Red Dot - 31

Chapter 31

At first, Hanseo and Taeju were assigned to a two-person room, while Junseong was given a single room.

But Junseong stepped in before Hanseo and said he and Hanseo were friends, so he wanted to share the two-person room with him. Taeju ended up with the spacious single room, but he didn’t seem to have any complaints. Actually, Hyunje, who assigned the rooms, briefly looked a little regretful, but she quickly changed her expression and told them to do whatever made them comfortable before leaving.

“Mr. Junseong, the rescue helicopter… oh, I wasn’t supposed to talk about that, right?”

Taeju quickly covered his mouth with his hand when he remembered what Junseong had told him in the car on the way to the hospital. That’s why he hadn’t asked Nurse Park Hyunje anything about the rescue helicopter.

“It’s okay to talk about it when it’s just us. I just don’t want others to know.”

“Oh, I see. Then, when is the rescue helicopter coming? You haven’t told me the time yet, right?”

“The rescue helicopter will arrive at 4 o’clock.”

“Four o’clock… That’s less than five hours away.”

Taeju checked the analog clock hanging on the wall of the hospital room and looked excited. It was just past 11:30 a.m.

“Thinking that we’ll be out of here in just five hours makes me so happy. The zombie problem is just in Inhansi, right?”

“That’s what I believe. I heard the military quickly shut down Inhansi.”

“That’s a relief!”

The military’s fast response to seal off Inhansi and stop the zombies from spreading further had been a consistent part of the recurring dreams. Taeju believed this time would be no different.

Junseong came closer to him and spoke in a low voice. He felt Taeju was the better person for what he wanted to ask.

“Sir, could you do me a favor? It’s not difficult.”

“Tell me anything. If it’s something I can help with, of course I will. I owe you, after all.”

Taeju looked at Junseong with shining eyes, listening closely. Junseong spoke in a voice only Taeju could hear and didn’t forget to add a reminder.

“…You just need to do that. You don’t have to force it, just do it naturally.”

“It doesn’t sound hard, so I don’t see why not… but is there a reason you’re asking me to do it?”

Taeju opened his eyes wide. He was curious why Junseong was asking him to do something so simple, something he could easily do himself.

“You get along with people quickly.”

That was one of the traits Junseong had noticed about Taeju.

“I want to get a better understanding of what’s going on here.”

Junseong thought of Park Hyunje and the six other evacuees walking around outside the hospital rooms.

“If we don’t, I think all of us might be in danger.”

In Junseong’s memory, there were 13 evacuees at the hospital.

If he included Nurse Park Hyunje, the only surviving hospital staff member, that made 14 people total.

That number stayed the same until 4 p.m. on the second day when the rescue helicopter arrived.

But now, more than half of them—seven people—had disappeared, and even Nurse Park Hyunje, who used to care deeply for the evacuees, had been replaced by someone else.

This was no small change.

Junseong began reviewing what he remembered about Nurse Park Hyunje.

He had been a quiet and reserved male nurse in his 20s who only focused on doing his job. If someone placed him next to the current ‘fake,’ anyone could tell they were completely different from head to toe. Even if the clothes and name tag were the same, it wouldn’t fool anyone.

That’s why Junseong knew right away that he was a different person.

The real Nurse Park Hyunje had survived by sheer luck.

He and the other nurses had blocked all routes to the fifth floor except the emergency stairs, which kept the zombies from spreading past the fourth floor. Out of those who had risked their lives back then, he was the only one who survived and reached the fifth floor.

Across the hospital’s fifth, sixth, and seventh floors—still under remodeling—he was the only one who survived.

It wasn’t until three hours later that the first evacuee reached the fifth floor via the emergency stairs.

‘The first evacuee to reach the fifth floor was a woman in her 20s.’

That first evacuee Junseong remembered was now one of the seven who had disappeared.

The second had been a man in his 30s, the third was a man around the same age, and the fourth was a man in his 40s who was still among the current group.

