episode_0011

An hour had passed since then, but Ha Seo-yeon still hadn’t gotten up. Still, her expression was fine.

The mart was still burning. A fire of that magnitude would not stop until it was completely destroyed.

What should I do from now on? Should I go back to the shelter? But I had a meaningful breakup with that kid…

I looked at Ha Seo-yeon with that thought in mind.

……

Yeah. Life over pride.

I had Ha Seo-yeon sit on the carrier, lean her upper body against my back, and tied our bodies together with the rope I had found in the basement of the mart. After that, I held the handlebars of the bicycle in each hand and started to head towards the shelter.

It’s only about 1km, so you’ll get there quickly.

###########

So I arrived at the shelter and knocked on the door repeatedly, as if I was in a bit of a hurry.

On the way here, Ha Seo-yeon’s body started to feel feverish.

After knocking for a while, a man came out.

Now that I think about it, I didn’t even know these people’s names.

The man came out and looked at Ha Seo-yeon with a surprised expression.

” Huh..? What the hell happened? ”

” The mart you told me about. That place almost became our grave. ”

” A grave..? What was there? ”

” I’ll tell you more later. My sister isn’t feeling well right now. She needs a place to lay down. ”

” Oh, I see. Come in. ”

I followed the man into a room.

There was a single cot there. I laid Ha Seo-yeon down there.

” Is this guy okay? ”

” Oxygen deficiency, poisoning by toxic substances, physical fainting, and high fever are all there is. ”

“… Toxic substance? ”

” There were plants growing there. Moss, vines, mushrooms, and various plants filled the mart. The basement was especially bad, where there was not enough oxygen and a giant Venus flytrap paralyzed my senses with its intoxicating smell. My sister was so shocked by it that she went crazy, so I just knocked her out. ”

” Huh.. I guess it’s fortunate that it ended like this. ”

” I don’t know yet. I wonder what those plants are spewing out.. so we’ll have to wait and see. ”

” Are you okay? ”

” I’m okay because my sister put the gas mask on me. It broke when we escaped though. ”

That’s a lie. I wonder why I’m so sane in the first place.

” I need medicine. ”

” Sorry, we don’t have any medicine. ”

” I’ll pay the price. ”

I said it like I knew I would say it.

I know very well how precious medicine is.

In these times, it is difficult to obtain food, so what about medicine?

” Don’t get me wrong. That’s not it. ”

The man continued, correcting my judgment.

” With that level of fever, you’ll need not only an antipyretic, but also an IV to help reduce the fever. I know how to administer the IV, so that part is fine, but I don’t have any IVs. I don’t know if there are any at the hospital nearby. ”

” Where is that? That hospital, I mean. ”

” If you walk north-south from here for about 40 minutes, there should be a nursing home. It might be there. ”

As soon as I heard that, I prepared to leave.

Simply, I opened the door to finish and leave.

” Ah! You’re back! ”

The child suddenly popped out.

” Hehe! We met so quickly! …Huh? What’s up? ”

The child observed my expression and spoke carefully.

I don’t know what my expression is like right now, but I think I’m probably nervous.

” My sister is really sick right now. Don’t worry too much, I’ll get her some medicine. ”

The child doesn’t have to worry. I’ll definitely get him the medicine.

” Yeah! I got it! But I’ll take care of this sister too! I’ll be her strength! ”

The child smiled and spoke in a childlike manner.

That smile calmed my nervousness a little.

Yeah. Just being impatient won’t help much.

You have to move calmly and definitely.

” Thank you. ”

Thank you. In many ways. As if I received a lot of help from this little kid.

” Oh my god! ”

###########

So I set off for the hospital.

I wanted to lighten my load, but the items I had with me could be great weapons, so I went with the carrier strapped to the back of my bike.

I really hope nothing happens.

We arrived at the main entrance of the hospital. Although the exterior of the hospital itself was dirty, there was little damage.

It was pretty clean inside, too. Pretty clean.

First, I looked for some kind of guide to this hospital, but it wasn’t easy to find.

There were a lot of doors, so I opened them one by one. Most of them were hospital rooms.

What was peculiar was that there were corpses secretly lying on the beds inside the hospital room.

At first, I approached the corpses, worried that they might not wake up, but a look of comfort appeared on their faces.

