## Chapter 35 – (3)
“Hoo…”
It had already been 15 days since the zombie outbreak.
The group of students who went out on reconnaissance four days ago hadn’t returned, leaving only the three of us in this academy.
If my boyfriend, Minhyuk, and Soyoon hadn’t been trying so hard to keep the mood up with their bright attitudes, I, who easily fell into depression, might have given up on everything.
As always, Minhyuk was up early, making something, while Soyoon was endlessly staring out the window.
There was nothing to see but the zombie-filled downtown streets, yet she always looked outside.
Well, it was a much more helpful action than me just observing the two of them without doing anything.
“Oh?!”
Soyoon raised her voice suddenly.
I sighed deeply and gave her a warning for what felt like the hundredth time.
“Zombies react to sound, so I told you not to shout…”
“Sooa! Come, hurry and look! Minhyuk, you too!”
“Huh? Me too?”
Minhyuk asked, flustered, as if wondering if he had to go.
It was understandable that he was taken aback.
When Minhyuk was making something, Soyoon usually left him alone to concentrate, so this was a first.
But this time, she called for Minhyuk.
Urgently, unlike usual.
Only then did I realize something must have happened, so Minhyuk and I exchanged glances once before slowly approaching the window where Soyoon was.
We made it to the window, but I froze in place.
Just thinking about the zombies filling the streets outside, especially in front of the academy building—
My legs trembled at the thought.
It was a despairing sight that made me think we might be trapped here forever.
The two of them looked out the window with more composure than I expected, but it wasn’t easy for me.
Just looking at it seemed to drain my mental strength.
‘Soyoon is so strong.’
That’s why I couldn’t understand Soyoon.
Even in this situation, Soyoon, despite being a woman like me, always showed a strong front.
She looked outside every day, comforted me, and always took the lead with Minhyuk.
Maybe Minhyuk relied on Soyoon more than he relied on me?
In fact, the time the two of them spent together had gradually increased since the zombie outbreak.
Soyoon acting first, and Minhyuk helping her.
Maybe.
Was I getting in the way of the two of them?
Actually, before the zombie outbreak, Soyoon had confessed to Minhyuk but was rejected, and conversely, Minhyuk had confessed to me.
I had also harbored some feelings for Minhyuk, so I accepted, but immediately after that, the zombie outbreak occurred.
And so, the three of us, in this strange relationship, were trapped in the academy and ended up living together.
“Hoo.”
Mustering my courage, I followed Soyoon’s finger and looked outside.
What I saw outside the window were the downtown streets and the hordes of zombies filling them, especially in front of the academy building where we were.
And behind them, I saw a man.
“…A cop?”
The man in black riot gear and a helmet reminded me of the police confronting protesters that I sometimes saw on the news.
The difference was that they held transparent shields, and this man was holding a large knife I had never seen before.
“A jungle knife…”
Minhyuk muttered, looking at the large knife, calling it a jungle knife.
Around the man, several zombies were already lying on the ground with their heads crushed or blown off.
Then, the man tripped over a torn piece of clothing on a zombie and staggered, using his other foot to stomp hard on the ground to regain his balance.
It was excellent reflexes.
However.
The thud caused the zombies nearby to slowly turn toward the man.
“Heup!”
“Damn it…”
I almost screamed at that moment.
Minhyuk also looked at the situation and muttered softly, as if he felt sorry for the man.
It was such a hopeless situation.
Roughly, there were over 30 of them.
Having hunted zombies before, I knew how violent that number was.
We periodically hunted zombies.
Otherwise, we couldn’t find food in this academy building filled only with books and stationery.
We accidentally stumbled upon a store after defeating a zombie, and we had to hunt zombies for food.
We had always faced only one or two zombies at a time, and always as a group of three.
Minhyuk would make noise, lure them in while using a shield made of chairs to hold them off, and then Soyoon and I would use spears made from umbrellas to pierce the zombies’ foreheads.
Even hunting as a group of three, it wasn’t easy to deal with zombies.
The zombies’ skulls were hard, and our makeshift weapons had their limits.
To take down a zombie, we had to stab it in the head at least three or four times.
That was only possible because of the positional advantage of the stairs.
If you were surrounded by 30 zombies in the middle of the street like that man—
I didn’t even want to imagine it.
A terrible situation was expected, so I turned my head away.
I felt like I would become even more depressed if I kept watching that scene.
Minhyuk was also looking at the man with a slightly sad expression.
And then Soyoon shouted.
“Look!”
