Red Dot - 141

Chapter 141

Junseong finally understood.

The video file’s title was 1101.

November 1st.

It was the first day the zombie virus spread.

If the man in the video file was really Hanseo’s adoptive father, it wasn’t strange that he held a half-empty bl00d pack. Hanseo gave him that bl00d pack, and he killed his wife to monopolize it and ran away.

The problem was why such a man visited the director.

Hanseo’s adoptive father, Do Jihoon, who entered the living room like it was his home, looked the director’s outfit up and down.

– Were you planning to go somewhere? I told you to wait at home.

The director’s outfit was too well-prepared, including a coat, for someone who stayed at home.

– Oh, this is just… I thought about going out since you didn’t come.

The director, looking flustered, carelessly hung the coat on the armrest of the living room sofa. Meanwhile, another question came up.

– Where’s your family?

– I told them to stay in their rooms for a bit.

– Hmm.

Watching Do Jihoon in the video stare at the tightly closed doors in the hallway, Junseong thought he and Hanseo shared some similarities.

The “hmm” sound he made when lost in thought, or the way his mouth smiled but his eyes were as cold as frost.

Although their appearance clearly showed no bl00d relation, their small habits and aura felt strikingly similar.

– The bl00d?

– …Wait a sec.

– Take this and throw it out.

At Do Jihoon’s words, the director, heading toward a room, turned back. Do Jihoon held out the bl00d pack he took out.

– Isn’t this… Hanseo’s bl00d?

– No big change in the infection progression time. It’s probably fake, just with a switched name tag.

Hanseo, watching the video, narrowed his eyes.

It was already confirmed that Hanseo’s bl00d, exceeding a certain dopamine level, could somewhat slow the virus’s infection progression. Since Do Jihoon knew more about the zombie virus than anyone, he likely noticed his body’s infection progressed the same as test subjects without the bl00d.

The director, silently looking down at the bl00d pack someone handed over, walked somewhere and disappeared from the camera’s view.

While waiting for the director, Do Jihoon repeatedly clenched and unclenched his fist, sometimes flinching as if someone poked him. It was likely due to physical changes from the virus infection.

The director returned quickly.

He held a bl00d pack without a name tag, like the one seen in the storage.

– This is the only pack I have. The rest are all at Cheongmusi Lab.

– Hmm, really?

Though suspicious, Jihoon said, “One pack is enough to hold on,” and reached out to the director.

The director looked down at the hand stretched toward him. The fingers twitched uncontrollably due to the infection.

– …Don’t you feel anything?

– About what?

– You’re infected. You might turn into a zombie like the other test subjects… How are you so calm?

– I’m not exactly calm. I just organized my thoughts.

Jihoon brought the hand he stretched toward the director back to himself. His gaze, looking down at his twitching fingers, was cold but seemed to hold a trace of madness.

– Like I said on the phone, Inhansi Lab is done. Only zombies useless as test subjects are left inside.

Jihoon, speaking as if it was a pity, suddenly grinned.

– But “I,” still in the infection progression stage, can be used as a test subject. Extract the virus from my body and complete the vaccine with the bl00d left at Cheongmusi.

Junseong couldn’t understand how Jihoon could smile despite being infected. The director facing Jihoon in the video felt the same.

– You might turn into a zombie before the vaccine is complete!

– As soon as I get to the lab, form a team and retrieve Hanseo first. With enough bl00d, delaying the progression for months is entirely possible.

– Do you know how many hundreds of milliliters are needed daily to delay it that much? The bl00d left at the lab isn’t nearly enough. And putting Hanseo in a dopamine-overload state too often will strain his body…!

– So what?

Jihoon cut him off dismissively.

– Just adjust it so he doesn’t die. Mental illness might be unavoidable, but what we need is that guy’s “bl00d.”

– Are you seriously saying that?

– I planned to keep him in a test tube his whole life, drawing bl00d until he dies of old age.

Looking at the wide-eyed director, Jihoon tilted his head.

