Chapter 1 Part 4

I swallowed dryly and looked towards the back door of the cafe. There, a figure in their 50s, dressed in a dark gray suit… something that used to be a person, was repeatedly banging their head against the glass door of the cafe. With each impact, a sound of a watermelon bursting could be heard, and the transparent glass door was stained with red blood like paint. As the partially tilting door recoiled and failed to stay in place, the zombie that had hit the glass door stumbled backwards. And then, it got up again, pushed the glass door, and fell down in a cycle of repetition. 

It was a severely degraded intelligence, as if their cognitive abilities had regressed. Then, luckily, the zombie’s body fell forward, and the glass door was fixed in place. 

…For now, it seemed possible to escape through the back door. 

However, it was not an easy task to move to the back door without being caught by the more than twenty zombies filling the space. Naturally, I was once again caught by a zombie that lunged at me, tearing at my arm. With a sensation of flesh being torn apart, I screamed in disgust and pulled off the head that clung to my arm like a leech. It was a familiar face. It was the part-time worker who had delivered my first death to me in the first round.

When the cafe part-time worker made his first move, the zombies that were aimlessly wandering inside the cafe suddenly rushed towards me with a single purpose. In the cruel sensation of being mercilessly torn apart, I screamed in agony as my throat was ripped apart, and it was game over. 

Once again, I was back to square one. 

This time, I decided to lock as many people as possible, including the part-time worker, in the restroom. My intention was to minimize the number of people turning into zombies. At first, the people looked at me as if I were crazy, but as soon as the first zombie started tearing someone apart, they voluntarily rushed into the restroom. Nine of us endured an anxious time inside the cramped restroom. However, none of them followed me, who was trying to escape to the outside world. They must have thought it wise to wait patiently for rescue, just like I did in the previous round. 

Fortunately, the cafe was relatively empty this time. Unlike the previous round, the back door was wide open, indicating that there were minor changes in the situation other than the main stream of zombies appearing and devouring people. Considering the people inside the restroom, the number of zombies roaming around was too small. Most likely, it seemed that the majority of zombies had escaped from the cafe. 

I quickly walked through the back door, and unlike the dark cafe, the corridor of the shopping complex was brightly lit by fluorescent lights. After repeating death five times, I finally managed to escape from the cafe. However, there was no time to bask in relief. The current time was 19:40, exactly 24 minutes before the potential regression. I wanted to gather as much information about the situation as possible before that happened.

As I stepped out of the cafe, I noticed a zombie at the entrance of the building where the elevator was located, and another zombie with a limp at the end of the corridor on the opposite side. I moved cautiously, keeping a close eye on them. My plan was to get out of the building and see if I could escape from this damn place, hoping that I could break free from the repetitive flow of time. 

I tiptoed slowly from my heels, trying to minimize any noise, and carefully made my way towards the main entrance located in the center of the building. Just like the cafe, there was a possibility that the shutters were down at the main entrance, but I wanted to confirm it with my own eyes. I could feel the cold sweat trickling down my back. Perhaps it was because my whole body was covered in goosebumps, making my senses more heightened. I took small breaths as I reached the center where the entrance was located and turned towards the main entrance. 

Suddenly, a student in a school uniform, or rather a zombie, who had been in a blind spot, noticed my presence and jumped out in front of me. I tried to dodge quickly, but I was pushed by the zombie and ended up rolling on the floor. At the same time, beyond my inverted field of vision, I saw another zombie lurking at the end of the corridor, running towards me with eerie movements. It felt like my heart was going to stop. How could I have escaped from that cafe, only to die so futilely once again? In the midst of fear, I saw feet rushing towards me, two, four, six… It seemed to be increasing rapidly. My mind snapped back to reality. 

I didn’t want to be bitten and torn apart by human teeth ever again. The cruel sensation of being torn apart and having my flesh chewed on was etched in my brain, even though time had turned back. It was vividly chilling. 

“Kuaaghhh…!”

With an eerie sound, a zombie in a school uniform lunged at me. In a fallen state, I grabbed the zombie’s forehead and neck, pushing its face away. Blood gushed out from the zombie’s torn throat, staining my chest. The zombie’s eyes were bloodshot and it gnashed its teeth fiercely, causing my body to tremble with each growl. It was truly a vivid and intense scene that could cause trauma. 

But I desperately tried to regain my composure. I knew that if I hesitated any longer, it would be a 100% death. The survival instinct surged from deep within my heart. I wanted to stay alive. I didn’t want to die. It was a natural desire as a human being. 

Without any rational thinking, I instinctively kicked the zombie’s chest and started running in the opposite direction. There was one zombie confronting me head-on, but there were multiple zombies chasing me from behind. I had to find a way to escape no matter what. 

With my mouth wide open, I slid on the ground just before colliding with the charging zombie. Surprisingly, it was a successful move. The zombie couldn’t agilely turn its body and collided with the other zombies chasing me, causing them to fall. 

But there was no time to relax. I needed to find a place to hide. I pushed the back door of the nearest store, but it was locked and wouldn’t budge. As I was about to give up and move to the next store, I saw a frightened woman looking at me through the glass door. 

“…The door… Please open the door! Monsters… there are monsters behind me…”

But before I could finish my sentence, the woman averted her gaze and disappeared inside. I couldn’t help but think that I would die again if this continued. I quickly gave up and pulled the back door of the next store, but once again, the glass door was tightly shut. 

“Damn it… I want to live, but I’m going to die!” 

Terrified, I poured out my words haphazardly and desperately ran to the next store. Just as the zombie chasing me was about to grab me from behind, I managed to open the store door and quickly locked the upper part of the glass door. 

At the same time, the gazes of the people inside the store instantly focused on me. In the distance, I saw inverted writing on a sheet of paper near the entrance that said ‘Heavenly Sky Real Estate’.

…The place I entered was a real estate agency.