Apocalypse N-Student - Chapter 34



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Episode 34 Leader

“Eek!”

The tall young man took a breath and stepped back.

“What the fuck!”

A fierce-looking man with a flame tattooed on his left cheek raised a baseball bat with a glaring look on his face as if he was going to strike.

When the corpse showed no movement, he slowly approached it and poked it here and there with the bat, then spat on the floor and sighed in relief.

Suddenly, the tall man with the flame tattoo stopped and did not move any further, as if his tension had suddenly relaxed after being startled by the sight of the corpse.

Since it was at an intersection, I had no idea where to go.

While the two men were searching for our traces on the paths stretching out in front and to the left and right, a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses came running behind them.

“Why are you so late! You missed those kids!”

As the flame tattoo glared at him harshly, the middle-aged man quickly looked around and frowned.

“Keep your voice down. How many times have I told you to move as quietly as possible?”

“Oh, don’t be so scared. Look over there. Everything left is frozen solid like a fish.”

Only then did a middle-aged man see the body and stride forward with a stern expression.

He carefully examined the corpse from a safe distance, then approached it cautiously, nodding.

“There is a puncture wound to the head. Judging from the fact that the blood hasn’t dried yet, it doesn’t seem to have been there long······”

“Those guys who robbed the pharmacy.”

“It’s a frozen corpse so it shouldn’t pose an immediate threat, but why bother······ and in one blow······”

The middle-aged man pushed up the center of his gold-rimmed glasses with a strange expression and looked lost in thought.

Although they were quite far away, the voice of the fire tattoo was loud and the surroundings were quiet, so their conversation could be heard clearly.

Thanks to the binoculars, the face was clearly visible.

So I had a vague idea what the middle-aged man was thinking.

Most likely, even while running away, he’s wondering whether it’s wise to keep chasing those guys who are stabbing the heads of frozen corpses.

“Is there anyone who doesn’t know that zombie babies die when they break pots? So what about the medicine?”

“I checked all the way to the warehouse, but there’s nothing left.”

“Ow, shit! Seriously!”

The flame tattoo, irritated to the tips of his hair, took out his anger by hitting the frozen corpse’s head with the bat.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The tall man shuddered at the impulsive and cruel action, and the middle-aged man shook his head.

“Stop it. This is like a zombie. What are you going to do if you wake up?”

The tall man fidgeted and tried to stop her, but the flame tattoo glared at him cynically, as if it were a sign of pity.

“So you’re just going to smash their heads in? If you just tremble in fear, the zombie bastards will kill you on their own? You can’t even kill a cockroach, but you’re still alive with your mouth······”

A few minutes later, two women appeared.

One of them appeared to be a high school student, and the other appeared to be in his mid-twenties.

They were both wearing backpacks and holding hiking sticks in their hands, but their complexions were pale and their expressions were dark, as if they had been lost.

The five men and women were obviously not a family.

The atmosphere was too different for colleagues from the same company.

If the two men felt like an employee and a manager at a small to medium-sized company that makes injection molded products, the two women felt like the owner and a part-time worker at a local cafe.

The flame tattoo suited the newsroom manager who supplies helpers to the Reckana tavern.

It is common for people of different personalities and classes to join hands for the common goal of survival in extreme situations, so they probably met by chance out of necessity.

As the women appeared, the man with the flame tattoo who had been smoking a cigarette threw down the bat and kicked the corpse in a show of force.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

“You fucking zombie bastards! I’ll kill you all! You fucking bastards!”

The young woman trembled and grabbed the young woman’s arm.

The young woman looked at the flame tattoo, comforting the younger girl.

As the women’s gaze turned towards him, the flame tattoo’s kicks became more violent, as if adding fuel to the fire.

Whether it was to show off his twisted masculinity or to enjoy seeing women scared, it was clear that he was a punk with no humanity and an idiot who couldn’t control himself.

The eyes and faces of the group watching the flame tattoo run wild like a madman with a fever were filled with fear and disgust that could not be hidden.

Yet, ironically, I thought that the reason they were all in one group was because of the violence of the flame tattoos that they hated so much.

Among them, the one with the flame tattoo was the only one who didn’t get scared when he saw the corpse and boldly ran over and smashed its head.

I would probably have done the same if I had encountered zombies or marauders.