– Obviously, there’s no substitute material. What else can we do? Keep him alive as long as possible to secure as much material as we can.

The director bit his lip hard, swallowing a groan.

Junseong, watching the video, felt the same.

“Keep him in a test tube and draw bl00d his whole life? Who? Hanseo?”

He couldn’t think of him as human. It was the same with Ki-hyuk, but honestly, this guy might surpass him in terms of mindset.

Junseong felt a stinging pain in his tightly clenched fist. His bitten lip seemed ready to bleed with a little more pressure, and the wrinkles on his furrowed brow wouldn’t smooth out.

When Hanseo told him about his past, Junseong could guess how inhumane and selfish his adoptive parents were.

But seeing it in the video and hearing the thoughts directly, he realized even those guesses were naive.

This man wasn’t human.

That was the only conclusion.

Junseong, who rarely lost his cool, struggled to control his emotions because this wasn’t just “some matter.”

“Calm down.”

To soothe Junseong, Hanseo reached out and held his trembling fist.

Hanseo’s face, as Junseong turned to look, was calm and composed, as if he already knew all this, even wearing a slight smile.

“If you make that face, what am I supposed to do?”

Junseong wished Hanseo would get uncontrollably angry. He wanted him to feel wronged and upset about why he had to be in such a situation. Or to cling to him and cry bitterly.

Those were emotional expressions he couldn’t expect from Hanseo, but Junseong wished for them because Hanseo seemed too full of holes as a human.

While Junseong swallowed his emotions looking at Hanseo’s face, Jihoon in the video took the bl00d pack from the director.

Jihoon opened the regulator on the hose connected to the bl00d pack and put his mouth to it without hesitation. Red bl00d flowed through the hose into his mouth.

The sight of him gulping bl00d like a tasty drink was utterly grotesque. His Adam’s apple moved, and his twitching hand, as if directly connected, kept drawing Junseong’s eyes.

– Ha… So this is the sensation the test subjects talked about.

Jihoon, muttering in awe, looked down at his hand. His fingers, twitching every three to four seconds, now stayed still even after ten seconds.

Jihoon, grinning, looked at the bl00d pack with satisfaction, but the director, holding back, spoke up.

– …Then you discarded Youngin because you found a replacement?

– What?

– You killed and discarded her!

Unable to suppress his emotions, the director shouted, breathing heavily and pressing Jihoon.

– You could’ve just left her and escaped alone! You didn’t have to kill her!

Jihoon stared at the director without answering, then looked at the closed doors in the house one by one.

– You went to the lab. No wonder…

The reason the director wore a coat wasn’t because he was about to go out, but because he had just returned from outside.

Jihoon, muttering, gave a mocking chuckle.

– Want me to tell you what you thought when you saw Youngin strangled to death?

Jihoon, adjusting the regulator to prevent bl00d leakage, flung open the nearest closed door. The camera didn’t catch it, but it seemed no one was inside.

– If your first love, infected with the virus, turns into a zombie…

Another door flung open with a bang.

The director, chasing Jihoon who disappeared from the screen, shouted to the family in one room to lock the door. Thanks to that, Jihoon seemed to pass that room without opening it.

The rest of Jihoon’s earlier words were too far to hear clearly, but a few words came through.

Zombie, bl00d control, aggression control.

Right after barely catching those words.

– Don’t open it!

The director’s shout rang out, and Jihoon’s laughter followed a beat later, as if he paused upon seeing something.

The screen showed only the living room and entrance, making it increasingly frustrating.

Then, from the innermost part of the hallway lined with rooms, a loud scuffle sounded, and soon Jihoon appeared.

He dragged out a woman of similar age in a white coat. She was pulled roughly by the collar, her arms and legs limp, clearly not normal.

– Wake up. Even in death, Youngin is my partner.

– Do Jihoon!

As the director shouted, the woman’s limp hand twitched in response. The movement looked identical to Jihoon’s virus infection reaction.

Looking down at the twitching hand of the lifeless body, Jihoon wore a creepy smile.