## Chapter 43 – (11)
10 AM.
Everyone must have fallen into a deep sleep last night, as they didn’t open their eyes until late in the morning.
Or, can you even call this waking up?
Everyone was sitting askew on the living room floor, eyelids half-closed.
I had placed a carpet and large cushions on the living room floor, creating a cozy atmosphere.
It was an attempt to decorate, as the weapons, tools, and massive shelves on the wall made it look too desolate.
Thankfully, the three of them were making good use of it.
“I don’t think I’ve ever slept this deeply before…”
“Seriously, the blanket is so cozy…”
“Yeah.”
Soyoon and Sua said in slow, languid tones.
I nodded in agreement.
I had slept deeply too.
When I slept surrounded by zombies, I would wake up every two hours or so, checking my surroundings for no reason, but coming to the apartment definitely relieved the tension, and I seemed to have caught up on all the sleep I had missed until now.
So much so that even Minhyuk was leaning against the shelf with a languid expression, dozing off.
Looking at them like this, all three of them looked young.
I’m not that old either, but the three people in front of me had just graduated high school and were students at the academy, studying for the college entrance exam.
All three of them must have spent more sleepless nights at that academy than I had.
That’s why last night’s sleep must have been so sweet.
Inevitably, I was in charge of cooking this time.
“Cooking, huh…”
The only cooking I had ever done was pasta and meal kits.
It was closer to preparation than cooking.
Even that was mostly buying meal kits with expiring dates or pasta sauce on sale to save money.
“I don’t even want to look at noodles…”
If I, who had only broken and eaten raw ramen two or three times, felt this way, how much more would the three of them?
I felt like I understood their feelings, so I wanted to make them rice.
There’s also the saying that Koreans get strength from rice.
I remembered Soyoon saying she wanted rice when we ate meat.
“If it’s miso stew and fried eggs…”
I’ve never made it before, but I heard that miso stew is basically hard to fail at.
If I keep tasting it while making it, it shouldn’t taste too bad.
I washed the rice, pressed the cook button on the rice cooker, dissolved the miso in water, and boiled it with zucchini, green onions, and other vegetables.
I just made a lot of fried eggs.
I had a feeling all three of them would like it.
The seasoning of the miso stew was… perfect for me, at least.
Could it be that my knack for things applies to cooking too?
It’s not surprisingly delicious.
It just felt decent for a first try.
“Wake up, time to eat.”
The three of them, who had been dozing off, must have been hungry.
They got up one by one at the word “rice” and came to the table.
“Wow! Rice!”
“It’s warm…”
Soyoon opened the rice cooker and excitedly nudged Sua’s shoulder.
Sua smiled at the steam coming from the rice cooker.
They sat side by side at the table, ready to eat.
Since I did the cooking, Minhyuk was in charge of putting the food in bowls and putting them on the table.
I was worried because I didn’t check, but thankfully there were enough bowls for everyone.
“Oppa! It’s delicious!”
“Eat slowly.”
It was a simple meal, but the three of them were very happy, even more than I thought.
They seemed happier than when they ate meat.
Was it because it was like a home-cooked meal?
By the time they finished eating, a slightly sad atmosphere was spreading.
“Let’s go to the living room for a bit.”
At my words, the three of them looked at each other, got up from the table, and sat down one by one on the cushions in the living room.
“You asked how to survive, right?”
“Yes.”
When I said that, looking at Sua, she nodded with a determined expression.
Minhyuk also realized that what I was about to say was important, and he erased his sad expression and became quite serious.
“Buy skills.”
“Skills?”
“You mean… the 100-point ones?”
“Yeah.”
The expressions of the three of them darkened at my words.
“You might be able to do it, Oppa, but…”
“100 zombies is…”
“It’s 20.”
100 points.
If you were dealing with regular zombies, you had to kill 100 zombies to get it, but the variants were different.
“Zombies with eyes are worth 5 points. Killing just 20 is enough.”
Moreover, having eyes didn’t change their combat power.
The only problem was that they could find and attack you from further away, even if you were quiet.
Their combat power itself was no different from regular zombies.
The three of them, without skills, could defeat them easily enough.
“If it’s about twenty…”
“If you only hunt variant zombies. And don’t worry too much, I’ll help you.”
Then, the eyes of the three of them regained their vitality.
