GHLL Ch 4

The next day, they prepared to search the underground parking garage. They checked that the winch installed on the car was working properly and reinforced the rolltainer used for carrying goods from the general store. They added wire mesh to the steel cage to prevent it from being breached and oiled the wheels.

We also made torches. We walked around looking for sticks suitable for torch handles, split the ends, and then wrapped and inserted scraps of cloth, decaying twine, and vinyl tape. We made several of these, filled our backpacks with them, and also took one oil can each to fill with gasoline.

After finishing the preparations and getting a good night’s rest, we set out before dawn. We loaded the rolltainer into the cargo bed and drove the car towards the apartment complex that Kim Daesik and I had gone to before. On the way, the warning light indicating a fuel shortage came on, so if we couldn’t find gasoline today, we would have to abandon the car.

It would be a disaster if something went wrong and we had to flee from a swarm of ghouls. No matter how sluggish the ghouls were, they were dangerous because of their large numbers and group movements. Once surrounded by ghouls, it was not easy to escape without a means of transportation like a car.

Amid a growing sense of crisis, the car circled the apartment complex. And as planned, it stopped on the other side of the road where the entrance and exit ramp of the east gate’s underground parking garage was located. The men got out of the car, unloaded the rolltainer from the cargo bed, and blocked the road leading from the underground parking garage to the apartment complex entrance. This was to prevent, by any chance, the swarm of ghouls from rushing out of the apartment complex and surrounding the car.

After finishing that task, Kim Daesik, along with the other men, led me into the apartment building to find the emergency exit connected to the underground parking garage. As we passed the entrance with all its glass shattered, Lee Seokhyeon took out a torch and lit it. With that torch leading the way, we walked through the first-floor hallway of the building, which was extremely dark compared to the outside.

After wandering for a bit, we found the passage connected to the underground parking garage. The door was wide open and no ghouls were in sight, but since these were stairs leading to an underground area that was no different from a ghoul’s den, the tension mounted. The other men were also silent, as if they were all tense. Only Kim Daesik, without a hint of fear, strode into the pitch-black emergency exit, took the torch from Lee Seokhyeon, and shone it downwards. After confirming the bottom of the spiral staircase, he waved his hand towards Wang Yiseop.

“Take out the bait.”

Wang Yiseop took out a piece of a corpse, which had been sealed in a plastic bag, from the backpack he was carrying. It was the thigh meat, with the blood drained and the bone removed. Kim Daesik grabbed my hand, pulled it over the meat, and said.

“Clench your teeth.”

Before I could even mentally prepare myself, Kim Daesik slit my palm with a knife. The wound was quite deep in order to draw enough blood to lure the swarm of ghouls. As the flesh parted and a chilling sensation reached my bones, Kim Daesik pressed my bleeding hand against the chunk of meat and rubbed it. Then, with a torn piece of cloth, he quickly and tightly bound my wound, so tight that it hurt, to stop the bleeding.

After confirming the bleeding had stopped, he re-bandaged my wound with a new piece of cloth. Then he carefully threw the chunk of meat, wrapped in the blood-soaked cloth, deep into the underground. And for a moment, he stood in place, observing if there was any reaction from the swarm of ghouls that must be swarming below.

Sure enough, it wasn’t long before an ominous cry was heard from within.

Guwoooo…

A bizarre sound, neither human nor animal, echoed eerily through the dark passage. The men swallowed dryly, and Kim Daesik led me backward. We soon locked the emergency exit securely and left the building.

“Let’s go back to the east gate.”

At Kim Daesik’s words, we followed him back to the entrance of the underground parking garage at the east gate. A gentle slope, wide enough for a car to drive on, led to the first basement level of the parking garage. The men all took out torches from their backpacks. They had been soaked in gasoline to make them easy to light, so a few flicks of a fire stick were enough to set them ablaze. As always, they paired up, with one person holding a torch and the other a weapon, and entered the underground parking garage.

Fwoosh!

The damp and dark underground parking garage revealed itself in the light of the burning torches. The apartment complex was large, so the underground parking garage was vast, but there weren’t as many cars as we had thought. This meant there were fewer things to obstruct our view, making it easier to monitor the movements of the ghouls. It seemed they had all flocked to the source of the blood smell, as no ghouls were visible yet.

Originally, the plan was to block the entrance and exit ramp leading up from the basement after the ghouls had flocked to the bait at the bottom of the emergency exit, but the ramp was wide, so it wasn’t as easy as it sounded. It wasn’t the only ramp either, so a complete blockade was impossible anyway. We had agreed that it would be better to search the first basement level as quickly as possible and get out.

As planned, the men quickly dispersed towards buildings B and C. The directions to each building were well marked, and the pillars for each building were painted a different color, so finding our way wasn’t difficult.

Kim Daesik and I headed for building A, the farthest from the east exit, our escape route. Kim Daesik was going to the most dangerous place, taking me, the bait, with him.

As if he wasn’t afraid of the ghouls at all, Kim Daesik strode through the underground parking garage, which was engulfed in pitch-black darkness. Holding the torch high, I struggled to keep up with him. The floor was slippery with some unknown filth and moisture, and an unbearable stench emanated from all directions.

I breathed through my mouth, but that was just as unpleasant. I wanted to get out as soon as possible, but I couldn’t until we found gasoline. I suppressed my urge to hurry him and watched as Kim Daesik checked the fuel tanks of the parked cars in the yellow-painted Building A section. The process of opening the fuel cap of a car that was stopped and covered in a layer of pale dust, and checking whether there was gasoline or not, was long and tedious, making me anxious.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one. After checking about three cars, Kim Daesik clicked his tongue and muttered.

“There’s no gas here. It’s already been siphoned.”

“What? There are still more cars over there, aren’t there?”

“The fact that none of the parked cars have gas means someone took it before the ghouls took over this place. It’s useless to check.”

“Then what do we do? Just leave?”

“We can’t do that.”

He threw the fuel cap in his hand to the ground and pondered, then started walking toward somewhere. I didn’t know where he was going, but I could tell he was going to a place that wasn’t in the plan. I clenched and unclenched my teeth and whispered shouted, “Where are you going!” Snatching the torch from me, Kim Daesik answered.

“The machine room.”

I didn’t know what a machine room was for, but Kim Daesik walked along the wall, holding the torch high. As we walked, I saw ghouls clustered and writhing in a corner. Most of them were creatures that had been starving for a long time or had such severe physical damage that they could no longer move. They were clustered together, their heads buried in a corner of the wall, but they detected the light shining from behind them and whipped their heads around.

“Kyahha!”

The appearance of the menacingly hissing ghoul was gruesome. The tendons and muscles on its bones were bizarrely shriveled, making it look hideous. Its eyeballs were either melted or gouged out and gone, and instead, only its gaping nostrils and sparsely toothed, wide-open mouth were visible.

“Kyageugeugeugeu…., geureureuk, geureureuk.”

It was easy to misunderstand because ghouls are nocturnal, but ghouls disliked light, they didn’t fear it. The reason ghouls avoided fire was because of the heat, not the light. Therefore, caution was needed when lighting a fire outdoors. At night, fire was essential for securing vision and maintaining body temperature, but lighting a fire large enough to be conspicuous would be like summoning the ghouls.

It was the same now. In the pitch-black underground parking garage, the torch Kim Daesik held was excessively conspicuous. It was like advertising that there were living people here. Fortunately, the swarm of able-bodied ghouls had smelled the fresh blood and flocked in that direction. The only ones left were those who couldn’t move properly, so they weren’t much of a threat. At least, they were no match for Kim Daesik.

Thwack! Thwack thwack!

