Destruction — Chapter 24
by Brie‘Let’s leave deer breast meat for my next life…’
After dinner, Saejin was briefly shown around the villa’s rooms. During his break, he sat near the window with a warm cup of tea. As he blankly stared at the steaming green tea, the stillness of the surroundings began to settle in for real.
The news continued to report on murders, assaults, and deaths caused by stolen firearms, yet the area around the villa was eerily quiet. Saejin quietly gazed into the dark, where nothing was visible, then took a small sip of tea.
“Come here. Time to disinfect.”
Just when things had finally become peaceful, Woobeom dropped that bombshell. Disinfect what, exactly? Saejin’s body froze instinctively, and he looked down at his stomach. The bandages wrapped around it kept him from seeing the wound directly, but it was clear that the flesh hadn’t fully healed. Disinfection meant applying antiseptic near the wound, and that was guaranteed to sting like hell.
“…I don’t think that’s necessary.”
Avoiding eye contact, Saejin set his teacup down and began to rise, trying to make a quick escape to his room. He might actually be tortured with disinfectant at this rate.
“If you don’t mind the wound festering and rotting, suit yourself.”
“…I’m coming.”
Well, that changed things. At Woobeom’s grim tone, Saejin immediately approached and followed him. It looked like he was planning to treat the wound in the bedroom.
Most of the emergency supplies were on hand, but unfortunately, the one thing Saejin really needed—antibiotics—was missing. The best they could do was keep the area clean and replace the dressing regularly to monitor the healing progress.
Entering the bedroom, Saejin sat down on the bed. Watching Woobeom drag over a folding chair, his wound already felt like it was screaming for mercy.
“This is gonna hurt, right?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“…You’ve been stabbed and had your skin sewn up without anesthesia, and you’re scared of this?”
“The sewing happened when I was out of it. I don’t even remember it after getting stabbed.”
Ignoring his whining, Woobeom sat on the chair and lifted Saejin’s shirt.
“Bite down on this.”
Woobeom handed him the edge of the shirt to bite on and began unwrapping the bandages with practiced ease. Fortunately, the wound was clean despite the harsh conditions. If there had been any sign of secondary infection, it would’ve been a nightmare. Even though the attacker was an amateur, the wound wasn’t messy and had split relatively cleanly. And the fact that no internal organs were damaged? That was sheer luck—enough to call it a once-in-a-lifetime miracle.
With the shirt gripped between his teeth, Saejin looked down at the wound—then quickly looked away in horror. Tears of frustration welled up in his eyes. He had expected it to look a little gross, but seeing the staples embedded in his flesh was something else. He couldn’t bear to look at it for more than three seconds. Even once it healed, the scar would be thick and lasting.
“…Ugh!”
As the gauze soaked in disinfectant touched his skin, Saejin’s fingers clenched tighter around the sheets. While it was only cleaning around the wound, and just like Woobeom said, it didn’t hurt much, the tension in his body made it hard to bear. His skin was hypersensitive, so even a little pressure stung. He tried to distract himself with random thoughts, but the hydrogen peroxide-soaked gauze was too cold to ignore.
‘One deer, two deer…’
He imagined deer running through the forest to keep from focusing on the pain. But then a sharp sting flared as the antiseptic accidentally touched right above the wound. He nearly screamed in front of Woobeom.
“…Thath hurths.”
His nose stung from the pain, and his words came out muffled as he bit down on the shirt. Woobeom, unfazed, said he was done and wrapped the wound in fresh bandages.
“In four days, we’ll have to remove the staples. You’ll probably scream bloody murder then.”
“…Right, the staples.”
From what he saw, quite a few were embedded in his skin. They might’ve started to heal into the tissue by now. Would they even come out easily? With zero medical knowledge, Saejin had no choice but to trust Woobeom’s judgment.
“Could you knock me out for that?”
“Get real.”
“Ugh… That’s not okay.”
As soon as Saejin started whining, Woobeom seized the opportunity to scold him.
“You’re already crying over pulling out some staples, and you said you’d throw yourself into danger if it came to that?”
“…Tch.”
