Red Dot - 17

– Chapter 17 –

While walking along the tracks, the middle-aged man guiding the group revealed his name as Kim Cheolho. He also mentioned that he was one of the station staff at this subway station. Even without disclosing his occupation, everyone would have quickly realized it due to his blood-stained staff uniform.

“You were lucky. I happened to be checking the emergency door of the screen door.”

When the people gathered in the subway were gradually turning into zombies, Cheolho was busy checking the emergency door of the screen door. It was around that time. Soon after, the platform turned into a sea of screams and cries as zombies swarmed in, and when Cheolho managed to save a few people nearby and narrowly closed the door, most of the people had already been bitten by zombies.

Recalling that moment, Cheolho’s face darkened.

“I don’t know why this happened. Why something like… something like a B-movie scenario…”

His voice trembled with emotion.

Jiwoo and Soyeon, emotionally connected to Cheolho, silently shed tears. Jiwoo’s atmosphere was such that she could burst into tears with just a tap. Although Chaeyi didn’t show tears like the others, she also seemed emotionally shaken. With trembling hands, she tightly grasped Junseong’s hand instead of his sleeve.

Junseong and Hanseo were the only ones not emotionally immersed in Cheolho’s feelings.

Junseong already knew his story, and there was too much to consider before getting emotionally involved.

‘Today, let’s follow along to the shelter and tomorrow at around 7:20, no, 22 minutes, go out along the tracks…’

While listening to Cheolho’s story that he had heard dozens of times in his dreams with one ear and letting it pass with the other, Junseong mentally organized tomorrow’s schedule. To arrive at the hospital by tomorrow afternoon, he had to start moving early in the morning. Moreover, it wouldn’t be just him moving alone; he had to take Chaeyi, Jiwoo, Soyeon, all three of them, and protect them. It was going to be a quite challenging day.

Then he looked up at Hanseo, who was walking silently beside him.

‘Come to think of it, this guy is here too.’

Junseong chewed on his lips while looking at Hanseo, who, unlike others, showed no signs of exhaustion and had good physical stamina.

The biggest variable in the group and a strange guy.

Even just at this level, it would be a headache. However, it occurred to him that Hanseo might be more dangerous and important than he thought.

“Dohanseo.”

As Junseong called him, a small smile appeared on Hanseo’s usually expressionless face, and his characteristic cold eyes turned towards Junseong.

“You…”

“Here.”

Before Junseong could finish his sentence, Cheolho stopped walking. A red sign that read ‘Shelter’ was attached to the wall of the tunnel on one side of the open tracks.

With a creaking sound, the slightly rusty latch on the iron door attached to the wall of the tunnel came together.

“Come in.”

Cheolho gestured to the group, then entered the door. Unlike the dark tunnel, the space beyond the door was quite bright.

The shelter inside was not just a wide open area. It didn’t even have any facilities or rooms. It was a fairly large and long rectangular space with a few disaster preparedness tents set up. On one side, there was a glass cabinet stocked with gas masks and fire-fighting sand, and there were also several disaster preparedness items lined up next to it.

When the shelter door opened, a few people who were looking at the group through the zipper were visible. They seemed to be the people who had evacuated through the screen door with Cheolho.

“We’ll prepare the tents for you soon. Just wait a moment.”

Despite the subway station turning into a zombie haven, Cheolho seemed to think it was his duty as a station staff to take care of people, providing them with a comfortable resting space.

‘With such a person around, we can feel relieved.’

Even in his dreams, Junseong liked Cheolho a lot. Cheolho, who had a warm uncle-like feeling and liked taking care of others, took Junseong’s repeated dreams seriously when he confided in him. Not only did he not dismiss it as a joke, but he also offered genuine comfort, acknowledging how difficult it must have been for Junseong. Cheolho’s solace was a significant help to Junseong at that time.

“Oh, goodness! Mr. Station Staff! Did you have a proper medical check-up?!”

A neurotic man in his 50s, who walked out of one of the tents, scrutinized the group while swaggering.

