Red Dot - 100

Hanseo folded the note back into its original form and stuffed it deep into his jacket pocket. Despite being deep in his bag, it still emitted the pure smell of paper, untainted by the pervasive stench of blood around him.

After taking care of the note left by Chaeyi and looking around the interior and the bodies again, Hanseo noticed a red postcard lying among them. Before he could even marvel at where such a blood-red postcard had come from, he realized it as soon as he touched it.

“About taste.”

He couldn’t believe it was a postcard soaked in real blood.

Clicking his tongue briefly at the opponent’s lowly act, he picked up the postcard.

[I’ll keep Chaeyi for a while.]

[Come to the factory where she was treated nicely on the 7th night.]

[If you don’t come, I’ll personally come and get you by dragging your younger sibling’s head.]

The scrawled handwriting, which reflected the sender’s capricious nature, recited a grim message.

Hanseo showed a puzzled expression as soon as he read the content.

“On the 7th night?”

Why specifically the 7th night?

At this time, Hanseo still didn’t know about Nam Ki-hyuk’s existence or that he had seen the incident through dreams like Junseong. So, he was left with only questions. Who knows if everyone would still be alive by the 7th night?

One thing was certain, though: the person who attacked here was targeting Kang Junseong, who was well-informed about the situation through dreams.

The only ones deeply connected to Chaeyi are her brother, Kang Junseong, and her two friends, Yang Jiwoo and Lee Soyeon.

Since all her friends were here as corpses, it made sense to assume that if someone was trying to lure someone using Chaeyi’s name and existence, it would be her brother, Kang Junseong.

“If they know about Chaeyi, they must know Junseong quite well. Since they even know about the shelter, they might be someone Junseong has confided in about dreams.”

Could it be someone within Junseong’s circle?

The likelihood that Junseong shared information about dreams with someone who didn’t know much about it was extremely low. Given his cautious nature, he wouldn’t have said a word to anyone unless they were quite close.

If it was really someone close to Junseong, and that person had already entered Junseong’s circle…

“That would be a problem.”

Imagining Junseong’s shattered mental state felt uncomfortably dirty. It was one thing if he had caused it, but it was entirely unwelcome if an unknown third party had such an impact.

Hanseo crumpled the bloodstained red postcard into a ball and tossed it away.

Avoiding the sight of the red trash bundle, Hanseo decided to pretend to be unaware of the situation here for the time being. This was to follow the plan Junseong had devised and to keep his mind intact.

Hanseo began his story with the simple pretext of “to understand the situation at the shelter,” keeping quiet about his feelings and thoughts from the 1st day. He conveyed information about what he had seen there in an objective manner.

The threats in the postcard are “false.”

Chaeyi would not be with the person who left the postcard, Nam Ki-hyuk.

Nam Ki-hyuk must have arrived at the shelter after Chaeyi left. If he had already captured Chaeyi outside the shelter, there would be no need to come through the zombies to create chaos at the shelter.

Although it was unknown at the time, a more plausible deduction was possible now.

Nam Ki-hyuk, like Junseong, had foreseen this zombie situation. Moreover, he was certain to know at least something about the route Junseong was devising.

So, he would have known that Chaeyi would be at the subway shelter on the 1st day. She always spent the 1st day safely there and then headed to Inhan Hospital with Junseong on the 2nd day or stayed until the 7th day.

“But the original objective probably wasn’t Chaeyi.”

Junseong should have been at the shelter until the morning of the 2nd day, as per the original plan. Although there was a route where Chaeyi stayed at the shelter until the 7th day, Junseong, knowing that staying there leisurely wouldn’t provide any answers, always left on the 2nd day.

Nam Ki-hyuk, reflecting on his memories in the dream, would have planned to capture Junseong by arriving at the shelter.

Unfortunately, not only was Junseong missing, but his younger sibling had also disappeared. All that remained were survivors and Chaeyi’s friends, who were of no use to him.

It didn’t seem likely that Nam Ki-hyuk killed everyone without asking anything.

He would have asked Chaeyi’s friends about Junseong and her whereabouts, and having understood the situation, would have killed people with quite an irritated expression. Furthermore, judging that the probability of Junseong meeting Chaeyi was extremely low, he filmed this silly self-made video.

