As soon as I was in the hallway, I counted the number of underlings I had. I’d started off with thirty underlings, then added another twenty-seven in between, and retrieved another twenty after escorting the first group of evacuees back to the apartment.

On my second trip back, I’d made four more. That meant I had a total of eighty-one underlings with me.

This made it eighty-one against over three hundred. The other side had an overwhelming advantage in numbers. I sighed and headed toward the art room. I grabbed all the blue paint there was and returned to my underlings.

I, too, had been engulfed by fear when I first saw the red creatures. However, after seeing the survivors lose hope that they would make it out alive, I knew what I needed to do. I reminded myself of my purpose for continuing to live, the reason I couldn't let my life end even though I was a zombie.

‘For So-Yeon, right?’

Yes, it was for So-Yeon. And for the people who had washed her, fed her, and took care of her while I had been gone for a week. The people who were, at this moment, fearing for their lives.

I knew I wasn’t alone. No—in fact, none of us were alone. I wanted to wash away their despair. I wanted to show...