4. 'Fucked'
“No. Hey, why the hell did you hand that over?”
Je-hoon exploded the moment they got back to their studio apartment. He was talking about the shopping basket they’d handed over at the convenience store just a little while ago.
“Do you have any idea how much instant rice and canned food was packed in there? We could’ve eaten comfortably for days on that!”
“Why did I hand it over, you bastard? Didn’t you see that guy’s eyes?”
“His eyes? Yeah, they were a little off, sure. But you gave the whole thing up just for that? Seriously?”
Ji-hoon let out a long, heavy sigh.
“It wasn’t ‘just’ that. There was blood on his clothes. What do you think that means? He’d already killed someone—or a zombie.”
“So what?”
“Dude. It’s been less than two hours since the world went to shit. And he’s already out there killing zombies.”
Roughly eighty percent of the information the human brain processes comes from visual stimuli. In other words, people depend on their eyes more than anything else.
Zombies weren’t human. They were closer to monsters. But on the outside they still looked almost exactly like people.
“So unless you’re a psychopath, you’d instinctively feel revulsion! But that guy killed zombies and still walked straight into a convenience store. What does that tell you?”
“That he’s a psychopath?”
“High chance of it. Even if he’s not, he’s definitely dangerous. And more than anything, his pocket kept moving the whole time. He probably had a weapon hidden in there.”
At that, Je-hoon rubbed both arms as if a chill had run through him.
“Holy shit. So we almost died?”
“Yeah! When I came out carrying the box, the way that bastard looked at me—fuck, I almost pissed myself.”
“Dude, for real, you did good. You saved our lives.”
“If you get it, treat me better. Then I’m eating the Jeonju bibimbap triangle kimbap, okay?”
Je-hoon just nodded quietly. The guy had saved his life—he could at least give him that much.
“Hey, but… what if we run into that guy again?”
“What do you mean what if? We either fight, or we get down on our knees and kiss the dirt.”
They shoved the triangle kimbap into the microwave and thought the same thing. Please, let us never meet him again.
I pulled a box of decent size out of the convenience store’s storage room. Worried the bottom might give out under the weight, I taped it thoroughly and packed everything from the shopping basket into it, piece by piece.
Too bad.
Looking at what was already in the box, greed surged up hard. Just one basket got me this much—how much more must have been in the boxes those two carried out?
The thought of chasing after them right now crossed my mind, but it was pure fantasy.
I don’t even know which way they went.
There was still plenty left in the convenience store. Better to keep shuttling between the store and my one-room apartment, hauling what I needed, than to go chasing after people whose whereabouts were unknown.
I moved between the shelves and the storage room, packing food neatly. Once the box was full I closed the lid and sealed it with tape. I set it near the entrance, then slipped behind the counter and stuffed every pack of cigarettes I could find into my pockets.
Later on these would be worth as much as food. If I took them now, I’d be able to use them someday.
Time to head out.
I only took as much as wouldn’t restrict my movement, then picked up the box and stepped outside. Thanks to clearing the zombies earlier, the way back was completely free of trouble.
“Hah.”
I set the box down near the entrance and turned around again. There was still stuff left in the store, so I planned to grab as much more as I could.
“What the hell? Why is there so little stuff here? Was it always this empty?”
But when I came back, there were already visitors. Through the glass door I saw two men this time as well. Their looks, though, were completely different from the ones I’d seen earlier.
One had yellow hair and a nose piercing; the other had red hair and earrings. I remembered both of them.
The schoolyard thugs from university.
The other kids treated them like idiots, but they were pretty good-looking, so they’d been fairly popular, as I recalled.
They’d even hit on my girlfriend before, and kept picking fights with me over it. Back then I’d just run away like a pathetic loser.
What was their reason again? That she was too good for me or something?
It had pissed me off something fierce at the time, but looking back now it almost felt like advice that saw the future. Or so I thought.
Come to think of it, the guy who’d cheated with my girlfriend hung out with these two. He had green hair, so people called them the traffic-light trio.
“No way. Other bastards already cleaned the place out, right?”
“Ah, fuck. We came all this way dodging zombies and this is what we get? Bullshit. Let’s just grab whatever’s left.”
Ding-a-ling—
Watching them start packing things, I walked into the convenience store. The bell rang, and both their gazes locked onto me.
“Huh, what? Isn’t that Seong-won? You little shit, you’re still alive?”
“You managed to survive too.”
Yellow-hair squinted.
“Whoa, bastard. Last time we met you couldn’t even make a peep and just ran away, and now you’re suddenly bold?”
“The world’s changed this much—why wouldn’t I change too? More importantly, instead of chatting it’d be better to grab the goods.”
“Ah, the goods?”
He grabbed some random snack from the shelf and tossed one at me.
“I’ll give you this one. Now get lost.”
