Chapter 205

“I want to go with you.”

Im Jang-woo frowned at Go Ju-won’s words.

It was what he heard as soon as he said he would go out instead of Go Ju-won.

“Aren’t you scared?”

“Mister. You know you would have died without me, right?”

“Yeah. I’m grateful for that.”

Go Ju-won smiled slyly. But Im Jang-woo was not done talking.

“That doesn’t mean I’m taking you with me.”

In this situation, where even adults were trembling with fear, how could this kid, who was barely a middle schooler, look so calm and composed? Im Jang-woo’s detective instincts kicked in since Go Ju-won showed up on the first floor.

‘Is he escaping from reality, having a hero complex at his age, or maybe…’

“This is not a game and you could die.”

A shadow crossed Go Ju-won’s face.

He didn’t think of this situation as a game, but he wondered if he was escaping from reality right now.

He had seen his friends turn into zombies, he couldn’t go back to his hospital room, and the adults he met barely relied on him, a middle schooler. 

Then he fought zombies and saw Im Jang-woo, who was protecting people.

When he finally found an adult he could lean on, Go Ju-won’s heart, which had been trying to lighten the mood by enduring the fear that was eating away at his body and mind, was slightly exposed.

“…I know that.”

Go Ju-won tightened his grip on the bow. It was his own bow, but it felt like a memento of his friends.

“But if I stay here quietly, I’ll really…”

He felt like he would die.

If he didn’t do anything, if he just sat here quietly, he remembered the faces of his friends who had turned into zombies. 

He heard their voices blaming him for not coming to save them sooner. 

He knew they weren’t like that, but Go Ju-won’s heart was weak.

It’s because I was sick. It’s because they came to visit me.

He felt like his chest was burning with guilt, but Go Ju-won smiled and talked more brightly. 

The brighter he appeared on the outside, the more his heart sank.

He couldn’t help but save the people who were still alive and looked like his friends because of the guilt and pressure that piled up every second.

“So I want to go too.”

Only then did Go Ju-won’s expression look like that of a victim of post-traumatic stress disorder. He looked fine on the outside, but rotting inside. Im Jang-woo knew well what the end of such people was like. He knew what they left unsaid.

Go Ju-won’s face, driven by the pressure to do something, made Im Jang-woo sigh.

“…Ju-won.”

“Or I’ll go by myself.”

Im Jang-woo groaned and rubbed his forehead at Go Ju-won’s declaration. 

He had heard how this kid had wandered around the hospital by himself and saved two people before meeting Im Jang-woo.

Im Jang-woo looked at one side of the room. 

He saw people sitting on mattresses that were laid on the floor from the hospital beds. 

They had opened the door for him when Go Ju-won texted them earlier, but they seemed to be very scared by the situation. 

The couple who had barely found a safe place and relaxed were no different.

The only ones who wanted to move were Im Jang-woo, whose detective instincts had surfaced, and Go Ju-won, who was escaping from reality because of guilt.

In this hopeless reality, Im Jang-woo touched his throbbing forehead and looked at the bow that Go Ju-won was holding. 

This middle schooler who only seemed strong had a very useful weapon.

‘It’s not possible…’

But the problem was that this weapon could only be used by Go Ju-won.

If he took Go Ju-won with him, there was a higher chance of saving more people and returning safely than if Im Jang-woo moved alone. But then this kid would be in danger.

‘But this guy said he would go anyway.’

Leaving behind the adults who couldn’t rely on him and going by himself. Driven by guilt and pressure, he would wander around the hospital.

Im Jang-woo gave up after struggling for a while.

“…You have to listen to me well.”

“Yes!”

Go Ju-won smiled brightly.

“Cut, OK!”

Director Choi Dae-man shouted loudly.

***

Today’s shooting was about Go Ju-won and Im Jang-woo leaving their room to save people and get food, and meeting Yeon Jae-hee at the garden cafe on the third floor of the main building.

O.W.C Hospital was shaped like a ‘D’, with the upper building being the main building, the side building being the east wing, and the lower building being the center. 

Go Ju-won was hospitalized on the seventh floor of the center, and the place they were using as a shelter now was a room on the fourth floor of the east wing.

They had to save their precious phones and arrows that they couldn’t get more of, so most of the fights were close combat. 

Seo-jun and Kim Jong-ho, as well as the stuntmen zombies and the action director, coordinated their moves.

“You have to hit this spot exactly.”

“Yes.”

The action director pointed to the arm of a stuntman who was playing a zombie. 

Seo-jun nodded seriously.

“Then move this way, dodge the zombie that runs at you here.”

The action director showed them the final test himself.

Seo-jun and Kim Jong-ho, who had been practicing at the action school whenever they had time, remembered the order and were confident that they could do well. But they still focused on the action director’s movements as if they were engraving them in their brains.

This kind of action scene was something that could hurt someone if anyone made a mistake. 

Fortunately, it was not a long take that had to be filmed in one go, but a scene that was filmed one cut at a time, so it wasn’t that hard.

“Then we’ll start shooting!”

They finished rehearsing perfectly and moved on to the actual shooting.

“Ready, action!”

“Let’s only use our phones when we really need them. We might not be able to get more.”

“Yeah. And the arrows too.”

