Zombie Apocalypse Whiteout - 13
EP 13. Welcome to Zombie World (5)
7:17 PM.
They’d already been here for nearly six hours.
During that time, groups of zombies, big and small, kept approaching and retreating. Yu-bin and his friends had gone outside three more times for various tasks. The total number of balloons they’d hung around the area now topped 400, with as many as ten different kinds.
Even though the bike had cut down travel time, it was still an exhausting effort, nonstop, almost suffocatingly busy. The number of zombies Jin-woo and the sheriff had killed during those tasks had already surpassed a hundred.
Yet some zombies still roamed near the Jabeolle and the plaza. This was just the nature of zombies wandering and leaving a few stragglers behind. In any case, all today’s outside work was done.
Now, all that was left was observation. Yu-bin, Jin-woo, and Min-gu each fixed their gazes in different directions, waiting for zombies to appear.
“Hahaha, you little punk! How’s that? Didn’t I say I’d give you something good earlier?”
From the rooftop three floors below, the sheriff was hanging out with Sam-suk, laughing happily.
Rrrrrrrr!
Every time the sheriff pulled the trigger, dozens of soap bubbles blew out from the dolphin-shaped bubble gun. The bubbles shimmered like jewels, floating freely along the river breeze. Sam-suk focused intensely, chasing after every one of them.
Pant, pant, pant!
Determined to pop every single bubble, Sam-suk bit and burst them with excitement. His stubby tail spun like a motor, wagging nonstop in pure joy.
“Blue ones are coming.”
Jin-woo, watching the west through binoculars, said. Zombies with round blue balloons bobbing above their heads had appeared near the Jabeolle.
“Blue zombies… 7:17 PM, west side…”
Yu-bin pulled out his notebook and began jotting down notes. His pages were now packed with curves and annotations. Even with blue, red, and green pens, it was still confusing.
“Blue? Isn’t it green?”
Yu-bin, comparing today’s notes with past records, asked suspiciously.
“Blue isn’t supposed to come now… Normally, they show up about fifteen minutes later.”
“Really?”
Jin-woo blinked and raised the binoculars again.
“Um… Now that you say it, they kinda look green…”
“Hey, are you colorblind or something?”
Min-gu asked with a tone tinged with sympathy. Jin-woo waved his hands.
“No, no. It’s just really dark. Even you’d have trouble seeing clearly at this hour. Try looking.”
Jin-woo handed the binoculars to Min-gu.
“Hmmm…”
Min-gu gave a small exclamation, as if understanding why Jin-woo had been mistaken. Even with eyes adjusting slowly to the dark, it was impossible to distinguish the glowing balloons’ colors now that the sun was gone. To Min-gu, they just looked like a dull gray.
“The balloons are blue if they’re round, green if they’re star-shaped.”
Yu-bin checked his notes and explained. Jin-woo nodded.
“Oh, right. Stars. Sorry about that.”
“No need to apologize. You’re seeing as much as you can.”
Yu-bin patted Jin-woo’s shoulder, half-joking. In this darkness, being able to identify the colors of distant objects like that was thanks to Jin-woo’s sharp eyesight. Maybe only Sam-suk, with his owl-like vision, could do better.
“Ugh, it’s getting pretty cold now.”
Yu-bin finished updating his notes, shivering and wrapping his arms around himself. Once, standing under the sun for just ten minutes would drench him in sweat; now, every night breeze brought a chill. On the rooftop of the Han River café, with nothing to block the wind, it felt even colder.
“Well… it’s supposed to be cold. Winter’s coming.”
Jin-woo replied. It was late November now, and a hoodie and windbreaker felt a little thin. No matter how good the Gore-Tex fabric was, it couldn’t fully block the biting cold against the skin.
“I’m just hungry. Eating something will help. Hey, Jin-woo, stop staring through the binoculars and eat. It’s too dark to see much anyway.”
The sheriff came up the stairs, rustling a plastic bag. He handed out Spam, canned tuna, snacks, instant rice, disposable utensils, and drinks from the convenience store on the deck. Then, he added a careful warning, handing out wet wipes.
