The Replacement (3)
The Swap (3) — Central Library, 1st Floor Management Office
"Wow…"
Yoon Ayoung's small gasp slipped out mid-conversation.
Well, to be fair, there was no way not to be shocked.
You can talk to zombies?
"Did you see it?"
"Ah, no. B-but I know it's true."
"How?"
"B-because zombies always came from exactly the direction that little kid pointed. B-Bada told me never to tell anyone else, so I couldn't say anything, but… a-and hiding f-food in the inventory too…"
The Greed Radar began spinning furiously. That little kid was someone I absolutely wanted to get my hands on if the chance ever arose. Honestly, there was better than a ninety-nine percent chance he was already dead.
Jeong Shinwoo, apparently having acclimated to the situation, picked the story back up without a trace of stammering. The shelter where the final line of defense had ultimately been breached. Zombies weaving between the tents pitched wall to wall across the green turf. Humans and zombies chasing each other around the playground like a game of tag. And in that churning wave of chaos, Kang Bada and Jeong Shinwoo losing track of one another for good. Having barely scraped through the crisis, Shinwoo had run back the way he'd come, desperate to reach the library, and after one hell of an ordeal, he'd stumbled upon the 'combat team' in a building where he could finally hide — as if by pure chance.
"Of course, Kang San knows all of this too?"
"O-of course. I ex-explained the situation right away, and his, his eyes, they just… rolled back…"
And from there, the story ended exactly where I'd seen it — in Kang San's rampage. Satisfied, I dropped two more packs of ramen, and Shinwoo nodded along in a daze. Then I rattled an iced americano at him as he sucked down the noodles.
Clink—
At the sound of ice striking ice, Shinwoo's eyes locked onto the cup. This dirty water that used to cost a measly fifteen hundred won had become a luxury beverage no one could easily taste anymore.
Clink-clink—
I gave it another shake and spoke. "Our Shinwoo is such a smart boy, I'd love to give him a present…"
"Y-yes! Th-thank you!"
"No, I'm not handing it over right now… I mean, who just gives this stuff away for free? In a world like this?"
"Ah…"
At his utterly deflated expression, I frowned. Fuck, that face is something only Yoon Ayoung should be allowed to make.
I glanced at Yoon Ayoung, who had sat quietly through my entire conversation with Shinwoo, then let go of the hand I'd been holding and wrapped an arm around her waist. The hand that had been creeping upward brazenly seized her breast.
"Hnngh— aaah—"
Shinwoo flinched at the sweet moan. To him, staring blankly as I began kneading Ayoung's chest, I said, "Tell me some useful information, and I might just give you some…"
"Haah— hnng— ahh—"
I got serious about it, rolling her nipple between my fingers. Moaning, she parted those adorably pink lips, and I devoured them, playing with her mouth as her tongue came out to meet mine, the two of them tangling shamelessly back and forth between my mouth and Ayoung's.
"G-Gaeul doesn't, doesn't have a boyfriend!"
Smart indeed. Look at him catching my hint on the first try.
Wait. Hold on.
"Puhah. Oppaaa~"
"Just a second, Ayoung."
I broke off the kiss, soothed the pouting girl, and asked again. "What do you mean she doesn't have a boyfriend? Isn't Kang San her boyfriend?"
"…Excuse me? No. Th-the two of them are just friends."
What kind of fresh bullshit is that?
I thought back to Gaeul's fashion. The outfit she'd worn to the library looked nothing like study clothes — it was obviously chosen to look pretty for a man she liked. And when I'd held Kang San's life over her, it had worked so devastatingly well. And that was just friendship for a friend?
No. No matter how I turned it over, it wasn't.
"G-Gaeul does like Kang San. It's been famous for ages."
Well, if this guy was right, then a one-sided devotion so wildly mismatched with her looks would have been a genuine shock to everyone around them.
"Is that Kang San bastard a eunuch or something?"
"Ah, p-probably not. Kang San didn't exactly seem to dislike her either, but Bada opposed it pretty h-hardcore."
"Make sense, would you? What kind of man refuses to date a woman just because his little sister says no?"
Was this bastard getting cheeky with me because I'd been going easy on him? Intending to intimidate, I spun the pens scattered across the office desk in a rapid blur before his eyes, and an indignant voice immediately burst out of him.
"I'm, I'm serious! San really treasures his little sister, because San's parents weren't good p-people."
That hundred-percent-pure note of indignation, for some reason, inspired trust.
Hold on. Now that I think about it, Gaeul — the one I'd examined with [Deficiency Perception] — was a little off too, wasn't she?
It was [Kang San's love and attention], right?
A deficiency is, in the end, something you crave because you never had it. And if that something was love and attention… then she'd never had love at all.
Fuck, my eyes were rolled back back then; I hadn't had the luxury of thinking that deeply.
And this was pretty useful information, wasn't it?
Clink-clink— clink-clink—
The iced americano, rattling endlessly under my telekinesis, came to a stop right in front of Shinwoo's eyes. At that pleading look, I gave a small smile, and he instantly began slurping it down. Selling out the loyalty and trust we'd built together for a single cup of dirty water. The more I thought about this Shinwoo character, the funnier he was.
But what actually mattered was…
"Our Shinwoo's going to survive a long, long time."
In a world like this one, it's guys like him who last.
Clatter— clatter—
The belatedly assembled dinner was a block of ice, plain and simple. The leader at the head of the table — the man who always smiled as he surveyed his camp — gnawed at a can of tuna wearing a goblin's face. Whether out of deference to him or not, nobody else opened their mouths easily either.
Watching the whole spectacle, I slid my share across to Shinwoo, sitting beside us. The reverent way he accepted it reminded me of Yoon Ayoung on her very first day.
"Let's eat something tasty in the room tonight."
