Red Dot - 36

– Chapter 36 –
Junseong had been asleep for a while due to the anesthesia administered by Park Hyunje.

It was good to finally open his eyes, but the heavy and stiff eyelids, along with the lingering heaviness and dull energy throughout his body, felt unsettling.

“My head… won’t turn….”

It seemed like the anesthesia had spread to his head as well. Whenever he tried to think, there was a feeling of mental interruption, as if his mind would stop abruptly. If someone were to come and attempt a conversation, he felt like he would blurt out strange words without any coherence—a bizarre sensation.

He didn’t know what kind of anesthesia it was, but it was undoubtedly potent. Such a drug that dulled a person to this extent felt extremely powerful.

However, as some time passed in this awakened state, his somewhat lethargic body gradually moved according to his will. The strange sensations scattered throughout his body also diminished. The vision, which had quickly lost focus before, now became clear.

Although not fully recovered to the point of being agile, he could manage to lift his body.

With a staggering body, he struggled to sit up. Just as he managed to sit, he almost toppled over to the side, but fortunately, he steadied himself by placing his hand on the floor.

Gently massaging his slightly wobbly arms, he lifted his head.

In the two-person room shared with Dohanseo, he was alone. The adjacent bed remained neat, as if it had never lost warmth.

“Now… what time is it?”

Time… time… something about time seemed important….

Rubbing his still-dulled head, Junseong suddenly, with a start, realized.

“Rescue helicopter! Where is the rescue helicopter?!”

The rescue helicopter was scheduled to arrive around 4 PM.

Junseong looked at the watch on his left wrist, belatedly.

[02:01:26 PM]

Taking in the time, Junseong breathed a deep sigh of relief, so profound that it made him dizzy.

“It hasn’t passed yet. Thankfully.”

Dohanseo could board the helicopter on his own, but just in case he refused, they might have to push him in forcefully. The scene of someone other than himself forcibly placing him on the helicopter was unimaginable.

Recalling the current time and the arrival of the rescue helicopter, Junseong, who was groping through his thoughts, suddenly remembered everything he had momentarily forgotten.

The changed hospital with swapped nurses, the reduced number of survivors, the missing belongings of young evacuees, Kim Taeju tied to the fifth-floor operating table, the villains attempting to extract his organs, and the deceased Park Hyunje.

And… Dohanseo, who committed murder.

“Ugh…!”

Suddenly, a nauseating feeling surged from within. It felt like something hot and dark was about to be vomited out in a continuous stream.

Holding his mouth with both hands, he dry heaved. Fearing he might actually vomit, he threw off the blanket and swung his legs out of the bed. However, his legs hadn’t fully regained enough strength to walk or run.

As soon as he planted both feet on the ground, his knees gave way. Unable to control his swaying body, he slumped to the floor.

At that moment, the sound of the hospital room door opening was heard.

“Kang Junseong?”

It was Dohanseo.

His voice calling Junseong’s name briefly sounded urgent.

Closing the door and stepping inside, Dohanseo quickly spotted Junseong sitting between the two beds.

“I almost killed Kim Taeju.”

Muttering a sardonic remark, Dohanseo approached Junseong, who was sitting on the cold floor.

“Why are you sitting on the cold floor? You should be in a clean and warm place.”

It felt like Hanseo was gently caressing his shoulders with his voice. Strangely, the urge to vomit that had risen up to his throat disappeared like melting snow.

Hanseo lifted Junseong and gently placed him on the bed. As if he wanted to sit, Hanseo placed a pillow behind Junseong’s back and pulled the blanket up to cover him completely.

During this process, Junseong’s face touched the area near Hanseo’s neck, and a fleeting unpleasantness, as if piercing the nose, passed by.

“Blood….”

As a single word flowed out of Junseong’s lips, Hanseo looked down at his own body.

“Even though I washed so much to get rid of the smell of blood, is it still there?”

Hanseo wondered how much more he needed to wash to get rid of the scent, saying that the smell of human blood lasts longer and is more pungent than the coagulated, rotten blood of zombies.

Although he deliberately equipped himself with a full package of surgical gown, mask, gloves, and surgical cap when he had a conversation with the three men on the fifth floor, it seemed inevitable that the smell clung to his body.