With his high-quality gray suit pants, a waist belt with a logo from a well-known luxury brand seen somewhere, and cuffs on the white shirt that hinted at being a high-ranking company executive, the man seemed to be more than just a manager.

The man, mixing curses with his speech, continued to berate the group.

“With blood all over like this, do you think you’re fine?! Aren’t all these guys infected?!”

“Oh, sir, why are you like this? Didn’t you see how those bitten people change?”

Cheolho tried to calm the man down, glancing at the group. However, the man still raised his voice.

“I saw it! I saw it all! When they get infected, blood pours out from their eyes! But there might be an incubation period or something! What if they got bitten, but the symptoms haven’t shown up yet?!”

“Everyone said they weren’t bitten.”

“Then the bitten guy must have bitten me! That’s how it works!”

With the man shouting loudly in the shelter, everyone inside the tents now focused their attention on the group. As the man’s remarks continued, their expressions became increasingly uneasy.

It seemed like they might be expelled from this rare space where they could finally rest.

To relieve the tension for the group, Junseong stepped forward, replacing them.

“Then, why don’t you examine each person, and if nobody is infected, let us stay here?”

“Well, that…”

Seeing the man reluctantly accepting it with a sullen face, Junseong asked Cheolho to examine the group.

“It’s unnecessary, but the boss is making a fuss for no reason.”

“No, it’s better to check for any uncertainties beforehand.”

“Thanks for saying that, but… I’m really sorry.”

Cheolho apologized sincerely, exhaling a deep sigh.

Men and women were to be examined separately. Like Hanseo did in the classroom, each person went into the supply room one by one, undressed, and underwent a thorough examination.

As a result, no one was bitten, as expected.

The man, who seemed to have hoped for the presence of an infected person, now wore an irritated expression upon realizing that everyone was fine. Holding a cigarette pack, he headed towards the shelter door. Seeing this, Cheolho quickly ran over and grabbed his arm.

“No, where are you going, sir! It’s dangerous out there!”

“Can’t I even smoke as I please?! I told you not to smoke here!”

“Here, there are pregnant women too…!”

“Oh, stop making noise! So I’ll go out and smoke!”

The man forcefully pushed Cheolho away, took out a cigarette, and slammed the door shut. Some tents murmured, ‘Here we go again’ or ‘Can’t he calm down a bit,’ and similar complaints. It seemed that the people in the shelter didn’t particularly like the irritable man in his 50s.

Jiwoo, who was glaring at the door that the man had gone through, sighed with frustration, beating her chest.

“Why are there people like that?”

Cheolho, who had been sighing deeply, looked at the group with a charming smile.

“Please understand. We barely managed to evacuate, and everyone is still in shock. The future is uncertain, making everyone more sensitive. We urgently need rescue because there’s no food available…”

“Huh? Don’t you have emergency rations?”

At Jiwoo’s question, Cheolho scratched his cheek.

“We thought we had them, but the shelter wasn’t well maintained, so there was nothing to eat. Still, we have water, so we might manage for a few days somehow.”

Securing food in a disaster situation was absolutely essential. Even if there were no issues with water, if there was no way to resolve hunger, people would become increasingly irritable.

Because Junseong was aware of the situation in this shelter, he opened his backpack, revealing its contents. Cheolho and the group were surprised to see it filled with energy bars, chocolate bars, and more.

“I raided a convenience store on the way here. With these, we should be able to endure for a few days at least.”

Junseong had filled his backpack with emergency rations not only for himself and the group but also with the awareness of the situation in this shelter.

Knowing that there was only water available in the shelter, and people left here would have to struggle with hunger for several days, Junseong wanted to help them endure a bit longer.

“Knowing everything about the situation here and it’s not a dream but ‘reality,’ how could I pretend not to know?”

Indeed, if it were a dream, he might have been able to ignore it. Helping them wouldn’t contribute to solving the zombie crisis anyway.

However, because it was reality, he couldn’t turn a blind eye.