HMT Chapter 7 (Part 2)

“You’re already trying to die? No. That won’t do.”

The boy’s voice echoed as though underwater. The bottle buried in his flesh was yanked out. Sangjin’s fading consciousness snapped back instantly. The pain was so severe he felt as if he might bite his own tongue off. His jaw muscles spasmed uncontrollably.

Feeling pressure on his thigh, he clenched his teeth hard. Kim Yoon, his face perfectly blank, was removing Sangjin’s jacket and wrapping the wound. The broken glass shards still embedded in his flesh made the pain maddening.

“Don’t die. Hold on. I’m saying don’t take away my fun of killing someone. You understand?”

The vile bastard. Sangjin wanted to spit in his face, but he had no strength to push the sock out of his mouth. The side of his face touching the cold floor was growing numb. He needed to pull himself together, he needed to fight back somehow, but his condition was deteriorating by the second.

“You won’t last long. Tonight will probably be the turning point.”

Clicking his tongue softly, Kim Yoon stood up. Staying here too long would draw suspicion from the others. Even if he planned to kill them, he needed to wait until everyone else was asleep. He had given crude first aid, but judging from Sangjin’s complexion, surviving even a few more hours seemed like a miracle.

He hesitated for a moment, debating whether to kill him now.

“Student, don’t stay in there. Come out.”

Hosan, who had gone off to smoke, returned to the barbecue shelter. Kim Yoon reluctantly abandoned the idea. He kicked the bloodstained soju bottle under a table.

When he headed to the entrance, Hosan stepped aside. Once outside, Kim Yoon closed the shelter door. There was a padlock hooked onto the latch, one that opened with a key.

“Sir, do you have the key for this lock?”

“Here.”

Hosan took a yellow key from his coat. Kim Yoon accepted it, locked the padlock tightly, and instead of handing the key back, slipped it into his own pocket.

“I’ll take care of the key. That’s alright, right?”

“…I feel bad, making you do all the dirty work.”

“I’m the one responsible for the kids. I’m used to this kind of thing.”

At Kim Yoon’s words, Hosan nodded. He looked up at the sky, where the sun was beginning to sink, and murmured in a troubled voice.

“It’s time to eat.”

Even after everything horrific that had happened, the fact that they still had to eat on time felt absurd. As his stomach signaled hunger, Hosan let out a heavy sigh. The two of them were heading side by side toward the first floor of the pension when Sujae suddenly appeared, blocking their path.

“Those bastards? You took care of them, right?”

“……”

“Hahaha.”

His behavior was so ridiculous that Kim Yoon burst out laughing. Seeing him laugh so loudly out of nowhere, Sujae’s eyes hardened.

The pride that had been quietly bruised from clashing with the students finally exploded. On any other day, he would have shrunk back at the sight of Kim Yoon’s intimidating presence. But all the anger he had bottled up while shivering under piles of recycling waste came surging out toward Kim Yoon.

“You little brat, you’re not even scared of adults!”

Even as he watched the man’s hand fly toward his face, Kim Yoon didn’t blink. Right before the fist reached him, he grabbed Sujae’s wrist.

“Let go! I knew it! You’re not even Korean University students, are you? You punks are gangsters! Eating our food, claiming our supplies as yours, hogging all the weapons! If I’d married early and had kids, I’d have ten brats your age!”

As Sujae shouted, spitting in rage, Kim Yoon’s patience slowly thinned. His grip tightened on the man’s wrist. Moments ago, he had only intended to restrain him, but now the flesh around his grip was whitening under the pressure.

“Aaagh…! Damn it, this kid is trying to kill me…!”

The sound of bone twisting made Sujae scream. Hearing the commotion, Hosan stopped and came back. He placed a hand on Kim Yoon’s shoulder and shook his head. He knew Sujae was being unreasonable, and he found him irritating too, but the sweat beading on Sujae’s forehead made it clear he wasn’t just pretending.

“Student, that’s enough. I’ll apologize on his behalf.”

“Apologize for what? He… Agh…”

Sujae snapped back at Hosan, but immediately clutched his wrist in pain. It truly felt like the bone had shifted.

