Infected - Chapter 20



Only Noblemtl

Episode 19

Everyone looked at each other in surprise.

Actually, it was Anna who was most surprised.

I just thought he was an unusual-looking old man, but I didn’t expect him to accomplish anything.

Young-man smiled kindly upon seeing Anna’s puzzled expression.

“I was a soldier, my whole life.”

“ah…….”

Only then did Anna nod in agreement.

Youngman adjusted the frequency several times after that.

And when they reached a certain frequency again, the party was able to witness Youngman transmitting directly.

After reciting a strange code name and asking for a response, Young-man finished speaking and squatted down like a plaster statue, not moving.

I was just focusing on the sound while looking at the blazing fire.

There were several more transmissions after that.

A voice with mixed signals asked for the location of this place, and Young-man said that he couldn’t confirm the coordinates because there was no map, so he gave the name of the hospital.

The answer that came back was simple.

[We can’t help you escape right now. We have the facilities to accommodate you, but we are severely lacking in personnel and equipment. Is it possible to establish continuous contact? If so, please wait. We will find a way.]

With those words, the communication ended.

Before we knew it, the group’s gaze towards Youngman had changed.

“Okay, then let’s wait. We can’t get out of here on our own anyway.”

The group returned downstairs, leaving Anna behind on the rooftop.

It was so hot that we couldn’t even stand, except in the tent, so we had to find a place to rest anywhere.

What’s more, the three of them couldn’t even sleep properly.

Finance didn’t really like meeting people.

But now, rest was desperately needed.

As I had no choice but to go downstairs, people avoided eye contact and pretended not to notice me whenever our eyes met.

The three of them washed their clothes and bodies briefly in the bathroom.

I couldn’t help but do the laundry because I was sweating all day.

After a while, three people wearing damp clothes entered the warehouse.

Inside, there were stacks of bags filled with collected clothing.

Is it an illusion that the large, dusty sack looks like a bed?

The sun was already beginning to set outside the window.

Finance slowly leaned back on the cradle.

I felt so tired that I felt like I might faint at any moment.

But when I actually tried to sleep, I couldn’t sleep.

It wasn’t because of the screams of the infected outside the building.

The trauma of everything I’ve experienced over the course of a day.

A sense of reality about the approaching apocalypse.

Complicated thoughts wouldn’t leave my head.

Finance suddenly looked around.

Young-man and Beom-sik were lying with their backs turned toward the wall because of the sunlight.

But it didn’t seem like he was asleep.

Perhaps you are struggling for similar reasons.

As I quietly watched Youngman’s back, the word ‘family’ came to mind.

Finance had no family to protect.

I lost my family at such a young age that I don’t even have any memories to look back on.

Although we had relatives in name only, we were not family.

That’s why I was always worried.

I have never lived in a normal family, so I wonder if I will ever be able to start a family and live a normal life.

Could it be greed?

I’m worried that the chronic emptiness in my heart will hurt my new family.

So I left.

From normal life, from the normal orbit.

He was only focused on his work, saying he wanted to be a good police officer.

But it didn’t last long.

Efforts without purpose or direction soon disappear like dust.

“Are you guys sleeping already?”

Finance was startled by the unfamiliar voice.

When I opened my eyes, Beomsik and Youngman were also getting up.

Minyoung was standing in front of the warehouse door, holding a jug of water.

“Drink some water. You might get dehydrated if you stay here. I heard that you two helped Dad get here.”

“Yeah, I was so out of it that I was late in greeting you. This is my daughter. Her name is… .”

“I’m Kang Min-young. Thank you. It must not have been easy to help a complete stranger.”

Minyoung nodded and looked at the two people.

But there was no answer from either of them.

Perhaps he was not used to this situation where he had to make a statement out of the blue.

And how can you say hello in a situation like this?

Beomsik opened his mouth first.

“This is Lee Beom-sik.”

“Yes, nice to meet you. Wow, you’re really handsome. When I first saw you, I thought you were a movie actor or a model.”

Min-yeong is a soulless person who doesn’t even use exclamations.

“I hear it often.”

Jaejae shook his head at Beomsik’s words.

I hear it often.

How did you manage to live the life of a gangster with such lack of awareness?

It’s just a formality.

“Strong in Gangnam… … .”

Jaegye, who had been speaking, stopped talking.

I burst out laughing.

It’s scary how ingrained habits are.

I barely managed to catch the hand that was reaching for my pocket and swept it down.

Perhaps because I was sleepy, my reaction was even more mechanical.

Fortunately, Minyoung didn’t seem to hear what was being said properly.

He was waiting for the next words, his eyebrows raised and his head tilted.

“This is Han Jae-jeong.”

“Yes. When I look at Mr. Jae-jae, he really looks very dependable. In fact, it’s not often that I get to meet someone this tall.”

“Oh, yes.”

Minyoung asked for a handshake with a fierce look in his eyes.

Jae-jae shook hands with one hand and grabbed the water jug ​​that Min-yeong was holding with the other.

I felt like my vocal cords would split if I continued talking like this.

The cool water ran down my throat and swirled through my body.

Then, my mind seemed to clear up for a moment, but then I was quickly overcome by a deep fatigue.

Finance sat down on the stool, patting his shoulder.

