The Old Couple's Supermarket
Just as I'd expected, there wasn't a single zombie near the supermarket. The place was clean and quiet, as if this one corner of the world had been left untouched. Probably because it sat so far out of the way.
Maybe it'd be smarter to set up a base here instead.
It was still inside the city, but foot traffic was sparse, and there was even a small park right out front. Compared to a cramped one-room studio, this place might actually be better.
I cut the thought short and approached the supermarket. Passing under the half-visible shutter over the entrance, I stepped inside.
What revealed itself was a store that was neither particularly large nor particularly small.
Still intact, just like I thought.
To the left of the entrance sat assorted candies, gum, and a small checkout counter. To the right, a beverage display stretched along the aisle.
The most important thing was that the shelves were intact. A few spots sat empty, but that was simply because they hadn't been restocked — not because anyone had looted the place.
Good thing I came looking.
A genuine treasure vault. I was glad I'd thought of this place now.
Still, something feels off.
Whenever I'd dropped by in the past, the old man or the old woman would be lying on the raised platform behind the counter, reading a book.
They were a thoroughly elderly couple, and they got along wonderfully. I'd even thought that if I ever grew old, I wanted to be like them. So where the hell had the two of them gone?
They said they lived on the second floor of this building. Are they up there?
But if that were the case, why hadn't they closed the supermarket door? Turning those questions over in my head, I grabbed a shopping basket and started collecting what I needed.
Canned goods and sanitary pads first. Then instant ramen and pasta. Noodles, flour, sugar — that sort of thing.
Ramen couldn't be stored long-term, but I'd read that noodles, if managed properly, could keep for years.
All of it stuff I saw on the wiki, but still.
I was genuinely grateful the internet hadn't gone down. Without that information, I probably would've just blindly stocked up on canned food and nothing else.
I stacked the baskets near the entrance in order of priority. A glance outside confirmed it was still peaceful.
Once I'd moved most of the goods off the shelves, I headed down a corridor I'd never set foot in before.
This is where they used to bring stock out from, right?
They'd mentioned there was a storage room inside the supermarket for keeping inventory. I figured I should check it out.
I wasn't expecting much. How much could a pair of elderly people really have stocked away? That was what I thought — until I saw it.
"Oh."
Inside the storage room, boxes were stacked high — dozens of them, easy. Even better, the sides were labeled with words like "Ramen," "Tuna," and "Ham."
Meaning most of what was in here was exactly that kind of product.
Jackpot.
My guess was they'd deliberately ordered a lot of long-shelf-life goods. The expiration dates printed on the boxes were relatively short, after all.
A little disappointing, but still a jackpot either way. The stuff I already had at home still had plenty of time left on it, so I could just use these first.
That said, hauling everything out was no longer an option. There was simply too much of it — moving it alone would be exhausting, and I didn't have anywhere decent to store it all.
But leaving it like this makes me nervous.
Some random stranger could stumble across this place. If that happened, the treasure vault would get cleaned out overnight.
Pulling the shutter down and locking it with a padlock would put my mind somewhat at ease — the problem was, where was the key?
Might as well look around first.
I left the storage room and stepped behind the checkout counter. A small raised platform sat there with a worn blanket on top, and the space underneath the counter held a pair of glasses and stacks of various books.
"Nothing."
No padlock, no key. At this rate, I'd have no choice but to stop by the old couple's home.
Rrrrk—
I stepped outside and pulled the shutter down roughly, then slipped into the small alley beside the building. Pushing open a slightly ajar gate, I found a tiny vegetable garden and another storage shed.
They said they kept the drinks in here, didn't they?
I remembered the old woman mentioning it once when I'd helped them move some furniture. I gave the handle a tug.
Wrrrm—
Cool air washed out along with a faint mechanical hum. Inside, bottles of liquor and beverages were stacked high.
Nice.
I'd found another treasure vault.
I pushed the handle shut again and climbed the stairs. At the second floor, a door came into view — neither particularly large nor small.
Creeeak—
I'd worried it might be locked, but the moment I pulled the handle, it opened on its own. The instant I took a step inside, I couldn't help but grimace.
"...Tsk."
The stench of rot. The corpse smell I'd grown sick of breathing in. Gripping my hammer tight, I slowly entered the living room.
The first thing that caught my eye was the TV. In the dark living room, a brightly lit screen kept emitting a continuous beeeeeep. The sofa showed faintly pressed indentations, and the table held old snacks and candy.
Annoyed by the noise from the TV, I switched it off, and the living room plunged into darkness. Then a low moaning sound drifted through.
That way, huh.
Down the hallway, one door stood firmly shut nearby. At the far end, another hung slightly ajar.
Which one?
I grabbed the handle of the door at the corridor entrance. Turning it gently and pushing, the old hinges creaked as a wardrobe came into view. Opening it further revealed a bed, then a vanity.
No zombie. Instead, a key sat on the vanity with a padlock threaded through it. I pocketed it, closed the door, and stepped back out.
Must be that one.
Reaching the far end, I twisted the handle hard and kicked the door open.
Creeeeak—
"—KRAAAAGH!"
The suddenly opened view showed a toppled bookshelf. Beneath it, a zombie with a frizzy perm thrashed its head this way and that, body pinned and unable to move.
