A Family That Wasn't Meant to Be
I ended up inside the zombie apocalypse novel. Jinhyuk and Yeji were surprisingly full of energy. Sure, it was that age when kids were bursting with vitality even if they just sat still… but still, it was weird. It was already quite late, and the two of them had woken up in the middle of the night looking for the cat. When I asked, I quickly figured out the reason.
The younger children inside the high school didn’t have much to do. The slightly older kids at least had some tasks, which was better, but these little ones couldn’t be given any real work, so they were basically left to their own devices. Playing with friends their own age had gotten boring too, so they spent most of the day sleeping to pass the time. Hearing that made my heart ache. This was the age when they should be running around and having fun, yet they couldn’t do anything at all.
On top of that, even if they wanted to watch a movie, those were first given to the soldiers. They occasionally got the chance, but it was just whatever film the adults happened to put on. Everyone was too busy to pay much attention to the kids. Noh Changhun must have had something in mind because he didn’t complain and simply let the children watch whatever movie they wanted. And as if that wasn’t enough, he somehow produced snacks for the two of them to eat.
That’s how we spent the time—watching movies, munching on snacks, and drinking soda. By the time I came back to my senses, it was already daytime. Sunlight was streaming in through the windows.
“Mmm…”
I started to get up but stopped. There were kids sleeping all around me. Both of them had grabbed one of my arms each, so any sudden movement would probably wake them. Even the cat was sprawled across my stomach like it was a bed. If Noh Changhun saw this, he’d definitely snort with laughter. The scene was that ridiculous.
Luckily, Noh Changhun was still asleep. He must have given the comfortable spot to the kids; he was slumped over a desk with nothing but a blanket draped over him. Seeing that made me feel pretty guilty. Unlike me, he was quite sensitive to the cold. So I carefully got up without waking the children, grabbed a nearby blanket, laid it over Noh Changhun, and slipped outside.
Not long after, Noh Changhun walked out too. From the look on his face, his sleeping spot hadn’t been very comfortable. I smiled awkwardly and asked,
“Did the cold wake you?”
“That, and it’s morning, so I just woke up on my own.”
“I even covered you with a blanket so you could sleep well. Sheesh.”
“If nothing’s going on, I’ll try to go back to sleep.”
Noh Changhun yawned like he was exhausted. Honestly, he had every right to be tired. Yesterday’s schedule must have been brutal already, yet he’d gone to the bookstore with me at night. We’d turned the city upside down under the pretense of scouting, fought a chamdokchung, and that wasn’t even the end of it. After hauling back a mountain of books and toys with me, he’d stayed up late watching movies. Then, after the kids and I had fallen asleep, he’d cleaned everything up. On top of that, he’d given us the good spot and passed out slumped over a desk. It would’ve been stranger if he wasn’t tired. The only reason he could even talk right now was because he’d already transcended normal human limits.
“It’ll probably be nothing. Just scouting… gathering supplies… and that’s it.”
“You sound like someone who’s been here for ages.”
“Do I?”
“Whatever… it’s fine. If something serious happened, they’d have come looking for me first thing in the morning.”
Noh Changhun grumbled. He said taking a nap because he was short on sleep didn’t suit his personality. Still, it was obvious he’d complain if someone actually assigned him work. I’d seen him subtly checking the stairs earlier. If it was light work, he’d probably dump it on me. If it wasn’t, he’d drag me along saying we should go together.
Noh Changhun glanced around for a moment, then gestured at me.
“Help me carry the blanket.”
“Can’t you carry it by yourself?”
“It’s huge.”
“How big could a blanket possibly be?”
“You’ll see when you look.”
He was right. The moment I saw it, I understood. Even rolled up into a ball, it was big enough to completely cover his upper body. Never mind the weight—if he tried to carry it alone, it would block his view and he wouldn’t be able to walk properly. So I folded the blanket, took the front end, and let him hold the back. Then we headed back to the classroom like we were playing train.
On the way back, we saw all sorts of people. Some were just waking up and starting their daily routines, while others were finishing theirs. Soldiers were doing laps around the playground to wake everyone up. I even spotted Lee Yeji’s father, who was faster than anyone and jumped over the school wall like it was nothing.
“It feels peaceful.”
“It’s only temporary.”
“That’s depressing.”
This peace was nothing more than luck. It was just a lucky break I’d gotten after accidentally taking down a Monster. Like a cow accidentally stumbling backward into a jackpot. I let out a deep sigh. I needed something to lift my mood. And I found it soon enough.
“Changhun, you cleaned up after us at dawn, didn’t you?”
“Yeah. Why?”
“You looked just like a dad. Like a real father.”
