Apocalypse Tyrant

King of the Library (5)

[The reason I’m writing this diary is simple. Who knows if this diary I’m writing now will become the next generation’s ‘Anne’s Diary’? If it becomes even just a steady seller like ‘Anne’s Diary’, that would be more than enough compensation for what I’m going through now.]

“…This bastard was a proper idiot bastard.”

I snorted at the absurdity hitting me hard from the very first page and stared down.

Buzz buzz buzz—!

Flies incessantly flying around the corpse and maggots disgustingly writhing on its body.

[Of course, it’s also true that I’m writing because there’s nothing else to do while waiting for rescue. Yeon-ssi said I should call the police or my parents instead of wasting time on this nonsense, but well, neither the police nor my parents answered the phone. They’re probably busy taking shelter in the restaurant by now.]

…Yeon-ssi.

I looked around the rooftop once more at the new character mentioned in his diary.

Whoosh—

A rooftop with nothing visible except the gentle wind and shitty flies.

So far, the only trace of someone remaining on the rooftop was this diary’s protagonist.

“…Something did happen.”

[Still, at times like this, I’m a bit reassured by the fact that my father liked exercising. I used to agree a hundred times with my mom’s nagging that he should mind the restaurant counter instead of going in and out of the gym like he was addicted, but at times like this, my father’s love for exercise is helpful again. Father is probably safely protecting mom.]

Letters densely filling the pages in quite neat handwriting.

Rustle—!

I quietly turned to the next page.

[Day 2. Still no contact with mom or dad. The entire internet community including YouTube was talking about the end times, saying a ‘zombie apocalypse’ had come. Thanks to that, cultist bastards usually hidden in the dark corners were spewing nonsense about God’s judgment, the beginning of prophecies, the arrival of hell, and what was strange was that the reactions were different from usual. People who would normally ignore it as bullshit were asking the cultist bastards openly shitting posts in the community what the solution was. Of course, the cultist bastards just gave vague answers like rapture or going into God’s embrace as expected of cultists, but it was somehow chilling to see people trying to believe that. Like the end times had really come.]

“…Oh.”

I let out a small exclamation at the diary that was quite readable, more than I expected.

What, all that talk about Anne’s Diary wasn’t just empty ambition?

Rustle—!

[Day 3. Still no rescue team. No more screams of people are heard, only the strange cries of zombies echoing everywhere. And—. Fuck, still can’t get through to my parents. With the phone battery almost dead now. I’m worried both parents seem to have lost their phones in that chaos. Last night I talked about the rescue team while chewing gum Yeon-ssi shared with me.]

Yeon-ssi.

The second character appearing again.

So it means this Yeon-ssi was together with the diary’s owner until the 3rd day…

[No matter how serious the situation, it was too strange that not even a single helicopter came to rescue our university. It was hard to find anyone on the internet saying they were rescued or in a shelter. Just comments cursing the president and members of parliament everywhere. Maybe they’re rescuing Seoul National University first before our university? No, we’re a bit behind SYK so it’ll still be a while. It seemed South Korea’s love for academic credentials was really incurable if even rescues were done in order of school rankings. When I said this to Yeon-ssi, she laughed at my words while sucking on gum together. She said stuff about not needing things like the air force and earnestly talked about some difficult terms like what rank South Korea’s army combat power was in the world, but honestly I couldn’t understand well.]

[I just asked Yeon-ssi clearly about her last words. If it was right that a rescue team would come. Yeon-ssi said they would definitely come, we just needed to hold out a bit longer. Those words really reassured me a lot.]

“……”

I quietly raised my head while looking at the last words on the page.

The blue sky still full of emptiness as always.

Rustle—

[Day 4. I’m so hungry. I can endure being thirsty, but being hungry is not easily endured. I’ve been sucking on the gum Yeon-ssi shared since yesterday. Now it doesn’t even taste sweet, just like chewing rubber. Still, just chewing gum helps a lot in enduring hunger. Yeon-ssi said she couldn’t stand it anymore and chewed one of the leaves scattered around, but immediately spat it out and dry heaved. We laughed stupidly for a long time at that sight. Yeon-ssi laid down on the floor and said to stop writing the diary now since it’s also energy consumption, but well. Now there’s nothing else I can do besides writing the diary.]

Rustle—!

[Day 5. We stupidly ate all the gum in the end. I rationed it and only ate a little bit whenever I really couldn’t stand it, but now I don’t feel a single piece of gum rolling around in my mouth. I even slept holding it tightly in my hand just in case, but when did I eat it all? Yeon-ssi has been lying on the floor since yesterday without saying anything. She answers when called, but just keeps repeating like a recorder that we need to save energy. Somehow that sight made me feel terribly anxious. When I asked again if it was right that a rescue team would come, Yeon-ssi didn’t answer. Fucking idiot bastards of the Republic of Korea Army.]

The initially neat and clear handwriting was gradually changing to a faint scrawl.

The atmosphere of the page so different it’s hard to believe the same person wrote it as the first page.

Rustle—!

The diary that had been following a kind of format started changing arbitrarily.

The next page that should have started with ‘Day 6′ was full of incomprehensible scribbles.

