“Hwamin…! Hurry….!”
“……….”
Should I run away or stand and fight?
I was staring at the red monstrosity right in front of me, deep in thought.
If I turn back and run quickly now, everything I’ve accumulated during my journey will instantly turn into bubbles, but at least I could save my life.
Of course, a tough journey would follow, but I can just build it all back up from scratch.
If I retrace the path I’ve walked once, that hardship and time will also be reduced.
But…
Is that really the best choice?
“……I.”
If I shake off a little fear and fight the monster.
If I take the ultimate gamble of my life, which might be the greatest and last resort to save my own life.
I could protect my comrades who have endured hardships with me, the weapons filled with memories, and even my pet that’s still following me.
The prize hanging on one side was worth enough to gamble my life on the other side.
Perhaps with a single gesture, the weight of choice that felt overwhelmingly heavy would determine everything ahead.
With that in front of me, I finally made my decision──
───bee bee bee big, bee bee bee big!!
“Whoa! What, what is this!?”
“Oh. It’s a timeout, Hwamin-senpai.”
Hearing the loud alarm sound that could blow out my eardrums, I dropped the dice in my hand.
Rolling…
The side of the die that came up read “Huge Failure.”
“How many times did I tell you to roll it fast!? Huh? Hwa Min, are you trying to die!? How long does it take to roll a dice!?”
“Uwaaaah───”
Shake, shake.
I was getting absolutely thrashed by Jung Eun, who had my collar in her grip.
Veins were bulging on her forehead as she yelled at me to run if I wanted to escape or just fight with my eyes closed if that’s what I chose, but why was I dragging my feet?
Every time she shook me hard, a pathetic scream escaped my lips as if I were just a fish flapping in front of a fan.
Hiiing…..
“Don’t be so angry, Jung Eun. It’s just a game, you know? This is why news keeps saying games encourage violence──Uwaah!?”
“Of all people, you’re saying that!? You’re definitely dead today, you punk!!”
Crash thud.
Things flew through the air.
“Unnie Yeon, what’s going to happen now?”
“Um…. It should have said it around here… Ah, got it. ‘If a player exceeds 2 minutes, all actions of that turn will be invalidated and the turn will pass to the opponent.’ It’s our turn now, Hia.”
“Aha.”
Leaving the messy board game with dice and cards scattered, Hia and Yeon, now as close as family, were confirming the rules together sweetly.
It seemed they added such rules to prevent someone from dragging out the time.
Now I understood why there was something like a stopwatch in the board game box.
Today, I was learning another lesson from defeat.
“Uwaaaah─, Uwa──”
“Die…! Die…!”
By the way, when will this ever stop?
Like grains being threshed, I was just waiting for Jung Eun’s fury to subside.
“I swear I’ll never team up with you again! Hia…! Please team up with me, okay? Please…!! If I have to team up with this brat one more time, I’ll explode from frustration…!!”
“No way, Jung Eun-senpai! Hia’s on my team!”
“….Ung.”
This was the seventh time Jung Eun had repeated the same words.
Snicker. No matter how much you deny it, we’re destined to be intertwined again, aren’t we?
Just look.
No matter if it’s drawing lots or playing rock-paper-scissors, it’s forever the same for us…!
You’re not free as a bird…!
Come on, stop wasting time and come over here!
─Puck, puck!
“Hey, you little brat──!!”
Heh heh…! Cough, cough! Hey, hold on! My bones, my bones are broken….!
By the way, this alarm is louder than I thought.
If I used it outside, I might attract all the zombies nearby.
Well, I definitely have no plans to spread a board game on the streets and play.
No one would do that anyway.
Fidget, fidget.
“…..Ugh.”
As Jung Eun choked me, I carefully rubbed my ears, still throbbing from the sudden noise.
34 days after the zombie outbreak.
The seventeenth day since meeting Hia.
A time I could never have imagined before, where everyone was brightly smiling without a single shadow.