Kim Daesik took out his axe and easily dispatched the ghouls that were flailing with their lower bodies lost or the ones collapsing with empty stomachs. As we walked along the wall, ghouls that had been sprawled under cars or crouched in passages popped out several times, but he easily dispatched them and continued on his way. Then, with difficulty, he found the place he was looking for. It was the machine room.

“Thankfully, it’s on the first basement level. I was worried it might be at the very bottom of the basement or on the roof.”

“Is there gasoline in the machine room?”

“Machines usually run on gasoline, so even if there’s none in the cars, there might be some left in the machines.”

The problem was that the door to the machine room had no window. The machine room was sealed, so we couldn’t know what was inside. It meant that it could be packed tightly with ghouls without a single gap.

Kim Daesik tensely grabbed the doorknob of the machine room and turned it. It hadn’t been opened in a long time, and as the door moved, dust fell with a patter, and a loud metallic screech echoed from the hinges.

Fortunately, no disaster like ghouls pouring out from inside the door occurred. The machine room was empty, and along with the smell of dry dust, the smell of petroleum wafted out.

We quickly went inside and closed the door. Then we began to explore the complex machine room, where various pipes and mechanical devices were entangled. I had no idea what anything was, so I didn’t know what to look for or how, but it didn’t take long for Kim Daesik to find the fuel tank containing gasoline.

“Here it is.”

He smiled as if he knew it would be here and took the oil can from his backpack. He opened the tank’s lid, connected a hose, and transferred the gasoline into the oil can. While the gasoline was being filled, he entrusted the oil can to me and continued his search.

We completely filled the oil can we brought, and there was still so much gasoline left that we emptied a plastic bottle that had a little water in it and filled it with gasoline. Kim Daesik, who had to fight the ghouls, put the plastic bottle in his backpack and shouldered it, entrusting the oil can to me. He repeatedly warned me not to lose it under any circumstances and replaced the torch with a new one.

“Let’s get out before the swarm of ghouls comes back.”

Following Kim Daesik’s urging, I took the oil can and left the machine room. Then I started to walk towards the entrance and exit ramp to go back the way we came. Finally, the thought that I could get out of here naturally quickened my pace, but a shout was heard from the direction of Building B.

“It’s a swarm of ghouls!”

I could see Kang Junyeong and Park Chankyu running with all their might from over there.

“Run!”

A swarm of ghouls was chasing them as they ran, screaming their heads off. Whether they had already dealt with the bait on the third basement level and noticed our presence, the number of ghouls rushing in was countless. The swarming number of heads was like a colony of ants. Their footsteps and bizarre cries surged like a wave from behind Kang Junyeong and Park Chankyu.

“Geu-eoeoeoeoeo!”

As soon as I saw that scene, Kim Daesik and I started running. But the oil can I was holding was too heavy. The full oil can seemed heavier than my own body, which was emaciated from not eating.

In the end, I couldn’t go far and dropped the oil can. Seeing that, Kim Daesik, who was running ahead, came back. I thought he might just grab the oil can and abandon me, the bait. It wouldn’t have been a strange thing to do in that situation.

But he didn’t do that. He passed by me and instead stood guard behind me.

“Don’t look back, just run!”

Kim Daesik, who had shouted that, raised the knife he had drawn. Kang Junyeong and Park Chankyu, who had brought the swarm of ghouls with them, overtook him. I tried my best not to look back and ran, dragging the heavy oil can. Spotting me, Kang Junyeong snatched the oil can from my hand, and Park Chankyu grabbed me and pulled me along. Soon, Lee Seokhyeon and Wang Yiseop, who were ahead near the exit, ran over to help us. Then they saw Kim Daesik fighting the swarm of ghouls and hesitated.

“Woah, shit! What do we do about that?”

“What do you mean what do we do? We have to save him!”

“It’s… it’s already too late. There are too many of them.”

“We’ll all die at this rate!”

The men, shouting incoherently, stomped their feet as they watched Kim Daesik being surrounded by the swarm of ghouls. But their hesitation wasn’t very long. They grabbed the back of my neck as I was blankly watching Kim Daesik fighting desperately amidst the swarm of ghouls and pulled. I reflexively shook off that hand and tried to run to Kim Daesik, but his figure was already buried in the swarm of ghouls and was no longer visible.

The ghouls, not content with just surrounding him, began to run towards us. Seeing that scene, the men were horrified. And they grabbed my waist as I was hesitating with my butt sticking out and began to carry me away by force.

“Let go of me!”

I struggled, but the men stubbornly carried me and ran towards the entrance and exit ramp. They burst out to the surface like rabbits fleeing from a burrow and crossed a flowerbed piled high with ash. They trampled on dried and crumbling bushes and shrubs as they left the apartment complex and headed for the car.

“Pant, pant! Th-this is gasoline, right?”

“Refuel first!”

The men, who had hurriedly reached the car, put me down, opened the oil can they had brought, took out the hose, and began to refuel the car. Even while filling the oil can, the men were anxious that the swarm of ghouls might leave the apartment complex and chase them, so they kept glancing at the entrance. It was still daytime and we had set up a barricade, so none of them chased us all the way to the car. Instead, a bizarre cry rang through the sky, making it tremble. Listening to that sound, I clenched my fists and raised my voice.

“What about Kim Daesik?”

The men just stared at the apartment entrance and gave no answer. Every one of them was desperately pretending not to hear me. Only after I shouted and asked again, “What about Kim Daesik?!”, did Park Chankyu answer as if he had no choice.

“Damn it, what do you want me to do. He got left behind.”

At those words, Wang Yiseop slammed his fist on the car body with a bang! and cursed.

“You son of a bitch, you call that being left behind? Kim Daesik stayed behind to save you guys. You should have fought together, how could you just run away?”

At Wang Yiseop’s accusation, Park Chankyu grumbled as if it was unfair.

“Did we just run away? We brought the oil can!”

“You fucking bastard, you brought the lunchbox too. You had the sense to grab that, but not the sense to go help Kim Daesik?”

“You son of a bitch, what about you then? You ran away just the same!”

They blamed each other and shouted, then shut their mouths, conscious of the swarm of ghouls. Then they rolled their eyes, each sizing up the others. Belatedly, Kang Junyeong cautiously opened his mouth.

“Shouldn’t we go back and save him now?”

To that, Park Chankyu replied sourly.

“Don’t you think it would be too late by now?”

Lee Seokhyeon clicked his tongue, tsk, and shook his head.

“Even if we go back and save him, you think that bastard will just stay quiet? If he’s fine, he’ll raise hell about us leaving him behind.”

“That’s right, if we go back now, he’ll think we stabbed him in the back and kill us all. It’s better to just let him die.”

As Park Chankyu supported Lee Seokhyeon’s argument, an uncomfortable silence fell. It seemed they thought that even if they went to save Kim Daesik belatedly, he would hold a grudge and turn on them. No one actively stepped forward to suggest going to save him. Instead, they began to rationalize it, as if it was for the best.

“Even if it wasn’t for today, he’s a guy who would have split with us someday.”

“That bastard subtly looked down on us and acted like a boss, abusing his power! He’s the type to eat us too if the situation got bad.”

“Isn’t it a good thing he dies at this point?”

The only person who thought differently from the three who argued to abandon Kim Daesik was Wang Yiseop. He shook his head from side to side and showed a mournful expression.

“You foolish bastards, you don’t know what kind of guy Kim Daesik is. That guy’s will to live is tougher than a cockroach’s. He’s a guy who survived Pyeongseong Prison, so a swarm of ghouls like that is nothing. He’s the bastard who came out of the Maegoksan Tunnel alive.”

