episode_0066

The old man’s heart was still beating and his face wasn’t grimacing in pain. But he just wouldn’t get up.

What if this doesn’t happen?

It had already been over 30 minutes since the bridge had been blown up. The area beneath the bridge was filled with the screams of zombies being swept away by the debris and the current.

My heart sank and my eyes became hot with tears at the sight of the old man remaining so quiet in such a noisy place.

In such an unexpected situation, the man held his heart and continued to swallow his tears at the unbelievable outcome.

“Ugh…”

The radio that had been ringing a few minutes ago had its batteries disconnected, including the old man’s.

What does anything else matter while the old man is like this? The old man’s life or death was the most important thing to me.

I didn’t want to have any unfortunate incidents where zombies who weren’t caught in the explosion heard the sound and discovered us.

I felt like I couldn’t forgive myself if I made that mistake.

“Please, wake up… You said you weren’t doing anything dangerous.”

The old man didn’t answer. Only his heart beat indifferently and slowly.

A thought crossed my mind.

‘Vegetable.’

A person who shows signs of life but does not regain consciousness.

Tears welled up in my eyes. I was filled with self-loathing and self-hatred at the thought that maybe it was because of me.

But when I thought about the fact that my insignificant life was still hanging on because of the old man’s sacrifice, there was nothing I could do.

Self-harm and suicide, born of disillusionment and hatred, were nothing more or less than throwing the old man’s devotion to the ground.

“You said you didn’t care… You said you wouldn’t lie…”

I had no choice but to hold onto the old man and cry like a helpless little girl.

Even if I tried to think of another number, there was a limit to what this tiny body could do to save the old man’s life. No, it wasn’t just that there was a limit, there was nothing.

“If you wake up, I won’t nag you so much. Okay? I’ve been a bit harsh, haven’t I? Actually, it’s your fault… No, I think it’s just because I’m bad. I’ll be less harsh from now on. So open your eyes. You can do that, right?”

The old man didn’t move. Maybe he wasn’t sincere enough. Maybe he was so mean that he unconsciously thought my words were a lie.

“If you don’t get up, I won’t say a word to you. The old man will act like he didn’t know you. If you don’t want that to happen, get up. Even if the old man asks you to go somewhere with him, you won’t listen. Even if the old man asks you to help him…”

What am I talking about now… I don’t know if he’ll regain consciousness even if I say nice things, so I’m wondering if threatening him will get through…

Yeah, he likes women. Maybe if I act a little nicer to him, he’ll wake up.

“Do-hoon… Oh… Oppa, wake up, okay? Dan-hwa is waiting for you like this… Aren’t you going to wake up?”

Oppa, it was a word that didn’t roll off the tongue easily. I wasn’t used to acting cute like a girl. Perhaps, if Lina and Hwa-ryeon weren’t there, I wouldn’t have known what to do.

Even though I mustered up my courage and said those words, the old man still didn’t move.

Really, really gone?

The spark of hope that had burned at the fact that I was still breathing and that my heart was still beating began to fade.

A pitch-black darkness began to eat away at my heart, as if it would go out immediately if the wind blew from somewhere.

No, this can’t be happening. How can this be happening?

There’s no way this can be real. I’ve been with you so many times, and even when we’ve been in dangerous situations, we’ve always gotten through them together and laughed together in the end.

“Don’t do this… You said you weren’t going to leave me behind… This time, after work, let’s meet…”

My throat was choked up. It was now difficult to even say anything. It could be because I was overwhelmed with emotion, or it could be because the shock of the fall had come late.

I crawled over the old man’s body. I buried my cheek in his face to find evidence that he was still alive. His hot breath tickled me.

The dim light was rekindled. There’s no way an unconscious person could be this healthy. He just fainted for a moment. He’ll wake up as normal soon.

“Sir, it’s dangerous here. If we stay like this, it’ll get more dangerous. We promised to take care of ourselves first.”

I whispered in the old man’s ear. I had no choice but to whisper. It was the best I could do with my hoarse voice.

I tried to force my voice out as if I was pleading, but it became harder and harder as I repeated it, and eventually all I could do was put my cheek against the old man’s face and sob and make a whimpering sound.

In fact, the shock from the crash might have made us forget what time it was, and we might have forgotten where we were.

Once the old man falls into a deep sleep, he rarely wakes up. He only has strange nightmares and doesn’t think about waking up.

