Infected - Chapter 513



Only Noblemtl

Episode 512

Hyunsoo, who had been sleeping as if he was dead, suddenly woke up.

It was the first time in several days that I woke up.

“… … !”

Soaked hair, eyes shaking anxiously.

I must have had a terrible nightmare.

Hyunsoo looked around, gasping for breath.

There was no one in the sickroom.

Only a yellow light hanging on the wall illuminated the hospital room.

Hyunsoo remembered what that back was.

It was a light that Min-yeong, who likes to decorate, had put in the storage room, saying she would use it when the electricity supply was restored.

Under the softly spreading light.

Following the string on the back of the hand, a large sap hanging by the bedside was seen.

Feel the passage of time slowly.

Even though he never woke up, Hyunsoo was able to calculate how long he had been asleep.

It was strange.

It’s normal to be hungry after lying down for this long.

But Hyunsoo strangely didn’t feel hungry.

Besides, Min-yeong must have been changing the IV fluid regularly, but I don’t remember getting up and urinating during that time.

Only then did I realize that my whole body was wet and I turned around to where I had been lying.

The hospital bed sheets were so wet that they were stained darkly.

Just as he was lying there.

I don’t think I urinated because there was no smell.

What on earth is going on in my body?

I wonder if the organs in my body are functioning properly.

I got out of bed and felt the cold floor with my bare feet.

Fortunately, there was no problem with the feel.

Afterwards, we checked the hearing, sight, and smell in that order, but the results were the same.

When I stood up like that, my feet on the ground.

Only then did I realize the true nature of this inexplicable sense of discomfort.

It was an awkwardly refreshing feeling.

My complicated mind was empty, and my body felt light enough to fly.

This feeling was not unfamiliar to Hyunsoo.

After being bitten by zombies at the train station.

This is how I felt when I stood up after overcoming a long fever.

He wiped his damp forehead with his sleeve and approached the mirror hanging under the light.

“… … .”

Hyunsoo’s eyes widen as he looks in the mirror.

This is because the pupils of his eyes, which had been dark gray for several months, had turned pitch black in a matter of days.

I looked at it several times, pushing up my eyelids with my fingers.

The more you looked into those pitch-black eyes, the more mysterious it seemed as if you were being sucked into an abyss.

I quickly checked every part of my body.

Fortunately, there were no significant changes except for the pupils.

At that moment, Min-young, who had been away for a while, came into the hospital room.

“Hyunsoo!”

She saw Hyun-soo standing there, and ran towards him.

“Are you okay? When did you wake up?”

Min-young asked, handing over a notebook and pen placed on the bedside table.

Hyunsoo said that his body felt much lighter than before he passed out.

All of his senses returned to normal, and the only thing that had changed was his eyes, which had turned black.

Around that time.

Ha-yeon, who had been coming in from a distance, ran to Hyeon-su with all her might and hugged him as soon as she saw him.

And then he shed sad tears.

“… Are you okay? Are you really okay?”

Nod nod.

Ha-yeon tightly shut her eyes.

She had practically been living in the hospital room since returning from the shopping district across the street.

I tried to persuade him several times to get some rest, but he would stay there and say that if Hyun-soo died, he would die with him.

To the onlookers, it might have sounded like just empty words, but Ha-yeon was sincere.

Would she, who blindly followed him and left the power plant, be afraid of death?

I crossed mountains and rivers alone, so nursing a sick person was of no concern to me.

After the deep hug, Minyoung sat Hyunsoo down and examined his eyes.

The color had definitely changed noticeably.

Of course, Minyoung doesn’t know what this means.

But one thing that can be inferred is the identity of the relief that Hyun-soo felt.

“Hyunsoo. This is my sister’s idea, but isn’t it possible that your body has entered a kind of resting period? You haven’t had a proper rest in a while. You’ve barely slept. Maybe your loss of pain and your inability to feel tired are similar. Feeling that kind of thing is also a type of sense. It means that extreme fatigue may have accumulated while you weren’t aware of it.”

Ha-yeon answered instead.

“Then why did the virus behave strangely when we tested it?”

