Chapter 149
The suppressed gunshot disappeared in an instant like being swept away by waves without an echo. Immediately after, Seokjae’s figure, which had been standing firmly, swayed and collapsed. The three people watching this entire scene were horrified by the sudden disaster without even a warning and gasped.
And Seokjae.
‘Fuck, this hurts like hell.’
Kneeling on one knee, he gritted his teeth to suppress the curses that were about to burst out. He wasn’t sure if the bullet had grazed his skin or gotten lodged in, but he felt a burning pain. When he clutched his side, blood dripped steadily to the ground.
‘They’re coming out like this?’
He had expected at least some kind of warning measure. It wasn’t that he had let his guard down after seeing the drone, nor that he had believed in their conscience or morality.
‘Are there only idiots here?’
He had simply judged that it would be troublesome for them if the smell of blood wafted in front of the barricade. That’s why even after seeing the dark red blood scattered here and there in front of the barricade, he hadn’t stopped, thinking it belonged to zombies.
But it seemed the soldiers here were stupid bastards who couldn’t even anticipate such basic consequences. If they let human blood spill around the barricade like this, the danger level would inevitably increase.
‘Or are they trying to lure zombies to other places?’
Seokjae, who had been thinking that far, cut off his thoughts as his breathing became increasingly difficult, gasping harshly. That wasn’t what was important right now.
‘I need to get back to Kang Muyoung. …Should I run away right now?’
What are the chances those bastards won’t shoot until I get into the forest? Can I even run? No, even if I succeed in escaping, I feel like I’ll die soon in this condition…
‘But did those bastards actually see my face? I thought I had taken some measures, but was I mistaken. Damn it.’
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Was it because he was forcing his sluggish mind to work? His vision gradually blurred, and his heart beat rapidly. Especially whenever his pulse quickened, cold sweat broke out from the shock of his heart seeming to sink somewhere.
In the midst of this, a faint sound reached his ears.
“What kind of… Hey!!”
It was a voice mixed with mechanical sounds.
‘Radio sound?’
Shouts that sounded like screams came intermittently, but he couldn’t understand their meaning. When he bit his tongue to regain consciousness, his vision became a little clearer.
Then he could see the soldiers. They were still pointing their guns at him, but they had lifted their heads from the sights above the gun stocks. Moreover, one of the gaps where a sniper had been stationed was empty, and inside it, he could see a soldier being grabbed by the collar.
“You bastard! What the hell are you doing!”
“B-but you were going to order us to shoot anyway!”
“We told you that’s for us to decide!”
Something had definitely gone wrong.
Seokjae postponed running away. He felt that whatever problem they were having probably wasn’t bad for him. With a premonition that his gamble hadn’t failed, he focused all his nerves on their conversation.
“That’s why I did it! It’s not even the sergeant, so why should we take orders from those bastards!”
“Because that’s what they said from above! Even if they tell us to listen to beast commands from above! If they say do it, we have to do it, you bastard!”
“I’d rather listen to beasts! Sergeant, you know those bastards look down on us!”
“Is that what’s important?!”
As he gathered his fading consciousness to listen to their shouting, a large man in dark tactical gear pushed the man called sergeant and grabbed the soldier by the throat.
“Fucking hell, what is this shit?!”
“Kugh.”
“Who told you to pull the trigger?!”
“Hey! Calm down and let go of this first before we talk!”
Seeing the British accent and the uniform that wasn’t from the Republic of Korea, Seokjae relaxed his tension for a moment, then immediately closed his eyes tightly as his consciousness became dizzy. And when he struggled to open them again.
“Hyung!! Seokjae hyung!”
He heard a desperate cry calling for him.
When he struggled to turn his barely moving head, he saw Muyoung rolling down from the mountain and two people following behind him.
“Hyung, are you okay?”
“What should we do. You’re bleeding, bleeding too much!”
“Seokjae hyung! Stay conscious!”
They approached in an instant and examined Seokjae’s condition as if they couldn’t see the numerous guns in front of them. Laughter burst out along with a sigh at the recklessness of these three.