Oddly enough, as soon as I sat down and leaned against the wall, I felt drowsy.

Is it because it is an attitude that allows for immediate response to unexpected situations?

I felt more comfortable than when I was lying down.

“Dad, are you feeling uncomfortable?”

Min-yeong, who was looking inside the warehouse, was talking to Yeong-man.

“This is a hotel. Do you have a place to rest?”

“The room is empty.”

“The people here don’t look so good. Be careful. Make sure you lock the door.”

“Don’t worry.”

“But… … .”

Young-man trailed off.

“why?”

“Everyone seemed uneasy when we talked about students earlier. Did something happen?”

“Oh, that… … .”

Minyoung paused for a moment and then turned her gaze to the window.

“When we first ran to the annex, people didn’t know that zombies couldn’t climb stairs. I didn’t know that either. But because so many people rushed to the emergency exit at once, we were slower than expected to get in. On top of that, people who had already entered the stairs were separated from their families and tried to get out again, creating chaos.”

Minyoung narrowed her eyes as if recalling a memory she didn’t want to remember.

Jae-jae opened his eyes slightly and was able to see Min-yeong’s serious face for the first time.

Soon after, a scream came from outside the window that seemed as if it would break my head.

I didn’t want to hear it, so I turned over the dirty clothes in the bag and put them on, but nothing changed.

Minyoung turned her head to look out the window and then opened her mouth again.

“Then I heard a child crying from afar. He was calling for his mother. I heard it when I got up there, so everyone who hadn’t gotten through the emergency exit yet must have heard it. He must have been three or four years old. He could run, but he didn’t know anything yet. The mother realized the child was gone and screamed as she went down, but she couldn’t get out because of the crowd.”

“that…….”

Young-man frowned in regret.

Before we knew it, everyone was focused on Minyoung’s words.

“At that moment, a student in uniform who had just stepped onto the emergency exit shook off people’s hands and ran. He threw down his bag and ran as fast as he could. Fortunately, the child was alive, and he had a few seconds to spare before the zombies came rushing in. But I think the student also knew. If he ran with the child in his arms, they would both die.”

Minyoung sighed and continued speaking.

“So what the student chose was to send the child first, then knock over chairs and roll flower pots to slow down the zombies as much as possible. Things worked out better than expected, and the zombies, who were rushing at random, stepped on each other and piled up like a tower. And then, the student also started running towards the emergency exit to survive. But the people who saw the zombies following them… closed the door.”

“You said you could survive?”

“When I saw it, it was definitely like that. There was enough distance. And the reason I’m sure he was alive is because after the door closed, I heard fists hitting the door about ten times for a few seconds. Then I heard nails scratching the door… … .”

Minyoung was soon shedding tears.

“Enough, Min-young. Stop it now. It must have been a difficult experience, but Dad… … .”

“No, it’s okay. All three of you need to know. Who closed the door? Who closed the door without giving people time to think.”

Min-young’s eyes were filled with venom as she wiped away her tears.

“That was… the child’s mother.”

Youngman’s mouth slowly opened as he listened.

“How could that be… … .”

“People had to pretend not to know and remain silent. The student had already died, and they realized that it was in the past. The atmosphere was telling them that it was meaningless to hold someone accountable at a moment when life and death were determined continuously. I… I basically agreed with them. I couldn’t say anything.”

Finance was listening carefully to the conversation between the two.

The general public would probably be similar.

The air inside the warehouse became heavy, as if a weight was hanging from it.

There was a brief silence, and Minyoung stood up, wiping away her tears.

“Thank you for listening. I feel a little better now. Sleep well.”

Young-man couldn’t say anything to his daughter as she quickly left the warehouse.

The weight of Youngman’s silence could be felt by everyone in the warehouse.

Jae-jae felt each scene flash through his mind like a movie.

The feelings of a student who risked his life to save a young life.

And the eyes that were watching until the very moment the door closed, and the fear of death approaching right before our noses.

What was the student thinking as he died?

‘Was I originally a person who thought this deeply about other people’s business?’

That wasn’t the case.

Living in a violent crime unit, it’s easy to become numb to all sorts of things.

This is because the people I encounter are usually not criminals, and I have encountered terrible incidents on the scene before they even make it to the news.

‘Why did the child’s mother close the door?’

The distance between the infected people seen behind the student’s shoulder may have been ambiguous.

But the child’s mother probably wasn’t the only one watching that.

Others must have been watching too.

‘So is it everyone’s decision?’

Was there no one who had the courage to stop the hand that closed the door?

What would people have thought as they listened to the extreme struggle for survival that was knocking on the door?

Finance felt that he was thinking useless thoughts.

Maybe it was because I wanted to avoid the helplessness of someone’s death.

There were countless people who died more unjustly and painfully than that student.

Suddenly, I remembered the woman who fell from the building next door.

She didn’t want to feel the same way she felt when she fell.

I hated the feeling of helplessness that Min-young felt, and the fact that it was shared by hearing Min-young’s experiences.

My head hurt.

Countless people have already died, and the world has changed.

The world has become one where it doesn’t matter who dies, how they die, or why they die.

As the events of the past day played out in his head like a movie, Jaeje slowly fell into a deep sleep.

Infected people