Episode 21
“Wow… I never thought it would be like this, but now that I’m about to leave, I feel a bit reluctant. How about you? You’re an alumni, after all.”
I asked him as I stood in front of the school gate, looking over the entire school.
“Not really. Rather, I feel relieved.”
“Is that so? No lingering attachments, then?”
“Even if I had such a thing, what good would it do? It’s not like it helps.”
I followed him out of the school, slowly leaving the gate behind. Finally, the first stage was over. It was a special stage, the only one with a hidden piece among all the stages. I read the name of the school on the gate once more. Seongwol High School. A school where the stars and the moon were beautiful.
Soon, I too let go of my lingering feelings and turned away, getting out of there.
***
“So, the closest place where we can get food is here.”
“…There’s no other choice, I guess. We have to go.”
“Yeah, we’ll have to go…”
To be honest, even though I was the one who suggested we go, I didn’t want to go there either. I only said we should go because the second stage was there.
Even if I hadn’t asked him to go, he would have had to go there anyway. After leaving the school and walking down the street, we visited all the nearby convenience stores and marts, but they were all empty. It was clear that while we were in the school, there had been a food riot outside, and all the marts and convenience stores had been looted. So, in the game, we ended up having to go to a large mart to find food, and the second stage began.
From here, the war between people intensified. With such a large mart full of food, clothes, and various other items, who wouldn’t target this place? People had already gathered here and there, forming factions within the large mart, and the fights between humans were greater than those with zombies. Despite this, the reason we insisted on going here was not only because it was the main stage and we needed to find food, but also because we needed to find an ally.
‘Wait a minute… but the ally we find here is a woman with a bit of a heroine vibe, isn’t she?’
The production company and the users had subtly pushed this couple. I also looked at this couple positively. The problem was that he seemed to like me at the moment. But the heroine appears here? Could this be a love triangle? I was worried that instead of finding an ally, I might end up creating a villain because of romance.
To be honest, I didn’t think much about him liking me. No matter what, there was still a bit of awareness in my mind that he was a game character, so I didn’t really feel any romantic feelings. So, how about appealing to the ally? I wondered if I should let her know I was innocent and try to recruit her.
“What are you thinking so hard about?”
“…Just this and that.”
“What’s ‘this and that’?”
“Don’t try to find out, you crybaby.”
“I’m not a crybaby!”
“Yeah, not a crybaby, just a little kid.”
“I’m not a little kid! Have you ever seen a kid this big?”
“You always say you’re a kid with your mouth. You said you haven’t had your birthday yet, so you’re only 18, right?”
Then he turned his head away with a pout, clearly showing me that he was upset. So what? What was I supposed to do? I ignored him and silently walked forward. And as always, he was the one who raised the white flag first.
“Noona, you’re really too mean.”
“What’s too mean?”
“Don’t you like me, noona?”
I pondered for a moment what he meant by that, then answered.
“It’s not that I like you or dislike you; we’re just in that kind of relationship.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? Am I the only one with a crush?”
Oh my, look at this. He was saying it so openly now?
Until now, he had only expressed it through actions without saying anything, but now he was using words to confess his feelings.
“What’s your motive behind telling me that?”
“What do you think it is?”
“Hmm, what could it be? I’m not really interested in knowing.”
Teasing him like that, we finally arrived at our destination after a long journey: the large shopping mart.
It’s really big…
I looked up at it, scanning from top to bottom, then searched for the entrance.
“I guess we should go that way.”
“Ah, we can’t go that way.”
“Why not? Isn’t that the door people usually use?”
“It is, but we can’t go in that way.”
I led him around to the back of the supermarket.
Found it.
This was a secret entrance known only to users who had played the game. By going this way, we wouldn’t be caught on CCTV or run into people, making it perfect for sneaking around.
Even a supermarket had limits on the amount of food it can hold. I didn’t know how many people might have gathered here, but if we encountered people at the entrance or inside the mart, they would certainly resent the addition of new mouths to feed. In extreme cases, they might even kill us. Therefore, it was best to avoid meeting people as much as possible.
When I first played this game, I didn’t know such a space existed and went through the main entrance, and it was crazy. Really, how could they all be so cold and heartless? Humanity was not just broken; it was completely burned to ashes. His mental state, already unstable due to frequent regressions, was irreparably damaged here. That’s why this was one of my least favorite stages.
If they were zombies or monsters, I could kill them without guilt. But since the only things here are humans, it wasn’t easy to kill them, and I ended up being stuck here for a while. Then, after clearing this stage, I belatedly joined a café and read a post about the existence of a secret space here. If I had known about it earlier and used that place, he might not have been so damaged. I regretted it a little. So I resolved not to repeat the same mistake and to properly use the secret space this time.
