084 – The Unfortunate Miracle and the Disaster on Christmas Eve
Some memories, like fine wine, become clearer with time.
Two years ago, the memory of Christmas Eve was just like that.
Seugal threw a party in her penthouse, as she usually did, gathering a crowd of people.
After her mother passed away, the penthouse had become quieter, and she thought it was better to spend the year-end in meaningless comparisons, boasts, and tiring conflicts than to be alone.
“Merry Christmas!”
“Ga-eul, it’s a gift for you!”
The hostess, Seugal, received countless gifts as if she were the protagonist of Christmas.
“Yeon-byeol, thank you so much. What’s inside the box?”
“That’s a secret.”
“I’ll put it under the tree first. I’ll reveal it later.”
Under the sparkling Christmas tree, numerous gifts were piled up, seemingly creating a rich romantic atmosphere. However, after expressing her gratitude, Seugal didn’t even give the presents a second glance.
No matter what gift she received, it wouldn’t have improved her mood.
However, the opposite was possible.
The mere appearance of one person was enough to worsen Seugal’s mood.
“Yu Yeo-reum is here!”
“Yeo-reum came to the Christmas party?”
“Wow, that’s crazy!”
The unexpected appearance of Yu Yeo-reum drew everyone’s attention. Seugal, disgruntled at losing the focus in her own party, approached Yu Yeo-reum and said,
“It’s surprising. I thought you’d be too busy to come.”
Though she smiled, her words implied, “Do you have nothing better to do than coming here?”
Yu Yeo-reum, who as usual was stoic and incomprehensible, didn’t seem to catch the sarcasm and answered listlessly,
“You invited me, didn’t you? But I regret coming already. It doesn’t look fun at all.”
Seugal’s forehead practically burst with a vein from the rude comment. She thought Yu Yeo-reum might lack social skills but didn’t show it openly. They weren’t close enough to have a quarrel.
Yet, Yu Yeo-reum’s appearance had definitely irked Seugal. Feeling irritated, Seugal noticed a shy girl watching her.
“Who’s this? Isn’t this my friend Baek Yeo-ul?”
“Ga… Ga-eul!”
Baek Yeo-ul approached nervously, offering a small something, which appeared to be a gift.
“It’s a present my cousin gave me; it might grant wishes, they say. If it’s true, I thought you need it more than me right now…”
It was unwrapped and looked like a foreign coin but was rather shabby and unappealing, making Seugal extremely upset.
“What do you mean by thinking I’d need this?”
“Uh… Since your mother passed away, you’ve seemed unhappy… I was just worried about you… And this is a letter I wrote…”
“Thank you.”
Clack!
Pretending to take the coin from Baek Yeo-ul’s hand, Seugal deliberately slapped her hand instead, making the coin fly off and fall through the window.
“Hey! That’s from my cousin! Seugal, you did that on purpose!”
In an instant, everyone’s eyes turned to Baek Yeo-ul and Seugal.
“What?”
“Baek Yeo-ul is starting trouble with Seugal again, right?”
“Why is she even here? She always brings bad luck.”
“Isn’t it just when the power cuts?”
Mistaking the murmurs to be directed at herself, Baek Yeo-ul ran off to find the “Lucky Coin” gifted by her cousin Nam Woo-joo.
“Seugal might be a bad person, but she couldn’t have intentionally dropped the coin. People make mistakes every day. I make mistakes every day too, but… Finding it again and giving it back…”
Under the bright full moon, Baek Yeo-ul spent a long time looking for the coin. By the time she found it and returned to the penthouse, the party was over.
‘No one’s here!’
Seugal was nowhere to be seen. All she found was the reconciliation letter she had spent days writing, still unopened, lying in the trash can. Even trying to think positively, Baek Yeo-ul couldn’t help but shed a tear.
Meanwhile —
Feeling especially down, Seugal left the party early and headed to a nearby large mart. It was full of people enjoying the Christmas atmosphere, mostly families and couples.
Compared to the party Seugal had thrown, the modest and frugal appearances here seemed much happier. As she reminisced about her own similar time, someone grabbed her hand.
“Ga-eul, what a coincidence meeting you here.”
A tall man with a strikingly white complexion named Nam San-ho was there. Though he called it a coincidence, Seugal immediately realized that he had been secretly following her after the party ended. It was creepy.
“Did you cry? Your eyes are swollen.”
Seugal’s mood plummeted instantly.
How unfortunate to meet the person she least wanted to see, exactly when she least wanted to.
“Why are you crying all alone? It’s not good. I know a great place. Let’s go together. I was lucky enough to book two seats.”
Swish!
Nam San-ho grabbed Seugal’s arm and pulled her. Annoyed, Seugal wanted to shove him away, but something strange happened.
‘Why can’t I muster strength…?’
She couldn’t summon any strength in her body, just like an ordinary person. Since she had never experienced anything like this, even Seugal herself was startled.
“Let go of me!”
“Ga-eul, I’ve been thinking about you a lot recently. My father is opposing our marriage, which I admit is not easy to persuade even for me. But I’ve realized that forgiveness is easier than permission.”
Nam San-ho’s grip was strong.
Seugal feared what would happen if she allowed herself to be dragged off like this. As they reached a less crowded staircase, Nam San-ho began to show his carnal desires.
“Don’t you like me deep down? If you truly disliked me, you wouldn’t have followed me here, right? You’re easily strong enough to throw me off.”
