EPZ 37

Chapter: 37

‘What on earth was that earlier?’

The moment her eyes met Damian’s, she couldn’t tear her gaze away from those blue irises—just like the first time they met.

A dizzying sensation of being sucked in before she could react. Then the horrific pain and the primal urges that slammed through her entire body.

When she had been writhing in phantom pain, the thing that had stained her vision dark red had definitely been the effect of her detection skill. And it was that same effect that had warned her of danger when she first met Damian.

Could she really dismiss this as mere imagination?

Damian’s face—staring down at his own hand with a stiff expression—suddenly came to mind.

Beneath the confusion on his face, what had clearly been there was fear.

“Damian…”

What are you, exactly? What are you so afraid of?

Questions without answers spun chaotically through her mind. Nothing was clear. A strange, nagging unease kept prodding at her nerves, making her chest feel tight.

“Fuuuu…”

Letting out a long sigh, Jigu leaned her head back against the bathtub and slowly blinked.

As she soaked in the steaming hot water filling the tub, a soft groan escaped her. With the bubbling foam tickling her back and the fragrant lavender bath salts added in, her body felt like it might just melt away.

A massive spa bathtub big enough to fit two or three adults, embossed ceramic tiles, and a sink decorated with a swan-shaped golden faucet that matched the large gold-rimmed mirror—

The antique-style bathroom looked like it belonged in a magazine, glittering brilliantly beneath the shining chandelier.

And it wasn’t just the bathroom that was astonishing.

The high-voltage current running through the massive perimeter walls surrounding the vast estate fried zombies down to their brains, making it impossible for them to even approach. Inside the mansion, it felt cozy and safe—almost like time before the apocalypse.

Her fading gaze drifted to the sacred painting on the bathroom ceiling.

An angel reaching down from the heavens as if looking over the world below, and people kneeling in prayer where war and plague had passed.

The faces desperately yearning for salvation looked so painfully anguished that her chest tightened.

‘Does salvation only come after people suffer like that? Can’t they just save them in advance?’

Grumbling inwardly, Jigu slowly closed her eyes.

And at that moment—

“Jigu! Edwin is awake!”

Bang bang bang bang!

Peggy’s voice struck her ears along with urgent knocking.

* * *

“Edwin!”

BANG!

Jigu burst the door open so forcefully it was almost like she kicked it in—then abruptly stopped in the doorway.

Despite her dramatic entrance, she couldn’t bring herself to step inside and just stood there stiffly. The group looked at her in confusion, but Jigu’s gaze was nailed to the bed and refused to move.

“What are you doing standing there? Aren’t you coming in?”

Even while grumbling, his slightly embarrassed, flushed face looked exactly like the Edwin Jigu remembered.

Jigu stared quietly at Edwin, who was propped up against the bed, then suddenly rushed forward and threw her arms around his neck.

“You’re walking around with wet hair again. You’ll catch a cold.”

Feeling the dampness soaking into the back of his neck, Edwin frowned and roughly rubbed Jigu’s hair with the sheet covering him.

The clumsy yet careful touch was so familiar that her nose stung.

“Eddie… I missed you…”

“…Are you crying?”

“I’m not crying.”

“Yes, yes. Don’t cry. You’re not a child…”

Sniff.

Jigu buried her face in his neck and let out a weak, wobbly laugh. She hadn’t realized how glad she’d be to hear his scolding again.

“Don’t be so harsh, Edwin. Do you know how worried Jigu was?” Maya said with a smile.

“Seriously. I thought I was going to die of stress,” Peggy added.

They spoke jokingly, but they meant it—at least halfway.

Even though she tried to act normal, the way she’d been wandering around absentmindedly had looked dangerously unstable. Even Luke had been carefully watching her mood, so that said enough.

Ryan nodded in agreement, and Edwin hurriedly changed the subject, his cheeks reddening.

“Th-then where are we? …Don’t tell me I’m still in a coma?”

He’d spoken casually to escape the awkward mood, but his expression gradually grew serious as he continued.

The neatly arranged room looked like it had been lifted straight from a large hospital treatment room.

The vital monitor blinking with soft beeps, the IV in the back of his hand, the bright overhead lights—

The perfectly modern scene felt almost unreal, as if they had returned to the time before the virus spread.

As Edwin looked around stiffly, Jigu slowly lifted her head, grabbed his cheeks, and lowered her voice solemnly.

“That’s correct. So please wake up from this dream—”

“…What? Why are you laughing?”

“Ah, it’s just… I realized this must be reality.”

“What? Why?”

“Because you’re the only one who would pull a prank like this, Jigu.”

“…That’s a compliment, right?”

“Yes. It’s a compliment.”

Chuckling, Edwin ruffled her still-wet hair again. Only then did Jigu finally relax and obediently let him.

“But seriously, where is this? We definitely ran into a zombie horde on the road…”

“You got shot by that idiot.”

At Maya’s sharp reply, Luke—who had been awkwardly standing in the corner—flinched.

“…Yeah. That’s right. I don’t remember anything after that.”

“We were being chased by zombies and happened to find this mansion. This is Damian Maximilian, the owner of the estate. And this is Mr. Lennart Grigg, who treated you. Oh, and Peggy helped a lot too. Turns out she used to be a surgical nurse.”

“I see… Wait—Maximilian? Don’t tell me that’s the Max Corporation…?!”

“Yep. We already freaked out enough, so you can stop there.”

Edwin scratched his cheek sheepishly and nodded.

“Still… I’m relieved now. I was so nervous thinking something terrible had happened.”

“I caused trouble. Thank you very much, Peggy.”

“N-no, not at all! It was nothing compared to the help we received. Besides, I just assisted Mr. Lennart.”

Startled by Edwin’s apology, Peggy waved her hands frantically.

If Jigu, Khalif, and Edwin hadn’t helped them back at the shopping mall, they wouldn’t have even made it here. They would have already been wandering the mall as walking corpses.

And saying she had “just assisted” wasn’t false modesty.

Despite earlier whining that he couldn’t do it alone, Lennart had skillfully removed every bullet fragment and tracked down all the internal bleeding.

‘Though… his hands were a bit brutal.’

Several times she’d nearly fainted at how ruthlessly he worked, like he was dissecting a corpse. She’d prayed desperately the entire surgery, afraid Edwin might stop breathing at any moment.

Still, the result was good, so that was what mattered.

Peggy glanced sideways at Lennart with an awkward smile.

“Hm. Good. No bleeding and no infection. Ah—and by infection, I mean inflammation, not the virus.”

Lennart winked playfully as he joked.

Only then did the group finally relax and laugh along with him.

“Um… when can I eat? I don’t know how long I was out, but I’m so hungry I might start dying again.”

Edwin asked with a grin, though the hunger was clearly real.

Grrrrowl—

A loud rumble echoed from his stomach.

“Whew. The smell is making me even hungrier. But… whatever someone’s cooking— isn’t it burning?”

“Huh? Smell? What smell?”

“What? What’s burning?”

The group looked at him in confusion.

Their puzzled gazes crossed in midair.

Flustered, Edwin spoke carefully.

“…You don’t smell something burning?”

“Gasp! O-over there! Isn’t that a fire?!” Ryan suddenly shouted, pointing out the window.

In the corner of the garden, now swallowed by darkness, a reddish glow flickered.

“Ugh, cough cough!”

“Whoa! It really is on fire!”

When the window was opened, a sharp burnt smell rushed into the treatment room.

Damian, confirming the flames flickering in the garden, muttered stiffly:

“That area… is where the solar panels are installed.”

As if foretelling something ominous—

 The lights in the treatment room flickered once.