At Wang Yiseop’s words, the other men’s faces turned pale as if in disbelief. It seemed he had known Kim Daesik the longest.

“The Maegoksan Tunnel, isn’t that the place where hundreds of thousands of ghouls are trapped…?”

“How did he end up in a place like that? No, how do you get out of a place like that alive?”

“Pyeongseong Prison I can almost understand.”

“What’s to understand. It’s a place teeming with women who eat men.”

As the men muttered and chattered about how it was no different from Maegoksan, the oil can became empty. Once the refueling was finished, the men seemed to realize that they could leave this place at any time.

I could no longer wait for them and took out the hand axe someone had thrown into the cargo bed. Holding it, I turned my body and started to go back the way I came, and Lee Seokhyeon asked the back of my head.

“Hey, lunchbox! Where are you going?”

Without looking back, I replied as I walked.

“I’m going to save Kim Daesik.”

“What?”

The men questioned me as if it was absurd, but they didn’t snort or laugh at me. They didn’t come to stop me either, just blankly watched my receding back. In the end, I had to stop in my tracks and urge those guys.

“Aren’t you going to save Kim Daesik?”

The men stood rooted to the spot and stared at me. Then, Wang Yiseop sighed and scratched his bald head under his bandana. Then he put the bandana back on, flung open the driver’s side door, and said.

“Lunchbox is right. We have to save Kim Daesik. He’s not the type to die just because we leave him, and we can’t make it on our own without Daesik.”

When the other men only looked at each other and didn’t step up, Wang Yiseop bellowed.

“You bastards, think about it. Without Kim Daesik, if we meet other guys, do you think we can handle them? We’d be lucky not to get eaten.”

At those words, Lee Seokhyeon flared up.

“Fuck, anyone who heard that would think we were just leeching off Kim Daesik.”

“We were leeching, weren’t we?”

Lee Seokhyeon got angry and grabbed Wang Yiseop by the collar. Seeing them fight amongst themselves, I couldn’t even sigh. I just turned my body and started walking again, and seeing that scene, Kang Junyeong said.

“Hey, while we’re doing this, it would be better to just go save Kim Daesik.”

As if he had no choice, Park Chankyu agreed with those words.

“Yeah. Let’s at least go back and see what the situation is. If it looks hopeless, we can give up then, can’t we?”

Eventually, Lee Seokhyeon let go of Wang Yiseop’s collar, and they got in the car. Then they turned the car around and headed toward the apartment, and Kang Junyeong and Park Chankyu, who were sitting in the cargo bed, grabbed me as I was walking and pulled me on. Then they needlessly gestured at me with their chins and growled.

“You’re the one who said to go save him, so you take responsibility.”

It meant that if a crisis came, they would shove me into the swarm of ghouls. I nodded silently.

🖤

We couldn’t just enter a place swarming with ghouls without any preparation. We loaded one of the rolltainers we had used as a barricade back into the cargo bed and drove the car to scout the commercial area in front of the apartment. There, we rummaged through a hair salon, a hardware store, and a paint shop and found several spray cans. Then we went around the area and filled the rolltainer with things that burn well, including styrofoam and sponge. With that, we stopped in front of the east gate entrance and exit ramp of the underground parking garage that we had entered.

The swarm of ghouls seemed to have all gone after Kim Daesik, as they were nowhere to be seen. As they placed the rolltainer in front of the empty ramp, the men muttered in anxiety.

“Fuck, I don’t know if this will work.”

“If things go south, I’m definitely bolting.”

Hearing that with one ear and letting it out the other, I opened the wound on my palm that had closed up and squeezed out blood. While I wiped that blood on the shirt I had taken off, the men connected the rolltainer they had unloaded from the cargo bed to the winch installed on the car. Then they sprinkled gasoline inside it and also applied it to the winch wire. They were very reluctant to use the gasoline, but not a large amount was needed.

On top of the gasoline-soaked kindling, I placed the blood-soaked shirt. Then I locked the rolltainer and pushed it with all my might. Then the rolltainer, loaded with flammable materials, made a kururu sound and rolled down the sloped road into the underground parking garage.

Fortunately, the ghouls reacted more strongly to the smell of my blood inside it than to the smell of gasoline emanating from it. The rolltainer rolled deep into the underground parking garage, and not long after, it shuddered with a clunk and was seen being dragged into the depths.

The ghouls’ bizarre cries were heard, and Lee Seokhyeon took out his secret weapon.

It was a Zippo lighter. He spun the wheel to create a spark and brought it to the winch wire.

Fwoororororok!

The flames shot down the taut winch wire into the underground parking garage like an arrow. It instantly reached the rolltainer and spread to the materials piled inside. Soon the flames flared up, and the figures of the ghouls that had swarmed in after smelling my blood and were clinging to the rolltainer became clearly visible. The ghouls flinched and retreated from the soaring flames, but the spray cans wedged among the kindling exploded faster than the creatures could escape. The spray cans, unable to withstand the heat, exploded, creating a blast of fire along with a loud boom.

Kaboom! Boom! Kaboom!

As pieces of burning styrofoam flew in all directions, the spray cans caused a chain reaction. As they exploded one after another, a much larger explosion than I had anticipated occurred. Because of that, an unexpected situation arose.

Piiing!

The hook of the winch connected to the rolltainer snapped, and the wire shot up into the air. Seeing it whip around like a living snake, Lee Seokhyeon forcefully pushed my body. I almost got sliced in two by the wire and fell to the ground.

Kwaarrrrr…!

Along with the sound of roaring flames, fireballs fell here and there. Most of them were fragments of obliterated ghouls. I lifted my face, which had been all but scraped on the ground, and saw the ghouls that had been clinging around the rolltainer being blown to smithereens and burning away.

A foul smell arose, and I got into the car, worried that Kim Daesik might have been blown to bits as well. The other men also got into the car, and Wang Yiseop, who was at the wheel as always, stepped on the accelerator with all his might.

Vrooooom!

The engine vibrated and the car sped into the underground parking garage. When the headlights were turned on, the underground parking garage was brightly illuminated, revealing the half-burnt rolltainer and the scattered fragments of ghouls in all directions. I rolled down the car window, leaned my body almost out of the car, and shouted loudly.

“Kim Daesik-!”

There were few parked cars, and the swarm of ghouls that had gathered after smelling the blood had scattered due to the shock of the explosion, so the underground parking garage looked empty.

“Kim Daesikkkkk!”

Nevertheless, the car sped across the underground parking garage at a very high speed. Since they didn’t know if Kim Daesik was alive or dead, the men’s argument was that they couldn’t search all the way down to the third basement level to find him. They agreed to circle the first basement level, where Kim Daesik had been, by car and look for traces of him. But the car was moving so fast that it was impossible to see anything properly.

“There’s nothing here!”

“Kim Daesik is dead, I can’t see him!”

“We have to get out before the ghoul swarm gathers again!”

Seeing as there were few ghouls on the first basement level, there was a high possibility that they were swarming on the second and third basement levels. By now, those creatures must have heard the loud noise and would be coming up to the first basement level. The men screamed that we had to get out before they swarmed in.

“Hey, Wang Yiseop! Turn the car around now!”

“We did as much as we could! It’s certain that Kim Daesik is dead!”

The way the men were talking, it seemed they had come not so much to save Kim Daesik, but to confirm whether he was really dead or not. When there was no sign of him, rather than worrying, they tried to back out as if it were a good thing.

Around that time, the cries of the ghoul swarm began to be heard from not too far away. In the end, Wang Yiseop, who had been circling the first basement level, gave up and turned the steering wheel toward the entrance and exit ramp.

Screeeech!

