Season 2: Chapter 35. Brain Vs. Walnut (2)
Almond had experience in his social life that the excuse of going to the bathroom only lasted around thirty minutes. Considering the time it took to go and return, it was generally regarded as strange if someone exceeded thirty minutes.
Of course, they wouldn’t immediately come looking for Jang Seong-Soo just because they regarded it as strange.
Moreover, Almond could continue making excuses using Jang Seong-Soo's phone. Considering this, he reckoned he had about an hour.
"I have an hour," Almond muttered and moved on to their next plan.
"Bring the boxes with the bread."
Upon hearing that, Hyun-Ah pulled out the cart they filled with boxes. The boxes weren’t that heavy because they were filled mostly with bread.
"Toward the western stairs."
She turned the cart toward the western stairs that were closer to the store.
The three of them stood side by side in front of the western staircase and took a deep breath for a moment.
"Let's open it."
Everyone nodded silently at Almond's words. Their tension was clearly visible.
Clank.
They opened the fire door leading to the first floor for the first time. It was the first time they set foot on the first floor after the incident.
***
The annex on the first floor housed the teachers’ offices, the infirmary, and the administration offices responsible for all school operations.
The most important place was obviously the infirmary with golf clubs, a bed, some food, and numerous medical supplies. It had everything essential for surviving in these times, but the problem was Baek Joon-Soo's gang.
The character Kim Ju-Hyeok couldn't possibly confront Baek Joon-Soo. If they encountered him directly, Kim Ju-Hyeok would become paralyzed with fear and wouldn’t be able to do anything properly. Therefore, they needed to find a way to take over the infirmary without confronting Baek Joon-Soo.
Squeak.
The three of them headed to the first floor to find a way.
Almond, Hyun-Ah, and Soo-Hyeon carried the boxes full of bread with great tension. Their goal was to carry this up to the second floor. Their first problem was that they couldn't carry the cart up the stairs, but they quickly resolved this.
"Hey, Soo-Hyun."
"Yup."
With Hyun-Ah's signal, Soo-Hyun quickly brought over a board he had set aside. It wasn't a real board, but several pieces of cardboard layered together until it became sturdy.
She laid it on the stairs and created a ramp.
Click, click.
They set it up piece by piece, creating a path long enough for the cart to pass. They had prepared up to this point in advance.
Soo-Hyun placed his hands on the boxes and helped pull the cart.
"Be careful."
Although they tightly securely the boxes, it wasn’t stable.
Hyun-Ah pushed the cart up as carefully as possible so it wouldn't tip over. She pushed from the back while Soo-Hyun pulled from the front.
Almond's role was to scout the area. He went ahead first to check the situation.
When Hyun-Ah reached halfway up the staircase, Almond checked both sides of the corridor on the first floor.
'Clear.'
There were no signs of zombies on the first floor. It was probably because Baek Joon-Soo's gang operated here, making it hard for any zombies to survive. Given this, their gang probably left only one guard.
Baek Joon-Soo underestimated the area, thinking his only enemies were zombies. He was complacent. Now, his complacency would come back to haunt him.
Almond signaled for them to come up.
"Come on."
Rattle.
Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun pushed the cart up. The wheels squeaked, but weren't as loud as expected. The boxes were bulky with bread, but not heavy.
— This is a real bread storage.
— How much bread are you planning to smuggle!?
— Isn’t this a real bread shuttle? Lol.
— At this rate, it's bread overload.
— Hey, ForeverAlone! Move out of my way! I'm the real bread slave now!
In the chat window, viewers joked about Almond actually transporting bread.
However, the in-game situation remained tense. What if, by chance, one of Baek Joon-Soo's gang members went to the bathroom from the basement floor to the first floor? And they happened to bump into Almond? The whole plan would be completely ruined. That was why Almond constantly checked their group chat.
People in the group chat always reported whenever they moved. Almond carefully observed their reports to minimize the chance of bumping into anyone. Suddenly, he pointed upward.
"Let's go."
Now, they headed to the second floor.
***
The second floor was uncharted territory, untouched by even Baek Joon-Soo's gang. The second floor onward featured the classrooms for students. This meant there would be many people there, which meant many zombies.
Zombies weren't a problem to Almond. At least, as far as he knew. This character, Kim Ju-Hyeok, felt no emotion toward zombies.
Almond thought the opposite of everyone else.
'Places with many zombies are advantageous.'
The more zombies there were, the more favorable the environment for Kim Ju-Hyeok. They planned to temporarily relocate their base to the second floor. They needed a place to hide while Baek Joon-Soo targeted the store and the second floor seemed like the perfect place.
"I'll go first."
Almond went up first with his weapon.
Soo-Hyun brought the wooden planks they laid out on the basement floor and started laying them to the second floor.
Thud. Thud.
The wooden planks being laid echoed out. The faint sound of cardboard on marble made Soo-Hyun nervous. They would be dead if the noise reached the first floor's infirmary. That thought was ever-present in his head.
Regardless, they had to execute the plan. Soo-Hyun only watched Almond's back as he walked.
Almond suddenly stopped. Soo-Hyun thought Almond had paused out of caution, but that wasn't it.
"The fire door..."
The fire door was closed and blocked the way to the second floor. They couldn't proceed anymore.
— Darn, it's closed?
— What now?
— Our plan failed...
They tried the handle and hoped, but it was locked.
