Red Dot - 25

Chapter 25

I was frustrated because I couldn’t understand myself.

No, it was Kang Junseong who I couldn’t understand even more than myself.

He should be struggling to survive, so why did he throw himself to protect someone else? I couldn’t get it.

And to protect me, someone even zombies wouldn’t dare touch?

“Whether you’re the vaccine or not, whether you’re some guy getting attacked by zombies or not, I’d rather get bitten myself than use you as a shield.”

“At least I’m not such a piece of trash that I’d live by using my friend’s life as a shield.”

Friend? Me?

Before I knew it, the wariness in Kang Junseong’s eyes had melted away like snow.

To him, I had already fallen into the category of ‘someone to protect.’

In all my life, no one had ever tried to protect me.

There were people who forced me to protect someone, but never once had anyone sacrificed themselves for me.

Yet Kang Junseong gave up his body to shield me.

‘How is that even possible?’

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out.

Whatever his confessed self-aware prophetic dreams were, whatever the future held, whatever this zombie world was like.

To Do Hanseo, Kang Junseong became the most incomprehensible person in the world.

‘Weird guy.’

Amid the jumbled mess in my head, one thing was clear: he was the only person trying to protect me.

That fact thrilled me to death.

“Ha… fvck…”

A low curse slipped out of Hanseo’s mouth.

He let out a hollow laugh as he looked down at his d1ck, already standing stiff without him even touching it.

Cold water didn’t seem to help much.

After finishing his shower and stepping out, Hanseo scanned the quiet room before walking toward a small bedroom. Junseong had deliberately picked a room with a small bed, saying it’d be better for him to use a bed that fit his size.

There was Junseong, sprawled out on the blanket he hadn’t even pulled back, breathing softly in his sleep, probably just planning to lie down for a bit. Hanseo, with an expressionless face, stared down at him and brushed the bangs covering Junseong’s forehead aside.

Hanseo kept looking at Junseong’s face for a long while, then gently took his right hand with his other hand. He’d been careful, but he could feel the slightly damp bandage.

He softly rubbed the bandage, then slowly pressed down on the wounded spot.

“Mmm…”

Junseong’s brow twitched. He was in deep sleep and showed no sign of waking up yet.

A little more, a little more, a little more.

At some point, he was pressing the wound hard enough for bl00d to seep through the bandage. By then, Junseong’s eyes were trembling, and he was groaning in his sleep.

Hanseo pulled his hand away and saw bl00d on the thumb that had pressed the wound. It was vivid and warm, unlike the zombies’ bl00d.

Lick.

Instinctively, he licked the bl00d off his thumb with the tip of his tongue. He rolled his tongue in his mouth, savoring the metallic taste of the bl00d as if enjoying it.

He felt like he could almost understand why zombies craved bl00d and sank their teeth into flesh. Because right now, he wanted to do exactly that.

Hanseo licked Junseong’s bl00d off his thumb as if it were sweet honey, leaving no trace, then reached for Junseong’s neck. His large hand with long fingers almost entirely wrapped around the neck.

A fragile neck.

It felt like it’d snap helplessly with just a little force.

He slid his hand down and traced the collarbone. He liked how pretty the prominent collarbone looked.

He gently untied the annoying robe and spread it wide open.

He touched the flat, soft chest where small n1pples were exposed, drawing on it with his fingertips, then caressed the ribs below.

“Mmm…”

As he moved along the bones he could feel, Junseong’s steady breathing faltered slightly.

‘So this is his weak spot.’

He rubbed that spot a couple more times to get familiar with the sensation, then dragged his hand downward in a long line. The thin skin of his stomach, rising and falling with each breath, somehow looked cute. Cute enough to want to rip it open and tear it apart.

Further down, he felt the equally prominent pelvic bone, and soon reached the softest, most tender part of Junseong’s d1ck.

Just brushing it with his fingertips made his lower stomach tighten. He’d never felt this way touching anyone else before.

He carefully held Junseong’s d1ck with one hand. It was soft and smooth, so much that he wanted to keep touching it.

“Hng…”

It was only after hearing Junseong’s moan as he shifted in his sleep that Hanseo snapped out of it.

‘That was close.’

He almost crushed it right then and there.

‘No. Not Kang Junseong.’

Hanseo neatly closed Junseong’s robe and tied the waistband properly. Then he carefully lifted him so as not to wake him and pulled back the blanket. He laid him gently on the soft mattress and pulled the blanket up to his neck. Finally, he combed Junseong’s messy hair with his fingers.

Hanseo suddenly realized he was wearing a faint, natural smile instead of the fake one he usually put on, and it surprised him.