But maybe it was just my imagination, but it felt like I heard a different sound, one that wasn’t a ghoul. It seemed to be coming from the direction of the passage connected to the second basement level, so I stretched my neck out of the window and looked in that direction. Just then, in the pitch-black darkness, for a split second, a light flashed.

I was certain that the sound I was hearing was not my imagination. This wooooong sound was definitely the sound of a car engine. I shouted.

“Kim Daesik is alive! He’s over there!”

“Where?”

Wang Yiseop asked, and I pointed my finger in the direction where the cries of the ghoul swarm were coming from.

“Over there, toward the entrance and exit ramp that goes down to the second basement level!”

As soon as he heard those words, Lee Seokhyeon got angry.

“You want us to go toward where the ghoul swarm is crawling out from the basement?”

“What do you think is the reason the ghouls are swarming out? There’s something there, it’s Kim Daesik!”

At my insistence, Lee Seokhyeon shouted at me not to talk nonsense.

“Kim Daesik disappeared on the first basement level, so how can he be coming up from the basement, going the opposite way? The ghoul swarm is coming up this way because they smelled blood or heard a loud noise!”

“No, I saw a light. I’m sure of it, it’s definitely Kim Daesik! We have to turn the car around!”

“Goddammit, Wang Yiseop, if you don’t want to die, don’t turn the car around! We have to get out of here just like this!”

Lee Seokhyeon threatened Wang Yiseop, but Wang Yiseop, who had been showing signs of conflict, sharply turned the steering wheel that had been heading for the surface. The car twisted precariously, as if it would hit a pillar, and because of that, I felt like I was going to be thrown out of the car and had to hurriedly cling to the car door. Presently, once the car straightened its direction, Lee Seokhyeon, who was sitting in the passenger seat, reached out and arbitrarily pulled on Wang Yiseop’s steering wheel.

“Are you crazy? I said turn the car around!”

“You son of a bitch, get your hands off!”

“Lee Seokhyeon! Look ahead, I said look ahead!”

Amidst several people screaming at once, Lee Seokhyeon heard Park Chankyu’s urging and lifted his head. Surprisingly, a car was visible, pushing through the ghoul swarm and climbing up the passage from the second basement level. Its headlights were all shattered, but its interior lights were on, so Kim Daesik’s figure, sitting in the driver’s seat, could be vaguely seen. Discovering him driving the car with difficulty, with ghouls dangling all over it, and coming up to the first basement level, I let out a cheer.

“It’s Kim Daesik!”

“Hold on tight!”

Wang Yiseop immediately stepped on the accelerator and sped toward the entrance and exit ramp connected to the second basement level. And he rammed into the swarm of ghouls that was surrounding the car Kim Daesik was in. Thump, crunch, crack! The ghouls were crushed between the cars like rotten logs, and the car shook violently from the impact.

“Uwaaack!”

A scream, whose it was unknown, rang out, and soon Kim Daesik crawled out onto the roof through the sunroof of the car he was in and, standing there, began to smash the ghoul swarm. Only then did Kang Junyeong and Park Chankyu, who were sitting in the back seat, jump out of the car and clear a path so that he could cross over to our side.

“Kim Daesik! Come this way!”

Barely breaking through the siege of the surrounding ghoul swarm, Kim Daesik climbed onto the cargo bed. Kang Junyeong and Park Chankyu also jumped onto the cargo bed and mercilessly beat the ghouls that were trying to cling to the car.

“Reverse!”

“We have to get out of here!”

Everyone screamed and fought the ghouls to break through to a retreat path, but the number of ghouls was just too large. The ghouls, not content with just clinging to the car, also climbed onto the cargo bed, and they stepped on the heads of other ghouls to climb higher or fell onto the car roof. They were literally mad with hunger, using each other as stepping stones to charge madly.

“Geuwooooo!”

Wang Yiseop tried to shake off the ghoul swarm by roughly repeating forward and reverse movements, but the ghouls were piled up in layers, so he couldn’t push them away. The sound of the tires spinning in place was heard harshly, and the smell of burning rubber rose up terribly. Despite that, the car wouldn’t budge, and if we were not careful, we were in a situation where we would be overrun by the ghoul swarm pouring out from the basement as if a dam had burst.

At that moment, Kim Daesik, who had speared a ghoul, kicked repeatedly and untied the bundle of luggage that was tightly bound in the cargo bed. And from inside it, he took out a chunk of meat and threw it far away as if he were throwing a shot put. Seeing that, the attention of the ghoul swarm was momentarily scattered.

“Here, eat this!”

When the chunk of meat fell into the middle of the ghouls, the ghouls rushed in that direction. The pressure on the car was dispersed, and taking advantage of that gap, Kim Daesik slammed his hand on the car body and roared.

“That’s it, step on it!”

The car started running again, ramming the ghoul swarm that was blocking the front. In an instant, the attention of the ghoul swarm, which had disposed of the chunk of meat Kim Daesik had thrown, turned to us. The ghoul swarm rushing in from all directions was like a rising tide. I hurriedly rolled up the car window and unknowingly clenched my teeth. And from the shock of hitting, ramming, and trampling the ghoul swarm, I couldn’t even grab the car handle and was shaken 정신없이. As I was thrown around here and there inside the car, the car, which had been climbing the slope with difficulty, shot out of the entrance and exit ramp as if it had been launched.

“……!”

In an instant, the dark view brightened, and the car couldn’t get its direction, recklessly going over the flowerbed and rushing to the apartment entrance. Even after leaving the apartment, it couldn’t easily slow down its running speed. It ran for a long time along the road, raising the ash dust piled up thickly like a cloud.

The moment I realized we had escaped was when Wang Yiseop, who was holding the steering wheel, let out a cheer.

“We did it!”

At those words, Lee Seokhyeon burst out laughing, saying “You son of a bitch!” The men in the cargo bed also stomped their feet indiscriminately and rejoiced.

“We did it, we did it!”

“You goddamn sons of bitches! How does it feel to be alive!”

“Fuck yeah! Kim Daesik, we saved you!”

“Don’t you ever forget this favor for the rest of your life!”

The men were in an uproar with joy, but that too was brief. The men, whose tension had been released, quickly quieted down and shut their mouths. It didn’t take long for that silence to turn into a gloomy stillness. It was because everyone, including me, had suffered major and minor injuries, and we had lost our food supply for a while. While we were causing a ruckus in the underground parking garage, the sun had set, so there was no difference between the basement and the surface; it was dark. Into the vast darkness, only the headlight beams stretched out endlessly.

🖤

When I woke up after dozing off for a while in the car, the car window was completely covered in ash.

I lifted my head and looked around the car, and the men were crumpled in their respective seats, taking a nap. But I couldn’t see Kim Daesik, so I opened the car door and went outside.

The ash clinging to the door scattered with a soft rustle. As I stepped outside, my leg sank deep into the thickly piled ash. The downpour of ash had stopped, but everything was covered in ash, so nothing was visible.

I crossed my arms and huddled my body. It was cold because my outer clothes had been taken yesterday while escaping the ghoul swarm. The wind was still, but the damp, soggy cold quickly sapped my body heat.

As I looked around for Kim Daesik, it wasn’t long before I saw his back, standing on a high place. To get to his side, I climbed onto the cars lined up in layers like a car wall. I slipped on the hood of a car several times on the flowing ash powder, but when I finally managed to get on top of the car roof, I could see that the abandoned cars were densely filling the road, unable to find a way out.

I jumped over several car roofs with thumping sounds and approached where Kim Daesik was. Hearing that sound, he looked back. I waved my hand at him, who was standing on a bus.

“Catch me.”

