Apocalypse's Teacher - Chapter 57

Chapter 57

Surviving Winter is the Biggest Challenge

***

Pororo was amazing.

[Kids! Make sure to brush your teeth three times a day!]

The goggle-wearing beaver on the projector screen shouted, and Hyesung, also wearing goggles, responded.

“Yes!”

Then she quickly ran to me.

“I wants to brush my teeth!”

“Alright, shall we go brush your teeth?”

“Yes!”

Hyesung grabbed my hand, and we walked to the bathroom.

I followed her, feeling deeply moved.

‘I should have done this from the start.’

I should have shown her Pororo instead of wasting time coaxing her to brush her teeth.

Whoever said that the god of parenting is Pororo was right.

One word from Pororo is stronger than a thousand words from a parent.

T h i s w a s c o p i e d fr o m k i n g mt l .o r g
That was all true.

The Pororo DVD I found by chance was a beam of light in my life.

Hyesung wiggled her hips as she brushed her teeth.

She hummed Pororo’s theme song.

“Are you ready to spit now, Hyesung?”

“Spit!”

A pleased smile naturally spread across my face.

“Atta girl, Hyesung.”

“Hyesung is a good child!”

“Because you’re Pororo’s friend?”

“Yes!”

Now that Hyesung was Pororo’s best friend, she no longer had picky eating habits, brushed her teeth three times a day, and even made her bed diligently.

A model good child.

An unquestionable recipient of the Good Child Award.

As soon as Hyesung finished brushing her teeth, she dashed back to the projector.

‘Watching too much isn’t good either….’

Still, considering how well she behaved, I thought a little bit more wouldn’t hurt.

“Ponya!”

Hyesung’s voice was filled with happiness.

While Hyesung was brushing her teeth, Pororo had ended, and a show called Pony had started.

A children’s animation starring a pink zebra.

I glanced at Jinwoo.

“Hyesung, sit next to your brother.”
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“Yes!”

It would be odd if I didn’t find it suspicious that Jinwoo appeared as soon as Pony started and began watching it.

Jinwoo sat next to Hyesung and started watching Pony, his eyes growing hazy.
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‘Why is his face turning red…?’

…His face was turning red too.

I was getting more worried about Jinwoo.

I wondered if this cartoon, which I thought was just a momentary distraction, was having a negative impact on him.

Such thoughts wouldn’t leave my mind.

As my expression darkened with growing anxiety, and frustration welled up within me, Helen whispered to me.
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“Jinwoo, fucking furry.”

“Huh? What?”

“Fucking furry. You should scold him.”

Helen’s face was filled with inexplicable anger, disgust, and worry.

I pondered her words for a moment, then clenched my fists and gave Helen a light tap on the head.

Smack-!

“Ouch!”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

Helen’s eyes teared up, but I felt no guilt.

“Go fold the laundry.”

“Sigh….”

Helen sulked away.

I sighed deeply and looked at Jinwoo again.

‘…It can’t be.’

It had to be something else.

***

The concrete tomb was cold as ever today.

The early winter sun, devoid of warmth, shone over the darkened city, and a chilly wind cut through the air.

“Brr, it’s freezing.”

I hunched my shoulders and kept walking.

Today was the scheduled day for resource scavenging, so I braved the cold despite my reluctance.

“I don’t think there’s anything left to check here.”

Kang Ki-hyun’s words made me sniffle and turn my head.

“It’s all picked clean.”

My words were delivered with a disinterested expression.

T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
The severe cold seemed to have sapped my motivation.

I chuckled and asked.

“Do you want to go home?”

“We’ve been out for a long time today. If we don’t find anything, we might as well come back tomorrow.”

The way she hunched her shoulders and sniffled made her look like someone who desperately wanted to be under a blanket.

‘She’s been sleeping a lot lately.’

I wondered if she was trying to hibernate.

Chuckling at my own silly thoughts, I stood up and said.

“We still need to find other things even if we can’t get food.”

“Other things?”

“We need to prepare for winter.”

Ki-hyun tilted her head.

Having started living on her own only at the beginning of autumn, it was understandable she found this unfamiliar.

“Winter is cold.”

I needed to let her know.

Just how cold winter is in this ruined world.

***

Winter in a land devoid of civilization is cold.

It’s a given.

Electricity is scarce, and gas and coal are even scarcer.

