The Girl Wants to Be Murdered

TL/Editor: Butter Cat

Status: 4/week mon-thurs

Illustrations: none

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〈 Chapter 98 〉 888. The Chapter of the Girl and the Zombie (10)

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**

An abomination(??) blooming in the darkness.

"Everyone, ruuuuuuun—!!!"

**

["■■■,■■....!!" "■■■■!!" "■■,■■■■■." "■■■■■■■!!!!" ".....■■.....■■■■." "■■■......!!" "■■, ■■■,■■■■!" "■■■■■...!!" "■■■,■■■■!!"]

"—Dammit! Hee-ah, where's Hee-ah!? Hwa-min, where is Hee-ah?"

"I haven't seen her since earlier!! Has anyone here seen Hee-ah!?"

"I haven't seen her either!!"

*Gnash*, *gnash*—.

Instead of the fragrant flower scent that should have wafted from the gaping hole, presumably a mouth, there was the horrible stench of rotting corpses vibrating.

Below that orifice, where beautiful petals should have been if it were a flower, were protruding, crooked fangs instead of petals.

A stem reminiscent of a neck, or a trunk, withered and twisted.

And branches, forking out from there, now reaching towards us.

"....What the."

A flower that looked like it had been created by inverting all human values.

["""""■■■■■■■■■────!!!"""""］

"—Just what the hell is going on!?"

The indescribable song emanating from those flowers filled the entire floor of the supermarket where we stood.

**

Like sunflowers turning their heads in unison to follow the sun.

Or like a line of ants swarming towards where food can be found.

Those who had revealed their horrifying forms from the darkness began to walk towards us, the only source of warm life in this place.

Even when we threatened them with long weapons raised high, even when we shone bright lights from our flashlights, they didn't care.

Step by step. As if our resistance meant nothing to them, they took slow but steady steps forward, and the distance between us and those zombies was steadily closing.

Do they want to kill us that badly.

Do they need to devour us that desperately.

Of course, we weren't just standing still in this dire situation either.

However, we couldn’t do much since if we got so much as a scratch, we would lose, and because hordes of zombies would pop out every time we tried to escape past the counters, we had no choice but to be stuck here.

And that—

—Grab!

"Get lost, you bastards!!"

[".....■■....■■■."]

Led to the truly worst-case scenario of zombies starting to swarm in right within striking distance of our weapons.

No matter which direction we looked, left, right, front, back, all we could see was a wave of screaming corpses.

Where did we go wrong.

Since when had this trap been planned.

And most importantly, where is Hee-ah now.

The sudden appearance of the zombie horde.

And the sudden disappearance of the child who had been holding onto my clothes just moments ago.

In this worst-case scenario where those two things that absolutely shouldn't happen had happened at the same time, ominous premonitions filled with worry and anxiety were growing in my mind, each one feeding into the next.

Could she have already been caught by the zombies.

Or is she lost and wandering somewhere on this floor overflowing with zombies, clueless about what was happening.

Or maybe, even now as we were trapped here, she was desperately calling out our names, waiting for help—

....

No.

Absolutely not.

—Clench.

"Hee-ah. That clever child wouldn't be caught so easily."

I gripped the weapon in my hand even more firmly.

With resentment. No, perhaps with desperation, I glared at the hordes of zombies approaching us.

My eyes fell on a woman with long black hair, and on her brown, rotten skin, a swarm of maggots wriggled, greedily devouring her flesh.

A repulsive sight I could never get used to, no matter how many times I saw it.

Forcibly pushing down the urge to vomit rising from within, I directly smashed the heads of the zombies surrounding us with my club, along with everyone else.

Whack, whack!

["......■,■■■..."]

"—Hee-ah!! Where are you!!"

Every time I swung my arm forcefully, a liquid would burst from the bodies of the zombies that collided with my club.

A strange liquid that could only be vaguely discerned as a deep green color, impossible to describe properly.

Still, how could such a sickening substance that induces disgust just by looking at it be produced in the bodies of those who were once human.

Even though I was wearing thick clothes without any gaps so that the liquid wouldn't touch my skin, I still couldn't shake off the uncomfortable feeling of bugs crawling all over my body from the moment I saw that horrifying ooze.

Had the people I knew also turned into this form.

Could the faces of those people possibly exist among these zombies I was attacking.

The things I was striking down now were the remnants of those who were once people.

[".....■■■■!"]

"No....No…!!"

Whack—!

I gritted my teeth and swung my club even harder.

There was no room to think of anything else with the horde of zombies right in front of me.

The best I could do in this desperate situation was simply to swing the club in my hand with all my might.

First came the sharp sound of air being sliced, followed by the dull sound of striking something blunt.

My hand felt like it was hitting clay, and with that empty sensation, the thing that had been walking towards me with both its arms outstretched fell to the ground in the same posture.

As expected, unlike their horrifying appearance, the zombies weren’t that strong.

Thanks to that, we were able to somehow fight back even in this critical situation.

But.

[""""────■■■■■■■■■!!!""""］

Just when we thought we might be able to escape somehow by continuing like this.

With a squelch.

"More...They're gathering..."

"....It's endless, dammit. Where the hell were they all hiding…!!"

We looked and saw a new wave of zombies, several times larger than the ones we had just defeated, approaching us, trampling over the bodies of the fallen zombies.

There had been some gaps here and there on the floor in the beginning, but as time passed, their numbers only increased, slowly filling those gaps.

And to make matters worse.

