Chapter 43. The Fall (3)

The group gradually disappeared from view as they fought off the zombies.

Seung-ah, who had been shouting at them until the last moment, threw down the megaphone and leaned her head against the windowsill.

Once again, hope had vanished.

“What do we do now……”

As she muttered in a defeated voice, complaints were heard from behind.

“They’re really garbage people. They’re ignoring everyone else just to save themselves.”

The complaint didn’t come from Seung-ah or the elderly.

It came from a physically fit man.

In fact, this house wasn’t just occupied by the elderly and women as Seung-ah had claimed.

She lived here with her boyfriend, who had now become a freeloader.

Her megaphone plea about women and the elderly was meant to make the others feel guilty.

Of course, it didn’t work on them at all.

“Damn, if I could just fight the zombies, I could have saved everyone here.”

Seung-ah let out a bitter laugh at the nonsense coming from behind.

She turned her head to look at her ex-boyfriend.

“Isn’t there any way?”

At her words, Chul-woo gripped the metal rod resting on his knee.

“Your method of draining the megaphone battery didn’t work, so what other way could there be?”

Mocking Seung-ah for using the megaphone, he sat there pointing at the door with his metal rod.

“I’m still protecting this house and you, aren’t I? I can’t do more than this.”

It was ridiculous.

Seung-ah looked at the man she once loved with tired eyes.

Protecting the house and her… What nonsense.

It had been weeks since he started claiming to guard the house while doing absolutely nothing.

When she raided empty houses with others for food, when fights broke out while sharing food, he just stayed inside the house.

During all this time, despite her many pleas and shouts, he never took a single step outside.

He wasn’t originally this kind of person.

Before all this happened, he was the dazzling man she loved.

Good looks and a slim body.

He was a rich man’s son who boasted excessive wealth without having to work.

He was the building owner’s son who claimed he would manage his father’s buildings after marriage.

Before all this, he was the boyfriend all her friends envied.

But that day, he changed completely.

On the day the zombie outbreak began, they were dancing at a club when they witnessed people turning into zombies.

It was a hellish time – people turning into zombies biting others, blood spraying everywhere, people screaming.

Seung-ah escaped the club with him in his shocked state.

His friends all died or became zombies at the club, and once outside, they received news that his parents had died.

Eventually, the two of them fled to Seung-ah’s officetel, which was close to the club.

After experiencing hell at the club and hearing about the death of his friends and family, he shut himself in like this.

Actually, maybe he hadn’t changed that day.

Even before this happened, he was just an unemployed person who liked to party.

He was a handsome unemployed man from a wealthy family, but such background meant nothing now.

“This was really our last chance…”

“What chance? They’re all just selfish b*st*rds – what are the government and military even doing!”

For Seung-ah, it really was the last chance.

This was the chance to get him outside.

Or, it was her last chance to leave him.

Chul-woo came beside the frustrated Seung-ah and looked outside for the first time in a while.

He looked out and smirked.

“They say when one fish jumps, others follow – looks like those idiots don’t know their place and are trying to show off.”

At Chul-woo’s words, Seung-ah also got up and looked down outside the window.

People were gathered on the roof of the commercial floor, on the 5th floor of the residential-commercial building.

Usually there were no people there as zombies occasionally made their way up, but now about ten people were gathered.

“This is our only chance while the zombies are scattered. We need to leave the city now!”

“Did you pack everything?”

“Wait a moment. We’re coming too!”

“We can’t wait long!”

Their voices could be heard when listening carefully.

“Even though those people drew away the zombies, there are still some left… Are they determined to die?”

Chul-woo looked down and mocked the people.

Unlike Chul-woo, Seung-ah couldn’t mock them.

She turned her head to look at Chul-woo.

“Let’s go too.”

At Seung-ah’s words, Chul-woo looked at her with an incredulous face.

“What nonsense. We’ll die if we go.”

“We’ll die if we stay here too. We’re almost out of food!”

Though it felt like shouting at a wall, Seung-ah made one final plea to Chul-woo.

But again, she only heard logical rebuttals.

“But if we go out, we die immediately. If we stay here, we still have a chance. The probabilities are different. If we’re lucky, we might find food in dead people’s homes.”

It sounded reasonable, but in the end, it was just saying he was too scared to go out.

If it were before, such an argument would have just fizzled out, but this time it didn’t stop there.

Seung-ah finally spoke the words she had been holding back all this time.

“I’m going, even if you don’t.”

Though she thought she had lost her last chance just moments ago, there was still opportunity left.

If one had the resolve, chances remained until death.

“You’ll die if you go out! You’ll definitely die!”

“Not definitely. Most will die, but not all.”

Even that small chance would disappear as time passed.

