“But how long can the three of us last on all this? I an, it’s definitely way more than what got delivered to my place, but still...”
As Kim Taeyoung looked around at the supplies piled in the basent and asked the question, Choi Hyunwoo squared his shoulders and answered.
“You don’t need to worry about that. Our esteed Brother Junho made these preparations from the start so four or five people could survive for over a year. Of course, that assus this pig cuts back a little on what she eats.”
“Yeah? I’m five-five and a hundred fifteen. And you’re over two hundred, right? So who’s the pig now?”
“Shut up. I lost weight. I’m back in the one-eighty range now.”
“Oh, seriously? At your height, if you’re in the one-eighty range, you’d be unstoppable at middleweight.”
“I dislike violence.”
“No way...”
Since Choi Hyunwoo had the kind of rough face that was rare even in the MMA world, Kim Taeyoung looked at him with utter disbelief.
“It’s true. With his face like that, nobody ever picked fights with him in school, but he never started any either.”
“Oh... huh.”
Kim Taeyoung still looked unconvinced, but since people reacted like that all the ti, Hyunwoo just shrugged and said,
“I haven’t fought a single zombie or person yet. I spent about a week wandering around here trying to figure out a way ho, but if anything spotted , I just ran.”
“That’s impressive in its own way, man.”
“I may be big, but I’m pretty fast. Anyway!”
Hyunwoo continued, getting more excited.
“How the hell did you two get here from Sang-dong? Just the two of you. I can’t even get one kiloter away from this house.”
“That?”
“Well, here’s what happened...”
Kim Taeyoung and Han Areum explained.
Since everything had started early in the morning on the second day of the holiday, and Sang-dong was mostly a comrcial district and nightlife area centered around Bucheon City Hall, there had not been that many people out at that hour.
Which ant there had not been that many zombies in the streets either.
But once the electricity and water went out, quite a few survivors ca pouring outside and caused chaos, which in turn brought huge numbers of zombies spilling out of officetels and apartnt buildings.
Naturally, most of those survivors died horribly.
“But get this—the ones that killed people and ate them went right back into the buildings they originally ca out of.”
“Ah, so as long as you don’t make noise or get noticed, you won’t get attacked by zombies?”
“Huh? You knew that too?”
“I’ve got this.”
Hyunwoo proudly held up the notebook Junho had left behind.
“This is Brother Junho’s Apocalypse Golden Rules series. Why do you think I managed to spend a whole week roaming around outside practically empty-handed and still get away every ti? This is why.”
“Oh really?”
“Yep. Anyway! So you moved quietly at night with a big box over your heads and made your way to the subway station, then walked along the tracks all the way to Sports Complex Station?”
“Yeah. Zombies have bad eyesight, right? So if you’re inside a box at night and move really slow without making noise, they don’t notice you. It took us two hours just to get from the gym building to the subway entrance.”
Hearing that they had taken two hours to cover a distance that was barely five hundred feet, Hyunwoo clicked his tongue in amazent.
“Damn... but I guess there weren’t many zombies in the subway either?”
“Yeah. It was a holiday, so there weren’t many people riding the subway at that hour. But...”
There was no way other people had not thought of the sa thing Kim Taeyoung and Han Areum had.
The two of them said they had stayed there with other survivors and killed a lot of the zombies inside the station.
“The zombies that had been inside the subway cars couldn’t get out because the doors were closed. We got seriously lucky. One guy we t there had walked all the way from Kkachiul Station...”
They said Onsu Station, where Lines 1 and 7 crossed, had turned into complete hell.
It looked like trains might even have crashed into each other, because from that point on, traveling by track had been impossible.
And the area around Onsu Station already had a huge residential population and heavy foot traffic, so they said you absolutely could not go that way.
“Kkachiul Station’s the limit. But today those helicopters went completely insane and collapsed all the entrances around Sports Complex Station.”
