Lee Gojun, who had been chewing his lips for no reason, withdrew his hands from the male student’s wound. The blood that had been gushing from the punctured abdomen had already stopped. Not only that, but clean new flesh had risen in the abdomen, filling the skin that had been empty like a sinkhole.
The male student touched his belly anew.
“You… did your skills improve already? Until now, you couldn’t heal such a large wound so completely in such a short period, could you?”
Or perhaps you’ve been hiding your real skills all this time? A subtle gaze holding such suspicion turned toward Lee Gojun. The male student’s pupils, which had been crossing between gladness and gratitude, were rippling bizarrely just like when he’d been cursing Kang Jekyung.
While suppressing the unpleasantly stinging emotion, Lee Gojun smiled awkwardly.
“I met a good teacher.”
“Teacher? Was there another group of survivors remaining here besides us?”
“Let’s talk about that later. First, the other injured……”
“Fuck! I can’t do this anymore!”
At the shouting heard from behind, the injured who had each been crouching or supporting their bodies suddenly turned their heads. Lee Gojun, who had been beside them, also turned around a beat late.
While not unaware that the more they shouted, the more monsters would swarm here upon noticing human presence, they couldn’t control their surging emotions and burst out in frustration.
“At this rate we’ll die first! I’m busy enough taking care of my own body, how can I protect injured bastards while dragging them along!”
“…What?”
Before the female student could start with a vicious momentum, the minority of students who had stepped forward to block the monsters’ approach mustered their strength as if making a last struggle. It was an attack that went in quite strongly, as if it were a final blow. The moment the monsters that couldn’t avoid and were hit squarely all staggered at once, those who had attacked hastily turned their backs. Then they began desperately running away in the opposite direction Lee Gojun had come from, where there were relatively fewer monsters.
“Those crazy bastards…!”
Those who could somehow move thanks to being less injured began to stagger after them. The male student who had just received treatment from Lee Gojun, whose abdomen had been punctured until just now, also jumped up and ran in that direction.
“Hey, Lee Gojun! Do something!”
“Can’t you heal multiple people at once?”
“I happened to injure my leg! This is driving me crazy, seriously!”
As if those sharp urgings weren’t audible, Lee Gojun blankly stared at the backs of those leaving. Lee Gojun’s two eyes began to waver finely.
He could save them. Even if he died, if he saved as many as possible.
‘…If Geonwoo is still alive, he’s probably waiting for me.’
Had he done something too reckless?
Lee Gojun, who belatedly pulled himself together, gritted his teeth and deployed his ability. Rather than perfectly recovering one person’s wound, he treated them just enough that they could move if they endured the pain a bit, then immediately moved on to another wound.
The monsters at the front who had fought for a while and were tired were already collapsed on the floor, but the ones swarming behind them trampled over their own kind while crossing over here without signs of fatigue.
In the meantime, students who struggled to stand up with Lee Gojun’s help moved with all their might to distance themselves from the monsters. Some chose a random nearby classroom and hid inside, while some chased after them as if half-dead, seemingly trying to cling to the combat-type ability holders who had run away earlier.
And now in front of Lee Gojun remained the injured person who was finally the last in order.
“Fuck, hurry up and do something!”
It was the female student who had been cursing Kang Jekyung and his friends together with the male student earlier.
The female student’s right calf was a mess as if it had been crushed by something heavy. Hearing the ferocious crying sounds getting closer behind her, Lee Gojun ignored the cold sweat running down his forehead and focused only on handling his ability.
“If I’d known this would happen, I wouldn’t have acted up and would’ve just stayed still. No, I should’ve just abandoned everything and run away alone……”
He could see the female student grinding her nails. Lee Gojun, who had been listening to the resentment without a target that she poured out, bit his lips tightly.
When they were on the fourth floor, students would yield one bite of the snack or one sip of water allotted as their share and offer it to Lee Gojun. He’d refused most of them, but unable to overcome the impulse, he’d also received those few bites. Even if it was just a bit of consideration, it meant Lee Gojun had benefited from that consideration.
They might have deliberately fawned over him, coveting Lee Gojun’s healing ability. But what did it matter? Whatever the purpose, Lee Gojun was someone who believed that if he received kindness from others, he must definitely repay it.
Moreover, no matter how great the healing ability was, it was their precious food and lifeline, so it couldn’t have been easy to yield it to Lee Gojun. If the world hadn’t fallen apart, they would surely have given and shared more with their innate goodness—Lee Gojun thought so.
“Done, done! This much is enough to move.”
The female student, who threw off Lee Gojun’s hand irritably, stood up while pressing against the wall. Then, seeing her limping and working her leg, Lee Gojun hurriedly approached and supported her.
“No good. This won’t do. What if we die like this……”
“We won’t die. We can live.”
