Red Dot - 6

Chapter 6

“Wake up, snap out of it.”

Sensing his body freezing in fear as if it had a mind of its own, Junseong bit his lower lip and forced his eyes open, as if he was about to chew it.

Facing this zombie now was no different from what he had faced in his dream. There was no room for panic.

Junseong swung his machete, which he had drawn in advance, mercilessly at the zombie’s head. Even with the recoil, it didn’t go more than halfway into the thick skull, but it was deep enough to damage the zombie’s ‘brain’.

Accompanied by a howl, the arm that was about to grab Junseong came to an abrupt halt in mid-air. From the zombie’s mouth, only mechanical noises like “uck, uck” came out, and then it soon dropped its arms as if it had run out of strength. Junseong pushed the zombie away with his foot, and then pulled the machete out with force.

As he looked at the motionless zombie, Junseong exhaled a rough breath and sheathed the machete behind his belt, pressing it firmly.

The horde of zombies was not satisfied with merely surrounding the noisy vehicle; they were charging toward it as if they were going to completely engulf it.

But some of the zombies running in that direction noticed Junseong who was running and changed direction towards him.

Crack!

Kak! Kyahak!

Kreeee!

Three male and female zombies came at Junseong from different directions, moving strangely. Just before they could encircle him, Junseong jumped into the arms of a male zombie running towards him from the building where his sister might be.

The male zombie’s bloodstained, fierce grip swung at Junseong as if it was going to grab him. But as if he had already anticipated it, Junseong avoided the arm by bending his body, then pushed the zombie’s chest with his shoulder, making it fall.

After knocking down the zombie, he didn’t look back and just ran. The loud screams of the other two zombies and the male zombie that got up again were frighteningly audible from behind.

Running towards the building without slowing down, Junseong reached for his backpack. What he touched on the side of the backpack was an insecticide, suitable for fitting in a pocket for things like water bottles.

Junseong pulled out the insecticide and removed the specially designed straw to make it possible to spray even in a narrow space. In his other hand, he took out a disposable gas lighter he had prepared generously and turned towards the zombies chasing him.

What Junseong had to do was to spray the zombies with insecticide and ignite the lighter in front of the straw at the same time.

When he ignited the torch with excellent performance, it made a whooshing sound. Although it was crude, the self-flame thrower with considerable firepower aimed at the zombies’ heads.

Kak-!

The flames that touched the zombies’ heads began to burn their hair intensely. The fire obscured their vision and scorched their scalps.

In fact, if he aimed at the large body, it would have high accuracy and be easy to target, but Junseong specifically aimed at their heads to block their vision.

Zombies had no sense of touch, so they didn’t care even if their bodies burned. However, their vision was not great because of the red membrane covering their eyes. With their hair and eyebrows burned, they missed the target as if they couldn’t see it.

Zombies with their heads on fire stumbled and flailed around, unable to find their way. Watching the zombies, Junseong turned and ran toward the building again.

As he almost reached the building entrance, he quickly checked his wristwatch. His digital wristwatch was proving quite useful since his phone had no phone signal or internet, and he wouldn’t be able to charge it properly in the future.

[01:59:31 PM]

“29 seconds…!”

Perhaps it was because of the moments when I was lost in reality due to the physical sensations.

In his dream, he had arrived here with two minutes left until 2 PM, but now there were only 29 seconds left.

If the timing was off, he would be overwhelmed and devoured by the zombies that would soon come charging.

“Darn it…!”

Without looking back, he rushed into the building’s entrance. The zombies that had been wandering around the entrance all turned their heads toward him.

Kyaahhh!

The blood-soaked zombies were roaring fiercely, and Junseong drawing his machete almost happened simultaneously.

The zombies were so ferocious that just looking at them was enough to make anyone tremble, but Junseong didn’t have time to worry about that now. He knew he was already running late, but if he delayed any longer, it would be game over for sure.

Impatience and anxiety suppressed Junseong’s fear to the utmost.

Running with his machete, Junseong struck the side of the zombie blocking his path with force. Like a robot doll with its batteries drained, the zombie came to an abrupt stop and stiffened. Junseong used his foot to push away other zombies rushing towards him, then pulled out the machete.

