Red Dot - 109

Chapter 109

Once Junseong confirmed that Dujae and his group had entered the emergency stairwell inside the medical center, he finally lowered the walkie-talkie from his mouth.

‘It’s done.’

Junseong felt relieved that Dujae’s group had been safely rescued and turned his attention to the rest of his team. The first people he approached were Jian, who had carefully checked the situation with the zombies in different locations that he couldn’t see, and Gyeongo, who had moved the drone exactly as instructed. He patted their shoulders and praised them for their hard work. Both of them smiled brightly and proudly.

Next, he went to Changmin.

“Hyung, good job.”

“There was no need for any real effort. I just threw it like you told me.”

Changmin awkwardly said this while looking at the window where he had been standing. There were still yellow rubber bands arranged horizontally on the window, and several cans that had been nearby, now only four remained.

Changmin picked up one of the cans with a fuse attached and shook it lightly. Inside, the sound of stones clattering together could be heard.

“I wondered what we’d use this for, but I guess it was meant for this?”

“When we let the group of the bald man in safely, this was the method with the highest chance of success,” Junseong explained.

If Dujae’s group had been just as Junseong predicted, there wouldn’t be cans left over like this. There might have been a need to replenish a few more. Junseong had planned everything down to the exact timing, but in the end, it wasn’t necessary because the number of people in Dujae’s group was so small.

Junseong looked at the can that Changmin was holding.

‘I’m glad we prepared them.’

Changmin, also looking at the can he was holding, followed the fuse into the can. Inside were various sizes of pebbles and gunpowder scraped from sparkler fireworks.

The pebbles could be easily collected from the construction site near the container office. Changmin had planned to use Gyeongo’s pliers to open the can halfway and fill it with pebbles. However, the pebbles needed to collide with each other to create a spark, so they had to be selected carefully to ensure they were about the size of a finger’s width. He added as many as he could.

The sparkler fireworks, commonly known as “sparkla,” were collected from a nearby convenience store. Junseong had gathered them there, but the store didn’t have a wide variety of fireworks, so these were all he could manage.

After scraping the gunpowder from the sparkles and adding it to the can, Junseong had sealed it with tape. Once the fuse was lit and almost burned through, Changmin and Hanseo’s role was to throw it at the location Junseong had directed.

To reduce the margin of error, they used a simple launcher. It resembled a large crossbow, with two metal pipes on the window connected to rubber bands that held the bottom of the can. They stretched it and released, propelling the can.

The can needed a large impact to create the desired effect. The idea was to make the stones inside collide as much as possible. This would cause a loud explosion. Since the amount of gunpowder inside the can was small and it was difficult to set the zombies on fire due to the rain, the goal was simply the “explosion” sound. Additionally, using the rubber bands to give it acceleration ensured more precision than simply throwing it by hand, especially in the wind at high altitudes.

That wasn’t all they threw.

Changmin was also surprised by the smoke grenade, which worked on the same principle as the small explosive cans he used to play with when he was a child.

‘So that’s what the ping pong ball was for…’

He recalled the yellow ping pong ball he had been cutting apart with Gyeongo’s tools in the container office.

The ball, made of “celluloid,” was known to have combustion issues, which was why modern ping pong balls were made from plastic. It wasn’t an issue for nothing; celluloid ignites easily and produces a lot of smoke when burned, similar to a smoke grenade.

The smoke grenade can played a crucial role in helping Dujae’s group enter the hospital safely.

Changmin felt reassured by Junseong. Although Junseong looked frail on the outside, he was bolder, calmer, and smarter than anyone else in the group. Even though he had seen things in his dreams, using the information he gained in such a constantly changing reality was no easy feat.

Changmin smiled at Junseong’s cleverness as he watched the tall black dog walking toward him.

Standing still, the dog radiated an intimidating presence with its cold eyes. But when its owner was nearby, it wagged its invisible tail like a gentle puppy.

Of course, the gentle image was only visible to Junseong.

The black dog, Dohan, approached Junseong from behind and suddenly hugged him. Then, with a face that wiped away its usual smile, it glared coldly at Changmin.

