Red Dot - 20

– Chapter 20 –

“Ugh, what the! Agh!”

The man, each arm firmly held by Junseong and Hanseo, screamed in pain. Even as he writhed, making crackling sounds, it seemed as if he was on the verge of zombification, constantly convulsing and jerking his body.

The man’s struggling strength was stronger than Junseong expected.

Junseong, with a frightened expression, shouted at Cheolho, who was crouching down.

“Mister, we’ll drag him out! Quickly, close the door…! Ugh!”

Junseong clenched his teeth in pain from the sudden sensation in his right hand.

The man, in the midst of his convulsions, had bitten Junseong’s right hand. It was enough to make blood gush out immediately.

Although Junseong had been bitten countless times by zombies in his dreams, this vivid pain was a first. It hurt too much, vividly feeling the teeth penetrating the pierced muscles.

Nevertheless, Junseong didn’t release the grip on his arm. Since there was a possibility the man could turn into a zombie, they were prepared for this, so Junseong and Hanseo forcefully dragged him out of the shelter.

“Mister, quickly!”

“Ah, yes!”

Cheolho hurried toward the door.

“Oppa!”

Chaeyi, who was about to run to Junseong, was firmly held back by Soyeon’s hands.

“Oppa! Oppa!”

Chaeyi, who had seen Junseong being bitten right in front of her, finally shed the tears she had been holding back. Seeing that, Junseong felt sorry in his heart.

‘Of all times, it had to be now when I should comfort her mentally…’

By now, Junseong should have comforted Chaeyi, reassuring her, even if they couldn’t explain everything in detail. But instead, he ended up showing a more distressing scene, making his sister more miserable.

However, there was no time to console Chaeyi now. Even if they weren’t right in front of them, considering the nearby presence of zombies, they had to leave as soon as the door opened.

Having quickly surveyed outside, Cheolho swung the shelter door wide open. Junseong and Hanseo, with a stronger effort, successfully pulled the man out of the shelter.

“Close the door!”

“Students need to come in!”

Cheolho urgently gestured for them to come inside, but from inside, someone shouted, “He got bitten! Don’t let them in! Where are you letting them in?”

Due to witnessing Junseong being bitten, people in the shelter were convinced that he would turn into a zombie. Junseong also knew this sentiment, so he could only lower his head bitterly.

Junseong gave a small smile to the perplexed Cheolho.

“Just endure for a week, sir. Until then, don’t come out and keep the door closed.”

Having earnestly requested the man, Junseong fixed his gaze on the direction of the tunnel, where screams and footsteps of zombies could be heard.

“Close it!”

Cheolho, who had hesitated, finally closed the door because of Junseong’s shout and the screams of zombies coming from one side of the tunnel.

“Kuk, khek!”

At that moment, the man who had bitten Junseong’s hand twisted his neck, emitting a painful sound. Along with the grinding sound from the man’s mouth, blood spurted out.

Hanseo grabbed the back of the man’s head and forcefully slammed it against the shelter’s adjacent wall. She repeated it three times in a row, as if once was not enough due to her terrifying momentum. Junseong couldn’t stop her, and they silenced him.

The man, whose face had become entirely covered in blood until then, collapsed powerlessly to the ground. It seemed he wouldn’t get up again.

“Still, he was a person until a moment ago. Isn’t this going too far?”

When Junseong asked, Hanseo, smiling as if nothing had happened, replied kindly, “I wanted to do more, but I held back.”

In the meantime, the footsteps and screams from one side of the tunnel grew louder. The tunnel’s echoing nature made the sounds travel far, so it seemed like the noises heard from outside the shelter were attracting them.

It didn’t matter since they were planning to lure them anyway.

Junseong, without even attempting to stop the bleeding from his right hand, took out a alarm from his coat pocket. It was the same one they used in the classroom; there was nothing better for attracting zombies with sound.

Beep-beep-beep-beep-

The loud noise from the alarm filled the tunnel. Zombies, alerted by the sound, began rushing towards them.

Although the subway lights were all out, the emergency exit lights on the wall were still intact. Unable to see far in the darkness, Junseong focused on the emergency exit light at the end of his line of sight. When the green light momentarily blinked black, it meant that a zombie had passed through, so they could start running from that moment.

The current goal was to gather all the zombies within the range of this alarm sound.

Feeling the pressure from the approaching horde of zombies, Junseong, trying to appear calm, said to Hanseo.

“You should go inside the shelter now. You haven’t been bitten, so they’ll let you in.”

“I don’t want to.”

