Once when both Cha Woodan and Cha Jeoh were away, twice when the twins were taking turns on watch duty staying by my side. Though it didn’t take long or much effort for them to discover and catch me before I could move far, the very fact that I kept trying to disappear seemed to stimulate them.
Moreover, if I went outdoors rather than a confined space, no one could know when or what kind of incident would occur. The twins had heard and knew the story of the monster gently licking me during the auditorium incident. Because of that, they even seemed worried that monsters might appear and block them the moment I tried to escape.
Though the twins were born with sufficiently strong abilities, that didn’t mean they could cut down multiple monsters in one stroke and catch up to and restrain me moving away in one breath. So they couldn’t help but pay even more attention.
So they brought up one condition. Whether it was a mansion with a garden or a factory with monsters, they would find it, so let’s dig into the ability in detail later once a confined space was secured.
Unable to resist the twins’ nagging, I finally gave an answer saying I understood. Since I didn’t completely not know about my ability right now, and even if there were suspicious parts, they were only things helpful to me and had never been harmful, I judged there would be no problem postponing the schedule.
So now what remained for me to do was just wait until the twins chose a base and moved our belongings there.
Spending a day, all I did was indulge in lazy idleness. Opening my eyes drowsily in early morning, I’d go along with the morning worship that had increased to two people, open my eyes again late in the morning and receive food the twins gave me like a bird, and if I idled around then looked outside the window, the sun had set. Occasionally letting news about the school that Cha Woodan brought in flow through one ear like listening to a radio broadcast, and greeting Cha Jeoh who returned from surveying outside, it was time for sleep again.
Even in the world that had still been ordinary, when I hadn’t done anything particularly special, I’d never lived so tediously. It was a daily life that anyone would think I’d landed in the middle of a healing leisure camp rather than an apocalypse survival story.
Though I wasn’t the type of person to feel guilt or discomfort about such things anew, if I stayed still like this, it felt like even the few muscles in my body would disappear. Thinking I should move after a long time and leaving the bed, Cha Woodan, who had been recording the inventory of food remaining in the art room warehouse, turned his head as if it were natural.
“Why? Should I give you something?”
“I’m going to go out for a bit.”
I didn’t ask ‘You’ll follow, right?’ and the question ‘Can I follow?’ didn’t come to me either. There was no need to exchange such words. Even if I refused expressing displeasure for him not to come, he would stick close to me without withdrawing his characteristic smile.
As expected, Cha Woodan rose without hesitation. Carelessly throwing the paper and pen he’d been holding onto the desk, he approached me.
“Should I carry you?”
“No. I think I need to walk a bit.”
“I’ll carry you.”
There it is.
“I said I think I need to walk a bit.”
“What need do you have to walk? You have me and Cha Jeoh.”
“All my leg muscles will waste away.”
“They won’t waste away just from not walking for a few days. And so what, we’ll be by your side the whole time.”
My brow furrowed subtly.
“See? You’re saying you’ll keep carrying me around. That’s not just not walking for a few days.”
“Listen to the rest too, Hayoung-ah. We’ll be by your side the whole time. There’s nothing to worry about at all.”
My mouth would just hurt if I wrestled any more here. Swallowing a sigh, I placed my hand on Cha Woodan’s shoulder, and a smile spread across his face that had sunk worriedly. Soon he stretched out both arms and firmly lifted me up.
“And Hayoung, you have to walk around with your eyes closed, so how can you say you’ll walk alone?”
“I got around just fine before meeting you guys.”
“There were almost no people on the upper floor back then. Now there are many people, what if you accidentally bump into someone while wandering around?”
Swallowing the sigh that had risen to the brink once more without sound, I entrusted my body to Cha Woodan’s embrace. Just as I was about to close my eyes, I let out a small exclamation and tapped his shoulder.
“Let me cover my eyes with something.”
“Your eyes?”
“Yeah. Like I did in the student council room last time.”
I was confident I could hold back sounds by my own will and not open my tightly closed eyes. That’s why the incident that had occurred in the hallway behind the auditorium the other day had given me quite a shock.
