The diary contained the despair experienced by the survivor who once stayed here.

I swallowed dryly and continued reading.

---

The sound of knocking on the door made me pull the blanket over my head. It’s Dad. I can’t bear to face him. I still vividly remember the sight of Dad gripping the baseball bat tightly, his lips pressed together. I pulled the blanket over my head and perked up my ears. What does he want to say? Surely… he’s not planning to kill me too, right?

Tap.

Dad… placed something on the desk and left the room again. After his footsteps faded, I checked to find it was a cup of water.

---

[June 26th]

Dad places a cup of water and food on the desk every single day before leaving the room. Cautiously, I opened the door and peeked into the kitchen. He was still sitting at the dining table, staring at the sink. He looked… pitiful. I didn’t know what to say, so I placed a hand on his shoulder. Tears began falling from Dad’s eyes.

---

[June 30th]

The mist hasn’t cleared. Every day, eerie cries echo through the thick fog, impossible to see beyond a few feet ahead. These cries don’t sound human. They’re grotesque, guttural sounds that grind the throat, like the screams of tormented souls. And today… Dad and I are heading out to face those screaming creatures. Not to die, but to survive. But if I do die… this diary will be the final trace of my 17 years of life. So, if anyone reads this, please remember me. My name is Lee Ye-jung, a 17-year-old full of dreams and energy.

---

Reading this, my heart grew heavy.

Seventeen years of life.

The tear stains, the smudged ink, and the trembling handwriting all conveyed the emotions she had painstakingly poured into this diary.

Taking a deep breath to steady my unsettled heart, I turned to the next page.

---

[July 5th]

Dad and I are still alive. Over the past few days, we’ve been going house to house, gathering survivors into one group. Seeing Uncle Hyun-bae and Mr. Man-seok alive brought Dad to tears again. I never realized Dad was such a crybaby. Gradually, college students from the nearby one-room complexes started joining, and we began rescuing local residents.

---

[July 12th]

The men cleared out zombies around the one-room complexes and set up barricades in the surrounding area. Dad somehow became the leader, guiding the survivors. I feel proud but also worried. The busier Dad gets, the more he exposes himself to danger. Recently, we’ve discovered survivors beyond the small stream and across the Geumho River. We’ve begun forming scouting teams to communicate and find ways to survive together.

---

The mention of survivors beyond the small stream made Jeon Wan-soo and Choi Hyun visibly excited.

Both of their families lived across that stream.

The thought that their parents might still be alive filled them with hope they couldn’t conceal.

As I read further into the diary, the situation began to make sense.

---

[July 14th]

Uncle Hyun-bae and Mr. Man-seok suggested to Dad that we build a crossbow. When Dad asked what a crossbow was, they described it as similar to a bow but easier to use. Having worked at a hardware store for 30 years, Dad believed he could build one as long as he had the materials. Knowing it would be much safer than hand-to-hand combat made me feel relieved. We started collecting kitchen knives and various metal parts to craft the crossbows and bolts.

---

The arrows we saw earlier in the supermarket…

They were made by Lee Ye-jung’s father, mentioned in this diary.

---

[July 21st]

The crossbows and bolts are complete. During the testing phase, one of the bolts shattered and grazed Dad’s cheek. They said he could have lost his eyesight if the shard had hit higher. Dad’s cheek was cut about five centimeters below his eye. We provided first aid, but it will probably leave a scar.

---

Next to me, Choi Hyun furrowed his brow as he muttered.

“So that bastard ended up coming here, huh?”

“Who?”

“Didn’t you read it? Check the last entry.”

Following his suggestion, I skipped to the final entry.

---

[July 25th]

The barricades have fallen. We’ve held out so far, but the zombie that came from the university’s back gate ruined everything in an instant. A zombie with intelligence. It… commanded other zombies like its subordinates.

---

A zombie commanding others.

The leader zombie.

It seemed the leader zombie we drove out of the College of Arts had attacked this place.

I had suspected as much, but knowing the survivors here suffered because of it filled me with guilt.

From their perspective, they had become collateral damage.

---

Many people died. Hundreds of zombies, moving in an organized manner, were beyond anything we could handle. We didn’t have the resources to bury the dead; all we could do was plan our escape. Time is running out. We need to either flee to the hideout across the small stream or join the survivors across the Geumho River before it’s too late.

---

The diary ended there.

It seemed Lee Ye-jung left the diary behind while fleeing.

The last entry was about ten days ago, which matched the timeline when we drove the leader zombie out of the College of Arts.

That supermarket we raided earlier?

It must have been the food storage for these survivors, abandoned in their haste to flee.

After piecing together the situation, I looked over at Jung Jin-woo. He spoke in a calm voice.

“It’s getting dark. Let’s spend the night here and head toward the small stream tomorrow.”

“How’s the solar panel charging going?”

“Almost done. The battery has plenty of charge thanks to Jae-woo and Deok-rok. Power’s not an issue.”

Rose’s ability to increase understanding of all equipment and boost power efficiency had sped up the solar panel’s battery charging process.

Park Jae-woo approached me and said, “About an hour more, and we’ll be fully charged.”

One hour…

With the sun setting soon, it would be best to focus on recharging the battery and fortifying our defenses.

I nodded and said, “Let’s follow Jin-woo hyung’s suggestion. We’ll spend the night here and leave tomorrow morning. Hye-ri and Hee-yeon, please prepare dinner. Everyone else, let’s set up a watch schedule.”

Everyone agreed.

Then, I remembered what Hwang Deok-rok had said earlier.