Smiling faintly, he reached out his hand, grabbed my hand, and pulled me up onto the bus. Finally, standing side by side with him, I realized why countless cars had been abandoned on the road. The road was connected to a bridge, but that bridge was cut off abruptly. The remaining bridge piers had all their concrete fallen off, revealing rusty rebar. The end that jutted out into the air had bent and broken rebar sticking out, making it look hideous.

“A river.”

At the words Kim Daesik spoke, I looked at him. Kim Daesik pointed to a long, sunken area, as if something huge had scraped by with a rake, and said.

“In the old days, river water probably filled this whole place. They must have built a bridge to cross this river. I don’t know for what reason, but it seems like they blew it up so it couldn’t be used.”

Following his gesture, I looked into the distance, and beyond the gray dust raised by the ash, I could faintly see a bridge that was broken just like the one in front of me. I tilted my head and asked.

“If there’s no bridge, can’t we cross?”

Kim Daesik shrugged his shoulders.

“The water has dried up, so we can cross. The problem is clearing the cars and making a path.”

He jumped down from the bus and held out his arms to me. I jumped into his arms, and he lowered me to the ground and clicked his tongue, tsk.

“You look even skinnier without clothes.”

He took off his leather jacket and put it on my shoulders. I didn’t refuse and put my arms in it, but I didn’t particularly like it. I couldn’t tell if it was very warm, but it was incredibly heavy. And it was big. The sleeves were long, and my fingertips barely came out.

I tried to fold the sleeves, but the leather was too thick, so it wouldn’t work. In the end, I took my arms back out and just wore the jacket draped over my shoulders. Seeing me wearing his jacket like a cape, Kim Daesik reached out his hand, ruffled my hair, and laughed.

“I’ll have to find you some clothes to wear.”

He pushed through the ash and squeezed through the cars as he walked, then added a word.

“We have to find something to eat, too.”

By the time he returned to the car, the other men were also awake. They were stretching, grumbling that their limbs were sore from sleeping crammed in the car. Kim Daesik jumped onto the cargo bed, cleared the ash piled there, and checked the remaining supplies. There was of course no food, and there wasn’t much water left either. At least Kim Daesik had defended his backpack even in that chaos, so the gasoline in the plastic bottle was intact. While refueling with it, the men asked Kim Daesik how he was able to get out of that underground parking garage alive. Kim Daesik shrugged his shoulders and explained simply.

“After seeing you guys abandon me and leave, I gave up on going to the surface and went down to the basement.”

Hearing the words ‘abandoned me,’ the men flinched, but Kim Daesik didn’t seem to hold much of a grudge.

“Even if there were no fueled cars on the first basement level, there would be on the deeper levels. Fortunately, I didn’t even have to go down to the third basement level; there was a car with gasoline on the second basement level. Although its tires were all flat and the battery was dead, so I had a hard time starting it, but thanks to you guys coming to save me, I escaped.”

Kim Daesik spoke casually as if it were no big deal, but the men looked like they couldn’t believe it. They pried into how he had broken through the swarming ghouls and gone down to the second basement level, what means he used to find a car with gas there, and how on earth he had started it. Perhaps because Kim Daesik explained it roughly as if it were a bother, the men shook their heads and shuddered, saying things like “He’s a monster, a monster,” or “Damn, you’re lucky,” or “Shit, are you some kind of immortal?” While listening to that story, Wang Yiseop looked at the other men with a ‘See, what did I tell you?’ look in his eyes. No one could refute it and they all had sour expressions.

“Let’s cross the river and see if there’s anything.”

Agreeing with Kim Daesik’s words, everyone joined forces and began to clear a path. They found a suitable location to go down to the riverbed, parked the car, and pushed the cars lined up in several layers on the road into empty spaces little by little, as if assembling blocks.

After barely creating enough space for the car to pass through, Wang Yiseop cautiously moved the car forward. The car went down to the riverbed, which was now filled with ash instead of water, kicking up clouds of dust.

The slope was steep and soft, but the riverbed was flat and hard. I was riding in the cargo bed with Kim Daesik, when I lifted my nose into the air and sniffed. Seeing that, Kim Daesik asked.

“What are you doing?”

“I smell water.”

“What?”

“I said I smell water.”

At my words, Kim Daesik hit the car body with a thump thump sound, signaling to stop for a moment. The car came to a halt, and he climbed onto the roof of the car and looked around. I, who had also stood up, pulled on his pant leg and pointed to a certain place.

“It’s that way.”

Kim Daesik jumped out of the car, and I also got out of the cargo bed. And I walked in the direction where the smell of water was coming from. Since the ground was even, Kim Daesik’s footprints were clear on the ash. I had to hop and run to step in his footprints. Kim Daesik’s legs were long and his stride was wide, so if I tried to walk following him, my crotch felt like it would tear.

I was running while looking at my feet, so I didn’t notice that Kim Daesik had stopped. Only after bumping my head on his back did I stop, almost clinging to him. Pulling me to his side and embracing me, Kim Daesik pinched my nose hard.

“Ouch.”

“This little nose of yours has an amazing sense of smell. How did you know there was water?”

I retorted irritably, “I figured there was water because it smells like water.” Kim Daesik chuckled loudly and waved his hand toward the car, shouting.

“A river!”

I said there was water, I didn’t say there was a river. But Kim Daesik was so happy he was even jumping up and down, so I couldn’t correct his words.

“A river!”

The men, who had only been sticking their heads out of the car window, drove the car closer. To their question of where the river was, Kim Daesik pointed to a thin, thread-like black line on the other side of the ash-covered riverbed.

“There’s still some water left over there. Let’s go fill the water containers and wash ourselves a bit.”

Kim Daesik climbed onto the cargo bed of the slowly moving car and pulled me up. The car drove quickly and approached the stream of water that looked black. At a glance, it looked like a palm-sized brook, but as we drove along it, its width gradually widened until it formed a fairly large pool.

The pool of water, so black that its depth couldn’t be gauged, was wide enough to sink a car. As soon as the car stopped there, the men took out the water containers first. Kim Daesik stopped them from thoughtlessly plunging the water containers into the water and tasted the water first.

His action of thrusting both hands into the water and carefully scooping it was solemn. He lowered his head to his cupped palms and drank the water. His Adam’s apple moved up and down, and he soon wiped his lips with the back of his hand and nodded his head.

“Not bad.”

While the men excitedly filled the water containers with water, Kim Daesik drank a few more sips of water. I also went to the edge of the pool and scooped up water to drink. The water had a burnt taste, as was usual, but at least it wasn’t rotten water or ditch water.

After quenching his thirst, Kim Daesik scooped water with his hands and rubbed his face to wash it, but as if that wasn’t enough, he began to throw off his clothes. By that time, all the several water containers had been filled with water, so the men also stripped off their clothes. Having become naked, they jumped into the pool of water, splashing water. As I frowned and stepped back, Kim Daesik poured a whole basin of water on me.

“You have to come in too, where are you going?”

“It’s cold. I’ll wash later.”

“What do you mean it’s cold?”

Kim Daesik came out of the water and pulled my wrist into the water. Unable to shake him off as he acted like a water ghost, I also reluctantly took off my clothes. As I shivered and carefully dipped my toes, he hugged me with his whole body. As our bare skin touched, his body heat was transmitted fully.

“This way it’s not cold, right?”

I clung tightly to him and entered the water. After walking just a few steps, the water deepened, and I lifted both my legs and wrapped them around his waist. Because of that, I could feel his hardened penis bumping against the crack of my buttocks. But neither he nor I paid it any mind.

