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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Xrecker
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He was numb.
He couldn’t process what he was seeing, why it was here.
He was holding a piece of paper.
An A4 sheet.
It didn’t look like it had been printed; it seemed to have been run through a copier.
A phone number was written on the paper.
Along with the short message:
[Please contact us.]
And below the message and the number…
A picture.
A glass wall.
And beyond the glass wall, the shattered glass of a side entrance.
He could vaguely see the supermarket entrance beyond the glass.
Human beasts standing at the entrance.
A man wielding swords, slashing at them.
…It was him.
He was printed on the paper.
Soo-hyun, Ye-eun, Eun-seo, Hoon, and the others stood beside and in front of him, staring at him with wide eyes.
So many questions flooded his mind at once that he didn’t know where to begin.
He slowly opened his mouth.
“…So where did this come from?”
Stinky, no, Han-tae, replied,
“Yes, hyung. I was on the roof, and this small plane flew right over our heads. Something was falling like rain, so I went to see what it was, and it was this.”
“…You mean the light aircraft?”
“Yes, hyung.”
He chewed on his lower lip and looked down at the paper again.
The light aircraft that had started appearing recently.
The same light aircraft that had been popping up all over the sky.
It had been scattering these.
Flyers with his picture on them.
Everyone was looking at him.
…He still didn’t know what to say.
He looked at Han-tae.
“…Why were you on the rooftop?”
Han-tae started to answer, then stopped and glanced at the others.
He said slowly,
“…Quit smoking. Or at least cut down.”
Han-tae nodded, looking down.
“Yes, hyung.”
Since they couldn’t open the windows anymore, the only places Han-tae could smoke were the fifth and sixth floors, or the rooftop.
Anyway.
That wasn’t important.
“…But why is this here…”
He muttered, looking at the others, and Soo-hyun’s expression was strange.
…Ah.
…Ah!
Soo-hyun!
This scene, it was the scene from when he had brought everyone into this building, when he’d wiped out the human beasts at the entrance!
Soo-hyun had filmed it with her phone!
He looked at Soo-hyun.
He wasn’t sure what his own expression looked like.
His eyes were angry, but his lips were smiling.
“What did you do?”
Soo-hyun inhaled sharply and looked around.
Everyone’s attention was on her.
She said,
“…I uploaded it… to YouTube…”
You…Tube.
YouTube.
YouTube?!
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
Soo-hyun held out her phone to him.
She already had YouTube open.
He took her phone; it was the same video she had shown him before, the one she had filmed.
He pressed play.
Everyone crowded around to watch.
The corpses strewn across the street.
He was walking towards the line of bodies lying between the supermarket side entrance and the sidewalk.
His hand rested on the hilt of his sword, his back to the camera, walking confidently, without a trace of fear.
Then he broke into a run.
And then he sprinted up the stairs and disappeared inside.
The human beasts’ heads swiveled.
Kraaa!
Their roars echoed.
And then, in an instant, he whirled through them.
A whoosh and a splatter, blood spraying from their heads like fountains, and the charging human beasts collapsed, motionless.
He stood there, covered in blood.
Swords in hand.
Slowly lowering his head.
“…………”
He felt their gazes again.
Even though they had seen him fight countless times, this scene was truly awe-inspiring.
He avoided their gazes and scrolled down to the comments section below the video.
[Nice editing. But is this really appropriate at a time like this…?]
[Impossible. It’s a lie.]
[If this is real, please save us.]
[Don’t get your hopes up. Someone stuck at home probably edited this from a movie or something. Don’t be fooled.]
[Zombie crisis and superhero. While people starve to death. Yeah.]
[Why would you upload something like this?]
…The comments weren’t positive.
No one believed it.
That was understandable.
He wouldn’t have believed it either.
“…When did you upload this?”
Soo-hyun smiled sheepishly and said,
“The next day…?”
The next day…
So, almost immediately.
He handed her phone back and looked at the flyer again.
…Please contact us.
He didn’t know who had printed and distributed this flyer.
But he knew a few things.
This person believed the YouTube video.
And they knew roughly where the video had been filmed.