There are many different types of leaders in the apocalypse, but taking the lead and breaking zombie heads is the most basic quality that all leaders must have.

I don’t know how many there are in their group, but just looking at them gives me a rough idea of ​​how things work.

“Let’s stop. This is not the time to be doing this. It seems impossible to find any more of those people. Let’s go to another pharmacy.”

“The pharmacy is a mess! I’ve already been to three places and you want me to hit you again?”

“So you’re not going to make a deal? If I don’t get the medicine by today, I’ll have to leave, but that can’t be possible, right? There are many pharmacies and hospitals around here. If that doesn’t work out, I’ll have to go to Guseo-dong or Busan University to get it.”

When the middle-aged man mentioned the pressing reality, the flame tattooed face distorted and he gripped the bat with both hands.

“I should have caught those kids earlier······”

“There’s nothing we can do. And there’s no guarantee that they have the medicine. Let’s hurry. The later it gets, the more people will come out onto the streets.”

“Nimi······Fuck.”

The flame tattooed man, who had been swearing and looking fiercely at the road we were hiding on and the roads on either side, turned around swinging his bat.

The group followed at a short distance.

After they had completely disappeared into the alley where the mart was, I took the binoculars out of my eyes and retreated into the alley.

“What kind of medicine are you looking for?”

Jong-seok asked with a slightly uneasy expression as he put the shotgun back into the case.

“Well······ I left cold medicine, anti-inflammatory painkillers, anti-diarrheal medicine, and first aid kits, so that’s not it. It’s probably antibiotics or prescription drugs. There are a lot of pharmacies in Busan, so I’ll get them somehow.”

There were only two of us so we robbed the nearest pharmacy, but there were only three men there.

If you broaden your scope of activities as the middle-aged man said, you should be able to find at least one decent pharmacy without much difficulty.

The word ‘deal’ remained more deeply in my mind than the medicine they were looking for.

Someone asked for medicine and apparently gave something in return.

Probably food or fuel.

Considering the violent nature of the Flame Tattooed thug, it would have been easy to just beat him up and take it by force, but the fact that he attempted to make a deal meant that the other party had enough power to do so.

Who could it be?

I put my backpack on and walked into the alley, thinking carefully about the information I had just obtained.

*

There were many places in the alley where movement was impossible because the snow had barely melted.

As I moved towards the widest possible direction, I naturally ended up on a back road where villas and apartments faced each other.

Beyond the garbage collection area and sculptures buried in the snow, many movements and voices could be heard.

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He gestured and hid himself against the wall, peering into the wide, open passageway.

A variety of men and women who appeared to be residents were gathered in groups of two or three, talking.

Everyone was wearing thick clothes and had scarves and blankets wrapped around them, but there was no sign of makeshift spears or knives.

Instead, he was holding a broom and a shovel and clearing the snow that had piled up on the street in front of the apartment.

“let’s go.”

“Are you okay?”

“It’s okay. That’s enough.”

There was no other way out than that road, but judging from the mood of the residents, it seemed like nothing would happen.

When Jong-seok and I appeared in front of the apartment building after passing through the common passage, the residents were startled and stopped what they were doing to look at us.

I was just about to pass by when someone mustered up the courage to speak to me.

“Where are you from?”

“I’m just passing through.”

“Oh, really?”

“When is the snowplow coming? I heard they opened a free meal center in Seomyeon. Is that true? Haven’t you heard anything about the community center or the district office handing out things?”

“yes?”

When a middle-aged woman interrupted and started asking questions as if she couldn’t stand it anymore, Jong-seok looked at me with dumbfounded eyes.

As expected, it was as expected.

I thought it was a bit odd that they were just shoveling snow, but since they were covered in heavy snow and couldn’t see any zombies, they seemed to think the disaster was over.

Now that the snow has stopped, soon the snowplows will show up and clear away the accumulated snow, and then relief supplies will arrive, electricity will be restored, and life will return to its former state.

The defenseless state of the residents was filled with such implicit optimism and anticipation.

You all must have clearly seen on TV that major cities across the country, including Seoul and Busan, were eaten by zombies.

This apartment must have been a total mess, but judging by the fact that they’re out so leisurely, it looks like the zombies on the first floor and in the hallway all worked together to sort things out.