It was the old woman.
Where's the old man?
I stayed alert, half-expecting him to be lurking somewhere, but no other sounds came. Searching the house turned up no sign of his corpse either.
Had he abandoned her and run?
The thought brought me back to the study, and looking closer, something felt wrong. Given the old woman's build, she should have been crushed flat under the bookshelf — yet her body was unnaturally raised.
No way.
I crouched slightly. And there I found the old man.
His head was gone, but the gold watch on his wrist was something he'd always worn. No doubt about it.
"Tsk."
A heavy feeling settled in my chest.
I'd already killed four people, but the truth was, those bastards had deserved to die. At least as far as I was concerned. The old couple hadn't.
They'd always treated me kindly, calling me like a son of their own and giving me free goods. And now they'd ended up like this.
Crunch!
I brought the hammer down on the old woman's head. After confirming she no longer moved, I closed the door and left.
Creeeak—
Stepping out of the old couple's home, I stretched my arms wide. I hadn't done much, yet I was thoroughly exhausted.
Time to head back.
I went down the stairs, packed the goods I'd gathered from the supermarket into boxes, and set them near the entrance.
Rrrrrk—
I closed the shutter, secured the padlock, and started walking back toward my studio. Just before fully leaving the street, I turned and looked at the supermarket one more time.
"Haa..."
A sigh slipped out on its own. Was it lament, or relief?
After returning from the supermarket, I took a nap, then called So-hye over to my place. The moment she walked in, I held out a box I'd set aside for her.
"The sanitary pads you mentioned. Here."
"Th-thank you!"
She bowed her head repeatedly, embarrassed.
"Unfortunately, I couldn't get any condoms. The place I went didn't have any."
"Th-that can't be helped. Still, I think we should get as many as possible, as fast as we can. The longer time goes on, the harder they'll be to find."
"Should I take that to mean you plan on doing it with me going forward?"
Her face flushed red, and she nodded.
"...Yes. I have to repay you for what I received today, after all."
"Understood for now."
She was right — alcohol, cigarettes, condoms. Things like that needed to be stockpiled as much as possible. The odds of any more being produced from here on were vanishingly low. I might never see them again for the rest of my life.
If the government managed to reclaim the country, maybe. But given that no word of any kind had come through, that prospect felt remote.
"Since you're already here, why don't we have dinner together?"
"Would that be all right?"
"Yes. I've still got a few lunch boxes left anyway. Better that you eat them than let them rot and go to waste, don't you think?"
"It's not my place to say, but that does sound better. Then... excuse me..."
She set the sanitary pads near the entrance, slipped off her Crocs, and came in to sit down. I pulled out two lunch boxes, put them in the microwave, and moved a chair over beside her.
"Mind if I sit next to you while we eat?"
"N-no, that's fine..."
Leaning my head closer, I caught a soft, pleasant scent. How to put it? A woman's scent, I supposed.
Letting my gaze drop, I took in her dolphin shorts and the pale white of her thighs. I'd noticed it earlier too — she really did have a great body.
"Hnn..."
I rested a hand on her leg and ran my palm down it. The soft texture felt good.
Squeeze—
"Nngh..."
Pinching the flesh lightly between my fingers, I felt the springy give of it. I was still enjoying the sensation when the microwave beeped.
"Go ahead and eat."
"Okay..."
With both cheeks flushed red, she worked her chopsticks. We talked about this and that over the meal, and before long the agreed-upon time approached.
"So-hye, do you happen to know how many people are still alive on the second floor?"
"Hmm. Well, for certain, there's nobody next door to me. I haven't heard a single sound of daily life from there. There might be people in the other units, but the odds are low."
"Why's that?"
"I've run into the people who live on the second floor a few times and talked with them. All three of them were friends. They were pretty close — I think they even had the same class schedule — and when everything went down, they'd already left for university."
"You remember that well."
"I've always had a good memory. And the three of them always came out at the same time. That was unusual enough that it stuck with me."
I nodded.
"Got it. Odds are high there's nobody, but we should still check."
Better to put in a little effort than give someone an excuse to pick a fight later.
"So-hye, go home and change first."
"Ah, this outfit is a bit much, isn't it?"
"Yes. And you should cover your face too. No telling if someone might try something."
"Okay."
So-hye didn't argue. Well — she knew better than anyone how pretty she was.
"Though, doing all this... it kind of feels like Seong-won is my boyfriend..."
"Have you forgotten what I did to my girlfriend?"
Her eyes went wide as if they might burst. Like a startled fawn.
"I'm joking."
"R-right..."
Even so, So-hye couldn't fully relax. Maybe I shouldn't have said that.
"Come out when you're ready. I'll go check the other units in the meantime."
"Okay."
So-hye left, and I pulled the cleanest, most presentable clothes I had from the wardrobe. No need to put anyone on edge unnecessarily.
"Anyone home?"
After scrubbing the hammer clean as well, I knocked on the doors of the other studios. No answer came back. Not a single sound — they really did seem empty.
"Just like you said, So-hye. Nobody there."
"Right?"
She planted both hands on her hips with a triumphant look. The little ahem she put on was genuinely cute.
"All right. Let's head up."
"Yes."
What kind of people lived in these studios? Decent ones? Or the other kind?
I guess I'll find out soon enough.