Chapter 44
After I took care of all the street zombies, I went straight back to Shelter Hae-Yeong. On the way back, I gave orders to all my scouts.
‘Don’t cry out when you see a red creature. Don’t make any noise. Just inform me through telepathy.’
‘Roger that.’
The replies of my underlings ringing through my head made me smile in satisfaction. The incident today reminded me of the first time I’d encountered a zombie scout, back at the high school.
Back then, I’d been able to react more quickly because the enemy scout had sent a signal using its throat-rending howl. There was no guarantee that the same wouldn’t happen to me as well. This was why I gave my underlings these orders ahead of time.
As I drew closer to the entrance of Shelter Hae-Yeong, I saw Lee Jeong-Uk running up to me.
“So-Yeon’s dad! What’s up with all the creatures behind you?”
I chuckled as I looked at my underlings behind me. Alongside the two hundred zombies I had taken with me, there were several that weren’t painted blue. After I’d taken care of the zombies that attacked the elementary school, I recruited the ones that had vision. There were at least eighty of them. I took out my notepad and scribbled out a note.
- New recruits.
“So there are no enemies attacking us?”
I nodded, and Lee Jeong-Uk finally let out a sigh of relief. He patted my back.
“Anyways, thanks for the good work. Let’s go inside. Everyone’s been dying to see you.”
He really didn’t have to thank me for anything. In fact, I’d been able to get some information, and I was also able to figure out that there were more beings that were living for the sake of humans, just like me.
I said a prayer deep in my heart, wishing that Mr. Kwak wouldn’t change.
* * *
As I began to relate the events that had unfolded at Wangsimni Station, everyone started throwing questions at me. They asked me all sorts of questions. Why didn’t I team up with him? Couldn’t I have brought the survivors here? What was it like in Majang-dong? Only after I had answered every question in detail did they return to their rooms.
Our community was living in units 501, 503, and 505 in apartment 104. Unit 502 and 504 had broken living room windows, so we didn’t use them. The rooms were divided by gender, while the children lived with Han Seon-Hui.
Whenever we called for meetings, we all met in unit 505. However, we were planning to designate a unit on the 4th floor of apartment 103 for meetings. That apartment had a floor area of about forty pyeong.[1] As soon as we consolidated the desks, chairs, and the items we needed for meetings, we were going to move over to apartment 103.
“Daddy!”
So-Yeon turned around and opened the front door, re-entering unit 505. Lee Jeong-Uk let out a sigh and pointed toward the master bedroom.
“Go play in the room. We’ll sleep in the living room.”
I scratched my neck rather sheepishly, then went inside the master bedroom with So-Yeon. Soon after, I heard Lee Jeong-Uk’s voice from the living room.
“Lights out at two o’clock! Don’t stay up all night talking like yesterday!”
“Okay!” replied So-Yeon energetically. Then, she opened her drawing pad on the bed.
“Daddy, daddy. Look at this. This is what I drew.”
“Grr?”
“This is Aunt Seon-Hui, and the person here is the principal. Aunt Seon-Hui saw my drawing, and she said…”
She started chatting passionately about her drawing. I smiled as I looked at her, my hand resting on my chin. I wished I could talk with So-Yeon like a normal human being.
In order to do so, though, I had to do something inhumane. If I had just one chance to say something to So-Yeon, I would have told her that everything was going to be okay. That there was no need to cry anymore. And that I loved her more than anything in this world.
That’s what I wanted to say.
* * *
When it was past two o’clock, everyone in the shelter went to sleep. I tiptoed outside and sat on a bench within the complex.
I was wrapped in total darkness and silence. There wasn’t even a bug chirping. Only loneliness and desolation filled the void.
At times like this, I wished I had the desire to sleep.
The routine of getting ready for the next day. Falling asleep to wrap up the long day. To me, there was no difference between one day and the next. The present-day felt like the one before, and the next day would feel the same as the current one.
I looked up at the night sky and let out a deep sigh.
Still, it was a peaceful night, something I hadn’t had in a long time. I hadn’t had a single day of rest over the summer, since I had thrown my maximum effort into stabilizing the shelter. I didn’t suffer from physical fatigue, but it still took a toll on me mentally. Everyone followed me well and performed their duties with the utmost effort. However, even with everyone doing their best, my shoulders always felt heavy.
During that time, I tried to push aside those useless thoughts and doubled my efforts in order to keep up with the others who were working their butts off. After a long slog, the shelter was finally stabilized. There were still a few things we lacked, but thinking of what we had accomplished so far, I couldn’t help but smile.
‘Nice work, man.’
I congratulated myself as I stared up at the night sky. There were more stars than I could count. They twinkled as if they were going to fall down any minute. I never imagined that there were so many stars in the night sky above Seoul.
The night air tickled my nose. It was warmer and more comforting than ever. I sat still on the bench for a while as I soaked in the thick darkness. The lonely night was passing as slowly as usual. The quiet solitude made me think of someone.
‘I wonder what Kim Hyeong-Jun is up to.’
I hadn’t seen Kim Hyeong-Jun for months. Now that the shelter had been stabilized, it was probably a good idea to meet Kim Hyeong-Jun to catch up. Since I had gained some information from Mr. Kwak, I felt the need to go to Seoul Forest and talk to Kim Hyeong-Jun, so that we could exchange some knowledge.
I got up from the wooden bench and headed toward Seoul Forest. I didn’t forget to make sure my underlings on guard duty were extra vigilant. Under the cover of darkness, my physical capabilities were heightened.
I leaped from the rooftop of one building to the next with ease. I was moving at a pace that was no longer human; it was as if I were one of the superheroes in movies that had superpowers. After a while, Eungbonggyo Bridge came into view. I just had to cross the bridge to get to Seoul Forest.
