By Zephyria 
Thwack—! Clang!! The brick that struck the passenger seat window made a tremendous noise. Simultaneously, the car alarm blared.
Beep— Beep— Beep— Beep—!!!
Ha-jin covered his ears at the alarm that rang every second. He saw zombies, appearing from who knows where, running fiercely toward the sound. Like athletes in a 100-meter dash, the zombies stumbled over each other, racing across the ground at a terrifying speed.
Rumble… Ha-jin closed his eyes at the familiar vibration of the earth, taking a breath. The moment the mart caught fire and the moment he crossed the medical center parking lot flashed by like a panorama. Lee Chang-yeol’s death, which he had momentarily forgotten, also came to mind.
It was a moment when the fact that he had risked his life to come here to get the vehicle of someone who was already dead and gone truly hit him.
“Let’s go.”
When all the zombies in the back parking lot had left, Ha-jin and Eden stood up at the same time. Ha-jin pressed the unlock button on the smart key without hesitation.
Although it was buried in the loud alarm, somewhere
Beep!
A faint signal sound caught his ear. Lee Chang-yeol’s car was here.
“Jeong Tae-geon, I, I think it’s over there.”
Eden, who arrived at the vehicle Ha-jin pointed to first, quickly opened the driver’s seat door. Thunk! The car door opened without any trouble. It was Lee Chang-yeol’s car. Success was finally within reach.
Ha-jin’s body momentarily froze as he grabbed the passenger seat door handle.
Beep—Beep—Beep—!
‘The last contact was that she was hiding in the garage next to the visitation room. We have to go.’
The garage next to the visitation room. The place where Lee Chang-yeol’s girlfriend was said to be hiding was right in front of his eyes.
“What are you doing, Do Ha-jin? Get in quickly.”
Only after Eden, who had locked the driver’s seat door, urged him did Ha-jin’s butt belatedly settle on the passenger seat. Ha-jin closed the door without a sound and stared intently at the garage directly in front of him, unable to take his eyes off it.
The small garage door had been violently torn off. And inside…
No one was there.
Other than empty boxes rolling around, as if there had been a commotion, there was nothing.
‘His girlfriend will be safe. If you just escort her safely to the police station, I will definitely give you a reward.’
The girlfriend Lee Chang-yeol had desperately searched for had already disappeared.
Perhaps it was only natural. The last time he had contacted his girlfriend was probably almost a week ago, so she would have desperately fled anywhere to survive, and logically, that was the right thing to do.
Why was Lee Chang-yeol so sure that she would still be here? Perhaps he was extremely positive and blindly believed in the situation in order not to go crazy.
When Ha-jin faced the fact that the woman Lee Chang-yeol was looking for had already left this place or had become a zombie, he was overcome with an unknown sense of loss.
It was as if he had become Lee Chang-yeol himself. An emptiness that was difficult to explain with anything washed over him.
‘It would have been better if Lee Chang-yeol had just died…’
Was it fortunate? If he had survived, his despair would have been beyond words.
He didn’t want to think about it any further, but Ha-jin inevitably had to think of his younger brother. What if there were no traces of Jun-seok in the place he desperately searched for? Or what if he found Jun-seok as a zombie?
Could I really live with a clear mind?
Just imagining it made him feel like he was going crazy.
“…He’ll be alive.”
Eden, who had finished preparing to leave, turned his head at Ha-jin’s murmur that flowed out like cold breath. Ha-jin was desperately looking inside the empty garage. His expression was somehow full of fear. Eden, who was staring at Ha-jin’s profile, opened his mouth.
“We’re leaving. The driving might be a bit rough to shake off the zombies, so fasten your seat belt properly.”
Ha-jin nodded blankly and fastened his belt tightly. The sound of the engine starting brought him back to reality.
He would be alive. Perhaps it was fortunate that he had disappeared without a trace. Ha-jin, who had tried to sort out his complicated feelings, turned his head to the scenery outside the window that was quickly passing by. The car lightly circled the back parking lot and moved to the front of the main building.
The zombies gathered in the left parking lot discovered the moving car and swarmed like bees.
“Ugh! Jeong Tae-geon, be careful!”
