Chapter 3 Part 10

“Aaaagh-.”

I screamed, holding the zombie from behind, and ran to the wall that Yoo Min-ho had broken down earlier. Then, I pushed the thrashing body into the gap in the broken wall. And then, I immediately stood the ice cream freezer next to it upright and blocked the hole. It seemed that a person’s strength could become superhuman in an urgent situation. I shook my head slightly from side to side and went back to the firefighter. He looked greatly shocked by the sight of the zombie with its intestines hanging out.

“Listen carefully. As you can see, people whose bodies are damaged to the point where they should be dead are attacking anything they see. They have no reason and can’t communicate. The biggest problem is… that people who are attacked become infected with the same condition. You must never open the shutter carelessly until a solution is found. So… until a cure or vaccine… is found…”

Even as I spoke, I felt that something was off. Was there a vaccine for the zombie virus? At least not in the scenario I wrote. It was a story about the world ending, not about overcoming adversity.

I spoke in a hoarse voice to the firefighter, who stood there with a bewildered expression.

“Can you also do welding?”

“…Yes? Yes.”

“Then, please weld the part you just cut.”

As I was about to turn around to check on Yoo Min-ho, the firefighter spoke urgently.

“Should we get you out of here? We can weld it after cutting the shutter and getting you two out…”

When I heard that, all sorts of thoughts went through my head. Should I just go out like this? It seemed like it wouldn’t be a bad idea to wait in a safe place for the government to come up with a response. Do Ji-hyuk was still in the management office, but there was a small amount of food and a water purifier. He could hold out for a few days. A solution might be found even if I didn’t do anything…

But the moment I approached Yoo Min-ho, thinking that I should at least get him out, I no longer needed to hesitate. I spoke to the firefighter in a flat voice.

“…No. We’re fine. Go to the front door… and please weld it.”

Yoo Min-ho was sitting still, leaning against the ice cream freezer I had just set up. His body shook greatly every time the zombie hit the wall from the other side. I sat down next to Yoo Min-ho without a word and stared at his face. I could see the skin around the long scratch from his chin to his neck turning black. I could tell he noticed my gaze because he spoke in a casual voice.

“…Why don’t you go out? I’ll try not to change while they’re welding.”

“…..”

I was at a loss for words. He had already died twice before my eyes. Once at the real estate office, and once on the emergency stairs going up to the second floor. This was the third… no, the fourth time. If you include the memory of him lying on the hospital bed.

Ironically, after failing the plan, I didn’t feel that bad. I just felt the tension release, and my whole body felt languid. The glass in the front of the convenience store was all broken, letting in the cold winter air. The firefighter seemed to be doing the welding as I asked, as he was nowhere to be seen.

The siren and the grinder, which had been so loud that it hurt my ears, disappeared, and everything was quiet. The little zombie under the beverage refrigerator was struggling and making dull noises, but for some reason, the situation felt calm. At least compared to the previous two situations where Yoo Min-ho died in front of me, he wouldn’t die from being bitten by a zombie. I leaned my body against his shoulder and spoke as gently as possible.

“I could never have made it this far alone. It’s all thanks to you.”

“…I don’t think this is the time to be having a leisurely chat… I keep feeling nauseous. I think I should go to the chicken restaurant… Haa, after I go, knock over another one of those beverage refrigerators-“

“It’s okay, look at the hallway. Anyway, there’s no hope even if I survive alone. I’ll just stay with you until the end.”

Yoo Min-ho, who was about to get up, slumped down on the floor as if he had lost all his strength. His chest was rising and falling rapidly, as if his condition was visibly deteriorating. Nevertheless, he joked with a voice tinged with laughter.

“…Wow, you must really love me. You are my stalker after all.”

“…..”

“Haa… But did Lee Chae-eun always look like this? It’s strange… I can’t remember… You’re really handsome now that I look at you… Why didn’t I know that… There’s no way you’re a different person, so why does it feel like you’re a different person? Crazy…”

“…Stop talking.”

