The Sweetness of Ruin
It was a dream. At first, it was faint. The world surrounding me was chaotic, everything blurred into a senseless smear. The scent of raw blood stung my nostrils, and my mind was filled with a ravenous, gnawing hunger. That hunger consumed me.
"Hungry..."
Then, people stood before me. Jang Yeeun. Apartment residents. Their faces were twisted in sheer terror. "Sehee, what’s wrong with you?" Jang Yeeun approached, but her image distorted, flickering like a dying light. I saw her neck right in front of me. It looked so fragile. I could almost hear the pulse of blood beneath her skin. Without thinking, I reached out.
"Ah... Aaaargh!"
My hands were locked around her head. The warmth radiating from her skin was intoxicating, and that very warmth drove me to madness. In a split second, my jaw unhinged, and I tore into her throat. Blood erupted. The sweetness of it wrapped around me in a wave of indescribable pleasure. Her body went limp and collapsed before me. But I couldn't stop.
"Hungry... more..."
My hands shattered her ribs, digging deep inside. The blood overflowed into my mouth. It was sweet. So incredibly sweet. But that wasn't the end. The residents began to run, one by one. They shrieked, calling me a monster as they fled. But I hunted them down.
"Ah... delicious..."
I tore into their wrists, their ankles, their necks, ripping away flesh. The louder they screamed, the more their agony deepened, the more my hunger was sated. Blood flooded the floor. My nails scraped against bone; my teeth burrowed into their bodies. And finally, I thought it was over. No one was left. Everyone lay fallen, torn, and broken in pools of blood. Yet, the hunger didn't vanish. It grew even more intense. That was when I realized. The only thing left was me.
"Aaaaaaah!"
My hands grabbed my own arms and tore. Flesh ripped away, and blood sprayed out. Even that blood was too sweet. My mouth wouldn't stop. I clawed at my cheeks with my nails, bit into my own fingers, crunched through my own bones, and swallowed. My body was collapsing. I tore myself to shreds, devouring my own existence, writhing in a mixture of pleasure and agony. Finally, my hands gripped my own throat. And I bit down. Blood poured out, and my vision turned to black. And at last... I woke up screaming.
"Haa... haa..."
I gasped for air, my hands trembling. My fingertips felt cold, and the taste of blood seemed to linger in my mouth. It was a dream. But it felt so vivid. That horrific, that sweet dream.
"Are you okay?"
The voice beside me snapped me back to reality. It was Jang Yeeun. Her hand was gripping mine tightly. The warmth was so real that I closed my eyes and let out a deep, shuddering breath.
"...Yes," I whispered, offering a faint smile.
"Are you in a lot of pain?"
I didn't know how to answer her. My mind was still a chaotic mess, but I managed a weak smile. "...A little."
At those words, she stared at my face for a long moment before moving closer without a word. She lifted a blanket and draped it over us. "If we stay together, you won't be as cold." I found myself nodding instinctively. "...Yes." Jang Yeeun was here. That was all that mattered.
It was morning. I opened my eyes right next to Jang Yeeun. Since we had been assigned the same space, it wasn't exactly a surprise. But today, her warmth felt even closer. I cherished that heat. The warmth that melted, if only a little, my frozen body. In this surreal reality, I felt a moment of peace. But that peace didn't last long.
Footsteps echoed from afar. I lifted my head and saw Park Geonho descending. "...?" What could be happening so early in the morning? But his expression was grim. His face was rigid, his brows deeply furrowed. Even his gait seemed unsteady. A bad premonition took hold. For some reason, that ominous sensation crawled up my entire body.
"Sehee..." Jang Yeeun saw my expression and turned her head as well. Park Geonho stopped right in front of us. He gasped for air, lifted his head, and his lips parted slowly.
"...Something terrible has happened."
"What is it?"
He caught his breath for a moment, then spoke with a stiff face. "...The ventilation shaft is blocked."
"...What?" For a moment, I couldn't understand his words.
"In one of the vents... it seems the infected climbed up. The vent is completely blocked now. Blood is even dripping through it."
At that moment, a chill ran down my spine. "No way..." Instinctively, I grabbed Park Geonho's arm. "What about the people who touched that blood?! What about the people nearby?!"
Park Geonho blinked, looking flustered. "...We evacuated them for now. Everyone who came into contact has been quarantined. The military surgeon is checking the situation."
That was when it happened. A thunderous roar echoed from the floor above. Bang! Bang! Followed by the sound of gunfire.
"...Ah." The moment that sound rang out heavily, I held my breath, the tension threatening to snap. *Creak... crunch.* The horrific sound from the vent and the gunfire mixed in my head. Suddenly, the people in the hallway stopped one by one and began to look around.
