Chapter 28
“Um, um… but it’s somewhat bearable these days.”
“Yeah, it has become more bearable. Though we’re still struggling. If only a certain someone would set aside his greed and think about others, it would be much more bearable.”
Hwang Jang-ju responded to the man’s words, but they were full of thorns. However, the tall man didn’t budge, and another thick vein appeared on Hwang Jang-ju’s forehead. The person who had been trying to lighten the tense atmosphere floundered pitifully.
“No, I meant like earthquakes…”
At that moment, the tall man who had been checking his weapon stopped and looked in our direction. I, who had been watching the man, particularly his weapon, could see this, but everyone else was focused on the mention of earthquakes. People nodded.
“True, it’s comfortable these days without earthquakes.”
“Let’s see… how long has it been since the last earthquake?”
The man who had been counting days on his fingers answered immediately.
“Almost a month now. It’s been a bit more than two weeks.”
“Can we feel safe at this point?”
“I wish we could…”
A month. Hearing that, I somehow felt breathless. It had already been this long since I left the hospital and entered the forest. The mood among the people turned gloomy. While they could at least think about and make efforts to block monsters, earthquakes were something they couldn’t even consider preventing.
When just taking care of oneself was challenging enough, could I survive if another earthquake struck? Even when I was in the tree with Kim Doyun, I would have died if not for him. I thought of Kim Doyun and became depressed. Where could he be? I had only received help from him, and now that we were separated, I couldn’t even think about repaying him. While I was feeling gloomy with these thoughts, one man spoke up. He was a man with memorable features—round ears and a large nose.
“By the way, do you know why earthquakes happen?”
People turned to look at him. It was a story that made even me, who had been sinking into depression, perk up my ears. They exchanged glances among themselves and then shook their heads.
“How would we know? We don’t even know why monsters appeared.”
The large-nosed man then hunched his shoulders and spoke cautiously. His behavior was so careful that it felt like we were hearing an incredible secret. Everyone leaned in to listen attentively.
“I, I know.”
“You know?”
As soon as the large-nosed man finished speaking, the atmosphere grew ominous. The gazes and pressuring were so sharp they could be considered murderous. Startled, the large-nosed man hurriedly fumbled with his mouth and changed his words.
“I don’t know, I saw it!”
He said, his body trembling.
“I, I saw it. When the second earthquake happened… I saw it while making a delivery. It was dark so I couldn’t see clearly, but something pitch-black was breaking through the ground.”
His eyes were too terrified to dismiss it as a misunderstanding. He glared at the dark forest as if something might burst from the ground at any moment, just as he had described.
“It disappeared in an instant so I don’t know the details, but it was very large… and elongated, though it didn’t feel alive. It was like a whip breaking through the ground.”
“And that caused the earthquake?”
“That thing struck a building before disappearing! The building was instantly destroyed. I, I was far away so I wasn’t seriously injured, but everyone else got caught up and disappeared. And as that whip-like thing burrowed into the ground, another earthquake occurred… When I regained consciousness after fainting, everything was like this.”
He gestured at the surrounding forest. I wanted to dismiss it as an absurd story, but everything about our current life was already absurd beyond measure. Everyone looked down at the ground. A monster like that, something worse than the ones outside, beneath our feet?
Everyone was terrified. Some people lifted their feet abruptly, but then realizing their buttocks were still touching the ground, they tried to use their hands to lift themselves up. But their hands were still on the ground…
Seeing this panic, the man who had sheathed his knife burst into laughter of disbelief.
“Why don’t you try becoming a bird?”
Only then did the panicking man realize how ridiculous he looked and straightened himself. I too felt the urge to get off the ground the moment I heard the story. But I collected myself with the thought that if you’re human, living with your feet on the ground, it would be the same anywhere. I was really glad I did. At least I avoided making a fool of myself.
But Hwang Jang-ju didn’t take the man’s words kindly. He twisted the bridge of his nose severely and suddenly stood up from the campfire.
“A guy who never shows his face normally, why are you butting in?”
“That’s why I’m participating today, right?”
The man shrugged with a face that said “what’s the problem?” but Hwang Jang-ju’s reaction was quite ominous. His fidgeting hands looked like they might draw the shotgun strapped to his back at any moment. Just as I was feeling deep concern about a fight, Hwang Jang-ju barely suppressed his anger and opened his mouth.
