It was quite some time later that I left the place where I had met the woman.
I waited, wondering if there might be more people, but in the end, no one came.
In the end, it seemed she had been the only one there.
Once I decided there was no point in waiting any longer, I carried her on my back and entered the supermarket building that looked relatively intact.
“Hrrup.”
Somehow moving my trembling arms and legs, I laid the woman down on the customer sofa.
The sofa was badly worn, and the luxurious leather had been torn up here and there… but I doubted she would complain.
After all, I’d nearly died from how heavy she was while dragging her all the way here.
“Ugh, I’m dying.”
I collapsed onto the single-seat sofa placed right beside it, practically sprawling over it.
Who knew a person could be this happy just from sitting down?
Its appearance was shabby, but perhaps because it was an item from a rich neighborhood, it was unbelievably comfortable.
‘If there’s something more merciful than God, it has to be this sofa.’
Honestly, isn’t something that helps you when you’re struggling the most helpful existence of all?
I had dragged a woman two heads taller than me all the way here. It was not something my already frail body could endure.
‘Well, that’s that…….’
I looked at the woman lying on the sofa beside me.
Just what was this person?
‘This isn’t the kind of place an ordinary person can survive alone.’
A place called a Blackout Zone is not forgiving.
A Blackout Zone fundamentally cuts off sight. With monsters lurking on top of that, it was only right to consider it an environment where ordinary people couldn’t survive.
The military had said as much in the first place.
The only reason survivors had managed to stay alive was because they were all mutants who had gained abilities related to the eyes.
‘In the end, it would be more reasonable to assume this woman also belonged to some group.’
Once I thought that, the gunshots I’d heard earlier bothered me a little.
From what I could see, this woman didn’t seem to have a gun, which meant there had been someone else who fired……
‘But for that, she doesn’t look like she was shot anywhere, and I don’t see the person who fired either.’
It was too puzzling to guess from the clues I had.
Still, well, I could just ask her after she woke up.
“Haaam…….”
A yawn slipped out on its own.
Inside the Blackout Zone, my sense of time had long since gone to the dogs, but fortunately, I had a wristwatch.
‘Evening… nine o’clock.’
It was only this late?
Subjectively, it felt like midnight had already passed. Was I some well-behaved child or something? Was it really right for me to be this sleepy already?
“Fuuu…….”
Because the stale fatigue made me feel as if I would fall asleep at any moment, I let out a deep breath.
Thinking about it, a lot had happened in that short span of time.
Leaving aside Gangnam Sarang Obstetrics and Gynecology, there was the existence beneath the Han River, and even the giant moth.
Too many overly dense incidents had happened in a single day.
On top of that, every monster here looked grotesque, so my mental strength was shaved away every time I saw one.
No matter how much I had the sacred art of mental protection, it seemed it couldn’t cover accumulated fatigue.
“Ahh, damn it…… haam, I can’t exactly sleep either…….”
I muttered that while rubbing my eyelids.
My eyelids were growing heavier, and the ends of my words were dragging longer and longer. If I let my guard down, I felt like I’d be out in an instant.
But I couldn’t just sleep without a care. This was a place where I didn’t know when or where a monster might jump out.
Of course, the pine caterpillars probably couldn’t get inside a building like this… but that didn’t mean there couldn’t be other monsters.
‘…Is she not waking up?’
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I glanced at the woman sleeping soundly.
We had only met for the first time here, but judging by her reactions, I didn’t think she would stab me in the back.
If she woke up and stood watch in my place, there would be nothing more I could be grateful for.
“Mm…….”
Oh?
Just then, she groaned and stirred.
And then, slowly.
Her eyes opened.
The focus that had still been hazy from sleep gradually sharpened.
She blinked while lying on the sofa, then spoke in a voice that seemed to crawl out.
“Angel…?”
“Mm-hm, yes.”
By now, I had gotten somewhat used to this title.
Not only people meeting me for the first time, but even people who had seen my face plenty called me that, so I had no choice but to get used to it.
“Now, how do you feel?”
“Ah……. Good, truly. I can’t remember the last time my body felt this light…….”
“Good. Then… you’ve slept enough, right?”
“…Yes.”
Perhaps because she still wasn’t fully awake, her voice sounded dreamy, but there was nothing I could do.
I was on the verge of dying from sleepiness myself.
“Then could you stand watch for a bit? There’s water and food in the military pack, so eat whatever you need…….”
