Chapter 16 – In the Flock, One (3)

In a flock of sheep, one (3)

B1, Central Library, Banseok University, Seoul.

Three light sources calmly illuminate the first basement floor covered in darkness.

“With this, you have checked all the doors leading to the first basement floor. It seems that all the zombies have been sorted out.”

Tok-! Todok-!

In one hand, a flashlight from the second-floor library camp, and in the other hand, a finger and a smartphone that quickly record something.

I nodded my head to Goh Jang-hoon, who was reporting to me while quickly updating the situation to be checked on my smartphone.

“Good. It is very smooth.”
“… Are you in a good mood?”

While nodding his head coolly and illuminating the future with a flashlight, Koh Ji-hun asked a question.

I shrugged and asked again.

“Does it look like that?”
“Yes. Are you doing something good?”
“… It’s a good thing.”

There is

[Strength: 20]

The stat point ’20’ was finally achieved by defeating the remaining zombies on the 1st basement floor.

And immediately after reaching the strength stat ’20’, no status window message conveyed any changes to me.

In other words, even in the 20 stat point section, it was said that it was possible to take a stat by consuming only 5 remaining points.

I was a little afraid that the points needed to take a stat from 5 points would increase, but there is no better news for me right now than this.

At least until the stat point ’30’, he was able to continue his current growth with the remaining 5 points.

“What, should we do this much today?”
“Uh-I don’t know about the other places, but the passageway on the far left that leads directly from the 1st basement floor to the ground doesn’t seem completely safe yet…”
“Know. That’s why you’ve packed the first basement floor with overflowing lockers.”

And-

He smiled and continued talking to Koh Goh, who carefully conveyed his opinion.

“We have to continue searching the dangerous first basement floor, but it’s a bit awkward if it looks too safe. If the tail is long, it will eventually be stepped on.”

I still had a lot of work to do, avoiding the eyes of the second-floor library camp.

Before that, you should avoid throwing a kundeokji that you don’t know.

Gao Ji-hoon nodded his head quietly, put his smart phone in and lit the road with a flashlight.

Thud- thud-

The first floor of the basement where only Koh Goh’s footsteps resounded.

The more you pass the large sofa and the round computers, the closer the rustling sound gets.

Koh Goh’s flashlight passes through the store door and illuminates the corner of the store.

There, the two jerks stop moving while hurriedly grabbing food.

Park Woo-jin and Kim Min-joon realized that I had come and quickly put their hands together to eat the food.

“No one steals it, but what are you eating in such a hurry?”

I smiled softly into the two trembling eyes and approached them.

Ting-!

The small vibrating sound of an iron pipe sitting next to them and leaving it on the floor.

The frozen bodies flinched once, then froze again like ice, motionless.

“Eat comfortably.”

Did nothing happen while I was gone?

Two jerks who don’t react at all to the softly thrown words.

I looked at them and frowned slightly.

“He doesn’t eat and doesn’t answer.”

This is a waste of time…

And a waste of time—

“Quite a teamwork—”
“Oh no! Nothing happened!”

Park Woo-jin hurriedly responds to my words, causing a stir.

Kim Min-jun, who was next to me, hurriedly began to eat the jerky.

Binggrae at that appearance- let’s smile, the two of them started to eat food at random again while looking at me.

“Okay. Are you eating after you’ve done what I asked you to do?”
“Of course! I put a decent amount of frozen food in my food bag.”
“Good. I really like teamwork.”

This is the team

They nod their heads enthusiastically like twins at a satisfactory answer.

When I saw that the freezer overflowing with frozen food was in their food bags, I winked at them.

“What are you doing. You should eat everything you want quickly before going up.”
“… Yes, yep! Thank you!”

But maybe it’s thanks to the continued soft response, now they even say thank you quite graciously.

However, despite this soft conversation, I secretly clicked my tongue at the status window that did not lead from ‘submission’ to ‘submission’.

The difference between those two jeollies and Goh Jang-hun.

The biggest part among them is that there is no ‘positive factor’.

The positive factor they get from obeying me.

In order to create that factor, the status window showed no movement even though he consistently showed gentle treatment from beginning to end.

Obviously, even if Goh Koo Hoon threw a few words of consolation, the status window immediately fluctuated.

Gradually, as I manage those two things, I feel it again—

Despite being the first survivor he met, Goh Goh-hoon was quite—

It seemed undeniable that it was a very, very unusual case.

I turned my gaze to Koh Goh, who was still checking the store shelves one by one with a flashlight.

Goh Goh-hun notices my gaze and focuses his gaze on me while typing something on his smartphone.

“Hehe― I was checking what was in the store and what the expiration date was.”

Goh Goh-hun continues talking with his eyes torn in a straight line, heheh.

