Chapter 211
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 211
Chapter Title: Outbreak
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[O.W.C. Hospital]
A large hospital surrounded by a wall.
Cars came and went through the wide-open main gate. After passing the security booth at the entrance, the road split toward the surface and underground parking lots. The camera followed a car driving ahead.
An ambulance entered, its siren wailing.
Main Building.
East Wing.
The Center.
The ambulance that came through the main gate stopped in front of the Center. A stretcher clattered loudly as it hit the ground. Medical personnel rushed out, pulling the stretcher toward a sign that read "Emergency Center."
The Center, the first thing visible upon entering the hospital, was bustling with people. In the first-floor lobby, a short distance from the Emergency Center, children in school uniforms could be seen chatting as they walked. The camera followed the people onto an elevator.
Just an ordinary, run-of-the-mill hospital. A monotonous daily routine.
Faced with such peace, the audience's tension seemed to slowly unwind.
A view of the grim-faced Im Jangwoo appeared. He was threatening a man lying on a bed who looked like a gangster at first glance.
Then, Yeon Jaehee came into view. She was on the L-shaped rooftop of the Main Building's second floor, leisurely enjoying cake and coffee at the third-floor garden cafe.
Go Joowon was also seen, greeting a friend with a bright smile. His quirky behavior made both his friends and the audience burst into laughter.
In particular, the sight of Go Joowon's face lighting up as he saw a bow brought an unconscious smile to the audience's faces. It was a charm powerful enough to make them forget all the preceding horror.
But that peace was short-lived.
As the camera showed the man lying in the bed, the audience swallowed hard.
“When the hell is it going to start?!”
The heart monitor attached to the man's body for the experiment beeped. The line on the screen spiked dramatically with his heartbeat. The only sounds in the hospital room, located within the research lab, were the man's voice and the beeping of the monitor.
“Why aren't they coming?!”
Oh.
The audience clenched their fists. More than the man spewing curses, the firmly shut door behind him drew their attention.
Again.
A strange presence was felt from beyond the hospital room door.
Perhaps this was where the charm of the sweet-and-salty contrast came into play; the comfortably relaxed atmosphere grew taut with tension. The audience, seated in their chairs, unknowingly adopted a defensive posture.
The man seemed to have sensed the strangeness as well, as he stopped his shouting. The only sound echoing in the room was that of the heart monitor, indicating his condition.
Beep— Beep—.
It was strange.
Though no sound could be heard, something felt like it was approaching.
The man tried his best to figure out what was happening outside, but all he could do was scream or stare at the unopening door.
But that, too, was brief. When neither method worked, the man had no choice but to prick up his ears and listen for any sound from outside.
The audience was in the same boat.
Unable to move from their seats, they felt a subtle kinship with the man, who couldn't move his limbs. The camera angle, seemingly unwilling to move, only showed the interior of the room.
Like rabbits being chased by a predator, the audience perked up their ears, focusing all their attention on the sounds coming from the speakers.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the man was not alone. Besides the head of security sent to Samuel, there were other guards.
Mumble, mumble.
A noise like muffled speech came through the soundproofed walls.
Both the man and the audience craned their necks, straining to hear.
The expressions of the man and the audience, focused on the sound, were slightly different. The man's face was filled with an unknown fear, while the audience's face showed they were waiting for a terror they already knew.
And then,
“Aaaaargh!!”
A scream, loud enough to pierce the soundproofing, was heard. It wasn't just one person.
“What is it! What’s going on!”
He wanted to run out immediately, but the man could only move his head. He held his breath, praying that whatever it was would just pass by his room.
Beep— Beep— Beep—.
His trembling heartbeat was displayed clearly. The graph on the monitor fluctuated wildly. The faster the graph fluctuated, the faster the beeping sounded.
No. No. No!
The man’s face turned deathly pale, a sight chilling enough to give viewers goosebumps.
