Chapter 31. Client

Chapter 31. Client

“We’re not zombies. We’re human! We saw you two come in, so we came down. Can we talk?”

The Elevator doors opened, and two men and one woman stepped out.

One of the men looked towards where we were hiding and spoke softly.

The two men wore suit pants and shirts, while the woman was dressed in what appeared to be a luxury brand dress.

The men’s clothes were torn in places, with bloodstains visible here and there.

One held a long iron rod, and the other a small fire axe.

In contrast, the woman’s attire was only slightly disheveled, and even her shoes were spotless.

The only similarity was that her face, like the men’s, seemed a little gaunt.

“Stop approaching and let’s talk from there.”

“Excuse me, but did you deal with all the zombies in the store?”

The man who spoke first asked, scanning his surroundings as if uneasy.

Judging by their condition, it seemed the two men had been dealing with zombies and holding out until now.

“Yes, there are no zombies left on the first or second floor. So you can speak freely from where you are.”

“Phew… Thank you. We couldn’t come down because of the zombies on the lower floors.”

“So, have you cleared all the upper floors?”

“Not entirely. We only dealt with the zombies on the fifth floor and held out there until now. Then, starting yesterday, we saw you two moving around. When you entered the building today, we figured it was safe enough to come down.”

“But why did you take the Elevator of all things? Elevators are dangerous.”

The sound of the Elevator must have startled me, as a hint of displeasure crept into my voice.

“The Elevator or the stairs, it’s all the same. It seems you’ve already cleared out all the zombies, so what does it matter?”

“Even if there aren’t zombies, what would you do if the Elevator suddenly broke down?”

“Why would a perfectly fine Elevator break down?”

“Alright, alright… Both of you, please calm down a bit. Let me explain.”

The man who had initiated the conversation continued to explain, as if trying his best to clear up any misunderstandings.

*They were, in essence, the last survivors left in this building.*

*On the day the Zombie Apocalypse broke out, amidst the chaos, they had tried to escape down the stairs from the upper floors. However, due to the sheer number of zombies coming up from below, they had retreated into the fifth floor and barricaded the door.*

*There had been quite a few zombies on the fifth floor as well. They fought alongside several others, but everyone else perished, leaving only the three of them.*

*They had managed to survive until now with a small amount of food, but it was all gone, and they were desperate for a solution.*

*That’s when they saw us entering and exiting the building, which gave them the courage to come down.*

*Since the stairs were impassable, they had no choice but to use the Elevator.*

Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung still gripped her Baseball Bat, wary of them.

I only partially revealed myself and continued the conversation with the man holding the iron rod, who had spoken first.

The man with the iron rod explained the situation to some extent, then introduced his companions.

They were employees of Hana Trade. The man with the iron rod introduced himself as Manager Lee Bong-nam, the man with the axe as Assistant Manager Jeon Hyeon-seung, and the woman simply as their company’s Director.

*Her name couldn’t possibly be ‘Director’…*

*She looked to be in her early forties, quite young for a Director. It seemed the two men were still literally ‘serving’ her, treating her as their superior.*

“My name is Kim Taesik. And this is my colleague, Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung. I have one more question. There might be other survivors in the building, just like you three, so why do you think you’re the last ones?”

“Ah, about that…”

“Manager Lee, I’ll explain. Mr. Kim Taesik, my name is Kim Seung-hee. I assume you two also possess special Abilities? I can’t reveal the exact nature of mine, but I used my Ability to confirm that there are no other people in the building. Is that enough information?”

“I see. Understood.”

“Um… Sir? You don’t need to be so wary. We have no intention of threatening you. On the contrary, we risked coming down here to ask for help.”

Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung was still holding her bat, radiating a sharp aura, so Manager Lee stepped forward again to explain their predicament.

*They had no food left, and while they understood the general situation, they hadn’t been able to go outside, so their grasp of the current reality was incomplete. They were asking for help.*

So, to discuss it with Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung first, I told them to go into the store on the opposite side. Then, I placed the emergency rations I had brought in front of the Elevator and decided to go up to the second floor.

“Choi Seonyoung, what do you think of them?”

“I’m not sure either. It seems true that they came down to ask for our help. What do you want to do, Oppa? Are you going to help them?”