[I’m so hungry. I really feel like I’m going crazy.]

[I want to eat warm rice with fish eggs.]

The only legible words in between were talking about hunger.

Rustle—! Rustle—! Rustle—!

The more pages turned, the more it continues with stories as if talking to someone rather than a diary.

[If I knew it would be like this, I should have collected urine somewhere. I’m hungry. I’m really so hungry I feel like I’m going crazy. I really want to eat samgyeopsal grilled by mom with doenjang jjigae. I feel like I could empty out mom’s entire restaurant by myself right now.]

[Mom I’m really going crazy. I shouldn’t have watched the news and stuff so closely. Now bad thoughts keep entering my head. Mom I really feel like I’m going to go insane.]

“……”

Somehow I could guess the next contents.

[I feel like I could chew and eat everything on that tree, the floor, asphalt, even those chair and table pieces. But there’s a place my eyes keep going to more than that. Mom. My eyes keep going to Yeon-ssi. Really— really fuck.]

The desperate anguish in the diary and only one corpse, not two.

“…Not an idiot but a crazy bastard.”

I frowned in disgust while looking at the corpse being eaten by maggots.

Rustle—

[If I knew it would be like this, I shouldn’t have forcibly blocked the door then. So many people were shouting to open the door and making a fuss. Then there would have been many other people besides Yeon-ssi. Then without any worries—]

[I just had a really chilling thought. Are you listening, mom? I thought I wasn’t infected, but maybe I was infected too? Otherwise there’s no way I’d keep having these fucking thoughts. I’m so hungry I feel like I could eat even a person. Mom, I just stood in front of Yeon-ssi for a long time and came back. Even when Yeon-ssi asked what I was doing, I just quietly looked at her. It felt so good because somehow my stomach hurt a little less just from looking.]

[I’m so envious of those zombie bastards. At least they probably aren’t hungry. Why am I doing this crazy shit? I hid on the rooftop because I didn’t want to become a zombie, but now I’ve become a being worse than zombies.]

Rustle—!

After that, blank white pages with nothing written continued.

Rustle—! Rustle—! Rustle—!

I slowly turned the pages towards the last page like a machine.

Rustle—!

The last page of the diary reached like that.

Extremely messy and faint handwriting greets me.

[I’m sorry, mom. But I don’t want to become a zombie.]

[I’m really sorry.]

Hangul so distorted it’s hard to easily distinguish.

Only after fully interpreting that sentence did I quietly raise my head.

A momentary flash quietly brushing through my mind.

Thud— Thud—

I passed by the corpse being eaten by maggots and the S.O.S. distress signal to reach the rooftop railing.

Whoosh—

I quietly bowed my head towards the ground while facing the quite fierce feeling wind head-on.

“……”

There was a corpse there.

A grotesquely twisted body and bloodstains spread around it like tomato juice had burst.

“Kieeee—”

The diary’s owner who died as a human as desired among zombies quietly wandering around.

Buzz buzz buzz—

I glanced at the corpse called Yeon being eaten by maggots and looked down at the ground again.

The diary’s owner who chose the easiest escape from hunger and fear.

“…What a waste.”

A bastard who obviously would have maxed out obedience if given even just a crumb of snack.

Tsk—

I clicked my tongue briefly while lightly flipping through his diary.

The record of the bastard steeped in the big dream of becoming Anne’s Diary.

Whoosh—!

The diary starts a belated fall following its owner.

The survival diary swaying precariously while scattering in the wind.

The survival diary falling while fully exposing its contents—

Thud.

Returned to its owner’s embrace.

“……”

The small noise made by the diary falling on the corpse.

At that noise, all the zombies wandering in front of the library entrance stop moving.

Then they quietly looked down at the corpse where the diary had fallen.

“……”

An untimely strange silence of zombies, a grotesque funeral.

“…Hehe— Team Leader.”

I nodded at the careful voice heard from behind.

Ko Janghun quickly approaching to my side at my permission.

“Now that we’re almost done taking over the library, we need to pay attention to hygiene too. Clean up all the dirty things starting from that corpse all the way down like a big cleaning.”
“Yessir.”
“While going down like that, properly organize the 6th floor seminar rooms first. They’re perfect as living spaces, right?”
“Yessir.”
“Ah— Also I’m thinking of using the 5th floor as camp members’ living space instead of the 2nd floor now, so prepare that on your own.”
“Yessir, understood!”

Ko Janghun answering spiritedly as always as if saying not to worry.

Ko Janghun nodded his head vigorously and habitually followed my gaze.

“And the most important thing. Bring up mainly the bookshelves that look definitely heavy even after removing all the books to the rooftop.”
“Yessir, understood.”

Now the only space left to organize is the library’s 1st floor.

Once we secure that final battlefield where the most zombies will remain, the entire library will fall into my hands.

So we had to diligently prepare for tomorrow from now on.

“But— Team Leader. You keep looking down, are you perhaps searching for something……”

Ko Janghun carefully asking while following my gaze.

“Just—”
I slightly shrugged my shoulders while looking at his eyes scanning below blankly.

“A corpse.”