131 – War in Dreams (3)
“A young friend keeps talking back…… “
The old man’s words were unfinished. It was because I pushed the old man towards him when the white hat, which had become a different being, came running.
While the blinded white hat chewed on the tangled old man’s inelastic flesh, I jumped through the window and out of the tunnel.
I see a long tunnel full of darkness. Yeon-hee turned on the flashlight and pointed it straight ahead. I walked through the space between her and her subway and the wall of the tunnel.
“It’s too narrow….”
Yeonhee was right. The gap between the subway and the tunnel wall was very narrow. It was to the extent that I had to move with my back against the wall.
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Inside the subway illuminated by a single light, people are scrambling with things that have mutated into other beings.
Citizens unite with nasty screams. Two. I had to move and look at the scene of a terrible death.
It’s too damn vivid to be a dream.
And what about the feeling of crushing a woman’s skull?
The sensation of breaking her bones to the point where her fingertips tingled was completely real. Even though it was a dream, it was the first experience of murder.
After passing the subway that had stopped running, a circular tunnel followed.
A musty smell in the turbid air.
My eyes looking at the black tunnel without a single rat were so empty that it became hazy.
Thung. Thud.
A terrifying roar came from above the tunnel.
It sounds like a sound from the ground.
No way. Are you saying that the situation above the ground is worse than here below?
I paused and put my hands in my pockets. When I took out the square thing with the feeling of touching it at the tip of my hand, it was a cell phone.
“… Is the situation more serious than I thought?”
The phone’s liquid crystal light penetrating the darkness poured into Yeon-hee’s face and illuminated it brightly. She looked at me with questioning eyes.
I handed her the phone I was fiddling with, and she opened her eyes roundly and read the article on her phone.
“… Mutant organisms that feed on human flesh and transmit viruses are popping up all over the country.”
The article she read was from a date a week ago at this point.
“… It is speculated that these biological weapons are the work of North Korea, and the authorities have issued a grade 1 Jindo dog at this point.”
Grade 1 Jindo dog.
It means the highest level of alert when a trace of an infiltrating enemy has been discovered or when the anti-aircraft suspicion is clearly determined.
The meaning is that the ground is already turning into a sea of fire.
Then the roar that just hit the ceiling of the tunnel can be explained.
“This is a very far-off situation….”
Yeonhee said weakly. First of all, I escaped safely in my first encounter with zombies or mutants.
But the problem started now.
“What a f*cking dream. Did you say Christian?”
“Yes. I can’t think of another passage from a history book I read. I don’t think the way to get out of the dream was written.”
I sat in the tunnel to rest my tired mind and body and pondered for a while.
Anyway, this is the world he unfolded by embodying his magic.
No matter how big the scale of this dream is or how hell the situation is, its magic power won’t be infinite.
Then, the conclusion is that we have no choice but to hold on until his mana is exhausted.
“The stats in the status window do not apply here.”
I said. Yeonhee also shook her head as if agreeing.
I couldn’t open the status window, but after walking through the tunnel and moving a little, I found out that the status window’s stats weren’t applied.
“Right now, our bodies are in the same state as they are in the present world… ….”
It means that I, who had beaten a hundred orcs, was in a state where I was barely able to deal with even one zombie.
“Damn it…. Come.”
“Coming? What?”
“The corpses.”
At my words, Yeonhee lifted her hips and stood up. Clearly, with my own eyes, I could see from afar that a few people presumed to be zombies were coming here, squeezing through the cracks.
A girl without an arm. A man with half his face ripped off. A man whose clothes are ragged. There were three in total.
“… Let’s move.”
* * *
It was a phrase attached to a pillar on the wall of the platform we reached after crossing the tunnel and hurried our steps.
I have a hand hammer in my pocket, but I feel uneasy. If you encounter them with these weapons, you will cross the Jordan River.
It would be nice to have just one knife….
Although it is the body of the present world, the hunter’s senses are the same, so he should be able to try somehow.
Awesome….
Big…….
A low growl was heard from the passage of the tunnel. Probably one of the bodies that died on the subway.
Yeonhee and I didn’t say a word and walked up the stairs holding our breath.
The inside of the main building of Seocho Station, which had been lowered by the light of white lighting, caught my eye.
