Apocalypse: Apparently, I Can See Zombies

"Something must have happened at the gymnasium."

Jin-woo said worriedly as he stared at the numerous zombies down below. Itaewon Stars High School campus was extremely large, even bigger than most international schools, and this was without mentioning the middle school and elementary school campuses.

In total, there were between 1500-2000 students attending the high school at once. Since the third years weren't attending school, the current number of students on campus was about 2/3 of that number. However, 2/3 of 2000 was still a large number.

Jin-woo didn't know how many students were alive in the school, but because of the suddenness of the virus outbreak, it might unfortunately just be in the dozens.

So, after being a bit conservative, that meant there were at least one thousand zombies within the school. But this wasn't adding the teachers and other staff members working at the school.

Jin-woo's thoughts stirred with worry. He was in a position where he could slightly help the remaining students who were alive within the school by heading to the fourth floor where the broadcasting room was and informing them that help was on the way. But that would put him in unnecessary danger when he could just stay inside this classroom, which was safe, and wait until help arrived.

Seong looked over at Jin-woo and saw the struggling expression on his face. Intuitively knowing what he was worried about, Seong explained.

"Jin, there's no reason to go to the fourth floor. The broadcasting club has a direct line to the speakers around the school for assigned school announcements but remember that the teachers would sometimes want to make an urgent announcement. At that time, they would head to the security station on the ground floor.

The monitors for the cameras around the school are also there so you could get a better understanding of the situation within the school."

Jin-woo's eyes flashed upon hearing that, and he suddenly looked up at the left corner of the back of the classroom. He had almost forgotten that, unlike their middle school, the high school campus had cameras in the classrooms and hallways. Though there weren't any in the bathrooms or at the back of the campus.

"Let's go."

Jin-woo immediately made a decision and he headed to the door to leave after putting Seong's journal in his drawstring bag on his back and securing the gun in his waist. Seong was one step ahead of him and had reached the door within the blink of an eye. Literally.

A few steps from reaching the door, Jin-woo stared at Seong with a bit of surprise.

"You can teleport?"

"Haha, what?"

Seong couldn't help but laugh upon hearing Jin-woo's words.

"Remember I'm just a specter, the natural laws of the living don't apply to me. Watch this."

Seong said while puffing out his chest before he turned to walk through the closed door.

However…

Thud!

"Ack!"

An audible sound echoed as Seong slammed headfirst into the door, he immediately released a groan and clutched his nose.

It was Jin-woo's turn to let out a laugh and ask.

"What are you doing?"

"Damn it, something's wrong, Jin. I was able to walk through the doors and walls just fine before."

Seong said while massaging his nose and staring at the door in confusion.

Hearing this, Jin-woo paused and then asked.

"There was a sound when you bumped into the door, does that mean you have a physical body?"

"I don't know. Maybe?"

Seong's eyes were filled with even more confusion.

"Try opening the door."

Jin-woo suggested, and Seong nodded before reaching out to open the door.

With a soft click and a swoosh, the sliding door was slightly pulled open by Seong.

"This… How is this possible? Does this mean I'm not a ghost?"

Seong was shocked, and so was Jin-woo who muttered softly.

"It actually worked."

However, just then, Jin-woo's vision blurred for a second while a feeling of distortion clouded his senses, but these sensations quickly cleared up. However, his pupils suddenly constricted when the scene in front of him had somehow reverted back to Seong holding onto the latch of the closed door.

Seong immediately retrieved his hand from the door and then took several shaky steps back. He looked at Jin-woo with a mix of confusion and fear in his eyes as he asked.

"I opened the door just now, right?"

Jin-woo's expression turned serious as he nodded.

Seong sighed in relief and said.

"Okay, good, I thought it was only me."

"But what just happened? You opened the door, but then it felt as if it was all an illusion… or rather-"

Jin-woo suddenly stopped talking, and Seong looked over worriedly.

"Jin, what is it?"

Jin-woo hesitated for a moment then said with a forced smile.

"This might sound strange, but I don't know how else to describe it. But just now, I felt like you really had opened the door, but as if it was a mistake, it corrected itself… the world corrected itself I mean."

Seong suddenly went into deep thought upon hearing that. After a moment, he glanced down at his hand and said.

"It definitely felt like I opened the door too… Jin, I think I might be wrong about your ability, or at least it might be more complicated than I thought."

"What do you mean?"

Seong approached the door and looked at it closely while rubbing his still aching nose. After some time, he turned to Jin-woo and responded.

"The theory about you seeing the future is correct, but Schrodinger's Cat also involves the theory of parallel universes. Simply put, each time you have to make a decision, a parallel universe is created where you chose the option you didn't.

I think what you're seeing isn't exactly the direct outcome of the future from the present, but parallel universes for each decision you or someone else is going to make. For some reason though, you only see visions of a parallel universe where something bad happens."

Jin-woo could somewhat understand this concept, Seong had always been great at explaining things to him even when they studied together. However, there was something he didn't understand.

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"I get that, but how does this involve what just happened?"

Seong smiled and suddenly positioned his palms outstretched in front of him, one hovering above the other. Eyes flashing with excitement he suddenly yelled.

"Dimensions! There are parallel universes like the ones I just explained but there are also various layers of dimensions stacked on top of each other."—Seong wiggled his left-hand underneath his right and then added—"If you were to draw an object on a piece of paper, then that object would be in the first dimension.

But you, the person who drew the object, would be in the third Dimension!" –Seong did a final wiggle of his right hand above his left hand.

"So, does that mean I can see a higher dimension, like the fourth dimension?"

Seong, still smiling, shook his head before suddenly opening his arms and saying.

"Think bigger Jin! You can't just see the fourth dimension; you might even be able to see all of them!"

"All of them? How many are there?"

Seong paused for a moment then opened his hands even further and said.

"Infinite!"

Jin-woo chuckled.

"Well, that sounds tiring."

Seong lowered his hands and looked at Jin-woo with an envious expression before saying.

"You have no idea the shockwave your ability would cause to the scientific world, how many theories could be proven in an instant. Take me for example. There are theories that the reason why humans can't see ghosts is because th-I, exist on a higher plane of existence, a higher level of dimension."

Jin-woo came to a sudden realization.

"So, what just happened when you opened the door was that you opened it in another dimension but not in the current one?"

"Correct, but this also means that I won't be able to help you."

Seong looked at Jin-woo sadly, but Jin-woo smiled and said.

"You've already helped me a lot. Come on, let's go."

Jin-woo said as he moved forward and opened the door. However, immediately after he opened the door a piercing screech resounded in his ears, while a rotten smell assaulted his nose from the zombie's mouth in front of him.

***

A/N: I wonder if you guys now figured out why the book is sci-fi and not horror-thriller. Can you guess the direction the third volume will head in? But are you enjoying it so far? Also, I should have probably mention in my pinned review that I also watch the 'Three Body Problem.' If you haven't seen this Netflix series, go watch it, you're missing out!