The Man Left Behind
“Sis, you okay?”
Hyun-soo asked Anna as they trudged through the sewer.
She'd been noticeably quiet ever since slipping out of the power control room.
Nod, nod.
Anna dipped her head, lost in thought.
“Maybe it's for the best. Better than dragging himself to the safe zone and stewing in guilt forever. Doing what he wants might be the right call.”
“That guy... he's just gonna die slow, right?”
Anna's eyes were dull as she fired back a question instead of an answer.
“Probably.”
“No food means he'll starve. At least there's a water purifier.”
“Sis.”
Hyun-soo called out to her with a pained look.
But Anna stayed sunk in her thoughts, mumbling to herself.
“You can only fill your gut with water for so long. That's how it'll go. They say when you starve, you get sleepy, lose consciousness bit by bit. How terrifying must that be, all alone.”
“Sis, why assume that guy's as good as dead?”
“'Cause... obviously. He's by himself. No supplies, nothing.”
“Think about it. If there are really ten thousand survivors like he said, wouldn't you run into someone eventually? Someone might come looking for him.”
Anna had no response.
Hyun-soo's words, and what they implied, were too much to swallow amid their utter shitshow of a reality.
“He's gonna die anyway.”
“You don't have to...”
Anna brushed past Hyun-soo as he tried to argue.
No one knew the outcome.
Whether the man left behind would live or die.
But the odds of crossing paths again? Zero.
To Anna, he was already as good as dead.
At the edge of the flashlight's reach, Jaejeong's back came into view.
He was walking side by side with Youngman and I-jin.
I-jin glanced at Jaejeong.
Maybe it was the dark look on his face, or the way he seemed deep in thought, but I-jin spoke carefully.
“This about that guy from earlier?”
“That, and...”
Jaejeong trailed off.
There was something else gnawing at him.
“I don't see it as bad. If that's the end he chose for himself, it's fine by me. Look at this world. How many people get to go out on their own terms?”
“True enough.”
He had a point.
The old world was bad enough, but now? Forget it.
Too many dead, vanished without even knowing their time was up.
In a hell like this, picking your own fitting death might be a luxury.
But Jaejeong's real worry lay elsewhere.
“That's beside the point. There's something that just doesn't add up.”
“What?”
Youngman, shoulders slumped as he walked, turned his head to listen in.
Jaejeong let out a short sigh before speaking.
“It's weird. No matter how I turn it over, the pieces don't fit. You said you came to the safe zone on VIP protection detail, right?”
I-jin nodded without a word.
“Exactly when was that?”
“Lemme think... I was listening to the Japanese prime minister's speech in the assemblyman's car, so right when the virus was starting to spread here.”
“And when did you get the VIP escort orders?”
“Dunno exactly... hold up.”
I-jin threw out an arm to block Jaejeong, dropping low and scurrying along the wall.
The jittery flashlight beam swept the sewer's innards in chaotic flashes.
At the corner, I-jin peeked out.
Then he waved frantically at the flashlight beams pouring from behind, signaling them to halt.
Had he spotted something?
Everyone froze, waiting for his cue.
I-jin held statue-still, like he was carved from stone.
Then he whipped around the corner in a blur.
Stab! Stab!
The dagger piercing flesh rang out loud in the silent sewer.
Flashlights swung back into view.
The group crept up to the corner at his gesture and scanned around.
Beyond it, a single zombie lay sprawled on the floor.
“Any more?”
Jaejeong swept his flashlight into every nook and cranny.
“Nah, lucky break. Heard splashing, checked it out—just this one shambling our way. Let's keep moving.”
I-jin, who'd been plodding ahead silently, suddenly remembered their conversation and glanced back at Jaejeong.
“Oh right, we were talking. Why bring that up outta nowhere?”
Jaejeong started to repeat the question, then changed his mind.
In hindsight, it wasn't that crucial now.
“Just struck me as off.”
“How so?”
“Look at the safe zone. No way they threw that together same-day. Hauling all that concrete and lumber, setting it up? Impossible in hours.”
“Huh.”
“That's why I asked. Doesn't matter much now, but every time more people die, it feels like someone knew this was coming. Couldn't they have warned folks sooner? Regrets like that.”
“Yeah, I've wondered the same.”
I-jin nodded in agreement, so Jaejeong pressed on.
“Check out the safe zone now. That's no panic job. Zones divided up, passes, the tower—it's like they planned this shit from the start.”
“Well, they originally aimed for all of Yeouido as the safe zone. Couldn't swing it, though. You saw the retreat, how they were scrambling to build it—you wouldn't say that if you'd been there.”
“Maybe.”
“Bro, no matter how many die or survive, you'll always feel that regret. Think about it—even cramming half of Seoul's population into Yeouido, you'd still mourn the other half.”
Jaejeong cracked a bitter smile.
I-jin wasn't wrong.
