Red Dot - 143

Chapter 143

The director hurriedly dashed to the entrance, grabbed the door handle, and flung the door open. However, unlike the urgent momentum that seemed ready to burst outside, he froze in place with the door open.

The scream that rushed in the moment he opened the door was so loud that the camera’s microphone clearly captured it.

The director’s legs wobbled as he stared at the situation outside. He was so shocked by the scene unfolding before him that he collapsed onto the floor, still clutching the door. Meanwhile, someone’s screams continued to echo from outside.

The director, who had been motionless with his head bowed in despair, suddenly sprang to his feet. He hurriedly retrieved his phone from his coat in the living room and called the police.

The director’s words, as he clutched the phone, were completely incoherent. His report was a jumbled mess, hard to understand, and he even blurted out the word “zombie.” The police officer receiving the call probably thought the director was just a drunk or someone half-asleep.

The director, pouring out a tangle of words until he was breathless, suddenly threw the phone down in a huff.

He crouched down, clutching his head with both hands. His shoulders trembled violently, clearly captured by the camera, overwhelmed by immense guilt and anxiety.

After a while, the director, seemingly having regained control of his emotions, lifted his head.

He wiped the tears from his face and approached the camera, looking directly into the lens as if speaking to Junseong and Hanseo watching the video.

– In the basement of the Inhan Bl00d Center, there is a First Laboratory accessible only by the biometric authentication of four people. Inside it…

What followed was about the existence of the First Laboratory and details regarding Do Hanseo. Though heavily abbreviated, he confessed about the secret in Do Hanseo’s bl00d, the zombie virus created during new drug development, and the subsequent experiments.

Junseong, reflecting on the summarized version of what he had heard directly from Hanseo, looked at the director.

The director’s face, in that short time, seemed to have aged ten years, lifeless and utterly dark. What was he thinking while recording this video?

The story ended, as expected, with “Do Hanseo’s rampage.”

Hanseo’s story, thoroughly destroying the laboratory and driving his adoptive parents to extreme situations as if venting everything pent up, was thus “testified” by the hectare.

By then, the director’s face was so crumbled that it wouldn’t have been surprising if he suddenly broke down sobbing.

– Honestly… I don’t want this story to come to light. I feel too sorry for that kid.

It was clear enough, without deep thought, who “that kid” referred to.

Hanseo’s eyes, meeting the guilt-ridden director’s, remained cold and indifferent, as if feeling no emotion.

– But the beginning and end of the “disaster” we created is Do Hanseo.

Hanseo’s name finally slipped from the director’s mouth.

– I probably won’t be here, but if someone sees this, instead of me…

– Honey…

The face and voice of the wife, who quietly opened the door and came out, were captured. The director, startled, stopped speaking and tightly pressed his lips together.

The director, unable to finish his confession and request, finally looked away from the lens. As he stood up and moved to the side of the camera, the screen abruptly went black.

The video ended there.

Junseong stared at the darkened screen, lost in thought for a moment.

In his dream, after repeating several cycles, Junseong learned that the area where the zombie virus first broke out was near this place.

It was good to find out, but zombies kept popping out from every corner of the apartment, launching fierce attacks as his group moved. They barely held on, but it felt like they would soon all be bitten and die in a desperate situation.

It was the director who saved Junseong’s group.

Wearing hockey gear twice his size and a helmet, swinging a sturdy hockey stick, his appearance was so ferocious that even Junseong’s group was shocked.

With the director’s help, the group fended off the zombies and temporarily hid in his house. Through conversation with the director, they learned he was part of the lab that created the zombie virus and the director of the bl00d center that covered it up.

The director silently accepted the group’s accusations. Even then, he didn’t say a word about Hanseo or his adoptive parents.

The director, having taken their blame, offered to provide the “solution” they sought and asked them to go to the lab together.

The group hesitated but chose to follow the director to the bl00d center to resolve the zombie crisis.

Upon arriving at the bl00d center, the group obtained research materials and a virus stabilizer deemed a “solution,” but most of them, including the director, were attacked by zombies.

Junseong was no exception.