Junseong tried to recall all 14 people from his memory.

The memories from the dream were clearer than memories from real life, so it wasn’t hard for him to picture their faces and appearances.

“How do you know the order they came in? Didn’t you say all 14 people were already here when you arrived in the dream?”

Hanseo, who had been listening to Junseong recall the events, asked the question.

“Back then, Nurse Park Hyunje assigned the rooms in the order people arrived. Room 701 was for the first evacuee, 702 for the second, and so on.”

Thanks to that, just remembering which face belonged to which room made it easy to figure out the order they had arrived.

On the other hand, the current “fake” was handing out hospital rooms as he pleased.

Junseong, who recalled the evacuation order of all 14 people, figured out a common point.

“Only people in their 20s and 30s disappeared. And only the ones who were alone.”

Among the six people who were still here, the only ones in their 20s or 30s were a young married couple. They seemed newly married and always stuck close together. Even when they got on the rescue helicopter, they held hands tightly, refusing to be separated.

‘Why did only young people disappear?’

Junseong thought back and remembered the fourth evacuee, a man in his 40s with a big belly, who had been among the young people that disappeared earlier.

The man was still sitting on a hospital bed, puffing away on cigarettes until the room was full of smoke. He was such a heavy smoker that he claimed he couldn’t live without cigarettes. He had even risked his life to bring a whole carton of cigarettes while evacuating. He didn’t even pack drinking water or food.

The man, who was obsessed with cigarettes to that extent, was just as Junseong remembered.

“Ugh, I thought I was going to choke to death from the cigarette smell.”

Taeju, who had visited the man’s room at Junseong’s request, shook his head at the stuffy, smoky air inside. Then he told the exact story Junseong knew about the “carton of cigarettes heroics.”

After that, he mentioned something that didn’t match Junseong’s memory.

“He said he was the first one to evacuate. That he entered the fifth floor first.”

If he, who was actually the fourth evacuee, claimed to be the first, that meant the first three must have already disappeared before he arrived.

On top of that, he said the “fake” nurse, Park Hyunje, who jumped down from the seventh floor, had welcomed him and personally guided him up to the seventh floor.

Taeju, who had also visited the other five people besides the man in his 40s, reported that the seventh evacuee, a man in his 60s, said he was the second one.

“Um… but does this help figure things out?”

“Of course. Thank you for your help.”

Taeju scratched the back of his head and smiled.

“I just went around making small talk, but I’m glad it helped. If you need me again, just call!”

With a friendly smile, Taeju left the hospital room.

Tension slowly filled the room where only Hanseo and Junseong remained.

“That red writing… At first, it seems like it’s warning us that there are zombies up to the fourth floor. But doesn’t it feel like it’s actually trying to make the fifth floor seem safe and special?”

Junseong continued speaking as he organized his thoughts.

“And the young people who were alone disappeared on the fifth floor. They didn’t even make it to the seventh floor. What do you think happened to them?”

When Junseong asked, Hanseo gave a short laugh.

“If we haven’t seen them by now, they’re probably dead. On the fifth floor.”

“Are there zombies on the fifth floor too?”

Hanseo gave him a look that seemed to ask if he really believed that.

“Sometimes, people are scarier than zombies. You know that from experience.”

Hanseo’s voice was colder than ever. As if he had been through the same thing himself.

Junseong bit his lip and looked down.

In the end, he had to accept the answer he least wanted to think about.

At that same moment—

Just as Taeju was about to enter his single hospital room, Park Hyunje stopped him.

“Taeju, do you have a moment?”

“What’s up? Need some help?”

“Yes, there’s something I’d like you to help with.”

Kind-hearted Taeju, who liked helping others, saw the troubled look on Hyunje’s face and responded eagerly.

“Just say the word!”

Hyunje smiled, his eyes narrowing.

“There’s something I need to urgently pick up from the operating room on the fifth floor. It’s too hard to do alone. Could you help me out?”