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Episode 1
Blink.
I barely managed to lift my heavy eyelids. My head felt foggy, like I could fall asleep again at any moment.
A sharp beeeee rang in my ears, and my vision was so blurry I couldn’t see anything clearly.
What just happened…?
I tried to calmly retrace my memories.
Right—we were on our way to the academy entrance ceremony for our youngest sibling, who was much younger than the rest of us.
It was a rare chance for the whole family to ride together in one carriage, since everyone was usually too busy to even see each other. We were worried about being late, so we decided to take a shortcut.
Yeah. That was when my playful second-oldest brother, Isaac, joked that my pet cat, Rev, seemed to have gained weight lately.
Then the carriage suddenly started shaking violently. Brother Isaac grabbed my arm and—
threw me out of the carriage with all his strength.
As soon as I reached that part of the memory, my blurry vision slowly cleared.
Rolling across the bare ground had left my whole body screaming in pain.
I was just about to get up.
Step. Step.
I heard footsteps.
I immediately relaxed my body and held my breath. Instinctively, I knew I couldn’t let them notice that I was alive.
“…Looks like they’re all dead.”
My heart dropped at those words.
But the unidentified person seemed to look around a bit more before accepting it.
“Chest’s been pierced straight through.”
“The others must’ve been crushed inside the carriage.”
“Let’s go.”
After that, their presence slowly faded away.
I stayed lying there for a long time.
Just in case they came back and realized I was still alive.
Only much later did I finally push myself up.
I tried to stand, but fell to the ground twice. I must’ve twisted my ankle when I was thrown out; I could barely walk.
Limping, I managed to take just a few steps forward.
As the fog thinned, my surroundings came into view.
I couldn’t say a word.
The carriage was so badly wrecked that it was hard to even recognize its original shape. The tree it had crashed into was snapped in half and fallen forward.
But what was worse?
was a pool of blood soaking into the ground.
Between the shattered pieces of the carriage, I saw a hand sticking out.
Judging by the thick calluses on my palm, it was definitely my second brother, Isaac.
Just like when he threw me out, he was pinned beneath the wreckage.
I couldn’t see my eldest brother at all—he must have been sitting deeper inside the carriage.
And Yulia, who had been sitting across from me…
I spotted her not far away.
She must have been flung forward when the carriage broke apart. If she’d been luckier, she might’ve survived as I did.
But she wasn’t.
A tree branch had pierced straight through the center of her chest.
That was when it fully hit me.
I was the only one alive here.
I stayed silent for a long time in that place, surrounded by death.
Despair washed over my entire body. A beast-like sound escaped through my clenched teeth.
“Yuli… Ed… Isaac…!”
I called their names, but the only answer was the eerie sound of wind rustling through broken branches.
“Please… answer me.”
I collapsed to the ground and curled in on myself. My fingertips burned as I clawed at the dirt.
But none of that mattered.
“Please……”
My voice faded away weakly.
The ordinary life I thought would last forever had shattered in an instant. I covered my face with both hands.
It felt like I was trapped in a horrible nightmare. How could this possibly be real? It felt like some cruel joke.
But the sharp pain rising from deep in my chest and pressing against my throat proved one thing.
This was reality.
And then.
Standing before the bodies that hadn’t even finished bleeding yet, I realized what I could do.
I didn’t hesitate for long. My decision came in an instant.
I wiped the tears soaking my cheeks with my sleeve, slowly closed my eyes, then opened them again.
I called my longtime partner.
“Rev.”
Yaaawn~ What is it, we’re already here already— huh?
The cat’s corpse, crushed beneath the carriage like a rag doll, suddenly sprang to its feet.
Hey! My fur! I worked so hard grooming it, and now it’s a mess!
He didn’t seem to care at all that his lower body was basically destroyed. Rev shook himself to get the dust off, and only then seemed to realize something terrible had happened.
Tsk. Humans really do die way too easily.
With a front paw bent at an unnatural angle, he poked Isaac’s body.
“Rev., help me.”
Young contractor. What is it that you desire?
I continued in a dry, cracked voice.
“I’m going to bring them all back.”
“…As zombies.”
Clap clap clap clap!
“And with that, we conclude the entrance ceremony of Bellonde National Academy!”