…Yeah.
“………”
It was a life that seemed to be nothing but happiness.
“Whoo. Is summer finally creeping in?”
I hate summer because it’s hot.
The cool breeze of early spring that blew at night was gradually disappearing.
Time was flowing no matter what I did, and I quietly gazed up at the star-filled night sky.
The city, where it was hard to spot a single star due to the bustling streetlights and neon signs, had now become a village with not a single small light visible, making it a perfect observatory for star-gazing.
Under the crescent moon, slowly filling up to a full moon.
I looked at the can of food in my hand illuminated by the bright moonlight.
─01. 22. 2019.
“….So boring.”
The reflected writing pointed to January 22 of next year.
A little less than a year from now; a short time if short, a long time if long.
That was the remaining lifespan of this can.
In the end, even if everyone rushed in, we had to toss a pile of vegetables that we couldn’t eat like leftovers.
Even this canned food, which can be stored for a long time, would be inedible after three more seasons pass.
From the things stored inside the house.
The cans in the mart that someone left behind.
Perhaps even the freshly made stock in factories, everything.
As time passes, the contents will start to smell rancid, and the vicinity will be completely overtaken by fruit flies and bugs drawn to that smell.
Yeah.
Everything, right down to the core, would rot away.
[‘■■■■■■….’]
[‘■■….■■■……’]
“─You’re just a pain, aren’t you?”
Like those things wandering outside this mansion even now.
No matter how much food piled up in the storeroom, it couldn’t be infinite in front of a family of three high schoolers and one child in their growing phase.
In reality, we had already eaten or thrown away most of the perishable food, including vegetables.
At least because we were moving our bodies minimally while just lounging around the house, we could be satisfied with two meals a day.
Thanks to that, the storeroom hadn’t completely run out yet.
Combining the canned goods we had packed when we came to this house, we could probably last another month.
But—
“……Hoo.”
How long could that tranquility really last?
A month had already passed since the event we call the zombie outbreak.
The city remained engulfed in darkness, with no sign of lights penetrating.
The television and mobile phones remained silent, frozen on dark screens.
Well, it’s questionable if it should even be called “broken” since they weren’t even charged or plugged in.
We couldn’t hear anything more than crackling noise from the radio, which had now become an antique and required batteries for reception.
As I gazed into the sky, waiting desperately, not even a sparrow appeared, let alone helicopters aiding in rescues.
The survivors we could occasionally see beforeHad now completely vanished, not a single person in sight.
Thus…
It might seem surprising. Or perhaps natural.
We have long since abandoned hope that help would come.
How much longer do we have to wait?
Does help really come if you just wait?
What if outside has already been destroyed, save for us?
Having no hope meant that we felt no expectation either.
Thus, we laughed, and lived crazily laughing.
Because.
“—Hahaha.”
That’s how we could endure.
To live through another meaningless day.
When I closed my eyes today, tomorrow would begin.
With food supplies slowly dwindling and time ticking down.
We would smile brightly before the decreasing numbers and start another game.
Thus, another day would begin.
And another day would flow by.
Flowing.
And flowing again.
Eventually, at the last moment.
When the numbers point to 0, meaning nothing exists.
We would—
─Tap.
“──Hwamin, unnie?”
“……!?”
In the serene night sky, maybe because I was lost in my reflection.
I didn’t even notice someone walked up behind me until they tapped my back.
A crack. I felt my heart drop with the sudden sensation.
I turned around and saw…
“─Hehe. It’s you, Hwamin unnie!”
“…….”
There stood a girl looking at me.
Not something existing in color, leaving a feeling of void.
But the thought of ‘purity’ came first, feeling nothing dirty at all.
A child, all white and bright.
“What are you doing here all alone?”
“──Hia.”
“Yeah. Hia. Is there something on Hwamin unnie’s mind?”
Between the open window of the terrace and the curtains fluttering like petals.
Hia was standing there, enveloped in gentle moonlight.
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