The Onigiri Was Getting Cold
The banter didn’t last long. The onigiri was getting cold, so Noh Changhun and I quietly started eating. Changhun bit into his rice ball with the indifference of someone who’d done this a thousand times before.
“…”
I picked up my own onigiri and turned it this way and that, inspecting it from every angle.
“What are you doing? If you’re not gonna eat it, just give it to me.”
“Who said I wasn’t going to eat it?”
“Hmph.”
The onigiri was… difficult to describe. It was either black or burnt, or else a suspicious shade of brown. Inside, all sorts of random ingredients were studded like raisins. It smelled pretty good, but visually? Questionable at best. I wasn’t usually picky about food, but this one gave me pause.
“Ugh.”
My hesitation didn’t last. There weren’t exactly a lot of these lying around. No way I could afford to be picky just because it looked a little weird. Fortunately, it tasted a lot better than it looked. When Changhun saw me eating it, he let out a small snort of laughter.
“Tastes good, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Who do you think made it?”
“You made this? It’s seriously delicious!”
“Huh? Uh… yeah.”
Changhun nodded blankly. Then he suddenly glanced back at the cook soldiers and started giving them some kind of meaningful look. I had to stifle a laugh. The timing didn’t add up. The cooks had probably handled the rice, and Changhun had just helped a little. He wanted to brag that he’d made it himself. In times like these, the polite thing to do was play along. Even if he hadn’t actually done anything, I’d still believe him. No harm in it.
“By the way, isn’t this a little heavy on the seasoning?” I asked, picking up another onigiri.
I’d guessed as much from the color of the spices, but the flavor was seriously intense. If it wasn’t spicy, it was salty. If it wasn’t salty, it was packed with umami. I looked at Changhun. He’d probably know the reason. He’d been here long enough to be an expert on this stuff.
“Changhun.”
“Yeah?”
“Did you make it this salty so it would keep longer?”
“That’s part of it. Also for flavor. And because we had a ton of spices left over.”
“Ah, got it.”
“Soy sauce, salt, doenjang—anything we don’t use would be a waste. So we just dump it in.”
That made sense. With this much salt, it probably wouldn’t spoil easily. Easier to store, too. The only downside was that it made me thirsty. Other than that, it was fine.
“Hey, Changhun.”
“Yeah?”
“Where do you get the water from?”
“We draw it from the river.”
“I knew it. But… just like that?”
“We run it through a makeshift filter sometimes. If we have time, we boil it.”
“Ah.”
Changhun shook the plastic water bottle beside him. Apparently the water inside was also from the river. He took a long swig and added,
“Of course, people like you and me can drink it straight without dying.”
“Other people can’t?”
“That’s why we boil it when we can. Otherwise we let it sit and only drink the middle part.”
“Ah… so that trick works here too…”
“Wait, you already knew that?”
Changhun looked genuinely surprised. Instead of answering, I just gave him a light punch. No matter how much he looked down on me, did he really think I wouldn’t know basic survival常识?
“I learned it from manhwa!”
“Manhwa?”
“What, you’ve never read any survival manhwa, Changhun?”
“Oh, right. Those existed.”
“Yep, yep. Ah—”
“…What?”
Changhun shot up from his seat like a warrior rushing to stop something that absolutely should not happen. Naturally, that was exactly what I was planning to do.
The kids needed something to keep their spirits up. Some of the older ones were already burning with thoughts of revenge against the zombies, and there wasn’t much I could do about that. But the little ones who still didn’t understand anything and were just happy that they suddenly had more big brothers and sisters? They needed toys to play with or books to read.
Besides, who was going to complain if we stole some? Unless the owners were still clearly alive. From what I’d seen so far, most store owners had turned into zombies right where they worked.
Changhun was giving me a look that screamed please don’t. I had no idea what he thought I was planning, but he clearly believed nothing good would come of it. I whispered quietly,
“Let’s bring some manhwa back for the kids! It’ll definitely help them.”
“Are you insane?!”
“Aww, why? We still have some time. The sun hasn’t completely—”
“It’s already set!”
“Ugh, fine. I’ll just go to the bookstore by myself then, you cheapskate.”
“No, don’t go.”
“Why? You think I’ll be in danger?”
I crossed my arms and spoke firmly. A vein popped out on Changhun’s forehead. In the past I might have backed down, but not anymore. These days I could win a straight-up fight against him. So I had no intention of changing my mind. There weren’t any dangerous mutants nearby anyway, and even if there were, I could handle them. Plus, I knew the magic word.
“Scared?”
