By Zephyria 
Eden, seemingly deciding there was nothing more to salvage, turned toward the entrance of the hardware store. He gripped the hammer he had set down, and slightly lifted a corner of the newspaper to peek outside. A shambling zombie came into view.
“As much as possible, don’t stick to my back, stay to my left. I’ll open the door, and you hide behind the red car parked by that wall.”
“Okay.”
Although his personality was terrible, these were things he wouldn’t have even attempted alone. Ha-jin readjusted the heavy bag on his shoulder and took a breath.
“One, two.”
Three. At the signal, Eden opened the door. The two strong men moved on tiptoes without making a sound. Light as the wind, they crossed to the opposite wall and hid behind the red car.
Swish! A zombie, turning its head at the faint noise, clicked its teeth together as it stared into the air.
Ha-jin cautiously peeked over the hood of the car, surveying the area.
“Krrr…. Click! Click, click….”
A zombie with its mouth torn to its ears was passing by the side of the car.
Looking at the torn gums and hollowed-out eyeballs, it felt unreal, like watching a monster character in a game. The blood running from its nose to its chin had dyed the zombie’s chest a dark crimson. Ha-jin wiped the sweat from his brow with the back of his hand and swallowed his nausea.
For some reason, Eden forcibly grabbed Ha-jin’s shoulder, who couldn’t take his eyes off the zombie, and sat him down next to him. Then, instead of Ha-jin, he peeked out to assess the situation, and flicked his index finger. It was a signal to follow. The next destination was a black sedan 10 meters ahead.
Avoiding the zombie’s eyes, they safely crossed the road and steadily made their way toward the motel.
Ha-jin gritted his teeth, straining the trembling muscles in his legs. He barely managed to enter the motel before sweat poured down like rain.
Eden snapped his fingers at Ha-jin, who couldn’t even breathe properly.
“Now that I see it, it seems the problem isn’t your physical strength, but your mental fortitude.”
Ha-jin, about to protest that anyone would panic under this level of hardship and trial, clamped his mouth shut and climbed the stairs.
The backpack on his shoulder felt like a ton of bricks.
❖ ❖ ❖
After a hearty breakfast from the elderly Kim Yong-su and bidding their farewells, Ha-jin and the group split into pairs and left the motel.
Jeffrey, who would pick the lock on the back door of the mart, and Ha-jin, who would assist him, stood at the front.
“Manager Park and Byeol, stand in the middle. Yun Mi-so, you move with me at the rear. Everyone, maintain a 50m interval between each other.”
At Eden’s brief command, everyone moved in an orderly fashion.
Ha-jin even tightly rolled a handkerchief in his mouth, preparing for any unexpected situations. The handkerchief he was biting down on was the one Eden had washed and returned last time.
Running alongside Jeffrey, Ha-jin turned his head to look at the receding old motel. It was a shabby facility, but it was the first safe haven they had stayed in, so he felt a mix of emotions.
‘It’ll be hard to find a safe zone of this level again.’
In the end, they couldn’t meet the expected instructors, but Ha-jin could only hope that they would return to the safe motel and find a way to survive.
Lost in these thoughts, he saw two figures waving from the rooftop. It was the elderly Kim Yong-su and his wife. Ha-jin’s lips curved into a smile as he immediately recognized them.
The elderly couple had their arms affectionately around each other’s waists, waving one arm enthusiastically. Naturally, the faces of the young couple who had taken refuge with them in the Atrium warehouse overlapped with their faces.
On the dawn they left the warehouse, the young couple, awakened from their sleep, had waved and wished them well, just like the elderly couple now.
Had they survived? Had they safely evacuated to a safe place? Regardless of his memory, the faces of the young couple were fading like paint dissolved in water.
In the future, fleeting encounters and farewells would inevitably occur, and the kind elderly couple would also fade from Ha-jin’s memory like the young couple someday.
He felt a strange tightness around his neck. He was just heading toward his destination, but even he thought he was being overly sentimental.
As he lowered the hand he had been waving, he met Eden’s eyes at the rear. He tapped his temple with his index finger, as if telling him to get a grip. Ha-jin’s moist eyes instantly dried up.
‘That heartless bastard….’
Ha-jin sighed deeply and turned his head forward again. Gasp! A scream he barely suppressed passed through his throat. If he hadn’t had the handkerchief in his mouth, he would have bitten his tongue.
A zombie, appearing out of nowhere, stood like a pole in front of them. Its face and torso were mottled, as if it had been burned.
The footsteps of the rest of the group following behind also stopped. An eerie silence filled the street.
“Kkeueueueueo….”
The corpse rolled its sunken eyes. It seemed to be relying on its hearing, tilting its head from side to side as it approached in a bizarre manner. The clothes it was wearing were stuck to its bare skin, with blood showing in places. It was a gruesome sight.
