A Moment's Peace
I ended up inside a zombie apocalypse novel. Honestly, even after moving into the dorm, I hadn't expected to get any real rest. I'd figured they'd slap some excuse on me and swap me out right away. But for hours, no one came near me. Well, except for that one female student who dropped off some food. It looked like I might actually get a long, proper break. "Heh heh heh."
On top of that, most of the food still had plenty of shelf life left. Nothing that was about to go bad and needed to be eaten immediately. They could've handed me spoiled stuff, but it was obvious they'd deliberately picked out the good ones. So I took my time filling my stomach, getting ready for the next dispatch.
Afterward, I headed to the shower room inside the dorm and got the rundown from the female professor on duty. Each person got ten minutes, and there was a timer inside, so I should keep an eye on it. They'd had to ration the water, so apologies in advance. If I gave them a heads-up about ten minutes before I wanted to shower, they'd make sure it was ready. The explanations went on like that, but honestly, it all sounded fine.
"Yeji, like Siwoo said, you can use it whenever you want."
"Got it, got it."
"This is a two-shift rotation, so if I'm not here, ask the student at that desk over there."
"Understood!"
"If you have any questions about the electricity, that's handled on the first floor. They manage it from there."
"Okay."
"That's also on a two-shift schedule, so keep that in mind. Though you probably won't run into any issues. Your room will always be open, after all."
"I'll remember that."
"You're planning to use it, right? The toiletries are all stocked inside. Well then, for a moment..."
The professor disappeared down the stairs. Apparently, they had to open the water tank every time someone showered. It seemed like a hassle, but it was still a pretty smart system. No one here slacked off, even on the small stuff. And if the treatment you got depended on how dangerous your work was, then naturally people would volunteer for the riskier jobs. It really was clever. She might look like a magpie, which was annoying, but this level of competence was more than acceptable. No, it was downright heavenly.
Sure, I'd been stabbed a few times, but that was all in the past now. As long as I was working with Kang Siwoo, this place wasn't going to turn into hell. Besides, my standing in this community was only going to keep rising. I'd sweet-talked him into beekeeping together and even given him a fair share of the honey, thinking I might flip things around later...
"This is more than enough for me!"
"Enough for what, unni?"
"Gah?!"
Heart still pounding from the shock, I turned around. Kim Yeonhwa and Lee Ayoung were standing there together. They'd probably gone on patrol and then done some training before coming up. A few patrols wouldn't leave them that drenched in sweat. More importantly, they already seemed close enough to be calling each other sunbae and hubae. That was... concerning.
Lee Ayoung blending into this community was fine. That way, we could prevent Yahweh's Paradise from ever forming later. But why did she have to get close to Kim Yeonhwa first? I wasn't against them becoming friends, but why her of all people? The moment I closed my eyes, the worst-case scenario flashed through my mind. If Kang Siwoo decided to grind me down and kept sticking close, stacking those affection points... Unni, I've disliked you from the very beginning. That was exactly how it would go.
Since I couldn't let it show, I forced a natural smile. "You startled me. What were you two up to?"
"We went to work out together, Ayoung and I. Turns out we're the same age."
"Oh, really?"
This was news to me. Ayoung's age had never been specified in the original story. She'd just been described as a saint-like woman in her early-to-mid twenties, so I'd assumed as much. It wasn't a bad thing. Now that we were dropping honorifics, I could get closer to both of them and eventually push them toward Kang Siwoo so they'd handle the whole kissing-and-sucking thing themselves. Right now, if I wasn't playing the supporting role, I'd be the one in danger of dying.
I steered the conversation toward the professor heading upstairs and slowly let a smile form. "Ayoung, would it be okay if I dropped the honorifics?"
"Of course! Can I call you unni too? Yeji-unni?"
"That's fine. Always welcome."
"Okay. Thanks for everything last time, Yeji-unni."
Ayoung bowed her head with a bright smile. At least she still seemed to think well of me. That was a relief. If she'd started suspecting me too, things would've gotten scary fast.
Just as I was about to let out a sigh of relief, a realization hit me. I was about to shower with these two. Two fresh-faced college girls my age. This... could definitely lead to awkward misunderstandings or getting caught in a compromising situation. But the mood was already too friendly to suddenly create distance. I could probably make up some excuse to avoid it, but that would only invite suspicion. Suspicion would require more lies, and the fear of those lies being exposed left me with no choice but to smile and go along with it.