After letting go of him, Kim Yoon looked down at his own palm. The warmth of Sujae’s skin lingering there felt filthy. Even the faint smell of soju on the man bothered him. His gaze slid toward Hosan, and the moment their eyes met, a cold sensation crept down Hosan’s spine.

For an instant, the student in front of him overwhelmed him. The calm smile on Kim Yoon’s face radiated reliability and, at the same time, held an icy detachment that suggested he wouldn’t flinch even if someone died in front of him. The contradiction froze Hosan’s breath.

Kim Yoon smiled pleasantly at Hosan, then leaned toward Sujae’s ear. Feeling the danger, Sujae hunched his shoulders.

“Mister, you know bullets don’t have eyes, right?”

“What?”

Sujae’s gaze rolled toward the gun at Kim Yoon’s waist. Kim Yoon tapped the barrel with his finger, making sure he saw. Mocking Sujae’s trembling lips, he straightened and glanced at Hosan, who stood tense beside him.

“Could you please talk to him? Tell him you and we are on the same team, not enemies. What he’s doing right now is only causing trouble. If he keeps this up, it’ll be hard for us to keep tolerating him.”

Kim Yoon handed the responsibility of dealing with Sujae to Hosan, using the last of his patience. If no one had been watching, he would have dragged Sujae somewhere quiet and turned him into what he had left inside the barbecue shelter.

This man wasn’t quite trash that deserved death, but he was close.

“…Alright. You head inside first.”

“Why would he go inside! Ugh, this is violence! Hosan, you can’t let that brat hold a gun! Didn’t you hear what he said to me earlier?”

Hosan tried to send Kim Yoon away to settle things, but Sujae, still in shock, reached out with his uninjured hand to grab him. Kim Yoon’s eyes narrowed faintly at the gesture. Feeling the temperature drop around them, Hosan grabbed Sujae’s shoulder and yanked him back.

“Stop it. As another adult, your behavior right now is embarrassing to watch.”

“What? What did you just say?”

Now his anger turned toward Hosan. Meanwhile, Kim Yoon walked toward Building A. His socks, soaked with Sangjin’s blood, made his sneakers squelch unpleasantly. By now, the clothes he had washed were probably dry, he’d laid them out on the warm ondol floor.

He passed the first floor and headed to the second, where he found Jiwoo still standing exactly where he’d left him. One of Kim Yoon’s eyebrows lifted. When he stopped walking, Jiwoo’s round head lowered even further. Kim Yoon stared at the pale nape of his neck, then impulsively murmured:

“Jiwoo, your hand.”

“Huh…?”

Unable to grasp the meaning, Jiwoo lifted his head. As if waiting for that exact moment, Kim Yoon’s eyes met his, making Jiwoo’s throat tighten.

He felt as though he was being pulled into those eyes. A magnetic gaze stripped away all the thoughts and anxieties he’d been clinging to. Jiwoo stared blankly at his face, and Kim Yoon, smiling faintly, reached out and took his hand himself.

“It’s a little cold, but soft.”

Jiwoo could no longer follow what Kim Yoon was saying. Ever since Kim Yoon left him here and went down to the first floor, he kept replaying everything he had seen over and over.

Kim Yoon had simply done what needed to be done for their sake. Pressing down on the killer’s wound with his foot might have been necessary. If he had let his guard down even for a moment, the one who would have fallen wasn’t the murderer, it would’ve been Kim Yoon.

Even so, fragments of emotion that had flickered in Kim Yoon’s eyes kept drifting through Jiwoo’s mind, stirring his thoughts and feelings out of control.

The Kim Yoon Jiwoo knew was someone who would risk danger to save others, not caring what happened to himself. He remembered Jiwoo’s insignificant name in one try, and even the small promises he made in passing, he kept every time.

The image of the person he had fallen for, who he secretly adored, clashed with the image of the same person smiling while inflicting pain on someone. His chest felt chaotic. And now… he didn’t know. Holding his hand, smiling brightly, looking so radiant, Jiwoo’s heart shook as if it would burst.

