Chapter 26 - Water, the Top Priority for Survival
The morning came.
Kim Jun woke up before anyone else. He quietly slipped outside and turned on the lights in the living room.
It was only five in the morning, so neither Eun Ji nor In Ah had started preparing breakfast yet. After glancing around, Kim Jun stepped outside.
Click. Hiss.
With his usual morning cigarette to kick off the day, Kim Jun headed straight for the rainwater tank.
It had barely been used, so it was still full of water that had collected long before the last rainfall. He added a small amount of diluted bleach, designating it strictly for household use.
When he turned his gaze to the storage shed beside it, he saw the solar panels neatly arranged, patiently waiting for sunlight. Next to them sat a pump jury-rigged from a car battery.
“Supplies are more than enough. The real issue is the opportunity cost of using them for this…”
Kim Jun was still agonizing over the water procurement method he had labeled his ‘last resort.’
He didn’t trust the local streams or rivers yet. He had no idea what would happen if they drank from them.
In the worst case, fetching water from natural ponds, streams, or rivers could lead to infection starting from their internal organs.
As Kim Jun was lost in those grim thoughts, the front gate creaked open. In Ah emerged, her hair still messy from sleep.
She headed up to the third floor via the veranda to harvest vegetables for today’s breakfast, but she spotted Kim Jun below and came down when he called her.
“What is it?”
Her eyes were still heavy with sleep, but she had risen early for everyone’s sake.
Kim Jun lit another cigarette and asked her directly.
“It’s tomorrow, right? Eun Ji’s birthday.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Think you could whip up a cake and some birthday food?”
In Ah counted on her fingers, calculating carefully in their current situation.
“We have enough seaweed soup for two days if I make extra. As for the rest of the birthday spread…”
“Can you make a cake?”
“I can, if we have the ingredients… Actually, never mind. I’ll make it work somehow.”
In Ah decided that if she didn’t have teeth, she’d chew with her gums. She began mentally inventorying everything in the storage and fridge to prepare a birthday cake.
“We have an oven. Flour and sugar are there… No cream, but we have the cocoa powder Emily unnie and oppa brought back last time, plus that can of mixed nuts. There are those military crackers and candies too… It would be nice to have cherries or kiwi, but if not, I can pick some cherry tomatoes.”
Once the topic of a proper birthday feast came up, the girls would finally get something sweet. It would be a real comfort in the middle of this harsh life.
But there was one crucial problem they had discussed since yesterday.
“The real issue is still water.”
“Yeah. I told everyone yesterday to conserve it as much as possible, but I can’t bring myself to skimp on her birthday.”
It might sound overly sentimental while they were focused on long-term survival, but Kim Jun had decided to prioritize bottled water. He planned to loot the supermarkets and markets again today, focusing mainly on bottled water like the ones he brought back yesterday.
And once Eun Ji’s birthday was over, he intended to use the equipment in the storage shed and the supplies he had gathered to build pipes connecting the rainwater tank to the second and third floors.
It would be a massive construction project. If he started it alone, it could drag on forever, but it still had to be done.
Still, once water is taken care of, everything else is manageable. Plus, I’m a damn technician!
Kim Jun nodded with a confident expression. He told In Ah to keep Eun Ji’s birthday feast a secret, then headed upstairs to help with breakfast preparations.
That morning’s meal consisted of seasoned wild greens tossed in sesame oil, with only the minimum amount of rice water needed for cooking.
They also drank strictly rationed bottled water, and somehow it still felt like a decent meal.
“Today, everything takes a backseat to water. I’ll bring back at least a hundred liters, so just hang in there a little longer.”
“Honestly, with what we have now, we could last at least a week, right?”
“Only if we cut out baths completely.”
“Ugh~ I sweated so much yesterday. I had to wipe myself down with wet wipes.”
Still, the girls chatted and giggled among themselves at breakfast, lifting the mood.
After finishing his meal, Kim Jun rinsed his mouth with water instead of brushing and prepared for today’s looting run.
Eun Ji got ready just as solidly as yesterday and climbed into the vehicle.
“Alright. Let’s go fetch some water today.”
“Yes, oppa.”
Kim Jun stepped hard on the accelerator and headed toward the town center, an area they hadn’t visited yet.
The so-called downtown was a typical rural town center — one traditional market, a Korean medicine clinic, a dental office, and several pharmacies.
As they drove there, Kim Jun saw dozens, even hundreds of zombies and let out a deep sigh.
“These bastards still go to work even after turning into zombies…”
“There really are a lot of them.”
The moment Eun Ji finished speaking, several zombies spotted the camper and came running, foam bubbling from their mouths.
Kim Jun immediately pulled out his air pistol and took down the fastest ones first.
After dealing with the runners using the air gun, Kim Jun looked for another route.
If they circled around the Sosa-beol traditional market, they would reach a stream. Following that stream would lead to the Samsan River, a place where people used to catch sweetfish years ago.
Above it was the Sosa-beol City Waterworks Office, and the surrounding apartment complexes had several supermarkets.
Kim Jun was moving around busily to secure bottled water when Eun Ji suddenly pointed out the window.
“Ah! Over there.”
“!?”
Eun Ji flinched when she saw wild dogs and birds drinking from the stream.
But the moment they noticed the moving vehicle, they scattered into the bushes.
“…”
Eun Ji watched them carefully, then studied the stream with sharp eyes.