But Jaejeong couldn't voice what he really wanted to say.
No matter how he sliced it, the safe zone reeked of something off.
If it was truly about linking survivors with the government, they should've packed in way more people.
The president, prime minister—obvious VIPs.
But no word on whether they were alive.
Missing sounded better than dead, but realistically...
Every death, every incident, dredged up those buried doubts.
“End's in sight. How we getting out?”
Youngman's voice snapped Jaejeong from his reverie.
Sure enough, the sewer exit loomed close.
Kim Chan-yeol's ammo belt from yesterday clung stubbornly to the sturdy iron grate sealing it.
No zombies in immediate sight, at least.
Jaejeong signaled everyone to hold, then crept along the wall.
This was it—the tunnel beyond where he'd first spotted the Crazy Mom.
Zombies were bad, but confirming no Crazy Mom was priority one.
“How's it look?”
I-jin sidled up, pressing tight against the wall.
Jaejeong peered out.
Left: sunlit riverside. Right: pitch-black tunnel.
“What I can see looks clear. Right side's the issue—too dark to make out shit.”
“So what? We bail?”
“Hold on.”
Jaejeong fished a lighter from his pocket.
Flicked it into the tunnel's gloom.
Clang!
It smacked a stainless barrier and skittered across the floor, noisy as hell.
Roooar! Graaaah!
The roars erupted right after.
Smaller pack than before, but still no joke.
Couldn't fight zombies pouring from road and tunnel with the river at their backs.
He unhooked the belt, handed it back to Chan-yeol, and eased the grate open for a peek.
By the sounds, a few were dragging toward the lighter's drop point.
Scrape, scrape.
Couldn't see inside from out here, but they could see out.
Time to haul ass.
Boat was maybe fifty meters off.
Jaejeong huddled the group and laid it out.
“...Ignore the tunnel—outside's the real worry. Riverside stretches long left and right, who knows how many lurking. Boat's close, so hug the wall, quiet and quick. Once we're fully riverside, boat or bust—sprint like hell no matter what. Got it?”
Nods all around, but as Jaejeong cracked the gate...
Screeeeech!
Not just him—everyone froze at the sound they'd forgotten.
The grate's godawful shriek.
Couldn't shut it now, though.
Sealed in like sardines.
No room for fireworks anyway.
Thud-thud-thud! Thud-thud!
Was the screech louder than the lighter? Or the combo that lit them up?
Bare feet slapping pavement echoed sharp from the right tunnel.
Jaejeong flung the gate wide, shoved backs toward the boat.
“Run! Run, go!”
I-jin led, Anna and Youngman, Hyun-soo, Chan-yeol, Choi Hoon streaming onto the riverside.
Jaejeong brought up the rear—
Graaaaaah!
Lighter, grate, footsteps—they all piled out of the tunnel.
“Move your asses!”
I-jin bellowed from the front at the stretching group.
Even Youngman, second in line, was pulling ahead.
But where was Jaejeong?
“Where's Oppa?”
Anna whipped around in panic.
Jaejeong was farther back than thought.
Worse: zombies bursting from the tunnel were right on his heels.
Fists clenched—
Jaejeong veered off, charging somewhere.
Toward a black shape emerging from the sloped road above the riverside.
The Crazy Mom.
Probably hordes more on the avenue beyond.
If his memory held.
Her scream here? Might not have time to start the boat and peel out.
Jaejeong sprinted diagonally up the steep slope, dagger hand thrusting at her.
Their eyes locked—her body shuddered, mouth gaping in a nightmare grimace.
“Kyaeeeeeee! Kyaaa...”
Before the second screech peaked, Jaejeong's dagger speared her skull.
Thud!
Her corpse tumbled down the slope toward the water.
Too late—she'd screamed.
Jaejeong felt every hair stand on end.
Zombie roars crashing like waves.
Never heard this many so close.
Feet pounding, grotesque moans, chattering teeth—all tangled in a horror symphony.
“What're you doing? Run!”
Anna's scream jolted Jaejeong back.
Black shapes surged like a tide behind him as he bolted down the slope.
Dust clouds from the road swept down—numbers like that.
“Start her up! Fire it!”
Jaejeong chucked his rifle aside, sprinting full tilt, yelling.
Vrooom!
Youngman cranked the boat to life.
If Jaejeong didn't make it while turning, he'd lure him out to swim a bit.
But the wild card: the horde.
Even if Jaejeong dove in, the followers piling in could trample and stack, swallowing him.
Those things? Totally capable.
Jaejeong ground his teeth till his jaw ached, legs pumping.
Black corpses erupted in dust right beside him.
He planted a foot, launched into the river.
Leaping zombies clawed empty air where his legs had been.
Splash!
His heavy frame knifed the surface.
Hundreds of zombies followed, crashing in like a dam break.
His dive was a pebble plop; theirs a tidal wave, rocking the boat with massive swells.
Infected People