The Living Must Go On
Twelve minutes and eight seconds. If you subtract the time it took to climb the apartment stairs and enter the house, it hadn't even been twelve minutes. Could an average office worker in his late twenties run three kilometers in under twelve minutes? I seem to recall that twelve minutes was the standard for an "Elite Soldier" back in my military days. Even now, though my heart was pounding and my breath was slightly ragged, I didn't feel particularly exhausted.
"Huh, well now."
Jun-ho tilted his head in confusion, grabbed some water from the fridge, and drank it before dropping to the floor in the living room. Before he finished packing up after the move and began executing his plan in earnest, he wanted to at least do some simple bodyweight exercises at home. He started with push-ups.
"Hoo..."
Jun-ho steadied his breathing and bent his elbows. A moment later.
"Hup."
With one final push, Jun-ho straightened his arms and stood up. Wiping away the sweat, he muttered with an incredulous expression.
"100 reps... is this for real?"
He didn't remember the exact number, but even in the military, he couldn't do fifty reps in a minute. Maybe forty? In any case, one thing was certain: his push-up count had been strictly average for his company. Yet now, only about two minutes had passed, and he had completed 100 reps without stopping.
Thinking he might as well shower, Jun-ho took off his sweat-soaked workout clothes and entered the bathroom in his underwear, staring at his reflection in the mirror. His physique had definitely improved. But even so, to do 100 push-ups without breaking a sweat right after running three kilometers? No matter how he looked at it, it wasn't normal.
"What on earth is this...? It doesn't make any sense..."
Jun-ho felt a flicker of fear. Instinctively, his eyes drifted to his right hand, where a scar was clearly visible.
"Could it be...?"
Because of the bite from the zombie he assumed was an Alpha just before the regression? Suddenly, his chest began to thrum. Gritting his teeth, Jun-ho hurriedly grabbed his phone and searched for the nearest general hospital. He made a call and booked a comprehensive check-up for the earliest possible date.
"Calm down, stay calm. Hoo, hoooo..."
After hanging up, Jun-ho steadied his breathing. It would be nothing. No, it had to be nothing. He didn't know why, but he had been given another chance to survive; he couldn't end up with a "zombie ending" before he had even properly begun.
After showering and spending about thirty minutes researching and organizing his thoughts, Jun-ho woke his younger brother.
"Sorry, Hyung. I think I sleep late because I'm always up past midnight."
"It's fine. Take your time. By the way..."
Jun-ho calmly and honestly explained his condition to Jun-hyeok.
"...So, if there's even a one-in-a-million chance that I start acting strange, I'm going to go into my room and lock the door. You must never open it, and you need to call the police immediately. You absolutely cannot let yourself get bitten. Tell them I'm in an extremely dangerous state—insist that only heavily armed personnel, like a SWAT team, will be able to subdue me."
It was mid-November, so everyone was wearing long sleeves and somewhat thick clothing. That alone significantly lowered the chances of being bitten, but Jun-ho said it anyway, just in case.
"No, are you crazy... does that even make sense?" Jun-hyeok was agitated. "Hyung! That was a precognitive dream! I'm telling you, you just had a nightmare! You think you'll turn into a zombie just because you were bitten in a dream? Have you lost it?"
Jun-ho stayed silent, knowing full well why his brother was so upset. Their parents had both passed away, and they were the only family left. Their grandparents were gone, and since both their father and mother were only children, they had no other relatives. They were truly just the two of them.
"No, Hyung..."
"Look at this."
Cutting Jun-hyeok off, Jun-ho held out his right hand.
"......!"
Jun-hyeok's eyes widened as he saw the scar on the back of Jun-ho's hand.
"You know I didn't have this scar before, right? I'm not just worrying for no reason. So, for now... do as I say. And we don't even know yet if I'll really change or not. I've booked a comprehensive check-up, so let's just be careful until I get the results."
"...Haa, I get what you're saying, but..."
"You brat."
Jun-ho chuckled and ruffled his brother's hair, who was taller than him.
"Ah, stop! I'm worried sick here, seriously."
"It's okay, man. I'm just saying this so we can be prepared, just in case, so don't worry too much."
He would be the only one to worry. Jun-ho didn't want his brother to join him in that, so he deliberately put on a bright smile.
"I get it for now. Sorry for snapping at you, Hyung."
"Yeah. Let's eat."
Jun-ho, who had told Jun-hyeok it was okay as he smoothed out his hair, heated up the leftover Chinese food from yesterday and set the table with some side dishes.
"But Hyung, you really eat well. You even mixed rice into your extra-large ganjajang last night. Even if you've been working out since dawn, you're putting it all away."
Jun-hyeok marveled as he watched Jun-ho eat two packs of instant rice with gusto.
"I guess so. I must have an appetite because I've been starving. Oh, right. Seeing this, maybe I won't turn into a zombie?"
"Huh?"
"Zombies usually don't eat for days once they've filled their stomachs. They just attack; they don't keep eating."
"Ah... y-yeah. I see."
Since it was obvious what zombies ate, Jun-hyeok didn't bother asking and just nodded in agreement.
"Once you're done eating, wash up and start by cleaning your room. When it's time for people to head to work, let's do a big cleanup and pack our things."
"Okay. But..."
"I'll clean Dad's room."
"...Uh, okay."
After their father passed away, they had only cleaned the main room every week, leaving it exactly as it was. They hadn't said anything to each other, but leaving their father's room untouched was an unspoken agreement between the two brothers. But now that they had decided to move, it had to be cleared out.
"The living must go on. Dad would want us to live hard, too."
"Yeah..."
