I Deserved a Break
I had suffered enough in this zombie apocalypse novel. Honestly, I really had gone through hell up until now. Yeah… I really had. Getting bitten by zombies, beaten black and blue, my stomach turning purple from bruises, my hand getting impaled—seriously, I’d been abused in every way possible. So I figured it was okay to take it a little easy and ride the bus for once. Besides, after properly reviewing the plan, it looked like things would go the same as usual. This was just an extension of everything I’d already done to get this far. If Noh Changhun could hold his breath for a bit, I just needed to endure until then. And right now, there were three other people to share the burden with me. That meant less pressure landing on my shoulders. Plus, I had a fairly important ability, so I might even end up being protected instead. Being a key figure felt a bit awkward, but when I thought about it the other way around… yeah. If I looked at it positively, it just meant they had to protect me that much more.
“Are we really departing at five in the morning tomorrow?”
“Yes, Miss Yeji. If you don’t have any other tasks, you should rest well and prepare.”
“Ah, okay.”
After asking every other question that came to mind, I left Hyeonlim-gwan together with Kang Siwoo. He went on ahead while I wandered around the campus for a while before heading back to the dormitory to rest. I took a shower, came back down to eat, and basically spent the entire day lounging around. After all, Kang Siwoo trusted me. I’d thought I deserved at least this much luxury just yesterday.
But the moment it hit three-thirty the next morning, I was dragged outside by Kang Siwoo’s hand. Yeah, this guy was the annoyingly diligent type. All that talk about resting well had vanished; instead, he smiled brightly and told me to wake up, leaving me no choice but to drag myself out of bed. He even brushed off my protest about not having washed by saying I could do it later. Since I couldn’t openly show that I hated it, I smiled and pretended nothing was wrong. That only seemed to excite him more. Using the excuse of “waking up my body,” he tried to do all sorts of things with me—light warm-ups, stretching, then claiming my body still felt stiff and dragging me on a full patrol around the campus. And even that wasn’t enough; he made me help kill some unlucky zombies and clean up the corpses. Only after sweating buckets until four-thirty was I finally allowed to return to the dormitory. I showered properly, grabbed my Beopbong, and headed downstairs. They’d said they’d pack my luggage into a new bag for me.
We ate at the cafeteria building, then received another briefing in the library building. But since I already knew the entire plan, I used the time to observe the other team members instead. There weren’t any particularly important characters yet. Given that this was still early in the outbreak, we had two supporting roles and one lead. The short-haired male student and the one with glasses weren’t worth remembering. Their names only appeared in a single line and they never received any real focus. But the female student listening to Kang Siwoo while wearing brass knuckles on her hands—I had to remember her. Kim Yeonhua. She was insanely good at boxing and had even been offered a chance to go pro. That’s why she could take down zombies on her own without the protagonist’s help. I remembered her because she had that slightly boyish, cool older-sister vibe. If Noh Changhun was an aggressive in-fighter who smashed zombie skulls, then Kim Yeonhua was an outboxer. She was at a disadvantage against swarms of normal zombies, but she shone when facing a single powerful variant.
Though I had no idea why she kept sneaking glances at my chest.
Anyway, I memorized the other male students’ names too. The short-haired one was Kim Daehan; he used a kitchen knife spear as his weapon. The one with glasses was Kim Kijun. According to Kang Siwoo, he was one of the few who felt like an adjutant. It seemed like he was giving the guy experience on this outing. But why was Kim Yeonhua blushing again while staring at my face? I couldn’t understand it at all, so I just ignored her. I’d probably get a chance to ask later anyway.
I adjusted my grip on the Beopbong and picked up one of the bags lined up on the floor. Kang Siwoo had already opened the door and stepped outside, apparently ready to depart. I thought to myself that his drive really was impressive as I followed him out. And so our five-person reconnaissance team left through the front gate of Seunghak Campus.
But something felt off. There weren’t any zombies in sight. No matter what, it didn’t make sense that they would slink away and avoid us the moment people appeared. I searched my memories, but nothing particularly meaningful came up. Still, if it meant we wouldn’t have to fight, wasn’t that better? The students didn’t seem to think so. The instant they confirmed there were no zombies, they started getting tense. They all moved so cautiously that it was ridiculous. The radar hadn’t even activated yet. If something was coming, my body would heat up, and we could prepare then. It wouldn’t be too late. So while everyone else stayed on high alert, I only pretended to be careful. If I’d been alone, I would have stayed vigilant, but there were four other people with me right now. I figured there was no need to waste energy, so I walked along thinking I’d just take the bus and relax.
