Chapter 54

“Uh…”

Jiseop hesitated, visibly debating how much to reveal. At last, he raised his brows and exhaled.

“Phew…”

“Nothing exactly like that happened, but…”

“But?”

“When we arrived at the academy, three people had already been bitten. Two of them turned quickly, so Geun-cheol hyung killed them. The third person simply… bled to death.”

Jiseop paused before continuing.

“Back then, we were running for our lives. Everyone was out of their minds, so the decision was made quickly. But if someone were bitten now, after we’ve had time to settle in…” His grip tightened around the broom. “I think it would be difficult to decide immediately.”

That gave Yu-su a reasonable degree of certainty. At least as far as Park Jiseop knew, no one at the academy had concealed a fully turned zombie.

Then… is the infected person hiding the truth?

About a week earlier, a fever had swept through the academy like an epidemic, leaving several people gravely ill. According to what Yu-su had heard, some of them still had not recovered.

How was he supposed to investigate them? He could hardly strip every sick person naked and search their bodies for bite marks.

While Yu-su agonized over the problem, Jiseop gently took the broom from his hand.

“All right. Let’s stop here and head downstairs. The sun has already set.”

“Yes.”

Yu-su nodded and turned to leave first.

Click.

His foot caught against Jiseop’s, pitching him forward. Startled, Jiseop reacted on instinct and wrapped both arms around Yu-su’s waist before he could hit the floor.

“Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. Thank you.”

A voice came from the stairwell.

“You two… what are you doing?”

Do Muwon stood at the top of the stairs, his chest heaving as though he had been running frantically through the building. Yu-su frowned at him.

“What do you mean, ‘you two’? He’s a hyung.”

“Is that seriously all you have to say right now?”

The words sounded like something lifted directly from a television drama, the sort of line a wife might utter after catching her husband in an affair. Regardless, Yu-su disliked unnecessary physical contact, so he quickly stepped out of Jiseop’s arms and bowed his head.

“Thank you for catching me, hyung.”

“It was nothing.” Jiseop picked up his broom and dustpan. “I should head down first. The Sister gave me something else to do.”

“Yes… and I’m sorry. My friend has always had a foul mouth.”

Jiseop chuckled. “It’s all right.”

Under the intensity of Do Muwon’s stare, Park Jiseop descended the stairs. Silence lingered after his footsteps faded. Muwon remained rooted in place, his head tilted slightly as he stared at Yu-su. Yu-su met his gaze without concern.

“Did you eat?”

“What were you doing?” Muwon demanded. “I asked first.”

“I was looking around.”

“With that bastard?”

Yu-su had been walking toward him, but his footsteps stopped at once. “Lower your voice. I already told you, you should call him hyung.”

“Who gives a shit? Fucking hell.”

“Why are you so annoyed?”

Muwon fell silent for a moment. His gaze had drifted toward Yu-su’s waist, but he forced it back to Yu-su’s face and replaced whatever had crossed his mind with open irritation.

“The guy who could barely stand disappears while I’m eating. I come back, you’re gone, and I end up turning the entire Academy upside down looking for you.” His jaw clenched. “Then I find you up here fooling around. You think I wouldn’t be pissed?”

“We weren’t fooling around. We were cleaning.”

“Why were the two of you cleaning alone?”

“We happened to run into each other. What exactly is your problem?”

Yu-su was already running out of time, and Muwon’s interrogation only sharpened his irritation. He glared at him and tried to walk past.

Thwack.

Muwon’s hand closed around his wrist.

“You…”

“…”

The sudden force jerked Yu-su backward. He looked up at Do Muwon and found the other man’s dark eyes burning in the deepening twilight.

“Did you die?”

This time, Yu-su was the one caught off guard. He recoiled before he could stop himself, as though preparing to flee, and the movement exposed more of his raw emotion than he intended. Muwon still had his wrist trapped in an unyielding grip.

Do Muwon hauled him closer and lowered his voice to a growl.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t. I’ve already figured everything out.”

“Th…”

The words caught in Yu-su’s throat. Only then did he realize he had been holding his breath, and he released it with painful difficulty before lowering his head.

“Right… I died.”

His voice trembled at the edges, so faint that it seemed to vanish the instant it left his lips. Muwon’s face twisted sharply, yet the crushing pressure around Yu-su’s wrist abruptly eased.

“Fucking hell… Seriously?”

Muwon released Yu-su’s wrist, only to seize his chin instead.

“Hey.”

“Don’t. Let go of me.”

“Look at me.” Muwon’s grip remained rough, but his voice dropped until it was low and unexpectedly gentle. “Are you okay?”

It was the same voice he had used while tending to Yu-su after he fainted.