Kim Daesik, who had gone in deep enough for our bodies to be submerged, took his wet hands out of the water and meticulously washed my face. He rubbed my forehead and cheeks, from which grime was streaming down, and held my nose, telling me to blow. As I got used to the water temperature, I complained, “Who do you think is a kid?” and tried to let go of him. But when I actually lowered my legs, my toes didn’t touch the bottom.

“Hic.”

For a moment, I felt as if I were floating in a vast void. It was a feeling like the hair on the back of my neck was standing on end, so I gasped and clung to his shoulders. As I practically hugged his head and climbed up his chest, he, pressed down by me, swayed.

“Relax your body, at this rate I’ll drown too.”

“I’m scared.”

As I hugged his head tightly and clung to him, Kim Daesik, with my thigh tucked under his arm, laughed with his face pressed against my chest.

“There’s something you’re scared of?”

“This is the first time I’ve been in water this deep.”

“You’d faint if you saw the sea.”

I recalled the scenery of the sea that my brother had told me about. Since I had only heard about it in words, the image of the sea that came to my mind was unclear. Vaguely, only a feeling of being blue, dazzling, and hot flickered.

“Kim Daesik, have you ever seen the sea?”

At my question, Kim Daesik nodded his head.

“I’ve seen it in videos.”

“But you’ve never seen it in person?”

“No. I haven’t.”

According to Kim Daesik, in the past, three sides of this land were surrounded by the sea. Thanks to that, the sea could be seen commonly from anywhere, but now, like the river, the sea also seemed to have mostly dried up.

“To see the sea, you have to go to a very far place. Even by car, you have to drive for quite a while.”

“How long do we have to go?”

“Why, do you want to see the sea?”

I nodded my head.

“Yes.”

My brother’s favorite thing was Christmas, and my favorite thing was summer vacation. I liked the fact that when the sun became so hot that it burned the skin and the weather became sweltering, everyone did nothing but play. How nice would it be to all flock to the sea and play, splashing around while soaking our bodies in the cool seawater?

After hearing my story, Kim Daesik opened and closed his lips several times. But even without having to hear it, I knew well what he was trying to say. Even if we went to the sea now, I wouldn’t be able to see the scenery I wanted. It was obvious that it would be a fruitless endeavor, as there would be nothing there even if we went to a sea where all the water had dried up. Still, I thought that I wanted to go to the sea someday, and Kim Daesik made another empty promise.

“Alright, what the hell. I’ll take you to the sea someday.”

I frowned.

“Don’t lie. Why do you only ever lie?”

“When did I ever lie that you say I only ever lie?”

“You only make promises and don’t keep them.”

“I’m going to keep them, you know?”

Kim Daesik protested, then bit down hard on my chest, which was in front of his face. I shouted “Ouch!” and hit his head repeatedly. But when he spread his tongue and licked my nipple as if pressing down on it, I had no choice but to stop my movements. When he licked and sucked my nipple like that several times, it felt good. I don’t think I felt much before, but now my lower abdomen became hot and the area around my chest felt tingly.

“Uungh.”

I rubbed my half-erect penis against his solar plexus and fidgeted with my bottom. His, submerged in the water, had already risen up large and was poking my hole.

“Ah, uuuungh….”

I hugged his head to my chest and whimpered. When he pursed his lips and sucked my nipple hard before letting go, that spot swelled up plumply. Fiddling with it with his lips, Kim Daesik asked smoothly.

“Want me to suck the other side too?”

“Ugh, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know? Why don’t you know.”

Every time he made a splashing sound and brushed his body against mine, I felt thirsty. It was a strange thing, to be thirsty even though I was in the water. I stuck out my tongue and licked the moisture on my lips, complaining.

“Kim Daesik, my body has become strange because of you.”

At those words, Kim Daesik was extremely pleased.

“What about it became strange?”

“I don’t know……. Just, suck the other side, too.”

Kim Daesik, who had moved from my left to my right breast, diligently sucked my nipple while supporting my bottom with one hand and holding my penis with the other. As he lightly shook it up and down, a thrilling sensation quickly welled up. I hugged his shoulders and pressed my lips to his temple. As moans of Heu-eut, heu-eut spilled out ceaselessly, the other men behind me started chattering one by one.

“There they go again with that shit.”

“Fuck, that sound is so damn hot. They’re having a grand old time by themselves, aren’t they.”

“Hey! Don’t do that in the drinking water, get out and do it!”

At those words, Kim Daesik squeezed my penis hard. I was startled and jumped up with a flinch.

“Ah!”

“You heard them, right? Hold it in a bit.”

As Kim Daesik lifted me in his arms and walked out of the water, my body instantly became heavy. I wrapped my legs around his waist again and clung to him until he reached the car.

We reached the car after walking just a few steps, and he lowered the tailgate of the cargo bed. And after telling me to hold on tight, he let go of me with both hands and rummaged through the luggage. While he took out a blanket and spread it, water dripped from my body as I clung to him. Presently, my back touched the blanket, and I relaxed the strength in my arms and legs.

As I lay on the blanket like that, he, who had been climbing onto the cargo bed, stopped and looked down at me for a moment. He looked me over from head to toe, dripping wet, and then revealed his pointed canine teeth like a carnivore.

“You’re even prettier when you’re wet.”

I didn’t dislike him calling me pretty. Nothing good happened just because he called me pretty, but I knew that the word ‘pretty’ had a good meaning, so the corners of my lips crept up into a grin. Seeing that, Kim Daesik’s eyes widened slightly.

“……Did you just smile?”

I tilted my head. Did I smile? He seemed surprised by my smiling face, and he stuttered, unlike himself.

“Just now…… you smi, you smiled.”

I wondered if it was such a surprising thing and replied nonchalantly.

“I guess I smiled.”

I didn’t understand why he was surprised by my smiling when he himself went around chuckling all the time. It wasn’t like I laughed out loud, so I couldn’t even tell if I had smiled or not. More than that, my wet body was drying and starting to get cold. I spread my arms toward him and urged him to come quickly. At that gesture, Kim Daesik embraced me back with a bewildered expression.

While we were apart, his body had also grown cold. I clung to him and asked into his ear.

“Are you going to put it in?”

I heard the sound of a dry swallow, and he adjusted his penis from below. I could feel his thing pushing its way into the narrow gap. It was hot as if it had been heated in a fire, and heat instantly rose in my body. Perhaps because of that, I didn’t feel the pain of my body splitting in two like before. While he was making a fuss, pressing his lips here and there on my clean face with little smack, smack sounds, it made its way in with relative ease.

“Haa, haa, does it hurt?”

Kim Daesik was panting unusually much today. I, ah, shook my head with my lips slightly parted.

“Noooo…… Ah!”

Thrust!

As soon as I said it didn’t hurt, he thrust deep inside. I threw my head back, my mouth wide open. He pushed his way into the deepest part of my spasming insides.

“Right……. So it doesn’t hurt.”

He gnawed at my exposed Adam’s apple with his canines and ground his hips below. With his penis buried deep, he rubbed the tip quickly and strongly. Then a strange sensation bloomed, and all my body’s nerves focused there. My toes and the backs of my knees curled, but my crotch spread even wider and my lower abdomen tensed up.

“Uuuuugh.”

“Here, does it feel good?”

“Huuungh, huuunnnng……!”

“Looks like it feels good.”

As he kept rubbing a certain spot like that, my vision went black and my whole body tensed up. Soon, my lower abdomen throbbed as if stabbed with a knife, and a shiver ran down my spine. At the same time, my penis, which had been pointing up into the air, nodded a few times on its own and then spewed out a whitish, cloudy fluid.

“Aah-!”

