MOTD 30

“I’m not asking you to accompany me, but to guard me.””

A brief silence flowed.

Jeffrey, not understanding the word “guard,” repeated the word like a parrot.

“Gward?”

Mi-so, nudging Jeffrey’s side, quietly explained the meaning of the word.

“Guarding means protecting Darling. It’s the same as asking someone to be your bodyguard.”

“Why?”

“Well, I don’t know.”

Leaving the bewildered group behind, Eden turned his gaze to Ha-jin.

“Explain it in a way that’s easy to understand.”

He completely ignored the police officer. Didn’t even glance at him. Ha-jin, once again impressed by Eden’s mercilessness, opened his mouth.

“There’s a Sangwon Central Police Station nearby. Well, it’s a bit far to call it nearby, but it’s about a 30-minute walk. It’s in the same direction we need to go anyway, so I don’t think it matters.”

“……”

“If we take him to the police station safely, he’ll give us his car. He said he parked it in the police station parking lot… If it’s difficult to use the car, he’ll give us a gun instead.”

Eden’s sharply honed gaze turned to the upright police officer. Lee Chang-yeol explained the situation as if he had been waiting for it.

“The day the zombie outbreak happened was my day off. I was taking a nap at home when I got a call in the afternoon to come to the police station urgently, so I took a taxi.”

In the meantime, there was a car accident on the chaotic road, and he had been wandering around nearby houses for a week, avoiding the rushing zombies, until he came here.

“Oh, by the way, my car was parked in the police station parking lot because of a company dinner.”

After explaining, the man waited silently for Eden’s next words.

“Is there a reason you have to go to the police station, not home?”

As soon as the question was finished, a crack appeared on the face of the police officer, who had been indifferent throughout. He roughly swept back his short hair and groaned.

“Actually… my girlfriend is in the same department.”

“……”

“The last contact I had was that she was hiding in the garage next to the interview room. I have to go.”

Ha-jin’s pupils shook violently, as he hadn’t even heard that story. The police officer, who had finished explaining, anxiously wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

Eden was lost in thought. Anyway, the police station, fire station, and military unit were among the candidates to visit if they were seen on the way to Dragon Cloud City. In a disaster situation, the information war was the most important, and if there were any instructions received from the central government, it could be of great help to the journey.

Besides, a vehicle was much safer than walking on foot. Although the roads were a mess with tangled vehicles, it would be a success if they could just get out of the city and to the tollgate. Eden raised his head sharply.

“Do you have identification?”

“Yes?”

“I mean identification to prove your identity.”

“I’ve already checked that.”

Ha-jin took a thin wallet from the police officer’s back pocket as if he had been waiting for it. The face and the name engraved on the uniform matched exactly.

“What do you think? I think it’s okay.”

Mi-so, who had been watching the situation silently, turned to the group and asked. Eden’s worries were not that long.

“Okay. But there’s a condition.”

Lee Chang-yeol, who had been waiting for the designation with a trembling heart, answered with a delighted expression.

“Yes, just tell me.”

“Regardless of whether your girlfriend is alive or dead, you must hand over all the promised vehicles and firearms.”

Ha-jin closed his eyes tightly at Eden’s dizzying way of speaking. Alive or dead? Did he have to say it so coldly…?

Contrary to his worries, Lee Chang-yeol surprisingly answered obediently without showing any signs of anger.

“My girlfriend will be safe. If you guard me well to the police station, I will definitely give you a reward.”

Rather, it was an innocent and even naive answer, as if he didn’t even assume the worst-case scenario.

The situation was quickly settled. Eden, looking around the chaotic surroundings, clapped his hands briefly to gather attention.

“The next destination is Sangwon Central Police Station. We’ll go there, check the situation, and take the promised vehicle to get out of the city. Does anyone have any other opinions?”

Byeol, who was watching, raised his hand, but when Eden didn’t give him a glance, he spat out the jelly stick he was holding.

“I raised my hand!”

“This is not a situation to joke around.”

“I’m not kidding? I have to pee! Can I go to the bathroom first!”

“……”

Eden, suppressing a sigh, was about to push Byeol’s back to Mi-so as if asking for a favor. It was then that a familiar and sharp scream, which sounded familiar, cut through the air sharply.

“Kkyaaaaaak—!!!”

Following the woman’s scream that sent shivers down the spine, a thick shout was heard in succession.

