TL/Editor: Butter Cat

    Status: 4/week mon-thurs

    Illustrations: none

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    〈 Chapter 90 〉 888. The Chapter of the Zombie and the Girl (2)

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    It''s true what they say about a blessing in disguise.

    (TL Note: Original idiom is ‘????’ or ‘A misfortune turns into a blessing’)

    The situation we had only viewed as a crisis turned out to be a blessing for us.

    Of course, it would have been better if the crisis hadn''t come knocking at all in the first place.

    —Knock, knock.

    "Thank you! You saved our lives."

    "—Heehee. It was nothing. Come on, unnies! Follow me this way!"

    Thanks to the kind child''s help, Jung-eun, Yeon-ah and I were able to dramatically escape amidst the horde of zombies.

    Expressing our gratitude for her help, we all followed the beckoning hand gestures of the child, leaving the locked gate behind and entering into the house with the eye-catching blue roof.

    Thump, thump.

    Even after we entered the house, the incessant noise of the zombie horde pounding on the firmly locked iron gate and fence did not end.

    But despite those horrific sounds that should have made us tremble in fear, our hearts were slowly finding peace.

    Compared to the previous situation where zombies had come right up to us, extending their hands, the fact that we had entered a house surrounded by a stone wall coated with thick concrete and sturdy bricks gave us more reassurance than anything else.

    And when we thought about it like that, the current pounding just sounded like the frustrated attempts of zombies who couldn''t enter.

    In short, it meant this.

    Serves you right — you bastards.

    —Thump, thump, thump, thump!

    ["■■■■■■!"]

    ["■■■,■■■■■!!"]

    "........."

    Like raindrops tapping against a window.

    The splattering sound of their rotten hands and faces colliding with the gate continued even as we locked the front door and entered the room.

    Knock, knock.

    It continued on.

    [''■■■!'']

    "........"

    ....Continuously.

    When this utterly unpleasant sound finally stops, it will mean one of two things.

    Either the zombies have grown tired of knocking on the gate, given up on trying to catch us, and dispersed to chase after other groups of survivors wandering outside.

    Or the walls protecting us had finally given way under the zombies'' relentless assault, instantly turning this house that had felt so safe into our very own coffin.

    Our deaths. Or the deaths of strangers whose names we didn''t even know.

    That cruel choice between the two.

    And it meant that no matter which one happened, only someone''s death would remain in the end.

    Well—

    That''s that, and this is this.

    —Slide.

    "Uwaaa... Jung-eun, I''m dying…"

    "Don''t talk to me, Hwa-min. I have no energy left to answer…"

    "Talk, talk, talk, talk, talk──"

    "....I''ll kill you when you get up. Really."

    Right now was the time to put aside heavy thoughts like death and take a little rest.

    Jung-eun and I had all our tension released from the relief of surviving, and as if by agreement, we both collapsed in front of the entrance, putting on our usual comical skit.

    Only the well-mannered Yeon-ah remained uniquely upright (sitting) with her head held high, conversing with the small child who had saved us.

    "Heehee~ Are you tired, unnies? I''ll bring you something to drink! Just wait here a bit, okay?"

    "Please do… So, um… child, what should we call you? Ah, first, my name is ''Seon Woo-yeon''. My friends call me Yeon-ah. And the two lying here are my Sunbae, Lee Hwa-min and Park Jung-eun."

    ".....Hmm."

    At Yeon-ah''s words introducing herself and us.

    The child paused briefly while looking around at us, then answered with a bright smile.

    Each syllable.

    Clearly and distinctly, as if to ensure there would be no chance of any misunderstanding.

    "──Hee-ah. My name is Hee-ah. Nice to meet you, Yeon-ah unnie!"

    "...Yes! Nice to meet you too, Hee-ah!"

    Well, even though Yeon-ah was putting on airs like that by herself.

    She was in the same state as us, kneeling on the floor and looking up at the child.

    The house we entered following the snow-white girl, who introduced herself as Hee-ah, was surprisingly spacious, larger than we had expected.

    It was like one of those big houses you might visit during holidays in the countryside, where multiple relatives live together.

    We had no choice but to quickly enter the house following the child in the pressing situation, with no leeway to look around our surroundings, but even taking that into account, the size of the house equipped with multiple bathrooms and even a bathtub was astonishing enough to surprise not just me, but Jung-eun and Yeon-ah as well.

    Of course, surprise aside.

    "Waaah... Mama Jung-eun, I''m tired. Give me some water."

    "....Get lost, brat. And stop acting cute. You wanna die? Want me to throw you to the zombies to die?"

    Rub rub─

    The first thing we did was to collapse onto the fluffy carpet laid across the living room floor.

    A week''s worth of food supplies and several weapons, including wooden clubs.

    And the thick leather outfits we had bundled ourselves up in from head to toe in case of getting bitten were enough to make us collapse even in the still-cool weather of spring.

    "—Ta-da! Unnies, Hee-ah brought wat....eh.....? Huh, unnies, are you hurt somewhere!? Why are you all lying down!?"

    "Ah, Hee-ah, you''re here. Thank you… But we don''t have the energy to move our hands right now, so if you could just leave it there, we''ll drink it later. And don''t mind those two over there."

    For that reason.

    Rolling around, Jung-eun and I were like college students who had drunk too much after a company dinner.

    We were sprawled pathetically on the carpet made of felt, wriggling our bodies here and there like caterpillars.

