Seed Vault 3
We left the Seed Vault and began retracing the path we had come by.
Since we had already cleared the road once, driving the truck was incomparably easier than on the way there.
Every so often zombies that had drifted in from somewhere would appear, but all it took was me, riding in the cargo bed, to deal with them lightly using the power of the suit.
Yet just because the drive itself was smooth did not mean our hearts were at peace.
The final image of the woman named Lee Hyeon-yeong we had faced inside the Seed Vault—that bizarre scene—refused to leave my mind. And I was not the only one.
Yang Jin-ju, gripping the steering wheel, also looked thoroughly drained in spirit.
"Jin-ju, let's switch. You've been driving nonstop this whole time."
When I spoke, she shook her head.
"No, Oppa. I'm fine.
I just… want to keep driving. So I don't have to think about anything…."
She seemed to keep replaying that last scene of Lee Hyeon-yeong—who had been crying out that she herself was Choi Hana—walking alone back into the Seed Vault.
In the end we never switched and simply kept driving. Yet even on a road we had already cleared, stopping to deal with the zombies that appeared now and then made time slip away mercilessly.
As the sun began to set and the world sank once more into darkness, we reached a small rural village.
We stopped the truck for a while, searched the village, confirmed there was not the slightest sign of people, and settled on the largest and sturdiest-looking building—a two-story village hall—as our lodging for the night.
From an abandoned house next door we carried over mattresses that still looked relatively intact and laid them out on the second-floor floor of the village hall to prepare our beds.
We forced down a few spoonfuls of food, barely tasting it, and finished getting ready for sleep.
I decided to take the first watch myself and laid the exhausted-looking Yang Jin-ju down on the mattress.
"About that woman earlier today…."
A long while later, Jin-ju—whom I had thought already asleep—opened her mouth while still lying there, staring at the ceiling.
"When that woman asked us to take her with us… that was probably her speaking as ‘Lee Hyeon-yeong,’ right?"
I thought for a moment before answering.
"…I don't really know either."
"No matter how I turn it over, that woman… when she asked to be taken away, it was as ‘Lee Hyeon-yeong,’ wanting to escape that horrific place where her colleagues lay dead."
Jin-ju continued as if the events of the day still circled endlessly through her mind.
"At first I kept thinking, why is she pretending to be someone else, and without realizing it I spoke a little coldly because I didn't want to stay near someone like that… but looking back now…."
She could not finish and let out a pained sound.
"That woman… she probably killed at least one person with her own hands.
That real researcher named ‘Choi Hana’…."
I had vaguely imagined the same thing, yet had tried hard to look away from that horrific picture—Yang Jin-ju seemed to have been thinking exactly the same.
"Probably, once the infected appeared, someone among the survivors left the final room and succeeded in subduing those zombies we saw during the day. But…."
As I listened in silence, Jin-ju turned her body and met my eyes while still lying down.
She gazed at me for a long time, as if checking whether I shared the same thought.
"…Yet even after they subdued them, the people inside never opened the door, right? So they pounded on it, begged, and eventually ended up like that…."
Jin-ju let out a deep sigh, lay back looking at the ceiling again, and went on.
"And that person named ‘Choi Hana’ was probably together with ‘Lee Hyeon-yeong.’
The difference is that she tried to open the door, and Lee Hyeon-yeong—whether from fear, suspicion, or some other reason—killed her as she tried…."
I quietly moved closer and sat beside her.
Then I removed the suit and took her cold hand in mine.
Looking at my hand, she continued.
"Inside that narrow space with no way out, for more than seven months, she was alone with the ‘Choi Hana’ she had killed—just the two of them, right?"
Jin-ju's hand trembled faintly.
"And then… eventually, from fear and loneliness, ‘Choi Hana’ and herself became mixed together.
The glasses and gown were Choi Hana's, the clothes and shoes were her own…. Something like that."
"Thinking about it, the whole way back toward the Shelter I felt so stifled and scared."
"If… if, like before we met Nam Jin-ju and Oppa, it had just been the two of us left in that hideout… and then if one of us died first… wouldn't the one left behind eventually go mad just like that? That thought kept coming…."
