Chapter 47

Her brows rose slightly.

“Brother Do Muwon Theodore. Were you a believer?”

“My mother was deeply devout. I, however, am a lapsed believer.”

The two faced each other, pressed their palms together, and bowed their heads.

Gorak stared at them as though he had just witnessed something completely beyond expectation. He remained frozen until Hee-eun jabbed him in the ribs with her elbow.

“I’m Sim Gorak. I was a soldier. Well, I used to be.” He straightened awkwardly. “I’m twenty years old. Please take care of me!”

“I’m Joo Hee-eun. I’m twenty-seven, and I work at the same company as these two. Please feel free to speak casually with me.”

Jang Myeongju met each of their eyes in turn and offered a brief greeting before opening the door to the sleeping quarters.

“Why don’t we step outside and talk for a while? I can show you around the building too.”

“You two go and listen. I’ll stay here,” Do Muwon said.

At his instruction, Sim Gorak and Joo Hee-eun approached the doorway, although both hesitated before leaving.

“We’ll pay close attention and tell you everything afterward, Manager Do.”

“Understood.”

“We’ll be right back, hyung.”

Do Muwon cast one final, pointed look at the gun still tucked inside Sim Gorak’s pocket, then gave a slight shake of his head. Gorak’s expression, which had gradually begun to relax, stiffened at once as he understood the silent warning.

Jang Myeongju led them away at an unhurried pace, explaining the academy’s layout as they walked.

The original members of the group had apparently been passengers on the same bus when the soldiers arrived. Once the zombies made further travel impossible, they had abandoned their vehicles and taken shelter inside the building.

“The first and second floors were already destroyed, so we abandoned them. We blocked the entrances and stairwells with whatever we could find.”

She continued down the corridor.

“All of the classrooms on the fourth floor are being used as sleeping quarters. Most people sleep in the main hall, though, since that’s where the heater is.”

After explaining that hot water and additional heat packs could be found near the stove, she led them to the room at the far end of the hall.

“This is the storeroom.”

Inside, supplies of every kind had been arranged in orderly stacks. Only then did Joo Hee-eun and Sim Gorak understand why the people sheltering there had been able to maintain such steady, composed expressions.

“We aren’t using the fifth floor yet,” Jang Myeongju added. “If either of you needs somewhere quiet to think, you’re welcome to go up there.”

“Ah, yes. Understood.”

At the stairwell, Jang Myeongju stopped and turned to the other two. “Shall we head back down now? The classrooms on the third floor have been decorated around all sorts of themes.”

“Themes?” Joo Hee-eun echoed.

Jang Myeongju nodded. “Yes. Some are set aside for painting, while others are meant for reading.”

“…Wow. That really is something.”

“Everyone knows this situation may continue for a long time, so they’re trying to preserve some semblance of ordinary life,” she murmured. Her expression darkened as she continued. “When we first arrived, there were many signs that students had been holding out here. They must have followed the soldiers, believing they would be rescued….”

Sim Gorak cleared his throat with a low, rumbling sound before quickly cutting in. “The people who were here must have reached the shelter safely. This area was designated as a priority evacuation zone.”

“Is that so?” Relief softened Jang Myeongju’s face. “Thank you for telling me, Brother Sim Gorak. That puts my mind at ease.”

“It was just something I happened to know….”

“Could you tell me a little more about what’s happening outside?”

She reached out and gently shook his hand, but before Sim Gorak could answer, a sharp shout rang through the hallway.

“So you’re saying you came back empty-handed?!”

Joo Hee-eun and Sim Gorak turned toward the voice.

A middle-aged woman stood outside one of the sleeping quarters, her skin flushed a vivid red, perhaps from fever, as she vented her fury at a middle-aged man whose cheeks were still streaked with tears. Sim Gorak stared at them, blinking.

“Oh, that man….”

“That’s Yun-chang,” Jang Myeongju explained. “His wife, Sun-yeong, has been ill for several days, so she’s more sensitive than usual.”

Yun-chang, whom they had met at the convenience store, had not even changed out of his grime-smeared clothes. He stood before his wife, practically begging her.

“Honey, I’m sorry. I did everything I could, but they wouldn’t compromise.”

“They wouldn’t compromise?” Sun-yeong’s voice climbed higher. “Does that mean I should die just because they refused?”

“No, that’s not what I meant….”

Slap!

The sharp crack of a palm striking flesh was followed by a hysterical scream.

“Lee Yun-chang! Are you going to let our child die and kill me too?!”

“Ah… no, honey. How could you say something like that? That’s not what happened.”

“You should have taken it! You even had a gun!”

Jang Myeongju hurried over and caught Sun-yeong’s wrist before she could strike him again. “Sun-yeong, please calm down.”

“Sister…! Even you’re being cruel, Sister. You know I’ve been sick this whole time. Ah….”

Perhaps exhausted from screaming, Sun-yeong sank to the floor and began to sob, muttering brokenly about her poor child. Jang Myeongju remained beside her, speaking in a soothing voice.

“I’m truly sorry about what happened to your son, but Yun-chang did everything he possibly could today.”

“Sister, I’m so frustrated.” Sun-yeong clutched at her clothes as she wept. “He couldn’t even protect his own child, and now that I’m this sick, how could he come back with nothing? You said he met someone who had medicine!”

“He did, and he received the medicine as well. It simply hasn’t been delivered yet.”

Sun-yeong’s face brightened at once. “Really?”

“Yes. Let’s go inside and talk, all right? The hallway is cold.”

Sun-yeong rose unsteadily, then cast Yun-chang a ferocious glare before following Jang Myeongju into the room.