*It was hard to give a straightforward answer to Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung’s question.*

*Having been with Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung since the first day, I naturally felt we should continue together. She was also a great source of support, so I was actually reluctant to part ways with her.*

*Gayoung had simply joined us by chance and we’d been living together somewhat aimlessly, but there was no immediate reason to separate from her, and she was helpful.*

*Starting with Minsu, I’d been meeting other survivors, but it was still difficult to decide how to deal with them in such situations.*

*I wasn’t solely calculating gains and losses, nor did I feel the need to reject everyone, or, conversely, to join forces with everyone.*

*While I had shown Minsu some goodwill, I was still wary of him.*

*In a way, I was deciding my actions based on feelings or intuition.*

*Since the world changed, not just in how I dealt with people, but in many aspects, I’d become somewhat animalistic, I suppose. Instead of making decisions with my head, I often relied on intuition for my judgments and actions.*

*Simply put, I didn’t have a clear concept; I was just doing whatever I felt like.*

*The strange thing was that acting this way felt natural to me.*

*Even jumping from the 4th floor of the apartment building earlier, thinking it would be fine, was an instinctive action.*

*On the other hand, when I first met Minsu, my rational mind considered that he was a colleague from the same company, and having another man would be very helpful, so joining forces might be good. But I had a bad feeling, so I discarded those thoughts and reacted sharply.*

*Prioritizing this ‘thing’—a feeling, instinct, or intuition, something hard to describe concretely—over rational thought or logical judgment, that’s my current state.*

*When the two clashed, ignoring my instincts felt deeply unsettling, and I didn’t want to do that, so I’d been making decisions based on what felt right.*

*Truthfully, I never knew much to begin with, nor did I ever consider myself particularly smart, but I wasn’t the type to live purely on whims either.*

*It seems that since the Zombie Apocalypse broke out and I gained my Ability, along with physical changes, my mental state has also been transforming.*

“Oppa, so what about now? Do you want to help those people?”

*When I rambled on about these changes in myself, Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung said it was fine.*

*She even said it might be a good thing.*

*So she asked me to tell her how I felt right now.*

“Honestly, I don’t really know. I don’t feel distinctly uneasy or anything like that.”

“So it’s not like how you felt when you met Minsu. Then why don’t you just do what you usually do, Oppa?”

“What I usually do? What did I even do? This is the first time I’ve been in a situation like this. Hehehe.”

*Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung’s lighthearted attitude suddenly made me laugh.*

*I wondered if I was overthinking things, and Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung seemed to trust me no matter what I did, which made me feel appreciated.*

“Oppa, from my perspective, you’re a kind person. Not an easy one, though. Remember that time you helped the old woman selling Garaetteok in front of your company? I saw it too, I was on my way to work.”

“Oh, that wasn’t me ‘helping’ her. She was just selling rice cakes, and I hadn’t eaten breakfast, so I bought some.”

“Oppa, back then, the old woman and the security guard were both standing there looking awkward, so you went and bought everything she had. Who buys 50,000 won worth of 1,000 won Garaetteok? You even brought Milk and Yogurt to share with everyone at the company. I ate two sticks myself that day, remember?”

*This is why smart kids are…*

*Their memory is unnecessarily good.*

*In a way, it wasn’t a big deal; I just resolved the situation in a way that was good for everyone.*

*The security guard seemed awkward about chasing the old woman away, the old woman would be happy to finish her sales quickly in the cold, I happened to be hungry, and it was a chance to show off a bit to the employees. It was just an ordinary day.*

“Oppa, that’s not easy. I know you’re not a calculating person, but from what I’ve observed, you don’t usually do things that would be detrimental to you in any way. So don’t overthink it.”

“Alright, I get it. Well, if I discuss it with the smart Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung, it should be fine, right?”

“Huh? You’re not making fun of me, are you?”

“No, I’m serious. You’re smart.”

“Hmm… I don’t think so. It feels like you’re teasing me!”

Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung pouted, looking adorable, so I teased her for a bit before deciding to go back down to the first floor.

I decided to go down, listen to their story, help them with what I could, and try to build a good relationship.

*Like a sort of good business partner.*

“Oppa, what about that woman, the Director? What could her Ability be? You know they came straight down to the first floor, right?”

“Yeah, it seems they came straight down without stopping anywhere else. And they came directly towards where we were hiding after getting off.”

“Ugh. We’re hiding our own, so we can’t just ask, but I’m curious…”

“Should I tell them we’ll help, but only if they tell us all about their Abilities?”

“They probably wouldn’t tell us everything anyway, would they? It’s common sense to hide your Abilities in situations like this! But you seem like you’d just ask outright, Oppa.”

“I didn’t just ask outright… So why did you tell me everything in such detail from the start?”

“That’s different from us. And back then, writing it all down in that notebook was to my advantage.”

“Ah, so that’s why Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung did it, because it was to her advantage. Alright, I get it.”

“…”

Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung started glaring at me silently again.

*I should stop teasing her.*

*I feel like I’m getting addicted to it.*

*Just one more time.*

“Just kidding.”

I pressed both of Assistant Manager Choi Seonyoung’s cheeks, making her mouth look like a Bungeo, gave her a quick kiss on the lips, and then stood up.

I saw her eyes widen in surprise.

*Suddenly, it felt incredibly ticklish.*