Welcome to the Zombie World (6)
“It’s fine.”
Mingu wore the generous expression of someone doing a good deed and offered once more.
Fine? What the hell is fine? I’m the one who’s not fine!
A protest immediately erupted inside Yubin’s head. Of course, since they weren’t that close, he couldn’t actually say it out loud.
“You want a hand too, don’t you?”
When Yubin kept hesitating, Mingu grabbed his wrist and pressed it against his own side. Though Yubin normally hated it when another man touched his body, this schemer was a special case. He knew very well how desperately the kid wanted to reattach his severed arm.
Even if it was impossible right now, the curly-haired foreigner had said that once the world returned to normal, something like that might become possible. After his own side had been restored, Mingu had come to believe the man’s words a little more.
JL’s technology really was impressive. If things went well, this schemer might not even need to borrow someone else’s arm.
“The attachment site doesn’t hurt at all.”
He pulled Yubin’s fingers over and made him press firmly on the junction point as he explained. Yubin, who had been deliberately lightening the pressure at his fingertips to avoid irritating the scar, asked in mild surprise.
“…R-really?”
“Yeah. It feels exactly like my own flesh.”
Mingu nodded as he exhaled a stream of cigarette smoke. Having been stabbed and sliced countless times, he understood better than anyone just how remarkable this was.
The human body didn’t heal this perfectly or this quickly. Even if it looked fine on the surface, there should still be lingering damage somewhere in the muscle. Pressing on it should cause pain. That was normal. But these JL bastards had achieved perfect fusion without any of that—using lab-grown muscle tissue that looked like chunks of meat.
“Wow, that’s actually amazing. The spot where I got torn by the laser wire… it still throbs sometimes. Especially when the cold wind hits it.”
Yubin pointed at his calf where the laser wire had ripped through, then pulled his hand away.
“Here, put the padding on now. I listened when you told me to let you touch it, didn’t I?”
“Heh. That bastard.”
Mingu twisted one corner of his mouth into a wry chuckle. To think the kid would so boldly use his goodwill like some kind of transaction to wheedle him… It was clear this guy wasn’t just clever—he had guts far beyond the strength he possessed.
Come to think of it, the very first time they met last spring, this same kid had stepped forward claiming he would mediate. Looking back, it was a damn good thing he hadn’t gutted him right there in front of the meat restaurant near the base. If he had, a lot of things would be very different now.
“It’s not even that cold.”
In the end, Mingu pretended to lose and draped the padding over his suit. It was a bit annoying, but he only did it because refusing the schemer’s kindness felt awkward…
Hmm?
It was warm!
Not even five seconds later, Mingu had no choice but to acknowledge the heat spreading across his shoulders and back. The biting wind that had been relentlessly piercing through his suit jacket suddenly stopped. And it was light, too.
Were these kinds of clothes always this warm? He’d always thought they were only for fishmongers.
Mingu stared blankly at his padded jacket and exhaled another long plume of smoke. Ever since he’d grown into his position, he had never worn anything this unstylish. For the sake of his image, he had insisted on leather jackets, trench coats, or long coats even in winter. Even then, he hadn’t felt particularly cold. He had always traveled in the back seat of top-tier cars and rarely spent long hours outside.
“Pretty warm, right?”
Yubin asked. Admitting it now would make him look like an idiot. Mingu answered in a deliberately annoyed tone.
“I’m just granting your wish. I don’t feel the cold anyway.”
“Since I’m taking the first watch, you should go down and get some sleep too.”
Yubin didn’t even react to Mingu’s answer and simply checked his wristwatch. It was already past eight in the evening. If they were going to work again from dawn tomorrow, they needed to start rotating rest properly.
“You’re second, and Jinwoo’s after you. I’ll wake you at eleven.”
“Tomorrow you stay here on watch. Stop wandering around when you’re such a weakling.”
Mingu spoke firmly while sucking down the last drag of his shortened cigarette. Then, as if refusing to give Yubin any more chance to argue, he flicked the butt into the Han River and descended the stairs.
Flash—!
A small, brightly lit glow far to the east near the soccer field caught his eye. It was the lantern Yubin had left on during his final preparations before sunset. According to the kid, if there were any troops lying in ambush nearby, they would be drawn to that light and approach the area tonight. It also had the added effect of making the faint lights occasionally visible from this tour boat less noticeable.
Whether that was true or not, the kid was meticulous in every way.
“Boss, take this.”
Jinwoo brought over an air mattress he had inflated fully from the snack bar and held it out to Mingu. Beside him, Sheriff was using a foot pump with tremendous force to fill the fourth mattress.
Whoosh—! Whoosh—!
Every time he stomped down, the wide, long mattress rapidly plumped up. The recreational float meant to be used on water would serve as their beds tonight. The days when they could simply lay down a single styrofoam panel and sleep anywhere were long gone. If they had to come out like this again, it was cold enough now that they would need to bring sleeping bags.