As Hanseo pondered whether the cheap body products in the shower might be the problem, Junseong’s voice reached his ears.

“Did I get hurt anywhere?”

Concern appeared on Junseong’s face.

“Look.”

Junseong opened Hanseo’s black jacket zipper and began to take it off himself. Hanseo followed suit obediently. As if wanting to remove the black T-shirt that emerged from inside, he hurriedly, though urgently, raised the shirt’s hem. Sharp muscles on his abdomen were prominently revealed.

However, even though he could move his hands, precise control was still difficult, so he missed several times while lifting the shirt, mostly around the chest area.

Hanseo, who was (quietly) enduring this, took off Junseong’s T-shirt by himself. The exposed white and smooth muscles gleamed faintly under the hospital room’s lighting.

Junseong casually examined Hanseo’s exposed upper body.

Fortunately, there were no visible wounds. To reassure Junseong, Hanseo gently touched his bandaged right hand.

“You’re not hurt at all. It’s okay.”

“But the smell of blood….”

“It’s not mine.”

When Hanseo firmly stated this, Junseong’s face subtly contorted.

It was a complex emotion, torn between the relief of Hanseo being unharmed and the complicated feelings of having someone else’s blood smeared on him to save himself.

“Sorry.”

Junseong’s voice, weak to the point of being heartbreaking, flowed from his lips.

“I should have done better… I’m sorry.”

“Why are you so sorry? Because Park Hyunje died by my hands?”

Hanseo’s face became complex as he bluntly spat out the results without any intermediate process.

“He deserved to die. He was the one trying to kill you.”

For Hanseo, Park Hyunje was someone equivalent to ‘if you don’t kill such a person, who else will you kill?’ That’s why he didn’t like seeing Junseong awkwardly feeling guilty for killing someone like him.

“We promised, didn’t we? If I’m about to die, you’ll kill me, and if you’re about to die, I’ll kill you.”

Speaking these words directly from his mouth felt like sweet candy rolling around inside. A pleasant warmth spread on his face.

“So, nobody did anything wrong.”

Junseong listened and watched as Hanseo, with his unfiltered words and gentle expression, felt refreshed.

“But I’m selfish.”

Unlike his mind, his heart was still blaming himself.

Junseong pressed both hands against his eyes, bowing his head deeply.

“I was foolish and selfish.”

Now, everything is remembered. The head, which had been dulled by anesthesia, now brought clearer memories.

“I could have properly dealt with Park Hyunje, but I didn’t.”

When Junseong swung the machete at Park Hyunje, he had thought more about intimidation than killing or inflicting significant injuries.

“When I swung it, I unconsciously reduced my strength, fearing that Park Hyunje might get hurt, and I even deliberately avoided hitting vital spots.”

As a result, before Taeju could be completely freed, the effects of the anesthesia returned, and his body collapsed. If it weren’t for Hanseo, he might have been attacked by Park Hyunje and died.

“I know how to talk, but in reality, I… was a coward.”

Junseong spoke with a twisted expression on his lips.

“I almost died because I was a coward. No, I created a situation where I almost died.”

He weakly let his hands fall onto his thighs as he sat. The fallen hands gripped the blanket, and his still lethargic hands couldn’t hold the fabric forcefully; they just trembled.

Junseong muttered faintly to himself.

“I made you a murderer.”

Hanseo, who had been silently staring at Junseong, spoke up.

“I rather liked it?”

At Hanseo’s strange words, Junseong raised his head to look at him.

Seated on the edge of the bed, Hanseo gently stroked Junseong’s cheek, which had become pale to an alarming extent. Through the soft touch of his fingertips on Junseong’s cheek, the confusing tremor he felt was transmitted.

Hanseo’s eyes traced a beautiful curve.

“I finally found ‘justification’ for my killings.”

As soon as these words were uttered, discomfort surged through Junseong’s lower abdomen. It was on a different level than just thinking about it in his head.

“Ah…”

A short sigh escaped Hanseo’s lips.

Hanseo realized that the biggest thing lacking in himself was finally being filled.