“It could be for a similar reason. Just as our immune system weakens when we don’t sleep, isn’t it the same for Hyun-soo? If you think about it, fatigue accumulates more slowly than people like us, so it’s not impossible. Think about it like the virus sneaked in while the immune cells weren’t functioning properly.”

“I’m not sure, but considering the situation so far, it seems possible.”

“First of all, Ha-yeon, you bring Jae-jae oppa. I think you should take Hyun-soo to the bunker. It may be refreshing now, but you never know when something will change.”

As Ha-yeon left, Hyun-soo shook his head and handed over his notebook.

“I’m not going. I’m fine now.”

“Hyunsoo, this is not the time to be stubborn. Don’t think only of yourself, think of all of us who are here with you. I don’t want to lose you again, just like everyone else. Once is enough.”

“I’ll go later. I have too much to do right now. I have to go to the nameless bridge and the apartment complex.”

Minyoung, who saw the notebook, couldn’t bring herself to answer.

I didn’t have the confidence to personally explain the horrific scene I had heard from Jaejae and Yeongman.

“You don’t have to go to the apartment complex.”

“… … ?”

“You don’t have to go now, Hyunsoo. A lot of things happened while you were sleeping.”

“What happened?”

“Hear it from your brother directly. That’ll be better. Someone who witnessed it firsthand will be more accurate.”

Hearing those words, Hyunsoo’s eyes shook anxiously.

* * *

After a while.

In the yellow-lit hospital room, Jae-Jae and Hyeon-Su were sitting across from each other with their beds in the middle.

The two people were lost in their own thoughts in heavy silence.

Jae-Jae recalled the situation at the time, and Hyeon-Su recalled her own trauma.

Massacre of civilians.

This tragic topic was an indelible wound to Hyun-soo.

As soon as I heard that there were numerous corpses piled up in the management office.

The sight of corpses burning and piled high in the center of the village came to mind.

Of course, there was no such communication with the survivors of the apartment complex.

But I was fully aware that they were good people.

Uncommon people who maintained warm humanity even in a world where everything was dying.

Thick veins stand out on the back of Hyun-soo’s hand as he clenches his fist.

He was originally a very affectionate and people-loving person, and because he had experienced something similar, his anger grew uncontrollably.

Since surviving the zombies, Hyunsoo has been constantly agonizing over life and death.

Because I personally experienced death, which was always considered someone else’s problem.

As a result of months of thinking about it.

No one is born into this world because they want to be born, so they should be able to decide at least their last moments.

I came to that conclusion.

In a world where everything is so lacking, I hoped that even death could be chosen by each person as they wished.

But the anonymous religion trampled even that at will.

They do not know what the cult leader they follow or the god who sent him down is pursuing.

But every being must take responsibility for his or her own choices.

Even if that being is God.

Hyun-soo’s eyes, filled with anger, turned to Jae-jae.

The pupils, which were as black as ink, were now dyeing even the whites of the eyes black.

The way the colors spread out like paint looked just like a zombie.

A scene so shocking that even Jaejae, who is not usually surprised by anything, felt a chill down his spine.

Jaejae, who had been silently watching those eyes, opened his mouth.

“… People want you to go back to the bunker. They don’t know when you’ll get that symptom again. But I don’t know. You only live once, so I want you to just choose. I don’t know what the changes in your body or the blackened eyes mean. So I can’t force you to do anything.”

Jae-yi’s eyes narrowed as he recalled something.

“Beomsik’s second younger brother, the station attendant, and Jin-i, they all followed their own choices. That was a huge trauma for me. If I saw even a little bit of a similar situation, I would get so nervous that my heart would race. It was the same when I parted ways with you at the train station. That memory stayed in my heart for a really long time. Hyunsoo, no matter what anyone says, I don’t want to lose you. Just as we were together at the beginning of the virus, I want to be together at the end. But if you don’t back down, I won’t stop you. In the same way, I won’t quit just because you tell me to.”

Hyunsoo quietly handed over his notebook.

“I will protect my people. That is why I came back to life.”

When people experience something unacceptable, they tend to try to find meaning.

Because things often happen that are completely incomprehensible to human reason.

It was the same for Hyunsoo.

