Destruction — Chapter 23

Woobeom’s rough hand lifted away from the back of Saejin’s neck. Fingering the pendant now hanging from his own neck, which contained a portrait of the Director, Saejin smiled softly.

“Alright, let’s go back in for real now.”

Brushing the dirt off his pants, Saejin cheerfully extended a hand to Woobeom—asking him to escort him back to the villa. Just as Woobeom reached out to take his hand, he suddenly turned his head and scanned the surroundings.

“Hold on.”

“Huh?”

As if he’d sensed something, Woobeom brought his index finger up to his lips. It was Saejin’s faint movements that had masked a subtle noise.

Could an infected have made it up here? Saejin felt like his heart had dropped straight through the floor. Woobeom’s attention was fixed on a tall metal fence at the bottom of the hill. Dense trees beyond it obstructed the view.

“Go inside first.”

“What about you?”

“I need to check that out. Over there.”

“…Okay.”

Grabbing the axe he’d left outside the villa, Woobeom left those words behind and headed down the hill. If that noise had come from a monster or an infected, it posed a risk of transmission. Watching Woobeom go, not even wearing a raincoat, made Saejin anxious. Still, the only thing he could do now was to not cling to Woobeom’s ankles, and quietly keep himself hidden.

Even those few hurried steps made it feel like his stomach was ripping apart, and a stinging pain spread from his lower abdomen. After double-checking that the front door was locked, Saejin wiped away the cold sweat and gently held the area around his wound. The pain was intense enough to make his fingers tremble. Groaning from the ache, he made his way to the bedroom.

‘The painkillers…’

Taking a single step was agony. Saejin took several slow, deep breaths. He remembered that the fever reducer, which also doubled as a painkiller, had been placed on the nightstand. With that sole determination to take his meds, he pushed forward.

He tore open the packaging and swallowed the pill with saliva. Then he retraced his path back to the living room. There was no way he could see Woobeom from here, not after he’d already gone down the hill—but the possibility of danger left him too worried to sit still. Clinging to the window as closely as he could, Saejin ignored the screaming pain in his body and kept his eyes on the outside.

The cold air seeping in through the window helped cool the fever sparked by his pain. Leaning on the wall to support his shaking body, Saejin waited endlessly for Woobeom to return. Every now and then, he’d nervously shuffle his feet, wondering what he’d do if something that appeared wasn’t Woobeom but an infected.

After maybe ten minutes, his eyes grew dry from staring without blinking. Rubbing at the corners of his stinging eyes one at a time, he kept his gaze locked on the world beyond the glass. If he even looked away for a second, it felt like an infected might attack Woobeom and appear right in front of the window. The mounting anxiety gnawed at him.

Just as he was about to unravel from the tension, a human silhouette appeared in the distance—Woobeom had returned. Relieved, Saejin brightened and hurried to the front door.

“Ah—!”

But the pain that ripped through him instantly crushed his joy. It hurt so bad that tears welled up again. Saejin ended up crawling the rest of the way to the door, vowing to himself never to run like that again.

“Hyung! Are you—huh?”

Opening the door, Saejin trailed off as he sensed something was off. At first, he thought Woobeom had been hurt since there was blood on his shirt. But on closer inspection, Woobeom was carrying something—and the blood was coming from the thing slung over his back. Saejin quickly realized it was a water deer.

“A water deer? Where did that come from…?”

Woobeom set the heavy animal down on the dirt and rolled his shoulder. Then he asked Saejin to bring him a knife from the kitchen. Shuffling over, Saejin found the longest and sharpest-looking kitchen knife he could.

He’d only ever seen water deer in videos before—never in real life. Its yellowed fangs jutted out, and it was clearly dead. It hadn’t even closed its eyes.

Pushing aside the unevenly edged axe, Woobeom took the knife from Saejin and began to process the deer without hesitation. He sliced and butchered it efficiently, blood splattering with every cut. Though it was freshly caught, the guts and blood gave off a nasty, musty stench.

‘Wait… is he planning to eat that?’

Watching with wide eyes, Saejin felt his appetite vanish. The stench alone made it unthinkable to use for food—but Woobeom didn’t seem fazed.

“Don’t come too close. You’ll get splattered.”

“Okay… But was that noise earlier from this guy?”

Saejin pointed at the deer.

‘If it was just an animal, couldn’t he have let it go…?’

As if reading his thoughts, Woobeom explained why he’d brought it back.

“There are a lot of predators in the mountains. If prey animals like this linger near the area, it draws them in.”

“…Predators? Like, tigers?”

“You think there’d be tigers?”

“Then what’s out there?”

“I’ve heard there might be bears.”

Saejin’s face went pale.

“Bears?”

He knew bears were omnivores and sometimes even preyed on young deer or wild boars.

“If there’s a deer hanging around, that could mean a bear might show up soon too…”

“Even if it’s not a bear, plenty of predators out here are fast enough to clear that fence without a problem.”

Woobeom pointed with his chin toward the roughly two-meter-high wall. That’s why it was better to kill off herbivores when they appeared. Animals were smarter than people thought—once they learned there was no prey to be found, they wouldn’t venture near the villa.

Though he nodded in understanding, Saejin continued to eye the water deer with suspicion. It was obvious it’d be used for dinner, but the smell was so off-putting that he couldn’t imagine eating it.

“…I don’t think I can eat that.”

“You can.”

“Have you had it before?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s wild…”

It seemed you went through all kinds of trials being a gangster. Wiping away the blood splattered on his cheek, Woobeom separated the last chunk of meat. Saejin, who had been blankly staring at the now-unrecognizable carcass of the water deer, suddenly voiced a question that had popped into his mind.

