Red Dot - 12

Chapter 12

“Chaeyi, can you go down?”

Chaeyi held onto the looped rope Junseong handed her and stared at him intently.

She couldn’t believe how calm and prepared Junseong was.

She had thought the only thing he knew how to do was play games, but was he always this reliable?

Since modern games are so realistic, maybe he had played a survival game like this before.

Either way, he was definitely the most trustworthy person right now.

Without a word, Chaeyi put her legs into the loop. Seeing that, Jiwoo frantically waved his hands.

“Hey, hey, are you really doing this?”

“Of course. It’s not that different from the climbing harness I used before.”

“That one had proper safety measures! This is totally different!”

Since she had experienced rock climbing as part of her physical education class, Chaeyi looked at Jiwoo with disappointment as he raised his voice in protest.

“Then stay behind and starve with the zombies.”

“Why do you say things like that?!”

Even as Jiwoo shouted, Chaeyi put both her legs into the loops, securing them one by one. With Junseong’s help, she pulled the rope up to her groin.

“There aren’t any extra safety measures, so you have to grip the knot above tightly. If you don’t, you’ll flip over and fall.”

“Okay, don’t worry.”

Chaeyi nodded, following Junseong’s instructions. Holding onto the round knot at chest level, her face tensed with nervousness.

A gloved hand rested on her head.

“It’s okay. You’ll make it down safely.”

Just like in the dream.

After checking that the loop was securely fastened around Chaeyi’s groin, Junseong walked to the window and looked outside. There were still many zombies below, even from the third floor.

“This side doesn’t seem very safe either.”

At Hanseo’s comment, Junseong replied.

“I have a way to make it safe for a while.”

He pulled a small personal alarm from his pocket.

“I’ll turn this on to lure the zombies away.”

It was the same method he used when someone helped him on the second floor. Since zombies are sensitive to sound, this was the best way to draw them away.

Hanseo smirked as if amused.

“Are you Doraemon? You keep pulling out exactly what we need.”

He must have thought of the blue, earless, all-purpose robot cat from the animation.

Junseong found it fascinating that Hanseo could still joke so casually, even with zombies roaming outside. At this point, he even felt a bit envious of that composure.

In the assistant instructor’s office, there was another window to the side besides the one facing the hill. Since the room was at the end of the floor, it wasn’t strange to have a side window.

Junseong quickly pulled the pin on the alarm and threw the device out the window.

Beep—Beep—Beep—Beep—

As the alarm blared loudly in short bursts, zombies from all directions swarmed toward it.

The alarm would automatically shut off in ten minutes.

They had to escape before then.

Thanks to the loud alarm, the zombies in the area had gathered in one spot, leaving the hill-facing side completely clear. Even when peering out the window, there were no signs of zombies heading their way.

“You can go down now.”

“Got it.”

With a short reply, Chaeyi stepped onto the window frame. Jiwoo and Soyeon were more nervous than she was, watching her move without hesitation.

Sitting on the frame with both feet outside, Chaeyi suddenly looked back at Junseong. He had wrapped one arm tightly around the rope and was gripping the middle firmly with both hands. One foot was pressed against the wall to avoid being dragged forward.

“What about you?”

“I’ll go last.”

Chaeyi frowned.

“The last person won’t have anyone to hold the rope. You’d have to just grab it and jump down.”

“It’s fine. Just go first.”

“No. I’ll go last instead. You’ve never done this before. You might get hurt.”

“Kang Chaeyi.”

Junseong called her name firmly, his gaze unwavering.

“Listen to me, okay?”

“……”

Chaeyi, who had been hesitating on the window frame, eventually nodded. But she still looked back at him repeatedly, unable to shake her worry.

The first descent was a success.

Junseong carefully lowered Chaeyi to the ground as slowly as possible. The process went smoothly, thanks to Hanseo silently stepping in to help hold the rope. But more than anything, it was the repeated trials in his dreams that made the biggest difference.

