-Real Zombies
The zombies I had seen in my previous life through works of fiction like films and novels had now become reality.
The zombies, who had repeatedly been robbed of their life force, had begun attacking people instead of pigeons.
Perhaps, as the depletion of their life force kept occurring to an extent that went against their very nature, their regenerative abilities had become overloaded, causing their instinct to replenish that life force to manifest outwardly.
An endless hunger drove the zombies on, forcing them to attack other people.
The zombies of this world had been respectable members of society in their own right, but in the end, it had come to this.
For some reason, it left a bitter taste in my mouth.
Meanwhile, I heard that the pigeons responsible for this situation had continued sucking away the zombies’ life force, only to suddenly start dying themselves.
[It’s a strange incident, isn’t it? In any case, the police are keeping the zombies under control, but it seemed like a mage would need to inspect the situation on-site, so I contacted you. Gil answered the call. Gil said he would go to the scene in your place, so I asked him to do that.]
Yu Jaeseon did not seem to be taking the situation all that seriously.
News from the scene would reach the Bureau first, so if Yu Jaeseon was still this calm, did that mean the zombies had not yet seriously harmed anyone?
I sincerely hoped that was the case.
I was extremely worried about Gil.
If Gil saw zombies attacking humans, how would he react? What state of mind had he been in when he rushed to the scene?
“Where is the scene?”
[There have been some incidents in other areas as well, but most of the reports have come in from Junggye-dong. Gil went to Junggye-dong.]
“Understood. I’ll head to Junggye-dong right away.”
I immediately left the house.
I entered Junggye-dong into the navigation system and prepared to depart.
[Are you going there right now? Thank you. Please check the situation and contact me once you arrive. Gil hasn’t made any report yet.]
“Yes. I’ll contact you again.”
As expected, Yu Jaeseon had not been able to reach Gil either.
Since Gil had gone out to the scene, it was something that could happen depending on the situation, but I could not help feeling uneasy.
Before starting the car, I called Cheon Danbi and told her to come to Junggye-dong with Ren.
If the situation was not serious, I planned to quickly wrap things up at the scene and go have dinner together as planned. If the situation was serious, I thought it would help for Cheon Danbi to be by Gil’s side.
‘Is Gil handling the zombies properly?’
Depending on the situation, he might have to subdue the zombies by force. I was worried whether Gil would actually be able to do that.
If people saw zombies attacking humans, hostility and disgust toward zombies would surely flare up among them at once.
Some would probably urge that the zombies be burned to death on the spot.
Could Gil maintain his composure in a situation like that?
Gil, who tended to feel excessive empathy toward zombies, might instead develop resentment toward humans and mishandle the situation.
‘I should have gone. Or at the very least, I should have gone with him……’
Hoping my worries were unfounded, I hurriedly drove off.
When I arrived in Junggye-dong, it was an even greater chaos than I had expected.
There were so many zombies wandering the streets that I wondered whether this neighborhood had always had this many zombies living in it.
They staggered around as if searching for targets, and their eyes and movements were clearly different from usual.
At first, I was relieved because there were not many people visible on the streets, but then students in school uniforms suddenly poured out from an alley.
Of all times, it was right after school.
“Ugh, why are there so many zombies?”
“Filthy zombies. They’re turning the whole neighborhood into a garbage dump. It stinks!”
“Get lost, you zombie bastards!”
The students casually spat out words of disgust, but as they saw the zombies approaching them, they gradually began to sense that something was wrong.
“Huh? What the hell? What’s wrong with them?”
“Aaah! A zombie’s attacking someone!”
“They’ve all gone crazy! Hey, hey, look at that! It’s trying to bite someone!”
“Run! They really bite!”
The humans of this world, who had lived their lives seeing only docile homeless zombies, were not used to fearing or avoiding zombies.
Until now, zombies had been no different from dirty ghosts existing on street corners.
People were used to ignoring them, as if the zombies were invisible.
Whether they slept on the streets, begged, or passed by, no one paid them any attention. People either pretended not to notice them or easily despised them and hurled abuse.
But now, the presence of zombies had suddenly become conspicuous.
No, this was not a situation that could be described so leisurely as their presence merely becoming conspicuous.
Here and there, students bitten by zombies were collapsing one after another.
Screams rang out sharply, and confusion spread like cigarette smoke.
In no time, zombies had become beings to be feared.
“Help me!”
“Hurry, get over there!”
“They’re over there too. They’re coming from every direction!”
“Aaagh! Somebody save me!”
I pulled the car over carelessly by the roadside and hurriedly jumped out, then ran toward them.
As I raised my mana, I shouted at the students first.
“You won’t die, so don’t worry! Don’t panic and get inside a building!”
Being bitten by a zombie did not mean immediate death. It only meant losing life force.
Of course, they could die if their life force ran out, but from what I could see, the zombies were not sucking away that much life force.
However, what was visible to the eye was the sight of people collapsing one after another.
