Show Me Your Skills
"But how long can the three of us last on this? I mean, it's way more than what got delivered to my place, but..." Kim Tae-young asked, looking around at the supplies piled up in the basement. Choi Hyun-woo squared his shoulders and replied.
"You don't have to worry about that, sir. Our respected Hyung-nim, Jun-ho, prepared all this from the start so that four or five people could survive for over a year. Of course, that's assuming this pig cuts down on her eating."
"Yeah, right. I'm 167 centimeters and 52 kilograms. You're over 90, aren't you, Oppa? Now, who's the real pig here?"
"Shut up. I lost weight, so I'm in the eighties now."
"Oh, really? Man, with your height, if you're in the eighties, you'd be a beast in the middleweight division."
"I, uh, dislike violence."
"No way..."
Because Choi Hyun-woo had a terrifyingly fierce face that was rare even in the world of MMA, Kim Tae-young looked at him with disbelief.
"It's true. Hyun-woo Oppa looks like this, so nobody ever picked a fight with him in school, but he's never started one either."
"Ah, I see..."
He still looked skeptical, but since Choi Hyun-woo was used to this reaction, he just shrugged and spoke.
"I've never actually fought a zombie or a person. I spent about a week scouting around here trying to find a way back to my house, but whenever I ran into trouble, I just ran away."
"That's impressive in its own way, kid."
"I might be big, but I'm pretty fast. Oh, by the way!" Choi Hyun-woo continued, getting a bit excited. "How on earth did you two get all the way here from Sang-dong? And just the two of you? I couldn't even make it past a one-kilometer radius from this house."
"Oh, that?"
"Well, you see..."
Kim Tae-young and Han Ah-reum's explanation went like this.
The outbreak had occurred early in the morning on the second day of a holiday weekend. Since Sang-dong was a commercial and entertainment district centered around Bucheon City Hall, there weren't many people around at that hour. That meant there weren't that many zombies on the streets initially. However, as power and water were cut off, quite a few survivors poured onto the streets and caused chaos, drawing out a massive horde of zombies that had been trapped inside officetels and apartments. Naturally, those survivors met a horrific end.
"But the crazy thing is, after those monsters killed and ate everyone, they actually went right back inside the buildings they came from."
"Ah, so as long as you don't make noise and don't get spotted, you won't get attacked by them?"
"Huh? You know about that too?"
"Because I have this." Choi Hyun-woo proudly held up the notebook Jun-ho had left behind. "It's the Apocalypse Golden Rules Series that Jun-ho Hyung-nim left for me. How do you think I managed to wander around outside for a week with almost nothing on me and still escape safely? It was all thanks to this."
"Really?"
"Yes. Anyway! So you put a large cardboard box over yourselves at night, quietly moved to the subway station, and walked along the tracks all the way to Sports Complex Station?"
"Yeah. Zombies have terrible eyesight, right? So if you move really slowly inside a box at night without making a sound, they don't notice. It took us two hours just to get from the gym building to the subway entrance, kid."
Choi Hyun-woo shook his head in disbelief at the fact that they had spent two hours moving a distance of barely 150 meters inside a cardboard box.
"Whoa... But I guess there weren't many zombies in the subway either?"
"Yeah. It was a holiday, so barely anyone was riding the subway at that hour. But..."
Of course, other people had the same idea as Kim Tae-young and Han Ah-reum. They said they had stayed there with other survivors and killed quite a few zombies inside the subway station.
"The zombies inside the subway cars couldn't get out because the doors were closed. We were incredibly lucky. Someone we met there had walked all the way from Kkachiul Station..."
They said Onsu Station, where Line 1 and Line 7 intersect, was an absolute living hell. It seemed like the trains had collided, making it impossible to travel along the tracks past that point. Since the area around Onsu Station had a massive resident population and heavy foot traffic, they were warned never to go there.
"They said Kkachiul Station was the limit. But today, those damn helicopters went crazy and collapsed all the entrances to Sports Complex Station."