“I wonder what scheme you’re up to, someone who’s never helped before. Huh?”
“I’ve never helped?”
The man laughed. He tapped his knee, tilted his head, and made a face that said “how strange.”
“You’re saying what I’ve done so far wasn’t helping?”
“If you’re going to help, do it properly!”
Hwang Jang-ju burst out in anger. But the man didn’t seem to understand this reaction. He shook his head for a moment and then spoke calmly.
“You seem to have forgotten what we first agreed on. Shall I remind you?”
The man counted on his fingers.
“First, I’m a stranger here. As you probably heard, when I first arrived, I was planning to just pass through. But when you said you were short on people and asked me to wait until more new people joined, I agreed. I kept that promise, and now I can leave anytime.”
Hwang Jang-ju’s face hardened frighteningly, but the man continued. And he counted his second finger.
“Second, since I’m a stranger, I won’t help with any activities. I might help in emergencies, but that’s for me to decide. And I’ve always told you where food and guns were located whenever you were in danger.”
Just as he was about to fold his third finger, Hwang Jang-ju shouted irritably.
“Enough!”
“Oh my. I still have two more points left, and you won’t listen? I was going to explain in detail since you don’t seem to remember properly.”
The man spoke as if deeply regretful, but a smile formed on his face. This only reignited Hwang Jang-ju’s anger that had barely been contained. Hwang Jang-ju roared and drew his shotgun.
“Shut up! I don’t want to hear any more of your nonsense. Stranger? Don’t make me laugh. You just don’t want to help and are hiding so you can live alone!”
The shotgun Hwang Jang-ju had drawn dangerously reflected the campfire’s light. People were anxious as the gun pointed at the man seemed about to pierce through his forehead at any moment. Yet the man himself remained calm. Even with the gun barrel dancing before his eyes, he casually smiled while rubbing his waist.
“Isn’t it a waste to use on a person? If I die, you won’t have anywhere to get ammunition.”
“Now you’re scared because you think you’ll die? Talking nonsense. Don’t worry. One shot won’t make a difference in ammunition concerns. And whether you’re alive or dead won’t make much difference. Now that we have more people, it’ll be easier to find things… so we don’t need to rely on you anymore, that’s what I’m saying.”
“Really? That’s impressive. But if that’s the case, you should have done this earlier. Don’t bother me.”
While Hwang Jang-ju’s arm was bulging as if he might fire the shotgun at any moment, the man remained motionless with his hands on his knees. The men watching the situation whispered among themselves.
“Is it okay to just leave this be?”
“What else can we do? If we get involved wrongly, we’ll be the ones to die.”
“Still, shouldn’t we at least pretend to stop them?”
“Forget it, leave them be. I was sick of seeing that guy act so high and mighty anyway, this is actually good. We should use this opportunity to teach him a lesson.”
They were too calm despite a person about to die. Even the man who had been trying to intervene agreed with the talk of “teaching a lesson” and began to simply observe the situation. I felt a severe sense of dissonance. People’s lives had become as light as mere insects, and others treated this as normal. Is this how they wanted to live?
Finally, unable to stand it anymore, I was about to stand up. I couldn’t just watch someone being killed because of greed. Even if I was suspected of being in league with the man and couldn’t get what I wanted, this didn’t seem right. As I firmly resolved to stop Hwang Jang-ju and stood up, my eyes met the man’s. Despite his life hanging in the balance, he was unusually composed, narrowing his eyes as he looked at me. He moved his lips.
“Now you’re so scared you can’t even speak properly?”
Hwang Jang-ju found the man’s behavior ridiculous, but I tried to interpret his lip movements. Following the initially rounded lips and the subsequent movements, I added sounds to match.
Be careful.
Before my brain could command my body after understanding the meaning, a great tremor engulfed us.
BOOM
“!?”
“W-what’s going on?”
The men panicked. Especially the large-nosed man who had told the story about the earthquake’s origin—his face turned white as if bleached. When Hwang Jang-ju, who was holding the gun, staggered, the man didn’t miss the opportunity. He instantly stood up, grabbed the gun barrel, pushed it aside, and then struck the inside of Hwang Jang-ju’s foot, causing him to fall.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
