Red Dot - 2

Chapter 2

Repetition, repetition, and more repetition.

What he found somewhat fortunate was that within this dream, he could make new attempts each time for his survival. Changing his actions would result in different events unfolding, and choosing the right words for the rare encounters with other survivors could alter their actions as well. He never expected to experience the freedom of lucid dreams to this extent.

For about a week, he took his nightmares seriously and even tried to avoid sleep, but all his efforts were in vain. Whenever he closed his eyes, he would find himself standing in the center of his one-room apartment, experiencing the same rigid beginning all over again.

Even though he would realize that “this is a dream” when he opened his eyes in the dream, knowing what would happen next made it all the more unbearable.

Frustrated by this, Junseong decided to seek professional help and visited a mental health counselor. However, the counselor’s advice only revolved around phrases like, “It’s stress from recently quitting your job,” “You should manage your stress better,” and “I recommend you quit playing games and go on a trip with friends.” These words provided no real assistance to Junseong.

While attending counseling with the determination of grasping at straws, his nightmares continued without respite.

Junseong figured that if he was going to dream every day, he might as well try to find a way out of the dream as soon as he opened his eyes in it. Knowing it was a horrifying dream filled with terrifying zombies, escaping before being torn apart and devoured by them seemed like the better choice. Anyone would want to avoid the gruesome sensation of having one’s flesh torn apart and chewed on by the dreadful zombies.

His first attempt was to awaken his physical senses.

He tried moving his fingertips as if relaxing his muscles when they felt tense, just as you might do when you’re trapped under scissors.

But no matter how much he wriggled in the dream, it amounted to nothing more than moving his perfectly normal fingers. He came to realize that scissors and lucid dreams were fundamentally different.

Next, he tried causing physical pain. It was common in dreams to pinch oneself or perform similar actions to check for pain, so he thought it might be useful when trying to awaken.

His hopes were short-lived.

Even with all his senses intact, for some reason, he couldn’t feel pain. Self-inflicting pain to awaken was also impossible.

In the end, his last resort was suicide.

He had always believed that there should be no room for suicide in one’s life. Yet, in this particular situation, he viewed it as the only way to awaken from the dream. If being bitten and killed by zombies would result in waking up, perhaps the same could be achieved by taking this drastic step. The sensation of the gruesome zombies thrusting their teeth into flesh and tearing it apart was something that anyone would want to avoid.

As he suffered through these endless nightmares of an unknown origin, he reached the point of desperation.

“Doesn’t it feel just like a roguelike game?”

A friend who had finally visited his home marveled at Junseong’s dreams. Unlike Junseong, who was taking the situation seriously, the friend even made comments that didn’t sound like he had any intention of experiencing such a dream himself.

“If you die, you have to start over.”

His friend likened Junseong’s dream to the typical features of roguelike games and seemed genuinely interested.

“If it’s a zombie roguelike game… you’d need to develop a vaccine or exterminate the zombies to end it, right?”

His friend’s words appeared to be the answer Junseong had been searching for, providing him with a glimmer of hope during his frustrating experience.

For some reason, he couldn’t figure out why he had to keep having this dream. However, since no matter how many times he died, it all just repeated from the beginning, he decided to make an effort to reach the end. If he could clear the game, it seemed that he might no longer have to experience such dreams.

With this thought in mind, his head quickly cleared up. Instead of randomly dying at the hands of zombies, he decided to actively focus on “conquering” this game.

What were the characteristics of the zombies, and what were their weaknesses?

How could he secure safe hideouts to avoid the zombies and solve the issue of food?

Who were the allies needed to finish the game, and how could he find them?

What was the ultimate solution to end the zombie apocalypse?

As he accepted his dream as a complete game, Junseong’s mind began to function more clearly than ever before.

It had been two months since Junseong set foot in the apocalyptic world of his dreams.

That day was the day Junseong finally discovered a solution to end the zombie outbreak, but it was also the day he was ambushed by the zombies and died.