“Let’s go up and warm up. Hosan and the others will be preparing dinner.”

Kim Yoon took Jiwoo’s hand and led him up the stairs. Even when holding Jiwoo in his arms after waking up earlier, he felt it, Jiwoo’s body fit against his perfectly. His hands were small and pale, fitting neatly into his own. Kim Yoon slipped his fingers between Jiwoo’s slender ones and intertwined them like vines. The softness of Jiwoo’s skin slowly washed away the unpleasant sensations he’d felt earlier.

Room 201 was empty. Jiwoo swallowed dryly as he followed the trail of dried blood leading from the doorway inside. If not for the electric tingle spreading from where Kim Yoon held his hand, he might have run away.

It felt like returning to a murder scene. Sweat formed across his palms. Either Kim Yoon didn’t notice how slippery Jiwoo’s hand had become, or he didn’t care. Only after taking off his shoes and stepping inside did he finally let go.

Kim Yoon picked up the clothes and socks spread out in the corner of the living room. They were still slightly damp, but better than what he was wearing now.

“I’m going to wash up. Do you want to wait here?”

“N-no, I, I don’t…”

“……”

As Jiwoo stuttered out five shaky syllables instead of three, Kim Yoon’s smile vanished without a trace. Seeing Jiwoo trembling, unable to meet his gaze, soured the good mood he had been in.

“Jiwoo, are you scared of me?”

Even through the glasses, Kim Yoon could see Jiwoo’s pupils widen. His face hardened. Jiwoo shook his head violently, but it was too late. Kim Yoon’s stare became a sharp thorn.

“…Ha.”

Unbelievable.

He swallowed the rest of the sentence. The clothes crumpled harshly in his grip. Blue veins rose across the back of his hand.

Jiwoo had hovered around him like a little mouse, loving him on his own. Then avoided him once Kim Yoon decided to keep him close. And now he was scared, avoiding his eyes. It soured his mood more than the blood-soaked socks on his feet.

The warmth that had lingered on his skin made his grip tighten. Jiwoo had been the easiest person in the world to understand, yet now Kim Yoon couldn’t read him at all. If he truly could see Jiwoo’s thoughts, he would have liked to pry open that small head and look inside.

Had he not always shown Jiwoo the side he liked most?

They were even closer now than before the zombie outbreak. From the perspective of someone who had loved for so long, every moment should’ve been happiness.

But Jiwoo treating him like a murderer irritated him more than the sticky feeling of blood in his socks. If he stayed any longer, he felt he might wrap his hand around that slender neck and squeeze.

Expression wiped clean, Kim Yoon brushed past Jiwoo. Only after the bathroom door closed did Jiwoo collapse where he stood.

…What do I do?

Jiwoo bit his lip hard enough to reopen the scabbed cut and grabbed fistfuls of his hair. Kim Yoon had been frightening, but the more Jiwoo thought about it, the more he couldn’t shake the feeling that he had hurt Kim Yoon.

His gaze sank sadly toward the closed bathroom door. He wished he could turn back time. What had he been thinking, showing fear over something so small?

Kim Yoon hadn’t hurt an innocent person. That man was trash who killed Sangpil, Minji’s mother, and the kind neighbors. They deserved death, slow, painful, merciless.

Seeing a side of Kim Yoon he didn’t know wasn’t a reason to fear him. Jiwoo felt pathetic.

Curling into himself like an abandoned puppy, he glanced at the bathroom door. Water could be heard running inside. If only he had said “yes” when told to wait, he wouldn’t feel this miserable now.

He feared Kim Yoon might never look at him with gentle eyes again, and that thought made his chest ache.

---

It was exactly as Jiwoo feared. After coming out of the bathroom, Kim Yoon didn’t spare him even a single glance. Jiwoo felt like he had turned invisible. Before he could even blink, Kim Yoon walked out of Room 201. Left alone in the empty space, Jiwoo was so shocked by Kim Yoon’s cold demeanor he couldn’t bring himself to move.

“Nam Jiwoo, are you in here?”