    Next to us, Yeon-ah was sitting with her head bowed, covering her red face with both hands.

    Sorry, Hee-ah. We showed you something unsightly.

    So please don''t look at us like that.

    "Really, such embarrassing sunbaes…"

    "....Heehee."

    Seeing this, Hee-ah laughed awkwardly.

    Like that.

    After the somewhat eventful, peaceful moment of rest passed.

    Perhaps we were hungry for new encounters in our isolated and stagnant lives.

    "We──"

    We pathetically gulped down the water brought by a child who seemed several years younger than us, and sitting in front of Hee-ah who had taken her seat, we began our story.

    Starting with a simple introduction of myself, Jung-eun, and Yeon-ah.

    How we came to be here, what urgent situations we had been through.

    And why we had been running from zombies just moments ago.

    All of that horrific past.

    Looking back now, the story we told then was not something that should have been told in front of a child.

    A story that would only make the listener uncomfortable, dredging up dark and painful memories, was certainly not something to be told in front of a child who wasn''t even ten years old yet.

    The child too must have witnessed such scenes before.

    But.

    We were so cornered at that time that we couldn''t even think of such obvious things.

    —Tap.

    "──Like that, hearing people''s screams from the rooftop....we....we....!"

    "......Yes. I''m listening, Hwa-min unnie."

    Though she knew that better than anyone.

    Thuk, and. The words I had spat out on a whim, intending to complain just once, poured out uncontrollably like water spilling from a punctured embankment.

    And swept away by the storm of emotions pouring out uncontrollably, we began spilling out everything about ourselves, forgetting that the person listening to our story in front of us was a child.

    "I too...! We too! We wanted to save them...wanted to, save them...!"

    "...I see."

    As we continued talking, our emotions grew more intense, tears would sometimes flow from our eyes without realizing it.

    Sometimes wailing and crying out loud while embracing the child who had snuggled into our arms, saying she would listen.

    Feeling the child''s unique warmth, so hot it was almost burning, we would be reminded that we were still alive.

    Like that, we poured out our hearts, our stories that no one else knew, to a girl we had only known for less than two hours, as if to release all our pent-up frustrations.

    That I, that we had gone through so much hardship.

    That we had walked such a difficult path.

    Just because we wanted to say those words.

    Just because we wanted to be comforted for our journey so far, to hear someone say we had worked hard.

    "—And so, that''s how we met you."

    "...Mm-hmm. I see."

    Without complaining that she didn''t want to hear such things.

    Rather, with a bright smile, she agreed with us and listened attentively to our stories.

    In front of the child, we all unraveled the sad emotions we had kept in our hearts, sharing the pain and hurt we had accumulated in our chests.

    But if there was one thing we had overlooked at that time.

    "It must have been really tough."

    "......ha...ha...."

    "—It''s okay now. It''s alright, unnie."

    It''s that not a single one of us. No, not even one person.

    Had thought to listen to the child''s story.

    We couldn''t notice it then, but in the spacious interior of the house, no sign of human presence could be felt aside from us.

    Only after some time had passed and we had regained enough peace of mind to calmly look around the house out of curiosity could we feel the sense of dissonance.

    Among them, what stood out the most was a spot where a lovely ivory-colored wallpaper was neatly applied.

    The place where a dazzling family photo of three was hanging.

    At the far left and right ends of the photo stood two people presumed to be the girl''s parents, wearing neat clothes.

    With black hair and black eyes, the two who looked like typical Koreans were subtly turning their heads away from each other, as if shy.

    But even so, the faint blush on both of their faces and the natural distance and fresh, innocent vibe between them couldn''t be hidden.

    And.

    "....Hee-ah?"

    In between them was a child with snow-white hair who I could immediately recognize as the girl from earlier, was smiling brightly, her arms tightly linked with theirs.

    Squeeze. I wonder how much strength she used, as even through the photo, wrinkles were clearly visible on their arms where Hee-ah was holding.

    The strong force emanating from her tightly grasped hands, as if determined to never let go, made me think that it was the girl, not the two shy people beside her, who had initiated taking this picture.

    The child, with cute dimples on her cheeks, smiling brightly as if happier than anyone else to be creating a beautiful memory with her family.

    That alone was like a work of art representing the beauty of family love.

    [''──■■■■■■!!!'']

    "........."

    Or perhaps, it might have been a work that evoked a heartbreaking story just by its existence.

    Why was a young child living alone in this large house.

    Where had the two who looked like her parents in the photograph gone, leaving her behind.

    How could this child smile so brightly inside this large, empty house?

    A question that I would have asked casually without thinking much of it in an ordinary, everyday life, and received an ordinary answer like, ''They''re on a trip together,'' or ''They''re away on business,'' something not particularly special.

    —Thump!

    "—Unnies can use this room! Heehee, I wonder if there are enough blankets?"

    """........""" Sear?h the N?vel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

    But only just realizing, taking far too long to notice.

    The chilling truth that probably everyone, including me, had reached.

    None of us.

    Could dare to speak to the child, who was busily pulling out blankets from the closet with a smiling face.

    Perhaps because of the overwhelming sense of helplessness and guilt of having missed the time when we should have asked.

    For the simple reason that we had no confidence to ask about it now that the moment had long passed.

    "....Yes. This is, more than enough."

    We simply watched as the time we had already missed continued to slip away.

    Unable to even ask that short, single question: Are you okay, Hee-ah?

    We just remained silent with our mouths firmly shut.

    **

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