Apocalypse's Teacher - Chapter 3
Chapter 3
The apocalypse was fair to everyone (3)
***
Crunch!
Another zombie’s head flew off.
T h is w as co p i e d fr o m k i n g m t l . o r g
T h i s w a s c o p i ed f r o m k i n g m t l.or g
Swinging the pipe behind me as I ran, I hit the mark by sheer luck.
I turned my head to gauge the number of zombies still chasing me.
‘Now five.’
After getting some distance from the convenience store, I stopped smashing car windows, and the constant wailing had subsided.
Now, I just needed to deal with these remaining zombies and slip away quietly.
Of course, that wasn’t easy, and it meant more exhausting running.
“Graaaaah-.”
A zombie’s sound came from right behind me.
I swung the pipe again and knocked it back.
Crack.
It wasn’t a clean hit.
I only managed to fracture some neck bones.
Zombies don’t stop just because their neck bones are broken, so it was essentially ineffective.
“Damn it!!!”
I was crazy.
Why did I think playing tag with these things was a good idea?
If this weren’t the city but a quiet country road, I would already be a piece of meat.
Thud, thud, thud.
T h is w a s c op i ed f ro m k in g m t l . o rg
I climbed onto a visible sedan and jumped over it.
Why not avoid it?
Because this was a better way to shake off the zombies.
These creatures had no intelligence and only knew how to go straight.
When I climbed onto the car, they would try to do the same.
But, being corpses with faulty joints, they couldn’t climb as nimbly as I could.
I turned my head slightly and saw a zombie awkwardly climbing over the car.
I swung the pipe at its head.
T h i s wa s co p i ed f r o m ki n g mt l .o r g
Crunch!
This time, it was a clean hit.
The zombie was now merely a corpse.
‘Four.’
If I could reduce the number by two more, I could handle them in a physical fight.
I took a deep breath and ran in the direction I had come from.
The zombies still struggling on the car couldn’t change direction and got tangled up with each other.
Thud.
Though I was getting closer to the direction of the convenience store, I heard no other noises.
Most of the nearby zombies must have scattered.
“Graaaaah-.”
“Ugh, come on!”
Whack!
I lowered my stance and hit the knee of the zombie following closely behind.
The zombie’s knee shattered completely, and it collapsed, becoming a hindrance to the other zombies.
Thud, thud, thud.
The zombies toppled over each other.
I scanned the surroundings for another escape route.
As mentioned before, alleyways were bad options.
Terrains with many obstacles were also bad choices.
There could be zombies whose senses were completely gone and wouldn’t respond to these kinds of disturbances.
After looking around for a while, I finally spotted another road a bit farther away.
It was a side road but fairly wide.
The direction also matched the one towards my hideout.
“Huff!”
I was out of breath.
T h i s wa s c o p i e d fro m k in g m tl .org
How long had it been since I last ran like this?
Ah, about three years, I think.
Back when I was causing all sorts of trouble just to survive.
As I ran with all my might, I saw a signboard lying at an angle ahead.
I climbed onto it with loud thuds.
Naturally, the zombies drooled and followed.
Why did I do this?
“Die, bastard!”
These creatures had terrible balance and were bad at climbing things.
I pushed the pipe into the eye socket of a zombie awkwardly climbing up.
Crunch!
As its neck snapped, I kicked the zombie off, causing the others to fall in a chain reaction.
This sensation never gets old.
Even after doing it so many times, poking through rotten flesh with a weapon never stops feeling weird.
I took a moment to catch my breath while watching the zombies with broken heads flail on the ground.
Then I slowly climbed down the signboard and swung the pipe.
Crunch! Crunch! Crunch!
I sent the remaining three zombies to their maker and flicked off the bits of flesh stuck to the pipe.
“Phew… I’m exhausted.”
Finishing the cleanup, fatigue washed over me.
This w a s c o p i ed f r o m k i ngm t l.o r g
The adrenaline that had suppressed my muscle pain was wearing off.
Leaning against the signboard, I caught my breath and thought.
‘I hope they made it.’
When I passed the convenience store, the metal door was open.
That meant the kids had moved somewhere else.
I had taken care of the zombies nearby, but I didn’t know where the kids’ hideout was, so I worried about their journey.
Reluctantly, I looked in the direction of the convenience store.
It was getting dark, and I should head back to my hideout, but I couldn’t move my feet.
‘Damn it…’
Fine, I’ll just check.
If there’s no one inside and I don’t see any signs of the kids, I’ll head back to my hideout and enjoy the jerky I’ve been saving.
Maybe even have a glass of wine.
I’ll celebrate doing a good deed for once.
“Alright…”
Making a sound like an old man, I stood up.
Actually, I was an old man.
I was twenty-eight when the world ended…
‘Am I thirty-three now?’
I hadn’t kept track of my age while struggling to survive.
No wonder my body didn’t feel the same.
I should probably plan for my old age.
If my joints break down from age, I might starve because I can’t fetch supplies.
Lost in such trivial thoughts, I found myself in front of the convenience store.
The zombie lady I had crushed earlier was at the entrance, and the metal door inside was ajar.
I swallowed nervously and gripped the pipe tightly.
I walked slowly.
If the kids had turned into zombies, I’d have to send them to heaven.
What? Could they go to hell?
