Red Dot - 22

Chapter 22

“I don’t know if I’m immune just because zombies don’t try to bite me.”

Hanseo shrugged.

“To be exact, wouldn’t it be closer to a ‘vaccine’?”

Watching Hanseo respond so dryly, Junseong felt his heart tremble for a moment.

In his dreams, the first solution that came to mind for the zombie crisis was, of course, the existence of an immune person. In zombie dramas or movies, they almost always appear, so anyone who has seen even a few would think of it, not just him.

Junseong, who had been searching for a way to solve the zombie crisis, also spent several loops desperately looking for an immune person.

However, finding an immune person in Inhan City, where the virus had spread, was never easy. Even if they searched all over Korea, they would need a long time to fully analyze the virus and test people based on that data. There might not even be an immune person anywhere in the world.

Eventually, after hitting the wall of reality, instead of chasing after an elusive immune person, he focused on finding a way to eliminate or suppress the virus.

And yet, he met an immune person in the most unexpected place.

No—according to Hanseo, he wasn’t just immune. He was already a complete vaccine.

The virus embedded in zombies desperately rejected him.

A simple immune person wouldn’t be infected even if bitten by a zombie. But they would still be seen as prey, just like any normal human, and be attacked.

In other words, even if a vaccine was made from an immune person’s antibodies, it would only prevent infection. It wouldn’t stop zombies from attacking.

But Hanseo was different.

He was a perfect vaccine himself.

The virus wouldn’t even dare to touch him.

If they could research the special trait Hanseo possessed and give a complete vaccine to everyone, people would no longer have to fear being bitten. Zombies, unable to even bare their teeth, would wander around without food and eventually rot away.

Junseong never imagined that he would encounter a perfect vaccine in reality, something he couldn’t find even after countless repeated dreams. The fact that Hanseo was in Inhan City was surprising enough, but he was also his younger sister’s senior in college. It could only be described as a miracle.

Maybe this zombie crisis would end much sooner than he expected, thanks to Hanseo.

Hanseo stared silently at Junseong before stepping closer to him.

“Now that you know I’m a vaccine, this conversation should be easier.”

“What?”

Junseong stepped back as Hanseo got too close. His back hit the cold tunnel wall.

Before he could push him away, Hanseo completely closed the distance. He was deliberately recreating the same stance from earlier.

“You saw it, right? Not only did the zombies avoid me, but they also avoided you when you were with me.”

Hanseo’s lips curled up, but his eyes remained ice-cold in contrast.

“So, what should you do next time zombies rush in?”

The answer Hanseo expected was what he had already suggested: “You have to use whatever you can to survive.” That included himself, other humans—everything.

Unfortunately for him, Junseong didn’t give the answer he wanted.

“I’ll do the same as before.”

“Now that you know I’m a vaccine?”

“I can’t say that has nothing to do with it. But…”

Junseong pushed against Hanseo’s chest with his fingertips, trying to create space between them.

“Vaccine or not, whether you’re attacked by zombies or not, I’d rather get bitten myself than use you as a shield.”

Hanseo didn’t like Junseong’s answer.

“Aren’t you trying to survive no matter what? That’s a path to death.”

“At the very least, I’m not such trash that I’d use my friend as a shield just to live.”

Junseong’s gaze was unwavering. Hanseo, meeting his firm eyes, only then realized that Junseong had referred to him as a ‘friend.’

Junseong pushed him away and stepped out of his grasp before adding,

“And who says that’s a path to death?”

Junseong recalled the last dream he had.

“Even if someone is bitten and infected, as long as they haven’t turned into a zombie yet, there’s a way to kill the virus.”

“How do you know that?”

“That’s…”

He couldn’t bring himself to answer. The only reason he found that method was because of the multiple restarts he had gone through in his dreams, but he couldn’t explain that.

Seeing Junseong hesitate, Hanseo took something out of his jacket pocket. It was the watch Junseong had been wearing.

Only then did Junseong realize that he hadn’t noticed his watch was missing. He looked down at his empty left wrist. Now that he thought about it, after Hanseo took off his watch in the tent, everything had happened so quickly with the bitten man barging in that he completely forgot about it.

