Chapter 2
Thud!
Getting into the jeep’s passenger seat, I put down the K2 rifle I was holding onto the back seat. Checking the magazine, I was relieved to see that there were fewer bullets left than I expected after facing the wave of the infected. Pulling the lever to adjust the seat, I leaned back. Then, my informant and driver, Yongcheol, who was smoking a cigarette in the driver’s seat, spoke up.
“The money?”
“I got it.”
“Ah, good. Min Ahyeon, you’re getting good at handling money now. Impressive.”
Yongcheol chuckled as he started the jeep’s engine.
“Any information? Find anything out?”
He cautiously asked. I shifted my gaze from the ceiling of the jeep to Yongcheol.
“Nothing. What could there be in such a small shelter like this?”
Frustrated that his unkempt beard still looked unsightly no matter how many years I nagged him to trim it, I turned my eyes outside the window.
“That’s why I told you to go elsewhere. Why bother crawling all the way here?”
“There are kids here.”
“Are those kids yours?”
“This is what humanity is. You should try being kinder and…”
In the midst of his irritating chatter, a child in a green t-shirt walked in. I quickly jumped out of the car, ignoring Yongcheol’s shouts, and grabbed the child’s shoulder, full of fleeting hope.
But.
———!
The child was an infected.
Long infected to the point of rotting, yet still moving by the virus’s command—a pitiful infected creature.
Beside it was another corpse with its abdomen half-ripped open, its limbs still twitching, undoubtedly also infected.
———!
The infected child lunged at me with its mouth wide open. Wham! I struck its jaw with my elbow and twisted my body to create distance.
That infected child is not my little brother.
My little brother didn’t have that face.
My little brother was a child with a much prettier smile.
So…
Bang!
Not looking at the child’s face, I fired and immediately got back into the car. Then Yongcheol, noisily chewing gum, spoke up.
“Hey, where are your eyes? What do you think is that?”
He clicked his tongue.
“It’s been four years, and it still can’t get over it? Sheesh.”
I wanted to say something back, but I didn’t have the energy. I was just endlessly tired. Exhausted and drained.
“Boys really grow up fast. You won’t even recognize him if you meet him now.”
I didn’t respond, simply gazing at the window—the window separating me from the now completely ruined world, and my fallen self.
Four years ago.
The world met its end. The world, inching closer to its demise, brought endless despair to humanity, gifting them with a helpless sense of vulnerability, proving that humans were indeed the most fragile beings.
“I’ll be able to recognize him.”
Yet I moved tirelessly, harboring not a shred of despair or powerlessness.
“He has a face just like mine when he smiles.”
Because I had to find my lost sibling.
🕂
The End Takes Place at the Table.
That’s what the homeless old man I encountered at the first shelter said.
“Even if zombies had never appeared, we humans would have met our demise. Don’t you remember? They kept blabbering about radiation this, climate crisis that, like the world was about to end at any moment. But I didn’t believe those words then. Why? Because the world doesn’t end right away. The world crumbles little by little, without us knowing. We decay bit by bit, suffer bit by bit, and eventually die!”
I stumbled over the old man’s rambling words.
“So by the time those rich pricks think ‘Huh, seems like a few more kids are dying in developing countries,’ that’s when the world will truly meet its end! That’s why I thought we were all doomed one way or another. Since we’re going to die anyway, I chose to live freely!”
The old man chuckled.
“But look at this situation now. What’s this? The end suddenly came. Suddenly, the world was destroyed! I didn’t expect this either. I still vividly remember the zombies running up the escalator at Seoul Station… I remember Mr. Kim who died sleeping next to me too. Anyway, the end came like that. Suddenly. Ironically, the big cities where people lived crowded together were the most devastated. The developing countries scum that they ignored so much survived. Oh, did the pirates survive too? Regardless, it’s quite ironic.”
If I recall, I asked what he meant by the end coming at the table.
“What do I mean by the table? Well, listen. Remember. What did those smart scientists say when they were shouting about climate crises? Carbon emissions. Yes. They said methane gas was increasing because of cows’ digestion and waste. They said livestock farming was destroying the environment. They said we could stop the climate crisis if we stopped eating meat! They shouted that for over a decade. ‘Let’s protect the environment!'”
He hummed the past environmental campaign songs before continuing.
“But what did I say? The end doesn’t come suddenly. I’m starving to death, and there’s a cheap hamburger right in front of me. Who would refuse it? We should protect the environment, we should all live together, but what do we do? We grab the hamburger. Tomorrow the end won’t come. And one person like me doesn’t matter. They say sea levels are rising, temperatures are increasing, glaciers are melting, polar bears are coming down, but what’s on our table? Meat. Animal flesh.”
The end already takes place at the table.
“Listen up. What are those zombies doing right now? Are they charging at us to eat us, completely forgetting that they were once human? What’s the difference between them and us? Whether they’re eating us or we’re eating cows and pigs, what’s the difference? We’ve simply become not the predators, but the prey. We’ve ended up being the ones on the table.”
After his long speech, the homeless man chuckled and clumsily brought a modified gun to his temple before blowing his head off.
At that moment, I deliberately avoided looking at his exploded head and briefly glanced at his leg, marked with clear bite marks from the infected—zombies. Reflecting on his intention to end his life as a predator, I drew a cross and said a prayer.
Since then, whenever I saw the infected, I naturally thought of them as predators. Now, they are at the top of the food chain, and humanity is beneath them… resisting but ultimately becoming prey.
Zzziiiing—
I rolled down the jeep’s window. The cool breeze hits my cheek. As the nameless, homeless man said, the world that has reached its demise is already entering its 4th winter.
“Aish, it’s freezing! Close the window! I’m going to freeze to death, why are you sitting with the window open!”
Yongcheol, who was driving, sniffled as he spoke. It was quite amusing to see this big guy, who seemed rugged, complaining about the cold.
“Yongcheol. If you feel hot in summer and cold in winter, how do you survive? Just endure one side a little.”
“Ugh. It’s not Yongcheol! It’s D.I.! Call me D.I! It’s not even a difficult name to say, why do you keep calling me Yongcheol!”
Yongcheol, with his bear-like stature and bushy beard that perfectly suited the name Yongcheol, insisted on being called DI, which stands for Dragon Iron. As tacky as it sounds, it matches his appearance perfectly.
“You’re changing the excellent name your mother gave you into such a tacky nickname. You really have no manners.”
“That nickname was given to me by my mom!”
“Ah. Sorry.”
Phew, almost made a sarcastic remark. Feeling awkward, I subtly averted my gaze. Yongcheol, unfazed, continued speaking with a nonchalant expression.
“So, did you see the job listings? Have you picked the next contract?”
He gestured towards the pad he had handed me.
🕂
Thank you for reading! ♡
