A Makeshift Bed
The building’s shops were all filthy, but one unmanned café looked decent enough. It had a plush sofa that slid across the floor when I pushed it. That could work as a bed. After stretching and loosening up, I started cleaning the café. Honestly, there wasn’t much cleaning to do. Water and electricity were available, so all I could manage was wiping away anything that smelled with tissues and clearing out the trash. The bin was already half-empty, which made the job easier. Once the rough cleaning was done, I pushed the sofas together to form a makeshift bed, wiped the surfaces clean, and lay down to test it.
“Hoo.” It was surprisingly soft. This would do as a bed. I checked once more for any lingering odors, then opened the windows and door wide for ventilation before heading downstairs.
Noh Changhun was searching for something, though it didn’t seem to be going well.
“What are you looking for?”
“You don’t need to know.”
“Why not?”
“Because you wouldn’t understand anyway.”
“Damn it.” He had a point. I was completely clueless about these things. If anything, I was more likely to get in his way. Still, hearing it said so bluntly stung. I crossed my arms to show my displeasure, but the bastard didn’t even glance at me. He just crouched down and kept scanning the floor.
“Nothing for me to do?”
“Nope.”
“Then what am I supposed to do?”
“Just lie down and sleep.”
“I’m bored.”
“Solve some physics problems or something.”
“Teach me, then.”
Changhun shot me a look of pure exasperation. When I insisted I was bored enough to stand guard, he finally nodded. So I planted myself in front of the hardware store, using Beopbong as a walking stick. There weren’t any zombies nearby. Baron must have started consolidating control—gathering soldiers, sweeping up survivor groups, building his forces to evolve into a higher class. He’d want an heir, too.
“Hey, Changhun.”
“Yeah.”
“Come to think of it, why are the nobles so obsessed with having heirs?”
“Huh?”
“They’re zombies, so they don’t age. Plus, nobles have absolute command over lower entities.”
“Hmm… It was just a MacGuffin in the end.”
“Why?”
“Because it’d get boring otherwise.”
Fair enough. Even the simple journey to kill the King and Queen had to stretch across thousands of chapters. Adding heirs and succession drama on top of that would have slowed the plot to a crawl. Still, I needed to ask him to confirm something I’d seen in other stories. Someone had once said there had to be a variant among the zombies that could transfer consciousness. If they could use telepathy, why wouldn’t that work? With an heir, the main body could die and simply move its consciousness over.
When I explained it, Changhun said something he really shouldn’t have.
“Yeah. That’s correct.”
“Damn it.”
“What?”
“Reality patch, you bastard.”
“Ah.”
Reality was always more chaotic than fiction. No one who knew they could die at any moment would skip preparing a successor. Even emotional humans did it—rational zombies certainly wouldn’t hesitate. That explained why they were so desperate to capture me. An heir needed a strong body to maintain control over their forces later.
“Hey, so does that mean we can’t kill Baron? If he just transfers his consciousness, it’s over.”
“No, it’s not done through telepathy.”
“Then how?”
“One of their organs preserves memories. The heir eats that organ and it takes root inside them.”
“So they have to go through that process to resurrect?”
“Yeah. Which means if we burn the body properly, it’s finished.”
“Damn…”
We knew the truth, but other survivors wouldn’t. Even the protagonist had only figured it out after ten years of struggle. I could already picture people letting their guard down after killing a noble. And that wasn’t the worst of it. Neither Changhun nor I were going to die cleanly. Changhun was strong—he’d stay strong even as a variant. The noble would work him to the bone, even after death. Still, that was better than what awaited me.
“Damn…”
“Hang in there, Yeji.”
“Mom…”
Memories of the General and the Spider King resurfaced. At least I could keep my life. Yeah, I could survive. If I failed, I’d become a breeding slave, forced to bear and birth children over and over. And death wouldn’t be an escape either. Whether alive or dead, the violation would be endless. Part of me wanted to run somewhere far away, but that wasn’t an option.
“Changhun. We only get one chance.”
“I know. Me too.”
“At least try to look like you believe me.”
“What, you think I’m an idiot for saying it like this?”
“……………………”
“Stop talking nonsense and keep an eye out for variants. Not that any will show up.”
“Yeah, I figured. Baron already swept them all up.”
By now, zombies should have been attacking. Variants or not, we should have had several skirmishes. But no matter how hard I looked, there were none. A few might still be inside the buildings—normal zombies, boxers, witches weren’t important enough to matter. They were just fodder and slightly stronger soldiers.
“Come to think of it, Changhun.”
“What.”
“Don’t nobles each use different variants?”
“They all use the same basic ones, but it changes depending on their personality and territory.”
“……………The fact that we saw toad-types…”
“Probably means the shopping district near the river a few dozen minutes from here is his territory.”
“The one on the way to Busan?”
“Yeah.”
No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t see a clear answer. Strangely, that might actually be a good thing. I had a habit of getting distracted by easier paths when they appeared. If we were committed to killing Baron, we had to focus only on that. Realizing this made me feel oddly grateful that I’d met Changhun. Of course, when I said as much, the bastard freaked out and asked if I’d lost my mind. Still, the feeling itself wasn’t unpleasant.
Time flew by. We cooked and ate, I hauled the cart around as Changhun instructed, and when there was nothing else to do, I stood guard again. Before I knew it, the sky was darkening.
“Changhun, how much is left?”
“Half of half. Probably be mostly done by the day after tomorrow.”
“I’m looking forward to it. Then we just load it with supplies and move.”
“Don’t even think about riding it down any hills.”
“Who do you think I am?”
“I’m saying it because I know you’ll want to try it at least once.”
“……………………”
Honestly, I did want to try it once. Who could resist riding a cart or hand truck down a slope? If someone could resist, that would be the weird part. But admitting it would probably earn me genuine contempt from him. For now, we were cooperating, and neither of us could afford to underestimate or overestimate the other. We needed to know each other’s full capabilities and divide the work accordingly.
“…………………………………………”
More than that, sleeping in the same place felt awkward. Even back in reality, I’d never shared a bed with anyone. Well, not since second grade. Even on school trips or retreats, we hadn’t slept this close together. So I lay on the sofa, pressing myself as far to one side as possible. Changhun saw me and smiled like it was funny before closing his eyes. I would have volunteered for first watch if we needed it, but the blocked entrance meant we didn’t. As time passed, it only got colder, and my clothes exposed far more skin than his. Eventually, I had no choice but to scoot closer and share body heat. Thinking I’d definitely need to find blankets tomorrow, I drifted off.
When I woke up, I was alone on the sofa. As I sat up, I saw Changhun stretching.
“You’re up already?”
“You could’ve slept more. You were hugging me, so I figured you were tired.”
“I—I was hugging you?”
“Even threw your leg over me.”
“……………………”
“Thanks to you, it was warm.”
Changhun laughed. I laughed too. I wasn’t stupid enough to miss that he was teasing me, but I didn’t want to ruin the mood either. First priority: get blankets or something similar. Then a thought struck me.
“The big stationery store!”
“Why there?”
“Let’s grab blankets from there.”
“Sure. Want to eat breakfast first?”
“No, being a little hungry is fine.”
With blankets, I wouldn’t need to sleep next to him anymore, and there’d be no more teasing. I wasn’t particularly hungry either, so I could just pop over quickly after getting ready. I gathered my thoughts, stretched, and picked up Beopbong from where it leaned against the sofa.