At that time, Junseong, bitten less severely than the others, pressed the director, who sat collapsed with his arm torn. He asked if delivering this solution to the government was enough or if something more was needed to resolve the crisis.

For Junseong, who planned to end the zombie crisis in the next cycle using this solution, he couldn’t give up despite knowing he was infected.

The director looked at Junseong as if he were a strange person.

“Everyone’s bitten anyway. The virus stabilizer broke earlier, so we’ll all become zombies. Why are you so desperate?”

Despite the director’s resigned words, Junseong’s lively eyes didn’t waver.

“Even if it’s impossible for ‘us now,’ it’s possible in the ‘next.’”

Junseong spoke thinking of the next cycle, but it seemed to hold some meaning for the director.

The director, looking at Junseong with trembling eyes, showed a face briefly lost in deep thought.

“If…”

The director blankly stared at his twitching hand, nerves going haywire.

“If your ‘next’ needs the ‘truth,’ check my house again.”

At the time, the meaning of those words wasn’t clear.

As the director turned his head, red bl00d began to flow from his eyes. Knowing the virus had nearly taken over his body, he smiled weakly.

“There’s nowhere else for ‘that kid’ to return to… If the ‘next’ comes, here…”

Whether those unfinished words were mere muttering or part of the “truth” he meant to tell Junseong is unknown.

Looking back now, it was hard to easily understand the director’s actions.

The director’s laptop contained “fake research materials” edited by Do Hanseo himself, meaning he had secured even these materials from the lab.

As a key figure in the research, the director couldn’t have failed to notice the materials were fake.

Yet, in the dream, the director kept the fake materials without discarding them and even claimed they were the solution, guiding the group to the Second Laboratory. He did so despite knowing the danger.

At the time, Junseong thought it was just to bypass the facial recognition device, but perhaps there was another reason.

Perhaps the real goal was to secretly take the original research materials from the First Laboratory.

“Or…”

Maybe he wanted to meet Do Hanseo.

The only place lonely Do Hanseo, who had nothing of his own, could call “my space” was a cold room in the corner of the lab.

Perhaps the director believed Hanseo would return there.

In fact, Junseong met Hanseo at the end of the last cycle where he found the solution. It was just a silhouette, but Junseong was certain it was Hanseo.

If the director wanted to meet Hanseo as expected, what did he want to say?

Junseong, wearing a bitter expression, reached out. His fingertips moved over the laptop’s touchpad as if drawing.

“Do Hanseo.”

“Yeah.”

A casual reply, devoid of any emotional shift.

Junseong, with a satisfied face, moved his fingers. The video completely stopped, and the mouse cursor moved with his finger.

“We only found ‘research materials’ and ‘some unknown bl00d for vaccine development’ here.”

The mouse cursor pointed at the video file. His finger pressed the [Shift] and [Del] keys on the keyboard.

[Would you like to permanently delete this file?]

Junseong’s eyes, looking at the prompt on the screen, showed no wavering.

“This damn video, we never saw it.”

Junseong pressed the “Confirm” button without hesitation.

This video dared to dig into Hanseo’s past. No matter how important the truth it held, he couldn’t forgive it.

It didn’t matter if the director felt guilt and sought atonement.

The director was the root of all evil in Junseong’s eyes.

He would pin everything on him.

To make a place for Hanseo to stay, it had to be this way.

Thus, the video containing the truth vanished effortlessly at Junseong’s fingertips.

“…Am I too selfish?”

His resolve didn’t waver, but his heart wasn’t entirely at ease.

“Yeah.”

Hanseo’s immediate reply followed, and his hand grabbed Junseong’s chin, turning it. Their eyes met, and Hanseo’s lips approached Junseong.

“That’s why I like it.”

Hanseo’s lips, as hot as his fervent eyes, covered Junseong.

Kang Junseong, openly showing selfishness for his sake.

That video was completely erased from Hanseo’s mind, making it an utterly joyful moment for him.

While yielding his lips to Hanseo, Junseong recalled Do Jihoon from the video.

He clearly remembered his face.

If that person were gone—no, Hanseo could only be truly free if that person was gone.

Junseong, unaware, was changing into someone who would do anything for Hanseo.