As I crossed Eungbonggyo Bridge, I glimpsed a dense line of trees.
‘Alright, let’s enter Shelter Seoul Forest.’
I wondered if it was okay to go in. I hesitated for a moment and came to a halt. There were probably guards at Seoul Forest. They were probably much more organized than Shelter Hae-Yeong, and had more people taking shifts.
‘Let’s not barge in and cause trouble.’
Now that I thought about it, I’d just come without any proper plan. I wasn’t sure how to find Kim Hyeong-Jun.
‘Wouldn’t I be able to find Kim Hyeong-Jun if I found his underlings?’
I called out to the two scouts that I had sent with Kim Hyeong-Jun.
‘Scouts in Seoul Forest, do you hear me?’
‘Waiting for your command, sir.’
It was the first signal we had exchanged in a couple of months. I was relieved to hear that nothing had happened to them. Along with their voices, I could sense their approximate location. I could sense it when we exchanged messages, without them having to tell me exactly where.
I smiled gently and sent another order.
‘Give me your precise location.’
‘On the rooftop.’
‘Give a short cry so I can identify the correct rooftop.’
I heard two throat-rending cries emanate from an apartment complex far to the left of me. As I headed over to where the noises had come from, I saw two purple zombies peeking their heads out from the window. It seemed like Kim Hyeong-Jun’s underlings were here as well. If the purple zombies saw me, they would notify Kim Hyeong-Jun. I just needed to wait there.
I leapt onto the building in one go, and encountered the two underlings I hadn’t seen in a while. The two of them were tied to a chair, facing opposite directions. Looking at them, I couldn’t help but laugh. It seemed like Kim Hyeong-Jun also had no clue how to take care of my underlings.
I’d given them orders to follow Kim Hyeong-Jun, so they probably just followed him wherever he went. Kim Hyeong-Jun had also tied my underlings up on the rooftop so that they were permanently on lookout duty. I had also bound his underlings together on a rooftop, so there was nothing to feel bad about.
After a while, I saw a human figure leaping across the rooftops, coming from the direction of Seongsu Station. From this distance, it had a human silhouette, but its movements were no longer human. It was purple. It was Kim Hyeong-Jun.
‘What’s up, ahjussi? What brings you here?’
‘That didn’t take long.’
‘I came immediately after receiving the signal from my underlings. So what’s up?’
‘I just came to check up on you.’
I snorted, and Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded back with a cheesy expression on his face. We caught up and shared a couple of jokes. It felt strangely comfortable to be talking to someone else who didn’t sleep even in the middle of the night like me.
Kim Hyeong-Jun and I shared the same pain. We were both zombies that were living day to day, unable to die. I felt sorry, but at the same time, I was glad that Kim Hyeong-Jun was a zombie with glowing red eyes. I asked him a question that had been on my mind as I’d made my way here.
‘Why are you waiting outside?’
‘Hmm?’
‘It doesn’t seem like you have underlings inside the shelter.’
‘That’s why I made my way here as quickly as possible. Just in case you went inside the shelter.’
As I tilted my head in confusion, Kim Hyeong-Jun sighed.
‘Shelter Seoul Forest doesn’t allow any zombies nearby.’
‘I thought your family was inside?’
‘Yeah, but I’m not a human anymore.’
I pondered that silently for a moment.
What did he mean? Was he saying that he protected the shelter, but couldn’t enter it himself?
I stared at Kim Hyeong-Jun.
‘Then you can’t see your family?’
‘I can. I just have to meet them without the other survivors knowing.’
‘How?’
‘I send them a signal using the flashlight here.’
There was a flashlight on the rooftop. When he flashed it twice and his family gave him the signal, they would meet at their predetermined location. There were numerous tunnels in Seoul Forest, and many of them were no longer being used. They would meet in one of the tunnels.
I probed him further about Shelter Seoul Forest, but he scratched his sideburns and avoided answering my question.
I wondered why it was so hard for him to explain.
After a moment, he said,
‘It’s kind of complicated here. The shelter has gone through a lot.’
‘A lot of what?’
‘Of all the shelters in Gangbuk, this shelter is probably the one which has been attacked the most.’
Sadness washed over his face, and he hung his head. His expression was as gloomy as it could be. All the vitality seemed to have drained out of his eyes. I wondered what this place had gone through. I waited patiently for Kim Hyeong-Jun to open up. After a moment, he rested his head in his palms and continued to speak.
‘I’ll begin from where I left off last time, and tell you the rest of it.’
‘How many secrets do you have?’
‘No, these aren’t secrets. I have no intention of hiding anything from you. I was just afraid that you’d be confused if I told you everything at once.’
‘Go ahead. I’m also here to tell you something today.’
‘Oh? So you didn’t come here without a reason, huh?’
I smirked. He smirked back at me and then looked up at the night sky. His voice grew calm.
‘Seoul Forest is a place where all manner of betrayals happened. Trust was poisoned here. The survivors in the community were burned by the betrayals, and so earning their trust is a long and arduous process. However, if you do manage to earn the trust of the community, it’s still possible to live a normal life here. ’
‘Did your family manage to earn the trust of the others?’
‘They’re trying to.’ He sighed. ‘I don’t know where to start with this. First off, before I talk about Seoul Forest, you need to know about the story behind Hanyang University Shelter.’
‘Hanyang University, the one nearby? There’s a shelter there too?’
Kim Hyeong-Jun nodded and took a deep breath. After a moment, he smacked his lips and began to speak.
1. Pyeong is a unit used in Korea for households. One pyeong is about 36 square feet. ☜
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