Chapter 10
Kim Taehyun, a teaching assistant in the Department of Culinary Arts at Seorabeol University, sighed at another unchanging day.
“Another day…”
Kim Taehyun was an ordinary student without any special abilities.
However, that was only before the zombie apocalypse began.
Now, Kim Taehyun was just an unfortunate young man, living day by day in fear with his family.
“There’s still no news.”
Even so, Kim Taehyun was relatively lucky.
As a teaching assistant in the Department of Culinary Arts, he often had to pick up large quantities of food supplies with a refrigerated truck for classes.
On the day the zombie apocalypse broke out, Kim Taehyun had woken up early in the morning to pick up supplies with a refrigerated truck, making him one of the first to realize the severity of the situation.
“Even Mr. Park from the neighbourhood left in the end.”
Because he was driving a truck loaded with food supplies for class, Kim Taehyun had a more ample food supply, which allowed him to stay in his familiar home.
On the other hand, a nearby survivor who had been in touch with Taehyun eventually ran out of food and had to leave their home in search of daily sustenance, becoming a wanderer.
With a house to fortify and some food still left, Kim Taehyun was among the more fortunate survivors in the area.
“Damn, I wish I had a cigarette.”
Cigarettes, once common in convenience stores, had now become a rare luxury.
Thinking to himself that he might be asking for too much, Kim Taehyun wondered how long his luck would hold out.
Although he had survived comfortably until now, he doubted that his fortune would last forever.
“Are you okay, oppa?”
“Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Go back inside. It’s dangerous outside.”
“Okay.”
Still, he had a family to protect.
His father, mother, and younger sister were all safe.
Compared to others in the neighbourhood who lost their families and left in despair, Taehyun had handled the disaster relatively well.
“If I had hesitated even a little longer, I wouldn’t be here now.”
Moreover, on his way back home after realizing the zombie apocalypse had begun, he had even awakened by accidentally killing a zombie with his truck.
Thanks to this, Taehyun was able to return home and save his parents from zombies attacking them.
“I was really lucky. Becoming an Awakened at just the right time… My family, who were also heading to work or school just then…”
It truly was a stroke of luck.
He had gone out early that morning for class preparations, and while driving to the university, he had discovered the outbreak of the zombie apocalypse.
If he had been even a little slower, he might have made it back, but his family, who were on their way to work or school, might not have survived.
“I wonder if the students and professors are okay.”
After saving his family, Taehyun took the food from the truck and stored it at home.
He felt guilty about the university professors and his fellow students, but he knew there was nothing he could do.
Going back to the university now was impossible, as the streets were filled with zombies.
He rationalized that it was too late to return with the food truck, so he divided the supplies and calculated their expiration dates to create a long-term survival plan.
“When will the government come?”
The goal for Taehyun and his family was simple.
They would wait for the government’s rescue as long as their food supplies lasted.
He had briefly considered using his awakened powers to strike out on his own, but the brutal scenes of the zombie apocalypse that he had witnessed stayed etched in his memory, leaving a trauma for both him and his family.
“Relying on social media and the internet was a mistake.”
And yet, at the time, his judgment wasn’t entirely wrong.
Even after the outbreak, the city’s gas supply hadn’t stopped, water still flowed, and electricity was still available, along with internet access to external news.
Thus, even in the face of the sudden apocalypse, there was still hope that the government was taking appropriate action.
But that hope turned out to be an illusion, which he realized only after a month or two had passed.
“Now the gas is cut off, electricity is out, and the water supply has stopped. At least I stored some water…”
First, the gas supply stopped, then the electricity, and finally, the water.
Yet, Taehyun had not remained idle; he had helped clear out zombies near his home with other survivors and had kept in contact with the outside world through the still-functional internet.
But the fact that they could still communicate with the outside world only deepened Taehyun’s despair.
“Ha. The survivor camp got wiped out?”
Through the internet, he heard that the largest survivor camp in Gyeongju had been attacked and destroyed.
Although the information was from an online community and could have been false, the evidence and testimonies that followed confirmed its truth.
Just hearing that a major camp had fallen left Taehyun in a state of deep despair.
“Can we hold out any longer?”
