Even trying internet or social media, all I got was page after page of loading errors. This is bad. This is actually real.
The back of my head went numb.
No, but — it’s a family healing story, isn’t it? The genre was modern romance. So how does it suddenly turn into a zombie apocalypse? If that’s the case, then aside from the word “modern,” nothing is the same — is it really allowed to flip this completely upside down? If it had been a hunter story or a fantasy, I’d be shocked but at least I’d understand.
If it had happened after the original story ended, I could at least suspect that’s why things turned out this way, or wonder if my interference caused it — but of all days, today is the very day the original story begins. Which means if something’s gone wrong, it’s gone seriously wrong.
“I wonder if the hyungs are okay……”
If I’d known in advance, I could have mentally prepared myself, or dug my heels in and kept them home.
I shook one leg uncontrollably as I tried calling and texting again and again, but all I got was a message saying it couldn’t be sent due to network issues. It wasn’t as though I’d slept for days on end — I’d only napped for a few hours after seeing the hyungs off, and already communications were completely dead……
“I’m going to lose my mind.”
No matter what I thought about, it was all worst-case scenarios. I plugged my phone in to charge and got up from where I was sitting, making my way to the window. I lifted the curtain slightly and peered outside — the nurse, who had been alive just minutes ago, had turned into a zombie and was now wandering through the garden.
The choices available to me now were three. First — hold on as best I can, clinging to the hope that at least one of the hyungs is alive and will come for me. This was the most stable option, but only if someone was certain to arrive within a week. Beyond that, things would get difficult.
Even if I went downstairs right now and shut the doors, and even if the zombies couldn’t get in anymore — I only had about a week’s worth of medication left. Missing a day might be fine, but going past two days would be a problem. And even if by some miracle I managed to hold out for a long time, there was no telling whether there would be enough food to last.
“I’d rather not starve to death……”
Second — go outside.
That wasn’t even worth considering. What could I possibly do out there with this frail body of mine? Even if I ran into a zombie, running away would be hard, let alone killing one. And even if I were extraordinarily lucky and didn’t encounter any, just getting around would be a problem.
Sadly, I had no license and barely knew the area. Having gone nowhere but home and the hospital my whole life, that was only natural — and on top of that, I had a terrible sense of direction, so even on familiar roads there was no guarantee I’d arrive anywhere in one piece. Option two was basically just “spin the wheel and pick a random way to die.”
Then the last option, number three——
Vrrrm!
A car engine from next door made the zombies react sharply and break into a run. Unlike what I’d expected — that the high wall would stop them — the zombie scaled it in an instant and went over to the neighboring house.
A heavy thud! followed, as if something large had dropped, and then a scream rang out. The moment I saw the other zombies all come running toward the next house, I squeezed my eyes shut and let the curtain fall back into place.
“……”
Third — simply accept this reality and die quickly, before the suffering begins.
If I chose this last option, I had a few more sub-choices available. Hang myself, cut my wrists, jump headfirst out the window — or inject the zombie’s fluids scattered across the living room floor into my body and become a zombie myself.
The last one seemed the least bad, and yet something strangely unsettling held me back from going through with it. Maybe it was the hope that the hyungs might still be alive somehow.
“I don’t want to die……”
I thought this life would finally be the one where I made it past twenty. It was a satisfying life, even if my body was frail and things were a little uncomfortable. I staggered to the edge of the bed and sat on it, rubbing my face roughly.
The screaming from the neighbor outside went quiet. With that, my body, which I thought had barely calmed down, started trembling again — and then my vision blurred. Drip, drip — my cheeks were soaked with tears in an instant, yet I couldn’t even find the energy to wipe my face.
What had happened to the hyungs? Were they safe? Surely they weren’t all dead? What if they were hurt? If only I’d known it would come to this — I should’ve just hugged them back this morning when they kept asking.
They weren’t just brothers to me. Across every life I’d ever lived, they were the first real family I’d ever had. They were the ones who’d given me my name. They were the ones who had filled me — someone who knew nothing — with so many memories and so much warmth. They were irreplaceable, one-of-a-kind presences in my world.