But there will still be zombies in other rooms with closed doors.

The numerous surrounding buildings buried in snow were no different from dens of dormant zombies.

Having barely survived a near-death experience, trembling in fear in a nightmarish chaos, it is impossible for him to be unaware of the desperate reality.

You may wonder how anyone could think that it’s all over, but that’s what hope is all about.

We believe not because it is real or has a high probability of being realized, but because we want to believe it.

Just like a religion.

No one wanted any broad advice telling them to brace themselves, as the arduous and dangerous days of survival would continue indefinitely.

It would have been better to just keep my mouth shut and pass by, as I would have been hated as a wanderer bringing the plague.

“We don’t know. We haven’t heard anything either.”

As Jong-seok was walking forward, answering on his behalf, a young woman with a face so pale it was pitiful to look at blocked his way with a sorrowful expression that no man could ever ignore.

“······Excuse me. Do you have anything to eat?”

“We don’t have anything either.”

As I shook my head without any hesitation, an aggressive, informal voice came flying from behind me.

“The bag is convex. Is there something inside?”

He turned his head and stepped aside.

An old man with sunken cheeks glared at me with bloodshot eyes, as if he had not eaten for several days.

“If you have something to eat, how about selling it? I’ll pay you a very generous price. We just have to hold out until the road is cleared, so let’s help each other out a bit.”

A middle-aged man who looked friendly stepped in to mediate with a listless smile.

“It’s because of the backpack design, there’s nothing to eat. I went to the mart just in case, but it was all gone.”

Since I had planned to go out for about an hour, I didn’t bring any food.

All I brought was a bottle of water and a chocolate bar for emergencies.

If you happen to run into one or two people, you can do them a little favor since you’re on your way back.

But now there were too many mouths.

If you take out food from here, all the residents inside the apartment will come out and run at you like water ghosts.

If that happens, you’ll end up having to show me what’s inside your backpack and I’ll lose all the medicine I worked so hard to get.

“Really? Then let me take a look at your bag. It’s not that I don’t trust you······”

“Step back.”

As I resolutely raised the window, the hungry man who had been reaching out his hand like a zombie flinched.

In an instant, the roaring noise disappeared and the winter air touching my skin became dry and cold.

On the battlefield, the line between enemy and allies is clear.

In the apocalypse, anything with a mouth can be an enemy.

Whether woman, man, child, old man, human or beast······

Jongseok and I quickly left the place, our backs facing each other and watching people’s actions.

Surprised, scared, angry and puzzled, the stares were focused on us so sharply that it felt like a sharp gaze, but no one attacked us or blocked our way.

They were overwhelmed by the threat of weapons and were not yet desperate enough to risk their lives.

There was no leader to instigate or give orders.

Suddenly, an annoying thought appeared in my mind.

Who will survive longer: the flame-tattooed thug who brutally assaulted a corpse or the residents of this apartment building?

At first glance, the outcome seems so obvious that it makes you sigh, but no one knows where reality will lead.

Humans are not machines, and situations and circumstances can either make them grow or corrupt them.

It is difficult for a fallen human being to grow, but it is as easy for a sane human being to become corrupt as it is to come down stairs.

In a hellish situation, it was enough to just cowardly close one’s eyes and go with the flow.

It’s obvious that bad people repay kindness with enmity and stab you in the back of the head at crucial moments, but there are also good, powerless people who are no joke.

If we meet again after the snow has completely melted and the zombies have become active, they will probably look a little different than they do now.

Whether they grow or fall, living beings will somehow survive.

*

To avoid being followed, I walked around the alleys here and there and entered a familiar residential area on a hillside.

There was still not a single person in sight, but there was still some movement.

“Wasn’t that there earlier?”

The place Jong-seok pointed to was a small neighborhood supermarket tucked away on one side of an alley.

A cart was parked neatly in front of a store with its shutters half-torn off and its windows shattered.

As I was looking around and trying to make a detour into a side alley, someone opened the shutter and came out of the supermarket.

He was looking around like a thief, loading a box of soju onto a cart, and our eyes met.

“huh?”

A wrinkled, old face revealed under a worn, cheap parka and a baseball cap worn slightly backwards.

Both the clothes and the face were familiar.

It was the old man who pulled a cart and collected waste paper.

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