“Hyung…”
Minhyuk looked up at me with a touched expression.
“But, wouldn’t it be good for you to have more skills too, Hyung?”
“Um, I’m okay. I made a promise.”
“A promise?”
Minhyuk tilted his head and looked at me.
I looked at Sua and smiled with my eyes.
Sua blushed and lowered her head.
And Soyoon was watching all those scenes from the side with wide eyes.
That’s how hunting time was added to our schedule.
***
The first hunt.
The result was an overwhelming victory.
We slowly returned to the bustling street we had escaped from, with the purpose of hunting.
And the three of them began their rampage from the entrance of the street.
I might have underestimated these three people.
Without heavy luggage and with real weapons instead of makeshift ones, the three of them were strong.
The sight of them fighting against zombies with fire axes, shovels, and crowbars was admirable.
The three of them had good teamwork.
They filled each other’s gaps and accurately aimed for the heads of the approaching zombies.
As for Minhyuk, I wondered if he had at least level 1 weapon skill.
I was just cutting down the zombies that were running in from blind spots, but all the zombies in front were smashed and lying on the floor.
“Hyung! It’s already 46 points!”
“Oppa, I have 35 points!”
“I have 37 points too.”
It was an achievement made in just 3 hours.
It didn’t seem far off to buy skills.
“But don’t let your guard down.”
I understand being excited, but you can’t let your guard down.
Besides the variants with eyes, other variants might appear.
And if it’s not just my imagination.
‘I see zombies that we didn’t catch.’
I could notice it because I had personally killed most of the zombies when we escaped.
I sneaked up and looked at the zombie’s corpse.
I was sure.
Me and the three of them focused on the zombies’ heads.
Because that’s more efficient.
But if you ask if that’s easy, it wasn’t.
The head is hard, and it’s where the zombie’s teeth, one of its greatest weapons, are located.
If your weapon is short or you can’t kill it in one hit, aiming for the head becomes a big burden.
The person who dealt with this zombie seemed to have similar thoughts.
There were many cuts on the arms and neck, and the zombie’s arm was tattered, as if they had succeeded in breaking one of its arms in the end.
“What’s wrong?”
Sua came up and asked as I was quietly looking at the corpse.
“There’s someone else besides us.”
Someone who hunts zombies too.
They didn’t seem skilled at hunting, but they were definitely hunting zombies.
Probably for points.
And they also have a weapon that can make cuts.
When we left this bustling street.
Someone seemed to have come in and started hunting.
Judging from the number of cuts, there might be several of them.
“Yes?”
“Re, really?”
The three of them looked around with nervous expressions.
“What should we do?”
“…Let’s stop here for today—”
Greed is poison, so just as I was about to say let’s go back, something flew towards us.
It didn’t have enough force to reach us, but it flew exactly in our direction and fell in front of us.
Crash.
“…A flowerpot?”
The flowerpot broke, making a clear sound.
I reflexively looked at the building from which the flowerpot had flown.
Strangely enough, it was the rooftop of the academy building where we had spent a long time.
There were men on the rooftop, laughing at us.
Even if I only counted the men I could see, it easily exceeded four.
All of them had tattoos, irezumi, and they just looked like villains.
The villains we would have bumped into if we hadn’t escaped from the academy.
They threw the flowerpot at us and were laughing.
When I made eye contact, they were mouthing the word “idiot.”
I was dumbfounded.
Even if it wasn’t as much as me, the zombies’ corpses around us were proving how well these three people fought.
And yet, they did this?
“…Well, I guess.”
Sometimes the villains in novels are desperate to die.
I guess those guys are that type.
I wanted to show them what’s what, as they wished, but now wasn’t the time.
“Let’s run.”
“Yes!”
“I’ll take the lead.”
The noise made by the flowerpot falling in the quiet bustling street was not something to be ignored.
The three of them, who completely trusted my words, immediately turned around as soon as I said let’s run.
They didn’t even question it.
They just quickly turned around and ran towards the apartment.
I could feel the three of their trust.
And that judgment was accurate.
When I looked back, I could see zombies rushing towards the flowerpot like a spreading fog.
The number seemed to be even greater than last time.
I don’t know if the sound of the flowerpot breaking was loud, or if more zombies had appeared.
I glared at the men on the rooftop one last time.
I’ll be able to see you again soon.