This idiot, how dangerous this place is, thinking this is some kind of shelter, sleeping like this.

I put my lips on the old man’s cheek. A kiss on the cheek is meant to be affectionate. I like the old man… No, I like him, but it’s not love yet…

If you didn’t like each other in the first place, there’s no way you would stay together for four years.

I’ve never done it before, but just like parents and children usually show their affection for each other with a light kiss, I did it with that kind of meaning.

And I did it with the hope that you would please wake up, that you would wake up.

First of all, the lips… are still early. No, rather than early, shouldn’t I have permission from the old man?

Because it’s something that people in love do. You and I aren’t in love.

Because when the old man meets the person he loves, he makes a lot of promises to continue the relationship.

“I’ll…be nice…and do whatever you say…so I’ll do it…sob!”

I couldn’t hold back the tears that were pouring down.

Fearing that her heavy breathing might be bothering her, she turned away from the old man’s face and buried her face in his chest again, crying quietly.

Something touched my head. A familiar size, a familiar feel, a familiar warmth.

My body started to flinch.

“The promise is too much, did I sleep a little too long…?”

An insensitive voice rang in my ears. My heart pounded like crazy. It felt like my chest was on fire.

“Idiot, trash, fool, idiot…”

I didn’t even have the strength to move, but the hand that was holding the old man’s body suddenly appeared from somewhere and started moving on its own, pounding the old man’s chest.

“Being nice.”

“…noisy”

Although I was annoyed, the joy was greater than that. I was suffering from anxiety that we might be completely breaking up.

It was so nice just to wake up.

“Kueeek?”

I must have shouted loudly without realizing it. The guys might have noticed the sound of me hitting the old man’s chest.

It was true that the old man had woken up, but my heart sank because I hadn’t properly checked whether he could move his body.

“This kind of thing.”

“I’ll take care of it…”

I tried to speak confidently, but my voice was hoarse from crying so much.

“No, I slept well, so I should get moving.”

“Okay…”

The old man got up easily as if the situation just now had been a lie. It was a stark contrast to me, who was still unsteady.

What am I doing? Even the old man is moving like that, and I, who isn’t even hurt, am just sitting there like an idiot…

The moment I tried to get up, the man picked me up. He put his big hands under my armpits as if he was picking up a cat and placed my feet on the ground.

“Can you move? Or should I carry you like I did when I came down from above?”

To be honest, I think I spent a lot of energy and strength worrying and crying like a little girl while the old man was awake.

Still, I felt a bit awkward leaving myself in the hands of someone who had just woken up, so I shook my head from side to side and pretended to be calm.

“Can you…hic? What is this…!”

“That’s a lie, I’m going fast. In the meantime, put some radio batteries in here.”

While we were doing that, zombies started to gather around the van. Fortunately, most of them had already fallen to the riverbed, so there weren’t more than twenty of them.

I received the black radio from the old man while holding him in my arms. As soon as I connected the battery, the radio started making loud noises.

-It won’t work. 3rd platoon, go to the bridge and check if Do-Hoon and the girl are alive. If they’re alive, bring them back no matter what.

Perhaps, the main unit judged that something had happened since the radio transmission had been cut off for a long time.

“Ah, can you let me know that you’re alive and share the current progress of the operation?”

-Whew…! You’re alive! We’ve just entered the highway, the barrier has been set up, and we were about to head towards the Gwangsan rest area, our planned meeting point.

“I will proceed as originally planned and join as soon as possible.”

-Okay, thank you for your hard work.

“Okay.”

I didn’t even have the energy to get angry at the old man who spoke as if nothing had happened.

I just thought, that’s the kind of person he is. Even though I almost died, I couldn’t say anything because he was like that.

I just blankly stared at the old man. The old man must have sensed my gaze because he met my eyes for a moment.

“If only they had lived. If those guys had taken charge, 10 people would have died.”

“That’s better than Mr. Daddy dying.”

“No, is that a nice thing to hear? The story I told you earlier wasn’t a lie, was it?”

Because he was talking so much, it was hard to tell what he was talking about. I even began to suspect that he might have known and been pretending not to wake up on purpose.

“How far have you seen… no, heard.”

“Well?”

As I watched her playfully, my face started to heat up, wondering if she even knew that I had kissed her on the cheek.

“Bad boy…”

“Oh, that’s a bad word.”

I hit the ground and regretted it. I couldn’t hit the ground because I was being held by my uncle.