The Weight of a Human
From the bag he rummaged through and slung over his shoulder, a long rifle now rested in his hands. It had already been shocking to see him openly carrying a pistol through the streets of Seoul, but now he had produced a submachine gun.
“What… is that gun?”
“K-7.”
“No, I don’t mean the name. Where did you even get a gun like that? Do people just walk around outside carrying those?”
“When Seoul was abandoned, quite a few armed zombies were left behind.”
“Ah…”
It seemed that when the military failed to retake Seoul and withdrew, both the zombified soldiers and their weapons had been left exactly where they fell. So had he killed a soldier zombie and taken its gun? There looked to be plenty of ammunition too—where had all of that come from? She was curious, but she didn’t press for details.
He handed Boyeon the backpack and then lifted her onto his back. After that, he secured her to him with rope so she wouldn’t slip off. Having a living person strapped to his back would make reacting to sudden threats far more difficult, but it was a risk worth taking.
“Just hold on for ten minutes.”
He soothed her with those words before stepping back out into the night streets.
The darkness was still absolute; she couldn’t see more than a few steps ahead. Even so, it felt far more stable than relying on just one hand. All she had to do was stay still and lean against the back that carried her.
Boyeon knew that the easier she had it, the more restrictions it placed on Dokyung. And he was doing all this just to find the inhaler she needed.
If she hadn’t met him today and had wandered the streets alone searching for it, she would almost certainly be dead by now. Having never properly experienced the changed ecosystem, she had been utterly ignorant.
Maybe he wasn’t such a terrible person after all. His words were harsh, but he had never actually hurt her. He was helping her right now, wasn’t he? In a world that had grown so cruel it was hard to trust anyone, perhaps he had simply made a mistake…
“……”
Boyeon knew she was rationalizing too much. Was it because the warmth of another person—something she hadn’t felt in so long—felt ticklish and comforting, making her brain turn stupid? …No.
No. She was simply looking for excuses to think well of him. To protect her own safety.
It clearly hadn’t been a slip of the tongue.
He was a bad person. A terrifying person.
Still… if she tried hard enough, maybe they could get along?
Her damp eyes trembled violently.
It was the confusion Dokyung had created.
Boom. Boom. Boom! In the distance, a roar erupted alongside surging flames.
The pitch-black night was dyed a vivid, bloody red. For a brief moment the area lit up, and the zombies swarming the street were burned into Boyeon’s retinas. Bloodshot eyes, razor-sharp fangs—those monsters that were no longer human. Had they really been this close? This numerous? Only now did she realize it, and goosebumps crawled across her skin like insects.
The human-sized figures that had stood as still as grave markers snapped their necks with a sickening crack toward the source of the noise. The street instantly transformed into a living hell. The creatures let out grotesque shrieks and charged toward the flames. A wave made of human flesh and bone surged in a bizarre, undulating mass. Grrk. Grrk. The hair-raising breathing sounds multiplied like a swarm of ants.
‘That thing’ had seen ‘her.’ The blood-red eyes didn’t seem to notice Dokyung at all; they were fixed solely on Boyeon. Was she going to die? Just like this, in an instant? Boyeon felt as if she were already being trampled beneath the feet of that furious zombie horde. Or being devoured. Her mind was in such chaos she couldn’t think straight.
Whoosh! A dark silhouette brushed right past Boyeon’s side.
“……!”
“If you scream, they’ll tear you apart.”
A calm voice reached her.
Only then did Boyeon realize she was looking down at the zombie swarm from above. A few of the creatures screeched horrifically and reached their arms toward her, but it was useless. Dokyung had her strapped to his back and was scaling the outer wall of a building. What had fallen from above was a zombie that had thrown itself out a window.
