Red Dot - 119

Chapter 119

Junseong pushed Hanseo away without hesitation and rushed out of the hospital room. He had always appeared calm, but at that moment, he couldn’t afford to be relaxed.

Yuseul, watching Junseong’s back, felt a mix of relief and excitement. She, too, was in a similar state as Junseong, having been separated from her younger sibling. This made it impossible for her not to deeply empathize with the situation.

Roughly wiping her eyes with her hand to stop the tears, Yuseul suddenly looked back at Hanseo. He was a person who somehow felt distant and cold, but when it came to Junseong, he seemed quite warm. However, the air around him felt so heavy that it was almost suffocating.

‘I thought he would be happy for him.’

Since it was a close friend’s situation, Yuseul had expected Hanseo to show at least a little sincere relief.

The sharp and cold expression that had never been seen when he was with Junseong now made Yuseul feel uneasy.

‘He really is a scary and unsettling person.’

Shivering briefly, Yuseul quickly left the hospital room.

Left alone, Hanseo stared at the wide-open door. Beyond his line of sight was nothing but the bright hallway, but it felt as if he could see Junseong’s small, smiling face, as if he were looking through the walls.

Hanseo clenched his fist tightly, the hand that had patted Junseong. The force was so strong that if there had been something in his grip, it would have been crushed immediately.

When he opened his clenched fist, the pale palm quickly turned red, as if stained with someone’s bl00d.

Hanseo had felt this emotion before.

Anything that attached itself to Junseong irritated him. Just talking to him bothered him, and the urge to cut off his own wrist when touching him was overwhelming.

But he had been able to endure it.

Because he was sure that he was more important to Junseong than anyone else.

That certainty allowed him to bear it, but knowing that the person in question was Kang Chaeyi made it almost impossible to suppress the feeling.

He was afraid that one day, Junseong would do the same thing between Chaeyi and him.

No.

He was afraid that Junseong would leave him behind.

‘So that’s it.’

He realized once again that this feeling was not a cute jealousy. It was far bigger and more terrifying.

Hanseo took out the jackknife that had been in his jacket pocket. Except for some inevitable signs of wear, it was a clean and well-maintained knife.

Looking down at the blade, the only thing he could truly call “mine,” Hanseo saw his reflection in the sharp, short blade.

‘I’m glad Junseong didn’t see this.’

If Junseong had seen this ugly face, he might have been scared this time.

Apart from this well-sharpened knife, Hanseo had never had anything he considered “his” or felt any desire to possess. So these feelings were unfamiliar to him. Obsession, possessiveness—words like that seemed small compared to what was gnawing at him, scratching at him in a bothersome way.

‘It’s fine.’

He spoke the words he used to comfort Junseong and stood up. He slipped the well-sharpened blade back into his body and then hid it in his jacket pocket.

‘As long as you don’t leave me… it’s fine.’

Those words, like a leash for a vicious dog, cooled Hanseo’s mind.

Junseong, having left the hospital room, ran to the windows where his group was gathered. As if they had been waiting, Changmin gave him a bright smile and moved aside.

Though it was dark and hard to see clearly, it was probably the road leading into the hospital.

Below, a light swayed, moving in irregular arcs. The light, not directly shining down on the ground but rather sweeping through the air in circles, seemed unnoticed by the zombies, whose eyes were too dark to detect it.

‘A flashlight?’

Junseong quickly realized that someone was waving a flashlight in the air, signaling.

The seventh floor of Inhan Hospital had intentionally been brightly lit. This was so that Chaeyi’s group could spot the light from a distance, even at night.

“Your brother is here, so hurry up.”

The light on the seventh floor, showing the presence of survivors, had fortunately reached them as well.

Jiwoo, who had been watching the window, handed the binoculars she had been holding to Junseong as he stood by the window.

“It’s hard to see clearly because it’s dark, but it looks like they’re riding a bus.”

Junseong raised the binoculars and carefully looked at the area where the light was visible. In his view, he could only see the upper body of the person waving the flashlight, but nothing was visible below the waist, as if it had been cut off in a straight line. Thanks to Jiwoo mentioning the “bus,” Junseong was able to figure out that the person was sticking their upper body out from the roof of the vehicle and waving a flashlight.

“Ah…!”

A small exclamation escaped Junseong’s mouth as he observed the person waving the flashlight closely.

