Chapter 28. Encounter

Chapter 28. Encounter

I walked under the midday sun.

After lunch, it already felt like the middle of summer.

The distinct four seasons, which I’d learned in school were a unique characteristic of our country, had vanished at some point.

If it was already this hot, how would we survive the true peak of summer?

I shook my head, dispelling the worries that had suddenly crept in. I wasn’t usually one to dwell on problems or anxieties, but this crumbling world seemed to be changing my very nature.

“Seonyoung, let’s take a short break over there. It’s too hot.”

Walking all the way to the Pharmacy without a break made my head feel like it was steaming.

Right next to the Pharmacy was an Ice Cream Shop. To cool down, I called Seonyoung and headed to the shop.

The quiet interior was filled with cool air.

The air conditioner seemed to be running continuously. I hadn’t checked for zombies when we stopped by in the morning, but seeing the clean interior put my mind at ease.

“Hello~ Can we get this to go?”

As we entered the Ice Cream Shop and closed the door, Seonyoung called out towards the back. It was a relief; I’d been embarrassed shouting nonsense by myself next to Seonyoung all the time.

Was Seonyoung embarrassed too?

“Oppa, I don’t think anyone’s here. We just need to check that door over there, I guess?”

“Alright, I’ll go check. Think about what you want to eat.”

I walked past the display counter with various tubs of ice cream and headed for a small door.

I knocked and entered, finding a narrow space with a sink, a freezer, and stacks of disposable items on one side.

When I came out, Seonyoung was holding a family-sized tub and scooping ice cream into it.

“Oppa, do you happen to eat mint chocolate?”

“I’ve never tried it, so I wouldn’t know. When I come here, I only ever eat Almond Bong Bong Bong and Space Alien.”

“Really? Then this is your chance to try it!”

“…”

“Hehe, just kidding. Don’t make such a serious face.”

We sat side by side, sharing a tub of ice cream to cool down.

Seonyoung had chosen strawberry and a blue ice cream with chunks in it. She kept chewing, her eyes scanning outside, but she was also relaxing her body and easing her tension.

The sweetness lifted my spirits, and I laughed along with Seonyoung’s chatter.

“If we could just open the door to the next apartment, we wouldn’t have to worry so much, right?”

“Hmm?! Assistant Manager Choi, you’re so smart! Why didn’t I think of that?”

“Huh? What are you talking about?”

While resting, she had asked why I was so serious during lunch, and I’d told her I was worried about how to organize the supplies we’d been Farming.

Seonyoung pondered for a moment, then immediately brought up the idea of the apartment next door.

I had only been thinking about finding more storage containers, like bringing in shelves from the Convenience Store.

If space was insufficient, you either utilized it better or expanded it. I hadn’t even considered expanding.

“Let’s finish Farming the Pharmacy, then go back and break into the apartment next door. Seonyoung, I won’t worry alone anymore. Assistant Manager Choi has given me the answer, so why would I bother myself with useless worries?”

“I just said it offhand… Hehe. I’m glad you like the idea, Oppa. But how are we going to break into the next apartment?”

“We’ll climb over the Balcony and go through the window. There’s no immediate way to open the door, is there?”

“Oh my… But it’s the fifth floor. Won’t it be dangerous?”

“It’s fine, as long as I don’t fall. Let’s go to the Pharmacy, grab what’s left, and then tonight, we’ll break into the next apartment and get it organized. Haven’t we almost gotten everything?”

“Yeah, if we get everything this one last time, I don’t think we’ll need to come back.”

“Then let’s hurry up and finish Farming, and then go take the natural expansion.”

And so, possessed by the spirit of a worker drone mining minerals, I headed to the Pharmacy.

Seonyoung said it might not be a good idea to “take the natural expansion,” but I told her it was fine since it wasn’t a “fast expand,” and continued mining minerals… no, I mean, I continued meticulously ‘mining’ the Pharmacy.

I reassured Seonyoung, who still looked worried, asking if I was suffering from heatstroke, and we headed straight home.

This time, on the way past the Hana Trade Building, I saw a shadow flickering in a window, but I ignored it.

No need to embrace all worries at once; let’s tackle them one by one.

“Mister, should I get more rope?”

“It’s fine, this is enough. It wouldn’t make a difference even if we tied another rope.”

Back home, I told Gayoung about my plan to take the natural expansion.

At first, she was worried, but when I told her that just continuing to Farm like this was a dead end, she eventually went to find the ropes.

Gayoung’s parents’ hobby of hiking had been a great help since the very first day.

I tied one end of the rope to the Balcony railing and a fire escape hook, then pulled on it, putting my weight on it.

We had plenty of D-shaped carabiners, so I connected them to the rope tied around my body. This made it easy to cross to the next apartment and untie it.