“When… how…”
While Boyeon had been lost in a daze, he had moved the instant the flames erupted, climbing upward with terrifying speed. Thanks to being one step ahead of the zombies’ reaction, they hadn’t been swept away by that tide of death. She had no idea how many near-death moments had passed right before her eyes. If not for Dokyung, she would have been dragged off by the zombies and met a horrific end—even if he somehow survived.
Instead of waiting for the horde to pass, Dokyung climbed the building’s exterior wall with no safety measures whatsoever.
‘With his bare hands…’
He grabbed onto window frames, pipes—anything he could find—and used them as handholds or footholds. Naturally, none of it had been designed for climbing, so the surface was brutally unforgiving. At one point he supported the full weight of two people with nothing but the grip of a single hand. The muscles in his forearms bulged sharply, and the veins on the back of his hand throbbed violently.
He was fast, too. The rapidly rising view made her dizzy. They had just passed the fourth floor—eleven meters high—the height at which humans supposedly felt the greatest fear.
When they reached the fifth floor where the pharmacy was, he reached out to enter the building. Their two bodies swayed precariously like the pendulum of a clock. The chilly wind felt bone-chilling. She was watching a scene that would have been terrifying even in a movie, right before her very eyes. Boyeon realized she had barely been breathing.
“Close your eyes.”
Sensing her uneven breathing, Dokyung whispered. The arm wrapped around his neck kept tightening with tension. Boyeon didn’t want to hinder him. She squeezed her eyes shut and prayed desperately for this moment to end.
Dokyung gripped the sill of an open window, used the momentum to swing inside, and landed with agile grace. After quickly scanning the interior, he set her down. Thanks to the earlier commotion, it seemed all the zombies inside this building had already headed downstairs.
“You can cry now.”
“……”
Dokyung teased her as he lightly patted her soft cheek. The overwhelming exhaustion made her feel like she might collapse on the spot. If he hadn’t caught her trembling body, she surely would have.
Grrk. Creeeak. Skreek. The eerie wails of the monsters that filled the city pressed down like a gloomy fog. The sound of something exploding rang out as well.
“Wh-what’s happening outside?”
“Bait. It’s easier to move around if they’re all drawn to one place.”
Someone had deliberately set the fire. The city’s nights did not fall silent like its days. Between the dark buildings, occasional lights flickered and human screams could be heard. So many people must have been caught up in the chaos—the entire city seemed to be writhing.
“I keep… hearing people screaming…”
They would be in danger. Most of them would die. All because of another human’s selfishness.
Yet Dokyung showed no interest whatsoever in what was happening outside. Whether other people burned to death or not was none of his concern.
“……”
When he offered no reaction, there was nothing Boyeon could do. It wasn’t as if there were any police left to report it to. She closed her eyes tightly, trying to block out the distant screams. Her eyelids fluttered with guilt.
“L-let’s go together…”
A moment later, when she realized Dokyung had disappeared deeper into the building alone, Boyeon hurried after him. She clutched the hem of his clothes and followed like a baby chick, scurrying along behind him. The fact that she couldn’t do anything properly and just stood there looking stupid must have been incredibly annoying and burdensome. Yet Dokyung didn’t shake off the body that clung to him so persistently; he simply let her stay.
The first thing Dokyung found for her was the inhaler she needed.
“This one?”
“Ah! Y-yes, that’s it.”
With trembling hands, Boyeon accepted the inhaler. She felt guilty about stealing, but since it was an emergency, she hoped they would understand as she tore open the packaging. A bitter powder exploded against the back of her throat. Relief flooded through her. The breathing that had been unstable all this time finally seemed to settle back into place.
“Thank you…”
Boyeon whispered, sniffling a little. His quiet gaze lingered on her for a moment before sliding away.
The two of them gathered every remaining inhaler and then thoroughly looted the pharmacy. They had deliberately come to a pharmacy on an upper floor rather than the ground level, but even here the signs of previous scavenging were obvious. Disinfectant and antibiotics were especially scarce, and the item Dokyung had been looking for was nothing but an empty box.