To open my eyes in surprise at the pain of my wrist being cut. Because it was something that happened reflexively and was a mistake, the same accident absolutely couldn’t occur again next time. So I had to force even areas I couldn’t control by my own will.
Cha Woodan, who noticed my intention, moved slowly. Setting me down briefly on the art room desk, he turned his steps. Then he rummaged through the pile of clean clothes the twins frequently brought and picked up a white shirt. Cha Woodan, who made a cloth piece by tearing it with just light touches, returned to me.
“Hayoung-ah, close your eyes.”
“……”
“If it seems too tightly tied, don’t endure and tell me.”
When I obediently lowered my eyelids, a shadow fell over my eyelids. Soon I felt the sensation of soft cloth covering my eyes.
The long cloth wrapped around my eyes and head twice and was fixed so it wouldn’t come loose. Cha Woodan, who carefully tied the knot so it wouldn’t hurt but also wouldn’t come undone, gave a brief notice and lifted me up.
“Where should we go? Fourth floor? Or going down to the lower floors is fine too.”
In the midst of that, it was a choice that cleanly excluded outdoor spaces like the schoolyard. Not bothering to point that out, after a moment’s consideration, I gave an answer.
“The library.”
“…The library?”
Cha Woodan, who had been moving his steps, stopped firmly in place. Unable to turn my gaze toward him but only raising my head, he who came to his senses one beat late slowly stepped forward.
“Good. The library. Since it’s already been over a month since the monsters appeared, it must have been too long for you, Hayoung.”
The last sentence Cha Woodan uttered particularly stuck in my ears. That statement sounded as if he wanted to convey ‘it’s not been a long time for us.’ Unable to tell if it was just my imagination and about to ask, before I could open my mouth, Cha Woodan whispered low.
“Hayoung-ah, I’m opening the door.”
Hearing the noise of the door scraping the doorframe, I closed my mouth again.
***
“Me and Cha Jeoh were surprised when we saw it not long ago too, but it’s better maintained than we thought.”
Cha Woodan’s muttering settled down over my head. I picked out the familiar paper scent from the almost faded smell of blood and stench and breathed in softly.
“Well, no matter how stupid the bastards here are, they wouldn’t be tactless humans enough to take and throw away all the books.”
Soon Cha Woodan, who had moved to the inside of the library, pulled out a certain chair and carefully sat me there. Only after confirming I was comfortably leaning against the chair back did he turn his back.
“I’ll close the door and come back. Wait just a moment.”
I tried to chase after Cha Woodan’s presence rapidly fading as the distance widened, then gave up. Instead, I moved my hand and fumbled for the desk positioned to my left.
If there were no mistakes in the map drawn in my head, this place would be a location especially familiar to my memory even within the familiar library interior. The wall where old, creaking windows were located in succession, the long and narrow desk attached to that wall, and the multiple chairs lined up in front of the desk. Among them, the chair located in the most secluded spot and the seat corresponding to the first from the left of the long desk.
Where I had come and sat keeping guard during every break time and lunch time…
“Hayoung-ah.”
I turned my head. Perhaps that direction was slightly off, as rather than turning my head straight, Cha Woodan moved one step to the side and faced me.
“I confirmed everything’s closed. The door, and of course the windows too.”
Slowly moving my mouth, I quietly raised my voice.
“…What if someone suddenly opens the door and comes in? Looking at how there’s not a speck of dust on the desk, it seems survivors still use the library.”
“I locked the door. It’s a lock fastened from the inside, so it can’t be opened from outside.”
Then well. Cha Woodan, who read signs of agreement from me, reached out his hand as if he’d been waiting.
“I’ll untie the blindfold for you.”
Obediently entrusting my head, I recalled various scenes of the library remaining in my memory. Since there couldn’t have not been incidents where blood splattered and corpses piled up, whether slaughter or combat, within the library, there was a high possibility that its structure or state had changed from before. Though it wasn’t a sentiment of great anticipation or excitement, I was curious.
Soon the cloth covering my eyes slipped down smoothly. When Cha Woodan completely removed the cloth tickling my skin, I finally slowly lifted my eyelids.
I blinked three or four times at the dazzling vision that had even become familiar now and focused. Then I swept around inside the library beyond Cha Woodan who tactfully moved aside.