That was why they had been flying around the city.
Perhaps they hadn’t dropped the flyer directly onto the supermarket building because they assumed it was just a group stopping by to scavenge.
He figured they had probably been scattering the flyers around the neighborhood, assuming whoever he was lived nearby.
“Sung-hoon, what are you going to do? Are you going to contact them?”
Jun-hyuk asked.
Hoon said,
“W…What if something goes wrong if we contact them, Sir? Those things are swarming outside. If something happens… this place…”
…Hoon had a point.
It had been ten days since the zombie wave had engulfed the city.
So far, they had enjoyed a period of peace.
But they couldn’t afford to make any rash moves.
The zombies weren’t moving yet.
If they provoked them, they might swarm the building, and everything would be over.
He looked out the window.
It was night.
His daily routine had ended hours ago.
It was well past their usual bedtime.
But no one could sleep.
If he didn’t say anything, they would keep waiting.
He took a deep breath and said,
“It’s late, so let’s rest for today. I’ll think about contacting them while I sleep. Go back and rest.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Okay, Sung-hoon.”
They said goodnight and returned to their rooms.
The next morning.
When he went up to the rooftop with his bow, everyone followed him.
They wanted to know.
Whether he would contact them or not.
It was probably the most exciting thing to happen in the building, where they had nothing to do but eat, play, and have sex.
Or the most worrying, depending on who you asked.
He set the two cylindrical quivers filled with arrows on the ground and turned around.
Everyone was looking at him.
“Oppa, what are you going to do? Have you thought about it?”
“Sung-hoon Oppa, contact them. Okay?”
“B…But I’m worried…”
Soo-hyun voiced her concern, and the others chimed in.
After ten days, they had learned that having a quiet conversation on the rooftop wouldn’t provoke the zombies swarming below.
But having so many people talking at once wasn’t a good idea.
He raised his hand.
They fell silent.
“I’ll contact them.”
All eyes were on him.
He said,
“Hoon is right. We can’t afford any unforeseen circumstances. So, if they say they want to come here or anything like that, we’ll obviously refuse. But I need to ask who they are and why they’re distributing these flyers.”
Their expressions varied.
Some nodded in agreement; others looked worried.
He placed his bow in its case on his back and took out his phone.
And dialed the number.
“…Huu.”
“Oppa, put it on speaker, speakerphone.”
Soo-hyun waved her hands.
He turned on the speakerphone, and everyone gathered closer.
…Seriously.
It was just a phone call.
Their anticipation made him nervous.
He cleared his throat and pressed the call button.
The phone rang.
A monotonous ringing tone.
He heard a click.
Someone had answered.
“Hello. Who is this?”
It was a man.
His voice was polite.
It was hard to tell from his voice alone, but he sounded like he was in his late thirties, maybe older.
“You distributed the flyers. I’m calling after seeing one. Where are you?”
“Ah, yes. The flyers.”
The man’s tone shifted, sounding slightly tired.
“I apologize, but we are looking for the man with the swords in the flyer. If you are calling because you want to know who he is, or if you want to know whether the video is real or fake, we have nothing to say.”
…Ah.
So, they had received a lot of calls.
That made sense; they had distributed so many flyers, and there were other survivors who would have found them while scavenging.
Judging by the fatigue in his voice and tone, he must have received countless calls.
He said,
“I’m the person you’re looking for.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I’m the man with the swords in the video.”
Silence fell on the other end of the line.
He could hear some commotion.
After a moment, someone else spoke.
“Did you just say you are him?”
It was an older voice.
Raspy and rough.
He replied,
“Yes.”
The old voice on the other end spoke cautiously.
“Excuse me, but may I ask for your name? And I would also like to know if the video is authentic. Isn’t it fabricated?”
He looked around at the others.
Jung Eun-seo.
Eun-seo looked at him and slowly shook her head.
He nodded and said,
“I’m afraid I can’t tell you my name. I can only tell you that the video is not fabricated. But where are you? Who are you, and why are you looking for me?”
The old voice replied,
“This is the Presidential Office of the Republic of Korea.”
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