveyed yet another unchanging day.
"Today too, huh...."
Kim Tae-hyeon had been an ordinary student with no special abilities. But that was only before the zombie apocalypse. Now, he was just a pitiful, unfortunate young man scraping by day by day with his family, trembling in fear.
"No news today either."
At least Kim Tae-hyeon was one of the lucky ones. As a teaching assistant in the department, he'd been picking up large quantities of ingredients in a refrigerated truck for lectures right up until the outbreak. On the very day it happened, he'd risen early at dawn, loaded up the truck with supplies, and noticed the zombie apocalypse unfolding on his way to campus—one of the quick ones to catch on.
"Even Mr. Park from down the street ended up leaving."
Thanks to the massive load of food prepped for lectures, Tae-hyeon had a comfortable buffer of provisions. That stockpile let him stay put in his beloved home. The neighbor who'd shared survival tips with him had eventually run out of food and hit the road as a wandering scavenger, scraping for daily meals. With a defensible house and some rations left, Tae-hyeon counted himself among the better-off survivors in the neighborhood.
"Damn. Could really go for a smoke right now."
In this era, even cigarettes from corner stores had become precious luxuries. Self-mockingly chiding himself for wanting too much, Tae-hyeon wondered how long his luck would hold. He'd survived comfortably so far thanks to good fortune, but he knew it couldn't last forever.
"Oppa, you okay...?"
"Yeah. I'm fine. Go back inside. It's dangerous out here."
"Okay."
At least he still had family to protect. His father, mother, and little sister were all safe. Compared to neighbors who'd lost loved ones, despaired, and abandoned their homes, Tae-hyeon had weathered the disaster fairly well.
"If I'd hesitated even a little on my decision, I wouldn't be here."
On top of that, while rushing home after grasping the zombie crisis, he'd plowed through one with his truck and awakened as an Awakener. That power let him save his parents from zombies attacking the house upon his return.
"Really. I got lucky. Awakening right on time. And my family all being out on the commute or school run."
He'd truly been fortunate. He'd been out early for lecture prep, spotted the outbreak en route to university. If he'd dawdled even slightly, he might've made it back, but his family—out for work or school—would've been goners.
"I wonder if the department kids and professors are okay."
After rescuing his family, Tae-hyeon unloaded all the truck's food into the house. He felt guilty toward his professors and classmates, but convinced himself it was unavoidable. The campus was crawling with zombies now; heading back in the food truck was too late anyway. He rationalized it, sorted the ingredients by shelf life, and planned meals to stretch them as far as possible.
"When the hell is the government rescue coming?"
Their sole goal: hunker down until rations ran out and wait for official aid. He'd toyed with using his new powers to make a grab for more, but flashbacks to the horrors they'd witnessed killed that idea. It had become trauma for him and his family.
"SNS and the internet turned out to be bullshit."
His judgment back then hadn't been wrong, either. Despite the zombies, gas hadn't cut out, water and electricity flowed fine, and the internet kept them connected to the outside. So it stood to reason the government was handling things. Only after one, then two months, did that illusion shatter.
"Gas is gone now, electricity too. Water as well. At least I stockpiled some just in case...."
First gas, then power, finally water. Tae-hyeon hadn't just sat idle—he'd cleared nearby zombies, sometimes teaming up with other survivors. The internet still worked for outside contact. But that connection only deepened his despair.
"Ha. A survivor camp got wiped out?"
Online, he'd learned the largest camp in Gyeongju had been raided and annihilated. Forum rumors could've been fake, but follow-up photos and testimonies confirmed it. News of that major camp's fall hit Tae-hyeon like a gut punch.
"Can we hold out much longer?"
His family was wearing down. The truck's haul was nearly gone; without foraging elsewhere, starvation loomed. More food meant raiding houses for cans or ramen—or robbing others. Tae-hyeon lacked the nerve for theft or violence, and even if he steeled himself, other survivors had likely awakened too. It wouldn't be easy.
As he sighed into an uncertain future....
"Then let's all pool our strength. We'll rebuild the fallen order."
...a mysterious girl appeared.
"Cult bullshit? Beat it."
He assumed she was just another doomsaying cultist preaching apocalypse gospel lately. Without even turning, Tae-hyeon waved her off. But the girl sounded mildly annoyed as she replied.
"Cult? Hah. We're nothing like those incompetent fools just chanting empty doomsaying. I... truly want to restore Gyeongju to normal."
"Restore...? Wait, who are you...."
Intrigued by "Gyeongju restoration," Tae-hyeon glanced over—and understood her confidence. She seemed from another world, untouched by the apocalypse.
Before her arrival, the cultists prowling neighborhoods for converts looked as ragged as Tae-hyeon: greasy hair, sweat-and-oil-stained clothes. With city water shut off, clean water was gold; no one wasted it on grooming or laundry.
Clean clothes, clean hair. That overflowing smile of leisure.... Does she really have that much to spare?
But this girl was different. Her platinum hair gleamed mysteriously, not matted with grease like his—shining like a YouTube model's. Her face looked freshly washed, her clothes laundered and dried impeccably clean. Tae-hyeon knew better than anyone the effort that took now.
If it's all a scam to fool me, I might just fall for it this once.
Gyeongju had few survivors this pristine. Rumors swirled of Awakener gangs exploiting normals, but even exploiters looked filthy.
Wait. Different hair and eye color, but...
And she was someone he knew. Staring in disbelief, Tae-hyeon called her name.
"You're... Choi Yu-na? Yu-na, right!?"
The kind healer girl from Gyeongju's biggest survivor camp. The city's only treatment Awakener, she'd healed camp civilians and Awakeners alike—for free, even outsiders. Before the camp fractured, Tae-hyeon had benefited from her care, and so had his family.
When home meds ran low, her treatments were miraculous. Tae-hyeon had been genuinely grateful for her selfless aid.
And that feeling hadn't changed.
"You're safe. Thank God."
"Yes. Safe and sound."
He beamed with sincere relief. When the camp fell, he'd prayed for her survival. Her once-black hair turning platinum nagged at him, but when they'd met, stress had already bleached it white. Maybe she'd dyed it platinum to cope.
But could an amateur dye it that beautifully? And Yu-na's eyes... were they always blue?
Could cheap dye make platinum that vivid? Tae-hyeon sensed something otherworldly about her changed appearance.
Once a sweet healer, now she radiated transcendent power.
Saintess?
Yeah, like the saintesses in subculture stories. Tae-hyeon found himself entranced, asking:
"Anyway, what were you saying? Gyeongju restoration? What does that even...?"
"Simple. Do you want to reclaim order? Reclaim our everyday lives?"
The gentle healer who'd treated countless Gyeongju survivors now asked if he wanted normalcy back.