“That’s too harsh… I’m scared, so I need to talk. Haa… I have a cat at home… Her name is Gamsungyul… She’s a very cute yellow cat… I wish I could have shown her to you… Haa…”

Yoo Min-ho’s face was now pale, even bluish. He made a wheezing sound every time he breathed, as if he was having trouble breathing. Somehow, I couldn’t bring myself to look at Yoo Min-ho’s face, so I just stared at the night streets outside the shutter, and then I apologized without realizing it.

“…I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“Just everything.”

“…You’re a strange guy. Why are you apologizing when I followed you out here on my own accord? And… people die anyway. I lived a life that everyone would envy, so I have no regrets… Stop being pathetic and come here… tie this up.”

He took off his belt and held it out to me. For a moment, I didn’t understand what he wanted and stared at him blankly. The guy urged me as if he was frustrated.

“Tie my wrists. That way… I can die in peace. Haa, hurry up…”

His hand, which was holding the belt, was trembling pitifully. I stared at the belt that Yoo Min-ho held out to me for a while, then threw it on the floor and instead clasped his hand with mine. I remembered how he had asked me to hold his hand because he was scared a few rounds ago. Feeling the abnormally cold temperature of his palm, I began to speak meaningless words that would be forgotten in a few minutes.

“…Min-ho, I think you’re right.”

“…..”

“…Someone very precious to me must have died. That’s why I even thought that I wanted the world to end.”

“…Haa, ugh.”

“It’s hard to be poor, and it’s unfair that the world is so unjust, but still… there’s room for overcoming that. But when a person dies… it’s like a world that existed with that person disappears.”

“…Crazy, are you writing a poem?”

I smiled faintly at Yoo Min-ho’s sarcastic tone. Along with the smile, tears flowed down my cheeks again. I wasn’t sad at all, but it was strange as if something was wrong with my body. It was a very strange feeling that my emotions, body, and memory were all out of sync.

After the fire truck’s siren was turned off, the zombies that had gathered at the entrance began to disperse one by one. Most of the zombies were now starting to take an interest in Yoo Min-ho and me inside the convenience store.

Usually, zombies in other movies have very angry expressions, but the zombies in this world I created all had expressionless faces. As if they had no emotions, no pain, no suffering. In a way, I even felt envious.

“…I saw you die.”

“…Keeok, keuk.”

“It was in a hospital… You were lying on a white bed as if you were asleep.”

“Haa…”

“When I saw that… how should I put it. Was I sad? No, rather than sad, it just felt like everything was over. My life, the world, everything. …Isn’t it funny?”

At some point, Yoo Min-ho couldn’t even respond anymore. I could hear the sound of him gasping for air next to me, and I could feel his body trembling intermittently. The more he did, the more tightly I held his hand. Because he must be scared. He must have been scared then, too. When he died on the cold road. I wanted to make up for it now since I couldn’t hold his hand then.

Now, I finally understood why I wrote this damn story. It was because of Yoo Min-ho. I held his cold, stiff hand tightly and poured out my sorrow.

“What were we? Do you know? Were we family? Or-“

At that moment, dark blood gushed out of Yoo Min-ho’s mouth and stained the floor. I couldn’t bear to look at his face as his life ebbed away, so I lowered my gaze and stared at the blood-stained, dark floor with trembling eyes.

…It will be okay. We have a next time, even if we die, we can come back to life and start again. I can do better next time. I will save Yoo Min-ho, I will save Do Ji-hyuk, and I will eradicate the zombies from this damn world. So even in this flawed world that I created, I would make him live in a perfect form. 

My own heart was pounding so loudly that it seemed to swallow the whole world, and my thoughts were a mess. At that moment, Yoo Min-ho called me.

“…Hyung, Ki-hyeon hyung…”

The moment I heard his fading voice calling my name, my heart swelled with an unknown emotion and I raised my head. I was suddenly sitting in the cafe. Yoo Min-ho had stopped breathing.