With professional knowledge, I could have tied safer and stronger knots, but I wasn’t doing any serious climbing, and as long as I didn’t fall, it was fine. So, I finished my preparations by wrapping the rope around my waist and thighs.

“Oppa, then Gayoung and I will wait at the front door once you’ve crossed over. Be careful.”

I stepped out onto the Balcony, outside the railing, taking a stance as if I were about to jump, and looked at the next-door Balcony.

There was a hallway staircase in between, so it seemed impossible to jump straight across.

I hadn’t thought of that…

It was too much hassle to go back inside now, so I jumped down to the window of the staircase half a floor below.

My finger strength alone bore my entire falling weight.

I had just jumped because I had the safety rope on anyway, but it actually worked.

Holding on with one hand, I reached out with the other to open the window and climbed in.

Is this what monkeys feel like?

Even though I wasn’t light, the grip strength of one hand and my shoulder supported my entire weight, making me feel light.

From the window sill I had climbed onto, I adjusted my posture and jumped diagonally to the floor above.

Again, my body flew lightly. I landed easily on the next-door Balcony railing.

I had originally intended to reach out and hang on, but my feet actually landed on the railing.

It was a moment that made me want to measure my vertical jump record.

Fortunately, the Balcony window wasn’t locked.

I had knocked on the doors to check when I first arrived at the apartment, but just in case, I made some noise and checked all the rooms.

The house layout was exactly the same.

Click!

When I opened the front door, Seonyoung and Gayoung quickly entered.

Gayoung immediately changed the door lock password, and Seonyoung looked around the house.

“I checked everything. Gayoung, do you know the owners of this apartment?”

“No, I don’t really know them. I only said hello if we happened to run into each other. My father would know.”

“Well, that’s not really important anyway.”

There was a family photo in the living room, and when I asked, she said that all their children had moved out, and only the couple lived there.

Since their fate was unknown, I silently asked for their understanding and immediately began organizing the house.

“Just in case, let’s gather all the unnecessary owner’s belongings in the small room.”

Gayoung and Seonyoung moved the lighter items, while I carried the heavy furniture to the hallway by myself.

I lined them up against one wall along the hallway and stairs so we could pass through.

Moving heavy furniture like sofas and beds by myself without much effort made me think I’d be a huge success if I worked in moving.

“Wow, we really cleaned up fast. Oppa, are you okay? Aren’t you tired?”

“No, I’m not tired. I’m amazed myself right now.”

We finished organizing and roughly cleaning the house in two hours.

Returning to Apartment 502, we ate dinner, and I felt no muscle soreness, and my stamina was still perfectly fine.

Instead, the two women were groaning, clearly exhausted.

“Mister, should we move everything to Apartment 501 then? What should we leave in our apartment?”

“Since there’s a refrigerator and a Kimchi Refrigerator over there too, let’s move everything we can. Here, we’ll only keep about a week’s worth of food. And move all the overflowing medicine and clothes we don’t wear right away.”

“So, we’ll keep only what we need for daily life here, and move all the reserves over there?”

“Exactly. That’s what I mean. Let’s stock the reserves in Apartment 501. After dinner, I’ll start by moving the display shelves. Let’s also bring the sofa back into the living room.”

“Okay. I guess we’ll have to liquidate the Convenience Store…”

Gayoung said, feigning tears, but her eyes were smiling.

She seemed happy that the house was returning to its original state.

After dinner, the three of us worked together, going back and forth between the two apartments, and finished organizing.

Gayoung had already organized things well, so it wasn’t difficult to stack up the reserves.

She even showed us on a tablet where everything was, what it was, and how much there was. She was so smart; she would have done well at any job.

After finishing the work, I showered first, then came out and turned on MeTube.

Wearing the loose shorts and a running shirt that fit me, which I’d gotten from the store, significantly improved my quality of life.

To think that simply wearing clothes that fit could make me this happy.

– Mihamiha! Hello, subscribers. I hope you all survived safely today. This is Survival Man, on Survival Day 5.

Survival Man seemed to be doing well.

I skipped through Survival Day 3 and 4, seeing videos of him making various tools needed for his base camp.

He cleverly drew stream water with a rubber hose and even built a shower room.

No wonder his face looked much cleaner.

It was truly admirable.

– Today, I went to the neighborhood supermarket. I say neighborhood supermarket, but it was an expedition that took over 30 minutes to walk there! But today, I discovered something strange. I parked two cars near our base camp, and neither of them would start. What do you think happened, everyone? Subscribers, if it’s possible, please don’t take any risks, but try starting your cars and let me know the results. We need to gather information on this.

Listening to Survival Man’s story, I remembered that the Fat Man’s car also wouldn’t start on the first day.

What could have happened?

Was it a coincidence that all three cars broke down?

I had a feeling that zombies might not be the only danger we faced.