French Cup: A Neighborhood Story

Chapter 35: -Gyeong-Wan- It Looks Like a Game of Clue in Here

We were standing in the middle of a disaster zone. There were hordes of people, many of them confused and upset. There was colorful paper all over the ground, and stranger still were the hundreds of rolls of unfurled toilet paper. It was as if everyone in the hotel had thrown their toilet paper on the street, but that still didn't account for the confetti. And the glitter... It was as if an enormous glitter bomb had exploded in the middle of the neighborhood.

But, what shocked me most of all were the zombies. 

A woman wearing a new track suit was holding onto my sleeve like she was one of the children I'd just been entertaining, but she was definitely older than me. She'd lost her purse in the chaos that had preceded us. Cops were milling about, talking to various people. There definitely weren't enough to go around. Were the cops necessary for this? The cops were taking statements, and though our guests were upset, none of the zombies were crying or complaining that I could hear.

Zombies... It could only mean one thing. It made me want to shove this woman's hands off my arm and take a run myself. The woman walked with me, still trying to tell me what happened.

"They came out of nowhere! We were running and we turned a corner and they- why, they started attacking us! They came at us for no reason, yelling and hollering, spraying us with things, hitting us! They were crazy! Something must be done about it! Why- Where did they come from? Why was this allowed?! Is it something young people are doing, some kind of flash mob?!"

Attacking? Surely not. Not if this was what I thought it was. 

We came upon a small group of zombies, looking perplexed themselves. One of them was holding a roll of toilet paper casually, talking to his friends. 

"This is what I'm talking about!" The woman released me, marching over to them like there was someone in pursuit of her. She ripped the toilet paper from the guy's hand, and he stared at her like she was crazy. "They were throwing this at us! Are you going to throw more?!" She turned her attention to him now. "Were you planning to throw this at a child?! There are children here! What are you, insane?! Look what you did! Look- you- you-"

I came between them. My hand was on the toilet paper before I knew it, and I yanked it from her just like she had from him. 

"Why, I never!" She yelled at me. "What is your name! I'll report you, too! Who's side are you on?!"

My own anger was welling up. Who did she think she was, taking this from him like that? She had no right. I handed it back to him and he gave me a small bow, and I bowed in kind. She went away in a rage. 

"God, who the fuck does that bitch think she is?" Asked one of the girls in the group, dressed amazingly in a caution tape dress, complete with caution tape coming from her head in long pigtails. Her complexion was pale as paste, and there was bright green alien blood all over her. 

I lowered my voice. "I completely agree. Hello, my name is Gyeong-Wan. Can you tell me what really happened here?"

They were thoughtful for a moment. The boy holding the toilet paper, dressed in an all white outfit with a long skirt and tank top with neon yellow netting for arms and multi-colored tubes as a long wig with more green alien blood all over him, tossed his toilet paper in the air a few times, aiming it at the woman's back and then straightening back up as his friends laughed, responded to me.

"We were minding our own business. Tch." He sneered at her receding form. His other friend nodded with him rapidly, and I couldn't take my eyes off his full gas mask painted in neon colors. "We wait for Zombie Walk all year. You see the tables set up? The owners all ran off once the cops came, but we weren't fast enough. I don't think anyone's going to get arrested, though. We didn't do anything wrong. We've been going to this for the past six years. They have a permit for this. The city knows about it. These runners were the ones making trouble. We saw one of them push a girl. We weren't going to take that shit. These runners were bad news. Nikki the Mouth was on the loudspeaker telling us to let them pass, but once we saw that-"