As if they could not hear me at all, the students were terrified and running around in a panic.
I had to subdue the zombies quickly.
I activated wide-area freezing magic. A freezing mist scattered out, selecting only zombies to freeze.
“Ah! We’re saved!”
“The zombies are freezing. It must be freezing magic!”
“A mage is here!”
Once the zombies froze over and stopped moving, the students finally came to their senses, halted in their escape, and looked around.
If they spotted me, they would probably make a fuss about heroes and whatnot again, so I lowered my head and quickly walked toward the next area.
After all, the zombies were not only here.
‘Where did Gil go?’
Just as I was leaving the shopping district, I encountered Cheon Danbi and Ren before I found Gil. The two of them had come out of the subway station and were looking around.
“Cheon Danbi! Ren! Over here.”
“Ah, Mage!”
“You got here fast. This side is more or less settled.”
“What about Gil?”
“I haven’t found him yet.”
“Really? Let’s hurry and look for him together.”
Together, we headed toward the back road behind the subway station. It was an area where restaurants were clustered, so there were many people coming and going.
Sure enough, zombies were staggering around here too, and people were screaming as they fled.
On top of that, police officers were lying collapsed all along the road. It seemed they had gone out to control the zombies earlier and become the first victims.
“Oh no! All the police officers are down.”
“They must have been bitten by the zombies and lost life force. Can you replenish it for them?”
“Of course. We’ll handle the people who collapsed. Hurry and do something about the zombies.”
Cheon Danbi and Ren approached the collapsed people and infused them with life force.
I once again activated a freezing mist that targeted only zombies throughout the surrounding area.
After subduing the zombies on the restaurant street like that, I called Yu Jaeseon, reported the situation so far, and asked him to send ambulances and police officers.
There were probably still people collapsed in the shopping district along the main road.
Cheon Danbi and Ren could go replenish their life force, but we had to go find Gil.
“Ah! There he is. That’s Gil, right?”
As we entered a residential alley and walked along it, Cheon Danbi pointed to one side and spoke.
Gil was sitting on the sandy ground of a neighborhood playground.
Behind Gil, more than ten zombies were standing, bound by magical lassos. They had also been gagged with magic, so they were in a state where they could not harm anyone.
But why was Gil sitting there like that?
“Gil, are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”
Cheon Danbi shouted as she ran toward Gil.
Only then did Gil lift his head and look at us.
“Danbi noona! Huh? Ren and Mage too? How did you all get here?”
Gil said as he got to his feet. His movements looked drained of energy, and for some reason, his gaze had turned sharp.
Moreover, as soon as he stood, he turned around to check on the zombies, which made it seem as though he had been sitting there in a daze until now.
“What do you mean, how? We heard you came here, so we ran over. But what are you doing? Are you feeling unwell?”
“No. I’m fine.”
“Then why were you sitting there in a daze? You should be subduing the zombies.”
Unlike Cheon Danbi, who asked in concern, I asked directly, even if it might sound a little harsh.
“I’m sorry. I was shocked to see the zombies turn strange like this. Just a little while ago, these zombies attacked children who were playing in the playground. They suddenly bit them on the neck. I quickly threw magical lassos and stopped them, but the children collapsed.”
Gil still looked mentally shaken.
During the previous zombie virus incident, the zombies had shown abnormal behavior before, but they had not directly harmed people.
This time, however, it seemed he had been greatly shocked by the sight of zombies biting people’s necks.
Since Gil had once lived while regarding zombies as family, it was not incomprehensible, but a mage should not be showing this kind of behavior.
It made me keenly aware again that, despite being a mage with extraordinary abilities, Gil was still a teenager.
“So where are the children?”
Cheon Danbi asked as she looked around the playground. Since their life force must have been taken, she intended to treat them quickly.
“The kids are fine now. I treated them with the potions I had on me. Once their life force was replenished, thankfully, they regained consciousness soon after. The children went home.”
Hearing that put me somewhat at ease.
He had subdued the zombies and taken care of the children. In any case, he had done everything he needed to do. He had not been completely out of it.
“Is that so? You did well. Then that’s enough.”
When I spoke as if praising him, Gil instead looked at me with that sharpened gaze, as if angry, and replied.
“But what about the zombies? What do we do about the zombies? I even tried sprinkling potions on them, but they won’t return to normal. Magic can’t do anything either.”
He was voicing his sorrow and frustration.
I had no choice but to coolly remind him once more of what a mage had to do.
“I understand how you feel. It must be painful that the zombies changed like this. But they’re attacking people. You saw that yourself. And yet you, a mage, can’t be sitting here like this. While you were doing that, zombies bit more students over by the main road. The police were attacked too.”
Gil’s eyes wavered.
For a moment, I thought he might fall into even greater shock and confusion, but Gil soon pulled himself together and answered.
“I’m sorry. You’re right, Mage. I was pathetic.”
Then he tightly gripped the magical lassos binding the zombies.