Hanseo, who responded firmly, smiled mischievously.

“This side looks more fun to me.”

“You’re insane.”

This time, there was no way Junseong could hold back from swearing.

Indeed, Do Hanseo was abnormal.

Junseong took out two flashlights from his backpack and handed one to Hanseo.

“Can you run fast?”

“Probably.”

“If I fall behind, leave me and just run.”

As soon as he said that, Hanseo’s cold glare could be felt in the darkness.

“Did you start this with the intention of living?”

“Yeah. I’m doing all this to survive. Don’t worry, I’m not telling you to go ahead with the thought of dying if I fall behind.”

Perhaps feeling Junseong’s determination, Hanseo smiled mischievously.

“I like people who run with the intention to live.”

Hanseo seemed to be strangely excited. From Junseong’s perspective, he could only think that Hanseo was truly one of the properly insane individuals.

At that moment.

At the edge of Junseong’s field of vision, the emergency exit light that was far away blinked once.

Then.

Blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink-blink!

Countless flashes that couldn’t be counted continued.

Kyaah-!

Uuuaaaah!

Junseong turned his flashlight toward the opposite direction where the zombies were rushing.

“Run!”

Hanseo also shone her flashlight forward and ran along with Junseong.

The direction where the zombies entered the tunnel due to the broken screen door was only one side. The other side, where all the screen doors at each station were intact, and no zombies had entered the tunnel, was remembered. They ran towards that side, feeling relieved.

Beep-beep-beep-beep-!

The loud alarm continued, and the screams and footsteps from far behind didn’t stop, constantly reaching their ears.

Though Junseong had encountered zombies in his dreams, he couldn’t bring himself to look back. He concentrated solely on running, suppressing the fear and anxiety of the impending attack.

“I can’t get caught.”

It was an obvious statement, but if caught, death would be instantaneous. If a horde of zombies like the ones chasing them now caught up, he might be reduced to just a head and bones, or not even that.

Junseong looked at Hanseo, who was running alongside him, matching his pace. Both were shining their flashlights ahead, making it easy to see each other’s faces.

Contrary to his own anxious feelings, Hanseo had an indifferent expression. In fact, she seemed to be enjoying the situation.

Having a clearly different mental state(?) than an ordinary person had actually reduced Junseong’s anxiety. As Junseong, he couldn’t help but feel grateful to Hanseo, who ran with him on this uncertain path where death could come at any moment.

“If we just keep running like this, it’ll be fine, right?”

As Junseong’s breathing began to roughen, Hanseo’s breath remained calm. Her well-conditioned body seemed to have excellent stamina.

Throughout the time they were shining their flashlights forward, they could only see the endless tunnel.

A straight path.

Junseong knew what was at the unseen end.

“Do you know which station comes after Inhan Station?”

“It’s Gae-an Station.”

Even without looking at the subway route map, the wall of the tunnel they were running through had a sign that read ‘548m Straight to Gae-an Station.’ Since the shelter was between Inhan and Gae-an Stations, all they had to do was run 548 meters.

“There’s a vehicle depot at Gae-an Station. So, there are not only straight tracks but also tracks leading to the vehicle depot and the tunnel.”

Hanseo looked at Junseong in amazement, saying she didn’t know that. It was natural because not everyone took the time to figure out such details.

Junseong, who had given up on university due to his professional gaming activities, imagined a carefree scenario where he attended the same university as his sister and took classes with Hanseo.

Thanks to that, the tension that had been building up in his body was properly alleviated.

“We won’t just keep running like this, right?”

While Junseong’s breath became heavy, Hanseo’s breathing remained quite calm. It seemed her stamina was excellent, likely due to her regular exercise routine.

They could only see the endless tunnel as they continued shining their flashlights forward.

Junseong felt his breath quickening and spoke.

“We’re going to lead those zombies toward the tunnel with the vehicle depot.”

“And us?”

In response to Hanseo’s natural question, Junseong groped through another scene from his dream and replied.

“There’s an emergency passage on both sides between the tunnel to the next station and the tunnel to the vehicle depot.”

“I see.”

Understanding Junseong’s plan completely, Hanseo nodded. Yet, her gaze remained fixed on Junseong’s tense face.

It was strange for an ordinary person to be navigating the subway tunnels to this extent.

Hanseo’s gaze landed on Junseong’s left wrist.

Junseong had been glancing at his watch throughout, but now he didn’t have a watch, and Hanseo seemed completely unaware of it.

“Hmm.”

Hanseo looked at Junseong meaningfully and smiled faintly.