Eden’s driving was, as he said, somewhat rough. It couldn’t be helped to avoid the swarming zombies, but his body was shaking so much that the top of his head touched the ceiling, and he was out of his mind.
“Hold on tight to your seat belt.”
Eden weaved through the parked vehicles and rushed towards the main gate.
Thwack!! Crash!!!
In the process, two fences were smashed, and Ha-jin had to close his eyes tightly several times.
Eden, who easily passed through the main gate, glanced at the zombies running after him in the side mirror.
‘Yes, of course. She’s probably the prettiest of our country’s police officers, and she looks best with a bob cut.’
The reason why Lee Chang-yeol’s words, who had been constantly bragging about his girlfriend to Ha-jin while crossing the hill, came to mind was probably because the zombie running at the front had a bob cut and was wearing a uniform.
“Why? Is there a problem?”
Ha-jin turned his head, following Eden, who kept glancing back. However, before his neck could be bent halfway, Eden’s large hand turned his gaze back to the front. Ha-jin blinked in confusion as his cheek was suddenly grabbed.
“Look straight ahead and find the people who are waiting.”
With those words, Eden sped off towards the opposite road.
[I was worried! When the alarm went off, I thought something had happened!!]
Jeffrey, who was hiding under the bushes, grumbled and got into the back seat of the car.
[If you were so worried, why didn’t you come running?]
[I know my life is precious too?]
“Anyway, you’re the kind of bastard who wouldn’t give up loyalty even if you squeezed him.”
[Speak in English!]
While Eden and Jeffrey were exchanging jokes, the rest of the group also got into the back seat one after another, avoiding the rushing zombies. Because the space was narrow, Byeol had to sit quietly on Mi-so’s lap.
“Do Ha-jin, are you okay? You’ve been through a lot… Ugh!”
The shocking sight unfolding in front of the window lightly shut Mi-so’s mouth, who was asking how he was doing. A zombie showing off its tattered jowls was sticking to the back seat window, hitting it with its forehead.
Mi-so covered Byeol’s eyes and ears in her arms and cursed at the zombie.
“Damn it, I would have shot them all dead if I had a gun.”
The slightest bit of pity, thinking that you were once a human like me, had long since disappeared. Mi-so glared at the zombie that was moving further and further away, and once again realized her own humanity that had collapsed.
The car roared and went straight ahead. The zombies that had popped up like popcorn were pushed out of sight.
The moment Ha-jin turned his head to check on the group in the back seat, a soft hand came up over his face, which was sweaty and grimy. Byeol, who wiped the dirt off from under his nose, asked cutely.
“Ha-jini Uncle, did you find this car with magic?”
Ha-jin’s lips loosened as Byeol, who regarded magic as something like magic, asked innocently.
“Of course. I found it easily with magic. Cool, right?”
It seemed that the expected answer had popped out. Byeol, who was shining his eyes, turned to Jeffrey and shouted.
“See!! Ha-jini Uncle is stronger than Eden Uncle! Am I right?!”
[Ugh, here we go again.]
He had no idea what kind of argument they had while they were out looking for the car, but Byeol was nagging and making a fuss at Jeffrey.
“Jeong Byeol, don’t disturb the driving and sit quietly.”
Eden simply shut Byeol’s chattering mouth and checked the road conditions.
￣Speed limit 50km/h in a moment.
The car had plenty of gas, and the navigation system, which was operated by GPS, was also working normally. It was when everyone was breathing a sigh of relief. Suddenly, Eden turned the steering wheel and stopped the car on one side of the road.
“Director, why suddenly…”
The moment Park Chun-beom asked as if he was wondering, he suddenly reached out to Ha-jin’s waist, who was sitting in the passenger seat.
“Now that I think about it, there’s something I need to check before we go.”
“Sud, suddenly wh, what…”
Ha-jin was looking at the hand coming towards him without hesitation with unreal eyes. The waist band was pulled in an instant, and his upper body was pulled along. His body swayed like a signboard fluttering in the wind.
His astonished eyes turned to Eden’s neat hand. He bent his hand as if trying to grab something in Ha-jin’s pants.