‘That’s strange.’

His gaze drifted to his lower body. The tip of his now-erect d1ck was lifting the white robe.

“Am I pent up?”

It made sense.

He’d been abstaining for quite a while until yesterday.

‘Guess it’s time to let loose.’

Hanseo took one last look at Junseong’s face, then left the room. He turned off the lights and closed the door so Junseong could sleep soundly.

Back in the living room, Hanseo picked up his black jacket and rummaged through the pockets. He pulled out his favorite black jackknife.

Humming a tune, Hanseo stepped outside with the jackknife’s sharp blade drawn.

One hour later.

Hanseo quietly returned to the room, his once-white shower robe now completely stained red. A pretty satisfied smile hung on his lips.

He roughly wiped himself down with a towel from another room to keep the bl00d from dripping, then headed to the bathroom, careful not to let the clotted bl00d on the robe fall.

“Ah.”

Hanseo let out a short sound and stopped in front of the bathroom door. The four bruise marks on Junseong’s left arm flashed in his mind.

Hanseo’s face turned cold and hard.

* * *

The emergency shelter between Inhan Station and Gaean Station tunnel.

The atmosphere inside was downright gloomy.

“Sob…”

Inside a two-person tent, So-yeon was crying quietly alone when Jiwoo approached her with an awkward look.

“Hey… stop crying. You’ll get dehydrated.”

“Sniff, sob… You’re not the one to talk…?”

Even while crying, she’s saying everything she wants to say.

Jiwoo glanced at her cautiously before slipping into the tent. He hesitated, then patted and rubbed So-yeon’s back.

“It’ll be okay. Your parents, Chaeyi, and…”

“Sob, sob, sob…”

Somehow, the more he tried to comfort her with words, the more it felt like he was making her cry harder. Jiwoo decided to just shut his mouth and keep patting her diligently.

‘Chaeyi should’ve been here for this.’

Among the girls in their department, Chaeyi was like a mental pillar. Always calm, sharp at reasoning, and sometimes fearless…

Yeah, fearless is the problem.

‘Why would she run off to find her brother in a place full of zombies?’

If Chaeyi or So-yeon had heard his thoughts, they’d surely glare at him for being cold-hearted, but that was Jiwoo’s honest feeling. He saw her get bitten by an infected person with his own eyes, so wouldn’t she obviously be a zombie by now?

‘Wouldn’t it be better if she just pulled herself together and waited for the rescue team?’

It’s not that he couldn’t understand Chaeyi’s feelings at all, but it was definitely unlike her to be so emotional. Going off to die by zombies while looking for her infected brother.

Even if he had siblings, he’d put himself first, so he shook his head, thinking he could never do what Chaeyi did.

Jiwoo kept rubbing her back to get her to stop crying soon, then lifted his head at the sound of a knock from somewhere.

Knock, knock—

A familiar rhythm of knocking he’d heard somewhere before.

Jiwoo stopped comforting So-yeon and poked his head out of the tent. Seeing the people in other tents near the shelter door looking at it too, it seemed he hadn’t misheard.

Knock, knock—

The sound came again.

Amid the murmurs of the crowd, So-yeon, who also heard the knock, jerked her head up.

“Chaeyi! It must be Chaeyi!”

So-yeon hurriedly dashed out of the tent. Cheol-ho quickly grabbed her as she ran toward the door and looked at it with tense eyes.

Given the steady knocking and the absence of the zombies’ signature growls, it seemed clear that whoever was outside was human. Still, to be sure, Cheol-ho called out.

“Wh-who’s there?”

Instead of an answer, the doorknob turned. But since it was locked, it didn’t fully turn and got caught on something with a thud.

Cheol-ho couldn’t help but tense up since they tried to open the door without responding. He swallowed dryly and asked again.

“Who’s there!”

Raising his voice a bit paid off as the person beyond the door finally replied.

“I’m a university senior to the students in there.”

It was a low voice with little emotion. The sound wasn’t clear, muffled by the tunnel outside and the iron door between them, but it definitely belonged to a young man.

“No way, Senior Han-seo?!”

Jiwoo rushed out of the tent and unlatched the door. Sure, he was a scary senior sometimes, but in a bleak and depressing situation like this, who could be more reliable? Plus, it was Chaeyi’s brother who got bitten, not him.

Jiwoo opened the door with a big smile.

“Senior! Glad you escaped safe…!”

Jiwoo’s eyes widened, unable to finish his sentence. The cold sensation of a blade piercing his throat spread belatedly.

The man standing in front of him curled his lips into a slight smile.