At last, Yu-su relinquished the tension that had kept his neck rigid. As Muwon guided his chin upward, their gazes met and tangled in the darkness between them. Yu-su’s dry lips slowly parted.

“I’m not okay.”

“That was what happened earlier, wasn’t it? When you were throwing up in the bathroom.”

Yu-su gave a single, shallow nod.

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“The zombies suddenly came down from upstairs. It happened tomorrow night.”

Muwon pressed his lips together and waited for him to continue. The intensity of Muwon’s searching gaze made Yu-su feel as though he were being flayed alive, and despite himself, he lowered his eyes again.

“The people they attacked and killed turned into zombies too, so stopping them wasn’t easy. In the end…”

“You died.”

Yu-su fell silent.

For reasons he could not clearly explain, Yu-su concealed the fact that he had died while saving Yun. Muwon finally released his chin and dragged a hand roughly through his own hair. Worry, anxiety, and a dark, simmering irritation churned across his face.

“What the hell did I do?”

The self-reproach in Muwon’s voice made Yu-su look up.

“Jeong Yu-su!”

A face distorted by anguish. A cry filled with unbearable pain.

What happened to Do Muwon after I died?

Yu-su had hoped that the moment he looped, the world would simply shut down and rewind, sparing everyone else from whatever suffering came afterward. If that was not possible, then he hoped Muwon had survived, even if survival meant enduring the rest of it alone.

Unable to bear the silence any longer, Muwon pressed him. “You fucking idiot. Did you just stand there and let yourself die?”

“Don’t say it like that. You were out scouting.”

“I left you here alone?”

“There was a reason. I told you this afternoon… No, earlier today. The heater’s flue was in bad shape.”

Muwon had gone to retrieve the replacement part they needed. Yu-su’s explanation had already petered out, but Muwon remained silent.

The corridor lay buried in darkness, with even the moonlight struggling to reach inside. After waiting for what felt like a long time, Yu-su hesitantly extended a hand and brushed Muwon’s sleeve.

Muwon caught it at once.

“So…”

Yu-su flinched at the heat of Muwon’s palm. Muwon held his gaze without blinking.

“So you went off on your own to find out why the zombies were appearing.”

“Yeah.”

“And even though you were vomiting and could barely stand, you went out alone.”

The sharpness in Muwon’s voice rattled Yu-su’s ears. Hearing his ragged breathing, Yu-su’s eyelid twitched, and he shook his head.

“I didn’t think it would turn into anything serious. I thought I only had to find the zombie that might be hiding on the upper floor…”

“If it wasn’t serious, why did you try to handle it alone without telling anyone?”

Yu-su said nothing.

“You said you died. Is that not serious enough for you?”

Why was he getting scolded again?

A spark of resentment rose in Yu-su’s chest, but the moment he saw the pain flickering across Muwon’s face, pain rather than anger, he bit his lip and lowered his gaze.

“You haven’t even apologized.”

“I…”

“Forget it.” Muwon’s fingers tightened around his hand. “Tell me everything, from beginning to end. I need to know.”

Yu-su eventually explained in greater detail what would happen the following night. As he spoke, the nausea churning relentlessly inside him forced him to crouch on the floor and wrap his arms around his knees.

Muwon remained standing, his arms folded as he sank into thought.

“So there are two possibilities. Either a zombie is already hiding somewhere inside, or someone here is infected and will turn.”

“Yeah, but I don’t think there’s a zombie hiding in the building.”

“Then…”

“Someone’s infected. They’ll turn tomorrow night.”

Muwon clicked his tongue and crouched until their eyes were level.

“It’s already been four days since we arrived. Can someone who was bitten really stay human that long?”

“We know practically nothing about zombies. Besides, someone who went scouting the day before yesterday could have been bitten.”

“What if we wait until tomorrow night and kill them the instant they turn?”

“I don’t think that’ll work.”

Catching the transformation at the exact instant it occurred was unrealistic. Unless they isolated everyone individually, several people would inevitably be attacked before the infected person could be stopped. Those victims would then turn as well, and the damage would continue to escalate.

“If waiting isn’t an option, then the only thing we can do is strip everyone down and check them, right?”

“I think so too.” Yu-su lifted his head slightly. “Why don’t we tell Sister Myeongju?”

Muwon tilted his head.

“I thought you were wary of her.”

“Was it that obvious?”

“Yeah. This was also the first time you called her Sister.”

Yu-su usually referred to her as that person or simply Myeongju. Now, however, he no longer wanted to distrust her. He knew she had died using her own body to hold back the zombies. He obviously could not tell her about the loop, but perhaps a carefully chosen white lie would be enough to persuade her.

“There aren’t many people willing to risk their lives for someone else.” Yu-su pushed himself upright. “I think we should go now.”

“I’m coming with you.”