The Suicide of the 4th Floor
“It’s not like that! I’m telling you… I wasn’t bitten!”
I barely managed to hold onto my sanity as I looked up, but at that moment, Jang Yeeun grabbed my wrist. Her movements as she unraveled the bandages were rough, and the bindings that had been tightly coiled around my skin loosened in an instant.
“Wait, I’m really not!”
My tongue felt stiff, the words tangling and failing to come out properly, and if anything, Jang Yeeun’s hands only moved faster. Then, she stopped.
“…Oh.”
There were no bite marks where the bandages had been. Instead, the space was filled with deeply carved knife marks and the scars of self-harm. Damn it, you crazy menhera bitch…
Jang Yeeun couldn’t bring herself to speak. Her lips moved as if she were about to say something, but in the end, only a short sound escaped her.
“Ah…”
I realized this was a perfect opportunity. Jang Yeeun might be a lunatic, but she wasn’t a heartless one. Since I was the one who wrote her character, I knew that better than anyone.
“*Sob*… I told you it wasn’t like that. I just… I was just so scared of everything…!”
I sobbed, my shoulders trembling. My body had already been crying since earlier, so acting wasn’t that difficult. It actually hurt, though… I lifted my tear-streaked face and stole a glance at her expression. She was still looking at me with a bewildered face. But as the scars revealed by the bandages and my tearful appearance sank in, her rigid expression gradually softened.
“…Ha…”
She let out a sigh and released my wrist, allowing me to finally catch my breath. Jang Yeeun pointed at my wrist.
“Then, what is this? Why did you do such a thing?”
“…I don’t know… I was just… it was all so hard…”
For a moment, we stared at each other. After a brief silence, she spoke awkwardly.
“…I’m truly sorry.”
Jang Yeeun pulled a handkerchief from her pocket and held it out to me.
Thud.
I tried to slowly raise my hand to take it, but perhaps because she had pressed down too hard earlier, there was no strength in my arm.
“Ugh…”
I barely managed to lift my arm, and the bruises on my wrist and forearm came into view. The skin had turned a bluish-red, and it throbbed with the slightest movement. …My own fault.
Seeing that, Jang Yeeun picked up the handkerchief again and knelt in front of me. She hesitated for a moment, then unfolded the cloth and carefully pressed it to my face. A warm, soft sensation.
“Stay still.”
She gently wiped away the tears and dust from my forehead down to my cheeks. Unlike the rough demeanor I had felt before, her touch was surprisingly delicate and soft. Still… it was a relief.
“I’m sorry. I was… too sensitive.”
“It’s okay… I did give you a reason to misunderstand.”
At least I managed to place a ‘debt of heart’ on Jang Yeeun.
However, people’s wariness didn’t fade easily. When Jang Yeeun and I came out of Room 1103 together, people still looked at me with suspicious eyes.
“You never know, right? What if we find out you’re infected later?”
“Let’s just kick them out past the barricade. For our safety.”
They raised their voices, showing their discomfort. At that moment, my eyes caught sight of Stairwell No. 2 at the end of the hallway in front of Room 1103. There were three stairwells connecting the 11th and 10th floors. Stairwell No. 2, one of them, was blocked by a sturdy barricade. The barricade was crudely woven with wire and furniture, and it was covered in the traces of zombies. Sticky blood, severed hands, and the remains of corpses that looked like they had been intentionally burned.
The elevator was already unusable. Since the elevator stuck on the 11th floor had been firmly sealed with planks to prevent zombies from riding up.
Even in such a situation, people insisted on kicking me out past the barricade.
“What if they’re infected? Everyone could be in danger!”
At that moment, Jang Yeeun raised her hand to stop them.
“Are you afraid you’ll be in danger? The dangerous thing is out there. You want us to fight among ourselves in here?”
At Jang Yeeun’s words, people averted their eyes for a moment, but some still shook their heads, unable to hide their dissatisfaction.
“Do you want to be sure?”
She turned back to me and grabbed my wrist. Along with the numerous self-harm scars, there was the deep, recent wound.
“This wound is clearly not a bite mark no matter how you look at it! It’s just a cut from a sharp object. And this person clearly said they haven’t been bitten.”