I came, throwing my head back as far as it would go. As my chest naturally lifted, Kim Daesik greedily sucked on my budding nipple. The stimulation was so excessive that I didn’t even know if this was good or not, but Kim Daesik pulled his penis out with a long shloooop. As his thick head scraped my inner walls on its way out, an indescribable, electrifying sensation ran up my spine and clawed at the inside of my stomach. Only then did I clearly realize that it was a good thing.

“Auuungh……!”

As I closed my crotch and shuddered, Kim Daesik laughed at the distinct reaction and violently thrust back inside. Wet flesh rubbed together, and his thing slid forcefully inside, striking my sexually sensitive state, which was heightened to the peak. As soon as that happened, a spark flashed before my eyes.

“Augh!”

I let out a moan and arched my back. Holding that waist strongly with both arms, Kim Daesik moved his hips like a beast. The head of his cock mercilessly stabbed my inner walls and ground against the climax point, and I felt like I was going crazy.

“Auuugh! Aghk! Aat!”

The moans escaping my lips were just as unrestrained. I didn’t know any reason why I should hold back the cries that were rising like screams. I let out sounds to my heart’s content, twisted my body, and dug my nails into his pale, hard, yet hot skin. As I did so, I could feel Kim Daesik’s thrusting become uncontrollably fierce. Then, reaching the peak, he stopped dead still deep inside me.

“Heut……!”

With a short pant, he sprayed his semen inside me. I didn’t dislike the feeling of the thick semen flowing down, hitting my inner walls that were contracting tightly. My stomach grew warm as if I had drunk a bowl of hot soup, and a bead of sweat broke out, and a proud feeling came over me as if I had accomplished something worthwhile.

Kim Daesik, who had been leaning on my chest for a moment as if savoring the afterglow of climax, pulled out of me. As his penis slowly withdrew, semen trickled out and the space between my legs became damp. I followed him and raised my upper body halfway, then lay back down and pulled him toward me.

“Let’s do it one more time.”

At my words, Kim Daesik let out a sound, ha, as if it were absurd. But the way he turned his head to the side and let out a dry laugh didn’t seem like he disliked it.

“This little thing gets hornier by the day. What do you mean do it again when you just came.”

Even while grumbling like that with his mouth, he was making his penis stand up again. I reached out my hand and grabbed his penis. Kim Daesik let out a sound, “Euk,” and tensed his abs. As I held his stiff penis below and shook it up and down, rubbing it with my palm, the thing that looked like it couldn’t get any bigger kept getting bigger. The way it looked seemed unusual even to Kim Daesik himself, and he bared his teeth and warned.

“You, if you keep provoking me like this, you could get in big trouble……”

“It felt good, do it one more time.”

At my blunt words, Kim Daesik hesitated and asked back.

“……It felt good?”

“Yes. It felt so good.”

Kim Daesik kept letting out sounds like, Well I’ll be damned, and for goodness sake. He tried to scare me by listing things like how I was saying something that would get me in trouble, or how my back could break if I did that, or how I wouldn’t be able to get up the next day. But when I pulled his thing, which was erect as if it would burst, into me, he didn’t resist.

“Ah……”

I let out a satisfied moan as I swallowed his thing with my back hole. At that sight, he let out a snort as if he was dumbfounded. But soon, he rubbed inside me as I wanted and said joyfully several times.

“Where on earth did something like this appear from.”

“Uungh, mm, there……, ah, good……!”

“How can I eat this when it’s so precious……?”

“Ah-heut, ah, ah, rub there more.”

“Here? You like it here?”

“Yes, there, there, ah! Ah……! Good, good……!”

He moved according to my various demands, but unlike before, he didn’t come easily. He teased me for a long time, pretending to grant my requests. He tormented me until I was whimpering and begging him to just come already, and even after finally reaching climax, he didn’t let me go easily. He changed positions several times and went at it until I was completely knocked out, and I came to deeply regret saying let’s do it one more time.

🖤

I fell asleep as if I had fainted from exhaustion, and when I woke up, I felt the heat of a fire. It seemed Kim Daesik had moved me near the campfire while I was asleep. My naked body was wrapped tightly in the blanket that had been spread on the truck’s cargo bed, so it was warm and comfortable. I wiggled my naked body inside the blanket and lay there leisurely for a while.

As I was in a drowsy state for a good while, I heard a murmuring sound from behind my back. The men were sitting with their backs to the campfire, looking at the water. They were talking about me, not knowing that I had woken up.

“Daesik, don’t you think you’re fawning over that thing too much?”

At Lee Seokhyeon’s words, Kim Daesik replied with a light snort.

“I’m calling him pretty because he is pretty.”

“He is pretty, but how are you going to eat him like that?”

In the subtle question, I could faintly feel envy and jealousy. As Lee Seokhyeon opened the floodgates of backbiting, the other men also chimed in one by one.

“That’s right, in my opinion, that thing is very cunning.”

“He’s using tricks to avoid being eaten by you.”

“Look at him clinging to you, Kim Daesik, and whining. You’ve been had.”

Listening to those words in silence, Kim Daesik slurped something. It had a strange aroma, as if something had been boiled in it. It was savory yet bitter, an indescribable scent. Drinking it slowly, Kim Daesik replied sluggishly.

“No matter how pretty he is, I can’t starve to death. If I’m hungry, I’ll have to eat him, I guess.”

He muttered as if talking about someone else’s business, but at that moment, I was hungry too. I rustled and sat up, covering my exposed naked body with the edge of the blanket. Then I rubbed my eyes, looked back, and asked.

“What are you eating?”

The men who were drinking something flinched when they saw I was awake. Even though they had been talking about me, Kim Daesik was not particularly perturbed. Only the other men looked at me furtively, clearing their throats or shutting their mouths. I ignored them and went to Kim Daesik’s side and squatted down. Then I stuck my head out in his direction and sniffed. Then Kim Daesik handed me the tin cup he was holding.

“It’s hot, so be careful when you hold it.”

I nodded my head and grabbed the handle of the tin cup, whose bottom was burnt black. Inside the cup was a dark-colored water. Is it just boiled water, I wondered, and when I tasted it, something sweet yet bitter, and slightly salty was felt on the tip of my tongue.

“What is this?”

Instead of answering, Kim Daesik rustled his pocket and took something out. It was a flat tin made of something like aluminum, and when he opened it, inside were things like black sesame seeds along with white salt granules.

“It’s coffee.”

“Coffee?”

Kim Daesik placed one coffee bean and one salt crystal on my fingertip. When I touched it to the tip of my tongue, I felt a strong taste that couldn’t be compared to when it was dissolved in water. It was a strange taste. It was bitter yet sweet, and strangely sour. It couldn’t match chocolate, but it was a taste that left a deep aftertaste, so I smacked my lips several times. Seeing that, the men sitting in a row next to me meddled.

“Lunchbox, you bastard, that stuff is incredibly precious.”

“Even if you have a cart full of canned goods, coffee is hard to come by.”

“I still didn’t even know coffee existed. I thought it disappeared long ago along with cigarettes.”

“Kim Daesik, you don’t have any cigarettes left, do you?”

At Park Chankyu’s question, Kim Daesik’s eyes curved. It looked like he was smiling, but his gaze was cold.

“If I do, what are you gonna do about it?”

Unable to recognize the expression that said ‘shut up if you’re going to talk nonsense,’ Park Chankyu continued to speak.

“Kim Daesik, we threw away all our food saving you, wasted gasoline, can’t you at least share some tobacco leaves?”

Lee Seokhyeon nudged his side as if to tell him to get a clue. Only then did Park Chankyu realize that the smile had disappeared from Kim Daesik’s face and he hastily took back what he had said.

