Episode 50
Squeezed between the two of them arguing about who should carry me, I eventually exploded.
You crazy people! It’s not important who carries me right now! Don’t fight over this!
Finally, after winning the argument, I was able to stand on the floor with my own two feet again. Just thinking about the situation from a moment ago made my head throb.
“Noona, can you really walk?”
“Enough. I said I can walk. Don’t bring that up again.”
I glared at him to make him shut up. Eventually, he closed his mouth, and as the surroundings became completely quiet, I felt a sense of peace.
Ah, come to think of it, there was a gem, right?
I went to the place where the chair with the main zombie had been. Looking around the area centered on the chair, I saw a green gem sparkling under the chair. I quickly picked it up and put it in my pocket. With this, I now had two gems, so I felt a little proud.
I was happy about taking one step closer to the ending when suddenly the ceiling shook and a loud noise echoed. It was similar to the sound of kids running and jumping in the classroom above during school days. It wasn’t just me who felt that way; the others also looked up at the ceiling.
“Is that sound coming from upstairs?”
“Probably…”
「Congratulations. You have cleared Stage 3: Hospital.」
「The stage will be closed in one minute.」
「59」
「58」
At that moment, a screen appeared before my eyes.
Ah, damn it. Come to think of it, this stage collapses after it’s cleared!
Realizing this fact belatedly, I hurriedly called out to him and her.
“Quickly, get out! Hurry!”
He, who probably had the same screen appear before him, might have guessed what was about to happen and immediately headed towards the door as soon as he heard me. Unlike him, she, who knew nothing, only expressed confusion at my words.
At that moment, zombies started popping out from the emergency staircase again.
“Come quickly, Ms. Ga-eun!”
I wished that the zombies inside the building would all be buried under the rubble and die when it collapsed, but unfortunately, they were programmed to come out before the building collapsed. So, even if we escaped the building, we couldn’t relax. Because those zombies would still be there. It was a setting put in place in the game to make players move to the next stage, but now it just felt like a dog-eat-dog system.
Damn it, they could have just let us move to the next stage peacefully without mobilizing zombies!
Barely making it out of the building, I looked at the two of them and was relieved that they had also escaped safely, but I couldn’t help but give a grim glance at the horde of zombies emerging from the hospital like us.
“They’re not following us, are they?”
“Well, I can’t really say no when their eyes are looking right at us…”
“Let’s move to the car we came in!”
“Ms. Ga-eun said earlier she ran away because Zombies had swarmed the car. The car is probably already wrecked by those zombies.”
There was no need to go to the car. anyway The next stage wasn’t far from here. That’s why the situation was designed so that you could walk to the next stage. For example, if you tried to drive away, the car would suddenly run out of gas or break down for no reason, forcing you to walk and escape. Once you got close to the next stage, the zombies chasing the protagonist would stop following.
“Then what should we do…”
“For now, let’s run. We need to get away from them and find a nearby building to take shelter in. What else can we do?”
At my words, she hesitated for a moment but eventually nodded and started running.
Ugh… It hurts every time my arm swings while running…
Grimacing in pain, I glanced back and saw the zombies swarming towards us like a black tide. I decided to just endure it and kept running.
***
“Haah…”
Finally reaching the next stage, I led them into the building where the cinema was located. As soon as we entered the building, I gasped for breath and lay down on the cold floor to cool off the heat that had risen from running.
“I really… I really hate those damned… ha… zombies.”
“Me too.”
“Is there anyone who likes zombies?”
Of course not. What was good about those corpses…
I pressed my aching left wrist against the cold floor to cool it down. It had already swollen and felt hot.
That main zombie had no professional ethics. Even though it was a nurse before becoming a zombie, instead of treating the sick, it wrecked my wrist. It was truly the worst.
Ha… I shouldn’t expect anything from zombies. I sighed a little thinking about that.
“Noona, are you okay? Where exactly are you injured?”
“I don’t know. It just hurts everywhere.”
Lying on the floor with my whole body exhausted, my eyelids became heavy and drowsiness washed over me. I wanted to close my eyes and fall asleep, but at some point, the cool floor started to feel cold, and the chill seeped into my body, making it impossible to do so.
