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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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A woman in casual clothes awkwardly gave a slight bow.
“Yes… I’m fine. …So-eun, are you okay?”
The girl in school uniform nodded.
Just looking at her, there didn’t seem to be any injuries.
If there were, those bastards would have made all kinds of hell about it, given their nature.
Anyway, as long as they weren’t bitten, that’s all that mattered.
If they had been bitten…
The baton’s handle was rough. I could swing it with all my might without it slipping from my grasp.
…Shit.
I shouldn’t think about that. It was just fortunate they weren’t bitten.
My stomach growled.
Ah… I was hungry.
I carefully pressed my ear against the storage room door. Gurgling and growling sounds came intermittently. They didn’t seem to be trying to break down the door anymore, but they were still out there.
I didn’t know how many there were.
I pointed at the door and whispered,
“They’re still out there. We need to be quiet.”
The girl in casual clothes nodded.
I carefully stepped away from the door and leaned against the wall.
My stomach growled again.
Ugh, damn it. I couldn’t take the hunger anymore. I’d only had Gatorade and water all day, and I felt weak.
I should eat something.
I lifted my bag. Damn it, it was so cold, it was practically frosted over. The frozen dumplings hadn’t thawed at all.
Could I even chew them like this?
“Ha…”
I carefully unzipped my bag and sighed. The girl in casual clothes offered me a cream-filled red bean bun.
“Here… this… if you’d like…”
I looked back and forth between the bun and the girl.
“That… wasn’t that something you were saving to eat yourself?”
My stomach growled again. Ugh, damn it.
The girl said, “I… It’s okay. We… we had ramen at home. We just came here to buy some snacks, just in case…”
Her hand trembled. Tears welled up in her eyes.
“…What… What’s happening? Why…”
Hmm…
If I calmly and kindly explained that it was the apocalypse, would she calm down?
I’d bet against it.
I nodded and took the bun.
“Thanks.”
Rustle.
Even the sound of unwrapping the bun made me nervous.
Damn it.
I took a large bite. The soft bread, sweet cream, and red bean paste filled my mouth. This was incredibly good.
Probably because I was starving.
Damn, this was delicious.
I munched on the bun and looked around the storage room. The lights were on, boxes were piled everywhere, and there were no windows.
…No windows.
“…Hmm.”
That was good. I immediately pulled out my phone. The first thing I needed to do was call my parents.
…No answer.
Damn it!
“Ha…”
My little sister, that hellion, wasn’t answering either.
Damn it, I had to keep trying.
Anyway…
My battery was at 65%.
Where could I charge it? I’d left my charger at the gosiwon.
This was a problem…
Did convenience stores sell portable chargers?
I opened the news app as I thought about it.
[WHO Declares Global Pandemic]
News from all over the world flooded the local news section, but one headline caught my eye.
(Announcement Code/Blue):
[…The new highly contagious infectious disease appears to induce extreme aggression in infected individuals, requiring extreme caution, according to the WHO Director-General. The WHO is currently working with pharmaceutical companies around the world to identify the cause of the new infectious disease…]
…Pharmaceutical companies, my ass.
What were they going to treat these resurrected, people-eating beasts with? Penicillin?
Anything else?
[Infected Individuals Reported at Cheorwon Military Base?!]
[Series of Maritime Accidents Attributed to New Infectious Disease.]
[Road Congestion Impacts Cargo Transportation.]
[Korail Announces Suspension of Subway Services.]
…Shit…
The country was shutting down.
In just one day!
If those human beasts had appeared at a military base, did that mean the army couldn’t move freely?
Oh.
What about the president’s press conference?
[President Warns of National Crisis in Press Conference]
I clicked on the article.
[…The President acknowledged and warned of a national crisis, assuring the public that all necessary measures would be taken. However, his declaration that martial law would not be imposed has sparked strong opposition from the opposition party. A prominent military expert suggests that rumors of infected individuals appearing at military bases are true, and the president has prioritized addressing this issue…]
…So, it did happen. Even the military… was affected. Probably more and more military bases would fall. It was like… Like in StarCraft… you’ve built bases everywhere, but the enemy is spawning simultaneously at every location, and you can only defend a few. The roads were blocked, so the military couldn’t move freely. They couldn’t abandon their bases, and sending troops to help other units could result in more casualties.
…What about airstrikes?
…Come to think of it, that was problematic too.