Lee Miyeon and Park Seonga pressed their lips together tightly. The sound of the man’s heartbeat echoed throughout the theater. It felt as if the audience's hearts were beating in time with his.
It was then.
Thud!
Something collided with the hospital room door.
Beep-beep-beep.
Thud!
Beep-beep-beep.
The man’s heart pounded violently.
THUD!!
The door fell.
Blood-soaked guards in torn suits stood in the hallway. The man could tell at a glance that they were not normal. The smell of blood was overwhelming. Gurgling, crying sounds could be heard.
Ah— Ah…!
The dead bodies rushed toward the pale-faced man under the bright lights.
The zombies' hunt, seen in a well-lit space, was fast, violent, and chilling. The zombies surrounding the man, their dark backs, looked like the shadow of death.
“Aaaaaargh!”
The man's agonized scream was heard, and then,
Beeeeep—
The sound of a flatlining heart.
Only then.
There was no sound.
With no more stimulus, the zombies turned and moved toward the next sound they heard.
Below.
The zombies’ heads turned in unison.
A sound came from below.
After the man's death, the infection began to spread in earnest. A security guard on duty at the research lab was bitten. Abandoning his colleague who was screaming as he was caught by zombies, the guard ran.
He was only bitten on the tip of his finger, but warm blood flowed ceaselessly. Fortunately or unfortunately, his human heart was still beating.
The guard immediately ran out and headed for the hospital’s Emergency Center.
“You were bitten by who?”
“A p-person!”
“……A person?”
The emergency room doctor, after checking him over, tilted his head. Due to Virus X, the guard's heart was slowly dying.
“This doesn't look like a human bite. I’ll disinfect it for now. Nurse Jeong!”
The doctor in the white coat turned and called for a nurse. "Yes!" she answered, and as she looked up at the doctor who had called her, her face turned deathly white.
“Doctor!”
“? What… Aaaaaargh!”
In that short time, the guard's heart had stopped, and he had turned into a zombie, biting into the doctor's shoulder. A nearby patient, doctor, and nurse tried to restrain the guard. The bitten doctor staggered back, clutching his shoulder. A nurse rushed to his side.
“Disinfectant! Why is there so much blood… Aaaaaargh!”
The nurse who ran to the doctor bitten by the guard was bitten on the hand. The patient and doctor holding the guard were also bitten.
“Wh… What is this?”
And so, doctor, patient, nurse, and family members were bitten one after another. Someone pressed the emergency bell. Security personnel all gathered at the Emergency Center in response to the emergency situation. While the Emergency Center was in chaos, able-bodied zombies pouring out from the research lab attacked people heading towards the garden and parking lot.
Those who were lightly bitten, their human hearts still beating, instinctively sought out a doctor or nurse. They also fled, clutching their wounds to stop the bleeding, from those showing abnormal behavior. No one thought they would be infected because of a wound.
After all, the injured were ‘still’ conscious.
The situation that started in the Emergency Center spread to the Center’s lobby.
The faces of the students in school uniforms, who were just about to leave the Center, clouded over.
“Joowon. His illness must be pretty serious.”
“I know. He always gets more hyper when it’s serious. Like before the competition.”
That archery pose or whatever. The kids sighed, remembering Go Joowon being even more restless than usual.
“Still, I think it was a good thing we brought the bow today.”
“Yeah. You can’t separate Go Joowon from archery.”
“Let’s come again next week.”
“Okay!”
And then they saw people rushing out of the Emergency Center. They ran, screaming, their faces pale. The people in the lobby, unable to grasp what was happening, stared anxiously toward the Emergency Center.
Zombies, chasing their prey, lunged at them. The children who had just been promising to meet next week were no exception. They tried to save their friends, but in the end, they too were devoured.
People ran, and zombies chased. The camera didn't follow them as they disappeared beyond the frame. It focused on the children who had fallen to the floor. The arms and legs of the uniformed children twitched.
