Apocalypse’s Teacher

Chapter 90

A fleeting moment of silence.

It didn't take long for it to be broken.

"Groooar..."

There were exactly four zombies in the room.

The zombies, which had been looking in different directions, turned their heads toward where the two people were hiding as soon as they heard the sound.

Creak, creak.

Moving their frozen bodies somehow, they began to close the distance slowly.

It was a situation that could be called a crisis.

The only path to the exit was already blocked by the zombies.

Jinwoo's expression began to turn pale as he recognized all of this.

'Ah...!'

Jinwoo let out a sigh inwardly.

However, this was not a situation where they could just stay still.

It was a highly tense situation, but there was one fortunate thing.

Jinwoo had honed his instincts through numerous external explorations, knowing what actions to take in any situation.

He decided to repeat the actions Seokho would take whenever he and Gihyun made mistakes.

First, he looked at Juyeong.

She was half out of her mind, realizing her actions.

Jinwoo extended his arm and hugged the trembling Juyeong to cover her mouth.

"Mmph...!"

"Shh—!"

Next, he snatched the metal pipe from her hand.

Immediately after, Jinwoo threw the metal pipe with all his strength toward the window, the direction opposite to where they were.

Clang—!

The metal pipe hit the window frame.

The zombies turned their heads in that direction.

"Groooar..."

The zombies started to move farther away.

Thud—.

Thud—.

Jinwoo and Juyeong's heartbeats overlapped.

The two of them held their breaths, feeling as if their hearts would jump out of their throats.

For a moment, Jinwoo, who could grasp the situation more calmly than Juyeong, raised his head to check the zombies' position.

"...Now. Move carefully, carefully."

At Jinwoo's whisper, realizing the path was cleared, Juyeong nodded as if she were in a daze.

However, her legs had already given out, and she couldn't lift herself on her own.

Gritting his teeth, Jinwoo swung his backpack to the front and turned his back to Juyeong.

"Hop on."

Juyeong just followed his words and climbed onto Jinwoo's back.

Jinwoo frowned as he stood up.

For the small-built Jinwoo, carrying Juyeong, who was about his size, along with her backpack, was a tough task, but there was no other way if they both wanted to survive.

Jinwoo, determined to at least escape the office, began moving with Juyeong on his back.

"Groooar..."

The groans they heard carried a sense of emptiness and hunger.

The thought that the target of that hunger could be him spurred Jinwoo to muster all his strength and barely escape the office.

Retracing their steps to the emergency stairs.

Only after arriving there did Jinwoo set Juyeong down on the stairs and exhaled a sigh of relief.

"I thought I was going to die...."

Gasping for breath and drenched in sweat as if forgetting the cold.

These were clear signs of how tense Jinwoo had been just moments ago.

Jinwoo continued taking deep breaths, then belatedly checked Juyeong's condition.

"I, I...."

She was out of her mind.

Her eyes were half unfocused, and her jaw trembled so much that she couldn't string words together properly.

And that wasn't all.

Even after reaching a safe place, she clung to his collar as if unable to grasp the situation.

Letting out a deep sigh, Jinwoo placed his hands on both sides of Juyeong's cheeks.

Then he pinched and stretched them hard.

"Mmph...!"

"Get a hold of yourself. Ah, but don't shout."

Flinch—.

Juyeong shuddered and lifted her head to look at Jinwoo.

Seeing her eyes slowly regain focus, Jinwoo smiled as if to reassure her and said.

"We're out now, so it's okay. Feeling a bit better? Can you walk?"

His tone was soft.

This, too, was something Seokho would always do when he and Gihyun were trembling with fear.

An unfamiliar situation.

An unaccustomed danger.

In the midst of it all, Jinwoo naturally began to apply the things he had learned with his own body.

Only then did Juyeong come to her senses.

In front of her was Jinwoo, smiling as he looked at her.

And the sensation on her cheeks was a stinging pain and the warmth of another person.

Her ragged breathing began to return to normal.

Her wildly pounding heart... was still beating irregularly.

Amidst the chaos, Juyeong realized something.

'I'm alive....'

She was alive.

There were no zombies here.

She wouldn't be torn apart and eaten alive.

The moment she realized all of this, Juyeong felt a burning sensation in her eyes.

Drip—.

Tears fell.

*

The two barely managed to reunite with Seokho and return home.

Although there had been an accident and they hadn't harvested anything, there was no reprimand.

From Seokho's perspective, it felt like a misjudgment on his part.

To be fair, there was a lot to be said.

Concerns about Gihyun, who had inexplicably been unable to shake off a sense of lethargy since winter began.

The judgment that Jinwoo could now handle himself.

And Juyeong, who seemed unusually close to Jinwoo.

Considering all these factors, Seokho's decision regarding this team made sense, but since the result was what it was, Seokho acknowledged it.