Unable to bear it any longer, I shivered and got up from the floor. I wanted to lie down in a warm, soft bed right now. I wanted to change my clothes, clean my body thoroughly…
“Sigh…”
Thinking about it made me feel suddenly depressed.
I wanted to go home. My home… my cozy home.
While I was deeply lost in thought, he asked me.
“Noona, can’t you use that ability on yourself?”
“Healing ability? Yeah. I can’t use it on myself. It seems I can only use it on others.”
At that, his expression became serious.
“Let me see the injured areas first. I’ll at least treat them with the medicine I have.”
“It’s not that serious. My forehead is bleeding a little because of a cut, and my left wrist is crunched… well, a bit sprained.”
The pain in my right shoulder and back, which had been aching, had almost disappeared now, and as long as they weren’t directly touched, they were fine. I’d probably just gotten bruises, and there wasn’t much that could be done with medicine for that. It would heal on its own over time, so there was no need to mention it.
He carefully parted my hair to examine the wound. I hadn’t seen it myself, but since it wasn’t bleeding much, it didn’t seem too bad.
“It’s a small cut. Does it hurt a lot?”
“No, not really.”
My wrist hurt more than my forehead. He took out some medical supplies from the shadows, disinfected the wound, applied some medicine, and put a bandage on it. Then he asked to see my wrist and extended his hand. I forced my arm to move, despite the pain, and placed my left wrist on his hand.
“Ah! It hurts…”
He rolled up my sleeve and hesitated when he saw the condition of my wrist. As he gripped my wrist, the pain made my eyes tear up. Seeing my reaction, he quickly loosened his grip and apologized.
“What the hell happened to make your wrist like this?”
“It was just… briefly caught by that thing.”
“Hah… If it got like this from just being caught, it would have broken completely if it had been squeezed with some strength.”
“…”
His expression didn’t look good as if he was angry. He seemed to be biting his lip as if holding back something, and then he sighed, making me feel uneasy.
“…Are you mad?”
“No, I’m not.”
“But…”
“I’m upset because I couldn’t protect you, so this happened. I’m sorry.”
“You have no reason to apologize.”
“Still, I’m sorry. I should have stepped in before it got like this…”
He gently stroked my wrist. My wrist, which had turned a purplish color instead of being a simple bruise like I’d thought, was visibly swollen enough to be seen to the eye.
“From the way it looks, the bone might have been impacted…”
“It probably isn’t broken. If it were, I would have fainted by now. Maybe it’s just a slight fracture?”
“…”
I said that to reassure him, but it seemed to have no effect. Of course, objectively speaking, even a slight fracture wasn’t a minor injury.
He couldn’t take his eyes off my wrist, his gaze filled with guilt. Feeling burdened by his reaction, I gently pulled my wrist out of his hand.
“We can just put a bandage on it, or wrap it with some tape. It’s not broken, and if it’s just a fracture, it should heal on its own, right?”
“But you won’t be able to use that hand much until then. It will hurt a lot every time it’s touched until the bone heals.”
“Well, there’s nothing we can do about it. But it’s the left hand, so that’s a relief. It would have been a lot more inconvenient if it’d been the right hand..”
He sighed and took out some pain relief spray to apply to my wrist. The coolness provided some relief, making me feel a bit better.
“I’ll wrap it with medical tape for now. The best option would be a cast, but that’s impossible right now…”
“A cast is too much. It’s not that bad. Tape should be enough.”
He carefully wrapped the tape around my wrist, being cautious not to cause me pain. Even though it was just tape, it felt a bit better than before. I looked at my bandaged wrist for a moment before turning my gaze back to him.
“Hand.”
“Huh? Why are you asking for my hand all of a sudden?”
When I suddenly extended my right hand and asked him for his, he looked at it blankly for a moment before placing his hand on top of mine. I held his hand and channeled my energy into him.
“You must have been injured fighting the zombies too. And using your ability must have been exhausting.”
“Ah, that’s enough. Your condition’s already bad, and using your ability here might give you a nosebleed again.”
As he tried to let go of my hand, I held onto it tightly, interlocking our fingers.
“It’s okay. You’ve had a hard time too.”
I squeezed our clasped hands tightly and smiled at him.
