As soon as we exited through the rear door of the student union, we made our way toward the library’s back entrance.

Ahead, the sound of zombies growling echoed from the entry gate.

Grrr…

I placed a hand on Lee Jung-woo’s shoulder and whispered softly.

“It’s too risky for us to go in first with the fog this thick.”

“Then what do we do?”

“We need to draw them out here. With the entry gates in the way, the zombies won’t be able to charge at full force. Let’s each take a gate.”

At the library’s rear entrance, there were gates that required student ID cards to enter.

They were similar in structure to subway turnstiles.

There were five gates in total.

When we lured zombies into the library before, these gates had momentarily slowed down their onslaught.

I turned to the group behind me, and they all nodded in understanding.

After taking a deep breath, I rushed toward the gates. The zombies, catching our scent, started growling furiously.

Kahk! Kah-haak!

Crouching low, I gripped my hunting knife tightly and repeatedly struck the side of the gate.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Grrraaaaaaa!!

Zombies on the first floor of the library let out feral cries and began rushing toward us.

Though the fog obscured much, the faint silhouettes of about a dozen or so could be seen.

Eyes wide, I thrust my hunting knife toward the zombie closest to me.

Thunk!

The blade pierced beneath its jaw, scrambling its brain. Zombies behind it got stuck in the gate, flailing as they tried to get through.

Not all zombies possessed intelligence or cognitive abilities. As long as we stayed wary of the small number that did, victory was within our grasp.

I glanced at my companions to my right. Each of them was calmly and efficiently stabbing their blades into zombie eye sockets.

It was as if they had been taught by a seasoned instructor on how to kill zombies, their movements steady and composed.

Within moments, we had taken down the dozen zombies and froze in place, straining our ears.

The building was silent. Only the sound of rain tickled our ears.

Most of the zombies that had crowded the library had been drawn out during the attack on the student union three days ago and had likely followed the drone toward the art building.

There was no need to check the second floor. Moving silently, we passed through the gates.

The library was deathly quiet.

To the right, the computer lab was securely locked. The stairs leading to the second floor and basement showed no sign of life—not even an ant.

“Head straight to the square,” Lee Jung-woo’s voice came from ahead.

I nodded and checked on the others behind me. They moved like seasoned hunters, keeping watch in all directions as they followed.

Moving silently, we made our way toward the main entrance of the library. Outside, the dense fog and heavy rain made visibility almost nonexistent.

It was only 5 p.m., but the world was as dark as midnight.

The shrouded view ahead felt like a black curtain, so impenetrable it was hard to tell if my eyes were open or closed. It numbed my senses.

Seol Yeo-won glanced around, letting out a helpless laugh as she spoke.

“At this rate, how are we supposed to find the comprehensive lecture hall?”

Lee Jung-woo frowned at the eerie scene before him and turned to Jeon Wan-soo.

“Wan-soo, can you see the lecture hall?”

“Which direction is it in?”

“From here, it’s northeast, about 300 meters away.”

“I can’t see anything. The rain’s too heavy.”

Jeon Wan-soo couldn’t see the path either.

I gazed at the world, blanketed in thick mist, and said,

“Let’s follow the library’s outer wall. Sticking close to the wall will be the safest option.”

“What’s at the far end of the right wall?”

“There’s a smoking booth and a pine tree path. Once we pass the smoking booth, we should be able to see the lecture hall.”

After my brief explanation of the terrain, Lee Jung-woo nodded and addressed the group.

“Everyone heard Jae-hyung, right?”

The group nodded, and Lee Jung-woo shook his shoulders, trying to dispel the tension, before saying,

“Let’s go.”

He led the way into the torrential rain, and we followed closely behind.

The downpour quickly weighed us down, soaking our clothes and the 1.5cm-thick books wrapped around our arms and legs.

Though wrapped in tape, the books began to feel soggy from within as our clothes grew damp.

This is dangerous.

The books sagged, and the tape loosened.

If a zombie bit into my arm, the books wouldn’t offer any protection.

Communication was almost impossible because the sound of the rain was deafening.

Lee Jung-woo, walking ahead, rubbed his face with his left hand and blinked as he stared ahead, then called out to Jeon Wan-soo.

“Wan-soo!”

“Yes, hyung!”

“Is that the smoking booth up ahead?”

The rain was so loud that we had to shout to be heard.

Jeon Wan-soo squinted and focused in the direction Jung-woo indicated.

Though I couldn’t see anything, Jeon Wan-soo tilted his head and answered,

“I can see an outline, but I’m not sure what it is!”

“Does it look like the smoking booth?”

“I don’t know!”

By now, we should have been close to the smoking booth.

But with less than a meter of visibility, identifying it was nearly impossible.

Lee Jung-woo brushed his wet hair back and kept moving.

The relentless rain soaked us completely, pressing heavily on our shoulders.

Our drenched pants felt as if they were weighted with sandbags, and the fierce winds made it hard to keep our eyes open.

The weather wasn’t just rainy—it felt like a typhoon.

The howling winds and rain roared like a banshee, and Seol Yeo-won staggered against the gusts.

Jeon Wan-soo gritted his teeth and muttered his frustration.

“Damn this weather.”

Lee Jung-woo stopped abruptly, and the group following him hesitated, staring at his back.

Jung-woo rubbed his eyes repeatedly, squinting ahead, then turned to me and asked,

“That’s not the smoking booth, is it?”

I looked in the direction he pointed. Instead of a neat, square structure, there was something misshapen.

What was that?

It looked like a large, lumpy mass. Trash, maybe?

