#2. Who Are You?
A full week had already passed since we escaped the village with those strange cocoons. I’d been worried we might run into other monsters, or encounter some other bizarre phenomenon — but nothing worth mentioning had happened.
“What about this one? Isn’t this pretty?”
“……Mm, wouldn’t it be better to go for something sturdy over something pretty?”
After passing through two more small rural villages, we arrived at what was apparently a newly built new town. Just like the other places, there were a few zombies, but far from attacking us, they were focused entirely on things in the opposite direction — and not a single person was in sight.
“This one’s better after all.”
“If you were going to do whatever you wanted anyway, why did you ask my opinion?”
I grumbled lightly and stepped behind the counter. Watching Baek Hyunwoo carefully deliberating over sneakers — not for food, not for medicine, but purely because the sole of my shoe had worn down a little — all I could think was that I just wanted to find somewhere to stay and go to sleep.
Still, I held it in and looked over the counter carefully. The fact that we hadn’t seen a single person since leaving home was nagging at me more than I’d like. Did the government put out evacuation instructions that only we missed? Did they load everyone up at once and move them somewhere? Or maybe we’d just managed, against all odds, to only pass through places completely devoid of people.
The internet was still down and the radio wouldn’t respond at all. Same with the landlines. And yet somehow the electricity was still running just fine……
Was that even possible? I’d need to actually know things to tell whether something was strange or not — but having spent my life shut away at home, all I could do was sit there puzzled.
“This one’s the best.”
Meanwhile, Baek Hyunwoo had gone ahead and picked out a pair of shoes. They were crisp white sneakers with a light sky blue accent. Without even asking how I felt about them, he hoisted me up and sat me on top of the counter, then pulled my shoes off. Apparently he wanted to do even this.
Up until a week ago, if something like this had happened I would’ve pulled my foot away and said I could do it myself — but somewhere in that short stretch of time, I’d grown so used to being looked after by Baek Hyunwoo that now I just lifted my foot slightly to make it easier for him to put the shoe on.
“They suit you well. You look nice.”
“Yeah? They’re so white I feel like they’ll get dirty fast.”
“Then we’ll just find a new pair.”
They say you never know how life will turn out — and it’s true. Right up until we left home, I was trembling with fear, hoping I wouldn’t become a burden on Baek Hyunwoo, hoping that if I died I’d at least go quickly without too much pain — and here we were, shopping for shoes in a city completely empty of people.
“What about you, hyung?”
“I’m fine.”
“Since we’re already here, you might as well pick out a pair too. I’ll choose for you.”
“You will?”
“Any color you want?”
“Anything our Sihyeon picks out is good with me.”
I held out my arms, and Baek Hyunwoo, as if it were the most natural thing in the world, lifted me and set me back down on the floor. It wasn’t because the counter was high — it was because of my oldest hyung, who couldn’t even endure this much. Setting aside his desire to do everything for me, he seemed to think my body was made of glass.
Just now, if I’d jumped down on my own, he would have started with “What if you twist your ankle doing that,” and probably ended up somewhere at “You could end up needing an amputation later from the complications.” I had no interest in giving someone I was stuck with twenty-four hours a day any extra material to nag me about.
I looked through the shoes with what I considered to be due care, then scratched the back of my neck and glanced over at him. Unlike me in my comfortable, casual clothes, Baek Hyunwoo looked like he could step in front of a camera for a photoshoot right this instant.
“I think these would suit you best…… although I’m not sure they quite match what you’re wearing right now…….”
Even as I said it, a laugh slipped out. Baek Hyunwoo tilted his head as if he didn’t know why I was laughing, but he took the sneakers I’d been holding and went to swap them on. He tapped the toes against the floor a few times — tap, tap — then said with a satisfied expression:
“Clothes can always be changed. In that case, will you pick out some clothes for me too?”
“Clothes? Picking them out isn’t hard, but where are we going?”
“What do you say we head to a department store? Get something to eat there and browse a bit before we leave.”