It was a completely different movement from the bone-breaking dance team that had been the center of the camera's focus. Their joints and limbs didn't move in strange directions. They had simply been pinned under other zombies and gotten back up.
And yet, it felt different from the other zombies.
A sense of reality.
The feeling of seeing something you'd only seen in pictures right before your eyes.
The audience held their breath, watching the birth of something inhuman.
And so, some of the bitten fled, taking elevators, getting in cars, and escaping outside. Some got into cars with their families. Someone was bitten while calling the police on their phone, and a scream was heard.
It was pandemonium.
Im Jangwoo's hands trembled as he was heading to the parking lot to leave.
People burst out of the Emergency Center. Behind them, blood-soaked figures gave chase. The elderly, the sick, and children, slower than the zombies, were bitten. They began to show abnormal behavior. There were even parents who couldn't bear to let go of their children and were bitten themselves.
“……Shit!!”
Im Jangwoo's body, which had frozen in shock, moved first. Damn this occupational hazard! He kicked away an approaching zombie with his leg and handed the child he had saved back to their father. Without a moment to receive thanks, he rushed toward a new victim.
As his body moved, his mind started working too.
‘…So getting bitten turns you.’
Detective Im Jangwoo’s eyes quickly scanned the hospital.
O.W.C. Hospital, surrounded by walls taller than a person. The only entrances and exits were the main gate and the rear gate used by staff.
He never thought that the research he'd done beforehand, worried that the gangster faking an illness might escape, would be so helpful.
“Kyaaaaaaah!!”
“Mooooom!!”
“Waaaaaah!!”
“Aaaaaargh!”
Though there were many people to save right in front of him, Im Jangwoo didn't hesitate and ran back the way he came. He fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his car keys.
Even as he did, a child who had fallen while fleeing a zombie, their anxious family, a man screaming for help, and a woman reporting it on her phone all flashed past him.
Running to his car, Im Jangwoo quickly got in and started the engine. Without caring about the cars in front or behind, he turned the steering wheel.
Screeeech!
Biting his lip hard, Im Jangwoo stomped on the accelerator. His car weaved through people and zombies, heading for the main gate.
‘I can't let people out of the hospital!’
In the time it took for Im Jangwoo to run to his car, get in, and drive to the main gate, several cars had already gotten out.
Another one. Spotting a car about to exit the hospital, Im Jangwoo slammed his foot on the accelerator.
Screeeech!
Im Jangwoo's car blocked the main gate, nearly crashing into the other vehicle.
“What are you doing!”
The driver of the blocked car shouted. He too was anxious, constantly looking behind him.
“Move your car, now!”
“You can’t leave!”
“Shit! I said move your damn car!!”
The driver glared at Im Jangwoo, his eyes darting to the screaming scene in the parking lot. Seeing the unyielding look in Im Jangwoo’s eyes, the driver decided to just step on the gas. He soothed his wife and child sitting next to him. He tried to speak in a light voice, forcefully pushing away the memory of his child being bitten by a monster.
“Just wait a minute. We’ll get out of here soon. Once we’re out, we can get you treated…!”
His wife, sitting next to him, was acting strangely. The wife, holding their child, lunged at the driver.
“Aaaaaargh!”
Bright red blood splattered across the windshield.
The man’s scream pierced Im Jangwoo’s ears.
‘Thank god.’
If that family had gotten out, it would have been a disaster.
Im Jangwoo bit his lip, having thought that without realizing it. Not even an hour had passed, and his mind was reeling. But he couldn't just stand by.
The main gate was too wide to be blocked by just his car. As Im Jangwoo ran to close the gate, he prayed desperately. He hoped that among the cars that had already left the hospital, there were none of ‘those.’
Im Jangwoo's struggle made the audience hold their breath.
The grim determination on his face as he ran to his car. The momentary look of relief, followed by a face clouded with guilt. And then, his resolve to act again.
They understood.
If it was this chaotic inside the less-populated hospital, the situation could become uncontrollable if it spread outside to the city, the region, the country.