The plan to shake Junseong, who was usually calm, and make him come to Nam Ki-hyuk himself wasn’t bad.

That was, of course, assuming there were no other variables.

“I don’t know where Chaeyi is. But it’s clear she isn’t with that guy. If he had captured Chaeyi somewhere, he would have left footage with a clear image of her, whether from the blood bank CCTV or new footage.”

“……”

Junseong listened to Hanseo’s words in silence.

As his hand, which was holding the note from Chaeyi, turned pale and started trembling.

“Why didn’t you say anything!”

Junseong, gripping Hanseo’s collar with both hands, shook his eyes fiercely. His eyes were distorted, and his raised voice was filled with emotion.

“What happened to Chaeyi, what the shelter’s condition is, and what that guy left behind! Why didn’t you say anything!”

Hanseo, who had intentionally conveyed the content without his feelings and thoughts, coldly looked down at Junseong, who was gripping his collar.

“That’s why I didn’t say anything.”

Hanseo suddenly grabbed Junseong by the hair and yanked him. Junseong’s face was pulled close to Hanseo’s, feeling his cold breath.

“If I had known earlier, would you be here now?”

“What?”

“Your goal was to find a solution to this situation according to the last episode of the dream. But if you knew Chaeyi had disappeared, you’d probably tell me to forget about it.”

“No, I…”

Junseong wanted to refute his words.

However, if he became a variable by ignoring all the routes he knew to find Chaeyi, the dream experience would be of no use. Changmin, Gyeong-oh, and Jian would have all died without being saved, and he might have faced death in a new route he hadn’t anticipated. He had died several times whenever he created a new route in his dreams.

“Right now, it’s reality, not a dream. If you die, that’s the end.”

Hanseo’s cold eyes pierced through Junseong’s confused mind.

Hanseo, who had pulled Junseong’s head closer, softened his gaze a little.

“To me, the route where you aren’t in danger is the most perfect path.”

Hanseo’s eyes showed no sign of wavering, unlike Junseong’s.

Junseong, looking at Hanseo’s steadfast eyes, lowered his own. His slightly moist eyes gradually stopped shaking and eventually regained their usual calm.

“Alright. Let go of me for now.”

Hanseo held Junseong’s hair with one hand and tightly embraced his waist with the other. Once he relaxed his grip, Junseong stood up from the floor and faced Hanseo directly. To prevent him from possibly turning around and running, Hanseo maintained a suitable level of tension to grab him if necessary.

Junseong, deep in thought with his eyes lowered, warned with a blank expression.

“Hold this tightly.”

As soon as the words ended, Junseong delivered a strong punch to Hanseo’s left cheek.

“Ugh…!”

The sound of pain came not from Hanseo but from Junseong.

Junseong felt quite a strong pain as he swung a fist he had never properly used before. He thought that the portrayal of ordinary people in movies or dramas who hit others without any issues was complete fiction and wrapped his sore fist with his other hand.

Hanseo, who had gotten off the bed, showed Junseong his painful fist and frowned.

“Should’ve kicked instead.”

“I’m letting it slide.”

“Even if you don’t let it slide and hit me hard, don’t use your fists. You’ll get hurt if you use them incorrectly.”

Hanseo’s cold hand gently caressed Junseong’s already reddened fist, and a long sigh was heard in his ear.

“Ugh… You really… I really want to beat you up, but I’m letting it slide.”

“Is it okay if you let it slide?”

Hanseo had actually been prepared for Junseong to hit him hard. The only thing confirmed was that Chaeyi wasn’t with Nam Ki-hyuk. There was no guarantee that she had escaped on the 1st night and was safe until now. It was more likely she might have been surrounded and killed by zombies.

Despite knowing that, Junseong remained quite calm.

“You said you went around midnight? Based on estimates, Nam Ki-hyuk must have been here about 30 minutes before that.”

“Right.”

“Then Chaeyi must have left the shelter before 11:30… Her direction would likely be the same as where we were headed…”

Junseong sighed again. The sigh contained clear relief.

“Chaeyi is probably still alive now.”

“How do you know that?”

Junseong momentarily had a perplexed look while recalling someone.