The one who came to get him was Kim Min. When Jiwoo didn’t show up for dinner, Kim Yoon had told them he was probably in Room 201.

“What are you doing alone? Come on, get downstairs. It’s time to eat.”

“Oh… okay…”

Even as Kim Min led him away, Jiwoo’s mind was consumed with thoughts of just one person.

When they entered the first floor of the pension, the warm smell of soybean paste stew greeted them. Two tables had been set: one in the living room and one in the small spare room. Hosan, Sujae, and the elderly couple were in the living room; the rest squeezed together in the smaller room.

It looked like their first night here all over again. The only difference was that the kind owner couple was gone, and Minji’s empty space felt painfully large.

Munsu had somewhat recovered and was sitting with a spoon in hand. Jiwoo instinctively searched for Kim Yoon. Dohoon and Jisoo were already sitting beside him, eating.

“This is your seat.”

“…Thanks.”

Jiwoo sat where Kim Min pointed and fiddled with the edge of his plastic spoon. He had no appetite. If he didn’t consciously force himself to look away, he kept wanting to glance toward Kim Yoon, so he stared into his rice bowl instead.

“Why aren’t you eating? If you wait too long, the stew will be gone.”

“I… I’ll eat.”

Han Min’s worried tone made Jiwoo straighten up and pretend to pull himself together. The pot of stew was closer to the second-years. The other kids stretched their arms out to scoop from it, but Jiwoo stuck to eating only his rice. No matter how much he chewed, the grains refused to go down, so he used water as a side dish.

He couldn’t tell whether he was swallowing through his nose or his mouth. Still, he barely managed to finish a bowl. Because he was the last to finish, the table was already littered with leftovers.

“Greedy little bastards.”

As the kids cleaned up, a tipsy Sujae picked another fight. Three empty green bottles rolled across the adult’s table. When Dohoon tried to snap back, Hosan stopped him and dragged Sujae outside.

“He’s a hot-tempered man. Please just understand.”

The elderly couple also looked uncomfortable with the conflict. With them stepping in, Dohoon managed to swallow his anger and kept working.

After dinner, the students gathered their belongings from Room 201 and moved to Room 301. Room 201 wasn’t suitable for sleeping due to the blood Sangjin had spilled. The girls also came over to Room 301, which was now the new boys’ room, for a meeting.

“Did everyone do the tasks I asked for earlier?”

Kim Yoon checked what the kids had been assigned to do. But their expressions were odd. They exchanged glances, then gave awkward smiles.

“We were going to, but… the police, well, those murderers, showed up all of a sudden…”

At Kim Min’s answer, Kim Yoon pressed his fingers against his brow bone. It felt like being stuck doing a group project with lazy, incompetent teammates.

Normally, he would have let something like this slide with a gentle smile. But today, his mood was already at rock bottom.

Sensing the kids watching him nervously, he forced the corners of his lips upward. All those years of hiding his true thoughts behind a mask proved useful.

“Alright, then let’s finish it by tomorrow. Since Munsu is okay now, Munsu, Han Min, and Haena, look for useful information about the situation and help map out the metropolitan area. I’ll work on it too.”

“Yes.”

“Good. Let’s wrap up for today. I’m sure everyone’s been really shaken.”

As soon as Kim Yoon spoke softly, the tense atmosphere relaxed and small conversations arose. At that moment, Dohoon slid next to him.

“I did almost everything you asked. Checked how much food we have left, took inventory of supplies. I wrote it all down. Should I send it to you?”

“Good work. Yeah, send it.”

Dohoon tried not to grin too widely as he sent the message.

“…Huh?”

But instead of sending, his phone displayed a failure notice. Jisoo, who had been absentmindedly trying to message her parents, also gasped.

“…The internet is down.”

Yejin, who had opened her browser to research unfinished information, spoke in shock. Kim Yoon closed his eyes briefly and breathed. With everything happening, it was strange the network had stayed up this long.

It had cut earlier than expected, but blaming anyone wouldn’t help.

No one knew the police were murderers, nor that they would return trying to kill them. The kids had tried their best. The situation just didn’t cooperate.