She had to move now while food and strength remained.

“Actually, to be honest, I don’t care if I die. I’m already tired of waiting here to die with you.”

In truth, she might have given up too, just like Chul-woo, though in a different way.

After speaking to Chul-woo, she packed her bag.

She put some canned food in the bag she had prepared earlier for escape, then opened the door and went out.

Chul-woo gripped his metal rod and glared at her until the end, but couldn’t do anything.

“I’m coming too!”

She ran down the stairs frantically and joined the group before they left.

Some people knew her, but no one said anything about her coming alone.

Though she had left someone behind, in today’s world, that wasn’t particularly unusual.

Shortly after, about twenty survivors from this building and the neighboring one set out together.

It was the first large-scale departure since the early days of the outbreak.

“It won’t be any different from then.”

Chul-woo leaned on the window, watching the departing people.

For a hasty departure, the people seemed well-prepared.

They wore makeshift armor made from books and kitchen items, and carried crude spears and swords.

These weren’t prepared just now, but like Seung-ah, they had been ready for some time.

Seung-ah was the same.

Thick padding unsuitable for the weather, books taped around her arms and legs, and a spear made from a kitchen knife.

Chul-woo looked at the metal rod in his hand.

With Seung-ah taking that spear, this rod was the only weapon left in the house.

Chul-woo smirked at the rod.

He knew too. This rod wasn’t even a weapon.

It was something he couldn’t swing at zombies, let alone people.

The metal rod was just the last item preserving his pride.

“Don’t need this anymore.”

With no one watching, there was no reason to maintain his pride.

Watching the carefully moving people, he threw the metal rod out the window.

The falling metal rod.

CLANG!

The rod finally hit the ground with a loud noise.

“Are you crazy!”

“Who threw that?”

Voices of commotion could be heard from outside.

The sounds came from other homes of those who hadn’t left.

Apparently, everyone had been watching.

The people carefully avoiding scattered zombies became agitated at the sudden noise.

“Just run! The zombies have noticed!”

“Stay together and run! Shield bearers to the front! We’ll be prey if we scatter!”

She began leading the confused people toward the road.

Before running toward the road with everyone, she turned to look at her home.

It was too far for Chul-woo to see her expression.

“Isn’t that too harsh?”

“Serves them right. Well done. People who only try to save themselves should be punished.”

Even as people ran, voices could be heard outside the windows.

Some cursed at him, others praised him.

Chul-woo just smiled bitterly at the sounds.

Honestly, he had thrown it without thinking.

He wasn’t angry at Seung-ah for abandoning him, nor did he want to punish her.

He just wanted this time to pass quickly.

“See? I told you we couldn’t survive.”

Though he had caused the commotion, they would have been discovered eventually anyway.

Even though those strangely armored cosplay guys had drawn away many zombies, some still remained.

Though only a handful were left, even those zombies were impossible for ordinary people to handle.

Zombies attacked the people running on the road.

People falling behind after being bitten by zombies.

The runners continued on, abandoning those who fell behind.

Surprisingly, they maintained their formation throughout.

It was because of Seung-ah, who kept shouting as they ran.

“She’s still impressive. That’s what made me fall for her.”

He, a rich man’s son, had dated ordinary Seung-ah because of these qualities.

Before the outbreak, it wasn’t as apparent as now, but her occasional moments of brilliance had seemed so impressive.

Back then, he thought he was doing her a favor by dating her, but now it was completely reversed.

“Still too reckless. Though everyone will die anyway.”

Chul-woo muttered, watching people fall one by one.

As Chul-woo and the remaining people watched, those who had left the building eventually disappeared from view.

Most died, and while some made it to the road, the last thing they saw was zombies attacking them, leaving only cars on the road.

“Seung-ah must be dead too.”

Though he hadn’t seen her die by zombies, Chul-woo had no hope.

Unless there was a miracle, no one had survived such situations.

And instead of a miracle, the end came.

Kuuuuuu.

Looking out the window, Chul-woo saw black smoke flowing over the road from the north.

A faint black smoke barely visible unless looked at carefully, but eerie nonetheless.

“What is that?”

The smoke wasn’t all they saw.

And people saw more than just smoke.

Black tentacles surged onto the road with the smoke.

It looked like huge trees transforming into tentacles and advancing.

Behind those tentacles, a massive head appeared.

Chul-woo stared at the monster moving on the road with an incredulous face.

A huge black head moving dozens of tentacles.

“It can’t be an octopus, right?”

As Chul-woo’s bewildered question suggested, the black monster resembled an octopus.

However, unlike an octopus, it was too large and too black.

The monster moving on the road suddenly turned and approached Chul-woo’s building.

Tentacles wrapped around the building and began climbing up.