“If we’d co out even a little later, we would’ve been screwed. God, those crazy military bastards. Anyway, the whole area around Sports Complex Station was basically forest, you know? Just vinyl greenhouses and houses that looked like country hos.”
“Yeah. That’s why I was able to get that far too.”
But there had been so many zombies out on the wide-open roads that he had never even dared think about crossing them.
“The subway... why the hell didn’t I think of that? God, I’m such a dumbass.”
Hyunwoo grabbed at his own hair.
Watching him with sympathy, Han Areum said carefully,
“But, brother... maybe it’s a good thing you didn’t think of it.”
“What? Why?”
“Didn’t you say your apartnt’s near Jung-dong Station? You really can’t get there. You’d have to cross too many roads.”
And that was true. To reach Hansung Apartnts in the city neighborhood, he would have to pass through an enormous number of villa clusters and dense residential streets.
Even in Bucheon, where people already lived packed tightly into a small area, Wonmi District—where Hyunwoo’s family ho was—was the most densely populated part of all.
“Bucheon’s population is just under eight hundred thousand, and four hundred thousand of them live in Wonmi District alone.”
“Yeah. Haa...”
In the end, Hyunwoo had no choice but to give up.
“Still, this can’t go on forever, right? Let’s just hold out here. Maybe... maybe Yuchan will co here too. Then maybe sothing will open up for us.”
Unlike himself—who had had his athletic career cut short early because of chronic shoulder dislocations and had finished his military service in public service instead—
their gym owner had served in the Marine reconnaissance unit and had won championship belts in both Korea and Japan. A man like that would be different.
“So let’s hold out here as long as we can. Junho wouldn’t have told us about this place for no reason.”
“Yes, sir!”
Last year’s health screening had said his physical age was still in his thirties, and if his mother—who was far wiser and more capable than he was—was still out there,
then she had to be alive.
Holding onto that belief, Hyunwoo nodded hard.
“He didn’t tell , though... but it’s fine, because he’s Juno-Juno. This sin must be repaid through flirting.”
“Good grief...”
The two n could only laugh.
Han Areum was a bizarre kind of person who showed just how optimistic a human being could possibly be.
But in a bleak world heading straight for ruin, soone like Han Areum was far, far better than a negative person—not even comparable.
***
“You worked so hard, Junho. You too, Junhyeok. Co on, sit down and eat.”
Choi Haneul, who had stayed up waiting for them, guided Junho and Junhyeok to the table where she had laid out a carefully prepared late-night al.
There was chicken noodle soup with a rich milky broth, rolled olet, and neatly arranged sides like kimchi and salted seafood.
The bowl of chicken noodle soup for Junho in particular was at least twice the size of Junhyeok’s.
That was because Choi Haneul already knew very well that he was a huge eater.
“Thank you, Haneul.”
“Thanks for the al, Haneul!”
“Oh, listen to you two. How could what I do—just staying here comfortably and making food—ever compare to what you boys do? Co on, eat before it gets cold. Oh, and do you want a cold beer with it?”
“Maybe we should.”
“Hell yeah. See? Haneul knows what’s up.”
Choi Haneul brought over three cans of beer from the kind of drink fridge restaurants and bars usually used.
The table now held the imported dark beer Junho sotis drank and cans of Korea’s best-selling lager.
“Cheers.”
At Choi Haneul’s smile, the brothers lightly clinked cans and made quick work of the al, beer included.
“But I heard y’all rescued people again today?”
“Yes. Not from around here, though. They were students and an academy teacher from another part of Namyangju, farther away. I sent them to the nursing ho for now.”
“Oh my, then they must still be real young. Anyway, thank goodness for that. But, Junho.”
“Yes, Haneul.”
“You know Jiwoo and Junseo? They’re okay with everything else, but clothes and shoes are a problem. Is there any way around that?”
“Ah...”
Choi Jeongwoo’s daughter, Choi Jiwoo, was only five years old, and Kim Hayoon’s little brother, Kim Junseo, was just two years older, a first grader.