“Ah, that crazy bastard Kang Jekyung! Just let him get in my sight, I’ll smash every bone in his body!”
“Hey, wait. If you shout so recklessly……”
Grrrr-.
Goosebumps rose sharply at the low crying sound piercing his ears. He didn’t even have time to recognize what the owner of the hot breath blowing from behind was.
Lee Gojun’s body was pushed away in one go. At the end of his gaze was the female student who had pushed Lee Gojun as bait as if there was no time to hesitate.
He couldn’t see what expression the female student was making. In the instant he blinked blankly, she turned sharply and forcibly put strength into her limping leg to step forward.
‘…Ah.’
Feeling the distant sensation of his floating body, Lee Gojun suddenly thought of Kim Hayoung.
He didn’t know what the reason was. It just seemed similar to the providence of nature, a primitive instinct, like a butterfly seeking a flower and an ant returning home.
‘…It turned out as I wished.’
He’d prepared for his death and saved everyone possible.
Risking his only life wasn’t regrettable. But the lives he saved with that life were merely…….
Slash-!
The noise of a blade cutting through something dull echoed coldly. At the same time Lee Gojun fell on his bottom on the solid floor instead of the monster’s mouth, the sound of something large and round dropping right behind him and rolling could be heard.
Lee Gojun laboriously lifted his eyelids that had been firmly shut at some point. The first thing captured in his vision was the female student, not far away, suddenly kneeling on the hallway floor while blankly staring into space.
It wasn’t easy to grasp the suddenly arrived situation.
A sticky liquid spread under Lee Gojun’s palm as he fumbled unable to do this or that. Before he could turn around to confirm its identity and stain his pants with the monster’s bright red blood, he hurriedly stood up.
The sticky blood that had long since wetted Lee Gojun’s hand dripped onto the floor. Lee Gojun quietly looked down at that blood, then slowly wiggled his hand.
“What about that girl? Kill her?”
“For now, keeping her alive and taking her to Hayoung later seems better.”
“Whatever, Cha Woodan. I’m telling you in advance, I’m the one who saved Lee Gojun. So if there’s praise to be received, it should be me, not you.”
The conversation, probably the twins’ voices, just circled in the air without entering Lee Gojun’s ears. Lee Gojun just stared intently at his own hand for a long while, then barely moved his lips.
“Hayoung is……”
Two pairs of gazes that cleverly caught that name even from the small murmuring stuck to Lee Gojun. However, Lee Gojun paid no attention and clenched his fist tightly with his blood-soaked hand.
Lee Gojun had a belief deeply rooted since childhood.
That each and every life was noble in itself. Therefore, if he could save three or four noble lives with the price of one noble life, that action was also fleetingly noble.
That was a sacred teaching that would never come again in Lee Gojun’s life, and at the same time, it was a major pillar supporting Lee Gojun’s life and values.
But were those lives Lee Gojun had just tried to save truly noble? Could the individual fate and spirit of each truly be said to hold proper value?
‘…Well.’
Lee Gojun, who had been slowly rolling his eyes, soon blankly stared at something in the vicinity of empty space. In Lee Gojun’s mind, the voice of his younger sibling, who had particularly denied the family’s beliefs and values, passed by.
Did he truly believe in such things? Why must they sacrifice themselves, swayed by hollow nobility?
Lee Gojun had thought until now that his younger sibling just wasn’t mature enough. But now that he’d experienced it firsthand, he thought that his sibling’s words might not have been entirely wrong.
Then where was the nobility that Lee Gojun must protect with all his body?
Deep nail marks dug into his palm full of blood. However, Lee Gojun didn’t stop and clenched his fist more forcefully with trembling.
Perhaps it had been by his side from the beginning. From before the world became a wasteland when disgusting creatures suddenly appeared, Kim Hayoung had always been standing still in that place.
That was another completion and a world. Because he’d vaguely felt that, no one could dare approach or draw near Kim Hayoung.
And that other world, in other words.
‘God.’
“…Hayoung is truly, a god.”
An existence whose not just the life but everything was noble. One with an alien atmosphere that seemed to be alone and detached from this place yet was sacred, possessing fearless perfection and staying in the darkness with eyes closed.
“…Why is this bastard acting crazy again?”
The sound of Cha Jeoh viciously grinding out curses didn’t reach Lee Gojun.
“God. Yes, that’s right, a god. Grandmother said so. If the god descends in the future to finally lead us to salvation, we couldn’t fail to recognize him.”
“Hey, what’s really wrong with him? You……”
Cha Jeoh, who had been about to habitually grab the nape of Lee Gojun who was sitting down, trailed off. Lee Gojun, who had raised his head without caring that his neck was being choked, was staring intently at him. His two unfocused eyes glistened unfamiliarly.
