Red Dot - 110

Chapter 110

Junseong’s story was going to be quite long.

It was inevitable because he had to start with the story related to his dreams and then list everything they had experienced in reality. It was understandable that it wouldn’t be easy to interrupt his tale.

Before starting, Jian and Kyungo made a hospital room into a kind of rest area, as it seemed too harsh to keep Dujae and his group standing when they looked quite exhausted. They pushed two beds together on one side, brought the nurse’s desk over, and arranged chairs around it.

When they placed the remaining energy bars and water on the table for the group, who must have barely eaten during the chaos, the man and woman, who looked slightly better than Dujae, hurriedly filled their stomachs and quenched their thirst.

Junseong, watching them immersed in food, spoke.

“Please rest here. Jian, bring more food.”

“Okay.”

“Kyungo, please prepare a room for them to rest.”

“Got it.”

After assigning Dujae’s group to Jian and Kyungo, Junseong left the rest area with the others. Dujae, who must have been hungry and thirsty, kept sending him pointed glances, as if his story was more important than food.

Just as they were about to leave the rest area, the man, who had been quickly eating the energy bar, suddenly looked up at Junseong in surprise.

“We also… Ahem! We also want to hear the story!”

The man, who had choked slightly from eating too quickly, quickly stood up. He tapped the woman sitting next to him on the shoulder, and she hastily got up while taking a sip of water.

“Please, go ahead and eat. It’s something everyone needs to know, so after you finish eating, I’ll tell you the story.”

“Ah… in that case…”

With relieved faces, the two sat back down and reached for the food on the table to finish eating.

Junseong led them out of the rest area and toward a nearby hospital room. No one spoke during the move, including Dujae.

Once inside the room, with Dujae, Hanseo, and Changmin completely inside, Junseong began speaking.

As he had done with Changmin’s group in the container office, Junseong began telling Dujae about the dreams he had experienced over the past two months. He mentioned that he had already met his group in those dreams.

He explained how he thought he had finally found a solution in the repeated dreams over two months, only for the “real” nightmare to begin.

After summarizing the events in the dreams, Junseong began speaking about what had happened in reality. He glanced at Hanseo, who was quietly listening and faintly smiling as he heard a condensed version of the week with Junseong, missing out on major parts.

The information about Hanseo was limited to her being “his younger sister’s senior” and that they became a group when he went to rescue her. Everything else, which even Changmin, Kyungo, and Jian didn’t know, was naturally kept from Dujae as well.

“I need to be the only one to know about Hanseo.”

Dujae, like Seochangmin, was righteous, upright, and, as a bodyguard, had a sense of duty to protect others. As evidence, he had checked every shelter in Inhan City, looking for survivors, both in his dreams and in this reality.

If he knew that a living vaccine was right in front of him, he would surely argue that Hanseo must be handed over to the government in order to save many people in Korea. Seochangmin, who believed in sacrificing the few for the greater good, might agree with him.

Therefore, Hanseo’s existence had to be presented as just “Survivor 1” or “Comrade 1” to them.

As Junseong’s story reached today, the seventh day, Dujae, who had been silently listening, finally spoke with a pale face.

“Does that mean everything you said… is true?”

“Yes, it’s true.”

Changmin answered Dujae’s question.

“Thanks to Junseong’s memories from his dreams, I survived, and so did the rest of our group. We’ve received a lot of help since then.”

“Hmm…”

It was hard to refute such an absurd story when the details of the things Junseong had spoken about were so precise. Moreover, the fact that he could stand in front of them now was due to Junseong’s memories from his dreams. Without those, he would have never dared to enter the hospital, even if he saw survivors inside.

Additionally, although he hadn’t even mentioned it yet, Dujae knew that Junseong was aware of the fact that Dujae had been checking every shelter in Inhan City for the past week. Dujae had decided the order of shelters to visit based on the situation at hand, but Junseong could accurately point out every step, as if he had been watching from above.

At this point, it was impossible not to believe him.

“I never thought a day would come when I would believe in precognitive dreams.”

Dujae, who looked as though he had just encountered a wizard from a fantasy novel, stared at Junseong with shining eyes. Junseong, however, hardened his expression and said.

