Season 2: Chapter 36. Brain Vs. Walnut (3)

Yoon So-Hee scrolled up slowly and her expression darkened.

'What is it? What has changed?'

The nuance of his tone was subtly different. She couldn’t express such a slight difference to the others.

'Emoticon!'

The presence or absence of an emoticon was worth mentioning.

"Doesn't Jang Seong-Soo always use that emoticon? Why isn't he using it?"

The others looked confused. Was it really that big of a deal?

"Should we ask?"

"Are you crazy?"

Yoon So-Hee flared up. If they asked and the enemies had Jang Seong-Soo's phone, that would only alert them.

"Why are you angry? You don't think... they have it, do you?" one student showed his phone and asked.

"The next guard shift didn't mention anything like that."

They said it couldn't be because the guard who went next didn't report any anomalies. The others felt the same.

"You're just scared."

"You really thought that far?"

They laughed, thinking Yoon So-Hee was overreacting.

A loud voice interrupted them, "Quiet down, you bastards!"

It was Baek Joon-Soo, lying down and covering his eyes. He pointed to his watch.

"Aren't you all sleeping? If you can't wake up by two, you'll be the front shield."

The students quickly lay down in silence after that.

"And you."

One of them, the last to lie down, was singled out.

"Yes...?"

"Yes, you. Park Dong-Hyeon, check what So-Hee said."

"Check what...??"

"Go down and see if the guard is okay."

It would be faster to check directly. It wasn't like going hours away. It was just downstairs. Of course, Park Dong-Hyeon didn’t find it pleasant to be picked on.

"... Okay."

He simply nodded. There was no resisting Baek Joon-Soo's orders. Hadn't they seen him brutally kill Kim Woo-Jung?

No one knew if Kim Woo-Jung actually got bitten. If Baek Joon-Soo said it, then it was true. That was how it had always been. His word was law.

"I'll be back."

He wasn't gone for long. Moments later...

Bang, bang, bang.

There was hurried knocking.

"It's me, Park Dong-Hyeon."

The door opened. He entered hastily, looking like he'd seen a ghost. It was clear what had happened even without a word.

"We... we’re doomed!"

***

Jang Seong-Soo, the first guard, was tied up in the dim music room and stripped of his phone and weapon. He could only wait to die with open eyes.

Jang Seong-Soo stared blankly at the ceiling. His friend next to him had already given up and stopped crying.

Bam!

The music room door broke open and light flooded in. The silhouettes seemed like saviors to Jang Seong-Soo, but it was Baek Joon-Soo. He was a far cry from a savior, yet Jang Seong-Soo's eyes overflowed with hope.

"Oooop! Opppeop!!"

He called out desperately for his savior even though his mouth was bound by tape.

A student removed the tape at Baek Joon-Soo's signal.

"

Phew!

Son of a... I thought I was going to die."

"What happened?" Baek Joon-Soo asked from a distance.

Jang Seong-Soo explained, albeit incoherently.

"So, Kim Ju-Hyeok walked straight at you and beat you up?"

It turned out like that when Baek Joon-Soo summarized the entire story. It hadn’t been a surprise attack from behind. The enemies opened the door, removed the barricades, and struck Seong-Soo with a large mop handle.

"Well, it wasn't exactly like that... but there's some truth to what you said..."

"Huh?" Baek Joon-Soo tilted his head and placed his bat on his shoulders.

Jang Seong-Soo flinched momentarily.

However, Baek Joon-Soo didn’t strike down at him. His gaze shifted to the next person in line after Jang Seong-Soo.

"How were you attacked?"

"I was going downstairs to switch. Then someone jumped out from behind all of a sudden!"

"So, you were ambushed from behind."

"Yes, yes! I was ambushed!"

Baek Joon-Soo stepped back momentarily, exchanging various remarks with the others.

"Is that all?"

"They also stole my phone... and my weapon..."

"Not that," Baek Joon-Soo interrupted as if saying he already knew all this.

"Where did they go? Why did they leave you guys here?"

The one being questioned looked puzzled. How would they know? They couldn't properly see the situation then since they were lying on the ground.

"Maybe they're in the store?"

It was a mere guess.

"Hmm."

Baek Joon-Soo stroked his chin. Then he turned to ask the person next to him, "What do you think, Choi Ki-Soo?"

Choi Ki-Soo shrugged, "They probably didn't leave the store."

There was no reason for Almond and the others to abandon the store and go somewhere else.

"I guess they tied up these guys to buy time to set up more barricades," Choi Ki-Soo speculated while looking at the desks scattered around the music room.

Jang Seong-Soo interjected, "Ki-Soo is right! They discussed using the desks to block the entrance."

It seemed Choi Ki-Soo was onto something, but Baek Jun-Soo raised a counterpoint.

"But we haven't seen a trace of them. If they were setting up barricades, they wouldn't have been able to escape by the time we arrived."

Everyone was at a loss for words.

Choi Ki-Soo nodded, "Right. It's strange. Would they really abandon the store? It's too extreme. Maybe they hid somewhere and plan to loot the infirmary..."

Choi Ki-Soo was close to the correct answer. However, he couldn't reach the right conclusion.

"But does that make sense? Exchanging the store for the infirmary? They know we'd just reclaim it soon."

