Apocalypse’s Teacher

Chapter 78

Two days later, I left the hotel alone.

The reason I didn't go out as a team and chose to leave alone was simple.

'I can't let the kids see this.'

That's because the place I was heading to was the prison I had visited before.

The place was bound to be full of explosion debris and human corpses, so there was no point in showing it to the kids.

If I wanted to gather the remaining fresh food and materials, I would have to work diligently for the next three days.

Crunch-.

I stepped onto the snowy field and began my journey.

*

There was a tale that every man who had completed military service in South Korea would agree on.

[Snow is trash falling from the sky.]

A hundred, no, a thousand times, it's the truth.

In this world where civilization had disappeared, snow was the ultimate trash unless nature cleared it away for you.

'Damn it...'

With no one to clear the snow, the streets had accumulated so much that my feet sank with every step.

And that wasn't the only issue.

Every step left footprints, so I had to wander around and disrupt my trail to create some confusion.

I let out a deep sigh.

'...Well, it's not like I'm the only one inconvenienced.'

I decided to think positively.

It wasn't just my tracks left behind, after all.

With this vast snowy landscape spread before me, wouldn't it also allow me to monitor the movements of enemies?

For example, those footprints visible up ahead.

The short stride and the dragging motion indicated they belonged to zombies.

Judging by the direction, they had probably hidden somewhere inside a building.

'Are those from Mapo's group?'

On the other hand, another set of tracks belonged to humans.

It seemed like about three people had moved in formation, likely the regular cleaning patrols from Mapo's guys.

'They must've come here yesterday.'

The snow had collapsed and frozen over.

A sudden thought crossed my mind—what if I tasked those guys with snow removal?

As the idea crossed my mind, I quickly shook my head.

'No, snow removal is crossing a line.'

Even I had ethics.

I knew how cruel it would be to needlessly make them work in this cold weather.

We had already settled our grudges.

Isn't true neighborliness about living without causing any more conflict?

Lost in such trivial thoughts, I kept walking.

After wandering for quite some time, I finally reached the prison after two and a half hours.

'Good. No one's tampered with it.'

The prison was still exactly as it had been that day.

Due to the commotion I had caused, there were frozen zombies scattered here and there, but that was fine too.

'Those guys are useless in the snow.'

It also explained why the zombie tracks I saw earlier ended inside the building.

These creatures were weak to the cold.

And they were even weaker to snow, which caused persistent cold.

Whenever snow fell, they instinctively sought shelter indoors, and if left outside, they'd freeze in place, their teeth chattering uncontrollably.

"Nice."

At the sound of my voice, the frozen zombies chattered their teeth.

I let out a snort and swung a monkey wrench at the nearest zombie.

Crack-!

"What's with the teeth grinding, you little punk."

If you've got complaints, try shoveling snow and come at me.

That was satisfying.

After mocking the zombies for a while, I headed deeper inside.

'Which side was the storage on again?'

I remember it being indoors somewhere, but I couldn't recall exactly where.

*

I finally found it.

Last time, I had only roughly gathered the items that hadn't yet been stored in the warehouse, so it took quite some time.

'It's already three o'clock.'

In two or three hours, the sun would set.

No matter how much winter it was, traveling at night came with risks.

I quickly opened my backpack to gather supplies.

The most important thing was food.

The cold weather had kept everything from spoiling, but I prioritized items that needed to be stored properly.

Next, I grabbed small batteries and items like soap.

As I busily moved around collecting various items, I heard a strange sound.

Squeak-.

My body flinched.

My head quickly turned toward the direction of the sound.

'The depths?'

It was coming from inside.

The sound was coming from deeper inside.

It was far too clear and distinct, like the cry of a living creature, to just be noise.

Clink-.

I drew the pistol strapped to my waist.

Holding my breath, I tensed my body and slowly moved.

Squeak-.

The sound came again.

At the end of my cautious movements, I saw it.

"Huh?"

It was a puppy.

A small dog with white fur stained yellow, one that anyone would call a scrappy mutt from the countryside.

*

"I'm back."

I had returned to the penthouse.

As soon as I opened the door, Hyesung came running toward me, flustered.

"Welcome b—!"

Then she suddenly stopped in her tracks.

Of course, it was because she saw the small dog I was holding in my arms.

"...Tyranno?"

"It's a puppy."

Hyesung's cheeks turned bright red.

*

The puppy had been found in a weakened state, trapped in a cage.

The reason I brought it back... was nothing special.

Livestock and animals were rare resources.