Jun-ho patted his brother's shoulder. No matter how his body or the world changed, he and Jun-hyeok would keep living. They had to.
Once it was time for office workers to commute and students to go to school, the brothers began to tidy up the house. They weren't packing for the move right away, just organizing, so the work wasn't particularly difficult. Jun-ho cleared out their late father's room without much hesitation. It was simple enough to just pack everything up and take it with them.
A couple of hours later, they received a call from a local real estate agent, and thirty minutes after that, the agent and a young man and woman who looked like newlyweds arrived at the house. Even though they were strangers, all three were small and ordinary in stature, so Jun-ho didn't feel particularly tense.
"Oh my! The house is just too perfect. Isn't it, honey?"
"It is. It's great."
The newlyweds liked the house, which hadn't been long since its full renovation and was remarkably clean for a place where three men had lived. Above all, they seemed to like that it was 30 million won cheaper than the market price, and they wanted to sign the contract immediately. When Jun-ho said he could move out within two weeks, the couple's faces brightened even further, and they immediately wrote up the contract and transferred the deposit.
"Usually it takes about a month, but since you listed it so cheaply, it went fast. Ho ho."
"Yes. Thank you."
After transferring the commission to the agent, Jun-ho ate an early lunch and took his brother to the real estate office he had contacted the day before.
"You look a lot alike, are you brothers? Are you planning to live together?"
The agent here was a man whose kind impression came through even though he was wearing a mask.
"Yes. We're going to live together."
"My goodness, it's my first time seeing young people wanting to live in a house instead of an apartment. But the house is very good. The yard is wide, so you can raise a dog and even tend a vegetable garden. Come on, let's get in the car."
After riding in the agent's car for about five minutes past the Chunui Station intersection, rows of vinyl greenhouses with signs for farms and flower shops lined the roadside. Jun-ho hadn't known such a place existed in Bucheon. The agent's car moved a little further and turned into a one-way alley wide enough for a single truck to pass, soon stopping in front of a house with fields and vacant lots on either side.
"Here we are. Get out."
Jun-ho stepped out of the car and looked around the house. It wasn't much different from what he had seen on satellite maps and road views. 'No people passing by. Perfect.'
As Jun-ho, who had already decided in his heart to sign for this house, watched the agent unlock the gate, the agent said:
"The owners are currently down at their son's place in Suwon. They say that once the COVID quarantine is lifted early next year, they're going to invest in immigration to Thailand or Vietnam with their son. They might come back, so they've put the house up for monthly rent for now."
"I see. But looking at the post on the real estate site, it said the tenant is allowed to renovate the house to some extent."
"Ah, yes. The owners seem to be thinking that if they ever return to Korea, they'll tear this house down and build a new one, or put up a whole building. Of course, even if they keep living there, they might do that. Why, as you saw on the way here, this neighborhood is undergoing redevelopment. And this house is a bit old, too."
That was certainly true. The single-story house, with a yard that looked twenty meters long, looked at first glance to be over twenty years old.
"Let's see, they moved in before the IMF crisis, so it's been about 30 years."
The agent, perhaps worried that the brothers might change their minds because the house was too old, immediately put on a professional smile as he guided them into the main room.
"Still, as you can see, it's a very sturdily built house and it's extremely clean. The owners cherished this house so much. And if you look at the garden trees and the vegetable garden over there, you'll see that heart! It's really something to see in the spring."
The agent made a fuss, pointing to the trees visible through the main room window, but Jun-ho, who had already made up his mind about the house, nodded absentmindedly.
"Yes. Then, I'd like to renovate the basement into a gym and workshop, would that be okay? Also, as I mentioned, I'm thinking of installing solar power panels, and they said I'd need a consent form from the landlord at City Hall."
"Oh, you can do whatever you want with things like that. I'll get you the consent form by fax right away. As long as you don't tear the house down, it's fine. Just don't fall behind on the monthly rent. Ha ha."
"Understood. You said it's fine to move in tomorrow, right?"
"Of course!"
Jun-ho decided to sign the contract immediately with the agent, who was delighted. He then asked if it would be possible to change the original terms of a 30 million won deposit and 1 million won monthly rent to 10 million won and 1.2 million won. Normally, if you cut the deposit by 20 million, you should raise the rent by 100,000 won, but he raised it by 200,000 won for fear the landlord wouldn't agree. Saving 20 million won in deposit would allow him to earn billions more within a few months, so paying 200,000 won more each month was nothing.
When he spoke to the landlord, they agreed readily, so Jun-ho signed the contract and transferred the full deposit, not just the down payment. After parting ways with the agent, who laughed and said Jun-ho's personality was as refreshing as his appearance, the brothers returned home and began to pack their things in earnest.
"We're going to call a moving company anyway, so just pack the important stuff."
"Got it."
Jun-ho called the husband of the couple who had signed for his apartment that morning and told him it was fine to move in this weekend. The husband was happy but said this weekend was difficult because he had things to organize, and that he would move in within two weeks and send the balance that day.
After hanging up, Jun-ho immediately accessed an online shopping mall and ordered what he needed. The items were all things he had thought of while imagining the scenarios he had "inherited" from Han Yeong-jung.
One hour later. Jun-ho let out a long breath and finished his shopping.
"For now, this is just a dress rehearsal, so let's stick to this much."
Even though he had only bought what was necessary for the dress rehearsal, it had cost well over 3 million won. But Jun-ho didn't feel it was a waste at all. Experiencing and going through trial and error using these items in his new home would be an enormous help. Especially so that he and his brother Jun-hyeok could keep living, no matter what situation they faced.