He didn’t know about the key factor of Almond's combat strength, so his analysis was flawed.

"So what’s your point, Choi Ki-Soo?" Baek Joon-Soo pressed further.

"They're probably still in the store. They were monitoring our movements through the phone. They might have sensed something was off and evacuated in advance, but..."

"But what?"

"There's a 30% chance they escaped to a third location."

Baek Joon-Soo nodded.

"Alright, let's breach the store now. These two could have been bitten by zombies. Let's leave them here for the day."

The students were shocked. Not because they had to leave those two, but because the plan had been expedited. Wasn't it originally set for 2 A.M.?

“Right now!?"

"There are only three of them. And they’re monitoring our group chat. A surprise attack at 2 A.M. is pointless."

Baek Joon-Soo didn't hesitate.

"Bring the weapon."

"Okay. The drill too?"

Using the drill was risky. They didn't know how to use it, and Almond already knew from the group chat that they didn't know how to operate it. It was merely a dangerous object. Even the fake threat hadn’t worked.

"He just brought a crowbar. That should work.”

"Got it."

The students ran to the infirmary and brought back several crowbars. These were meant for prying open doors and worked better than expected.

"Insert it."

"Okay."

Creak.

The students wedged in the crowbars from the bottom and the sides. Once they pushed it in and wiggled it, it smoothly slid inside since the tips were very sharp and thin.

"One, two, three!"

Crack!

The door made a loud noise and crumpled.

"Now."

Baek Joon-Soo peeked inside and shouted while standing in front of the door.

"I'll give them a chance. I’m giving you guys one minute. If you come out before then, I'll spare your lives."

Meanwhile, the students shouted “One, two, three,” and pushed with their crowbars. The door slightly budged with their use of leverage.

Squeeeak...

The door would soon open. Baek Joon-Soo believed that they would definitely come out within a minute.

However...

Boom!

They tore off the door entirely, but no one came out. There was no sound.

Dust rose from the fallen door in the dark.

Baek Joon-Soo stood above it and angrily muttered, "Damn it."

They had left already.

***

Rumble.

Click.

The students felt puzzled even as they removed the barricades.

"What the? They're really gone."

"Huh?"

"What's this?"

They knew the enemies had left, but still felt astonished. They couldn't understand. Why had they abandoned this store?

"The bread is still here?"

"Exactly."

Even the food remained in the store. They didn't know how much food had been here initially, so they couldn't determine if enough bread for a week had been taken. There was too much to begin with.

"Wow, we're rich now!"

"There's a freezer too. Awesome."

The students felt thrilled to have secured a large amount of food. They could finally have a proper meal after subsisting on only Choco Pies for three days.

"Let's eat first."

Baek Joon-Soo, seemingly hungry, suggested they eat.

They microwaved the frozen food and had a lavish feast. They hurriedly ate for the first five minutes and then focused on assessing their situation.

"They ran away from us, right?"

"Yes. They must've seen our plans in the chat."

"They anticipated our ambush and escaped!"

It all made sense, considering the enemies had been looking at their chat and decided to move after seeing the crowbar photo, but where did they go?

"Where would they go? There's no sign that they touched the first-floor door."

Zombies still swarmed the main entrance on the first floor and the back door could only be locked with a key. It was still locked.

That meant they hadn’t left. Then, there was only one conclusion.

"The second floor...?"

Almond and his friends went to the second floor.

***

After the meal, Baek Joon-Soo's group checked the fire door leading to the second floor.

"It's locked."

"Do we have a way to open it and get in?"

However, the fire door leading to the second floor was also firmly locked. They couldn't possibly think someone had picked the lock and entered. Even if someone said so, no one would believe it.

"So they just disappeared? Search the first floor thoroughly, right now."

Baek Joon-Soo decided they had to be hiding somewhere on the first floor.

However...

An hour passed, then two hours, and still no news arrived.

Only messages of

[They're not here]

kept popping up in the new group chat. The only clue they found was a single piece of cardboard.

[There's a piece of cardboard on the stairs leading to the second floor.]

The cardboard was unexpectedly found near the west stairs.

[Gather there]

Baek Joon-Soo’s group rushed there to check and found large pieces of torn cardboard there. It looked like fragments from a cart that had been pushed upstairs.

Soo-Hyun most likely missed it and walked right past.

"They went to the second floor."

Baek Joon-Soo checked the time.

"It's been five hours."

At least five hours had passed since the enemies ran away.

A smirk crept on his face.

"They must be dead by now."

He concluded that they had already died.

"There's a monster there."

Baek Joon-Soo looked out the window as if reminiscing. It was 4 P.M. The sun was still bright since it was summer. Maybe that was why he didn't notice someone standing far away because of the backlight. Even if he had, what would he do? One person standing far away behind the window wasn't significant.

The weather was so clear. It felt just right like everything had been resolved. Such peace seemed more important now.

"Now there's no more trouble—"

Crash!

A hallway window shattering interrupted him.

Sssshh...

For a moment, Baek Joon-Soo saw a huge iron spike. No, in reality, it was a tiny arrowhead. It just seemed enormous because it was about to strike him in the eyes.

Thunk!

"...!?"

Half of his vision went dark.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!"