Among them, dogs with sensitive noses could serve as hunting animals if trained well.

Besides, didn't animals also have a positive influence on children's emotional development?

In other words, there was no reason not to bring it.

The puppy, warmed by the blanket, lay curled up.

Children gathered in front of it, watching the puppy.

From a step away, the old man sipped his coffee in the kitchen and asked me.

"Where did you bring it from?"

"I brought it from over there. While looking for something to scavenge, I heard it crying."

"Those guys keep dogs too?"

"It'd be strange if they didn't. Their group is that large."

"Hmm..."

The old man stroked his chin.

Then he threw another question at me.

"Do you know how to take care of it?"

"It'll eat scraps and leftovers, I suppose. And since those guys had it, they must've given it all the necessary vaccinations, right?"

"What about training it?"

"I'll train it, of course. This works out quite well. Since we have to avoid both people and zombies, having something like this around could be helpful, don't you think?"

The old man nodded.

However, his face still carried a doubtful expression.

"It looks so frail it might not last long. Why not just make it into soup?"

What a horrifying thing to say.

Then a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

'...Right, the old man is from that generation.'

There was a generational gap between the old man and me.

To the old man, dogs were likely more familiar as guard dogs or soup ingredients than as pets.

"You really say anything, even in front of the kids."

"What? Dog meat is edible too."

I glared at the old man with suspicious eyes.

"...Just try it. I dare you."

I decided I needed to keep a close eye, in case some unidentified meat suddenly appeared on the dining table one day.

While I was immersed in such thoughts.

"Mister!"

Hyesung ran up to me and hugged my leg.

Then she asked.

"What's the puppy's name?"

Her eyes sparkled.

Her shoulders bounced, and her hips wiggled. She seemed to really like the puppy.

This is the right reaction.

This is the right way to feel happy when you see a puppy.

I felt strangely warm inside as I patted Hyesung on the head.

"Well, should Hyesung come up with a name?"

Hyesung beamed with a wide smile.

Then she approached the puppy, which was still weak and whimpering, gently patted its head, and shouted.

"Tyranno!"

Hmm, so the puppy's name is Tyranno.

Just as I was about to nod in agreement.

"No! It's Robot Ninja!"

Dabin offered her opinion.

Hyesung flinched.

Her gaze turned toward Dabin.

Dabin met Hyesung's gaze with a determined expression, as if she couldn't back down on this.

In a tense moment, Dayoon joined in.

"...Pavlov."

Was she referring to the Pavlov I knew?

What exactly was going on in Dayoon's mind?

Suddenly, the living room became chaotic.

The children's voices grew louder, and the puppy's head swiveled back and forth in confusion.

It seemed startled by the shouting kids.

"Tyranno!"

"Robot Ninja!"

"Pa-Pavloooov...!"

A sudden sense of crisis.

I started to worry that the kids might start fighting, so I hurriedly tried to mediate.

"Hey, hey, kids! Calm down..."

"Mister! It's Robot Ninja, right?!"

"It's Tyranno!"

How could they be fighting so fiercely over a puppy's name?

These usually well-behaved kids were now so riled up.

Flustered, I could only open and close my mouth as I watched them.

Meanwhile, Jinwoo spoke.

"Alright, kids. Shouldn't the puppy have a friendly name?"

He started as if trying to mediate, but the kids didn't even bother to listen.

"Tyrannoooo!!!"

"Ninjaaaa!!!"

"Pa-Pavloooov!!!"

Ah, Dayoon, who rarely raised her voice, had her pitch crack just now.

Dayoon's face turned red.

Hyesung and Dabin's faces were also flushed with excitement.

Jinwoo and I exchanged bewildered glances, while, amidst the chaos, Gihyun was simply locking eyes with the puppy.

It was a maddening moment.

Deep inside, I hoped someone would resolve this situation.

"Chunsik."

The old man approached and spoke.

At his indifferent tone, the puppy lifted its head.

"From now on, this one's name is Chunsik."

"Woof!"

The puppy responded.

It immediately reacted to the name Chunsik.

The children's faces were filled with shock, but the old man ignored their expressions with his usual indifference and patted the puppy.

"Listen, Chunsik. If you don't perform well, you'll end up as soup."

"Woof!"

Tap.

Tap.

The puppy, Chunsik, wagged its tail like a little propeller beyond the edge of the blanket.

Even in its weakened state, it responded quickly.

I thought.

'Could its original name really have been Chunsik?'

It was a plausible guess.