As such, heating is impossible, and the realistic solution to this situation is to use ‘thicker blankets and thicker walls.’

A department store not far from the hotel.

I spoke to Ki-hyun and Jinwoo.

“Alright, let’s pick out some blankets.”

“Aren’t the ones at the hotel enough?”

“Not for covering ourselves, for insulating the walls.”

“The walls?”

“To block drafts.”

A deep look of confusion appeared on Ki-hyun’s face.
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She furrowed her brows as if contemplating, then seemed to understand my words and exclaimed, “Ah!”

“Right. We can’t heat the place.”

“Exactly. We can’t set up power like the shelters.”

“Isn’t it possible?”

“It’s hard. You need to know how to install solar panels to use them.”

“What about Mr. Park?”

“That guy majored in chemistry.”

Ki-hyun clicked her tongue in disappointment but started moving.

She seemed to have accepted it.

“Don’t go too far. If you find anything, call out.”

“Okay.”

Ki-hyun entered a corner.

I checked and started looking at the bedding.

‘Then….’

I should also get winter clothes for Hyesung.

She was growing fast, so she needed a size up in thermal underwear.

‘So this is why raising a child is expensive.’

If I had to buy it with my own money, it would have been nerve-wracking.

At times like this, I can’t help but feel that the apocalypse was a blessing in disguise.

***

“Hey, mister.”

On our way back to the hotel with our load of supplies, Jinwoo spoke.

He pointed somewhere and lowered his voice, as if he had spotted something.

Following Jinwoo’s finger, I saw it.

“A zombie.”

It was a zombie.

Tension spread across Jinwoo and Ki-hyun’s faces.

I waved my hand to ease their tension.

“Don’t worry about those things in winter.”

“Huh?”

“They get sluggish in the cold.”

With that, I struck the ground with a monkey wrench.

Clang-!

The kids tensed up and gasped.

The zombie turned its creaky head toward us.

I chuckled and gestured toward it with my chin.
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“Look at that. It’s crawling.”

The zombie was moving at less than half its usual speed.

The kids’ faces showed surprise.

I explained to them.

“For some reason, their activity drops in winter. Mr. Park says it’s because their blood freezes and stops functioning properly….”

I didn’t know the details.

After all, it was already absurd that these rotting creatures moved at all.

“Well, in winter, it’s hard to die unless you’re an idiot. Just turn around and smash the ones that come near.”

Deciding it was time for a demonstration, I set down my load and approached the zombie.

It was quite a severely decayed one.

‘The spine is fully exposed, nice.’

Its yellowish spine was visible behind its neck.

I quickly raised my arm and struck its neck bone as it slowly turned.

Smack-!

Instead of the usual splattering sound, a solid thud and sensation of hitting something hard came.

The zombie’s head came off.

“See? The only good thing about winter is this. They’re easy to catch, and no blood stains your clothes.”

With its insides frozen solid, there was no worry about getting dirty.

The kids’ faces showed surprise.

Ki-hyun, in particular, reacted noticeably.

She looked at the zombie with a disgusted face and muttered.

“And they come back to life in spring.”

“That’s why they’re called zombies.”

“Disgusting.”

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She now found zombie corpses so unremarkable that she just made a disgusted sound.

‘If only she could get used to studying like that.’

It was a bit of an old man’s concern, but I couldn’t help but hope she wouldn’t give up on studying.

“But.”

Jinwoo’s voice interrupted my thoughts.

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Ki-hyun and I looked at him, and he continued.

“If their activity drops in the cold, why did places like the polar regions or Russia fall?”

A sharp question.

I admired it inwardly and answered.

“They got hit by nukes.”
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“…What?”

“They got hit by nukes.”

“….”

Jinwoo’s face showed disbelief, but there was nothing else I could say.

“Was it about two weeks after the apocalypse? The communication lines were still up then. According to the information we got, the U.S. dropped a nuke on Moscow.”

Ki-hyun and Jinwoo fell silent.

I shrugged and answered their unasked question.

“Well, if anyone survived the nukes, they wouldn’t have to worry about zombies. I don’t know about other snowy regions; we’ve completely lost contact with them.”

As I picked up the load again, I heard a small mutter.

“…In the end, it’s all about bombs.”

In the end, it’s all about bombs.

Ki-hyun seemed to understand something.

End of Chapter