“Ugh!! Door, block the door!!”

Cries of terror began to be heard simultaneously from all over the place. The predicted time bomb had finally exploded.

Rumble, a heavy footstep vibrated along the floor. Carts collided frantically, creating a loud metallic noise. The noise was all coming from the back door of the warehouse, which had been used as an entrance.

Ha-jin turned his stiff neck joints like a robot with poorly oiled joints. Zombies poured out of the torn warehouse door. When one fell over, one, two, three… zombies quickly piled up like a mountain, increasing in size.

“Keugeoeooo! Kehek!!”

The Aberrant, whose arms and legs were strangely bent, were like angry solitary spiders. The zombies, who had rushed into the narrow space all at once, were struggling to get up.

The sight of an arm dyed purple slashing through the air in a parabola was replayed in slow motion. One zombie, who had fallen on top of a high pile of corpses, suddenly raised his body and twisted his neck strangely.

Their eyes met. Ha-jin felt like he was suffocating.

It was thanks to the rough hand that grabbed the back of his neck that he came to his senses.

“Everyone, get out of the way!!!”

Starting with someone’s shout, everyone in the group ran forward at once. At the same time, the zombies, gaining momentum, began to jump into the mart.

The first victim was an old man who was greedily collecting food. Unable to let go of the cart he was holding, he floundered and eventually fell to the floor by the rushing zombies.

“Aaaagh!! Aigo, save me, save me!!!”

The old man, whose temples were bitten, burst into a turbid scream. Ha-jin covered his ears and bit his lower lip tightly.

Another zombie climbed onto the counter and crawled quickly on all fours. The monster, drooling with its mouth wide open, covered the child who had lost his mother. The child’s neck flesh was torn off in an instant. The mother’s scream echoed desperately.

“Don’t look there, run!!”

Mi-so grabbed Ha-jin’s nape, who kept turning around. Ha-jin, whose face was flushed red, finally gasped and barely released the breath he had been holding unconsciously.

He panicked when a lot of zombies rushed in at once. The shouts of people wailing like frightened beasts kept reminding him of the situation on the day of the magic show. The fear that he had completely forgotten for the past week had come right in front of him.

‘Pretend to be calm. Fear is a natural phenomenon that everyone experiences. I’m no different.’

Ha-jin recalled Eden’s advice like an instinct. His firm voice, saying that he could use fear if he did well, rang in his ears.

‘It’s simple. The more anxious you are, the more you run. You have to run to a safe place and search for a way to survive.’

Ha-jin struggled to move his legs, which kept losing strength. Yes. To a safe place, to a safer place. To find a way to survive….

But no matter how much he looked around, there seemed to be no way out. The people who had already arrived at the front gate were struggling to open the tightly closed iron gate.

Behind them, hordes of zombies were rushing in like angry tidal waves without giving them a chance to do anything. There was no time.

‘I’m not kidding? I have to pee! Can I go to the bathroom first!’

Suddenly, the voice of the sulking child brushed past his ears.

Suddenly, a red switch turned on in Ha-jin’s head.

‘Yes, the bathroom…!’

He remembered the women’s bathroom next to the left counter. It was one of the places he had inadvertently passed by while wandering around aimlessly to find items.

The bathroom passage with the ‘Under Repair’ sign was blocked by a thin temporary partition, so it was a structure that could only be passed by if you didn’t look closely. His heart pounded heavily.

Turning his head again, he saw the back of Eden, who had quickly reached the front gate. He was hitting the lock of the iron gate with the ax he was holding. Even if it opened, it was obvious that other zombies would rush in.

Ha-jin gathered his breath from his diaphragm and shouted loudly.

“Do Ha-jin! This way!!”

It was the promised slogan. In a situation where it was difficult to identify friend or foe, he shouted his name loudly and then got to the point.

The group, who had been running only looking at the iron gate, turned their heads at Ha-jin’s shout at once. Ha-jin moved to the self-checkout counter and quickly ran to the women’s bathroom.

Turning around, he saw people following him urgently. One, two, three, four, five, and six…. Everyone was following the direction Ha-jin was leading without exception.

Ha-jin overcame the suffocating pressure and fear and stopped abruptly at the entrance of the bathroom. When he pushed the partition over with his whole body, the bathroom hallway, which had been blown open with a thud, was revealed.