Even when I tried going onto the internet or SNS, all I saw were messages saying that nothing could be loaded. This was bad. It really seemed like this was real.
The back of my head tingled.
No, this was a family healing story, wasn’t it? The genre was modern romance. But now it had suddenly changed into a zombie apocalypse? Then there was nothing the same except for the keyword modern, so was it really okay for it to be flipped this completely? If it had at least been a hunter story or a fantasy story, I would have been shocked, but I could have understood it.
If this had happened after the original story ended, I could at least have suspected that it was happening because the story was over, or because I had interfered with it…… but of all days, today was the day the original story began. In other words, something had gone seriously wrong.
“Will my brothers be all right…….”
If I had known beforehand, I could have prepared myself mentally, or stubbornly kept my brothers at home.
With one leg trembling, I repeatedly tried calling and sending messages, but all that appeared were notices saying they could not be sent because of a network problem. It was not as though I had slept for days and days. I had only slept for a few hours after seeing my brothers off, and yet communications were already completely down…….
“I’m going crazy.”
No matter what I thought about, everything was the worst. I left my phone charging, got up, and headed toward the window. When I slightly lifted the curtain and looked outside, the nurse who had been alive only a few minutes ago had become a zombie and was wandering around the garden.
There were now three choices given to me. First, I could hold on as best as I could while hoping that at least one of my brothers was alive and would come to get me. This was the safest choice if I could be certain that someone would come within a week. But if it went beyond that, things would become difficult.
That was because even if I went downstairs right now, closed the door, and no more zombies came inside, I only had enough medicine left for one week. I would probably be fine without taking it for about one day, but once it went beyond two days, things would become difficult. Even if I miraculously held out for a long time, I doubted there would be enough food for that long.
“I hate the thought of starving to death…….”
Second, I could go outside.
This was not even worth imagining. What could I possibly do outside with this frail body? Even if I encountered a zombie, forget killing it, even running away would be difficult. Even if I was really, really lucky and did not encounter any zombies, moving around itself would be a problem.
Unfortunately, I did not have a driver’s license, and I did not know the area well. Since I had only ever gone back and forth between home and the hospital, that was only natural, but on top of that, I had a terrible sense of direction, so even if it was a road I knew, there was no guarantee that I would arrive properly and on time. The second choice was no different from ‘Let’s Excitingly Die at Random.’
Then the last, third choice…….
Vroooom!
At the sound of a car engine coming from the house next door, the zombie reacted sharply and began to run. Contrary to my expectation that it would crash into the wall because of the huge fence, the zombie climbed over it in an instant and crossed into the neighboring house.
With a thud! like a heavy body falling, someone’s scream rang out. The moment I saw all the other zombies run toward the house next door after hearing that sound, I squeezed my eyes shut and lowered the curtain I had lifted.
“…….”
Third, I could simply accept this reality and die quickly before I suffered.
If I chose the last one, there were a few more options. I could hang myself, slit my wrists, jump headfirst out of the window, or put the zombie bodily fluids scattered across the living room floor into my body and become a zombie just like them.
The last one seemed like the best option, but there was still a strange, unpleasant feeling that kept me from doing it without hesitation. Was it because of the hope that perhaps my brothers were still alive?
“I don’t want to die…….”
I had thought that this time, I would finally be able to live past twenty. Even though my weak body made things a little inconvenient, it had been a satisfying life. I staggered over to the bed, sat on the edge, and rubbed my face roughly.
The screams of the neighbor outside stopped. Then the body I had barely managed to calm began trembling again, and eventually my vision blurred. Drip, drip. Even though my cheeks became soaked with tears in an instant, I did not even have the strength to wipe my face.
What had happened to my brothers? Were they safe? Surely they had not all died, right? What if they were hurt? If I had known this would happen, I would have just hugged them when they whined for one this morning.
To me, they were not simply siblings. They were the first family I had ever had across all the lives I had lived, the people who had given me my name, and irreplaceable people who had filled the ignorant me with countless memories and kindness.
