I Am Not a Masochist!
I had gotten sucked into a zombie apocalypse novel. Naturally, it didn’t take long for me to be completely fine again. Wounds like these regenerated with nothing more than a little spit, so it would have been strange if they didn’t heal. Other than my clothes being pretty badly torn, there wasn’t any real problem. I could just call it a bold fashion choice and move on.
“You need to get some clothes first.”
“Huh? Why?”
“They’re barely clinging to you.”
“Where? Ack!”
Changhun let out a heavy sigh.
“Shit… At least it’s not exposing too much. That’s a relief.”
“Change already. Looks like you walk around dressed like that every day.”
“It’s because finding clothes is a pain. This is the first time I’ve been allowed to wander around outside.”
“I see.”
Jeokto was fine. No, it was so perfectly intact that I was genuinely shocked. The car had apparently taken worse damage. It was almost unbelievable how sturdily the engineering students had built it. Even the storage compartments weren’t warped, so nothing inside had broken. I could only imagine how roughly they’d ridden the poor thing.
“So this is why people say ‘engineer mill, engineer mill,’ huh?”
“Don’t jinx it.”
“Why not!?”
“Because one day that thing’s going to break and you’ll be screwed.”
“Look at this bastard, spouting ominous crap.”
Even though I grumbled, it wasn’t a bad feeling. It was basically his way of worrying about me. Besides, I really had nothing left to do now. Going back out for reconnaissance felt pointless, but crawling back inside the defense line like this also felt awkward. If I showed up looking like this, I’d definitely get worried looks. Lee Yeji might even burst into tears when she heard what happened.
“Changhun.”
“What.”
“How much time do you have?”
“Plenty.”
“Then want to pick out some clothes, wash up, that sort of thing?”
“You wash up alone. I’ll use the facilities inside the defense line.”
“Really? Got it.”
I slowly climbed onto Jeokto and began pedaling at a speed Noh Changhun could keep up with. Basically a light jog. Fortunately, he followed without any trouble. I’d been worried he might fall behind, but it seemed those muscles weren’t just for show. Honestly, with a build like that, being slower than a bicycle would have been ridiculous. They say a bad head makes the body suffer, but a good body solves a lot of problems.
“But, Yeji.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you always throw your body around that roughly when you fight zombies?”
“Should I not?”
“Huh?”
Noh Changhun made a completely blank face. It was the expression of someone who had no idea what he’d just heard. I’d planned to let it slide since I’d already teased him earlier, but the comment genuinely annoyed me. So I naturally picked up the pace. Suffer a little, you bastard. Let’s see how you like running barefoot.
“Do you remember the settings?”
“…What settings?”
“I mentioned it briefly in the afterword. That your abilities change depending on how you fight the zombies.”
“Oh… right.”
I did remember. Kang Siwoo loved the strategy of giving flesh to take bone. So the first-round Siwoo had abilities that were pretty much a mix of mine and Changhun’s. He had decent regeneration, ways to enhance his physical stats, and even produced adrenaline before fights to brace for the pain. The more damage he took, the faster he became, like a berserker. Now with ten years of experience added, it had become a refined “give flesh to take bone” tactic when necessary.
Changhun fought by pushing his basic physical abilities to the limit. He also gave flesh to take bone, but he used a lot of “I’ll give you my bones if you give me yours—let’s both die” style brawling. Maybe that’s why he never had any backup. It felt less like regeneration and more like killing the enemy before he dropped. Because he overclocked his body so hard, his temperature skyrocketed. I knew because while he stayed in the back cooling down and catching his breath, I was the one playing meat shield.
“But right now your regeneration is maxed out.”
“…Isn’t it?”
“When regeneration gets pushed to the limit, it usually means you’ve been injured by zombies a lot.”
“Yeah. I’ve been hit plenty of times!”
“But yours is strangely maxed out, you know?”
“So what?”
“You, by any chance…”
Changhun glanced at me carefully. I knew exactly what that look meant.
“It’s not what you’re thinking, okay!?”
“No, that…”
“You fucking bastard!”
“I’ll respect your feelings.”
“It’s not! No, that…”
“I’ll respect it. Well, it could happen.”
“Would it be that!? Ah, this is so unfair!”