“We weren’t slacking off earlier either. We looked up news articles, checked social media… but everything people are posting now is about how bad the situation is and how they’re trapped…”

Jisoo explained, glancing nervously at Kim Yoon. She and Yejin had tried to find useful information, but there was too much noise, too many irrelevant posts. They conveniently left out how much longer they spent trying to contact their families.

“Well… we did draw a map…”

Ayoung slid forward a sheet of paper torn from a calendar. It was covered in crooked lines and messy writing. Unfortunately, both she and Kim Min had terrible handwriting and were equally hopeless at drawing.

“You didn’t think to just capture the map?”

“Oh… wow. We’re so stupid.”

“Honestly, I only just thought of it myself.”

At Haena’s comment, both Kim Min and Ayoung dropped their jaws. Even Kim Yoon, listening with eyes closed, realized he himself hadn’t thought of that method earlier and felt his temples throb. They had wandered in circles despite a straight path being available.

But dwelling on past mistakes wasn’t useful. After sorting his thoughts, Kim Yoon brushed back his hair. If the network had gone down this abruptly, the military and government were likely struggling to contain the zombies. The soldiers meant to rescue them might not be coming after all. Their survival chances had sharply dropped in a matter of minutes.

Kim Yoon stood and went to the sink. Water flowed clearly when he turned the faucet. The lights overhead shone steadily without flickering.

“The electricity is still on… and the water’s running. Everyone, charge your phones and portable batteries just in case. Even if the network doesn’t return, phones are still useful.”

Phones could serve as flashlights if the power went out. The camera worked without the internet, and many apps could function offline.

“…Um, I captured the map.”

From one corner, Jiwoo, who had stayed quiet with only his eyes moving, finally spoke. All eyes turned to him. He pulled out his phone.

“I thought… just in case…”

When Kim Yoon left him in Room 201, Jiwoo had sat there alone, wondering how to talk to him again. Then he remembered the tasks Kim Yoon had assigned. After the police-turned-murderers showed up, everyone had scattered in panic.

Drawing maps took time. And Jiwoo knew exactly what Kim Min and Ayoung’s handwriting looked like. Even if handwriting and drawing skill didn’t always correlate, maps were complicated. The more he thought about it, the more certain he became that their map would be unfinished.

So a solution had come to him naturally. Jiwoo had searched the map online and tapped the capture button repeatedly.

When the detailed image filled the phone screen, Kim Min let out a breath of relief.

“Oh, thank god. Nam Jiwoo, you’re smart. Now that I think of it, didn’t you get our department scholarship all year? Yeah, I remember now. We were all wondering who the heck Nam Jiwoo even was back then… Sorry.”

Kim Min ended his ramble with an apology. Jiwoo had always been invisible, so before all this chaos, most students couldn’t even remember his name. But at some point, Jiwoo became a close friend to Kim Min. Facing life and death together forged a bond.

“At least you remember my name now. It’s okay.”

Jiwoo smiled to ease his guilt. Kim Min’s eyes grew wet. He ruffled Jiwoo’s hair messily.

“You’re too damn kind. How are you going to survive in a world like this?”

“H-hey, stop it…”

Unsatisfied with just ruffling his hair, Kim Min playfully locked Jiwoo in a headlock. It was meant as affection, not bullying, but Kim Yoon’s eyes flashed dangerously for a moment.

“Even a slow worm can wriggle its way along, huh? Anyway, Kim Yoon, looks like the map’s handled too. And you took care of those murderers. Now we just have to survive until the soldiers arrive. With the food we have, we can probably stretch it two weeks if we ration.”

Dohoon spoke beside him, but Kim Yoon’s gaze remained fixed on Jiwoo. Realizing something was off, Dohoon began to follow his eyes when…

“Let’s get to sleep, everyone. Fill up your water bottles, and don’t forget to charge your phones and batteries.”

Kim Yoon clapped loudly to gather everyone’s attention. A surge of murderous urgency had climbed up his throat. He needed to get to the barbecue shelter before the kids fell asleep. The thought that Sangjin might have died already made his nerves spike.

