세상의 끝: End of the World

The Truth

Gimpo City was mostly intact. It was only the core of the base in ruins. It was a good thing, too; there were still parts of Gimpo City that Lisa enjoyed, and once this place became fully hers, she could order her people to restore them.

After feeding Lee Minho her healing spring water, Lisa dragged him toward the vehicle storage. Everything was all a mess, and Lisa felt momentarily furious at Lee Minho for causing such a commotion.

Where did it all go wrong?
She didn't even have to think.
It was all because of that depressing stalker Lee Minho kept around him.

She really should have just snapped his neck and dumped him out in a ditch. If only Seonghwa hadn't lied to her back then. If he had just let her know he had met Lee Minho and immobilized him, Lisa wouldn't have had to worry about being caught by Lee Minho. She could even have immediately killed that creepy hanger-on when he had somehow wandered into the underground laboratory.

And now everything had spiraled so quickly. Lee Minho had nearly been ruined. Thankfully Lisa had made it in time. Though his ability core was fractured and would never recover to what it was, Lee Minho had at least kept his good looks.

The zombie emperor Seonghwa had disappeared, taking Hongjoong with him. They needed to heal and lay low, and after Lee Minho's attack, Hongjoong was already on the cusp of death; luckily Hongjoong had become sturdier after his zombie transformation.

At least now, things were going to go back on track.
As Lisa loaded Lee Minho's unconscious form into the SKZ truck, she smiled, a triumphant look flashing through her eyes.

At the ruins of the SKZ Base.
No one knew why the zombies had retreated.
Almost everyone had died. Only around a hundred people had survived by the end. The atmosphere was dim and quiet, only occasionally disturbed by muffled sobbing.
Han Jisung gazed blankly into space. His face was unwashed, covered in grime, a mixture of blood, ash, and dirt. He looked and smelled filthy. But no one else in the base was faring much better.

"Chin up."
A wet towel landed on his head. Jennie walked over and sat on a crate next to Han Jisung. She sipped from a water flask as Han Jisung robotically took the towel and wiped it 'til the cloth turned brown and black.
"You thinking anything?"

Han Jisung didn't spare her a glance. He just tossed the towel aside.
Jennie didn't mind the lack of response. "Well, what's going through my head is... She really wants to kill us all. The only reason she hasn't, the only reason we're still alive... Is because we're convenient."

Jennie had long abandoned the idea that fate moved in mysterious ways. Ever since that talk with Han Jisung, she was adamant that everything in this world tied back to Lisa. Even something like the enormous zombie wave moved according to her whims. It was a ridiculous idea. How could everything in the entire world revolve around one woman?

But Han Jisung wasn't the type to argue or dissuade her. He didn't say anything and just sat there, curled up, like an inactive automaton waiting for its master's command.

With a sigh, Jennie got up. Her lab had been destroyed. There was no reason for zombies to have gone after her laboratory; no people had been in there, so they should have left it well alone. But the machines had been trashed, the files torn, everything in shambles. The only explanation was that either the zombies, or the human survivors, had purposefully gone to destroy it.

She should have felt on the verge of collapse knowing that her life's work, a ray of hope for humanity, was now gone. But instead, Jennie felt a strange calm. There was nothing she could have done differently. Now survival was left up to other regions, and other countries of the world.