"We would've been in deep trouble if we'd come out even a little later. Ugh, those crazy soldiers. Anyway, the area around Sports Complex Station was mostly woods, right? Just some greenhouses and country-style houses."
"Yeah. That's why I was able to make it that far too."
But the wide-open roads were crawling with zombies, so he hadn't dared to cross.
"The subway... Why didn't I think of that? God, I'm such an idiot." Choi Hyun-woo clutched his head in frustration. Han Ah-reum, watching him with pity, spoke up gently.
"But Oppa, maybe it's a good thing you didn't think of it."
"What? Why?"
"Didn't you say your apartment is near Jung-dong Station? You really can't go there. You'd have to cross so many major roads."
She was right. To get to the Hanseong Apartment complex in the city, he would have to pass through countless residential areas and villa districts. Even in Bucheon, which was already notorious for its high population density, Wonmi-gu—where Choi Hyun-woo's family home was located—was the most densely populated district of all.
"Bucheon's population is just under 800,000, and 400,000 of them live in Wonmi-gu alone."
"Yeah. Sigh..." Choi Hyun-woo had no choice but to give up. "But it won't stay like this forever, right? Let's just hold out here for a bit. Maybe... Coach Yu-chan will make his way here too. If he does, we might figure something out."
Unlike himself, who had retired early from his athletic career due to a chronic shoulder dislocation and served his military duty as a public service worker, the head coach was different. He had served in the Marine Corps Force Recon and had even won championship belts in both Korea and Japan.
"So let's just hold out here as long as we can. Jun-ho wouldn't have told us about this place for no reason."
"Yes, sir!"
His mother's physical age was still in her thirties according to last year's health checkup, and she was far wiser and sharper than him. Believing she would surely be safe, Choi Hyun-woo nodded vigorously.
"He didn't tell me... but since it's my Jun-ho Oppa, I'll let it slide. He'll just have to pay for this crime with a little romance."
"Unbelievable..." Though dumbfounded, the two men could only laugh.
Han Ah-reum was a bizarre character who showed just how optimistic a person could be. But in a bleak situation where the world was heading toward ruin, someone like her was incomparably better than a pessimist.
"You worked so hard, Jun-ho. You too, Jun-hyeok. Come, sit down and eat."
Choi Ha-neul, who had stayed up waiting for them, guided Jun-ho and Jun-hyeok to a table set with a lovingly prepared late-night meal. The table was laden with a hearty spread: chicken kalguksu in a rich, milky broth, rolled omelets, neat side dishes of kimchi, and salted seafood. The bowl of chicken kalguksu meant for Jun-ho was twice the size of Jun-hyeok's. Choi Ha-neul knew all too well that Jun-ho had a massive appetite.
"Thank you, Ha-neul Nuna."
"Thanks for the food, Nuna!"
"Don't mention it. All I do is stay here in comfort and cook. How can that even compare to what you two do? Come on, eat before it gets cold. Oh, would you like a cold can of beer to go with it?"
"Should we?"
"Kyah! Nuna, you really know how to treat us."
Choi Ha-neul brought over three cans of beer from the commercial beverage refrigerator, the kind typically found in restaurants and bars. The imported dark beer Jun-ho occasionally enjoyed and Korea's best-selling lager were placed on the table.
"Cheers!" At Choi Ha-neul's warm smile, the brothers lightly clinked their cans and devoured their meal, washing it down with the beer.
"But I heard you rescued more people today?"
"Yes. Not from around here, but some students and an academy instructor who lived a bit further away in Namyangju. We sent them to the nursing home for now."
"Oh dear, then they must still be so young. I'm glad they're safe. By the way, Jun-ho."
"Yes, Nuna?"
"You know Ji-woo and Jun-seo? Everything else is fine for them, but their clothes and shoes are a problem. Is there any way we can sort that out?"
"Ah..."
