Chapter 141
I closed my eyes and sat alone in the meeting room with only my thoughts for company.
The night deepened. The river wind howling outside sounded like a ghost wailing.
Kim Hyeong-Jun was making his way through that howling wind to get to Gimpo Airport. He’d probably take Gangbyeonbuk-ro and cross over into Gangnam via Seogang Bridge.
I already knew that it was inevitable that Kim Hyeong-Jun would come across the Family’s forces. I wondered if it would be a good idea to draw their attention, even for a little bit, just to help him. However, I also knew that such a move would only serve to provoke them.
I kept feeling as though I should be doing something, and that feeling gnawed away at me. My mind was filled with a jumble of incoherent thoughts.
I knew I had to do something to shake off my nervousness, even if it meant pushing through the strong winds outside.
I left the meeting room and headed toward the entrance of the hotel. A purple-colored zombie was standing outside.
It was Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underling.
As I looked at it, I wondered if I would be able to stay sane if it lost its color. I assumed that, if that happened, the unbearable grief and sudden burst of emotion would cause me to collapse to the ground.
I smacked my lips bitterly and looked out over the jet-black Han River.
As I breathed in the cold wind from the river, the tightness within my chest seemed to ease just a little.
“No… So… Because…”
“Does… Work?”
"I’m also… The leaders…”
My ears picked up something that piqued my curiosity. I could barely hear it through the howling wind, but I was certain that I heard something.
I looked around and noticed people on the fifth floor of the hotel having a conversation. I assumed that they were in a room that was no longer being used because its windows were broken.
Many rooms at the Walkerhill Hotel were now left empty because of the damage caused by the mutant as it scaled the walls.
However, the sound of voices was coming from one of these empty rooms.
I leaped into the room in which the people were conversing, and looked around.
“Jesus!”
"Holy smoke!"
The survivors inside were frightened by my sudden entrance through the window. There were four women and three men sitting in a circle around a candle, chatting away.
It seemed rather unusual to me.
"It's late at night,” I said to them. “Why aren’t you sleeping?"
A woman who seemed to be in her mid-to-late fifties covered her mouth and forced a smile.
"Pardon? Oh… Haha… I couldn’t fall asleep for some reason.” She forced another chuckle.
I eased myself down next to them.
“Perfect. I, for obvious reasons, couldn't fall asleep either, and so I was pretty bored. You don’t mind if I join, do you?”
“Ooh, no problem. You don’t think we’d kick you out, do you?” replied the woman in her fifties.
She gave her companions a few sidelong looks, as though she was trying to read their reactions. The others who were sitting in the circle looked at each other and smiled awkwardly.
There weren’t any young people in the room. Most of them were in their forties and fifties.
I took a deep breath.
“What were you talking about?” I asked.
The woman in her fifties snorted.
“Nothing much. We don’t have things to talk about, you know? Just ordinary, trivial stuff, if you know what I mean.”
Her snorting got on my nerves. I could tell she was the leader of the group, and she was taking the lead in gossiping about others. She was a typical gossipmonger.
I replied with a thin smile.
“Is there anything regarding our stay here that is making you uncomfortable?”
“Of course not! We’re all grateful for everything you’ve done for us, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok.”
“If there’s anything that’s making you feel uncomfortable, please take this opportunity to let me know. I’ll make sure the leaders know about it.”
“Well then… Since we’re on the subject… I’m not saying that we’re uncomfortable to the point we can’t bear it, but…”
The woman in her fifties quickly showed her true colors. From the fact that she was so quick to open up when I said that I’d pass on her words to the leaders, it seemed like she’d been waiting for this moment.
I looked around at the other survivors with a nonchalant expression.
The woman in her fifties hesitated for a bit, then glanced over at the other survivors as she spoke.
"Uh… About Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun. Mr. Kim was saying something about the last time he saw him. Right, Mr. Kim?”
The woman in her fifties had her eyes on the man across from her, who also seemed to be in his fifties.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, yeah.”
The man in his fifties nodded, a puzzled expression on his face. He seemed surprised that his name had been mentioned out of the blue.
The woman sucked on her lower lip, then continued.
“Well, the two of them, Kim Hyeong-Jun and our leader—I’m referring to Lee Jeong-Uk—tried to, you know, fight? I’m not sure if that’s the right word, but it definitely seemed like one. We were wondering if you had any idea about what happened between the two of them.”