"Yeees…"
At my low whisper, Ayoung's face lit up like a flower.
Screeech—
"I'll head in first and get some rest."
With the scrape of his chair, Kang San abandoned his half-eaten tuna and left the reading room. As the group slowly began tidying up, I kept my eyes on Gaeul, holding her seat with a dazed expression. Trying her desperate best to look composed — yet a faint flush was blooming across that aloof face. And her hands were trembling at intervals.
"Haah— haah—"
Not to mention a lewd, heaving breathing that even an awakened superhuman would have to strain to catch.
She won't have the time or the space to deal with her heat herself, will she.
The poison I'd planted into her was crushing Gaeul apart even now, steady and methodical. Her pink blouse swelled slightly with each ragged breath, and I smacked my lips at the thought of the firm, voluptuous chest hidden beneath it.
But the one in a hurry wasn't me. After all, I had another pheasant to stand in for the pheasant. A far more obedient one.
When I gave Ayoung's ass a squeeze, she pressed her rear right into my palm, making herself easier to touch. Fondling that addictive backside, I whispered into her ear. "Go on ahead and get ready all pretty for me."
"Yeeees."
Once I'd watched Ayoung scurry off, I beckoned to Shinwoo, who had kept hovering at our side the whole time. His hunched, shuffling posture told me everything — he'd been watching us the entire while.
"Let's go. I'll walk you up to the fourth floor."
"…Y-yes!"
Only a single day had passed. Only a single person had changed. And yet the camp was unmistakably different from yesterday. The camp was collapsing.
"Fuck, she's not in the bathroom?"
"No way. Where else would that bitch go but the bathroom?"
"Seems like she's hiding somewhere else… should we go look?"
"Tomorrow. It's just about night."
I opened my eyes to the murmured exchange between Lee Gyeongmin and Kim Cheolsu. What are those bastards planning to do now?
By my original projections, Ayoung's proselytizing should have stretched on a while longer, but it had been wrapped up in a single stroke — and that was the problem. Those bastards were nothing but props, meant to contrast against me… and it didn't suit me at all for them to start thrashing around.
I was rising, intending to do a bit of traffic control, when something interesting updated on my minimap. Kang San, who had definitely gone upstairs before me, was moving hurriedly back and forth on the third floor. And Gaeul's mark, planted perfectly still, as if watching him.
A hunch struck. This had the look of something about to happen.
I made my way to the third-floor reading room at a brisk pace. Pressing my ear lightly to the door, the conversation between Gaeul and Kang San drifted through.
"…That's far too reckless, San. Think it over a little more."
"The last time I listened to that, Bada ended up in danger. Now I really have to go."
"How do you plan to travel that far without a weapon! Shinwoo only made it back here by a once-in-a-lifetime stroke of luck!"
"I know. Do you think I'm moving without thinking? I'm calm right now! I've thought it all through! First I'll hit the police station and at least grab a gun."
As the voices climbed higher, a rustling rang out again and again. My guess: the sound of him stuffing things into a bag.
"What are you even saying! You think a gun just pops out because you walk into a police station?"
"So what, you want me to sit here sucking my thumbs and waiting? What, should I clasp my hands and pray to god — beg him to bring Bada back? Huh?!"
It's always when people insist they're calm that they're at their most worked up. Kang San was already careening down the road like a car with blown brakes.
By now, this should have been the moment for Gaeul to face reality and deliver the blunt truth. Except — the problem was that Gaeul wasn't in any condition to be playing the voice of reason either.
"…If you leave like this, what about Han Guwon?"
"Oh, stop it! Stop suspecting people so carelessly! Nothing's gone wrong this whole time! I never saw a single reason to build watch rotations just to monitor that guy in the first place!"
A long silence settled in behind Kang San's shout.
I was curious too.
Would Gaeul actually say it here? She'd sobbed today in that very room while I toyed with her chest and her mouth. If she spoke, I intended to make good on the promise I'd made back then.
"…Can't you just stay here?"
"Quit whining like a child!"
Gaeul's tear-soaked voice didn't reach the Kang San of this moment. Like a fish returned to water, he seemed to be vomiting up every emotion he'd been holding inside.
"Isn't the reason you're throwing this tantrum right now that you don't want Bada to come back? Because Bada finds you awkward and can't stand you! Because you're terrified that with Bada gone, I might actually fall for you!"
"Fine! Yes! So what if I am? It's been ten years, ten! That's long enough, isn't it?!"
Ooh, shit. Is this what those ajummas feel like watching trashy melodramas?
The conversation hurtled headlong into raw emotion.
"Do you have any idea how hard it was for me, always stuck in the middle every time you and Bada snapped at each other? And now, with Bada possibly dead, you want to keep this up?!"
"Hey, Gaeul. Is that seriously the only way you know how to talk? I'm worried about you right now! If you go out there, you die! The shelter collapsed, so now the zombies—"
"That shelter! The shelter Bada's in collapsed, and that's exactly why I have to go!"
The conflict between the man and the woman struck its climax, then slowly ebbed away. It was Gaeul who broke the long silence that began anew.
"Fine. Go. Go and never come back. Whatever happens to me, to our camp — you go live happily ever after for a thousand years with that beloved Bada of yours."
"…I'm sorry. I got too worked up. But I still have to go. I'm sorry."
"I can't even stand the sight of you! Get out!"
"…I'm sorry."
Bag in hand, Kang San opened the reading room door and headed upward. Yes — however worked up he was, even he wouldn't attempt something as suicidal as going outside at night.
Hidden in the darkness, I waited until the moment Kang San disappeared from sight.
"Hnk— sob, sob—"
Watching Gaeul cry for the second time today in this same spot, I thought to myself:
"Isn't what I'm doing actually the wholesome kind of NTR?"
I genuinely meant every word of it.