It was such a perfectly normal shopping outing kind of conversation. And it felt even more surreal because right outside the store, a zombie was dragging its legs down the road. I didn’t bother saying anything pointless like “Isn’t a department store dangerous?” — not anymore. Baek Hyunwoo was not the kind of person who would lead me somewhere dangerous. He’d have a plan.
Instead, I pointed at the zombie visible through the glass and said:
“Let’s go once that one passes.”
Like everywhere else, the department store was brightly lit with the power still running. Soft music continued to drift through the air, and the air conditioning was still going — a little chilly, but comfortable enough. If it weren’t for the items strewn everywhere and the zombies shuffling around, it might have even felt like we had the whole place to ourselves.
“Watch out.”
I must have gotten distracted by a zombie standing blankly in front of the liquor refrigerators, because I nearly missed the body on the floor ahead. Worried I might trip, Baek Hyunwoo gently pulled on our joined hands, then swept me up and drew me into his arms.
“You need to watch where you’re going.”
“Oh, sorry.”
I glanced back and saw a headless body collapsed face-down. The skin was shriveled as if every drop of moisture had been drained from it, and looking at it made my skin crawl — I tightened my arms around his neck and held on. No matter how many times I saw a corpse, I couldn’t get used to it.
“Is it getting to you?”
“A little…….”
Whether it was from the air conditioning still running, or some other reason, the bodies inside the department store didn’t smell of decay. If anything, the smell coming off the living zombies was far worse.
“Want to wait somewhere? I’ll go grab something to eat.”
“Being alone would be worse.”
“Then at least close your eyes.”
“……It’s not that bad.”
I muttered that, then noticed a zombie approaching and instinctively drew my head back slightly.
Graaahh—
The zombie in the hoodie shuffled around, sniffing faintly at the air. Its jaw had dropped so far that the skin and muscle had rotted all the way down to its collarbone, one of its eyes was half hanging out and dangling, and its head looked like it had been crushed — brain matter seeping down in slow rivulets.
Even after coming right up to us, it veered off unsteadily in another direction as if it couldn’t see us at all. If I hadn’t already experienced a zombie crawling through a window to attack me back home, I might have been under the illusion that they didn’t harm humans.
The stench was so unbearable I couldn’t hold back dry heaves. Pressing one hand over my mouth to keep any sound from escaping, I buried my nose in hyung’s clothing. I breathed in slowly, and the cool, clean scent that was distinctly Baek Hyunwoo’s filled my lungs — enough to make me feel like I might survive after all.
Sensing that I was struggling, Baek Hyunwoo quickened his pace. He moved without a moment’s hesitation, as if he’d been here dozens of times before. He gathered several meal kit products that hadn’t passed their expiration dates, some fresh fruit, and all the tools needed to cook — and only after he’d collected everything did he step through a door somewhere.
“There. It’s okay now.”
“Pffhuu…….”
Click — only once the door was shut behind us did I lift my head. Thank goodness. I’ll live. While I let out a long, slow breath, hyung carefully stacked everything he’d piled on top of me onto the desk one by one.
“Sit tight.”
The place Baek Hyunwoo had brought me to looked like a lounge. From the tasteful interior décor and the quality of the sofas, it was clearly not a staff break room — this was a space for customers. VIP customers, at that.
There, we cooked and ate army stew. I didn’t even wonder about it anymore. There was a kitchenette inside so I didn’t have to go far to wash the ingredients, and that convenience was all that mattered.
“I think it’s going to get a lot harder to find fresh ingredients before we reach our destination.”
After we finished eating, Baek Hyunwoo said that with a look of apology on his face — and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Honestly, I think the way we’ve been eating up until now has been incredible.”
“But…….”
“So what, it’s not like skipping a few meals would kill me.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. I said it would get harder to find fresh ingredients — I didn’t say I was going to let you go hungry.”
Baek Hyunwoo, who a moment ago had looked like he didn’t know what to do with himself from apologizing, shot back instantly with a completely serious expression.
“Oh — ah, right? Yeah. Sorry.”
The sheer force of it caught me so off guard that I nodded and apologized without even thinking. I couldn’t quite decide if saying it’d be fine to go a few days without eating really warranted that kind of reaction.