“What about rooms?”

“You and I will use Room 301. The freshmen can take Room 302. Everyone okay with that?”

“Yes!”

“Of course, sunbae.”

Dohoon couldn’t hide the grin tugging at his lips. The others also showed no signs of complaint.

Kim Min and Han Min gathered blankets and bags. Only Jiwoo, hugging his bag tightly, kept glancing toward Kim Yoon like someone reluctant to part. As if the earlier moment had never existed, Kim Yoon ignored the warm gaze entirely, picked up his own bag, and went into the room.

“Nam Jiwoo, what are you doing? Let the sunbaes rest. Let’s get out of their way.”

“…Yeah.”

Urged by Han Min, Jiwoo hugged his bag and followed. Watching his defeated silhouette, Dohoon secretly allowed himself a victorious smile.

---

…I can’t sleep.

Everyone else had already fallen asleep.

Jiwoo, unable to drift off no matter how long he lay there, left the room and sat against the living room wall. Even Munsu, who had tossed and turned for a while, was now sleeping deeply with steady breaths.

He wrapped his arms around his knees and rested his forehead on them, but all that came was a sigh. He kept thinking not only about Kim Yoon but about the pension owners and Minji too. The young couple who had fled the pension flashed through his mind, clicking their tongues at him. The woman really had a sixth sense. The police she warned them about had turned out to be murderers, and they had indeed harmed people.

If only he had given everyone a quiet warning about those officers before they left… would things have turned out differently?

Even if he had said something, people likely would have misunderstood him. But now that everything had happened, all he felt was regret. Jiwoo consciously tried not to remember the woman’s warning about Kim Yoon.

Maybe I should get some fresh air.

No one knew when things would change again. The network was down, but the pension was still warm. Jiwoo knew well how terrifying the cold could be, having survived atop the bus. The boiler could go out anytime, so they needed to rest properly while they could, but his stomach churned, and sleep evaded him.

Eventually, Jiwoo stood up. He wanted to at least look at the moon. On troubled nights like this, he used to sit on the rooftop bench of his old place and let the moonlight calm his heart.

He approached the window and pulled the curtain aside. Lifting his head, he saw the moon. Even if the ground was soaked in blood, the moon remained clear and untouched, just like before the virus spread. Against the black sky, its pale glow slowly seeped into his thoughts, and naturally, one person filled his mind.

“Haa…”

His sigh fell with his gaze. In that moment, Jiwoo’s eyes widened.

“…Huh?”

The person who had occupied his thoughts all day, there he was, walking out of the building. Hands tucked into his pockets, his steps relaxed and casual.

Maybe sunbae couldn’t sleep either and had gone outside for a walk?

But without his department jacket or the padding Sangpil gave them, only wearing thin training clothes, he looked cold. Jiwoo bit his lower lip, deep in dilemma. Maybe this was exactly what he had wanted. Staying close to Kim Yoon only made his foolish feelings get louder, so he’d decided to put distance between them. Kim Yoon acting like Jiwoo was invisible was… technically what he’d told himself he wanted.

…but it hurts too much.

Still, leaving things like this felt wrong. The expression Kim Yoon wore earlier, so hurt, kept tugging at his heart. Even if Kim Yoon ignored him from now on, Jiwoo felt he needed to apologize for not answering properly, or he would regret it.

Decision made, Jiwoo put on his department jacket from the living room and grabbed the padded coat Sangpil had given them. When he stepped out of Building A, his breath puffed out in white clouds. In this weather, walking around dressed like Kim Yoon was a perfect way to catch a cold.

He looked around for him. He had definitely been nearby, but now he was gone. Jiwoo’s gaze swept over the parking lot, then the pool area, and stopped.

There…

Kim Yoon was entering the barbecue shelter. Knowing who was inside made Jiwoo’s heart drop. They had tied the murderers tightly, yes, but those men were far from ordinary. They had laughed, greeted them kindly, eaten with them, and still killed without hesitation.