Hanseo smirked as he twirled the watch in his hand.

“Do you want me to tell you why you keep looking at your watch?”

“…It’s just a habit. The more anxious I am, the more often I check the time.”

“Then why didn’t you even realize your watch was missing? Even when a swarm of zombies was coming at us?”

“……”

He had no response.

The event that had just unfolded—the lure of zombies and the breaking of the screen door at Inhan Station—had never happened in any of his previous dreams.

If it had been something he foresaw, he would have checked the time to recall what had happened at each minute and prepared accordingly. But this time, that wasn’t possible. He had never experienced it before, so what use was keeping track of time?

As Junseong remained silent, his expression stiff, Hanseo lifted Junseong’s left hand in his own.

“The reason you keep checking your watch is because you already know what’s going to happen next.”

Junseong tried to suppress his emotions and not show any reaction on his face.

“Why do you think that?”

“Thanks to you acting like you knew the future, everything happened at the perfect timing. Even those slow guys made it out without a single injury. Isn’t that right?”

Hanseo looked up at Junseong while fastening the watch back onto his left wrist.

“You knew where zombies would appear, where we had to go to survive, and even who we would meet. That’s why everything worked out.”

Hanseo lightly tapped the glass over the time display on the watch with his fingertip.

“But this time, you didn’t know. Something new happened, something that your foresight couldn’t predict. That’s why you didn’t even bother checking your watch.”

Junseong didn’t know how to respond. He could try to deny it and act like Hanseo was imagining things, but Hanseo wasn’t someone who would fall for that. He was presenting undeniable evidence, making it impossible for Junseong to escape.

“From what I see, your ability to see the future is precise down to the minute and second, but there are gaps. Big gaps. Like me, for example.”

Hanseo pointed at himself.

“You know everything else before it even happens, but you only just realized that I’m the vaccine.”

Junseong felt his thoughts growing chaotic.

‘I messed up.’

Hanseo was sharp, but Junseong should have been more careful.

Most importantly, he had made a major slip earlier—when he said, “If you get bitten but haven’t turned yet, there’s a way to kill the virus.” That kind of statement wasn’t something just anyone could make unless they were absolutely certain.

‘What do I do?’

Judging by Hanseo’s expression, he wasn’t planning to let this go. It felt like he was saying, “I gave you important information about me being a vaccine, so now you owe me something equally important.”

Junseong recalled how people had reacted whenever he told them about his dreams. Most laughed at him, calling it nonsense. Only a few actually believed him, and even those few had never led to a good outcome. That was why he didn’t want to tell anyone.

There was no benefit to others knowing.

That thought suddenly crossed his mind.

Do Hanseo was an unpredictable factor.

Someone that his ability—his dreams—had never been able to account for. And also, the vaccine.

Maybe telling someone like that wouldn’t be so bad.

He didn’t need to sell himself out just to survive.

After hesitating for a moment, Junseong slowly opened his mouth.

“Argh!”

“Just hang in there.”

“Who the hell pours disinfectant like that?! Ah!”

Junseong couldn’t continue speaking because of the unbearable pain in his right hand. It hurt so much that even screaming felt impossible. To be honest, it hurt several times more than when he had actually been bitten.

Despite Junseong’s suffering, Hanseo firmly held his right hand and dumped an entire bottle of hydrogen peroxide over the wound. Junseong clenched his teeth and curled up, glaring at Hanseo with resentment.

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Who knows.”

Hanseo gave an obviously fake smile and then spread a thin layer of antibiotic ointment over the wound before covering it with gauze and wrapping a bandage around it.

As the intense pain from the disinfection faded, Junseong looked at his neatly treated hand in genuine admiration.

“Where did you learn to do this?”

“You have to know basic first aid. I get injured a lot from working out.”

Hanseo put the remaining medical supplies back into Junseong’s backpack and then slung it over his own shoulders. Most of the emergency food they had packed had been left at the shelter, but the bag was still quite heavy.

“Why are you carrying that?”

“I’ll carry it until your hand heals.”

Honestly, Junseong didn’t dislike Hanseo’s consideration. By now, he felt bad for ever comparing Hanseo to the murderer from his dreams. Hanseo had become a genuinely good friend.