Wear the Mask (4)
“Huaaaagh!”
A scream erupted immediately.
Crunch!
A zombie that had suddenly appeared tore something off Bae Young-ho's face and chewed it right there.
'Damn it...!'
Go Cheon-su quickly moved forward and buried his axe into the zombie's skull.
Thud.
The zombie let out a grotesque death rattle and collapsed to the floor, but the real problem came next.
“Hnggh... ugh!”
Go Cheon-su clamped his hand over Bae Young-ho's mouth as he groaned and screamed.
“Quiet!”
“Hmph! Mmph!”
Watching Bae Young-ho writhe in pain, Go Cheon-su hissed lowly.
“Be quiet!”
“Mmph...”
Bae Young-ho's voice died down. Go Cheon-su turned away from him, who was gritting his teeth to stifle his groans, and scanned the surroundings.
'Is he okay...?'
Fortunately, no other monsters seemed to be swarming in right away.
“W-what the hell.”
“Are you alright?”
The crew members glanced around nervously with shocked expressions.
'Like hell he is.'
Go Cheon-su looked back at Bae Young-ho. He was drenched in cold sweat, his body trembling uncontrollably. For now, it was probably just the pain, but give it a little time, and it might turn into mutation symptoms.
Go Cheon-su raised his axe. At that, the crew members grabbed his shoulders.
“W-wait!”
“What are you doing?!”
“Let go.”
Go Cheon-su said to them.
“If it bites you, you turn. You've seen it happen at least once, right?”
But the crew wouldn't abandon Bae Young-ho.
“B-but!”
“We can't just kill him right away...!”
Who said anything about killing?
“He won't die, so let go.”
Go Cheon-su glared at the crew members.
“I'll handle it.”
As they hesitated and stepped back under his intimidating presence, Go Cheon-su closely examined Bae Young-ho's face.
Bae Young-ho was bleeding from his face. But his skin hadn't been torn off.
'His goggles broke.'
The zombie's teeth had shattered the goggles, causing the injury to his face.
Bae Young-ho couldn't open his eyes properly. Go Cheon-su asked him.
“Bae Young-ho, you okay?”
“M-my... eyes...”
As expected, he wasn't fine.
“I see. In that case, we'll leave you behind, Bae Young-ho.”
Go Cheon-su said quietly, looking at him. There was no time to babysit Bae Young-ho here.
“Alright, let's go.”
As Go Cheon-su stepped away, leaving Bae Young-ho, the crew looked flustered.
“W-wait. Just like this?”
“We have to take him...”
“We need to handle the job first.”
The engineer looked at the crew and said.
“We can't move him to a safe spot every time someone gets hurt. We've come this far down, so we need to clear the engine room quick.”
It was harsh, but not wrong. Even so, as the hesitant crew lingered, Bae Young-ho spoke in a voice mixed with groans.
“Go.”
Leaning against the wall, he waved his colleagues on.
“Go fix the ship and come back.”
“But...”
“Hurry.”
Bae Young-ho gritted his teeth.
“If we don't protect her, who will?”
Crew members devote themselves to the ship and passengers.
“Please go.”
They had all sworn that when they boarded.
“That way you can come help me sooner.”
No one could stand still after hearing that.
“...We'll be right back.”
In the end, the colleagues moved their feet. Duty came first, no matter what.
Seeing them follow along, Go Cheon-su let out a deep breath.
'One already retired.'
They hadn't even gone down to the lower decks yet.
'Zombies popping up here and there.'
Compared to the number of people on this cruise ship, it was mercifully few.
'Not something to celebrate.'
The reason there were so few zombies was because people had fallen into that unbroken sleep.
'Where the hell is that thing...'
Crack!
A dull thud echoed from somewhere. Go Cheon-su raised his hand to the group.
“Wh-what is it?”
As the group voiced confusion, Go Cheon-su put a finger to his lips.
'What was that noise?'
It was an impact sound. And it rang out several more times.
Thwack! Crack!
Go Cheon-su looked down at Heukgu.
Not that. Looking at this dog who even understood hand signals, Go Cheon-su had one question.
“Heukgu.”
And finally, he whispered in his ear.
“Go check it out.”
As he pushed Heukgu's butt, the dog hesitated and looked up at Go Cheon-su.
Unlike the viewers' teasing, Heukgu stared intently at Go Cheon-su before padding off.
'He's going...!'
While Go Cheon-su's eyes widened, Heukgu rounded the corner toward the noise and vanished. He soon returned to Go Cheon-su's side.
Tug.
Heukgu bit Go Cheon-su's pant leg and pulled.
“What, follow you?”
Obviously, Heukgu didn't answer. He just kept tugging at the pant leg.
Thwack!
The impacts continued. Go Cheon-su slowly followed Heukgu's lead.
Crack!
And there it was.
'Joo Young-hoon?!'
Sergeant Joo Young-hoon, separated when they first boarded, was swinging a metal rod at swarming zombies.
Crack!
Terror was clear on Sergeant Joo Young-hoon's face, but he wasn't screaming. Like someone who knew yelling would make things worse, he steadily handled the incoming zombies.
