Chapter 8
Another day.
It was the same when I tried to cover my younger sibling with a blanket.
“You, you… What were you trying to do just now?”
The ladle fell from Mom’s hand with a clang.
Whoosh!
Mom glared at me while hastily picking up the baby.
Startled by Mom’s dramatic reaction, I clutched the blanket in my hands and mumbled.
“The, the blanket… Ji-hye looked cold…”
“No!!”
Mom yelled at me.
“Just now, you were trying to suffocate the child with the blanket!”
“That’s not…”
My attempt at an excuse was cut off by mom’s contemptuous cry.
“You psychopath!”
Mom, my new dad, my new sister, and my half-sibling all called me that.
The neighborhood people too.
The kids at school, even the teachers.
I see.
At some point, I realized.
“I’m a psychopath, aren’t I?”
Someone without emotions, unable to empathize, that kind of psychopath.
Mom would shudder, saying I was ‘becoming more like my father as I grew up’.
Maybe those words were true.
Gradually, expressions disappeared from my face, and no matter how emotionally someone appealed to me, it didn’t reach my heart.
I built an invisible wall between myself and this world.
It was around the same time that an inexplicable belief that this world would someday perish began to grow within me.
✦
April 2nd.
9:22 am.
Morning came without fail, even in the air-raid shelter.
‘Ah, I had another unpleasant dream…’
I grumbled while rubbing my stiff neck.
My whole body was stiff and aching from sleeping on the hard floor and having nightmares all night.
‘At times like this, I should eat something sweet.’
I opened a can of peaches for breakfast.
First, I gulped down the sweet-smelling peach syrup.
I could vividly feel the sensation of liquid flowing down my parched throat.
“Ahh, that’s good.”
Then I picked up a plump, yellow piece of peach with my hand and popped it into my mouth.
Mmm.
I chewed diligently, savoring each tangy and sweet taste of the peach.
The bespectacled man watched me with an envious expression, clutching his hungry stomach as if watching a mukbang.
“Wow, Noah. How can you eat all that in this situation?”
Park Ji-in, who was sharing a can of peaches with her mom, asked loudly.
Her mom probably wouldn’t eat much, letting Ji-in have most of it.
“Yeah, I can eat it all. I’m even going to have a chocolate bar for dessert.”
If you’ve had a meal, you should rightfully have dessert too.
I ostentatiously unwrapped a chocolate bar and took a big bite with a crunch.
“We don’t know when we’ll be rescued, so we should ration our food. Noah, you’re problematic because you have no patience.”
“My goodness. I wonder who she takes after, such greed…”
I could see Mom shaking her head next to her.
I pretended not to care and chewed the chocolate bar vigorously, moving my jaw.
April 3rd.
2:51 pm.
Day 3 of being trapped in the air-raid shelter.
In the dark, sealed shelter, it was impossible to tell day from night.
The only things indicating the passage of time were our phones with no signal and the disaster radio that occasionally caught a signal.
《The situation is worsening day by day. The damage is most severe in the Gangnam area where towers of unknown origin have appeared. The government has finally decided to blow up all the Han River bridges connecting Gangnam and Gangbuk.》
Of course, the news on the radio was all gloomy.
“Ugh, that damn radio. Are you going to hold onto it all day?”
Soccer Guy snapped at Glass Guy, who kept turning the frequency wheel out of hunger and anxiety.
“Le-leave me alone. There’s nothing else to do…”
Glasses Guy muttered with empty eyes, nervously biting his thumbnail.
April 4th.
7:12 pm.
I made efforts to gain the favor of the protagonist, my survival cheat key, whenever I could.
“Since you have a military background, you must know basic first aid, right?”
Suddenly called into the sleeping bag room, Baek Yi-heon silently nodded at my words.
“Then, could you take a look at this?”
Saying that, I pulled up my loose pants above my knee.
Baek Yi-heon turned his head to the side with incredible speed.
His earlobes seemed to redden a bit, but I couldn’t be sure because the room was so dark.