“Not just your hands, make sure to wipe the food packaging well too. The refrigerated stuff had a lot of mold on it. I washed it off once, but it still feels iffy.”
“Did you hear that? Don’t just put anything in your mouth, he says! There’s tons of mold.”
Jin-woo said, opening a canned chicken for Sam-suk on a disposable plate. The dog still had traces of soap bubbles around his mouth, proof of how hard he’d been playing.
“Let’s eat while drinking something warm.”
After washing his face with water and wipes, Yu-bin pulled out the thermoses he’d saved in his duffel bag.
“There’s ramen broth and coffee, guys. Choose whichever you want.”
“Give me some coffee. Did they bring this already brewed or what?”
Min-gu asked, looking curious. Yu-bin poured steaming coffee into a paper cup and answered.
“Before we left today, Jenny and Terra gave it to us. They said they prepared it themselves.”
“Who made the coffee, and who made the ramen broth?”
The sheriff, eating Spam with a plastic spoon, asked with interest. Yu-bin shrugged.
“No idea… didn’t ask. And does it really matter? Either way, both were made by Pink Punch.”
“Hm… that’s true, I guess. Then I’ll take the ramen broth. Spicy, please…”
The sheriff held out his paper cup. After blowing on it and taking a sip, he grimaced and muttered bitterly.
“Oh man, this is Jenny’s cooking.”
“Tastes bad, huh?”
Yu-bin took a quick sip. It was obvious. Jenny’s ramen broth was unmistakable, too watery, bland, and somehow lacking umami. What kind of trick had she pulled on instant ramen seasoning?
“Usually, making ramen broth this way is tough… maybe it’s because it’s old ramen…”
The sheriff frowned but drank every drop without leaving a drop behind. No matter how bad her cooking was, it didn’t affect Jenny’s charm one bit.
“Pour me some too. Into this.”
Jin-woo held out his instant rice bowl. Yu-bin warned before tilting the thermos.
“It’s probably not the taste of ramen broth you expect.”
“Doesn’t matter. Mix it with some chili paste, and it’s all the same.”
Jin-woo said. Probably more interested in adding warmth than flavor.
“...The expiration date’s still a year and a half away.”
The sheriff suddenly glanced at the bottom of a Spam can like he’d just remembered something. Jin-woo asked,
“And?”
“How am I supposed to eat meat when all this stuff expires?”
Strictly speaking, Spam isn’t really meat, but it’s close enough.
“If you really want it, you’ll have to catch it yourself.”
Jin-woo said while chewing his rice mixed with chili paste and Jenny’s broth.
“I once saw a cow walking in Gangwon Province. I guess a lot of animals must survive like that.”
“Catch it yourself?”
The sheriff grimaced, spitting rice grains.
“Hey, that’s not as easy as it sounds… You’re talking about standing in front of a cow or pig, looking into those black eyes, and then killing it?”
“You’ve killed hundreds of zombies, what’s the difference? When you kill zombies, you look them right in the eye and hit them.”
“That’s different, you little punk. If I don’t kill zombies, I’m dead.”
“It’s the same with meat. You just have to do what the situation demands. Even this Spam we’re eating was made because someone went through that trouble for us.”
Jin-woo replied. Of course, he didn’t want to kill living creatures, but if it was really necessary, like if a friend needed meat for health reasons, he could accept it. This wasn’t a time for childish complaints anymore.
“But it’s not just over when you kill it.”
The sheriff, deeply immersed in the thought of killing a living animal, muttered as if disgusted.
“It’s got fur, so you have to skin it… Then cut open the belly and take out the guts… Damn, how do you even do that?”
“Skinning’s easy. I can teach you that skill.”
Min-gu, who had been quietly listening, suddenly spoke up. Just hearing that was enough to imagine him grinning and wielding a knife to cut open someone’s belly. The sheriff looked at him incredulously.
“Hey, human! That might be easy for you!”
“If you don’t want to learn, then forget it. I don’t teach weaklings either.”
Min-gu shot back and didn’t engage further. It was impressive these two could argue about something as obscure as how to gut a cow that might not even exist.
