Destruction — Chapter 6
by Brie“Pack your stuff.”
“Huh?”
“Do you have a raincoat or anything like that?”
One moment he was ignoring Saejin’s plea to go back inside, and the next he was urging him to pack. Still dazed, Saejin fetched a large bag and began to gather his things.
“There should be one in the shoe cabinet drawer. But wait… why all of a sudden?”
“That guy’s pouring something out in the hallway. Looks like gasoline, judging by the lighter in his hand.”
“Gasoline? He’s crazy…! Shouldn’t we stop him?”
Woobeom blocked Saejin and shook his head.
“There are still monsters all over the hallway. And judging by his behavior, he’s ready to go out with a bang. How are we supposed to stop that?”
“Still…”
“If you can’t handle it, don’t get involved. Just hurry up and pack.”
“Even if we pack, how are we going to get out? If the hallway’s full of zombies like you said…”
“We jump.”
Saejin’s apartment, 102, was labeled the first floor, but in height, it was closer to the second. Built with a piloti structure, where the first floor was used for parking, escaping through the window carried a risk of injury. Still, if they didn’t jump, the only thing waiting for them was death by fire. A fall injury seemed like the lesser evil. Deciding not to hesitate any longer, Saejin packed quickly.
With limited space, he only took the bare essentials: one or two changes of clothes, ten protein bars, his phone charger, and some emergency medication. He filled his 500mL tumbler with water, carrying a total of 1.5 liters. When he signaled he was ready, Woobeom tossed him a raincoat.
“Were you maybe a virus-movie fan or something?”
“…What?”
“You’re quick to assess the situation and handle things. Just impressed.”
Woobeom wore the raincoat to keep zombie blood from seeping into his clothes, sealing the sleeves tightly with tape. He was clearly determined not to let the virus get in. Grabbing Saejin’s hand, he yanked him forward.
“Hold still, even if it feels tight.”
The tape ripped as Woobeom sealed Saejin’s sleeves. Watching the man tape him up, Saejin suddenly had an idea.
“We can’t cover everything, but how about hats? If we pull the brim down tight, it should protect our faces a bit, right?”
As soon as the taping was done, Saejin grabbed two black baseball caps from the closet. Pulling the brims low and pulling the raincoat hoods over them gave them the look of characters straight out of a disaster movie.
Just as they finished getting ready, glass shattered and a loud explosion echoed through the apartment. The man really had set the place on fire. Thick, black smoke began seeping in through the front door’s cracks, crawling up the walls and blanketing the ceiling in seconds. At this rate, they’d suffocate before the fire even reached them.
– Fine, let’s all die together! Burn!
The man next door screamed, followed by a shriek of pain. It was a sound so awful it made one sick just to hear it. He must’ve caught fire—an acrid smell began to waft in through the cracks.
“Don’t focus on that. Just concentrate.”
Seeing Saejin about to spiral into panic from the sensory overload, Woobeom gripped his shoulders tightly. With urgency pressing in, Woobeom scanned the room, finally settling on a window big enough to escape through. He opened the double panes and leaned out to assess the drop. The trash-strewn ground came into view as he narrowed his eyes. The height was manageable for him, but the real issue was Yoon Saejin.
“Yoon Saejin.”
Gasping and holding his nose against the smoke, Saejin ran over at Woobeom’s call.
“Take a good look. Think you can jump?”
“You’re not serious, right? You’re actually going to jump from here?”
Looking down with the awareness that he had to jump made the height feel even more terrifying. His vision swam, and he felt his guts twist. Woobeom, unsurprised by Saejin’s panicked response, just stared back.
Unlike Woobeom, who could manage a fall with proper technique, Saejin was completely unprepared. Forcing him to jump without caution could end in a fractured bone—or worse.
Woobeom looked around, then lifted the mattress from the bed. With its thickness, even a bad landing might not result in injury. As he carried the mattress over to the window, Saejin caught on to his plan and removed the windowpane from the frame. The now open frame was fairly wide, but not enough to fit the mattress through entirely.
“I’ll help you!”
Working together, they began to force the mattress through the opening. Pressing it into the frame, the mattress began to inch its way outward. Taking a deep breath, Saejin gave one final push, and the mattress slipped through, tumbling down to the ground. It bounced once, then again, and came to an awkward stop far from the intended landing spot.
“…What do we do now? It’s useless like that.”
The mattress had been their means of cushioning the fall, but now that it had landed away from the jump zone, the whole effort seemed pointless. While Saejin panicked behind him, Woobeom simply said, “This’ll do,” and climbed out onto the building’s outer wall, hanging there precariously.
“W-What are you doing?”
‘He’s not going to jump like this, is he?’
Thinking it was a reckless move, Saejin tried to stop him. But Woobeom just waved him off and let go of the wall.
“Hyung!”
In an instant, Jung Woobeom vanished from sight. Saejin felt like the blood in his veins had turned to ice.