“It’s itchy, but I can’t see it well from my angle… If it’s a wound and gets infected, it could be a big problem in a place like this, right?”
I pretended not to know, glancing at the back of my knee as I asked.
Unlike his cold, handsome exterior that might have made many girls cry, I knew that Baek Yi-heon, being ex-military, wasn’t immune to women.
He hesitated for a moment before turning his gaze towards my leg.
Then, after quickly examining it, he turned his head away again so violently I worried about his neck bones.
“…There’s nothing.”
“Really? Maybe it was just a mosquito bite… Thank you.”
I smiled sweetly.
At my survival tool.
“Well then.”
He hurriedly left the room, as if he didn’t want to stay in the same room with me any longer.
I leaned my head against the cold wall for a moment before leaving the room again.
April 5th.
3:06 pm.
Glass’s irritability grew as he starved to save food, and Soccer Guy’s flirting with me became more intense.
Even the radio broadcasts that had been providing news from outside became increasingly rare.
Only static noise could be heard, and when voices occasionally came through, it was always bad news.
Then, after a long time, a broadcast came through on the radio. It was a very somber voice.
《”Our military’s last line of defense centered around the Blue House collapsed around 4 am this morning. …Along with that, the President has passed away.”》
“What?!”
The people in the room exclaimed in shock.
Only Baek Yi-heon and I maintained our composure.
《”It has been belatedly confirmed that the Prime Minister and key ministers attempted to escape the country by light aircraft on April 1st but were shot down by flying monstrosities. The military, having lost its commander-in-chief and key leadership, is struggling to carry out effective operations.”》
People began to lose hope rapidly.
“Will we be able to be rescued?”
“We can’t just wait like this! We need to get out on our own!”
“No, can’t you hear that? You want to go out and get eaten by tentacles? Are you crazy?!”
“We can’t stay here forever! What about food!”
Only I was worried about something else.
‘It’s only two days until the air-raid shelter escape day predicted in the original story… Why aren’t there any signs yet?’
April 6th
2:42 pm.
A dark space without a speck of sunlight, hunger, fear, and anxiety.
I could see people becoming more and more devastated with each passing day.
Only Baek Yi-heon and I remained normal.
I inwardly marveled.
‘Well, I’m eating the food I’ve stashed away.’
Could he go without eating for about a week and be fine?
In this situation, Baek Yi-heon went alone to the sleeping bag room, took off his top, and even did shirtless exercises.
Park Ji-in pretended to go to the bathroom several times to peek at his thick upper body muscles.
And that night.
The sound of tentacle monsters banging on the iron door of the air-raid shelter stopped.
As the sound that had been chilling their hearts whenever they had almost forgotten about it ceased, people couldn’t hide their swelling expectations.
Had the monsters finally given up and left, or had they starved to death unable to eat humans?
“If we don’t hear that tentacle sound tomorrow, wouldn’t it be okay to try going out?”
“Well, we’re reaching our limit of starving anyway…”
‘Tomorrow is the day.’
Indeed, what could have happened for everyone except the protagonist to be wiped out?
“Oh my, Noah. Did you eat all the food? You really are greedy…”
I ate up all my remaining food and prepared for the decisive day.
April 7th.
8:41 am.
People were clearly full of hope.
They were until yesterday.
How did things end up like this?
In front of the brutally crushed corpse of Glass, I quietly reflected on what had happened this morning.
April 7th.
7:31 am.
The disappearance of food was discovered before the disappearance of a person.
“Everyone, everyone, wake up! Quickly!”
At the urgent cry of the child’s mother, I, who had been in a light sleep, opened my eyes groggily.
But the strange thing was that Park Ji-in and Soccer Guy also got up with me.
Those two were supposed to be on the last shift of night watch, that is, from 6 am to 8 am.
The night watchers, waking up now?
As I looked at the two with eyes mixed with criticism and puzzlement, the child’s mother screamed again.
“Everyone, wake up! The food! Our food has disappeared!”
✦
Thank you for reading! ♡
