Accident, accident, accident. The whole world is full of accidents.

I sat in the passenger seat and quietly took in the passing scenery. The opposite lane was blocked, and a fire had broken out in the nearby housing complex. Also, a zombie was on the sidewalk, handcuffed after being hit by a taser gun.

It seemed like a scene from a movie, but it was.

"Apocalypse..."

The sight of firefighters, police officers, and civil servants trying to deal with the situation with exhausted expressions was pessimistic.

It seemed that government agencies were overloaded. It was a routine accident, but civil servants were running around as if an emergency had occurred.

There was already a shortage of manpower.

The only improvement from before was that the citizens seemed to have adapted to the zombies. Since it had been almost 2 weeks since the zombies were discovered, they quietly moved away without a fuss.

Then, Jeon Do-hyeong asked suspiciously,

"It seems like we're almost there. That Professor Kim? Is he really an expert? Or is he just a fame-seeking narcissist?"

"Yeah. No, he's a professor at a famous university. He's also had a career as a policy advisor."

I looked down at my phone. There was a reply from Professor Kim, asking us to come to an apartment in this city.

The meeting was approaching.

***

The apartment looked decent enough. The cars parked in the lot looked expensive, and the facilities were clean and luxurious.

We were late for our appointment due to the blocked roads, so we hurriedly walked to building 102 and were grabbed by the hem by the security guard standing at the entrance.

"Hey, wait!"

Was he stopping us because we were outsiders? Or was he holding an ax or hammer? This level of armament was common.

I opened my mouth calmly.

"We live-"

"Oh, it's not that. It's just that the elevator can't be used right now."

"...Huh?"

My and Jeon Do-hyeong's movements stopped. I briefly looked down at my phone. The address written there was on the 12th floor. Were we supposed to walk up there?

"Is it an elevator inspection? When will it be finished?"

Might as well ask for the professor's understanding and meet him later, since we were already late. As I was thinking about that, the security guard let out a deep sigh.

"No, it's not that. There was an accident in the elevator. There are dead zombies and people. I reported it, but the police or someone to disinfect it haven't come yet."

"I see."

There's no choice then. We can't take the virus-filled elevator.

So we painfully climbed the 12 floors of stairs, careful in case there were traps for people like us.

Arriving at Professor Kim's house, almost out of breath.

Ding-dong-

"Hello? This is Kim Da-in, the one who contacted you by email."

With trembling hands, I pressed the doorbell and the electronic lock clicked open. The door did not open. A few seconds later, a soft voice was heard.

"Come in."

Carefully opening the door, Professor Kim wearing a mask, greeted us from a distance.

A middle-aged man wrapped in depression and frustration. His hair was graying, and the eyes behind his glasses were deeply sunken. The intellectual and gentle impression felt irritable due to his emaciated and gloomy atmosphere.

He was truly an apocalyptic figure.

He nodded his head and went inside.

Jeon Do-hyeong and I looked at each other briefly, then followed him into the living room he was guiding us to.

***

Professor Kim sat at the end of the living room and pointed with his bony fingers to the other end, where there were no chairs or cushions, just the bare floor.

"There. Sit far away. Don't take off your masks."

His voice was deeply submerged and sunken, like someone who had cried all night.

"Excuse me, could I have some water?"

The tired Jeon Do-hyeong asked hesitantly. I also looked at the professor expectantly. My throat was dry.

Professor Kim crinkled his eyes as if giving a bitter smile, then shook his head.

"I'm sorry. I should have offered you tea, but I can't even give you water."

"No, I understand."

It might have been a remark that could worsen the atmosphere, but I quickly waved my hand and nodded.

Excellent caution. If we were latent infected, we would spread the virus, so this was understandable.

Jeon Do-hyeong also plopped down on the floor, leaning against the wall to catch his breath. When I was wondering how to start the conversation, Jeon Do-hyeong immediately asked, as if doubting when he had suspected the professor.

"Professor, is the world really going to end? Can't we stop the virus?"

"I-the virus..."

I glanced at Jeon Do-hyeong.

If you ask an apocalypticist if the apocalypse is coming, he'll naturally say yes. Or is this a means to naturally open the conversation?

Around that point, Professor Kim stared blankly into the air, then answered in a low voice.

"The chairman of Immortal Company was a true genius. How could he have created such a virus? With that smart head, why did he create a virus that would exterminate people? Why..."

It was close to a soliloquy containing a subtle anger.

Professor Kim, who seemed to be lost in thought, suddenly regained his senses and looked at us straight on. His eyes were filled with a dark conviction.

"Yes, it will perish. The diagnostic kits were developed too late. Early response is impossible."

"No. That doesn't make sense. It's just a virus. It hasn't even been a month yet."

I quickly cut off the emotional Jeon Do-hyeong. I was more curious about Professor Kim's prediction. Since he had seen the bigger picture of the chairman better than I did.

"How could it perish?"

"..."

Professor Kim seemed hesitant to say this, but after a glance towards the bedroom, he continued in a resigned tone.

It was a dark apocalyptic prophecy, like the prophecy of the Apocalypse.

"The data seized from Immortal Company stated this. We have created an immortal virus."

The immortal virus.

"Like how COVID-19 mutated into Omicron, viruses usually mutate to become less deadly but more transmissible. However, this I-virus has already almost completed that direction of mutation. So how will it mutate further?"

Mutation. Evolution.

