I Thought I Was Really Gonna Die
I needed to get a handle on the situation, so I asked again.
“What do you mean by that? Explain in more detail.”
But no answer came back.
Instead, I caught faint snatches of Kim Min-ho’s voice mixed with some man’s shouting. Too quiet to make out the words, though.
“What’s going on?”
An Ga-hee came up to me and asked. Her bag looked stuffed full.
“Someone’s come to the building, looks like. You ever make any enemies?”
“Me?”
She thought for a moment, then shook her head.
“Before the apocalypse, sure, a few. But not the kind who’d track me down like this. And they don’t even know where I live.”
“So-hye… no way she has any.”
“Hey. You ask me, but not her. That’s discrimination!”
“Isn’t it justified?”
“Yeah, it is.”
An Ga-hee snorted a laugh as she answered. If she was going to agree, why bother protesting?
“Kim Min-ho. What the hell is going on?”
I asked again, but still no answer. Voices kept trading back and forth, so they were clearly talking, but not knowing what about was driving me crazy.
“Tch.”
“What about you? Anyone who’d come looking for you? Grudges or whatever.”
“No.”
“Figures. With your personality, you wouldn’t leave loose ends. So who the hell is coming after us?”
“Maybe that guy?”
While we were turning it over, So-hye quietly spoke up. Both our eyes swung to her at once.
“Who?”
“Kang Tae-ik tried to sell Ga-hee unnie, right? What if the buyer himself showed up? Right now that’s the only real connection I can think of.”
“That’s it. Has to be that bastard. You hear anything about what he looks like? Any features?”
“They said a fat guy showed up leading people.”
An Ga-hee clapped her hands and pointed a finger at me.
“Then that’s him. That pig bastard came looking. Probably because they had a deal and Kang Tae-ik never showed, so he came to collect.”
“That’s the most likely right now. Hang on, I’ll call again. Hello?”
I didn’t expect much. Then a voice came through.
“Hello? Yes, Seong-won!”
“Yes. Kim Min-ho, what exactly is going on? Explain it to me.”
He laid out the situation in that calm, dry tone of his, and it wasn’t far from what we’d already guessed.
“So what happened?”
“I told them Kang Tae-ik was dead, so the deal couldn’t go through. They didn’t seem very convinced, though.”
“They might come back later.”
A guy who’d come outside and raise hell over one woman. He’d definitely come back.
“Yes. That’s right. I took his number for now. What do you want to do?”
“Send it to me.”
“Understood.”
“Thanks. That’s all.”
I hung up, and An Ga-hee and So-hye stepped closer.
“What’d he say?”
“He sent them packing for now. But they didn’t buy it, so they’ll probably come back.”
“That’s a problem. Next time they won’t just walk away like today.”
“Yeah.”
While we talked, the number arrived. I entered it, and a contact name came up on its own.
Park Chang-ho.
Just as expected, the guy who’d tried to trade for a woman was Park Chang-ho. An Ga-hee, watching the screen beside me, asked,
“Why do you have this guy’s number?”
“College classmate.”
“You two close? You’ve got his number.”
“No. I saved it for group projects so we could reach each other. He once ‘researched’ by just scraping Wikipedia pages and sending them over.”
It was so ridiculous I still remembered it. When I dropped his name from the project entirely, he came storming over later, furious.
Looking back now, maybe we already had bad blood. If we ran into each other again, the reunion wouldn’t be friendly.
“Wow, that’s peak trash. Not even a high schooler would… wait, no, even high schoolers wouldn’t research like that.”
“Total garbage.”
“He never had a great reputation. Bags full? Let’s head back.”
Other looter groups might show up, or people from the youth rental housing might come looking for their own.
“Yeah.”
“Okay.”
I dumped the corpses from the store out onto the street. Poured whiskey over the bloodstains and wiped them roughly clean.
That way it wouldn’t be easy to tell whether the group had been taken out by someone or just bailed. Not impossible, sure, but it would buy us some time.
Once everything was squared away, we left the shop and headed home.
“Today let’s take the main road instead of the park.”
“Why? We cleared the park zombies, so that way’s safer, isn’t it?”
“I want to see how far the guys from the youth rental apartments range. They already hit shops in the commercial district. Nothing says they won’t push as far as the main road on our side.”
“True. Plenty of convenience stores and bars over there.”
“Exactly.”
“Then let’s go that way. You’re good with it?”
“Yes.”
That was the pitch I gave them, but the real reason was I wanted to kill more zombies. I needed to push my power further.
Ordinary zombies weren’t a threat anymore. I could handle up to three at once. People and special entities, though—those still worried me.
I have to get as strong as possible.
Park Chang-ho. That pig had no concept of decency or shame. How a piece of trash like him ended up leading people was beyond me, but his followers probably weren’t normal either.
To keep from getting swept up by people like that, I needed strength.
“I’ll take every zombie we run into from here. You two just watch our flanks.”