That while he was skilled at surviving alone, he was clumsy at leading others.

"I think I made a mistake. I should've thought more carefully about keeping Juyeong with me."

Words spoken while facing both of them.

At the end of it, Seokho patted Jinwoo on the shoulder and continued.

"And Jinwoo, you did well. You did the best you could."

Jinwoo scratched the back of his head, smiling awkwardly.

Meanwhile, Juyeong hung her head low, trembling with anxiety.

'I-I'm going to get scolded....'

She didn't prove her usefulness.

Not only that, but she ended up being a hindrance to resource exploration.

At the moment Juyeong bit her lips tightly, thinking she would now be treated like a burden.

"And Juyeong."

Seokho called out to Juyeong.

Juyeong flinched in surprise and lifted her head.

As she thought it was finally her turn, she looked at Seokho, filled with despair, but his expression was different from what she expected.

"I'm glad you're safe. You're not hurt anywhere, are you? Did you sprain or scrape something? If so, don't hold back and tell me."

Seokho was smiling.

It wasn't a mocking laughter but a warm smile.

Somewhere in his expression lay concern as well.

Juyeong's face went blank.

"Uh...."

"Hmm? Don't worry about first aid supplies. We have plenty. The world is like this, so even small wounds need to be properly disinfected."

When confronted with an unexpected reaction in a certain situation, people's responses are limited.

Juyeong mulled over the words she had heard absentmindedly.

It took her some time to process what had been said because she couldn't comprehend it immediately.

'I wasn't scolded.'

She wasn't scolded.

Then what?

What did he say after that?

Was it that I'm being excluded from exploration from now on?

That I'm useless and should stay out of the way?

That he expected this would happen?

Her thoughts continued to spiral negatively.

Only after letting all these thoughts flow away did Juyeong realize that what Seokho conveyed to her was concern.

Thud-.

Juyeong felt her tense body suddenly collapse.

It was a reaction that naturally surfaced once she realized she hadn't been scolded.

"Juyeong?"

"I-I'm fine...."

"Really? That's a relief."

Squeeze-.

Her chest tightened.

Juyeong suddenly felt an inexplicable sensation that made her feel like she was about to burst into tears.

To suppress it, she bit her lips firmly.

Only at the end did she manage to squeeze out her words.

"...Yes, I'm fine."

As she said she was fine, as she said she was safe, Juyeong thought.

That it seemed like it had been such a long time since she last said those words.

*

After finishing dinner, as everyone dispersed to sleep.

Only then did Juyeong regain her composure and glance at a corner of the living room.

There was Jinwoo, who was doing household chores again.

Meticulously sorting the clothes they wore today into categories and putting them into the laundry basket.

Humming a tune as if he was enjoying himself.

Although his appearance hadn't changed at all from before, in the moment Juyeong looked at Jinwoo, she felt her chest heat up.

At the same time, she recalled Jinwoo's face from earlier in the day.

The face that smiled gently and met her gaze while speaking words of concern.

Thump.

Her heartbeat knocked against her throat.

Juyeong finally realized her reaction belatedly and jumped up.

Then Jinwoo turned to look at her.

"What are you doing?"

Jinwoo questioned, puzzled by Juyeong's sudden outburst.

To that, Juyeong answered.

"Nothing!"

"Really? Then go to bed. We have to wake up early tomorrow."

"Uh...."

Juyeong trailed off as she stared at Jinwoo, who resumed his work.

"...Aren't you going to sleep?"

"I'll finish this first."

He spoke as he continued to sort the laundry for nine people with steady hands.

For some reason, Juyeong thought to herself that she didn't like it.

'Are you okay...?'

For some reason, she felt like Jinwoo considered her to be someone insignificant.

Rationally, she knew this was the correct reaction. If she thought about it logically, having such a conversation while flustering around would be strange.

Even so, Juyeong found Jinwoo annoying.

"...Hey."

"What?"

Now, he didn't even turn to look at her, focused entirely on the laundry.

Feeling inexplicably humiliated, Juyeong stood up abruptly.

She stomped over to Jinwoo, her footsteps loud.

Tap tap.

She tapped his shoulder, prompting Jinwoo to turn his head.

At last, their eyes met directly.

Juyeong, who had intended to complain to Jinwoo, felt her mind go blank as soon as their eyes met.

"What now?"

Jinwoo's question carried a tone of dissatisfaction.

Juyeong, unable to recall what she had intended to say, stammered before responding reflexively.

"G-good night."

Her damned pride was the problem.

Unwilling to acknowledge what had caused her reaction, she avoided it and quickly retreated to her room.

Bang-!

The door closed with a loud noise.

Jinwoo watched this unfold and thought to himself.

'She's really picky.'

He thought there wasn't a single thing about her that he liked.