“However, what happened in reality is very different from the patterns I experienced in my dreams. As I mentioned earlier, the number of people who should have made it here, according to my predictions, should be eight times more than the current number.”

Those words weighed heavily on Dujae’s heart.

If Junseong was truly someone who had experienced precognitive dreams, and if he had really seen all the people who would join with Dujae in those dreams…

‘It’s as if… I couldn’t save them.’

He had no connection with the bodies he passed by in the shelters. By the time he arrived at the shelters, those who were already cold and dead were beyond any help, so he didn’t need to feel guilty. Yet, the weight in his heart remained, perhaps because in Junseong’s vision on the seventh day, he always arrived with many survivors.

As he thought about the survivors who had died without being able to be saved, his mind inevitably turned to the strange group from last night.

Among them, especially the terrifying young man who had cut off his own arm.

• Ahh hahahaha –

Even now, he could still hear it.

The clear voice of the man laughing like a madman amidst the dangerous knife fight.

‘No, he wasn’t just acting crazy. That man was insane.’

The image of the man, who had been bleeding from one eye but kept his chilling smile until they left, made Dujae shiver.

As Dujae recalled the events from the previous night, he slowly began to share what he had gone through.

As Dujae’s story continued, recounting the many shelters and bodies he had passed, Junseong’s group showed various reactions.

“How could this happen…? How could people do this to each other in a situation like this…!”

Changmin, imagining the horrors of the shelters, couldn’t continue his sentence.

If the motive was to seize supplies for survival, then maybe, just maybe, there could be a small bit of understanding. Though they were still ruthless murderers, that would be a reason, however cruel.

However, at some shelters, there were enough relief supplies and food left. At a glance, it seemed like they hadn’t been touched at all. These were things that were essential in such a disaster.

Thanks to this, Dujae’s group had managed to survive with that food until the sixth day, but the more he thought about it, the more it seemed strange. There were still so many zombies around—why would anyone go out of their way to find and kill survivors who had barely managed to stay alive? What benefit could there be?

Changmin couldn’t understand it at all.

Unlike Changmin, whose face had turned red from anger, Junseong looked quite pale. If he hadn’t been standing while speaking, he would have stumbled a few times.

‘Nam Ki-hyuk…’

When he realized that the one who had attacked the shelter and cut off Dujae’s arm was also Nam Ki-hyuk, a wave of confusion hit him. His question was the same as Changmin’s, but the emotion he felt wasn’t anger.

A chill ran down his back, making his shoulders tremble. A cold, eerie feeling passed over his shoulder and settled on his exposed, pale neck.

It felt as if Nam Ki-hyuk’s hand was slowly tightening around his neck.

Unconsciously, Junseong wrapped his hand around his neck and soon realized that his fingertips had become as cold as ice. His neck, covered in a chill, seemed to be squeezed by a lifeless hand.

Then, Junseong felt warmth on his cold hand.

“It’s okay.”

Hanseo, who had been sitting next to him, took Junseong’s hand off his neck and trapped it in her own. Normally, Hanseo’s body temperature was lower than Junseong’s, so it wouldn’t be easy to feel warmth, but right now, it was the warmest thing he could feel.

Junseong turned his head to look at Hanseo. Her eyes, which rarely smiled, curved softly in a way that contradicted the smile on her lips. It was as if she was reassuring him.

“It’s okay.”

Hanseo whispered again as she tightly gripped Junseong’s hand. His hand, trapped in hers, quickly began to regain warmth.

Junseong could feel his uneasy emotions and pale face slowly returning to normal.

‘Was her hand always this warm?’

Junseong, feeling a sense of comfort that didn’t quite match the seriousness of the situation, belatedly noticed that Dujae had been staring at them intently.

Quickly trying to pull his hand away, Hanseo, without noticing, held on firmly and refused to let go.

“Sorry. I was staring too much.”

Dujae chuckled and averted his gaze.

“Love tends to blossom in times of crisis. I understand.”

“No, don’t understand. It’s not like that.”

Dujae tilted his head, looking at Junseong, who was staring at him seriously. For some reason, even Changmin, who was standing beside him, tilted his head as well.