“Shouldn’t you do something like this in advance to make your work more comfortable, hehe.”

Really-

Because he’s an odd kid.

Koh Goh-Hoon, who was checking on me with a satisfied smile at him, hurriedly approached me.

Koh Ji-hun carefully bows his head to me, intending to say something secret.

“A few snacks went missing from my food bag yesterday.”

Sweet words whispered in my ear as if I knew exactly what I was looking for.

He smiled again in satisfaction at the news he had been waiting for and nodded his head.

Well, the best way to search for something suspicious is-

It must be that the search is conducted when the suspicious person is not there.

The moment we went down to the 1st basement floor, it must have been the right time to search the suspicious black bag that Koh Koo was carrying.

And a fairly large amount of food in that bag.

If not all, it must have been an irresistible temptation for someone who saw it.

“By the way—there’s no way it just went through.”

Looking at Goh Jang-hoon, who started the full investigation of the canteen again, he muttered to the two jjeori.

I continued to talk to the two jjeori who corrected their posture while eating.

“Didn’t anyone ask you questions about skewers yesterday?”
“… Yes, Yeri noona—no, Yeri Gu asked in detail, but there is no problem!”

Kim Min-jun answers while swallowing food in a hurry.

As if asking for trust, he nodded his head slightly with an expression containing 100 percent sincerity.

Well, it was hard to find anything particularly awkward about what happened yesterday.

While putting food, Sim Yoo-han was bitten by a zombie that wasn’t attracted to aggro, and we stopped putting food and barely got out of the place.

Then, I dealt with Shim Yu-han, who was bitten and turned into a zombie, and returned to the second floor.

A plausible scenario with no particular jade in sight.

Furthermore, since they were allies and two people who thoroughly believed were witnesses, it was impossible to be suspicious.

There was absolutely no reason for them to lie about these two crazy people.

Especially since they returned with a body that doesn’t show any signs of being beaten or threatened by someone.

“Goja. But when you think about it, isn’t it really absurd?”
“Yes, what?”

I started a conversation with Goh Jang-hun as if I was asking the two jjeori to listen.

“Even though the uproar happened yesterday, there are only four of us on the first basement floor right now.”
“Who would apply for the search team in a situation where even Sim Yu-han, who was so big, was falling behind? The bastards who went once should sacrifice one more time.”

Park Woo-jin and Kim Min-joon naturally darken their faces in the conversation that continues like a thump.

“The vice president openly cried until we went down because our friend died, and the camp people stayed silent when we said we would go down again.”

If you think about it, is there more unspoken pressure than this?

“I just openly pushed Woojin and Minjun to go down.”

Park Woo-jin and Kim Min-joon look deeper into Goh Goh’s eye contact.

Took-!

Park Woo-jin, who had his head lowered deeply, shoved his shoulder. Like a domino, Park Woo-jin pushed Kim Min-jun’s shoulder.

The two of them look up at me at the same time.

“So don’t feel guilty and eat as much as you want. Even the food in that bag is shared with all the people above, like communism.”

You do the hard work, but you share the food with the offspring from above.

They slightly averted my eyes as if they were repulsed by the words that cursed at the people of the camp on the second floor.

However, involuntarily, the erect ears could not avoid my sight.

I squatted down in front of them and tapped them on the shoulders with both arms.

“I take all the responsibility, so don’t worry about anything. As long as you guys don’t damage teamwork, we’ll be a team from now on forever.”

Park Woo-jin and Kim Min-joon who quietly listen to me.

“While I kill the zombies, Janghun and you are doing the things I couldn’t do in a safe place.”

While I am collecting points by killing zombie cubs.

“Like now.”

Took-!

Park Woo-jin and Kim Min-joon raise their heads at the gesture of knocking once more and make eye contact with me.

“Safety.”

Their heads slightly nodded at the words chanted like an incantation.

“What are we?”
“… Team.”

… It’s a team.

“What if it doesn’t hurt?”

Their lips repeat that they open and close like the last conscience.

However, their lips open at the same time as I wait patiently.

“… Teamwork.”
“Good.”

Took-!

Finally, he patted them on the shoulder and stood up.

“Goja, let’s go to the passage that leads to the ground you mentioned earlier.”

In order to avoid the stench and disaster on the rooftop of the College of Humanities, the zombie corpses scattered on the first basement floor had to be gathered together and thrown away.

And with both sides—

I pretended to put something on my face and smiled a little.

Dujjeori gets up in a hurry and packs a bag of food, and Goh Goh Hoon approaches me.

There is a proposition that goes unconditionally in any relationship.

In any relationship-

“If we go up like this, won’t our secret be too obvious?”

Secrets make the relationship special.

