Infected - Chapter 25



Only Noblemtl

Episode 24

“Hey, don’t hospitals usually have restaurants?”

“I guess so? It seems like most of them were underground.”

Jae-Yeong’s eyes sparkled.

For a hospital of this size, it was larger than most university hospitals.

If so, it was clear that there would be a lot of restaurants, large marts, convenience stores, clothing stores, banks, and other miscellaneous stores.

But there was a problem.

“It also has the most people.”

Finance’s forehead wrinkled pleasantly at the words he had spoken.

When I think about it carefully, that’s what happened.

If there were a large supermarket and bank in addition to the restaurant area, there would have been an enormous crowd at the time of the outbreak.

Getting there was a miracle, but returning alive was a godsend.

Finance complained in an irritated voice.

“No, usually in movies, don’t zombies walk around?”

“Right? Except for a few?”

“But what the hell, why are you all running around and making a fuss?”

Jaejae, looking down at the hospital grounds, cursed.

“Oh, that’s right. You little shits, you should run around a bit more often.”

The two looked at each other and burst into laughter.

It was funny how we were adapting to this situation.

It was funny to see someone swear at something that wasn’t human or monster, and it was funny to see that they could have ill feelings towards something.

But Beomsik, who had been laughing without any reason, suddenly looked at Jaegye.

“Hey, no. You can actually use the fact that you’re fast to your advantage.”

“how?”

Finance asked, blinking.

“You asked me earlier. Why can’t we just clear them out with firecrackers? If they were walking, would one or two firecrackers be enough to get them all the way to the basement? They’d just crawl along slowly and come back. It’s actually more effective because they can run.”

“Oh, that’s true too.”

The two people’s gazes turned to the nearby underground parking lot.

The parking lot, which was oval-shaped and deepened with an empty center, was more than half visible from above.

“Let’s start with that when Anna wakes up. Your daughter or someone else will probably know where the restaurant or the supermarket is.”

Finance said.

“Yeah. But are we going to go this time too?”

“uh?”

Finances came back as a habit.

“Are we going this time too?”

“Then who is going?”

“There are a lot of people below us. It’s fine for us to decide something, but I want us to share the actions a bit. We don’t have to take all the risk. It’s not like we lose anything.”

Finance was puzzled by a question he had never thought about.

When I thought about it carefully, Beomsik’s words were not wrong.

Rather, wouldn’t it be normal to think that way?

“That’s true, but can you trust the people downstairs?”

Beomsik thought about it for a moment.

“I can’t believe it, actually.”

“I’m not ignoring you, but all they did was run away from the hospital and just luckily survived. But we didn’t. It’s only been two days, but we’ve been through a lot and survived. It’s right for us to go. It’s more efficient.”

“Okay, then.”

Beomsik nodded in agreement.

Not only is there nothing to refute, but the current personnel composition is just right, just as Jae-ui said.

“Oh my, why does my back hurt so much?”

The finances are finally starting to relax, and my body is starting to ache.

Well, I survived by carrying, jumping, and lifting an adult woman, so where would be safe?

Naturally, I collapsed on the chair in front of the transmitter and receiver.

When I sat down, my tense muscles seemed to relax a bit.

“The rescue team is coming, right?”

He spoke softly, perhaps because his finances were a little unstable.

“When did you say you weren’t going to come?”

“You have to come now, no matter what. If you don’t come even once, then it’s going to be really hard. You even forcibly took people’s belongings. Thinking back now, it seems like it was a waste of time. They were going to go down to the basement to get food anyway.”

“Okay. It already happened.”

Beomsik spoke comfortingly.

In fact, there was quite a bit of backlash, such as concerns about finances.

Everyone was so tense that it was difficult to even have a normal conversation.

The reason it worked then was because it was called a rescue team.

Anyway, it already happened.

The two remained silent for a while, lost in their own thoughts.

Finance hoped that Anna would wake up quickly since things had turned out this way anyway.

That way, we can shoot firecrackers to lure the infected and get them to the restaurant safely.

I closed my eyes and imagined myself eating at a restaurant.

The kitchen was empty or there might be an infected person, so I had to prepare the food myself.

Suddenly, scenes of cooking came to mind.

‘What would be good?’

If I had ramen, I would boil two and eat them with a lot of rice.

Or, the bulgogi in a clay pot would have been good.

There was definitely a ttukbaegi bulgogi restaurant in the hospital cafeteria.

For example, pork belly rice bowl.

This is because the majority of the food is easy to eat.

‘Oh, there was tonkatsu too.’

My mouth started watering in an instant.

When you dip the freshly made crispy pork cutlet into brown sauce and put it in your mouth, the pork juice bursts out with fat behind the crispiness.

If it’s old-fashioned tonkatsu, I’ll eat it with sauce poured on top.

Maybe it was because I was imagining such crazy things, but my stomach felt like it was going to melt.

Is it possible that my stomach is spitting out stomach acid because it thinks there is food in it?

He groaned in pain, twisting his body as if he was lying down.

Then Jae-jae pretended to change his posture while being conscious of Beom-sik.

“How do you do this?”

Jae-jae felt the gaze and muttered while looking around the transmitter and receiver.

I’ve seen a lot of them in the military, but I’ve never used them.

Beomsik also tilted his head.

“Well, I’m a mechanical person, so just seeing the inspiration touch something gives me a headache.”

“What is this? Is it volume?”

The hands of the finance minister who handled the transmitter and receiver were rough.

He freely rotated the various bars and pressed the buttons as he pleased.

Eventually it started to spit out a roaring noise of enormous decibels.