‘You don’t need to glare at me; I’m not going to steal your owner.’

Changmin chuckled to himself as he walked away toward the rest of the group.

As he watched Changmin’s back fade, Junseong spoke to the black dog, whose face was buried in his head.

“You did well too.”

“Yeah. I did well, so you should praise me.”

“Alright, alright.”

Hanseo closed his eyes as he felt Junseong’s hand gently stroking his head.

Junseong’s touch was always warm and soft. Especially after a tense situation, his touch felt particularly comforting.

But right now, Junseong’s fingertips were cold. He hadn’t yet relaxed the tension.

The reason was obvious.

Originally, the mission would have been over once Dujae’s group had safely entered the hospital. But there were still other important people who hadn’t arrived yet.

“Kang Chaeyi will come back safely, too.”

At Hanseo’s words, Junseong looked at him with surprise. Hanseo met his gaze and seemed to ask, “Why?” with his eyes.

It was unusual. Hanseo, of all people, was comforting him like a “normal person.”

If anyone else had said it, it might have seemed like a meaningless comment, but since it came from Hanseo, it felt like genuine comfort.

Was it because he thought Hanseo wouldn’t say something like this, or was it because Hanseo himself was special?

Junseong couldn’t define it clearly, but he couldn’t deny that Hanseo’s comfort had served its purpose.

Junseong felt his fingers slowly warm up, which had been cold as if there was no bl00d flow. He tightly gripped Hanseo’s arm that was holding him.

“Yeah. You’re right. …He will.”

Just like Dujae, Junseong believed that Kang Chae-i would come here as well.

Junseong remembered the note from his younger sister that Hanseo had passed to him.

[You’ll scold me, but I couldn’t just stay still.]

[If I’m not there when you get back to the shelter, we’ll meet at Inhan Hospital as I said.]

[I’ll be heading there to look for you.]

[If we die before we meet, I won’t forgive you, you bastard.]

His younger sister had always kept the promises she made, so Junseong believed they would meet soon.

Dujae, who had climbed up to the 7th floor with his group through the emergency stairs, looked at Junseong’s group, who had been waiting for them, and felt another wave of relief. From Dujae’s perspective, Junseong’s group couldn’t possibly be the same people as those violent strangers from the previous night.

“You’ve had a hard time coming. Drink some water and catch your breath.”

Junseong gave out bottled water in paper cups from the nurse’s office. He watched as Dujae’s group, who hadn’t had water for days, quickly gulped it down.

“Phew! Now I feel like I can finally breathe.”

After drinking the water, Dujae exhaled loudly and smiled at Junseong.

“From your voice, it seems like you were the one giving orders. Is that right?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you so much. Thanks to you, everyone was able to get in safely. Actually, there were so many zombies that we were starting to think we might have to give up.”

As he spoke, Dujae’s expression darkened.

“I was worried that if there were any survivors here, they might have all died…”

“I actually wanted to ask you about that.”

Junseong looked at Dujae’s group, whose faces had grown grim, and spoke.

“From what I remember, the number of survivors who should have made it here was far more than just you. Even assuming no one joined from the subway shelter, it should have been at least 24 people.”

Junseong furrowed his brow slightly. His gaze landed on Dujae’s severed left arm.

“What happened on the way here?”

“Before I answer that, I think it’s better if you tell me your story first.”

Dujae’s forehead creased with clear lines.

“How do you know my name, the number of survivors, or anything about the subway shelter? It’s as if you’re talking like someone who’s seen the future…”

“That’s right.”

“…Are you joking?”

“No, I’m telling the truth.”

Junseong had planned to reveal everything from the start. Dujae, who had believed all of his stories in the dream world, was one of the few who would listen without doubt. He felt it wouldn’t be a problem to reveal everything first.

“Then, let me start with my story.”

‘This time, I won’t let anyone die.’

Junseong recalled the chapter where he had told Dujae everything about dreams and reality.

In that chapter, he had been tragically killed in a battle with Nam Gyeohyeok, but this time, he was determined not to let it happen again.