We should let Wan-soo or Yeo-won check—

Suddenly, Seol Yeo-won grabbed Jung-woo’s and my arms, pulling us close to the library wall.

“What is it?”

Startled, I looked at her. She wiped her glasses and said,

“That’s not the smoking booth.”

“Then what is it?”

“It’s zombies clustered together.”

Hearing her words, I swallowed hard.

Facing zombies in this storm would be impossible.

Jeon Wan-soo peeked out at the cluster of zombies and frowned in confusion, raising his eyebrows.

“Those are zombies? Why would zombies huddle together in a place like that?”

“I don’t know either… but I’m certain I saw something moving,” Seol Yeo-won replied, her brow furrowed.

“Maybe you just couldn’t see properly because of the water on your glasses?” Jeon Wan-soo questioned skeptically.

Seol Yeo-won shot him a glare and retorted, “Then go check it out yourself.”

When I asked Seol Yeo-won how far the zombies were, she estimated about 20 meters.

Even at that short distance, neither Jeon Wan-soo nor Seol Yeo-won, both with Gabriel’s enhanced vision, could make them out clearly.

Maybe Jeon Wan-soo was right, and the strong wind and rain were simply tossing around a pile of trash.

Wait—being tossed around by the wind?

In a storm strong enough to make people stagger, wouldn’t it be odd for a pile of trash not to blow away?

Zombies don’t walk steadily.

They stagger, wobble, or fail to hold their heads upright, throwing off their center of gravity.

They only sprint at full speed when stimulated by prey.

Would zombies really be able to wander aimlessly through a storm like this?

The area beyond the smoking booth and the pine forest was a wind corridor.

The wind from the opposite side and the wind pushing us from the central plaza converged there.

In other words, that area was where winds from different directions collided and intertwined.

The smoking booth was deliberately placed there to prevent cigarette smoke from drifting toward other buildings.

“There’s a reason for everything.”

So that’s why the zombies were gathered there.

Mindless zombies with low intelligence had been swept along by the wind like fallen leaves, clustering in that spot.

After I explained my theory to the group, everyone nodded in agreement.

Lee Jung-woo sniffled and asked me, “So, what do we do? Should we move diagonally?”

“Yes, moving diagonally would be safer.”

“But the wind’s blowing toward the zombies. What if they catch our scent and charge?”

“In this kind of weather, it’s impossible for them to pick up our scent.”

“But rain accelerates zombie evolution. What if the information’s wrong?”

Fair point. It’s better to be cautious.

We changed our plan and decided to cut diagonally across the central plaza toward the comprehensive lecture hall.

A world shrouded in gray mist.

Earlier, we had the wall as a guide, but carving out a diagonal path felt exponentially more challenging.

It felt like being stranded in a storm on the open sea.

With no shelter to cling to, we had no choice but to rely on each other as we pressed forward.

---

Were we even heading in the right direction?

The question nagged at me, but after about 120 meters, all my doubts were erased.

The faint outline of a massive building loomed ahead, offering relief.

We were on the right track.

Lee Jung-woo, reassured, dashed under the eaves of the building and shook the water from his hair, beckoning us to follow.

As I stepped forward to join him under the eaves, I caught sight of a black silhouette hurtling from his left.

It was close.

Eyes wide, I rushed toward him, but the black shape collided with him first.

Without hesitation, I drove my hunting knife into the creature’s skull and checked on Lee Jung-woo, who had fallen to the ground.

“Hyung, are you okay? Were you bitten?”

“Ugh…”

Lee Jung-woo groaned, clutching his right arm and grimacing.

Bitten?

Heart pounding, I carefully inspected his arm. The tape and the 1.5cm-thick book had been torn away.

I rolled up his sleeve to check for bite marks. Thankfully, there was no blood.

Though damp and weakened, the tape and book had done their job.

“Haa…”

Relieved, I let out a long sigh and sank to the ground.

Lee Jung-woo rotated his arm, checking for injuries.

Seol Yeo-won, Jeon Wan-soo, and Choi Hyun, who had arrived moments later, stayed on high alert while occasionally glancing at Lee Jung-woo.

Seol Yeo-won grabbed both our arms and said, “Get up. Let’s check properly once we’re inside.”

She glanced briefly at the first floor of the comprehensive lecture hall, then frowned as she turned to me.

“Looks like not all the zombies are at the smoking booth.”

“Why do you say that?”

“There are seven of them at the far end.”

“What about upstairs?”

“I can’t see anything.”

I jabbed the ground with the handle of my knife, aiming to provoke a reaction from the zombies.

Grrr… Grrraaaah!

At the sound, the zombies on the opposite end of the hallway let out guttural growls and charged toward us.

The sound of their footsteps told me how close they were.

10 meters. 7 meters. 5 meters.

Estimating their distance in my head, I tightened my grip on the hunting knife.

At 3 meters, their blurry forms became visible—exactly seven, just as Seol Yeo-won had said.

All of us except Lee Jung-woo attacked simultaneously, cutting the zombies down.

After dispatching them, I wiped the blood off my face and turned to Seol Yeo-won.

“The sound seems to echo.”

“The center of the building is open. You can see straight from the first floor to the seventh.”

“Where are the stairs?”

Narrowing her eyes, Seol Yeo-won scanned the area before pointing to a spot.

“There.”

I couldn’t see a thing.

The comprehensive lecture hall, situated in the heart of the campus, was the largest building on school grounds.

Seol Yeo-won and Jeon Wan-soo exchanged glances before disappearing into the fog, leaving a brief instruction for us to wait.

Other Novels