Some still looked suspicious, but they couldn’t offer a clear rebuttal.
“…But if you’re worried, I’ll keep them with me all day starting today. That settles it, right?”
Eventually, the people looked at each other and quietly nodded.
“Good, then this issue is closed. Don’t say anything else to this person.”
At her final words, the people dispersed without a word. She really has firm control over them.
“…Thank you.”
“Come on, follow me.”
She suddenly grabbed my hand firmly and pulled me into the room. Then, she sat me in a chair and took medicine and bandages out of her bag.
“Let me see your arm.”
It’s better to do as she says here, right? I followed her instructions and held out my left arm. My bruised hand and arm.
“This is really bad… I pressed too hard. I’m sorry.”
Then, she disinfected the wound and began to carefully wrap the bandage. Her movements were unexpectedly soft, and although the wound stung, I felt a strange sense of stability.
Finally, after finishing the wrapping, she took a string out of her handbag. Then, she used that string to connect the top of my bandage to her right hand. Just like that, my left hand and her right hand were firmly tied together.
“…What is this?”
“If I do this much, those people won’t be able to say anything anymore. I’m showing them clearly that I’m watching you.”
“…Thank you.”
I might be able to get close to Jang Yeeun faster than I thought. Still, the water and electricity in this apartment hadn’t been cut off yet. Just as I was feeling relieved, Jang Yeeun turned her head toward me and smiled brightly.
“Even if you’re scared, you shouldn’t have bad thoughts.”
She raised her hand and wiped away the remaining tear tracks on my face. Feeling my face heat up for no reason, I shook my head.
“Don’t worry about that. I’m okay now.”
Jang Yeeun smiled slightly and held my hand gently, and the warmth in her touch was transmitted pleasantly. But it wasn’t the time to be intoxicated by the warmth. If the water and electricity hadn’t been cut off yet… it meant there was still time before ‘that event’ happened.
I ran a simulation in my head. During this time, I had to maximize my favorability with Jang Yeeun and secure useful supplies. This apartment looked safe for now, but there were too many uncertainties to stay for long. The fact that people weren’t letting their guard down was a problem, and resources weren’t infinite. Eventually, the day would come when I had to leave this place. I had to prepare from now on for that time.
I glanced at Jang Yeeun. She was still lost in thought, looking at the string tied between her hand and mine. Even if she tied our hands to monitor me for now, there was plenty of potential for this relationship to improve. Let’s make good use of this opportunity.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Ah, just… I was thinking about what to do in the future.”
“You thought well. We can’t last long here. Since we don’t know when the electricity and water will be cut off, it would be good to prepare from now on.”
The day after the water and electricity are cut off, this survivor group will be reduced to three people. I have to prepare in advance.
-Duty-
Eventually, Jang Yeeun… no, everyone calls her the leader now, but according to her decision, a survivor who came up from the floor below joined the group. Honestly, I didn’t like it much. Why does she trust so easily? No, does she really trust them? Such thoughts crossed my mind, but I shook my head hard. Anyway, my turn for duty remained. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about other things. I headed to Stairwell No. 3.
The barricade for this stairwell was built relatively late, but the traces of having endured fierce battles remained intact. Blood, sticky zombie fluids, and debris were mixed together. Stairwell No. 1 was built first, so its structure was sturdy and it had never clashed with zombies. But there had been desperate fights for survival at the No. 2 and No. 3 barricades, and those traces hadn’t been erased yet.
I held a wire brush in my hand and scrubbed the wires hard.
“Phew…”
I’m just having strange thoughts for no reason. Let’s just finish quickly and go up. I scrubbed the wires harder to make my hands move faster. The sticky traces of the infected were slowly disappearing, but at that moment, I heard a sliding sound from the far end of the hallway.
While I was distracted by that, “Ouch!”
I quickly pulled my hand away and examined the wire brush. There was a sharp, slightly bent part. My finger had grazed it.
“Ugh, how annoying…”
I checked my finger. Fortunately, it wasn’t bleeding. The skin was just slightly pressed. Still, the sensation of the moment I was pricked remained at my fingertip. Ha, I shouldn’t have been on duty. I want to finish quickly, go up, and rest.