Since Chaeyi reached the ground without a single scratch, Jiwoo and Soyeon seemed a little less anxious. Though they trembled in fear, they put their legs into the loops and managed to descend without much trouble.

After sending the three down first, he quickly pulled up the long rope. He also dropped the bathroom broom that Soyeon had asked him to bring as a weapon and the 30cm wrench Jiwoo had found in the instructor’s office out the window.

The only ones left were Junseong, who was carrying a heavy backpack, and Hanseo, who had a wooden stick strapped to his waist.

Even though everything was going just like in the dream and he had lowered the three without any issues, Junseong was actually struggling.

‘My arms are numb.’

In the dream, he could still feel sensations, but he couldn’t feel pain. So when he lowered three people using the rope, it only felt like a slight strain on his arms. But reality was different. His arms weren’t just numb; they felt like they were about to break. It was understandable since he had wrapped the rope around his arms to support the weight.

He lightly rotated his shoulders, which felt like they might dislocate, and looked at Hanseo, who was checking the rope he had pulled up.

‘My arms… they won’t break or dislocate, right?’

Looking at Do Hanseo, who was obviously heavy just from his bones and muscles alone, made Junseong want to sigh.

Without showing his discomfort, he was about to tell Hanseo to get ready to go down.

“What’s your name?”

Hanseo asked while keeping his eyes on the rope. Junseong found it amusing that he was asking now, at a time when they needed to escape quickly.

“Kang Junseong. Now hurry up and put your legs in.”

“Kang Junseong. Kang Junseong…”

Hanseo repeated his name a few times, then smiled and held out the rope to him.

“Junseong, you go down first. I’ll hold the rope for you.”

He called his name so warmly while tapping the window frame.

Junseong never thought hearing his name called would make his skin crawl. It wasn’t just that it felt bad—it was the fear and uneasiness of feeling like he had just been targeted for something.

‘Weirdo.’

For someone to be this relaxed and smiling in a situation like this, Junseong couldn’t tell if Hanseo was just naturally calm or if he simply wasn’t afraid. Either way, it was unsettling.

Without reacting, Junseong motioned to the rope with his chin.

“No. You go first.”

“Hm, then call my name.”

“What?”

There was a limit to how oblivious someone could be.

Junseong’s eye twitched, but Hanseo leaned in closer and grinned even more.

“Do you know my name?”

Even though his smile deepened, his eyes weren’t curved at all. It was obviously a fake smile, yet somehow, it was still attractive. Maybe because he was just that good-looking.

‘Annoying bastard.’

Junseong swallowed the words he wanted to say and let out a sigh.

“It’s Do Hanseo. I said your name, so that’s enough, right? Hurry up and get ready. We don’t have time.”

Since he remembered the name Chaeyi had called him, it was easy to answer. Only then did Hanseo’s previously unbent eyes finally soften.

Suddenly, Hanseo grabbed Junseong’s waist and lifted him up. Then, without warning, he sat him on the window frame, facing inward. Junseong was so startled that he quickly grabbed the side of the window frame with both hands. If he wasn’t careful, his backpack could shift his weight backward, making him fall straight to the ground.

Even after doing something so reckless, Hanseo didn’t even look sorry. He casually put the loops of the rope around Junseong’s legs.

“What are you doing? You said if I called your name, you’d go first.”

Junseong, trying to calm his pounding heart, glared at him. Hanseo pulled the rope up to Junseong’s groin and then grabbed his arm, pulling him forward. Junseong, caught off guard by the unexpected strength, ended up in an awkward embrace with Hanseo.

“Hey.”

“Just stay still.”

Feeling embarrassed, Junseong tried to push Hanseo away, but instead, Hanseo wrapped an arm around his waist, hugging him tighter so he couldn’t escape. Meanwhile, with his other hand, he pulled the rope up to secure it just below Junseong’s butt.

No matter how he looked at it, being grabbed around the waist, pulled into a hug, and feeling someone adjust a rope near his lower body was extremely uncomfortable.