Possessed a Healing Game, but It’s a Zombie Apocalypse - Chapter 21

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 21

“Being like this keeps reminding me of that day we went on a picnic together. Do you remember? You insisted on making the cream to put on the muffins yourself, so you whipped the milk you milked that morning with a whisk for over an hour. Back then, neither of us knew anything, so we didn’t know you had to stir in one direction only, and we just whisked it randomly until we completely ruined the cream. In the end, we just made do with the butter and jam we had made the day before.”

“….”

“And also….”

The place Nana invariably headed to when finishing her day was the tree stump where Ash sat.

She continued talking as naturally as breathing, while Ash sat quietly in that spot without saying a word.

From a distance, they might have looked like affectionate lovers sharing gentle stories. But up close, anyone could see this was a monologue about memories that only one person remembered.

Nana recalled the days when she had worked like crazy.

She had stopped going to the eastern forest and focused only on farming. Even though the zombies were handling all the labor, she personally got her hands dirty planting seeds and mixing compost.

As if trying to exhaust her body to empty her mind, she devoted herself to farm work until sunset. When night came, she would collapse and fall asleep.

But in the end, it was she who couldn’t endure it and moved her steps back to the tree stump.

There, Ash was still sitting in that position according to Nana’s command.

His profile bathed in sunlight momentarily reminded her of those days when he was alive.

That’s why it hurt more.

Because she knew better than anyone that he couldn’t really have come back to life.

“Fine. I’ll admit it. I still miss you, Ash.”

Nana slowly continued speaking while looking at his expressionless face.

“To be precise, when I look at you, I think of that village back then. Sweet Little Village. That peaceful and warm place. That’s why I wanted to turn away from you. Because facing you made me suffer.”

“….”

“But now that I’ve admitted it, my heart feels a bit more at ease. Being honest was better than forcibly turning away. So from now on, I plan to come here every day.”

Nana quietly sat beside him and whispered as if talking to herself.

“If I face you without avoiding it, someday I’ll be okay. Sweet Little Village too, and you too—someday there will come a day when recalling those memories won’t hurt.”

She wanted to believe those words.

Clinging to the simple truth that facing pain would eventually make it dull, she sat in this spot every day.

But reality was the opposite.

As days passed, she was consumed deeper into the past.

The more she looked at him, the more her heart crumbled.

“Before the world became like this, we made a promise.”

Nana carefully brought out the memory.

“We said we’d dance together at the village flower festival in May.”

Her voice grew smaller, but her emotions became clearer.

All the memories she had hidden and suppressed began to raise their heads again.

Nana knew it too.

How much these memories hurt her, how these emotions trapped her like a snare.

Yet she couldn’t escape.

The happy moments were that sweet, and so they were carved that much deeper.

“I was really looking forward to that time. Dancing with you at the flower festival and then to you I would….”

Trailing off, Nana lowered her eyes.

The excitement and fluttering of those days, the imagination of looking at each other amid scattering petals—she could only bring it out now like a story that had ended.

That’s when it happened.

Ash’s mouth, which had been endlessly vacant, began to move slowly, really slowly.

“…I… I….”

Nana felt like her breath was cut off.

Ash had definitely just said something.

He who hadn’t said a word all this time had opened his mouth like a dream.

‘Did he just… speak?’

Her whole body froze and then began to tremble violently again.

Rational judgment had long since evaporated.

The deep longing in her heart urged her that it could wait no longer.

Her trembling hand was getting close enough to touch Ash.

When her fingertips approached near his cheek, someone’s hand grabbed her arm and pulled her away.

“What are you doing right now!”

It was Ishanka.

Held in his arms, Nana looked up in surprise.

Ishanka’s expression mixed clear anger and worry.

And that anger stemmed from his earnest wish that she wouldn’t get hurt.

He pulled Nana completely into his embrace to put more distance from Ash.

“No matter how much those things don’t harm you and follow orders, that’s still a zombie.”

His voice was firm yet trembling.

“Even just accidentally grazing against its teeth could make you the same kind of existence as them.”

“…Then, what should I do?”

Nana asked with a collapsed face while powerlessly held in his embrace.

And tears rolled down beside her face pressed against Ishanka’s shoulder.

“It’s painful to turn away from Ash, and it’s more painful to face him….”