Don’t be ridiculous.
After living in such a harsh world, they surely deserve to go to heaven.
I held my breath and approached the storage room door as quietly as possible.
Arriving at the storage room, I quickly shoved my body inside.
“Phew…”
I exhaled.
It was an empty storage room.
No signs of people, just an empty room.
I felt a deep sense of relief and rubbed my face.
Then, a sudden stinging pain from my leg made me frown and look down.
‘Damn, when did I get cut?’
My right thigh was stained red.
I must have gotten injured while running.
Now that the tension had released, the pain set in.
I sighed deeply.
‘…No way I’m making it back today.’
It was getting dark.
I was too exhausted.
Moving now would be suicidal.
I decided to spend the night here.
At least the storage room door provided a safe hideout.
‘Food…’
My backpack was gone.
The kids must have taken it when they left.
‘…Smart kids.’
I admired their presence of mind to take the bag.
They deserved three gold stars.
Chuckling, I found a single can under a fallen shelf and went back into the storage room, closing the door behind me.
I leaned against the wall and tore my half-ripped shirt to bandage my leg.
If I stopped the bleeding now, I might be able to move by tomorrow.
Times like this made me glad I was a P.E. teacher.
Without that experience, I wouldn’t know first aid and would be struggling.
…Seeing the kids made me think of the past.
It’s like when you try to forget something, but it suddenly comes flooding back.
Memories I had buried because they were too painful kept resurfacing.
Standing under the sun all day, blowing a whistle, making kids play soccer or dodgeball on lazy days, and getting piles of snacks from the students on Pocky Day or something like that all came rushing back, filling me with nostalgia.
…Suddenly, I felt bad.
A dirty feeling of being drained washed over me.
Click.
I opened the can of tuna.
‘…Let’s just eat.’
What’s the point of reflecting on the past?
Eating is what matters now.
As I stuffed the tuna into my mouth, its salty taste filled my mouth.
It felt like my brain was tingling.
Trying to erase the memories, I fell asleep, overcome by fatigue.
‘Ah…’
What a truly shitty world.
***
I felt something dragging my body.
And I heard voices, though they were faint.
“Nuna…”
“Hold onto it there.”
They sounded like kids’ voices.
That thought floated briefly, then sank again.
No other thoughts came to mind; it felt like my mind was submerged in water.
My whole body was heavy and tired.
I fell back into sleep.
“Ew… gross.”
Th i s w a s c o pi e d f ro m k ingm t l . or g
“Jinwoo, go get another bottle of disinfectant. And some bandages.”
I heard more voices, but…
…I couldn’t care.
I was just too tired.
***
T hi s w a s c o p i ed f r om ki n g m t l . o r g
It was a really confusing situation.
How do I explain this…
“Pok. Pok.”
When I opened my eyes, I was in an unfamiliar place.
My entire body was tied up, and a kid was poking my stomach.
Does that make sense?
Oh, you don’t understand?
That’s normal.
I don’t know what’s going on either.
“…Kid?”
I called out to the kid poking my stomach.
She looked about seven or eight?
Her hair was cut roughly to her shoulders, and her big eyes gleamed.
She wore some kind of snow goggles on her head, which was quite striking.
“Pok…?”
The girl looked up.
The poking sound stopped from her mouth.
Even in the dark, her large, twinkling eyes stared at me for a moment.
Then she smiled brightly.
What was this?
Really, what the hell was this?
I couldn’t contain my astonishment.
How could such a young kid be alive?
It’s been five years since the apocalypse.
When the zombies first appeared, this kid wouldn’t even have been able to walk.
Seeing her now, anyone would be shocked.
Yesterday’s encounter with the other kids was one thing, but this was beyond comprehension.
Had I arrived in heaven?
‘…No.’
If it were heaven, I wouldn’t be tied up, and I wouldn’t still feel pain and fatigue.
T h i s w as co p i e d fr o m kin gm t l .o r g
I tried to smile back at the girl, then sighed and looked around.
‘A storage room?’
Not the convenience store storage room but a much larger one.
Then I realized who this kid was.
‘Oh, she’s got a guardian.’
This must be some kind of shelter.
The fact that I was tied up and had a bandage around my leg confirmed it.
T h i s wa s c o p i e d fr o m k i n g m t l. o r g
Shelter people must have found me and brought me in.
‘Damn it.’
How would I escape?
I wanted nothing to do with shelter people.
I’d rather live a tough life alone than be enslaved by a shelter.
Cold sweat ran down my back.
‘Calm down…!’
I needed to think.
This wasn’t my first time in such a situation.
I should remember my past experiences and find a way out.
‘No sounds around. The kid is walking around freely, so this must be deep inside the shelter. Let’s see, what big shelters were there in Seoul…’
Click.
As I thought, the storage room door opened, and light poured in.
I squinted at the sudden brightness, then tilted my head at the voice I heard.
“Hey, Hyesung?”
A young voice.
It sounded like a boy just starting puberty.
‘This…’
I had heard this voice recently.
As I opened my eyes slowly, I let out a dumbfounded sound.
“Huh?”
The boy’s face was very familiar.
“Are you awake?”
The boy stammered in surprise.
His name was…
“…Jinwoo?”
Jinwoo.
One of the clueless kids I met yesterday.
End of Chapter
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