So, swallowing my reluctance, I stepped into the shower room. Partitions greeted me.
"Phew..."
Thank goodness. The chance of weird misunderstandings had dropped significantly. The last thing I needed was for those two to get suspicious, let alone misunderstand anything. So I just showered like a total loner, scrubbing down in ten minutes flat. I was in such a rush that I didn't even dry my hair, just roughly towel-dried my body before leaving. I'd change clothes and dry my hair back in my room.
"Haa..."
The moment I stepped into my room and closed the door, all the strength drained out of me. Somehow, dealing with the zombies and being around Kang Siwoo took less out of me than this. Still, I'd made it to my room, so at least nothing had gone wrong. I quietly pulled out a change of clothes from my bag and put on a sports bra and shorts. I really wanted to wear something that covered more skin now...
"That guy would definitely tell me to roll up my sleeves if I wore long sleeves."
Given my role and this body, I had no choice but to show some skin. It was depressing how I kept ending up looking more and more feminine without meaning to. And because of the situation, I even had to keep lying that I liked Noh Changhun. The excuses were easy enough to come up with by now. But with that bastard's personality, he'd definitely tease me about it. He'd keep poking at it whether I cried or not.
"Is that bastard even still alive?"
The voice call icon in the corner of my vision confirmed he was. Part of me wanted to contact him, but this damn system charged points per minute on top of the purchase cost. It was basically divine meddling. No way the god pushing for a BL drift was sane.
"Yeah, we were both idiots."
Changhun, racking his brain to trick me with that. And me, falling for it and calling him "master" before immediately staging a coup. Looking back, we'd both tried using our bodies first and only used our heads when that didn't work. It wasn't like having a good body meant your head got a break. Now that I thought about it, there'd been plenty of bizarre moments that felt like our brains had been detached from our heads. Still, when we were together, he felt pretty reliable, and sleeping with his stomach as a pillow had been comfortable. But every time politics got involved, it became exhausting. I desperately wanted the Changhun who didn't need to put on an act.
So I quietly picked up the headset he'd left in the room and fiddled with it.
"He probably isn't dead, at least—waaah?!"
"Oh, Yeji-unni. Did I scare you?"
"O-of course I was surprised when you suddenly came in! And I was thinking about something else too..."
"Yeonhwa told me. She said you have a comrade who got separated on the way to Busan?"
"...Yeah. I don't know if he's still alive. But he will be."
"Of course he'll be alive. He's your comrade, after all."
Ayoung smiled brightly. Then she clasped her hands in front of her chest and offered to pray for me if I was worried. I'd been afraid she might try to proselytize, but thankfully she didn't. I thanked her and set the headset down.
"By the way, Ayoung, why'd you come by?"
"Ah, it looked like you left without drying your hair. And your hair's pretty long too."
"I haven't really had the chance to cut it, and it hasn't been grabbed much...? No, not at all, actually."
"Really? Most people cut theirs short because zombies grab it. Yeji-unni, there's a hairdresser here too."
"A hairdresser? Seriously?"
"A student who was studying to be a stylist. Practically a professional at this point. Would you like a bob cut, Yeji-unni...?"
Ayoung naturally started combing through my hair with a smile. A bob, huh. I didn't know exactly what that looked like, but at least I understood it meant short hair. Since my hair had never been grabbed so far, I wondered if it was worth the trouble of cutting it. But washing it was annoying, so maybe shorter would be better...
While I was debating, a wave of nausea suddenly hit me. Just imagining myself with short hair made the feeling worse.
"Are you okay, Yeji-unni?!"
"I-I'm fine. I think some kind of trauma just acted up a little."
"Trauma... Well, after everything you've been through to get here..."
"I'd like to cut it because it's a hassle, but... sorry. I can't."
A voice I shouldn't have been hearing drifted into my ears. My younger self, laughing and chatting with someone. A voice saying my noona's long hair was pretty. It felt connected to what had happened during those two weeks in the officetel, but right now there wasn't much I could figure out. Still, I couldn't let them see me acting strange, so I cleared my throat and straightened my posture.
A long silence settled over the room. Ayoung silently combed my hair and dried it with a towel. I just sat there blankly, clutching the headset and staring ahead. The thought of falling asleep was starting to feel frightening. What if I had another weird dream?