Sanctuary on the Hill
I remembered one thing clearly even if I didn't know much else about the zombie apocalypse novel I'd ended up inside. There was only one university campus near Hadan 2-dong Administrative Welfare Center in western Busan. The novel never explicitly named it, but it was obvious. The school was a fictional university modeled after Dong-A University Seunghak Campus. Noh Changhun had probably tried to avoid being too specific, so the descriptions were minimal. Still, once I saw it in person, I knew. With the reality correction in effect, I could treat this place as the actual Dong-A University Seunghak Campus. I'd glanced at pictures of it online before, and the resemblance was uncanny.
Yeah. There was that long road winding up the hill, with the food street and the university entrance at the top.
"By the way, you said your name was Lee Yeji, correct?"
"Y-yes."
"So when did you decide to come to Busan, Yeji-ssi?"
"Uh......"
I couldn't remember exactly. I'd probably spent about three weeks using myself as bait instead of going to the military, then another week after that before deciding to head to Busan. I didn't remember the precise date, but it couldn't have been more than a week ago. I'd met up with my partner, heard the plan, restocked, and come straight here.
"Gimhae isn't that far from here, is it?"
"No? It didn't feel that far when I walked. At most, you could make it in a full day if you kept moving."
"Ah, really?"
"Yes. If there weren't any zombies or obstacles, I would've gotten here much faster."
"Would you like me to pull the cart for you? You look tired."
"I'm still fine."
Watching Kang Siwoo carefully look out for my comfort made my chest feel warm. Yeah. This was it. A survivor of my level deserved this kind of treatment. Sure, I'd wasted time holing up in that officetel, but I was still a veteran survivor, wasn't I?
"You see those students over there? They're on guard duty. I'll go ahead and let them know."
"Huh? Oh, okay."
"So just wait here for a moment."
Following his instructions, I parked the cart on flat ground and waited. For a second I wondered if he was tricking me, but he wasn't. The school main gate wasn't far from here, so I could see his expressions and gestures clearly. He was just going ahead to announce my arrival. There had been a scene like this in the original novel too. They had to check whether newcomers had any connections inside the campus first, just in case they were dangerous. It seemed pretty pointless, but the novel had hit the jackpot a few times with that method. He must've found it useful in his previous life and was still using it now.
Honestly, it would've been better if no one here knew me. If someone suddenly asked, "Hey, aren't you that person?" I wouldn't have anything to say. Then I'd have to make up some excuse about memory loss from the shock of seeing zombies. Thankfully, none of the students currently on guard duty seemed to be from Gimhae. Praying that no one from Jangyu would show up either, I followed Kang Siwoo through the back gate, pulling the cart together.
The main gate was impossible. The stairs were ridiculously steep—just looking at them made me feel out of breath. The back gate wasn't much better. It was a gentle uphill slope, but the thought of dragging the cart up it was already making my head spin. At least Kang Siwoo had offered to help. There was no way I could've made it up there alone.
"By the way, Yeji-ssi."
"Yes?"
"Most of the food looks slightly spoiled. Did you bring it on purpose?"
"S-spoiled...?"
"Yes. The canned goods are fine, but these instant meals and frozen items......"
"Ah."
I had to come up with a plausible answer to why I was carrying spoiled food. One that wouldn't raise suspicion. That meant I had to use my partner as a shield again.
"My partner said that as long as the shape and taste aren't too off, you can still eat it even if it's a little spoiled."
"Ah, is that so?"
"Yes. I don't know if I caught it from fighting zombies, but somehow I can digest it just fine."
"I see."
"I was carrying it around because of that, but I guess it won't work here."
"It's fine. There are probably other people who can eat it."
".........What?"
Kang Siwoo smiled as he spoke. So even here, people were eating slightly spoiled food. I couldn't help but ask out of sheer confusion. Noh Changhun and I had eaten it because we knew about it from the novel, but there was no way other people would willingly put spoiled food in their mouths. After hearing his explanation, I roughly understood.
