RE: Survival - Chapter 1

**Han River Nanji Park, 2020**

All he could think about was how badly he wanted a cigarette.

“When was the last time I had one? Six months? No, maybe closer to eight.”

A bitter laugh escaped his lips.
“The last thought I have before dying is about a cigarette?”

Even he found it absurd.

Blood flowed freely from the torn flesh on his shoulder, soaking his clothes. The unfamiliar pain caused him to grimace instinctively.

It was his first and last injury caused by a zombie in a world that had tolerated no mistakes.

Yohan wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and slowly lifted his head.

The landscape that surrounded him came into view.

It was absolute hell.

A perfect massacre with no survivors in sight—another total wipeout for the party. He had stopped counting after they reached double digits.

Hundreds of companions had perished along the way, and the faces and names of those who had been with him at the beginning had already faded from memory.

Yohan turned his gaze to the right.

Next to him lay the last zombie he had killed. Just hours ago, this had been his closest and oldest companion—the same person who had infected him.

The one who had stayed by his side even as Yohan slowly lost his humanity in this ruined world.

“Hah…”

He was utterly exhausted.

Three years had passed since the zombies first appeared. He had lasted longer than most, but in the end, this was as far as he would go.

Were there any survivors left out there? Maybe his team had been the last trace of humanity.

The final battle over dwindling supplies had been brutal. It was a life-or-death struggle between the two factions that had survived the longest and fought the hardest.

Yohan’s team had been wiped out, and the enemy faction had suffered losses they would likely never recover from.

Defeated, but it was a mutual destruction.

At least he had given it his all.

Finally, it felt like he could rest.

Yohan closed his eyes.

—

Waking up felt strange.

Soft blankets draped over his body.

Blankets?

Yohan’s eyes snapped open, and the sight before him froze him in disbelief.

“Is this…?”

He recognized the place from faint memories.

It was the rented room in Incheon where he had lived since he was 24.

“What the…?”

Yohan looked around. There was the computer, the air conditioner, the washing machine—things he never thought he’d use again. Everything was exactly as he remembered it.

A sudden ringtone shattered his disoriented thoughts. He instinctively answered the phone.

“Hello?”

– “Hey!”

A shout from the other end made him wince.

“Who is this?”

– “Are you out of your mind? Do you know what time it is? Why aren’t you at work?”

“Uh…”

– “Get over here right now!”

The man on the phone barked again and abruptly hung up. The name on the screen read *Assistant Manager Moon*.

But what grabbed Yohan’s attention even more was the date on his phone.

**September 2016**.

Six months before the zombie apocalypse began. Back when the world was still at peace.

Was this a dream?

Yohan pinched himself. The sharp pain was undeniable.

Could everything that happened—the apocalypse, the survival—have been just a dream?

He tried to recall the last three years.

It was too vivid to dismiss as a mere nightmare. Every event, every person remained seared into his memory. While the faces and names of some of his earliest companions had grown hazy, the memories of those harrowing years remained painfully clear.

The tension that had gripped him in the apocalypse still clung to his body, as if any moment, rotting corpses might rise and sink their teeth into him.

“Could it be…?”

There was only one explanation.

He had gone back—returned to the past.

There was no logical way to explain it, but the truth settled in his mind like a stubborn fact.

Yohan rested his hand on his forehead and lay back down on the bed.

He was back.

He had never wished for it, but somehow, he had come back to life—and back to the beginning.

What he felt now wasn’t frustration at the thought of having to go through it all again, but rather, a profound sense of relief. A chance to breathe, even for a moment.

He picked up his phone and slowly typed out a message.

– *I’m not feeling well today. I’ll be taking the day off.*

In six months, the company wouldn’t exist anyway. What mattered more to him was savoring the peace he had now.

He just wanted to rest.

Yohan buried his face in the pillow. The soft fabric was so comforting it made him feel like he could fall asleep instantly.

For the first time in a long while, he felt truly at ease. The sheer lack of reality only heightened that feeling.

Sleep washed over him.

—

Yohan’s eyes shot open.

His body felt light, as if he could fly.

It was the kind of restful sleep he hadn’t experienced in three years, something he thought he would never feel again.

He glanced at the time—he had slept through nearly the entire day. His phone showed thirty missed calls from work.

Yohan casually tossed the phone aside and grabbed a stack of coupons from the floor. He ordered everything—chicken, pizza, bossam [1], jokbal[2]—whatever he could get his hands on.

The taste of delivery food after three years was pure bliss.

He ate with tears welling in his eyes, stuffing food into his mouth like a man possessed. Even after gorging himself, there was still plenty left over.

With his hunger and exhaustion finally sated, his mind grew clearer. Memories of the past three years flooded back.

**March 2017**—exactly six months from now—the monsters would appear.

Some called them undead, others zombies, or simply monsters.

Anyone bitten, scratched, or exposed to their blood would die in agonizing pain, their body consumed as if eaten by insects from the inside out. Within as little as five minutes—or at most an hour—they would rise again as zombies.

Individually, they weren’t strong or fast. But their numbers were overwhelming.

South Korea’s initial response had been a total failure.

The zombies spread rapidly, and major cities like Seoul, Busan, and Daegu lost all functionality within a month. Though complete collapse took a month, the chaos spread in mere hours.

No matter how many zombies were killed, they kept coming. And as supplies dwindled, fear of humans surpassed the fear of the undead.

In a lawless world, murder, robbery, and assault became rampant. Betrayals within groups led to inevitable annihilation.

Yohan had witnessed the deaths of his companions more than twenty times.

Not just twenty people—twenty complete wipeouts.

He had survived alone, suffered, and contemplated suicide more times than he could count.

But he survived for three years.

He had danced on the edge of death countless times, pulled himself back from the brink, and endured that hell for three long years.

And now, he was back—armed with knowledge of the future.

He couldn’t dismiss it as a dream.

He would stake everything on preparing for the apocalypse.

Even if the world didn’t end, even if it meant ruining his life, it would be a thousand times better than being unprepared when the end came.

Yohan cleared his mind of all distractions and focused on a single thought.

**In six months, the world will end. And only I know it’s coming.**

***

Footnotes:

[1] Bossam (보쌈): A Korean dish consisting of sliced pork belly or pork shoulder that is boiled with spices and served with side dishes such as kimchi, garlic, and lettuce or cabbage leaves, which are used to wrap the meat. It is often enjoyed with fermented seafood sauce and other condiments.
[2] Jokbal (족발): A Korean dish made from pig’s trotters that are braised in a mixture of soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and spices until tender. The meat is sliced and served with accompaniments like pickled radish, garlic, and ssamjang (a thick dipping sauce), often wrapped in lettuce or perilla leaves.