His family was starting to grow weary as well.
The food that he had brought in the refrigerated truck was running out, and now, if he didn’t find supplies elsewhere, he might starve.
To get more supplies, he would have to raid homes for canned goods or ramen or take them from others.
Taehyun lacked the nerve to break into someone’s home or attack others, and even if he hardened his heart, others might have also awakened through the zombie apocalypse, making it no easy task.
As he sighed at the uncertain future…
“Then, let’s all work together to rebuild the shattered order.”
A mysterious girl appeared before him.
“A cult member? Not interested.”
At first, he thought she was a member of one of the doomsday cults that had recently been proselytizing.
Without turning around, Taehyun waved his hand dismissively, telling her to leave, but the girl, sounding somewhat annoyed, spoke to him.
“A cult? Ha. I am nothing like those incompetent fools preaching hollow doomsday prophecies. I truly desire the restoration of Gyeongju.”
“Restoration…? And you are…?”
Intrigued by the mention of restoring Gyeongju, Taehyun turned to look at where the voice came from, and soon, he realized the reason behind her confident demeanour.
She seemed like someone who had come from a world completely different from the zombie apocalypse.
Until she arrived, even the cult members who risked their lives to preach door-to-door had hair matted with oil and wore dirty clothes soaked in sweat and grime.
With the city’s water supply completely cut off, clean water had become a precious resource, and of course, water for washing oneself or doing laundry had to be rationed.
‘Clean clothes, well-groomed hair, and a relaxed smile… Is she truly well-off?’
But this girl was different.
Her platinum hair shone mysteriously, without the greasy clumps that Taehyun had, and it glistened like a model from a YouTube video.
Her face was as clean as if she had just washed it, and the clothes she wore were not stained and dirty but clean and well-laundered.
Taehyun knew better than anyone how much effort it would take in this situation to look and dress like that.
‘With that appearance, I might want to believe her just once.’
If this was all an act to deceive Taehyun, he felt like he wouldn’t mind being fooled this time.
There were hardly any survivors in Gyeongju who looked so composed.
There were rumours about groups of Awakened who exploited ordinary people or other Awakened, but even those who exploited others looked just as ragged.
‘Huh? Her hair and eye colours are different.’
Moreover, the girl standing before him was someone Taehyun recognized.
With an expression of disbelief, Taehyun stared at the girl’s face and called her name.
“You’re… Miss Yuna Choi? Yuna, is that you!?”
The kind healer girl who had been part of the largest survivor camp in Gyeongju.
She was the only healer in Gyeongju who had awakened healing abilities, offering her healing freely to the ordinary people and Awakened in the camp, as well as to anyone who sought her help.
Before the survivor camp split apart, Taehyun had also benefited from Yuna’s healing, and his family had recovered from injuries thanks to her care.
At a time when medicines were scarce at home, Yuna’s healing had been nothing short of a miracle, and Taehyun felt a deep sense of gratitude toward her.
That feeling hadn’t changed even now.
“You’re safe.”
“Yes, I’m safe.”
With a truly relieved expression, Taehyun felt a sense of relief upon seeing that Yuna was safe.
When the survivor camp collapsed, he had prayed that at least Yuna would survive, so this moment was a blessing.
The fact that her once-black hair had turned platinum bothered him a bit, but back when he had met Yuna, her hair had already been turning white from extreme stress.
So he assumed she had dyed her stress-bleached hair platinum.
‘But, could an amateur really dye hair so beautifully platinum like that? And what about Yuna’s eye colour… was it always blue?’
Taehyun couldn’t help but feel that the Yuna before him now exuded a mysterious aura, far different from before.
Previously, she was a kind girl with healing powers, but now she seemed almost transcendent.
‘A saintess?’
Yes, she resembled the saintly figures often depicted in subculture media.
Almost mesmerized by Yuna’s appearance, Taehyun asked her a question.
“So, what exactly are you talking about? Restoring Gyeongju? What does that even mean…?”
“It’s simple. I want to restore order and reclaim our normal lives.”
And the kind healer who had tended to so many survivors in Gyeongju now asked if he wanted to reclaim a normal life.
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