Minhyuk felt the same.
“How…”
With a surprised expression, he stared blankly at the scene outside the window.
Only then did I cautiously look out the window as well.
“What…”
“Is he like a special forces soldier or something?!”
The man outside was showing overwhelming power against the zombies.
It was no exaggeration to call it a massacre.
He crushed and sliced the heads of the approaching zombies with a single strike.
In one hit.
There were no exceptions.
The zombies that entered his range all lost their heads and fell like dolls with their strings cut.
Sometimes, when zombies rushed at him from both sides, he would blow off the head of one and kick the other far away.
As Soyoon said, you’d have to be a special forces soldier or something to fight like that.
However, the noise from the fighting kept attracting more zombies.
It seemed like the number of zombies was increasing every time he took one down.
He was still fighting well, but constantly fighting in those thick clothes and helmet would be physically demanding.
Whether the man had judged the same, he began to fight while moving towards the academy building.
There were many zombies in front of the academy building, but they had already been drawn to the man due to the noise and were away from the entrance.
However, since we had locked the doors of the academy building, the man wouldn’t be able to open them even if he went to the entrance.
“We have to go down and open the door!”
“Okay, I’ll go.”
When Soyoon shouted, Minhyuk naturally grabbed the shield made of chairs and went downstairs.
“No, wait—”
I tried to stop Minhyuk, but he was already quickly going down the stairs, so it seemed like he didn’t hear me.
Instead, Soyoon reacted to my words.
“Sooa, what’s wrong?”
“…Nothing.”
Since Soyoon and Minhyuk were always kind, they probably wouldn’t understand my thoughts even if I told them.
Even though the man might die if we opened the door right now, I was worried about whether that man was safe.
Being with the two of them sometimes made me feel endlessly selfish.
And sometimes, I also thought that the two of them were too naive.
‘What if he has bad intentions…’
I felt a faint sense of unease.
At that moment, a loud noise echoed from the lower floor.
The sound of something colliding and rough footsteps were heard in succession.
And then, suddenly, silence fell.
Only the sound of footsteps climbing the stairs echoed.
“Please…”
Soyoon and I put our hands together and looked towards the stairs as if praying.
Then, the man who had been outside and Minhyuk came up side by side.
“Yay!”
“Hoo…”
Thankfully, Minhyuk didn’t seem to be hurt.
And it seemed like the man was fine too.
I glared at the man. And I picked up the spear made from an umbrella that had been leaning against the wall.
“Sooa?!”
“Why, what’s wrong? Suddenly.”
Minhyuk and Soyoon shouted at me, seemingly flustered.
The kind two of them didn’t know how to suspect the man.
That’s why I had to do it.
“Take off your helmet and bag, and put your weapon on the ground.”
Without hesitation, the man dropped the jungle knife on the ground as if throwing it.
And he took off his helmet and bag.
…It was as I expected.
He looked like a special forces soldier.
“…Step back.”
“…”
There was no answer.
However, he slowly stepped back according to my words.
Seeing that the man was away from the jungle knife, I slowly approached while aiming my spear and kicked the jungle knife far away.
And the jungle knife stopped exactly at Soyoon’s feet.
“So, Sooa…”
“Soyoon, grab the jungle knife. I’m sorry. We’re just anxious.”
“…It’s okay. You’ll give it back later, right?”
“…We’ll see.”
“I guess.”
He was calm for someone who had lost his weapon and helmet.
That appearance was unsettling.
“Why did you come here?”
“I saw the white flag on the roof and came to help.”
“Sooa! He said he came to help us!”
“…”
Soyoon and Minhyuk were shining their eyes as if a savior had come, but I didn’t trust him at all.
He risked his life to help without asking for anything in return?
There were such people.
If Minhyuk had that level of physical ability and equipment, and if he had found a white flag, he would have definitely tried to help.
But I didn’t think there would be another person like that.
“How are you going to help?”
“I have a house in the apartment complex ahead, we’ll go there.”
“…What do you want from us?”
“…Nothing really? Just to survive together.”
“…I can’t believe you.”
My suspicion turned into certainty at the words that he didn’t want anything.
“Sooa…”
“He came because he saw the flag…”
Minhyuk and Soyoon said, flustered.
I know.
I must seem strange to the two of them.
But it was a necessary role.
I volunteered to be the villain for the sake of the two of them.
“…Let’s do this, help us escape to the apartment complex. After that, we’ll cleanly part ways.”
“…Okay. Let’s do that.”
And so, a strange man joined us for a while.