But since he had never really imagined kids that young would end up in the shelter, unfortunately they did not have proper clothes for them.
“Mr. Jeongwoo and Hayoon are already so, so grateful just that you saved them, Junho, so they can’t bring themselves to say anything. But when I look at them, it really bothers . We keep washing and drying the clothes they first ca in with and putting them back on them in the morning, but kids that age get filthy after only half a day outside.”
And with the season changing and the weather about to turn cold, she said, they would really have nothing they could wear.
No matter how much you sized down and put them in the smallest won’s sizes, thick winter clothes were not like sumr clothes—you could not just roll them up and make them work.
“Kids’ clothes...”
“Yes. Shoes, you can maybe get away with thick socks and slippers, but the clothes are the real issue.”
“...Ah!”
Choi Haneul and Junhyeok both flinched at the sudden exclamation from Junho.
Turning to Junhyeok, Junho said,
“Jo Yuna. Didn’t you say when she was living in Japan, she got so kind of proper-young-lady education and learned embroidery and sewing?”
“Oh, right! That’s what Youngsu said.”
“Good. Let’s take a sewing machine to her tomorrow.”
Among the huge stockpile of supplies they had prepared for the shelter were several manual and electric sewing machines.
Not only that, they had also stored a substantial quantity of different fabrics and synthetic leather.
If they used those, or combined them with ready-made clothes that had not even been unwrapped yet, they should be able to make children’s clothes without too much trouble.
Of course, all of that depended on Jo Yuna’s sewing skills.
“Let’s see what you can do. Jeomrye... no, Jo Yuna.”
Without realizing it, Junho had slipped into the nickna Yoon Youngsu used, and into his mind ca the face of Jo Yuna, the Psyche Flare mber who looked like a rabbit.
***
“Huh? This is...”
Jo Yuna had gotten up early again that morning expecting to go build greenhouses and had changed into her poop-brown work clothes, so her eyes went wide.
In front of her were an old-fashioned treadle sewing machine and an electric sewing machine.
They sat there along with almost every material needed to make clothes—five or six kinds of fabric, thread, buttons, and more.
“A sewing machine. You said you know how to use one, right?”
“Ah, yes, I do. But how did you know I could sew...?”
“I just did. Anyway, with this stuff.”
Telling her Choi Jiwoo and Kim Junseo’s body sizes and builds, Junho asked whether she could make several sets of underwear and fall-and-winter clothes for the two children.
“If you need it, I can also bring duck-down or goose-down padding. We’ve got a bunch of ready-made quilted clothes too.”
“Th-then just bring a few small won’s clothes for reference. No, actually, please bring about ten outfits each for fall and winter. And underwear too, for both boys and girls.”
“Fine. But bottom line—you do know how, right?”
“Yes! Leave it to . Oh, but... do the kids who’ll be wearing the clothes have any characters or animals they like? Kids usually love that kind of thing...”
“Hmm... oh. She likes Koromi. The boy likes dinosaurs.”
“Koromi! I like that too—ah, sorry. Um, anyway, I’ll make them.”
Jo Yuna’s eyes had lit up for a second at the ntion of Koromi, then she imdiately turned embarrassed.
“Good. Then today, Jo Yuna stays here and makes clothes. And you two...”
Junho turned toward the Park siblings, Park Deokcheol and Park Sunhee.
“......!”
The idol brother and sister, who had been openly staring at Jo Yuna with utterly envious expressions, startled badly.
Junho continued coldly.
“Today we’re building greenhouses again. Let’s put up just five more.”
“Yes...”
They were fed generously and on ti, and their breaks were guaranteed, but in terms of sheer labor intensity, it was obvious Jo Yuna had the much easier assignnt.
So the idol siblings—dubbed Dolsoe and Jeomsun by the unseen old-tir of the shelter control room whose face they did not even know—shuffled after Junho, who sohow felt like a work-crew foreman.
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