I bent down and picked up the snack. Red-hair snickered and laughed.
“Whoa, look at this bastard actually picking it up just because you gave it to him. Does he have no pride at all?”
“Just this one?”
“What? You pissed? Then wanna go a round? Huh?”
Yellow-hair reached into his jacket and pulled out a kitchen knife. He’d brought it as a weapon, apparently.
“You little shit. You’re scared. Hey, if you don’t want to die, get lost. If I see you near this convenience store again, you know what happens, right? Huh?”
I stood there without answering. He wiggled the knife and stepped closer.
“I said get the fuck out, you bastard!”
The moment he got close, I threw the snack in my left hand straight at his face. Then I pushed off the floor and swung the hammer.
“You fucking—”
—Crack!
The kitchen knife went flying far away, and Yellow-hair collapsed to the floor.
“Gyaaaargh!”
He clutched his head, unable to collect himself. I thought I’d hit him properly, but maybe I hadn’t put enough force into it.
Crack!
So I brought it down one more time, and he crumpled exactly as he was. When I looked up, Red-hair was frozen with his mouth hanging open.
“Uh, uh, fuck…”
When our eyes met, his face turned deathly pale. He instinctively backed away, only to bump into the mess of shelves and fall on his ass.
“F-fuck. Uh, fuck…”
He tried to get up, but no strength seemed to enter his body; he just flailed his hands like an idiot. As I approached, he waved his hands frantically.
“S-Seong-won. I-I… th-that is… I didn’t mean to! Th-that bastard just did whatever he wanted!”
“Oh, is that so?”
“Y-yeah! You know too, right? That bastard always drags us around and does whatever the fuck he wants!”
“I know.”
“S-so! If you think about it, I’m a victim too, a victim!”
It was an argument that wouldn’t convince anyone, but he seemed to think it was overflowing with persuasiveness. Since I was playing along, hope started filling his eyes.
“You three always hung out together.”
“M-Min-soo?”
“Yeah, Min-soo. Where’d he go, and why are just you two together?”
Red-hair licked his lips. He kept blinking, and I could clearly see his eyeballs rolling. That gave me the perfect sense of it.
“You. You knew, didn’t you?”
“K-knew what?”
“That Min-soo was cheating with my girlfriend.”
“Uh, uhh?”
His eyes bulged as if they were about to pop. He forced an awkward smile, trying to hide his shock. It was a grotesque laugh.
“I-I didn’t know! If I’d known, of course I would’ve told you!”
“Oh, really?”
“Y-yeah. For real! No, sleeping with someone else’s girl is pure trash! Trash!”
“I see.”
I kicked him in the chest with the tip of my foot. Red-hair made a choked “keok” sound as the back of his head slammed into the floor. The moment he tried to clutch his head, I brought the hammer down.
Crack!
With a satisfying feel in my hand, the man went limp. After a few more swings, his hair turned bright red.
Can’t even lie properly.
I no longer had any lingering feelings for my girlfriend, but something fucked up was still fucked up. Of course, even if he’d truly known nothing, I would have killed him. In the end, nothing would have changed.
After all, they were the type who could easily become a threat later. They might not have adapted yet, but once they got used to killing, they’d definitely become a problem.
Was there any reason to spare guys who were clearly going to be future trouble?
Alright, time to grab more stuff.
After that I made three more round trips to the convenience store, but I never ran into another person, and thanks to that I was able to secure a very plentiful stock of supplies.
One week had passed since the zombie outbreak began.
Electricity and water were still running, and the internet still worked, but a great many things had changed.
The government stepped in and tried to bring the situation under control. A mobilization text even came to my phone.
Of course, I ignored it.
Still, I thought that if the military got involved they might be able to resolve this to some degree. That turned out to be nothing more than wishful thinking.
‘After confirming the numbers mobilized by the government, it was found that only 8.2% actually joined!’
‘According to the Ministry of National Defense investigation, every firearm has become impossible to fire, and all weapons that use gunpowder—including tanks—have ceased to function!’
‘All previously planned operations have been halted; forces will stand by until new operations can be formulated.’
‘According to the Ministry’s announcement, the goal is to secure Seoul first, then gradually reclaim the regions closest to the capital.’
After that article, no more posts went up.
According to a post written by a soldier who had been deployed in the operation, there had been an infected man among the reservists who hid it and came in, and because of that the entire unit turned into a slaughterhouse.
As a result the chain of command collapsed, and in the end the military disbanded.
At first people didn’t believe it, but the government’s continued silence made it seem at least partly true.
Suddenly I remembered the comments under that post. More precisely, I remembered the soldier’s reply. It had been that striking.
A plain question that still carried a certain fear. The writer left only a single word and disappeared.
Yeah. The world was finally and truly fucked.