Apocalypse’s Teacher

Chapter 103

"Thief."

Dayoon smiled lightly as she swept away all the trump cards.

Next to me, Hyesung and Dabin, who had already cleared their cards, were giggling.

I looked at the single Joker card left in my hand with a forlorn gaze.

"...Yeah, Uncle is the thief."

We were playing Thief's Game.

And I was achieving the great feat of losing three times in a row.

"You're a thief!"

"Hyesung, you shouldn't say bad words."

When Hyesung pointed her finger at me, Jinwoo, who was watching, scolded her.

I let out a small chuckle and discarded the Joker card.

"That's it for today."

After playing card games for two hours, I was so tired that I blurted out the words.

On the children's faces appeared a look of disappointment.

'Kids have scary stamina.'

My head throbbed as if it were going to explode, yet the kids didn't seem to tire.

Shaking my head, I stood up from my seat.

"Alright, dinner is soon, so everyone go wash your hands."

Fortunately, as if they decided to listen to me, the kids ran off toward the bathroom.

I saw Dayoon smiling between Dabin and Hyesung and began tidying up the place.

'She's doing much better now.'

No, at this moment, it was the best expression I'd seen from her so far.

Ever since that day when I had a one-on-one conversation with Dayoon, we had been gathering with the children to play every day, and now she was finally starting to smile.

A thankful child.

That's what I should say.

Feeling a sense of peace, I inadvertently smiled, and soon, I thought of another person I was grateful for.

My head turned toward the kitchen.

Helen was there, taking out ingredients.

With her cheeks puffed up and chewing away, it seemed she had secretly snuck some jerky again.

I didn't particularly mind.

-Serco, apologize to Dayoon.

The relaxed expression on her face, devoid of the anger from that day, seemed to give me courage.

'I should say thank you.'

She had made me realize something I hadn't noticed, so it's only right.

*

"Helen."

"...!"

Seokho's voice calling her from behind.

At that, Helen flinched.

'I-I've been caught!'

She was secretly munching on jerky she had taken from the storage.

Surely, Seokho had noticed and was coming to scold her.

"Helen?"

Helen felt a cold sweat trickling down her back.

If she turned her head toward Seokho now, she'd have no excuse and would surely be scolded.

'I-In times like this...!'

Escape was impossible.

Feigning innocence was also impossible.

Regrettably, in a situation like this, the only option left was to swallow the salty jerky still lingering in her mouth.

Helen tightly shut her eyes.

'I'm sorry!'

Apologizing to the jerky in her mouth, Helen chewed three big times and swallowed it down.

Seokho had already approached right behind her.

Helen quickly turned her body to face Seokho.

Trying hard to calm her pounding heart, she spoke to him.

"What brings you here?"

"Can we talk for a moment?"

Thud!

'I-I've been caught...?'

Was it because she moved her jaw too dramatically?

Or maybe because her body shook too much while swallowing the jerky?

Helen felt her heart pound unnecessarily, perhaps because of the salty residue still in her mouth.

So, she hesitated and stepped back from Seokho.

"R-Right now?"

"Uh... Why? Are you busy?"

A hint of guilt appeared on Seokho's face.

Seokho, thinking back to that day, assumed that Helen might be disappointed in him.

"W-Well..."

Helen felt uneasy seeing Seokho's overly cautious demeanor.

What was this about?

If he was going to get angry, why didn't he? Why was the one who should be scolding her making such a face?

Was it possible that he was too tired to even be mad at this point?

Helen remembered hearing something somewhere.

That indifference could be crueler than hatred.

If Seokho completely lost all expectations for her and became indifferent, there would be no chance for them to connect.

Thinking that, tears welled up in Helen's eyes, and she quickly bowed her head.

"I-I'm sorry! I won't steal jerky again!"

Seokho blinked as he looked at Helen's round head.

Then, scratching his cheek, he said,

"...No, that's not what I wanted to talk about."

Still, he thought to himself that at least Helen seemed to have some conscience.

*

Dealing with the suddenly tearful Helen drained me a bit.

After finally calming her down and conveying my intended gratitude, Helen finally smiled and then belatedly blushed.

She seemed to find it quite embarrassing even by her own standards.

While Helen trembled from her sense of shame, Chunsik approached and clung to her.

Sticking out his tongue and panting heavily, it seemed Chunsik had caught a whiff of jerky from Helen.

