TANBMD Chapter 78

Chapter 78

 

No matter who this person is, Soojin or whoever, one thing I can be certain of right now is that she can’t shoot a gun for shit.

Bang! Bang!

Multiple gunshots rang out, but the bullets didn’t even come close to grazing me, instead flying off into the distant sky. Her hitting my shoulder earlier must have been like a one in a million chance.

“Look, I’m really sorry, but if you’re going to use a gun like that, wouldn’t it be better to give it to someone like Im Do-hyeon instead?”

Soojin’s face turned red at my words. She seemed like a mafia boss at first, but now she looked like just an ordinary nobody. Phew, thank goodness.

Taking advantage of Soojin reloading her gun, I snuck a glance down below the railing. The height of around three floors indicated that if I fell from here, at least one of my legs would be shattered. Not to mention the horde of infected on the ground waiting to tear into my flesh if I hesitated.

Even though I have antibodies and can’t get infected, that’s not something I can reveal right now. In other words, if my antibody status is exposed in front of others—especially these Savior or whatever cult members—it would obviously cause huge problems. The kind of problems being like lab kidnapping, or being hailed as a messiah by these crazy fanatics.

Anyway, going down below is not an option, and going up seems like the best choice…

“If I put the barrel right against your head, there’s no way I’d miss.”

Unfortunately, Soojin’s gun was already pressed against my head before I could act. What do I do? I might actually die here.

“You said your name was Min Ahyeon, right?”

Soojin looked down at me with an indifferent, icy gaze.

“Let me ask you one thing before I kill you.”

“Is there a ‘not kill’ option?”

“It’ll depend on how you answer.”

“Then I better choose my words carefully. I did manage to survive this far just with this mouth of mine.”

I deliberately chuckled nonchalantly because I could sense Im Do-hyeon hanging from the chandelier behind me was nearing his limit. Even if he’s holding on by his core strength right now, human muscles can’t exert force for extended periods. So he’ll likely drop before me.

“You said you had a question to ask. Aren’t you going to ask it?”

I forced a smile while gripping the railing with my dangling right hand. My left shoulder, pierced by the bullet, was throbbing painfully but I didn’t show it. The moment I showed pain, I would lose.

“Min Ahyeon.”

Soojin pressed the gun barrel against my forehead.

“Why did you reject us?”

She had a look of genuine confusion, which made me burst out laughing involuntarily. It’s a characteristic of those who have fallen into cults. They don’t have a clue about what they’re doing wrong, what choices they’ve made poorly. They’re just ignorant fools.

“Think about it. We’re not such bad people. We’re just protecting those who believe in us from the looters roaming outside, you know, the scumbags like scavengers. We’re different from them. We’re just protecting those who trust us.”

Look at this. She keeps making excuses and justifying herself. In my view, the scavengers and these folks are one and the same.

Anyway, I could feel my grip weakening and instinctively took a deep breath, sensing I was nearing the crisis of falling. I needed to go up, but going up meant likely getting shot dead. Going down was not an option either. I’m really in a bind here.

“Lieutenant Min. You know, don’t you?”

Then Soojin chuckled and said.

“How the government abandoned people.”

As soon as I heard those cynical words, it felt like a lightning bolt struck my mind. My eyes involuntarily narrowed.

“Were you a soldier?”

“Correct.”

“But why can’t you shoot a gun…?”

“I’m in the Air Force.”

I thought it didn’t really matter, so I didn’t say anything further. I figured provoking Soojin would gain me nothing.

“You know,”

Soojin said, her voice slightly softened but somehow laced with resentment, as if my guess was correct.

“Have you ever thought they would use VX again?”

Involuntarily, my eyes widened in shock. VX? They used that insane chemical weapon? When?

Having deserted the military immediately after the infected outbreak began, I didn’t know in detail what the military had done and what consequences they were dealing with. I only heard bits from Yongcheol or other survivors.