Where would they bomb?
The areas with the most casualties were probably residential areas. Drop bombs there?
Without knowing who was infected and who wasn’t?
Even in this convenience store, those beasts were growling outside, but three people, including me, were trapped inside. If someone dropped a bomb here, I’d strangle them with my bare hands.
These girls were alive, and so was I.
There were probably many other survivors.
…So, bombing was out of the question.
That left urban warfare, but the military was stuck.
…That was the situation.
This was a headache.
…Mom, Dad.
Why weren’t they answering the phone?
Were they…?
You bitch, are you dead?
…This was driving me crazy.
“Ha…”
I buried my face in my knees and sighed. Meanwhile, the bun, oblivious to my despair, was delicious.
“…Um…”
A hoarse voice.
I glanced up. The girl in casual clothes was looking at me cautiously.
“…O… Our house is right next to that alley… W… Would you mind… taking us there…?”
…Taking them there…?
I could barely take care of myself; how could I help anyone else?
Was she kidding?
I blinked slowly and said, “…I don’t have anywhere to go either.”
I was here to go back to school, not to settle down. I needed a plane to get home. My gosiwon was far from here. I’d never even been to this neighborhood before.
Damn it.
The girl said, “…O… Our… r-rooftop room is empty… if you’d… if you’d like to stay there…”
…Rooftop room? I didn’t know what to say. I stared at her, and she continued,”The person who was living there moved out last month because they got a job somewhere else. Our… our house… we run a boarding house just up ahead.”
“…A boarding house?”
She nodded. Ah, that made sense. Boarding houses were common near universities.
“Right now… we have our family and a college student staying with us. If… if you’d like…”
“Are your parents there too?”
She shook her head. “My grandmother is there. My parents went on a trip to Japan last week… It’s just women…”
…Just women? So, they’d come out to get food and ended up in this mess. They probably wanted a man around. …Hmm…
The offer wasn’t bad. I needed to recover my Spirit regularly to level up, and the only way I knew how was to rest. I needed a place to stay.
“…Have you cleaned the rooftop room?”
The girl’s face brightened a little.
“Yes. My sister and I cleaned it thoroughly. There’s no furniture, but… we can give you some.”
Did I look like I was going to settle down and start housekeeping?
I chuckled.
“I just need a place to sleep.”
I looked at the storage room door.
This was tricky. If I knew how many of those things were out there, I could come up with a plan.
“…The problem is how we’re going to get out of here.”
I wasn’t expecting an answer. I looked around the storage room again. Was there anything useful?
I carefully opened the boxes one by one. Cola, cider, various snacks, instant ramen… all sorts of things. Tissues and sanitary pads, too.
Hmm…
Raiding a supermarket might not be a bad idea.
No.
Wait.
…Daiso?!
Daiso was perfect!
They had everything!
Maybe I could find something to use as a weapon.
…No.
Come to think of it, Daiso wasn’t going to have assault rifles, swords, or maces. Damn it, I should have thought about weapons before. All I could think of was Daiso.
I opened every box, but there wasn’t anything particularly useful.
“Ha…”
Wait.
The shelves and the boxes were stacked on…
They looked like metal pipes.
They were adjustable shelves, held together with screws.
I could disassemble them if I could loosen the screws.
The girls just watched me.
I didn’t care. I started trying to unscrew them with my fingers. Damn it, this was tough without any tools.
The girl in casual clothes, who had been watching me, pulled something out of her pocket and handed it to me.
A key.
“T-try this…”
I nodded and took the key, trying to fit it into the Phillips head screws. Damn it, it didn’t work.
“Ha…”
Anything else?
Then, the girl in the school uniform, who had been silent until now, tossed something at my feet.
A box cutter.
As she threw it, I saw her wrist…
Covered in scars.
She’d been cutting herself. A lot.
The girl in casual clothes glared at her. “So-eun. Are you still carrying that around?”
So-eun, the school uniform siren, didn’t answer. She just buried her face in her knees. What a frustrating girl. She’d been chattering away at the convenience store entrance.
I picked up the box cutter and tried it on the screws. This might work.
“Thanks.”
I slowly started unscrewing the shelves.
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…
If she’s been cutting herself before the apocalypse. How much worse will her mental health become?
Might improve honestly. In a world where everything gets turned upside down, even emotions/personalities can flip, for better or worse.