episode_0087

If one delves into human history, massacres are easily found.

Fights or wars between small territories, or murder sprees carried out by cruel and vicious bandits.

No matter how they are packaged, the essence of murder remains unchanged.

Occasionally, there are also cases like this.

Crazy acts such as impaling the victims’ heads after a murder and displaying them, or piling up mountains of corpses in the city center.

Usually a type of message often seen after an invasion or war.

‘This is what happens if you resist!’

A form of oppression that crushes with force.

In such cases, there is at least the justification of promoting civil stability after the war.

It is also a form of violence that guarantees quick results in the short term.

Occasionally, there are other cases.

Massacres with no justification whatsoever.

Acts that mock life without any reason, grudge, or emotion.

In modern times, they might be labeled psychopaths or murderers, but in the current situation, what should one call it…

‘They’re not sane.’

The sight before my eyes on the hospital rooftop was truly horrific.

Human corpses formed small hills.

The bodies of victims, seemingly without distinction between men, women, or the elderly.

Blood flowed down in layers, forming rivulets that created small puddles beneath the bodies.

Puddles of dark red, solidified and shriveled blood created the illusion of drawing one’s gaze.

As if containing a voice pleading for us to acknowledge their deaths.

Two or three more small hills like this were visible.

And all around, scattered corpses lay abandoned.

‘Crazy bastards…’

I clicked my tongue at the terrible sight that filled my vision.

I had encountered scenes of murder quite often.

I had even experienced tragedies in the midst of battlefields.

The commonality was the act of destruction, slaughtering lives.

‘…There’s no justification. They just killed them.’

Then, there was at least the justification of invasion and survival, but not now.

Even a quick look at the wounds on the corpses revealed it.

It was not a battle or a fight, but a one-sided slaughter.

It was infuriating that the weak were brutally killed, but the fact that they were killed mechanically, without any emotion, felt truly heinous.

Amidst the traces of violence wielded for fun, consumed by madness, or with reason paralyzed, there were quite a few traces indicating no emotion at all.

Whether their emotions were worn away, or they had killed so much they were tired of it, I couldn’t tell.

Proof that these are not people who should be left alive is right here.

‘…If I encounter them, I’ll never let them live.’

They had not harmed me, but I resolved that.

That I would kill them all without leaving a single one.

I made that vow looking at the body of a young girl carelessly discarded at my feet.

A child with short hair, wearing a hospital gown.

Bloodstains soiled her entire body, but recognizing her was not difficult.

A small child, perhaps five or six years old.

Unerasable tear stains remained, as if she had been crying until just before her death.

My gaze, fixed as if nailed to the pitiful traces, could not be averted.

This child had no connection or acquaintance with me.

But it was enough to make a corner of my chest ache.

That emotion was proof that I had not yet lost my humanity.

Cherishing that emotion, I gritted my teeth.

“Uncle will send all those bastards up for you. Be sure to receive an apology in heaven.”

With difficulty, I tore my gaze away and moved my feet.

I suppressed the filthy and complex emotions, steeling my mind.

I had a mission to complete now.

Finding and crushing them could wait a little longer.

Until then, I would simply fold away this feeling carefully, not forgetting it.

I replaced the disturbed feeling with calmness.

With a slightly colder gaze, I surveyed my surroundings.

Only then did the stench of death, which I hadn’t noticed before, suddenly rise.

My slightly furrowed brow refused to relax.

For a moment, I walked among the corpses, not out of respect for the deceased, but scrutinizing the bodies closely.

‘…As expected, there are no zombies.’

There were no corpses with the distinct characteristics of transformed zombies.

Confirming that fact, I immediately walked toward the rooftop entrance.

The iron door, stained with a lot of blood, was so off-putting I hesitated to approach it.

“…Haa.”

I exhaled my unpleasant feelings with a sigh and turned the doorknob.

The unlocked door opened smoothly, and then a thick, cold draft hit my face.

Whoosh~

The sound of the wind echoing from below sent chills down my spine.

I moved quietly, but the sound of my shoes hitting the floor echoed loudly.

The sound was actually small, but it felt loud.

As I moved, I sharpened my senses, trying to detect any presence.

I didn’t feel anything there right away.

‘…It feels empty….’

It was similar to the feeling of entering an empty building for cleaning before tenants moved in. The strange, slightly fearful sensation of being alone inside a large building.

The difference was that this was a dead building, not a new one for cleaning.

Perhaps because of that, the eerie air made my skin crawl slightly.

The descending staircase was a gentle slope, perhaps for patients.

The neatly painted black path felt good underfoot.

The walls were also painted in soft, bright colors for visitors, giving the impression that they wouldn’t strain the eyes.

A pleasant interior scene, if not for the ominous stains splattered everywhere.

Not long after entering, I spotted something noticeable.

【Overall Information Map】 7F – Rehabilitation Center, Occupational Health Research Institute… 6F – Wards 61-65 . . . B2 – Director’s Office, Foundation Office, Planning and Coordination Office

Outwardly, I had thought it was a quite large building.