I could see how he might misunderstand. An overwhelmingly powerful regeneration that defied all comparison. When I encountered strong zombies, my body temperature rose and endorphins flooded my system. On top of that, I stuck strictly to the “give bone to take flesh” strategy because I could regenerate. In other words, I could endure until the enemy dropped dead. Changhun seemed to be saying that no one but a masochist would go around getting beaten like that. But it was genuinely unfair. Would I really be that? Would it be that!?
“You son of a…!”
“But looking at it now, it seems different.”
“Ha! I told you I’m not a masochist!”
“I had two theories. One was that, and the other was…”
“What’s the other one?”
“Are you the type who, once you get angry, stops thinking and just charges straight in?”
“…”
I couldn’t deny that. It wasn’t like I had never done it before. When I first met the Swindler, and when the General attacked. There had been times I got furious, rushed in, and still won. That didn’t mean I had anger management issues. If I did, I would have gone for a deathmatch with Changhun the moment we first met.
“Then how do you explain my super strength?”
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to figure out by asking.”
“Huh?”
“What happened earlier, plus how much you’ve grown lately—I can’t figure out the direction it’s developing.”
“But why ask now?”
“Wouldn’t you be curious if someone fell from that height and started moving around like nothing happened?”
He wasn’t wrong. He must have asked because he was curious. This guy really did live by the flow of his own thoughts. Still, I was curious too. I needed to understand exactly when and how my super strength activated so I could use it properly later.
“First, when I enter a near-death state, regeneration stops and the super strength kicks in.”
“I already knew that.”
“And it seems to appear when I get angry, but that part’s still unclear.”
“Hmm.”
“It doesn’t feel like something I can control at all.”
“It looks like a growth-type ability. You’ll probably figure it out after an awakening event or something.”
“You say that so irresponsibly. Aren’t you the author?”
“Even the author doesn’t know everything. It’ll become clear with time, so you don’t need to worry.”
“That’d be nice.”
Changhun grumbled, then stretched out his hand and pointed somewhere. Apparently there was a clothing store over there, and sure enough, there was. The problem was that it was attached to a department store. Department stores had heavy foot traffic even before the apocalypse, so there were bound to be a lot of zombies inside. And he wanted us to go in there for clothes? That was basically suicide. Who knew how many zombies were waiting?
“What do you think, Yeji? Good idea, right?”
“That’s why I like it.”
There was a saying: high risk, high return. So what if the department store was full of zombies? We needed to do reconnaissance anyway, and even if there were zombies, we could handle them. If it got too dangerous, we could just sweep through the women’s section and leave. I slowly parked Jeokto, tightened my grip on Beopbong, and scanned the area. No matter how carefully I looked, I didn’t sense anything.
“Doesn’t seem like there are any signs of life.”
“What about your radar?”
“It didn’t activate.”
“Good. Let’s go in.”
I cautiously approached the entrance, lowered my stance, and peered inside. There were a few zombies, but most were just normal ones. Some couldn’t even move. The number that could actually fight seemed small. No variants, no commanding zombies. We could probably charge straight in without much trouble.
“But…”
A metallic clank. A chain was wrapped around the door. Someone must have wound it while escaping, because the entrance wouldn’t open. After circling the building, I saw every single entrance was chained shut.
“What do we do, Changhun?”
“Use your head.”
“My head?”
I had no idea what he was talking about. If there was another way, fine, but every passage was locked and the windows were all sealed too. Unless we brought tools, there was no way in. Then Changhun walked straight to the main gate and started fiddling with the chain.
“Look at this. It was locked from the outside, right?”
“Yeah.”
“After the outbreak, they must have hurriedly blocked it to stop the zombies inside from getting out.”
“Right… oh.”
“So normally they wouldn’t have tied it so—”
Clank. Clank. Contrary to his prediction, the chain was meticulously fastened. It wasn’t just wrapped around the handle a few times; it had been carefully bound. I was about to suggest we look for bolt cutters when Changhun simply applied force.
“Done.”
“You crazy bastard.”
He had twisted the chain apart with raw strength. Then he stood there looking proud of himself. What an idiot.
“So if your body’s good, you don’t need to use your head? Is that the logic?”
“You catch on quick. Shall we go in like old times, Yeji?”
“Sure. I’ll take the lead.”
However it happened, the door was open. That was all that mattered. Without another word, I stepped inside, Beopbong raised high.