After roughly telling the woman where the food was, I sat back in the single-seat sofa as if lying down.
“…I’ll just sleep for a little. If anything happens, wake me right…….”
Even finishing my sentence was my limit now. I did not resist the sleepiness rushing over me and simply gave myself up to it.
Hoping I wouldn’t die while I slept, I drifted off……
*
“Mmm…….”
I suddenly woke up.
Good, it seemed I hadn’t died.
It felt like I had slept for a long time, but I was still tired. If I kept lying here, I felt as if I could sleep several more hours.
Of course, I couldn’t do that.
I rubbed my eyelids, which refused to open, and recovered my vision.
“……Mm.”
Then I saw half of the woman’s face.
Her lower face was hidden by a certain part, so only the upper half was visible.
“…….”
“…….”
“Excuse me?”
“…Yes.”
When I spoke to her, an answer came back.
Not knowing what to say, I chose my words for a moment, then sighed once and sat up.
Apparently, while I was asleep, she had placed my body on her lap.
When on earth had she moved me? I hadn’t noticed at all.
It seemed I had fallen far too deeply asleep.
I sat up and looked around vaguely.
The military pack was mostly untouched. It seemed she had only used the canteen, and hadn’t touched anything else at all.
‘…Did I not sleep that long?’
Just in case, I checked my watch, and it was nine in the morning.
Which meant I had slept for a full twelve hours straight……
The fact that nothing had happened during that time was almost bizarre.
I let out a deep sigh and looked at the woman.
Our first meeting had been so intense that it had been overshadowed, but she was a beautiful woman to whom the term cool beauty suited well.
Perhaps because she had received my healing, she looked to be in better condition than when I first saw her.
“Nothing happened while I was asleep, right?”
“…No. Nothing did.”
Even while we exchanged such words, she did not budge from where she sat.
Seeing as she couldn’t even rise from her spot, her legs were probably numb.
Which meant she had continued giving me a lap pillow all this time……
‘Why did she do that?’
Yu Inha had once asked me to do it for her before, but I had given up in less than three minutes.
That was how difficult it was to do in reality, and afterward, your legs went terribly numb……
‘Sigh, I don’t know.’
After letting out a rough sigh, I cast healing on her.
As if she found it fascinating that her legs had suddenly become comfortable, she moved them this way and that.
“Don’t do that for me next time… If you suddenly have to run away, you won’t be able to.”
“…Yes.”
Still, it was nice that she accepted it quickly.
I stretched my body out fully, then spoke to her.
“What were you doing? It must have been boring to just sit still.”
“No, not at all.”
The woman drew in a deep breath as if taking a calming inhale and spoke.
“It’s been so long since the world looked this vivid in color… All this time, my world was nothing but darkness…….”
Was this what it felt like for a blind person to regain their sight?
Somehow, my heart grew heavy.
I wouldn’t know, since I had always been with light, but this person had lived close to two months inside this place.
I couldn’t dare define the depth of what she must be feeling.
Only after giving her time to collect herself did I ask.
“For now, we probably both have a lot we’re curious about, right? Go ahead and ask first.”
It was my own consideration.
Unlike me, who only needed to obtain local information, she would be far more desperate.
“By any chance, Angel… are you someone who descended from the heavens?”
A rather fairy-tale-like question came out.
It was a perfectly understandable answer. It was a perfectly understandable answer, but……
‘The problem is, that’s not it at all.’
Since my answer to that was already decided, I shrugged and replied.
“Of course not. I came from outside.”
“By outside, you mean…?”
“The outside world. Society is still running reasonably well.”
“Ah…….”
Perhaps because emotion suddenly welled up in her, she fell silent.
A little later, she asked again in a choked voice.
“Angel, did you come to help us?”
“Well, I did come to get the people trapped here out. My younger sister is trapped here too.”
“Younger sister…….”
Hearing that, as if something occurred to her, she opened her mouth with a slightly excited look.
“By any chance, do you know if my younger sisters are all right? Those children are…….”
“Wait, hold on. First, tell me your sisters’ names… and I’m not exactly well-informed, so there’s a high chance I won’t know.”
As if my words didn’t matter, the woman spoke urgently.
“Min Aji, Yu Inha. Have you perhaps heard of them…….”
A familiar name came out.
Only then did I realize we hadn’t even introduced ourselves yet.