I'm still alive

The image of the apartment complex came through the scattered breaths. I felt as if I had gone through a long forest into a dark swamp. As we passed the nearby road, the clouds hid the bright sunlight as if they had waited and a cold chill passed through my body. Oh, it feels familiar. The feeling of facing potential danger was just like this. But my feet moved forward, as always, rather than scared.

I pushed back the resistance held by cloudy skies and fierce strong winds. And slowly approached the apartment complex by sending a signal to the party. As we moved our steps, the street trees disappeared from sight one by one, and at the end of it, we began to see the entrance to the apartment complex where cars entered. x Castle, too familiar a trademark and just a name of a parent company. But the monster's body hanging on the label was never familiar. The old man spat on the floor and murmured.

'You look like shit. Aren't they all dead?’

Even though we approached here, there was no sign of anything in the shelter. No, it seemed that the post itself did not exist. At that moment a laugh came out of my mouth. How should I describe this? Oh, yes. This place was like a crude sand castle that was about to collapse. I slowly crouched down in my seat, instructing the party to be on the perimeter.

At the entrance of the apartment complex, there was a barricade to prevent entry. But I couldn't tell if this was a barricade or just a pile of trash. Seemingly damaged recently, it was just an automatic door that could be broken at any time at heart. I had to worry for a while in the face of the formal obstacle. Did he just leave it as a barricade? If I break it down, will I become an intruder?

It's already been ten minutes, but no one's coming out. Silver-rimmed glasses say they've given us notice before we left, but they don't even seem to have found us over there. No matter how much we looked and waved, we could only hear the sound of the wind blowing from the apartment complex. a dragon waits Kick the barricade and ask if you're tired.

Should we just go in?’

'Hurry up, don't make a scene.

An old man with a bad expression stood up, drying his dragon arm. He is the best old man here. But the old man, who knew the nature of the mission, was patient and waiting for a person to come out. It is cold. In this cold weather, just standing still makes your body and body temperature disappear quickly. The company's faces were getting pale and my patience was running to the limit. And at that moment a young voice rang out from the rubbish heap of barricades.

'Who, who is it? Hands up!'

Come out early, Shibural. It takes 20 minutes for the old man to say a word of abuse in front of the security guard. His face was red as if he were shouting at him right away, but he could see that he was trying hard to resist for his mission. A moment later someone walked awkwardly over the barricade, and I quietly lowered the gun I was holding to show that I had no intention of fighting. And I took out the lines that I had prepared.

'I'm from Eden. The reinforcements.’

Eh, Eden? Are you guys from Eden?’

The informal speech quickly changed to honorifics. The guard who crossed the barricade was a young man who looked like a high school student at best. Whether because of the cold or fear, his face was pale and his shaking eyes seemed quite frightened. And next to it I saw a little girl walking with her, holding the man's collar tight. When I saw the girl and the frightened boy, my mouth became bitter and the party's vigilance was lifted for a moment. Then the old man with a ridiculous smile asked the two.

'Where have the elders gone?'

The boy was holding a window that looked crude. The spear looked shabby than the spear I carried in the early days, and it was so crude that I couldn't kill an ant, let alone one. But these two came to us like guards guarding the entrance. You're spending these kids on security? I couldn't even imagine how messy the inside was. The man briefly pondered before the question of a strange old man, but soon replied in a quivering voice.

Everyone, take a rest.….’

Don't lie, your face is clearly filled with resentment and resentment. Perhaps this man is speaking with the utmost refinement of the inside situation. The old man shook his head and I took out the gun I had put down and sent a signal to the party. Since we have met the gatekeeper for courtesy, we can go inside for our mission.

'Let's go in and talk.’

'What? Oh, yeah...….’

The man's face contained hesitation. Can I open it myself? You're probably thinking about it. However, I had no time to accept such hesitation because my patience had reached its limit. When you step on a pile of trash that you say is a barricade, you smell bad and dusty. I strode over the pile and began to walk to the entrance. Behind me, I could hear the footsteps of the party, and I captured a complex that looked like a deep swamp in my mind.

'Is that your brother?

As soon as he crossed the pile, the old man turned his eyes and asked the man. The child, who had been clinging to the man's side, showed no sign of falling like a koala. I could see they were afraid of us, but they are glancing at us as if they are having a strong curiosity in the midst of the horror. Do you think they're good siblings? When asked by the old man, the man shook his head and said,

I don't know him.’

Why do you have a kid you don't know?’

The old man asked, looking at the man with strange eyes. The eyes contained a sharp detection to recognize the intention. For a stranger, the child follows the man well. Just like siblings. At the old man's question, the man once again gives a dejected laugh. Then carefully lowered his hand and stroked the greasy child's head. The touch was smeared with affection and deep homogeneity.

'...... she lives next door, but her parents abandoned her. He was alone in the flower bed, so I've been taking him around since last week. It's because he can't speak, he's very nice.’

The man answered in a dry tone as if nothing were much, but the action was by no means light. The man was skinny and had no color to eat for a long time. But in the meantime, he was carrying a child who had nothing to do with him to protect him from the cold and the world. Yeah, silly ass-hugu. It was a preliminary corpse to Songjianghaeng who was searching for his own way to die.

'Here, have some candy.’

But we were the same people who handed candy to the spare. Unlike before, the old man looked at the man with a warm expression and took the candy out of his pocket and held it out to the child. The sudden approach surprises the child and hides behind the man. However, they start staring at the candy with sparkling eyes, as if they know it's candy on the old man's hand.