“Hyung, if you fought a bear… who would win?”

“……”

“…Sorry.”

A sharp glare cut across him. Saejin pressed his lips tightly together, deciding that even if he got curious again, he should keep it to himself and went back inside the villa.

“Is there anything you want me to do?”

“What could I possibly ask someone who’s still hobbling around…”

Woobeom said he thought it would take half the day just to get that kitchen knife earlier, and told him to go rest. His tone was so firm that Saejin went straight to the bedroom to warm up. He kept getting chills and felt like he might catch a cold if he wasn’t careful. He already had a hole in his abdomen—coughing or sneezing would be absolute hell. Just imagining it was dreadful. Saejin, determined to avoid getting sick, hurried under the covers.

‘Maybe it’s the meds… I’m getting sleepy.’

Just knowing that the noise earlier hadn’t been caused by an infected or a monster made him feel so much better. With his nerves settled, Saejin welcomed the drowsiness that began to overtake him. Maybe it’d be okay to nap just a little. Unable to resist the pull of sleep, he slowly drifted into unconsciousness.

---

The reason he woke from his deep sleep was the touch of a hand stroking his cheek. The warmth of the palm felt so nice that Saejin nuzzled into it, only to open his eyes as the touch faded. He met Woobeom’s gaze just as he was pulling away. Woobeom simply told him to come out for dinner if he was awake, then left the room.

Still groggy, Saejin stretched out of habit—and immediately let out a short scream from the sudden pain. He’d forgotten he was injured while he was asleep. He was irritated, but it was his own fault, so he had no one to blame.

Shuffling out of the bedroom like a turtle, Saejin sniffed the air, catching the savory scent filling the living room. Following the sound of movement, he found Woobeom walking around in the kitchen.

“Oh, wait… You prepared dinner all by yourself?”

Saejin asked why he hadn’t been woken up as he stood next to Woobeom, who was plating meat onto small dishes. He remembered how strong the stench had been when the deer was butchered, but now the smell of spices made the food seem surprisingly appetizing.

“Wow… That looks delicious.”

Letting out an admiring sigh, Saejin sat down at the table, and Woobeom handed him a plate with neatly sliced meat. After taking a sip of water, Saejin said a brief thanks and stuffed his mouth full of meat. The texture wasn’t quite as tender as pork or beef, but the seasoning—possibly curry powder—had eliminated the gaminess and made it quite clean-tasting.

He chewed happily, even though no one was about to take the food from him, until he noticed something odd. He looked back and forth between Woobeom’s plate and his own.

‘Huh…? Why does his look drier?’

Woobeom had given him the moist, tender leg meat and kept the drier cuts for himself. Without thinking much, Saejin blurted it out.

“Hyung, you know…?”

When he spoke in that surprised tone, Woobeom set his water glass down and tilted his head, signaling him to go on.

“They say… giving someone the leg meat means you love them.”

He thought he’d heard it somewhere. Who was it? Then he remembered—one of his college friends had joked about it while eating fried chicken.

‘Well, that was about chicken, so maybe it’s different…’

It had just been a passing thought spoken aloud, so Saejin giggled to himself and stuffed the rest of the meat into his mouth.

‘Is he not laughing?’

He had meant it as a joke, but there was no response. Saejin lifted his head to look at Woobeom, who met his eyes and, as if waiting for that moment, spoke seriously.

“Are you nuts?”

The air turned ice-cold in an instant. Woobeom’s eyes, filled with confusion, wavered as if completely thrown off.

‘Oh wow, it’s like a mental earthquake.’

Saejin found it oddly fascinating and let out another giggle as he swallowed his thoroughly chewed food.

“It was a joke—why’d you have to take it so seriously?”

Shrugging as if to say the teasing was over, Saejin continued eating the nicely grilled meat. How had Woobeom managed to cook it so perfectly without any gamey smell? There had to be some secret besides the curry powder, he thought, focusing back on the flavor. But all he could detect was the juice from the meat, a little fat, and the curry aroma.

Still chewing with his fork in his mouth, Saejin glanced between the evenly marbled leg meat and the dry breast meat. Maybe the reason Woobeom chose the dry part was to manage his physique.

‘I thought only chicken breasts were rich in protein… guess not.’

Woobeom had the kind of body anyone would envy—broad shoulders, a well-developed chest, and a wide rib cage. Even without seeing his lower half, his upper body alone made him look like a tank. When Saejin had borrowed one of Woobeom’s shirts earlier, it was so big it practically looked like a dress.

‘Maybe I should try the breast meat too?’

Pushing his remaining leg meat to the edge of the plate, Saejin leaned over to the center of the table and took a piece of breast meat. Woobeom glanced at him curiously, and Saejin, worried he might be caught mimicking him, cleared his throat and muttered,

“Yeah, deer breast meat is the best… obviously.”

Even though it was his first time eating venison, he feigned nonchalance. Woobeom stared, but Saejin kept a straight face as he stuffed the chewy, dense meat into his mouth with a forced smile. Did deer just have especially developed chest muscles or something? He had to chew so hard he thought his jaw might fall off before he could finally swallow.

He probably shouldn’t have tried to copy him. It was clear now—if he wanted protein, chicken was the better option. Regret already creeping in, Saejin looked down and saw plenty of breast meat still sitting on his plate. But instead of reaching for it again, he moved his fork toward the piece of leg meat he had shoved aside earlier.