“Deok-rok, Jae-woo, hold up.”

Both of them stopped in their tracks at my voice.

“Deok-rok, you mentioned wanting to learn how to fight earlier, right?”

Hwang Deok-rok nodded silently.

“Both of you, grab weapons and follow me. I saw a few zombies near the main road earlier. I’ll show you how to take them down.”

“But… we don’t have weapons,” Park Jae-woo said, looking uneasy as he glanced around.

I handed them a lead pipe and a monkey wrench and said, “Anything you can swing is a weapon.”

I still had one hunting knife left, but I planned to save it for emergencies, in case Seol Yeo-won or I lost our weapons.

Also, both Jae-woo and Deok-rok needed to get used to blunt weapons first.

If they started with knives, they might make mistakes or hesitate, leading to injury.

The two accepted the lead pipe and monkey wrench, swallowing nervously as they did.

Seol Yeo-won, who had been observing the situation, stretched her stiff shoulders and spoke.

“We need someone to guide us.”

Seol Yeo-won, who could secure visibility, offered to accompany us.

That was fine by me. Having her by my side always felt reassuring.

Jung Jin-woo studied my expression for a moment before clearing his throat and calling out to me.

“Jae-hyung.”

“Yes.”

“Don’t push yourself too hard, got it?”

I responded with a casual smile.

“I’ll be back before dinner.”

“You’ve got the walkie-talkie, right?”

“Yes.”

“Stay safe.”

---

As the crimson evening sun dipped below the western horizon, three men approached the deserted supermarket.

They carried crossbows on their shoulders, their postures tense with caution.

The man in the lead froze when he spotted the entrance to the supermarket. Gesturing for the others to stop, he looked back.

The second man, who appeared to be in his early 40s, asked, “What is it, hyung? Zombies?”

“Footprints.”

“Does that mean zombies went into the supermarket?”

The man in front squinted at the entrance for a while before shaking his head.

“There are cart tracks.”

The two men behind him stiffened in alarm. The leader licked his dry lips before issuing instructions.

“Ho-jin, stay here. Hyun-bae, follow me to the entrance.”

“What do you need me to do at the entrance?”

“See those boxes up ahead? Cover me from there.”

When Lee Hyun-bae and Cheon Ho-jin nodded, the leader blinked a few times, sharpening his focus.

He moved toward the supermarket entrance, his steps silent. Apart from the faint groans of zombies in the distance, there was no other sound.

After confirming there were no signs of life inside the supermarket, the man motioned for Cheon Ho-jin to come in.

“We’ll only check the shelves and leave. You all know what we need to grab, right?”

Lee Hyun-bae and Cheon Ho-jin nodded and spread out to their respective areas.

But after three minutes of searching, all they found were empty shelves.

The leader scowled, muttering under his breath.

“Who the hell cleared this out?”

A long scar ran down the right side of his face.

Lee Hyun-bae returned from his search of the supermarket interior and spoke up.

“Hyung, it seems like there are other survivors in the area. Zombies wouldn’t take canned food, would they?”

“Where could they have come from? All the survivors nearby were gathered already.”

“Maybe college students from the university came down?”

“College students? That monster came from the university. You think anyone’s still alive there?”

“…”

“Enough about survivors. How many bolts do we have left? Don’t tell me they took those too.”

“The bolts are untouched. They only took food.”

When Lee Hyun-bae answered with a troubled expression, Cheon Ho-jin spoke up.

“Uncle Deok-bae, you might want to take a look at this.”

He held up a small note.

-“The remaining food is under the counter.”

It was the note Seol Yeo-won had left behind.

Cheon Ho-jin scratched his head awkwardly and chuckled.

“Doesn’t seem like they’re bad people, huh?”

“In a world like this, taking food makes them bad people.”

The man called Deok-bae crumpled the note in his hand and tossed it to the floor, a heavy expression on his face.

Lee Hyun-bae, standing beside him, spoke up.

“Hyung, it’s already been three days. We should head back.”

“How can we go back without food? We came out here promising to bring something back.”

“With Man-seok hyung there, the survivors across the small stream won’t act recklessly.”

“If they press us with sheer numbers, even Man-seok won’t hold them off. We need to at least bring food if we don’t want to be treated like refugees.”

“Just taking the bolts is enough.”

“For the last time, they’re called bolts, not arrows.”

“Bolts, arrows—whatever! Does it matter right now?”

As the two men raised their voices, Cheon Ho-jin, watching nervously, tried to intervene.

“Ah, come on, uncles, calm down. This isn’t something to fight over.”

Cheon Ho-jin, in his early 20s, hesitated as he tried to mediate between the two older men. The two in their 40s clicked their tongues harshly and turned away.

Lee Deok-bae rubbed his temples with a sigh before narrowing his eyes and speaking.

“If we come back next time and there’s no food left, or those who took it are camped here, let’s see if you can still talk so casually then.”

“Hyung, think carefully. The longer we take, the more worried people back at the stream will get. Do you think the survivors across the stream are worrying about us? What about Ye-jung?”

“Damn it, you think I’m doing this for myself? I’m saying we need to bring something back for Ye-jung’s sake! If we return empty-handed, the survivors across the stream might drive us out.”

“If they try to kick us out, are you planning to leave quietly? We need to fight back!”

“What?”

“Zombies or humans, does it matter in a ruined world? To protect your people, you need to fight anyone, whether they’re a zombie or a human! Hyung, have you learned nothing from what we went through?”

As Lee Hyun-bae lashed out, Lee Deok-bae’s face flushed with anger.

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