Chijichijijik!

“Hey, what did you do?”

“Oh, no, I just… … .”

Beomsik covered his ears and got angry.

The panicked finances quickly turned several bars around at will.

The idea was to somehow restore it to its original state.

Fortunately, the sound began to diminish little by little.

Right then.

Crackle, crackle, crackle

[September Blue, September Blue. If you are receiving, please respond.]

Jae-ui’s hand, which had been turning the bar very slowly, stopped.

Beomsik, who had been covering his ears with his back turned, quickly turned his head.

Someone was talking.

The two looked at each other for a moment.

Beomsik was the first to click his chin.

Then Jaejae pointed at himself with his finger and opened his eyes wide.

‘I?’

Beomsik nodded.

The two were gesturing as if their microphones were on, even though they weren’t transmitting.

If only Youngman had seen it, he would have been holding his stomach.

Jae-jae had no choice but to press and hold the button under the microphone.

A little noise leaked out.

“Ah, ah, can you hear me?”

Then he turned off the microphone again and muttered to himself.

“This is a first for me.”

The answer came back right away.

[We want to communicate with September Blue.]

“What? Who are you talking about?”

When Jae-gye asked, pointing to the receiver, Beom-sik calmly explained.

“That’s the inspiration code name. The military says that if you have that, you can use it anywhere. Just tell them it’s not there right now.”

“Ah, this is my first time doing this, so I’m not used to it. The person you want isn’t here right now. They’re downstairs. Do you have something to say?”

Chijijik―

[Are you a colleague?]

“Yes.”

Finance, who had completed the transmission, waited for an answer with a rather serious expression on his face.

Beomsik also looked completely focused.

[There are things to check, but what can you do in this situation by following the radio rules? I will tell you the current situation, so please share it.]

“I get it.”

The reception came right in, making a noise, perhaps overlapping with the financial reply.

[First of all, we cannot go to your rescue. I regret it. I will say it again. We cannot send a rescue team.]

The faces of both men hardened abruptly.

Beomsik quickly ran up the stairs and shouted.

“Tell them to wait a moment! I’ll bring inspiration!”

Jae-yi’s hands trembled as he tried to grab the microphone.

I wanted to ask something quickly, but I didn’t know what to say.

My head is getting complicated.

A situation where people’s belongings have already been forcibly taken away despite strong opposition.

Everyone was expecting rescue teams to come.

It is also true that they were controlled under the pretext of communicating with the rescue team.

It was an irreversible result.

Just because the circumstances changed doesn’t mean what happened changed.

“Why can’t you come? Yes? No, I told you yesterday that you could definitely come. Do you know how many people are waiting here right now? There are even children!”

The voice of Jae-jae, speaking excitedly, trembled with anxiety.

Could it be because I poured out my emotions too unilaterally?

There was no communication for some time.

This had a direct bearing on survival.

If rescue doesn’t come and you have to survive on your own, the path you take will be completely different.

Perhaps the group would return to Yeongman’s house again.

Getting out of the hospital wasn’t difficult.

All Anna had to do was to gather the infected in one place and escape, just like she did at first.

But what happened next was the problem.

Just because you arrive at Youngman’s house doesn’t mean food will fall from the sky.

And even if you get food somewhere, it can’t last forever.

If this situation didn’t end, I might have to wander the streets and eat rotting food until the day I died.

A lot has changed since the beginning.

At that time, we moved for the survival of what was immediately in front of us, but now it was different.

As time went on, I realized that this situation could be prolonged or even permanent.

What finances want is a safe zone.

A large number of survivors, and a discipline or something that controls them, and everyone fills their stomachs with food obtained under it in a thoroughly organized manner.

To put it simply, I wanted to go to a space where I could continue to live as a human being.

I knew that I couldn’t go back to the world of two days ago.

But if there was a similar world, I wanted to go there.

I didn’t want to wander around like a homeless stray cat.

Jae-jae, who was holding the microphone and lowering his head, heard the sound of the door opening.

The sound of several people’s footsteps overlapped each other.

Finance has raised its head.

Yeong-man ran over and patted Jae-jae’s slumped shoulders.

Then he pressed the microphone button to resume communication.

“This is September Blue. Can you hear me?”

[The reception is good. Speak.]

The voice on the radio had a robotic, consistent emotional line.

“I heard that it is impossible to send a rescue team. Is that true?”

Youngman’s eyes were also shaking greatly.

But then suddenly the voice on the radio began to shake loudly.

Then a conversation of a completely different nature followed.

[Ha… Now that you’ve been discharged, I guess I should call you senior. Anyway, there are no personnel or organizations to monitor this communication. My name is Captain Kang Jin-hyeok. Please call me Captain Kang. There is currently an order to stop all rescue activities and searches.]

“Yes, Captain Kang. Can you tell me who gave that order and why?”

Young-man also regained his composure upon seeing Captain Kang’s human side.

[There is the largest safe zone in the country in Yeouido. There, the government of the Republic of Korea is still alive, and tens of thousands of survivors are staying with the soldiers. We are communicating from the West Sea.]

“You said safe zone? Then why don’t you just take us there?”

Everyone couldn’t hide their excitement at Captain Kang’s words.

Safe zone!

Tens of thousands of survivors!

But the answer that came back crushed all that excitement and anticipation.

[They say they can’t give them approval for the operation because if we send a rescue team from the current location, the helicopter will have to go through Yeouido. It’s my personal opinion, but I think it’s because the safe zone could be put in danger due to zombies following the helicopter.]

Young-man, who had been listening, tightly closed his eyes.

Infected people