The cement on the floor was dry with bloodstains scattered all over it. I saw a leg that had been horribly severed.
It is presumed to be a man’s leg, judging from the thickness.
“Ugh….”
Yeonhee trembled when she saw the unusual scenery. At that time! Hearing the irregular footsteps, I hid behind a wall with Yeon-hee.
“Everyone, don’t come closer!”
A middle-aged man covered in sweat ran away from a chasing corpse with his neck broken, and fell to his knees! I fell.
“f*ck! Go away you freak!! Please!”
The man howled and opened the umbrella in his hand to block the man’s view, but the umbrella was torn open and the corpse sitting on the man’s chest bit the man’s face intact.
The man’s screams of pain continued.
Cre?
He turns his head towards us as he chews on some lean meat.
“…… !”
I held Yeon-hee and held my breath behind the pillar wall. Unstable. That bastard’s face was so horrible that I couldn’t express it.
Chin. Chin.
It was X.
He approaches us with his arms hanging down.
How did he find us? Clearly, his black pupils were not directed at us. Do you have a sense of smell?
As the footsteps got closer, Yeon-hee’s eyes widened as her face was buried in my chest.
After making a gesture to Yeon-hee to be quiet, he squeezed the hammer tightly. Will this work? If you get bitten once, it’s over.
Turb. Chin!
Sniff? Sniff sniff!
……… He moves his nostrils right in front of the pole we lean on.
My lower body is shaking.
Kaaa!
We randomly swung the hammer at the guy who found us and stuck his open mouth.
Puck! f*ck!
Kaaag! Kaa!
Damn it! No matter how many times I hit his face with a hammer, it wouldn’t break. It only crushes his face. The guy ran without stopping.
He hit his outstretched arm with a hammer. The bastard stumbled, his arm broken.
Puck! I kicked him in the chest and knocked him over.
I quickly hit the temple with a hammer as he was about to get up.
I didn’t stop hammering.
I didn’t want to die, so I moved the hammer like a madman.
His snowball burst. I grabbed the hammer with both hands and hit the guy’s forehead as hard as I could.
Go away! A mixture of blood and white brains flowed from his forehead with the sound of bones twisting.
“Shut up, please. A little!”
Puck! At the last minute, with just one hammering, the guy’s body stretched out.
After confirming that his ribs stopped moving, he stopped breathing.
“Haa….”
I was relieved and sat down. The handle of his hammer broke and fell.
“Are you okay?”
Yeonhee raised me up. She put on an apologetic look. She probably sees that she is no help and that she is a burden.
Soon after, the sound of someone stepping on the stairs was heard from the other exit leading to the ground.
It’s not safe here either.
A few guys came out of the bathroom.
It’s sh*t.
At the same time, several people come up the stairs towards the tunnel we came up from.
There is nowhere to hide here.
“Let’s go to the ground.”
I took Yeonhee’s hand and ran.
Aiming to the ground where you can’t even figure out what the situation will be like.
* * *
This is inside the convenience store.
My hands are trembling as I pick up the bloody stone.
In front of me is a corpse with its blown head leaning against the wall.
This dead corpse wearing a uniform is my creation.
“… You didn’t even run away during this war and you were taking a barcode?”
I spoke to the silent corpse. It was heartbreaking to see a mutated corpse while keeping a convenience store in such a sh*tty situation while living a hard part-time job.
I closed the door of the convenience store and looked at the scenery outside.
A tank stopped while advancing. Crashed and crushed vehicles. Remnants of buildings destroyed by bombing. Even dead bodies everywhere.
The ground was also, in a word, a mess.
Me and Yeonhee grabbed food and drinks from the shelves at the convenience store and shoveled them into our mouths.
Even in such a terrible situation, being hungry is being hungry.
I didn’t even look at the expiration date. I wonder if I should even get into a sh*tty situation where I get an upset stomach after eating bad triangle gimbap.
“It’s already been five hours.”
Yeonhee looked at her watch and said worriedly. It’s been five hours and I haven’t woken up from this damn dream.
I tore off the wrapper of a 30cm fruit from the display stand and held it in my hand.
I think this would be more useful than a hammer and a stone. Even though there is no stat correction, I believe in the senses of a hunter who has learned to fight countless monsters with a single sword.