The children who had been barely holding back their boredom jumped to their feet the moment the ceremony ended. When they turned around, their families greeted them with bright smiles.
One by one, they left the hall hand in hand with their families.
Only one boy remained seated.
His name was Andrea Walker.
The youngest son of Duke Walker’s family, born late in his parents’ lives. Since the ceremony began, he’d kept glancing around, but not a single member of his family had shown up. He was deeply disappointed.
They said they’d all come together…
Just this morning, hadn’t they promised that even if they couldn’t leave together because of work, they’d arrive before the ceremony ended?
Andrea lightly kicked the leg of his chair with the tip of his shoe.
It hurt—but he could understand. He vaguely knew how busy his siblings were, all more than ten years older than him.
“Is that child perhaps…?”
“I heard someone from the Walker ducal house was enrolling this year…”
“Then is that him?”
The whispers around him were familiar by now. People pretended not to stare while sneaking glances at Andrea.
With his big eyes welling with tears and lips tightly pressed together like he was holding something in, he looked like a doll—almost painfully cute.
That was when it happened.
Everyone’s attention snapped toward the people entering the hall.
Someone let out a breath they hadn’t realized they were holding.
While Andrea pouted and muttered to himself, a shadow fell over him.
Only then did he slowly lift his head.
A familiar face was smiling brightly at him.
“Our baby. Who told you to sit there looking that cute, huh?”
“Brother Isaac!”
“Yeah, we’re here. Sorry, we’re late. Something came up on the way.”
“The carriage broke down, so we had to stop by a nearby village and get another one sent over.”
Andrea jumped to his feet. Overcome with happiness, he rushed forward to hug Isaac—then suddenly noticed something odd.
“Huh? Brother, where are your glasses?”
“I didn’t wear them today. Wanted to look stylish. Why do I look weird?”
“Yeah. Your face is scary, so you should always wear your glasses.”
“Oh wow. That’s pretty rude to say to your brother, huh~?”
Isaac skillfully lifted Andrea into the air, as easily as if he were holding a baby.
“Put me down! I’m all grown up now!”
“You’re eleven. That’s still totally a kid.”
“I am not!”
Andrea protested so fiercely that Isaac had no choice but to set him back down.
“Brother Ed. Sister Yulia. And Sister Emily.”
The boy looked up at each family member in turn, grinning brightly.
“This is the best! I’m so happy!”
“Hey, what about me?”
“You’re always just messing around, brother~!”
As Andrea complained, Isaac was just about to scoop him up again.
“That’s enough.”
Edmond stopped him.
He briefly grabbed Isaac’s wrist in warning, then let go. That alone was enough for the sharp second brother to understand.
“Yessir~ got it. You really spoil the youngest, you know.”
Isaac raised both hands lightly and stepped back, signaling surrender.
“But is Sister Yulia sick?”
“She got a bit motion-sick on the way. She’ll be fine soon.”
Emily answered while subtly stepping in front of Yulia.
That filled Andrea’s view with a black cat instead.
“Oh! Rev came too!”
“Yeah. He came to congratulate you with us!”
Emily smiled brightly and lifted the cat she was holding. Andrea especially loved Rev, and his face lit up immediately.
“Woooah! Thank you, Rev!”
Andrea roughly patted Rev’s head, making the cat recoil in disgust.
His tail lashed sharply back and forth, clearly showing his irritation.
“Congratulations again on entering the academy.”
Emily said with a big smile, and Andrea smiled back at her.
“Yeah!”
Watching the child smile like that made me feel like every worry in the world disappeared.
Click.
After Edmond closed the door to Andrea’s room, Isaac asked quietly,
“Sleeping?”
Edmond nodded without saying a word.
“Good. Then we can finally talk.”
Isaac’s eyes flashed in the darkness. Without his glasses, his sharp gaze looked downright dangerous.
All traces of his usual smile were gone. There was even a hint of anger on his face.
“Emily Walker. What the hell did you do?”
All my siblings turned to look at me at once.
I had no idea where to start explaining. The first time I discovered this power. When our parents found out. When I made the contract with Rev…
Countless memories flashed through my mind.
But there was one explanation that worked best.
“Simply put… our current state is kind of like”
“…zombies.”