“Fine. Let’s go together. What would a meathead like you even do on your own?”
“Good, good. You can be my pack mule.”
“…We did need to bring back books and toys eventually. They just kept getting pushed down the priority list.”
“Why?”
“When you need food and water right now, who’s going to bother looking at toys and books?”
“Ah.”
That made sense. No matter how well food kept in this world, or how spider silk could preserve things almost indefinitely, food still ran out. Water too—you could gather and gather and it would still disappear. Naturally, anything lower on the priority list never got brought back.
“Still, don’t you have plenty of supplies?”
“We have plenty of supplies. We have even more people.”
“Ah.”
“If I could order you around, I’d send you out to scavenge too.”
“Huh? Why don’t you? I work hard. You can use me day or night.”
“We already have a prior engagement at night.”
“Ah, right. Wait… huh?”
Suddenly, cheers erupted around us. The cook soldiers started rooting for Changhun. I just sat there with my mouth open, completely lost. Why were they acting like that all of a sudden? All he’d said was that we had plans to watch a movie together.
Fortunately the commotion didn’t last long. The moment Changhun lightly crossed his arms, the cooks all shut their mouths and focused on their meals.
“Finish eating. Then we’ll head to the bookstore.”
“Okay. Can I have more?”
“We always make extra on purpose. Whatever’s left, the people on the defense line will eat.”
“Ah, I see.”
Being easy to preserve really was convenient. Come to think of it, I’d seen people eating something like medicine rice balls back at the defense line. Apparently those had been these onigiri.
“By the way, Changhun.”
“Yeah?”
“Is onigiri the only thing on the menu here?”
“No. We have ramen sometimes. And we grill meat too.”
“Meat?”
“You saw us butchering that beast earlier. It was probably in the onigiri too.”
“Isn’t that too little for everyone to eat?”
“We’re raising livestock in the rear. We even have a chicken farm.”
“Whoa…”
I picked up another onigiri and took a bite. So that weird meat that didn’t taste quite like pork or beef was from those beasts.
“Still tastes good though. Let’s go, Changhun. I’ll grab my bag.”
“Sure.”
Changhun gave the cook soldiers an apologetic glance. Now that I thought about it, he must have been helping them wash those big pots too. But the cooks were actually cheering him on. They were whispering among themselves, which felt a little disrespectful, but since Changhun was handling the “conversation” himself, it seemed fine. (By the way, “conversation” here means intimidation.)
Anyway, it was nice to see him making good use of the brass knuckles I’d given him. I felt proud that I’d chosen the right gift. …Back then we’d been fighting each other and I’d been worried, but who knew it would turn out this well?
Preparations didn’t take long. Since Captain Han Daewi already knew how strong Changhun was, he gave us permission to go out without much fuss. There were a bunch of complicated conditions attached, and we exchanged a few words about what to do in case of an emergency, but I only half-listened. Changhun would remember everything anyway!
Thanks to that, by the time we left the high school, Changhun looked exhausted.
“So now you finally get that I’m a meathead?”
“Yeah, yeah. You cause the accidents, I clean up the mess.”
“Anyone listening would think I cause trouble all the time.”
“…”
Changhun quietly adjusted his grip on his brass knuckles. Then he slung the empty bag over his shoulder, clicked on the flashlight, and pointed it forward.
“This is what fear looks like.”
“Well… I guess?”
“I’ve wanted to do a courage test with you for a long time.”
“…”
I had a feeling things were about to go in a weird direction. The sky was already quite dark, giving everything an eerie atmosphere. And thanks to the zombie apocalypse, the area was completely deserted with abandoned buildings everywhere…
“F-flashlight.”
“Why should I be the only one holding it?”
“Ah.”
“Scaredy-cat.”
Changhun grinned. I felt like I’d been had, but I couldn’t back out now. After all, I was the one who’d provoked him by asking if he was scared. I was also the one who’d insisted we go even though it wasn’t necessary. For the sake of my pride, I couldn’t run away.
“Yeji.”
“Y-yeah…?”
“You’ve got the most realistic zombie part-timer right here. Just think of it as a haunted house.”
“Ah.”
“Did you really think I suggested going out without any plan?”
“You… you…!”
Changhun chuckled. He ruffled my hair, then strode off confidently, saying he knew the way to the bookstore. Of course, I had no choice but to follow. The reason night wasn’t scary was because there was a light source. And since that sole light source was walking ahead of me, all I could do was trot along behind Changhun’s back.
Still, I had no intention of letting him mess with me. I slowly adjusted my grip on Beopbong, tensing my body in preparation for any possible situation.