“A father, huh.”
“Didn’t you say you like kids? Anyway, it was pretty cute to watch.”
“Then are you the wife?”
“What are you even saying? We’re comrades, you idiot. Tomodachi. Right?”
Noh Changhun let out a small laugh. At times like this, it was hard to believe we’d once fought each other to the death. If I’d known we’d end up this close, I never would’ve tormented him so much back in reality. Seriously, how often does something like this happen? The only friend I could truly open up to was the guy I’d bullied mercilessly. I was making a complicated face when Noh Changhun suddenly spoke as if he’d just remembered something.
“Oh, right.”
“Yeah?”
“How are your dreams? The nightmares or sleepwalking.”
“Huh? Why?”
“You were pretty quiet tonight. Have they gotten better?”
“…I’m not sure.”
I was definitely still having nightmares. Ever since leaving the officetel, I’d started exposing my bare skin and wearing the headset. That hadn’t changed even now. If I didn’t show skin, I felt strangely uneasy, and no matter how many times I took the headset off, I’d find myself wearing it again the moment I regained my senses. So I couldn’t exactly say things had improved. Maybe tonight had been quieter because Lee Yeji and Kang Jinhyuk were sleeping beside me. Or maybe it was animal therapy.
Reading my expression, Noh Changhun didn’t press further. Once we returned to the classroom, he simply laid a fresh blanket over the soundly sleeping children and lay down himself. Soon he was out cold. For a while, I just watched the four of them. Lee Yeji hugging the cat in her sleep, the cat curled up against her chest. Kang Jinhyuk sleeping in a curled-up shrimp position, and Noh Changhun lying so still he might as well have been dead. If I were actually playing the wife, we’d look exactly like a family of four.
“Family… huh.”
Honestly, I’d never once thought about having children. I hadn’t accomplished much in life, and I honestly didn’t have the confidence to raise them properly. Besides, I’d never even dated properly—same sex or opposite. So the idea of me being the head of a household had always felt like something from a distant country.
“Having kids might not be so bad.”
“What?”
“Wait, you weren’t sleeping?”
“I just had my eyes closed. But what did you say?”
“I said having kids might not be so bad. Once I get married and have a wife—ah.”
Noh Changhun gave me a look that screamed pathetic. I laughed awkwardly. I’d forgotten again that my body had turned into a woman’s. The problem was that unless I was on the verge of death, the thought rarely crossed my mind. It wasn’t like I’d get arrested in an apocalypse, but what if I accidentally walked into the men’s bathroom? …Thinking about it again, that was incredibly stupid. The men’s bathroom wasn’t even the issue here.
I sat there a little longer watching the four of them, then stepped out of the classroom. My stomach was starting to growl, and I was feeling restless. Luckily, there was no shortage of things to do here. Captain Han Daewi had to keep making plans for the community’s survival, and they were short on manpower. So there was never a chance to be bored from having nothing to do.
I ate breakfast, then carried supplies under Captain Han Daewi’s orders. When someone asked for help with laundry, I stomped on blankets with my feet. I also had a long conversation with Lee Yeji’s mother, whom I hadn’t seen in a while. In between, I helped look after the little kids, ran to deliver emergency medicine, learned basic first aid, went out on reconnaissance again, and came back exhausted. I threw myself into tasks I would’ve found annoying in the past, breathing new life into the community.
After that, time flew by like an arrow. Since we needed to understand the zombies’ movements before the main advance, reconnaissance happened several times a day. The people on the defense line gradually sharpened their discipline, and the soldiers carefully planned their operations. Nearby survivors stockpiled food and water in preparation for the coming war.
I spent the next while busily running around the area too. Since I could get by on short naps if I wanted, it wasn’t a problem. During the day I joined others for reconnaissance or carried supplies, and at night I wandered through bookstores and department stores collecting toys. Thankfully, I didn’t run into anything strange during my travels. The chamdokchung that had attacked me and Noh Changhun seemed to have returned to their own territory; there was no sign of them. The zombies, of course, were nowhere to be seen.
A few more days passed like that, and then the main advance finally began under Captain Han Daewi’s full support. To be honest, calling it an “advance” sounded grand… but in reality it was closer to a casual stroll. We’d already confirmed multiple times that there were no threats, and every reconnaissance run included thorough cleaning. All we had to do was go through the empty buildings one more time, search them, and report that everything was fine.
Once everything was over, the military unit stayed busy for a while. People from the rear had been pulled forward to fill in the gaps. So for some time, Noh Changhun and I kept carrying supplies and doing manual labor together. Still, it wasn’t completely in vain. By the end, it seemed like the community would be fine even if I left.