Chapter 102 - The Girl Wants to Be M*rdered

〈 Chapter 102 〉 888. The Chapter of the Zombie and the Girl (14). * * * ** The once vibrant street was now painted with a stark crimson, as if smeared with blood. Would the world look like this if you were to see it through glasses made of red cellophane (？)? The heaps of ash-gray concrete that had crumbled in various places, the countless colorful signs clinging to the buildings, and the trees growing robustly as if they needed no human care — all of them lost their true colors and were transformed into hues reminiscent of human blood. ─Step, step. [".................."］ And along this bloodstained street, I walked alone. Reining in my feet, which seemed to move of their own volition toward unwanted places, I steadily made my way to my destination. At times, the street appeared fractured into dozens of paths, as if seen through a kaleidoscope, and at times, the edges of my vision turned inky black, making it impossible to discern my location, but none of that was a grave issue for me. For my legs knew best where I needed to go. And no one knew what I had to do better than myself. So long as my soul remained. As long as this soul, densely inscribed with every journey of my life, did not depart from my body. ─Tap. [".........■■?"］ I could return to the ones I loved. A warm summer breeze swept through. With each step I took, houses with familiar facades flitted by me, and from the aching protest of my legs, I could tell I was passing through a well-trodden alleyway. This house was undoubtedly Yoo Hwa's, a classmate. This alley was where we all gathered to play after school. This small tree was a sapling of an apple tree my family planted together on Arbor Day. This car. This sign. This fence and streetlight. This place, this was─── ["............"］ With each step, I revisited a memory. With each step, I recalled a piece of the past. As I walked the road, I occasionally encountered zombies moving in the opposite direction. Maybe because there was no one around to observe them, they felt no need to hide their abnormalities. Dozens of zombies, lined up in a grotesque procession, marched in unison toward something. Their mass movement likely indicated a survivor had managed to stay alive in the direction they were heading. Then it seemed the mysterious command urging my feet in the opposite direction all along was guiding me there. But, I’m sorry. I had a different mission to fulfill. ─Tap. [".......■■,■■■."］ [".....■■■,■?"］ A few of them cast puzzled glances at me, as I walked contrary to their direction, but apparently decided I posed no threat and did not bother to stop me. They paused momentarily, oozing some strange fluid from their decayed eyes as they glanced my way, before continuing on their paths. Moldcovered and stained, their forms were the remains of someone who was once human. Their appearance — what was it? Yes. It was the sort of sight that naturally invoked pity. I had an intense desire to save them, a desire that was as tall as a chimney, but I knew the time allotted to me was running out. Thus, the best I could do was bow my head briefly and hope someone would rescue them in the future. ["............."］ I had places to be. Back at none other than my own home. Passing several houses and traversing a few alleyways. After much travail, I finally arrived at the place my body remembered. A house with a bright, sea-blue roof and surrounding stone walls, which was once utterly beautiful. Raising my gaze, the house that matched the one in my memories unfurled before me. ─Whoooosh. ["......■, ■■■."］ However, the house from those days when I played with my family had long since faded. All that remained for me was a single, gruesome, eerie residence, steeped in crimson and grotesquely distorted. The landscape I longed for, the memories — sadly, they were not to be seen. But, that didn’t matter. For I, who remembered every life lived, could recall each vivid detail. The color of each brick, the spots on the gate where the paint had peeled, the types of trees planted and every leaf’s shape. ["■■, ■■...."］ I could superimpose all those past images onto the present reality. Maybe they’d given up, or perhaps the person they sought was not inside. Perhaps it was for both reasons that the area around my destination was clean, devoid of even a single zombie. If not for the severely dented iron gate, as if something had repeatedly struck it, and the scattered debris littering the ground, one might think a normal day had returned. Whether such a day would ever come, who could say. ..... Still, if it's those I know, even in hopeless situations, they will forge ahead toward the light. Burning brightly, they will be the torch that lights the path through a dark desert where no light shines. They, already endowed with happiness, will realize that it need not be created or obtained. Recognizing the importance of discovering happiness hidden around them, they would be able to realize it on their own. Because I believed in them. They were far too beautiful to be tied down by someone as foolish as I was. ─Tremble. ["..............."] With trembling hands, I reached into the mailbox beside me. A simple task like that felt arduous, like unwrapping a limb that had been in a cast for a long time. It took a while to complete the action. Feeling something at my fingertips, I withdrew my hand. In my grasp was a set of keys attached to a cute keychain. "If you ever lose your keys, just grab the spare set from here," my mother had said with a smile. She claimed it looked like me, and attached a plush of a pure white rabbit to the ring. Yes. ["..........──"] A rabbit plush that must have been pristine white. But in my distorted vision, the plush that should have sported bright fur was replaced by a warped, ominously stained red plush. Given it was inside the mailbox, it shouldn’t actually be this way, might it be my eyes playing tricks? Funny how they said it resembled me. There was no need for it to match me in this aspect. Yet, oh well. ─Smirk. ["─■hi."] I suppose the resemblance could be true in more than one way. My lips formed a faint smile. Click, clatter. Knowing I wouldn't be able to retrieve it in my current state if I dropped it, I concentrated all my effort into carefully holding onto the small key. Through stiffened joints and a hand unwilling to cooperate, I forced myself to a stable position and managed to pick up the key. I slowly inserted the key with the distorted cat plush into the keyhole. Click, clack. The key wavered, struggling to find its mark. Expected, I guess. With my hand trembling uncontrollably, vision collapsing, and a pervasive discomfort swirling in my mind. Plugging a cord into an outlet in the dark using only touch and memory — that task felt a hundred times easier. ─Click. ["........!"] Nevertheless, I didn’t stop trying. If the key hovered above the hole, I moved below next. If far off to the side, I shifted further sideways. It didn't matter how many attempts failed or how close I came to dropping it. Each time, I readjusted my grip and searched for the keyhole again with my eyes. ["..........."] A mere failure wasn’t going to overcome my determination. And finally, after numerous efforts. ─Clink. ["......■."] With a small sound, “click,” the securely locked door began to creak open, the lack of oil evident in the sound. [".........."] A bit brighter now. As the door opened, sunlight streamed in, flooding the shadow-draped darkness in which I had stood moments before. Though the light stung my eyes as if they were burning, I boldly looked ahead. I wore a smile and raised my head. From the moment I had started attempting to insert the key, familiar bustling noises had reached my ears. Surely, at this very moment, they were awaiting me. As I forced my eyelids open, despite their inclination to shut. Gazing into the place I had been seeking── ─Thud. "......Hee Ah, is it?" ".......Ah?" Three people, their expressions stunned and half in disbelief, gazed at me with eyes widened in shock. My smile grew slightly as I looked at their unchanging comicality. I spoke. Or rather, I opened my mouth to speak. Hello#sisters. To meet#again. #I’m#truly#happy. "───────?!" "Ah...Ahh.....!!!" Their eyes, more wide open than I'd ever seen before. In the depths of those jet-black, gem-like eyes, a pitiful-looking girl with gnawed muscles and gaping wounds was reflected. A sight almost identical to the zombies I had witnessed until now. No doubt about it, she was a zombie. With stiff, jerky motions, the girl entered through the door, and the three women holding sticks before her dropped their weapons in shock. Thunk, thud. "No...this isn’t happening..." The three sticks rolled lifelessly on the ground. And as they stared at those three women, The little girl within their eyes, ["......Hi■."] Wore an incredibly chilling smile. ** * * *