What if they were waiting for someone to enter? In movies, people always got attacked when approaching tied-up villains. Jiwoo knew reality wasn’t quite the same, but his imagination kept spiraling into the worst possibilities.

Sunbae…

Calling him inwardly, Jiwoo ran toward the shelter. Cold air slapped his cheeks, breaking apart into white mist.

When he reached the entrance, the padlock hung open on the latch. As he pushed the door, a sharp, bloody stench hit him. The inside was dark.

Outside, the bright moonlight made it easy to see, but the shelter was different. The opaque vinyl blocked out the moon. Jiwoo blinked rapidly, adjusting to the darkness.

After a moment, his eyes acclimated. Beyond the long table, someone was crouched. The small head and broad shoulders confirmed it, Kim Yoon.

He wasn’t moving at all.

Jiwoo’s heart pounded painfully. Could the worst scenario he imagined have really happened?

He clenched his fists, stepping forward. If the murderers had hurt sunbae, he would have to save him. Even though his legs shook like those of a newborn fawn, he forced himself to move.

He was only ten steps away when it happened.

Kim Yoon suddenly raised his right arm high into the air. Something was in his hand, Jiwoo blinked, trying to focus, but before he could identify it, the arm swung down.

A heavy thud rang out, followed by a wet splatter. The scent of blood thickened.

Before Jiwoo could even understand what happened, Kim Yoon lifted his arm again.

Thud. Whack. Thump.

The sound of flesh being crushed and ruptured tore through the dark.

“Haa…”

Kim Yoon pushed back his hair with his left hand, releasing a languid sigh. It was the sound a predator made after a satisfying feast. Jiwoo froze, lips parted.

Even in the dark, Kim Yoon’s profile was chilling. Dots of bright red blood speckled his smooth cheek.

Jiwoo couldn’t breathe.

Only then did he notice the lump on the floor, hidden behind Kim Yoon’s body until now.

It was a person.

Or rather, someone who had been a person, moments ago. Now they were nothing but mangled flesh.

“Mmgh…”

Unable to hold back the nausea, Jiwoo covered his mouth with both hands. The padded jacket he brought to give to Kim Yoon slipped from his grasp and fell to the dirt floor instead of onto Kim Yoon’s shoulders. Sensing someone’s presence, Kim Yoon rose smoothly from where he sat. He turned slowly toward Jiwoo, a hammer gripped in his hand.

Blood pooled on the hammer’s edge dripped down in a long line. Jiwoo’s vision rippled like waves.

“So it was you, sneaking around like a little rat…”

The hollow look in his eyes was unfamiliar. The tail of his voice, still tinged with excitement, was rough like splintered wood.

Run. He had to run.

The person standing before him was not the man Jiwoo knew. What he had glimpsed earlier had not been a mistake, he realized that with crushing certainty.

Sunbae really was someone who felt pleasure in hurting and killing people.

But Jiwoo couldn’t move. It wasn’t as though Kim Yoon was holding him down. His body felt tied in invisible chains from head to toe, consumed entirely by fear.

The metallic stench of blood, forgotten for a moment, rushed back into his senses. His stomach twisted. His esophagus tightened. His skin drained of color like it had been bleached. When Kim Yoon looked at him, his expression was void of anything human.

Jiwoo felt like an object under that gaze, not a person. His strength drained away, and he collapsed onto the ground. The mangled, bloody mass in front of him filled his entire view. He trembled, unable to look at the second body beside it.

Footsteps approached, steady and slow. Jiwoo’s eyelashes quivered. Kim Yoon stopped right in front of him and crouched down. Jiwoo remained trapped under his shadow, shaking like a small animal caught in a snare.

A blood-soaked fingertip lightly brushed his pale cheek. The sticky warmth left a vivid red streak across his skin.

“What a pain you are, Jiwoo.”

Recognizing him, Kim Yoon’s long eyes softened. It was the smile Jiwoo had fallen for.

Jiwoo’s pounding heart no longer knew whether it was fear or something else. Kim Yoon lifted the hammer, the air whistling around it. Jiwoo squeezed his eyes shut, unable to endure another second.

“Haha, Jiwoo.”