Shivers ran down her spine.
“Let go!”
Bang!
Summoning all her strength, Seugal shoved Nam San-ho, who unfortunately tripped backward and rolled down the stairs.
“Oh no!”
Thud-thud, CRASH! Snap!
The ominous sound was loud enough to ring in Seugal’s ears. When she approached Nam San-ho’s motionless body and placed her hand on his chest, he wasn’t moving at all.
“Yo…u’re…dead…”
Seugal panicked and called the father she had not been in touch with after her mother passed away.
“Dad, I… I think I killed someone…”
—Where are you? Is anyone else around?
“N Mart, 5th floor staircase… There’s no one else around…”
Soon, unfamiliar faces arrived. Seugal only recognized them as unregistered Awakened Ones carrying out illegal tasks on her father’s orders.
“Miss Ga-eul, we’ve parked the car underground. Let’s head over there.”
Following the leather jacket-clad man, Seugal got into the car and left N Mart. Two hours later, while huddled under the blanket in her bed, she realized the outside was unusually bright.
Whoosh, whoosh.
By the window, in the bright moonlight, N Mart was ablaze. The heat was so intense it touched the tip of her nose, even in the penthouse.
Seugal now feared people, even her own father. She feared herself.
“Seugal, if you had quietly come with me, none of this would have happened! I wouldn’t have revived as a Zombie because of you! Because of you, I…”
From the darkness, Nam San-ho’s voice cried out. Seugal thought a ghost from her past had come.
This situation was her punishment for the sins she had committed. Whether called karma, retribution, or backlash, it all referred to the white-masked figure beyond the darkness, with red glowing eyes.
“Seugal, because of you, I’m rotting every moment! You made me incapable of feeling warmth or cold—can’t you see it’s because of you?”
The guilt gnawed at her heart continuously.
“Anything I eat tastes like rotten sand. There’s no meaning in living. You’ve made me this way!”
Just then, a young man who had been listening beside Seugal spoke up.
“In conclusion, it went like this: You resurrected as a zombie, then you started biting people, and to stop the pandemic, N Mart had to be burned down. Fair enough. But right now—?”
The young man looked at the people locked in iron cages.
“Are you blaming Seugal for attempting to turn ten thousand people into infected and overthrowing the country? No, it’s just that you’re an utterly rotten person. If you were a man, take responsibility for your own actions.”
Groan!
The young man took a deep breath through his nose before finishing his speech.
“And hiding like this won’t hide your rotten conscience. Sprinkle perfume all you want—it’ll only make it smell worse.”
Crack!
He charged into the darkness with a powerful sound.
—
The concept of “emotion” that I received from Seugal was truly helpful. Even amidst zombies, I could clearly differentiate the coarse smell of perfume.
I pushed off the ground with all my might.
In the moment the world accelerated, my fist, which had previously searched aimlessly, now hit the exact target.
“Nam Jin Kiiiick!”
Puahh!
With a violent impact, something tumbled onto the ground. As Yu Yeo-reum’s glowing eyes illuminated the area, Nam San-ho, his mask torn off, was seen clutching his jaw and grinding his teeth.
Grinding…
“Kick, but with a punch? You b*stard!”
“Ugh…”
Yu Yeo-reum, who had witnessed grotesque sights from illegal experiments, caught her breath seeing Nam San-ho’s face revealed beneath the white mask. It was terribly hideous. His face of bones, flesh, and muscles was no longer human.
“Whoa, disgusting.”
Even me, whose expression typically remains composed, couldn’t help but wince. Nam San-ho, exposing so much of his grotesqueness, immediately covered his face with his palm and shouted,
“sh*t! What the hell are you!”
“Your karma, this b*stard!”
“Karma? sh*t! All of you get out! k*ll that b*stard! As long as Seugal remains unharmed, it doesn’t matter if the rest d*e! Do not hurt her face!”
What? In the world, have you ever seen a person so evil?
I couldn’t contain my anger.
“You bad b*stard! Treat Yu Yeo-reum well too! She’s a beautiful girl!”
“…Jina, is that really important right now?”
Yu Yeo-reum’s glowing eyes scanned the surroundings.
Clang, clanging!
From the iron cages, bulky zombies burst out. They were special zombies.
“You’ve angered me too much. Fifteen special zombies. Do you think you can handle monsters equivalent to rank-three Awakeneds each?”
Nam San-ho started laughing.
Though the situation wasn’t ideal, it wasn’t the worst.
Even in extreme misfortune, a glimmer of hope arises—and that’s me.
I had already faced the special zombies today. The appearance of these special zombies was part of my strategy. I initially expected around thirty, but fifteen were fewer than anticipated.
“Yu Yeo-reum, Seugal, listen carefully. Just like there were treatments for zombie infections, there are weaknesses for special zombies too.”
“Could it be… they have weaknesses!?”
I detected the horror in Nam San-ho’s corrupted face through the “emotion” concept. Without hesitation, I revealed the secret knowledge of the future to make him despair.
“If you separate their heads from their bodies, they d*e!”
“…”
“Exactly like this.”
Swoosh! Splatter! Thud, roll!
The head of one special zombie hit the ground and rolled away.
The pillar where the creature stood now held a single dagger instead of a head.
Seeing this, Nam San-ho screamed,
“How…when…!?”
—
The rest is a blur.
—
