By Zephyria 
“Close the door!!”
“Stop them from coming in!!!”
“Everyone, lower your voices! What if the zombie bastards swarm in!”
The first thing I saw was the warehouse with boxes rolling around, and then the scene inside the mart with the warehouse door torn off.
Beyond the torn door, people shouting frantically and shelves of daily necessities overturned on the floor were reflected like a picture frame.
“Holy… shit….”
A low curse escaped Jeffrey’s lips.
This place was another Avici Hell. People were pushing each other around mindlessly, competitively sweeping items into their carts as if their souls had left their bodies.
Ha-jin, momentarily taken aback but quickly grasping the situation, hurriedly turned back and called the rest of the group. He waved his hand vigorously towards the open field, and the rest of the group emerged from hiding.
This time, Eden ran ahead.
“Any problems?”
Ha-jin gestured towards the inside as if to tell him to check. Eden examined the inside of the mart, filled with curses and screams, and bit his lower lip as if he had made a mistake.
To make matters worse, some zombies began to gather at the parking lot entrance, as if the shouts had leaked outside the mart.
“I’ll close the door.”
Mi-so, who ran in last, pushed the group into the warehouse and slammed the door shut.
Bang! As the door closed, the people busily moving inside the mart all turned to look at the warehouse. The gazes glaring at the uninvited guests with hostility were formidable.
“Load up, load up quickly! Don’t mind them, just load up!”
A man shouted, roughly pushing his wife. Ha-jin unconsciously clenched the blood-stained pliers in his fist.
Eden, who had been observing the situation for a moment, stepped outside the warehouse. The group, having entered the mart, couldn’t close their mouths at the more dire situation than they had imagined.
Even though it wasn’t a large supermarket, it was a brand-name medium-sized market, so the area was quite large, but more than half of the many shelves were empty and in a mess.
There seemed to be at least 20 people sweeping through the mart. They were each busy dragging carts and loading up on water and groceries. Fortunately, there were no zombies to be seen anywhere.
“What should we do? Should we split up and quickly find the items we’re responsible for?”
Ha-jin asked, looking back at the group, and Park Chun-beom pushed up his glasses with an anxious look.
“Some of them are even carrying kitchen knives, isn’t it too dangerous? Shouldn’t we just stick together….”
Eden, after some thought, suggested dividing into groups of three instead of pairs. Naturally, Eden, Ha-jin, and Byeol became one group in the order they were standing, and Park Chun-beom, Jeffrey, and Mi-so were divided into another group.
“First, find bags to carry on your bodies. If you find the items you need, don’t be greedy and gather here immediately. In dangerous situations, don’t hesitate to call out your name and the nearest corner number, and if even that’s not possible, it doesn’t matter if you kill them.”
Ha-jin, who had been listening intently in a state of tension, widened his eyes at Eden’s words to kill without hesitation.
“Kill what? People?”
“Anything.”
…He must be joking…. Ha-jin smiled awkwardly and picked up Byeol.
At that moment, a man with a sashimi knife as long as his forearm quickly approached the group. A bald man with a face flushed red like someone who had been drinking shouted loudly.
“Hey, you guys! I definitely locked the warehouse door, how did you get in here!!”
Startled, Byeol grabbed Ha-jin’s neck and buried his face deeply. Ha-jin slowly backed away, avoiding the man who was threateningly brandishing the knife.
Mi-so arched her eyebrows as if she was dumbfounded, and Jeffrey and Park Chun-beom stared at the approaching man with hardened expressions.
“Are you the owner of the market?”
Eden, stepping forward, asked the unidentified bald man.
“What?!”
“I asked if you’re the owner here.”
“Fuck, what’s it to you! Ha, I definitely locked the door, damn it!! A couple of bug-like bastards keep barging in….”
The bald man stomped his foot on the floor as if he was frustrated.
Eden briefly scanned the man’s appearance. Judging by his slick appearance, he must have secured the mart early on and been living here, playing the petty king, instead of returning to where he originally lived.
Whispers could be heard from somewhere over there.
“Oh dear, it’s starting again. Someone should stop him.”
“By the way, where did the police officer go?”
“Don’t interfere, just leave him alone. We might get hurt too.”
Middle-aged women, as if this wasn’t the first time this had happened, shook their heads in horror. The bald man, undeterred by the surrounding reactions, waved the sashimi knife in the air.
“Anyway, there’s nothing here for you to take, so get out of here right now! Or, if you have anything useful among your belongings, hand it over. Everyone here has to pay me a tribute to get in, so don’t feel wronged. Hey, you! What’s in your bag?”
Eden, staring askew at the man who was constantly agitated, easily deduced the situation.
As the groceries and daily necessities stocked up were running out due to the people flocking to the mart, he must be imposing unreasonable demands for usage fees out of desperation. Such farces were common even on the battlefield.
The bald man, boasting a threatening physique, suddenly thrust the sashimi knife he was holding towards Ha-jin. Ha-jin hugged Byeol even tighter and shook his head.
