Chapter 57
While Shin Hae-jun was lost in thought about Choi Daero, he had swiftly constructed a barricade in front of the door using chairs and boxes of equipment. He now hurried back to Min Ahyeon’s side.
“Are you okay?”
He asked out of habit, but immediately regretted the question. Min Ahyeon’s condition, slumped against the dirty wall as if crumpled, clearly showed she was anything but alright without needing to look closely.
“Hah, ugh…”
Even so, Min Ahyeon nodded with her eyes tightly shut. A cold bead of sweat trickled down her cheek, following the motion of her nod. Below that, the blood from where Daero had bitten her shoulder was spreading, staining her white shirt a deeper crimson. The torn fabric revealed a serious-looking wound, even in the dim lighting. Shin Hae-jun grit his teeth.
“I need to check your wounds first.”
His large hands began unbuttoning her shirt. Were his fingertips trembling occasionally due to the ever-widening bloodstain darkening her clothes?
“Haahh.“
Although it wasn’t the first time he had seen someone’s torn wounds, he couldn’t understand why he felt so scared and tense. Shin Hae-jun took deep breaths, forcing down the churning in his gut as he undid the buttons down to her navel. Between the open shirt, her white skin and the blood-stained bra were visible, making the torn shoulder strap even more visible. When he slid the strap down, a faint groan escaped her.
“Ah…”
She seemed embarrassed at exposing her undergarments. Min Ahyeon flinched, twisting her body slightly to cover herself. But this only served to squish further and accentuate the alluring curve of her full breasts.
‘This….’
He nearly buried his face right into that tempting cleavage. Barely catching himself, Shin Hae-jun grasped Min Ahyeon’s bare shoulder to reposition her upright against the wall.
“Stay still. As lousy as I am, I’m not so lowly a boss that I’d take advantage of you in this state.”
Min Ahyeon’s lips seemed to twitch upwards ever so slightly before settling back.
Yet despite his words, Shin Hae-jun was already half-erect down below. It made sense, given how feverishly he had masturbated to her clothed form, fantasizing about tasting her. Now, with one layer peeled off, her warm, soft skin pressed against his palm, it was more surprising that his cock wasn’t fully hard. However, he couldn’t betray Min Ahyeon’s trust as she obediently leaned against the wall, believing his words.
Shin Hae-jun couldn’t tear his eyes away from Min Ahyeon’s enchanting chest, feeling almost mesmerized by its allure. He rummaged through his belongings and found a small bottle. A couple swallows of strong whiskey remained inside.
“It’s going to sting a bit. But we have to disinfect it.”
Not waiting for a reply, he uncapped the bottle immediately. Gripping her forearm firmly to hold her in place, he poured the alcohol directly onto the wound.
“Aaack…!”
Min Ahyeon writhed in pain. The strong liquor searing into an injury agonizing enough to make one pass out from the pain alone must have sent shockwaves of unbearable sensation rippling through her body and mind.
“There, it’s all done. You’ll be okay.”
Shin Hae-jun gently blew on the wound before tearing off a strip from his shirt to dab and bind it tightly to prevent further tearing. While at it, he poured the remaining drops onto her palm that had scraped pulling him through the vent earlier.
“Nnghh…”
Seeming less painful than the bite on her shoulder, Min Ahyeon’s body merely jolted briefly. Shin Hae-jun, who had wrapped her hand in cloth, carefully cradled her cheek, which had turned pale with unbearable pain.
“You did well, Lieutenant Min.”
“Haah……”
Flinching slightly at his praise, Min Ahyeon struggled to lift her eyelids. She gazed at Shin Hae-jun wordlessly, as if wanting to protest the “lieutenant” address like usual, before sagging back down limply. An extremely lightweight settled into his palm—far too delicate for someone who had overcome so many brushes with death gripping a rifle. Unconsciously tightening his grip, Shin Hae-jun felt Min Ahyeon trying to reassure him despite her state.