“Let’s go!”
Sheriff, who had inflated the mattress in the blink of an eye, sprang to his feet and took the lead. Their sleeping quarters were on the third floor, directly below where Yubin was keeping watch—the former fried chicken restaurant.
“Ugh, the smell… Fuck.”
Sheriff, who had opened the door to the third floor, scrunched up his face. The stench was truly horrific from the chicken that had rotted inside the freezer. Even though they had sprayed bleach, deodorizer, and coffee everywhere and left the windows wide open all day for ventilation, the odor that had seeped in over months refused to disappear easily.
“Should we just sleep on the second floor…?”
Jinwoo hesitated as well. He was confident he could endure any extreme environment better than anyone, but this was a different story. It felt like if he fell asleep here, he might never wake up in this world again.
“What are you guys, a bunch of girls complaining about a little smell…?”
Mingu muttered as he pushed Jinwoo’s back, but the moment he stepped inside, even he stopped in his tracks. This wasn’t a simple bad odor—it carried the suffocating presence of poison. The sharp smell of bleach felt like it was burning straight through his throat.
Sniff—! Sniff—!
Samsuk-i shook his head violently in clear distress and sneezed repeatedly. Mingu didn’t miss the opportunity and yanked Jinwoo back.
“Let’s go to the second floor. What did the dog who can’t even speak do to deserve this?”
“Should we? Sheriff, let’s head down.”
Jinwoo accepted the suggestion without stubborn resistance. As the three men came clattering back out with mattresses tucked under their arms, Yubin, who had been standing on the floor above, asked in confusion.
“What’s going on? Why are you coming back out?”
“The smell is so fucking awful we can’t sleep here! We’re moving to the second floor!”
Sheriff shook his head as if he was fed up. Moving their sleeping spot to the second floor would put quite a distance between them and the person on watch, but there was no helping it.
“Even after I left the windows open earlier?”
“It’s beyond words. Go in and see for yourself! Blegh!”
After dry-heaving a couple of times, Sheriff left only those words and headed for the spiral staircase. Jinwoo pointed at the walkie-talkie attached to his tactical vest.
“If anything happens, wake us with the radio. Or blow the whistle. Got it?”
“Well… honestly, there isn’t much that could happen in a hurry anyway.”
Yubin replied calmly. After all, the only way into this floating café was the single pier below, and the iron gate connected to that bridge was firmly locked. Any other possible infiltration route would involve a zombie drifting down the Han River, somehow grabbing an inflatable duck boat to stop itself, and then clumsily climbing up… The odds of that were about as low as throwing a bullet by hand and piercing a zombie’s head.
And even if such a thing did happen… the moment a zombie cut the rope and entered, the empty glass bottles hanging from it would jangle loudly and immediately alert them to the intrusion. So aside from the psychological unease of being two floors away from his friends, nothing had really changed.
“Whew, this is much better.”
Sheriff, who had entered the second-floor fine dining restaurant with a red flashlight leading the way, let out a small sigh. Of course it still smelled musty, but compared to the rotten chicken hell on the third floor, it was practically pleasant.
“Here we go!”
The three men settled on the floor near the entrance, set their weapons down, and flopped onto their respective mattresses.
“Come on, Samsuk-i, you lie here too.”
When Jinwoo patted the mattress beside him, Samsuk-i curled up as close to Jinwoo as possible and lay down.
Hooooooo—!
An endless cold wind blew in from somewhere. Every time it brushed past, their foreheads stung with cold, but with so many broken windows, they had no idea where or how to block it. The only light was a single red flashlight turned down to its lowest setting. At least it wouldn’t shine too far while still letting them see right in front of them.
They lay there side by side against the wind for about ten minutes. Sheriff, who had pulled his padding hood over his head and was using his backpack as a pillow, asked skeptically.
“…But is this really any better than sleeping outside?”
“Probably?”
Jinwoo, arms crossed, nodded and muttered as if to himself.
“We should bring sleeping bags next time we come out. I bet there are some at the department store.”
It was a little better for him since he was hugging Samsuk-i, but it was definitely cold.
“Can we even use sleeping bags? If we have to unzip them in an emergency and fumble around, it might screw us over… Nah, forget it!”
Suddenly jumping to his feet, Sheriff began lifting tables and arranging them around their mattresses. In other words, he was trying to create a very shallow barrier by laying the tables on their sides. Jinwoo and Mingu, who had been quietly watching, wordlessly stood up and helped.
“Way better! Now it’s definitely warmer in here, right?”
Once the table wall was complete, Sheriff lay back down on his mattress with a proud look. Jinwoo and Mingu returned to their spots without much comment. They weren’t at all convinced such a flimsy barrier could actually block the wind. Another ten minutes or so passed, and Sheriff grumbled softly.
