Just as the immediate answer suggested, his physical condition didn’t look bad. As Taewoong felt relieved, Yeoul poured the water onto the wet wipes instead of drinking it. Taewoong wondered why, but Yeoul began wiping the blood and fluids splattered messily on Taewoong’s head and face with the soaked wet wipes. Under Yeoul’s touch, his dirty face gradually became cleaner. And redder.
“What, what…”
“Hm? Ah, just in case…”
Though Taewoong didn’t seem injured by the zombies, you never know. Worried about zombie blood infection, Yeoul carefully wiped Taewoong’s reddening face, which now had his eyes tightly shut, and examined him thoroughly.
“Your face seems fine… Did anything get in your mouth while fighting the zombies earlier?”
“I don’t… think so?”
“Then… ah, open your mouth and say ‘ah’.”
“…Huh?”
Taewoong opened his eyes wide as saucers and looked at Yeoul. Yeoul casually said “ah” again and touched Taewoong’s cheek.
Somehow, it seemed like if Taewoong didn’t open his mouth, Yeoul would keep staring at him until he did. Faced with such determination, Taewoong fumbled around not knowing what to do before finally closing his eyes tight and opening his mouth with an “ah” sound. Yeoul slightly lifted Taewoong’s chin and checked inside his mouth.
“Hmm… there doesn’t seem to be anything stuck or damaged… Did you swallow anything?”
“No.”
From the inner smooth cheeks that resembled its owner to the evenly aligned teeth without any decay or jagged edges, all the way to the bright red tongue. Fortunately, there didn’t seem to be any special problems. Still, just to be sure, Yeoul asked, and Taewoong shook his head slightly. Yeoul released the jaw he had been holding up.
“Phew… thank goodness…!”
While feeling relieved that Taewoong seemed fine, Yeoul was suddenly startled.
I-I held Taewoong’s jaw and even looked inside his mouth! How could I do this! He couldn’t believe it and was half-dazed. Meanwhile, Taewoong, tense from the situation, licked his dry lips and awkwardly cleared his throat.
“Hey, Yeoul. I might not know much about other things, but my body is really strong, you know? So… don’t worry about me.”
He was incredibly healthy, able to run a full game and not even catch a common cold in the middle of winter. As long as he wasn’t bitten by a zombie, he would be fine.
Adding “really” for emphasis, he quietly gazed at Yeoul, who opened his eyes wide and then nodded with a faint smile.
“S-still, we don’t know for sure, so you absolutely need to be careful. No overexerting yourself… And if you’re struggling, say so. Understood?”
Feeling the sincere concern, Taewoong grinned at Yeoul and stood up.
“Yeah, got it.”
He didn’t feel bad at all. He patted Yeoul’s shoulder and then brought tape to thoroughly wrap a fairly heavy box filled with various items. Yeoul, who had been watching, went over to the broadcasting club member who had finished the announcement.
“Thanks for making the broadcast. We’re going to move now, but what will you do? Do you have somewhere to go? If not, would you like to come with us?”
After Yeoul’s careful suggestion, the broadcasting club member thought for a moment and then shook his head slightly, saying, “No.”
“My home is the Chinese restaurant right below the mountain. I want to… check my home.”
“…Can you go alone?”
Hazy smoke was rising from beyond the school, and all kinds of disaster text messages had been received. The outside was clearly dangerous too.
When Yeoul asked with concern, the broadcasting club member tightly pressed his trembling lips together and nodded weakly. Yeoul slowly nodded in return.
“Okay… if something goes wrong, we’ll be in the cafeteria, so come there.”
“…Yes.”
Yeoul wanted to say it was dangerous and suggest going together later, but the boy would probably refuse. While thinking there was nothing he could do, he noticed some sticky notes. Yeoul quickly wrote his phone number on one. Then he softly called the broadcasting club member.
“Um… can I ask you for a favor?”
“…Yes?”
He quietly handed the sticky note to the puzzled club member.
“If possible… after you meet your parents, if everything is okay… even briefly, could you let me know about the situation outside the school?”
They couldn’t know exactly what was happening beyond the school. After making this subtle request, the broadcasting club member accepted the sticky note after a slight delay. Yeoul thanked him, told him to grab something usable as a weapon, then looked at Taewoong.
“Do you need any help?”
“Huh? Yeah, help me lift this up.”