'Buy, candy...'.’

And it was the man standing next to him who reacted as violently as a child. As soon as the man saw the candy, he looked at it with longing eyes, and soon began to swallow his saliva and shake his lips. There is a rumbling sound coming from somewhere. At the same time as the sound came a sigh out of my mouth and the hand holding the bag moved busily. I took out the snacks I had brought and told the man.

'Have some.'

Thank you!

In front of food, you are wary and hesitant, and everything is useless. The man who had been timid for a while changed suddenly and began to sweep snacks into my hands. But while he was stuffing his mouth with food, he was taking care of the child next to him, peeling off the wrapper. There was not even a 1% pretense in that behavior from familiarity and instinct.

Yeah, the group leader was right. The old man passing by beside me murmured quietly and I had no choice but to nod and accept. I think I found at least one Boram who came here. I took the gun back in my hand and started looking around the apartment complex. The complex completely hid what it had before the end of the war and had a gloomy atmosphere like a abandoned building.

Where does the manager live?’

I asked, looking at the man crumpled food in his mouth. We are not guests who have visited here, but support personnel who have come on behalf of Eden. At least it was a step for the manager to come and guide us and tell us what to do. However, there were only men here who doubted whether they had been formally charged with security, let alone those responsible. The man hurriedly swallowed the energy bar and said,

There's no such thing as a director. I think I've seen them in the management office recently. Would you like me to take you there?’

Now I had no power to be dumbfounded. I began to walk behind a man who was less alert than before, telling him to do so. This apartment complex had so many amenities that it boasted a high sale price. In the middle of the street was a park for people to take a walk and a row of pretty trees lined up.

However, now they are all devastated, and the park is full of trash and strange dirt. All the trees were cut off for firewood, and there were black ashes and drums of smoke leaking out. I looked up and looked around each of the apartments around us. For some reason, I feel like I'm looking from all directions.

How many people do you have?’

I opened my eyes from the gaze seen through the curtains and asked the man walking ahead. The man hugged the slow-walking child and scratched the back of his head, wiping off the falling dandruffs with his hands. I haven't said anything for a while, and I think I'm thinking about an answer. About two minutes later, he replied, shaking his head, whether he had finally given up.

'I don't know. It's a place like that.….’

They are gathered but do not cooperate. It was exactly the same concept as the apartment neighbors before the end of the war. Just passing by, you think, "Oh, there are people." The concept of neighborhood for us has long faded. And the phenomenon never changed when the end came. Each protects his or her own space and maintains indifference to each other. It was the apartment of people who gathered but did not.

There came the trembling voice of Yong-pal from behind.

Brother, brother...There's a dead body here...….’

I turned my head. Then the dragon fell and crawled backward in front of the body that appeared in the snow. No matter how close death is, it was normal to be surprised to see a dead body as a breathing human being. But the man walking ahead looked back at us and asked,

'Don't step on it, be careful.’

That was the end. Let's clear the bodies, or be careful not to harm the dead. There was no such human advice at all. The man was speaking so calmly in the tone of just not stepping on the dirty dog poop. I moved slowly and looked at the body buried in the snow. Then he removed the snow with his hands and checked the condition of the dead body here.

There were three bodies in total, and there were no signs of injury to the body that was killed in an outside attack. All over the body were skinny, dead with a comfortable face as if asleep. I could confirm the cause of death as soon as I saw it. Yeah, they died of hunger and cold. And the body was dressed lightly, as if it had been stripped off postmortem. Survivors seem to have stripped their clothes for heating.

The old man murmured quietly and prayed for the repose of the dead. Those who do not know their names or where to live, but they must not have been so light-hearted to die so easily. At least I had to have time to pray. The party stood there for a while and made their graves out of snow. Snow was everywhere, so it wasn't such a difficult task. But the more I dig my eyes around, the more I sell....... The body began to be found and soon the work was stopped.

'......don't waste your time and come quickly. I don't even know how long he's dead.’

The man spoke calmly, but the calm end of the words was shaking finely. Yeah, he knows that. That what he says is not normal. He was adapted, not in the face of this spectacle. Hell, the end of the century. I felt like I had to put all the words together to speak for my feelings. I nodded quietly and brushed the snow off my hands.

'Let's go.'

I picked up a gun calling the still-moved party. Then he threw a rope of orders at the group that couldn't walk away and made them move from their seats. My head is blank. If I've seen the wild flames, I feel like I've seen the burnt white ashes today. But I was following the man walking ahead, moving my feet like a machine.

Passing through the built park of the apartment complex, I began to see a lot of parking lots full of cars. Only then did I begin to see people except this man, who were enjoying the fire in the drum, as if they were homeless. Survivors living in this apartment complex. No, already their eyes were dead like mountain songpans, not survivors.

'Dongyoon.'

Next to me, the old man calls me carefully. At the same time my eyes and body quickly turned to the direction the old man pointed at. And there was a boundary, as if it were an invisible wall, and beyond that there was a 103-dong look that gave off an atmosphere different from the parking lot. And in the corridor on the first floor, there was a woman who had seen her once, dangling along.

An expensive long padded coat that looks like a new one. The fur hat and scarf, which compare with other survivors, caught the eye of all survivors for a moment. Of course the gaze included us and I could remember who she was. The woman who came to Eden. He had arrived here before us.