“If the world’s still like this in a year and a half, then it’s hopeless anyway.”
Jin-woo took a sip of his drink and continued.
“After those nuclear plants blow up, no one’s gonna clean it up. And it’s not just happening here.”
Graaaaaaah!
As if punctuating Jin-woo’s words, the zombies’ howls rose from the riverbank on the right. They were no longer visible, but somewhere out there, zombies marched, regular as clockwork, without rest. Could all these monsters be wiped out and the world return to normal?
“Well, we can worry about that after we safely get back to Big Island.”
Yu-bin swallowed the rice soaked in ramen broth and calmed everyone down. No matter how bleak the future, surviving was the first priority. The dead have no future.
“Oh, speaking of going back, I should bring some of this to Jenny and Terra when we head to the island. Just imagining them laughing and having fun with this stuff makes me happy.”
The sheriff smiled widely as he aimed the bubble gun he’d been playing with earlier alongside Sam-suk, shooting bubbles up into the air. The sight of large and small soap bubbles drifting above the Han River was surprisingly beautiful, even in the dark. But then…
“Sheriff, you bastard… have you changed?”
Jin-woo, crunching on some chocolate to get calories, pointed out sharply. The sheriff blinked, clearly confused.
“Changed? How? What do you mean?”
“You’re sneaking Terra into the picture now? Weren’t you shouting all along that you’re Team Jenny through and through? Now you’re trying to have it both ways?”
“No, no! I’m still Team Jenny, but it’s just that…”
The sheriff, at a loss for words, waved his hands awkwardly in the air and stammered.
“It’s just… when I look at Terra, I feel like I want to protect her, comfort her… you know? And honestly, she’s pretty! That’s just an objective fact.”
“…Well, if he likes her, that’s his freedom.”
Min-gu cut in with a casual comment. It sounded like he was siding with the sheriff, but the underlying message was clear: “It’s not going to happen anyway.”
“Hey! You ignoring me? I’m better looking than you, you know?”
The sheriff snapped back, turning to glare at Min-gu.
“Try me.”
Min-gu gave a short reply and stood up, grabbing his cigarette. When the wind on the riverbank blows this strong, it’s hard to say when he’ll get another chance to smoke.
“Phew…!”
Min-gu blew cigarette smoke into the darkening air. He owed Terra a huge debt, one he’d repay with his life if he had to. The way she resolutely slashed her own wrist for his sake was something he’d never forget. Naturally, if anyone tried to get close to her romantically, he’d be fiercely protective, but still…
If it had to be one of these two, he thought, glancing at the sheriff and Jin-woo in turn, it’d be okay.
In a world where education, power, and wealth no longer mattered, the one who could take care of themselves was the best choice. Besides, these guys were the real deal, risking their lives to save strangers they hardly knew. How many people like that were left these days?
Of course, Yu-bin wasn’t bad either, but Min-gu had already ruled him out since he’d seen Jenny kiss Yu-bin on the stairs at the pool hall that night. That smart schemer wasn’t even a candidate anymore.
“Aren’t you cold?”
Yu-bin approached, wearing a padded jacket. Min-gu was still in his no-tie suit. It might look decent, but it was totally unsuitable for late November weather.
“I’m holding up.”
“Just wear this while we’re up all night. You’ll get sick otherwise. You just had surgery, remember?”
Yu-bin pulled a lightweight padded jacket from his pocket and offered it to Min-gu.
“That wasn’t really surgery, you want to see?”
Min-gu proudly rolled up his shirt to reveal his side. Somehow, those foreign guys from JL had regrown and flawlessly reattached the muscle that had vanished from a gunshot wound.
The faint scar left behind wasn’t from the surgery itself, but from when that nutcase had mercilessly seared him with a red-hot blade. Thanks to that, his physical ability had almost fully recovered.
“They said they cultured muscle cells… looks like it worked well.”
Yu-bin peered closely at the surgery site.
“Touch it.”
Min-gu, seeing the curiosity in Yu-bin’s eyes, generously moved his side closer.
“Huh?”
Yu-bin’s mouth dropped open at the sudden invitation. Touch it…?