Apocalypse’s Teacher

Chapter 89

It felt nauseous.

The head was dizzy, and the heart was pounding so hard that it seemed like vomiting would happen any moment if left unchecked.

The morning after learning the truth, Juyeong looked at Jinwoo with an incredulous gaze and thought.

'C-crazy person....'

Even though he was calmly opening cans and organizing them to prepare breakfast, Juyeong found his actions unsettling for some reason.

Isn't that right?

How could a person, someone living their life normally with all limbs intact, like 'something like that'?

Could someone enjoy such grotesque things in a place where others wouldn't know?

Juyeong felt as if her sense of normalcy was collapsing.

She also felt doubts creeping into her heart.

'Could other people too?'

Could all the other people in this hotel also enjoy such things?

Could they be hiding such strange quirks from her while laughing amongst themselves?

'And then they might even try to suggest it to me....'

Thud-!

Juyeong clapped both hands over her mouth.

Seeing this, Jinwoo tilted his head curiously and asked.

"Huh? Juyeong, why are you...."

"Kyah!"

A startled scream burst out from Juyeong.

The eyes of those present turned towards her.

Juyeong belatedly realized what she had done and shook her head rapidly.

"N-no. I was just surprised because you called me suddenly...."

She couldn't continue her words.

As Juyeong's expression began to wrinkle in discomfort, Seokho chuckled and said.

"Jinwoo, no matter how it is, you shouldn't scare a young girl."

Seokho's words were spoken out of a sense of camaraderie.

He thought the way she got startled just by someone talking to her reminded him of his old self for some reason.

Jinwoo narrowed his eyes in dissatisfaction.

"I just said something, though."

"Even just saying something can hurt someone's feelings."

As Seokho laughed heartily, Hyesung followed suit and started laughing as well.

Chunsik wagged its tail, panting with its tongue out as if it were incredibly happy.

Juyeong felt confused by the sight of all this.

'They're all monsters....!'

Suddenly, such a thought came to her.

'Can I... really do this...?'

Could she really survive in this situation?

The original purpose of gathering information had already been put on the back burner, and Juyeong began to worry about her survival amidst the hotel's unfamiliar atmosphere.

*

Regardless of Juyeong's confusion, life in the hotel continued as usual.

About three days later, on the first day Seokho went out for a supply run after spending time solely in the hotel due to a lack of external schedules.

"I-I'll go too!"

Juyeong shouted, raising her hand above her head.

Seokho, Gihyun, and Jinwoo turned their gazes towards Juyeong.

"Will you be okay?"

Seokho asked.

He asked this because he thought it might not be right to give a task to someone who had only recently escaped from Dongdaemun.

Juyeong nodded firmly.

"Yes! I don't want to just be a freeloader!"

It was a statement made with the judgment that an external exploration would allow her to gather more diverse information.

Helen flinched and glanced at Seokho nervously, but Juyeong didn't notice it.

"Hmm... alright. Gihyun, help her get ready."

"Hey, follow me."

At Seokho's words, Gihyun took the lead.

Juyeong swallowed nervously at Gihyun's sharp demeanor and followed her.

*

The winter streets, where zombies stood vacantly in various places.

Juyeong tightly gripped the metal pipe in both hands as she looked at the backs of the three people walking ahead.

'They don't seem to have any weaknesses.'

She was troubled.

Even though she had pushed through her fear of Jinwoo and followed them, she couldn't find any weaknesses in these people.

The way they moved while exploring was quite professional.

They seemed to walk nonchalantly, but their formation was perfectly maintained, and whenever zombies appeared nearby, they easily cleared their path while continuing to move forward.

'As expected of Bomberman...!'

The person who seemed like just an unemployed guy in the hotel showed his true colors outside.

Juyeong exhaled heavily, trying to calm her nervousness.

"Juyeong?"

In the midst of it, Jinwoo's voice reached her.

Juyeong shuddered with a 'hic!' as chills ran down her spine.

Jinwoo narrowed his eyes.

"What's with you? Why are you only like this towards me?"

His discontented tone was natural from his perspective.

From the beginning, she had been acting annoyingly close to him, and now she was scared just by his presence.