Although it was too far and too dark to see their face clearly, Junseong could tell that the person was a woman with short hair. That alone was enough for him to instantly recognize who it was.

He felt his legs almost give out.

Although he was certain, there was still the variable of Nam Ki-hyuk. He had never seen Chaeyi meet with Jang Daewook in his dreams, so he had thought something might have happened on their way here.

But the blurry figure of Chaeyi appeared to be safe, much to his relief.

After taking a deep breath to calm his racing heart, Junseong quickly turned to Jiwoo and asked, “Did you just turn off the headlights? Even with just that light, the zombies would have been drawn to it.”

“No, they didn’t turn on any lights until they appeared. At first, I didn’t recognize it. I saw something slowly moving on the road, so I focused and realized it was a bus.”

Junseong lowered the binoculars, his face puzzled.

If the surrounding buildings or shop signs had been giving off light at night, it would have been understandable, but now everything was covered by dark clouds, and there wasn’t even any moonlight. It seemed impossible to move in the darkness without turning on any lights, not even headlights.

But that was something they could figure out later.

Right now, meeting with Chaeyi and the people on that bus was more urgent.

Junseong looked at his group and quickly said, “It seems like they have something that allows them to see even without headlights. Let’s enter through the underground parking lot instead of the entrance we planned to use.”

Bang-!

Suddenly, a loud explosion cut off Junseong’s words. It felt as though the entire building was shaking, like a massive earthquake.

“Ugh!”

“What’s happening?!”

The group, instinctively ducking down or crouching, was startled as dust and rock debris fell from the ceiling. The vibrations caused chairs and tables in the break room to fall, and the sounds of papers and objects crashing down could be heard from the nurse’s office.

Hanseo, who had rushed out and wrapped his body around Junseong, carefully observed the aftershocks as the building and ceiling trembled.

The loud explosion no longer echoed, and the shaking that had felt like an earthquake gradually subsided.

Changmin, his face serious, stood up.

“I’ll check and be right back.”

“Oppa, where are you going?”

Jiwoo, with a frightened expression, clung to Changmin’s arm and asked. Not wanting to scare her any more, but also unable to lie, Changmin reluctantly looked at the ceiling and spoke.

“I think there was a bomb.”

“What?!”

Namsub, who had been covering his head, lifted his head in shock. The other members also seemed quite surprised.

“That can’t be… I checked the place where we were going to fly the drone earlier, and there was nothing like a bomb there.”

“Who would put a bomb in an obvious spot?”

Hanseo, who had slipped out of Junseong’s arms, responded to Kyungo, who looked pale. Junseong, almost untouched by dust, observed Hanseo’s state and lightly brushed off the stone dust on his clothes.

“I’ll go up. The rest of you stay alert for any potential explosions.”

“No, stay here. I’ve seen plenty of bombs before. Let me check.”

Changmin, whose main job had been bomb disposal, had seen various types of bombs while working overseas. He thought it was natural for him to go in this situation, as he could estimate the power of the explosion from the components.

“Then, Changmin hyung and I will go up. The rest of you stay here.”

Still tense from the explosion, the group trusted Dujae to handle things and quickly grabbed flashlights. As they headed to the emergency stairwell and opened the door to climb, they suddenly sensed someone following behind.

“Why are you coming?”

Junseong glared sharply at Hanseo, who had followed him without a word. Hanseo just smiled quietly, his gaze saying, “Isn’t it obvious that I should follow?”

Junseong didn’t have time to argue with Hanseo’s stubbornness, so he ignored him and continued up to the rooftop. He vaguely thought that if Hanseo got caught in an explosion, he would try to protect him somehow.

When they reached the roof, now free from rain, Junseong quickly identified the source of the explosion.

Seeing the shattered remnants of a water tank and cracks in the floor nearby, Junseong furrowed his brows.

“Did they hide the bomb there?”

Since he knew Nam Ki-hyuk’s group had visited the hospital, it made sense to be cautious. Junseong had already checked inside the building and on the roof for anything suspicious, but now he realized that the bomb must have been attached to the water tank wall.

The explosion had been strong enough to break the water tank and cause cracks in the floor, but that was all. With this kind of damage, the building wouldn’t be severely affected, and the seventh floor should remain relatively safe.

“Junseong…”

Changmin’s tense voice reached Junseong’s ears.

“We need to get out of here now.”

Changmin, without looking at Junseong, directed his flashlight at a spot and froze.