Her small voice continued trembling.

“How can I make this feeling disappear? How can I erase even the memories of peaceful Sweet Little Village along with it?”

Tears, the words she had held back, all burst out at once.

What started as a single stream of tears flowed endlessly down her cheeks like a collapsed dam.

Nothing Ishanka said was wrong.

Ash was already a person of the past and now an irreversible remnant of death.

But human hearts weren’t that simple.

For her, it wasn’t just about Ash.

The daily life she had shared with him, the warmth of Sweet Little Village, the chatter and laughter at the warm dining table, the neighbors’ touches, the moments of rejoicing together over the growth of crops.

All of that was her precious first and everything.

Now that that world was gone, only sadness remained.

Nana had really loved Sweet Little Village.

The daily life shared with simple and warm neighbors, the small but precious daily routines.

Planting beginner seeds in the small vegetable garden and tending to the sprouting and growing crops was far from boring—it was actually comforting.

And above all

Ash, the target character.

Those mornings when he would visit every other day using fresh milk as an excuse.

Even his mischievous expression when he would sometimes shake the milk bottle upside down for no reason and ask, “Doesn’t it seem a bit thin today?”

All of that had now become unattainable memories.

Of course, it wasn’t all good from the beginning.

For Song Nana, who was used to modern life, living without a smartphone was maddening, and days filled with hand-washing and cooking with a fire pit were torture.

Thanks to that, Nana realized the greatness of washing machines and gas ranges with her whole body.

She was so desperate that she even saved money thinking she’d immediately buy similar items as soon as they appeared as game cash items.

But despite all that, it was good.

“Oh my, Nana’s here? Did you have dinner by any chance? If you haven’t eaten, would you like to eat at our house today? I made meatballs today, but I made too many without thinking.”

Aunt Dorothy always suggested meals saying she had “made too much,” but Nana knew it was sincere consideration.

“So you’re the new resident who moved to the farm this time. Did you come with your family?”

“What? You came alone? How can a girl manage such a big land by herself. Even this small ranch requires the whole family to work on it… Wait a moment, Ash! Ash!!”

Mrs. Laura, Ash’s mother, who was shocked when she first moved in and heard she was alone, and summoned her son.

Her seemingly blunt yet affectionate touch also remained warmly with Nana for a long time.

Such precious daily life had crumbled completely in a moment’s error.

There had definitely been opportunities.

There had been escape routes to leave this place and return to the original world.

Yet Nana didn’t leave.

No, she couldn’t leave.

Because the memories of this place weren’t just recollections from a game.

They were times filled with sincerity, landscapes she had come to love with her heart, and they were her first and everything.

“It’s not like I don’t know. That the world can never go back to how it was before.”

A tearful voice flowed out quietly.

“But… does that mean I should never look back even once? Am I not allowed to look behind me? Do I have to keep going forward only?”

Before her words could even finish, a tear dropped.

Once one drop fell, like an unstoppable stream, tears flowed down her cheeks one after another.

Nana was crying.

Desperately, miserably, like someone whose insides were completely empty.

Her endlessly collapsed emotions poured out in words and tears.

Ishanka watched her, saying nothing for a moment.

With an expression where bewilderment and sympathy were complexly tangled, he soon carefully pulled her into his arms.

“I was wrong.”

Those words were so unexpected that Nana lifted her head to look up at Ishanka.

Her eyes were still moistly wet, and her face was mixed with the heat and redness that remained after crying.

“Why, why are you apologizing?”

Ishanka looked at her with calm eyes and answered quietly.

“Because my words made you cry.”

Those words were so simple and so tender that Nana felt like she might cry even more.

“It’s not that… it’s just, I miss it so much, those memories are so precious… I don’t want to let them go somehow…”

Nana trailed off and lowered her head again.

Then she quietly leaned into Ishanka’s embrace and burst into tears.

Ishanka silently held her close.

In his arms, Nana quietly sobbed like someone clinging to the last warmth left in the world.

After a long while, Ishanka whispered softly.

“…Don’t cry.”

That voice was calm and tender, yet earnest.

When those words reached deep into her heart, the tears that had been stopping began to flow again.

Nana could no longer say anything as she poured out her sorrow in his embrace.

The two of them stood quietly like that, clinging to each other’s hearts atop the ruins of time that had ended.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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