Instead of fear or terror, it was a devastating sense of loss that pressed down on every inch of me. It felt like a dream that just this morning, I’d been giddy at the thought of seeing the heroine. I cried until my breath came out in ragged, choking bursts — and I only barely managed to stop when I tasted blood.
At the same time, everything felt utterly hollow. I got a nosebleed just from crying a little — someone like me had nothing they could do. I had no exceptional intellect. I didn’t have the physical ability to take down a zombie in one blow. And I didn’t have the courage to march to their workplaces to check whether my hyungs were alive.
This was no different from my past life…… Had I let my guard down too much because I was in a healing novel? But anyone in my position would have done the same. If anything, I thought it would be stranger to live in what seemed like an ordinary present-day world and spend every day bracing for zombies to suddenly appear.
“……I’m going to lose my mind.”
Even as I tried to rationalize it, I knew it changed nothing. But it wasn’t as though stopping the rationalization would help me think of any other way out. What do I do, what on earth am I supposed to do……
Confusion piling on top of confusion — and it was right then.
Bang——!
Something crashed loudly against the window. I flinched to my feet, then stumbled backward step by step. From beyond the curtain, at the window, came a wet, rattling sound — like something gurgling deep in its throat.
I should have realized the moment I saw that zombie scale the high wall in an instant — that it could climb into my room window at any time, too.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
With every dull impact, the curtain billowed and shook. As I kept backing away, what my back finally hit was the chair and the tall stack of books piled on top of it.
I wanted to bolt out of the room before the zombie and I came face to face. But the chair, with no wheels, didn’t budge an inch — as if mocking my shaking limbs.
Crash——!
“Kyaaaah!”
“Hah——!”
The books stacked on top of the chair all came tumbling down at once, and at the same moment the zombie finally smashed through the window and forced its way inside. It had used its head to break the glass, so shards were embedded all over its face — and yet, even as it tumbled across the floor, it didn’t make a single sound of pain. The instant it spotted me, it lunged like a beast that had found its prey. Oh, damn it all.
My mind was screaming at me — get out now, or swing the chair — but my body, rigid with terror, refused to move even a little. All I could do was squeeze my eyes shut and accept my death.
Please, let it be over in one blow, before I even have the chance to feel pain——!
BOOM——!
Before my desperate prayer could even finish, an enormous sound — incomparable to anything before — erupted right beside me. Wind tore through the room, leaving my ears ringing — and the tears I thought had finally stopped came streaming down again.
What is it this time……
Not even wanting to look, I kept my eyes shut and surrendered myself to fate — when something descended onto my head with a fluttering sound.
“Don’t cry. Is it because hyung was too late?”
And then — a familiar voice.
I immediately lifted my eyelids and blinked rapidly to bring my blurred vision back into focus. The moment my sight returned to normal, what I saw was Baek Hyunwoo — standing there looking no different from how he’d looked when he left for work that morning.
“……Hyung!”
Even his lightly styled hair was exactly as it had been. Overcome with emotion at the sight of my oldest hyung wearing that same warm, gentle smile as always, I threw myself into his arms — and he quickly caught the coat that had fallen off his shoulders, then draped it back over my head and said:
“There’s too much dust and filth in here, so stay under my coat. There’s a mask in the right pocket — put that on too.”
I nodded reflexively and reached into the pocket for the mask — then, catching sight of the blood splattered across the floor, I remembered the zombie with a start and snapped my head around urgently. If we both got bitten right now——!
“……Huh?”
But what met my eyes was a mass of something so thoroughly pulverized it was unrecognizable. My first thought wasn’t even disgust — it was that it looked like a lump of red clay someone had crushed together.
There was blood splattered around it, and remains that appeared to be hair and bone — but beyond that, there was nothing left to identify, and I actually found myself wondering, is that really the zombie from before?
“That……”
“Hmm? Oh, that chunk of meat won’t be moving anymore. Hyung made sure it’ll never move again — so our Sihyeon should stop crying too.”
No, wait — what? What did he even do to it?
Whether I was gaping in shock or not, Baek Hyunwoo smiled his usual bright smile, gently wiped my wet cheeks, then took the mask still in my hand and softly fitted it over my face.