After waking up from his dream, Junseong finished his shower, feeling just as good as always, and a sigh he couldn’t contain escaped his lips.

“Ah….”

His gaze was fixed on the internet broadcast he habitually turned on.

Massive riots are occurring in some areas due to the ongoing situation…
Junseong was presented with news that he had absolutely no reason to listen to, something all too familiar to him.

Following that, a loud alarm signaling a disaster rang out and Junseong unconsciously picked up his phone, his eyes filled with confusion.

[10:44 AM]

It was exactly the same time as every time he had opened his eyes in his dream.

“What’s going on? Am I dreaming again?”

Junseong couldn’t help but think that way.

Every time he opened his eyes in his dream, the first thing he heard was the urgent words of an anchor on the internet broadcast he routinely kept on. Following that, he would hear the ear-piercing sound of a disaster alarm from his phone, and every time he checked the time, it was always 10:44 in the morning.

The situation was exactly the same as in his dream.

With this in mind, Junseong wondered if he had woken up and fallen asleep again immediately. However, the sensory experience was different. He thought, “If it were a dream, I wouldn’t be aware of it.”

Up until now, his dreams had always carried a distinct feeling of being a “clear dream.” Although they were vivid, the thought “this is a dream” was always clear, which is why Junseong hadn’t lost his mind.

With a stern face, Junseong looked at the bathroom.

The small bathroom had no windows, and the only thing it had was a small exhaust fan. After taking a shower, he would leave the door slightly ajar for a while, which was why he could see the foggy mirror above the small sink in the bathroom.

“There wouldn’t have been time to calmly shower like this.”

The start of the dream was always the same, so there was never any time to enjoy a leisurely shower.

He then checked the date displayed on his phone.

“Such a clear date wouldn’t have been displayed.”

In his dreams, every aspect related to dates was blurred to the point where it couldn’t be discerned. Even if he asked someone about the date, it sounded like a baby’s babbling to him.

On the other hand, the current date displayed on his phone was crystal clear.

As a result, with each passing moment, his conviction that this was “reality” grew stronger.

Suppressing the anxious racing of his heart, he looked down at the phone in his hand. Remembering the unpleasant alarm sound from the text, he checked the message.

Emergency Disaster Message

[Ministry of Public Administration and Security] Large-scale civil unrest has broken out simultaneously in some areas due to the ongoing situation.

Please refrain from going outside and outdoor activities.

The content of the message was exactly the same.

Out of habit, Junseong turned off the disaster message alarm. He knew that the communication would be cut off in less than 30 minutes. Therefore, he turned off all notifications that could stimulate the zombies’ hearing.

While performing an ingrained action as a habit, his mind was in utter chaos.

It was all just like his dream: the internet broadcast news, the disaster message, his own actions.

The more he realized, the more his skin crawled with a chilling shiver.

“In reality, isn’t this moment also a dream?”

“It’s not a dream, but I’m a zombie in reality. This can only be a dream, right?”

“Yes, this is just a dream, and it’s a bit different this time because I’m not realizing that it’s a dream. It’s just that this is a dream, and I don’t know it.”

In order to quell the excessive confusion, his mind was making him think that this moment was a “dream.” Thinking this way, he began to feel relieved.

However, Junseong realized the biggest difference between a dream and reality and couldn’t help but go pale.

A while ago, after finishing his shower in the bathroom, Junseong reached for a towel and accidentally grazed his fingertip on the towel hanger. At that moment, his fingertip stung sharply, and instinctively, he made a “Ah!” sound and tightly gripped his fingertip.

Junseong didn’t ignore the question that had come to his mind. As if he had nothing more to think about, he took his phone and tapped his thigh with it.

If it were truly a dream, he would definitely have sensory experiences but wouldn’t feel any pain. And if it were reality…

“Ugh.”

He would feel pain like he was feeling right now.

Junseong looked down at his tingling thigh and swallowed hard.