Apocalypse’s Teacher

Chapter 25

Improvisation is a Talent (2)

***

“Rumble—”

It was fortunate that the two-way mirror obstructed the zombie’s vision, but even that couldn’t guarantee complete safety.

My heart was pounding as questions filled my mind.

‘Why?’

Why did a zombie have vision?

Why did this kind of zombie appear now?

T h i s w a s c op i ed f r om ki n g m tl . o rg
As I pondered, a wild guess formed in my mind.

T h i s w a s c o p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l . o r g
‘…The Mapo Shelter folks said they were looking for something.’
T h i s w a s c op i e d f r o m ki n g m t l . org

They went out of their way to search outside their territory.

What could they be searching so desperately for?

T h i s wa s c o p i e d fr om ki ng m tl . o r g
Could it be that zombie?

It was pure speculation, but there was something suspicious.

Mapo Shelter was no ordinary place.

It was a large shelter, and that constantly gnawed at my instincts.

A shelter is a society.

It’s a community of people striving for survival and looking beyond.

So, it’s only natural that their activities wouldn’t just end with gathering supplies and dividing roles.

Conducting research on zombies with a team of scientists wouldn’t be surprising.

In fact, I knew of such cases.

‘…They haven’t learned their lesson.’

My heart chilled.

Knowing how such research was conducted, this was the only reaction I could have.

“Rumble—”

The sound of phlegm gurgling seeped through the door crack.

I observed the zombie closely through the window in the door.

A nauseating appearance.

T h is w a s c o pi e d fr om k i ng m t l . o r g
I needed to find something amidst that grotesqueness.

‘…A trace.’

A trace that shouldn’t be on a human corpse.

If my guess was right, that zombie’s body would have it.

I saw the bald head.

T h i s was co pi e d f r o m k in g mt l .o rg
Grotesquely distorted, decaying skin in various places.

The nose was completely cut out, leaving a gaping hole, and the lips were torn off, exposing dark gums.

My gaze moved lower.

The same distorted skin and ragged clothes came into view.

And then, I saw it.

‘The neck…’

My eyes narrowed.

On the zombie’s neck, right in the middle, there was a scar that looked like it had been made with a very thin knife.

It looked like the mark of a surgical scalpel.

“Rumble—”

I knew it was where the vocal cords were located.

The gurgling sound was likely related to that scar.

‘Those bastards…’
T h is w a s co p i e d f r o m k i ng m t l. or g

It seemed my suspicion was correct.

I needed to discuss this with Mr. Park immediately…

“Uncle…!”

Suddenly, Jinwoo’s whisper pierced my ear.

My body flinched.

I quickly turned to look at Jinwoo and Ki-hyun.

They were watching me with worried faces, despite being overwhelmed with fear.

They seemed to find my position at the window dangerous.

I forced a smile to reassure them and then gathered my thoughts.

‘…The kids come first.’

I had to put thoughts about the zombie aside.

Right now, I had kids to protect.

I couldn’t just charge in recklessly like before.

I took a deep breath.

Calming my pounding heart, I refocused on the zombie.

It was relentless.

Despite the two-way mirror blocking its view, it seemed certain that something was inside this door.

The longer we delayed, the worse it would be for us.

Zombies don’t tire from hunger.

No, they know hunger too well and won’t stop because of it.

‘We have to fight.’

Fighting was the only option.

Despite the speed and strength I felt earlier, it was manageable.

There were three of us, and it was just one mindless zombie.

I looked at the kids.

They seemed scared, but Ki-hyun, in particular, was gripping her weapon, preparing for battle.

She was acting like the responsible older sister.

Seeing that, I felt some of my tension ease as I whispered to the kids.

“Guys, we need to fight.”
T h i s wa s c o p i e d f r o m ki ng m t l . o rg

The tension on their faces grew.

Ki-hyun nodded with a determined look, while Jinwoo gritted his teeth, trying to stand firm.

“…How?”

“I’ll be the bait. I can handle a bit of a scuffle, so you two aim for its back while I distract it. Easy enough, right?”

I said it lightly to ease the tension, but it didn’t seem to fully reassure them.

I laughed to lighten the mood, patting their shoulders before standing up.

“If things go wrong, you two run. Don’t look back. Got it?”

