Red Dot - 101

– Episode 101 –

“Do you know why I spent the first day at the shelter and planned to move the next day?”

Hanseo answered Junseong’s question without difficulty.

“When the sun sets, this side, which has less sensitive hearing than the zombies, is much more disadvantaged. More than that, wasn’t it because it was right to allocate time like that to follow the safe route you mapped out?”

“That’s true, but there’s another reason.”

There was something Hanseo had not mentioned to the others, including Hanseo. Even after telling Hanseo that he had experienced this situation countless times through dreams, he thought it was unnecessary to elaborate on this part and did not bring it up.

“Actually, on the first day, there was another safe route that could be secured. If we had headed straight to the hospital on the first day, we would have encountered that route.”

Junseong felt a cold sting from Hanseo’s touch as he adjusted his fist, and he chuckled as he recalled ‘that person’ he met on that route.

From 9 p.m. on the first day to 5 a.m. the next day.

There was something you could encounter if you continued in the direction Junseong and Hanseo led the zombies past Ga-an Station and continued straight towards the hospital. In game terms, it could be described as a ‘quest’ or an ‘event.’

After walking for about 2 hours past Ga-an Station, you could reach a place called ‘An-hyeop Station.’

That station was the only one where the station staff, a group of sports students who happened to be there, and soldiers on a group vacation all combined their efforts to fend off the zombie horde.

The station staff hurriedly lowered the shutters at the entrance to block the zombies coming from outside and also lowered the fire shutters installed inside the station, fearing that the entrance would be breached. Especially since the fire shutters were almost impenetrable due to their purpose of blocking smoke and flames, zombies that came down into the station thought it was a solid wall and merely wandered around nearby like fools.

The sports students and soldiers had already subdued the zombies that had entered before the shutters were lowered. It was unavoidable that a few more infected people emerged during this process. They, who had recognized the seriousness of the situation early on, had no choice but to either lock the zombified colleagues in the station office or deal with them by damaging their brains.

Around 9 p.m. when the station was secured.

A few people were assigned to stand guard at the area where the fire shutters were lowered, while the rest gathered at the platform with the screen doors. They planned to assess the situation for a few hours and decide whether to move through a relatively safe track or wait for rescue.

By the time Junseong had experienced the zombie situation in his dreams about 20 times.

He decided to find a new route late at night on the first day, and as a result, he reached An-hyeop Station.

For Junseong, who had only seen zombies densely packed around the screen doors until then, just seeing many living people huddled together was quite surprising and welcoming. What amazed him even more was discovering someone on the tracks beyond the screen doors, waving brightly at him.

Jang Daewook.

He was a friend who used to come and listen to Junseong’s struggles and offer advice during the series of nightmares that troubled him day by day. In other words, he was the very first person Junseong had confided in about the nightmares in reality.

“Doesn’t it feel just like a roguelike game?”

“If you die, you always have to go back to the beginning and start over.”

“If it were a zombie roguelike game… wouldn’t it end when you develop a vaccine or wipe out all the zombies?”

Jang Daewook, who likened Junseong’s dreams to a game, smiled with a naively bright face as if he was still a fool.

At first glance, his smile and demeanor seemed to suggest that he had no thoughts at all, but Junseong knew it was not the case.

During his time as a professional gamer, Jang Daewook was the most reliable team member for Junseong, the team leader. Unlike Junseong, who was somewhat biased, Dae-wook had no such prejudices when it came to games and sometimes gave Junseong advice based on his experience across various genres.

He was quick-witted, smart, and friendly, making him welcome wherever he went. As evidence, he was serving as a temporary leader at An-hyeop Station at that time. It was natural that he took charge and gave orders to handle the situation when lowering the shutters and subduing the zombies.

Jang Daewook, who showed a bright smile that seemed out of place in a disaster full of zombies, said something surprising to Junseong.

“Junseong, isn’t this the exact same situation as the dream you talked about? Wow, prophetic dreams are amazing.”

Meeting Dae-wook in the dream had occurred after Junseong had already shared his concerns with him in reality. Therefore, it was not unreasonable for Dae-wook to connect the zombie situation with Junseong’s dream in terms of timing. It seemed he did not even suspect that he might be in a dream himself.

For Junseong, Dae-wook was as good as a godsend.