“… Unni and Yoo Seok don’t seem to be in our dreams.”
“Are they separated by two?”
Hye-ryeong and Yoo-seok must be the same as us.
They must be going through hardships just like us. I’m worried, but I believe in them.
Since Jang Yoo-seok, who is calm and has excellent analytical skills, and Hye-ryeong, who has strong concentration and survivability, they must also be doing well.
“If I die, I will be trapped in my dream forever.”
“… So you have to be careful.”
Yeonhee got up and turned off the light at the convenience store.
I think it was because of the idea of not being noticed by the corpses.
“Sorry I wasn’t helpful.”
“Don’t talk like that.”
“Even during the survival test, I was just a burden to you.”
“I was able to eat the last blow thanks to you kicking Sejun Jang in the face then?”
Yeon-hee, who was stiff at my words, smiled and shook her head.
“… Did that help?”
“It’s done. And even now you are helping me.”
“You are becoming a burden instead of a help.”
“If I had been put in this situation alone, I would have lost my mental state.”
“You mean two are better than alone?”
“Sure.”
“… Thank you for your words.”
Yeonhee smiled brightly again. Thanks to the hard work she had done today, her face looked slimmer and slimmer.
I didn’t take my eyes off the glass door as we talked quietly.
A car that was running wildly crashed into a telephone pole and came to a stop.
The driver in the car put his head on the steering wheel and doesn’t move.
“… It’s like a movie dream.”
At my words, Yeon-hee, who was sniffing coffee with her legs together, smiled.
“Can you wake up?”
Yeonhee asked me without stopping to laugh.
“Everything in the world has holes. A hole through which to escape, a hole in the ruins of hell. Because nothing is perfect.”
“Still, Siwoon Lee. Aren’t you worried because I’m with you?”
“… Why?”
“Because I see you always forging new paths.”
She seemed to be serious. Even at this moment, praise is a strength.
“I don’t want to be a burden to you this time.”
Yeonhee said with her eyes shining and grabbed the club and raised it.
That stick seems to be the part-timer I beat to death. It seems that he had a club to protect himself while working part-time during the war.
He said that while holding a small stick, and that was pretty cute.
But I said.
“It is dangerous. You don’t come out easily.”
“No! I am also accustomed to handling wooden wands. I will help you somehow with this club.”
“… I appreciate the words, but you know that once you get bitten, it’s over, right?”
“That will never happen.”
At that time, an idea flashed into my mind. As I stand up holding the hilt and head towards the door, Yeon-hee looks at me with puzzled eyes.
“Where are you going?”
“Just be alone for a minute.”
“… To be alone? Where are you going?”
“I’m too anxious to carry a knife, so I’m going to get a gun.”
“Can I go with you?”
“I’ll be back soon. Close the door and hold your breath.”
Yeonhee nodded weakly. I got out of the convenience store and took a quick look around.
Not a single one within a hundred meter radius.
I’m thinking of getting a gun.
If there is a tank in the middle of the street, there will be soldiers and there are also soldiers’ bodies.
What if? Meaning you can get a rifle from a soldier’s corpse.
I walked in the middle of ruined Seoul. Crossed the crosswalk I lowered my stance as much as possible and moved quickly.
A guy with long hair in front of me is eating something off the ground.
Push!
I approached him and put a knife in the back of his neck. I slit his throat twice more with confirmation kills, and he drops his arm and lies on his bare floor.
Certainly, a knife is more useful to me than a hammer.
Let’s walk a little more.
‘I can see it!’
My eyes lit up when I saw the stopped military truck.
If there is only one soldier in that truck, you can get a rifle and it will be a great help to survival.
As I approached the truck and opened the door, the head of a soldier in a military cap protruded and lay flat against the tire.
‘Yes! M16.’
Clap! He loaded a heavy rifle.
Fortunately, having been in the military, I know how to handle a rifle like this.
Moreover, with these eyes now, I have the confidence to treat them like ghosts.
I grabbed a spare magazine, put the barrel forward and put my eyes on the barrel.
That moment. A few blood-stained passengers jump out of the stopped bus ahead and run towards me.
‘Let’s grab a gun for the first time in a while.’