From the 7th floor to the 2nd basement.

Each floor seemed to specialize in certain areas, and the places I needed to find were on the 2nd and 1st floors.

There were various departments, with Family Medicine on the 2nd floor, and the Emergency Room and various Internal Medicine departments on the 1st floor. I estimated my target locations and immediately began to move.

The interior, which should have been full of life, was filled only with silence.

Perhaps the exterior windows were broken, as the wind constantly blowing in from somewhere created a terrifying sound, like a ghost’s wail.

‘It feels like I’ve entered a haunted house.’

It didn’t quite fit the situation, but considering the chilling sensation on my skin and my thumping heart, there was quite a resemblance. A horror experience enjoyed alone.

However, these were real traces, not artificial productions, preventing me from letting down my guard.

I walked calmly and arrived at the 2nd floor.

Perhaps for the convenience of patients, the entrance door was wide open.

The scene I confirmed upon entering revealed no particular abnormalities.

However, it was a bit dark, as if there had been a power outage.

Thankfully, it was daytime, so light streamed in.

Grateful for the long stretch of sunlight, I surveyed the interior.

For now, no traces of slaughter like bloodstains were visible.

Only discarded wheelchairs and shoes cluttered the hallway.

Guide lines were painted on the floor to help find departments easily.

Without hesitation, I immediately followed the lines.

Finding the department was no problem, but I couldn’t find the medicine.

Consultation rooms and examination rooms were visible, but I didn’t know where to find the medicine. Just in case, I also searched the injection room, but there were only a few antibiotic-like substances.

The items I was looking for were nowhere to be seen.

‘This side seems cleaner, at least….’

The interior was surprisingly clean.

It was completely different from the rooftop where I had first set foot.

Perplexed by this, I headed to another area.

Fortunately, I was able to find and retrieve a few items from the nurses’ desk where they carried out their duties. It was a relief that searching the practical work areas always yielded something.

‘Not enough….’

There were a few more items on the list in the memo.

Considering the future, I absolutely had to find them if possible.

Normally I would have searched everywhere, but I needed to hurry a bit, so I immediately headed to the 1st floor. Although Dr. Jang was buying me time, this was not the time to be complacent.

I had learned that you shouldn’t let a disease fester.

The longer you delay with an illness, the greater the harm to a person.

That’s why I cut the meeting with the gangsters short and came here.

I went down to the 1st floor with a slightly faster pace.

Upon arriving at the 1st floor, the situation was similar to the 2nd floor.

The low lighting felt a bit dim.

The interior appeared surprisingly spacious and complex, not well-organized.

‘…I need to hurry a bit.’

The 1st floor was the floor with the most mixed departments.

Why were there so many classifications for internal medicine…

I tutted softly as I walked, and then the overall information map caught my eye again.

I looked at it again to check the place I needed to find.

“Oh…?”

【Overall Information Map】 1F – Emergency Room, Administrative Office… Blood Collection Room, Pharmacy Department

A word I hadn’t noticed when quickly skimming before was visible.

The Pharmacy Department, among the many internal and external medicine departments.

“Isn’t the Pharmacy Department the hospital’s pharmacy?”

Just in case, I quickly moved my feet and headed towards the Pharmacy Department.

It was a large and somewhat complex area, so I got a bit lost, but I managed to find it.

I was about to rejoice at the sight of the end, but then a curse naturally escaped my lips.

“Ha… damn it….”

The pharmacy I finally arrived at, after circling around, was a mess.

Desks and shelves were all overturned, a complete disarray.

It was like the inside of a house after burglars had ransacked it in a movie.

Naturally, a significant portion was empty.

Feeling a stiffness in the back of my neck, I stepped into the pharmacy.

Since the interior was dim, I took out the light I had picked up earlier.

‘This time, adjust the brightness…’

I carefully handled the Superbright flashlight that had previously dazzled my eyes.

With a moderate intensity, the interior was illuminated without any difficulty.

Satisfied with the tool’s performance, I began to search thoroughly.

A significant portion had been cleared out, but some items remained.

“Why did those gangster bastards sweep up specialized medicines? What would they use them for?”

An unnecessary surge of irritation rose at the unresolving situation.

The gangster bastards who created this situation were definitely condemned to death.

As a result of busily moving my hands amidst the annoyance.

I was able to find most of the medicines on the memo.

‘I was lucky.’

Among the medicines, some were broken, and some were shoved into corners.

It was like finding things one by one among trash.

It was a stroke of luck that those guys weren’t thorough.

Unfortunately, the quantity was very small, and two items were missing.

I searched the entire pharmacy but ultimately couldn’t find them.

Sighing, I searched every internal medicine department on the 1st floor.

I managed to find some needles, clean bandages, and ointments, but not the necessary medicines. At this point, I started to feel subtly anxious.

‘…I’ll have to go to the pharmacy outside.’

Recalling the pharmacy Dr. Jang had mentioned, I immediately moved my feet.