Choi Jung-woo's daughter, Choi Ji-woo, was only five years old, and Kim Ha-yun's younger brother, Kim Jun-seo, was a first-grader, just two years older than her. But because they hadn't anticipated such young children entering the shelter, there were unfortunately no suitable clothes for them to wear.
"Jung-woo and Ha-yun are so incredibly grateful to you for saving them that they can't bring themselves to say anything. But looking at them, it's been weighing on my mind. I wash and dry the clothes they wore when they first arrived every single day so they can wear them in the morning, but kids that age get their clothes filthy after just half a day of playing outside."
Moreover, with the seasons changing and the weather getting colder, they would soon have absolutely nothing to wear. Even if they put them in the smallest women's sizes, thick winter clothes couldn't be folded up easily like summer clothes.
"Children's clothes..."
"Yes. We can manage the shoes by putting thick socks on them and having them wear slippers, but the clothes are a real issue."
"...Ah!" Choi Ha-neul and Jun-hyeok flinched at Jun-ho's sudden exclamation. Jun-ho turned to Jun-hyeok and spoke.
"Jo Yu-na. Didn't you say she learned embroidery and sewing while receiving some kind of ojou-sama education when she lived in Japan?"
"Oh, right! Yeong-su Hyung did mention that."
"Good. Let's bring a sewing machine to her tomorrow."
Among the vast amount of supplies stocked in Our Shelter, there were several manual and electric sewing machines. Not only that, but they had also stockpiled a significant amount of various fabrics and synthetic leather. By utilizing those materials or altering brand-new, packaged ready-to-wear clothes, they would easily be able to make clothes for the young children. Of course, everything depended on Jo Yu-na's sewing skills.
"Let's see what she can do. Jeom-rye... I mean, Jo Yu-na."
Having unconsciously used the nickname Yun Yeong-su called her, the rabbit-like face of Psyche Flare member Jo Yu-na floated into Jun-ho's mind.
"Eh? What is this..."
Jo Yu-na, who had woken up early and changed into her "poop-colored" work clothes expecting to build greenhouses again today, widened her eyes. In front of her sat an old-fashioned treadle sewing machine and an electric sewing machine, along with five or six different types of fabric, thread, buttons, and almost every other material needed for making clothes.
"It's a sewing machine. I heard you know how to use one?"
"Ah, yes, I do. But how did you know I could sew..."
"I just do. Anyway, with this..." Jun-ho gave her the body measurements and builds of Choi Ji-woo and Kim Jun-seo, and asked if she could make several sets of underwear and autumn/winter clothes for the two children.
"If needed, I can bring you duck or goose down jackets. We also have plenty of padded ready-to-wear clothes."
"I-in that case, please bring me a few small-sized women's clothes. Actually, just bring about ten sets of autumn and winter clothes each. And underwear for both boys and girls."
"Sure. So you can do it, right?"
"Yes! Leave it to me. Oh, but... by any chance, do the children who will wear these clothes have any favorite characters or animals? Kids usually love that kind of thing..."
"Hmm... Ah, the girl likes Kuromi. The boy likes dinosaurs."
"Kuromi! I love that too... Ah, I-I'm sorry. Anyway, I'll make them for you!"
Jo Yu-na's eyes sparkled for a moment at the mention of Kuromi, but she quickly flushed with embarrassment.
"Alright. Jo Yu-na, you'll stay here and focus on making clothes today. As for you two..." Jun-ho turned his gaze to the sibling duo, Park Deok-cheol and Park Seon-hui.
"..."
The idol siblings, who had been staring at Jo Yu-na with blatant envy, flinched in surprise. Jun-ho continued coldly.
"We're building greenhouses again today. Let's get just five more done."
"Yes, sir..."
Although they were fed hearty meals on time and guaranteed proper rest breaks, it was obvious that Jo Yu-na's task was far easier in terms of physical labor. And so, the idol siblings—dubbed "Dolsoe and Jeom-sun" by the unseen master of the shelter's control room—trudged along behind Jun-ho, who felt more like a construction foreman than ever.