Usually, the fire doors opened from the first floor. He could open it if he was on the second floor trying to go to the first, but not the other way around. It was designed this way for safety reasons to ensure that those inside could escape to the ground floor in the event of a fire.
However, there were ways to open it from the outside like forcefully hitting the handle as Kim Woo-Jung did. It was designed this way in case firefighters needed to get in.
Opening it wasn’t the problem, but...
'If I hit it, it'll make too much noise.'
The sound of metal hitting metal would echo out and they weren’t that far from the first floor's infirmary.
Baek Joon-Soo’s gang would definitely hear them.
"What should we do...?"
Soo-Hyun suddenly grabbed Hyun-Ah's hair.
"Hey, what are you doing!?"
Hyun-Ah couldn't scream and only let out a silent cry.
Soo-Hyun easily subdued her and took a hairpin.
"I know how to pick locks."
Soo-Hyun approached the fire door with the hairpin.
Hyun-Ah blinked in disbelief with her disheveled hair.
"Were you a thief or something?"
She'd only seen lock-picking in comics or movies, but who actually saw it in real life?
"I've had a complicated life."
Soo-Hyun, pin in mouth, pulled his long hair back and carefully examined the lock.
"Good. It's so old-fashioned; this will work."
As he said, the annex building was quite old. That was why such ancient techniques worked.
Click. Click.
Soo-Hyun fiddled with the pin.
"Voila!"
Clang!
— Thug skills impressive.
— Did he learn that in Maple Story? LOL
— How is this even possible?
Soo-Hyun's efforts allowed them to open the second floor fire door without much noise.
However, they overlooked one thing. The second floor was uncharted territory.
"But who locked this fire door?" Soo-Hyun asked and sensed something was off.
It was probably Baek Joon-Soo's gang.
"Probably Baek Joon-Soo? Pizza Bread, just come help me with this cart."
"No... why would Baek Joon-Soo's gang do that? If they close it, they can't get up."
“...?”
A moment of silence followed.
The fact that this door was deliberately closed meant there were obviously zombies inside. However, a moderate number of zombies posed no challenge to Baek Joon-Soo's group. Armed humans could easily handle a few zombies. Even when ambushed by zombies, they only lost two or three members and killed the rest.
"Are there so many zombies inside that they couldn't handle them?" Almond mumbled and moved forward.
Soo-Hyun didn't even have a moment to dissuade him.
— Lol
— Why is he just going?
— Oh, is this place super dangerous? (As he walked toward it)
— Haha
— ??? They can't even compete with me anyway.
His audacity bewildered Soo-Hyun and Hyun-Ah. In Almond's mind, zombies didn’t pose a threat regardless of their numbers.
'It was as I expected.'
In fact, he intentionally chose a place with many zombies. The only threat to him currently was Baek Joon-Soo and Yoon So-Hee.
Almond was extremely cautious when he came to the first floor because of the possibility of encountering Baek Joon-Soo's gang, not the zombies.
Click.
Almond confidently stepped onto the second floor. Then, he was taken aback.
The place felt desolate without any signs of life.
'What's going on?'
No zombies could be found.
"There's none. Come up."
"Really?"
Almond nodded again.
There really was none. If there had been any zombies, they would have undoubtedly heard the typical growling. It was strange.
Rustle.
Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun pushed the cart up.
It made a louder noise compared to before. Almond kept looking around, but didn't feel the presence of any zombies.
"We're here."
"Phew."
Hyun-Ah and Soo-Hyun placed the cart in the hallway on the second floor. Their basic preparations for the plan were ready now.
"We can last a week with these supplies,” Hyun-Ah said while recalling her experience from working in the cafeteria.
"Good. Let's go to the classroom closest to the construction site," Almond said as he closed the fire door again.
Clang.
"It's better closed. They won't notice for a long time," Soo-Hyun muttered while looking at the fire door.
"But why was it closed? There aren’t any zombies."
They didn’t spot any zombies, yet this vast place was abandoned and the door was shut.
Even if the classrooms didn’t have anything valuable, at least the books could be used for fuel or the gym uniforms could be worn for extra clothes.
"Class 1-8 is the closest."
Almond led the way while looking at his mini-map.
Buzz. Buzz.
Meanwhile, the two phones he brought with him started vibrating.
***
"Why isn't he answering?" Yoon So-Hee asked with an annoyed expression.
"Didn't you say he texted back?"
"Well, yeah.. he texted, but..."
[Because I'm in the restroom]
Even now, the messages continued.
Yoon So-Hee snatched his phone.
"Is he insane?"
[Hey. How long have you been in the restroom? It's Yoon So-Hee. Why aren't you answering the phone?]
[Call? I didn't receive any...]
[What?]
She paused, thinking about the possibility of phone calls not working considering their situation. She recalled that during a past earthquake, only messenger apps worked while calls went down.
[When will you be done?]
[I don't know. I’m so constipated. Why are you like this? Do you need me for something right now?]
‘Not really.’
[I just wondered how you could poop for an hour, so I called.]
[Alright, go to sleep. Didn't you say we'd attack at dawn?]
[Okay.]
Yoon So-Hee tossed the phone back and sat on the bed.
She felt uncomfortable.
"Why are you so moody?" Baek Joon-Soo was lying down and asked.
"Nothing."
Though she denied it, this odd discomfort took shape in her mind.
"Wait..."
She checked the group chat on her phone again and started scrolling up.
"Has this guy always talked like this?"
She noticed that Jang Seong-Soo's speech pattern had changed.