"What’s going on?! What happened up there?!" The voices of the agitated crowd grew louder. And my heart began to race.
"...Yeeun." Anxiety began to cloud her eyes. She just gave a faint nod. What were we supposed to do now?
People began to pour down from the floor above. Their panicked footsteps were rough, and the hallway was soon filled with people. "Save me!" "What’s happening up there?! Why is there gunfire?!" "The infected are coming down!"
Shouts and screams vibrated through the air. The people's faces were filled with terror. Some ran down clutching their children and screaming; others scurried about, clutching their belongings and looking around wildly. All of them, driven by overwhelming fear, shoved each other, desperate to get lower, further down. If this continued, it would be dangerous. Shoving, falling... but no matter how much I thought that, my feet wouldn't move.
Jang Yeeun stood beside me. She held her bow tightly, her expression unreadable. Blood seeped from the bandage on her shoulder, staining her clothes, but she said nothing. Beside her was Park Geonho. He stood with a look of anxiety. I saw his hand holding the radio trembling. He seemed frozen amidst the screams and the chaotic scene. He stared at the radio intermittently, silent as if he didn't know what to say.
We just stood there. Solitary. The spot where we stood was like an island. A wave of people surged through the chaos, yet the three of us remained anchored in place. We couldn't even speak to each other, trapped in our own thoughts in the silence.
"We have to go down!" "Don't block the path!" "Don't push! Please, stop!"
The people's shouting grew closer. Their disorder swallowed the hallway like a collapsing wave. A child fell in the middle of it, and someone grabbed their hand to pull them up, but right beside them, another person was shoved to the floor. An old man tripped and stumbled, and someone else mindlessly stepped over him, kicking him aside. In the midst of all that chaos, I just stood there, unable to help them.
"...Sehee." Jang Yeeun’s low voice reached me. "We have to do something. If we leave it like this, we'll be swept away too."
"You're right. Before it's too late..."
But before the words could even finish, *Bang! Bang!* Gunshots rang out again above the hallway. At that moment, an even greater fear gripped the people, and the hallway turned into absolute bedlam. People shoved each other to get to the floor below, and the confusion grew as the cries of children and shouts mingled together.
Park Geonho, standing in the middle of the hallway, was trying to control the crowd. "Please, maintain order! Move to the lower floor slowly!" His voice was trembling. The radio in his hand showed clear signs of having been operated multiple times. He kept sending signals upward, but no answer returned.
"The situation here at Mapo Station is critical. Requesting support from headquarters! Do you copy?"
But there was still no response from the radio. Park Geonho gasped for air and shouted at the people again. "It's dangerous to crowd like this! Please, keep order!" But his cries were soon lost in the noise of the chaos. The people had no room to listen to him. The situation worsened.
"...No, no..." Park Geonho stood frozen, watching the people. I felt suffocated. "Geonho!" I shouted loudly, but he still hesitated and didn't move. His hand holding the radio was shaking, and his lips were set as if he were about to say something but stopped. Someone had to make a decision in this chaotic situation. There was no time.
At that moment, the handgun at his waist caught my eye. "Geonho, stop. I'll do it." As I called his name and approached, Park Geonho looked at me with a surprised expression. But he didn't stop me. I took the handgun from his waist.
"Sehee, that's...!"
"We have to get people to calm down before it's too late. If it stays like this, everyone will die."
He said nothing more. I stepped into the middle of the hallway with the handgun in my hand. And I pulled the trigger.
Bang! The gunshot rang through the hallway, and the chaotic air froze for a moment. People stopped in their tracks, and the screaming and crying subsided. Everyone was looking at me. I caught my breath, lifted my head, and looked at the people. Could I lead this situation? But there was nowhere to retreat. I lowered the muzzle and shouted at the crowd.
"Everyone stop now! If you don't maintain order, everyone here will be in danger! You all heard it, right? The ventilation shaft has been breached. The infected have already infiltrated the interior. If we stay like this, we're all finished!"
People began to murmur, looking at each other. A few were still trembling with fear, but they no longer moved. "If we move together, we can survive. Everyone, move to the floor below while maintaining order. The soldiers are opening a path in front. Please trust me and move."
Beside me, Park Geonho muttered in a small voice. "...Thank you."
"It's okay. Help me properly now. There's still a lot to do."
Then Park Geonho nodded and took the gun from me. "We must move to Gongdeok Station immediately! This place, Mapo Station, will be dangerous soon. This place is no longer safe!"
The hallway was once again filled with murmurs. But a woman clutching her child nodded and began to move first, and seeing her, people began to follow hesitantly, and little by little, very little by little, order began to emerge.