Is This the Start of a Hunter Novel?
Is this the start of some hunter novel?
The police car door swings open, and two officers step out. One is a female cop, the other is male.
Oh, the female cop is pretty. But she's got that mean-girl, bully look to her.
If this were an adult zombie novel, the male cop would get bitten and turn, while the female cop would end up getting raped by the protagonist, right?
The female cop aims her taser, while the male cop rests his hand on his revolver, standing on standby.
She speaks up.
"Stop right there! Freeze, or I will shoot!"
She clearly has no idea what's actually going on, spouting nonsense.
"I'm the one who called it in," I say. "I've already got the suspect pinned."
"Then let go and step away."
The moment I release my chokehold, the guy I had pinned suddenly lunges and bites me.
His teeth sink into my forearm, drawing blood.
Wait, this isn't how it's supposed to go. How the hell is he moving the instant I let go of the choke?
Thwip—thud!
The female cop fires her taser.
Even if he's a zombie-like freak who can shrug off a rear-naked choke, he's apparently not a real zombie. One shot from the taser is all it takes.
No matter how crazy he is, a living organism is still a living organism. His muscles spasm, completely paralyzing him.
Artificially introducing an external electrical signal to force muscle contraction does the trick; his muscles lock up, rendering him unable to move.
Seeing the suspect neutralized, the male cop approaches, twists the man's arms behind his back, and cuffs him.
As he shoves the criminal into the back of the patrol car, he calls out, "Hey, this victim is pretty badly hurt!"
Fortunately, an ambulance arrives shortly after.
"Paramedics! Is this the victim from the report?"
"Yes, but the wound is deep and she's bleeding heavily. I don't know if she'll be okay. She's a young woman, so it'd be awful if she's left with a nasty scar."
"Fortunately, no major arteries were hit. Sir, you should come with us too. That wound needs to be disinfected and stitched up."
The female paramedic suggests I head to the hospital as well.
I probably should, just in case I end up dying of tetanus or some other nasty infection.
"Yeah, I'll go."
The paramedics apply pressure to the injured woman's wound, load her into the ambulance, and take both of us to a nearby hospital.
The largest hospital in Suwon is Suah University Hospital, a massive facility with over a thousand beds.
The next largest is Gyeonggyo University Hospital, a general hospital run by a religious foundation. It has slightly under a thousand beds, but at a distance of about 1 kilometer, it's much closer than Suah University Hospital, which is 3 kilometers away.
Even if it's close at 1 kilometer, we still have to cross outside the Suwon Hwaseong Fortress walls.
The paramedic calls both Suah and Gyeonggyo, but Suah doesn't have a surgeon available right now, so we head to Gyeonggyo University Hospital.
As I ride in the ambulance, staring at the victim's thighs and cleavage, the female paramedic quietly adjusts the woman's clothes to cover her up.
I naturally avert my gaze.
We arrive at the emergency room entrance. The paramedics wheel the woman inside on a gurney.
Maybe because it's late Saturday evening, the place looks packed with patients.
As we enter, a male doctor who looks utterly exhausted steps forward.
"What do we have?"
"A female patient in her twenties. She was attacked and bitten by an unidentified individual in Haenggung-dong. There was active bleeding, which we've managed to control, but she's currently unconscious."
A female nurse hooks the patient up to the monitors. Numbers flash on the screen.
The male doctor shines a penlight into the patient's eyes, then checks the monitor readings.
"Her blood pressure is dropping, and her heart rate is elevated. Likely due to blood loss. Hold on."
The doctor steps aside and makes a call to another physician.
"Dr. Park, we have a bite-wound patient from Paldal-gu. Bleeding is uncontrolled, and she's showing signs of hypovolemic shock. BP is 60 over 40, heart rate is 130. You need to get down here."
A moment later, a female doctor who looks equally exhausted comes shuffling in, dragging her slippers.
She takes a quick look.
"Intern, what are you doing? Get two large-bore 18-gauge IV lines started on both sides and run the fluids full drop! Send out for a CBC and cross-matching immediately!"
She barks out orders, suddenly snapping into high gear.
"We might need to notify the GS or OS on-duty doctors," she mutters to herself.
Then, she makes another call.
"Fellow, we have a bite-wound patient in the ER with severe hemorrhage. We need to schedule an emergency OP immediately. Yes, I'll have her prepped right away."
The female patient is wheeled off to the operating room. Now that I can no longer stare at her thighs, I head over to the reception desk.