Before leaving, just in case, I also searched the emergency room.

True to its name, ‘Emergency’, some medical tools were visible, but it was a wasted effort.

Furthermore, everything was covered in blood, messy, and a faintly foul smell filled the air.

‘…Should I take this?’

Amidst that, I found one item.

A medicine whose name I had heard before, even though I had no significant connection to hospitals.

『Penicillin』

I picked up a few small, neatly packaged boxes.

Just as I was about to head outside, having collected the additional bonus.

‘…….’

There had clearly been no sign of anyone, yet someone was lying on an emergency room bed.

A foot, belonging to what appeared to be an adult male, protruded slightly from a bed in the corner, catching my eye.

I took out my crowbar and approached quietly.

Until now, the entire building had been silent.

There had been no sign of anyone moving.

The person I was approaching now seemed to have been lying there from the beginning.

And it was a corpse.

The foot barely visible at the end was pale.

And black veins were visible on the top of the foot.

A zombie.

Holding my breath, I raised my crowbar and approached quietly.

Even after getting this close, there was no movement.

The characteristic groans of zombies were also not heard.

The moment I approached the bed where the zombie was lying, up close.

Swish!

I roughly pulled back the curtain that served as a partition.

And the zombie that met my eyes was quite perplexing.

“…What is this?”

The zombie, with its limbs bound, was already dead.

Its murky, grey eyes were wide open, and its face was twisted in a grimace.

Its mouth was gaping so wide its jaw seemed dislocated.

Its torso was split wide open.

Its organs were severely mutilated.

Its skull was shattered, with a hole punched through it.

I couldn’t be certain, but it wasn’t the work of a professional like a doctor.

The way the skin was cut and the organs were tampered with was very clumsy and rough.

‘An experiment…? No, that’s not it… This is….’

It seemed to be either an attempt to find a weakness, or a sadistic mutilation out of curiosity.

It was one of the two.

I never imagined someone would think of dissecting a zombie’s torso.

I turned my eyes away from the nauseating situation that made me want to vomit.

If I looked any longer, my appetite would probably disappear for days.

Frowning, I quickly left the emergency room.

For a moment, I felt as if the strong stench of the zombie had clung to me.

Eager to breathe fresh air, I hurried towards the exit.

‘…?’

The emergency room exit was plastered over with newspapers and the like.

Entwined loosely with various tapes, it seemed intended to block the view through the transparent glass.

Nearby, furniture and chairs, likely used to block the original entrance, were placed. Someone seemed to have made preparations to hold out here.

‘But it seems no one managed to hold out…’

The victims on the rooftop were proof of their failure.

Perhaps it would have been better if the corpses on the rooftop were zombie corpses.

Unfortunately, this was reality.

The issue bothering me now was that the glass door was open.

‘Judging by the footprints, someone seems to have entered recently….’

The faint marks suggested one person had come and gone.

It could be a gangster, or someone like me looking for medicine.

If the former, I hoped they were dead; if the latter, I wished them safety.

Thinking that, I quietly stepped out through the open gap.

The exterior, which led directly to the parking lot, held ownerless cars and ambulances.

Everything was quiet.

‘…Why is it quiet?’

The hospital courtyard here was fine, but just beyond the wall, zombies had been plentiful. That’s why I had jumped onto the rooftop and climbed down.

But now that I was outside.

No zombie roars could be heard nearby.

I heightened my senses, trying to detect any presence, but nothing appeared in my immediate vicinity.

I softly moved my feet and pressed my body against the hospital wall.

I subtly poked my head out from the entrance and looked around, but it was empty.

The street in front of the hospital was eerily quiet.

A momentary sense of futility washed over me at the sight.

‘It’s a good thing, but….’

I wondered if the gangsters had driven the zombies away, but there was no way to know.

And it wasn’t as if all the nearby zombies had disappeared; at the end of the alley, there were a few wandering zombies. I also saw one struggling, caught between a utility pole and a wall in the middle of the alley.

“…I don’t know whether to call myself lucky or to cry.”

It was almost laughable how tense I had been, making the back of my neck slightly stiff.

Though I felt a sense of futility, I decided to think positively.

At least I avoided having rotten blood splashed on me.

Comforting myself, I headed to the large pharmacy right next to the hospital.

The pharmacy Dr. Jang had mentioned was probably this one.

After a few steps, I stood at the pharmacy entrance.

Beyond the dirty, dust-covered glass window, the interior of the pharmacy was quiet. Nothing moved. But…

‘Something is there.’

I sensed living human presence inside.

‘About four or five people gathered.’

I hadn’t seen living people even in the large hospital behind me, so I never expected there to be people holding out in a pharmacy like this.

Hoping they weren’t gangsters or lunatics, I re-gripped my crowbar.

The glass door was an automatic sliding door.

I applied a slight force with my left hand and carefully opened the door.

The moment the door opened just enough for my body to pass through.

Bang-!!

A single gunshot pierced the deathly quiet street.