Crunch, crunch.
Those things, resembling people, were devouring others who looked just like them.
“Damn it—! Hwamin, Yeonah! Run without looking back!!”
“What, what are you talking about, Jeongeun!? Those bastards weren’t even nearby a moment ago! Why suddenly swarm like that!?”
“How the hell would I know──!? Everyone grab a bat or something and just run while you can!”
Red, white, yellow, and back to red.
No matter where I looked, the world was filled with dried chunks of flesh and bloody handprints.
“What the hell are those things! They keep multiplying!? Did they gather every monster in the area!?”
“W-What do we do now, Jeongeun!? The path we just came from is blocked…!!”
“Fck….fck….!!*”
Corpses, resting from the other world, were breaking the laws of nature and roaming the streets.
It was as if hell as described by religion had descended into reality—no, in this horrific space, even that expression couldn’t do justice to the calamity unfolding before us.
In a moment of desperation, just before being caught and devoured by the writhing maggots,
Tap, tap!
“──Come in here, unnie!”
“”…..?!””
We peeked through the crack of the door that had just been wide shut, as if caught in a movie scene, a small hand waving at us to hurry inside.
“Hehe~ Unnie. Quickly, hurry, hurry!”
“──Female, child?”
We encountered a single young girl.
Whether it was just the tremors of excitement or something else, I couldn’t tell at that moment.
Everything from her head to her eyes was white, and if this were a dream, I might have mistaken her for a fairy—her beauty and mystery made my heart thump.
Standing alone by the roadside, I forgot that a horde of zombies was approaching,
“….Beautiful.”
I couldn’t help but mutter those words.
This is a record of all my eighteen-year-old Hwa Min’s experiences during those forty-two days when the world was crumbling.
An unforgettable, irreplaceable, twenty-one-day journal that is more precious than anything to me.
That day was, if I had to express it, just a very ordinary day.
Thinking more about what college I might go to next year than where I would be in a few years,
Worrying about next week’s pop quiz over the regular exam a few months away.
Contemplating the homework I needed to submit by tomorrow afternoon rather than the cafeteria menu for lunch today.
A day where the word normal fit better than anything else.
‘────Kyaaaaa!’
With a scream from someone I knew piercing through my ears as if to shatter them,
The world crumbled in an instant, as if everything that had happened until now were lies.
Everything I had been thinking, worrying, and agonizing over until today,
Was swept away like sand on a beach, leaving no trace of its existence.
Its meaning, all lost.
At that moment, I came to know that reality could often feel more like a lie than a lie itself.
The knowledge and experiences from our education, which could be said to have consumed nearly half our lives since birth, were utterly useless against the approaching calamity.
All that remained for us were just friends standing next to me, a club junior one year below, and a heavy backpack stuffed with food we scrounged from a convenience store while fleeing.
Bang!
“Guys! Just loot everything here!”
“….U-Um, Jeongeun? Hwamin? Is it really okay to take this?”
“Just do it! I’ll pay for it later, even if it’s out of my own pocket, so just stuff everything in!”
“Umm… if we get in trouble, we can just blame Jeongeun anyway….. Yeony, let’s just grab stuff. Jeongeun, you don’t have any illnesses, right? Organs cost quite a bit. Just give me the leftover money.”
“─You little bastard!?”
Even managing to grab that tiny amount of food was thanks to Jeongeun, who was the most aggressive among us despite her slightly bumpy approach.
At the time of the incident, I didn’t feel the gravity of the situation as much as I do now, and both Yeon and I, with our morals tossed aside, were hesitant to take the plunge.
But maybe, Jeongeun was different.
Her urging us to dump all the books in our bags and fill them with canned goods and non-perishable food, claiming she’d take responsibility for any issues that arose, led us to start stuffing our bags with the food we desired.
Afterwards, following Yeon’s suggestion to move to a commercial building with multiple exits for safety, we managed to catch our breath and made our way there.
In hindsight, it truly seems like a wise choice.
Even if she was young, Yeon was not just any ordinary student; she was pretty sharp.
Anyway, after all the ups and downs, the first day arrived.
We sat atop the highest level of the shopping complex, waiting for rescue teams to appear, interjecting with jokes like “You’re our hero, Jeongeun!” at the moments she suggested we take food.
“I’ve actually been waiting for a friend like you for a long time.”
“I… I’ve believed in you from the beginning, Jeongeun.”
“Hey, you bastards! Are you even human!?”
That retort was warm enough to make us temporarily forget the tough situation.
Maybe to escape despair, we all tried to share trivial stories and laugh together.
BAM!
“Unji..! Why, why is this happening!! Aah, stop, stop…! Aaaaaaaaaaah—!!!!”
Seeing our closest friends that we had just been laughing with suddenly turn into monsters, devouring each other, made it hard not to forget the horrific spectacle unfolding in our mind.
“Mom…!? Mom, what’s going on! What is that sound!?”
“My, my parents… they aren’t answering the calls…”
“………”
Horrified thoughts about what could have happened to our family swirled, and to shake them off, we kept laughing.
“Haha.”
[‘S-Save me…..! Please, help me!!’]
“”──Hahahahaha!””
With bloodshot eyes and screams, even now, people below pleaded for help while trapped by countless zombies.
We continued to talk, share stories, and must keep going.
Screaming until our voices broke, laughing until tears wouldn’t come, we looked at each other to avoid the horrific sights around.
Surely, everything would be resolved soon.
That a short line in a news article would seal the end of this chaos, and we’d return to our daily lives as if nothing had happened.
But.
‘….Why? Is no one coming?’
‘S-Senpai… look, the building is… on fire.’
Before my friends Jeongeun, Yeon, and I lay the grim truth.
Survivors were vanishing and hordes of zombies grew, and the smoke from distant flames keep rising.
Yeah.
Though it had been fifteen days since the incident began, the situation should have calmed sooner. Instead, chaos deepened.
As time passed, more than half of our stored food had been used up. Now we faced worrying not about rescues, but the food we needed starting next week.
We agreed to leave the shelter of the shopping center in search of a larger supermarket where food would be plentiful.
Surely other people had similar thoughts, which gave us hope that we might run into other survivors or possibly find our unreachable families.
Even if that hope was a mere illusion.
So, we had a rough understanding of the learners we had observed on the rooftops, their basic locations, and behaviors.
After gathering weapons and supplies over two days, we embarked on our journey.
But.
What awaited us outside was not like what we had witnessed from the windows. It was a wave of zombies reminiscent of tidal waves.
And so, I.
No, we.
Tap.
“──Met you.”
“Ugh… Unnies, you must have had it hard.”
“…Haha.”
I looked at the child in my arms, gazing up at me. To quench my long-lasting thirst, I took a drink of water.
The gently sloshing, transparent liquid contained in the glass bottle was tepid yet clean.
With a gulp, I savored the water once more, but…
For some reason, it tasted so bitter and salty, not fitting.
Yeah.
“Really, must have been tough.”
“……Ha…ha…”
“─It’s okay now. You’re alright, unnie.”
Truly, I could feel the tears welling up without me even realizing.