That was when my body suddenly flared with heat and a harsh breath burst from my mouth. Come to think of it, we were in a wide-open area. There weren’t many places to hide, and the buildings around us were dark.
“Ambush!”
Kang Siwoo instantly drew his sword. The other three moved swiftly as well. Only I stood there dazed for a second before gripping my Beopbong properly. Zombies still weren’t visible, yet everyone was already on guard, staring in a certain direction. I wanted to shout, “What are you looking at? Why can only you guys see it? Show me too!” but I held back the urge and scanned the surroundings.
“Grrrrk…!”
“Uh, what the hell is that?”
A dog with its side torn open and green saliva dripping from its mouth came into view. And it wasn’t just one—there were several. I briefly wondered if animals could get infected by the zombie virus too, then shook my head. Now that I thought about it, there had been a description like this once. Every time this kind of animal zombie appeared, people naturally assumed they were twisted human variants. Like the spider or toad types—humans contorted into animal-like movements. But these were real dogs. And cats. I didn’t know where they’d come from, but they had us surrounded, each letting out clumsy groans.
Fortunately, everyone seemed to know how to handle them.
“These are small-animal zombies. As long as we don’t show any weakness, they won’t attack us. Let’s break through quickly.”
What? Break through quickly? So we just had to get past them fast? If there was only one, that’s exactly what I would have done. Sure, I had a bit of trauma from being bitten by a dog before, but one I could ignore and push past. But there were multiple…? And for some reason, these zombies looked like they were drooling while staring straight at me.
“We’re fucked…!”
The moment those words left my mouth, animal zombies charged in from every direction. It felt unfair that they were only coming after me and ignoring everyone else. Maybe it was because the others had already moved forward. Or maybe I just looked like the weakest. But I was the ultimate Lee Yeji who had eaten her fair share of experience. Like Kang Siwoo said earlier, I just had to avoid showing weakness, right?
So I clenched my teeth, forced a smile, and acted like nothing was wrong. The animal zombies paused for a moment. The instant I let my guard down, they lunged. Just as I expected, I thought while letting a few of them bite me before smashing one dog zombie apart with my Beopbong. It had tried to bite my neck, so I swung. The thing burst apart—probably because I put too much strength into it. Suddenly, the rest of them scattered like cockroaches. They vanished in an instant, and it pissed me off. If you’re going to attack, at least come with the intent to kill. What the hell was that half-assed scouting run before running away?
“Ha. These things really know how to annoy people.”
“Miss Yeji…!”
“Ah, I’m fine. Wounds like this are nothing. See? The flesh is already regenerating.”
“……Already?”
“Yes. As long as I have something to eat, I can recover from pretty much anything.”
Luckily, everyone seemed to treat it as a minor incident. If they’d found out I was a dud, it would have been trouble. Still, I needed an excuse. Because a dud Lee Yeji and the ultimate Lee Yeji were on completely different levels. Imagine trying to get on a bus only to find the seat taken up by a useless lump. Even the driver would swear and tell me to get off.
So I reached into my cleavage and pulled out the General’s Secretion Pouch. Everyone suddenly averted their eyes for some reason, but I explained anyway.
“It’s probably because of this. There was this variant called a General, you know?”
“Why the hell are you carrying that around…?”
Kim Yeonhua asked with a look that said she couldn’t believe it. So I started explaining. There had been no zombies at all around the General’s corpse, so I’d tried to burn it and turn it into powder. But it wouldn’t burn, and this pouch was left behind. Since zombies wouldn’t approach it, I’d started carrying it around. I explained proudly. Everyone’s expressions brightened. Kim Daehan and Kim Kijun looked the happiest, and Kim Yeonhua gave a short nod, saying it would save us a lot of hassle if we kept it with us.
But Kang Siwoo’s face suggested he wasn’t entirely pleased. It wasn’t because it attracted variants. After all, attracting variants also meant experience points. For strong survivors, it could actually be an advantage. So he was probably worried that I would meet a miserable end. Carrying this was basically announcing to the world that I was an excellent bride candidate among the zombies. But since there was no way to tell him that, he could only make that anxious expression. Still, he didn’t need to worry. Every bastard who had tried to make me their bride so far had died. I’d sent two of them to hell already, so at this point, wasn’t it basically a death flag?
Thinking that, I casually slipped the pouch back into my cleavage and picked up my Beopbong again, pretending nothing had happened.