“It seems like you folks saw their interaction as well. I was going to tell everyone about it at tomorrow’s meeting, but long story short, they made up.”
“Huh?”
The woman in her fifties stared at me blankly with a bewildered expression. I smiled softly at her.
“It seemed like the two of them were involved in a feud.”
“It seemed more serious than just a feud… It sounded like Lee Jeong-Uk had hit Kim Hyeong-Jun with his gun, and Hwang Ji-Hye had to step in to try to stop the two of them… I heard it was a mess…”
“Who’s spreading such nonsense?”
"Huh? Well, I thought it was true because Mr. Kim said so...”
She quickly turned the blame onto the man in his fifties. She was good at reading the room and was extraordinarily gifted at playing innocent.
The spotlight instantly shifted to the man in his fifties. His eyes went wide and he smacked his lips.
“Hey Mrs. Kwak! You know that’s not what I said,” he said in annoyance. “Everyone else is going to get the wrong message if you put it that way.”
“Don’t yell at me. I’m just repeating whatever you told me.”
"You know I didn’t mean that!"
Mr. Kim’s voice slowly started to rise in volume. I raised my right hand and intervened.
“Please stop. Don’t raise your voice. Zombies have good ears.”
“Ahem...”
"What in the…!"
Mr. Kim sighed and pressed his lips together, while Mrs. Kwak snorted and made a rather sassy face.
I belatedly realized that the seven people gathered here seemed to be the floor leaders of each floor of the hotel and had gathered after roll call and started gossiping away.
I chuckled at their little feud and spoke up.
“I think you misunderstood what happened.”
“I thought so too, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok. I knew it. See Mr Kim? I told you that you didn’t see it correctly.”
Mrs. Kwak quickly began to act respectfully to curry favor with me. She, together with the rest of them, started to look ridiculous to me, but I knew dispatching them wasn’t an option. I knew I had to figure out a way to coax them forward so that they could focus on stabilizing the shelter.
I sighed.
“Hyeong-Jun said he was leaving Gwangjang-Dong to go to Majang-Dong to bolster the ranks of his underlings. Jeong-Uk tried to stop Hyeong-Jun.”
“Wait, why?”
Mrs. Kwak had been listening intently to my story, her glittering eyes full of curiosity.
I knew better than to tell people like her the truth. All I had to do was tell her just enough, just the things she wanted to hear.
I gave a thin smile and continued to lie.
“He knew that it would be difficult to hold out against the mutants while Hyeong-Jun was gone. They both had very valid points, so the two of them got into a bit of an argument.”
Mr. Kim, who had been listening carefully, frowned.
“Then what about Lee Jeong-Uk hitting Kim Hyeong-Jun with his gun? I saw him hit him with my own two eyes.”
I scratched my sideburns.
“Did you see where Jeong-Uk hit Hyeong-Jun?” I asked.
“I think it was on his shins…?”
“It was because Hyeong-Jun said he was going to go, without thinking about the consequences. Lee Jeong-Uk hit him to stop him from taking off. The two of them eventually got worked up, and Hwang Ji-Hye stepped in to say that it wasn’t something to fight over.”
"Oh… Is that what happened?”
Mr. Kim seemed to be on board with my story. The other survivors were nodding along silently as well. After a moment, Mrs. Kwak clicked her tongue.
“See, Mr. Kim? I’ve been telling you that what you saw was probably wrong. You know how hardworking all of our leaders are, and Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok, Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun, and Mr. Do Han-Sol as well…”
“Well, I said it the way I said it because it looked like they were fighting from afar.”
“That’s what I’m saying. You shouldn’t jump to your own conclusions before you actually hear what happened. Now we know that both Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun and Mr. Lee Jeong-Uk were right.”
As she spoke, Mrs. Kwak waggled her finger at the people sitting around the candle, as if she was scolding them. Despite being the chattiest one, she was the first one to back down.
This conversation helped me to realize the trouble that this shelter would be in if these people stopped trusting the leaders and started rebelling.
However, as long as they relied on me and the leaders, I knew that they would never do so. With that, I knew that there was no need to get rid of them or admonish them.
However, I also knew that I needed to make them recognize Lee Jeong-Uk and the leaders as the absolute authority, and hammer home the fact that these people wouldn’t be able to do anything without their leaders.
I knew that it wasn’t a good solution, and was eerily similar to how the leader of Gwangjang-dong had gone about it, but it was necessary in order to bring stability to the Survivor Rally Organization.