The camper crossed the bridge and arrived at a small supermarket.
It was little more than a hole-in-the-wall store with decades-old faded walls and a slate roof.
“Good! Let’s go in—”
That was when trouble struck.
Crunch!
Beeeep— Beeeep— Beeeep—
“What?! Fuck!”
The tire warning light flashed and the alarm kept blaring. Kim Jun quickly killed the engine.
When he got out and checked the tires, he was at a loss for words.
“Goddamn it…”
The front tire was riddled with metal fragments.
He hadn’t paid attention before, but of course no one had been cleaning the roads since the zombie outbreak.
They were several kilometers from home, and now the car had a flat.
Getting it moving again would take time.
“A flat tire?”
“Of all the times for this shit to happen.”
“…”
Kim Jun sighed but loaded his shotgun anyway.
“First, let’s check that supermarket, grab everything useful inside, then change the tire.”
“Okay, let’s do that.”
Kim Jun held his gun ready and scanned the area around the store.
Suddenly, a zombie burst out from inside.
[Grrrrraaaah!]
The runner charged straight at Kim Jun and Eun Ji. Kim Jun fired on the spot.
Bang—
The zombie collapsed. Kim Jun immediately sprayed lighter fluid from the bottle at his waist onto the body and set it on fire.
As the flames roared up, the fallen zombie thrashed wildly before finally going still. It took quite a while to make sure it was completely dealt with.
After that, Kim Jun and Eun Ji entered the store, avoiding the burning corpse. Even when Eun Ji blew her whistle loudly, there was no response.
The inside reeked. The sticky floor and the foul stench of rot from the earlier zombie penetrated their masks.
But there was no time to be picky. The power was out, so they pushed aside the ice cream freezer that had turned into a sea of melted sugar and opened the drink refrigerator beside it.
It was packed with bottled water. Even though the bottles felt lukewarm, they took every single one.
“At least water is plentiful.”
“We can’t drink the juice or milk, right?”
Even unopened juice and dairy would cause serious stomach trouble if consumed now. Carbonated drinks could last over a year, so they took those too, one by one.
Since it was a small hole-in-the-wall shop, space was limited, but they grabbed all the gum, candy, and snacks they could find. Melted chocolate was a no-go, but they took long-shelf-life iced tea powder and anything else remotely edible.
Then something caught Kim Jun’s eye.
“Oh~”
He picked up a box and asked Eun Ji.
“Do we need dairy products?”
“They’re all spoiled.”
“We can reconstitute these.”
“?”
Kim Jun grabbed boxes of skim milk powder and coffee creamer. Meanwhile, Eun Ji swept up the remaining daily necessities — sanitary pads, plastic bowls, kimchi containers, strainers, disposable utensils — and loaded everything into the vehicle.
One small store, completely cleaned out.
Once everything was loaded, the only thing left was fixing the tire.
“Keep an eye on the surroundings for a bit.”
“Yes, oppa.”
Kim Jun pulled out the ladder from inside the camper, set it up, and opened the rooftop storage box.
Inside were a hydraulic jack, a spare tire, and tools, all neatly organized even though he hadn’t prepared them specifically for this situation.
“Ugh!”
He grunted as he hauled them down, then immediately got to work changing the tire with the tools.
Meanwhile, Eun Ji was carefully examining the area beneath the bridge.
While Kim Jun worked on the tire, the only zombie in sight was the one he had already burned. The surroundings were quiet.
She occasionally glanced around, but when she saw no other zombie hordes even in the distance, she breathed a sigh of relief.
After finally finishing the difficult tire change and stretching his back, Kim Jun stood up — only to realize Eun Ji was gone.
“What the— where did she go this time?”
A bad feeling crept over him. He grabbed his gun and began searching the area for the missing Eun Ji.
He found her down by the stream beneath the bridge.
“Hey! What the hell are you doing down there?”
Kim Jun shouted at her for wandering off alone during such a dangerous looting run, but she didn’t respond.
Instead, she pulled out a paper cup, dipped it into the flowing stream, and filled it.
“Hey, Joo Eun-ji! Are you seriously—?!”
“…”
Eun Ji drank the water from the running stream in one go.
She closed her eyes, savored the taste for a moment, then slowly climbed back up through the bushes.
Waiting for her was Kim Jun, shotgun aimed directly at her.
“Joo Eun-ji…”
“Ah, you saw?”
Click.
“Don’t come any closer. Do you even understand what you just did?”
“I do.”
Even with a gun pointed at her, she spoke calmly.
“In about thirty minutes, if I show signs of infection, shoot me.”
“!”
“It was an excellent experiment. It will help the other girls survive too.”
“You crazy bitch! Are you out of your goddamn mind?!”
She had willingly drunk water from a river.
If a zombie had fallen into the water supply, or if the virus had contaminated it, she would be infected immediately and turn.
Kim Jun knew that, which was why he had his gun trained on her. Yet here she was, telling him to kill her without hesitation if she turned.
The situation was on a knife’s edge.
“We can’t keep surviving only on bottled water forever.”
“…”
“So I tested it myself. If I’m fine, we can start drawing water from rivers and streams. If not… well, one less mouth to feed. The others will last longer.”
“And you just chugged that shit?!”
“This is what sacrifice looks like.”
Eun Ji waited for the result with hollow eyes.
In the tense standoff, Kim Jun’s hand holding the gun began to tremble.