He was going to argue that a little whining wasn’t the end of the world, but when he saw the look in Woobeom’s eyes—that classic “what do I do with this hopeless brat” expression—he clamped his lips shut. There was no benefit to continuing.
“Stop bouncing around and just sleep already.”
He’d already slept on and off all day thanks to the meds, so it felt like he’d hit his daily sleep quota, but Woobeom had a point—it was time to stop moving. Leaving the cleanup to Woobeom, Saejin went to his designated room.
Having separate rooms was good for privacy, but it also felt strangely lonely. Turning on the light in the empty room, Saejin hesitated before heading to the bed. Up until he found out there were separate rooms, he thought they’d be sharing a bed, so the large space now felt awkward.
He wandered around the room for a moment before finally climbing into bed. Lying back against the soft mattress and staring up at the high ceiling, he reached for his phone.
“…Still nothing.”
He tapped the call and message buttons in hopes that the signal had returned, but nothing had changed. Not even mobile data worked.
[ Me: Guys, are you alive? – Message failed to send – ]
He stared blankly at the message sent to the school group chat, then set the phone by his pillow.
‘How long can I survive in this disaster?’
Thoughts turned more anxious and bleak as the evening wore on. Saejin shook his head and decided to sleep instead of spiraling further. He turned off the light.
He drifted off about an hour later. No matter how much he’d napped during the day, the large wound on his body quickly pulled him into unconsciousness once his eyes closed.
But he didn’t fall into deep sleep.
Clatter, clatter.
The sound of the window shaking echoed in his ears. He tried to ignore it and turned over, but the noise grew more frequent and intense. Saejin flinched and opened his eyes. It was pitch black, but the noise continued outside.
‘…What is that?’
Relying on his phone’s light, Saejin groped for the wall switch.
“Huh? Why won’t it turn on?”
The light that had worked before bed was now dead. Flustered, he calmly turned on his phone’s flashlight and approached the window. The shaking window was due to heavy rain—so intense it seemed like the sky had cracked open.
‘Did the power go out from the storm?’
Saa, saa—
As he watched the rain pour down, thunder suddenly boomed and made him jump. The storm wasn’t letting up, and now the thunder and lightning were wild. Normally, he could’ve slept through it, but the chaos outside only stirred his anxiety.
When it’s quiet, intruders are easier to detect—but with the rain howling, even being on edge wouldn’t help.
‘No… We’re deep in the mountains, and I saw hyung lock the doors.’
Woobeom’s instincts were sharper than any animal’s. Knowing he was next door made things feel less scary—but the shivers wouldn’t stop.
Leaning against the headboard, Saejin suddenly jolted upright when lightning struck a nearby tree.
“Ah!”
The thunderous boom made him jump so hard it hurt his stomach. The newly dressed wound throbbed sharply, and his heart pounded like crazy.
He hadn’t meant to act so childishly, but he was out of options.
‘I’m gonna have to sleep with hyung.’
He was twenty-five years old, and he couldn’t sleep because of rain and thunder. It was embarrassing, but unavoidable.
Saejin went to the living room and stood in front of Woobeom’s bedroom door. He lightly curled his hand into a fist and knocked. A voice from inside told him to come in.
Woobeom had been awake since the downpour began, his sharp hearing having stirred him.
“What is it?”
Woobeom asked lazily as the door creaked open. Saejin’s phone light flickered beyond the dark threshold.
“Hyung… can I sleep here with you? The thunder and lightning outside are so loud, I can’t sleep.”
Too embarrassed to say he was scared, Saejin made the excuse that it was just too noisy. He waited for Woobeom’s permission.
“If you’re scared, just sleep with the light on.”
But Woobeom saw right through him and responded coldly. Saejin jumped at the chance and rapidly clicked the light switch.
“See? I think the power’s out… The light won’t come on.”
The clicking echoed several times, but Woobeom’s room also had no power. Silence followed for a moment, then Woobeom sighed deeply and shifted to make space beside him.
“Come here.”
At his words, Saejin’s face brightened. He quickly padded over and set down his pillow beside him.
[To be continued in the next volume.]