“…It’s the same, fuck.”
“You—stop trying to use your head.”
Mingu spat out the words in a tone halfway between advice and mockery. Since it wasn’t exactly wrong, Sheriff simply shut his mouth tight instead of arguing back.
Steady, steady.
Right beside him came the calm, stable breathing of Jinwoo, who had already fallen asleep. It was the relaxed, happy rhythm of someone sleeping on a luxury hotel bed. Sheriff turned to look at him and thought:
Just how fucking cold must those mountains in Gangwon have been for even this dull bastard to say he couldn’t sleep…?
“Huuuuum… Hmm…”
Left alone on the third-floor rooftop, Yubin had pulled a chair right up to the railing and sat down. He slowly scanned the surroundings while humming a very quiet tune. All the while, his hands kept fidgeting at his waist, practicing knot-tying.
Swish—! Swish—!
It was a repetitive action of tying and untying a very simple basic knot, but for Yubin it was important work. When his real hand and prosthetic worked together, it was surprisingly difficult and didn’t flow smoothly. It was as if the vivid sensations from his right hand kept interfering with the feeling in his left.
“Lulu… lulut…”
Sometimes when his left hand wouldn’t move as intended, irritation would rise, but Yubin soothed himself with humming and continued repeating the simple motions. Alex had said that how far the prosthetic could function depended entirely on the user’s proficiency. So for now, all he could do was practice steadily. He believed that one day this practice might save his life.
In truth… simply being able to wear such advanced prosthetic technology was already an incredible stroke of luck. Of course, it would have been far better if his arm had never been cut off… but in this world, one had to focus on what had been gained rather than what was lost.
Click—!
When he turned on the light on his watch, the numbers 9:46 appeared. It had already been an hour and a half since he started night watch duty. Yubin rubbed his eyes, which were heavy with fatigue. In another hour and a half, he could switch with Mingu and finally end the day.
The area around the Han River, now submerged in heavy night, had grown so dark that almost nothing was visible. Only by narrowing his eyes and relying on the moonlight could he barely make out faint outlines.
“Haaaa…”
A white breath escaped Yubin’s lips along with a sigh as he stared blankly ahead. Gazing at the city nightscape that held not a single light made him feel endlessly lonely. It was a strange emotion that couldn’t possibly be expressed with mere words like “scary” or “eerie.”
I wonder if Jenny’s asleep by now?
Yubin thought of Jenny. When his mood dropped, thinking of her was the most effective way to keep himself from sinking into sadness. Last night, he had secretly given her one of his t-shirts. She had asked because holding onto clothes that smelled like him helped her fall asleep better. Back at the welfare center, they used to fall asleep facing each other…
Splash—! Splash—!
The sound of the river water lapping against the hull brushed past his ears. The water flowed, the wind blew. That was all. The dazzling night view and vibrant city he remembered no longer existed. The only things moving in this moment were the zombies. They alone marched on without stopping, whether it was day or night.
Groaaaaar—!
The distant roar of zombies echoed from far away. Though he couldn’t see them clearly, Yubin knew they were the ones with the golden sun balloons attached. It was about the time in their cycle for them to appear. If he had to name one advantage of zombies, it was that. These things… moved as regularly as clockwork.
Step—! Step—!
About thirty minutes later, a single dark silhouette slowly approached the pier that connected the floating café to the Han River promenade. It was a zombie.
Groaak—! Gak—! Graaak—!
The zombie, which had been letting out strange noises and twitching its body several times, walked right up to the edge of the pier and suddenly stopped. Yubin had no idea why it had ignored the vast Ttukseom Park and plaza to come this way instead.
Maybe it had an unusually developed sense of heat and had detected the warmth from the generator running behind the floating café. Or it could simply be coincidence. Either way, the important thing was that a zombie was now standing right in front of their hiding place.
“Seriously…”
Yubin, who had been observing it through his night-vision goggles, let out a short sigh. It felt strange to be safely watching a single zombie like this. The longer he observed, the more clearly he recognized its individual traits. It was the kind of feeling he could never have in a hectic fight surrounded by multiple zombies.
It was a male zombie who looked roughly the same age as Yubin himself. Though it was now horribly mangled, its clothing and hairstyle still gave a rough idea. The large headphones hanging around its neck particularly caught his attention.
What was it listening to right before it died? And why are those headphones still hanging around its neck without falling off…?
Click—! Gak—!
As if thinking about something, the headphone zombie began pacing back and forth in front of the promenade stairs and the pier like it was circling a track, muttering quietly. Maybe it had decided this was its new territory. Stupid bastard.
“Just go already.”
After watching it for a while, Yubin lowered his night-vision goggles and muttered indifferently.
“If you keep doing that until morning, I’ll have to kill you.”