Escaping from the hands of other zombies just in time, he ran into the lobby. Despite his frantic pace, he managed to land a heavy blow to the head of one zombie using the machete.

In the midst of the chaos, Junseong checked his watch frequently and then bit down hard when he saw the minutes change.

[02:00:00 PM]

“I’m late…”

He hadn’t even reached the second floor, and it was already 2 PM. He remembered not being able to reach this time in one of the previous loops and being overwhelmed by the subsequent wave of zombies.

As the image of zombies roaring and tearing at his flesh flashed before his eyes, Junseong, who was looking for a place to hide, suddenly felt something was off.

“Wait, why can’t I hear anything?”

It was already 2 PM, and he couldn’t hear anything. In his dream, it had clearly chimed at exactly 2 o’clock.

“I don’t know what’s going on, but I have to go up for now.”

Junseong gradually climbed the stairs, avoiding the increasing number of zombies below. Some zombies followed him down the stairs due to their screams and the sound of many footsteps. Junseong didn’t panic and used the stairs’ layout to cut the calf of the zombie closest to him in half as he climbed. The stumbling zombie’s body passed him, crashing into the zombies below.

Suddenly crouching, Junseong grabbed the legs of the zombie that had covered him like it was about to fall over his backpack and then threw it behind him after he stood up, thanks to his experience of successfully performing the same action in his dream and the backpack’s thick folds.

With the path clear, Junseong sprinted at full speed and reached the second floor before more zombies could descend.

[02:02:34 PM]

The fact that there was no sound at 2 o’clock, unlike in the dream, meant he couldn’t afford to panic for long.

Junseong ran to the front of the first classroom on the second floor where he had briefly hidden in his dream, and as some zombies in the corridor spotted him, they screamed. The sound reached the zombies further away, and they began running in this direction.

Junseong grabbed the handle of the classroom door and placed his finger on the keypad. He remembered being threatened by the professor to reveal the password in his dream, even though nothing could be heard here. This was true in his subsequent dreams as well, but the password he had learned then was proving very useful at this moment.

Beep, beep, beep, beep, click.

Since the sound that used to ring every time at 2 o’clock didn’t this time, Junseong had a momentary doubt if the password for this door might be different, but fortunately, he heard the sound of it unlocking.

Without delay, he entered the room and forcefully closed the door behind him. He knew there might be a zombie inside, so he immediately struck the shadow on the side with his machete.

Kyaah!

The machete swung by Junseong with both hands went deeper than what he had thrust into other zombies. The impact caused splattered blood to create crimson patterns on his white shirt and brown coat.

As Junseong pulled out the machete by pushing the motionless zombie against the wall and stepping on it, a loud alarm music was heard in the distance.

Although he recognized it as the most basic alarm sound on a mobile phone, this was definitely not something a phone alone could produce in terms of volume. For the sound to reach from the end of the corridor almost to the entrance of the second floor’s classroom, even a high-performance speaker-equipped mobile phone wouldn’t be enough.

The true nature of that sound couldn’t be determined, even after multiple loops.

To confirm it, you’d have to take down an enormous number of zombies following the sound. So he didn’t even think of checking it.

Kyaak, kreuk! Caaak!

Outside the classroom door, there was a cacophony of footsteps and screams. As usual, the zombies were following the sound.

Junseong listened closely to the sound outside while putting his ear to the classroom door. The alarm sound was still resounding loudly, even amidst the zombies’ cacophony.

“What’s going on?”

The standard alarm music that rang at exactly 2 o’clock every time.

Thinking about the precision of the timing and the music, there was no explanation other than someone setting an alarm for 2 o’clock.

The owner of the alarm either couldn’t turn it off because they were already bitten by a zombie, or they forgot to turn it off and got surrounded by zombies. In either case, Junseong had no choice but to use this sound as an opportunity.

But the current situation was strange.

It was 2:03, a time that was vague for setting an alarm.

What’s more, the alarm rang after Junseong had entered the classroom and more than 30 seconds had passed. It felt like someone had intentionally sounded the alarm after watching his situation.

Junseong felt more bewildered than when he had encountered real zombies.