Still clutching his swollen cheek and staring at the floor, Yun-chang only noticed Joo Hee-eun and Sim Gorak a moment later. Embarrassment and shame tangled across his face before he managed an awkward smile.

“Ah, I’m sorry you had to see that…. My wife is sick, so please don’t take it personally.”

“We’re fine,” Joo Hee-eun assured him, “but is your cheek all right?”

“Yes. And thank you both so much.”

After glancing at the closed door, Yun-chang approached them and lowered his voice. “Say, where did you put your things?”

“Why do you ask?” Sim Gorak replied.

“After my wife falls asleep tonight, I’d like to bring you some cup ramen.”

“Oh, uh….”

Wouldn’t he just get hit again if he did that?

Sim Gorak nearly said it aloud, but quickly shut his mouth. Yun-chang seemed to understand what he was thinking and waved both hands dismissively.

“It’ll be fine. You shared your medicine with us, so please, at least accept the ramen. Otherwise, I won’t be able to live with myself….”

Sim Gorak turned uncertainly to Joo Hee-eun. “What should we do, noona?”

“He’s been so insistent that I don’t think we can refuse.” Joo Hee-eun gave Yun-chang a small nod. “We’re in sleeping quarters number six.”

While they spoke, Sun-yeong’s sobbing gradually faded behind the closed door. A moment later, Jang Myeongju emerged and beckoned to them.

“Let’s head up to the third floor. Yun-chang, you should go downstairs and find some ice for your face.”

“No, it’s all right. I should stay beside her.”

With Yun-chang seeing them off, the three toured the third floor before returning to the sleeping quarters where Jeong Yu-su remained asleep.

Jeong Yu-su awoke shortly before dawn.

“….”

A crushing grogginess weighed on him, as though his consciousness had been shattered and scattered in every direction. He spent a long while blinking into the darkness and drawing slow, deep breaths before the fog in his mind finally began to thin.

One thought surfaced above all others.

I didn’t die after all.

Time had passed, leaving him with no way to turn back.

“Ugh….”

A sharp headache surged through his skull, and his body tensed reflexively. As Jeong Yu-su tried to curl in on himself, he paused and looked beside him.

Do Muwon was there.

Seated on the floor with his upper body leaning against the bed, Muwon had dozed off while still holding a gun in a defensive position. Only then did Yu-su realize that he was lying on a bed.

Where am I? How did I get here?

He was curious, and deeply concerned about whatever journey the others must have endured while he was unconscious, yet waking in an unfamiliar place did not frighten him in the slightest.

Do Muwon was there, after all.

…Do Muwon.

Yu-su had been dreaming.

He had returned to that summer, which lingered in his memory like a long, unrelenting nightmare. It was the day he and Muwon had fought for the first and last time. In that dream, he had met Do Muwon again, the man who had torn his heart from his chest, cast it to the ground, and ground it into the dirt.

“….”

His eyes, now adjusted to the darkness, traced Muwon’s indistinct silhouette.

I hated you so much.

But from the moment I lost consciousness until now, you were the one protecting me, weren’t you?

He did not need proof. Blurred fragments of memory had already begun to surface. Every time he drifted close to consciousness during his feverish stupor, Do Muwon’s voice had been there.

“Jeong Yu-su, you’ll be okay.”

“I’m going to get the medicine, so wait for me. Just hold on.”

He remembered large, warm hands massaging his arms and legs, perhaps out of fear that his body might fail. He also remembered the broad, heated back beneath him, a warmth he had clung to for what felt like an eternity.

Even when the pain had robbed him of control over his own body, realizing that Do Muwon was carrying him had brought nothing but relief.

Guilt at becoming a burden warred with the comfort of knowing Muwon was beside him.

His heart gave a strange flutter. Slowly, Yu-su pushed himself upright and reached out, gently tracing one of Muwon’s thick, dark eyebrows.

Thud.

Before his fingertip had made it halfway across the brow, Muwon seized his wrist. His voice followed at once.

“Jeong Yu-su?”

“Ah….”

Dawn appeared to be breaking. The two of them froze, their gazes locked as the room gradually filled with a pale violet glow. Soft light shimmered in Muwon’s brown eyes.

“You….”

Muwon looked terrified that this might be nothing more than a dream. His bloodshot eyes remained fixed on Yu-su, holding him in place as though he feared that a single blink might make him disappear.

Yu-su stared back.

Now that he could see him clearly, he realized Muwon had lost weight. His cheeks had hollowed, dark blue shadows lay beneath his eyes, and coarse stubble covered his jaw. Even his lips were dry and cracked.

“….”

Whenever Yu-su’s throat had burned with an unbearable thirst, Muwon’s soothing voice had accompanied the water trickling into his mouth. At the time, it had tasted like the water of life itself.

And yet, you haven’t even been drinking enough water yourself.

A sharp ache pierced Yu-su’s heart, and he reached out before he could think better of it.

“Your lips….”

“….”

Yu-su’s fingertips touched Muwon’s mouth.

He rubbed lightly at the cracked skin, only to realize a moment later what he was doing. He tried to pull his hand away, but their interlocked gazes held him motionless.

They were so close that he could feel Muwon’s breath. His entire field of vision was filled by the other man’s face.

“….”

“….”

The last pale traces of dawn spread through the room and washed over them both. Gold mingled with cool blue, transforming the small space into something dreamlike.

It felt as though he had dreamed of this exact moment before.

“Th-that….”

Yu-su was the first to break eye contact. Biting his lip, he withdrew his hand and stumbled over an excuse.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to touch you….”

“Jeong Yu-su.”