“That inhumane chemical weapon, for the sake of human dignity it must never be used again, everything must be disposed of, the moment a country uses that weapon, they will be expelled from the international community—that’s how inhumane that weapon is. They were shouting about it, weren’t they?”

My breathing quickened.

Come to think of it, a survivor I met at the Pohang shelter had said something like that before.

 

“I was trying to cross the Mapo Bridge. But there were too many people, so I couldn’t move forward. I was thinking about swimming across, but the Han River is damn huge, you know? That’s what I was thinking.”

“Then suddenly, a fighter jet came whooshing in and started dropping something. I knew what it was. Why? Despite how I look, I spent a long time in Japan. I learned about it during the Aum Shinrikyo incident. VX. Neurotoxin. The moment you breathe it in, your organs start to hemorrhage and melt away.”

“I immediately crawled into the sewer. Then I closed the manhole cover and put on a gas mask. Yeah. I endured for a few hours like that. When I went outside, there was no one! No one was there! Except for the detached, melting, rotting bodies!”

 

Truth be told, I didn’t believe it at the time. Why? Because I couldn’t possibly fathom the government going that far.

The purpose of the government’s existence is to take care of the people, to improve their quality of life. Killing them? And in the most cruel way?

I didn’t believe it, and I didn’t want to believe it.

But.

“A missile carrying VX.”

The woman pointing the gun at me says.

“I pressed the button.”

The woman’s face, smiling wryly, contained not a speck of falsehood. Yes, it was the truth. The truth that innocent people were subjected to biochemical weapons…

“They said it couldn’t be helped. No, it really couldn’t be helped. Right. They had no way of knowing if all those people were infected or not, if they were in the incubation period or not, did they? Right? So they just killed them first, had to kill to determine if they were infected or not. If they weren’t infected? A needless death, but what could be done. They had to sacrifice the few for the greater good. Right, Lieutenant Kim. You just pulled the lever on the train.”

Puhahaha! She broke into laughter, wrinkling her nose—her expression now so contorted it was hard to tell if she was laughing or crying. The gun barrel shook uncontrollably.

“Lieutenant Min. No, no, you filthy mercenary scum living by your own smug rules.”

Soojin bit her lower lip hard and widened her eyes.

“Don’t think I’m just some power-crazed trash trying to commit more atrocities in this shitty world.”

“No, well, I didn’t quite think that far.”

“Don’t lie!”

Exhaling deeply, she released the gun’s safety and completed reloading.

“At least I don’t give people despair. I give them hope. The hope that it’s okay to die like this, the hope that there’s a better life ahead. Thanks to that, people find a way to endure and keep living.”

“……”

“Have you ever given anyone that kind of hope?”

It felt like being struck in the head. But the situation was too urgent to dwell on that impact.

“Well, so I do want to give despair to someone like you.”

Click. The barrel pressed directly against my forehead.

“That’s why you should have accepted our kindness when offered.”

Good-bye.

Mouthing that farewell to me, Soojin placed her finger on the trigger. And at that very moment—Bang!

“Aaack!”

Soojin tumbled back, clutching her bleeding hand. I quickly scanned my surroundings. As expected, he came. Shin Hae-jun….

“Nuna!”

…Wait, isn’t that Oh Habin? What’s he doing here?

Startled, I looked down again toward the voice, and there was Habin nimbly leaping over the infected, charging at me, and running toward me.

“Nuna! Let go of your hand!”

Puhwak—! Kicking an infected’s belly and stomping on another’s shoulder, he launched himself into the air. He impaled the heads of two crawling infected in one fluid motion, then used that brief opening to dash towards me again.

“Now!”

The moment I heard his shout, I released my grip, and Habin, jumping off the infected’s backs, shoulders and heads, tightly embraced me.

“Ha.”

Gripping the back of my head firmly, Habin let out a long sigh of relief.

“I’ve got you this time. Right?”

🕂

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