“You sure? You just fought. Aren’t you tired?”
“Not really.”
“Huh. Stamina’s something else.”
It was all thanks to the ability, but I didn’t say so. I still didn’t fully trust An Ga-hee. If I ever talked about the power, So-hye would hear first, then her.
Kraaaaaah—!
The moment we stepped onto the main road, dozens of zombies greeted us. Judging by the state of the street, no one had come through this way yet.
“Are you really going this way? There’s way too many.”
“We can run if it goes south. Let’s try.”
I gripped the lumber axe and walked straight toward the nearest zombie. The second it sensed me and whipped around—
Shhk!
I buried the blade in its neck. Every time the thing twitched, blood gushed out and soaked the ground. When I yanked the weapon free, chunks of flesh came with it.
Crunch—
I stomped the downed zombie’s head flat to finish it, then moved on to the next.
Kraaaaaah—!
One down, another charged. I put that one down, and a third shoved its teeth at me.
“Want help?”
From behind it must have looked dicey. It was close, but that was exactly the edge I wanted.
Kraaaaah—!
Two zombies came at once, jaws wide, rotting arms flailing. I slipped back, let the attacks miss, then stepped in and drew a clean line with the lumber axe.
Shhhk!
The wet tear of flesh under my hands pulled a smile onto my face. My body had definitely gotten stronger. Before, I wouldn’t have even attempted a cut like that.
Rotten blood sprayed from both necks.
Kahk, kahaahk!
I kicked one in the gut and it crumpled. A hard boot to the head and its neck tore free with a wet crunch—dead on the spot.
I kept killing them one by one as we advanced, until one particular zombie caught my eye.
Long straight hair, face twisted into something grotesque. Completely naked from the waist down, with a strange tentacle hanging limp between its legs.
“What… what the hell is that?”
An Ga-hee’s eyes went round as she stared at the woman. So-hye clapped a hand over her mouth, just as shocked.
“Must be one of those special entities that guy mentioned earlier.”
“Those things are real? Jesus… how much more of a shitshow is this place trying to become?”
“Back off slow for now.”
No telling what would happen if we poked it. We kept our eyes locked on the weird zombie and eased the distance open.
Crash!
Then glass shattered from the PC bang right next to her.
Kyaaaaaaah—!!!
Bloody tears welled and dripped from the woman’s eyes. Her hair shot out in every direction as she let out a scream that felt like it would split our eardrums.
Kraaaaaah—!
The cry must have been a summons—zombies all around started pouring toward her.
Fuck!
Ones that had been lurking between buildings burst out and raced for the woman, and of course our path sat right in the middle of theirs.
“I’ll clear the front! Follow me!”
“Y-yeah!”
“Okay!”
I gripped the lumber axe and kicked the chest of the first zombie that lunged. It flew back limp. I crushed its skull underfoot, then started swinging wild.
Shhhk!
Blood sprayed everywhere and blinded me for a second. A zombie slipped straight into that gap, clamped both my arms, and yawned its jaws wide.
Kraaaaaah—!!!
“Fuck!”
I shoved with everything I had. Even with the ability boosting me, peeling the thing off wasn’t easy.
Clang!
A shovel came flying and smashed into its head. I shoved the reeling zombie back and drove the lumber axe into its throat.
Thuk!
I twisted the blade free and it dropped. Once I confirmed it was dead I spun, scanning every direction.
I’d already killed more than twenty, yet dozens more still swarmed around us. The ones that had been hiding between buildings and alleys must have all poured out.
Kyaaaaah—!!!
The scream kept coming. I bit down hard on my lip. Stay here any longer and the zombies would overwhelm us for sure.
“This way!”
I headed for the underground karaoke place nearby. Shoved the two women in first, then planted myself in the entrance and held the rush.
Shhhk—!
“Get in!!!”
A voice from below. I glanced back—So-hye had cracked the steel door open and was waving us in.
Thud!
I kicked the next charging zombie away and scrambled down the stairs.
Kraaaah!
Howls right on my heels. Felt like my body was about to get torn apart any second. A crash, and a zombie tumbled down right beside me.
“Shut it!”
I dove through the karaoke door and spun, shouting. Through the half-open gap I saw a zombie arm stretch in.
Crunch—
The two women threw everything they had into the door, but the arm jammed in the crack kept it from sealing. I scrambled up fast.
Crrrrunch!
I grabbed the handle and shoved hard. The arm bent at a sick angle, then sheared clean off and dropped to the floor.
Boom!
The door slammed shut. Silence settled between us. Outside, fists hammered the door—thud, thud—but it was steel, not glass. No chance of them breaking through.
Once that sank in, I dropped to the floor.
“Hah… hah…”
“Haaaaah—”
The two women staggered and sat down too.
“Wow… I really thought I was gonna die…”
“No kidding…”
I leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes. Then the energy hit me and my eyes snapped open again.
No way?