“Haha… Ugh.”
“Hyung, you’re laughing right now?! No, get on my back first, hyung.”
“You, huh, you, right now, you can’t carry me.”
Seokjae said this while leaning his sweat-soaked forehead against the back of Muyoung, who was crouching in front of him. Hearing that whisper, Muyoung looked urgently at the kids while thinking he’d rather be bitten by zombies again right now.
“Guys! We need to move hyung, so everyone take an arm or leg—”
“No, kugh… I’m fine, so stay still.”
“What are you talking about!”
“Seokjae hyung! You can’t give up!”
Actually, Seokjae had relaxed because he had noticed several gazes that couldn’t look away from the moment his name was heard. But when this was interpreted in a bad way, the three immediately cried out in mournful voices.
“H-hyung told me he had something to rely on, and said not to worry, but how can you be like this…”
Muyoung even blamed him while half-sobbing. Though his face wasn’t visible since he was sitting with his back turned, it would definitely look like a crumpled pancake.
‘I’d like to see it directly…’
At this point when everyone except one person was filming a desperate melodrama, inside the barricade, unlike outside, a cold and murderous atmosphere was flowing.
“If you mess up this mission because of you?”
“Kugh… Kk!”
“H-hey! He’s really going to die! Let go!”
“Then I’ll immediately put a bullet in your useless head.”
The blonde man who spoke in a growling voice didn’t budge despite the sergeant beside him grabbing and pulling at his arm, pressuring and threatening the sniper. And as soon as he finished speaking, he threw the sniper and ordered those around him.
“Get rope right now! Prepare an emergency kit too!”
“Cough, cough… That, that bastard, what, what is he saying! Earlier too and now, did he curse at me?!”
The sniper, whose face had turned blue, still maintained his pride while raging, and the sergeant who looked at him pathetically struck his head hard.
“Agh!”
“You stupid bastard, is that what’s important right now? Just know that you’re in big trouble now.”
“Yes, yes?”
Having failed to notice what was happening outside because his throat was being choked, and not understanding what the blonde man had said, he couldn’t realize what he had done and looked around with a stupid expression. From his peers to those of lower ranks, everyone was looking at the man with eyes filled with pity and contempt.
* * *
“Hyung, hyung. We have medicine and bandages too. Y-you can live.”
“That’s right. Hyung, if we need to, we’ll go to the hospital and get blood packs. So hurry—”
“Muyoung hyung. Junwoo.”
While Muyoung and Junwoo were trying their best to make Seokjae have hope, Kyungho, who was beside them, called the two with a tense voice. Understanding that call as urgency, Muyoung sniffled his nose, which had turned red from crying, and said to Junwoo.
“Huh, huh? Oh, right. We need to hurry. Junwoo, quickly lift his right arm. Kyungho, you take the legs.”
“Yes, hyung.”
“That’s not it. I think we need to look over there.”
“What?”
Kyungho shook his head and forcibly drew their attention away from Seokjae. Why, when every second counted? Puzzled, they reflexively turned their heads and saw Kyungho staring into the air.
Following his gaze, they saw five large men descending on ropes. Men in dark khaki tactical gear holding guns, not the familiar dark green military uniforms.
They came out of the barricade with trained, disciplined movements that looked effortless and approached the four people. The approach of five armed men was inevitably intimidating.
Although they hadn’t said anything, Muyoung instinctively realized they wanted something from Seokjae and turned his back like a dog protecting its young, pulling him into his arms.
“Wh-who are you people?”
“We need to check his face, so move aside.”
“What, what?”
The blonde man stepped forward and spoke. He clearly looked like a foreigner, but Muyoung froze in confusion at the rapid-fire English that suddenly poured out. Then, the man looked up at the sky as if disgusted, sighed, and spoke in an irritated voice.
“Hah… Move aside.”
Thud!
And he kicked Muyoung, who was holding Seokjae in his arms, in the side to separate them.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