“H-he's gonna get overwhelmed!”
“We have to help!”
Unable to watch, the crew charged ahead first.
Tap.
The engineer, about to rush in, was stopped by Go Cheon-su's arm.
“Hold on.”
The engineer was the most vital person here. Couldn't let him charge into danger.
Thwack! Crunch!
With the crew joining, the tide turned completely. Sergeant Joo Young-hoon, surrounded by five or six zombies, looked around in surprise at the sudden aid.
Crack!
The last zombie hit the deck. The crew panted heavily and turned to Sergeant Joo Young-hoon.
“Y-you guys...”
Sergeant Joo Young-hoon mumbled dumbly before freezing. Go Cheon-su had appeared before him.
“Sergeant Joo Young-hoon, you're alive.”
Go Cheon-su said quietly.
“Don't go below.”
After things settled, Sergeant Joo Young-hoon shook his head upon hearing Go Cheon-su's group's destination.
“You can't go down there.”
“Why not?”
“Because it's there.”
Sergeant Joo Young-hoon replied to Go Cheon-su's question with a grim expression.
'It?'
“Yeah. That thing.”
As Go Cheon-su tilted his head, Sergeant Joo Young-hoon explained what he'd seen.
“Remember the one I chased at first? The one I thought was a kid... It was a monster.”
It matched what Go Cheon-su had already imagined.
“It stuck to a person's body and exploded. After exploding, it scattered some weird dust.”
“Dust...!”
The crew and engineer looked shocked.
Go Cheon-su now understood why they hadn't encountered Dust yet.
'Dust. That thing spawned among people and headed below right away.'
Come to think of it, most people in that deep sleep were still alive despite being defenseless. Meaning the sleep hadn't lasted long.
“Anyway, don't go down. It's dangerous.”
“Yeah, we get it's dangerous.”
Go Cheon-su said quietly to the terrified Sergeant Joo Young-hoon.
“But seeing it means you faced the monster. How are you fine?”
“Ah, I...”
Sergeant Joo Young-hoon grimaced, recalling the horror.
“That guy saved me.”
“That guy? Cha Dong-jin?”
“Yes, exactly. The one I followed.”
Sighing, Sergeant Joo Young-hoon explained in more detail.
“By the time we realized it wasn't a kid, it was too late. We were trapped in a narrow passage.”
“Then...”
“He shut the passage door and handled the monster. That's how I made it. But he inhaled the dust after it exploded and collapsed.”
He'd fallen into that sleep state.
“I saw him collapse through the window, but I couldn't open the door. Didn't know if the dust was still there... I abandoned him. Pretty shitty thing to do.”
“No. You had no choice.”
If Go Cheon-su hadn't encountered sleepers himself, he couldn't guarantee contact was safe either.
“We knew about those monsters, that's why we came prepared.”
Go Cheon-su tapped his mask. Sergeant Joo Young-hoon let out a hollow chuckle.
“True. I almost didn't recognize you because of the mask. If not for your distinctive eyes...”
“My eyes?”
Go Cheon-su could endure most things, but he subtly turned his head at Han Do-choe's words.
“Yeah, my eyes do stand out.”
Ignoring Han Do-choe as best he could, Go Cheon-su said to Sergeant Joo Young-hoon.
“Anyway, we have the only masks, so you should head out, Sergeant.”
“Huh? But...”
“No need for guilt. In this world, taking care of yourself is hard enough.”
As long as you're not purely selfish, prioritize yourself.
“Go that way. You'll see a crew member soon—take him with you.”
“Mm.”
“Oh.”
Go Cheon-su cautioned Sergeant Joo Young-hoon.
“Don't go anywhere else. Head straight to the lifeboat we came from.”
“Lifeboat...?”
Sergeant Joo Young-hoon looked puzzled, and the others voiced doubts too.
“Lifeboat?”
“That's dangerous right now.”
“Who knows what's in the sea...”
They all seemed aware something lurked in the ocean.
'Well, not telling them to escape in it.'
Fine for ship guardians, but ignoring lifeboats entirely meant their radar or sensors had picked something up.
“Just in case.”
Go Cheon-su told Sergeant Joo Young-hoon again.
“No long explanation—stay there. Not saying launch it, just go to that area.”
Anyone else, maybe not, but Sergeant Joo Young-hoon had witnessed Go Cheon-su's prowess firsthand.
“I'll explain later. Can't waste more time, so please.”
“Ah.”
Sergeant Joo Young-hoon sighed in response.
“O-okay. Got it.”
He grasped the urgency from the time comment. After a brief hesitation, Sergeant Joo Young-hoon bowed to the group and ran off.
“S-see you all alive!”
And with that, Sergeant Joo Young-hoon disappeared around the corner.
“...”
Silence fell. The group tensed, eyeing Go Cheon-su after the lifeboat mention.
'Engine room.'
Go Cheon-su furrowed his brow, mulling the destination inwardly.
'Gives off a seriously bad vibe.'
The info window hadn't appeared for nothing. Whatever was in the sea, they'd face it eventually...
“Let's go.”
Go Cheon-su adjusted his mask strap and stepped forward.