“I’m…fine…”
Yet even those two small words seemed difficult, as she quickly sealed her chapped, dry lips tightly shut. But that was short-lived, her tiny mouth soon going slack again. Seeing that, Shin Hae-jun’s heart skipped a beat in dread, his mind flooded with worst-case scenarios. Trembling, he called out her name desperately.
“Min Ahyeon.”
“……”
There was no response. The heart that had just fallen seemed to throb once again against the ground. Shin Hae-jun knelt in front of Min Ahyeon, holding her face in his hands. His hands tremble intermittently as if convulsing.
“Come to your senses, Min Ahyeon, Min Ahyeon!”
“Uh… Hng…”
A weak groaning sound is barely heard, as if in response to Shin Hae-jun’s desperate cry. The voice is so faint, as if a candle flame in the wind, yet Shin Hae-jun is relieved.
“Come to your senses, Min Ahyeon. That’s right, you have antibodies, don’t you? Your blood has antibodies flowing through it.”
“Haaa…”
“Hang in there, just hang in there. You can endure it, can’t you?”
Although it seems like an imperious command, it is clearly a plea. Min Ahyeon knows this very well.
She wants to tell Shin Hae-jun, “I know, it’s okay, it will be okay. Since my blood has antibodies as you said, I won’t turn into an infected and I won’t die either. So don’t worry and just conserve your strength.” But she cannot move her mouth at all. A sense of helplessness that doesn’t want to do anything is slowly covering her entire body like a shadow.
The pain from being bitten by Choi Daero and the relentless agony on her torn shoulder paled in comparison to what truly tormented Min Ahyeon. The fact that another hell awaits her if she survives and returns from here.
‘To Park Eunjin… this to Park Eunjin…’
Beyond her tightly closed eyelids, the face of Park Eunjin shyly smiling while cradling her unborn child flashes in her mind. If she survives and returns, Min Ahyeon will have to deliver words that will shatter Park Eunjin’s expectations and future, the one who was smiling so lovingly.
‘How can I…’
After the world’s demise, Park Eunjin is the first person Min Ahyeon knows to have conceived a new life. And Park Eun-jin’s husband bit her, and Shin Hae-jun has blown off his head.
Now, Park Eunjin can never meet Choi Daero again, and even if she does, she cannot caress his face again. And the child to be born… will never see his father’s face. Even if there are photos of him, that face no longer exists in this world.
Her tightly closed eyes burn with tears. Min Ahyeon tried to hold it in, but in the end, she could not stop the tears from falling through her long eyelashes.
“Heugg..”
As Min Ahyeon sobbed with a fading, feeble voice, Shin Hae-jun’s thumb slowly caressed her eyes. Whether it was from the warmth of his gently wiping fingers, Min Ahyeon’s tears now flowed incessantly in streams.
“Ahyeon-ah…”
A soft voice called her name. No other words followed. It was just calling her name. But Min Ahyeon could tell he was trying to console her. Min Ahyeon’s tears wouldn’t stop.
‘Damn it…’
Shin Hae-jun’s heart ached watching this. Not only had she been struggling alone, but now Min Ahyeon, silently shedding tears, had turned paler than before. It was impossible to gauge just how bad her condition was.
Amidst the pity and sorrow in his heart, anger towards Choi Daero surged within him. It was a rational and objective judgment, but also anger towards himself for understanding the fear Choi Daero must have felt while hiding in this control room.
Unlike his hands, which were slowly heating up due to the slowly boiling rage toward the dead, Min Ahyeon’s cheeks continued to grow colder. Even the tears that had been collected in his warm palms were now becoming lukewarm. And then, it happened.
“Go….”
Min Ahyeon’s lips barely moved. At the sound close to a breath, Shin Hae-jun leaned his ear toward her lips and asked again.
“What?”
And he held his breath, worried he might miss even the slightest sound of her lips parting. Between labored breaths growing increasingly coarse, as if straining, her tear-soaked yet hoarse voice faintly mixed in.
“Go away…”
🕂
Chapter 58 Password: REVyM
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