"If it really bothers them, they don't have to eat it, but if they're willing, we'll give it to them. That kind of thing?"
"Yes. We had to get rid of the food quickly somehow."
"But couldn't you just give the spoiled food to the plants?"
".....What do you mean, plants?"
Kang Siwoo's eyes lit up slightly. His expression asked how I knew about that, but I stood my ground. This much knowledge was something anyone who had observed zombies closely would know. Connecting the dots and reaching the conclusion of growing plants from zombie corpses was another matter, though. So I slowly began explaining.
I told him how I'd held out in the officetel for those three weeks before coming out, hid in the PC bang building, then went up to deal with the zombies and saw something in the karaoke building.
"So you're saying there were plants filling the third-floor karaoke room?"
"Yes. Some of them had grown even bigger after eating drinks and such. And more importantly......"
"More importantly?"
"You know the airport? Before you get there, in Gangdong-dong or wherever that is, I saw plants there too."
"Exactly what kind......?"
Kang Siwoo was waiting with shining eyes. Only then did I realize it. This bastard was using me. He had to share the original novel knowledge he knew, but he couldn't just reveal everything he knew outright. So he'd been waiting for an opportunity like this to drop the original knowledge. He'd probably spin it as having inferred it from clues I'd given. Well, it wasn't a bad deal. Either way, it would solidify my position here. So I decided to play along and started telling the story he already knew.
Thankfully, Kang Siwoo listened patiently. While doing so, he began desperately trying to steer the conversation. Sensing the mood, I changed the subject too.
"The green, orange, and blue plants were edible. The black ones were edible too, but it felt like drinking oil."
"I see. Could you explain in more detail?"
"Uh, the green fruits were sour. The orange ones were sweet, and the blue ones were sweet and sour."
"Any other characteristics?"
"If you throw the black fruits, they explode and spread oil everywhere. Kind of like a Molotov cocktail?"
Only then did Kang Siwoo break into a bright smile. He was probably going to share this information with the students once this was over. In the original novel, the explanation about the fruits had come around two or three months in. I'd even read his inner monologue about being anxious because he had no chance to explain about the fruits. Well, either way, it had worked out, so it was fine.
"You can leave the cart here by the library."
Kang Siwoo spoke as if he'd been waiting for the right moment. He said we'd leave it here for now and I could come get it later. The fact that he wasn't already talking about distributing it meant he thought I was worth recruiting pretty badly. Normally, he'd use his seniority to persuade people into handing things over. Treating me this well meant I was the only exception.
"By the way, could you tell me where my lodging is?"
"I'll show you. There are plenty of empty rooms in the dorms. I'll assign you to the women's dormitory."
"Yes, thank you."
Everything was fine. Everything was fine, except... I couldn't understand why the dorms had to be at the very top. Still, I could brainwash myself into thinking it was actually better this way. It was a zombie apocalypse, so higher ground would be safer, right......? Just thinking about climbing up and down that peak every single time already made my legs feel like they were cramping.
"I'll explain everything once today, so from tomorrow onward, you can figure it out yourself, Yeji-ssi."
"Huh? Oh...... okay."
The dorm was cleaner than I'd expected. It wasn't spotless, but at least the rooms were relatively clean. Someone must've been managing it diligently—some rooms looked practically brand new. And one of those brand-new rooms had been assigned to me.
Kang Siwoo talked for a while longer after that, then told me to just follow the rules posted in the lobby. Then, looking like he had somewhere urgent to be, he hurried out of the dorm. He was obviously going to tell the students about the fruits, claiming he'd discovered it himself. Now the food shortage problem would be eased a little.
"Aah, this is great."
I couldn't remember the last time I'd lain on a bed. After sleeping on chairs and floors for so long, the bed felt incredibly comfortable. And with the tension finally leaving my body, it didn't take long before I drifted off to sleep.