Since there's no guardian with me, I have to handle the paperwork myself.
After waiting for what feels like an eternity, the male doctor I saw earlier finally approaches me.
"Looks like we just need to disinfect it and put in a couple of stitches."
Then, the female doctor from earlier walks over.
Seeing how the first doctor couldn't do anything himself and had to call a female doctor who seemed to be a resident, he must indeed be a mere intern.
"The wound is quite dirty, so we'll wash it out first and prescribe some antibiotics. We'll monitor it for a few days before we suture it. I'll set up an outpatient appointment with surgery for you."
After getting disinfected, paying the medical bill, and receiving the prescription for antibiotics, I head back home.
It's too late tonight, so I'll have to buy the medicine at a pharmacy tomorrow.
Walking home, I reflect on what happened today.
No matter how much I think about it, the whole thing was bizarre.
Was it just a typical back-alley incident involving a crazy person?
I was actually hoping a zombie apocalypse had broken out, but I guess not.
Still, just to be safe, I should look into some body armor.
After all, I got bitten by that guy earlier, didn't I?
I already have plenty of offensive weapons.
Even if I've trained in swordsmanship, it's not like I can dodge every single attack without ever getting hit.
Especially if multiple people rush me at once. Even if I have the advantage in range, there's only so much I can do.
Particularly against someone like that guy earlier, who didn't care about getting hurt as long as he could land an attack.
In terms of pure protection, a suit of medieval full plate armor would be ideal, but considering mobility, a heavy-duty jumpsuit—the kind mechanics wear—might be more practical.
Add a motorcycle helmet and some gloves, and I'd have full-body protection.
A motorcycle helmet has a visor, which would protect my face from being bitten and block any splashing bodily fluids.
I could wear a civilian bulletproof or stabproof vest under or over the jumpsuit.
It's not like I'm going to war, so even a lower-rated vest with basic armor plates should be fine.
Since what happened was so bizarre, I decided to text my friend Hajun on KakaoTalk.
Honestly, I'm not some eighth-grader who can't distinguish between reality and fiction, and I don't seriously believe in zombies either. I just kind of wished it were true.
Like Hajun said, it was probably just some junkie out of his mind on drugs.
What kind of zombie gets neutralized by a single taser shot anyway?
Zombies are supposed to move even without an energy source because they don't eat. They can move even if their bodies are mostly rotted and destroyed.
And the zombie virus doesn't spread through the air or respiratory droplets; it only spreads through bodily fluids. Yet, even if zombie blood or fluids touch a person's mucous membranes like the nose, mouth, or eyes, they don't get infected—they absolutely have to be bitten on the skin by teeth. It's an entity that completely defies medical common sense.
So when the guy suddenly got hit by a taser, cuffed, and dragged away in a police car, it brought me right back to reality.
The next day.
"Early bird, wake up!"
Just out of sheer boredom, I spout some nonsense first thing on a Sunday morning.
I get up and check my smartphone. A video about yesterday's incident has already popped up on RadioTube.
Looking up cyber-wreck RadioTubers, I see plenty of talk about a "zombie virus," proving that the impression I got yesterday wasn't unique to me.
But of course, no zombie apocalypse actually broke out, and the world remained perfectly peaceful.
In just a dozen hours, the internet drama-mongers and the public seemed to lose interest. No one was even bringing up the word "zombie" anymore.
Logically speaking, how could an apocalypse happen through fluid transmission rather than airborne transmission anyway?
At the very least, it would need to be spread through respiratory droplets like the coronavirus to even warrant mentioning the word "apocalypse."
The government isn't completely incompetent, after all.
Of course, if the zombie virus itself is some fantasy entity that defies scientific logic, forcibly infecting the vast majority of the population through unscientific means as a "starting setting," then there's nothing you can do about that.
A crazy guy on illegal drugs biting someone happened just yesterday.
But that didn't change my daily routine. Out of boredom, I logged into an online community I occasionally browse, and one post caught my eye.
These dumbasses are at it again today.
As if anyone could actually awaken like that. You'd be far more productive going out and getting a part-time job.
I head down to the convenience store on the first floor of my building.
"Welcome," a young female clerk in her twenties greets me.
"Hello," I reply.
If this were a cliché adult zombie novel, raping the female clerk at the first convenience store you visit would be the golden rule.
But reality is peaceful.
As long as nobody is watching me, that is.