***
I first dragged him to the clothing section. We’d been wearing these clothes for days. Our clothes, stained with zombie blood, were so miserable that even beggars wouldn’t wear them. They were torn here and there, with my blood and zombie blood. Moreover, not having properly bathed for days made me feel so uncomfortable that I thought I would die. I decided to choose some clothes here and then go to the restroom to wash up…
Furthermore, because the coat I spread out on the school window sill never dried, I had left it there. I’d walked all the way shivering from the cold. Although Do-yoon tried to offer me his clothes, I stubbornly refused, but now my endurance for the cold was reaching its limit. I wanted to find a proper set of clothes.
Since neither of us was particularly hungry, we postponed looking for food. Besides, the security there was too strict, and the people guarding it were not good, so dealing with them would surely be a great drain on our energy. We were already very tired from coming all the way here from the school, so I didn’t want to meet those guys in this state. In the first place, it wasn’t even their food, yet they acted as if it were theirs, even resorting to violence. It was a place where you could see the worst of humanity.
What I’d seen in the game was already horrifying, so I couldn’t imagine how much worse it would be in reality… Anyway, when we arrived at the clothing section, there was no one else there. Thanks to that, we had the leisure to look around at our ease.
‘Hmm… which clothes should I choose?’
I wanted to wear something pretty and expensive that I didn’t normally wear, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one with that thought. Those clothes had already been taken by those who came here earlier, leaving only cheap or moderate quality clothes. I sighed and picked out a set of tops and bottoms.
I also wanted to find a warm coat, but there weren’t many coats left. Moreover, the remaining ones were all in white, which got dirty easily. The thought of a white coat getting dirty quickly in this situation dampened my spirits. Come to think of it, my last coat was also white… I wondered if I’d fallen into the curse of white as I took one of those coats for now.
***
“Ah, that’s refreshing. As expected, bathing is a human necessity.”
I went into the restroom, roughly washed my hair at the sink, and used a nearby bucket to take a shower. Who would have ever imagined that I’d be taking such a makeshift bath in a supermarket’s restroom? I felt so pitiful at my situation that it brought tears to my eyes, but I had no choice if I wanted to survive.
“Noona, are you going to be okay with your hair? You might catch a cold if you don’t dry it.”
“Ah… I should dry it, but…”
When I thought about it, I didn’t have anything to dry my hair with. At the very least, I needed to find a towel somewhere and frantically wipe away the moisture. It was a problem because my hair was long and thick.
‘…Should I just cut it off?’
While I was thinking this, he brought a fluffy towel and pressed my hair down to dry it. His touch was surprisingly gentle and soothing, so I stood there obediently. Before I knew it, I found myself dozing off.
“Noona, are you tired?”
“I wasn’t tired, but you drying my hair like this is making me really sleepy.”
“Do you want to sleep? I’ll lay a towel down as a pillow.”
“You’re surprisingly thoughtful about these things.”
“I’m doing this because you’re my noona.”
Anyway, the place where he and I were currently staying was a small room located in the deepest part of the underground secret space, so there was no need to worry about others barging in unexpectedly. Moreover, this secret space was connected from the basement to the top floor, allowing us to go anywhere. Although it was a regret that I couldn’t use this space in the game, since I was using it well now, I decided to let it go.
Sleeping under a fluffy bed was much better than the bed in the infirmary. However, there was one drawback—there was only one bed. This meant I had to share it with him, but since it was spacious enough for both of us, we could each stick to our own side and it would be fine. But…
“You’re going to sleep too?”
“Yes, I’m tired after washing up.”
I doubted it. His eyes were sparkling.
“But… can’t you move away a bit? Do we really have to sleep so close in such a wide bed?”
“If we sleep far apart in such a wide bed, wouldn’t it be lonely?”
Lonely, my ass. I could see right through his dark intentions. I gave him a light glare and turned my body to show him my back. Then, as I tried to fall asleep, he immediately attached himself to my back and hugged me by the waist.
“Get lost. Are you not gonna let go of me right now?”
“You can’t catch a cold, right? There’s no heating here, and if you don’t dry your hair properly before sleeping, you’ll catch a cold.”
He answered cheekily, showing no intention of letting go. This perverted bastard. But on the other hand, his words made some sense, and the warmth of his body against my back was comforting, so I eventually gave up and fell asleep.
Aww she’s starting to warm up to him. Love seeing do-yoon be a loser in love.