That’s why I thought about it for a long time.

An unexpected second life, and senses that easily transcend humanity.

About what this ridiculous resurrection means.

Isn’t this an excessive ability to be called simple immunity?

On his way from the power plant to Seoul, Hyun-soo found his own meaning and made a promise.

Anyway, it’s more than enough ability to protect myself.

I will use that power to protect and defend my loved ones.

Even if death comes along in the process, I will accept it silently.

“I’ll fight. Like I always have.”

Jae-yi’s eyes burned as he received the notebook.

I just thought it was pitiful.

Hyunsoo was growing steadily even in the darkness where he couldn’t see even an inch ahead.

“… Yeah. I know what you mean.”

Jae-jae, who was speaking in a mumbling tone, approached Hyun-soo and hugged him warmly.

“We… must survive. Without leaving anyone out.”

Then he stroked Hyun-soo’s back for a long time.

* * *

After Jae-jae told the group about Hyun-soo’s intentions, he headed to the rooftop with Young-man.

A thick fog was descending on the city center as the sun began to set.

Jae-jae, lighting a cigarette, leans his elbow on the rooftop wall and looks around the area.

When I first came here, it felt completely unfamiliar.

It was a time when everything was so uncertain that even holding on to a glimmer of hope was a bit cautious.

The vaccine center that used to be there now feels like home.

If you think about it, a lot has happened here.

I discovered traces of Beomsik and Gaon, met Jeong Ijin and Hyeonsu again, and survived several near-death experiences.

“mister.”

“Tell me.”

“Lee Beom-sik… I hope you’re doing well?”

Youngman smiled bitterly.

“You’ve always been like that. You reassure us in front, and then you suffer alone behind our backs. You said it yourself. Lee Beom-sik and Jang Li-ming aren’t people who can be easily defeated. And if they were caught by the nameless sect, you would have heard about them already, right? Believe what you say. Everyone knows it’s true.”

“… I hope so. I don’t want to lose anyone anymore.”

“That’s what will happen. Oh, just in case, if you’re going to be distressed by the memories of those who left before, then stop. You’ve done well so far. Yes, you have done well. I will trust you no matter what happens. The life and death of a person is all determined by heaven. If I didn’t kill them with my own hands, then they just followed their fate.”

“What will happen in this fight?”

Youngman crossed his arms and caressed his lower jaw.

“Well, it won’t be easy. We’ll have to fight our way into their homes, and there are a lot of them. But one thing is for sure. This isn’t a fight between us like before. There are a lot of people who are willing to help us. Do you understand what I mean? No matter what the process is, we’ll win. Just like we always have.”

“I hope this is the last time I kill someone, or watch someone die.”

Young-man’s heart ached as if it were on fire as he looked at Jae-yi’s side profile.

Because it was like seeing myself and my colleagues in my younger days.

“… I will definitely make it happen. Don’t worry too much.”

At those words, Jae-jae, who had been shaking off the cigarette ash, smiled strangely.

“You are a person under protection. If something goes wrong, why do you want Min-young to blame you?”

“Haha, this guy treats people like old men in a closet. Doesn’t a tiger know it’s still a tiger even if it loses its teeth? Take that statement back immediately.”

“You are like a father to us.”

“So? Why are you suddenly bringing that up? You’re not telling me to step back, are you?”

“Would you do it if I asked you to do so?”

“you’re welcome.”

“Anyway… what I mean is, be a little more careful. Why should an old father risk his life when he has so many grown children? Don’t worry about me complaining. Just think about what happens after this fight is over. The world after the war needs wise people like you, not people like me.”

“If you can’t speak… … .”

The two looked at each other and snickered.

That was when.

A group of people appeared along the street in front of the apartment complex where the zombies were kept.

The number was seven.

They came trudging forward, heavily armed, and were completely unfazed by the sight of the zombies trapped in the complex.

When I entered the intersection along the main street like that.

The man in the lead stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Jae-jae and Young-man on the rooftop.

He held the muzzle and buttstock of the gun with both hands and raised it upward as if making an offering.

I don’t know what that means, but it was clear that he had no intention of attacking.

Finally, someone came from Gangbuk.

Infected people