Ha-jin wiped the damp bridge of his nose with tension and looked at Jeffrey. When their eyes met, Jeffrey gave a thumbs down. It was a signal to kill it. Suddenly, a chilling cold swept over him, and cold sweat beaded on his body.
Could he do it? Ha-jin gripped the pliers in his hand tightly, and suddenly, a roar erupted from behind, almost causing him to drop the handkerchief in his mouth.
“Kuaek!!”
It was the sound of another zombie. Reacting to it, the burned zombie leaned forward and rushed toward them. As the monster with the torn mouth approached, Ha-jin raised the pliers high without even thinking.
He squeezed his eyes shut and slammed down hard. With a thud! the zombie collapsed. Jeffrey, with good timing, plunged the blade of the scissors into the center of the fallen zombie’s forehead. The zombie didn’t even scream and simply slumped over.
Ha-jin spat out the handkerchief he had been biting and put it in his pocket. A rough breath escaped him. He had been clenching his teeth to suppress the sound, and his jaw muscles were aching.
The right wrist bone that had swung the pliers throbbed. Who would have known that he would have to smash someone’s head with all his might?
Ha-jin felt like he was losing his mind from the first official strike he had made. It was a skull of a person, albeit a zombie with white-gray eyes, a bloody nose, and severe burns, baring its teeth.
In contrast, Jeffrey was nonchalantly pulling out the scissors he had plunged into the zombie’s head. Ha-jin massaged his aching wrist and temples alternately, and readjusted the backpack on his shoulder. Glancing back, he saw Mi-so grabbing another zombie’s hair from behind and snapping its neck.
Flitch. Ha-jin turned his head again as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have.
They slowly moved toward the mart, repeatedly dealing with zombies that popped out like quests. The road was a mess of tangled vehicles. He even saw a driver who had become a zombie while wearing a seatbelt.
After suppressing the rising nausea several times, they finally arrived at the back door of ‘A Fresh Mart.’
As Park Chun-beom had mentioned, it seemed that the day the zombie outbreak occurred was indeed a day off, as the parking lot connected to the back door was completely empty. Because the site was all open, there were even fewer places to hide.
The rest of the group hid outside the fence to watch the situation.
Jeffrey took a thin wire from Ha-jin’s backpack. As Ha-jin handed over the bag, he was busy looking around to see if any zombies were approaching. They had set out early in the morning, but sweat was already pouring out. The morning heat in early June was not to be ignored.
“Ha-jin.”
Jeffrey tapped Ha-jin’s shoulder, who was constantly on guard.
“Why? Is something not working?”
Ha-jin tilted his head with a worried expression, and Jeffrey hesitated. Jeffrey’s brown hair, reflected in the morning light, had an even lighter hue.
“Arm-wrestling but promise no.”
“Huh?”
“Magic show, secret.”
What was he suddenly talking about? Even in the midst of confusion, Ha-jin was on guard and racking his brain. Arm-wrestling, magic show, secret…. Ah.
‘Thank you. But my hand, got it? Why?’
‘It’s a trade secret. If we happen to meet again, I’ll tell you then.’
‘What, secret don’t know.’
It seemed that Jeffrey was really curious about Ha-jin’s trick that he had shown at the magic show opening. It had already been a week since he said he would tell him the secrets of the arm-wrestling and the card if they happened to meet again.
Seeing Ha-jin’s reaction as if he had belatedly remembered, Jeffrey couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“Bad lie.”
“Ah, I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was so out of it that I forgot….”
In fact, he had just said it back then because he didn’t think he would ever see Jeffrey again. Besides, exposing the secrets of magic to an audience member, unless it was for educational purposes, was something that should never happen.
Jeffrey put the wire in the keyhole and diligently moved his fingers. Even while concentrating, he seemed curious about Ha-jin’s answer, as he kept glancing back.
“Focus first. If we get into the mart safely, I’ll tell you then.”
Unlike someone who had just plunged scissors into a zombie’s head, Jeffrey smiled brightly like a child, revealing his snaggletooth.
About a minute passed. Click, a faint metallic sound rang pleasantly in his ears. Ha-jin clenched his fist as if to say it was done and patted Jeffrey’s shoulder. But for some reason, his expression wasn’t good.
“Why?”
[The barrel and pin are excessively….]
It was not only loose but also not difficult to open. Moreover, it seemed that he could faintly hear people talking inside while turning the handle. Jeffrey narrowed his brow and carefully grabbed the handle to turn it.
—Who was the last bastard who came in! Who didn’t lock the door!!
At that moment, Ha-jin clearly heard a shout in his ear. But the door had already been opened. As if an airplane was taking off and landing, his ears, which had been muffled, cleared up, and the blocked noise struck his eardrums.