—Rustle.

["....■....■■...."]

"...This is crazy, seriously."

Even the zombies we had knocked down earlier were starting to get back up, as if they had recovered.

The floor was already covered in that creepy green ooze.

"..........."

With the encirclement closing in.

All we could do was slowly back away, our backs against each other's.

But despite our efforts, the floor was becoming more and more crowded with zombies that had gathered.

Soon, even the path to the stairs we had used to come down here would be blocked.

If this continued, this entire building would become our grave.

—Thwack!

"Have you still not found Hee-ah!? Did she go up to the first floor ahead of us?"

"What if she's still here on this floor!? We can't leave Hee-ah here alone…!! U-Ugh… We have to find Hee-ah!"

"—They're swarming in from the other side too! We're running out of time!! At this rate, even the stairs going up will be blocked! Hee-ah, Hee-ah!! Can you hear us!!! Where are you!!!"

We shouted Hee-ah's name with all our strength.

Perhaps our voices acted as a catalyst. The attacks from the surrounding zombies grew more fierce.

But despite that, our cries calling for Hee-ah only grew louder, as if in defiance.

Rather, it was hundreds of times better for the zombies to hear our voices and come this way than to head toward Hee-ah who might be somewhere in this building.

But.

"...Hee-ah.... Answer us... Please.....!"

["....■....■■■.."]

Whack—!

Despite our efforts, shouting at the top of our lungs and fighting our way through the zombies, there was no sign of Hee-ah anywhere.

All we could hear were our own voices echoing off the walls and the moans of the zombies.

As a last resort, forcefully suppressing the urge to turn away, I scanned the zombie horde, but Hee-ah's face couldn't be found there either.

Yes.

Not a single one, all of them. Without exception.

Not the bag Hee-ah would have been carrying.

Not the clothes she would have been wearing, not her hat. Nothing.

In the end, as I expected, Hee-ah had──

"Wait—"

Not even one?

That's strange.

No, that's weird, isn't it.

Because—

["...■■....■■■!"]

"Having none at all….. It doesn't add up. "

I muttered blankly.

Thinking about it, it was a simple matter.

Sound? Let's say Hee-ah's voice couldn't reach us because of the loud noises of the zombies, or perhaps she was in a situation where she couldn't make a sound because there were zombies nearby.

Objects? Because it was so dark, we might not have been able to spot Hee-ah's clothes or figure.

Yes, that could be possible.

But still.

It's strange that 'that' isn't visible.

The one thing that should be visible more than anything else in this dark environment.

The one thing that everyone has, the thing I repeatedly told Hee-ah to always keep on no matter what.

The thing that I even tied to Hee-ah's wrist with a string, just in case.

That is—

"—The flashlight."

"....Sunbae? What are you talking about?"

"—Hee-ah's flashlight is missing! The light from the flashlight....isn't visible!!"

As I blurted those words out, I quickly scanned the surroundings again.

And sure enough, except for the areas we illuminated with our flashlights, there was only pitch darkness.

"........You're right. It's not there."

Yes. Literally, nothing could be seen.

Except for the area near us, lit by our flashlights, the surroundings were so dark that we couldn't see an inch ahead.

Yet nowhere in our quick scan could we find the light that should have been emanating from Hee-ah's flashlight.

And that meant only one thing.

Hee-ah, no, Hee-ah's presence—

"—Isn’t on this floor! She must be upstairs!"

That she's not on this floor, that was the conclusion I reached.

Come to think of it, before coming down the stairs to the basement food aisle, Hee-ah had been intently looking at the shelves where non-food items were displayed.

Furthermore, no matter how engrossed Jung-eun and I were in the canned goods, there was no way we wouldn’t have noticed Hee-ah's screams or any other noise if she was struggling.

Even if her flashlight was broken or taken away, if there had been any loud noise, Jung-eun or I, or at least Yeon-ah who had been quiet, would have noticed it right away.

If that's the case, it means Hee-ah left our side on her own while we were momentarily distracted by the food.

Then the only place Hee-ah could be now was upstairs.

And if that assumption was correct, it meant that while we were continuing to waste time here, Hee-ah, alone upstairs, could be in danger.

The answer was clear.

I don't care if this is a false hope.

I will simply do my best in this given situation, that's all.

—Thump!

"Okay! The path is still open! Let's quickly fight our way up the stairs!! Remember the stairs we used to come down? We're going back up that way!"

"....Yes!!"

Hoping that Hee-ah would be waiting for us on the first floor, we ran with all our might, forcing through the zombies.

Neither the zombies blocking our path nor the objects scattered on the floor like obstacles could stop our relentless advance.

The only thing in my mind right now was the image of Hee-ah waiting for us alone.

Hee-ah, stay right there and don't move!

I'm coming!!

**

Tick.

"Now. It's unnie's turn."

­ 1 : 59

Tick.

"Heehee. If you don't roll quickly… you'll be late like last time, won’t you?"

­ 1 : 58

Tick.

"Well, I could roll it for you… but it feels wrong for someone like me to touch unnie's precious things."

­ 1 : 57

Regret (??), is the act of looking back on what has already passed.

Because it's too late to do anything about it, no matter what, that's why it's called regret.

So unnie, you don't have to be so heartbroken.

Even if you always do your best, regrets still come.

Tick.

­ 1 : 56

Ah.

"I miss you, Hwa-min unnie."

When will you come.

Tick-tock, the changing numbers.

Now, there's not even 2 minutes left.

**

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