It was essential to prevent conflicts between survivors.
I flashed a hearty smile. “I’m glad that there aren’t any more misunderstandings.”
Mrs. Kwak addressed me in a cautious voice. "Um… Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok?”
From her facial expression, I could tell that she was hesitating over whether or not to ask her question.
I smiled gently at her. “Go ahead. I’ll answer anything you have on your mind.”
"Umm… About what you said earlier… You said Mr. Kim Hyeong-Jun is heading out with his underling soldiers… Does that mean he’s coming back from Majang-dong now?”
“He’s going to Majang-dong to get more underlings, and he’ll return after scouting Sogang Bridge.”
“Sogang Bridge?”
“Yes. The survivors from Gangnam stated that the forces of the Family were going to come over via Sogang Bridge.”
I knew that a lie wouldn’t be perfect without some truth mixed in with it. I went back and forth between truth and fiction, giving them what they wanted to hear.
Mrs. Kwak clapped her hands together.
“So that was what happened,” she exclaimed. “I wondered where he was going with all of his underlings.”
“He’s been risking his life for all of us all along. It seems like you’ve doubted him… I can’t say I’m not disappointed. I’m going to let Hyeong-Jun know about all this when he gets back.”
I chuckled as though I were making a joke, and Mrs. Kwak smirked.
“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok. We weren’t thinking straight. Keep it a secret from Hyeong-Jun, please? I’m so sorry that I don’t know what to do!”
“No need to worry. There have been a lot of incidents lately, so we’ve been behind in keeping all of you updated on what’s been going on. Who am I to blame for this misunderstanding?”
“Who to blame… Well, of course, you’d have to blame the zombies on the streets! They’re the bad ones! I know I said some ridiculous stuff. I'm sorry, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok."
I nodded and gave her a benevolent smile.
"It’s alright.”
Mrs. Kwak grabbed my hand, seemingly on the verge of tears.
I flinched at her sudden physical contact, but quickly quieted my facial expression.
“The survivors from Gangnam and the survivors from the medical center are doing their best to cooperate with us, so please take good care of them,” I said.
“Oh, of course. Did you ever see us being unwelcoming toward the newcomers?”
"I’m… I’m glad I can rely on you folks.”
“We’ll try even harder. Keep it up as well, Mr. Lee Hyun-Deok.”
Mrs. Kwak patted my forearm and smiled happily. I offered her a hearty smile in return.
“If that’s all, I'll go and scout about. Get some rest before it's too late. Tomorrow’s waiting for us.”
“We were about to wrap things up as well.”
“Oh no, my apologies if I came barging in and acted as a party pooper. You are more than welcome to talk more and go to bed.”
"No, no. All our questions have been answered, and there’s nothing more to talk about now. We should go to sleep soon so that we can get through tomorrow.”
With that, Mrs. Kwak blew out the candle and rose to her feet. She urged the other floor members to head to bed as well, and all of them stood.
When the floor leaders left the room, Mrs. Kwak hurried over to my side and took my hand.
“Give this to your daughter.”
"Oh… It’s alright. I’m not sure how I could take…”
“It’s okay, it’s okay. Keep this as a secret between you and me.”
With that, she handed me some candy. I smiled warmly and gave her a slight bow to thank her.
She waved as she stepped out into the hallway. Then, through the half-opened door, I heard Mrs. Kwak’s voice again.
“See? Don’t you realize now how nice they are? How could you be suspicious of people like that!”
“No, it was you who made it awkward.”
“It was because you said something out of the blue.”
Mrs. Kwak and Mr. Kim continued their argument down the hallway. She sure was a gossipmonger, but she was nothing more than a typical ahjumma who loved to talk.
I sighed and looked out the window.
Just as I’d known all my life, managing relationships was the hardest thing to do.
I realized that I had to bring up the floor leaders during tomorrow’s meeting. I had to let everyone know that they had to pay more attention to the floor leaders, listen to their opinions, and pass on necessary information to them from now on.
I knew better than to let conflict between the survivors brew while Kim Hyeong-Jun was gone.
It was my responsibility, as the person in charge of the shelter’s defense, to manage the atmosphere of the shelter and to prevent conflict.
I had no time to mope around just because Kim Hyeong-Jun wasn’t around. I had to get ready for the next step while he was gone.
‘It sure is going to get busy.’
I took a deep breath, let it out, and put the candy into my pocket.
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m