“I don’t have anything.”
“What do you mean you don’t have anything, you bastard! What you’re carrying on your shoulder, you little shit! It looks heavy as hell!”
He cursed with every word. As the man’s voice grew louder, the murmurs of the people packing their items also grew louder.
With the blade coming at him as if he was about to stab him, Ha-jin hugged Byeol and cowered, but also wondered if he should just open his bag.
Since the only thing in the bag was a rope, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pretend to show him the item and wrap the rope around the man’s body. He had experience wrapping ropes around people’s bodies thousands of times for magic practice, so tying up the man would be a piece of cake.
But what about that sashimi knife?
While Ha-jin was quickly running simulations in his head, Eden’s sharp sigh was heard from nearby. He completely ignored the bald man in front of him and gestured with his hand to direct them.
“Everyone, split up according to the groups.”
Mi-so grabbed Jeffrey and Park Chun-beom’s shoulders as if she had been waiting for it.
“Huh, uh? Who said you could move! Hey! You fearless bitch. You with the tied-up hair. Don’t move?”
Who are you calling a bitch, bitch? Ha-jin finally felt his temper rising. But before he could step forward in anger, Mi-so, who had quickly run forward, swung the Messenger Bag she was holding.
Clang!!
It was instantaneous. The bald man’s sashimi knife clattered to the floor.
A middle-aged man who had been frantically packing frozen food was so surprised that he fell on his butt as the knife flew far away.
“Hey, baldy. What did you just say?”
A low, ominous voice flowed from Mi-so’s mouth. Ha-jin gaped as if he was doomed. Meanwhile, Byeol, who had been in his arms, quickly left Ha-jin’s arms and stood next to Eden.
The bald man was furious that he had dropped the knife due to the unexpected attack, and he raged.
“This crazy bitch wants to die so badly, keuh!”
Mi-so thrust her fist forward as it was. It was a clean attack aimed precisely at the Adam’s apple. Thanks to that, the bald man couldn’t even make a sound and grabbed his neck, collapsing to the side with a thud! He faintly gnashed out curses as he floundered on the floor.
“Ugh, I’ll kill you, you tiny bitch….”
Meanwhile, Mi-so, who had approached from behind, kicked the back of the man’s neck like a soccer ball. It was precisely the medulla oblongata, a vital spot.
“Keueok!”
It was a critical area where he could lose his life if he wasn’t careful, but she didn’t hesitate to swing her hands and feet. The hulk couldn’t even utter a plea for mercy and foamed at the mouth as he collapsed to the floor.
Mi-so, as if she wasn’t relieved even after that, climbed on top of the man.
“Did you put a rag in your mouth, you bastard. Should I smash your temples, or burst your balls? Huh?”
She raised her clenched fist again and struck the very center of the man’s forehead. Thwack!
When the sound of a watermelon breaking rang out, Ha-jin finally grabbed Mi-so’s shoulder in a panic, as if things had gone wrong. At this rate, she might really kill him. No, judging by the condition of the fallen man, he might already be dead.
He couldn’t make his friend a murderer. Killing zombies and killing living people were completely different matters.
Jeffrey and Park Chun-beom, who had been watching, had their mouths wide open. They couldn’t believe that Mi-so, who was twice as small as them, had taken care of the giant in less than a minute.
Eden, who had been expressionless all along, also raised the corners of his lips as if he found the unexpected situation interesting. Only Ha-jin was busy trying to stop Mi-so.
“Mi-so? Mi-so, if you keep this up, that person will really die…”
“I think this bastard is worse than a zombie. So isn’t it okay to kill him?”
“No, honestly, that makes sense, but killing a living person is murder…!”
“Haa… you always stop me at important moments. It’s such a letdown.”
Mi-so dusted off her hands as if she was disappointed and got up from her seat. Then she picked up the Messenger Bag she had thrown on the floor and slung it over her shoulder. Meanwhile, Ha-jin took out a rope and tied up the hulk’s body tightly. It was a measure to prevent him from doing anything foolish even if he woke up.
The crowd that had gathered by now was buzzing among themselves, pointing fingers at the fallen hulk.
Eden nodded as if he was satisfied with the situation that had been neatly resolved without him having to step in.
“Now, let’s split up. Jeong Byeol, come here.”
Jeong Byeol, who was standing next to him, shone his eyes brightly and gave Mi-so a double thumbs-up.
“Can’t I stay with Mi-so Unni? Unni is super strong!”
Ha-jin, who had finished tying up the bald man’s hands and feet, quickly approached Eden’s side as well.
“Byeol, let’s go with the uncles.”
When Ha-jin smiled brightly, Byeol shrugged as if he couldn’t help it.
“If I go with Uncle… will Ha-jin Uncle marry me?”
“Huh?”
Ha-jin tilted his head at the unexpected words he was hearing for the first time. He unconsciously glanced at Eden, but he simply continued to walk towards his destination without any particular reaction.