Instead of fear or terror, a terrible sense of loss crushed my entire body. The fact that until this morning I had been excited at the thought of seeing the heroine felt like a dream. My breathing rose all the way to my throat, and only after I saw blood did I barely manage to stop crying.
At the same time, everything became meaningless. There was nothing someone like me, who got a nosebleed just from crying a little, could do. It was not as though I had an exceptional mind, nor did I have physical abilities great enough to kill a zombie with one blow, nor did I have the courage to go to my brothers’ workplaces to check whether they were alive or dead.
At this rate, it was no different from my previous life…… Had I let my guard down too much because I was inside a healing novel? But anyone would have acted similarly to me. If anything, I thought it would be stranger to live in an ordinary reality while preparing for the possibility that zombies might suddenly appear.
“……I’m going crazy.”
I knew that rationalizing it would not change anything, but even if I stopped, it was not as though I could think of another solution. What should I do, what in the world should I do…….
That was when confusion piled on top of confusion.
Bang-!
Something struck the window with a loud noise. I flinched, stood up, and staggered backward. From the window beyond the curtain came a gurgling sound, like phlegm rattling in someone’s throat.
When it had climbed that high wall in an instant earlier, I should have realized that it could enter through my bedroom window at any time.
Thud, thud, thud
Each time the dull impact continued, the curtain shook violently. What my back struck as I kept retreating was the chair and the tall pile of books I had stacked up.
Before I became acquainted with the zombie face-to-face, I wanted to hurry out of the room and close the door. However, the chair without wheels did not move an inch, as though mocking my trembling body.
Crash-!
“Kyaaaak!”
“Gasp……!”
At the same time as the books piled on top came crashing down, the zombie finally broke through the window and came inside. It had shattered the glass with its head, so fragments of glass were embedded all over its face, but even as it rolled across the floor, rather than showing any pain, the moment it saw me, it lunged like a beast that had found prey. Ah, fuck.
My mind kept warning me that I had to leave now, or swing the chair, but my terrified body had gone rigid and would not move. The only thing I could do was squeeze my eyes shut and accept death.
Please, let it end in one go before I even have time to feel pain……!
KWA-A-A-ANG-!
Before my desperate prayer could even end, a deafening sound incomparable to the one before exploded right beside me. The wind rushed past so violently that my ears rang, and the tears I thought had stopped streamed down again.
What had appeared this time…….
I did not even want to check, so I kept my eyes shut and accepted my fate, when something settled over my head with a fluttering sound.
“Don’t cry. Is it because your brother came too late?”
And then came a familiar voice.
I immediately lifted my eyelids and blinked rapidly to bring my blurred focus back into place. The moment my vision returned to normal, what I saw was Baek Hyeonwoo standing there looking no different from when he had left for work.
“……Brother!”
Even his lightly styled hair was still exactly the same. Overwhelmed at the sight of my eldest brother’s face wearing the same gentle smile as always, I hurriedly threw myself into his arms. He quickly caught the coat slipping behind me, placed it back over my head, and said,
“There’s too much dust here, so it’s dirty. Keep my coat over you. There’s a mask in the right pocket, so put that on too.”
I reflexively nodded and took the mask out of the pocket, but when I saw the blood scattered across the floor, I belatedly remembered the zombie and hurriedly turned my head. What if we both got bitten like this……!
“……Huh?”
However, what entered my sight was a lump of something crushed beyond recognition. Rather than thinking it was disgusting, my first thought was that it looked like a lump of red clay.
There was blood splattered around it, and I could see remains that seemed to be hair and bone, but there was nothing else left, to the point that I even began to wonder, ‘Was that really the zombie from earlier?’
“That…….”
“Hm? Ah, that lump of meat won’t move anymore. Your brother made sure it could never move again, so our Sihyeon should stop crying too.”
No, what? How did you even do that?
Whether I stood there with my mouth open in shock or not, Baek Hyeonwoo smiled brightly as usual, wiped my wet cheeks, took the mask from my hand, and gently placed it over my face.