'He really has a nose for smells, doesn't he?'

As Chunsik wagged his tail excitedly while clinging to her, Helen's face turned even redder.

I patted Helen lightly on the shoulder and left for the living room.

"Uncle!"

Hyesung was waiting for me.

"Yes?"

"Hyesung, this!"

Hyesung stretched out her hand toward me.

"Candy? Hyesung, where did you get this?"

"My sister gave it to me!"

"Gihyun?"

"Juyeong!"

"Hey, do you think I'm your friend?"

Juyeong, who was sitting with her legs crossed, glared at Hyesung.

Hyesung giggled as she leaned her body against my leg.

I asked Juyeong.

"Don't give it to her before eating."

"She kept whining for it, so I gave it to her. She was being annoying."

As if she no longer intended to hide her personality, Juyeong snorted and turned her head away.

I tried hard to suppress the laughter that was about to burst out at Juyeong's attitude.

'She says that, but she still does everything Hyesung asks.'

Even while complaining, she takes good care of her.

I wonder if Juyeong knows.

That she ranks third in Hyesung's heart.

'I'm first, and Chunsik is second.'

In young people's terms, that's probably what they call a tsundere or something.

"Peel it for me!"

"Hyesung, you should eat the candy after eating your meal, right?"

"Ugh..."

Confiscated until after eating.

Tak-.

When I took the candy away from Hyesung's hand, she froze stiffly.

Her mouth opened and closed silently, seemingly too shocked to speak.

"Oh, I didn't eat today... There's only one..."

"I'll give it back after you eat."

Hyesung whimpered.

"Crying won't work. Eat first."

"Sniff...!"

Hyesung, with a face full of frustration, hit my thigh repeatedly with her little fists.

Where did she even learn to use her fists first like this?

Anyway, within the penthouse, if I see anyone using their fists, I'll have to reprimand them, no matter who they are.

*

Winter is coming to an end.

It's now late February.

The cold still lingers, but there's one thing I'm certain of.

"The temperature is finally starting to rise."

Even being out here on the rooftop isn't as freezing as before.

Also, the warmth of the sunlight is distinctly noticeable.

-Groooar....

Even those damn zombie bastards are sluggishly moving about, making it feel like spring is really here.

'Spring, huh.'

Before the apocalypse, spring was like this.

When looking down at the streets, people bustled about, and beyond that, the black billboards displayed various ads announcing spring.

And that wasn't all.

Everywhere in the world, spring-themed songs echoed.

A strange feeling of envy toward the singers whose bank accounts swelled.

And the sense of disdain when seeing cockroaches pairing up.

Thinking about those nostalgic scenes, I closed my eyes briefly, then quickly composed myself again.

'...Sigh, what's the point of reminiscing?'

In reality, all that's left is playing tag with zombies that are about to start running around.

My mood suddenly plummeted.

The subtle excitement I felt for spring turned into a dull gloom.

Back in the living room.

I sat on the sofa, blankly staring at Hyesung and Chunsik, when I suddenly remembered something I had forgotten.

"...Oh, ah! That's right!"

I stood up abruptly.

Hyesung and Chunsik looked at me.

I smiled as I looked at Hyesung.

"Hyesung!"

"Yes?"

"It's spring!"

"It's spring?"

"Yeah, spring!"

As I walked toward her and hugged her, Hyesung tilted her head with a puzzled expression.

"Spring?"

"Yeah, remember what we were going to do in spring with Uncle?"

Hyesung blinked her eyes.

Then she wrinkled her face, trying to recall the past, and finally raised her head.

"...Kongkong!"

Hyesung's face lit up with joy.

"Yeah, let's go plant beans!"

"It's Kongkong's family! Spring is Kongkong!"

Hyesung's cheeks flushed brightly.

Smiling broadly, I ran toward the storage room.

"...What's he doing?"

"Just let him be."

I heard Juyeong and Gihyun murmuring from the corner, but I ignored them.

Once they realize what I was thinking, they'll make the same expression as me.

'You should plant seeds in spring.'

You plant seeds and water them.

In other words, you grow plants to create resources.

Of course, the process won't be smooth, but we have a stockpile of supplies we diligently gathered over the winter.

Simply put, it's like this.

'This spring, minimal exploration!'

We've gathered enough materials.

This penthouse, which had only been replenished with resources through external exploration, can finally create its own production line.