Im Jang-woo carried Go Ju-won’s arrow bag on his shoulder. 

The quiver with ten arrows and the bow were still held by Go Ju-won. 

Im Jang-woo, who had broken the legs of the hospital beds and made a few weapons, walked ahead and tapped his jumper pocket with two phones that had no power left.

“Let’s go.”

“Yes.”

Music flowed from the Bluetooth speaker. Zombies came rushing in, and they left the fourth floor, which was no different from a safe zone. Go Ju-won looked at his call log a while ago.

Third floor.

[Phone without case]

He pressed the call button and heard a faint sound. Relief showed on Go Ju-won and Im Jang-woo’s faces.

‘We saved one phone with this.’

The two looked at each other and went down.

They didn’t go outside right away. They went into a nearby room and looked out the window for zombies. 

They looked for the best place to throw their phone. 

Im Jang-woo took out one phone from his bag. Go Ju-won found the number on his phone.

Im Jang-woo opened the window and threw it with all his might. 

The bell rang, and zombies near the stairs between the main building and the east wing roared and ran out.

The side door of the main building on the first floor where zombies had left.

It was now a place that even Go Juwon didn’t know.

Im Jangwoo held a steel pipe, and Go Juwon gripped a bow.

And a few minutes later.

Im Jangwoo understood why Go Juwon had turned off his phone.

“What a shitty timing…!”

He muttered lowly as he swung his steel pipe at the zombie’s temple. With a thud, the zombie fell to the ground.

He didn’t utter the hopeful phrase ‘Did I kill it?’ He didn’t have time for that. 

He kicked away the charging zombie and hit another one with the steel pipe in his left hand.

They had barely entered the first floor of the main building when a phone rang inside. 

Someone outside the hospital must have called someone inside. He understood their worried feelings, but it was a problem that it happened to be Im Jangwoo and Go Juwon’s side.

The small bell sound attracted the zombies, and they saw two fresh prey in their sight. 

And this was the situation now.

Go Juwon killed four zombies with his bow. It was an impressive rapid fire, but it was not enough to take care of the remaining zombies. A fight between six zombies and two humans ensued.

“Juwon… Are you… okay?”

“No… I’m not…!”

They had to attack the zombies between their words, so it was hard to finish a sentence.

As they had discussed in the ward, Im Jangwoo and Go Juwon leaned against the wall and fought off the zombies. 

Im Jangwoo dealt with the close-range zombies, and Go Juwon shot the long-range ones with his bow.

Unlike Im Jangwoo’s steel pipe that only stopped the zombies’ movements for a moment, Go Juwon’s arrows pierced through their brains and made them fall completely.

But it was not easy for Go Juwon to shoot arrows. 

He needed a proper distance to pull the string. 

He had no choice but to hit the zombies with the lower wing of his bow and shoot them when he had some space.

Im Jangwoo and Go Juwon’s eyes were tense.

Their movements became faster. 

They had to run away before more zombies came hearing the noise.

“Duck!”

Go Juwon reflexively crouched down and Im Jangwoo smashed the zombie’s cheekbone with all his strength. 

He felt goosebumps at the sound of breaking bones, but he didn’t have time to react.

Go Juwon quickly retreated to where there were no zombies and took out an arrow from his quiver and shot it right away. 

It was a swift attack, like water flowing.

They killed ten zombies in total, and there were only two exhausted humans standing in the hallway. Im Jangwoo took a breath and opened his mouth.

“…Let’s collect the arrows first, then hide and rest.”

“…Okay.”

The arrows were precious but irreplaceable.

The detective and the middle schooler picked up the arrows one by one, like farmers harvesting in autumn.

“Cut, OK!”

Director Choi Daeman’s voice rang out.

The staff moved busily to shoot close-up shots.

The zombies hit by Seo-jun’s arrows had their right or left eyes pierced through. 

Some of them had arrows stuck deep inside their heads, as if they were shot from close range with great force. 

They couldn’t help but admire his accurate shots.

“Seo-jun, shouldn’t you really do archery?”

“Did you see him shooting earlier? He shot one and then another right away. Wow. I’ve never seen anything like that. I thought I was watching a movie!”

“…This is a movie.”

“No, I mean it looked like an edited scene!”

The staff who were amazed by Seo-jun’s archery skills disappeared with the zombie mannequins, and the extras who played zombies appeared. 

They were going to shoot more facial expressions than actions for close-up shots.

“Ready, action!”

The camera with a large lens zoomed in on Seo-jun, Kim Jongho, and the zombies’ faces. 

The staff and the camera director moved around in front of the zombies and actors, so it was less cool than shooting full shots of zombies running towards them.

It felt like reality intruded on the desperate apocalypse.

Zombies and staff. A blood-stained steel pipe and shining lights.

It was an incongruous and light atmosphere, but there was one place that was different.

Go Juwon and Im Jangwoo on the monitor.

Even though the camera lens was right in front of them, Seo-jun and Kim Jongho acted as if they had met real zombies, just like when they shot full shots. 

Every drop of sweat, every glance, every movement of their eyebrows seemed sincere.

The zombies also seemed immersed in their acting, ignoring the camera and opening their mouths wide with a kyaah! sound.

“…They’re really amazing.”

The eyes of the extras and staff didn’t leave Go Juwon on the monitor.

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