"In a world like this… how horrific and hard it must be to have not even a single person to rely on."
After she finished, Jin-ju slowly spoke again as if painting the scene from earlier right before her eyes.
"And yet, when we—when Oppa told her, ‘You are Researcher Choi Hana’—she gave up everything and walked back alone into that hell… watching that made my thoughts race too much…."
She looked at me once more. Then, slowly squeezing the hand she held, she sat up.
"But Oppa."
Her eyes were wet with anxiety and fear.
"Right now my head is really too complicated. So…."
She came into my arms.
"If you don't want it… push me away."
Saying that, she pressed her trembling lips against mine.
I did not push her away. Instead I only pulled her trembling body even tighter into my embrace.
For a while Yang Jin-ju kissed me while held in my arms, then slowly drew her lips away. Looking at me, she gave a faint bitter smile.
"Do you know, Oppa?"
Her voice was very low and secretive.
"Yeong-ju Unni, before we left, told me to keep a proper eye on whether Oppa sleeps with other women again."
When I looked at her in surprise, she continued.
"Honestly, at first I was half-doubtful. What could Oppa and that woman Sim Geum-a possibly have been doing for over three hours? But since you said it was nothing… I guess I believed it?
Then Yeong-ju Unni called the two of us aside and told us everything.
At that moment I was sure. Ah, so we're just… women for him to enjoy as well."
She looked into the distance for a moment as if recalling the past.
"At first… honestly, I felt a huge sense of betrayal. Wondering if he only saw us as tools for leveling up the Shelter. But then Po-gyeong Unni said this."
She calmly relayed Kang Po-gyeong's words.
"‘Other survivor groups just grab women, force themselves on them, and under the excuse of protecting them use them as playthings every night.
But Seo Yeong-chan-nim has never done anything like that to us even once,’ she said."
"Hearing that… if Oppa had really had such bad intentions, he could have forced us all he wanted under the pretext of the Shelter…
But since he never showed any such side even once…. So maybe… we should actually be grateful to Oppa, I thought."
When I opened my mouth to somehow refute that, she quickly kissed my lips once more—very briefly—and whispered,
"Oppa, I know you're not that kind of person. So you don't have to say anything."
She slipped out of my arms with a soft rustle.
"…What I just wanted to say was… even if it's not forced… since Jin-ju and I have separate rooms now… and since Jin-ju already said she's fine with it, that you can come visit our rooms once in a while, or… something like that…."
After saying that she muttered, "Ugh… talking about that woman from earlier, I ended up saying all sorts of weird things…," and hung her head as if embarrassed.
At Yang Jin-ju's honest and bold confession, my mind could no longer think normally.
Even in this perilous situation where unknown threats might be lurking nearby, my body and heart were completely focused only on the woman before my eyes.
Honestly speaking, as a man, could there be a happier or more exciting moment than this?
A beautiful woman telling you first that she wants you.
Yet as if she had read my excited heart, Jin-ju looked at me and said with a playful smile,
"Sorry, Oppa. I also… really… want to do… that… but…."
Trailing off, she glanced once at the darkness beyond the window.
"This place… is too dangerous. When we get back… then please come to my room. I'll be waiting."
Even as I nodded, I could only stare blankly at her with inevitable regret.
Looking at me like that, she sighed softly. "Aigoo, you're really hopeless."
Then without hesitation she climbed onto my lap, wrapped her arms around my neck, and began another deep, intense kiss.
I too embraced her soft body and answered that passionate kiss.
But she, as if regretful, slowly drew her lips away after a short while.
Lying back down on the bed, she said firmly,
"Alright, that's really the end! If we do any more here, both of us will be in real trouble!"
Just you wait, Yang Jin-ju. Once we're back at the Shelter, I'll come straight to your room that very night and thoroughly punish you!
Thinking that, I put the Walker Suit back on and plopped down in front of the door.
Yang Jin-ju, lying on the bed, was staring fixedly at me.
Whether the heavy thoughts about Lee Hyeon-yeong that had tormented her during the day had been somewhat erased, her face now wore the same mischievous smile as before.
She looked at me, giggled, then suddenly flipped over and turned her back.
Looking at her back like that, I let out a quiet snicker of laughter.