“Bullshit…!”

Ki-hyun cursed.

If that was her way of showing concern, I could forgive it for now.

“Let’s go.”

I didn’t hesitate.

In situations like this, hesitation only increased the mental burden.

The kids needed to act before they knew what was happening.

I deliberately made noise as I stepped.

Then, I kicked the warehouse door open with a bang.

“Rumble—”

The zombie staggered, hitting its face on the opening door and stumbling back.

“Die!”

I shouted and swung the monkey wrench as I stepped out.

T h i s w as co p i e d f r o m k i n g m t l.o r g
Crunch!

It struck the zombie’s right arm.

The wrist flew off.

‘Damn it.’

I had aimed for the head but missed.

The zombie and I locked eyes.

For a moment, it felt like the world turned gray.

A strange sensation as if the zombie was approaching very slowly.

An illusion I often experienced in moments of intense focus.

I didn’t even realize what I was doing as I extended my foot, kicking the charging zombie in the chest.

Crack.

The sound of something breaking.

‘Ribs.’

It seemed the ribs had broken.

But it wasn’t enough to stop the zombie’s charge.

With the same posture of kicking its chest, the distance between us closed.

The only fortunate thing was that the zombie’s right arm had been severed, so it could only grab me with its left hand.

I willingly let it grab my monkey wrench, keeping my foot on its chest as I fell backward.

Thud!

“Ugh…!”

The impact of landing on my back was intense.

The zombie’s gaping maw loomed over me.

“You damn… Brush your teeth, bastard!”

I clenched my left fist.

And with that fist, I uppercut the zombie.

Crack!

Teeth flew.

The zombie, with its soft flesh, was highly susceptible to damage.

“Guys!”

As I shouted, the kids rushed out.

Thankfully, they weren’t paralyzed with fear.

Jinwoo swung a pipe, hitting the zombie in the waist.

Smack!

With my foot still pressing its chest and the blow to its waist, the zombie’s body bent like a bow.

Its head tilted back.

In that moment, Ki-hyun swung a pipe wrench, smashing its head.

Crunch!

The head flew off cleanly.

Following the trajectory of the flying head, black blood splattered.

Finally, my legs gave out.

Thunk.

The headless zombie’s body collapsed next to me.

“…Nice.”

I thought I was done for.

***

It was an unexpected close combat encounter.

Naturally, we couldn’t return covered in zombie blood, so we found a nearby clothing store and changed our bloodied clothes before heading back to the hotel.

“…There are still people doing that stuff?”

Back at the hotel, I sat with Mr. Park in one of the middle rooms, discussing the day’s events.

“Yeah, that was definitely a surgical scar.”

“Those insane…”

Mr. Park’s face twisted in anger.
Th is w a s c o p i e d f ro m k i n g m tl.o r g

“Idiots.”

He sighed heavily.

I gulped down wine from a bottle I had stashed away and nodded.

“I really thought I was going to die.”

Mr. Park and I both knew why shelters were so obsessed with researching zombies.

“Developing a cure, my ass…”

The development of a cure.

That was the official reason, but the reality was different.

The virus had reached an incurable stage.

We lived in an era where the infrastructure for research had vanished.

During the initial outbreak, scientists taken by the government were wiped out by the virus that spread to their facilities.

High-level research institutions were targeted by doomsday cultists and were destroyed.

Afterward, many tried to develop a cure, but nearly 2,000 days since the apocalypse, no solution had been found.

Despite this, the shelters continued to claim they were developing a cure for one reason.

A pretext.

The leaders of the shelters needed a pretext to keep the powerless in line and maintain their positions.

It was a viciously cruel method.

They convinced the shelter residents that they were developing a cure.

They created a grading system, promising the first benefits to the most diligent residents.

Then they dragged those at the lowest rungs, the easiest targets, for human experimentation.

A ruthless fear-based regime preventing any uprising.

That was why the shelters relentlessly produced these grotesque zombies under the guise of developing a cure.

I reminisced about the past and muttered.

“…I remember wiping them all out back then.”

There were moments I didn’t even want to recall.

Feeling that everything was wrong, I went on a rampage, destroying everything in sight with a do-or-die attitude.

Taking a swig of alcohol brought those vivid memories back, and I closed my eyes.

End of Chapter