***

“Sorry. Joe, where do the zombies keep popping up?”
“… No. You did the hard work.”

Small tools covered in blood and black blood smeared on the clothes.

We moved to our temporary shelter while watching Dujeori handing out a bag of food that was not so satisfactory to Gu Ye-ri.

Two bookshelves located on the opposite side of the camp on the second floor of the library.

Koh Goh, who hurriedly entered the gap, checked the black bag first.

“… Her.”

As soon as he checked the bag, Goh Ga-hoon took a small breath and was surprised.

Goh Jang-hun, who gave a dejected smile, showed me the inside of the black bag.

Contrary to Koh Goh-hun’s statement that only a few snacks were missing, our food bags were empty.

That said, there was another theft when we went down to the first basement floor.

“…”

I smiled softly at the perfect news I had been waiting for.

Koh Jang-hoon’s urgent steps chasing me as I move forward.

Tumble- Tumble- Tumble- Tumble-

Rather than walking, they hurriedly follow me as I walk without controlling my speed with a small leap.

The center of the camp, which returned to the temporary shelter less than a minute later.

I casually smiled at the camp people gathered here and there.

Apparently, from the words of the two jeo-ri, quite a lot of people cried sadly yesterday.

It’s been a long time since someone died at the library camp-

Because last night was the day the light that had been brightly illuminating the library had disappeared.

Maybe they realized it too late last night, not the first day of the zombie apocalypse.

That the world is ending

They may not have realized it until the electricity and water they took for granted were cut off.

And at that moment

Quite naturally- their desire to survive would have swelled to an infinitely greater extent.

I couldn’t feel it when everyone was struggling with food, but I think their thoughts were very different when they got even a little bit of food in their hands.

World coming to an end.

Cut off electricity and water.

Insufficient and scarce food.

In the meantime, the very small piece of cookie that came into their hands was—

Rather, it aggravates their greed and instincts.

“An Sejun!”

A loud voice that will grab everyone’s attention.

At my name being called, Ahn Se-joon stopped walking with a trembling face.

Ahn Se-joon approaches me, avoiding my eyes, smiling softly and beckoning me to come closer.

“Yes, Sejun. Didn’t everything go well?”
“… Yes, yes It didn’t matter.”

As if something had been stabbed, the gaze continued to look at the floor instead of my eyes.

I whispered to Ahn Se-joon, lowering his head slightly.

“Did you eat the energy bar I gave you yesterday?”
“… Yes.”

Even though it was just one syllable, it contained countless tremors.

“Did your girlfriend say she was a tax collector? Did she eat with the tax collector?”
“… No. I am alone.”
“Okay?”

So, that means you’re the only one I gave food to.

Ahn Se-joon flinched at the whispered words as he lowered his head deeper into him.

I looked him in the eyes and spoke.

“But why is my food bag all robbed?”

Huh?

Ahn Se-joon tightly closed his trembling lips at my soft question.

He smiled brightly again at Ahn Se-jun, who held out his flippers until the end.

“Sejun.”
“…”
“From now on, just answer yes or no.”

His eyes tremble violently like a pendulum movement.

Filled with it, I quietly asked him a question.

“Did you steal all my food?”
“…”

In the strange confrontation between Ahn Se-joon and me, people from the library camp gradually gather.

We talk in whispers that they won’t be able to hear.

I whispered one more time to Ahn Sejun, who didn’t say anything.

“You ask.”
“…”
“Did you eat all my food the same way you ate your girlfriend?”
“… Yo. This?”

Ahn Sejun whispered something in a very quiet voice.

As I brought his ear closer to hear what he was saying, Ahn Se-joon whispered once more.

“… Z, do you have any evidence?”

Whoops-!

Just like the first day, as soon as Ahn Se-joon finished speaking, a kick stuck in his stomach.

“Kyaaha ah!”

Seeing Ahn Se-joon fall to the ground in an instant, the women at the camp screamed thinly.

Maybe it’s because he’s adapted to Shim Yoo-han, but Ahn Se-joon doesn’t faint from the right blow and continues to let out a quick breath.

Whoops-!

Just like Shim Yu-han, Ahn Se-joon’s stomach is accurately kicked.

“Ooh oh oh oh oh! Ooh, ueeeee-!

Ahn Se-jun gurgles in a hurry and at the same time vomits out the breath he has collected along with food.

I lightly stepped on the head of Ahn Se-jun, who continued to vomit while lying face down.

“Uweheek-!”

Ahn Se-joon continues to vomit while lying on the floor.

Gu Ye-ri and the vice-president, who are rushing to the women’s screams, enter my field of vision.

I whispered to Ahn Se-joon while looking at their faces full of embarrassment and anger.

“I told you to only answer yes or no.”