It was only natural for him to feel confused about what she wanted from him.

Juyeong felt a pang of guilt at Jinwoo's rebuke but quickly brushed it aside.

'No! Why should I feel guilty towards such a pervert?'

She was a victim too.

Ever since seeing that horrid book, she had been plagued with insomnia, barely passing a day without nightmares, and now she was beginning to distrust humans.

If it weren't for Jinwoo, if it weren't for that book of his, she wouldn't have had to endure such mental suffering.

Juyeong turned her head away sharply.

Jinwoo let out a groan and then shifted his gaze away from Juyeong.

It was a mess.

*

Despite the conflict between the two, the exploration continued.

Today, they were inspecting the buildings around the hotel they hadn't been able to check before.

They were aiming to retrieve supplies from buildings they hadn't entered due to zombies.

Finally, they entered a high-rise building.

On the first floor, Seokho gathered the group and spoke.

"Gihyun, you come with me. Jinwoo, look after Juyeong. Let's explore up to the 10th floor and then regroup."

At Seokho's words, Juyeong was startled.

"With him?"

She asked, hoping it was a joke.

But the ruthless Seokho nodded again.

"Yeah, why? Is there a problem?"

Juyeong felt dejected.

There were numerous problems, but she couldn't make a fuss about it and refuse.

"No. It's fine."

She had only just joined the group.

Causing trouble and forming bad impressions could create significant obstacles in her future information gathering.

"Well, take good care of things."

At Juyeong's words, spoken while cautiously glancing at Seokho and Gihyun, Jinwoo merely narrowed his eyes.

"...Well, fine."

Jinwoo did not like Juyeong.

*

The interior of the building was as one might expect.

If you climbed the stairs, each floor would have numerous rooms, and in each room, there were countless pieces of equipment cluttering the space, obstructing the view.

As such, no matter how much it was winter, one couldn't help but remain on edge in preparation for potential threats, and Jinwoo was no exception, his nerves all the more heightened.

"Shh."

Jinwoo spoke to Juyeong in a tone that was halfway between an order and a request.

Juyeong flinched at his chilly demeanor and bit her lips.

A room that seemed to have been used as an office in the past.

Office desks, computers on top of them, and a few zombies standing in a far-off corner decorated Juyeong's view.

'It's really a zombie field.'

Judging by their past actions, they wouldn't pose much of a threat, but still, the visceral sense of revulsion could not be helped.

A feeling of not wanting to approach overwhelmed her.

And the desire to quickly return to the hotel filled her mind.

It might have seemed like a random thought, but in a way, it was a natural one.

The post-apocalyptic world, and the desolate cities within it, inevitably brought immense stress to Juyeong, who was still unfamiliar with survival.

For Juyeong, who mainly did chores at the shelter, this situation was excessively stressful.

And to make matters worse, she was burdened with the need to gather information even amidst such stress, leading to an issue beginning to surface.

'Ugh, it stinks....'

The office reeked of rotting corpses.

Juyeong scrunched her face deeply, letting out a sigh of annoyance.

She blew breaths as if trying to dispel the smell and brushed her clothes off roughly.

Her focus was deteriorating.

It was also a failure to control her emotions.

In the current situation where her expression was contorted with discomfort and a headache, if Seokho had been the one accompanying her, he would have somehow calmed her down or chosen to step outside together. However, the one here with her was Jinwoo.

Jinwoo was a novice survivor who had only just begun to do his share of work.

While he could manage his emotions and stress to some extent, he still lacked the perspective to fully consider his surroundings.

This was unfortunate for Jinwoo as well.

Until now, the companions he'd explored with, Seokho and Gihyun, were outstanding in this regard. The mere situation of having to manage someone else's stress was absurd to Jinwoo.

Cracks formed from their lack of understanding of each other.

It didn't take long for those cracks to lead to an accident.

Clang—.

The sound of metal echoed through the office.

Jinwoo turned his head, feeling a chill run down his spine.

The source of the sound was beside him, where Juyeong had been.

What entered Jinwoo's sight was.

"...Huh?"

Juyeong, who had failed to properly secure a metal pipe, accidentally struck the table with it.