“Ah, no, what I meant was…… thank you for the coffee. Yeah. The coffee tastes amazing.”

He put on a forced smile and held up the tin cup in his hand. Seeing that, Kim Daesik, still with a smiling face, muttered as if to himself.

“These are the kind of bastards who’d ask for your whole bundle after you save their life.”

In an instant, the atmosphere turned cold and the men shut their mouths. Unable to even think of finishing the coffee in their hands, they just rolled their eyes, and then a strange thing caught my eye.

I had wondered why the men were sitting looking at the water, and it was because they had tied a string to a stick and dropped it into the water. It seemed they had tied something heavy to the end, as the string was submerged in the water.

“What are you doing with that?”

At my question, Kim Daesik broke the murderous atmosphere and opened his mouth.

“It’s a fishing rod. We’re fishing for fish.”

Kim Daesik lifted one fishing rod and showed me what was tied to the end of the string. Something like a rounded wire was tied to it, and its tip was sharp. According to Kim Daesik’s explanation, if there were fish in the water, they would mistake it for food and bite it. Then the bent wire would get caught in their gills, and they wouldn’t be able to escape even if they were lifted out of the water.

A very long time ago, I had seen a fish that my brother had brought through bartering. It was so shriveled up that I wondered if it was a rock, but even though there wasn’t much meat, the taste wasn’t bad. Isn’t it said that tuna was originally a fish that lived in the sea? I opened my eyes wide and stared at the calm pool of water, which was without a single ripple.

“Do fish live in here?”

Kim Daesik let out a short laugh.

“No?”

“No? Then why are you doing this?”

“Just in case.”

Since Kim Daesik said ‘just in case,’ I also thought ‘just in case.’ I sipped my coffee and stared intently at the fishing line dropped in the water, wondering if it would shake. Because of that, even after finishing the coffee, I didn’t get up from my seat. For some reason, after drinking the coffee, I felt even hungrier. It seemed the men were the same, as they licked their empty cups and rubbed their hungry stomachs.

“Stimulating the appetite a little just makes me hungrier.”

“Maybe it’s because I washed for the first time in a while. I’m famished.”

“Let’s just go to sleep early, staying up will only make us hungry.”

Even when everyone else went back to the fire and lay down, I didn’t budge from my spot. Kim Daesik, who was also keeping his post, reached out his hand, brushed my hair back, and spoke to me.

“You go to sleep too.”

“You’re not sleeping?”

“I’m going to stand watch.”

“Then I’m not sleeping either.”

I said I wasn’t sleepy because I had just woken up and stared at the fishing rod. But Kim Daesik’s hand didn’t quite leave. Perhaps because my hair was soft thanks to washing it for the first time in a long time, he repeatedly stroked my hair and spun a tale.

“You, is that true?”

“What is?”

“That you seduced me and got me wrapped around your finger?”

I found his touch annoying, so I swatted his hand away and asked.

“What are you talking about.”

“Am I being a pushover?”

“What’s a pushover?”

When I replied that I didn’t know what he meant, he sighed and explained.

“I’m asking if you’re deliberately acting cute so that I can’t eat you.”

“I’ve never acted cute.”

At my blunt words, Kim Daesik glared and shrugged his shoulders.

“You, over there just now, you were all, clinging to me and huh? You said it felt good. That’s acting cute, what else is it?”

“I said it felt good because it felt good. Should I have said I disliked it then?”

As if suspicious of my simple and clear reply, Kim Daesik narrowed his eyes. Then, when I frowned and said, “Don’t do that, you look ugly,” he looked sheepish and corrected his expression. Then this time, he put on a sly smile and added a meaningless question.

“It was good? What about it was so good?”

I tried to think specifically about what was good, but before that, I remembered how persistent he had been. I was sure that when I asked to do it one more time, it felt good to the point of being a shame, but after being pestered so much, it didn’t seem like it had been good.

“I don’t know.”

“You said it was good, what about it was so good?”

At my half-hearted reply, Kim Daesik became persistent again. He persistently demanded an answer, so out of annoyance, I replied, “Everything was just good.” At those words, Kim Daesik, who had been chuckling, narrowed his eyes. When he had squinted at me earlier, he looked ugly, but when he did this, he looked handsome again.

“You, don’t like me too much.”

When I didn’t reply and just stared at the fishing rod, he nudged my arm with his elbow. And he began a lecture as if I should take it to heart.

“No matter how much you like me, that doesn’t matter at all. I’m going to eat you. I told you, right? There’s no master before hunger.”

He repeatedly poked my arm, so I replied irritably that I got it. But still, Kim Daesik didn’t stop talking. He explained in great detail the reason why he had no choice but to eat me.

“No matter how pretty you are, I can’t go around with someone with a picky appetite like you. It’s not like I have the talent to create food where there is none. For a while, we were lucky and subsisted on biscuits, but how long can we eat such luxurious food?”

He clicked his tongue, tsk tsk, saying that with an appetite like mine, it was perfect for starving to death, and then glared at me again with that ugly expression. Really, that’s a talent too. With the same face, he looked ugly one moment and handsome the next, his expressions changing in a flash.

After staring at me for a long time as if he was displeased, he rummaged through his backpack and took something out. It was a piece of meat, thinly sliced and dried.

“Here, try it.”

The biscuits had long since been digested and disappeared, so I was extremely hungry. It was even more so because my appetite had been vaguely revived by drinking that thing called coffee. In the midst of that, when food was pushed in front of my eyes, I almost opened my mouth wide and accepted it. But the smell emanating from it, the smell of human flesh, brought me to my senses.

I frowned and pulled my head back.

“This is human meat, isn’t it?”

“I wish it were pork or beef too.”

“I don’t eat people.”

“I know you’re scared of the cannibal disease, but aren’t you scared of starving to death? You’re already so skinny, I could even see your dick going in and out of your lower belly.”

He said that if I starved, his plan to fatten me up and eat me would also be disrupted, and he kept pushing the piece of meat to my mouth. I pulled my head back and then snatched the piece of meat from his hand and threw it into the water. At that sight, Kim Daesik shouted, “Hey! This precious thing……!” and then lowered his voice as if conscious of the other men. I glared at him as he fumed and warned him.

“I will never eat people. I won’t eat them even if I starve to death.”

At those words, Kim Daesik made a scary face.

To be precise, it was an expressionless face, but to my eyes, it looked scary.

“You won’t eat it even if you starve to death?”

When I nodded my head, he twisted his lips up.

“Fine. Well, alright. Let’s just see if that’s really the case.”

He spoke in a threatening tone, but either way, I was going to die, so for me, there was nothing to lose. If I starved, I would lose weight, so it was Kim Daesik who would be at a loss. Kim Daesik seemed to think so too, and belying his scary threat, he began to grumble. Just a moment ago he was kissing and sucking me saying he could die from my prettiness, and now he was spouting a bucketful of curses, saying I was very hateful and cunning.

Listening with one ear and letting it out the other, I stared at the unmoving fishing rod, and he pulled my arm.

“Come here.”

He made me sit between his knees and trapped me with his thighs. Then, he rested his head on my shoulder as if it were a chin rest and wrapped his arms around my waist. From beyond the chest pressed against my back, I could hear the sound of a heart beating, thumping. The sound of his heart, which seemed slightly faster than mine, was so noisy that I complained.

“Why is your heartbeat so loud?”

“Shut up.”

He spat that out, grabbed my chin, turned it, and kissed me. My neck was bent back all the way, and I wished he would pull away quickly, but he didn’t. Kim Daesik didn’t let go of my lips for a long time, thoroughly licking the inside of my mouth and sucking my tongue until my neck began to ache with a stiff pain.