Even though he was dead, he looked as if he was sleeping sweetly.

There’s no way these corpses died of natural causes, right?

I kept walking around, opening several doors.

Then I entered a room and there I saw something like a blackboard with the words “Work Notice” written on it.

The contents stated that all medicines must be recorded in the ledger before use, and the location of the medicines was helpfully listed.

It appears to be stored in a room on the third floor.

You went straight up to the third floor and resumed the search.

Then I found a sign that said “Pharmaceutical Storage Room.”

I tried turning the doorknob, but it wouldn’t open.

It didn’t seem like this would be solved even by smashing the doorknob.

I searched around for the key.

I opened the door that said “Nursing Office.” It might be here.

As soon as I opened the door, what I saw was a body that had been hung and committed suicide.

” ….Fuck.. ”

I was surprised. I never thought I would encounter something like that.

Upon closer inspection, I saw that she was a nurse. She had something hanging around her neck that introduced her as a nursing nurse.

I was a little curious about this corpse, but ignored it and searched the room.

I opened the desk drawer and there was just a notebook and a key lying there.

The note read:

diary.

====================

xxth day of xth month.

Today is the day to provide nutritional supplements to the elderly.

Since the elderly are always in this hospital, we have to provide them with nutrition.

But it seems like we can’t take care of our body and mind.

This is because most of the elderly wanted to see their children.

Dawn of xxth month.

A loud alarm blared from the TV.

The content was that unidentified projectiles were flying toward Korea.

We were told to evacuate within a given time, but we had no idea where to go.

Moreover, it was impossible to evacuate this many people. The other nurses checked the alarm and then got in their cars and went somewhere.

xxth day of xth month.

A lot has changed that day. I saw a flash of light in the distance and immediately drew the curtains.

I thought I knew what it was so I taped all the windows but I’m not sure if it would help.

Even now, things like water and electricity are still running. Maybe because it’s only been a day..

Many of the elders were anxious, but all I could do was tell them that it was okay.

xxth day of xth month.

Three days passed since then and many people visited the hospital.

Most of them were families who had come to see their elders. What was unusual was that they were accompanied by soldiers.

It would have been nice if we had all evacuated at that time, but some of the elders said they would wait here for their children and did not evacuate. I voluntarily decided to stay and take care of the elders.

The soldiers gave us supplies, but I don’t know how long we can last with this.

xxth day of xth month.

Now there were only seven people in this hospital, including me.

It seemed like a lot of time had passed since the soldiers’ visit, but no one had come.

Supplies were running out and infrastructure was already paralyzed.

Water, electricity and gas were also cut off a long time ago.

I robbed the nearby supermarkets and convenience stores to get supplies, but they had already been robbed, so I didn’t get much out of them.

xxth day of xth month.

Everything is hopeless. How much longer can I live?

The elderly people were left stranded, having lost all hope that their children would ever come back and had lost their will to live.

The supplies have already been depleted and we are left with only water to drink.

No one comes. Nothing is found.

Maybe it was because of the outside air, but my physical condition wasn’t that good.

It’s really over now.

xxth day of xth month.

I gave the elderly people IV fluids. I lied to them, saying that they would survive if they just had this nutritional supplement.

This drug is a powerful hypnotic and euthanasia drug, barbiturate.

This drug, which is unimaginable in Korea, existed in this hospital.

There were a few conditions for using this medicine, but now it doesn’t matter.

No, I’m writing this because it’s now.

Rather than dying in starvation, it is better to die in a dream.

After confirming that all the elders were in eternal sleep, I prepared to hang myself in the nurse’s office.

Unfortunately, there was only a small supply of the drug, so there was nothing for me to use.

I committed murder, but I have no regrets.

Because this place was like another hell.

If anyone finds this diary, take the key I left next to it.

This key is the key to the medicine cabinet, which contains medicines that can improve most symptoms.

If it hasn’t been tampered with, it’ll be usable.

=====================

The diary ended here.

I looked at the nurse who wrote this diary.

What kind of emotions did this person have when he died? A sense of liberation? Sadness?

I don’t know. But I could tell one thing.

This nurse did her duty until she died.

I took this nurse down from the rope and laid her on the floor.

And then I covered him with a blanket.

May eternal rest be granted to those who sacrifice one life for the many.