Not only did he know about the zombie situation in dreams, but his abilities were well known to Junseong, who had long worked with him in games. Junseong even thought that if he was with Dae-wook, they might find a solution sooner than expected.

Hanseo, who was listening to the story about An-hyeop Station and Jang Daewook, rubbed Junseong’s reddened hand against his own red, bruised cheek. The same fiery pain was conveyed equally.

Hanseo, who had come to enjoy the tingling sensation in his cheek, kissed Junseong’s red hand and asked,

“Then why didn’t you go to him this time? He’s a useful guy.”

Hanseo’s voice carried a genuine sense of regret.

Among the people Junseong had mentioned so far, only Jang Daewook was referred to as a ‘friend,’ aside from himself.

He was in a completely different category from a ‘younger brother’ or a ‘necessary companion.’

‘That’s my place.’

In the tiny boundary of Junseong, standing proudly in the category of ‘friend’ was enough with just himself. He thought there was no room for others to intrude, nor should there be in the future, but it seemed this category was not a special one-person seat.

Unlike the forcibly heated, hot cheeks, Hanseo’s eyes were endlessly cold.

‘If I had known, I would have removed him early.’

Even if his younger brother, Kang Chaeyi, was not to be removed, was there a need to consider every human being in this category?

Even more so, someone who was audacious enough to stand in the same category without knowing their place.

Junseong, who had not noticed Hanseo’s change in emotions, spoke in a dark voice.

“I couldn’t go.”

Junseong, recalling the various times spent with Dae-wook, felt a pang in his heart at the last image of him that seemed like a repeated copy-paste.

“If I’m with him, he always dies.”

Junseong’s fist, which was resting on Hanseo’s cheek, trembled slightly. This tremor was an inevitable reaction from gripping his fist so tightly.

Hanseo had heard about this.

Those who heard about the dreams from Junseong either scoffed and did not believe it or ended up facing a bad outcome.

It seemed that Jang Daewook was one of those who had faced such a ‘bad outcome.’

Junseong used his unrestrained left hand to rub his eyes. The remnants of the tears he had shed earlier were wiped away cleanly by his hand.

With a clearer view, Junseong looked at Hanseo with steady eyes.

“If Chaeyi had really followed me towards the hospital, he would have arrived at An-hyeop Station, where Dae-wook’s group is still staying. Since he knows Chaeyi’s face, he would have protected him immediately.”

While heading to the shelter, the zombies encountered on the tracks were only a few near the shelter entrance. The zombies pushed into the Ga-an Station depot tracks seemed to be wandering only inside, and no female corpses or Chaeyi’s belongings were found while Hanseo was moving.

The tracks past Ga-an Station were a safe zone free of zombies for quite a while, so Chaeyi would be safely joining Dae-wook and moving with his group.

Junseong had once seen their group from a distance around the 12th day in a dream where he had not joined Dae-wook. Since Dae-wook had been leading a considerable number of survivors and was still alive until then, Junseong believed that Chaeyi would also be finding safety and surviving well.

* * *

At the same time.

Wearing raincoats and getting drenched by the heavy rain, several men gathered on the roof of a five-story building were looking down at a commercial building in front of them. A faint, not very bright light was coming from one of the shops in that building through the window. Given the brightness of the light, it seemed like they had intentionally avoided using electricity, with only a stand lamp or a small flashlight turned on.

One of the five men took out a cell phone from his pocket. Looking at a photo of someone on the screen, the man tilted his head and asked,

“Is that her?”

Another man, standing next to him, quickly bent down and answered,

“Yes, we confirmed she went in three hours ago.”

As he heard the answer, the man scratching his head in the raincoat looked at the woman’s face on the phone again.

According to the report, there were quite a few people with her, but the ones on this side were all people who had no qualms about committing ‘murder.’ They thought they could easily subdue a ragtag group that gathered merely to avoid zombies, even without firearms.

“Everyone except the woman can be killed.”

“What if the woman resists?”

“Well…”

A man who had taken out a military dagger from his waist spoke while contemplating the appearance of the woman he had just seen.

“Just leave the head intact and break or cut up the rest. Just keep her alive.”

The man, imagining the woman in her early twenties with a short haircut crying and begging for her life, grinned.

“Anyway, it seems that even this side has changed its attitude because of that guy.”

The man, who had laughed aimlessly, soon ordered his group to proceed to the location where the light was coming from.