I suddenly felt my mouth go dry at the thought. I murmured unconsciously.

"The transmission route..."

Professor Kim nodded his head as if looking at a promising student, and continued.

"Immortal Company predicted that. The immortal virus will evolve to increase its hosts. It will evolve to survive in more diverse environments."

A horrific future vision flashed before my eyes.

A future where all animals are infected. The flying birds and roaming wild beasts. Their spilled blood and excrement pollute the land and groundwater, and the contaminated water flows back through the damaged water supply system, sweeping across the world.

Beasts, water, air. The world itself becomes a virus, threatening all life.

Suddenly, the chairman's smile came to mind. That smile had changed. Into a vile and hideous demonic grin.

'Chairman... Isn't this a bit too much?'

This is not extinction, but the end of the world. At least leave some room for people to survive in a post-apocalyptic world.

It would be better to go to prison in a normal world than have the apocalypse come.

My fist clenched tightly, and my heart pounded. I looked at Professor Kim with fervent hope, becoming a devoted government supporter.

"Countermeasures. Is it still possible to do something now?"

"It's too late. By the time the diagnostic kits are distributed, the number of infected will easily exceed 1 million, and it will rise steeply day by day."

Jeon Do-hyeong suddenly stood up.

"We can still make a proper response, submit a petition, report to the news, and convince people!"

"Do you know about foot-and-mouth disease?"

Professor Kim said.

Hearing that, a certain scene came to mind. When foot-and-mouth disease broke out, they culled the pigs, didn't they?

Silence fell. Professor Kim suddenly seemed like a different person. Not the intellectual professor, but a mustachioed executioner.

Professor Kim seemed to smile bitterly.

"To prevent the apocalypse, we have to use drastic measures. We have to forcibly diagnose the virus and kill and incinerate all the infected. That's the only way to stop it."

"Ah."

That seems... impossible.

Aside from the zombies with visible symptoms, the latent infected were ordinary people. And by the time the diagnostic kits are distributed, there will be more than 1 million of them.

And to use such extreme measures on them...

"I proposed the most certain countermeasure, but I was immediately expelled. Everyone looked at me like you do."

"But that's not possible, is it?"

It's not a virus diagnostic kit. It's a firing squad ticket. Get tested? And will the people just stand by? The soldiers to carry out the massacre?

Resistance, escape, rallies, protests. It will only create an environment more favorable for the virus to spread.

In the end, the virus will mutate and bring about the apocalypse-

"No!"

No, I can't believe this apocalyptic theorist. Even if it's not a delusion of an apocalyptic theorist, it's just a speculation based on the worst-case scenario.

I desperately refuted, trying to find hope.

"Couldn't it also evolve in a different direction? Towards maintaining rationality."

"It could. Towards weakening symptoms. But then..."

Professor Kim suddenly reached out. A gesture of grasping and turning something. A gesture of pushing open like a window. Or a gesture of using a tool professionally.

"...The vaguely lost intelligence will only make the world more dangerous."

Professor Kim said self-deprecatingly.

"The zombies are already quite intelligent. Cold or heat won't kill them either. As it gets hotter and colder, they'll head to the subway or underground parking lot."

"No. They rush towards stimuli, don't they? If we lure them with a truck or an armored vehicle and push them-"

Jeon Do-hyeong, who had witnessed the zombies, said what I wanted to say, but Professor Kim shook his head.

"The zombies will die. But the virus they spread during the incubation period will remain. It's too late for everything. This can't be stopped."

It's the end of the world...

I deeply understood that. My rapidly beating heart to slow down. Calmness came.

Whether I wish for the apocalypse or want to serve a prison sentence in a normal world, the world does not give me a choice.

But does that mean I have to give up and die? No. I have to live somehow, whether it's looting or twisting my body.

"It's even better."

I no longer need to hesitate at the ambiguous crossroads. I can just run straight down the path.

I clenched my fist and looked at Professor Kim. This expert was necessary.

"Professor. Even if the apocalypse comes, people will survive. Will you join us? Lend us your knowledge."

"It's a good suggestion, but... I can't."

A firm voice.

"If you help us, more people-"

"Helping can be done sufficiently through broadcasts-"

I did my best to persuade him, but the conversation did not progress. Is it because he has already lost hope? The very proposal to survive together doesn't work.

Around that time, a sound was heard. A rough zombie's cry, "Eeek." From the direction of the bedroom.

Professor Kim got up from his seat.

"Looks like my wife is hungry. I'll go give her some food for a moment."

He scooped the white porridge into a bowl in the kitchen and went into the bedroom. A faint voice was heard from inside. The professor's affectionate voice telling her to eat.

The door was slightly ajar.

Jeon Do-hyeong and I simultaneously crept up and peeked through the crack.

Tied to the bed, Professor Kim's wife. A person who has become a zombie.

We realized at the same time. Professor Kim does not qualify to join my looting group. He must be infected for sure. Most importantly,

"He's a person I can't understand."

He scoops up the pale porridge one spoonful at a time and pours it into the zombie's mouth. The zombie twists its body but eagerly eats it.

He's not killing her, and he's not thinking of using the zombies as biological weapons like me. Even though he is more certain of the apocalypse than anyone else, he is unable to make a decision or take action.

"He was not an apocalyptic theorist. He was an ordinary person caught in a disaster, and even in this situation, he was a good person who warned people through broadcasts.

"Looter, outcast."