‘But could I make that kind of decision?’
Most would have been too busy trying to escape to be the first ones out of the hospital.
Im Jangwoo firmly shut the main gate. Not content with that, he drove other cars to block the area in front of the gate. He ignored the people's clamoring. Im Jangwoo moved silently, focused on blocking the main entrance.
Finding cars with keys still in them was easy. They had all turned into zombies while trying to flee. Biting his lip, Im Jangwoo checked inside the cars. With his experience catching violent criminals, a single civilian zombie was no problem.
“Dam… mit!”
But that didn't mean it wasn't hard. Im Jangwoo, sweating, moved any drivable car he could find in front of the gate.
This wouldn't stop people from trying to climb over the cars to escape, but it might at least block the indiscriminately charging zombies.
After repeatedly pulling zombies out of cars, driving them, and pulling more out, an exhausted Im Jangwoo gasped for breath. Just as he thought about taking a short break, he saw people running away in the distance.
“……Damn this occupational hazard……!”
After checking for nearby zombies, Im Jangwoo got out of the car.
Im Jangwoo, who had trapped the people inside the hospital for the sake of those outside, now ran to save the people inside.
***
The zombie situation that spread from the Emergency Center reached the East Wing and the Main Building.
The Main Building was closer to the research lab than the other buildings, so zombies from the lab sometimes attacked it. Yeon Jaehee, moving with the fleeing crowd, recalled the data she had been working on.
Virus. Life extension.
Faced with an unbearable truth, Yeon Jaehee's complexion paled. Her steps slowed. Screams and cries filled the air. Something heavy settled in her heart, bringing her to a halt.
***
Go Joowon, who was in a hospital room on the 7th floor of the Center, also witnessed the situation.
Having made all the necessary preparations, Go Joowon hesitated for a moment in front of his hospital room door. As he exited the room in his strange attire, nurses and patients gave him odd looks. It seemed the news hadn't reached this floor yet. After getting his phone from a nurse, Go Joowon headed down.
Go Joowon went downstairs.
From the third floor down, the atmosphere was different. There were screams and people fleeing to the upper floors. The third-floor patients, doctors, and nurses were bewildered.
Go Joowon paused for a moment, looking back at the people running in the opposite direction, then resumed his steps with a hardened expression.
Contrary to the people coming up, Go Joowon went down to the second floor. It seemed the chaos hadn't reached these stairs yet; the ceiling and walls were clean. He was about to run to the central staircase near the lobby when,
“Aaaaaargh!”
A scream made him quickly hide. His breath came in ragged gasps. He was about to face the zombies he had only seen from a distance. Go Joowon gripped the bow he was holding tightly.
The audience also held their breath and shrank back in their seats.
Something ran past. It was a person. And behind them, a horde of zombies followed. Go Joowon squeezed his eyes shut. He heard the screams of the fleeing people.
Move! Get out of the way! Aaargh! Mom! Dad! Waaaah! The people's noises agitated the zombies, drawing the ones on the second floor toward the stairs Go Joowon had just come down.
In that gap, Go Joowon moved.
While avoiding zombies and searching for his friends, Go Joowon came face to face with a zombie for the first time.
Go Joowon stared, aghast, at the zombie crawling on the floor. A wrinkled face amidst the blood. It was an old man. Not someone he knew.
Grrrroan. Letting out a rough cry, the zombie crawled on the floor toward its prey. Go Joowon unconsciously took a step back.
The zombie had no legs. They seemed to have been eaten by other zombies and crushed by the running horde. Despite its condition, the way it bared its teeth and came toward him was truly not ‘human.’
Blood-stained ceilings and walls. People's screams. A zombie baring its teeth.
The enemy was clear, but its resemblance to a person… any human would have to hesitate. After a moment of hesitation, Go Joowon bit his lip and pulled out an arrow.
Go Joowon hadn't even trembled when he first held a bow, but now, his hands gripping the bow and arrow were shaking noticeably.