Taewoong was trying to place the box on top of his backpack, but it wouldn’t stay in place due to its weight. When Yeoul tried to help secure it, it slipped again. Finally, Yeoul stuffed the coat he had packed between Taewoong’s back and the backpack, then tried holding the box himself and exclaimed:
“T-this! Let me try carrying the box!”
“How?”
The box had no straps. Taewoong’s eyes widened in confusion. Yeoul took off the padded coat he was wearing. Then, asking Taewoong to hold it, he made a grunt as he placed the box on his back and pulled the padding around.
“Taewoong, can you cover it with this?”
“Yeah, sure.”
As Taewoong covered the box with the padding, Yeoul wrapped the sleeves around his neck and then covered it again with his other coat, tying it around his waist.
“…Done!”
“Oh? This looks familiar… Ah, like a baby carrier?!”
“That’s right!”
Yeoul wasn’t physically strong enough to carry the box continuously. While wondering how to manage, he thought of a baby carrier.
Despite the awkward attempt, the box didn’t fall even when he jumped in place! Yeoul laughed while supporting the bottom of the drooping box. Taewoong shouted “Wow!” with great joy and ruffled Yeoul’s hair with both hands.
“You’re so clever!”
How can he be so smart! Taewoong was extremely excited but snapped back to reality when his watch suddenly beeped.
“Shall we go then?”
“Yes!”
All preparations were complete. Taewoong grabbed a reddish racket and quietly told the broadcasting club member to follow, then carefully opened the broadcasting room door.
“…Holy shit.”
Incredibly, the zombies they had desperately knocked down on their way to the broadcasting room were now standing up perfectly fine. Taewoong unconsciously closed the door he had just opened as he saw the zombies making strange noises, staggering, and scratching walls with their hands.
“What should we do?”
He looked back and forth between the broadcasting club member holding a wooden mop handle and Yeoul hugging the box and his own mop handle. Yeoul made a thoughtful “hmm” sound, then suddenly raised his head with an “Ah!”
“There was a fire hydrant by the stairs!”
“Really? Okay. Let’s go—no, I’ll go by myself.”
“Huh? Together—”
“No. I’ll go quickly by myself.”
The distance from the broadcasting room to the fire hydrant wasn’t very far. It would be faster for Taewoong to go alone. Taewoong smiled at Yeoul, took a deep breath, and opened the door again.
“…Can you see it over there?”
Yeoul, checking the situation from behind Taewoong, peeked out and pointed to the fire hydrant on the wall near the stairs. Taewoong nodded, gripped the racket with both hands, and ran straight ahead.
From now on, it was a race against time. He ran with muffled footsteps, avoiding some isolated zombies that were either hard of hearing or just behaved that way naturally. When his path was blocked, he struck the zombies with his racket.
“KAAAK!!”
He hoped they would fall with one hit, but he must have missed because the zombie just staggered greatly then lunged at him! Without hesitation, Taewoong kicked the attacking zombie in the stomach. Still not enough, he tripped the reeling zombie, knocking it down, then raised his racket and smashed its head. Following the thud! thud! sounds, the zombie, which had been struggling on the floor, went limp.
“…Damn.”
Blood splattered onto the face Yeoul had just cleaned for him. He roughly wiped it off with the back of his hand, then used his racket to strike the head, nape, and chest of another zombie that had come upon hearing the noise, trying hard to knock it unconscious.
After struggling forward like this, he finally reached the fire hydrant. Taewoong raised one hand toward Yeoul, who had been watching with his head peeking out from behind the door, to signal that everything was okay. Then he firmly pressed the emergency alarm button.
TAERARAERAENG!!
“Ugh!”
Along with the heavy feeling of the button being pressed, an ear-splitting alarm began to sound. Taewoong couldn’t bear the noise right in front of him and let out a short scream, covering his ears with both hands.
“KRKAKAK!!”
“KAAK!!”
“Taewoong!”
The previously calm zombies all went wild at the noisy alarm. Meanwhile, Yeoul and the very tense broadcasting club member ran quickly from the broadcasting room. Taewoong grabbed Yeoul’s hand as if he had been waiting and ran down to the first floor.
“Ha… what is this…”
When they reached the first floor, they saw bouquets of flowers and stuffed animals scattered messily on the floor, along with zombies of various ages. Taewoong, Yeoul, and the broadcasting club member froze.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