Nevertheless, Go Joowon aimed his bow at the crawling zombie.
Had there ever been a time in his archery career when he felt so scared, so pained… so miserable and sad?
A blood-red stain was now branded onto his always joyful memories. But even as he trembled, Go Joowon did not lower his hands.
“……I’m sorry.”
He had to go save his friends.
Thwack!
A direct hit.
It was a hit that brought no joy.
Staring at the arrow embedded in the zombie, Go Joowon squeezed his eyes shut and pulled the arrow out. The unpleasant sensation made him grimace, and the audience mirrored his expression. Ugh.
“……Arrows are hard to come by. It’d be nice if I had something to wipe it with, though…”
The audience agreed with Go Joowon's words.
Having attacked once, it was easier to steel himself than the first time. Hiding, attacking lone zombies, shooting arrows. Go Joowon slowly made his way to the lobby.
Watching Go Joowon struggling in a different way from Im Jangwoo, everyone clasped their hands together. Lee Miyeon's eyes grew moist. But Go Joowon's friends were already… The audience also looked on with pity at the child who was trying so hard.
Go Joowon found his friends in the first-floor lobby. His eyes shook violently. His already poor complexion turned deathly white.
Ah. It was too late.
Tears welled up in the eyes of Go Joowon, who had managed to calmly make his way down to the first floor even in this situation. He couldn't believe it, and he looked again and again.
At the sight of his blood-soaked friends, Go Joowon finally broke down and cried. He bit his lip to stifle the sound and sobbed his heart out.
What now? What should I do now? He hadn't been able to save his friends, and in this situation, there was nothing he, a mere middle schooler, could do.
Everyone would be eaten by zombies anyway… As if he had given up, a phone belonging to someone came into Go Joowon’s dull, lightless eyes.
Ah.
That's Jiho's.
Staring blankly at the phone with its case, Go Joowon wiped his tears and stood up.
I have to give this to Jiho's parents.
I have to let the other parents know too.
…And I have to apologize.
Sniffle. Go Joowon sniffed and picked up his bow.
He took out an arrow and shot it toward where he thought the loudest noise would come from. The arrow flew through the air, shattered the glass of a vending machine, and crashed loudly against the drink cans. At the sound, the zombies rushed toward the vending machine.
In that time, Go Joowon snatched his friend's phone. Arrows were precious, so much so that he had to retrieve them from zombies, but for his friend's phone, it didn't matter.
Carefully securing his friend's phone, Go Joowon headed back to his original hospital room to regroup. The elevators had all gone up, so he had no choice but to use the stairs.
He could still hear people screaming. Avoiding the zombies that flocked to the sound, Go Joowon changed direction and headed up.
“Shit!! Move this stuff!!”
And on the stairs between the sixth and seventh floors, he faced a grim reality.
He knew it would come to this.
The faces of the audience members who had been cheering for Go Joowon to not give up and escape again turned grim. It felt like their blood pressure was rising because of the frustrating characters that always appear in disaster movies.
“Aren't you bitten too?!”
“I told you I'm not!!”
People had brought beds and furniture to block the stairs. A mix of relief and suspicion emanated from the people on the seventh floor, while those below the seventh floor wore anxious and impatient expressions. Shouts erupted from all over.
“Anyway, you can't come in here! Go somewhere else!!”
Curses flew. Fingers were pointed. People trying to climb over the beds clashed with those using long poles to block them.
Go Joowon, who had been watching the adults with a cold expression, gripped the bow slung over his shoulder and moved to another location.
***
- It’s chaos in the theaters that just started showing it too lol
- The reactions are all the same ㅋㅋ Huge shock!! > Shock! > Zombies appear > asdfjkl; > No response
- But it’s amazing how no one spoiled it lol
- 222 I would have spilled everything.
- Aaaargh! I’m dying of curiosity!! Hope the reviews come up soon!!
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